Beautiful Dreamer - Scrapbook Page #1 for Artisan Award entry

Happy Sunday everyone!!!  Today I have to share with you the first of my scrapbook pages I entered for the Artisan Award Design Team contest by Stampin' Up!

The page is 12 x 12 and uses Basic Black as the main page color.  I pulled the colors for the page from the picture of my granddaughter, Alysha, and what she was wearing.

I just love this picture of her and how I seemed to capture her dreaming off into the future!  That's why I went with the butterflies and cloudy day embossing folder (now retired) to try to capture that.

The butterflies were cut with the Beautiful Wings embosslit and Beautiful Butterflies die.  The large butterfly was actually "double cut" with the two large half butterflies on the die to give you a double effect.  I hope that make sense!  I then topped it with the larger butterfly from the embosslit.

The scallops on the title are actually circles cut with the 1 1/4" circle punch and topped with rhinestones.  I finished off the page by shadowing the edges with the Whisper White craft pad.

I really like how this turned out!!!

Thanks for looking!!!

Stamped Blessings!!

Ann :)

Mardi Gras Mask - 3D Project #2 for Artisan Award Entry

Hello all!!!  Here is my second 3D project that I submitted for the Artisan Award Design Team contest.  It's a mardi gras mask.  I've had this idea in my head for the longest time, then SU! made one in October 2011 (I think!) and I TRIED to make one last year, but it didn't work.  Soooo, this year I rethunk my plan and this is what I came up with!

First, I found a bigger mask to work with than I did the first time.  And then, instead of trying to cover it with designer series paper (dsp), I covered it with our now retired More Amore fabric.  I was so happy that I got the words on here straight the first time!!!  I adhered it with Mod Podge.

I colored rhinestones with a black sharpie and outlined the eyes with them.  The Vanilla Flower trim (now retired) was colored with Real Red ink.  The paper doilies above the eyes were colored with Basic Black ink and just cut in half and glued onto the back.

To give the mask a little more height,  I cut some dsp from the neutrals stack and the rosette die.  I then adhered a large rhinestone at each of the scallops.

The rest is pretty much embellishments to help make it "look pretty"!

Thanks for looking!!

Stamped Blessing!!

Ann :)

Burlap Topiary - Artisan Award 3D project

Hello all!!!  I really must get back in the hang of posting on my blog!  I have so many creations to share, but it seems like life just gets in the way!

What I have to share with you today is a burlap topiary.  I made this project as one of the 3d items for the Artisan Award Design Team contest through Stampin' UP!  Unfortunately, I was not chosen as a finalist, but now I do get to show off my projects that I submitted!!

This is a double ball topiary, pre-made, that I cut flowers from the Fun Flowers die out of burlap.  I used four different shades of burlap, 2 dark shades and 2 vanilla shades.  The center of the flowers have smaller burlap flowers in contrasting colors and then centers cut from our now retired fabric.  All of the flowers were attached with straight pins and then covered with the flower centers so you can't see the pins.  I have NO idea how many flowers I cut, but I DO know that I had burlap dust everywhere!!!  And was sneezing my head off!!

The jar was painted with plain white craft acrylic paint that was tinted with Pool Party re-inker.  There is two coats inside to give it a nice thick coat.  I kept the embellishments outside simple, since I wanted the focus to be on the topiary.

Of all the projects I did, this one was my favorite.  And took me the longest to complete too!!  Probably about 3 full days if I added it all up, but it was worth it in the end, even if I didn't win.  I just hope to see it on display at convention.

Thanks for looking!!!'

Stamped Blessings!!

Ann :)

Aloha My Friends!!!

OK, I'm trying this again today!!  Back in March I was scheduled to go on a weekend stamping retreat with some friends I've met through Splitcoast Stampers.  It's actually an organized event for those of here in Michigan, and some who have since moved away, but come back just for this weekend.  That's how much fun we have!!

One of the things we have is a Creative Mojo Door Prize, which is optional to enter, but I always do because you always have exceptional items to choose from.  Our theme this year was Tropical, so I decided to use my retired "Hawaiian" dsp and went from there.  Just an FYI, most of the items I used on this projects are now retied, sorry.

I started with a stand alone photo frame that I bought after Christmas on clearance!  Can't beat that huh?  The front of the frame was covered in a glossy finish so I opted to use Mod Podge to attach the dsp to it.  It took three coats to finally get it to stick!!!  But I love the final result.

To cover the seam between the two dsp's, I used a strip of the Natural Cotton ribbon stitched to a piece of white tulle I had laying on my desk.  Makes think of the grass skirts the hula dancers wear.  To get it to stick I hot glued it on.

The photo mat layers are made up of Purely Pomegranate, Pumpkin Pie and Whisper White.  The Pomegranate and Pumpkin layers were distressed and white layer was sponged with Pumpkin ink.  A 4 x 6 picture will fit on here.  And since my fiance and I are planning a honeymoon in Hawaii, this frame will come in handy afterall!!

The flowers are the retired crocheted, felt and pretties ones.  The brads are non-SU!  The letters are "Thickers".  I wrapped a piece of linen thread around the bottom and the picture will slip right under it.

I hope you find some inspiration in my creation today!!!

Happy Stamping and Thanks for stopping by!!!

Ann  :)

Where has the time gone???

I guess the saying "Time flies when you're having fun" really is true!!!  WOW!  I didn't realize that I haven't blogged in soooo long.  But so much has happened in my life that blogging just didn't become the priority I used to make it.

For one, I have met the most wonderful, caring, handsome and loving man.  We have been together for 1 1/2 years now and we are engaged!!!  Hoping for a summer wedding, but we'll see.  I also moved out of my apartment and into a wonderful new home.  (Not brand new, but new for us!!)  Much more room to move, play and stamp!!!  But, you didn't come here to read about my all that.  I haven't quit stamping and I have lots of projects to show and that's what I know you want to see!!!

I'm still an SU! demo, 8 years now!!!  This year they are have an "open call", so to speak, for all demos to submit projects to be considered for display stampers for the many events that SU! puts on for all the demos all over the world!  Of course, there are certain things they are looking for:  3 cards, 1 scrapbook page and 2 3-D items.  So this post is all about the items I created to submit to be considered for a display stamper.

The first card uses Very Vanilla as a card base, French Foliage and the 2013 SAB set Vintage Verses.  This card actually came about from leftover pieces of from my stamp club where we did the emboss resist technique.  The colors used are Crumb Cake, Cajun Craze, Pumpkin Pie and Old Olive.

This is a top fold card, so I cut a small slit to run the linen thread through.  The embossed pieces were punched out with the 1" square and Old Olive back with the postage stamp punch.  These are all up on dimensionals.

The sketch came from the Jan/Feb 2013 Paper Crafter's magazine.

The second card uses a Crumb Cake card base, Artistic Etchings, That's the Ticket and Lovely Little Labels sets.  Again, I had the leftover honeycomb Lucky Limeade piece and just cut it to what I wanted.  Since we don't have a hexagon punch, yet, I ran the Tea for Two dsp through the same eb folder and then cut the pieces out that I wanted by hand.  The strip of Champagne glimmer paper came from my stash too!

The ticket stamps were done on Melon Mambo dsp in Melon Mambo and images from the Lovely Little Labels set were stamped in Early Espresso, as was the Eiffel Tower.  The tickets are held together with an antique brad and one from Artisan Embellishment Kit.

Some distressing with new distressor tool, piercing using the oval mat and Crumb Cake ink to "dirty" it up a little, and viola!!

The third card uses Crumb Cake as a card base and the Friendly Phrases set.  Very Vanilla was through with the Stripes folder and Pool Party was put through the Delicate Designs scallop folder.  Both were "dirtied" up using Crumb Cake.

The flowers were cut from burlap and the More Amore fabric using the Fun Flowers Bigz L die.  Tied them all together with a Naturals button (flipped over) using the Pool Party baker's twine.  The flower is up on dimensionals.   A strip of Pool Party seam binding softens it up a bit along with the pearls.

The scrapbook page is 12x12 and uses Pink Pirouette as the base.  I pulled the colors from granddaughter's pic!!  I used Soft Suede, Very Vanilla, Lucky Limeade and Fan Fair dsp.  The stamp set is Bloomin' Wonderful from 2013 SAB.

The "Love" tickets also come from the Artisan Embellishments Kit and the rosettes are cream, but can be colored with the ink pads!!  Cool, huh?  I used Rose Red on here.  The flowers were off stamped 2 and 3 times to keep them faint.  The butterflies were punched using the new Bitty Butterfly punch.  And LOVE that two tone ribbon on here: Pink Pirouette/Rose Red!!!

My first 3-D item is a photo holder.  I saw something similar in my local super grocery store, and thought I can do that with my SU! stuff!  And, I was able to upcycle/recycle all that chipboard that comes with some of the dsp we get I've been hoarding!!!

I used the Fan Fair dsp and went with the sheet that already had the images on them.  However, I also used the Daring Adventure set and overstamped on lot of it too!  The Letter It alpha stamps were embossed in clear ep, after stamping in Basic Gray ink and Versamark.  I then grunged them up with Crumb Cake.  The photo holder is what I like the best.  I used two heavy magnets which will be the "holder" for the photo.

The Silver designer button was glued on with Tombo, as was the back magnet to the chipboard on the photo holder and the middle layer.  I was worried they might not "connect" after that, but no worries there!!!  Again, using some scraps I had on my table, the Natural cotton ribbon is stitched to plain white tulle and gathered and the photo will just slip under it.  When I find the right pic for this, I'll post another photo.

I used an old shoebox cover as the base to hold it up and it works perfectly!  I did put strips of Island Indigo around the outer edges of the cover just to help pretty it up.

 My second 3-D project is a mobile.  Not sure how I came up with idea, but as spring starts to come to 

Michigan I was watching the birds outside and it just hit me.

I used the Elegant Bird Bigz die and more of that lovely chipboard I've been hoarding!!  (Don't throw it away!!!!)  The birds are covered with the Flirtatious designer fabric and then I used my Melon Mambo marker around the edges to cover the chipboard.  The wings are covered in Whisper White.  For the front of them I ran them through the Perfect Polka dots eb folder.  Silver glass glitter edges each of the wings to help capture the light.  These were attached with dimensionals.

The "base" of the mobile is a grapevine wreath and I used the Melon Mambo striped organdy to tie it together.  The birds are attached to the wreath using nylon thread.  What fun that was to use!!!!  But, I really wanted them to seem like they were flying and any other type of thread wouldn't give that illusion.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

I hope you like my projects I have to show you today and believe me I many more to show from now on!!!  And, I hope that SU! likes them too!!!

Take care and have a wonderful day!!!

Ann

XOXOXO

Stampin' Up! Convention 2011 was awesome!!!!!

Hello all!!!  I know it's been a while since I've been on here, but I just got all caught up in getting ready for convention, then going and now I'm back home!  My how time truly does fly when you are having fun!!!

Convention this year was a blast!!!  Shelli spoiled us way beyond any year that I have been there and I can't wait to see how this new year plays out!  The new catalog is FANTABULOUS!!!!!!!   And the stamp sets we received are just awesome!  And the Holiday Mini coming is filled with even more wonderful new stuff!!!!  Have you heard we will have our own scoring tool - Simply Scored???  Can't wait to order that!!!

Here's some pics of convention to give you a taste of what went on:

My friend Brandy and I at Momento Mall.  We drove out from Michigan!!!

The theme this year was "Grow".

That is Rich Jutkins on stage, he is the President of SU!

Brandy & I during General Session.

Brandy, Chrissie, Lisa and I at the Garden Party on Wednesday night.

We had sooooo much fun!!!!  And the drive from Michigan to Salt Lake was not bad at all!!!  You could be there next year with me too!  They have an awesome sign-up special right now.  If you have any questions, let me know.  I would love to share the fun and excitement with you too!!!

Happy Stamping!!!

~~~Ann~~~

A Thank You Pear - CS40S

Hello all!!!  Wow two posts in two days!  Well, over on the Creative Sketches blog it's Thursday and time for another sketch!

The sketch this week made me stop and think for a minute and I wasn't quite sure what I was I going to do!  But once I looked at my dsp and thought of the new stamps I wanted to ink up, it just fell into place from there!  Don't you just love it when that happens?? :)

The card base is Whisper White, layered with Poppy Parade and a piece from the Pocket Full of Posies dsp.  Now, I have to admit when I first looked at this dsp in our pre-order period, I wasn't all that thrilled.  I mean I like retro and funky, but this seemed even a little funky for me!  But, I ordered to give it a try and I have to say I am glad that I did.  I've been cutting into it like crazy!

The center panel is Pear Pizzazz layered with WW.  I stamped the pear from one of the new hostess exclusive sets, Faith in Nature.  I used black staz on and then watercolored with the different stamp pad lids.  I really like how my pear turned out!  Not sure how much you can see, but I spritzed it with my Soft Suede marker after.  The sentiment is stamped in Poppy And a piece of linen thread is also wrapped around it.

The double ribbon strips are punched from So Saffron and then pearls are attached.  The entire center panel is is up on dimensionals.

Enjoy!!!

Happy Stamping!!!

~~~~Ann~~~

GCA #137 - Buy Anything New Lately???

Hello all!!!  Yes, I seem to be behind the eight ball lately!  Leaving for convention next week and I spent the entire weekend working on my swaps to get ready.  Besides doing the normal things like laundry, starting to pack, buying groceries and dealing with a totally annoying (non-life threatening) family drama.  My friend who is going out to convention with me and I, are driving out to Salt Lake City!!!!  Are we crazy you ask??  Maybe, but we are going to see how it goes!  We've traveled several times before and do it fine together.  I'm just excited to be going!

So, in reference to the new catalog year with Stampin' Up!, have you seen it?  I love this catalog and think it just may be one of my faves.  I'm trying very hard to resist buying anything from the catalog until after convention.  We did have a pre-order period of sneak peek products and that is what I have to show you today.  Two card, actually!!  So I'm going to keep the descriptions short.

Both of the cards use one of the new In-Colors - Pool Party!  Think this is my new fave!!  They also use Not Quite Navy, Wild Wasabi and WW.

The first card uses the new Pennant Parade set along with the co-ordinating Pennant Punch.This is a double punch that gives you both the scalloped one and the smaller layered pennant.  The "Thank U" is in the set.  The dsp is from the new set of "Just Add Cake".  White baker's twine was used to string the pennant's "together".

The second card uses the Touch of Kindness set from the current Summer mini.  New to me since I just ordered it!  It is the most delightful set, too!  I watercolored the birdbath and such and then on the water drops I added some of smooch paint, but you can't see it very well.  The belly of the kitty is paper pieced.  One other brand new item this year is the Lace Ribbon border punch.  OMG!!!!  I'm in love!!!

Upload your creation to either your blog or to an online gallery and post a link to your creation to this blog entry by July 9, 2011 at 12 midnight. I will choose the winner the next day. If you upload your card to SCS, PaperCraft Planet, Stampin' Addicts, Stampin' Connection (for SU! demos) or Stamp TV, please put GCA137 in your keywords. That way everyone can see all of the wonderful creations at once!


Even if you can't make the deadline, PLEASE feel free to participate in the challenges and upload your creations at any time. I would love to see it!

Happy Stamping!!!!

~~~Ann~~~~ 

GCA #136 - The Colors of America!

Hello all!!!  Did you think I forget?  Had a stamp class today and finished cleaning up.  Always have fun spending time with my stampin ladies.

A week from tomorrow will be July 4th.  And for those in America, that means lost of celebrating and honoring the colors of our country.  So the challenge for this week is to use the colors of:

RED
WHITE
BLUE

That's it.  No special focus on images or anything, just use the above colors on your project and have fun!  I'll have my sample up in just a bit.

Upload your creation to either your blog or to an online gallery and post a link to your creation to this blog entry by July 2, 2011 at 12 midnight. I will choose the winner the next day. If you upload your card to SCS, PaperCraft Planet, Stampin' Addicts, Stampin' Connection (for SU! demos) or Stamp TV, please put GCA136 in your keywords. That way everyone can see all of the wonderful creations at once!



Even if you can't make the drawing deadline, PLEASE feel free to participate in the challenges and upload your creations at any time. I would love to see it!

Happy Stamping!!!!


~~~Ann~~~~ 

Do Not Open Till....

Hello all!!!!  Thursday means another sketch over at the Creative Sketches blog.  But this week is the added the twist of also making your card a holiday card!!!  Any holiday will do, I just chose to make a Christmas card.  Never to early to get started on those!

I started with a Cherry Cobbler base, top folded, and layered with a piece of Deck the Halls dsp.  I also used the Deck the Halls fabric for my "ribbon", which I actually tied all the way around the card front!  (That means inside too, which I rarely do.)


The sketch shows the front panel straight, but I slightly tipped it once I picked out my stamp set to use.  The set I used on here is Winter Post and will be found in the new 2011 - 2012 Idea Book & Catalog due out July 1st!

What is hard to see in the photo is the piece on the smaller Cherry Cobbler panel.  This was actually sprayed with the gold Smooch Spritz onto Whisper White and dried.  It does curl it up as it's drying, but I was able to straighten it out and I did use the Tombow glue to adhere it.  Then I knew it was going to stay down!  This was actually left from another idea that didn't pan out.  I also spritzed the Soft Suede marker over some areas before stamping the postmark in Cherry Cobbler.

The couple were stamped in brown staz on and water-colored with the ink from the stamp lids and an aquapainter.  Once that was dry I went over some areas with a marker for highlights.  Soft Suede ink was sponged around the edges and the smallest of the pearls put on each scallop.  The "Do Not Open" tag is stamped in Cherry Cobbler onto the same gold Smooch paper and punched out with the Designer Label Punch.  A lot of dimension going on with the image panel too!

I was trying for a vintage look here.  Did I succeed??

Happy Stamping!!!

~~~Ann~~~

Summer is here and Getting Creative with Ann is back!!!!

Hello all!!!!  Well, getting back into the swing of things is much easier said than done!  Now that I actually feel like I have creative thoughts flowing in my head I seem to run out of time to put them together!!  I have alot of sketches and notes, but not a lot of completed projects!!  Ever happen to you?  Hopefully that changes now.

This week, actually June 21st, is the actual first day of summer.  Are you ready?  I know that I am.  Before we know it, all that white stuff will be here again and it will be cold and icky out!!  Until then, lets celebrate summer!!!

Anything you can create that celebrates the beauty and fun of summer is up for grabs!  Show your love for summer fruit, the water, beverages or whatever! 

What's better in summer than lemons, oranges and friends?  Odd combo, but it's summer so does it matter???  This cute set, Tart and Tangy, is soon to retire at the end of the month.  I have really liked using this set and am sad to see it go.  But, in the new catalog there is an equally cuter set to take it's place.  The sentiment comes from Simply Said, another retiring set.

I started here with a Whisper White card base and layered with Daffodil Delight and another layer of WW.  The bottom part was put through the Big Shot using the Perfect Polka Dots folder.  Strips of sticky strip just above the embossed part holds the ribbon down.  And the white pom-pom trim is not SU!  I was trying to make the lemons and oranges look as if they were "attempting" to balance on the card, sort of going with the saying.  Make sense?

Now, as I stated in my post here, I am making some slight changes to the GCA.  Primarily with the "stampin' goodie" packages that I send to the winners.  As much as I love to send these packages out, for multiple reasons I find it is not realistic for me to do so.  Time is my biggest factor with many changes happening at work that are going to be pulling me away from home more often.  In place of the stampin' goodie packages I will be choosing one person each week as that week's "Creative Stamper".  The card will be highlighted on my blog and a link to the stampers blog, or gallery, will be provided.  I really want to come up with a "blinkie" to give out to each "Creative Stamper", but I have very limited knowledge about putting those types of things together.  If anyone out there knows how, or know where I could get the info to do so, I would soooo appreciate the direction.

I am also looking into the Mr. Linky program for adding your entries too.

Upload your creation to either your blog or to an online gallery and post a link to your creation to this blog entry by June 25, 2011 at 12 midnight. I will choose the winner the next day. If you upload your card to SCS, PaperCraft Planet, Stampin' Addicts, Stampin' Connection (for SU! demos) or Stamp TV, please put GCA135 in your keywords. That way everyone can see all of the wonderful creations at once!

Even if you can't make the drawing deadline, PLEASE feel free to participate in the challenges and upload your creations at any time. I would love to see it!

Happy Stamping!!!!

~~~Ann~~~~ 

My Friendly Butterfly - DIC151

Hello all!!!  WOW!  Two posts in one day!!!  This is short and sweet and for now.  I'll give you all the details this evening when I return from work.

The inspiration challenge from UDI this week is a calm and serene butterfly with a rainbow.  I love butterflies.

Head on over there to check out the inspiration piece and play along.

Happy Stamping!!!!

~~~Ann~~~

Creative Sketches Color Challenge - From a Strawberry!!!!

Hello all!!!!  Boy does it feel good to be back to stamping and blogging.  I am humbled and overwhelmed get well wishes and thoughts of concern.  So much love out there in blogland and stamping!!

Anyway, this week over at the Creative Sketches blog it is a color challenge - inspired by a Strawberry!!!  The colors are Real Red, Whisper White, Wild Wasabi and Soft Suede.  I had a hard time not making a Christmas card with these colors!!!  LOL!!

I saw the sketch for the Mojo Monday this week and decided to try it out too!  I really liked the mix of stripes and circles.  I also paired this with a new fave technique of mine: Faux Mother of Pearl.  The large butterfly is done with Real Red and the smaller on with Soft Suede.  The sentiment comes from the new Level 1 hostess set in the Summer mini.

Check out the Creative Sketches blog and play along if you have a minute.

Happy Stamping!!!!

~~~Ann~~~

Happy Mother's Day - DIC145

Hello all!!!  Two posts in one day!!!  Need some more inspiration for Mother's Day cards?  The photo that Maria has picked out for us on the UDI Blog can help you out!

I'll post all the details tonight.

Happy Stamping!!!

~~~Ann~~~

Happy Father's Day - CS28 with a Holiday!!!

Hello all!!!  This week the Creative Sketches team has an awesome sketch and combo of making it a holiday card.  Any holiday, just pick one!

Off to work right now, but will post all the details later.

Happy Stamping!!!

~~~Ann~~~

Hello Baby Cakes - GCA133

Hello all!!!  We had a gorgeous day here in Michigan, but we are also under a tornado watch!  That must mean that spring is here!

Here's another baby sample for this week.  I made this on Sunday with the leftovers from the cards I made the grandkids.  Guess I was having too much fun with the quilting technique!!

With these squares I just randomly, in some order, put them together!!  Make sense?  Once I had the pattern I wanted, I went around each square with my white gel pen and did the faux stitching.  Doesn't show up too much after I embossed it with the Elegant Lines ebf.  Backed it with a Crumb Cake layer.

The sentiment and white/pear scallop oval come from the Nursery Suites Quick Accents.  I used my oval scallop from the Movers & Shapers set and then backed that with a Whisper White decorative label punch.  The overall set is up on very thick dimensionals.  Then, I used dimensionals under the pear scallop layer and one more under the sentiment.

The baby jammies is from the Simple Life level 1 hostess set out of the Occasions mini.  I used paper piecing by stamping first on WW in Brown staz on and then again onto the dsp.  The heart is punched from the owl punch and popped up with a tiny dimensional.  A mini library clip with the new WW baker's twine finishes that off.

The scrunched ribbon is using the Crumb Cake seam binding and then pulling a thread from the middle of it.  I've tried to do this many times and usually break the thread I'm pulling on!  But this time it worked perfectly and I am very happy with the end result.

The finished size of this card is 4 1/4 x 4 1/4 and has a WW card base.

Happy Stamping!!!

~~~Ann~~~

GCA #132 - Anything Goes with a Technique!!

Hello all!!!  Sorry for the late posting.  Actually, I thought I had it posted earlier and just needed to add my sample!  Oh, well!

So, the challenge this week is "Anything Goes" theme wise, but with the additional twist of using a technique. Is it required to use a specific technique? No. I just like finding all the new techniques that I can!! If you do use a technique you found on a blog, in a paper craft mag or even one you came up with, let us know so we can check it out too!!  A couple of sites I can lead you to is SCS - Try a New Technique challenge and Technique Junkies.

Actually the sample I have for you tonight is one of the technique cards we did at club today.  This one is called Faux Mother-of-Pearl.  And does it pack a WOW!!  A little messy, but the results are worth it.

Started with a card base of Daffodil Delight, folded at the top.  On a piece of Whisper White the swirl from Baroque Motifs was stamped in Wild Wasabi and the flower in Tangerine Tango.  Once those were stamped the entire piece was run through the Big Shot using the Square Lattice ebf.  Sort of gives the panel the look of fabric, doesn't it?  I took my inspiration for this card from one I saw on Stampin' Connection by Brenda Ruse.

The butterflies were cut with the Butterfly die and Big Shot with glossy white card stock. 

To create the Faux MOP look you need shimmer paint, preferably white, plain or glossy white card stock, paper plate, plastic wrap and ink.  Here's how it goes:

1.  Pour a little of the shimmer paint onto a paper plate.  Scrunch up the plastic wrap and lightly dip into the paint.  Dab off excess if needed.
2.  Dab the paint over the image, or panel, randomly.  Leave parts of the card stock open.
3.  Set aside to dry.  Doesn't take long.
4.  Once dry, use a sponge or brayer to cover the image or panel with the ink of your choice.  On my sample the large butterfly is sponged with Daffodil Delight and the smaller one with Tangerine Tango.
5.  Set these aside to dry for a few minutes.  Then embellish and finish your card!

Daffodil Delight 1/8" taffeta and white crochet thread finishes off the butterfly.

Upload your creation to either your blog or to an online gallery and post a link to your creation to this blog entry by April 23, 2011 at 12 midnight. I will choose the winner the next day. If you upload your card to SCS, PaperCraft Planet, Stampin' Addicts, Stampin' Connection (for SU! demos) or Stamp TV, please put GCA132 in your keywords. That way everyone can see all of the wonderful creations at once!

Even if you can't make the drawing deadline, PLEASE feel free to participate in the challenges and upload your creations at any time. I would love to see it! And yes, my challenge is open to everyone who visits, even if you live outside the US!

Happy Stamping!!!!

~~~Ann~~~~ 

Creative Sketches Color Challenge - 28 & Diva Inspiration

Hello all!!!  Another week has come and gone and here we are at another Thursday.  Time for both the Creative Sketches and UDI Blog Inspiration challenges!!!

The challenge this week on Creative Sketches is to use the colors of Daffodil Delight, Bashful Blue and Elegant Eggplant.  What a combo!!!  I played with this combo some the other day for my GCA 131 card.   I have to say that the Bashful Blue threw me for a loop!

So, I started with a Whisper White card base and the sketch from Stamping 411 for this week.  A nice easy and clean sketch.  Worked for me with these colors!  And I pulled out a stamp set that I haven't used, at all, and put ink to it!!  (And I buy more why???)

I used Silhouette Sentiments, a level 1 hostess set.  Since the Bashful Blue was throwing me off, I tried to keep it to a minimum.  I stamped the weedy flower image in Bashful Blue, randomly.  With the sketch you can really use anything on the left hand side, so I stamped the images in the three colors.  The smaller flower which I stamped in Elegant Eggplant, is from Because I Care, another level 1 hostess set.  Notice the theme???

The rest is really quite simple, and easy.  I stamped the bird/branch and then stamped the bird again and cut it out.  It's popped up with dimensionals.  Whisper White taffeta and Daffodil Delight 1/8" taffeta were used with white crochet thread tied around and through the button to hold it on.

If you get a minute, check out each of the sites and play along!!

Happy Stamping!!!

~~~Ann~~~

GCA #131 - Anything Goes with a Sketch!!!


Hello all!!!  Today is a fabulously warm and beautiful day in my area of Michigan!!!  It's at least 80* out!  Not to last forever, but the temps coming up this week aren't so bad either.

I haven't done an "Anything Goes" challenge in awhile, but this one has a slight twist.  I've said it on here many times that I LOVE sketches.  Any time I find a new one, or a card with an unusual layout, I make I save it!  There are so many blogs out there now that have specific sketch challenges and one of them I happen to be a design team member of!!  What a plug, I know!  Check out the Creative Sketches blog to see all of the fabulous sketches they have.

So, the challenge this week is "Anything Goes" theme wise, but with the additional twist of using a sketch.  Is it required to use a specific sketch?  No.  I just like finding all the new sketches that I can!!  If you do use a sketch you found on a blog, in a paper craft mag or even one you came up with, let us know so we can check it out too!!

My sample this week is using the weekly sketch challenge on Mary Jo's blog, TechnoStamper.  She posts a new sketch every Monday.

Upload your creation to either your blog or to an online gallery and post a link to your creation to this blog entry by April 16, 2011 at 12 midnight. I will choose the winner the next day. If you upload your card to SCS, PaperCraft Planet, Stampin' Addicts, Stampin' Connection (for SU! demos) or Stamp TV, please put GCA131 in your keywords. That way everyone can see all of the wonderful creations at once!

Even if you can't make the drawing deadline, PLEASE feel free to participate in the challenges and upload your creations at any time. I would love to see it! And yes, my challenge is open to everyone who visits, even if you live outside the US!

Happy Stamping!!!!

~~~Ann~~~~ 

Clearly for Mother - GCA130 & LNS115

Hello all!!!  I have another Mother's day card to show you today.  As you know this is the theme for this week's GCA and for the Late Night Stampers group I belong to.

Actually, for me, this card turned out to be quite CAS!!  Doesn't happen very often, but I used the sketch from the Create with Connie and Mary blog that just said CAS to me.  And, I was able to use up some scraps that I had laying around!  Bonus!!!

The card base is Whisper White, layered with a piece of the Love Impressions textured dsp (still available in the Occasions mini).  The panel was cut at 3 3/4 x 5 to leave some of the card base showing.

For the main image I decided to open up, and use, the Beveled windowpanes I've had since the Occasions mini came out!!  I also used the stamp set, Clearly for You, which coordinates with the windowpanes.  Pretty in Pink satin wraps and holds the windowpane to the card.  These are tricky little things to play with, but I do like the end result!  I used a piece of Crumb Cake seam binding around the know and used a hat pin (non SU!, but we no longer carry these!) through the middle.

Not sure how well you can see in the photo, but I also used my Tea Stain distress ink around the edges and on the crown.

Happy Stamping!!!

~~~Ann~~~