Lace and Pearls at Kenny K this week!

Hello, all! The weeks continue to breeze past me like I'm sitting still! I can't believe we have already started the third month of the year! That means that we'll be a quarter of the way through the year at the end of this month! Oh, my gosh! Can you believe it? At this rate, I think I had better start on my Halloween and Christmas cards around June to ensure they're finished on time! LOL

Anyway, today starts a new challenge at Kenny K's Krafty Krew and my team, Team A, is hosting this time. In case you missed it, I posted a card last week along with Team B too because Kenny released 3 new digis for the Steampunk Burlesque collection and I just HAD to make a card with one of them! I simply couldn't wait another week! You can find that post here.

Okay, this week our challenge theme is "Lace and Pearls" and those two words, especially when used together in the same sentence, always conjure up visions of weddings and bridal gowns for me! The traditional wedding month is June but I enjoy doing things in a non-traditional way most of the time so it bothers me not one iota to post a wedding card in March! LOL

Before I go any farther, I must inform you that our sponsors this week are:

with 5 digis of the winner's choice

AND

with a rubber stamp valued at up to $10 from their shop!! 

Awesome prizes, don't you agree?

And don't forget that we now have a Top 3 and a Spotlight for every challenge!

Now, about my card. I chose the image called "Wedding Garter" which is available to purchase in Kenny's online store. I said that I enjoy doing things in a non-traditional way which is very true but I still used traditional wedding colors of white and gold for my card. I like "dressing" my images in white because I only have to color the shadows and folds and the rest is already white... that's quite an ink-saver! Because I usually layer on the colors pretty heavily (I like rich, vibrant color), I use a LOT of ink so I embrace any opportunity I have to save a little bit!

I used the C1 and BG70 to create the shadows and folds on her sexy wedding gown.  

Metallic Gold Rich Pale Regular WOW Embossing powder was used on the sentiment and the raised areas of the "Love" postage stamp. The sentiment was stamped onto a die cut made using one of the Spellbinders Labels Twenty Five die set.

The roses are from Wild Orchid crafts and the other flowers, from Recollections, were layered one on top of another with pearl centers added. The background was created using a Cuttlebug embossing folder. The lacy ribbon as well as the white organza ribbon were from my stash. I also edged the background layer of card stock with gold gel pen.

Above is the inside of the card. The patterned paper is from DCWV's Modern Bouquet stack. 

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

613 Avenue Create - Anything Goes with optional Bingo (I used the 2 right hand columns- bling, green & ribbon and die cuts, digital or stamped image and free)

Challenges 4 Everybody - #15 Anything Goes

Dream Valley Challenges - #51 Ribbon and Bling

No Matter Which Challenge - #7 Anything Goes

The Craft Place - Anything Goes

The Ribbon Girl - March Card Challenge (Use ribbon or twine)

That's about it for today, my friends. I hope you'll get a chance to visit the Krafty Krew blog to see the wonderful projects created by my extremely talented teammates. A few of them used the brand new images and they are really awesome! We'd love to have you enter your own project in the challenge as well. Until next time, have a wonderful week and...

Happy crafting!

Anniebee

I'm back at last with a new project

First off, I want to apologize for not having posted something to let all of you know what was going on with me and why I wouldn't be around for a while. The reasons I have been MIA for the past 2 weeks are two-fold.  The first thing was that I contracted a severe case of poison ivy and the itching and burning nearly drove me mad!  I had never had a reaction to it before so I didn't even put 2 and 2 together until the rash was full blown over both legs, both arms, back and chest. I even had a few blisters in my ears and on my face. I suffered with it, smearing Calamine Lotion all over me, for days but the rash continued to spread despite my efforts to contain it.

While all of this was going on, I was commissioned to make a word book for a former co-worker's granddaughter who just turned one year old.  Because I needed the money so badly and it had been a while since I made one, I took the job. Immediately after that fateful decision was when I began to break out with the rash and the incessant itching and burning ensued. I only had a week to complete the 8-page book so I had to work on it several hours each day.  It turned out beautifully and was delivered on time. However, I didn't have time to take pictures before I handed it over so I asked my friend to take pics of each page and send them to me. Her daughter and granddaughter live in Corpus Christi so she drove down for the baby's birthday and should be back some time tonight. I really hope she got the pictures because it turned out to be my favorite mini that I have done so far. It's all fairies and butterflies and is so fanciful and sweet. By this time, the rash was taking over my poor ravaged body so I took all the money I made from the job and went immediately to the doctor on my way home from delivering it. I hated spending my hard-earned money on the doctor but I hadn't had a good night's sleep in over a week and I just couldn't stand it any longer. They gave me a prescription for Predisone which has helped tremendously in starting the healing process and eliminating the itching and burning.

I was also commissioned to make a signature photo mat for the daughter of some of my friends who are celebrating their 33rd wedding anniversary at the end of this month. She had a surprise party for them last night about 50 miles from where I live. I managed somehow to finish that on time too and delivered it yesterday a few hours before the party.

So, now that those things are behind me and I'm on the mend from the poison ivy, I'm back with a few new projects that I worked on in between the other jobs. At the request of one of my devoted followers, today I'm going to show you the photo mat I made for my friends. I have two different versions and I ended up not using either one but because I finished it just minutes before I had to deliver it, I didn't get a photo of the final version. I will try to get my friend to take a picture of it after she gets it framed so you can get the full effect.  In the meantime, here are the other two versions I had started with.

I added the black frames in Photoshop so you can see how they look completely finished. The version I ended up going with, looks more like the second one here except that the little title jacquard is a quote from John Keats that says "Two souls, with but a single thought, two hearts that beat as one." I stamped it in Mememto Tuxedo Black ink onto smooth white heavy cardstock and layered that onto black smooth cardstock and then onto textured silver foil cardstock and popped it up on the bottom of the photo mat beneath the flourishes as seen in photo 2 above. It turned out very pretty and the happy couple loved it.

The photo mat is 16' x 20" and the opening for the photograph is 8" x 10". These are available as ready made items in the framing department at Michael's in a few different sizes and come with a black pen so that each of the guests can write a short personal message of congratulations on the mat. This particular mat is a double thickness and the inside opening is beveled to add a dramatic effect and costs around $22 unframed, of course.

I had several other ideas which included white paper roses, clear or smokey crystal flourishes and similar title placquards. But those options would have required special framing due to the dimensions of the embellishments. I decided to maintain a minimal profile and classic appearance so that it would fit into a standard frame with glass insert.

Have a super week, all!  I'll have another new project for you tomorrow.

Happy crafting!
Anniebee

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)

Crafts and Me Challenges - Ribbons

Creative Craft World - Love and Marriage

Scrapbook Sisters Card Challenge - Wedding or Anniversary

The Paper Variety - Flowers

Truly Scrumptious - Vintage

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

And Now For Something Completely Different...

I thought I would share something different with you today.  I'm not really a scrapbooker but I have created a few pages over the past year.  Most of them have been given to family members as gifts and alas! I forgot to take pictures of them before I gave them away.  I do have a couple of pages that I managed to photograph however.  The one I'm showing today is the first page I made and as you can tell, the photograph is quite old.
This was my younger sister, Patty, on her wedding day in 1978 at the Botanical Gardens in Fort Worth.  I have always loved this picture of her.  She and I mixed like oil and water when we were kids but over the years, we became best friends and when I lived in Houston during the 23 years of my marriage, she was the one who came to visit me regularly.  She was my crafting buddy in addition to being my BFF and confidante.

Sadly to say, I lost her in May of last year, less than a week after my birthday, 3 days before the 9th anniversary of my mother's passing and 9 days before the 7th anniversary of my father's passing.  Patty lost her 6 year long battle with breast cancer and I still haven't gotten over her loss.  Sorry to be a little nostalgic here but I think a little history is called for in this instance.  Anyway, because I love this picture so much, I decided to use it as the subject for my first layout.

The background paper is by Karen Russell for Creative Imaginations and as you can see from the second photo, it was originally a black line drawing on a cream colored background.  I decided to color in the floral motif using Prismacolor pencils (this was before I got my Copic markers) to bring out the red rose my sister is holding in the photo.  I'm not sure how well this detail is captured in these pictures but the coloring really changed the overall look of the layout.  Red is not a color usually associated with weddings, other than Christmas weddings that is, but I wanted to accentuate it in this layout so I used touches of it in the flowers and in the paper strip design on the left side.  My Cutter Bee Circle Scissor was used to cut the circle a little over half way around and then I used a very sharp craft knife and detail scissors to cut out the background around the floral motif so that the picture would show behind the cut outs. Another circle, about a half inch smaller in diameter was cut and placed behind the page to create the red frame for the photo.  I used glass pebbles and rhinestones for the centers of the flowers, added the tiny pink rhinestone heart, journal tag and if you have checked out my post from 2/24 you'll recognize the title, "Always and Forever" which I cut on my Silhouette.

And here's how it turned out:

It's much prettier and the colors are more vibrant than the picture shows.  I thought it turned out pretty well for my first attempt.  Thanks for looking.  I look forward to reading your comments.

Have a fantastic week!
Anniebee