Cinderella Fantasy Journal Page - Have Courage and Be Kind

The greatest risk any of us will take is to be seen as we are.
Cinderella

 

                                           

Hey there from Nannyland,

I can't believe I actually coaxed my husband into watching the 2015 Disney version of Cinderella with me this week! I guess the Hallmark movies are convincing him that, with the depressing menu on TV now, sometimes a fairytale is the only antidote to falling down the bleak rabbit hole.  Whatever the reason, it was delightful having his company for this enchanting walk down memory lane.  I knew I had this adorable Krista Smith digi in my digital stamp library so I set about coloring her to create a page for my fantasy journal.  I attempted to make a little scene behind her with a Cricut fairy cottage, but I got carried away with  my die cut flowers and pretty much eclipsed the cottage with floral splendor.  Whatever, she rode to the ball on a pumpkin pulled by horses created from mice and doormen morphed from lizards.  A few massive flowers aren't that much of a stretch.  

                                                 

Actually, Cinderella's mom uttered the famous quote on her deathbed that I used for my sentiment.  Simple, direct and so appropriate.  A lovely thing to teach to young folks who need a little direction in their lives to help them form their dreams for the future. I like all my journals, but I think my fantasy one is fast becoming my fave. 

Thanks for visiting Nannyland.

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

Nancy (aka Pink Panoply)

                                                                              Playing along with: 

Craft Rocket Challenge #113

Crafty Gals Corner #254

Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge #466

The Unicorn Challenge #97

A Place to Start April

Path of Positivity Challenge #120

A Perfect Time to Craft Challenge #4

Classic Design Challenge #4

Worldwide Crafters and Colorists Challenge #16

Dreaming Tree Fleurette Card with Copic Makers

Like a wildflower, you must allow yourself to grow
in all the places people thought you never would. 

Hey there from Nannyland,

While searching in my Dreaming Tree svg library for a project for my friend's birthday, which resulted in this fun taqueria treat box, I realized that I have tons of beautiful svg's there just vying for my attention.  I found this darling girl called Fleurette and went to work creating a spring card for my daughter's April birthday.  

Dreaming Tree designs are always super clever with lots of incredible details.  This cute girl has many layers which fit together nicely and create amazing dimension.  As a Copic colorist, I prefer to cut the smaller shapes out on white card stock and shade with markers.  In this case, I started by shading the clothes, sun, background flowers, and hair layers. I removed the original cuts for the face in the svg with the contouring feature in Cricut Design Space, to create a smooth surface for me to draw and color her features. I then drew simple facial features with a pencil and shaded the face, neck and arms in flesh tones. I replaced the original flower dies with several small ones from my stash, mostly from my Spellbinders collection.  And, as always, I added small gems and pearls for extra personality and sparkle. 

Nothing is more enjoyable for me than creating with die cuts and zhuzhing them up with Copic coloring and fancy embellishments. I love taking a wonderful design from Dreaming Tree and using my own style to make it uniquely mine.

Thanks for visiting Nannyland.

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

Nancy (aka Pink Panoply)

Playing along with:

Passion for Markers Challenge 734

Try it on Tuesday - Rainbow Colors

Unicorn Challenge #97

A Place to Start April Challenge

A Perfect Time to Craft Challenge #4

Classic Design Challenge #3

Morgan's ArtWorld Challenge #75

613 Avenue Create April Challenge

Dragonfly Dreams April Challenge

Craft Rocket Challenge #113

Make Today Magical - Ching-Chow Kuik Peony Dawn Digi

 The day I decided that my life was magical, there was suddenly magic all around me. 

Hey there from Nannyland,

In a life brimming with magical days, I will count today as one of the best.  I'm feeling overwhelmed with gratitude and love for my Heavenly Father and all my family and friends who encouraged and supported me through my radiation treatments the past few weeks. I'm finally finished and today is full sunshine and creative possibilities.  I'm glad to see my mojo is returning and my days in Nannyland are getting longer and more productive.  I have some really delightful projects planned, both in cardmaking and quilting. 

I loved coloring THIS stunning fairy image called Peony Dawn with bright, vivid Copics. The artist is Ching-Chou Kuik and you can find her gorgeous images in her Etsy store.  The original image has a moon behind her, but I replaced it with a circle shape I cut from dp water color paper in  Cricut Design Space so I could add a curved sentiment with the writing feature. 

I've been experimenting with some of my umpteen flower dies lately and reached for this very old but still lovely set to create flowers to embellish my pretty fairy image.  I die cut the flowers in white glitter card stock and adhered them to Ombre db base layers.  The filler flowers are from Spellbinders.  I edged the moon and the front card panel with a gold leafing pen and added assorted gems to the flower centers for dimension and sparkle. I used a white gel pen for small details to her wings and dress. 

Wishing you a magical day like mine, filled with soothing creative pursuits. 

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 June Challenge

Allsorts Challenge Week 733

Ally's Angels Challenge # 71

Aud Sentiments Challenge #302

Fab'n'Funky Challenge #575

Unicorn Challenge #88

Ching-Chou Kuik June Challenge

Morgan's ArtWorld Challenge #6

Classic Design Challenge #6

Worldwide Crafters and Colorists Challenge 6

Creating Energy and Card Embellishments With Altenew 3D Rose Flower Dies

 Add a little confetti to each day. 

Hey there from Nannyland,

Okay, I was expecting this, so it's no shock that my radiation therapy is kicking my butt.  I hate to whine, but there it is. Profound fatigue is what they call it.  Whatever.  Only three more treatments and I'll have my crafty, delightful life back. The last time I went through this I was almost 20 years younger but I remember a real push afterward to get my strength and energy back.  I started eating healthier and exercising more, all with a cheery "can-do" attitude.  That sounds horrific right now, so I'm eating In-and-Out with a side of Necco's and watching hours of When Calls the Heart on Hallmark.  But next week, after my last treatment, I'm going to get my poor tired tush in gear and get my life back.   

In the meantime, I've been choosing some activities that are fun but don't need brainpower or energy.  It's always fun to make pretty embellishments en masse ahead of time and have them at the ready to adorn a new project.  Years ago a dear friend brought a bunch of craft supplies she no longer needed to our Copic coloring group and I scored this beautiful set of Altenew 3-D Rose Dies. I finally found the time to sit down and use them and I love the way they turned out.   I used them for THIS card.  

They have multiple small layers and are the perfect size for card embellishments.  

I had several pads of Michaels color coordinated paper packs, so die cutting the layers and assembling them was a no-brainer.  I saved the paper to cut even smaller embellies but that's just because I was too tired to throw them away.  😩 So now I have some fun new blooms to use on my cards!  Creating is always good for a little burst of cheer and energy when you need it. Just add a bag of M&M's and it's a party. 

Thanks for visiting Nannyland.

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

Nancy (aka Pink Panoply)

Heartfelt Creations Flowers - Sparkly Goodness in a Jar

Flowers always make people better, happier and more helpful; 
they are sunshine, food, and medicine to the soul. 

Hey there from Nannyland,

After spending countless blissful hours creating unique handmade cards, I want my embellishments to reflect my attention to detail.  Most of the images I color are frilly and feminine so flowers, gems and glitter are perfect adornments to add a little dazzle.  Heartfelt Creations stamps, dies and molds are the ideal tools for creating fabulous shaped flowers of all varieties, sizes and colors. (Not an advertisement. I just like them.) Each of the several  steps it takes to shape them is more delightful than the last.  Recently, I took some time out to replenish my bloom stash and I snapped some pictures at each stage so I could show you what all the fuss is about. 

This is what I'm going for. 

I love this rainbow of sparkly goodness.  Here's how I did it:

I mounted all sizes of the Oakberry Lane Blossom cling stamps, along with the leaf, on my 6" x 8"

Fiskars Stamp Press.  I like the larger size press because I can get the whole stamp set on it at once.

I stamped the images on white card stock with Tim Holtz distress ink. 

Light card stock holds up better with all the spritzing and handling.

The sponging doesn't have to be perfect at all.  In fact, the more streaked the color is, 

the more texture the flowers will have when they are layered and assembled.

The coordinating dies fit the stamps beautifully and are grouped for easy cutting. 

 I used my Gemini Junior to cut them but any cutter would work.

I placed the individual die cut flowers into the mold face down, 

sprayed them lightly with water and carefully snapped on the top. 

I used my Big Shot Pro die cutting machine to squish them.

Here's a comparison of the flowers before and after they go through the machine. 

 Look how much texture is achieved with the mold! (left) 

That would take forever with flower shaping tools.

 

After the layers dried, I cupped the flower centers using a ball tool on a foam mat,

  added a dot of Tombow glue to the flower center, placed another flower layer on top 

and pressed with the ball tool. I repeated this step again to create a flower. 

I like to put two layers of one size petals on the bottom and then add graduating layers.

 You can add as many layers as you like.  I use a lot of smaller sizes on my cards, 

so I always make sure to create several of all sizes.

Here they are all lined up and ready to embellish!  Now the real fun starts

.

I used Tombow glue to dot the flower centers and pour small beads on the glue. 

I removed the excess and let it dry completely and then I edged the petals with 

glitter glue for lots of sparkle. I left a few flowers without the glitter for a more 

subtle look.  Either way, they look fabulous.

Pretty all finished on my desk, pretty in jars on my shelves, 

but the prettiest adorning my handmade cards. 

Thanks for visiting Nannyland.

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

Nancy (aka Pink Panoply)

Floral Style Succulent Centerpiece _ Handmade By My Resident Florist

Home is where love resides, memories are created,
friends always belong, and laughter never ends. 

Hey there,

I'm happily, though impatiently, in the middle of cataract surgery...one eye done and the other one coming up next week.  It's a challenge having my new lens performing at 20/20 and my old lens still creating a blurry haze.  But when all the fuss is over, my sight will be much improved and I'm looking forward to needing only reading glasses for close work. Hallelujah!!! In the meantime, all creativity hasn't halted in our household.  My brilliant hubby, who was a talented florist when I met him, accepted my honey-do challenge to create this gorgeous centerpiece for our dining room table.

I'm not a lover of silk flowers, so when I saw these synthetic succulents artistically arranged in my favorite designer furniture store, I thought they offered a more modern and elegant version of an old favorite.  I have managed to keep several real plants alive in my home, some of them quite humungous, so I think I deserve some greenery that blooms beautifully with only an occasional dusting. And these luscious succulents look right at home in my new Southern Utah dining room. I still crack up over the old Red Green quote, "If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.”  I lucked out on both counts. 

Thanks for visiting,

Go forth and create beauty to match your surroundings.

Nancy