GCA #77 - Whose One of Your Favorites??

Hello all!!! Where do you find inspiration from? Nature, card magazines, old SU! catalogs or even items around your home?? While these are great sources for us to use as inspiration for our creations, do we not also look to each other? I have found so many tips, tricks and new techniques from fellow stampers, especially when it comes to sketches. And when your mojo goes awry, all you need to do is surf the web to help get it back!

We all know what CASE stands for in the world of stamping, right? If you don't, CASE stands for Copy and Share Everything. For me as a stamper, one of the best forms of flattery is to have someone "case" one of my cards and turn it into their own.

So, for this week's challenge I want to you chose one of your favorite stampers and CASE one, or two, of their cards. Maybe what draws you to them is their style, use of color, layouts or how they watercolor.

You can use more than one card/creation from the same stamper, just remember that you MUST change at least 2 things on your card. Once completed, make sure to give credit to the stamper you CASED and a direct people to their blog/online gallery.
My sample will be up later today.

Upload your creation to either your blog or to an online gallery and post a link to your creation to this blog entry by February 13, 2010 at 12 midnight. I will choose the winner the next day. If you upload your card to SCS, PaperCraft Planet, Stampin' Addicts or Stamp TV, please put GCA77 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~~~

GCA #76 Winner is....

....Deb!!! I am so excited for her as this is her first time playing in my challenge and she the Chalkboard Technique was new to her!!! You can see her card on her blog Bee Bug Creations.

Deb please send me your address to pinkstamper06@yahoo.com and I will get you a stampin goodie package out to you!

Up next: GCA #77 - Whose One of Your Favorites?

Happy Stamping!!!

~~~Ann~~~

Inspiration for Sock Monkey!!

Hello all!! I created this card using my Sock Monkey set for the second Be Inspired challenge on the Stampin' Connection site. This little guy is just too cute and I haven't stamped with him much lately.

For this week's inspiration challenge I used the Kara Mia Sophia Etsy store we used on a recent GCA. I just love that store and the fabrics which are used for the items.

For some reason I had a desire to use the pink/brown combo and searched through the Etsy store until I found just the right item. You can see it here for comparison.

Of course I used the pink/brown colors, but I also used the twill fabric for inspiration for my flower.

Sock Monkey is paper pieced with Chocolate Chip dsp and Afternoon Tea dsp (for the pink). I used the new Sweet Pea dsp stack in the Occasions mini for the larger background panel. The rest of the colors used were Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip and Pretty in Pink card stock.

My scalloped circle matt was created by using my Buttons #5 sizzlet and my Big Shot!! (I used the largest button and the 1" circle punched layer fits perfectly.)
The twill flower was made with the medium width twill from SU! (of course!) and then I put a simple basting stitch along one edge. I think it is called that!

If I am wrong, please someone let me know!! Once I had the thread through, I just pulled it together in a circle. The brown center was cut from felt with the smallest circle in Circles #2, 1/2" circle piece of Pretty in Pink and one of the yummy new Chocolate Chip epoxy brads!! These are also available in the Occasions mini!

Happy Stamping!!

~~~Ann~~~

GCA #76 - Back to the Chalkboard!

Hello all!!! We have had some fabulously sunny, still cold, days here in Michigan!!! Makes you realize that at some point winter will come to an end!

Over on SCS yesterday, the mini VSN was opening. The theme for this VSN is the Winter Olympics. There were 7 challenges to get us warmed up for the main event in February. I've talked about VSN before on here and just how much fun it is. The challenges the hostesses come with are so fun and really can stretch you as a stamper.

So, that is where the challenge for this week comes in!! One of the challenges was to use the chalkboard technique on your card. I think I've done this technique once or twice, and forget how easy and fun it is. You also wind up with an amazing image. For a detailed tutorial, click on the highlighted word and it will take you to the tutorial by Beate Johns on SCS.

Basically, you use dark colored card stock like black, brown or even navy. You will also need a white craft (pigment) ink pad and pastels. Even if you have a small supply of these, you can still make this work! If you do not have any pastels there are some alternatives listed with the tutorial. You can use any type of image, solid or line, since you are adding color and not necessarily coloring "in".

Here's the how to:

1. Stamp your image using the white craft ink onto the dark card stock. In my sample I used black.

2. You do not need to heat set or wait for the craft ink to dry. Using a sponge dauber, q-tip or whatever you use to apply chalks, GENTLY dab the colors over your image. You don not want to swirl your dauber as it will smear the image.

3. Once you have all the areas covered with chalks, GENTLY wipe off the excess with a Swiffer cloth or paper towel. There is no need to seal this when you are done, unless you want too. My image is not sealed.

4. Finish your card!

My sample is claen and simple, which is so unlike me!! But, during VSN you only have 45 minutes to complete your card!! This card was actually made from all scraps! Love it when I can do that.

It starts with a base of Real Red and top-folded. The Whisper White Top Note die was originally a card itself, but I used the other side awhile ago. So this layer had the top edge trimmed a bit and this is how I liked it best on the card. I used the leaves from the bird/bamboo image in the Asian Artristry set around the edges in Kiwi Kiss.

The main image was stamped with Whisper White craft and stamped onto basic black. I used my chalks in Real Red and Old Olive to color it in. Backed it with a piece of Kiwi Kiss and paired it with the dragonfly stamped in black staz on onto Real Red.

I used the polka-dot red gg, turned over, alongwith the black gingham for the ribbon. Happy birthday was stamped in black staz on from Teeny Tiny Wishes.

Upload your creation to either your blog or to an online gallery and post a link to your creation to this blog entry by February 6, 2010 at 12 midnight. I will choose the winner the next day. If you upload your card to SCS, PaperCraft Planet, Stampin' Addicts or Stamp TV, please put GCA76 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~~~

GCA #75 & Blog Candy Winner is...

... CATHY!!!!! Congrats to Cathy for being this weeks winner and lucky recipient of the blog candy offered. You can see her fabulous card here.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to all who played along this, or just stopped by to take a peek!!

Up Next: GCA #76 - Back to the Chalkboard!

Happy Stamping!!

~~~Ann~~~

Grrrr - It's Halloween!!

Hello all!!! So I know it's really NOT Halloween, but I completed this scrapbook page for the first Featured Stamper challenge on Stampin' Connection. This is a new site set up by Stampin' Up! for demos only!! It is soo cool to be able to connect with other demos you meet and see only at convention or just get to know new ones too!

Anyway, Mary Jo Price-Williams took the bull by the horns and started daily challenges on SC. She hosts the Featured Stamper challenge and the first stamper to be featured was Wendy Weixler!! She has an amazing gallery and is so full of talent.

I chose to case her Halloween scrapbook page she created with MDS.

My changes are:

* Changed to "regular" scrapbook page
* While I used her basic layout, I did change it up a bit
* Colors
* Not sure what size Wendy's is, but my page is 12 x 12

My base on here is the groom's dsp with the swirly design. I then used pieces of the Cast-A-Spell dsp and Night & Day dsp for my accents.

This is a picture of my son from 1992, when he went as Frankenstein. What a hoot!! I so remember getting him ready for this and he had a blast that night.

The letters were cute from the Timeless Type alpha and my Big Shot. Hence the title of the post!! That is all Frankenstein says, if I recall right!!

Happy Stamping!!

~~~Ann~~~

GCA #75 - A Colorful Sketch & Blog Candy!!

Hello all!! Are you busy stamping this weekend or just busy with family/life work?? I spent all day yesterday co-hosting a stamp-a-stack and then went to my upline's Snowflake Social!! Talk about a long day and being tired!!

As I thought about what to do for the challenge this week, I was torn between doing a color combo and a sketch. So, to fix that problem, I decided to combine the challenges in one!

So, for this week we are doing the sketch as pictured above, but with a slight twist. In the sketch you see one circle has scallops, but that is not required if you chose to use just a regular circle. Your card must also incorporate the color scheme of white and ONE other color!! This can be any color you like, but only ONE other color that white! You may use various shades of the same color on your card too. Think monochromatic.

Now, if you decide to use an image that you watercolor, that can use the colors the image would need to bring it to life. But as for card stock and dsp, you can only use one color with the white. I know you can do it! And I had to make this just slightly challenging as I am also offering blog candy to whoever the winner is this week.

My choice of color was Melon Mambo. I used Shimmery White card stock as my base and built up from there. I tried to take myself out of my comfort zone with using white on white, but I'm not sure I went very far!!! The background panel was embossed with the new Polka Dots eb folder available in the Occasions mini and then highlighted with Melon Mambo ink.

For my scallop circle I used the scallop circles #2 in Shimmery White and then highlighted that with Melon Mambo. I used my Crop-A-Dile to make the holes in each of the scallops.

The stamp set I used is the delightful Charming set, which is still available!! I used the script stamp in Melon Mambo onto a piece of Melon Mambo and then overstamped the decorative stamps in Versamark and clear embossed. You can see a bit of that in the photo.

The flower branch was stamped first in Versamark, then in Melon Mambo and then clear embossed. Same with the sentiment. I used my Beautiful Wings butterfly embosslit for the butterflies, which I cut out of the Razzleberry Lemonade dsp. A piece of Pretty in Pink tafetta finishes the card!



So, in celebration of this being my 75th challenge, I am offering the following for blog candy:

* New and unmounted Botanical Blooms from SAB 2009
* New PTI clear stamp set, Borders and Corners (circles)
* 3 rolls of new ribbon, perfect for Valentine's cards and projects
* packet of pink buttons
* 3 pots of Twinkling H2O's: Siam White, Cherry Sorbet, Pink Anthurium
* tumbled tile decorated coaster
* 4 sheets of textured chipboard

So play along and have your chance to win this awesome blog candy package!!

Upload your creation to either your blog or to an online gallery and post a link to your creation to this blog entry by January 30, 2010 at 12 midnight. I will choose the winner the next day. If you upload your card to SCS, PaperCraft Planet, Stampin' Addicts or Stamp TV, please put GCA75 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~~~