Forest Gratitude

     Gratitude can take place anywhere and these animals that live in the woods are overflowing with a gratitude message.  What better day to share it than on Thanksgiving?  The card is my DT inspiration piece for FarmQuest and our challenge theme this fortnight is "Things found in the Woods."

     The image on the card was originally an ad from an old newspaper (c 1945) which I wasn't willing to destroy.  So I photocopied it, added a bit of color with pencils and Ohuhu markers, then sponged it with pale ivory ink from a worn out marker.  I loved the "old" look that gave to the paper.  I tore the image rather than cut it with scissors because I thought it gave a more rustic feel.  I chose a kraft card base, again more rustic than a plain white CS.  The sentiment was cut with an Avery Elle die.  The brown bits on either side of the image piece are washi tape with leaf shapes punched out.

     Challenges:

Digi Choosday

Krafty Chicks

Penny's P-C

Simon Says Stamp

Word Art Weds

    

     Come play with us this challenge.  I know you must be making the last (first???) of your Christmas cards by now and what better way to get into a country feel and enter a card with "Things in the Woods?"  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Woodland Critters

     A second post today because I just had to share a tag I made using the mid-month freebie from Conjuror of Dreams for their Tag Challenge.  They do 2 tag challenges each month on their FB site and I didn't get one finished in time for the first challenge in November so I didn't want to be late with this one.  They offer freebies to use in the tag challenge and those alone make it totally worth playing.  :-D

     Isn't this the cutest collection of woodland critters building their winter snowman?  I used kraft CS for the tab and made the shape myself by cutting a rectangle with a die from QuicKutz and then cutting the top corners with a punch from EK Success.  The image is pre-colored and I used it "as is" instead of printing it in grayscale and coloring it myself.  I added pearls to the sides and bottom, then added a "To/From" stamp to the back.  Red twine was added through the hole on top finished it off.

     Challenges:

Ally's Angels

C.R.A.F.T.

Craft Rocket

Crafty Catz

Creative Fingers

Creative Inspiration

Lil Patch of ...

Outlawz Friday

     That's it for today.  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Besties

      I absolutely adore the image I used on this card today!  I also love the idea of a cat and a mouse being besties.  :-D   The sentiment was printed along with the image, then the image was colored with Ohuhu alcohol markers.  After coloring, I cut it using my Fiskars paper cutter.  (Reminder to self - it's time to replace the blade.  lol)  I rounded the corners with a Uchida punch from Marvy.  

     I found a dark green CS in my stash and cut it to size for the card front, then added a wide strip of dp to the left hand side (scrap from a DCWV stack.)  The bow is one of my hand sewn, butterfly-shape bows with a pearl.  I spend an entire afternoon hand sewing those by the dozen and tossing them into my stash for future use, sometimes with a pearl, sometimes without.  Over the years, I've learned to buy only white ribbon to make those because it's so easy to 'dye' them with markers to get the exact color I want,  matching up one of the colors used on the image.  This time, I kept the bow white.

     Challenges:

613 Avenue Create

Creative Fingers

Double Trouble

Gem of a Challenge

Pammie's IP

SUYP Cats

Word Art Weds

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Family Togetherness

      This is another collaboration card with my sis-in-law, Lainy.  A few weeks back, I introduced her to alcohol markers (a medium she had never used before) and her grasp of how to use them effectively came so quickly!  She is truly a fantastic colorist.  But the actual card making, layout, and design has become my end of the collaboration because she really loves the coloring more than the card making, which I love both ends of that particular crafting endeavor.  :-D

     The image on this card is clip art, printed in grayscale, and colored with Ohuhu mrkers.  I notice those are the markers she tends to grab first though I also have a wonderful array of ProMarkers and Sanjoki markers, plus a scattered few Copics.  Eventually, as the markers run dry, instead of refilling any of them, I'm shifting over to the Ohuhu markers altogether.

     I cut the image with a die from QuicKutz, then rounded the corners with a Fiskars punch.  I inked the edges of the image and layered it onto a piece of Recollections dp.  The black bow is a triple-loop bow made on my Zutter Bow-It-All and I used ribbon from Really Reasonable Ribbon.  I have two of those bow makers (version 2.0 and version 3.0) and I wouldn't give them up for anything.  

     The only place I can find them anymore is on Amazon but having both of them means that Lainy and I can get work together making some good-sized bows for the holiday wreaths we are going to make for family.  We've been going through old crafting stash and scouring local craft stores for ribbons, wreath bases (all kinds), Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas 'foliage' picks, and small decorative bits that will enhance the wreaths.

     Ok, now for a look at the card.  I'm going to use this one for a Thanksgiving card.

     Challenges:

Colorful Options

Crafting Challenge

Crafty Gals Corner

Incy Wincy

Mirtillamente

Morgan's ArtWorld

Outlawz Weds

Penny's P-C

Word Art Weds

     Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie