"Corny" for Thanksgiving

      OMGoodness, where did the last 2 weeks go?  It's already time for another challenge over at FarmQuest where we always want to see farm/country elements on your cards but, in addition, we have a theme you must follow and this time the theme is "Corn."  That can be anything having to do with corn - ears, husks, stalks, corn fields, Indian Corn, dried corn.  Let your imagination go and show us something fun.

     I picked an image from my collection of QKR Stampede, colored it in my favorite fall color combo (yellows and browns) with Sanjoki markers, and cut it with an old Spellbinders die.  The corn stalks background behind the image was self made using clip art to create the dp.  The sentiment was printed and cut with an Avery Elle die.  The card front is covered with burlap paper from a DCWV stack of woven papers.  Great texture and one more 'country'-looking element.

     I'm going to use this as a Thanksgiving card this year.

     Challenges:

Aloha Friday

Creative Fingers

Creative Knockouts

Paper Shelter

Penny's P-C

Simon Says Stamp

     Don't forget to find something 'Corny' in your own collection and come enter a card into our challenge.  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Mail Early for Christmas

      Can you believe that Christmas is less than 2 months away?  Only 8 short weeks to get those cards made and in the mail !  So start thinking about jumping into the fray and working on those holiday cards you said you were going to start last March.  lol

     Today starts a new challenge at Crafty Catz where our theme is always "Anything Goes" with an optional twist if you want to use it.  The OPTION this week is "4 legged critters."  Our sponsor for the week is All Dressed Up and they supplied images for the DT to use.  I chose "Christmas Postie" for the adorable cat and dog (each with 4 legs!) putting their Christmas cards in the mail.

     I used water color paints, Sanjoki markers, and white gel pen to color the image, then cut it and the black frame with dies from Tonic Studios.  The sentiment was printed and cut with an Avery Elle die.  I dug through the Christmas papers drawer and found one in green and gold that I love, then used it for the background.  I added a strip of gold satin ribbon.

     Challenges:

12 Months Christmas

Classic Design

Christmas Kickstart

Creatalicious

Digi Choosday

Kerst Christmas

Rabisco

YSBP

     I hope we're going to see you playing in our challenge this week.  We love being inspired by you.

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Life's Too Short ...

      Today's my daughter's birthday and I hope she's going to be far too busy to visit my blog (which she doesn't do that often anyway) because I'm posting her Halloween card.  Yes, she's an adult, and yes, she has kids in college, and yes, I send her (and everyone else in my family; kids, grandkids, great-grands) Halloween cards just because it's so much fun!

     But this one will have special meaning to her and that means I need to tell you a little bit about the business she runs.  She's a Color Street stylist and if you've never heard of Color Street, check out her FB site, Michele's Magnificent Manis.  Color Street is dry nail polish strips which go on in a jiffy and are dry to the touch as soon as they are applied.  Since she started her business about 4 years ago, I've been using Color Street on my own nails and I have to say I love the product.  Everybody asks if it's stickers or stick-on nails, but it's not.  It's real nail polish but it comes in strips, not in a bottle and there's no waiting for it to dry once applied.

     So, when I saw this fabulous digital coloring page over on the Bogema Books site, I had to buy the entire coloring book just to get this image.  What could be more perfect?  Tatiana Bogema is the artist and I do love her pages.  I also bought one of her Christmas books while I was there.

     I sized the image for an A2 card, then printed it and used water color paints for coloring it.  I cut it with my largest Tonic Studios rectangle die and matted it with both black and orange CS scraps, trimmed to fit.  The sentiment came from a sign my daughter has in her vendor booth when she does sales events.  It seemed perfect for this image!  Isn't this a scream?

     Challenges:

Aloha Friday

Crafty Gals Corner

Creative Knockouts

Double D

Happy...Stampers

LeighSBDesigns

Paper Funday

Simon Says Stamp

Sweet Sketch Weds (scene)

     Sending a Happy Birthday wish to my daughter and thanks to all the rest of you for stopping by.

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Swinging Halloween

      I fell in love with this image as soon as I saw it and knew it had to go on a card, even though it was designed originally (I think) as a coloring book page.  It was 1 of 3 mailed to me by a gal who wanted to know if I would color them for her.  She plans to use them as Halloween decor and they were coloring book size when she mailed them to me.  I asked her if I could scan this one and use it on a card and she said yes.  :-D  

     I scanned it, reduced the size, and deepened the level of gray scale before I printed it, making it look darker and spookier.  I used white gel pen to add highlights to the ghosties (they had darkened into the background and were nearly invisible), and purple water color on the background so that it looked more like Halloween.  In the photo, the purple seems to be pink but it really is purple!

     The sentiment was cut with an Avery Elle die.

     This card goes to my great-grandson so I left it completely plain, just a fun, CAS, masculine card.

     Challenges:

AAA Cards

Crafty Calendar

Creative Fingers

Di's Digi Designs

Gem of a Challenge

Inspired By

LeighSBDesigns

Lil Patch of ...

Outlawz SAR  ("moon-tints of purple & pearl")

  

     What do you think, cute without being too spooky?  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