Silver Fox

      Maya Silvercat is one of my favorite artists and I've introduced my sis-in-law to her artwork and digital images.  The image on this card was colored by my SIL, using Ohuhu markers (she has so thoroughly mastered alcohol markers in less than 2 months!)  I love how she decided to make the fox a silvery white.  Really masterful !

     I still haven't gotten her to actually make cards (or even scrapbook pages) with her colored images but we have this marvelous collaboration going, and I make cards out of her colored images.  Of course, I continue to color images myself, but this one is another of our collaborations.  :-D

      The image, once colored, was cut with a Tonic Studios die, and I inked the edges.   The background for the image was made by running a piece of charcoal gray CS through my Linen embossing folder. That added a delightful bit of texture.  The birthday sentiment was printed and cut with an Avery Elle die.  For the bow, I used white ribbon, dyed green with a marker, then hand sewn into the butterfly shape.  

     Challenges:

Beautiful Blossoms

Digi Choosday

DL Art

Pattie's Creations

Penny's P-C

Simon Says Stamp

Word Art Weds

     That's all for today but check back tomorrow for another post.  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie  

Fox for Halloween

      One of the best things about celebrating Halloween is getting to see all the adorable costumes that the kids wear.  This image from Kinda Cute is the freebie for their Progressive Challenge this month.  Isn't it darling?

      I used ProMarkers to color the image, then cut it with a CUTplorations stitched die.  The Trick or Treat  was cut from a scrap of black CS and the die is from Impression Obsession.  The spider web was cut with a Memory Box die and the bats came from a Die-versions die.  The sentiment was cut with n Avery Elle die.

      I left it as simple as possible so that it would be flat for mailing by adding all the elements to a brown card front.  For you purists who believe that open space must be white in order for something to be CAS, you'll be disappointed by this card, but I think the brown adds an autumn flavor and make the little fox pop..  :-D

     Challenges:

Allsorts

Colour Crazy

Crafty Calendar

Crafty Catz

Creative Fingers

Di's Digi Designs

Outlawz PAM

Outside the Box

Simon Says Stamp

     I hope your weekend is going great and that you find lots of "me" time.  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Foxy Elsa

      Here we are in  April and I'm not fooling when I say it's time for the next challenge at 2 Crafty Critter Crazies, where our theme is always "Anything Goes with a Critter."  We are sponsored this month by SheepSki Designs and they generously provided images for the DT to use.  I used a cute little fox called "Elsa."

     I've managed to get cards done for 3 of my DTs, which you'll see posted this upcoming week but it still takes me a day or two to get one card made.  Sitting up to do the coloring is the most time consuming and I find that my attention drifts and I tend to call it 'finished' before I add all the shading and highlighting I normally would do.  I think it's because I'm afraid I'll take too long and miss the deadline, and I just want to get on to the actual card making part of it.  So, be patient with me and my coloring will get back to my usual painstaking detail.  

Colored with watercolor pencils & ProMarkers

Cut w Sizzix die

Scraps of dp from my stash - 1 cut w Sizzix die

Grosgrain ribbon from my stash

Hand-tied bow

     Challenges:

Allsorts

Aud Sentiments

Colour Crazy

C.R.A.F.T.

Creative Fingers

Cute Card Thurs

Double Trouble

Dream Valley

Inspiration Station

Paperbabe

    Come play with us this month and don't forget to visit the 2 Crafty Critter Crazies blog to see what everyone else has done with SheepSki Designs images for this challenge.  Happy Crafting   NanaConnie

Christmas Leftovers for the New Year

     I know most of us think about turkey, dressing, or pecan pie when we hear the word "leftovers" a day or two after Christmas, but sometimes the leftovers are hanging on the tree or can be found in the Ball jar which was filled with candy.

     This darling little fox image from the Progressive Challenge at LeAnn's World 101 made me think about leftover candy canes since the card didn't get made until halfway to the New Year.  Mind you, I can't guarantee that foxes love candy canes but I have one cat who loves popcorn and another who thinks cauliflower is a treat so who knows?

Colored with pencils and mounted on Pop Dots
Fussy cut with scissors
Paper is a Christmas wrap 'leftover'
Snowflake is a button with glitter added
Card base is made from leftover CS

     Challenges:
A Bit More Time ...
Allsorts
Christmas w/ the Cuties
Crafty Hazelnut's
Creatalicious
Double Trouble (striped candy cane)
Pammie's Inky Pinkies
Prika Crafts
World Wide DT

     Wishing you all a Happy New Year in just a few more days!   Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Autumn Fox

     This darling little fox is an image from MMedal Illustrations and he's the freebie image for the Outlawz Progressive challenge this month.  I considered treating him as an Arctic Fox but decided that he'd be perfect for a card done in autumn colors.  I may use him again in icy colors for a winter card.

I decided to use colors from the 3rd column of Color My Heart's

Tic Tac Toe color challenge, plus neutrals of brown and gray.

     I love the expression on his face - he seems so happy!  I colored with ProMarkers and polychromos pencils.  I cut him with an octagon die from QuicKutz and matted him with another, larger octagon cut.

     The polka dot paper is a scrap which I chose because it has the three colors in the column perfectly matched.  I chose CS as close to the "nectarine" color as I could get and made the card base.  My two ribbons look much more orange than they are IRL; they really are just deeper hues of the nectarine color but I have photographed this card 4 different times in different light each time and they continue to look orange.  Sigh....

     Challenges:
Addicted to Stamps
A Gem of a Challenge
Cardz TV
Crafty Calendar
DL.ART
Dragonfly Dreams
Polkadoodles
Southern Girls

     Well, the weekend has officially started and I'm on a coloring binge.  That means I'll have plenty I can do tomorrow to put cards together and get them ready to post.  In the meantime, a few hours of sleep is in order.  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie