Christmas in July Paper a la Mode Challenge at The Outlawz.... a Christmas wall banner

Happy Saturday, everybody!  This sweltering summer heat is about to do me in so today, I'm bringing you a project with a winter theme.  In keeping with the promotions that many businesses are currently doing, the theme of this week's Paper a la Mode challenge at The Outlawz is Christmas in July.  I was looking forward to this one as a means to provide a little mental relief from the unbearable heat wave and drought we've been experiencing.  It has been over 100 degrees for the past 21 days and I think I may melt if we don't get some relief soon.

This wall hanging/banner is made of chipboard plaques covered with scrapbook papers in different holiday patterns and embellished with felt flowers, pearl flourishes and paper shapes.  The basic pieces were a kit that I won as candy from a blog hop last year (I can't remember who the sweet blogger was who sent it to me but if she sees it, I hope she'll refresh my memory!) and I only recently put it together and added my own personal touches.

I think it turned out very pretty and has a bit of a vintage feel to it.... not 1800s vintage but maybe mid 20th century, if you know what I mean.  I love the colors.  After making this one, I'm in the mood to do some Christmas crafting and I'm thinking I might make more like this using different shapes, holiday words and paper patterns.

The individual panels are attached to one another using Hang-It-All connectors from Zutter, the company that makes the Bind-It-All.  These little do-dads are aresome and sooo easy to use and I think they give the piece a finished appearance.  Plus I like the fact that it can be easily taken apart and stored compactly.  The paper ornament haning from the bottom is a cut from Cricut's Christmas Solutions cartridge, which is now retired and is attached to the bottom connector with a red velvet ribbon bow.  I'm considering taking this back off and glittering it to make it look more like a tree ornament.  I colored the pearlflourishes on the "J" and "Y" panels with Copics to make them pop.  I also used the chisel tip end of a W-5 Copic to enhance the shadow created by the letters, which are embossed using the Swiss Dot Cuttlebug folder.  I added a thick layer Crystal Glitter to the branch on the "J" panel to give the effect of snow.  It's hard to see in the photos but it's very sparkly!

I hope you'll visit The Outlawz to see what other cool challenges are going on right now and perhaps even to enter your own creations.  You have to be a member to enter but it's easy to join and you can quit if you ever decide it's not for you.  There is a different challenge for each day of the week and the prizes are awesome!  We'd love to see you over there.

So, that's it for today.  Thanks for stopping by.  As always, your  comments are welcome and appreciated.  Have a wonderful weekend and don't forget to enter the JustWordz Stamps giveaway!  Until next time...

Happy crafting!
Anniebee

For the Boys

How about something for the boys in our lives?  I don't know about you but I seem to have more problems designing gifts and cards for the guys than I do for the ladies.  Well, today I have for your viewing pleasure three birthday cards and a Bosses' Day card that I made.

First up, is one I made for my grandson's birthday last year.  This little guy has been into automobiles since he learned to crawl so what could be more fitting for him than Pixar Cars?  The images were, of course, cut on my Cricut Expression from the Disney Pixar Cars cartridge.  The background was pieced together from different colored sheets of Recollections cardstock and hand colored using a combination of Copic markers and Prismacolor pencils.  The red and silver foil cardstock is by DCWV.  The lettering other than the Cars logo and "Hot Roddin" are from George and Basic Shapes and Storybook.

Next, we have a birthday card for my son, Jason, who is an avid off-roader.  The diamond plate background on this card was embossed using the Cuttlebug diamondplate folder.  The paper beneath it is from DCWV's Rockstar stack.  "It's Your Day" and the other lettering inside are from the George and Calligraphy Collection cartridges, respectively.  "Celebrate!" was cut on my Silhouette using three colors of glitter card stock.  It as well as the silver foil cardstock are from DCWV  .  The truck is a die cut sticker purchased from Michael's.

(I'm not sure why Blogger insists on turning some of my pictures on end but the second picture is a rpime example.  If anyone knows how to correct this, please let me know as I find it most irritating!)

Now, we have a birthday card I created for a male co-worker.  I'm sorry but I don't recall what papers I used on this one but the blue card and envelope are from one of Jo-Ann's Value Packs and the bronze colored metallic paper was open stock purchased from Michael's.  All of the lettering on it is cut from Plantin Schoolbook and I believe that both the marquee and the pretty flourish image are from Home Accents.  The first image is the card front and envelope.  

Last, but not least, is a card I made for my former boss.  He had a cute figurine of Mickey Mouse in his office that his daughter had given him when she was very young.  It was that figurine and his love of antique cars that inspired my card.  The car and Mickey are from the Mickey and Friends cartridge, all of the lettering is from Plantin Schoolbook and the little flowers are from Walk In My Garden.  The pastel card and envelope are from Michael's, all cardstock except for the brown and silver foil are from Recollections.  The foil cardstocks are from AC Specialty Papers.  The shading was done with Prismacolor pencils.

Other than putting Mickey and the car together, all of these cards are relatively simple to make.  I hope you enjoyed them.  The week is over halfway gone already, can you believe it?  Tomorrow, maybe I'll do something similar to this, only for the girls... and maybe I won't!  Thanks for stopping by!

Anniebee

A Photo Journal

Good afternoon, crafters!

Today I'm going to show you a photo journal that was commissioned by an attorney I worked with a couple of years ago as a gift for her daughter's 21st birthday.  This little project took lots of collaboration and coordination with the mom because she didn't just want me to create the book, she asked me to place all the photos and do all the journal entries for it as well.  Because I was working full time and only had evenings and weekends to spend on it, it took almost a month to complete.  It's sort of like a mini scrapbook except that I made the book from cover to cover out of heavy manila cardstock like the kind file folders are made from.  The paper I used to cover the pages changed every page or two and it's bound with raffia ribbon.  The pictures had to be sized, cropped, then printed and I made mats or frames for almost all of them.

The book started before the child's birth, with pictures of an ultrasound, and ended at her 21st birthday.  It was an awesome project and I felt a big sense of accomplishment when I finished the last page.  It was my first commissioned piece.  I'm not sure I would tackle one that large and complex again unless it was for a family member or I could charge what I really had invested in it (in the way of time and materials), but it was good experience for me.  I won't show every page as it would take up entirely too much space.  This post is pretty graphics-intensive so if you'd like to grab a cup of tea or glass of wine to sip while you peruse these photos, now would be the time to do so!  Okay, here we go....

                                   

 

I used a wide variety of embellishments, including images cut on the Cricut, stickers, tags, charms, ribbons, brads and pre-made die cuts.  I forgot to mention it but the mom also asked me to include quotes from famous people that had some bearing on the different stages of her daughter's life.  This required a little bit of research on my part because I wanted to include thumbnail pictures of the person or something pertaining to the person being quoted.  It was fun listening to the mother tell stories about her daughter and by the time this project was finished, I felt like I knew her daughter despite the fact that I had never met her.  Her mom told me that that journal was her daughter's favorite gift that year, which made me feel really good and made all the time and effort it took worthwhile.

If you're still reading, I'd like to thank you for humoring me.  I'm trying to display a variety of the projects I have worked on in hopes of giving some insight into my creative process and the methods to my madness.  Thanks for stopping by today!

Anniebee