A New Paper a la Mode Challenge at The Outlawz

It's Saturday again, which means that it's time for a new Paper a la Mode challenge at The Outlawz!  This week flew by super fast and the weekend was here before I knew it.  It's so hard for me to believe that it's September already and that Christmas is less than 4 months away!  I need to start planning my Halloween and Christmas cards soon or I won't get them finished in time.

Now, on to this week's challenge.  It was my turn to select the challenge theme and as tired as I am of the summer heat and the severe drought we have been having, I chose Autumn as the theme for the challenge projects.  Fall and Spring are my favorite times of year but I'll even choose Winter over Summer!  You'd think since I was born and raised in the great state of Texas, I'd be used to it, right?  Not so much!  I just can't tolerate the heat and humidity and the worst part about it is that it lasts so long.  It started getting hot at the end of May and we probably won't see an end to it until some time in October.  We have had a bit of a reprieve this past week, however, with temps in the high 80s and low 90s.  Anyway, my point is that I'm sick of summer and ready for Fall so I created a card featuring a beautiful Fall Fairy.  This is another image from my new favorite artist/illustrator, Phee McFaddell.  This lovely creature is called "Heart Fairy".

Isn't she wonderful?  I adore all of Phee's images and have already colored quite a few of them but I haven't even made a dent in the number of images she has on her site.

Materials and Supplies:

Card base - dark moss green Core'dinations cardstock
Mats -  Violet Core'dinations cardstock
DP  on inside - K & Company Jubilee Collection
Heart Fairy - Phee McFaddell
Background image - Dover Publishing (free image)
Coloring -  Copics, of course!
Gold and Glaze gel pens
Labels on inside - Spellbinders Nestibilities Labels 11
The greeting was hand printed by me with an 025 Copic Multiliner onto vellum paper and cut to fit the space beneath the heart fairy.

I am entering this card in the following challenges:

I just love how this little project turned out.  I 'll be using both the background image and the Heart Fairy again, I'm sure but there are so many more of Phee's images I am dying to color that it will likely be a while before you'll see them again on my blog.  Thanks so very much for stopping by.  We'd love to have you join us at The Outlawz and play along with us in the challenges.  We have a different one each day of the week and our generous sponsors provide some awesome prizes.    Enjoy your weekend and I hope you get to do something creative!  Until next time...

Happy crafting!
Anniebee

A New Project for JustWordz Stamps

Good morning and happy Friday, everyone! The weeks have been flying by lately, haven't they?  Or is it just me?  Well, because it's Friday again, that means it's time for a new project for JustWordz Stamps!  This week, I have a new card for you and this just happens to be one of my favorite ones EVER!  I'm going to cut straight to the chase this time and show you the card.

 This is the sneak peek that I sent to Kim so she could display it on her blog. Beginning next week, she'll have our entire projects posted and not just a sneak peek. 

This is the front of the card, showing the tag in the photo above as well as the sentiment.  This gorgeous image is by an artist who goes by the name of Phee McFaddell and who is now one of my favorite illustrators.  

It's another easel card.  This shows the card opened up.

I'm having so much fun figuring out all the ways in which I can use the Everyday Sentiments stamp set to create my own greetings and sentiments for my cards and other projects.  

They are just so versatile and I love being able to mix and match them to say exactly what I want to say and they are so easy to use.

Isn't this butterfly fairy beautiful?  I have colored several other images from the same artist that I will be showing you soon.  They are very detailed and sometimes I have to wear a magnifying visor to color them.  They are worth the extra effort though.

Now I have some fantastic news to share with you!  Kim is releasing 2 new sets of JustWordz stamps in about 3 weeks and she is offering a special pre-order price to anyone who orders them now.  Here are images of the new sets.  The first set is called "Party Time" and the second set is "Christmas Season".  I'm so excited about them and can't wait to start playing with them!  I can already think of dozens of ways to use them.  

Be sure and visit Kim's blog to get information on pricing and while you're at it, visit the blogs of my teammates to see their awesome creations.  You can find links to their personal blogs in my left sidebar.  

Materials and Supplies:

Card base - Core'dinations 

Gold foil cardstock mat - AC Specialty Paper

White textured cardstock - Recollections

DP - DCWV Old World Stack (8" x 8")

Image - Phee McFaddell (obtained from Sweet Coloring Pages) colored with Copics and gold metallic Jelly Roll pen

Die cut flowers - K & Company

Golden brand Pearl Glaze and Judikins Diamond Glaze - used on fairy's wings

Die cut tag, leafy vine and shaped sentiment mat - Spellbinders

Pearls - Recollections

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

I hope you like my card as much as I do.  It was so much fun to make that I plan to make more using the different images from Phee McFaddell.  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.  Tomorrow will start a new Paper a la Mode Challenge at The Outlawz so come back then to see another new project.  Until then...

Happy crafting!

Anniebee

New Paper a la Mode Challenge at The Outlawz

It's Saturday and the beginning of Labor Day weekend!! It's also time for another Paper a la Mode challenge at The Outlawz!! Yay! Theresa selected the theme this week, which is "Fabric or Canvas". I thought I had some canvas but I couldn't find it so instead of running out to buy some, I decided to use what I had on hand.  My card for this week has sweet little Tilda as its focal point and the fabrics I used were felt, crocheted lace and grosgrain ribbon. All of the flowers are made of felt as is the little ladybug.

I wanted to give the card a fall "feel" so I used mostly yellows, browns and burgundy with small touches of pink and aqua. I used one of my Martha Stewart Punch Around the Page sets to punch the corners and the mats on the inside and my Corner Chomper to round the corners of the white mats and card base. The yellow grosgrain ribbon has little white stitches running down the center of it and though it's difficult to see in the photos, it coordinates well with the white crocheted lace. The yellow heart stick pin was sent to me by one of my blogger friends and I added clear and gold Swarovski crystals to dress it up. The yellow checked DP is from DCWV's Nana's Nursery stack and the rectangular mat behind Tilda is from K & Company's Que Sera Sera collection. The felt flowers are also from K & Company. The image was colored with Copics, of course!

I hope you enjoyed seeing my sweet Tlda.  She is ready for Autumn and so am I!  The weather man says we're supposed to get a cold front tomorrow which should drop temperatures to the low 90s or possibly even the high 80s and they are supposed to stay there all next week!!!  Hallelujah!!!  Now all we need is some rain to go with it!  Thanks for stopping by today.  I hope you all have a wonderful Labor Day weekend if you're in the U.S. and a lovely weekend no matter where else you might be! Until next time....

Happy crafting!
Anniebee

Happy Friday and a new JustWordz Design Team Project

It's Friday again already and the beginning of a new month as well!!  I find it incredibly hard to believe that there are less than 4 months left in the year!!!!  Holy moley!  Where has this year gone???  As ready as I am for summer to be over and fall to begin, I'm not prepared for all the hubbub that goes on around the holidays.  Well, as I can't turn back time and I can't wish the days away, I'll just have to be content with it being the 2nd of September.  With each new Friday comes a new project for JustWordz Stamps and this Friday is no different.  We had a fantastic turnout for our first blog hop last weekend and we gave away some pretty cool prizes so if you missed it, I'm sorry for you and I hope you'll be able to attend the next one.  For now, I have something a little different for you.  Kim asked us to create tags this week but that was the only guideline.  We could use any kind of theme for our tags that we wanted... sort of an "anything goes" kind of thing except that it had to be a tag.  I just can't say enough about the versatility and ease of using these stamps.  I'm not sure now how I ever got along without them and I'm really looking forward to seeing what Kim has in store for us next.

It had been a while since I made a tag but I had so much fun with this one, I made a second one that is completely different.  I'll save that one for another time but for now, I'll show you the one I made for my DT project.

Be sure to visit the JustWordz blog to see what Kim and the other DT members have created this week.  You can find links to their blogs in my left sidebar.

Tools and Materials:

Base tag - 7 Gypsies Walnut stained cardstock tag
DP - K & Company Jubilee
Image - Ina Jane downloaded from Sweet Coloring Pages
Image colored with Copics
Sentiment - JustWordz Everyday Sentiments
Sentiment label - Spellbinders Shapeabilities Fancy Tags
Leafy vines - Sizzix colored with Copics
Flowers - small retro flower punch
Flower centers - Recollections pearls tinted with Copic #Y38
Distressing - Dark Pink and Lime Green Studio G Chalk Inks
Butterflies - Martha Stewart small butterfly punch
Brown and white cardstock used for sentiment and butterflies - Recollections
DP used for butterflies - K & Company Que Sera Sera
Small pearl strips used for butterfly thorax - Recollections
Assorted fibers and ribbons - my stash

I am entering this tag in the following challenges:

Sweet Magnolia Honey Bee' Corner Technique Challenge #1 - use 3 dfferent textures


That's all I have for you today.  I'll have a new Design Team project for The Outlawz Paper a la Mode Challenge tomorrow and I hope you'll come back to see it.  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and that you find the time to do something creative!  Until next time....

Happy crafting!
Anniebee

My first CDAC Challenge entry and A Winner!

First things first.  I'd like to thank everyone who turned out to hop along with us in the first JustWordz All About Babies Blog Hop this past weekend.  We showed you all kinds of cute baby baby related projects and I received so many lovely comments and even gained a few new followers in the process!  To all of my new friends, I want to welcome you and promise that I will do my very best not to disappoint you.  Now, for the moment you have all been waiting for.... <long dramatic drum roll> the winner of the JustWordz Stamps!

Random.org was used to select the winner, out of 35 comments (two comments were left by one person so I eliminated one of them to make it fair for everybody), the magic number was...

#12 - Dixie, who said, "Your card is adorable! That is a very sweet image and I love the papers that you have used with it. The layout of your nephew is just wonderful, obviously a labour of love. The details are fabulous!"


Congratulations, Dixie!!!  I'll be emailing you soon to request your mailing address so if you don't receive my message, please check your spam folder.  


I also have a new card to show you today.  I created this card from a digi stamp created by Sandi Huggett, who is one of my wonderfully talented DT sisters at The Outlawz, and also a member of CDAC (Crafters Digital Art Center).  I just joined CDAC and I'm participating in their Progressive Freebie Challenges that just started this month.  If you sign up to participate, they send you a set of digi stamps to use in your entries and you must submit at least one entry in each successive challenge to continue receiving the free images.  If you fail to enter a challenge, you will not receive the next set of freebies unless you buy back in for $1.  Several of the Outlawz members are also members of CDAC and it sounded like a fun challenge so I decided to play along.  Besides, they are giving away a set of 12 Copic Sketch markers as the grand prize to one person who enters all of the progressive challenges!!  Here is my first entry.  I have actually used Sandi's teapot and teacup images before and I just love how they look colored with my Copics.  I only had 2 days in which to complete my entry before the deadline and since I had some experience coloring these images, I knew I could beat the cutoff.  And I did, with a day to spare!  

I haven't put a sentiment on the inside yet as I'm uncertain of the occasion I'll use the card for.  A special day could be a birthday, an anniversary, a new job, or any other special occasion so I have left it open for the time being.  

Materials and Supplies:

Image - Sandi Huggett, colored with Copics

Card base - Core-dinations cards stock

Gold foil mat - AC Cardstock

White inside mats - Recollections

DT - K & Company (Jubilee and Best of Brenda Walton)

Paper doily - Michaels

Heart stick pin - won in blog hop and added Swarovski crystals and irridescent bead

Front greeting label - Spellbinders Shapeabilities Fancy Tags

Inside mats - Martha Stewart Punch Around the Page set 

Bright pink chalk ink - Studio G

Leaf-shaped bling - won in blog hop candy

Front sentiment stamp - Stampendous Special Messages set

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

CDAC Progressive Freebies Challenge- use one of the free digi stamps in your project.

Daisy Doodles Challenge #41 - Anything Goes

Happileigh Scrappin Challenge #37 - Birthdays

That's about all I have for now.  Again, my sincere thanks to all of you who hopped with us last weekend.  We'll have more fun things in store for you in the coming months.  Until next time...

Happy crafting!

Anniebee

Paper a la Mode Challenge at The Outlawz

Note: Hi!  If you're looking for the JustWordz "All About Babies" Blog Hop, please scroll down or click here.

Paper a la Mode Challenge

Another week has come and gone and it's time for a new Paper a la Mode challenge at The Outlawz!  This week, our sweet, talented Jane has given us our challenge to create a project using the following photo for inspiration.

We could have used the color palette, the layout or any number of other elements on which to base our own designs.  I used the basic layout, minus the text as my inspiration.  I really wanted to use the color scheme,  as I thought it both interesting and vibrant, but I didn't have the right shades that would work together in my stash and I didn't feel like going shopping for a couple of pieces of scrapbook paper.  As you'll see in just a moment, my interpretation is not very strict.  I chose to play up the cross shape created by the intersections of the different papers and the ribbon I used, and a beautiful angel by an illustrator who goes by the name ina jane, that I colored with a combination of Copics and Primsacolor pencils.    

This is the inside of the card. Oopsie! I didn't notice it until I downloaded the photos from my camera to my hard drive but the larger butterfly had come loose and fallen down just before I shot the picture.  It is permanently glued in place now so if I have time to do a retake, I'll post a newer pic this weekend.  

Materials and Supplies:

card base and cream cardstock from Core'dinations

Gold foil cardstock from American Crafts

dp from DCWV's Tradewinds stack

image from Sweet Coloring pages

ribbon - royal blie grosgrain from Michael's

Sentiment label - Spellbinders Shapeabilities Fancy Tags

blue dew drops - sent to me by Kim at JustWordz Clear Stamps

corner punch - Martha Stewart Punc Around the Page set

front stamp - Fiskars clear stamp set called Squarely Sentimental

Inside sentiment stamp - Stampabilities

Dark blue chalk ink pad - Studio G

butterfly dimensional chipboard stickers - K & Company

Metallic gold gel pen

That's all for me for today!I hope you'll come join us at The Outlawz Challenges.  We have a different challenge each day of the week with fabulous prizes from our awesome sponsors.  We are going to be hosting a membership drive/party as we're nearing our 1000th member and we're going to start the celebration early!  Aside from the challenges, there will be games and a blog hop with lots of prizes including not one but TWO $100 gift certificates; one from Oozak and the other from SCACD!  Where else can you find fantastic prizes like that?  If you're not already a member, you need to get over there and register so you can participate in the 1000 Member Party.  Watch for more details coming soon.

Thanks for stopping by to visit me today.  As always, your comments are both welcome and very much appreciated.  Until next timem have a lovely weekend and...

Happy crafting!

Anniebee

"All About Babies" Blog Hop!

Hello and Happy Friday, my crafty friends! Today is the first day of the first ever JustWordz Blog Hop for which the theme is "All About Babies". The JustWordz Design Team has been busy this week crafting beautiful baby-themed projects to inspire you and we are anxious to show you what we have made. This hop will be open until 11:59 EDT on August 29th so everybody will have 4 full days to visit all the Design Team blogs and leave a comment at each stop to qualify for the prizes Kim is giving away on the JustWords blog. There may also be candy available on some of our personal blogs as well and you'll need to follow the instructions on each blog to be eligible for the giveaway.

If you have arrived here from Tara's blog, you are in the right place. If you just stopped by for a visit or if you landed here by some other means and want to hop with us, you'll want to start at the beginning by visiting the JustWordz blog first so you don't miss anything. I'll post the entire lineup below so in case you get lost along the way, you can come back here to figure out where you should be. There are only 5 stops and you should be able to make it all the way through in very little time. Even though it's a short lineup, don't let that fool you.  We have made some really cool things to give you ideas for your next baby project. I have two projects to show you today and I'll give you advance warning that there are a lot of pictures in case you want to use the restroom or grab something to drink before you go any farther! LOL

My first project is a card. I purchased this sweet digi stamp from Phindy's Place 2 or 3 months ago to use on a card to accompany the mini album I made for a friend of mine in Austin following the birth of her first child.  I featured the mini album on August 13th and you can see it here in case you missed it. The image is aptly called "Sweet One". I colored it with Copics in the same color scheme I used on the mini.

Here's my sneak peek from yesterday.

The card base is medium yellow textured card stock from Core'dinations. I love their cardstock because the core of the paper is colored so white  doesn't show through if the paper cracks at the score line after you fold it. The DP is from DCWV's Nana's Nursery stack for boys. I love the pattern on this paper because it reminds me of the ticking you used to see on mattresses and pillows not that long ago except that ticking was usually cream with black stripes. The photo mats are matching light teal and yellow glitter cardstock from DCWV.  

The ribbons I used are from Michael's. The wider ribbon is a solid light teal satin and the narrower ribbon is yellow with an organza strip between two solid strips of satin. I just layered the yellow on top of the teal.  

This pretty label is from the Spellbinders Fancy Tags Shapeability die set. I inked the edges with a light teal chalk ink.  And of course, the piece de resistance is the greeting, "Welcome Sweet Baby Boy" created using the fabulous JustWordz Everyday Sentiments stamp set, available in the JustWordz online store on Kim's blog.  

Here's a shot of the inside. I layered the light teal glitter cardstock with the DP from Nana's Nursery and some smooth white cardstock from Recollections which I punched on the corners with a Martha Stewart corner punch from one of her cool Punch Around the Page sets. I think I have 4 of those punch sets and I adore all of them! The inside sentiment was created using a stamp from a Cloud9 clear stamp set called "Simple Thoughts - Baby". This set has some really cute sentiments in it.

Now for my second project! Remember a few days ago, I showed you a layout I made for my youngest brother's niece?  Her young daughter, Aliyah, was the subject of the layout. In case you missed it, you can see it here. Well, I made a similar layout for a baby boy. I told you that I might surprise you with another layout very soon! Haha! The subject of this one is my sister's younger son when he was a little over a year old. The pictures were taken in an area park at Easter. This cute little boy is now 21 years old! His mother was the one who died from stage 4 breast cancer in May of 2010. I had promised her that I was going to make a layout for each of her boys and this is the first of the two. I am also planning to make one of the two boys together this same Easter. They were both so dapper in their Easter finery and it's so much fun to look at these pictures again after they have both grown up. The older son was married in May and is an electrical engineer living in Austin, TX. Ready to have a look?

Again, here is the sneak peek you saw yesterday.  

This closeup view shows how I used the JustWordz stamps on my layout. These stamps are so versatile they can be used on any type of project I can think of. I can even see utilizing them to stamp on glass with Stazon ink.  The possibilities are endless, in my opinion.  

Here's a view of the entire layout.  The base of the page is medium blue textured cardstock and the DP is from DCWV's All About Boys stack (the older version). The white cardstock as well as the red I used for the outline, photo mats and border at the bottom are also from Best Occasions.  

The glittered chipboard letters are Me and My Big Ideas AlphaChips. The blue border came in some blog candy I won during a hop a while back. and the puffy stickers I used for my title were from a Momenta set I got from Micheal's called Born To Be Wild Boy. I used some of these in the baby boy mini album too and they are really cute!

I made a hidden journaling tag that looks like a mini file folder and slides behind the largest photo out of the same red and white cardstock. There is room for an additional photo or some other token  as well as the journaling. I also colored some white half pearls from from Recollections with a light red Copic marker to go on the blue border and added 3 buttons in various colors and sizes from my stash and a mini banner ribbon from Imaginisce that also came in some blog candy as additional embellishments.

That's about it for me. But there's one last order of business before I send you on your way. I am giving away a new complete set of JustWordz Everyday Sentiment stamps to one lucky visitor who leaves a comment on my blog during this hop. In a crazy coincidence, Kim drew my name to win her giveaway during our Official Launch and because I already own a set of her wonderful stamps, she said I could pay it forward and give them away during the blog hop. How awesome is THAT??? I will use random.org to select the winner on the 30th and will post the winner here on the 31st. Don't forget to include in your comment a way for me to reach you so I can notify you if you're my lucky winner! I hope you'll decide to follow me but it's not required to win the stamps. Now it's time for you to hop on over to Tammy's blog to see her incredible project. The full hop lineup follows.

Kim (JustWordz) - http://www.justwordz.ca/
Doreen (Especially For You Cards) - http://www.myfirstblog-dora.blogspot.com/
Tara (Homemade Happiness) - http://www.myfirstblog-dora.blogspot.com/
Me - (Anniebee's Craft Room) - http://anniebeescraftroom.blogspot.com/
Tammy (The Purple Muse) - http://www.thepurplemuse.blogspot.com/
Corry (Free 4 Ever) - http://fancyfree4ever.blogspot.com/
Kim (JustWordz) - http://www.justwordz.ca/

I have entered my layout into the following challenge:

Quick Quotes Friday Challenge #2- Banners

I hope you enjoyed my projects and if this is your first time here, I invite you to follow me. I will do my best to ensure that you never regret that decision. Thanks for stopping by today and don't forget to return to Kim's blog after you finish hopping to become eligible for her blog candy.

Tomorrow is a brand new Paper a la Mode challenge at The Outlawz so I hope you'll come back and see my project for that too. Until next time...

Happy crafting!
Anniebee