Peace in the Kingdom - Vera Lane Cinderella Digital Stamp

Let us not take ourselves too seriously.  None of us has a monopoly on wisdom.

Queen Elizabeth II

Hey there from Nannyland,

Now and then,  I just have to stop what I'm doing and grab a magical Vera Lane digi to create a wacky card for one of my quirky friends.  The whimsical expressions on the faces of these images crack me up and are perfect for cheery notes to loved ones who need a little chuckle.   This one is called Cinderella (Etsy says she's unavailable at this time) and she lives up to her name with her magical, majestic countenance.            

Her humongous eyes provided me with good coloring practice because the eyeballs on the original image are just tiny dots in the middle of large white circles. She looks really cute that way but I loved giving her eyelids with long lashes and large colorful irises to make her a little more glamorous.  I added to her a regal look by adding gems to her gown and a sparkly purple rhinestone to her crown. I used the cutting and writing features in Cricut Design Space to create the tag card base, the coordinating iron gate and the sentiment. 

 

Vera Lane Cinderella digital stamp, Copic markers, assorted gems.
Cricut  cutting and writing features, white gel pen

This card will be perfect for my daughter who lives in Copenhagen, Denmark where an actual queen literally rules over her kingdom.  Since Denmark is often listed as the most peaceful place in the world, the Queen must be a very happy lady.

Thanks for visiting Nannyland.

I'll just be here blissfully creating until your next visit.  

Nancy (aka Pink Panoply)

Playing along with:

Try it on Tuesday Challenge - Make it Feminine

Pammie's Inky Pinkies Challenge #2230

CD Sunday Plus Challenge #90

The Corrosive Challenge #7

Color Dare Challenge #506

Try Stampin' on Tuesday Challenge #566

The Paper Funday Challenge #43

The Creative Crafters #54

QKR Stampede Challenge #448

Patties Creations Challenge #196

Conie Fong Guest Design Team Project - Sweet Annabelle Digi

The soul always knows what to do to heal itself. 
The challenge is to silence the mind. 

Hey there from Nannyland,

I've been absolutely delighted with my opportunity to color several of Conie Fong's incredible images for my Guest Designer spot at Conie Fong Art and Design for the months of June and July.  This fresh, breezy image is called Sweet Annabelle and you can find her in Conie's Etsy store HERE.  

Sweet Annabelle is clearly comfortable strolling through her garden in bare feet, filling her basket with colorful blossoms.  I love using Spellbinders Mini Blooms and Sprigs dies for my flowers because  their small size works perfectly with the scale of most of my cards and they're great for adding dimension and color.  I usually  size my images to about 4 x 6 inches, leaving room for a frame on a 5 x 7 card. It's much easier (and a lot more enjoyable) to color fine details on larger images.  This one is tall and narrow and fits nicely on an intricate Tattered Lace tag frame. The main panel is adhered to a tag card base that lives in my Cricut project library.  I created the sentiment in Cricut Design Space using the writing, off-set and cutting features. 

Conie Fong Sweet Annabelle digital stamp, Copic makers, 
Spellbinders Mini Blooms and Sprigs, Tattered Lace
Tag Frame die, Cricut Design Space writing and cutting, 
die cut butterfly

It's easy to see why Conie's darling images are among my digi faves because they all  exude such wonderful personality and style. Copics and a Conie digi...the perfect way to keep cool on a "dog day afternoon."

Thanks for visiting Nannyland.

I'll just be here blissfully creating until your next visit.  

Nancy (aka Pink Panoply)

Playing along with:

Through the Craft Room Door - July 19

A Gem of a Challenge - Wk 15

A Place to Start Challenge #072022

The Crafters Cafe' Challenge #287

World Wide Open Design Team Challenge #7

Morgan's ArtWorld Challenge #7

Classic Design Challenge #7

QKR Stampede Challenge #448

Digi Doodle Studios Challenge #51

LeAnn's World Challenge #52

Mariola Budek Blooming Innocence Digi - Sending Flowery Hugs

Be stubborn about your goals and flexible about your methods. 

Hey there from Nannyland,

While browsing through  my happily overflowing digi library, I happened upon this fabulous image by Mariola Budek.  She is a fairly new artist to me, and I'm instinctively drawn to her enchanting, wistful images. I love the angelic eyes on this one called Blooming Innocence.  My first impulse was to color her lovely thick  braids in copper shades, and then this happened!!!

In case you're under the impression that you're the only one who has catastrophic goof-ups while meticulously coloring an image, I have some very sad evidence here that refilling Copic markers too full and then opening them over your work is not a good idea.  I really like the first colors I chose for her hair, but they were a little too warm for the cool colors I had chosen for her flower wreath, so I used the opportunity to start anew and use more red-violet shades.  Her hair coordinates better with the flowers in my finished project, but I still love the warmer braids. The silver lining was that I got plenty of practice coloring with both color palettes! 

After carefully completing the image a SECOND time, I fussy cut her and attached her to a soft oval dp background layered with glossy gold card stock.  I attached the oval to a white shimmer 5 x 7  Spellbinders frame which I glued to a purple card base. I accessorized the corner with handmade Heartfelt Creations flowers and added a white die cut butterfly.  I'm happy I have tons of both of these embellies premade because I love adding handmade accents to my cards. 

I've been experimenting with written sentiments in Cricut Design Space and have designed several  small ones that mimic cute stamps I have seen.  This one was my sample and it's a little funky, but I grabbled it for this card to see how it worked.  I added plain layers in Design Space that can be cut out and glued together for dimension.  I also created off-set layers with the off-set feature (not pictured here).  I think I'll have fun using these as last minute adornments to my cards. 

Mariola Budek digi Blooming Innocence, Spellbinders frame die, 
Heartfelt Creations stamps, dies, mold; die cut butterfly, Cricut 
Design Space writing and off-set features, Copic markers,
gold foil card stock, purple card stock, white shimmer card stock

                            

Now, this is my conundrum...should I throw away my tragic messed up image or pin it to my bulletin board as a reminder not to make this mistake again.  Sadly, I did make it again on another project, but I was able to cover it up with a sentiment.  Maybe the problem is that I'm too zealous when I refill my markers. I do use a small scale and I might need to adjust the weight down a bit.  But the secret to well blended coloring is wet markers, so I think I'm prepared to walk that line. 

Thanks for visiting Nannyland.

I'll just be here blissfully creating until your next visit.  

Nancy (aka Pink Panoply)

Playing along with:

A Perfect Time to Craft Challenge #7

Arty Divas June Challenge

Classic Design Challenge #7

Love to Craft Challenge #69

Morgan's ArtWorld Challenge #7

CD Sunday Plus Challenge #89

Stamping Sensations July Challenge

Colour Crazy Challenge Wk 27

Crafts Galore Encore #101

July Guest Design Team Project - Conie Fong Little Blossom

You can't go back and change the beginning, but you can start
where you are and change the ending.  - C.S. Lewis

Hey there from Nannyland,

This month I continue to have the pleasure and privilege of creating Guest Design Team projects for Conie Fong Art.  For this project I chose this absolutely adorable image called Little Blossom.  You can find her in Conie's Etsy store HERE.  She was a joy to color in Copic shades of red and pink.

I created the tree trunk in Cricut Design Space and, since I couldn't find my white glitter paper, I cut it out in white card stock and then added sparkle with Nuvo Glitter Accents in Fresh Snowball. I love all the  beautiful glittery texture! The frame was also sized and cut with my Cricut and then edged with a gold leafing pen. I used the Cricut writing feature to  write my sentiment on an octagon shape and added a gold foil offset layer.   The blossoms are Spellbinders Mini Blooms and Sprigs,  cut out in white card stock and colored with Copic markers.  

I discovered some origami paper in my stash that matched my color scheme and added a little paper piecing to her skirt.  I used a light gray Copic marker to create soft folds. The background panel for my card is ombre DP with subtle embossed white tree branches. This was my inspiration to create a white cherry blossom tree.  I tried a dark brown trunk but decided Conie's beautiful image shows up better against a lighter background. 

Conie Fong "Little Blossom" digi, Copic markers, Spellbinders  Mini Blooms
and Sprigs, Cricut cutting and writing features, ombe DP,
Nuvo Glitter Accents, mini dragonfly die

I still have another Guest Design Team project for Conie this month and I already have a fabulous image colored and ready for a fun card design.  I'd love for you to come back and see the finished project.  I'm having such a delightful time designing with Conie's marvellous art work!

Thanks for visiting Nannyland.

I'll just be here blissfully creating until your next visit.  

Nancy (aka Pink Panoply)

Playing along with:

Through the Craft Room Door - July 5th Challenge

Passion for Markers Bingo (Patterned Paper, Gems, Glitter, Die cuts, Image, Sentiment, Paperpiecing) 

Polkadoodle Challenge #27

Allsorts Wk 683

Creative Fingers Challenge #234

Colour Crazy Wk 26

Pattie's Creations Challenge #196

World Wide Open Design Team Challenge # 6

Classic Design Challenge #7

Morgan's ArtWorld Challenge #7