Another Wanderer

      So, two months later, she posts something again!  LOL  I find it's taking me longer to finish projects as the eyesight problems continue but I do manage to complete a few things along the way.  Today, I want to share the latest from Gnomeland.

     This one started because of a new hat style I tried.  I made the hat first, just playing with an idea in my head, then I had to make a gnome to wear the hat, and without realizing it, the gnome turned out to be a wandering gardener named Gregory who loves to plant perennial flowers and rose bushes wherever he goes, sprinkling the landscape with a multitude of colors, and returning each spring to see what's blooming.

    Today he found a bush producing unique, aqua blue, roses and clipped a few to adorn his tattered hat and coat.

      I also made a Panama Hat but it still doesn't have a gnome to wear it.  This one took a long time because the cord had to be wrapped so perfectly but the end result is delightful.  I haven't yet decided how to dress the gnome but I'm thinking maybe something from the roaring '20s or perhaps '30s, maybe even with a "gangsta" flair, but that's still in the idea phase.  Here's the hat.

     That's it for today.  Maybe I'll get another gnome finished and posted but no time promises.  Just see you when I see you.  :-D

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

New Gnomes

      I know, I know, it's been more or less forever since I posted anything, but honestly, I just needed a break from crafting, from gnomes, even from social media, so I took a good, long rest.  But in late January and again last week, I did make three different gnomes which I want to share with you.

     This first one was made specifically for the mother of my first granddaughter-in-law.  It turns out she's a fellow gnome lover, something I didn't know about her until last Christmas but it was too late to get one made for her in time for it to go under the tree.  I did talk to her and found out her favorite colors, then asked her to choose a style for her gnome and told her it would be January before I got to it.

     I worked on him a few hours at a time through the late days of January and this was the result.  He's already been shipped and received, and she does love him.  :-D

  Front

Side view

That's hand embroidery on the sides, sleeves, and back of his coat, 

and it took about 4 hours to complete just that part.  

Her color choices were green and brown.

     This Charcuterie Gnome I made for my daughter and she was absolutely ecstatic!   She does a lot of charcuterie boards for social events so it was right up her alley.  :-D  I think he's pretty special.

The grapes and the cheese wheel were made with polymer clay,

and his serving spoon is a charm I had saved for a couple of years

with no real purpose in mind.  He has a tiny wine goblet

made by my sister-in-law.

    

     Finally, this one is another with hand embroidery on his coat but this time it goes all the way around, front, sides, and back with the same pattern.  This time the embroidery took well over 10 hours but I really like the end result.  

  Front

 Back

     OK, now you know that even though I've been absent, I haven't been totally lazy.  Thanks for dropping by.  

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

A Grinchy Christmas

      To all of those who celebrate Christmas, I hope your Christmas Day was happy and warm with family and friends.  In my house, we're still celebrating all 12 Days of Christmas, and doing our best to drive the Grinch crazy with all of our holiday cheer and singing and festive gatherings.

     In honor of that, I want to share a Grinch Gnome I made.  After hearing my daughter's assessment of it as "the most a'dork'able gnome" she'd ever seen, I gave it to her for Christmas!  I'll make another one to sell at the Christmas craft show next year.  :-D

     Enjoy your remaining 8 Days of Christmas and have a safe and sane Happy New Year.

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

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

Embroidered Gnome

      Gosh, it's been more than a month since I posted anything to my blog but I haven't been lazy, just busy.  More gnome work, of course, but I've also been pushing myself to renew old crafting skills as the hand coloring and card making crafts seem to be less and less possible.  

     It's been nearly 50 years since I did any amount of hand embroidery, though I loved it during those years when it was a regular activity.  A few weeks back, my granddaughter gave back to me a huge pile of embroidery flosses, needles, and other supplies which I had given to her when she wanted to try her hand at embroidery.  Seeing all those luscious thread colors whetted my appetite for trying it again, despite the eyesight problems.  (A large, desktop, magnifier helps tremendously!)  I ordered some white Aida cloth online, and as soon as it arrived I began practicing all the old stitches I once knew so well.  I found that I'm much slower (and more careful) with the stitches than I used to be but it's coming back.

     For those of you who don't know, Aida cloth is a stiff, woven fabric with evenly spaced threads which are a specific distance apart and that makes it so much easier when one can use the tiny "holes" between threads to keep your stitches even.  While I was working stitches on a practice piece of Aida cloth, I began to wonder if I could use Aida cloth to make clothes for gnomes, thereby being able to have lovely, even embroidery work on the clothing.  I was concerned that the stiffness might make it unsuitable for clothes but I knew of no way to find out other than to try it!  :-D

     I want to share with you the end result.  I must tell you that this particular gnome took hours and hours to complete and that the embroidery itself took me more than 6 hours to complete, simple as it looks once on the gnome.  All the white parts are the Aida cloth (both coat and top hat), but Aida cloth also comes in colors and, now that I know it works for gnome clothing, I'm going to get some of it in various colors.  Doesn't it give great visual texture?

     Here's the gnome:

     What do you think?  Of course, I love him but I'm the one who did all the work so I'm totally biased.  :-D

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Midsummer Night's Dream

      Well, our second vendor event looms over us; it starts at noon tomorrow.  The theme is "Midsummer Night's Dream" with an emphasis on woodland creatures, renaissance costuming, fairies, magical (?) critters, and other things found in Shakespeare's time, and specifically, his play of the same name.  

     Our first event on the 4th of July resulted in sales even better than our highest expectations!  We were so happy, and immediately came home and made a few additional wizard gnomes and critters better suited to this theme.  I want to share a few of those with you in this post.

     First, the wizard brothers who are also known for their haberdashery, including the weaving of marvelous and magical coat trims.  

 

     Then there's the sleeping gnome cat, napping until the fairies arrive.  Her fur is so incredibly soft and a smaller version of her inspired a bidding war at the earlier event so I had to make another one!

     Finally, there's the head wizard who's been traveling, having left home headed for the Midsummer Night Faire.  He travels with his apothecary of magical potions and is in charge of all things mystical at the Faire.

     

     That's it for this post.  Have a wonderful midsummer day and Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Craft Fair in 2 Days!

      We're so close to the first of our scheduled vendor events, this one on the 4th of July.  The event is somewhat "local" but not actually in our city.   Since our particular location in the Central Valley of California tends to be one of the hottest spots in the valley, we're happy to be traveling an hour away, up into the foothills of the Sierra Nevada where predicted temperatures will be about 85F when home town will be over 100F.  :-D

     We've been putting the finishing touches on our inventory of gnomes and critters, and I just wanted to take a moment to share with you two more cute gnomes and some of my sis-in-law's hedgie critters. 

     Critters first...  

Aren't those adorable?  They're about 5.5 inches high.

Here's the first one she made a few weeks back, about 4.5 inches tall.

     And here's my last gnomes for this event.  I'll probably make a few more between this event and the next one on July 13 (also up in a different part of the foothills where it's cooler - yay!!) but these two are the last ones before the event on July 4th. 

Done with purple felt and gray fleece.  About 7" high.

Made using all burlap, including burlap trim. 9" tall.

     I won't be posting again until after the event so let me wish all of you a wonderful 4th of July celebration and please be safe and sane.  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Angels

      It seems like forever since I posted anything on my blog, and it has been nearly 3 weeks but I've been busy.  It seems my daughter has convinced me to do some craft fairs and other vendor events, focusing on my gnomes.  I've made so many and given away many of them, but it was a blogging/crafting friend who first gave us the idea of selling them.

     My daughter has several contacts for various events and one of them takes place as a fund raising event for a local Christian school.  They allow only hand made items to be sold; no mass manufacturing.  I have a few months to get enough stock made to make it worth while and since it takes place at the beginning of the Christmas season, I decided it might be good to branch out and make some angels, too.

     So, today I'm sharing a free-standing angel and several angel tree ornaments.  What do you think?

13" tall, burlap and lace

Wired ribbon, 4" tall

Glitter craft foam, 4.5" tall

Unwired ribbon, 3.5 " tall

and finally, the kind everybody has made for the last decade but it's my first one...

Deco Mesh, 8" tall

     That's it for today.  Hopefully, I'll have more to share and it won't take me another 3 weeks to get  post done.  :-D  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Winter Gnomes

      My screen time on electronics, including my cell phone, is very limited and that's a big part of the reason you aren't getting daily posts from me.  My crafting time is also somewhat limited so I don't have as many things to post as I had a couple of months ago.  But today, I want to share two gnomes I managed to complete, although the larger, white one took me more than 3 weeks to complete.  I'll share it first.

     This is my first gnome with boots and legs and I loved making them.  I must have watched boot making videos on YouTube 100 times (many of which were repeats, watched over and over again until I got the basics down pat.)  On the gnome itself, I used 3 different faux fur trims and 4 different fabrics (fleece, satin, faux leather, and felt.)  The little pocket bag at his waist is similar to one you might find on a man wearing a kilt.  The gold trim is metallic.  I added a glittery snowflake to the piece of gold trim on his hat and it sparkles madly IRL.  

     He's a good 24 inches tall from the bottom of his boots to the tip of his hat.  Next time, I think I'll consider a gray beard or at least a beard sprinkled with gray for a bit more contrast against all the white.

    

     I also finished a cute Santa-style gnome.  He's about 15 inches tall and made with a cone body, red and black plaid fleece, faux fur trim, and a burlap toy sack.

 

     Must run - Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Not a Card !

      I know I post cards 99.98% of the time but today I want to share something new in my lineup of projects, a fun take on the rage for gnomes.  I adore gnomes but up until last month, I was buying gnomes made by other people.  I have colored my share of gnome images and made cards with them, but these 3D gnomes are the first of their kind I've made.

     These are made from craft foam cones, felt squares (which have been in my crafting stash forever and the package hadn't even been opened!) and faux fur, following a pattern I found on Duane King's YouTube site.  The fawn brown gnome with the pointed (but crumpled) hat is his Wizard pattern and the taller gnome is from the Gnome with Coat and Top Hat pattern.  They are approximately 6.5 inches and just under 8 inches tall.

     While I think these are cute enough, I also know that my finished gnomes will get better as I make more of them.  In the meantime, I thought I'd share my first efforts.  :-D

     

     Challenges:

Creative Inspirations

Outlawz PAM

Sisterhood of Snarky ...

     Enjoy and Happy Crafting!  NanaConnie

Gnome for Christmas

      It's the day for a new challenge over at FarmQuest Country Christmas where our theme is always "Anything Country Christmas Goes."  We want to see outdoor Christmas scenes or decorations on the farmhouse, or nearly anything that is both Christmas and outdoorsy, but not big city streets or shopping malls or cityscapes.  

     I chose this clip art image with three gnomes on the Christmas Tree Farm.  I don't know the artist but if you do, please let me know.  I love to give proper credit where possible.  I colored the image with my Sanjoki markers, added highlights to their beards with a white gel pen, and cut the image with an old QuicKutz die.  I love the shape of it.  I inked the edges in red, then layered it onto a background of glittery, golden holly leaves.  That CS came from Paper Studios and the dp strip along the right hand side is a scrap from a DCWV stack.

     The glittery golden bow is from K & Co. and I thought it added exactly the proper amount of sparkle and glitz.  I admit, when it's Christmas, glitter is my absolute favorite and when it's combined with gold, that takes it over the top!  The sparkle adds so much to the festive feel of the holiday.  :-D

     Challenges:

As You Like It

Aloha Friday

Colorful Options

Crafty Catz

Creative Inspiration

Digi Choosday

Kerst / Christmas

Outlawz Friday

     I hope we're going to see you playing along in this challenge.  Just create something that celebrates both country and Christmas and you're in!  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

A Gnome's Christmas Tree

      This adorable image is from Anne Fenton and she gave it to us for the Outlawz Progressive challenge.  I colored it with my Sanjoki markers, cut it with a Spellbinders square die, and cut the green frame with another die from that same set.  The sentiment was printed and cut with an Avery Elle die.

     I found an old stack of Christmas papers from Recollections in my stash and chose the background paper from it.  Although it doesn't show very well in the photo, the ornaments on the background paper have glitter on them for a bit of sparkle on the card.  Beyond that, it's a very CAS card, very flat and suitable for mailing.

Tuesday Morning - sketch turned 1/4 turn

     Challenges:

Christmas Kickstart

Creative Inspirations

Digi Choosday

Happy...Stampers

I Love Markers

Passion for Markers

Simon Says Stamp

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Patch & Gretta - Gnome Admirers

       After a long hiatus from Pattie's Creations, I'm happy to announce that I'm back on the DT!  Our challenges are now monthly, starting on the first Friday of each month and ending on the Thursday before the next challenge starts.  We do encourage you to use Pattie's Creations images on your projects but images from other companies are allowed.  You can find a Freebie !! posted with each challenge and you are free to use it for your entry but that's not required.  In 2022, our theme is going to be "Anything Goes" for every challenge.  

     I combined two of Pattie's gnome images for this card; Patch the Gnome and Gretta the Gnome.  I thought they worked as a cute friendship couple for Valentine's Day.  Although I made a ton of Valentine cards this year because I have a craft fair just 2 days before Valentine's Day, I generally make only a few each year, much preferring friendship to love cards.  After all, I have many more friends than lovers!  :-D

     The images are colored with my ProMarkers, and cut with a Tonic Studios scalloped die.  I used my Linen embossing folder on the red card front before applying the image piece.  I used a Memory Box die for the heart and a die from Marianne Design for the red bow.  Those were also embossed with the Linen EF before I added them.

     Challenges:

As You Like It

Bastel-Traum

Creatalicious

Dies R Us

Digi Doodle Studios

Outlawz Stash

SheepSki Designs

       I'm so happy to be back with Pattie's Creations and I hope you'll come play in our Anything Goes challenges each month.  We love being inspired by you.  Be sure to stop by the challenge blog and grab the freebie for this month.  It's only there while the challenge is ongoing.  Happy Crafting.   NanaConnie

Tie the Bow

      This card is for the 30 Days of Holidays at Beccy's Place and it features things with the letter "T" - Tent card, Toys, & Tying the bow (too bad he Tied his beard into the bow!)  These gnomes are from Beccy's Place, and while they aren't specifically for Christmas, they certainly do work well on Christmas cards.  But they are versatile enough to be great for birthdays or other gift giving occasions.

     These two gnomes are from the same set but I merged them into one image.  I colored with ProMarkers, then cut the image with a die from QuicKutz.  I used two scraps of CS for the corners behind the image.  The sentiment was printed, then cut with an Avery Elle die, and matted with green CS.

     The dp with the text greetings came from a Recollections stack (don't ask me which one since it was separated from the stack) and the toy embellies are from K & Co., along with the one tiny present in the bottom corner.  Ribbons are from my stash and the double, quad-loop bow was tied using my bow maker.

     Challenges:

Colour Crazy

Crafter's Cafe

Crafty Catz

Creatalicious

Creative Fingers

Creative Moments

Paperbabe

Scrapping4fun

Scribbles Designs

      OK, this finishes my posts for today but I'll have another post or two tomorrow.  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Christmas Gnomes

      This delightfully fun stack of Christmas Gnomes (which is on sale this entire month!) is from Conie Fong and I created it as my DT card for this week.  Remember, on the Facebook site we have two separate challenges each month; one is for coloring only and the other is for finished projects.  You must use a Conie Fong image to enter either one but you could win some additional Conie Fong images, too,  Wouldn't that be fun?  :-D

     I colored with my ProMarkers, used glitter on the star and the centers of the poinsettias, then cut both the image and the mats using dies from Tonic Studios.  The sparkly ribbon was in my stash and the bow was tied with a tiny bit of ribbon I found in the scrap basket.

I chose my colors from the bottom row of the

 #465 Tic Tac Toe board at CMH Color Dare:

Candy Apple, Harbour, and Evergreen, plus I added gold for the star

and Toffee for their shoes.

     Challenges:

Cardz TV

Crafty Catz

Crafty Hazelnut's

Kerst Christmas

Paperbabe

Peace on Earth

Polkadoodles

Winter Wonderland

     Come play with us.  Our two challenges are open all month long and all you need is a Conie Fong image to enter.  The theme is always Anything Goes.  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

State Fair Gnomes

      Conie Fong has some of the most adorable gnomes and I'm going to be sharing DT cards using some of the newly released gnomes this month.  This is my first one and the image is called "Pumpkin Gnome."  The set comes with 4 Gnome images (facing right and left) and 2 sentiments and it's ON SALE for $2.00 right now!  Go check it out.  

     These happy gnomes seem to be so proud of their harvest and are on their way to enter them into the competition at the state fair.  :-D

     I merged the right and left facing gnomes into a single image, and added my own sentiment before printing.  I colored it with my ProMarkers, then cut it with a large, square, QuicKutz die.  I used a ProMarker to ink the edges of the image.  The dp was a scrap which I cut into smaller pieces before adding it to the card front.  I had embossed the card front with my Linen EF for a slight bit of texture.

     I hand tied the double-loop, grosgrain, bow with the help of my bow maker and added it to the top corner.  I think this is a card which could be used for either a guy or a gal.

          Challenges:

As You Like It (squares over circles because they don't require a die to cut them.  :-D )

Cardz TV

Colour Crazy

Crafty Calendar

Creative Fingers

Dare 2B Artzy

Lil Patch of ...

Paperbabe

Pattie's Creations

Polkadoodles

     Don't forget that Conie Fong has two challenges which each run for an entire month over on the Facebook page.  One is for coloring only and the other is for completed projects like this one.  You do have to use a Conie Fong image but with this one on sale (along with one or two others - check out the Pumpkin Kitties, too!) and with so many cute, cute, CUTE images, how can you resist?  We hope to see you there.

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Gnome's Wild Flower

      First, quick apology for the late post.  Unavoidable.  :-(

     Today we start another new challenge at Pammie's Inky Pinkies and our theme is "Anything Goes."  Our challenge is sponsored this week by SheepSki Designs and they provided images to the DT for our inspiration projects.  Thank you, SheepSki!    

     I used one of Andrea's adorable Gnomes and this one is called "Wild Flower."  I colored him with my ProMarkers, and used a QuicKutz die to cut both the image and the blue frame around it.  I added a scrap piece of pale blue CS behind the image but there's a secret I'll share with you.  The background dp is actually 2 pieces which I carefully matched together and the image and blue CS are covering up a 'hole' in one piece where a piece had been cut for some other project.

     I keep saying, "Don't toss the scraps!  They can be used."  :-D

     I added one of my signature, hand-sewn bows which had been 'dyed' with ProMarker to match the flowers.  The sentiment was printed and cut with an Avery Elle die.

     Challenges:

Ally's Angels

Bastel-Traum

Carlin's Card Paradise

CCC Digi Creations

Classic Design

Crafty Hazelnut's

Creative Moments

LeAnn's World

Pixie's Snippets

     We really want to see you playing in our challenge this week.  Remember, "Anything Goes" and all you have to do is submit them with the link up tool on the challenge blog.  :-D  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Gnome Couple

     I'm back with yet another DT card for our newest weekly challenge at Creative Knockouts.  This week our theme is "Love or Valentines" and we're sponsored by the fabulous Laurie Furnell Ink.  I used this adorable Gnome Couple from Laurie's "Valentine Gnomes" set.  Aren't they perfect for any Valentine celebration?

Card shape cut w Tattered Lace die

Colored w ProMarkers

Image cut w Tattered Lace die

Sentiment printed & hand cut

     Challenges:

Crafty Gals Corner

Crafty Sentiments

Digi Choosday

Double D

House Stamps Built

Mod Squad

Paper Funday

Paper Minutes

Passion for ProMarkers

TTCRD

     Be sure to come and play in our challenge this week!  What better theme with Valentine's Day arriving on Sunday?  It's a perfect chance to make that last minute card you forgot you would need.  :-D  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

'Sailing' the River

      I've loved Mo's Digital Pencil images since I saw my first one several years ago.  The gnomes I used for this card were merged so that I could print them together with the sentiment onto a scrap bit of CS.  In fact, everything except the card base is made from scraps.

      One of my favorite things is ice skating - watching it, not doing it!  lol  It's a skill I never mastered. 

Colored w ProMarkers & gel pen

Cut w QuicKutz die

Blue and brown CS are scraps, cut w QuicKutz dies

Snowflakes cut from scrap w mini punch

Snowflake ribbon is also a scrap

     Challenges:

ABC Christmas

Artsy Stamper

Crafty Gals Corner

Cute Card Thurs

Incy Wincy

Lemon Shortbread

Passion for ProMarkers

Penny's Paper-Crafty

Pixie's Snippets

     Enjoy the holidays and Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Christmas Gnomes

      This is my latest DT card for Conie Fong featuring merged images from two different sets, "Santa's Sack" (the upper presents) and "Christmas Gnomes" (the lower gnomes and packages.)  I absolutely adore gnomes (second only to dragons!) and Conie Fong has some of the cutest ones around.  You really should check out all her gnome set which have Christmas or Winter themes.  You can see them all simply by browsing the store.

I used red, green, plus neutrals from CMH Color Dare #423.

Colored w ProMarkers

Cut w Gina Marie die

Background dp is a scrap

Satin ribbon

Sentiment heat embossed and hand cut

Snowflakes cut w Art Impressions dies

     Challenges:

Cardz TV

Colour Crazy

Crafty Catz

Cute Card Thurs

Outlawz Festive Fri

Paperbabe Stamps

Pattie's Creations

Scrapping4Fun

Winter Wonderland

     That's all I have today but remember that Conie Fong has two challenges every month on the Facebook page; one is for coloring only and the other for hand-colored, finished projects.  Each challenges requires that you use a Conie Fong image.  Come play.  You could win more Conie Fong images!  

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie