A Couple New Cards!

I created these both to send to Allie for a contest:)

They are a St. Patrick's Day shamrock card that has a hidden note under the heart (I got the pattern from Paper Crafts Magazine web site) and the Bunny is just adorable for Easter!

Anna Banana

Grandma turns 90!

Tomorrow is my Grandma's 90th birthday!  I made a card that is kind of a play on words (thanks to my dad!).

Part of the family calls Grandma "chickie"  I have no idea how she got the nickname ... I will have to ask her!  

Anyway, the inside of this card says "Which came first?  The "Chickie" or the egg? ... Happy 90th Birthday!".

I know it's corny, but I think Grandma expects that from us by now!!

Anna Banana

Bill's Sketch Challenge #1

Happy Leap Day!

I figured I'd get something in today, since it only comes around every 4 years!

Yesterday, my good friend Allie told me about this really nifty blog My Creative Corner.

Dawn's husband, Bill, designed a sketch ...which is totally cool!  They are having a contest with the sketch, so I thought I would enter!!

I came up with this design last night around 1am.  I always have my best ideas after midnight!

It is green patterned paper (I have no idea where it's from) in a stripe design with baby pink and lime green card stock on a black card base.  

I used the dragonfly from SU's Nature's Wonders set (that I won on e-bay!!) stamped in black and colored it in with my Lyra watercolor crayons in greens and pinks.  

I added some hand doodling around the edges of the pink papers (inspired by Allie).

I ripped and inked (palette - viridian leaf) the edge of the dragonfly, and then added Prisma Glitter to the wings.  

I finished it off by using Czek Cut Crystals in Perdot instead of rhinestones, to give it a bunch of extra bling factor!

I will be in Jamaica when the winner is announced, but if I DO win I have my contact info on my web page (link at the side - The Creative Castle) in the Royal Messenger section!

Wish me luck!

Anna

New Card

While I was going through some of my unmounted stamps and putting them on Cling Foam so I can use them with my clear acrylic blocks,  I came across this cute one and had to make a card up right away!

In case you can't tell, the entire toilet is covered in crystal glitter!

(Yes, I AM the Glitter Queen!)

Anna

Directions for the Heart Card

Monica requested some directions for the heart card. so I thought that maybe some more of you would like them as well.

Here is how I did it:

1. I found some scrolly clip art in Corel Draw and fiddled around with it for several hours to make the main image on the hearts plus the images on the edges of the hearts.  (That was the hardest part as I had to manipulate a LOT of pieces to make the images and then carefully color each one on the computer).

2. Create a heart shape and place the clip art images on it and give the heart a solid background color.

3. Create a border for the bottom, made out of the clip art from the hearts, and choose a font for "love you".

4. Print out the hearts and border on hi-quality glossy paper.

5.  Make a white card base and put a base patterned blue paper on the card.

6. Cut out all the printed pieces and lay out on the card.  Starting with the largest layer flat against the patterned paper, layer upward,  putting a pop dot on each layer after stacking on TOP of the layer before it.  Support the top (smallest) heart with pop dots that reach the base of the card from the point of the heart.  In this case there were 3 dots stacked on top of each other.

7. Place the banner at the bottom of the card using 1 pop dot thickness so it's not flat against the card, but weaves in with the points of the hearts.

8. Hand deliver this card ... it would get smashed in the mail unless it was mailed in a sturdy box where it can't get crushed.

*NOTE*  You can create a similar card using either die cut hearts from a series of stackable dies or hand cutting hearts if you are not crafty with your computer.  To decorate, you can rubber stamp images on them and hand color with pencils, markers or other mediums.

I've been a little creative!

My friend Allie dropped a subtle hint that she wanted me to enter a contest she was having on her blog (Scrap 'n Cook).

So I got my creative juices flowing and came up with this card.

The coolest thing about it is each heart is layered on top of the next one with pop dots and the top heart (pink) is 3 dots high from the card front!!

Happy New Year and stuff

So I missed posting at Christmas (all of December, actually!), I missed New Year, and January is over in 2 days!

Where does the time go?

I sat down to craft last night for the first time in ages.  I went over to my neighbor's house and made some sympathy cards and a few valentines cards.

This is the Valentine card that I made for her to keep :)

I used her stamp set from SU called Nature's Wonders and I colored it in with the watercolor crayons in pinks and greens.

I just loved how soft the colors were even tho they are bright.

Anna Banana

The Cutest Little Stamps!!

Two weeks ago I went to my local Rubber Stamp expo.  They had the same old vendors that I had seen over and over for the last 5 years, but this time there was this brand new booth... DeNami Designs ...with the cutest little images!

Ok - I have to be honest - the prices were a shock compared to the prices I have been spoiled with by my TAC unmounted stamps... For the two stamps on the Christmas Tree card it cost me $19, and the penguin stamps - again, just two stamps, cost me over $16 PLUS TAX!!

I can get whole sets of stamps with multiple images for those prices and I'd get a bonus free stamp too with TAC ... But I just HAD to have these ... here look and see why...

Craft Show was a Bust :(

Well - the craft show this past weekend was a bust.  It wasn't the kind of craft show I was expecting - it was actually a vendor fair - which meant that lots of different companies were there like Party Lite (who was right next to us), Homemade Gourmet, Two Sisters, Stampin' Up, The Body Shop At Home, etc. 

I was hoping that there would be more craft vendors mixed in, but no such luck.  Neither of us got any orders for stamps and after all was said and done with booth fees and sales tallied, I lost $8 plus gas to get there.  

The good thing was that I had fun with my friend Trisha hanging out at the booth all afternoon.

Here are some pics of the show:

Where did October go?!?!?!

Apparently I am a total slacker!!  October just got away from me!  Let's catch up...

We adopted a dog on October 9th from the local humane society - her name there was Dorito and we thought it was so cute that we kept it, but we call her Dori for short :)

I have been creating a few more things here and there for the craft show - which is this Saturday. I'll let you know how things go... hopefully I will sell out of everything!