Forest Gratitude

     Gratitude can take place anywhere and these animals that live in the woods are overflowing with a gratitude message.  What better day to share it than on Thanksgiving?  The card is my DT inspiration piece for FarmQuest and our challenge theme this fortnight is "Things found in the Woods."

     The image on the card was originally an ad from an old newspaper (c 1945) which I wasn't willing to destroy.  So I photocopied it, added a bit of color with pencils and Ohuhu markers, then sponged it with pale ivory ink from a worn out marker.  I loved the "old" look that gave to the paper.  I tore the image rather than cut it with scissors because I thought it gave a more rustic feel.  I chose a kraft card base, again more rustic than a plain white CS.  The sentiment was cut with an Avery Elle die.  The brown bits on either side of the image piece are washi tape with leaf shapes punched out.

     Challenges:

Digi Choosday

Krafty Chicks

Penny's P-C

Simon Says Stamp

Word Art Weds

    

     Come play with us this challenge.  I know you must be making the last (first???) of your Christmas cards by now and what better way to get into a country feel and enter a card with "Things in the Woods?"  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Woodland Critters

     A second post today because I just had to share a tag I made using the mid-month freebie from Conjuror of Dreams for their Tag Challenge.  They do 2 tag challenges each month on their FB site and I didn't get one finished in time for the first challenge in November so I didn't want to be late with this one.  They offer freebies to use in the tag challenge and those alone make it totally worth playing.  :-D

     Isn't this the cutest collection of woodland critters building their winter snowman?  I used kraft CS for the tab and made the shape myself by cutting a rectangle with a die from QuicKutz and then cutting the top corners with a punch from EK Success.  The image is pre-colored and I used it "as is" instead of printing it in grayscale and coloring it myself.  I added pearls to the sides and bottom, then added a "To/From" stamp to the back.  Red twine was added through the hole on top finished it off.

     Challenges:

Ally's Angels

C.R.A.F.T.

Craft Rocket

Crafty Catz

Creative Fingers

Creative Inspiration

Lil Patch of ...

Outlawz Friday

     That's it for today.  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Besties

      I absolutely adore the image I used on this card today!  I also love the idea of a cat and a mouse being besties.  :-D   The sentiment was printed along with the image, then the image was colored with Ohuhu alcohol markers.  After coloring, I cut it using my Fiskars paper cutter.  (Reminder to self - it's time to replace the blade.  lol)  I rounded the corners with a Uchida punch from Marvy.  

     I found a dark green CS in my stash and cut it to size for the card front, then added a wide strip of dp to the left hand side (scrap from a DCWV stack.)  The bow is one of my hand sewn, butterfly-shape bows with a pearl.  I spend an entire afternoon hand sewing those by the dozen and tossing them into my stash for future use, sometimes with a pearl, sometimes without.  Over the years, I've learned to buy only white ribbon to make those because it's so easy to 'dye' them with markers to get the exact color I want,  matching up one of the colors used on the image.  This time, I kept the bow white.

     Challenges:

613 Avenue Create

Creative Fingers

Double Trouble

Gem of a Challenge

Pammie's IP

SUYP Cats

Word Art Weds

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Family Togetherness

      This is another collaboration card with my sis-in-law, Lainy.  A few weeks back, I introduced her to alcohol markers (a medium she had never used before) and her grasp of how to use them effectively came so quickly!  She is truly a fantastic colorist.  But the actual card making, layout, and design has become my end of the collaboration because she really loves the coloring more than the card making, which I love both ends of that particular crafting endeavor.  :-D

     The image on this card is clip art, printed in grayscale, and colored with Ohuhu mrkers.  I notice those are the markers she tends to grab first though I also have a wonderful array of ProMarkers and Sanjoki markers, plus a scattered few Copics.  Eventually, as the markers run dry, instead of refilling any of them, I'm shifting over to the Ohuhu markers altogether.

     I cut the image with a die from QuicKutz, then rounded the corners with a Fiskars punch.  I inked the edges of the image and layered it onto a piece of Recollections dp.  The black bow is a triple-loop bow made on my Zutter Bow-It-All and I used ribbon from Really Reasonable Ribbon.  I have two of those bow makers (version 2.0 and version 3.0) and I wouldn't give them up for anything.  

     The only place I can find them anymore is on Amazon but having both of them means that Lainy and I can get work together making some good-sized bows for the holiday wreaths we are going to make for family.  We've been going through old crafting stash and scouring local craft stores for ribbons, wreath bases (all kinds), Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas 'foliage' picks, and small decorative bits that will enhance the wreaths.

     Ok, now for a look at the card.  I'm going to use this one for a Thanksgiving card.

     Challenges:

Colorful Options

Crafting Challenge

Crafty Gals Corner

Incy Wincy

Mirtillamente

Morgan's ArtWorld

Outlawz Weds

Penny's P-C

Word Art Weds

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

At the End

      I have a fun card to share with you today which takes a very black and white view of being last in all things.  :-D  The image is one by QKR Stampede, very simply called "Zebra."  

     I printed it and added some subtle shading with Ohuhu markers, my first time using them (and I do like them!)  The image was cut with a Spellbinders die, and I matted it twice with dp from the Midnight Chic paper stack by DCWV.  That stack happens to be rather old.  I bought two of them at least 10 years ago, have used most of the first one, and I cut into two sheets from second stack for this card.  One is the darker frame and the other is the background dp.  I used white CS to frame the image before layering it onto the background.

     The sentiment was printed and cut with a Tonic Studios die.

     Challenges:

613 Avenue Create

Crafting

Crafts Galore ...

Do Al(l) Kreatives

Lil Patch of Crafty ...

Mirtillamente

Morgan's ArtWorld

     Have a great day and Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Pudding Mouse

      It's the 7th of the month and time for a new challenge over at FarmQuest Country Christmas blog.  Our theme is always Anything Country Christmas and we're mostly looking for outdoor Christmas decorations, critters, scenes, etc.  They need to be 'country or farm' rather than city streets or skylines.

     I chose this adorable little field mouse, cooking up a Christmas pudding for her family.  Can't you just see her in her country kitchen, tucked away in the roots of some great oak tree, carefully preparing a feast for her entire brood?  I adore her calico apron and cap.

     This is a pre-colored, clip art image to which I added the sentiment before printing.  (I just didn't have time to print her in grayscale and color her myself this time, but I'll do that in the future.  :-D) I cut it with a die from Spellbinders and layered it onto an icy blue dp from Doodlebug.  I used my bow maker to tie a double-loop bow, using 2 strands of 1/8" red ribbon.  Isn't she adorable?

     Challenges:

Christmas Craft

Crafty Gals Corner

Double D

Gem of a Challenge

My Favorite Things

Outlawz Festive Fri

Paper Funday

Peace on Earth

Word Art Weds

     We'd love to see you playing along with us this month.  Anything with a country Christmas feel will qualify.  :-D  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Lion Love

      I know it's February and everyone is thinking Valentine's Day, but this card is also perfect for an anniversary.  In fact, my daughter asked me to use this cute lion image (clip art from Serene Designs, I think) on a card for her hubby.  

     I decided on a very CAS design for the card, cutting the grayscale & water-colored image with one of my oldest Spellbinder's square dies, then punching each of the four corners with a punch from Fiskars.  I mounted that onto a scrap piece of deep burgundy CS used for the card front and called it finished.  :-D

     Challenges:

Colorful Options

Creative Fingers

HeartQuest EWA

Incy Wincy

Mirtillamente

Morgan's ArtWorld

Outlawz Monday

Park Hopping (Safari Land in the original Disneyland)

Pearly Sparkles

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Woodland Deer

      I have two posts today and this is the first of the two.  We're starting a new challenge over at FarmQuest General Store where we always have an underlying theme of 'country' or 'farm' but beyond that, it's always "Anything Goes."  Challenges begin on the 7th of each month, and end on the 5th of the following month.

     Today I've done a card using a beautiful clip art image of deer in a winter woodland.  I printed it in grayscale, then colored it with a combination of Sanjoki and ProMarkers.  I cut the image and the navy blue frame for it with dies from QuicKutz.  The papers are from a very old DCWV stack ("Winter Magic") which I've had in my Christmas stash for at least 10 years and I'm still using scraps from it.  I loved it so much the first time I used a piece, I rushed back to the store and bought 2 more stacks.  I'm glad I did.  I've never gotten tired of it.  :-D

     I added a bit of wrapped, glittery twine and tied it in such a way that I made a tassel at the tie-off. The sentiment was printed and cut with an Avery Elle die.

     Challenges:

A Perfect Time ...

Crafts Galore ...

Critter Crazy

Kerst Christmas

Mirtillamente

Morgan's ArtWorld

Rabisco

     We'd love to see you playing in our challenge this month.  If you've created something with a country feel to it, come enter it.  

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie   

Thanksgiving Bounty

      I had a fantastic day yesterday selling my cards at a rather large craft fair!  The fair has been an annual event for several years now, used as a fund raiser for one of our local private schools, but this is the first time I have participated as a vendor.  The one rule is that every vendor must be selling only hand-crafted items.   I focused primarily on Thanksgiving and Christmas cards, plus a few gift card holders, but did sell a few birthday, anniversary, thinking of you, and humorous general greeting cards.

     While I was sitting in my booth, I put together a lot of Christmas and Thanksgiving cards which I had prepared as kits (all the loose parts and pieces tucked into the envelope ready to be turned into a card) and I was just doing the final assembly phase.  But it drew people to my booth and they seemed to enjoy watching the process.

     Today (and in the upcoming week), I want to share with you some of those cards.

     This first one has a water color, clip art, image, with a merged sentiment, and it was cut with a QuicKutz die, then matted with orange, & then white, CS.  Both the striped dp and the flowers dp came from a DCWV autumn stack.

     Challenges:

     Hope you'll enjoy this and will visit again during the week to see more of them.  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Christmas Horse and Cardinal

      Good morning (or afternoon or evening, whatever time it is when you visit.)  Today I have two posts done within minutes of each other and both are for different FarmQuest challenges.  This one is for the FarmQuest Country Christmas Challenge (FQCCC.)  In case you missed it, the FarmQuest General Store post is immediately before this one.  Be sure to check it out, too.

     The card was amazingly quick to make.  I know horses aren't exactly traditional CHRISTMAS critters, not like polar bears or penguins, but I found this incredible clip art image, pre-colored, and I just had to use it!  It was perfect for a country Christmas.  I merged the sentiment before printing it.  I added a few white highlights using a polychromos pencil.  I cut the image with a QuicKutz die before layering it on top of a background made with glittery mesh ribbon strips and burlap/baker's twine strings in the very middle.  Rather CAS and the whole thing took less than 15 minutes.

     Challenges:

Christmas Kickstart

Colorful Options

Digi Choosday

Happy...Stampers

Holly & Ivy

Outlawz Friday

Peace on Earth

Triple B (bird, blossoms)

     I hope we're going to see you playing along this month.  I know we're all focused on Christmas (and other December holiday) cards this month, so why not find an image with a country or farm theme and use it to enter our Country Christmas challenge?  See you there.

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Pussy Willows

     I love, love, LOVE this clip art, digital image of kittens on a pussy willow branch.  Aren't those faces precious?  I pulled out my tiniest, thinnest brushes and, to get the softness of the buds and the fur, I used watercolor paints with a few colored pencil strokes added.  

     The image was cut with a Tonic Studios die and the edges were inked with markers.  I printed the sentiment and cut it with an Avery Elle die, then inked the edges of it.  The background (blue and white) is actually fabric!

     Challenges:

A Perfect Time ...

Crafts Galore Encore

Creatalicious

Creative Moments

Happy...Stampers

Morgan's ArtWorld

Pammie's IP

Rabisco

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Merry Country Christmas

      Can you believe that our fearless leader at FarmQuest has opened a new 'country' challenge blog?  This time she's focused on Christmas (opt: winter) and I jumped at the chance to be part of the DT.  The challenge is called FarmQuest Country Christmas challenge (naturally) and playing along is a great way to get your Christmas cards done a bit at a time over the entire year.

     The challenge goes live on the 7th of each month and runs through the 5th of the next month.  You may enter up to 5 times in each challenge.

     For my first DT card, I chose this delightful clip art image which I printed twice in grayscale, adjusting one of the images to be smaller and I 'pyramided' it as a top layer on the larger image.  I colored the smaller one with a combination of Sanjoki markers, watercolors, and white gel pen on the snow and snowflakes.

     I cut the images with Tonic Studios dies, and cut the mat frames with dies from QuicKutz.  The red snowflake dp is from Doodlebug and it's been in my stash for at least 6 years.  The sentiment was printed onto white CS before I cut it for the frame.  Because I'm going to use this as a masculine card, I left it rather simple and without any embellishment other than the background paper.

     Challenges:

12 Months...Christmas

Art Impressions

Creative Fingers

Happy...Stampers

Holly & Ivy

I Love Markers

Kerst Christmas

My Favorite Things

Outlawz Friday

Paperminutes

     Come check out this new challenge.  We'd love to see what you create.  Remember, it's always a "Country Christmas" (or country winter) theme.  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

The Calico Cat

      This card was inspired by a wonderful and serendipitous brunch I had yesterday.  I was invited to join my daughter and her next door neighbor, Margaret, for a brunch.  Margaret and I happen to have brother and sister cats (same litter) who are now 12 years old.  Her sweet Gracie is a calico.  We spent nearly 2 hours regaling each other with cat stories about the two of them and it was amazing how much alike they are even though they've not seen each other since they were separated at about 5 weeks old after being abandoned by their feral mother.  Margaret and I were just two kindred hearts (translate:  crazy cat ladies!)

     Anyway, Margaret insisted on picking up the check for our meals and I wanted to send her a Thank You so I made this card, using a new die I got from Poppy Stamps.  I cut the cat from heavy white CS, then colored it with my Sanjoki markers.  The sentiment was printed and fussy cut with scissors.

     The background papers are from an old (old, old, OLD!) DCWV stack and the orange square was embossed with a polka dot EF.  The die cut cat had it's own embossing to enhance the 'fur' lines.  When I layered everything together, I used Pop Dots under the head of the cat so that it's raised up for a bit of dimension.

     Challenges:

Can You Handle ...?

Crafts Galore ...

Crafty Calendar

Creative Fingers

Let's Craft and ...

Outlawz Friday

Polkadoodles

Poppy Stamps

SUYP Cats

     Have yourself a wonderful weekend and Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Happy as a ...

      Yep, if you read the post title, right now in your head you're finishing that sentence with "pig in mud!"  lol  At FarmQuest this next two weeks, we have a theme of "Pigs," plus we've partnered with Double Trouble and that means also using something with a wood grain on our cards.  

If you enter our challenge and you use a wood grain, you can enter at Double Trouble, too.

     I used a clip art image of two pigs happily sharing a mud puddle, colored it with watercolor paints, and cut it with a Sizzix scalloped die.  I printed the sentiment and deliberately cut it on an angle using an Avery Elle die.  The wood grain dp is from a Brutus Monroe paper stack.

I pulled colors from the challenge at My Favorite Things.

     Challenges:

Butterfly

CRAFTalnica

Creative Fingers

Digi Choosday

Happy ... Stampers

Pammie's IP

Paper Funday

Polkadoodles

Simon Says Stamp

     Come play along this challenge.  All you need is something 'farm country' and as long as your pigs aren't dressed in tuxedos or spats, I'm pretty sure any pig will be 'farm country' enough.  Use something wood grain and you can play at Double Trouble, too.

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

The Cats' Christmas Tree

      Any of you who share your house (or have shared your house) with one or more cats know how they absolutely take over the Christmas tree once it's up and decorated.  It's like they think Santa brought that tree as a gift just for them!  This adorable image from Conie Fong, called "Purrfect Christmas," goes so well with another DT card I shared the other day (see post here) which also has Christmas kittens and is from Conie Fong, that I decided I had to share both of these in the same week.  :-D  Besides, falling in love with one of those images made me fall in love with the other one, too!

     For this image, I colored it with water color paints, added gold glitter to the star, and cut the image with an Unbranded die.  I used a Darise embossing folder to make the brick background.  I printed the sentiment (my own, inspired by the looks on the kittens' faces!) and cut it with an Avery Elle die.  I did add a few tiny red pearls as ornaments but I left it without further embellishment because it will probably go a great grandson so it didn't need a lot of fiddly bits.

     Challenges:

12 Months Christmas

Carlin's Card ... (C for Cats & Christmas)

Country View

Happy...Stampers

Kerst/Christmas

Lil Patch of ...

Polkadoodles

Sparkles Christmas

YSBP

     Don't forget that the Conie Fong Challenge is still running on the Facebook site and all you have to do is use a Conie Fong image to enter a card.  If you haven't joined the FB group yet, that's free and easy to do.  Don't have any Conie Fong images?  You can find them in the Etsy store or there are even freebies available. :-D

     We'd love to see what you create.  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie   

Christmas Kitties

      It's the first of the month and this is the day when the newest challenge would be starting over at QKR Stampede.  However, sad news to tell.  The challenges are on hold for the indefinite future.  The QKR brand (with the Eureka Stamps brand) is up for sale and, until a buyer is found, there's no website for you to visit to look at or purchase those digital images (or the rubber stamp equivalent.)

     However, as a DT member of the QKR Stampede challenge, I had prepared this card so I decided to share it here on my blog.  In honor of the "Christmas in July" we all love so much (and because I haven't even started making cards for my Christmas stash this year), I chose this Christmas Cats image.  I'm probably going to do mostly Christmas cards this month.

     I colored with a combo of Sanjoki and Copic markers, then cut both the image and the frame with cross-stitched Unbranded dies.  The dp is from Doodlebug.  I left it pretty CAS because most of my Christmas cards get mailed so they need to be flat.   Just a note - usually when I do CAS designs, I prefer a plain background instead of patterned paper but at Thanksgiving and Christmas, pretty dp seems to be so much more festive so it's dp as my favorite on holiday cards.  :-D

I pulled colors from the mood board at Double D

upper right and lower left.

     Challenges:

As You Like It

Carlin's Card ... "C" = Cats

Christmas BINGO "O"

   (rectangle, free, pattern paper)

Country View

CRAFT-alnica

Creative Fingers

Creative Knockouts

Kerst Christmas

Outlawz Thurs

     That's it for today but I'll be back tomorrow so stop by again.  :-D  NC

2 Year Old's Birthday

      I have a great granddaughter who is turning 2 at the end of this month, and although I've not yet met her (being in different states and nearly 1,000 miles apart), she knows that her NanaConnie is the one who sends hand made cards.  This is the card I'm sending this time.

     It's another card put together with all die cuts and this time, I used some negative portions of dies, things which either fall our of the die's design or what's left behind when the original die cut piece has already been used for another project.

     On this one, I stared by using my 'Linen' EF to dry emboss the card front.  The sentiment is the 'left behind' negative which I just couldn't bear to toss out.  It's from a Sizzix - Tim Holtz set of word dies.   The 'happy' and the 'birthday' are individual dies which I laid out, cut, and used on another birthday card but the way I laid them out meant that I had a scrap which could be trimmed into an interesting shape and used for this card.

     The giraffe die is from Cuts, and I cut them from orange and pink CS, then layered them onto the card front for a double exposure look.  The little stars are bits which fell out of a Hero Arts background die and I kept them for future use instead of throwing them away.  The final touch was to add the teeny-tiny gems (Recollections) to the center of the stars.

     Pretty quick and easy but a card which will be loved by a 2 year old.   :-D

       Challenges: 

Crafter's Cafe

Creations in Pink

Creative Fingers

Digi Choosday

Happy...Stampers Birthday

Happy...Stampers Dies

Outlawz Friday

Pammie's IP

     That's it for today.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend and Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Summertime Fun

      When I think of summer (especially early summer before it gets too miserably hot!), I think of being outdoors and having fun.  Our latest OPTIONAL theme at Crafty Catz (we always have an Anything Goes theme) is "Fun" and our sponsor this week is Hetty Clare.  I'm completely mad for her art!  She generously supplied images for the DT to use on their inspiration cards and I chose to use the one called "At Play."  

     NOTE TO MY READERS:  When I went over to the store to look for the image link to put into my post, I noticed that there's a 50% off sale right now.  Go check it out (and, yes, to answer your unasked question, I DID go on a shopping spree!  lol)  Click on the name of the image or on the Sponsor name above and it'll take you right to the shop.

     I colored the sheep and cow with Sanjoki markers before cutting the image with a die from Tutti Designs.  I printed and cut the sentiment with another die from that same set.  The background paper was in the scrap basket so I'm not sure of the maker but it's probably DCWV - a very old stack.  

     I added brown lace ribbon and one of my hand-sewn, signature bows, this time with a pearl sewn on. 

     Challenges:

613 Ave Create

Crafter's Cafe

Crafty Calendar

Creative Knockouts

Creative Moments

Die Cut Divas

Paper Shelter

Polkadoodles

Simon Says Stamp

The Four Seasons

     Come play in our challenge!  We love being inspired by you.  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Time for Purple & Pink

      We have a new challenge starting over at Crafty Catz this morning and our theme is always Anything Goes but we also offer you an OPTIONAL theme if you want to use it.  This week the option is: Purple and Pink!  I love this combo and purple is my favorite color regardless of theme or season or subject matter so this worked perfectly for me.

     Our sponsor this week is Di's Digi Designs and, while they weren't able to supply the DT with images to use, I did have this one in my collection so used it to do pink and purple.  Aren't those hedgies adorable?

     I colored with my Sanjoki markers and cut the image with a QuicKutz die.  The sentiment was cut with a Die-namics die.  The diagonal strip of dp came from the scrap basket and I'm pretty sure it's made by Doodlebug.  The lace bow was hand tied and added as the primary embellishment.

     This one goes in my birthday stash!  

I chose colors from My Favorite Things.

     Challenges:

613 Ave Create

Creative Inspirations

Di's Digi Designs

Dream Valley

Happy ... Stampers

Lil Patch of ...

Outlawz Friday

Pammie's IP

Simon Says Stamp

     I hope you'll come and play in our challenge this week.  We love being inspired by you.  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Herding Chickens

      My first born grandson is now raising three children of his own and I know he'll understand this sentiment perfectly!  lol  This is the 3rd Father's Day card I've shared in a week and it may be my favorite so far.  I'm still working on one more which I'll send to my son (who is my eldest child.)  

     The image is from a vintage, digital coloring book, reduced in size to fit an A2 card.  I started with the image in grayscale but changed it to blue with my computer software before I printed it.  I cut the image and the top sentiment with QuicKutz dies.  The lower sentiment was cut with an Avery Elle die.  The plaid paper came from that Paper Studio stack which is still on my crafting desk and which seems to have so many wonderful masculine papers in it.

     Challenges:

C.R.A.F.T.

Creative Fingers

Creative Inspiration

Cupcake Inspirations

Double Trouble (blue/mono/plaid)

Outlawz Thurs

Pammie's IP

Paperminutes

Paper Shelter

Penny's P-C

     I'll be back tomorrow with my DT card for Crafty Catz. Hope to see you then.  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie