Time to Switch It Up a Little!

If you're looking for the Kenny K blog candy post, click here.

Happy Monday, all! Are you getting back into your normal routines now that the holidays have come and gone for another year? I decided it was time to mix it up a bit and so today, I'm going to talk about a scrapbook layout I made for my beautiful granddaughter for Christmas. It's been quite a while since I posted one and even though I love scrapbooking, I don't get the chance to do it as often as I'd like. I had one heck of a time finding a photo of her that I really, really loved and that I thought she would love too. Most of the recent ones taken of her were taken with a cell phone camera and the quality just wasn't good enough for my purposes. Well, I found this one and with only minor manipulations in my photo editing program, I was able to get it just the way I wanted it.

The next thing was to find the right colors to set off the picture.  I really thought she was a "summer" person but much to my surprise, I discovered she's a "spring"! I had some beautiful papers from their Julie Je T'aime collection left from my guest designer spot with Quick Quotes last year that looked perfect with her coloring. I added to that a scrap of some DCWV Lemon Flower paper and distressed with Quick Quotes Powderpuff chalk inks in matching hues and aside from flowers and other embellishments, I was there.

I admit to being slightly biased but this young woman is very striking with her long, silky blonde hair, blue, blue eyes and 5' 9" frame. I call her my sweet Amazon princess! I'm not sure she sees the humor in that as she ususally rolls her eyes in typical teenage fashion but she's never asked me to stop. LOL!

I used a variety of embellishments from several companies such as Wild Orchid Crafts, K & Company, Prima and Jolee's. If you click on one of the pictures, you can better see the rose I made in the bottom right corner. It's the one that is pale aqua on the outside and yellow with a little blush on the inside, just above and to the left of the lilac and yellow smaller roses. I had been saving that rose for well over a year and finally found the perfect place for it. The rest of the flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts.

The title was taken from the little bumblebees I used on the layout. You can see one perched on top of the second "e" and 2 more flying around the photo. There is a tag with a special message from me hidden behind the photo. The yellow ribbon tab with the flower attached (on the left side) is used to pull the tag out. This is a good way to add journaling to your layout that you don't necessarily want everyone to read.  I just created the secret compartment by popping the photo up on foam tape but you could also make a sort of envelope to hold your tag and attach it directly to the back of the photo before you mount it on the layout.

After I was completely happy with the way it looked, I framed the layout so that my granddaughter could hang it on the wall in her bedroom. Her parents are having all the flooring redone in their house so it hasn't been hung up yet, I'm sure, but I had been promising her that I would do a layout just for her and I finally kept that promise. I hope she likes it and can feel the love with which it was created. She is and will likely remain my only granddaughter so she is a very special person to me.

I am entering this layout in the following challenges:
Pause Dream Enjoy - #1 Use Ribbon
Artistic Impressions - #22 Add a Bit of Sparkle
The Crafty Bloggers Network - #7 Flowers

Created With Love - CWLC 23 Anything But A Card 
Creative Creations #1 Anything Goes
Make It Monday - #122 Anything Goes (Linky Party)
My Grafico - #143 Anything Goes
Sarah Hamer Designs - Link Up Tuesday (Linky Party)

I made another layout for my son and daughter-in-law that I will share with you another time. This is it for today. May your week be productive (and short!) and I hope you find some time to be creative. Until next time...

Happy crafting!
Anniebee

WOW Embossing Powders DT Post

Hi, everybody!

I know I haven't posted in a few days and there's good reason for it. I have been working on Christmas gifts and cards as I'm sure many of you are and I have also been working on come commissioned work. This is my favorite time of year but it sure gets hectic here toward the last couple of weeks before Christmas. I still have cards to mail out that haven't even been made yet! Yikes!

Well, this is the week that the 6 Girls and a Smoking Gun team get to present our team projects for WOW Embossing Powders! I really enjoy our team efforts as we're given fairly specific assignments or at least specific themes we must use in creating our projects and it's always fun for us to see what our teammates have done. This time, we were supposed to create some type of holiday themed ornament, treat cone or something along those lines and I chose to make a lovely Victorian-inspired treat cone.

I tried to use papers and embellishments that remind me of that period in history.  I think I may have mentioned before that I used to craft antique reproduction porcelain dolls from that era so I am fairly familiar with the types of decorations that were used.

I created the template for this cone myself as I couldn't find one I really loved online. The top of each panel is rounded (you can see it better in the next photo), though I made a second template with flat tops for the gents and to use with different types of trimming. The poinsettia/berry spray is by Petaloo and the red velvet ribbon is from my stash.

The various embellishments I used were from different manufacturers including K & Company, The Paper Studio, Studio 112 and Recollections.

The papers are from DCWV's Holiday Collection a couple of years ago. The little pearl strings are a by-the-yard trimming that I purchased at Jo-Ann some time ago as well.

I really love this ornate cross, which was created with a rubber stamp I got from Michael's. I used Metallic Gold Rich Pale Regular, Sierra Sunrise, Tea Garden Green and Neutral Ultra Shimmer powders to create this one of a kind treat cone. The lace I used around the top is very expensive silk lace that has been in my stash for several years and was perfect for this little decoration so I decided that the time to use it had finally arrived.

If you're still making Christmas projects like I am, be sure and stop by the WOW blog to see the beautiful projects created by my talented teammates. I haven't seen them yet but I have no doubt that they are fabulous, as always.

Have a marvelous weekend. My son and I are going to see the first installment of "The Hobbit" tomorrow night and I can't wait! I have been a huge fan of Lord of the Rings since I was in high school and that's a very, very long time! LOL I think Peter Jackson has done a fabulous job of bringing the characters and tales of J.R.R. Tolkien to life on the big screen.

I am entering this project in the following challenges:

Really Reasonable Ribbons - Challenge #62 Anything Goes & Ribbon

Well, that's all I have for you today, folks. I'll be back soon with a few more holiday cards and possibly another cone or two (or more)! Thanks for visiting my blog. I value your comments so please feel free to tell me what you think. Until next time...

Happy crafting!
Anniebee

7 Girls and a Smoking Gun Team post at WOW Embossing Powders blog

Whew! What a title, huh?  Well, the WOW design team is quite large and as such, it's broken down into smaller groups of 6 or 7 designers.  My group was originally called 6 Girls and a Smoking Gun but we recently added a new team member, Donna O'Leary, so of course our name had to change to include her. Each Saturday one of the teams is showcased on the WOW blog and this is our week.

Please visit the WOW blog to see the lovely projects my talented heat-gun-toting teammates have created.  Here is my project. I have included lots of pictures to show all the detail of this little balsa wood box.

First thing I did was to cover the outside of the box with patterned paper from K and Company.  I used Mod Podge for this purpose.  As the paper is a heavy grade, I gave the box a couple of generous coats of the adhesive and also brushed it onto the paper itself so it would bond well to the wood surface and not peel off or bubble up when the box is opened.

After allowing it to dry completely overnight, I sanded the edges with my Tim Holtz distress sander to smooth them and get rid of any overhanging paper. I braided 3 lengths of gold elastic cording together to loop over the button closure.

The crocheted and Venice lace were glued to the underside of the flap  and the fancy trim on the topside using Aleene's Quick Grab Tacky Glue. the self adhesive flat-back pearl strip was then added .

I used 3 kinds of ribbons - a very narrow pink satin, a 1/4" cream organza and the 3/4" black and white stripe, with which I made 2 separate bows and tied them together with a 6" length of the striped ribbon.  This multi-strand bow was attached to the flap with Beacon 3-in-1 Advanced Craft Glue.  I also used the Beacon glue to adhere the rose on top of the bow. The leaves were coated with Versamark and embossed with Metalline Green powder.

The flowers started as white mulberry paper by Recollections that I colored with Copics to coordinate with my color scheme and added flat-back pearls for centers. The butterfly was punched from a piece of patterned paper and the edges embossed with WOW Bubble Gum embossing powder. 

This flourish, which I stamped and embossed with Primary Ebony powder prior to covering the box added the perfect feminine element to the design. I added a few heat set crystals to the curlicues using my i-Rock.

I removed the button from the flap and coated it with Primary Ebony powder and heated it with my heat gun then stamped the little daisy in Versamark and embossed it in Metallic Gold Rich Pale Regular powder.  I added a rhinestone for the center.  Finally, I used E6000 adhesive to attach the typewriter key letters, spelling the word "LOVE" on the flap.

I hope you like my little box.  It's approximately 6" long and is the perfect size to hold a pair of those small reading glasses and sit on a bedside or end table.  Don't forget to see all the beautiful home decor items created by my teammates on the WOW blog.

That's all I have for you today. Thanks so much for stopping by. As always, your comments are welcomed and appreciated.  Until next time...

Happy crafting!
Anniebee

Christmas Star Angel

One more day and another weekend will be here!  That means more crafting time, for a couple of days at least.  This will be the last full weekend of shopping before Christmas too!  I am just astounded that this year is counting down to its close already.  It hardly seems possible that 2012 is just a few days away!

Today, I have another one of the Christmas cards I promised.  This one also features an image by Phee McFaddell, a star angel.  I love this image and it was a lot of fun to color with Copics.  The patterned paper and the tiny holly sprig are by K and Company.  The pink cardstock is from Paper Studio and the scalloped border is by ek Success.  The stamped greeting, sentiment and cross image were heat embossed with metallic gold embossing powder, which gives the card a classic appeal.

I'll have another card for you sometime this weekend.  In case you missed them, I also posted a Christmas card on Tuesday and a layout and card on Wednesday. Beginning the first week in January, I will be doing a guest designer spot for Quick Quotes.  I hope you'll all stop by for a visit during that time period as I'll be using their wonderful products in my creations.  Right now, I am about to fall asleep at the keyboard so until next time...

Happy Crafting!
Anniebee

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

Never Kick a Sleeping Dragon!

Hello, all!  It's the middle of the week again and I have given my blog another spiffy little facelift.  Well, I changed the wallpaper and furniture out again, at least.  I started to go ahead and decorate for the upcoming holidays but I thought that my readers might get a little sick of it by the time Christmas arrives so I decided to go with a fall theme for now.  I realize that snow has already fallen in several regions of the country so it may seem like winter has already arrived to some of you.  However, it has been beautiful here lately!  I never thought I would be able to say that again during the dreadful summer we had but fall finally did arrive on velvet wings.  It has been cool at night and sunny and warm during the day.  No sweaters needed most of the time but we have had a cool snap already and another one is due to arrive sometime today or tonight.  I guess it's time to drag out the cool weather wardrobe such as it is.

Soooo... today I have a cute little card that I made a while back but never got around to posting.  This is one of those multi-purpose cards that I love so much because it can be used for a number of occasions or no occasion at all.  Sometimes I like to give cards just to let someone know that I value their love or friendship and this could serve that purpose too.  This cute dragon was is another Phee McFaddell design and I just thought he was so adorable sleeping with his pillow and blankie!  I have a couple of other images Phee drew that have dragons in them and they are for Christmas!  Wait until you see them!  I have not yet colored them so it will still be a while before I'll have them ready to post here but I thought I would give any of you dragon lovers a heads up.  Haha!

Isn't he a cutie?  He was, of course, colored with Copics.  The DP is adhesive-backed cardstock from K & Company and the sentiment is made up of alphabet stickers by Sticko that I adhered to white cardstock sqares and edged with chalk ink and then layered onto blue cardstock squares and popped up on foam tape.

I am entering this card in the following challenges: TBD

Thanks for stopping by today.  I don't know if I'll have time to post another project before the weekend when it will be time for a new Paper a la Mode challenge at The Outlawz.  Then next week will be the launch of the new Joy's Life design team.  Joy decided to divide her team into 2 groups and I will be in Group 2 so we aren't scheduled to post our first project until the 16th but group 1 will post theirs next week on the 9th.  We are all very anxious to show you all the wonderful things we'll be creating with Joy's fabulous stamps.

So, until next time...

Happy crafting!
Anniebee

A Brand New Paper a la Mode Challenge at The Outlawz in Celebration of reaching our 1000 member milestone

Hi, everybody!  In case you haven't been by here in a few days, I have been posting projects left and right! Between Friday morning and Saturday morning alone, I posted 5 new projects!!! That's definitely a record for me but I really enjoyed all of it except for the typing part. I took Sunday off to rest up and to get ready for all the posting I'll be doing in conjunction with the 1000 Member Party that's kicking off at The Outlawz tonight! Woo hoo!! I have been talking about it for at least a week now and the time has finally come! You really need to check it out because we are having some very fun games with fantastic prizes  in addition to the regular challenges and special party challenges and a blog hop! If I wasn't on the design team, I would definitely participate in every activity I possibly could. The $100 gift certificates donated by our fabulous sponsors, Oozak and SCACD, are well worth joining, not to mention all the other prizes donated by our very generous sponsors just for this celebration.

The theme of the Paper a la Mode challenge for the party is to use fall colors without using a fall theme. In other words, use a fall color palette but don't use a typical fall image or sentiment. I made a card using shades of green, gold, and orange with just a tiny touch of turquoise but the image I used is a fairy by Phee McFaddell, one of my new favorite illustrators, and the sentiment is for a best friend's birthday. So without any further delay, here is my card.

I don't know that it's my favorite card ever but I was pleased with the results, especially the coloring on the image. And here are the details, in case you're interested.

Materials and Supplies:

Case cardstock - Core'dinations
Glittler cardstock for mats - DCWV Glitter Stack
DP - K & Company Handmade Adhesive Paper Pad (4.75" x 6.75")
Image - Phee McFaddell (colored with Copics)
Lacy borders - Sizzix die
Dark orange miniature rose blossoms - Recollections
Greeting label - Spellbinders Shapeabilities (Fancy Labels)
Greeting stamps - JustWordz Everyday Sentiments
Tan chalk ink for distressing
Die cut shapes for writing spots inside - Nestibilities Labels Eleven die
Gold and white gel pens for detailing
Ribbon from my stash

So there you have it! I hope you enjoyed seeing my little card and I hope I inspired you to create your own project for our challenge. Don't forget to check out all the games as well as the other challenges and the blog hop will be coming up soon so watch The Outlawz main page for that announcement. Thanks for stopping by. As always, your comments are welcome and appreciated.  Until next time...

Happy crafting!
Anniebee

Okay, I lied! This is my last post for tonight... for REAL!

I almost forgot about entering the color challenge at Sweet Magnolia Rose's Honey Bee Corner. It's their very first color challenge and the deadline was tonight so I had to finish the card I started for it, photograph it, edit the photos and post it. Now I'm posting to my blog so everybody can see it. I love, love this card, even if I did make it myself! LOL The image is one of Phee McFaddell's free images available on her website and it's one of my favorites (I love them all!) and it was, of course, colored with Copics. I love stories about the Medieval period in history about knights and royalty, chivalry and good vs. evil. This card says wedding to me so I made it into a Medieval wedding card!  Here is  color challenge inspirational picture... all fallish in shades of plum, blue, brown and pink. I adore this palette as it represents the cooler tones of fall instead of the traditional warm colors of orange, red and gold.

And here is my card.

Materials and Supplies:

Base card - DCWV Shimmer stack (dusty plum)
Mats - AC Specialty foil textured cardstock - pale plum
DP - DCWV Old World 8" stack
Borders - K & Company Tim Coffey collection
Butterfly, dragonfly and Calla Lily die cuts - K & Company Susan Winget collection
Sentiment label - Spellbinders Shapeabilities Fancy Labels
Cream cardstock for sentiment and writing area inside of card - Paper Studio
"For Your Wedding Day" stamp - Stampendous Special Messages stamp set
Copic markers, Pink ATG gun, Alleen's Fast Grab Glue, scissors, gold gel pen, white gel pen, brown chalk ink for distressing, Tuxedo Black Memento ink pad,  Provo Craft paper trimmer.

I'm also entering this card in the following challenges:

Charisma Cardz Challenge #39 - Love
Paper Crafting Journey #20- Use die cuts or punches
Pixie Dust Studio #94 - Book or movie
Southern Girls Challenge #28 - Anything Goes
The ABC Challenge - Anything Goes
Shelly's Images - Tic Tac Toe (Gold/Silver and Digis)

I think that's everything!  Whew!  I have never posted so many projects in a single day and I still have to write up my blog post for the Paper a la Mode challenge at The Outlawz which has already gone live!  Oops! Just looked at my little computer clock and it's past midnight so this is actually my first post for Saturday!  I hope to see you all at the 1,000 Member Party!  See my left sidebar for further information or visit The Outlawz challenge site.  Until next time...

Happy crafting!
Anniebee 

Time for a new Paper a la Mode Challenge at The Outlawz!

As happens every Saturday, it's time for a brand new Paper a la Mode challenge at The Outlawz. The theme of this week's challenge is "Banners" so you must use some type of banner somewhere on your project to be eligible to compete for the prizes.

I am not really a scrapbooker as most of my older followers will attest to but I can put a layout together if I have to.  I really wanted to make a wall banner but I would have had to design it from scratch as well as cut all the pieces on the Cricut or Silhouette and then assemble it. So rather than deliberate any longer than necessary, I chose to create a  layout and put a banner of some sort on it. As I started going through my photos and scrapbook papers, I came across a patterned paper by Brenda Walton with cute little dresses on it and I knew immediately what I would do.

Here's my layout. This darling child is the daughter of my youngest brother's niece by marriage and looks very much like her mother did at that age. She is very shy at first but is really quite precocious after she gets to know you well enough to feel comfortable around you.

You might be able to tell that scrapbooking isn't really my "thang" (spoken in my best Southern drawl). as I have probably ignored most of the current design rules.  When I do create a layout, I do what appeals to my own taste and to heck with rules and trends! LOL

Here's a close up of the banner. I cut out all those cute little dresses and used them as the "flags" on my banner. I don't know if you can read it but the banner says "All Girl" and the rest of the title is "All the Time". This little girl doesn't have an ounce of tomboy in her though she knows very well how to torment the boys!
I am pleased with the results even though I didn't even start working on it until a few hours before it was due. It has been a crazy busy week and I am way behind on my sleep and job hunting because I had 3 projects due for 3 separate DT posts within 4 days and 2 of the 3 were stretches for me creatively speaking. I had wanted to make my first real wall banner but I just ran out of time.  It will have to wait for another day.

Here are the tools and supplies I used to make this layout:

Green checked paper and white designer paper with glittered circles and stripes pattern from DCWV's Nana's Nursery Girl stack.
Dresses used for banner - K & Company Best of Brenda Walton stack
Borders - cut from Nana's Nursery Girl paper
Pink photo mats - Recollections smooth cardstock
Martha Stewart's Punch Around the Page set
Medium pink chalk ink pad - Studio G
Pink rhinestone flourishes - Recollections
1" Acrylic circle "my little masterpiece" from Recollections and backed with pink paper.to make it look like one of the colored balls at the girl's feet
Pink felt letters - Thickers
Pink glitter letters - Me and My Big Idea Alpha Chips
Small pink paper roses - Recollections
Clothesline - Black Glaze Gel Pen
Pop Dots

So there you have it!  It may be a while before you'll see another layout from me... and then again, I might surprise you!  You just never know. The Outlawz is getting very close to having 1000 members and when we reach that milestone we will have an online party to celebrate. You won't want to miss it as we'll be having some special activities along with some extra special prizes so stay tuned to get more details as they become available. You must be a member to participate so if you haven't already joined you'll need to do that soon.

I am entering this layout in the following challenges:

Scrappin' Chics August Challenge - Banners

I'm looking forward to the weekend and I hope yours is enjoyable. I have lots of catching up to do on housekeeping chores, job hunting and crafting so I'll still be busy. Hopefully I'll be back with a few new projects to show you next week. Until then...

Happy crafting!
Anniebee