Fairy Friends for Wow Embossing Powders DT

Hi, everybody! I know you think I ran off somewhere or worse. Not so... but much has happened since my last blog post. If you're a follower, you'll know that I finally found a new job after having been laid off for 18 months. Well, I was just getting comfortable with my position and learning a whole new business that I had known nothing about beforehand when our office manager and two of the inside sales guys up and quit! That put the operation in such a bind that the almighty "powers that be" made the hasty decision to close down the office portion of the branch and move that part of the operations to Louisville, KY. Soooo.... they laid me and my co-worker off with no notice whatsoever and no severance!! I was completely floored and disheartened at this unexpected turn of events. So, as you have probably surmised, I am searching for a new job yet again.

Needless to say, I haven't exactly been in a creative frame of mind since that day but I am slowly pulling myself up by my bootstraps and have decided to adapt that lovely French saying, "Que sera, sera" as my personal slogan. In case you don't know what it means, it translates to "what will be, will be". There is nothing I could have done to prevent it so I just have to have faith that there is something bigger and better waiting out there for me... somewhere. If my employment wasn't my only source of income, it would still be a huge inconvenience but as it is, it's devastating!

Anyway, I forced myself to work on something creative these past few days. Besides, I had 2 projects due this week for my WOW Embossing Powders DT so I had to get my act together whether I was in the mood or not! LOL!  Below is a card I made using bits and scraps of fabric supplied by my lovely team leader, Jen. She challenged us to use fabric in our projects this month which was indeed a challenge for me.  I have used fabric in other types of projects but not in my card making. When I opened the envelope she sent me, there was this really cute floral stripe, a couple of strips of the gold batik and the bright orange lace that all coordinated perfectly with this adorable little fairy digi I found at Sweet Coloring Pages and had colored up some time back but had never used on a card.  It was the perfect thing for this project so I set to work.

 I wanted to machine stitch the fabric to my card but my machine wasn't very cooperative and but for my Taurus tenacity, I would have abandoned that thought completely.  I finally got 'er done though and then just had fun embellishing.

The WOW Embossing Powders I used were Metalline Green and Primary Ebony. If you click on the photos to enlarge them, you'll discover that the fairy is talking to her little wormy friend popping out from his hole.  I apologize that I didn't realize when I was snapping the pictures that the leafy vine all but blocked him from view. He's not hiding so well when you see the card in person.

As most of you know, I nearly always (unless I'm doing a clean & simple design which is rarely) decorate the insides of my cards as well as the front because I think it just makes them appear more finished.  

I had these cute fairy dimensional stickers that were perfect to go inside the card.  I inked the edges of a white circle to create a place for the giver to write their own heart-felt sentiments.

So there you have it... my first creative endeavor in almost a month! It's not the last though. I have already completed another card that I will post in the next day or two and an altered project for our WOW team post scheduled for this coming Saturday. I'm also working on a few more cards that I will post as I get them finished in between my job search sessions. I would appreciate your prayers and positive thoughts for finding a new position. Thanks so much for dropping by today and please don't forget to visit the WOW Blog today and Saturday to see my projects as well as those created by my talented teammates posted there.  Until next time, thank you for your patience and understanding.

Happy crafting!
Anniebee

Beautiful Emerald Isle - a WOW Design Team Project

Hello friends!  I hope you're all doing well and that Springtime is quickly approaching wherever you are.  Again, it's been a little while since I posted something new on my blog.  I have been missing my crafting but the past 3 weeks have been very busy and very hectic at work and I have been putting in 10 hour days on a regular basis.  By the time I get home in the evening and feed the critters and myself and relax a few minutes, it's half past dark and not long before bedtime.  Hopefully things will smooth out a bit and with Daylight Savings Time starting this weekend, I'll be able to get more done in a day.

For my group feature on the WOW! Embossing Powder blog, I created a birthday gift for my co-worker, Emily, who traveled to Ireland with her sister a few years back. She had never done anything with her photos from that trip so she gave me some of them to use on my project for WOW! We were challenged by our team leader to create something to coincide with the theme of St. Patrick's Day, luck, or green.  My particular assignment was a layout using green with flowers and/or shamrocks. My co-workers enjoy seeing the things I make for my design teams and as gifts for family and friends and in passing, I divulged to Emily that I didn't have any really good photos to use for this project. That's when she told me I could use some of the ones she took in Ireland.  I jumped at the chance, not only because they were perfect for my assignment but also because her birthday is next month and I had already promised to make her something special for her special day.

Here it is!! I love how it turned out... and so did Emily! I just couldn't wait a whole month to give it to her! LOL!

The cardstock I used as the backdrop is from one of DCWV's newer stacks called Modern Bouquet. It's branded as Recollections and is available at Michael's. The background was all a creamy white with the green epoxy design over it. I used a grass green pigment ink pad to color the page from the outside edge of the circle and left the inner circle white. I intentionally swirled the ink pad in small circular movements to give the color a sort of marbled look.  

I think I may have mentioned before how much I like the look of corrugated cardboard with one of the outer paper sides stripped away.  Well, I took a 12" long strip of it and embossed it with WOW! Embossing powders in Rich Pale Gold and Tea Garden Green, which is an emerald shade of green with a translucent quality. I found the beautiful green shamrock doily you see in the upper left quadrant at Michael's as well and thought it would be perfect for this layout.

I started with a strip of Terrifically Tacky Tape 1/4" wide and about 11" long and adhered it to a strip of scrap cardstock to stabililize it while I was working. I adhered my ribbon to the strip, pleating it as I went. Then I attached the ribbon strip to the cardboard strip with Beacon 3-in-1 Glue and adhered the strip to the layout below where I wanted the photos to be. I embossed the outer edges of the photo mats that I cut from DCWV Shimmer cardstock with Tea Garden Green and mounted the photos on them using my ATG. I attached double-sided foam tape in varying thicknesses on the backs of the photos and arranged them in a waterfall pattern across the middle section of the layout.

Next, the flowers, which I embossed with Rich Pale Gold and Tea Garden Green WOW powders and highlighted by brushing on some diamond Stickles, and the felt shamrocks were arranged around the page and set in place using Beacon 3-in-1.  The title was created from dimensional alphabet stickers purchased from Michael's and the little purple butterflies were made using a Martha Stewart punch and the wings were embossed with Rich Pale Gold and a little stripe of purple Stickles was added for the thorax.  

Finally, the little layered journaling tag was attached in the lower left-hand corner and the small shamrock was added as the finishing touch.  I really like the tone-on-tone effect created by using the different shades of green and just the small pop of contrasting color created by the butterflies.  I'm quite envious that Emily got to visit the "Beautiful Emerald Isle" as my ancestors came from that region and it has been a life-long dream to travel there.  After seeing her pictures, it's definitely on my bucket list now!

I hope you enjoyed seeing this layout.  Please join me again on the 21st when I'll be posting another project for WOW!  They are the best embossing powders I have ever used and are so much fun I just want to put them on everything!  Until next time...

Happy crafting!

Anniebee

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