The Birthday Princess

      I finally managed to get a card made using the beautiful progressive image for this month at the Moondrea Challenge.  I thought she was such a princess that she'd make a fantastic feminine birthday card for a young lady.

     She's colored with watercolor pencils, cut with a Spellbinders die, matted with a scrap of aqua CS, and layered onto a background of dp scraps from the overflowing basket.  The sentiment was printed and cut with an Avery Elle die.

     Challenges:

(links to be added shortly)

     That's all I have for today.  I admit I've been making more gnomes this month and fewer cards but I'll get back into my regular routine soon.  Somehow, I've fallen in love with all the different gnomes that can be made and have been completely fascinated with trying new styles of them.  Maybe I'll share a post with gnome photos next week and you can se what I mean.

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Carnation Lady

      I'm finally getting around to posting a card for the progressive challenge over at Moondrea Designs this month.  I had problems for several days getting the image to print out but Wendy managed to send me a Word document with the image and I was ale to print that just fine.  Thanks so much, Wendy!

     The image is called "Carnations" and once I had it printed, I was able to color it with a combo of Sanjoki and Ohuhu markers.  After coloring it, I cut it with a Tonic Studios die.  The pink CS frame was cut with my Fiskars paper cutter and I mounted the image piece onto it.  The background dp came from a DCWV stack.  I found that delightful, embroidered ribbon in my stash of Christmas ribbons and I'm pretty sure it came from Really Reasonable Ribbon.

     Challenges:

     That's all I have today.  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Christmas Girl

      For all my promises last week about having posts each day for the past 7 days, the "To Do" list just got the best of me and, even though I've been very busy creating in the midst of the Christmas preparations, I didn't have time to sit down and write posts.  But today, I finally finished the Progressive Challenge image from Moondrea Designs and I want to get her posted to the Challenge.

     I colored with my Ohuhu markers, then added Stickles to the holly leaves, the berries, and the candle flame in the lantern.  After it all dried, I cut the image with a Tonic Studios die, and decorated the corners with Fiskars and Uchida punches.  I framed the image with a die cut rectangle of green CS (Spellbinders die.)  The background dp is a scrap from the Christmas stash (probably DCWV) and the sentiment was printed and cut with another Tonic Studios die.

     Challenges:

4 Season

613 Ave Create

Double Trouble

Dragonfly Dreams

Dream Valley

Lil Patch of ...

Peace on Earth

     Hopefully, I'll have additional posts this week.  We aren't celebrating our Christmas holiday until Saturday when my college-attending, granddaughter gets home for her Christmas holidays.  Maybe I'll have posts all week long of Christmas cards I've made even though Christmas will be on Wednesday.  You won't mind, will you?  The Christmas holidays don't really end until the New Year, right?

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

All I Want for Christmas

      I adore this latest image for the FB Progressive Challenge at Moondrea Designs.  The image is named "Summer" but I wanted her for a Christmas card so I gave her long sleeves, colored her in traditional red and green using my Ohuhu markers, and added a Christmas sentiment.  

     Once colored, I cut the image, and the dark green mat framing it, with Tonic Studio dies.  I added green Stickles to her earrings, and little drops of gold Liquid Pearls to the flower centers.  The background dp was stamped with Versamark on a large, decorative stamp, then heat embossed with gold EP.  I think she made a delightful & feminine Christmas card.  :-D

     Challenges:

Holly & Ivy

Lil Patch of ...

Pammie's IP

Peace on Earth

Polkadoodles

Simon Says Stamp

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Lady of the Roses

     No Halloween cards today, no Thanksgiving, & no Christmas, just a birthday card for a young princess.  :-)  The image came from Moondrea Designs and she's called "Lady of the Roses."  

     I used Ohuhu alcohol markers to color her, then cut her with one of my first dies from QuicKutz.  I inked the edges, then printed and cut the sentiment with a die from Avery Elle.  I wanted a very CAS card so added only a hand-sewn bow for embellishment.  The ribbon for the bow was originally white but I 'dyed' it with a marker, then added the tiny half-pearl.  

     While I use both on my cards, I find myself reaching for ribbon much more often than I reach for and use twine or cord.  I think it's because I can tie so many different kinds of bows with ribbon and I have the advantage of being able to make white ribbon any color I like to more closely match a color in the image or on the card.  Either way, ribbon is my "go to" for feminine cards!

     Challenges:

As You Like It

Beautiful Blossoms

Digi Choosday

Krafty Chicks

Outlawz Monday

Pammie's I-P

Triple B

Word Art Weds.

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Witches and Spells

      I'm playing along in the Progressive Challenge at Moondrea Designs each month and this is the image given for October.  Isn't she a fabulous witch?  Colored with Ohuhu markers and cut with a Tonic Studios die, then the corners were done with a punch from Recollections.

     The blue background was textured with my Linen EF.  The sentiment was printed and cut with an Avery Elle die.  The bow was made with white ribbon, dyed purple with a marker, then hand sewn.  A tiny half-pearl was added to the bow.

Colors were pulled from the Outlawz Tuesday challenge.

  

     Challenges:

Can You Handle ...?

Crafty Catz

Crafty Gals Corner

Creative Fingers

Creative Inspirations

Double D

Outlawz Thursday

Paper Funday

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Magical

      We're a third of the way through September and I'm finally getting my card done using the new image for the Progressive Challenge at Moondrea.  She's called Lilly Cinderela and I flipped the image side to side before printing it for coloring.

     Once printed, I colored her with a combination of Ohuhu and Sanjoki alcohol ink markers.  Once I finished that, I die cut her with a Tonic Studios die.  The sentiment was cut with an Avery Elle die.  I chose that single word sentiment because of all the magic associated with Cinderella's Godmother.

     I used a scrap of glitter CS for the background.  You know how hard it is to toss out scraps, even those with holes from precious die cuts?  That's especially true for me with glittery sparkle papers.  Believe it or not, beneath the image piece, there's a hole!  lol  I added the mulberry paper flower as a single embellishment and it seemed to just be a perfect finish to the card.

     Challenges:

613 Ave Create

Colorful Options

Digi Choosday

Get Creative (Cinderella)

Let's Craft & Create

Lil Patch of ...

Pammie's IP

Polkadoodles

     I now have nearly a dozen Thanksgiving cards and another more-than-a-dozen Halloween cards made and I'll be sharing those with you over the next month or so.  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Anemone Maiden

      I'm so excited about finding a new progressive challenge, this one at Moondrea Designs (formerly Moon Flower.)   This is the first image given to the players and she's called "Anemone Maiden."  I can't tell you how much fun it was to color her!  I had to go to their Etsy shop and buy a couple more images because I couldn't just wait until September to get the next progressive image.  :-D

     I colored her with my Sanjoki markers, adding highlights to all the pearls with a white gel pen, then cut the image with a Tonic Studios die.  I inked the edges with a Tim Holtz ink pad.  The woodgrain paper for the background came from a DCWV stack (a very old stack which has been in my stash for at least 8 years!)  I printed the sentiment and cut it with an Avery Elle die, then matted it with a scrap of the background dp and trimmed it to size.  The two little flower embellies are from Petaloo.  

     I've already put this one in my stash of birthday cards and I'm sure it'll be used within the next month.  Summer seems to be a busy time for family birthdays around here.

     Challenges:

Crafty Calendar

Cupcake Inspirations

Gem of a Challenge

Let's Craft & ...

Lil Patch of ...

Penny's P-C

Star Stampz

Triple B

     Have yourself a wonderful day and find some time to craft if that makes you happy.  Stay out of the heat or the humidity and especially the flooding rains left over from tropical storm Debby.

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie