Spellbinders Summer Birdhouse Slimline - Don't Forget to Fly

We ourselves feel what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. 

But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.  Mother Teresa

 

Hey there from Nannyland,

Recently I asked my artist friend for her opinion on why I love to collect small intricate objects de art and surround myself with them, rather than go for the large generic decorating pieces that are so popular in home decor.  As she dutifully helped me arrange my cherished treasures on shelves, she pointed to the Jane Wooster Scott folk art paintings on my walls that testify to the fact  that I obviously am attracted to detail. In that "eureka" moment, I realized that I really do have a penchant for tiny elements and it shows in my artwork. It become clear to me why I can spend blissful hours coloring fine details on beautiful images and  cutting, sponging and carefully gluing teensy die cuts together without the least bit of tedium. It's a thing. 

Spellbinders dies are perfect for those of us who have a detail obsession, with sets that contain many tiny dies meant to layer for incredible dimension.  I chose the summer birdhouse from my set of Spellbinders seasonal birdhouses to create this sunny coastal setting with a slimline format.  I used curved dies to cut layers of patterned paper sand to layer a playful base for my lighthouse.  The bird comes from a separate Spellbinders die set called  "Sweet Birds on a Branch."  I did a little sponging for shading on the bird house, clouds and fence, but I really prefer a cleaner look with my die cuts so I restrained my urge to shade all the pieces. The cute little flying birds, starfish, shells and fence all come with the birdhouse series of dies.  

I had a blast creating this cute summer scene and am looking forward to using all the fun die cuts that come with the other darling seasonal birdhouses in the set. 

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 - Small Things

A Perfect Time to Craft Challenge #5

Ally's Angels Challenge #82

Classic Design Challenge #5

Crafter's Cafe Challenge #308

Morgan's ArtWorld Challenge #76

613 Avenue Create May Challenge

Allsorts Challenge Wk 781

Crafting Happines Challenge #175

Crafts Galore Encore Challenge #123

 

Fantasy Journal Pages - Julia Spiri Young Fairy

Choose joy!  Don't wait for things to get easier, simpler, better.
Life will always be complicated.  Learn how to be happy right now.
Otherwise, you'll run out of time. 

Hey there from Nannyland,

It's a sun-drenched Friday morning here in my lovely desert home and, as I type, I'm looking with delight at the gorgeous citrus trees outside my window.  Directly in front of me is  a lush young apricot tree full of small green orbs that will soon burst forth with my favorite fruit.  Juicy ripe home grown fruit is definitely a simple thing that brings me joy. 

If you haven't checked out The Art of Julia Spiri,  you are missing a real treat.  She is a talented Spanish artist who creates with an amazing whimsical, fantasy style that I love.  I blissfully colored this stunning digi called Young Fairy with Copic markers and embellished her for my Fantasy Art journal.   

I used a white Anna Griffin die cut to frame her angelic face and embellished her with Spellbinders flowers, pearls, colored rhinestones and a white gel pen.  My sentiment page was created in Cricut Design Space with the writing and cutting features. 

Some of the simple things I'm delighting  in today are: a quiet morning prayer, a nature walk with red hills surrounding me, lunch at my favorite Mexican restaurant, an afternoon creating in Nannyland, my hubby across the hall in his office, an orchard in my side yard, bright flower beds in my back yard, kids laughing next door.  How about you? 

Thanks for visiting Nannyland.

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

Nancy (aka Pink Panoply)

                                                          Playing along with:

Creative Artiste Challenge #104

Cut It Up Challenge #304

My Time to Craft Challenge #534

Classic Design Challenge #5

Crafts Galore Encore Challenge #123

Morgan's ArtWorld Challenge #76

CD Sunday Plus Challenge #133

A Perfect Time To Craft

Moving Along With The Times

I Love Promarkers Challenge #559

Fancy Dress Slimline - Anna Griffin Paper Dress Dies

Dressing well is a form of good manners.
Tom Ford

Hey there from Nannyland,

I could spend countless hours creating fancy dresses from Anna Griffin's darling paper dress dies.  Oh wait...I DID!  I chose two of the three dies in this adorable set and reacquainted myself with my neglected 6 x 6 double-sided designer paper pads to use for "fabric." I got all giddy choosing coordinating designs for my chic frocks and was obsessed with folding them into stylish origami-style gowns. Zhuzhing them up with lace trim, button gems and elegant jewelry was the frosting on my girly cake. 

I don't own the 3D Anna Armoire die that was designed to hang her dresses, but I wanted mine to take center stage so I checked out the Cricut image library for "Armoire" images.   A pretty layered frame that mimics an armoire was sized to create a background for  my layout.  I chose a dress form instead of a hanger to showcase my designer ensemble and sized it to fit my dress.  

I'm thrilled that I created enough of these adorable dresses to send cards to my friends through the millennium. I can quickly cut the files I have saved in Cricut, change the sentiment in the writing feature, and add my dress to make a card for any occasion.  

I love the gold accent I was able to create in this layered frame.

 My finished image fits a  4 x 9 slimline card with room for embellishing. 

An adorable Spellbinders scissors die cut in silver and a mini flower 

are a cute accent for my sentiment tag.

These first four cards will go my dear talented friends in California to express how much I miss our weekly card making sessions.   Die cutting definitely is taking over a heartfelt place in my maker repertoire. 

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 #255

The Sisterhood of Crafters Challenge - Ladies

A Place to Start May Challenge

Get Creative Challenge #131

The Perfect Time to Craft #5

Classic Design Challenge #4

Morgan's ArtWorld Challenge #76

Pinspirational Challenge #313

Creative Fingers Challenge #277

Pammie's Inky Pinkies Challenge #2418

Morgan's ArtWorld Butterfly Fairy - Fantasy Journal Pages

God's love is wrapping all around you whether you notice it or not. 

Hey there from Nannyland,

The first time I saw a beautiful Morgan's ArtWorld digi image was in a card making class with my dear friend, Arlene, who has been a designer for Morgan for many years.  I was so impressed with her beautiful coloring and asked where her gorgeous stamped image came from. She told me it was digital art, which I knew very little about, and as our conversation progressed,  I learned she was a designer for Morgan.  I grilled her a little on what was required to become a member of this coveted design team and shortly thereafter, I was having my first designer experience creating cards for Morgan's ArtWorld using her incredible images.  

I realized lately that I haven't colored a Morgan image in a while, so when I won this one on her challenge blog, I went right to work creating a journal page for my fantasy journal.  I found some intricate layered die cut butterflies in my stash that I used to replace her digi wings. I also added a vellum layered butterfly to coordinate with the lovely insects Morgan drew on her image  It was a delight zhuzing up her wreath crown with several small beaded die cut flowers.  On the opposite page, I created a butterfly and sentiment in Cricut Design Space and adhered it to a dp background. 

I no longer design for Morgan's ArtWorld but you can check out my design team cards in the Labels side bar of this blog under Morgan's ArtWorld or in her fabulous shop here. I also encourage you to enter her wonderful monthly challenge here.
 

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 - Fantasy

A Perfect Time to Craft Challenge #5

Ally's Angels Challenge #81

Classic Design Challenge #4

Morgan's ArtWorld Challenge #76

Papercraft Challenge #105

Worldwide Crafters and Colorists Challenge #16

613 Avenue Create Challenge - April

Dragonfly Dreams April Challenge

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

Choose What Makes Your Heart Bloom - Lendel Art Journal Page

Happiness is when you've gotten really good at being you! 

Hey there from Nannyland,

The burgeoning spring flowers outside my window are getting as big as my head...well almost.  This gorgeous Lendel Art beauty seems to have picked one and has landed in my art journal peaking out with her alluring gaze. What a blissful way to spend a clear spring day, looking out of my sunny Nannyland window, while creating a blossomy page for my journal.  I choose to do what makes my heart bloom and encourage you to do likewise.   

My layered flower was created with a Heartfelt Creations stamp, die and mold.  In the center I have glued tiny clear glass beads that I've colored with a blue Copic marker. I used my markers to add additional shading to my originally pink flower and glued it to a large flower that is part of the digital image.  I attached my image to a swirly Spellbinders die cut frame and added dainty pearls to the corners.  

After attaching designer paper to the opposite page, I created the sentiment tag using the Cricut Design Space writing and cutting features.  I added a layered Tim Holtz die cut butterfly with an embossed vellum layer and some small Spellbinders flowers to adorn my tag. 

What makes your heart bloom?  Find out and then joyfully do it.

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 #254

Fab'n'Funky Challenge #593

The Sisterhood of Crafters - Showers or Flowers

A Perfect Time to Craft Challenge #4

Classic Design Challenge #4

Morgan's ArtWorld Challenge #75

Sparkles - April Showers Bring May Flowers

Worldwide Crafters and Colorists Challenge #16

A Place to Start April Challenge

Aud Sentiments Challenge #312

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