Green Frogs

      I know that post title doesn't lead you to think St. Patrick's Day but as soon as you see the image, you'll be right there.  lol  This is a clip art image and I was so tickled by it that I just had to make a card.  I love that it's so far out of the normal realm of leprechauns, shamrocks, or pots of gold.

     Image digitally colored (something new I'm trying but will probably abandon because it takes so much printer ink & that has gotten really expensive!) and cut with Tonic Studios die, then the edges were inked.  Sentiment was printed and cut with an Avery Elle die.  The patterned paper was in the scrap basket and all I did was trim the top and one side, leaving a triangle corner of white.  Since this card is going to one of the guys in my family, I left it without embellishment.

     Challenges:

Classic Design

Crafting Uncles

Creatalicious

Creative Fingers

Creative Inspiration

LeighSBDesigns

Outlawz Friday

Paper Shelter

     I'll have another post tomorrow so be sure to stop by.  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Irish Dragon

     I shared a St. Patrick's card the other day which I had made for my granddaughter who loves cows, and today I have one for another granddaughter who adores dragons (as do I !)  

     I merged this digital coloring book, clip art image, with the small dragon image merged in the upper corner, then printed it in very light grayscale.  Once printed, I colored it with water colors and alcohol markers.  The image was cut with a Tonic Studios die and layered onto a white background on which I had printed the sentiment.  The background paper came from a K & Co. stack.

     Challenges:

Classic Design

Digi Choosday

Double Trouble

Outlawz SAR (March, April, Nature)

Pammie's IP

Simon Says Stamp

Star Stampz

     Enjoy and Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Leprechaun Gnomes

 Happy St. Patrick's Day !

     

  And thank you for sharing my birthday with me.  :-D

    Here's the second of the Gnome Leprechauns images I used for my St. Patrick's cards.  I love them with their fire-y red beards and green apparel, celebrating the day as though all gnomes are Irish on March the 17th.  But then, why not?  Everyone is allowed to be Irish on that day, aren't they?  Truth is, my family history comes from Ireland on both sides of my family so what better day for me to also celebrate my birthday?

     Here's the card and the short and sweet of it is that it's all done with scraps of this and that, and I kept it happily CAS, discounting the print in the dp.

     Challenges:

Crafty Catz

Creative Fingers

Double Trouble (2 of 3)

Inspiration Station (green)

LeighSBDesigns

Li'l Patch of ...

Outlawz SAR

Paper Dragonfly

Pattie's Creations

There's a Stamp ...

     That's it for today.  I'm off to spend the majority of the day with family and friends, celebrating both my birthday and being Irish!  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Shamrock Wishes

      This is my second card in a row with a delightful image from Jan's Digi Stamps!  Scroll down one post to see the card DT that I did for Pammie's Inky Pinkies which is being sponsored by Jan's this week.  Today is the first Monday in March and our new monthly has just started at Jan's Digi Stamps.  Our theme is always "Anything Goes" and the challenge will run until the first Sunday in April.  

     My DT card for today features one of Jan's most recent releases, a set called "Shamrock Wishes."  You really should check it out.  There are 5 different images in the set plus sentiments!   Everything on the card was done with scraps, including the ribbon for the bow.  I used polychromos pencils to color the image, then cut and framed it (with scraps of black and white CS) using QuicKutz dies.  The papers are scrap bits from an old K & Co. stack and the ribbon for the bow was the last I had of it in my stash.

     Challenges:

4-Season

Double Trouble

Inspiration Station

Lil Patch of ...

Pixie's Snippets

Polkadoodles

Simon Says Stamp

Stamping Sensations

We Love Stamping

     I hope you're going to come play with us this month.  We love being inspired by you.  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

'Tis a Sweet Irish Lassie

     It's Saturday and that means another challenge has started over at Open-Minded Crafting Fun.  We have four more fabulous sponsors this fortnight (Dilly Beans, Flat Friends, The Stamping Chef, and Whoopsi Daisy) and a great new theme, "Something Green."  Well, not only am I getting prepared for the green of spring, I'm thinking of St. Patrick's Day and my own Irish heritage.  Today's card is a tribute to all of the above.  The image is from The Stamping Chef and it's called "Louisa Mae."

I used the sketch from The Outlawz Sketch Challenge this week.

      I tried a new technique on this card which I learned about a couple of weeks ago.  It has to do with "velvet" glitters which I discovered over at Sparkle n Sprinkle (challenge theme -- use loose glitter, EP or flocking), which are micro fine glitters with an incredible look and feel.  Let me tell you about making my card and we'll get to the glittering technique in order.

     I colored the image with ProMarkers, and then die cut it with one of my framing dies from Spellbinders.   I kept the outer (negative) piece, chalked the edges of it with mint green chalk, then laid it back around the frame piece.  I took a piece of sticker paper, peeled the paper off one side and laid the image and outer piece onto the sticker paper.

     All the open holes in the die cut frame were now "sticky" so I sprinkled on Mountain Mist velvet glitter, burnished it into the sticky holes with my finger, brushed off the excess glitter into a coffee filter I had put under the image piece, and then I cut the outside shape of  the chalked piece to what you see on the card.  Peeling off the paper from the back side of the image piece let me adhere the image right to the card front (after laying down the green newsprint paper, of course.)

     I added the triple bow and the shamrocks (also die cut from sticker paper and glittered), then the sentiment, pearl swirl, and gems in the corners.  I wish the sparkle of the velvet glitter showed up better in the photo.  I guess you'll just have to take my word for how sparkly it is IRL.  I love this sticker paper technique and plan to do a lot more practicing with it.  I want to try some other masking techniques with it as well.  In case you're wondering, yes, I had glitter everywhere!  lol  But that's because I seem to be a glitter magnet when I try to use anything more than the teeniest pinch of it at a time.

     Challenges:
Baffies Kreativladen -- Anything goes
Creative Moments -- Anything goes or swirls/ pearls
Divas by Design -- Sparkle
Digi Sketch -- Anything goes
House That Stamps Built -- Black, white & 1 color (green)
I {heart} ProMarkers -- Die cuts, no punches
Lexi's Creations -- Monochromatic
Paper Pretties -- New technique
Passion for ProMarkers -- Make it digital
Perfectly Rustics -- Shades of one color
Simon Says Stamp -- Pearls

     I have three posts today and one of them is as a new DT member so be sure to check out each one of them.  I assure you, you'll find lots of green so you can pretend it's spring or just celebrate the Emerald Isle.  :-D  Happy Stamping  NanaConnie