Conie Fong November Design Team Project #3 - Red Robin Christmas Tags

 They serve God well who serve his creatures.
 Caroline Norton

Hey there from Nannyland,

A pretty tag on a beautifully wrapped present or colorful bag can make a gift seem extra special.  It was super fun to size this adorable Red Robin with Berries image from Conie Fong's Etsy Shop to create some holiday tags for some special people on my list this year. 

 

                                  

I created the tag base in Cricut Design Space and  cut it out twice for each tag, once in white and once in patterned paper.  After I colored and fussy cut my image, I sandwiched it between the two tag layers with some coordinating card stock for backing. I embellished the corners with some seasonal die cut sprigs and gems.  All that was left was to add some festive ribbon as ties and my tags are ready to spruce up (pun intended) some special gifts for family and friends.  And one of my favorite things is they double as a cards!  

I'll bet you have lots of seasonal images in your stash that would make fabulous holiday tags.  I hope I have inspired you to dust them off and create some fancy packaging for some of your besties.

Thanks for visiting Nannyland.

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

Nancy (aka Pink Panoply)

Playing along with:

Colour Crazy wk 47

Creative Challenge #243

Winter Wonderland - Robin Redbreast

Simon Says: Not a Card

Sparkles Christmas Challenge #142

Make My Monday - Things with Wings

Use Your Stuff #471

Crafting Happiness November 24

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

Tag, You're It!

      It's good as an artist to always remember to see things in a new, weird way.
Tim Burton

                           

                      

Hey there from  Nannyland,                                                                                                                                                             

I experienced a game-changing epiphany recently while watching a YouTube video of one of my favorite artistic superstars, Lort Holt.  I'm a dedicated groupie of this quilt designer extraordinaire and I love learning about her intriguing creative process.  She was asked whether she ever loses her "sewjo" and,  surprisingly, her answer was absolutely NEVER.  What???  I was stunned until she explained that the secret to this satisfying state of mind  is having a panoply of projects at her finger tips so she can switch when she needs a new burst of enthusiasm.  As I pondered this, I started mentally listing several of my favorite pursuits in addition to my usual quilting and card making.  Among them are machine embroidery, art journaling, crochet, genealogy, photography...and the list goes on.  As creators, I think we all have these varied and never ending lists. 

So, why am I posting pictures of tags while chattering on about tons of different crafting hobbies?  Well, here's the thing.  I got a little bleary-eyed this weekend making Valentine cards and just couldn't get excited about cutting hearts on my Cricut.  My left-brained  conscience scolded my right-brained creativity and whispered to me that I needed to finish the task I had started before going on to another. I know lots of people have oodles of UFO's in their craft spaces, but not me.  That would be very lackadaisical. 😀  But then I spied a box of paper scraps I had saved from a recent Graphic 45 purge. I decided to do as Lori suggested and take an inspired detour. I thought it might be fun to zhuzhe up one of these vintage cuties and make a tag to tie on my bff's birthday gift bag.  

I actually felt a little guilty working on something as frivolous as tags when I had so many Valentines to make, especially since all my supplies were strewn around the room,  openly mocking me. But then I thought...why not?  I'm just energizing my brain with some new artsy synapses.

So,  this is what happened when I allowed myself to throw caution to the wind and drift where my creative whim led me. I turned on an audio book and got out my glitter glue, some long deserted lace trim, sparkly sheer ribbon, metallic washi tape, my trusty gold and silver leafing pens and assorted gems.  I became reacquainted with my Crop-a-Dile that I haven't used for so long I forgot how to use it.  I had to scour my craft room to find eyelets and, in the process, I found some buried treasures I had long forgotten.  I didn't need to be stingy about using my abundant crafty stash.  It felt good to use my hoard for something useful.

I ended up doing some organizing with my Julie Nutting paper doll stamps and pads, as I was reminded how much I love making cards and tags with these darling dolls. I put all my doll-making supplies together and plan to have some stamped images on hand for coloring.  Then I'll have one finished and  waiting when I get ready to dress her for her card debut.  I also plan to cut out a quilt (or two) for some sewing diversion when I get in the mood for stitching complicated (and delightful) designs rather than gluing them.

                                            

I guess I've always been a believer in changing things up to light a spark of creativity when the flame starts to flicker out. How else would I have so many interests competing with each other?  I just need to give my disciplined self permission to come out and play, and allow some of my ducks to dance a little jig if they want to. It's possible to be organized and flexible at the same time.  Now I'm determined to  have some projects ready to go when my creative mojo wants to careen down a new uncharted path. One of the best parts of my weekend departure into La La Land was that I' found an unfinished project that I like much better for my husband's Valentine than the one I was going to cut out on my Cricut! I hope you will be inspired to expand your crafty horizons also, if you tend to get a little too stodgy and stuck like I do. I'm bursting with new ideas for future projects and all because I allowed myself to relax and mix it up a bit. And I have some schmancy new tags. to boot.  Thanks, Lori!

Thanks for visiting Nannyland.

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

Nancy (aka Pink Panoply