Thursday, May 26, 2011

My Entry into the Cricut E2 Giveaway at Cricut.com

Hello, everyone!  I just wanted to let you know that I entered one of my projects into the Expression 2 Giveaway at Cricut.com and would appreciate it very much if you would take a minute or two out of your busy day to cast a vote for me.  You can vote one time each day from May 23rd through May 30th.  The entry that accumulates the most votes wins the brand new Anniversary Edition Expression 2!

If you follow my blog, you have likely seen it before but I am posting a direct link to my entry to make it easier for you to vote without having to sort through all of the entries to find mine.  Here's the link with a picture of my project:

Altered Chocolate Box Click to go directly to the voting page)


I really would appreciate your votes.  This new Expression 2 has been updated and  does so much more than my original Expression.  Until I find a new job, there is no way I'll be able to afford to buy this this machine so I thought I would try to win one.  Thank you in advance for helping me achieve this dream!

Hugs,
Anniebee

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Challenge #11 - Something Vintage

Good morning, everybody!  I have good and bad news to report today. First the bad news... my computer crashed Friday evening and I spent the entire weekend restoring it! What a pain in the patootie! That has never happened to me before so I had no idea what all was involved in doing a complete restore. Thank goodness I had saved almost everything on a backup drive that updates automatically on a periodic basis. It just takes a very long time to reformat the computer hard drives and then to reload software, like MS Office, internet/virus protection and photo editing software, not to mention restoring all the files. But I'm back up and running faster and smoother than before so perhaps it was a blessing in disguise.

Now, for the good news! Challenge #11 at Amber's Crafts and Stuff starts today and this week the theme is "Something Vintage". My project was actually completed a while back, when I made a similar box for a blog hop I participated in. This is not really vintage in the antique or shabby chic sense of the word but more in style and feel.  This was a "naked" wooden box I found in the dollar bin at Michael's several months ago. They had only two left of different shape and I was intrigued by them enough to buy them both.  I thought they would make wonderful altered projects but I had no idea how they would look when I was finished. There was no definitive plan for them until I actually started working on them. There was just something about these little boxes that screamed vintage to me.  I wanted them to be similar in feel but very different in color and overall appearance yet both had to have that old-fashioned feeling to them. If you'd like to see the first one, you can find it here. I haven't made a card to match the second box but that may be something I'll do in the future.

This box is much brighter in color with it's gold, orange and hot pink. It "feels" kind of art deco to me and it, like the first one, is the perfect size to hold a pair of reading glasses. I think it would look very nice on a bedside table or sitting on a coffee or end table in a shabby chic bedroom or sun room, even though it's not really shabby chic itself. The curly ribbon doesn't lend itself to the vintage theme but I hope you can overlook that minor detail.  Hee hee!


Here's my recipe:

naked balsa wood box from Michael's dollar bin (I think these were discontinued so you might have trouble finding more of them)

DP from the Que Sera Sera Specialty Paper stack by K and Company

paper flowers from Prima

tiny silk flowers from Michael's bridal section (these are sold in little bunches and I cut them apart to use the individual blossoms)

organza ribbon and gold elastic cord from Michael's

golden plastic gem attached to the wooden button closure (I can't remember where I got it but you can find them almost anywhere)

tiny gold braid trim from Jo-Ann

brads used as centers on the paper flowers by Recollections

blue/violet Crystal Glitter by Mark Enterprises (I don't recall where I bought this either but any crystal type ultra fine glitter will give the same effect.  I used this on the flowers and leaves to give them that pretty sugared appearance.

I really like how it turned out but I would love to know what you think. I'll do my best to begin posting those new cards I promised you last week.  Between the computer crash and my job hunting, there hasn't been time. I have spent the past 2 days interviewing for jobs with agencies and potential employers. I have a phone interview at 11 this morning but if I can get the photos taken and edited, I may even have a second post later today. Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope I have inspired you in some way.

Happy crafting!
Anniebee

Thursday, May 19, 2011

A Huge Thank You!

I just want to give a big shout out today to Sarah at The Pink Cricut and to Marlo at Contain Ya Crafts. I was fortunate to be a winner during the Super Secret Birthday Blog Hop in honor of Sarah's birthday which took place on May 5th and my prize was the completely awesome Scrap'n Easel by Contain Ya Crafts!!! I had been wanting this tool since the day it became available and I even told Marlo at Contain Ya Crafts that I was going to win one! You can imagine my surprise when I actually DID win one... and the best part is that I won it just before my own birthday on the 15th. Happy Birthday to me! Well, my new Scrap'n Easel arrived today and let me tell you that this thing is so well designed and well made that I can definitely understand why it's such a popular item.  I love it already and I haven't even had a chance to use it yet. I just unpacked it and attached the velcro tabs so I haven't taken any pictures of it but you'll be seeing it very often on my blog displaying some of my projects. In case some of you don't know about this wonderful product, here's what it looks like:



Each of the two sides is 12" x 12" and it folds up into a sort of folder that will hold a fair sized stack of scrapbook paper in the middle so you can carry it with you to scraps and crafting parties. You can use it to elevate and slant your work surface while you're working on those projects, thereby reducing the fatigue we all experience from sitting at the crafting table for hours on end. It can also be used to display your work for the purpose of photographing it. You can watch a short video about the Scrap'n Easel on the Contain Ya Crafts site. If you happen to visit their blog or Facebook page, be sure and tell them I sent you. Why can't I think of something like this??? LOL!

Anyway..... my sincerest thanks to Sarah and Marlo!  You ladies made my birthday wish come true and I appreciate you both very much.

As a side note, I have been working on lots of new cards that I'll be posting in the coming days so look for those starting this weekend.  In the meantime, have a wonderful evening and happy crafting!

Anniebee

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Cricut-tastic Award


I received two of these awards a day apart!  The first one came  from Dusti at  Scrappin With Cricut and the second one from Erlinda at Stampin' With Erlinda. Please check out their blogs, they both have a lot of wonderful projects and are a great source of inspiration .  Thank you, Dusti and Erlinda!  You ladies rock!

Here are the rules for the Cricut-tastic Award:

Your blog has been deemed Cricut-tastic. Wear this badge proudly on your blog and share it with your friends. Share this award with 10 people who you think have Cricut-tastic blogs. You also have to tell 5 cricut related things about yourself.

Here are the 5 cricut-tastic things about myself:

1. Card making is my favorite thing to do with my Cricut.
2. I bought the Baby Bug first and a day later took it back and exchanged it for the Expression.
3. I would love to have an Imagine and an E2.
4. My newest favorite Cricut cartridge is Florals Embellished.  It's #1 on my wish list now.
5. I wish I could move to Utah and work for Provo Craft!

Now I would like to pass along this award to the following bloggers:



1.  Amber's Crafts and Stuff
2.  Craft-Junk
3.  J and J's Yummy Creations
4.  Yuveria's Crafty Eden
5.  JanJan808Kkreate
6.  Moon Scrapper
7.  CA Scrapper
8.  Creations by Mommy
9.  Glitter, Stamps and Paper, Oh My! 
10.Scrappin KY Momma


Stop by and visit their blogs and you will see why I think they are Cricut-tastic!!!

Comments are always welcome and greatly appreciated.  Happy crafting!



Anniebee

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Another Tuesday and a New Mini Album

Well, I'm much later getting this posted than I intended to be but I hope you'll enjoy seeing it anyway.  I was a little lazy today and didn't take the photos until this afternoon, after which I had to edit and optimize them for the Internet.  My project for today is a new mini album that I made for my grandson, Marshall, who will celebrate his 10th birthday on the 30th of this month.  As I have mentioned before, I am a little challenged when it comes to creating masculine projects but I think I pulled this one off okay.  This little mini album was created from recycled toilet paper spools and leftovers from my scrap box.  It was super fun and easy to make.  I had seen these on You Tube and several paper crafting blogs and had been wanting to try one.  Since toilet paper spools, or rollers as some people like to call them, are found in everyone's home, why not use them to make something cute?  I think it turned out pretty cute myself but I'd like to know what you think.  Because it's for a rough and tumble little boy, I didn't use a lot of special techniques or fancy materials on it.  I knew it wouldn't make a bit of difference to him and he's really the only one who matters.

I have to add my usual disclaimer here.  This post is graphic intensive so get comfortable before you start viewing the photos! LOL
















 


I made a card to go with the mini album and I really like the way it turned out. I added the googly eyes to give these little robots more character.  The one on the front of the card is also on an Action Wobble so it wiggles back and forth.  Love those Action Wobbles... they make a cute card exceptional!




 Here's the inside of the card.  The sentiment is by Stampabilities and is colored with Copic markers.  All of the papers with the exception of the base card are from DCWV's Glitter and All About Boys paper stacks.


 I hope you enjoyed this little project and that my grandson loves it!  I'll try to have another project or two ready before the end of the week but we'll see how it goes with the job search.  Some weeks I have more spare time than others.  Thanks for dropping by.  Have a wonderful week!

Happy crafting!
Anniebee

DCWV is having another giveaway!

Erin at DCWV Diary is hosting a big giveaway to celebrate National Scrapbooking Day.  Click on the link below to enter, but you'd better hurry because today is the last day!

http://dcwvinc.blogspot.com/2011/05/happy-nsd-giveaways-galore.html

Thanks for stopping by.  I'll have a new project to post tomorrow and I'd love for you to see it.

Happy crafting,
Anniebee

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

My first digi card

Good morning, all!

I hope you are having a fantastic week so far.  I know I have been MIA for a while and I apologize for that.  As I mentioned in my last post, I had a couple of large projects that required my attention and although I'm not completely finished with the largest of the two, I managed to squeeze in the time to prepare my entry for this week's challenge at Ambers Crafts and Stuff.  To coincide with Mother's Day, our projects were created with a special lady in mind.  Amber also asked us to include a digital stamp by our wonderful sponsor for this week, DZDoodles.  I used a combination of two of the designs we were given to use, the adorable little girl and the flower pot.

I colored the images with Copics.  Because I was unable to participate in last week's challenge, this is the first time I have used a digi in my project.  It was much easier to do than I had anticipated and now I'm hooked so you can look forward to seeing more of them in my future projects.




Recipe:

Digi stamps - DZDoodles
Base card - Paper Studio
DP - K and Company's Jubilee Collection
Lacy square - Nestibilities
Lace border - Cuttlebug die
Coloring - Copic markers (sorry, I didn't write down the colors I used)
Sentiment - Stampendous
Paper roses -  Recollections Boutique Fleur

I will enter this design in the following challenges:

Diva by designs - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by today!  I hope you all have a fabulous Mother's Day this coming Sunday.  Saturday I'm traveling to Austin for my nephew's wedding and driving back the same day so Sunday I'll probably be sleeping all day! LOL

Anniebee