Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Challenge #6 - Ribbons and Bows

Here it is... Wednesday again!  They sure seem to come around more quickly than they used to.  Perhaps that's because I'm much more involved in my crafting and my design team duties and the time just passes by more quickly because of it.  I have never had to meet any specific deadlines with regards to my artwork/crafting projects before so that part has required a little bit of getting used to but I am thoroughly enjoying it and have even been participating in some challenges.  All in all, I'm having a lot of fun and meeting some wonderful new friends online.

This week's challenge at Amber's Crafts and Stuff is Ribbons & Bows so today I have for you a get well card with a big brown bow.  I used one of my favorite stamps from Inkadinkadoo.  I colored the image with Copic markers and layered parts of it to create the illusion of dimension.  I love the color combination of pale aqua and brown, a slight variation of the ice blue and brown combination that is so popular right now.  I hope you like it.



That's it for now.  I hope that your week is going well so far and that you're all preparing for the upcoming holiday weekend and spending some quality time with family and friends.  I'm not sure if I'll have another post this week as I have a major project I'm working on that has to be completed in less than 2 weeks and another that I'm trying to finish before Saturday.  See you soon!

Happy crafting!
Anniebee

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

And we have a WINNER!!!!!!!!

The lucky person who was chosen by Random.org to win my surprise goody package is # 28 - Glitter Fantasies who said: "That is stunning!! I would appreciate it if you could send me a bit more detailed instructions. That would be the perfect choice for someone."

I'll be sending you an email shortly to notify you of your winnings and I'll need your mailing address so I can get your prize out to you later this week.  You have 7 days to respond before an alternate is selected. Congratulations!!!   

I'd like to thanks Kimi for inviting me to participate in this, my first, blog hop and all of the other uber-talented crafters who provided projects to inspire the rest of us.  You ladies ROCK!  My sincerest thanks also go out to all who visited my blog during the 28 Candles Blog Hop.  I hope you'll come back and visit me again soon.

Thanks and Happy Crafting!
Anniebee

Saturday, April 16, 2011

28 Candles Blog Hop



Hello!  Welcome to my blog and the 28 Candles Blog Hop, hosted by the birthday girl herself, the very sweet and talented Kimi! I’m so honored to have been invited to participate in her birthday celebration along with so many other illustrious and creative ladies. This is my first blog hop and I’m very excited for everyone to see what I made in honor of Kimi’s 28th birthday. There’s a hop stop for each year of her age plus one to grow on, making a total of 29 stops!  So grab a snack and something to drink and get ready to see some marvelous, inspiring creations! The hop will remain open for 3 days to give everyone a chance to go all the way through it.  If you arrived here from the ever-so-talented Erin of Spantastikreations, you’re on the right track. If you just stopped by for a visit or if you stumbled upon my blog randomly, you’ll probably want to start at the beginning so that you won’t miss a single thing. I’ll have the full line-up with links to each participating blog at the end of this post so you can always come back here if you get lost on your journey. Now, about my project.

The theme for the entire hop is, of course, things appropriate for a birthday celebration and to honor the birthday girl, I have altered a cute little box and made a matching card to go with it. The box was just a naked wooden box I found in the dollar bin at Michaels a couple of months ago. In fact, I bought the last 2 they had and they were different shapes so you’ll likely see the other one on my blog eventually. If you’ve been following me for a while, you know how much I adore boxes and flowers so this was the perfect project in my estimation!  Kimi’s favorite color is pink.  Therefore, I selected paper with lots of pink in varying shades and a bit of aqua (or pale turquoise if you prefer) to cover the box. It’s from one of my favorite manufacturers, K & Company. I added a strip of beautiful aqua lace across the top and lots of pretty pink and aqua flowers, some looped ribbon, aqua and silver trim and a little bling to finish it off. It’s lined with aqua paper, also from K & Company.  I replaced the brown elastic cord that was used to fasten the flap with some braided gold elastic cording and painted the button closure with gold acrylic paint.  It’s the perfect size to keep an extra pair reading glasses handy on your nightstand, in your craft room or beside your easy chair.  Our Kimi is probably too young to know about such things though <wink>.  Anyway, I want to wish Kimi a very happy birthday! 




I made the card using a leftover scrap of the same paper I used to cover the box but added a couple of other patterns with it for visual interest. The stamped roses are colored with Copics, cut out and popped up on top of the turquoise oval. The paper lace strip was made using a Martha Stewart border punch. Add to the mix a few paper and cloth flowers, a butterfly and an appropriate sentiment and Voila! You have a pretty birthday card! A white paper insert is stamped on the left side with a stained glass-looking design with roses in it that I colored with Copics.  The sentiment on the right side reads “Wishing You a Simply Marvelous Birthday”.  I hope Kimi approves!

Now a hop isn’t a hop without some blog candy, right? I have assembled a little package of fat-free sweet treats for one lucky person. I’m not going to tell you what’s included so it will be a total surprise when the winner opens it! I promise it’s some tasty stuff though. Oh, what fun! I love surprises, don’t you?  The winner will be chosen using Random.org on April 19th. To be eligible to win my goody bag, you’ll need to:  1.) follow my blog, if you’re not already and 2.) leave a comment on this post by 11:59 PM CDT on the 18th telling me what you would wish for if you could be granted one wish for YOUR birthday.  3.) Be sure to include a way for me to contact you in case you win my giveaway. If you omit that important information, I’ll be forced to select an alternate winner and we certainly don't want that!  Also, as much I as love my international followers, I'm afraid that I must limit shipping to the United States and Canada for this giveaway.

Before you hop on to see what the awesome Gaby has in store for you, here’s the list of all the participants with links to each of their blogs, in case you get lost:


I hope you enjoyed your visit and I’d love it if you liked what you saw today enough to come back again.  Now it’s time to hop on over to Gaby’s blog.  Thanks and happy crafting!

Hugs,
Anniebee

   

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

My Favorite Things

I can't believe it's Wednesday again already!  The weeks are just flying by so far this year.  It's time for another challenge at Amber's Crafts and Stuff and with it, a new project.  This week the theme is Favorite Things and I have used several of mine on my project.  My favorite things include the paper roses I recently learned to make, as well as flowers in general, ribbon, pearls, butterflies and Mariposa designer paper.  I have lots of other favorite things too but there wasn't space for all of them on this one card! LOL

One of my nephews is getting married in May so I made this one to go with his wedding gift.  I'm making the wedding album!  Yikes!  It's a little bit intimidating because I have never made one before and it's a really big project.  But I'm determined to have it turn out beautifully for him and his lovely wife-to-be.  I have most of what I need to make it, I just have to get busy putting it together now.

Here's my project for this week.  The overall dimensions of the card are 5' x 7".  The last photograph is the inside showing the sentiment which reads "In dreams and in love there are no impossibilities".  What a positive message for a young married couple, right?  I thought it was really sweet.  I stamped it on cream cardstock in embossing ink and used metallic gold embossing powder and then stamped some small pink hearts around the sentiment.  I trimmed the top and bottom with strips of the same paper I used for the roses and butterflies.  You can see the lovely pattern more clearly in this picture.  I crimped the trim paper to add a little dimension to the interior.  See materials list for details.







Tools and materials I used to create this card:

Core'dinations Pearls in kind of a peachy pink for base card
American Crafts textured gold foil cardstock for bottom mat and bottom sentiment layer
The Paper Company cream cardstock for 2nd mat
The Paper Company black cardstock for 3rd mat
4" x 6" DCWV Mariposa mat stack for top layer
K & Company Classic K stack for the paper roses, butterflies and inside trim
Recollections adhesive pearls
Gold -edged organza ribbon from Michael's dollar bin
Small iridescent white flowers from Michael's bridal section
"For Your Wedding Day" stamp by Stampendous (one of a 5-stamp set called Special Messages)
Lasting Love Quotes stamp set by Fiskars for inside sentiment and hearts.
Hampton Arts Embossing Stamp Pad
Chocolate brown and peachy pink pigment ink pad from Studio G for edging
Tuxedo Black Memento dye ink for sentiment 
Metallic gold Zing embossing powder for inside sentiment.
Fiskars Paper Crimper
Flower punches by Fiskars (XL Poppy) and EK Suceess (medium retro flower)
Butterfly punch by Martha Stewart
Small rose leaf punch by Martha Stewart
Large rose leaves from Michaels
Embossing Stylus Set by Royal Langnickel
Blue Violet Ultrafine Crystal Glitter by Mark Enterprises
Beacon's 3-in-1 Advanced Craft Glue
Aleen's Original Tacky Glue
Aleen's Clear Gel Tacky Glue
Scotch Advanced Tape Glider (Pink ATG)
Foam adhesive mounting squares
Pop Up Glue Dots

I am entering this card in the following challenges:

Card Craftin' Mamas  - Embellish It! 
ABC Challenge - S is for Sugar and Spice (My color choices are brown, pink and white which remind me of brown sugar as well as some spices, powdered sugar and spun sugar as in cotton candy)
Creative Craft World - Love and Marriage
Scrapbook Sisters Card Challenge - Wedding or Anniversary
Flourishes Timeless Tuesday - Flowers, flowers everywhere
Papertake Weekly - Truly Dimensional
Tuesday Throwdown  - Sparkle & bling
Woodware USA - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by today.  As always, your comments are both welcome and appreciated.  Have a wonderful day!

Happy crafting!
Anniebee

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Two more awesome awards!

Wow!  I can't believe this. I received w more awards this past week. One was another Versatile Blogger Award given to me by the lovely Michelle at {Upsy-Daisy}. Thank you sooo much, Michelle! As with the last one, the rules that apply to this award are that I post it on my blog and thank the person who passed it to me and also to tell 7 things about myself and to pass the award on to 15 other bloggers who I deem to be deserving.

Okay, first the 7 things about myself.  Hmmmm... let me think...

1. I live in the house I grew up in.
2. I have 2 totally awesome grandkids, a girl and a boy.
3. I love to go tent camping, even though I haven't been in a few years.
4. I used to live on a small farm with horses, ducks, geese, chickens, dogs cats and a pot-bellied pig.  I rode
my horse in the week-long Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo trail ride, which takes place in February,      twice.  Man, was it cold, even in Texas!!!  Brrrr!  But it was a lot of fun too or I would never have gone the
second time! LOL!
5. I enjoy cooking when I have someone to cook for.  It's not that much fun cooking for myself but I do it     anyway because it's still cheaper than dining out.
6. I adore British comedies!  My favorites are As Time Goes By, Fawlty Towers and Keeping Up Appearances but I love them all.
7. I love period drama and sci-fi/ fantasy novels and films.  I used to be an avid reader but I have given it up
in favor of crafting.

I am passing this award on to the following deserving bloggers:

1. Gina at http://www.ginascraftingspot.com/
2. Lisa at http://craftybunny.wordpress.com/
3. Tracy V. at http://tracysstampingcorner.blogspot.com/
4. Marie at http://kompis-kort-by-mi.blogspot.com/
5. Martha at http://creatingisfun.blogspot.com/
6. Rachel x at http://sunraescraftylife.blogspot.com/
7. Chrissy at http://chrissyscardland.blogspot.com/
8. Barbara at http://u-inspire-me.blogspot.com/
9.  Alina at http://neverstopscrapping.blogspot.com/
10. Amy at http://amydesigns.blogspot.com/
11. Liz at http://www.mywhichcraft.blogspot.com/
12. Laura at http://lifeasanarmywife-lauradietsch.blogspot.com/
13. Missy at http://happystampindesigns.blogspot.com/
14. Tanya at http://scrappinkymomma.blogspot.com/                   
 15. Tami at http://tamiscraftconnection.blogspot.com/

Congratulations, ladies!  You definitely deserve this recognition.

I'll post the other award later today.  Have a wonderful Sunday, everybody!

Anniebee

A New Challenge Blog, DT Call and Blog Candy!

Feel free to grab our badge!

There's a new challenge blog in town called Divas by Design.  Now, that name is right up my alley!  LOL!  They're having a Design Team Call prior to their grand opening on May 4th and they're asking applicants to create a post about the call and to post their blog candy on our blogs.  In the post, we're to include pictures of 3 of our favorite past projects for their consideration.  I have decided to apply and even though I'm not too wild about posting my application samples publicly on my blog instead of by the usual more discreet methods, I think this could be a good move for me so I'm cooperating with their rules.

I love being part of Amber's Crafting Pals DT and should I be chosen for a designer position with Divas by Design, it won't interfere in any way with my obligation to Amber.   I'm interested in getting my work before the public and the best way to do that is to participate on challenges and design teams and possibly to have some of my work published in paper crafting publications. My dream would be to design for a manufacturer or to create my own line of paper crafting supplies.  That's a big goal, I know, and because I'm so new to the online crafting community, I need to get started somewhere.  I hope my friends and followers will wish me well in this endeavor.

So without further delay, here are the 3 samples of my work I am submitting for review:

First is a word book that I made for my niece's graduation.  Each page features a letter in her name and displays photos of her in different stages of her lifetime starting at infancy and ending with her high school  graduation. (4 photos)





Next is a greeting card I made for a challenge a few weeks ago. (1 photo)


 And finally, is the altered candy box I featured on my blog just last Wednesday.  I entered this one in several challenges.  I decorated it to hold the larger A5 and 6" square greeting cards I make.  (4 photos)




 

If any of you are interested, they are running the call until April 20th.  You can find a link to their giveaway in my right sidebar.  Thanks for looking and have a wonderful week!

Happy crafting!
Anniebee



  

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Wednesday and a Fun Challenge to Stretch Your Creativity...

Hi, everybody!  I'm so sorry not to have posted anything new in the past several days but you'll see in a few minutes why that was.  I have been a busy crafter despite the fact that I didn't show you what I have been working on before now.  This week at Amber's Crafts and Stuff, the designers were tasked with creating projects using a technique we have never used before! Well, even if you have been crafting as long as I have you know that, along with the constant influx of new products and tools, there are always new techniques being devised to create new and different results so that I had a plethora of untried techniques from which to choose.

I know I have said this a few times before but since I have a number of new followers who are most likely unaware, I will tell it one last time.  I lost my job in August of last year after my company was sold and the new owners laid off over half of my department plus 125 other employees throughout the company. That was quite devastating to say the least because I had been with the company almost 15 years and had aspirations of retiring from there in a few years.  Needless to say, I have been searching for a new position since that time and have, as yet, been unsuccessful in that endeavor. They say that every cloud has a silver lining and even though I had to look really hard to discover it, I found that my situation is no exception. Aside from not having to wake up at 6 every morning for the time being, the other good that has come out of this unfortunate situation is that I have learned to make do with less and I have also become more creative in my crafting. Luckily for me (take heed, paper and ribbon hoarders, everywhere!), I had accumulated a little bit of a stash of scrapbooking papers, stickers, ribbons and other goodies before I was let go so I have been able to stay busy with my paper crafting while I have been sitting at home, looking for a job and trying not to use any more gasoline than I absolutely have to. This has resulted in an ever-growing greeting card collection along with a few mini albums and altered, repurposed or recycled projects.

I have also learned some new techniques... how timely, right? LOL! Those who have been following me regularly for a while are aware of my love of flowers and boxes. Well, let me tell you, in case you didn't already know, that living on unemployment with no additional income allows little to nothing in the household budget for crafting supplies! As I stated, I have a decent stash of tools and materials but the way things have been going so far, I decided that I had better learn to stretch that stash as far as I can because it may take quite a while longer to find a new job. Soooo.... I learned to make my own paper flowers! Mostly I have been teaching myself to make roses because I use so many of them and they are one of the most difficult types to make yourself. It took a few tutorials and a lot of practice but I think I have successfully gotten the technique down pat. At least, I think so. That's not to say that my personal technique can't be improved upon or that it won't evolve to some degree going forward but for now, I'm very happy with the way they have been turning out.

Despite my somewhat futile attempts to de-clutter, I have been hanging on to the most wonderful box for about 3 years, planning to do something spectacular with it but not sure exactly what I wanted to do. This box was received as a Christmas gift from one of my company's outside counsel and originally it contained the most delicious Belgian chocolates from a confectionery named Gudrun. The box measures 10 1/2" x 8" x 2 1/2" and opens on the front in the middle, sort of like a gate-fold card does. It's really cool and I have not seen another one like it since I got it. It also came in its own sturdy gift bag which I also saved and will do something with later.

I completely covered every surface of the box with different scrapbooking papers and cardstock and decorated every side but the back (or bottom in this case) with Copic markers, pearls, flowers, bling and butterflies. I LOVE the way it turned out and now I have not one, but two boxes to hold my greeting card stash. How great is that?! There are several pictures (nothing new there, I know!) so get comfy and grab a beverage of some sort. My hope is that you'll be interested enough to make it through to the end of this lengthy post.

My Butterfly Garden


The dark pink and black roses in the upper left and bottom right corners are the roses I made with my own nimble fingers. The others are some I bought at Michael's.  The next couple of pictures illustrate how the box opens.  The oval-shaped tab in the center has a magnet embedded in it that holds the box closed when both "doors" are shut.  


I couldn't decide whether to line the inside of the box with some pretty pink paper but since it's very clean and in great shape I decided to save my paper for a better use.  I really am becoming quite frugal, aren't I? If you'd known me BU (before unemployment), you'd realize that's not my nature!  Heh heh!

 

All of the butterflies are by K & Company, from the Susan Winget collection.  The blingy swirls are by Say it with Crystals.




The Recollections pearls, which were originally pale pink, were colored with Copic maker RV 09.  The black and cream DP I used on all sides but the back is from an 8 1/2" square paper pad by K & Company simply called Black and Ivory.  There are some gorgeous patterns in this pad.  After I punched out my flower shapes, I colored the pieces with one of my Copics, RV06.  



 

This paper I used on the back was a 12" x 12" sheet from a pad of textured cardstock I got at Michael's on clearance for $1.49!  I love the damask diamond pattern on this one.



The box will hold all of the cards I have made right now, which total 13.  It will hold a lot more if they aren't as 3-dimensional as I make most of my cards. 



Here are some of the other roses I made while I was working on my technique.  I used double-sided cardstock for all of the flowers in the next 2 photos.  You can use single-sided paper too if you don't mind the white showing or if you color it with something that won't bleed through to the other side.  


You can see the delicate patterns on the paper if you click on the pictures to enlarge them.  Almost all of the papers I used are from various collections by K & Company.  Que Sera Sera is one of my favorites as the patterns are smaller and more colorful.



The green roses in the bottom left corner are the first ones I made.  Single-sided paper from Basic Grey's Lime Rickey stack was used for these.  The tiny ones were something of a challenge to make when I first started out but became easier as I became more adept.  If you click on the picture, it will enlarge so that you can see the white paper on the inside of the tiny blossoms.  There is one oddball dogwood-type blossom I made with some of the leftover flower shapes.  

I used a combination of techniques but for the most part, I credit one of my favorite blogs, Dana's Inspirations. Dana's You Tube tutorials (you can find a link in the right sidebar of her blog) are entertaining as well as educational and she demonstrates several different types of flower making techniques in her 3-part series. The next technique I want to try is rolled ribbon, felt and tulle flowers. I don't think they take as much time to make and they appear at first glance to be easier to learn. Check out Dana's blog if you get a chance and if you do, let her know I sent you.   

I hope you enjoyed seeing my project. Stop by Amber's blog to see the wonderful projects created by the other design team members. They're sure to inspire you to join in the fun and try a technique you have been wanting to learn. Thanks for visiting me today!

I have entered this project into the following challenges:

Crafts and Me - Glitter
Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes
Colour Create Challenges - Color (Pink, Black and White)
The Paper Shelter - Anything Goes
A Spoonful of Sugar - Tons of Texture
Clear It Out Tuesday - Make a Flower
The Stamping Boutique - Handmade Flowers
The Crazy Challenge - Just Add Flowers
Simon Says Stamp & Show Monday - Anything But A Card
Paper Crafting Journey - For The Ladies


Happy crafting!
Anniebee