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!

It's time again for the Saturday Paper a la Mode Challenge at The Outlawz

Saturday again already! The time is just flying by despite the fact that I can't do anything outdoors due to the heat wave we're having.  I know, I complain a lot about that, don't I? Well, I can't help it. This heat is worse to me than if it rained all the time. Okay, I'm done whining for today. Now it's time to show you a couple of little projects I completed for The Outlawz Paper a la Mode challenge. In case you haven't ever visited that challenge site, there is a different challenge each day of the week and the design team is divided among those 7 challenges. I'm on the Paper a la Mode team and our challenges run from Saturday through the following Friday. We have some absolutely wonderful regular sponsors, among which is Oozak. I won a $50 gift certificate for Oozak when I first joined The Outlawz! I was so thrilled to be able to do some online shopping for free and you'll never guess what I bought with it.... if you said Copics, you were correct! There are prizes for each challenge and a grand prize winner for the whole month. We also have a gallery where members can enter photos of their projects and from those photos, several entries are chosen to be featured each month. It's an awesome site and I'm so honored to be on their design team.

The theme for this week's Paper a la Mode challenge is gift bags, tags, boxes and gift card holders. I had a really hard time deciding what I wanted to make so I made 2 projects. The first one is a gift card holder.
I scrap-lifted the design from a StampTV video on You Tube. You can see the video here. It's an excellent step-by-step tutorial presented by Gina K and I just love the way mine turned out. I'll be making lots more of these in the future.

I just love the way it turned out.  Here are the details:

Card base - Best Occasions textured cardstock in royal blue
Mats - DCWV Shimmer card stock in bright gold
DP - DCWV Royal Garden (6.4"x4.5" mat stack)
Mat for message spot - DCWV Glitter cardstock in turquoise
White cardstock for message spot - Recollections
Page Pebble on belly band - MakingMemories (extra large circle)
1" circle punch
Martha Stewart corner punch from one of her Punch Around the Page sets
Super strong double sided adhesive tape

My second project is a little gift box set.  Each box is 2" square and is made of double-sided cardstock.  I made a double gift tag to attach to the ribbon from the same cardstock.  These are a cute size to hold some small sweet treats or little small gifts like bracelets, earrings, etc.

I'm afraid these pictures don't do it justice as they're prettier in person but at least they give you an idea.
And the recipe:

Double-sided patterned cardstock - Stampin' Up! 6" square Designer Series "In Color" stack
Ribbon - purchased from Michael's
Martha Stewart small butterfly punch
tiny pearls for butterfly thorax - Recollections and colored orange with Copic marker
Aleene's Fast Grab Tacky Glue to adhere the folded corners of the boxes

There ya go!  Two projects in one day.  I had a lot of fun making these and I hope they inspire you to make some of your own gift packaging.  I can picture lots of variations on these designs in my mind.  It's all in the papers and colors you choose.  I'll be posting a mini album on Monday and it's one I think you'll really enjoy so I hope you'll stop by again to see it.  Until then...

Happy crafting!
Anniebee

Happy Friday and Another Project for JustWordz

Another week has come and gone as we edge just a little bit closer to autumn. I am so ready to be rid of this scorching heat, I can't even tell you! We have had temps over 100 degrees for 27 consecutive days as of yesterday, the third most in history. But they're saying that we may get a temporary break if a storm system (not the tropical depression Don) manages to hold together long enough to reach us. I've been doing a rain dance all day! Even if it does get here, it will only drop down to the high 90s during the weekend and then will go back up early next week. I'll take every little degree I can get though.

Today is the JustWordz Design Team's second presentation and therefore, another chance for you to enter the giveaway for a set of JustWordz Stamps. Visit the JustWordz blog for details on entering the giveaway. For my project, I made another easel card. This one uses an awesome digi stamp by one of my Outlawz teamies, Anne Fenton. Anne has a number of her digi stamps available at no charge to all members of The Outlawz so if you like this one, you might want to consider becoming a member so you can pick up some of the freebies that are offered on the site.

This pretty teacup and napkin are colored with Copics and coated with Diamond Glaze to give it the appearance of fine china.

The recipe:

Card base -  Best Occasions textured cardstock (berry pink)
DP - K & Company (Jubilee and Que Sera Sera)
Image - Anne Fenton
Flowers - handmade by me
Butterflies - MS punch
Pearls - Recollections (centers of small flowers are colored with Copics)
Button and ribbon from my stash
Paper doily and mat behind cup - purchased from Jo-Ann's
Leafy vine - Sizzix
5-petal retro flower punches by Fiskars (large) and EK Success (small)
Large Scalloped circle - EK Success
Greeting - JustWordz Clear Stamps
Inside sentiment - my own words
Glimmer Mist - Viva Pink

So, there you have it!  As always, your comments are welcome and appreciated.  Don't forget to stop by JustWordz to enter Kim's giveaway and visit the blogs of the other JustWordz design team members to see what awesome creations they have displayed to inspire you!   You can find links to their blogs in my left sidebar.

I'll have another project to show you either tomorrow or Sunday that I have been working on the past few days.  It's about 3/4 finished so if the rest goes together smoothly, it should be finished some time tomorrow.  Until then....

Happy crafting,
Anniebee

Welcome to the Official Launch of JustWordz Stamps!!

Please note: This post will remain on top through July 29th.  Please scroll down for the most recent posts.

Good morning, everybody! Today is not only Friday but is also a day of celebration and great hoopla.... for me and for a new stamp company called JustWordz Clear Stamps for which I am a designer. Kim, the creator and owner of JustWordz released her first stamp set, called Everyday Sentiments. This is a mix-n-match set of 69 (count 'em... 69!) stamps that can be combined in various ways to create unique sentiments for all of your cards, layouts and other paper crafting  projects. The full set comes on a 6" x 8" sheet instead of the standard 4" x 6" sheet. And guess what!! To celebrate this auspicious occasion, Kim is offering her first set at an introductory price of $18.99 USD during the launch PLUS she is going to give away a set to a lucky visitor who leaves a comment on her blog between now and August 21st! There are several ways you can multiply your chances of winning so please take a few minutes to visit her blog and find out how.  

I have created my first project using JustWordz stamps and let me tell you... they create such clear and crisp images and are really easy to use. I made a "Congratulations" card and because, as many of you know, I have been unemployed for 11 months as of yesterday, I thought it would be a good idea to project my desire to find a new job out into the universe through my card!! The power of positive thinking, ya know...  I need all the help I can get! LOL!

The card is a bit masculine in appearance but that's okay too because my younger brother is also unemployed (yeah, I know, right?)  and I'll give this one to him when he starts his new job. Hopefully he won't be off as long as I have been. So without further ado, here's my little bit of inspiration for your viewing pleasure.

I used Core'dinations chocolate brown textured cardstock for the card base and The Paper Studio dark beige cardstock from their Simple Elegance stack for the matting. The white cardstock is by Recollections. All of the dp is from my favorite, K & Company's Que Sera Sera collection and the gold glitter cardstock is from DCWV's Mariposa collection.  The image is from Stampabilities and was colored with Copics.  I used dark brown adhesive pearls from Recollections in the corners of the mat behind the image as well as on the sentiment flags. The clear skittles were courtesy of our sweet Kim. Thanks again, Kim... you rock, girlfriend! And the key, which is supposed to signify the tradition of the washroom key given to newly-promoted executives at big corporations, is from K & Company's Life's Journey collection. 

Each of the other design team members has a project posted on her personal blog too so stop by and see what they have made and leave them a little love while you're at it.  I have provided links below to take you there:  

Corry - http://fancyfree4ever.blogspot.com/

Tara - http://creativeprincess-homemadehappiness.blogspot.com/

Doreen - http://www.myfirstblog-dora.blogspot.com/

Tammy - http://www.thepurplemuse.blogspot.com/

Thanks for visiting and I hope to see you all back here every Friday for a new JustWordz project!  And don't forget to enter the giveaway to win a set of Kim's stamps for yourself.  I just know you're gonna love them!  Until then....

Happy crafting!

Anniebee

Another quick card... clean and simple design

Ever have those days when you have to run out to Hallmark and spend 3 or 4 bucks on a card that you forgot you needed or didn't know you needed until the last minute?  I used to have days like that all the time but I don't anymore!  Why?  Because I make cards in advance and store them until I need them.  Besides, I just really enjoy making cards... it's therapeutic for me... so I probably have at least a couple dozen cards on hand at any given time and parts ready to make about the same number more.  By parts, I mean that I have some pre-cut and scored card blanks in several different colors and images that I have already colored to go on them.  I also keep embellishements on hand all the time so it takes between 15 mintues and an hour to put a very pretty card together and have it ready to go to a party or into the mail.

My regular followers know how much I love K & Company.  Well, their dimensional stickers are just the best when it comes to building quick cards.  The one I am showing you today took about 35 minutes to put together and most of that time was spent cutting the paper and punching the corners on the inside mat.  This clean and simple design uses 2 K & Company dimensionals, a piece of ribbon, 5 different papers and a stamp and that's it!  I love this clean and simple style of card making but it's not really my nature.  I have always been a "more is more" kind of girl as you can tell from most of my projects.  However, the elements I use, be they few or many are always strategically placed on my project to create an artful composition that is pleasing to the eye.

I think, with the exception of the papers, the photos are pretty self explanatory so I'm not going to list the deets this time.  As always, if you want more information or have any questions, you can feel free to leave a comment or email me directly and I'll gladly get back to you.

Thanks for dropping by my blog today.  I'm working on a couple design team projects as well as a baby gift for a friend but if I have time to take pictures later, I'll post another card tomorrow.  Friday I'll be posting my second project for Just Wordz Clear Stamps and I'm excited for you to see it.  Kim will have sneak peeks of it, as well as the projects of the my teamies on her blog.  You'll also have another chance to enter her giveaway for a set of her Everyday Sentiment stamps.  Until then....

Happy crafting!
Anniebee