It's Friday and That Means a New Project for JustWordz Stamps!

Happy Friday, everybody!  The weeks are just flying by but this stubborn heat wave refuses to budge and it feels like summer will never end!  We finally got about 3/4 of an inch of rain last week but the temperature only dropped for one day and then rebounded back to it's recent "normal" of over 100 degrees!  Tomorrow is supposed to reach 107!!!  My lawn is already dead and my bushes and trees are starting to turn brown too.  I don't know how much more of this I can stand.

Well, at least it's Friday and with that comes a brand new project created with JustWordz' Everyday Sentiments stamps!  My regular followers can attest to the fact that my usual crafting style is not what I call "cutesy" but I'm making an exception this week.  I found this adorable digi stamp a while back and thought it worked very well with the theme Kim gave her design team to work with, which is apologies. I believe this digi stamp was, at one time, a freebie that I downloaded from Pollycraft though I can't find it on their site now.  My thanks to Trina, my teamie at The Outlawz for her keen eye!  It was she that suggested this might be a Pollycraft image.

I was given the words "I Forgive You" to use on my project and these cute love birds say to me, "I forgive you because I love you so much!"  Of course many situations arise throughout our lifetimes that involve forgiving someone who has made an error in judgement and those situations often occur between parent and child, friends, siblings or significant others.  In this case, I was thinking of the last option.  Often the person who did the wrong doesn't do it intentionally but that doesn't change how we, as the ones who have been wronged feel about it, does it?  Yet after we think about it logically, we find it in our hearts to forgive that other person and hope they learned a valuable lesson from the incident.  If they commit the same offense again, THEN we must consider that perhaps their act of wrong-doing wasn't unintentional after all! LOL
In the meantime, though, we forgive them and want to clear the tension hanging in the air so we can move forward.  My card was created with just such an incident in mind.  All too often, I'm the one giving the "I'm sorry" card but occasionally I get to be the one to forgive.

As you can see, when I took the photos, I had not put a sentiment of any kind on the inside.  I haven't decided if I want to do that now or hold off in case I want to change the greeting and use this card for a different purpose.  I don't have a significant other at present and my siblings will never admit to doing anything wrong (hee hee!) so the chances of my needing a forgiveness card are fairly slim.  I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on the subject.

Supplies:

Sentiment stamps - JustWordz Everyday Sentiments
Base card - Red Core'dinations card stock
Mats - White Best Occasions textured cardstock ( cut with Spellbinders Nestabilities Lacy Squares large die and colored on the edges with Copic marker R29)
Red polka dotted paper - Stampin' Up! 6" x 6" "In Color" Designer Series stack
DP- K & Company's Best of Brenda Walton stack
Image - "Lovebirds" from Pollycraft colored with Copics
Scalloped fabric trim - purchased from Jo-Ann's by the yard
Red stitched ribbon - Michael's
Martha Stewart corner punch
Spellbinders Shapeabilities Fancy Tags

This is the final week of JustWordz Official Release Celebration so don't forget to leave a comment on this post and also to visit the other design team members (you can find links to their personal blogs in my left sidebar) as well as JustWordz to find out how to get multiple chances to win a set of Everyday Sentiment stamps for your very own!  I hope you have enjoyed our examples as much as we have enjoyed making them.  Next week we're not only going to show you more ways to use these awesome stamps but we're also having our first blog hop!  Yay!  Mark your calendars so you don't forget!  It's going to be lots of fun and there may be a giveaway or two on some of our blogs!  See you then!

Until next time...
Happy crafting!

Anniebee

Challenge #23 at Amber's Crafts and Stuff - Dollar Store Finds and a Digi Stamp

Good morning, Bloggers!

I'm thinking this is going to be a quick post as it's 4:30 AM and I haven't been to bed yet. I'm a night owl by nature but this is even past MY bedtime! Today is Wednesday again and therefore, it's time for another challenge at Amber's Crafts and Stuff. This will be my last project for Amber as she has decided that running a challenge blog is taking too much time away from her family. I'm a little sad about this news because hers was my very first design team and I have enjoyed working with Amber as well as my teamies over the past several months. My initial term would have ended in September anyway so it's really only a couple of challenges early, I guess. I'm still an active member of 2 other design teams, for The Outlawz and JustWords Stamps and I'll have a new project for JustWordz on Friday and one for The Outlawz on Saturday! Whew! Busy week!

Anyway, this week the challenge theme at Amber's is Dollar or Pound Store Finds plus our sponsor, Nikki of  Limited Runs Digis was kind enough to give us a digi to work with that we were supposed to incorporate into our projects. Well, after visiting 2 different dollar stores, I didn't find anything that really excited me and since I was using the digi, whatever I created had to be at least part paper or something that would work with a paper butterfly at least because the design I chose is a wonderful whimsical butterfly. What I ended up doing was buying a real cheap plain white jewelry-type gift box and altering the top of it. I created a pretty water scene by using a paper with a watercolor water pattern on it. This paper had been in my stash for ages so I don't know who made it or if it's even still available but I know I bought it at Jo-Ann's. I covered the lid in this patterned paper and used one of my Martha Stewart border punches to create a border to go around the lid of the box because I had not quite enough to cover the entire lid completely. I also added a strip of lace and ribbon (it came as one piece on a spool, also from Jo-Ann's) and some pearls that I tinted with my Copic marker #BG13 to add just a touch of bling.  I printed the butterfly provided by Limited Runs Digis and colored it with Copics, then put a thin coat of Golden's Pearl Glaze over it and a coat of Diamond Glaze over that.  The result was that it now has the appearance of a piece of Cloisonne jewelry! I love how it turned out. Well, the box was still waaay too bare for my liking so I printed a couple of water lili digis that I aquired from Sweet Coloring Pages in different sizes, colored them up with Copics and coated them with the Diamond Glaze as well. I was almost satisfied but not quite. You see, I'm a "more is more" kinda girl so I just can't leave well enough alone most of the time unless I really try hard. I added 4 corner pieces that came in a package of K & Company 3D chipboard embellishments and a dragonfly, also from K & Company, that I thought went pretty well with the butterfly. I popped all the elements except for the smaller water lily and the corner pieces up on Pop Dots to give it some dimension.  It was really starting to look like something now! I had some mini Scrabble tiles and used them to create a title, or greeting if you prefer, for my project and I was done! Here it is...

I can't say this is my all time favorite project but I think it turned out rather cute!  I hope you like it.  Please feel free to leave a comment if you wish.  I love reading your thoughts, opinions and suggestions.  Thanks so much for stopping by today and I'll see you back here on Friday with another project for JustWordz (unless I can muster the energy and creativity to make something tomorrow).  I hope you all enjoy your Wednesday and the rest of your week.  Until next time...

Happy crafting!
Anniebee

Another Paper a la Mode Challenge at The Outlawz

Good morning, crafty people! It's Saturday again and that means it's time for another new challenge on The Outlawz Paper a la Mode group! This week, the theme is "Anything But a Card".

I find myself apologizing yet again for having been absent this past week but once again it was not something I could control. My sister, Melinda, was hospitalized early Monday morning for a severe kidney infection and we later found out that stones had been the underlying cause of it. I took her to the ER at approximately 5:00 AM and by 3:30 that afternoon, after having received fluids, anitbiotics, morphine and anti-inflamatory drugs, she was taken to surgery to install a stint in the kidney that was blocked by the stone. Well, not long after that, she was moved to ICU because the stint had released all the infection and bacteria into her bloodstream and she developed sepsis! She came very close to crashing and had they not started her on some very strong intravenous antibiotics, she very possible could have gone into septic shock and possibly died. But she started to improve very quickly and by the next afternoon, she was moved back to a regular room and they were able to remov the foley catheter. She was released Wednesday afternoon and will remain on antibiotics and pain meds for the next couple of weeks.  When the infection has cleared up completely, she'll go back in the hospital so they can pulverize the stones in her kidneys using either sonic waves or laser so she can pass them.  She gave us a pretty good scare there for a while and was completely unaware of the severity of her condition until the crisis had passed.

Needless to say, I haven't had any time to craft until now but that's okay because I have been promising to feature a baby mini album and as it just happened to coincide with this week's Paper a la Mode theme, I had already decided to save it until today. I made it out of empty toilet paper rollers because they made the perfect size album to carry in a purse. I created this for a friend of mine in Austin whose baby boy was born in February so the pictures represent his first 6 months. Without further delay, here it is.

The following pictures were taken before I added the ribbons so that the album would lie flat and I could photograph it more easily.

On the back of the first tag, I stamped a journaling spot for the baby's birth statistics.

The letters on the tags spell out the baby's name, Victor.  They call him Vic.

Of course, I had to include a couple of pictures of the proud parents! 

I used a piece of blue ric rac to create waves for the little sailboat to float upon.  

He's a very photogenic little guy!  I asked my friend to send me a lot of digital photos so I could choose the ones I wanted to use and also so she wouldn't know what it would look like before she receives it.

I used a few stamps to add sentiments and extra design elements and I used a C3 Copic marker to create permanent shadows on the letters.

I left one side of some of the tags blank so she can write on them or add more pictures.

I lined each flattened tube with paper as well as covering the outside to help the tags slide in and out easily.  All of the papers are from called Pressed Petals that I got from Big Lots a about a year ago but I think they were actually manufactured by DCWV.  The colors and patterns are very pretty and coordinate very well together.  The tags are made from pre-cut bookmarks cut down to fit into the flattened tube pages.  I covered front and back with the same papers.  The photo mats are cut from various solid color cardstock and the die cuts and word art are from various baby themed adhesive-backed embellishment packets purchased from Michael's and Jo-Ann's. I used larger eyelets in the holes I punched in the binding edges of the pages to prevent tearing and two yellow binder rings to bind them together.  The last step was to tie the short pieces of color coordinated ribbon onto the rings.

I am entering this mini in the following challenges:

Pretty Little Ribbons - Use pretty ribbon on your project

Thanks so much for stopping by today and thanks for your patience as I work through all these recent delays.  Like they say, life sometimes gets in the way of our crafting fun!  I hope you enjoyed this little presentation and that you'll consider trying one of these cute paper roller minis for yourself.  Until next time...

Happy crafting!
Anniebee

It's Time for a New Paper a la Mode Challenge at The Outlawz!

Happy Saturday, everybody!  You know what Saturday means.... a new Paper a la Mode challenge at The Outlawz.  It was my turn to post this week's theme and the Design Team samples and I'm pleased to say that I actually did it all by myself and it actually WORKED!  I didn't have a single problem, even though it was my first time to do it.  Our theme this week is "Shimmer and Shine".  I found it humorous that we had the very same theme this past Wednesday at Amber's Crafts and Stuff so I got to create 2 projects and bling the heck out of them! LOL

For my sample, I created a birthday card with a pretty Pierrot Clown on it.  I love black and white so that's what I used for my color scheme but I added gold to it to add to the bling.  I'm going to cut straight to the chase this time (gasp!) and show you my project.  This card is 6" x 6".

You may have to click on the pictures to enlarge them so you can see the bling on this one.  On the right side of the card face are 2 flourishes in smokey gray crystals.  It's rather subtle but very sparkly!

Here's a shot of the inside of the card.  I have decided that I really love finishing the insides of my cards and that's what I did with this one.  I hope you like it.

Here's the recipe:

• Image - Phee McFaddell; colored with Copics and gold gel pen
• Flat black cardstock - Recollections
• Gold and black metallic cardstock - American Crafts foil specialty papers
• DP - K & Company's Black and Ivory 8"x8" stack
• Ribbon - Michaels
• Crystal flourishes - Say It With Crystals
• Greeting stamp - Fiskars Cameo Ovations clear stamp set
• Inside Sentiment Stamp - Inkadinkadoo
• White puffy flourishes - Me and My Big Ideas
• Jotting spots - note pad purchased at Jo-Ann's
• Metallic gold gel pen

That about sums it up for this week.  The Outlaws is nearing 1000 followers and we're planning a celebration for that occasion.  If you're not a member, you might want to consider joining soon.  It's an awesome challenge blog and the prizes are better than most of the other challenge blogs offer.  Also, I have never met a nicer bunch of people than the ones I have met there.  I hope you enjoyed seeing my project I hope to see you at The Outlawz soon.  Until then...

Happy crafting!

Anniebee

Another Design Team Friday at JustWordz...

I can't believe it's August already and Friday to boot!  And this means it's time for another Design Team Friday at JustWordz Stamps.  In case you're just now finding out about this, every Friday between now and August 21st, the JustWordz Design team is creating projects that showcase the versatility of Kim's awesome mix 'n' match stamps set, Everyday Sentiments.  In conjunction with this, Kim is going to choose one visitor from all the comments collected on her blog and the design team's Friday posts to receive a complimentary set of her stamps!  How awesome is that?!  Visit the JustWordz blog to find out how to get multiple chances to win.

Now, for my project!  The theme Kim gave us to work with this week is birthdays, my favorite theme next to Christmas.  I created a card with another of the lovely digi stamps created by one of my teamies at The Outlawz, Sandi Huggett.  There's a little story behind my decision to use this image so bear with me just a moment longer and I'll show you the card.  I live in the house I grew up in and when my parents were alive, they had a gorgeous garden full of bearded irises in every color of the rainbow.  My dad loved tending to his garden and my mom and youngest brother selected the best blossoms every year and entered them into the Fort Worth Iris Society's annual show.  They got so into it that they actually cross-pollinated them to create hybrid strains.  If you get a chance to peruse my blog, I have lots of pictures of the gardens that I took a couple of years ago when they were especially beautiful.  The past two years haven't produced as many blossoms for some reason.  If you love irises like I do, you should really enjoy those pictures.

Okay, here's the card.  I colored the image with Copics, using the colors from one of the variations that grow in my backyard garden.  This particular one has golden yellow standards (the part of the blossom that stands up), reddish violet falls (the parts that drape downward) and golden beards.  They are just stunning when they bloom in numbers.

Here's a picture of the real thing.  I think this one is called Country Charm but I'm not 100% sure as there are several varieties that look very similar.  I made the falls on mine a little more on the violet side and less red but I think it's a fair likeness.

The deets:

Greeting on tag - JustWordz Everyday Sentiments stamps
Image - freebie digi stamp by Sandi Huggett (paper pieced and popped up)
Card base - Core'dinations cardstock in a sort of deep eggplant color
Mats - Core'dinations cardstock in a dusty plum color
DP - K & Company Jubilee
Die cut border -
Ribbon - white rayon seam binding dyed with Forever Violet Perfect Pearls
Image die cut - Nestabilities Labels 11 (largest one)
pearls and crystal - Recollections
Sentiment tag - heidi grace
Butterfly - K & Company
Inside white mats - Recollections
Double Arches Punch Around the Page by Martha Stewart
purple flowers - Flora Doodles
leaves - Martha Stewart Rose Leaf punch (colored with Copics)
Gold ink accents - Jellyroll gel pen
I have not included a sentiment on the inside yet but I'll add one when I decide who will receive the card.

Well, that's it.  I hope you think the pictures were worth the wait.  This was so much fun to make and I was so pleased with the results that I know that I'll be making many more cards with this image in different colors. Tomorrow brings a new challenge at The Outlawz Paper a la Mode and I have not even started my project for that one yet.  Yikes!  I had better get started, huh?  Don't forget to visit the other JustWordz Design Team members to see what pretties they have created.  You can find links to each of their personal blogs in my left sidebar if you need them or you can access them through the JustWordz blog.  I still haven't gotten to post my mini album but I will... eventually!  I made the card to go with it today and I still need to take pictures of the 2 items together so maybe I'll have time to do that tomorrow.  No promises, but I'll try.  Have a great weekend and until next time...

Happy crafting!
Anniebee

Challenge #21 at Amber's Crafts and Stiuff

Happy Hump Day, everybody!  It's time for a new challenge at Amber's Crafts and Stuff.  This week the theme is "Sparkle and Shine" and our wonderful sponsor  is Glitterbabe's Digis, which donated the images you will see on all the design team projects today!  I have a card that I hope will inspire you to enter the challenge.

As much as I love shiny, sparkly things, this challenge was right up my alley.  I used this really cute image of an old-fashioned telephone and updated it to look like one of the fashion phones you see in boutique stores.  What girl wouldn't love a hot pink phone like this one in her boudoir?

Because I wanted the phone to pop out at you, I used black and cream for the background papers and colored the flowers and leaves on one of the papers to coordinate with my color scheme.  I also covered the entire phone with Diamond Glaze to make it shiny and popped it up to make it stand up off of the background.  I also paper pieced it to add extra dimension.  Here are the details:

Image - Glitterbabe's Digis (Call Me)
Light pink cardstock - Core'dinations
Hot pink and black carstock for mats - Recollections
Designer papers K & Company - Black and Ivory 8.5" x 8.5" stack
Inside writing spot is a page from a notepad I bought at Jo-Ann's a while back.
Image and flowers on dp was colored with Copic markers
Black rhinestone flourish - Say it with Crystals

Rhinestones on ends of greeting die cut - Recollections

Metal dots used for the numbers on the phone dial - Imaginisce iRock

Greeting die cut - Spellbinders Shapeabilities Fancy Tags
Call Me Greeting - my own lettering
Glaze on phone and Greeting die cut - Diamond Glaze by Judikins

I have not put a sentiment on the inside yet because I don't know yet who the recipient will be and I like to match my sentiments to the person who will receive my cards.  Be sure and pop over to Glitterbabe's Digi Store and take a look at her cute designs.

I haven't  had a chance to post the mini album I promised but I hope to get to that tomorrow. And don't forget that Friday, I'll have a new project for Just Wordz and Saturday will be a new Paper a la Mode challenge at The Outlawz.  I hope you're all having a good week.  Our temp reached 110 degrees today and that trend is supposed to continue through the rest of the week so I'm spending all my time indoors, crafting, job hunting and cleaning not necessarily in that order.  Until next time...

Happy crafting!
Anniebee

Awesome news about My Craft Channel and The Pink Cricut!

In case you haven't heard, Sarah of The Pink Cricut and Pink by Design fame, is joining the awesome lineup of program hosts on My Craft Channel starting sometime in the fall!  Sarah's blog was one of the first ones I followed when I discovered Blogland all those months ago.  I had just bought my Cricut Expression and was looking for ideas and tutorials for projects to get me started.  Congrats to Sarah!