The Last of My Holiday Cards...

If you're looking for the Kenny K blog candy post, you can find it here.

Hello, and happy Friday, everyone! I know this is a little late but I thought I would post some pictures of the "official" Christmas cards that I sent out to my family and friends this year since I didn't have a chance to post them before Christmas. This will be a short post with lots of pictures.

In no particular order...

As you can see, I used the same pair of digis on all of the cards. I just used a different color scheme on each card so that no two are alike. These cute pixie characters are Little Elf Finn and Little Elf Mim by Mo Manning. They have been around a couple of years so you have probably already seen them. I just think they're adorable and had so much fun coloring them that I decided to make them my official design for this year's cards. I hope you have enjoyed seeing them. Everyone who received one really seemed to like it.

I am entering at least one of these cards into the following challenges:

CMC Holiday Bash - Challenge #58 Metallic Gleam

That's it for today but I'll be back Sunday with a new card for the new challenge starting at Kenny K's Krafty Krew. We'll be welcoming some new design team members as well as some new digis from Kenny so you won't want to miss it! Until next time...

Happy crafting!

Anniebee

Ho! Ho! Ho! Time For A Kenny K Christmas Challenge!

Hi and Happy Sunday, everyone!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas and Kenny K's Krafty Krew is hosting a new challenge this week with a Christmas theme... in fact, we'd like for you to use traditional Christmas colors on your projects this time. Kenny has lots of digi designs perfect for Christmas cards, scrapbook pages and all manner of other Christmas-themed projects.

This weeks first sponsor is Kenny K's Downloads

The prize from Kenny is the winner's choice of 5 digi's.

And our second sponsor is 

Leo at Flonz

I made not one, but two cards this time.  Know why? Because Kenny is also releasing 5 new images this week... all skateboarders! They are so cool! But more on that later. First I want to show you the first card I made, using the sweet and sexy "Mistletoe".

 

I am entering this card in the following challenges:

TBD

Now, for something a bit less traditional... a Christmas skateboarder! "Extreme" is one of the five new images Kenny is releasing this week and they can all be purchased here. 

I haven't finished the inside of this one yet. I think I'm going to give it to my grandson for Christmas if I don't color him again with blond hair. I haven't decided yet. Have you started making your Christmas cards yet? I have made several but need to make some with a more traditional style/image for those on my list who might not appreciate Kenny's artwork as much as I do! LOL! 

Please take a few minutes to visit the Krafty Krew's blog to see the awesome projects created by my teamies and Kenny's store to see the other new designs. I'll be back Tuesday with yet another Kenny K card for the Top Tip Tuesday challenge blog. Don't forget to enter your Kid/Teen projects in their current challenge.

I am entering this card in the following challenges:

TBD

Joy's Life Family Time Design Team Project

Hi, everybody!  I am sorry to have been MIA for so long.  Something came up over the past couple of weeks that I can't really talk about just yet.  For now, all I can tell you is that I was selected for another design team that will start crankin' next month!  It's a great opportunity for me and my term with the team will last a full year!  Woohoo!!!  I'm very excited and can't wait to tell you about it but I have to wait for the okay before I can say any more.

In the meantime, I have been trying to catch up on my Christmas card making and working on a project for Joy's Life.  This week, Group 2 of Joy's Design Team will be featuring projects made with a family theme.  I actually made 2 projects that kind of go together.  You'll see what I mean when you see them.  There are quite a few pictures so get comfy!

The first one is a Christmas-themed layout.  The photos I used are of my sister, Patty's, family that were taken on Christmas morning of 2009, her last Christmas on this earth.  I know some of my regular readers may get tired of reading this but since I have quite a few new followers, I guess I should explain that Patty lost her 6-year battle with stage 4 breast cancer in May, 2010.  I treasure all of my pictures of her and since Christmas was her favorite holiday, I thought it would be a nice way to remember her this season.

The patterned cardstock is from K and Company as are the chipboard embellishments.  The photo mats are made from foil cardstock by American Crafts that I punched with a border punch from ek Success.  I outlined the patterened paper shape with green Stickles to add visual interest and also to make the layout look more "finished".

I love this big red and white striped bow made from ribbon I bought at Michael's.

I made this festive wreath using Martha Stewart's medium branch punch which is becoming increasingly hard to find.  I punched the branches from 3 different shades of green cardstock and adhered them one by one to a 2D wreath template and adorned the finished product with different colors of round gems, some holly from K and Company, a bit of organza ribbon and a poinsettia from Petaloo.  

The stamp I used for this layout is from the Joy's Life Wintery Puns stamp set that can be purchased on Joy's website.  The tag was created with a Spellbinders Fancy Tags die and the same green foil cardstock I used on the photo mats. 

My other project is a Christmas card that I made using one of the same photos I used on the layout.  

The patterned cardstock I used on this one is from a DCWV Holiday Collection paper pack that I bought from Hobby Lobby last year and the ribbon is from Michael's.

 

The stamps I used on this one are from Joy's Everyday Occasions and Holiday Occasions stamp sets and can be purchased from her website.

I am entering this layout in the following challenges:

Quick Quotes Friday Challenge #9 - Christmas

That's all I have for you today.  I hope you were able to glean some bits of inspiration from these projects. I'll be back with some more Christmas cards later in the week. So, until next time...

Happy crafting!!!

Anniebee

A New Christmas Card

This is going to be a short post as I am quite tired and need to get to bed at a decent hour tonight.  I have spent this past week making a few Christmas cards to give to family and friends and I'll be sharing them with you over the next few days, along with a project I created for Joy's Life Design Team that will post on Wednesday morning. I am a huge fan of illustrator, Phee McFaddell, who drew this gorgeous digital image.  I colored the image with Copics, of course.

Believe it or not, I got the "Rejoice" stamp I used on the front of the card along with another similar one that says "Blessings" in the dollar bin at Michael's a couple of weeks ago!  They are perfect for Christmas cards and because I love angels, I thought they would look very appropriate together.  The sentiment inside the card says, "May your Christmas be warm with love, blessed with joy and bright with promise!".  It's probably my favorite Christmas sentiment.  The ribbon is made of tulle that I bought on a roll from either Michaels or Jo-Ann.

That's it for this time.  I'll be back closer to the weekend with more Christmas cards and don't forget to check out Joy's Life Wednesday to see the new design team inspirational projects.  Until then...

Happy crafting!
Anniebee

Holiday Cards Blog Hop for Joy's Life!

Happy Friday, everybody!! Today, Joy's Life is hosting a blog hop with her Fall/Winter Design Team and featuring her brand new Wintery Puns stamp set! Each designer has created a holiday card using the new stamps and just wait until you see them! This set is so cute and is perfect for use on Christmas/Winter cards, layouts and other winter-themed projects. After having had a chance to use stamps from several of the sets Joy has available for purchase on her blog, I have to tell you that they are very high quality and the images they produce are crisp, detailed and excellent for all stamping applications.  

If you arrived here from Amanda's blog, you're in the right place. If you stumbled upon my blog by accident or just stopped in for a visit, you'll definitely want to start at Joy's Life so you don't miss any of the awesome projects created especially for this event by all of the Joy's Life designers. You'll also have a chance to win some cool blog candy along the way! And who doesn't love winning prizes?

My card features a rural homestead blanketed in the fluffy white stuff that makes wintertime so picturesque. I love this image from Delicious Doodles and it was so much fun to color with my Copics.  It doesn't show up very well in the photographs but I used a pearl glaze to give the snow that glistening appearance it gets when the surface gets just warm enough to melt ever so slightly and then refreezes.   

I don't know if you can tell from the pictures but the greeting is heat embossed with gold embossing powder.

Here's how the inside looks. I used a different patterned paper to add more visual interest.  

Now for the really fun part! I have a little candy for one of my visitors during this hop so please leave a comment to be to be included in the draw. If you like what you have seen here, I would love to have you as a follower but it's not necessary to be eligible for my giveaway. I don't have a photo of my candy but it will include some stamps, ribbon, embellishments and whatever else I find to add to the mix before I let Random.org select the winner on Sunday. I'll leave the giveaway open until noon Central Standard Time and I'll post the winner's name on my blog. If you'll include your email address in safe Blogger format, I will contact you personally. The winner will have until December 9th to claim their prize.  If it hasn't been claimed by then, I will draw an alternate name.

The complete lineup is included below for your convenience. If you somehow get lost along the way, you can return here and follow the links to each designer's personal blog and pick up where you left off. I hope that you have enjoyed my little project and that it has inspired you to create your own holiday cards. Don't forget to check out all of Joy's awesome stamp sets on her blog at some point before the end of the hop.  Your next stop is the very talented Annette.

Joy: http://joyslife.com 
Amanda: http://www.whiteruffles.blogspot.com
Anne: http://anniebeescraftroom.blogspot.com (You are here)
Annette: http://www.aspoonfullofsugarcrafts.blogspot.com
Christine: http://www.stampynwifesspace.blogspot.com
Jennie: http://earthyscrap.blogspot.com
Maria: http://joyfulstamper.blogspot.com
Martha: http://pattisscrapingtime.blogspot.com
Melisa: http://melisascraftycreations.blogspot.com
Stacey: http://staceyscreativecorner.blogspot.com
Susie: http://www.thedieshaveit.com
Tracy: http://www.thepickledowl.blogspot.com

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  Until next time...

Happy Holidays!

Anniebee

A Paper a la Mode Christmas Challenge!

It's Saturday and time for a new Paper a la Mode challenge at The Outlawz.  It was my turn to post the challenge which means I got to choose the theme too.  As I needed to start on my Christmas cards, I decided to use Christmas/Winter Holiday as the challenge theme.  I have already made a few cards using the free images I was given for participating in the progressive challenge at CDAC for them.  This card, however, features one of the 4 images I won from Delicious Doodles in a challenge a couple of weeks ago.  I really love some of the digi stamps she sells.  This one is a snowy scene and in the foreground is a lovely old postbox as seen in Great Britain.  Because I'm of English descent I thought it was fitting.  It's very difficult to see in the photos but I used iridescent Stickles to give the snow that glistening quality it has when the the sunlight or moonlight shines down on it.

The image is, of course, colored with Copics.  The dp is DCWV's Holiday stack from last year or year before.  I can't really remember.  The ribbon is from my stash.  The sentiment stamp is by Stampibilities.

I am entering this card in the following challenges:  TBD

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.  Until next time...

Happy crafting!
Anniebee

5th and final entry for Round 6 of the CDAC Progressive Freebie Challange (cdacpc6)

Okie dokie!  Here I am again... back with my last entry for the 6th round of the CDAC Progressive Freebie Challenge.  This one, which also happens to be my favorite, is a very traditional image by Daisy Doodles of Christmas candles.  I have always had a candle fetish so it's not surprising that I liked this image best even though every one of the ones we received was a lot of fun to color, traditional and non-traditional alike.  Of course I had to use traditional colors on this one.

Ta da!  That's it for this round unless I manage to color the bonus image and get a card made with it before the challenge closes this weekend.  I seem to either be suffering from a severe allergy to mountain cedar or I have contracted a head and chest cold.  Either way, I am feeling rather crummy and I'm not really in a crafting mood.  I already have a couple of projects ready for my first design team post for Joy's Life that I'll put up on Wednesday morning.  I'm not sure yet which one I'll use so you'll just have to come check it out and see! :o)

I've had enough for one day so I think I'm going to turn in early and try to get some extra rest in hopes that it will help with whatever this crud is.  Have a wonderful Tuesday and until next time...

Happy crafting!
Anniebee