Saturday, September 22, 2012

Boot Scootin' with Doodle Pantry

     Today's card uses another of the newly released images from Doodle Pantry.  I always knew I could easily get addicted to Doodle Pantry digis and now that I'm on the DT -- Oh, My!!  I have to discipline myself or I'd be doing nothing but coloring up Doodle Pantry images all day long, whether I had a specific purpose for them or not.  :-D


     I love these boots from the "Cowboy Gear" set and actually thought about my daughter when I saw them.  While she rarely wears boots, she's really into line dancing and West Coast Swing, so the sentiment, "Time to Boot Scoot" (also from the set), really reminded me of her.  I've done this one as a masculine card with lots of layers, pieces that are die cut and punched, and dp suitable for a guy, but is still a CAS design.  Why does everyone say masculine cards are hard to do?  They are easy in design planning, and usually quick to make.

     I colored the digi with Promarkers this time, then die cut a piece of CS and used the negative piece as the frame for the boots.  That's matted with black CS.  The background dp was in my stash of "autumn" papers and I have no idea who made it.  Too bad, because this is almost the last of it and I'd love to get some more.  The sentiment is corner punched, then matted twice and both mat pieces are corner punched also.   The double twine bow is the only embellishment, in keeping with the CAS idea.

     Challenges:
Bearly Mine -- Fall colors
Divas by Design -- Lovely layers
Lady Anne's Technique Wednesdays -- Anything goes
Papalitos Stamps -- Anything goes
Papertake Weekly -- Autumn colors
Passion for Promarkers -- CAS cards
Stamp n Doodle -- Anything goes
Stamptacular Sunday -- Less is more
Sweet Stamps -- Shades of autumn
The Crafty Pad -- Autumn colors

     Well, it's now the weekend and work chores are behind us (except for the household drudgery we all face!)  It's time to relax, have fun, and be creative.  Our weather has cooled considerably this past week (must be all that wishing and hoping I was doing) and I'm just soooo happy about that.  I shall not mourn the end of the hot summer weather and am delighted with the onset of fall.  Thanks for visiting, and please feel free to browse around while you're here.  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Gratitude is Where You Find It

     Our new challenge at the Perfect Sentiments Challenge this week is do a card with a Thanksgiving or Autumn sentiment, and add some Baker's twine.  Our prize this week is offered by Shelly's Images.


My sketch came from A Die for a Sketch, and the image is from Digi Doodles, called "Hobo's Thanksgiving."  The Digi Doodle shop is going to be closing soon (sniff) so I went over there and bought a bunch of digis before they're gone forever.


     I thought this image was a great reminder that we all need to be grateful for what we have, because it's probably a lot more than many others have.   I didn't do a lot of coloring, wanting to leave the hobo looking a bit vague and 'empty', but I did use pastel Promarkers on the crates and for shadowing around the figure.  I had to use a fine point, black pen on the line drawing so that it would show up a little better.  It tended to fade out without coloring.

     The sentiment is printed with a computer font.  I loved the brown, gingham check dp and found another complementary dp for the background, both from DCWV.  I pulled the tiny bits of golden orange from the background dp by matching CS for the stripes down the left side.  I added the Baker's twine, the layered flower and the leaf plus pearls, and knew it was finished.  This will make a perfect Thanksgiving card for one of the guys in my family this year.  Guys outnumber gals in my extended family more than 2 to 1, just in case you're wondering why I learned to make masculine cards!  :-D

     Challenges:
ABC Challenge -- W for Wishes (called prayers on this card)
Card and Scrap -- Use a die
Cards for Men -- Going Digital
Creative Craft Challenge -- All about the Boys
Hooked on Crafts - Cards for men
Love to Create -- Ribbon or twine
Paper Playtime -- gingham and die cut
Raise the Bar -- Celebrate fall

     I hope you're enjoying this mid-week-Wednesday.  It'll be the weekend before you know it and then you'll have time to craft something to submit to our "Thanksgiving/ Autumn with Baker's Twine" challenge.  Don't forget the sentiment!  Happy crafting.  NanaConnie

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Nature Calls at Doodle Pantry

     The other day, a dear friend from Blogland posted a card to her blog that featured an outhouse and fabulous story about her husband building a meat smoker in their back yard which, to her eye, looked just like an outhouse.  You can see her card and read the whole story here.  To that, I can only say, "Thanks for the inspiration, Lynn!"

     Shortly after seeing her card, the new release came out at Doodle Pantry and what had Laurie designed?   My very own "Nature Calls" outhouse set, complete with sentiments!  I couldn't wait to color it up.  :-D  Without further ado --


     The image (which you can find here) is colored with Spectrum Noir markers, and chalked around the edges.  I distressed the edges of the image, the sentiment (also part of the Nature Calls set) and the mat piece.  The dp is from the scrap pile which was on my table.  I added twine and cord from deep in my stash, and left the rest of it completely plain.    

     I'm sending this to a cousin in Australia who always claims to live in the Outback with no conveniences.  Since he sang at the Sydney Opera House for a good many years and still has a Sydney address, I have grave doubts about his story!  :-D

     If I wasn't on the Doodle Pantry DT, I'd be entering this into their September Challenge.  It's always an 'Anything goes' theme, but you do have to use a Doodle Pantry digi.  If you enter the challenge this month (it runs until September 24), you'll get this set as a freebie just for playing.  You can't beat that!

    Since I can't enter the Doodle Pantry challenge, I'm going to enter this card into the following challenges (all of which, except the Anything Goes, I selected BEFORE I started making the card; yes, really!):

A Gem of a Challenge -- A Boy Thing
ATCs & Cards with Attitude -- Anything goes
Crafty Calendar -- Browns and creams
Cutie Pie Challenge -- No flowers
Dream Valley -- Something old (papers), something new (digi)
Hooked on Crafts -- Cards for Men
Lexi's Creations -- Fall colors
One Stitch at a Time -- Use a digi
Paper Crafting Journey -- Anything goes

     That's it for this post.  I hope you're enjoying the short week and already looking forward to the upcoming weekend.  I do have a question -- if summer is 'officially' over, why is the weather still so hot?  Did someone forget to tell the sun it can move southward now and warm up all my Aussie, NZ, and South African friends?  Sheesh!  Thanks for visiting.  Feel free to browse around while you're here.  See you tomorrow with something new.  Happy Stamping.  NanaConnie