A Dress For All Occasions - Dreaming Tree Darling Dress SVG

Now and then it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy.

Guillaume Apollinaire

Dreaming Tree SVG, Circuit, Sizzix layered sentiments and dies, DP paper pad, rhinestones, satin bow,
 gold and silver leafing pen

Hey friends,

I've seen this darling dress card everywhere on the Dreaming Tree Face Book page and now I know what all the fuss is about. This design is so clever and fun to cut and assemble, it seems no one can make just one card. I couldn't wait to download the SVG from the Dreaming Tree Website, dust off an older 12 x 12 scrapbook paper pad and go to town cutting bright bold prints for this super snazzy dress on my Cricut Explore Air 2.  Before I knew it, I had whipped up  nine cards in a flash.

These fancy frocks were delightful to embellish with satin bows, pearls and rhinestone jewelry. I was congratulating myself for creating such a hefty stockpile of  generic cards when I realized I would be mailing at least five of them right away...three to friends I haven't checked in with for a while, one to my dear friend who has just finished radiation treatment for cancer and another young lady who is undergoing surgery for thyroid cancer as I write this post. I'm so glad my creative outlet affords me such a personal way to express my love and concern to my friends.  

I'll still have a few left for thank you's, and birthdays, but I'll have get busy designing more of these chic dresses using different patterns and embellies. SO MUCH FUN!

I have this pattern all set up in Cricut Design Space so I can whip up a batch in no time, just  like baking cookies...only much more fun  (and kinder to the hips.) 

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

Playing along with:

        Crafty Catz Challenge #468
        Daring Cardmakers - Cut It Up
        Aud Sentiments Challenge #230
        CardZ 4 Galz - Challenge #99 - Favorite Color Combo
        Crafty Gals Corner Challenge #194
        The Sisterhood of Crafters - Any Occasion
        Paper Craft Crew Challenge #342
     

Sunflower bouquet - Power Poppy and Copics

Every accomplishment begins with the decision to try.

Edward T. Kelly

Hey friends,

Have you ever had one of those days when your creative mojo just seems to take a vacation?
After hours of trying to finish this card, the top of my desk looked like monkeys had partied there.  Sluggish  imagination  happens to me more often than I'd like and  all I can do is ride it out.  I could hardly stand to look at this card after I finished it, so I put it away,  knowing that it might improve with a fresh perspective in the morning.  And, happily, it did!  I realized my coloring wasn't so bad and the design was just fine. Isn't it great when we give ourselves some slack?

While coloring  these Power Poppy sunflowers with my copics  I realized I need more practice creating the look of texture on these smaller petals. But I love adding detail with my Prismacolors, so I was happy with my final result.  I wanted a background that wasn't too busy, and that's why I went back and forth with several different ideas.  I finally settled on my first choice, which is indeed, a little busy, but I think it looks like a lacy table cloth. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

Then there was the sentiment.  What color, where, should it overlap my image?  Sheesh!!!  I just went for it and tried not to overthink it.

So here's my final card and I like the colors and the layout.  I'm proud of myself for persevering with the flowers and have vowed to practice more.  I learned a lot by "having a go" as Alyce Keegan (Kit and Clowder) would say.  The creative process can be messy sometimes, but in the end, a new creation is born, even though the birth might have been a little long and painful.😄

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

Playing along with:
        Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge #346
        Crafting by Designs - Happy Birthday Challenge
        Crafty Creations Challenge #392
        Creative Moments Challenge #170
        Scrapy Land Challenge #116
        Word Art Wednesday Weeks #392-#393
        Through the Craft Room Door - June 18, 2019
        A Bit More Time to Craft - Challenge #94
        Make My Monday - Challenge #98
        Color Crazy Challenge - Wk 26

Father's Day Card - Dreaming Tree SVG and Cricut

Happy Father's Day, friends, 

Guy cards...why are they always such a challenge?  For me, I think it's because it's hard to curb my fancy girlie urge to over embellish.  Although I really love clean and simple cards, they're just not my style. So when I saw this fun SVG in Dreaming Tree, I knew it was a Father's Day card I could wrap my fussy fingers around.  It's bright and cheery but still manly enough for me to get away with.

The SVG had all the parts and was easy  to cut on my Cricut and assemble.  It had a clever shutter mechanism on the inside that opened to reveal the photograph.  It seemed simple enough but I decided to skip it and just glue my picture under the frame.  It was much easier and the impact was only a little less dramatic.  It actually looks a little cleaner this way so I used that as my excuse for not using the extra parts. 

I love the cute belly band with the bow tie that holds the card closed.  I really think the whole design is adorable (though manly, of course).  Thank heavens for people who can design guy cards so those of us who are "masculine card challenged" can make cards for the men in our lives  without having to ruminate about it.  I saw lots of  really fun cards for guys on the Dreaming Tree site so, thankfully,  I think I'm covered for a while. 

Thanks for visiting.

Go forth and create something fabulous.

Nancy

Playing along with:
        Avenue 613 Create Challenge #222
        Dragonfly Dreams Challenge - Man/Boy
        Lil Patch of Crafty Friends Challenge #108
        A Gem of a Challenge Wk11
        Crafty Calendar June Challenge - Masculine
        QKR Stampede Challenge 352
        Through the Purple Haze Challenge #157
        Crafty Gals Corner Challenge #193
        Cardz 4 Guys Challenge #221
        Die Cuttin' Diva's Challenge #424

     

Coloriscious Hummingbird in Copics- Kit and Clowder May Class

Slow down and everything you are chasing will come around and catch you.

John De Paola

Copics, white gel pen, gold leafing pen, corner dies, Power Poppy Hummingbird digi, 

I chose to color the lined version of this beautiful Power Poppy digi in Alyce Keegan's copic coloring class this month, even though she suggested we go for the no-line image.  I've experienced some problems with no-line coloring in the past, and I think I'm just afraid to take off my training wheels.  Alyce goes through the coloring step-by-step in her classes and once I got started, I was sorry I didn't go for no lines. It was actually less forgiving shading with the black lines but I kept with it and in the end I liked how it turned out.  I'll be braver coloring sans lines next time because I got some good practice shading this one.

I decided to make a card for one of my friends who would appreciate the gorgeous hummingbird and  flowers on this image.  I wanted my image to take center stage, but I also wanted it to have some texture and depth.  In the middle of the night, I got the idea to raise the focal images with mounting tape.  I had to fussy cut very carefully but  I really like the result.  (It shows up much better in person.)  I lined the front panel with a gold leafing pen  and tucked  a couple of gold fancy corners underneath the raised main panel.  I really love the colors Alyce picked for this image.  Bright and vibrant and just my style!

Thanks for visiting,
Go forth and create something fabulous.
Nancy
        Crafts Galore Encore Challenge #64
        Color It! Create it! Show it Off! June Challenge
        Creative Craft Cottage Challenge #119
        CCC Digi Creations Challenge #104
        Alphabet Challenge - F is for Flowers
        Creative Fingers Challenge # 65
        Crafting With An Attitude - Challenge #52
        Time Out Challenges - Nature
        Moo-Mania & More
        Rainbow Card Challenge #6

Pearly Locks - Grazia Salvo Woman of Flowers 16 in Copics

               True beauty is measured by the number of pearls within you and not around your neck. 

Grazia Salvo digital image from Etsy, copic markers, white glitter paper, green heavy weight cardstock, Elizabeth Crafts border die, craft pearls, white gel pen, gold leafing pen, Tim Holtz background die

Hey friends, 

My copics and these lovely digi stunners keep calling to me and I just have to acquiesce. It was absolutely heavenly coloring this gorgeous digital lady by Grazia Salvo from her Woman of Flowers collection. Now I've created birthday cards for all my crafty kindred spirits using similar images and I'm itching to change it up a bit.  I'm sure I'll be returning to these muses of mine soon and often because, well, they make me so happy!

I chose my favorite colors for this one because I think aqua looks so striking with the  red roses.  Her thick luscious locks provided me with an excellent chance to practice fine hair strokes with my copics.  I cut a curvy Elizabeth Crafts border die in gold,  accented it with pearls and cascaded it down her hair because even fabulous digi diva's need to accessorize.   

I used a Tim Holtz background die on my white glitter card stock background and edged the panel with a gold leafing pen.  The image is fussy cut and raised on the background with mounting tape to add some depth.  I used a white gel pen to highlight the flowers.

Goodbye for now, elegant digi ladies. I've got my eye on some pretty floral images,  Kit and Clowder coloring classes and  cute Mo Manning artwork to tweak my imagination.  No worries, I'm sure I won't be gone long. 

Thanks for visiting.

Go forth and create something fabulous.

Nancy 

Playing along with:

        Addicted to Stamps Challenge #174 

        Angie's Digital Stamps Challenge #31

        Dare 2B Artzy May Challenge: Flowers

        International Art & Soul Challenge #59

        Coloring In Scrapland Challenge - May

        Get Creative Challenge #80

        Creative Moments Challenge #169

        The Paper Shelter Challenge #385

        The Crafty Addicts Challenge #60

        Through the Craft Room Door Challenge - Week of May 28

Confetti Birthday Card - All That Bling and Paula Best, Too

“Be content with who you are and where you are, and do whatever you can do to bring to others such contentment, and joy, and understanding that you have managed to find yourself.” 
― Alexander McCall Smith, The Double Comfort Safari Club

Paula Best Stamp, copic markers, assorted rhinestones and pearls, spellbinders die, glossy gold cardstock, bow punch, yellow and black Nuvo drops, dp background, green cardstock base (6 x 6), purple cardstock, mounting tape,

 gold leafing pen

Hey friends,

I've had this Paula Best stamp for about a hundred years and have been waiting to use it on a birthday card for almost that long.  It's so delightful to color the main image and then highlight the month and day of my recipient's birthday.  But when I noticed it looked a little bare in the shimmer department, I started adding little details and, as usual, I had trouble stopping.  I'm sure no one else has a glitz addiction like I do.😁 I kept seeing little dots that wanted to shine, so I obliged them.  Before I knew it, it looked like I swept my craft room  floor and added all the tidbits from my dust pan.

No worries, though. I guess I could have taken some of my doodads off, but I realized I liked them  just where they had landed and I could tell they enjoyed living in this happy chaos.  Birthday celebrations sometimes include confetti, don't they?  You can never have too much glittery goodness at a birthday celebration!

Thanks for visiting.

Go forth and create something fabulous.

Nancy 

Playing along with:

        

        Allsorts Challenge #520/1
        Pattie's Creations Challenge #158
        Crafty Sentiments Challenge 
        Lemon Shortbread Challenge #94
        Try it on Tuesday Challenge - Let's Party
        Artistic Inspirations Challenge #215
        Incy Wincy Designs Challenge - Embellishment
        Dragonfly Dreams Challenge

Found Fabric Treasure - Accuquilt Go Scrappy Lap Quilt

When life throws you scraps, make a quilt. 

Hey friends,

While purging my fabric stash ala Marie Kondo recently, I happened upon some gorgeous yummy  fabric that really "sparked joy" for me.  I was delighted to discover I had already cut it into 8-inch strips for a rag quilt I had planned to make a few years ago.  My Accuquilt Go Big makes it easy to cut accurate  blocks,  so I had all my quilt pieces done in no time.

I didn't want to do anything really fancy here. I thought the fabric designs were so pretty and detailed, they could speak for themselves without much piecing.  My 6-inch blocks, 2-inch sashing, and 2-inch corner stones came together very quickly and I found some pretty striped lavender fabric in my stash for my signature striped binding.  I used white Kona cotton for my sashing and backing.  The finished measurements  are about 50" x 66," a generous lap quilt size. 

This was my first experience at "quilting by credit card" and my new found  quilter is going to be one of my favorite friends, for sure! She did beautiful edge to edge quilting with a hand guided long arm machine and I love the way it turned out.   I picked a pretty flower pattern that  gives  my quilt beautiful texture and softness.  I'm definitely going to do this again when I have a large, unwieldy quilt...or when I'm just lazy and pressed for time.  It's totally worth it! 

Thanks for visiting.

Go forth and create something fabulous.

Nancy