The Halloween Shuffle

      This Country Couple really knows how to shuffle it on the dance floor!   I adore this image and can hardly believe this is the first time I've used it, considering how long I've had this set.  It came from Jan's Digi Stamps and the set is called "Pumpkin People."  

      For this card, I started with one of the pre-colored images, printed it in grayscale, then colored it with my Sanjoki markers and colored pencils.  The cat image (and the sentiment) was merged with the pumpkin people before printing, and I kept it as printed, no additional coloring.

     I cut the image with an old QuicKutz square die.  I found a scrap of Halloween paper for the background, layered the image onto it, and kept it very simple with no embellishment of any kind.

     Challenges:

I Love Markers

I Spy with My ...

Paper Funday

Penny's P-C

Simon Says Stamp

Star Stampz

SUYP Cats

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Windmill and Pumphouse

      It's the 14th of the month and we have another of our 'Country' challenges starting today at FarmQuest.  Our theme this fortnight is "Farm Equipment, Windmills, Wishing Wells."

     When you live out in the country or on the farm, life goes along at a different pace.  There are always things which must be done and life isn't always as easy as jumping in the car and running to the grocery store for a half gallon of milk or a pound of butter.  Even having clear, cool water sometimes means keeping the windmill in good repair and updating the water pump every few years.  The ones I used on my card today have seen better days and have most likely been replaced altogether.

     I printed the image in grayscale, then colored it with pale yellow and pale brown pencils.  I cut the image with a die from Tonic Studios and inked the edges with a marker.  The background dp came from an old Recollections stack and was a scrap in the basket.  The sentiment was printed, cut with an Avery Elle die, edges inked, then adhered to the card front.

     Challenges:

     Come play with us and impress us with your creations.  We love seeing what you make.  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie 

Spring Birdhouse

      Today we start a new challenge at FarmQuest General Store where our theme is always "Anything Farm/Country Goes."  We are always sponsored by QKR Stampede and the images used by the DT are the images for the prize.  Today, I've made 2 different cards and used images called "Birdhouse and Vines" and "Artist Pallet."  

    I was excited to use the Birdhouse and Vines image because it combines 2 of my favorite things in stamps: cute and flowers!  I usually go for cute but this time, I love the flowery, spring image, and the fact that it's a bit on the "cutesy" side just enhances it.

     On this first one, I colored the image with watercolors and Sanjoki alcohol markers.  I cut the image with a Tonic Studios die, inked the edge and layered it onto a background with was made using water color paints.  The sentiment was printed and cut with an Avery Elle Die, also with inked edges.

     Challenges:

As You Like It

Colorful Options

Creative Fingers

Creative Inspirations

Outlawz Friday

Pattie's Creations

Polkadoodles

Triple B

    For my second DT card, I used water color paints on the image, cut it with a Spellbinders die, inked the edges, and layered it onto a bit of scrap dp to make a frame for it.  The sentiment was printed and cut with another Avery Elle die.  The brick background is paper from an old Recollections stack.  Very CAS but great for a masculine card, I think.

     Challenges:

Creative Knockouts

Di's Digi Designs

Dragonfly Dreams

Simon Says Stamp

     There you go, two cards for only one visit.  :-D  Come play with us this month.  The challenge runs until May 5 and you could be the winner of 3 wonderful QKR Stampede images.  Want to know what the third image is?  Visit the FQGS blog and take a look at all the DT cards.

 

     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

Keepin' Warm

     Our next challenge has started at Creative Knockouts and our new theme is 2 or more Patterned Papers.  Our fun sponsor is Stamper's Delights and they generously provided images for the DT to use.  I chose "Chibi Freddie" which I think is an adorable image.  :-D

     I used water color pencils and gamsol, plus I did his skin and some highlights with ProMarkers.  The image was cut with a Dare 2B Artzy die.  My plaid dp is from a Recollections stack and my second dp is the frame around the sentiment (from that same stack.)  In the photo, the paper looks solid but it actually has a marble pattern to it.  The sentiment itself was cut with an Avery Elle die.  No fancy embellishments for this masculine card.

     Challenges:

Allsorts

Colour Crazy

Gem of a Challenge

Outlawz PAM

Paperbabe

Polkadoodles

Simon Says Stamp

TTCRD

We Love Stamping

Your Next Stamp

     We'd love to see you playing with us in this challenge.  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

Peace on Earth

     I'm sharing a very simple card today because I want to share with all my blogging friends the peace of the Christmas season.  The image is obviously from House Mouse.

Colored with ProMarkers, watercolor pencils, and gel inks
Plaid ribbon from Crafty Ribbons
CS layers are from scraps
Hand sewn bow
Sentiment is a computer font printed in white on black

     Challenges:
Cutie Pie
Christmas Kickstart
Christmas w/ the Cuties
Pammie's Inky Pinkies
Passion for ProMarkers
Path of Positivity
TTCRD

     Happy Crafting and Merry Christmas.  NanaConnie

'Tis the Season

     It looks like the whole house is sleeping in this morning, including the cats who decided that my bed was the only reasonable place to stay warm.  Made me feel right at home.  lol  But with everyone sleeping, it gives me time to get a couple of posts done without any competition for computer time.

     This image came from the Progressive challenge at The Outlawz and is by LeAnn's World 101.

Colored with watercolor pencils and markers
Glitter added to lights & star on the tree
Image cut with cross stitch die
Sentiment cut with Die-Versions dies
Scraps of ribbon for both the strip and the bow

     Challenges:
Coloring in Scrapland
Creative Crafters
Dies R Us
Dream Valley
Outlawz Greetings
Pammie's Inky Pinkies
Paper Girls
World Wide DT

     I may have another post in just a short while if the sleeping in continues.  :-D  Have a great weekend and Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Christmas Carols

     Friday once again and even though I'm not around, my QKR Stampede DT card for the latest challenge is here.  I used a fun image called "Serenading Turtle" which had nothing to do with Christmas but the little Santa hats I added to both the turtle and the snail helped make it Christmas.  I used tiny, hand trimmed, bits which were scattered on the craft table to make those hats.

Colored with pencils and ProMarkers
Cut with Simon Says dies
Bow is hand-wrapped burlap twine,
        dyed with ProMarker
Musical notes drawn in gel ink
Mini pom poms

     Challenges:
Crafter's Cafe
Crafter's Castle
Creatalicious
Creative Knockouts
Cute Card Thurs
Dies R Us
Outlawz SAR
Polkadoodles
Scribbles Designs
Star Stampz

     I hope we're going to see you playing along with us this week.  Remember, our theme is always "Anything Goes" and you can use any image from any maker.  If you do use an image from QKR Stampede (or our sister company,Eureka Stamps), your entry goes into a separate draw and that increases your chances of winning by a huge amount!  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Easter Ewe

     When it comes to Easter 'critters,' most of us think of bunnies and chicks, but not sheep.  I just laughed out loud when I saw this image from Bugaboo Stamps.  It felt like a take-off on the Cadbury Chocolate commercials about everyone wanting to be the Easter Bunny.  :-D

     I started by coloring the image with ProMarkers and pencils, then I cut it with a die from QuicKutz.  The frame behind it was cut from blue CS with a Sue Wilson die.  Because the die cut was narrower than what I wanted, I cut it in the middle (lengthwise) and attached one half to each side of my image rectangle.

     I wrapped stitched, satin ribbon around the card front, added the framed image, and then used one of my signature, hand-sewn bows with a pearl.  Quick and easy design but the fancy frame makes it look much more complex.

    Challenges:
A Gem of a Challenge
Brown Sugar
Catch the Bug
Crafter's Castle
Incy Wincy
Jo's Scrap Shack
Outlawz Greetings
Path of Positivity

     Well, my weekend is winding down and I still have weeds to pull and plants to put in the family vegetable garden.  My granddaughter is going to help out and I'll be most grateful for that.  These old bones don't bend over as easily as they used to do.  Well, bending isn't really the problem - it's getting back to an upright stance that doesn't happen the way it did a few years ago.  :-D

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

No Place like "Gnome"

     Happy Friday to all of you and welcome to my usual Friday QKR Stampede post. It's our latest challenge and our theme is always Anything Goes.  I'm a huge fan of all the QKR stamps but I do love the gnomes especially.  This one is called "Sitting Gnome" - inadvertently misspelled as 'knome.'

     I colored him with ProMarkers and watercolor pencils, then cut him with a stitched die from CUTplorations.  I matted him with a scrap of bleached, green CS.  I did the bleaching on that myself, using a Q-tip and 'dotting' spots, then letting it dry.  I got on a huge kick of that a few years back and did probably 50 sheets of CS in different colors.  Some of those sheets I still have in my stash.  Because it's so time consuming to make, I keep every little scrap and try to use it up.

     I cut the sentiment with the same CUTplorations die, but I adjusted the placement of the die and cut it twice to get the size I wanted.  The polka dot ribbon was in my stash and I used a separate scrap to tie the bow.

     I added everything to a golden yellow background, putting the image and sentiment on Pop Dots for some dimension.

     Challenges:
A Gem of a Challenge
Crafting by Designs
Crafty Creations
Crafty Gals Corner
Cupcake Inspirations
  
Digi Choosday
I {heart} ProMarkers
Lemon Shortbread
Outlawz Festive Friday
Passion for ProMarkers

     That's it for today and I hope you'll have a fabulous weekend!  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Life's a Carousel

     Good Friday morning, friends and followers.  It's time for another weekly challenge at QKR Stampede and our theme is Anything Goes, as always.  I found the most delightful Carousel Horse image and made this single layer card with it.  BTW, if you go searching for the image instead of just using the link I made, you need to know that in the store the name was inadvertently misspelled as "Carosel" Horse.

     When I was a child, I loved carousels and the horses were always my favorite of all the animals.  Despite the exotic lions, or tigers, or even elephants, the horses were majestic and noble and that's why I loved them best.

     The image is printed directly onto the card front, then colored with ProMarkers and watercolor pencils.  I wanted a monochromatic black and white with a pop of color from the roses.  All the shading is done with gray ProMarkers. 

     Challenges:
AAA Cards (middle row)
As You Like It
Crafting with Friends
Crafty Sentiments
Creates and Makes
Cute Card Thurs.
Di's Digi Designs
Ike's World
TTCRD
Tuesday Throwdown

     I want to see you come over and play in our challenge this week.  How can you lose with an Anything Goes theme?   Remember, you can use any image from any company but if you use an image from QKR or even from Eureka Stamps (our sister company), your entry will go into a separate draw and that increases your chances of winning by a huge amount.  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Mousie Valentines by Air Mail

     I'm playing with House Mouse images again this weekend (I do love all the HM critters!) and decided to color up this one showing how the House Mousies handle their Valentine Mail.  This is an oldie but goodie which I've used at least a dozen times in the last 4 years.  :-D

I based my design on the sketch from Sketch Saturday

but turned it on its side.

     This is a pretty simple design and I got to play around with more washi tape.  I started by coloring with my ProMarkers and watercolor pencils, then I used a rectangle die from Spellbinders to cut the image.  I inked the edges for a bit more definition.

     I decided on a pale yellow for the card front and used chalks to distress it.  Both the metallic and the glittery pieces are washi tape.  I added them along the bottom of the card front and added the image on top.  The sentiment is printed and hand cut.

     For the flower, I cut the deep blue leaves with my oldest die from Cheery Lynn (first one I ever bought!), then took layers of mulberry petals, stacked them, and added an enamel-head brad to hold them together.  Final touch was the little pieces of glittery washi tape.  Those were left over from another project and they were cut with a quilting die from Stampin' Up.

     Challenges:
Allsorts
Colour Crazy
Crafting with Friends
Crafty Addicts
Crafty Catz
Crafty Friends
Creative Moments
Hiding in My Craft Room
Outlawz PAM

     I'll see you tomorrow with another GDT card for The Outlawz CAS challenge.  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Mythical Ice Fairies

    I'm sure we've all heard of fairies but how many of us know about Ice Fairies?  Usually, fairies go underground and hide in their homes where it's warm throughout the cold snowy months of winter.  But there's a special breed of Ice Fairies who dearly love the cold weather.  They score our windows with frost paintings and hang icicles from the eaves and tree branches.

     This beautiful image must be a clan leader among the Ice Fairies - she's just so glamorous and elegant.  This image is from AuroraWings and I had so much fun bringing her alive with color.

     I used polychromos pencils to color her and blended everything with gamsol.  I added touches of white gel ink to certain spots and did her lips and eyes with ProMarkers.  I die cut the image with one of my favorite dies from Spellbinders.  I trimmed off  a tiny point on each end for a smoother shape and then I inked the edges.

     The pale blue paper with the tiny snowflakes came from DCWV's "Winter Magic" stack, something I've had in my stash for several years and I'm still working my way through it.  For embellishment, I added one small hand-sewn bow with a pearl.

     Challenges:
Addicted to Stamps
A Gem of a Challenge
Crafting from the Heart
Crafty Calendar
Die Cuttin' Divas
Pammie's Inky Pinkies
Path of Positivity
Stamping Sensations
TTCRD

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Mother and Child

     It's the letter "M" for today's challenge in the 30 Days of Holidays at Beccy's Place.  We're half way through the alphabet and I've played every day!  Having missed out on it completely last year, I'm really proud of myself for accomplishing that much this year.

     I decided on Mary for my "M" but it could also be Mother and Child or Madonna and Child, and of course, there's always the Manger.  Clearly this is a Nativity image from Beccy's Place and I added one of the shepherds from the set.  The sentiment is also from the set.

     I printed the image on some scrap CS, colored it with watercolor pencils and ProMarkers, then cut it to size on my paper cutter.  I used a Fiskars corner punch on all 4 corners, then did a black Mat for it (also a scrap saved from the trash can) the same way.  I printed and hand cut the sentiment, matted it with yet another tiny scrap, and hand cut again.

     The silver ribbons were in my stash and both are left over pieces from other projects.  Not a bad CAS card made entirely from saved snippets.  :-D

     Challenges:
Angie's Digital Stamps
Beccy's Place
Crafty Addicts
Glitter n Sparkle
Outlawz CAS
Outlawz Festive Friday
Pixie's Snippets
Sisterhood of Crafters

     A new week has started and we're just 6 weeks now until Christmas.  For those in the USA, Thanksgiving is next week - Yikes!  Too much still to do in that more or less 10 days, not the least of which is my youngest granddaughter's Sweet 16 Birthday to be celebrated this coming Friday.

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Feline Wisemen

    Yesterday it was canines so today it has to be felines (or I'll never hear the end of it once I'm back home!)

     My friend who stamped and sent the Christmas images to me (to encourage me to keep my promise to myself about doing Christmas cards all year long instead of waiting til November to start on them) knows me so well!   She also shares with me a love of all things feline so she understands the kinds of 'gifts' our fur babies bring to us as a sign of their love and adoration.  See below...  click on the photo for a larger view.

     This one was so very simple to make.  I colored with my watercolor pencils, cut the image into a rectangle, and matted it with 2 more rectangles.  I found the scrap of polka dot dp in my stash of Christmas papers, added it to the front of a lime green card base, and tied two different green ribbons around the card front.  I added three metal brads, layered on the image, and pronounced it DONE!  Including the coloring, it took less than 30 minutes.

     Challenges:
A Bit More Time to Craft
A Perfect Time to Craft
Christmas Cards all Year 'Round
Crafty Awesomeness
Crafty Hazelnut's Extra
Love to Scrap
Paper Creator's Crafts
Scribbles Designs
Sunsational Stamps

     I'm still lazing at the beach so if I've been MIA when it comes to visiting your blog, that's why.    Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie    

Weather Forecast: Scattered Flower Showers

     The almond trees in my neighbor's yard have all lost their blossoms and her side yard is so white it almost looks like snow.  That would be nice since we've just had two days of 101 and 103 degree temperatures!  Doesn't the weatherman know it's still a month 'til summer?  What's going on?!?

     In any case, I'm going to celebrate the idea of cool spring breezes gently blowing down the flower petals and I'll share this card with all of you.  It's a delightful House Mouse stamp.  :-D

     I colored it with watercolor pencils and ProMarkers, then cut it with a Spellbinders' plain rectangle die and distressed the edges.  I matted it with beige CS and distressed the edges of the mat also.  I added the two embossed pieces and put everything on a black card base.  

     The pink "butterfly" is made from three, hand-tied, little bows; two are satin ribbon and one is lace.  I sewed them all together to make the butterfly, and used one tiny pearl in the middle of the top one for the butterfly's head.  

     I dug through my jar of flower embellies and found the one I put in the lower corner, just below the sentiment.  For some reason it looks deep purple in the photo but it's actually pink and has a glittered brad center.

     Challenges:
AuroraWings
Butterfly Challenge
Crafty Catz
Creative Inspirations
Creative Moments
Cute Card Thurs
Cutie Pie
House Mouse
Scrapy Land
Word Art Weds.

     We're already at the middle of the week and there's a long weekend coming up.  Do you already have your plans made?  I'm going to be on the lookout for soldiers and Veterans so that I can thank them for their service.  The whole point of Memorial Day is to remember those who fought to guarantee us the liberties we so often overlook.  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Frogs' Teeth

     Let me start by wishing all the Moms out there a very Happy Mother's Day!

     We all know that dental checkups are very important but how many teeth do frogs actually have?   This is my second week as a Guest Designer on the CAS challenge at The Outlawz and the theme is "Use a Frog" in your design.  I had so much fun with this one, using one of my favorite images from House Mouse to make a fun, CAS, masculine card.

I started with the sketch from Sketch Saturday

but, by the time I had added my sentiment,

I decided not to embellish the corners

because cleaner seemed more masculine.

     The image is colored with pencils and gamsol, then cut with a die from Spellbinders.  I layered that onto a scrap of green CS which I had run through my "Linen" embossing folder before adding the image.  I added those to a piece of brown CS, embossed with my Swiss Dots folder.  The embossing adds lots of great texture without being 'fussy.'   I added only the printed sentiment (another scrap saved from the dust bin) rather than any embellishments, leaving it very CAS, as I mentioned before.

     Challenges:
Brown Sugar
Colour Crazy
Creative Fingers
Cute Card Thursday
Hiding in My Craft Room
House Mouse
Lemon Shortbread
Outlawz PAM
Polkadoodles

     Well, I'm finally making decisions about some summer travel plans this year and may be MIA for quite a bit of it, especially in June and July.  I'll post as often as I can but there will be days and weeks when I'm just not around the internet.  For all of those times, I'll just be thinking of all of you and wishing you Happy Stamping.  :-D  NanaConnie

Empty Mailbox

     I got an image a few weeks ago from Beccy's Place and am so in love with it!   In a way, it's kind of sad and nostalgic because happy mail so rarely arrives in our actual mailboxes anymore.  Everything is email or text message, or the occasional fax (and even those are dying out!)  I've done half a dozen cards with it, using different color combos each time and you'll see two or three of them over the next couple of months.  This first one is done in monochrome blues.

I based my design on the sketch from

My Favorite Things, flipped side to side.

     I used watercolor pencils and ProMarkers to color this one, then cut it with a die from Spellbinders.  I also cut the blue background with the same die and inlaid the image into it.  I added the sentiment and then wrapped the card front with sheer ribbon.

     The butterflies are cut with a die from Press Cut and the leaves are die cut from three different shades of blue CS (Cheery Lynn die.)   That Cheery Lynn die is probably my favorite small die of all time.  I remember being concerned about the cost of it when I first debated buying it because, up to that point, I had pretty much only used framing dies.  I decided to order it and I think I have used it more than any other small die I own.  Why did I even hesitate?  lol  Once I tried using it on something other than green CS (being so literal minded at that time), I discovered exactly how versatile it is, not only with flowers but by itself or layered with multiple shades as I did here.

     Challenges:
As You Like It
Aussie Artists
Crafting from the Heart
Crazy Challenge
Digi Choosday
Dragonfly Dreams
Pammie's Inky Pinkies
Simon Says Stamp
Through the Craft Room Door

     That's all I have for today but I'll have another post again tomorrow so be sure to stop by.  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Wonderful Wreath

     This is Day Three in the October release at MHK Designs and we're thinking Christmas for the next two days.  Today's set is called "Wonderful Wreath" and it's such a classic Christmas image.  You'll find a photo of the complete set at the bottom of this post.

I started by using the sketch at Sweet Sketch Weds.

but I turned it halfway around.

     I used my watercolor pencils and gamsol to color this time but I'm using this same image for a few more cards and I'm coloring each one with a different medium.  I'm thinking I'll include watercolor paints, alcohol markers, and my Lyra Polychromos pencils at a minimum.  I'll share those as I get them finished.

     Once colored, I used a die from Spellbinders to cut the image and the frame.  I mounted those, inlaid together, onto deep red CS and then put that onto a lighter red card base.  In order to have some differentiation between to two shades of red, I drew a white border with a fine-point, gel pen.

     The snowflake was made by die cutting (Spellbinders) the various layers and fastening them together with a pearl brad.  I still wanted the overall design to be on the simple side so that snowflake is the only embellishment.  Finally, I fussy cut one of the sentiments and added it to the bottom of the framed image.

     Challenges:
613 Avenue Create
Christmas Cards
Colour Crazy Craft
Crafty Awesomeness
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas
Creative Fingers
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends
Not Just Cards
Petal Lu
Southern Girls
Whoopsi Daisy

     Be sure to check out the MHK Designs blog and visit the rest of the DT members to see what they've done with this beautiful Christmas set.  Then, come visit again tomorrow when I'll have a second Christmas themed card using a completely different set.  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

 Wonderful Wreath