A New Saturated Canary Challenge

Hello, friends! Well, I find myself apologizing once again for being absent for an extended period of time. In case some of you haven't been following the chaos in my life, I am preparing to move. My granddaughter has been here for the past 2 1/2 weeks helping me clear out some stuff, hold garage sales and pack for the move. It's amazing to me how much one can accumulate in a mere 15 years but I am determined to downsize drastically before I leave here so that I don't have to put tons of stuff in storage. In light of these facts, I'll tell you now that I will likely be absent off and on until I get relocated and settled into a new place. But I will be around and even if I'm not posting, I do check my blog for comments and I visit my bloggy friends as time permits. Just try to be patient with me and I'll be back full time as soon as I can close this chapter in my life.

Okay, now that's out of the way, I have a new card for you! Yay!! It's time for a new challenge at Saturated Canary. As you know, Krista was sweet enough to ask me to be a guest designer on her challenge blog for the summer, along with the very talented Denimo (Denise).  I have been having so much fun coloring her awesome digis and in case you weren't aware, she just released a new batch last Friday.  All of her new designs are adorable and there are even a couple of early fall/Halloween digis among them.

The newest challenge, for which I had the pleasure to choose the theme, is "The Great Outdoors".  The idea is for you to make a card or other project with an outdoor theme.  You can use any of Krista's images as long as you comply with the theme.  Here's my example.

You may have noticed that I include at least one butterfly on nearly all of my projects (unless I'm making it for a guy, of course!) so this image was the perfect thing for my project.  Isn't she adorable with her butterfly net?  

I loved the combination of the shades of salmon, soft pink and green in the patterned paper which is from DCWV's Mariposa stack.

I colored the flowers, which are climbing up a ribbon trellis, with Copics to match the colors in the paper.

And here's the inside of the card.

So there you have it! I hope you'll find time in your busy summer schedule to join in the fun and create your own project for this challenge.  It's perfect for summer, camping or any other outdoor scene.  

I'll be back on Sunday (if not sooner) with another project for the new challenge at Kenny K's Krafy Krew.  Kenny has a new release out too so if you haven't checked out his latest images, you'll definitely want to do that.  Some of them are really different and they are all fun to color!

So... until next time, my lovelies...

Happy crafting!!

Anniebee

7 Girls and a Smoking Gun Team post at WOW Embossing Powders blog

Whew! What a title, huh?  Well, the WOW design team is quite large and as such, it's broken down into smaller groups of 6 or 7 designers.  My group was originally called 6 Girls and a Smoking Gun but we recently added a new team member, Donna O'Leary, so of course our name had to change to include her. Each Saturday one of the teams is showcased on the WOW blog and this is our week.

Please visit the WOW blog to see the lovely projects my talented heat-gun-toting teammates have created.  Here is my project. I have included lots of pictures to show all the detail of this little balsa wood box.

First thing I did was to cover the outside of the box with patterned paper from K and Company.  I used Mod Podge for this purpose.  As the paper is a heavy grade, I gave the box a couple of generous coats of the adhesive and also brushed it onto the paper itself so it would bond well to the wood surface and not peel off or bubble up when the box is opened.

After allowing it to dry completely overnight, I sanded the edges with my Tim Holtz distress sander to smooth them and get rid of any overhanging paper. I braided 3 lengths of gold elastic cording together to loop over the button closure.

The crocheted and Venice lace were glued to the underside of the flap  and the fancy trim on the topside using Aleene's Quick Grab Tacky Glue. the self adhesive flat-back pearl strip was then added .

I used 3 kinds of ribbons - a very narrow pink satin, a 1/4" cream organza and the 3/4" black and white stripe, with which I made 2 separate bows and tied them together with a 6" length of the striped ribbon.  This multi-strand bow was attached to the flap with Beacon 3-in-1 Advanced Craft Glue.  I also used the Beacon glue to adhere the rose on top of the bow. The leaves were coated with Versamark and embossed with Metalline Green powder.

The flowers started as white mulberry paper by Recollections that I colored with Copics to coordinate with my color scheme and added flat-back pearls for centers. The butterfly was punched from a piece of patterned paper and the edges embossed with WOW Bubble Gum embossing powder. 

This flourish, which I stamped and embossed with Primary Ebony powder prior to covering the box added the perfect feminine element to the design. I added a few heat set crystals to the curlicues using my i-Rock.

I removed the button from the flap and coated it with Primary Ebony powder and heated it with my heat gun then stamped the little daisy in Versamark and embossed it in Metallic Gold Rich Pale Regular powder.  I added a rhinestone for the center.  Finally, I used E6000 adhesive to attach the typewriter key letters, spelling the word "LOVE" on the flap.

I hope you like my little box.  It's approximately 6" long and is the perfect size to hold a pair of those small reading glasses and sit on a bedside or end table.  Don't forget to see all the beautiful home decor items created by my teammates on the WOW blog.

That's all I have for you today. Thanks so much for stopping by. As always, your comments are welcomed and appreciated.  Until next time...

Happy crafting!
Anniebee

A Card Set for Wow Embossing Powders

Hello and happy Saturday, all!  It's already the middle of April and tax day is nearing... ugh!  I have to get my forms finished and ready to file and that's the easy part.  The hard part is going to be shelling out the money I owe the IRS.  Seems unfair to me to tax unemployment, which is designed to help people survive during periods in our lives when we don't have the ability to earn a regular paycheck.  Any of you ever tried to pay all your bills, including a mortgage on $400 a week?  Let me tell ya, it's tough!  Well, I am gainfully employed once again, making half of my previous salary and now I have to pay the taxes on that benefit I received because I didn't have taxes withheld when I was receiving it. Don't get me wrong, I am thankful to have had it but I'm not sure it should be taxed at the normal rate that other income is.  However, since it kept me from having to survive on the streets for a year and a half, I guess I should just pay it without complaining.

On a happier and more positive note, my design team  for Wow Embossing Powders, 6 Girls and a Smoking Gun, have posted projects for Spring on the Wow Blog.  My assignment was to make a card set so I made this  pretty set of 6 Thank You cards in one of my favorite color combinations.

I used WOW's background stamp called very simply "Flowers" and Metallic Copper WOW Embossing Powder to create the background on light turquoise cardstock. I mounted the 3.5" x 5.5" background onto white cardstock.  Next, I added the sheer organza ribbon and then adhered that piece to the 4" x 6" darker turquoise card base.  

I used the WOW stamp set called "Gratitude" and Pepper embossing powder from Suzy West's Pantry Collection (for WOW) to make the sentiment and cut and dry embossed the die cut using the oval Spellbinders' "Fancy Tags" die. I cut it once in white and once in very dark turquoise cardstock for each of the cards in the set. I cut out the oval on the white ones and then stamped the sentiment on it and embossed it before I attached it to the bottom turquoise layer. I adhered the tag to the card with Terrifically Tacky Tape.  As much as I was tempted to add more to the design, I decided to keep this one clean and simple.  

Well, that's about it for today, folks!  I hope that you'll take a few minutes to visit the WOW blog to see the beautiful spring creations we are sharing this week.  I also hope that your tax day is a little painful than mine will be! LOL  Take care and until next time...

Happy Crafting!

Anniebee