Grayscale to Black and White Monochromatic

     I just had to do another AuroraWings sprite for their "Black and White with or without a Pop of Color" challenge.  I enjoyed the one I did last week so much that I browsed through my extensive collection of AW images and found this one which I thought would work perfectly.

     I colored with ProMarkers and watercolors, then cut the image with old decorative scissors.  How many of you still have decorative edge scissors?   Come on, fess up - no crafter ever threw out any tools which still works!

     The black frame is cut with a die from Spellbinders.  Everything is put onto an embossed (Linen folder) white card front.  I printed and added the sentiment after hand cutting it and inking the edges.  I really wanted to leave it fairly simple so I added only the black bow with a tiny pearl.

     Challenges:
Crafting by Designs
Crafty Sentiments
Creative Moments
Digi Choosday
Everybody Art
Ike's World
Outlawz Color
Scrappy Land
Unicorn

     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

Thanks to Our Veterans

     I'm always supportive of our military veterans and I make cards for those who are involved in the Honor Flight trips to our nation's capital.  I also try to honor them on Memorial Day and that's coming up the end of this month.  This is a sample of the style I like to do and I've done half a dozen of these over the last two years, using this same image and color combo.  The image is from Delicious Doodles and the poppies are perfect for veterans.

     I printed the image twice, coloring one and leaving the other black and white.  I die cut the colored one with a plain circle die from Spellbinders, inked the edges with black ink, and layered it onto the black and white image.  This "spotlight" technique is one of my favorites.

     To make the red pop even more, I used black CS for the card blank, adding a panel of white inside for writing the note.  I printed the sentiment, hand cut it, inked the edges, and added it to the image piece.  Offsetting the image on the card front left me room to add the single, red, bow with the pearls.  Since I don't know if this card will go to a man or a woman, I did only that minimal embellishment, keeping it pretty CAS. 

     Challenges:
A Bit More Time to Craft
Addicted to Stamps & More
A Perfect Time to Craft
Crafting by Designs
Crafts Galore Encore
Die Cut Divas
Dies R Us
Double D
I {heart} ProMarkers

     A salute to all our veterans of whatever conflict or war.  We DO appreciate your unselfish service to our country.  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

"Mice" Rose

     I did a huge clean-out of my remaining wood-mounted, rubber stamps and got rid of most of them but the ones from Penny Black had to stay.  I adore all the mice, hedgies, and cats in my PB collection and simply couldn't stand the idea of sending them off to live elsewhere.  But sorting through them made me realize how little I've used them since discovering digis some years back so I stamped several of them and put them into the "Waiting to be Used" file.

     Here's a hint for those of you who love the sizing ability of digis (probably my favorite thing aside from computer storage):  stamp the image onto paper or CS, then photograph it and save the photo as a .jpg image.  Open the .jpg in whatever software you use for opening and printing digis, then adjust the size from there before you print and color it.  I don't know if that will work with a cell phone photo because I only photograph with my Canon digital camera but it works great with those photos.

   

I loved the inspiration photos at Sugar Pea Designs and at Cupcake Inspiration.

  

     I used my ProMarkers to color the image, then die cut it with a fancy oval die from Spellbinders.  I printed the sentiment in red, hand cut it and added it to the image piece.  Everything went onto a blue background.

     I found a piece of beige lace in my stash and used a ProMarker to 'dye' it the coral-pink I wanted.  I tied it into a bowtie bow, wrapped with a bit of 1/8" satin ribbon.

     Challenges:

Allsorts

Crafting from the Heart

Crafty Sentiments

Digi Choosday

Di's Digi Designs

Jo's Scrap Shack

Penny Black Saturday

TTCRD

Tuesday Throwdown

     Thanks for visiting and for commenting, my friends.  I truly appreciate your time and efforts.  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

2 Crafty Critter Crazies Challenge with Rick St. Dennis

     Here we are - another new challenge starts today at 2 Craft Critter Crazies and the sponsor is Rick St. Dennis.  They generously supplied images for each of the DT members so all of our inspiration projects are completely different this month.  Be sure to check the main challenge blog to see them all.

     I used a fabulous image called "Dragon" and, if you're into dragons the way my granddaughter is, be sure to check out the Zibbet store.  There are several fantastic dragon images over there.

     I colored the dragon using ProMarkers, then cut him on three sides with a border die from Spellbinders.  The scallops on the dp were also cut with another border die from Spellbinders. 

     The olive green dp came from Stampin' Up and I used 4 different scrap pieces to make all those layers.  I thought minimal embellishment would best feature that magnificent dragon so I limited the embellishing to three, tiny pearls in two corners and then left it alone.

     Challenges:
Aud Sentiments
Color Inspiration Monday
Crafting from the Heart
Crafting with Friends
Crafty Catz
Cut It Up
Di's Digi Designs
Jo's Scrap Shack
Outlawz Greetings
Pammie's Inky Pinkies

     Come play with us this month!   Out theme is always "Anything Goes" as long as you feature a creature.  Be sure to check the blog to find out who won last month's challenge and to see all the DT Favorites.  One of them might be you.  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Chasing Dreams

     This cute image is from Bugaboo Stamps and it reminds me of fun summer days as a child.

I was inspired by the colors at Catch the Bug and 

used the sketch at Stella Says Sketch.

   

     I used ProMarkers to color the image, then cut it with an Unbranded die.  The three papers for the background and the ribbon were all scraps.  In fact, the green polka dot piece was so small, I had to cut it in two and add the pieces so that they would show at the top and bottom of the image, giving the illusion of being one, long piece.

     The bow was hand made from white ribbon but I 'dyed' it with a ProMarker to get that color of pink.

     Challenges:
Crafty Gals Corner
House that Stamps Built
Lemon Shortbread
Pammie's Inky Pinkies
Pixie's Snippets
Simon Says Stamp
Star Stampz
Word Art Weds.

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

The Lookout

     I was invited to be a GDT at the Outlawz Sunday CAS challenge the next two Sundays and I was delighted to say "Yes."  Big changes are in the wind on the Sunday but all I can do is tell you that much and nothing more.   For this week, the challenge theme is "Image with a Tree or Trees." 

Of course, I was perfectly happy to include a darling feline.  :-D

     Please don't ask me who did the image.  That was in my file of printed or stamped images and I had put no kind of identifier on it.  But it was perfect for this theme so I decided to use it.

     I colored only the tree trunk with polychromos pencils, leaving the rest in black and white.  I know some people will look at this card design and wonder if it really fits into the CAS category but one of my favorite things to do is to use a die cut for some visual interest but leave lots of open space and no embellishments so I think it fits in just fine.

     I used a Spellbinders' die to cut two different shades of tan CS, then sliced those cut pieces in two - one lengthwise and the other across the width.  Since each one would have been smaller than the image, I adhered the sliced die cuts to both sides and both ends, then added that entire piece to a dark brown card front which had been embossed with my "Linen" folder.

     I didn't think it even needed a sentiment.  That kitten is clearly the lookout for a band of stealthy, feline, vagrants who are out to create as much mischief as possible!  He's watching to see when their human will discovered their escape from the house into the great outdoors and to sound the warning to get back inside before the door shuts forever!

     Challenges:
Crafting from the Heart
Crafty Friends
Di's Digi Designs
Everybody Art
Lemon Shortbread
Outlawz Twisted Thurs
Pammie's Inky Pinkies
Simon Says Stamp
SUYP Cats
TTCRD

     We'd love to see you playing along at The Outlaw this week.  If you're not already a member, join us.  It's free and there are fun challenges each day of the week, plus a progressive challenge each month.  See you over there!  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

The Bride

     I was so intrigued by the latest challenge at AuroraWings where they are asking us to do something in black and white - with or without a pop of color!  I simply had to find one of Mitzi's images which would work in black and white.  Here's what I found.  What do you think?

     I colored with ProMarkers in various shades of deep gray and golden yellows for the flower.  I cut the image with a plain rectangle die (Spellbinders), then punched the corners (Fiskars.)  The dp is cut with another Spellbinders die and I layered the image onto it.

     I dug through my stash of lace and found that perfect, white lace which I added to the card front before adding the image piece.  I printed and hand cut the sentiment, adding it to the bottom of the frame.   That's a pretty CAS card, especially for a bridal theme.  :-D

     Challenges:
CAS-ual Fridays
Crafting from the Heart
Crafting with an Attitude
Crafting with Friends
Crafty Catz
Digi Choosday
Path of Positivity
Scrappy Land

     Happy Crafting,  NanaConnie

Best Buddies

     Another Friday so another new challenge at QKR Stampede.  As always, our theme is "Anything Goes" and there's no requirement to use a QKR image (or Eureka - our sister brand which I used this week) or sentiment.  However, if you do use one of those, your entry will be in a completely separate draw and that increases your chances of winning by quite a lot.

     This week, I used an image from Eureka Stamps called "Big n Little Cat."  We all know that cats are my favorite animals but, in truth, I'm a general animal lover -- all animals!  I'm required to say that cats are my favorites because my feline fur babies would throw me out of 'their' house if they thought for one second that dogs or rabbits or horses might have even a second or third place in  my heart.

     Although the the fur babies spend a lot of time watching over my shoulder as I'm drafting my blog posts, neither has yet learned to read so I'm safe sharing that fact with you.  :-D

I chose a color combo from

My Favorite Things.

     I colored with my ProMarkers and framed it with a scrap of embossed CS which had been cut with a die from Cheapo dies.  The 'ribbon' strip is also a scrap and I added one of my signature bows.  Instead of sewing on a pearl, I used blue Pearl Drops in the center.

     Another of my CAS design with lots of open space, even if not the usual "white" space, which will be perfect for another masculine card.

     Challenges:
Addicted to Stamps & More
As You Like It
Aud Sentiments
Crafting from the Heart
Crafty Gals Corner
House That Stamps Built
Lemon Shortbread
Outlawz Greetings
SUYP Cats
TTCRD

     Come play with us this week!  We love being inspired by you and your creations.  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Bookworm Fairy

     I'm so excited to share with you today as this is my first card done as a Guest Designer on the Colour Crazy Challenge.  Ching-Chou Kuik has graciously agreed to be our sponsor and has given us the images we used.  I chose Little Bookworm Fairy.  I've been a fan of Ching-Chou Kuik for a few years now and I do love coloring her images.  

I was inspired by the colors at Sugar Pea Designs.

    I used ProMarkers to color the image, adding purple Nuvo Crystal Drops to the flowers in her hair.  Sorry but I forgot to keep track of the exact colors but next time, I promise to have a list for you.  I also added glitter to her wings before cutting the image and its frame with dies from Sizzix.  

     I made a shaped card using a manual die from Tattered Lace.  The glittered "ribbon" is actually washi tape.  I tied a bow with sheer burgundy ribbon and added the white rose on top of it.  The sentiment was printed, hand cut, and added.

     Challenges:

Crafting with an Attitude

Crafty Sentiments

Digi Choosday

Paper Shelter

Penny's Paper-Crafty

Scrappy Land

Simon Says Stamp

Star Stampz

Tuesday Throwdown

     I'm really happy to be working with the Colour Crazy team as a guest designer for the next three months and look forward to sharing with you my creations.  Remember our theme is always "Anything Goes" and, even though we have a new challenge starting every week, each one runs for two weeks so they overlap each other by a week each time.  :-D  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Cinderella Shoes

     Cinderella clearly knew the value of a good pair of slippers and I submit for consideration that in itself is reason enough to go shopping for a new pair of shoes!  This delightful image from SheepSki Designs inspired me.  For their FB challenge, they want us to use two colors so I chose pink and silver.

     This one is pretty simple because I wanted the shoe to be the main focus.  I colored it with ProMarkers and cut the image with a rectangle die (Spellbinders), then punched the corners for a bit of  visual interest (Fiskars.)

     I put the image onto an embossed card front, added the hand-cut sentiment, and tied that outrageous triple bow with the help of my bow maker.  Almost as an afterthought, I decided to add the silver pearls and that really dressed up the shoe.  Now I know Cinderella would love this pair!  :-D

     Challenges:
Allsorts
Brown Sugar
Crafter's Castle
Craft-Dee BowZ
Crafty Calendar
Cute Card Thurs.
Dragonfly Dreams
Hiding in My Craft Room
Jo's Scrap Shack

     This week has gone by so quickly!   I can hardly believe that it's Thursday already and that the weekend is just around the corner.  Hope you're planning on lots of crafty time.  :-D  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Geraniums

     It dawned on me the other day that I'm living in a house which has no geranium plants anywhere.  To most of you, that's kind of meaningless but I've had geraniums at every house where I've lived since I was a child and my mother raised them.  The two years I spent in Anchorage, AK, I had geraniums in pots which lived indoors all winter and then went crazy in the long hours of summer sunshine.

     I'm going to correct that lapse as soon as possible but in the meantime these geraniums (Ike's Art) will have to hold me over.  :-D

      I colored with ProMarkers and then fussy cut the image.  I printed and added the birthday sentiment across the clay pot, then added the image to the background using dimensional tape. 

     The background is embossed Swiss Dots and I added sparkle to each individual dot.  I tied one of my bowtie bows using my bow maker and added it to the top of the card.  Rather simple in design but it shows off the geraniums, which was my intent all along.

     Challenges:
Cards in Envy
Crafty Addicts
Crafty Cardmakers
Creative Inspirations
Creative Moments
DL.ART
Ellibelle's Crafty Weds.
Ike's World
Incy Wincy
Southern Girls

     Has spring weather hit your part of the Northern hemisphere yet?  If you're down under, are you already longing for the hot weather to be gone and wanting the cool, crisp evenings of fall to arrive?  Wherever you happen to be located, Happy Crafting!  NanaConnie

Time for May Flowers

     We've had the April Showers (more than we usually get where I live) and now I want to see the May Flowers.   My garden is growing strong and healthy plants and in another month, we'll be harvesting the first of the tomatoes and maybe even a summer squash or two.  Watermelons should follow in early July, and it's beginning to look like we may have a bumper crop of beans and peas.

     But I want flowers!  :-D  This is the best I can have right now, I guess.

     The image is from Bugaboo Stamps and I colored with ProMarkers.  The frame was cut with a die from Amy's Designs and I layered it directly onto the image.  That entire thing was placed onto a scrap of dp from a Bo Bunny stack.  It has a hole in it from a die cut done for another project but it's hidden underneath the image.

     I added grosgrain ribbon and 'dyed' my handmade bow with a marker to get just the shade of golden yellow I wanted.  The sentiment was printed, hand cut, and inked on the edges before adding it to the top of the card front.  I took one of the flower piece negatives which fell out after cutting and added it on top of the ribbon.

     As a final touch of embellishment, I added tiny pearls to each of the large flowers in the die cut frame. My handmade bow already had a pearl.

     Challenges:
A Gem of a Challenge
Allsorts
Brown Sugar
Catch the Bug (1st column)
Crafty Friends
Creative Moments
Ellibelle's Crafty Weds.
Jo's Scrap Shack
Penny's Paper-Crafty
Scrappy Land
Send a Smile 4 Kids

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Thinking of You

     This beautiful lady, surrounded by dahlias, comes from Ching-Chou Kuik, where they want us to use our favorite colors.  Of course, you couldn't guess from the card below that my favorites are always in the purple family - everything from periwinkle blue to lavenders and lilacs, to the deepest red-violet or burgundy.

I started with the sketch from Sketch Saturday.

     I colored with my ProMarkers, then cut the image and the oval frames with dies from both QuicKutz and Spellbinders.  Stacking them all together gives some wonderful dimension to the card.

     The strip of dp with the butterflies was in my scrap basket and I think it is from SU.  The background paper is digital and came from one of the sets at MHK Designs.

     The large butterfly is machine embroidered using purple, white and black thread.

     Challenges:
Butterfly Challenge (digi/die cut/dimension)
Crafty Friends
Ellibelle's Crafty Weds.
Jo's Scrap Shack
Outlawz Twisted Thurs.
Penny's Paper-Crafty
Scrappy Land
WordArt Weds.

     I'm so glad you stopped by for a visit.  If I haven't been by your blog over the last couple of weeks, it's because I'm still healing from a shoulder injury and, often, I have to decide whether to craft or spend time at the keyboard commenting.  I'll be around to catch up on my visits and comments as soon as I can.  In the meantime, I appreciate you visiting my blog even though I'm not reciprocating right away.  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Flowers in a Honey Can

     I fell in love with this image from Sparkle n Sprinkle the instant I saw it.  I think it's by Jan Mahew.  In any case, it's lovely and I was so happy to color it up!

     I colored with ProMarkers and pencils, with little touches of white gel pan.  The background is dp from SU, dry embossed with a folder from Darice.

     The image is fussy cut with a very narrow, white, border.  I mounted it onto the two die cut, octagon, frames using dimensional dots.  The octagons are also embossed all around the edges.  I printed and hand cut the sentiment, then added it to the image piece.

     The final step was making two bows, one from lace & the other from satin ribbon, and mounting them together as a double bow.  There was so much going on visually that I decided the bows were all that was needed by way of embellishment.

     Challenges:
A Perfect Time to Craft
Archi-Scraps
Beccy's Place (die cut/3 colors/lace & ribbon)
Card Mania
Craft-Dee BowZ
Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper
Die Cut Diva's
TLC on Doing Life

     That's all I have for this weekend but my entire day is cleared so that I can work slowly, with lots of breaks to rest my shoulder, and still get a couple of cards made for later this week.  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

The Fairy Sleeps

     Another really fun image this month from Dragon's Lair for their progressive challenge on their FB page.  I love that the fairy is curled up asleep in the flower with the dragon watching over her.

     I used ProMarkers, Copics, and water color pencils to color the image.  I used dies from QuicKutz and Sizzix to cut and mat the image.  The background dp came from my scrap stash.  I added three of my signature bows and a tiny rose bud, and called it finished.

     Challenges:
Crazy Challenge
Cutie Pie
Double D
Everybody Art
Ike's World
Lemon Shortbread
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends
Outlawz Greetings
Pammie's Inky Pinkies
TTCRD

     Thanks so much for stopping by and enjoy your weekend.  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Spring Foal

     Happy Friday and we all know that means another new challenge at QKR Stampede!  Our theme is always Anything Goes and you can use any kind of image by any company.  If you decide to use a QKR image, your entry will go into a completely separate draw and than increases your chances of winning by a huge margin.  :-D

     If you follow my blog, you know that I usually do some kind of humorous card with QKR images but today I want to share with you a delightful spring foal ("Appaloosa Foal") image which looks like he was just born yesterday.  Isn't he gorgeous?

I was inspired by the color combo at House of Cards.

     I colored him with ProMarkers, added the sentiment, and cut it with a die from Spellbinders.  I chose red-brown CS for the card base, layered on the image piece, then added the gingham ribbon and the wrapped, burlap-twine, bow.  I left it very CAS because I intend to use it as a masculine birthday card and I wanted the image to be the focus, not a bunch of embellishments.

     Challenges:
AAA Cards
Angie's Digi Stamps
Aud Sentiments
Cards in Envy
Color Inspiration Monday
Crafting from the Heart
Incy Wincy
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends
Pammie's Inky Pinkies

     HAae a fantastic weekend and Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

OMG, Cats !

     I'm reminded of a childhood friend I met at summer camp and we became best buddies in the way kids do.   We promised to write to each other all the time but, unlike most kid promises, we actually did.  Our friendship lasted into and beyond college.  When I was getting married, she traveled more than 300 miles to attend and stayed at my house.  It turns out she was traveling with her beloved macaw, a large kind of parrot, because after the wedding she was moving to San Diego for graduate school.

      I didn't mind in the least but her bird went a little nuts when he discovered my two cats!

     Colored with water colors & die cut with a die from Spellbinders.   Papers are from my stash of scraps and the ribbon had the perfect colors.

     Challenges:
Crafting w/ an Attitude
Crafty Creations
Crazy Challenge
Creative Inspirations
Limited Runs
Outlawz PAM
Outlawz Twisted Thurs.
Scrappy Land
TTCRD
WordArt Weds.

      That's it for today.  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Celebrate a Rainbow

     That sounds like a fitting title for a month known for its showers!  But in this case, it's a way of celebrating a boy's April birthday.  :-D

     The image is from Bugaboo Stamps (Catch the Bug) and I colored it with my ProMarkers.  The dark blue CS frame is a leftover, negative, scrap laid on top of the image and then trimmed to fit.  I printed the sentiment, hand cut it and adhered it to the bottom of the frame.  The lavender CS (also a scrap) is embossed and used for the card front.  It actually has a die cut hole in it but I covered that by tilting the image slightly when I adhered it. 

     I added no embellishments at all because I wanted a very CAS card for a boy.

     Challenges:
AAA Cards
Addicted to Stamps
Crafting from the Heart
Hiding in My Craft Room
Jo's Scrap Shack
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends
Outlawz CAS
Pammie's Inky Pinkies
Pixie's Snippets
Send a Smile 4 Kids

     That's the best I can do for typing with this shoulder injury.  Writing up the post in 10 minute increments at the keyboard means that it's taken me well over two hours to do this short little post.  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Make a Wish

     It's time for the start of a new monthly challenge at World Wide Open DT Challenge and our theme is always "Anything Goes."  The challenge is sponsored by and we showcase images by Julia Spiri.  Today I'm using "Jasmine" - isn't she fantastic?

     I colored with ProMarkers, then die cut the image with a die from Cheapo Dies.  I dug through my stash of scraps and found both the turquoise and the flowered papers.  Since they made up my favorite color combo of purple and turquoise, I grabbed them right away.  I ran the turquoise through my machine using an embossing folder from Sizzix before layering it onto the card front.

     I had two scraps of sheer and satin ribbons so I used them for the strip between the two papers and also for the bow.  The sentiment was printed and die cut with the smallest die from that Cheapo Dies set.  I'm using this as a birthday card so the sentiment really works.  :-D

     Challenges:
Angie's Digital Stamps
Crafter's Castle
Crafty Friends
Crafty Sentiments
Di's Digi Designs
Everybody Art
Passion for ProMarkers
Send a Smile 4 Kids
Stamping Sensations
Unicorn

     I hope we're going to see you playing along this month.  Don't forget that you can also visit the FB page for Julia Spiri and see her new shop here, which features original art and fabulous coloring books!  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie