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

Last Day of 30 Days of Holidays

      Here it is, my final card for the 30 Days of Holidays at Beccy's Place.  The last day theme is always "Do What You Love," kind of like Anything Goes but better because we get to use things we love.  For me, there are so many things I love to put on Christmas cards, but I think snowmen have to be at the top of the list.  Actually, if I could find a good reason, I'd do snowmen cards all year round.  :-D

     Today's card features one of Beccy's new snowmen, named Winston and released this year.  I thought he'd look great dressed in a burgundy hat and scarf with gold fringe and earmuffs.  I colored him with ProMarkers and added gold Stickles to the star.  I cut the image with a Tonic Studios die, then trimmed the corners with a Fiskars punch.  

     I wanted the card to sparkle so I dug through my stash of glitter CS scraps and pieced together the background on the card.  I love glitter and when it comes to Christmas cards, I always debate with myself about whether silver glitter or gold glitter is best.  In this case, I was able to use mostly silver glitter but the star has gold sparkle, so a combination of them is the absolute best!

     The image and the "Snowball Fight" sentiment were layered on, using a good amount of craft glue (which I've found is the most effective for attaching CS to glitter.)  Even the stickiest of double sided tapes tends to come loose and peel off of glittered CS after just a short time so glue it is.  

     Challenges:

As You Like It

Di's Digi Designs

Jingle Bells (sparkle & colors)

My Time to Craft

Polkadoodles

Send a Smile ...

     The Christmas season is really on top of us now but it's nice to have another 30 cards in my stash.  Ok, maybe 25 instead of 30 since I did use Thanksgiving as the holiday on 4 or 5 of my cards this month.  Still, my Christmas card stash is looking good this year because of all the other cards I've done between January and October.  I still have colored Christmas images waiting to be made into cards so I'll have several additional posts throughout December.

  

    In the meantime, Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Christmas Sparkle

      Today I'm sharing a Christmas card, maybe the first one I've done since my few "Christmas in July" cards.  This one is  little different in that only three markers were used (yellow ProMarker on the glow of the candle flame, green ProMarker on the fir foliage, and light gray ProMarker for the shadow behind the swag), then the rest of the coloring was done by layering on sparkle gel pens over the greenery and the flame.  It gives a very soft, sparkly, glow to the image.  White gel pen was used for adding highlights to the ornaments, too.

     Once colored, I cut the image with a Tonic Studios die, then inked the edges with a green ProMarker.  The sentiment came from a scrap of Christmas CS, probably from K & Co., and I cut it with the smallest die from that same set of Tonic Studios rectangle dies, & again inked the edges with a ProMarker.  The background dp is from a Recollections stack.  I found the strip of holly & berries dp in the scrap basket. applied it across the top of the card, and trimmed it to size.

     Challenges:

Gem of a Challenge

I Love ProMarkers

Penny's P-C

Polkadoodles

Simon Says Stamp

Word Art Weds

     That's it for today.  Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

Bedtime on Christmas Eve

      Welcome to another challenge at FarmQuest General Store where our theme is always "Anything Farm/Country Goes."  We are sponsored by QKR Stampede and the prize is the QKR Stampede images which have been used by the DT in their inspiration cards.  The challenge runs until the  November 6th so you have plenty of time to get an entry done.

     For my card today, I used 'Night Time Owl' and decided to color him appropriately for a Christmas card.  The image is colored with Sanjoki markers and water colors.  I cut the image with a QuicKutz die and also cut the green CS frame around the image with a die one size larger.  The sentiment was printed and cut with an Avery Elle die.  

     The striped and polka dot dp, which looks like one piece, is actually made using scrap strips of two different papers.  The sparkly CS was also a leftover found in the basket of holiday scraps.

     My "country" elements are: the owl, polka dots, & stripes.

     Challenges:

52 Weeks to Christmas

Creative Fingers

Outlawz Friday

Peace on Earth

Pixie's Snippets

Simon Says Stamp

Word Art Weds

    Come join our challenge this month.  We love seeing what you create!   Happy Crafting.  NanaConnie

A Little Sparkle

      Hello, friends and followers.  I'm finally getting back to the monthly challenge over at Beccy's Place.  It's been a while since I played last and I want to get back into a regular routine of playing there each month.  For this card, I used her lovely "Hydrangea" image and one of her sentiments, also.

     This is a pre-colored image because I needed a fast and simple card for a friend.  I merged the sentiment onto the image before printing, then cut them with a Tonic Studios die.  The sentiment inspired me to dig through my collection of glittered CS stacks and this one seemed to bring out the bits of purple in the flower petals so it got the nod.  I cut a piece to the size of the card front, layered it on, then added the image.  Quick and easy card and really CAS but with lots of eye appeal.

     Challenges:

Crafty Calendar

Creative Fingers

Di's Digi Designs

Gem of a Challenge

Lil Patch of ...