Sibling Bonds

     In my world, nothing is more important than family.  If you think you've seen this before, you may have but today I'm using this as my DT card for the Crafting with an Attitude August challenge and the image, "Tiger Cubs," is from our wonderful sponsor, Morgan's Art World.  I had to dig back to cards I've previously created because I simply ran out of both time and ability to craft anything new due to the shoulder problems I've been having.  Too many Christmas cards last week, I guess.  :-D

Spotlight coloring with ProMarkers
Paper scraps
Distressing
Velveteen ribbon
Burlap twine bow
Kraft CS card base

     Challenges:
Cardz TV
Crafting by Designs
Lil Patch of Crafty Friend
Outlawz Twisted Thurs
Pile It On
Polkadoodles
Simon Says Stamp
Simon Says Stamp & Show
Word Art Weds.

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Coldest Day of Winter

     We start a new challenge over at Crafting with an Attitude and our theme is always "Anything Goes."  Our wonderful sponsor this month is Lacy Sunshine (Colour of Love) and I'm using a darling image called Rory's Winter Day.

My colors came from My Favorite Things.

     I decided to do a card using the 'spotlight' technique so I printed the image twice, cut one with a rectangle die from Spellbinders, and colored the second one with my ProMarkers, adding just a touch of sparkle with some glitter on the snowflakes.

     Once colored, I used a circle die (QuicKutz) to cut just the portion of the image where I wanted to focus attention.  I inked the edges of both cut pieces, then layered the colored circle on top of the black and white image to create the 'spotlight.'

     I found an icy-blue card base, wrapped it with sparkly, silver and white ribbon, then added the image.  I printed the sentiment, hand cut it, and added it to the lower section of the card front.  I think this is a delightful CAS design with just enough sparkle to celebrate the cold chill of early January!

     Challenges:
A Gem of a Challenge
Cardz TV
Cute N Crafty
Cutie Pie
Double Trouble
Jo's Scrap Shack
Outlawz Festive Fri.
Whoopsi Daisy

     That's it for today but I'll have another post tomorrow and then I'll be back to my post holiday activities.  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie 

Thanks to Our Veterans

     I'm always supportive of our military veterans and I make cards for those who are involved in the Honor Flight trips to our nation's capital.  I also try to honor them on Memorial Day and that's coming up the end of this month.  This is a sample of the style I like to do and I've done half a dozen of these over the last two years, using this same image and color combo.  The image is from Delicious Doodles and the poppies are perfect for veterans.

     I printed the image twice, coloring one and leaving the other black and white.  I die cut the colored one with a plain circle die from Spellbinders, inked the edges with black ink, and layered it onto the black and white image.  This "spotlight" technique is one of my favorites.

     To make the red pop even more, I used black CS for the card blank, adding a panel of white inside for writing the note.  I printed the sentiment, hand cut it, inked the edges, and added it to the image piece.  Offsetting the image on the card front left me room to add the single, red, bow with the pearls.  Since I don't know if this card will go to a man or a woman, I did only that minimal embellishment, keeping it pretty CAS. 

     Challenges:
A Bit More Time to Craft
Addicted to Stamps & More
A Perfect Time to Craft
Crafting by Designs
Crafts Galore Encore
Die Cut Divas
Dies R Us
Double D
I {heart} ProMarkers

     A salute to all our veterans of whatever conflict or war.  We DO appreciate your unselfish service to our country.  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Victorian Lady

     This is an image I've had in my collection for a while but I can't remember ever using it.  It came from Rick St. Dennis (Sparkle n Glitter) and it seemed perfect for doing a "Spotlight Technique."

     I started with two of the images, leaving one completely black and white and coloring most of the second one with my ProMarkers.  I really love subdued shades of pink, green, and yellow for vintage cards.

     I used one of my diamond shaped dies from Spellbinders to cut out an angled section of the colored image, but I trimmed that to make it narrower than the die shape.  I matted that colored piece with a double layer of sandalwood CS to give some dimension and texture, then layered it onto the black and white image, lining it up with the image below.

     I matted the white image piece with some green CS and wrapped that with pink and green polka dot ribbon.  I used my bow maker to tie a 5-loop bow using two different ribbons.  All of that went onto a pink card front.  I added a die cut butterfly (Cheery Lynn) and put pearls on it's body and also on the lower corner of the card.

     Challenges:
Allsorts
Angie's Digital Stamps
Cards in Envy
Craft-Dee BowZ
Crafty Calendar
Jo's Scrap Shack
Lemon Shortbread
Ribbon Girl
Scrapy Land
TTCRD
Tuesday Throwdown

     I'm heading back into my craft room to work on some DT cards.  I like to be ahead a couple of weeks on those just so I'm not scrambling at the last minute but, somehow, time too often gets away from me despite my best intentions.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend, my friends.  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Double Spotlight on Flowers

IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR MY TUESDAY THROWDOWN CARD TODAY, 

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN ONE POST.

     Our challenge for May over at Open-Minded Crafting Fun has four sponsors; Dr. Digi's, Julia Spiri, Lemon Shortbread, and Scribbles Designs.   We have a fun theme of "Using Your Favorite Technique."   There are several I really like to use but doing a Spotlight Technique has been a favorite ever since I first tried it.  Recently, I learned how to do a Double Spotlight and I love that even more!

     The image I used is "Flower Pot 2" from Scribbles Designs.

I took my colors mostly from the inspirational photo at

Make My Monday.

     After the image was printed, I printed a second one and colored only the flowers (ProMarkers.)  I cut it with a Scalloped Stitched Circle die from Memory Box, then cut out the center of that piece with another, smaller die from that same set.  I mounted the center piece onto Pop Dots so that it was raised above the main spotlight piece.  Lining up the spotlight pieces with the black and white image underneath resulted in an out-of-the-box technique also.

     With so much detail from the two techniques, I used a very CAS design for the overall card.  The sentiment was printed, hand cut, and adhered to the background dp which I found in my scrap basket.  I thought the tiny dots in the dp pattern complemented the stitches in the die cuts.

     Challenges:
A Bit More Time to Craft
Artistic Inspirations
Card Mania
CAS on Sunday
Classic DT
Crafts Galore Encore
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper
Crafting from the Heart
Craft Your Passion
Dragonfly Dreams
Eureka Stamps
Incy Wincy
My Crafting Stories
One Stitch at a Time
Scrapy Land

     I hope we're going to see you entering the challenge this month.  Just decide on a technique and make something you can enter.  We can hardly wait to have you inspire us.  :-D  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie