A Little Break From Christmas Crafting

Hello, all of my wonderful readers! Christmas is upon us, being only a week away. It doesn't seem to matter how early I get started on my holiday crafting, I always manage to run right down to the wire every year! Maybe I subconsciously pace myself to finish up at the very last minute, or maybe I add to my to-do list without even realizing it. For whatever reason, I will probably finish up around midnight on Christmas Eve. LOL

I was commissioned to make Christmas cards for a friend's niece to give to her young children this year. She picked out a digi stamp from Saturated Canary for her daughter, who will celebrate her first Christmas this year, and a free Mickey Mouse coloring page for her son. I'll post them as soon as I know she has received them as I had to mail them to her in Michigan and I don't want to put them on my blog until after she has seen them. That just wouldn't feel right to me, even if she never saw them on here.

Well, I enjoyed coloring that SC image so much that I decided to do it a second time in a different color scheme for my December design team project for WOW Embossing Powders. The first one was done in traditional Christmas colors but for this one is, as you will see, I used soft baby colors. The digi is called Butterfly Baby and can be purchased in Krista's shop. Even though I used both pink and blue, I made pink the dominant color in the design, leaning more toward a baby girl than a boy.

As much as I enjoy crafting for the holidays, I was ready for a short reprieve from it. The funny thing about babies is that they arrive when they want to, regardless of what the doctors think (unless, of course, they are subject to scheduled C-section delivery). So the blessed event could just as well happen on Christmas Day as any other day, which means that this project is not really "out of season" as I see it.

I used only 2 WOW Powders on this card. The main one was Opaque Bright White Regular, that I used on the letters making up the word "BABY" and also on the sentiment on the inside of the card. I stamped BABY onto light pink cardstock, heat embossed it and then cut the letters apart so that I could mount them onto squares to resemble building blocks.

I used a RV02 (Sugared Almond Pink) Copic marker to color in the top half of each letter and that little bit of extra color really made the white outline pop and added some extra contrast. It doesn't show up very well in the photographs but I also used Neutral Ultra Shimmer powder on Butterfly Baby's cute little wings. It really makes them sparkle!

I think the paper is by K and Company but I don't recall the name of the stack. I love the pink/blue combination with just small pops of sparkly red here and there. I used a single blue rose and several baby pink Sweetheart Blossoms from Wild Orchid Crafts.

Below is a shot of the interior of the card, showing the sentiment embossed in the same Bright White powder. I attached the image, flowers and letter blocks to the right panel of the gate fold rather than the left because I wanted the flowers anchored securely instead of hanging off the edge as they would have been if I had attached to the opposite side.

I also traced around the left half of the image mat and letter blocks, then cut a shadow mat to go underneath them to give some extra support. This worked out quite well and is very stable.

Then I added 3 pink pearls to the upper right corner to balance the design.  That's it for today. Drop by the WOW Blog for more inspiration from my extremely gifted teammates. I have linked this card at the following sites:

Through the Craft Room Door - #49 Anything Goes

Artistic Insirations - #20 Anything Goes

Make It Monday - #120 Anything Goes (Linky Party)

I'll be back in a couple of days with some more Christmas-inspired goodies for your viewing pleasure. Until then...

Happy crafting!

Anniebee

Saturated Canary Butterfly Princess

Good Sunday morning to you all! What beautiful weather we have been having down here in the Houston area.  It's been cool and crisp in the mornings and after the sun sets and warm enough for short sleeves during the day... that's pretty close to perfect in my book!

We're getting ready for Thanksgiving this weekend as my son has to return go back offshore Wednesday morning and he's responsible for frying the turkeys! Poor guy... with his 7 on, 7 off schedule, it seems he manages to miss most of the holidays so his family has learned to adapt by celebrating whenever he's home rather than on the actual holidays.

I don't eat much in the way of fried foods but I LOVE me some deep fried turkey!! I have no idea who discovered that method of cooking the big birds but if I could meet him or her, they'd get a big hug from me! It's a southern delicacy (even though Texas isn't considered a southern state) and if you have never tried it, you don't know what you're missing. I even saw Deep Fried Turkey Breast by Butterball in the deli at Walmart the other day. It's not quite as good as home cooked but I tried it and it's the next best thing. The only problem with it is that when you put it on a sandwich with mustard and mayo, lettuce and tomato, you lose some of the delicate flavor that differentiates it from the regular roasted variety.

Anyway, enough about turkey. Today, I have a card for you that I made with one of my favorite Saturated Canary images, Butterfly Princess. I just love coloring her hair and her gown. I have colored her 3 different ways but this is the first time I have actually made a card with her.

Of course, her hair HAD to be red! Hee hee! I am often asked how I achieve the rich color tones on my red haired images so I'm going to list the colors I use. I do vary some depending on the shade of red I want, whether it's more coppery or more auburn but the basics are the same each time. I start with Buttercup Yellow (Y21) and, using short strokes, place it where I want the lightest highlights. Next, I use Acid Yellow (Y08) on the outer edges of the Buttercup Yellow just to begin blending the different colors. Next comes Golden Yellow (Y17) and Honey (Y38) working and blending toward the areas where I want the darker tones. Next comes Orange (YR68) bringing in the coppery tone and finally I use Brown (E08) for the darkest areas around the hair part, in the recessed curves of the waves or curls and also in the area that shows behind/beside the neck.  If I want a more Auburn tone, I add Lipstick Red (R29 or R37) and Cardinal (R59). I even use a little Dark Brown (E49) occasionally to add extra depth. Yes, I use a layer a lot of different colors to the point on the darker reds that my paper becomes completely saturated. Where the ink is heaviest, the paper glistens and looks wet (it actually isn't) which gives the hair a more realistic shine. It might take a little practice if you're not accustomed to using so much ink and so many different colors together but once you get the hang of it, you might want to try the same technique with other hair colors.

So now that my secret is divulged, I hope you'll give this technique a try. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.  That's all for today. Again, if you're in the U.S., have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and if not, have a great week! I'll be back Tuesday with a Kenny K card for the new challenge at Tip Top Tuesday. Kenny is sponsoring the challenge and therefore the prize will probably be some free digis for the lucky winner!

I am entering this card in the following challenges:

The Outlawz - 11/14 Wednesday Sketch Challenge 

Until next time...

Happy crafting!
Anniebee

Fairy Tale Card for Saturated Canary Challenge

Hello and Happy Tuesday, everybody! I have been working on some challenge entries and I have for your viewing pleasure today, my entry for Saturated Canary's current challenge, for which the theme is "Fairy Tales".  I have been wanting to color this image forEVER and I finally got time to work on her over last weekend, finished the card and took photos yesterday and now I'm writing the blog post to go with it.  It's exciting for me to get back to posting on my blog more regularly as I have dearly missed it over these past few months when life managed to get in the way of my creativity.

This is the Wicked Queen from the tale of Snow White. I guess Krista retired her because I could not find her in her online shop. She doesn't look evil, does she? But you can see she holds the poisoned apple in her hand and she fully intends on giving it to the unsuspecting princess. Such is the nature of jealousy!

This is a very large card, measuring 9" square! I had this awesome paper from DCWV's Once Upon A Time stack that was perfect for this project and I just couldn't bear to cut off more than the edges.  I wanted to leave the beakers, vials and bottles intact.

I need to add here that my intent toward the recipient of this card is not malicious in the very least! My using the Wicked Queen is simply to illustrate the "magical" part of the sentiment. 

The queen was, of course, colored with Copics.  

I double matted the background paper on black and blue cardstock.  The cool swirly ribbon is from my stash but I think I got it at Michael's not very long ago so you might be able to find some there.  The bow is black organza wrapped and tied with gold cording. The crown charm was pewter color but I used a Golden Yellow Copic marker to color it and then added the little jewels to it, the circle die cut behind the image and the antique black lace. The lettering is done entirely with stickers. I edged the background as well as the circle frame in metallic gold gel pen.  

The paper I used inside the card is also from the Once Upon A Time stack and the sentiment is a sticker that I bought years ago from a scrapbook store that has since gone out of business.

I am entering this card into the following challenges:

Saturated Canary - #30 (Fairy Tales)
Through The Craftroom Door - #44 (Anything Goes)

That's it for today, folks.  I'll be back tomorrow or Thursday with another challenge card.  I'm just not sure which one yet.  So until then, take care and...

Happy crafting!
Anniebee 

Challenge Time at Saturated Canary

Hi, all you Saturated Canary fans! You're here just in time because today starts a new challenge on the SC Challenge blog! The theme this time is "All the B's" so you need to incorporate at least two items into your design that begin with the letter "B".  On my card, which features Krista's lovely Sisters Back 2 School digi, I used books, bling, blossoms, blue and blackboard.  I was going to include some buttons but I ran out of room! Go figure! LOL

This image, which I colored with Copics, reminds me of my sister and me when we were kids.  She was 6 years my junior and was always into my "stuff", flirted with my boyfriends and got me into trouble with our parents for getting mad about it! LOL Even the hair colors match! We didn't like each other very much (though we always loved each other as siblings) until we became adults. I lost her to breast cancer 2 years ago and I miss her so very much still.

I just love this image and even though I realize I'm a little late with the back to school theme, I just felt compelled to make this card.  I really like how it turned out.  Sadly, this will be my last challenge with Krista's team as my time as guest designer draws to an end.  I am really going to miss it but I'll be entering the challenges just as I did before I was invited to join the team for the summer.  I hope that I have, in some way, inspired you to join the fun at Saturated Canary Challenge Blog.  And don't forget to use your B's! Now, while you're all enamored with Krista's awesome artwork, why don't you mosey on over to the challenge blog and see what the other designers have created.  I have seen their projects and they are fabulous!

I am entering this card in the following challenges:

Blog Quick Quotes Friday Challenge #19 - Cards

Thank you sooo much for dropping in on me today.  I always appreciate your feedback and will try to answer any questions you may have if you'll put them in a comment for me.  Be kind to each other and have a great weekend! Until next time...

Happy crafting!
Anniebee

A new challenge at Saturated Canary!

Hello out there in Blogland!  It's time for a new challenge at Saturated Canary this week and the theme this time is "Make it Dotty!". That is to say, use polka dots or any other kind of dots in your design.  For my inspiration creation, I used a combination of polka dots and multi-sized dots in the background.  The image I used is one of Krista's newest, called Sparkle Nurse and you can buy her here.

When I was a girl, the volunteers at the local hospitals were called Candy Stripers and they wore pink and white striped uniforms quite similar (with the exception of the mouth with fangs) to the one worn by Sparkle Nurse so I modeled my version after that memory.  I can recall wanting to be a Candy Striper when I grew up and thought those uniforms were the coolest things EVER!

So without further ado, let me present to you my Sparkle Nurse! Isn't she a delightful little blood-sucker? LOL!

Here's a closeup of her, showing all the details.

As you can see, I haven't added any kind of verse or sentiment to the inside yet. I know several nurses so I decided to wait until I determine who the recipient shall be.

Be sure and visit the Saturated Canary Challenge Blog and see all of the beautiful creations from the rest of the design team.  I hope to see some familiar names in Mr. Linky too so get those spotty cards ready! That's all I have for you today so until next time, my friends...

Happy crafting!

Anniebee

New Challenge Time at Saturated Canary

Hello, lovely readers! Today marks the beginning of another new challenge at Saturated Canary.  If you haven't visited Krista's store in a while, you're in for a treat... more new digis!!!  That's right folks.  She has released several new characters and they are all amazing!  The inspiration for the theme of this challenge is the photograph shown below. Aren't those flowers gorgeous? And what a peaceful setting. The bicycle looks very much like one I had when I was in grade school, only mine was blue instead of aqua.

For my sample card, I chose one that was recently released called Haley and Harley and you can find it here. 

Is this not the cutest little piglet you have ever seen???  I just love her in her cute little tutu which, of course, matches her friend Haley's costume perfectly.  I usually color a new image at least twice so I can choose the one I like best to use on my project.  This time, I liked them both so I decided to layer them, one on top of the other, to give my card more dimension.  

I hope you'll take a few minutes to visit the Saturated Canary Challenge Blog to see the beautiful creations from the regular design team girls as well as my co-guest teammate, Denise.  Also, don't forget to check out the newest designs in Krista's shop.  We would love to have you join us by participating in the challenge.

I am entering this card in the following challenges:

Crafting For All Seasons #33 - Bright Colors
Paper Pretties Wednesday Challenge PWC219  - Square Cards

Simon Says Stamp - Animal Antics

Whimsy Stamps #50 - Lots of Layers

The Outlawz Tuesday Color Challenge - 8/14

MarkerPop #4 - Bright Colors

Until next time, my friends...

Happy crafting!
Anniebee

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

A new challenge at Saturated Canary

Wow! This week has really come and gone very quickly. Perhaps that's because we celebrated a holiday right in the middle of it. Well, today marks the start of another new challenge at Saturated Canary and I'm still pinching myself at being selected as a guest designer for the  entire summer!

The theme of the latest challenge theme is "Bling it Out!" and I have done my best to comply!  In the event that you have been living under a rock and are not familiar with Saturated Canary or Krista Smith, the delightful artist who created this sweet image, you can find her digi stamps for sale in her shop.

As you can see, it's a very feminine card, all pink and frilly and decked out in pearls, rhinestones, lace  and ribbon and even a pink polka dotted butterfly.  The image is called "Priscilla Pie" which I colored with Copics.  I used WOW! Embossing powder in Bubble Gum Pink on the butterfly as well as the Happy Birthday sentiment on the inside.  The dot over the "i" is a heat set rhinestone.

 I know how busy summer months can be with the kids out of school and all the warm weather activities but I hope you'll find time to play along in the challenge with us.  I'll be back this weekend with another new card.  Until then,...

Happy crafting!
Anniebee

Happy 4th of July!!!

Hi, everybody!! If you live in the U.S., you are probably celebrating our nation's independence in some fashion today. Many will go to the lake or the beach. Others will spend time with family and friends over barbecue and cold beer. As for me, I'm spending the day crafting! Later, I plan to pack some boxes and do some cleaning and when everything is done, I'll fall on the sofa and watch television this evening.

Today, I have for you a parade to commemorate this important holiday!! I made a card for Independence Day with one of the adorable new images from Krista Smith at Saturated Canary. It is called, quite simply, "Parade". I thought it was the perfect thing for today.

Isn't this the cutest thing evah? I paper pieced the cute little girl's top to add a little more dimension. This is one of the digi stamps in Krista's latest release. If you haven't seen them, you must go here and have a look! They are a delight to color... so much so in fact that I have already colored every single one of them; some twice! I'll have a bunch of new projects to show you as soon as I get them all made.

This coming weekend, there will be a lot going on at Kenny K's Krafty Krew. In addition to a brand new challenge hosted by Team A (that's my team!), the new design team will host it's first blog hop and all of the designers from both teams will present inspirational projects in celebration of the 2nd anniversary of Kenny K's Krafty Challenges! Wooo hooo!  And you should hear about the grand prize!!! You won't want to miss this one, folks!

Okay, I'm already late getting this posted so I'll stop here and get back on my other projects.  Please have a safe and happy 4th and if you're anywhere besides the U.S., have a lovely Wednesday! Until next time...

Happy crafting!
Annibee

More Exciting News!!!

Hello, friends!  I don't have a project ready to post today but I have some very exciting news to share with you.  I received an email from Krista Smith of Saturated Canary last evening telling me that I had been selected to be a guest designer on her design team over the summer months!!!  I was just floored at the news because there were 78 entries by some extremely talented colorist who applied and only 2 spots to fill!!  I feel extremely honored to have been selected and I look forward to working with Krista's wonderful designs as well as her team of fabulously talented designers.  You can read the announcement here and see the card I submitted here.

If you have visited here at all in the past couple of months, you know that I am a huge fan of Krista's art so if you, too, are enamored by her whimsical characters, you can look forward to lots more projects from me using her adorable digis.  And if this isn't enough good news, I have even more.  Krista has a new release of digital images that will be available to purchase from her shop on Wednesday!! She posted a couple of sneak peeks on her blog this past week and they are awesome!  I'm anxious to see the rest of them.

Okay, that's about it for now. I promise to have a new project in my next post, probably tomorrow or Wednesday.  Thank you all for your continued support and all of your lovely comments.  Without you, I wouldn't be here and I definitely wouldn't be designing for Saturated Canary, Kenny K (who has also released a new digi collection called "Myths and Maidens") and WOW Embossing Powders! Until next time...


Happy crafting!
Anniebee

A Boy's Birthday Card

TGIF, everybody!! If this year keeps cruising along at the speed it is now, it won't be long before we're thinking winter holidays again! Personally, I would rush it just a little more as I have a hard time tolerating the summer heat here in Texas, even though I have lived here my whole life.  I also hate shelling out $300-400 each month for electricity, trying to stay cool!  If I could afford to, I would retire to a little cabin in the mountains, I think.

Anyway, there's a brand new challenge at Saturated Canary and the theme this time is red, white and blue.  I have used Krista's cute Basketball Boy to create this birthday card.  It's always easier for me, as I think it is for many people, to make stuff for females so I like to challenge myself whenever I get a chance to make something for the guys in my life.  My grandson turned 11 in May which was before I made this card but I made him a cute one with a football player on it.  Since he plays football it was really more fitting for him anyway, though I just adore this cute little guy!

I {heart} all of the Saturated Canary images but I think this is my favorite boy.  I'm not sure I succeeded but I tried to saturate the color on his uniform to make it resemble the shiny satin-like material often used in making such garments.  I love the expression of concentration on his face as he shoots the hoop. I just KNOW he makes that basket! LOL

I used white paper and red ribbon to make the stripes on the card. I believe the paper is from DCWV's Summer Dreams stack. All of the lettering was done with stickers, except for the #1 on the inside, which was done with stamps.

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

Saturated Canary #20 - Red, White & Blue
Card Makin Mamas #48 - Color (Red, White & Blue)
Delicious Doodles #22 - 1,2,3 Recipe - 1 image, 2 kinds of bling (stars & circles), 3 ribbons (the red and white stripes) or 3 colors (red, white & blue)
Fussy and Fancy Friday Challenge #65 - Boy Attitude
The Poodles Parlor 6/15/12 - Red. White & Blue
Delightful Challenges 6/20/12 - Anything Goes
DYSU #77 - Inspired by a Movie (Like Mike- 2002)

Well, that's all I have for now. I hope you all enjoy your weekend and that you manage to sneak in some time to be creative. Until next time...

Happy crafting!
Anniebee