Sending a Friend Smiles

Hello stampers and fellow bloggers!! Well I'm up late again tonight and Beth, MyPrecious on SCS, posted the Featured Stamper so I played now!! This week's FS is nitestamper. She has an amazing style and and wonderful layouts on her cards. As I've said before, the layout is what usually draws me to a card and that was no exception with this week either. Here is a link to her card I cased: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/657967?cat=500&ppuser=10116

The changes I made are:

*Stamp set: True Friend, Linen, Thoughtful Phrases from Verve Visual
*Colors: River Rock, Choc. Chip, Close to Cocoa, Wild Wasabi, Really Rust, Very Vanilla, Apple Cider dp

*I used the photo corners punch for the main image

*Omitted brads on the ribbon and used hat pin and pearls from my Pretties Kit

*Distressed the Really Rust, Choc. Chip and Wild Wasabi panels with distressor tool

On my flower I stamped this three times in Choc. Chip, Really Rust and Wild Wasabi and then cut it out at different points. The middle and top layers are up on dimensionals. The entire main image panel is up on foam tape. I stamped Linen in Close to Cocoa, very lightly, and sponged the edges.

Looks like a lot of work, but surprisingly it came together very quickly. If you are so inclined, take a trip over to the Featured Stamper forum and look at nitestamper's gallery. I'm sure you'll find some more inspiration!!

Take care and Happy Stamping!!

~~~Ann~~~

Kindred Spirits & More!!

Hello fellow stampers!!

I have some creations to finally share with you!! My first card is from last Wednesday's SC (10-17-07). I placed an order with PaperTrey and bought some of their white cardstock. Talk about heavy and durable cardstock!! This is perfect for using as a base card. I will still continue to use my SU! white for stamped images and such, but SU!'s white is rather light to use for a base card. On this card I used Garden Silhouettes as my focal image and went with a pink/brown combo. I love pink and brown together.

I used my SU! markers to color the image and then stamped onto the cardstock. I lightly sponged the edges in Pretty in Pink & Close to Cocoa. The larger piece of dp is from Apple Cider which is in the Holiday mini, as well as the chocolate satin ribbon. I overlayed a piece of pink taffeta with that.

The smaller pink/white panel is first stamped with Linen in Close to Cocoa and overstamped with the polka dots from the Happiness BG stamp in Pretty in Pink. Light sponging of the edges in Close to Cocoa. The dp is from Petals and Paisleys and was a scrap from a former project. This is the negative piece from the punch out with Square Steps.

The flowers on the main image come from PaperTrey are made by Maya Road and are velvet!! So yummy! The main panel is up on foam tape.

My next SC card is this week's sketch. This week Roxie set some ground rules: the left panel had to be asymmetrical and not touch either end of the base card, the top panel could not touch the left panel and had to be wider than it is tall. She also suggested we use lots of hardware!!

So I was itching to use my Wanted set again with some of the Outlaw dp I haven't used yet. My colors I chose were Sage Shadow, Choc. Chip, Natural Ivory with a hint of Really Rust.

All of the base panels are distressed with my disstessor tool and the bottom panel is inked with Sage Shadow. The main image panel was done in a collage effect and overstamped with Linen in Choc. Chip, 3rd generation.

My western medallion was stamped in Really Rust and rock n rolled in Choc. Chip, punched with the scallop circle and layered on a copper scallop. This was adhered with foam tape. The copper brad finishes it off.

I went to a craft store on Monday called Crafts 2000, and bought this really neat mobile scrapbooking cart to help me keep things handy while I do my room renovations. This cart can store a ton of stuff!! It came with the 4 hanging files, 2 baskets and four shelves. The plastic bins under the files I purchased separately and they store extra 12 x 12 paper, chipboard and other stuff. It also rolls around easily. Here is a pic:

Well, that's all I have for now! I am working on some more creations to show you and will post more over the weekend.

Take care and Happy Stamping!!

~~~Ann~~~

So Sorry for the Quiet!

Hello my fellow stampers and blog readers!! Sorry I have not posted in a few days. I do have some great card creations to show you too!! I will get those up and posted hopefully tonight!

Sometimes it's a little difficult to stamp while you are trying to work on home improvement projects that have needed to be done for quite some time. And this is exactly why I have been so quiet!! Some of my stamping supplies are in another room, or will soon been packed up as make the switch to a bigger room. I have plenty of before pics and will take after pics when I'm done to show what I've been working on.

I also have a Santa's workshop class coming up on November 4th I have been preparing for and I am doing a Women's Holiday Expo on November 3rd!! Next week-end will be a busy one!

Take care and know that I have not gone too far!!

Happy Stamping!!!

~~~Ann~~~

Opulent Birthday Wishes

Hello stampers and friends!! So sorry for being away for a few days! :( Have you ever started home improvement projects that just seem to take on a life of their own?? Well that is what I am in the midst of now!! As you know from my previous posts I am going through a divorce and my soon-to-be-ex-husband did move out last Saturday. I am very thankful to my Lord in Heaven for how uncomplicated this whole thing has been. Needless to say, now I am starting on my remodeling projects that have been on hold for quite some time. And I'm not talking just one project, no I have to tackle multiple projects!! Some of the renovations are being completed by professionals, such as my wood flooring and new carpeting, but all of that id dependent on me pulling up old carpet and such! Which means I have had limited time for stamping, much to my dismay!! Never fear though I do have stamping projects coming up which will be posted.

The card for today is for the Limited Supply challenge on SCS. This week's theme is Quick & Easy. While this card may look like it took awhile to complete, in reality it took me only about 25 minutes to put together. The hardest part was deciding which colors to use!! I already knew what stamp set I wanted to use.

For Limited Supplies we could use one flower stamp, inked once and we could do generation stamping with this stamp if we wanted. One swirl stamp and a sentiment were the other allowable stamps. Our layers were to be self limited, we could use plain and patterned paper, the only embellishment allowed was ribbon and we could use any type of "quick" tools such as punches, Cuttlebug, etc.

Since I just received Garden Silhouettes I wanted to use the flower branch from that set and I used the swirl from Baroque Motifs. My sentiment came from Circle of Friendship. The colors I opted for Orchid Opulence, Basic Black, Wild Wasabi text. and Whisper White. The patterned green panel from last summers Petal Patch.

I used my Orchid Opulence, Certainly Celery and Elegant Eggplant markers to color the flowers and stamped 3 times on the WW panel. Some light sponging in Orchid Opulence around the edges finished off the main panel.

I used Wild Wasabi ink on the wasabi panel with the Baroque Motif swirl. The remainder of the card is pretty self explanatory.

Take care and Happy Stamping!!

~~~Ann~~~

Happy Birthday Jennifer!!

Hello everyone!! I know I've been gone for a few days and I am so sorry!! But you know how life intrudes on our plans at times and this week that has happened almost everyday!! My soon-to-be-ex-husband is FINALLY moving out on Saturday and I have been busy packing up all of his stuff and the items we have split. Just let me say this is the strangest divorce I could have ever imagined!! LOL!! But it is a very amicable one, and for that, I am very happy. For anyone who read my blog in early August, Discussion with Self!, this is one of those items which needed to be dealt with. Enough of me and onto the card!

Wednesdays are sketch challenge days on SCS, which I love. Sometimes, for me anyway, the hardest part of putting the card together is coming up with a layout that I like. I may have all the right colors to go with the right stamp set, but I get hung up on layout. That is where the sketch challenges come in very handy. I also look through my card magazines, my current and old SU! catalogs and I have a "Cookie Cutter" template book from Simply Sentiments I refer to also.

For this week's challenge Roxie asked us to please follow the sketch as is and try not to do any tweaking. I did not tweak at all!! The fold is on the left and on the right side you cut off 1" so you can see the inside also. With the 1" inside panel you could decorate with stamps, designer paper or whatever.

I already knew what set I wanted to use, Make A Wish, by Gina K. for a birthday card for my sister. And then I looked at my cardstock and decided to use a color I haven't used in awhile, which would be Pixie Pink. I referred to my Color Coach to see what colors went well with Pixie Pink and Green Galore and Certainly Celery were both listed. As I played around with these I thought the two greens just didn't stand apart enough and the Pixie Pink was still overwhelming them. So throw in the Basic Black! OK, not bad but the Green Galore just wasn't doing enough for me, so took that out and played around some more with just the Pixie Pink, Cert. Celery and Black. Love this combo!! I used a piece of the Cert. Celery dp on my inside 1" strip and went from there.

I used my Watercolor Wonder Crayons to color the main image. The large white panel is stamped with Cert. Celery in Linen and sponged in the same around all the edges. The sentiment was stamped three different times in Pixie Pink craft ink and heat embossed with clear ep. I had to "stack" the saying in order to make it fit the panel.

My main image is up on foam tape and three different ribbons and eyelets finishes it off!!

Now lets hope I don't forget to mail the card! I can't forget her birthday since she is exactly 7 years younger than me as she was born on my 7th birthday!! Our birthday is October 22nd.

Thanks for stopping by!!

Happy Stamping!!

~~~Ann~~~

One Touch of Nature

Hello everyone!! It's Sunday once again and that means Featured Stamper day on SCS!! This week's FS is Anna Wight AKA SweetMissDaisy. She has an amazing gallery of beautifully watercolored images and creations. She is one talented artist! If you haven't already check out the FS challenge on SCS today!

Since I finally broke down and ordered Touch of Nature, I really wanted to use that set on my FS card. Well Anna has a card with this set in her gallery that I just fell in love with!! Usually when I pick out a FS card to CASE, I am looking at the different layouts used and then I change the other elements, like the stamp set, colors and so on. However, when I found this card: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/231241?cat=500&ppuser=53903 I just knew this was the one I wanted to do.

Here's what I changed:

*Colors - Basic and Going Gray reg and Basic Gray textured, WW text., Pretty in Pink, Rose Red dp

*Added an additional layer under the main BG panel and used Linen BG stamp on WW panel

*Distressed the Going Gray and Pretty in Pink edges with the distressor tool

*Used dp on my middle layer on the image panel

*Placed two non SU! gray brads in opposite corners

*Used the sentiment from Touch of Nature, layered it and placed it in a different spot

*Used a pewter swirl clip and Pomegranate satin ribbon

*Used white/gray fibers on bottom of image panels

On the WW BG panel I stamped Linen in Going Gray after stamping off once first. The fern leaf was stamped in Going Gray and then stamped over the Linen. All of the WW panels are sponged with Going Gray.

The bird was watercolored with my Watercolor Wonder Crayons. Both the sentiment and image panels are up on foam tape.

Thanks for looking and stopping by!!

Happy Stamping!!

~~~Ann~~~

Three Challenges in One!!

Hello everyone!! This doesn't happen very often, but my first card I have to show you combines this week's color combo, sketch challenge and the ways to use it challenge!!

The Ways to Use It challenge was just luck on my part last night. I was working on my card and needed to put some ribbon on there and decided to put the Blue Bayou double stitched ribbon over the twill tape to help set it off.

The color combo for this week was Blue Bayou, Chocolate Chip and River Rock. I started working on one card and the way I was using the colors was just not working for me, so I checked to see if Roxie had posted the SC yet and happily it was up!! So I started over and this is what I came up with.

I really like this sketch and it actually comes from one of the former Featured Stampers: annieht. And this is the same layout of her card that I chose to case at that time.

I used Autumn Fest and created a collage effect on the main panel with most of the colors stamped off once or twice to keep them from overwhelming the card. I first stamped the main panel and sentiment panel with Linen in River Rock and then went from there. The clear button was from the first card I started on and I thought it looked good here.

I'm sending this out to my mother just because. She'll think I want something!!! LOL!!

The next two cards are from a recent workshop I did, and both used twill tape so they fit the Ways to Use It challenge. I really like using twill tape because it is so versatile. And it comes in three different sizes so you really can do a lot with it!

On the first card I used Wanted and the Outlaw dp that goes so well with this set. On the left sided strip I used the reverse side of the large panel piece. The stars were stamped in Sage Shadow and then punched out with the star punch. Perfect match!!

I used the small size of twill tape to make the two side tabs and attached them with copper brads. The main image panel is up on dimensionals. Stamp a sentiment and you're done!!

The third card uses the largest size of twill. When I came up with this card I was just playing around with layout and ideas and this is the finished product. I have so many scraps that I have been trying to use them up in my classes and clubs and not cut into more cardstock unless I have to!!

I certainly would not have guessed that Pumpkin Pie and So Saffron would go so well together, but they do! The twill is held on with four brads; two Pumpkin Pie and two So Saffron. We also frayed the the ends of the twill slightly to just add a little bit of texture to the card. That is another neat thing you can do to the twill tape.

The main image panel is up on dimensionals. The monkey decided he needed to hitch a ride on the rhino, but I couldn't get the masking to work for me so I did some paper piecing to avoid making the monkey look as if he was cut in two by the rhino!!

Thanks for stopping by!!

Happy Stamping!!

~~~Ann~~~

Blog Candy winner is....

Hello everyone!! The random generator chose lucky #23 as the winner!!! And she is....

doverdi said...
Congratulations on your 500+ hits. I guess I'm lucky #23 if the count is correct. Thanks for sharing your creativity & talent & the chance to win.
September 26, 2007 6:08 PM

Please email me your snail mail address to pinkstamper06@yahoo.com and I will get your goodies in the mail!!

Again, congratulations!!

And a big THANK YOU to everyone who stopped by and entered my blog candy contest!! I appreciate each and everyone of your comments!!


Happy Stamping!!!

~~~Ann~~~

A Quick Fix!!

Hello everyone!!

Monday's are always crazy for me, as I know they are for a lot of you!, so I don't always get a chance to play in the Try a New Technique challenge on SCS. Today, however, I had a chance to play and what fun it was.

The challenge is to case one of your own cards, but the twist is you have to change only the stamp set and possibly the sentiment!!! You could not change anything else about the card. Paper, colors and such had to all remain the same.

The colors I used are Taken with Teal, Cool Caribbean, Always Artichoke, and watercolor paper. You can't see it very well, but I dry embossed the large oval with my Crop-A-Dile. The main image and sentiment are up on foam tape.

I chose to case this card of mine and I changed the set from Close As a Memory to the flower stamp from Year after Year and the sentiment from God's Way. I also watercolored the image as opposed to water misting the colored image on the stamp.

Thanks for stopping by!!

Happy Stamping!!

~~~Ann~~~