Guest Designer card for Little Blue Buttons Stamps

Hello, everybody, and TGIF!! Friday can never get here soon enough to suit me. I like my job okay but if I'm given a choice between working or crafting, guess which one wins... every time! LOL A while back, I was invited by Olga, the sweet proprietor of Little Blue Button Stamps to design a card or two using her new images that are being released this month. I was ecstatic that she thought enough of my work to ask me to represent her and there was no way I could refuse.

I had planned to make two cards using two different new images but as my luck often goes, things starting cranking up at work just about the time I was supposed to make my cards! I am transitioning from a contractor to a direct employee and I had to spend a lot of my spare time gathering information and documentation they required to complete my background check. You may recall that I moved back in September and most of my personal belongings other than my clothing and some of my crafting supplies are still packed in boxes and are in storage so I had to take the long way around supplying the needed information.

Long story short, I passed the background check and starting July 15, I'll be working directly for the company for which I have worked indirectly since February. But back to the subject at hand. I designed the card below using Olga's image called "Miss Lilly Chef". This little cutie, although not my usual style, was so much fun to color and I just love the final results. I used Copic markers to color her and her costume is all paper pieced and shaded with Copics.

And here's the inside, complete with Neiman Marcus' chocolate chip cookie recipe.

 

Please stop by and see all of Olga's digis at Little Blue Button Stamps and also visit her blog at here, where my card is on display. Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you'll visit again real soon. Until next time...

Happy crafting!

Anniebee

I'm baaaack! and a Patriotic theme Paper a la Mode challenge at The Outlawz this week

Hello, my crafty friends!

Things are starting to settle down a bit so I'm back with a new card for you. I have been making some new ones today because I have almost run out of the ones I made in the last large batch 3 weeks ago. I made a card to celebrate Independence Day for a card swap. I paper pieced the American flag and let me tell you, it was quite a challemge! I really liked the way it turned out and I have no idea who ended up receiving it but I hope that whoever did enjoyed it. It took several attempts to get the pattern the way I wanted it and by the time I got all of the pieces cut (and there were a BUNCH of them, it was pulling my hair out!! As I told some of my Outlawz teamies, I try very hard not to curse but I slipped up several times while I was making this card. It is my sample card in the Paper a la Mode challenge this week, where the theme is Patriotic, in keeping with our 4th of July celebrations, but anybody can play along as long as they celebrate patriotism for whatever country they reside in. It doesn't have to be American patriotism and our neighbors to the north celebrated Canada Day on Friday so we're hoping to see a variety of projects from around the globe.

Here is my first sample card for my new design team! I was so excited to be able to contribute something I was really proud of, even if it did cause me some major grief in its making. All the little stars were made using a corner punch that has a star on it and the stripes were just sketched to look like the flag is flying in the wind.

Even though thetow sections which comprise the flag are relatively flat, I was able to use foam pop dots to make them appear more 3-dimensional. The stars behind the flag were dry embossed using a Cuttlebug border folder. All of the solid color cardstock is from Recollections and the patterned paper on the inside is from DCWV's All About Boys stack. I thought it worked perfectly for this card.  The frame is gold glitter cardstock, from DCWV's Mariposa Cardstock stack. The red glitter letters/numbers as well as the blue letters are cardstock stickers that I bought at Hobby Lobby. Even though I wish I had made 2 of these while I was at it (so I could keep one), I don't think I will ever attempt this pattern again unless I have a lot more time to mess with it.

So there you have it. If you enjoy great challenges with awesome prizes, come join us at The Outlawz. There is a different challenge each day of the week so there should be something that appeals to you no matter what part of paper crafting you enjoy most. Happy July 4th if you live in the U.S.; otherwise, have a wonderful week!  Until next time...

Happy crafting!
Anniebee

My last entry for the Summer Party at The Outlawz

Well, it appears that summer is here to stay for a while... a very loooonnng while! Ugh!  Beginning in June of each year, I wonder why it is that I choose to live in Texas! This year summer arrived a couple of weeks early and has brought with it temperatures in excess of 100 degrees! The heat kills me and I really should move to the mountains somewhere. I actually would seriously consider relocation if I could make a living in the mountains but seeing how much trouble I'm having finding a job in a place as big as Dallas/Fort Worth, I imagine there are slim pickin's in more remote locations.

Anyway, I have a summer-inspired card for you today. The theme of the Copics/Promarkers challenge at the Outlawz for this week is summer backgrounds. I took what seemed like an eternity to decide what I would do because I didn't have any summery background stamps. I also didn't have any summer photos around which I could build a layout. So I started  by going through my many stacks of paper, looking for something that I could at least work with. Time was growing short if I wanted to enter the challenge so I had to get moving.  Fortunately I stumbled across a paper that looked like water in a swimming pool, all turquoise and ripply. I thought that would be perfect to use for a summer background but I didn't have any pictures, digital or otherwise that would go with a swimming pool or water in general so I started looking for a digi stamp I could use. I found the cutest little beach baby named "Kai" and I knew instantly what I would do. So without further ado, here's what I came up with.

Kai is from the awesome pencil of Mo Manning. He's playing in the sand on the beack and has his sand pail and beach ball with him. I love creating the illusion of dimension in my projects so I paper pieced little Kai's feet, hat and one forearm. I also used Diamond Glaze on the water, the adjacent sand, the beach ball and bucket to make them shiny. 

I nearly forgot to mention that I created the beach by tearing 2 layers of thin tan cardstock and colored the edge next to the water with a Copic marker a shade or two darker than the paper itself so that it looks wet. The tufts of grass are also drawn on with Copics. It's not really an authentic representation but it's close enough to suit me.
 

The sentiment (on front and inside) is also from Mo Manning and comes with the digi stamp called "Wonder" that I used on the card I posted on Wednesday of this week. I thought it went very well with this image as well. I cut it out and colored it with pigment ink to give it the mottled appearance so it would look kind of like the water, then covered it with Diamond Glaze.

Here's the inside of the card.  

I was pretty happy with how it turned out after all the deliberation I did in the beginning.  As stated, I am entering this card into the Copics/Promarkers challenge at The Outlawz. I need to get this posted so I'm not going to give the details here but you can email me or include it in a comment if you have any questions.    There are still a couple of days left to vote on the entries for Jillian's Birthday Blog Hop and I would appreciate your vote if you haven't already given it.  Thanks for stopping by.

Happy crafting!
Anniebee