Ho Ho Holiday Crafts!!

I gave it a try on my own and came up with this wonderful celebration of the Sun for the upcoming Winter Solstice when the sun starts getting higher in the sky every day.

Blessed Solstice!

Anna Banana

Ho Ho Holiday Crafts!!

I took a class at Eclectica .. a bead shop in Brookfield, and learned to make a Victorian style beaded ornament cover.

This is what I made in the class ... it took about 3-1/2 hours to make...

I had a great time making it.... I think I will be making these next year as my Christmas gifts!

Enjoy!

Anna Banana

Ho Ho Holiday Cards!!

This Snowman Trio with their caps and scarves makes me want to brew up a cup of cocoa and get under some blankets!

From the Dragonflies and Dreams Make and Takes

Ho Ho Holiday Cards!!

A cheery Holiday Home and sweet snuggly snowmen make this step card hard to resist!

From the Dragonflies and Dreams Make and Takes

Ho Ho Holiday Cards!!

A cute little Hedgehog! I suppose if you color it differently the holly could pass for mistletoe and he could be parading around for kisses!

From the Dragonflies and Dreams Make and Takes

Ho Ho Holiday Cards!!

The sparkly snow is super simple to make.

Make your cut out, place clear packing tape on the inside of the card with the sticky side facing out and sprinkle with glitter!!

From the Dragonflies and Dreams Make and Takes

Ho Ho Holiday Cards!!

Simple and elegant, I LOVE how this cardinal turned out!

From the Dragonflies and Dreams Make and Takes

Ho Ho Holiday Cards!!

A few weekends ago I went to Dragonflies and Dreams and made some cards at the Make and Take. Really liked how these turned out!

The next few days of posts will be the cards from then! Happy Holidays!

XOXO

Anna Banana

This first card I made for Mom and Dad, since Mom loves Nutcrackers...

Holiday Earrings

I am expanding my creative outlets!!

I have decided to take up making earrings!

I started with these Christmas Trees and Snowmen for the holidays... They are made from Genuine Swarvoski Crystal Beads.

You can see how sparkly they are with all the refracted light on the board behind the trees and snowmen.

Forest of Trees

Snowmen

Hope you enjoy!

XOXO

Anna Banana

Trying to get back into the swing of things...

I have been in a creative funk since I lost my job in May. I have made a total of three cards in 5 months :(

Trying to jump-start my creativity with this cute little vampire.

I put some crystal lacquer on the "bloody drip" border so it really looks wet like blood .. pretty cool in person.

Drop me a note and let me know what you think ... I am not sure if anyone is even supscribed to my posts any more cause I was gone for so long!

XOXO

Anna Banana

Sorry Everyone

ATTENTION:

PLEASE ONLY MAKE COMMENTS TO ME IN ENGLISH!

I do not speak any foreign languages, and if you feel the need to post something in your native language, post it to someone who speaks it.

I have had to turn on comment verification.

I keep getting spammed with oriental characters.

No clue what they are saying, but I think it might be a spam bot.

I will leave this up until the spam goes away.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Have a fantastic day.

Anna Banana

A bit crabby? I Peench! I Peench!

I sent this little crab to my friend Karyn a bit back. It's a little joke between us :)

I just thought he was so cheerful!!

Very summery and a lot of fun to make with a bit of bling for bubbles, some striped paper and a touch of ribbon~

Anna Banana

Spotlight Flowers

I made this card last month at Dragonflies and Dreams. I really like how the flowers are popped up and bordered by the black... it makes their subtle colors even prettier and more delicate looking.

XOXO

Anna Banana

Josephine the Gypsy

Meet Josephine....

I had to have this cute gal when I saw her ... especially since she bears my middle name!!

She is so pleased with herself and her love potion, and can you blame her?

The background paper is wrapping paper and was pearly white with black flocking, and I really wanted to have pink, so I swiped a pink ink pad across the paper until it was the color I wanted.

I put the same pad to use and sponged the edges to give it a slight distressed look.

She is colored with prismacolor pencils and blended with odorless mineral spirits. I put a bit of glitter on each of the gold coins on her belt and skirt edge and also on the hearts for the potion.

I glittered the pink flower embellishment to tie everything together.

Here is some love to share with you all!!

XO

Anna Banana

Halloween in May?

Why not ... it is certainly cool enough!!

I was inspired by a friend so I made this card ... sometimes the smallest things can get my creativity back on track!

I just love the colors and the magical feel of this witch.

The black lace, I coated with glue and dipped in jet black glitter ... very sparkly, but not obtrusive. Also, the diagonal swatch of patterned paper has raised purple flocking on it ... it is not just printed, and the texture is rich and luxurious.

Please enjoy!

Anna Banana

Sweet Pea Card

When Karyn came to visit, she brought me a really cool stamp...

The image is from SweetPea Stamps and I just LOVE it!!

I colored this with a combination of Copic markers and Prismacolor pencils.

Rhinestones on the flowers and on the left corner of the card bring out the red of her cape.

The dress and glove are sparkly on the swirls with stickles.

I just ADORE the larger than life cat in the background.

XOXO

Anna Banana

Happy Easter!!

This is the last Easter card I made from the make and takes ... I just loved the background paper - made the bunny really pop!

They had us use color pencils and a stumps blender and blending solution for this one - and I think it worked out very nice to make the colors bright, but softer than markers.

Here you can see it is a gate fold card - I never do these - only because I forget about them when I am scoring my paper - I go into automatic mode when I get to the base!!

Here is a close up of the bunny and the glittery accents I added to him with stickles.

Overall, really cute!!

Have a Great Day!!

XOXO Anna Banana

Flowers and Springtime Plaid

This is another card from the Dragonflies and Dreams make and takes.

This was a really simple one everything is always cut and these were layered and embellished.

All I had to do was stick the layers on top of eachother and stamp and color the image. the bow was tied and the punch was embellished with the rhinestones already too - I think including the coloring, this card took me a whopping 5 minutes to assemble.

Here is a close up of the flowers - we used one pink marker and a blender pen to get the varying shades, then there was yellow for the centers and the green. I covered parts with stickles for just enough sparkle!

Anna Banana

Lily Birthday card

Simple, yet elegant, this is another card from the make and takes at Dragonflies and Dreams. The out of the box technique popped up really gives nice dimension to this card.

Colored with markers.

XOXO Anna Banana

Chick Card

We just did Make and Takes at Dragonflies and Dreams this past weekend and here is the card I am sending my Nephew for his first Easter ... Isn't it adorable???

It is made of the round scalloped nestability and is just paper piecing - so cute and sooo easy!

The orange was accomplished by sponging on ink from an ink pad.

I think he will get a kick out of it - he's 1 ... and if he doesn't, I am sure my sister will! :)

The inside was colored with markers and as per usual, I have no idea who the stamp was by.

Hope you enjoy!

Anna Banana

The Dove Girl

I got this fantastic stamp set from Kraftin Kimmie Stamps a few weeks ago and I made this bright and cheery card. While it is officially spring, we still have snow on the ground and it is chilly enough for a coat and scarf!

I had a cute dove cutout charm that fit perfectly with the image so I tied it into the ribbon on the side of the card. She was colored with prismacolor pencils and blended with stumps and mineral spirits. There is glitter on her barrettes and the doves and rhinestone details as buttons on the coat.

Charm Detail:

I hope you enjoy!

Anna Banana

Sassy Cheryl DT Call entry

Over at Sassy Cheryl's they are having a Design Team Call.

Here is my entry:

I had a GREAT time with this adorable gal - she is so happy to be doing her dance!!

Recipe:

Image: Sassy Cheryl Stamps

Card Stock: from Archivers

Patterned Paper: Small Floral-Glitter by Lollia

Tools: Scalloped Oval Nestabilities, Prismacolor Pencils, Chalk, Stickles, Pop Dots

Embellishments: Yellow flower by Prima Floral Embellishments, Baby blue roses from the bridal department, Green Pin from Chloe's Closet (Making Memories), Ribbon and Lace from my scrap bins

I hope you get inspired from this image - she just screams spring to me and I can't wait for all this snow to melt here in Wisconsin!!

Anna Banana

Paper Makeup Stamps Challenge M4TW15 Sparkle/Bling

Well, Paper Makeup Stamps is hosting a "Sparkle/Bling" challenge! This is right up my alley!!!

I took a white heart doiley from Michaels candy department, covered it with glue and coated it with hot pink glitter!!

I layered that on a shimmery iridescent pink paper that I can't capture correctly on film!

I added some rhinestones around the pink blossoms and I colored some white heart lace with a pink marker so it matched everything else.

I found the "Be Mine" metal sentiment and affixed it to the heart with pink heart brads.

I colored the pretty little Tilda with hearts in her apron in all different shades of pinks and put some crystal glitter on the red hearts she has collected.

I just LOVE how girlie this card turned out!!

Unfortunately, I do not yet have any Paper Makeup Stamps yet ... but I have made a wish list :)

Anna Banana

Card redo

Well, since I did NOT care for the Toby Cub I created a few days ago, I pulled off the image and replaced it with Princess Anya ... I am much happier with the card now ... What do you think?

Anna Banana

Hogs and Sketches Challenge #4

I took this adorable Flower Pig from Hambo Stamps and followed the sketch. I just Love how cute this card turned out. The muted spring colors are perfect with the paper flowers, pink lace, rhinestones and the touch of glitter I added to the dots on the patterned paper!

Enjoy .... Anna Banana

I remembered almost at the last minute that about the Hogs and Sketches challenge!!

The sketch this time looks like this:

The Greeting Farm relay cards

The Greeting farm was having a relay, as you read before, but apparently there was such a great response to this event that we crashed the servers!! I finished the last two cards that were eligible for the relay and I am going to make a final card using the last image they gave us either tomorrow or the next day.

In any case, here are Charlotte and Toby Cub...

Charlotte is a sassy lassy with her kinky curls and awesome fashion sense!

Well - I will be honest - Toby is just not my style... I struggled with this one, but in the end, I think it turned out ok. Oh - by the way, she is not white - it is a very very pale pink that the camera just washed out no matter what I did to it.

Anna Banana

Mrs. Clause

Mrs. Clause is thankful that she gets to go on Vacation in the Caribbean now!!

Wouldn't you have a big grin like that if you were about to go someplace nice, sunny and warm?

Mrs Clause is from The Greeting Farm's Xmas Sweeties set.

The fur on her hat and dress are puffed up liquid applique sprinkled with a little bit of glitter. I had a wooden snowflake just lying around and I sparkled it up and gave her a pretty embellishment! The coloring is once again my prismacolor pencils.

I have a pack of these pretty ornament hangers just sitting here in my craft room and I thought that it would be fun to hang a real ornament from it!! I think it works! But this would need to be sent in a box or hand delivered - the ornament can be hung right on your tree!

The silver ribbon is just a pretty little bit of sparkle to hold the ornament hanger on the card:)

Looking back on it now, I might have border punched the left side of the green paper for more interest, but it is what it is!

Simple, Cute, Fun!!

Anna Banana

More Blog Candy!

Over at A Latte Inkin' Fun, Mary is celebrating that she got onto the Farmer Design Team for The Greating Farm with some AWESOME Blog Candy!!!

Go check it out! I also have it linked it in my side bar, so you can find it easier:)

Anna Banana

Greeting Farm - TGF CHA RELAY Card 1

The Greeting Farm is doing a Relay while they are at the CHA!! Check it out ... It's a lot of fun and you still have a little time before you can't enter.

To start us off, they gave us this adorable image of Mer-Ian.

I printed him out right away and got to work...

I colored him in with my Copic markers and topped that off with Stickles in lime green and crystal.

I layered him on top of my oval and scalloped oval nesties, and I cuttlebugged the oval with the D'vine Swirl to make it look like ocean waves. I pop dotted Ian and the ovals so they have some really nice dimension. I also bent his tail so it looks like he is swimming right off the card!

My patterned papers are from Doodlebug and are layered on Archiver's cardstock.

My ribbon came from Michael's Dollar bin - it's by a company called Basic Basic.

I gave Ian a necklace of flatback swarovski crystals.

To finish off his underwater look, I used some colored seashells and some fake seaweed from Michael's floral pick isle :)

Had a great time making this handsome Merman!!

Anna Banana

Santa?? You are a month late!!

Well - Better late than never ... Right Santa?

This cute santa comes from The Greeting Farm's Xmas Sweeties set.

I did him up for my nephew's first Christmas. My sister thought it was adorable :)

I cuttlebug embossed the background with snowflakes and put some glitter here and there on the pattern to add sparkle as well as on his hat and the fur on his suit.

The green paper was from my scrap bin and came embossed... it added a nice dimension of texture.

I sewed a snowflake button onto a felt heart and glittered the edge so the heart would pop off of that red background.

Coloring is my Prismacolors.

It was easy and so cute!!

Anna Banana

Blog Candy!!

I have not entered any blog candy in quite some time, but I have found some really terrific blog candies while visiting some of my favorite blogs!

Give it a try!!

First is This super sweet candy from A Thousand Sheets of Paper - I just adore this sweet sprite!! Drawing open until January 30.

Amy at Mad 4 Creations is celebrating!!

Open til Midnight on Friday, Feb. 13 ... My Lucky Day!!

I can't believe how ADORABLE this owl and lamb are!! I just gotta get them!!

Dawn at All Pink Girl is being very generous with this FAB blog candy!

Open until January 27th.

Sharon at Gramma's House of Cards is celebrating 400 followers and 150,000 hits!! WOO HOO!!! Congrats!!!! This candy is open until January 30th.

A Challenge!

I have not been in my craft room with any regularity for the last 4 months, so today I decided to find a challenge sketch and see what I could do. Well, I started at noon and it took me until 1am, yes there was a 3 hour break, but it took me 10 hours to create this card. It's amazing how much effort it takes when you are out of practice!!

Even tho it took me a while to get back in the swing of things, I am really pleased with how this lovely lady turned out!

The challenge is from Sketch Saturday and I participated in this week's challenge #87.

The sketch that I followed looks like this:

Stamps: Maid Charlotte, Whiff of Joy

Ink: Tuxedo Black, Memento

Paper: DCWV Cardstock, Misc. Scrap Heart paper

Ribbon: Offray "kendra", Heart Lace

Tools: Odorless Mineral Spirits, Stumps, Prismacolor Pencils, Cuttlebug Embossing Folder- Floral Fantasy

Embellishments: Crystal Stickles, Jumbo Heart Brads by Spare Parts, Pop Dots, Flatback Swarovski Crystals, Prima Flowers, Metal "Princess" Ribbon Slider, Metal Heart photo corners, black pen

Anna Banana