Sending Blessings

     Today's card is one I'm going to use for a friend who's in need of a few prayers and blessings right now.  She's temporarily home bound and her city is buried under a huge amount of snow so a wintry color combo seemed appropriate.

     The image is from The East Wind.

     I colored with ProMarkers and added a frame cut with a stitched die (Die-Versions.)  It was left over from another project and worked perfectly as a scrap to frame this image.  The CS had been run through my "Linen" embossing folder.

     I added as snippet of ribbon, a bow, and snowflakes for minimal embellishment.  The dp is from one of my brand new paper pads by Graphic 45.  A very CAS design but flat for easy mailing.

     Challenges:

Ching-chou Kuik

Creatalicious

Kreativeinkauf

Outlawz CAS

Pammie's Inky Pinkie

Pixie's Snippets

Scribbles Designs

Stempelsonnen

     Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

In the Pink Again

    Another Pink card for October's Breast Cancer Awareness, this time using a delightful image from The East Wind.  This was a newsletter freebie and works so perfectly for Breast Cancer Awareness cards.  Mine is focused on those of us who have survived and on celebrating that marvelous fact.  :-D

I chose to work with the sketch from Mojo Monday

but deviated from it a bit because I simply loved 

all the polka dots and didn't want to cover them up on the

lower portion of the card.  :-D

     I used my ProMarkers to color it, then cut it with a Stitched Scalloped Circle die from Memory Box.  I die cut another plain Stitched Circle (Die-namics) as a frame and then layered that onto another, larger Stitched Scalloped Circle for an additional frame.

     I used very wide, sheer, pink ribbon and added a polka dot ribbon on top of that.  Both of those are scraps left from another project which you'll be seeing in a couple of days.  I die cut the sentiment tag and finally, made one of my 'bowtie' bows, using yet another polka dot ribbon from my scrap stash bin.

     Challenges:
Cards in Envy
Crafting by Designs
Crafting from the Heart
Craft Your Passion
Crafty Gals Corner
I {heart} ProMarkers
Kraftin' Kimmie
Penny's Paper-Crafty
Scrapy Land
Unicorn

     Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Missing You

     This lovely image is from The East Wind and I just loved coloring her!  She was perfect for autumn colors and leaves.

     I colored her with my ProMarkers, then used a die from Spellbinders to cut her out.  I cut yellow CS with that same die and used the little leaves that fell out of the frame to insert into the white frame of the image piece.  I adhered a scrap of fall leaves dp to the card front, then layered on the image and the yellow leaves.

     I used a leaf die (Die-namites) to cut both yellow and brown CS, and added those leaves.  The die makes a strip of leaves so I had to cut them apart to use them the way I did.  Final touch was the burlap bow which has been 'dyed' with a Buttercup Yellow ProMarker.

     Challenges:
Angie's Digital Stamps
Brown Sugar
Cards in Envy
Crafty Boots
Crazy Challenge
Creative Corner
I {heart} ProMarkers
Lemon Shortbread
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends
Melonheadz Friends
Paper Girls
Pile It On
Time Out
Whoopsi Daisy

     I really hope fall is going to arrive soon.  Yesterday, in the last week of September, we hit 101 degrees!  That's more than 50 days we had over-100-degree temperatures during the three summer months (nearly 20 more than is usual for us and I hate every one of them!) and now 2 more days over 100 even though it's officially fall.  I'm tired of the heat.  I want cool days, crisp nights, and no thoughts of hot days for at least another 8 months.  Is that too much to ask?  lol  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Please continue to leave comments.  The "Word Verification" really isn't on.  BLOGGER INSISTS ON SHOWING THE "CAPTCHA" BOX BUT IF YOU IGNORE IT AND JUST PUBLISH YOUR COMMENT, IT WILL POST JUST FINE.  I WISH I COULD GET RID OF IT BUT THERE'S NO OPTION FOR THAT WHEN THE COMMENTS ARE WRITTEN IN A SEPARATE BOX. SORRY.

Shine On, Shine On Harvest Moon...

     My card this morning is made with an image from The East Wind called "Borum-dal" meaning Full Moon.  Every time I look at it, that song "Shine On, Shine on harvest moon up in the sky..." starts running through my head.  :-D

     I colored the image with a combination of ProMarkers and polychromos pencils plus a dash of gel pen.  I framed her with a die cut frame (Cheery Lynn - Dainty Dutch Deco) which I used today for the first time.  Oh, that die set is going to get lots of use -- I love it !   It gives such a pretty vintage touch to everything.

     I worked on a red CS base which I ran through my "Linen" embossing folder, then added the wide lace and the image on top of that.  I made a double bow with lace for one layer and satin for the other.  This is another of those cards which looks very complex because of the vintage framing and the lace but which was relatively simple to put together.

     Challenges:
613 Avenue Create
A Gem of a Challenge
A Vintage Journey
Cheery Lynn
Colour Your World
Crafting from the Heart
Craft Your Passion
Crafty Sentiments Designs
Cuttlebug Mania
DRS Designs
Great Impressions
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends
One Stitch at a Time
Outlawz Twisted Thursday
Southern Girls

     I hope your weekend goes well and that you find plenty of down time for recharging the batteries.  Remember, without a recharge our creativity gets drained, too.  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Please continue to leave comments.  The "Word Verification" really isn't on.  BLOGGER INSISTS ON SHOWING THE "CAPTCHA" ICON BUT IF YOU IGNORE IT AND JUST PUBLISH YOUR COMMENT, IT WILL POST JUST FINE.  I WISH I COULD GET RID OF IT BUT THERE'S NO OPTION FOR THAT WHEN THE COMMENTS ARE WRITTEN IN A SEPARATE BOX. SORRY.

The Potion Mistress

     One more Halloween card for the stash and this one is using an image from The East Wind.  I did it for their Facebook challenge "R U Kidding Me?" which is all about kids.  I love this darling little witch, though she's hardly scary.  Maybe that's why I love her.  :-D

     I'm working with my new poly pencils again and, while I've gotten better at shading and highlighting, I can't seem to get away from a pastel look with my coloring.  More practice needed, obviously.   Her hair looks bluish in the photo but IRL, it's gray-green and her face is a pasty, witch-y, yellow-green.  My camera lens has a mind of its own!

     The image is fussy cut and mounted onto a black pumpkin doily from Recollections.  I added that to an orange, die cut, doily (Cheery Lynn), then put everything onto a warm gray card base.  The only embellishment I added was the black, satin ribbon, bow.

     Challenges:
Cheery Lynn
Kraftin' Kimmie
Melonheadz Friends
MFP Stamps
Outlawz Twisted Thursday
Penny's Paper-Crafty
Sasayaki Glitter
Send a Smile 4 Kids
Simon Says Stamp

     I hope your week went well and that you are enjoying your weekend already.  I'm going to be lazy for a couple of days and then get back to my routine.  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Please continue to leave comments.  The "Word Verification" really isn't on.  BLOGGER INSISTS ON SHOWING THE "CAPTCHA" ICON BUT IF YOU IGNORE IT AND JUST PUBLISH YOUR COMMENT, IT WILL POST JUST FINE.  I WISH I COULD GET RID OF IT BUT THERE'S NO OPTION FOR THAT WHEN THE COMMENTS ARE WRITTEN IN A SEPARATE BOX. SORRY.

Outlawz Progressive Challenge for August

     I've been pretty faithful about playing in the monthly progressive challenge at The Outlawz since it started nearly 2 years ago and this month we get to use an image called "August" by Andrea Norris at Sheepski Designs.  I have to tell you that every time I look at this image, it brings back memories of my Grammy's summer garden.  She loved Freesias, Fiddlenecks, and Bleeding Hearts.  Seeing any of those flowers always reminds me of early childhood and summer days spent in her garden.

     I wanted to do something CAS but with a fancy die cut frame so I'm not sure this really is a CAS design but it certainly isn't over-the-top with embellies and froo-froo.

     I colored the image with my ProMarkers and had to do a little finagling with the frame die.  It's by Cheery Lynn but it's a rectangular die and the image is square.  I cut the frame from white CS and then cut a piece out of each side to make it into a square.  I added the flowers at the point on each side where the top and bottom halves of the frame meet.

     I colored the frame with watercolors, trying for an ombre effect but I couldn't get the top part of the frame pale enough so I'm not sure it really worked.  IRL, it's still very lovely and there is a delightful mix of purple shades.

     The background is completely glittered and I also glittered the little punched butterfly on the right hand side.  I added the bow at the bottom because it needed something to draw the eye down and anchor it.

     Challenges:
Colour Crazy Craft
Crafting with Friends
Cut It Up
Fussy and Fancy
Outlawz CAS
Pile It On
Polkadoodles
Quick Quotes
Scrapper's Delights

    Whether it qualifies as CAS or not, I'm very happy with this card.  :-D  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie 

Please continue to leave comments.  The "Word Verification" really isn't on.  BLOGGER INSISTS ON SHOWING THE "CAPTCHA" ICON BUT IF YOU IGNORE IT AND JUST PUBLISH YOUR COMMENT, IT WILL POST JUST FINE.  I WISH I COULD GET RID OF IT BUT THERE'S NO OPTION FOR THAT WHEN THE COMMENTS ARE WRITTEN IN A SEPARATE BOX. SORRY.

Changed My Mind

     I love the expression on this gal's face!  She's the freebie for the month of June on The East Wind's FB challenge.  She looks exactly like a friend of mine when she was annoyed by something, usually me!  :-D  She would just give me that stare...

I started with the sketch from Sketch Saturday.

      On this card, I combined something new (the image) with something old (the die set and the ribbon.)  The image is colored with Promarkers, then die cut with a framing die from Spellbinders.  Both ribbons are from my stash and I layered everything onto Ocean Blue CS.   I added pearls to the die cut and to two of the corners.  The sentiment is printed and hand cut, matted, then hand cut again.  I mounted it on dimensional dots.

     Challenges:
Crafts and Me
Crafts Galore Encore
Crafty Awesomeness
Creatalicious
CCC Digi
Die Cut Divas
East Wind
Not Just Cards
Petal Lu
Sisters of Craft
Sweet Stamps
Your Scrapbook Place

     The new week is underway, and the new month of June is speeding by.  Can you believe the first week of it is already gone?  I guess we have to get through another day or two of 100 degree temperatures even though they had predicted that we'd drop into the 90s today.  I know the hot, hot, hot temps of summer have just started but I do hate hot weather and will be so glad when it cools off and begins to feel like fall.  No, I'm not wishing away the summer -- just wishing I lived somewhere with much cooler days and nights from June through August.  :-D  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Please continue to leave comments.  The "Word Verification" really isn't on.  BLOGGER INSISTS ON SHOWING THE "CAPTCHA" ICON BUT IF YOU IGNORE IT AND JUST POST YOUR COMMENT, IT'LL BE THERE.  I WISH I COULD GET RID OF IT BUT THERE'S NO OPTION FOR THAT WHEN THE COMMENTS ARE WRITTEN IN A SEPARATE BOX.  SORRY.