There's a new deal site designed for crafters!

In case you haven't heard, there's a new deal site called Blitsy starting up on November 25th!  It's supposed to work something like Groupon except that it's aimed at crafters.  It sounds pretty cool, right?  I hope it's as good as it sounds.  Follow the link below to check it out and to join the site.  Membership is free.  Then invite your friends, family and followers to join too and earn $10 credits for each one that joins by following your link and subsequently makes a purchase.

http://blitsy.com/rewardsref/index/refer/id/5396/

Thanks and have a wonderful Thanksgiving, everybody!

Anniebee

A Paper a la Mode Christmas Challenge!

It's Saturday and time for a new Paper a la Mode challenge at The Outlawz.  It was my turn to post the challenge which means I got to choose the theme too.  As I needed to start on my Christmas cards, I decided to use Christmas/Winter Holiday as the challenge theme.  I have already made a few cards using the free images I was given for participating in the progressive challenge at CDAC for them.  This card, however, features one of the 4 images I won from Delicious Doodles in a challenge a couple of weeks ago.  I really love some of the digi stamps she sells.  This one is a snowy scene and in the foreground is a lovely old postbox as seen in Great Britain.  Because I'm of English descent I thought it was fitting.  It's very difficult to see in the photos but I used iridescent Stickles to give the snow that glistening quality it has when the the sunlight or moonlight shines down on it.

The image is, of course, colored with Copics.  The dp is DCWV's Holiday stack from last year or year before.  I can't really remember.  The ribbon is from my stash.  The sentiment stamp is by Stampibilities.

I am entering this card in the following challenges:  TBD

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.  Until next time...

Happy crafting!
Anniebee

My First Joy's Life Design Team Project!

Hi, everybody!  Well, the day has finally arrived for me to post my first design team project for Joy's Life!  Yay!  I have been anxiously awaiting this time and I can't wait to see what my teammates have created.  The theme for the new challenge is "Stamps".  We were asked to use a photograph of some sort and to use at least one of the Joy's Life stamps to convey what the picture is about.

I chose to make an 8 1/2" scrapbook page about my grandmother who passed away before I was born.  From the things my mother told me about her and from the photographs I have of her, I can tell that she was a character!  The photo I used in my layout shows her with some of her female friends, all dressed in turn of the century bathing suits at some sort of swimming hole, as we call them down here in Texas.  Anyway, I think the picture says it all...

My grandmother is the one on the far right in the foreground, in case you were wondering!  Isn't this an adorable bunch of "ladies"?  I really wish she had lived long enough for me to know her as I feel somehow as though I have missed out on an important part of my family's history.  Eventually, I want to make an entire scrapbook devoted to my mother's side of the family.  I have lots of old pictures like this of them and I would like to leave it as part of my legacy for my son and his family.  I just won't be able to do a lot of journaling because I don't know that much about some of them and my mother has now gone to be with them in heaven.  

This stamp is from the Joy's Life Wild Life Puns Stamp set, which you can purchase on her website.  If you have never used Joy's stamps before, they are awesome!  She has a brand new limited edition stamp set to be released soon too!  It is available for pre-order now so you should definitely check it out!  I can't wait to get my hands on them to use on my Christmas projects.  I have already started making some of my Christmas cards but I always have some last minute ones that I make for neighbors and co-workers.  

I hope you enjoyed seeing this little scrapbook page as much as I enjoyed putting it together.  The dp is from DCWV's All Dressed Up stack and K & Company's Black and Ivory collection.  Black, red and white cardstock is from DCWV and Recollections.  The black glittered fourishes and the sequined butterfly is from my stash as are the leafy vine die cut and the rhinestone jewels in the upper right corner.

Thanks for stopping by today and don't forget to visit Joy's Design Team blog to see what my mega-talened teammates have created to inspire you.  If you have time, I encourage you to visit their personal blogs as well.  I'm sure you won't regret it.  I am entering this layout in the following challenges:

TBD

That's it for today.  I hope your week has been blessed so far and that you'll visit my blog again very soon.
Until then...

Happy crafting!
Anniebee

5th and final entry for Round 6 of the CDAC Progressive Freebie Challange (cdacpc6)

Okie dokie!  Here I am again... back with my last entry for the 6th round of the CDAC Progressive Freebie Challenge.  This one, which also happens to be my favorite, is a very traditional image by Daisy Doodles of Christmas candles.  I have always had a candle fetish so it's not surprising that I liked this image best even though every one of the ones we received was a lot of fun to color, traditional and non-traditional alike.  Of course I had to use traditional colors on this one.

Ta da!  That's it for this round unless I manage to color the bonus image and get a card made with it before the challenge closes this weekend.  I seem to either be suffering from a severe allergy to mountain cedar or I have contracted a head and chest cold.  Either way, I am feeling rather crummy and I'm not really in a crafting mood.  I already have a couple of projects ready for my first design team post for Joy's Life that I'll put up on Wednesday morning.  I'm not sure yet which one I'll use so you'll just have to come check it out and see! :o)

I've had enough for one day so I think I'm going to turn in early and try to get some extra rest in hopes that it will help with whatever this crud is.  Have a wonderful Tuesday and until next time...

Happy crafting!
Anniebee

Fourth entry for CDAC Progressive Freebies Challenge - Round 6 (cdacpc6)

Hello again!  If you were here earlier to see the two mermaids I made for my guest designer spot on CMC Classroom Challenge, I am back again with my 4th entry for the CDAC Progressive Freebie Challenge. I showed you the first 3 entries yesterday but in case you missed them, you should be able to scroll down to see them if you want to.  All of the images we received this round are related to the Christmas holidays although a couple of them could be used for any occasion.  This adorable elephant girl, which was provided by Inked Treasures, has obviously been shopping for gifts.  She has gift bags in both hands and is still holding her credit card with her trunk! LOL  I colored this cute girl with non-tradional colors for Christmas as I just felt they better suited her personality.

I'll be right back with the 5th and final entry for round 6.

Anniebee

Two Michelle Perkett Mermaids for Color Me Creative Classroom Challenge

Happy Monday, everybody!  I promised you that I would be posting my final two entries for the CDAC Progressive Freebie challenge and so I will.  But first I wanted to show you a couple of cards I created for the Color Me Creative Classroom Challenge.  Because one of my Halloween cards was selected by the design team as one of their top choices, I was invited to be a guest designer for the current challenge, an honor I share with Angela Wood of Angelwood's Crafting Corner.

So without further ado, here are two cards I made especially cor this challenge, the theme of which is "Colors of the Sea and Sparkle".  Michelle Perkett Studio is the sponsor of the challenge and I was able to choose one of her wonderful digis to use in my design.  This lovely ocean dweller is called Tutti Frutti and with a name like that I had no choice but to make her colorful.  Well, I had so much fun with her, I colored her twice, first as a blonde and then as a redhead, and made two cards instead of one. Then I couldn't decide which one I liked better so I sent photos of both of them and they used BOTH!  How awesome is that?!?  I feel so special!

All of the materials I used were scraps and embellishments from my stash so I can't tell you where they came from.  The grass and vine die cuts were included in some swap items I received from one of my JustWrodz teammates.    The sentiment stamps is from the Joy's Life "You're So Punny" stamp set.  The tiny hook is made from a metal staple, believe it or not!  I just used some jewelry pliers to bend it into the shape I wanted.  It is suspended on a single strand of silver metallic embroidery floss.  I don't know how well you can tell in the photographs but Tutti Fruitti's tail is glittered with Stickles and then covered in Judikins Diamond Glaze.  I also used the Diamond Glaze to create the sparkly pearls in Tutti's hair, the little air bubbles floating up from the fishes' mouths as well as their eyes and pectoral fins.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog today.  I hope you enjoyed seeing these two projects.  I really enjoyed making them and want to thank Susanne, Charlene and the Design Team of CMC Classroom Challenge Group for giving me this wonderful opportunity to show off a little of my work.  Until next time...

Happy crafting!
Anniebee

Project #3 for the CDAC Progressive Freebies Challenge - Round 6 (cdacpc6)

(Please note that this is my third post for today.  Please scroll down to see the other two posts.)

Hello again!  I'm back with my third (and the last one for today) project for round 6 of CDAC's Progressive Freebies Challenge.  This card features an image created by Ginger Loft.  This scene reminded me very much of rural Louisiana where my ex-husband's family lives so I colored it to look like one of the thousands of country homesteads that litter the highways and byways of that state.  It rarely snows there around Christmas so I didn't put snow on the ground, which is very sandy.  The area where they lived, close to Lake Charles, is known for its lumber industry and there are huge pine trees everywhere.  In fact, that area of East Texas and western Louisiana is known as the Piney Woods.  The shack, or shed as they are called in Louisiana, is also a familiar sight so how could I had to call this one "A Louisiana Christmas".  My mother-in-law loved to quilt and the dp I used looks very much like some of the old traditional quilt patterns.  I also made my greeting resemble quilt blocks with patterned paper that reminds me of quilt fabric and faux stitching around the edges of the "blocks" and letters, which spell NOEL.

Well, here... have a look for yourselves.

So there you have it!  I hope you have enjoyed this eclectic collection of Christmas projects.  As I said earlier, I'll be back tomorrow with a couple more.  This is the last round of this particular progressive challenge at CDAC but I think they have plans of starting another round as soon as this one is finished.  So if you like free digi stamps and enjoy coloring with Copics, I encourage you to give it a try.

Aside from the CDAC Progressive Freebie Challenge, I am entering this card in the following challenges:

TBD

So until next time, my friends...

Happy crafting!
Anniebee