Halloween, Cave Man Carl, and Tom Turkey

      Once more, we're prepping for an upcoming craft show and I've been focused on Halloween gnomes and critters since it will be in October.  But yesterday and today, I decided it was time for a nod to Thanksgiving and a brief flight of fancy into the distant past of cave men and Neanderthals.  :-D

     Let's start with some Halloween costumed gnomes and then check out Cave Man Carl and Tom Turkey.  I didn't do all of these in 2 days; all the ones for Halloween were made over the last 4 or 5 weeks.

     Here are a mummy, a witch with pink hair, one inspired by Frankenstein, a ghost, and finally a gnome dressed as Dracula.  The mummy and Frankenstein are actually troll gnomes who are dressed and ready for the Troll Valley Village's annual Halloween party!  A big "Thank You" to Patti J. Good for her inspiration on many of these.

     

  One more that could fit the "costume" theme is this adorable Cave Man Carl, but he also stands alone without a Halloween costume connection.

 

I'm entering this one into the Anything Goes challenge at Craftlandia.  

And, last but not least, this one for Thanksgiving, Tom Turkey.

     That all I have for today and hopefully, it won't be another month before I can post on my blog again.  Thanks for visiting.  I appreciate that you continue to visit even when I'm not posting regularly any more.  :-D  

      Happy Crafting.   NanaConnie

In the Pumpkin Patch

      Well, yesterday I shared a Thanksgiving card with you and today I've reverted back to another Halloween card, this one with an image from QKR Stampede.  Over the years that I was on the QKR Stampede DT, I'll bet I used this image every Halloween for at least 8 years (which is pretty much every year I was on the team!)  It's a favorite of mine but this time I get to share it as another collaboration with my sis-in-law doing the coloring of the image with Ohuhu markers and me putting the card together.

     The colored image was cut with a Spellbinders rectangle die but I rounded the corners with one of my Fiskars punches.  I did the same thing with the frame around the image, cut with a Spellbinders die and corners rounded with the Fiskars punch.  My sis-in-law loved the shape and asked me to cut more of her colored images that way when turning them into a card.  lol  She's getting hooked on the card making process, ... slooowly.  Just not yet ready to try her own hand at it.  

     (I made another card yesterday afternoon as a birthday card for one of her granddaughters but I made her choose the image, the size and shape of it, plus the paper for the background and all I did was choose one little embellishment.  Maybe I'll share that card tomorrow.)

     I used paper scraps which originally came from a Recollections Halloween stack to make the background.  I combined the two of them because neither was large enough to cover the entire card front but even with different size stripes, they worked together so well.  The sentiment was printed and cut with a small Tonic Studios die, then framed with a scrap bit of CS.

     Challenges:

Crafts Galore Encore

Do Al(l) Kreatives

Four Seasons

Halloween AYR

Krafty Chicks

Mirtillamente

Morgan's ArtWorld

SheepSki Designs

Simon Says Stamp

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Ghostie and Jack

      Another Halloween card to share, this one for one of the grandsons.  He'll never check the blog so it's ok to post this early.  I'll share another one tomorrow for one of the great-grands, also a boy.  I did this card as a masculine CAS card.

     I started with the image printed in very light gray scale, then used pencil to add darker grays in the most shaded areas and use my Sanjoki markers to color the ghost's eyes. mouth, and the jack-o-lantern.  I cut the image with a die from Tonic Studios, framed it with another die cut (also Tonic Studios die) and fussy cut the sentiment.  

     I found a scrap of purple dp which I layered onto the card front, then layered the image and sentiment on top of that.  No embellishment because it's a masculine card.

     Challenges:

Aloha Friday

Art Impressions

Creative Fingers

Double D

Inspired By

LeighSBDesigns

Most Magical Time ...

Paper Dragonfly

Penny's P-C

Simply CAS

     Thanks for stopping by.  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Pondering

     Here we are,  mid-way through October, and two weeks closer to Halloween.  It's also the day we start our new challenge at QKR Stampede, where our theme is always "Anything Goes" and it will run through the end of the month.

    Here's my DT card featuring a fun and fabulous QKR image called "Pondering."  

Colored w ProMarkers

Image & frame cut with QuicKutz

Papers from Making Memories

Bow hand-tied

     Challenges:

Aud Sentiments

Crafty Calendar

Crafty Gals Corner

Cute Card Thurs

Dragonfly Dreams

Inspired By

Paper Funday

Penny's Paper-Crafty

Scrapping4Fun

This is Halloween

Two Old Bats

     Happy Crafting and come play with us.  NanaConnie

Ghost

      Each and every month I like to play along in the progressive challenge at Limited Runs and this month they have given us a perfectly sweet Halloween ghost!  He was so delightfully simple that I decided to keep the card CAS as well.  I don't know what the image is actually called but I call him "Mr. Bowtie" in honor of the bowtie I made for him.

     I think one of the things I  love about Halloween cards (and I've done a lot of them this week - 2 of which haven't even been posted yet!) is getting to include my favorite color of purple.  How many of you can remember when black and orange were the only Halloween colors?  Two or three decades ago, purple got added to the mix and I was absolutely delirious.  Then olive green showed up pretty regularly and now it seems we have four colors which are accepted as "Halloween colors."  I'm OK with that as long as they don't take my purple away.  :-D

Colored with ProMarkers

Cut with Spellbinders die

Polka dot bow tie, hand wrapped

Sentiment is a Recollections sticker

     Challenges:

Allsorts

Crafty Sentiments

Dare 2B Artzy

Digi Choosday

Dream Valley

Gem of a Challenge

House ... Stamps Built

Lemon Shortbread

TTCRD

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Halloween Party

     Happy Friday and happy new challenge over at QKR Stampede.  Of course, I have another Halloween card to share today because QKR has some of the cutest jack-o-lantern and ghost images ever.  Any time you get three or more jack-o-lanterns together, it just naturally turns into a party.  Add a ghost or two and it must be a Halloween party!  lol  I used this delightful QKR image, "Halloween Fun."

I was influenced by the marvelous autumn colors 

in the inspirational photo at House of Cards.

     I colored with ProMarkers and Studio 71 markers, then die cut the image with a double stitched die from Die-namics.  I used a piece of heat embossed and glittered, polka dot, CS for the background, cutting it with the same Die-namics die and then inlaid the image into it.  I distressed the corners with chalks.

     The diamond texture ribbon is from Really Reasonable Ribbon and I layered the sentiment onto it.  The bow was tied from lace ribbon, wrapped with satin ribbon, and 'dyed' orange with a ProMarker.  Everything was layered onto a kraft card base.

     Challenges:
A Perfect Time to Craft
Classic DT Open
Crafts Galore Encore
Crafty Hazelnut's
Die Cut Divas
Do Al(l) Creatives
Joy Claire
LeAnne's World 101
Morgan's ArtWorld

     Come play with us this week.  It's always Anything Goes and there's no requirement to use a QKR Stampede image.  However, if you do use one (or an image from our sister company, Eureka Stamps) your entry will go into a completely separate draw and that increases your chance of winning by a huge amount!  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Ain't Scared !

     Isn't it usually the one who's shouting the loudest about "I ain't scared" who's actually the most scared?  :-D  Well, over at QKR Stampede this week, I'm not at all sure who's doing the shouting - the jack-o-lantern or the ghost but I know we have a new challenge starting today with a theme of "Anything Goes" and an optional twist of "Pumpkins" but only if you want to follow it.

     The image and the sentiment are both from QKR; the image is "Carved Pumpkin 17304" and the sentiment is called "Ain't Scared." 

     I did the coloring with ProMarkers, including the shading on the ghost.  I wanted him to seem transparent so colored the sections of pumpkin behind his arm and his fingers with a pale shade of yellow instead of shades of orange. 

     I cut the image into a square and punched the corners (Fiskars punch), then added the sentiment piece to the lower corner.  I found two scraps bits of dp and used them on the background.  The bow is hand tied from a scrap of sheer ribbon and I deliberately frayed the tail ends.

     Challenges:
Brown Sugar
Catch the Bug
Crafting with Friends
Crafty Catz
Crafty Gals Corner
Double D
Hiding in My Craft Room
Pammie's Inky Pinkies
Pattie's Creations
Scrapper's Delights
Take It, Make It

     I'm so glad the weekend is coming up.  I plan to do a bit of laundry and then I'll hide out in my craft room both days.  I'm not going to pick up a broom or push the vacuum; I'll use paper plates all weekend and cook only in the microwave with disposable dishes.  I need craft time!!  The last two weekends, I've done a couple of cards but did mostly housework.  This week, I really need the down time to recharge emotionally. 

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie