My World is Brighter Z-Fold Card - Mo Manning "For Teacher" Digital Stamp

 I cannot endure to waste anything so precious as autumnal sunshine by staying in the house. – Nathaniel Hawthorne

Hey there from Nannyland, 

The beautiful, crisp clear air on my morning walks has invigorated my spirit for all things autumn.  The bins of fruits and vegetables in the charming stand in our neighboring town have been incredibly colorful and bounteous this year.  It was a delight creating an apple orchard scene with this adorable Mo Manning digi called "For Teacher," which you can find in Mo's Digital Pencil here. 

After coloring this sweet image with Copic markers, I used a white gel pen to add dots to her shirt. I decorated her hair and boots with tiny die cut flowers and then adhered the fussy cut image to my favorite z-fold box card base. This is a well-loved Lori Whitlock svg that I downloaded and saved in Cricut Design Space because it's perfect for creating scenes with the included trees and house. The size when folded is 5 1/2 x 5 1/2. The punched clouds were embossed with a dot embossing folder and the  tree blossoms were created with tiny flower dies embellished with red gems. I added shine and dimension to the apples on the tree with Glossy Accents. I was happy to find the perfect sentiment stamp in my stash. 

 

One of my favorite things to do is add small details to my scenes to  make them come alive.  I hope I have inspired you to create a picturesque autumn scene to usher in the majesty of the fall and Halloween seasons. 

Thanks for visiting Nannyland.

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

Nancy (aka Pink Panoply)

Playing along with:

Crafty Calendar September Challenge

Creative Creases Challenge #66

Dragonfly Creative Challenge #21

Crafty Gals Corner Challenge #247

The Sisterhood of Crafters

Stamping Sensations September Challenge

SAS4Kids - Cute Fall/Halloween

Classic Design Challenge #9

Morgan's ArtWorld Challenge #9

Worldwide Craftist and Colorists Challenge #9

Princess and Frog Z-fold Valentine - Vera Lane Kiss the Frog Digis

The only way to get what you want in this world is through hard work.
Tiana, the Princess and the Frog

Hey there from Nannyland,

I had the best time creating this quirky Valentine card for my wonderful soul mate of 50+ years.  Vera Lane's charmingly whimsical images just crack me up every time I use them.  Since guy cards are often a challenge for me, what with my girlie style and all, these unique images allow me to keep my fussy elements, but in a humorous, lighthearted way.  

I printed my elegant Kiss the Frog digital stamps on Xpressit blending card at 4 x 6 and colored them with Copic makers.  I knew it would be a little tricky to fit these larger images on the same card,  so my favorite Z-fold box card was the answer.  I lengthened the height to 5 inches and cut the base and layering panels out with my Cricut Maker.  I used the Cricut writing feature to create my sentiment. The closed card measures 5 x 7. 

My flowery meadow background scene is digital paper and my blooming tree is from the Cricut image library.  I gave myself permission to glam up my royal couple with all the regalia their status deserves.  I paper pieced my princess dress with a sweet, floral print and added a sparkly gem necklace.  I used colored pencils to create a plaid design for the frog's necktie.  The princess, frog, crowns nnd necktie are all adhered to the card with mounting tape for dimension.  Gems and pearls were added generously to add to the splendor of my majestic scene. 

I think my hubby will get a kick out of this very realistic depiction of our extraordinary relationship. I hope I have inspired you to add a little whimsy to your Valentines this year.  Go forth and create a chuckle for yourself and someone you love.

Thanks for visiting Nannyland.

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

Nancy (aka Pink Panoply)

Playing along with:

Fab'n'Funky Challenge #566

Little Red Wagon Challenge 691

The Paper Funday Challenge #50

Cardz 4 Guys Challenge #315

Try it on Tuesday - All You Need is Love

Crafting Happiness Challenge #139

Make My Monday Challenge #193

Arty Divas January Challenge

Classic Design Challenge #2

Morgan's ArtWorld #2

Z-Fold Anniversary Card - Toucan Do It Better Than One

 Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Hey there from Nannyland,

After anguishing for many years with "male card dysphoria" (MCD),  I think I have finally found a formula for creating masculine cards that allows me to use my signature vivid colors and flowers, without apology.  The traditional subdued brown, green and navy hues (with mustaches, gears, and tools for embellishments) are so limited and hum drum to me.  Just google "guy cards" and you'll see what I mean.  I'm sorry...I just can't right now!  Beach themed cards are becoming my "go to" because my guy is drawn to all things coastal. Our countless adventurous and romantic trips to the picturesque shores of California, Hawaii, Canada, Europe and even Tahiti make them appropriate for just about any occasion we're celebrating. 

I found this delightful toucan z-fold card in my Lori Whitlock svg library and had fun adding my own touches and a befitting sentiment.  I sometimes procrastinate making masculine cards but this one went super fast and I enjoyed every minute of the creative process.  I used my Cricut Maker to cut the pieces, using white for the smaller ones so I could  color and shade them with Copic markers. It's much easier than using tiny scraps of card stock and it adds lots of wonderful shading and dimension.  I traded the tropical flowers I originally cut for  these handmade ones in  my stash because I thought they added personality and sparkle.  Hey, flowers are for everyone! 

Lori Whitlock svg, Cricut Maker, Copic markers, brown pearl gems, 
Heartfelt Creations stamps, dies, mold; blue heavy card stock, 
kraft card stock, white gel pen

My hubby's birthday is next month and I was able to keep  my head in the game and create another flashy, vibrant card, even without a tropical theme.  I'll be posting it in September and  I think you'll like my impressive use of brilliant colors on yet another guy card.  I'm on a roll! 

Thanks for visiting Nannyland.

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

Nancy (aka Pink Panoply)

Playing along with:

Little Red Wagon #667

Through the Craft Room Door Challenge August 16

Dream Valley Challenge #275

Use Your Stuff Challenge #454

613 Avenue Create Challenge #202208

Dare to be Artsy Challenge - Shaped or Fun Fold Cards

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends Challenge #187

Allsorts Week 688/9 Challenge

Time Out Challenge #220

Classic Design Challenge #8

Father's Day Z-Fold - Cricut Design Space Lighthouse Scene

 Attitude is the difference between an ordeal and an adventure. 

Hey there from Nannyland, 

It seems like most of the cards I make for my hubby are beachy. Maybe it's because I can use pretty, bright colors and still claim they are masculine, but I think the real reason is we have created some of our most treasured memories at the sea shore.  We were just youngsters when we moved from Utah to Los Angeles at twenty three and had only been married three years.  That is when the magic began.  We rode our bikes every weekend through Venus Beach to Santa Monica Pier when it was a "bikes only" path.  After six years of sunny bliss we moved to San Jose and spent many halcyon beach days in Capitola, Santa Cruz and Monterey.  We still gravitate to the gorgeous beaches in Monterey, Carmel and Pacific Grove, where my daughter lives, and make yearly trips to Hawaii.   I can almost feel the misty sea breeze on my face when I imagine walking on the warm sandy banks. 

I found lots of nautical images in the Cricut Design Space library to create this ocean scene on my favorite  z-fold card base.  I chose a lighthouse, palm trees, waves and clouds to populate my panels and cut them out on white card stock so I could color them with Copic markers.  I sized them to fit my card base and made sure my sun was large enough to accomodate my Cricut generated sentiment.   

Brown pearls were added to mimic coconuts and a white gel pen formed some foam on the waves. I layered the palm leaves to add extra fullness to my trees. I kept the other images flat for easier mailing. 

Cricut Design Space cutting and writing features, brown pearl gems, 
silver leafing pen, white gel pen, Copic markers

I created an additional card to send to a friend who is having cancer surgery this week.  A change in the sentiment was all this card needed to make a cheery card for our beach-loving buddy. 

  

Thanks for visiting Nannyland.

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

Nancy (aka Pink Panoply)

Playing along with:

Crafty Gals Corner Challenge #232

The Sisterhood of Crafters - Seasonal Landscapes

The Paper Funday Challenge #42

Cardz 4 Guys Challenge #297

Try it on Tuesday - For the Man in Your Life

Crafts Galore Encore Challenge #100

Die Cut Divas - Summer Days

Make My Monday Challenge #176

Dragonfly Dreams June Challenge - Outdoors

Allsorts Week 679

White Christmas - La La Land Long Sweater Molli

A snowball in the face is surely the perfect beginning to a lasting friendship.

Markus Zusak

 Hey there,

I grew up where white Christmases were anticipated with delight, but living in sunny California for 50 years has made me wimpy about those chilly flakes of fluff.  Sparkling white Christmas  snow is beautiful in my dreams and fun to depict with glitter paper, but I'm not a fan of shoveling it or twirling in my car on icy roads.  I have recently moved from the sunshine state, and while my new home may see an occasional freakish snow flake, I'm thrilled that enormous mounds of snow appear only in my friends' Face Book posts and on my holiday cards. 

I've been wanting to color this darling Long Sweater La La Land Molli with my Copics for a while and when I saw this Lori Whitlock Z-fold svg, I knew Molli needed to frolic on those glittery hills.  I used three different glitter card stocks for both the scene and the snowflakes to create dimension. I cut all the layers on my Cricut Maker and used the writing feature for my sentiment.  My twinkly snowflakes are adorned with clear gem centers.  Z-folds are my favorite to use for all types of scenes because there's so much marvelous real-estate between the folds. 

So many Christmas cards...so little time!

Thanks for visiting.

Go forth and make some frosty snow angels...or maybe just dream about them. 

Nancy 

Playing along with:

Aud Sentiment Challenge #265

Fab' N' Funky Challenge #505

The Paper Funday Challenge #24

LeAnns World 101 Challenge #33 

Love to Scrap Challenge #140

Love to Craft Challenge #53

Sweet Stampers Challenge #50

Dream Valley Challenge #238

Safari Z-Fold Card - Elizabeth Craft Jeep and Animal Dies

 Only those who will risk going too far 

can possibly find out how far one can go. 

T.S Eliot

Elizabeth Craft animals and jeep dies,  Cricut Design Studio sun, grass, tree and sentiment, Copics,
craft foam, black Nuvo drops for eyes, gold metallic gems for headlights

Hey there,

I finished these darling Elizabeth Crafts jungle animals and jeep  months ago and they  have been living on my craft table for weeks,  patiently waiting for an exotic place to live.  Since my husband and I love travel so much, and my husband's fondest dream is to go on an African safari, I thought my critters were perfect for a fun birthday z-fold box card. Too youthful? Nah, my husband has the youngest spirit I know.

He is quite knowledgeable about different countries and their characteristics, as was evidenced recently when he randomly informed me of the elevation of Kabul while we were watching TV.  So I thought I'd better find an Acacia tree for my African safari scene instead of jungle palm trees.  I think my monkey might be visiting his friends in Africa.  I happily found something akin to an Acadia tree in Cricut Design Space and considered my habitat "close enough."

My critters  were die cut from white card stock, with some layers additionally cut from craft foam to make them 3-D.  I colored the layers with copics...so much easier than trying to cut and glue tiny pieces with different colored cardstock!  I colored my zebra stripes right on my zebra rather than glue tiny pieces. Easy peasy.  I had a z-fold card template already created  in Cricut Design Space and all I had to do was find sun and grass images for my scene.  I typed, sized and printed out the sentiment in Design Space.  Sometimes play dates with my Cricut can make things infinitely less complicated!

Thanks for visiting.
Go forth and explore something new.
Nancy

   
Playing along with:
        Always Fun Challenges
        Path of Positivity
        a2z Scrapbooking September 2019 Challenge
        2 Crafty Critter Crazies Challenge #30
        Crafty Animals Challenge #30
        Creative Craft Cottage Challenge #122
        QKR Stampede Challenge #362
        Cute Card Thursday Challenge 598
        Through the Purple Haze Challenge #159

Cricut Happy Fall, Y'all - Lori Whitlock Pop Up Box Card

👉  "Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting, and autumn a mosaic of them all."  - Stanley Horowitz

.   

I have oodles of delightful house images in my craft stash in every form...stamps, die cuts, embossing folders, designer paper, fabric..apparently I'm obsessed.  I'm obviously drawn to these cozy images and the warm feelings they evoke.  This darling Lori Whitlock Pop Up Box Card House has been patiently waiting for my attention for ages and I finally found the perfect way to make it my own. I traded it's original sunshiny summer scene for a warm, vibrant fall landscape.

The cut already had everything I needed to create a charming autumn neighborhood.  I added a few more colorful trees from Cricut Design Space which I easily sized in different styles to fit my variegated orchard.  Patterned designer paper in dots, checks and swirls is always a fun choice for tree leaves and I sponged the edges with distress ink to soften the colors. I changed the original sentiment to "Happy Fall, Y'all" and viola, a colorful fall greeting for my friends, ushering in my favorite season.  Now I'm off for a walk in the gorgeous wetlands near to my home to watch the trees slowly evolve into a vivid kaleidoscope of color. It will take awhile but it'll be fun watching the daily transformation and well worth the finale.  Awww, Autumn.

Thanks for visiting.

Go forth and create something fabulous.

Nancy

Playing along with:

        That's Crafty - Forever Autumn Challenge

        Words to Craft By - Challenge #57

        The Card Concept - Colorful Basics (Clean and Layered Style)

        City Crafter - Challenge 429 Fall Colors

        Crafty Sentiments - Dies or Punches Challenge

        Stinkin'Inkers - Leaves are Falling Challenge

        Try Stampin' on Tuesday - Tic-Tac-Tuesday #5 

        Always Fun Challenges - Create a Scene

        

O' Holy Night Christmas - Lori Whitlock Pop Up Card SVG

👉 Take time to do what makes your soul happy.

Hi everyone,

I can't take much credit for the design of this beautiful Lori Whitlock SVG Pop Up Box Card because I cut out the layers on my Cricut pretty much as they were. Gluing the layers takes some precision but once I got the hang of it I made 28 of these cards in a relatively short time.  I usually change things up quite a bit with SVG's, but I loved this card just as it was. I did happen to have the perfect sentiment in my stash and I glittered things up a bit with white and gold glitter papers.  I also added rhinestones to the stars to make them shine.  This card is sparklicious in person! 

Here's my Panoply Pattern:

TECHNIQUES:

1. Purchase and download Lori Whitlock SVG into Cricut Design Space.
2. I didn't change the size  because 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 was the largest size for the mat.
3. I like to change all the dotted fold lines to score lines.
4. Be sure to attach score lines to layer before cutting!
5. Choose paper and cut according to paper thickness.  I like to use the fabric setting on thick cardstock.
6. Fold on score lines. Make sure card folds evenly into a 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 card.
7. On this card, I didn't cut out the sentiment because I used a stamp from my stash.
8. Align layers and glue.
9. Use a bone folder to flatten folds.
10. Stamp sentiment with black ink and line panel using gold leafing pen.
11. Add embellishments and make it your own.

TOOLS:

• Lori Whitlock Pop Up Box Card SVG
• Bazzill navy dotted card stock
• White glitter card stock
• Gold glitter card stock
• White Bristol Vellum card stock for base
• Clear rhinestones
• Stampabilities sentiment stamp - O Holy Night
• Versafine Onyx Black Ink
• Krylon18kt Gold Leafing pen
• Tombow Mono Liquid Adhesive
• Sookwang double sided tape

TIPS:

The windows in the Bethlehem layer were very intricate and I had to do a lot of punching out with a stylus.  I chose to do a solid navy layer for the mechanism layer. (I used the contour feature in design space).  The windows aren't open all the way through, but the navy layer looks fine.

I used Sookwang tape on the tabs of the box mechanism to make it stronger.

I glued the top wise men layer to the blue panel first and then lined it up with the card base panel.  This helps everything to line up perfectly.

Thanks for visiting.
Go forth and create something fabulous.
Nancy

Playing along with:
   
        The Sisterhood of Crafters
        Word Art Wednesday
        316 Avenue Create Challenge
        Craft Rocket Challenge
        Do-Al(1) Kreatives
        Daisy Chain Challenge
        CropStop Blog
        Craftyhazelnuts Christmas Challenge
        Crafty Creations Challenge
        Craftyhazelnuts Extra for November Challenge

Let's Par-Tee with a Cricut Box Card - Lori Whitlock SVG

When it comes to making masculine cards, I might be a tad challenged.  Or maybe I just really think ALL cards look better with flowers, gems and ribbons.  At my house, everyone gets elaborate cards for all occasions except for the person I love best in the world, my darling husband. For years I took a class at The Stamp Art Shoppe called "Masculine Cards,"  taught by one of my favorite artists, Susan Porter, and made enough cards to last me for the year.  But sadly, that shop has closed and I'm left to fend for myself.

 Lori Whitlock SVG cut files to the rescue!  I adore her incredible cut files so I downloaded a few with themes that apply to my husband's favorite hobbies.  Now I'm prepared to wow my husband with my mad "guy card making" skills.  I do have to sit on my hands when the card is finished to keep myself from adding "girlie" details.  The foreground in this z-fold box card came very close to exhibiting a colorful bed of  tulips because we all know the best golf courses do have lovely flower beds along the fairway. I'm so proud of myself for adorning this card  with Tim Holtz  metal embellies.  I think washers and gears do kind of look like coconuts and hubcaps if you squint your eyes enough.

I used some of my regular die cuts for the sun, clouds, grass and palm tree. I like how this idyllic little golf scene turned out and I think my husband will be very impressed with his birthday card this year.  He'll laugh at the metal embellies for sure! At lease I tried...

Thanks for visiting.
Go forth and be fabulous.
Nancy


Playing along with:
        Die Cut Divas
        Happy Little Stampers - Dies
        Cards 4 Guyz
        Crafty Sentiments
        Fairytale Challenge
        Water Cooler Challenge

Mason Jar Posies - Z Fold Box card

Interactive cards are just good fun to create. There are nooks and crannies of all sizes and shapes  to embellish!  I wanted lots of flowers in my mason jar and this darling Lori Whitlock svg file made it easy to pile on the layers of blossoms and give depth to my fancy bouquet.

I'm pretty sure I have more fun creating these movable greetings than my recipients do receiving them.  I guess I should give more credit to my Cricut for measuring, scoring and cutting these intricate folds, but I prefer to let my friends think I'm clever and good at math. 

Adding my card to these challenges:

Addicted to Stamps 

Pile it On

Avenue 613

Dragonfly Dreams

The Crafty Addicts

Thanks for visiting.

Go forth and be fabulous.

Nancy