GCA #43 - Clean and Simple

Hello all!!! Thank you to everyone who sent me well wishes for a speedy recovery from my recent back issues!! I am slowly recovering, but at least I can walk upright!! Need to go see the chiropractor now.

Anywho, on to our GCA for this week: Clean and Simple stamping. I am going to link you to the Clean and Simple (CAS) forum on SCS and to a blog devoted entirely to Clean and Simple cards/creations. Please visit either of these links to get an idea for CAS stamping. I have included a definition of CAS stamping that comes directly from the CAS forum on SCS:

Definition: A clean and simple card has limited layers and sometimes just a card base. It leaves a lot of "open space". It uses little or no embellishments. Any techniques should be the old standard everyday kind like sponging, distressing and piercing. Limit the number of tools you use. Any colored images should be small and quick. Don't go overboard on tons of punches and embossing. CAS cards should be easy and quick.

Essentially there is no right or wrong way or doing a CAS card. If you are someone, like me, who likes to pile on the layers and embellishments and such, then just by eliminating layers and embellies, you can have a clean and simple card.

My first sample I have to show you is based on CAS #13 - a sketch. We completed this card during my May club as a Father's Day card, and my girls just loved it!! I used the To The Nines speciality dsp and the oh so adorable, Forest Friends, from the Occasions mini. A few circle punches and, viola!! The circle with the owl is up on dimensionals for added interest.

To be entered in the challenge drawing, make a card or project using clean and simple stamping, upload it either to your blog, or to an online gallery and post a link to your card to this blog entry as a comment by June 6, 2009 at 12 midnight. I will choose the winner through a random number generator and post the next Sunday.

Even if you can't make the drawing deadline, PLEASE feel free to participate in the challenge and upload your creations at any time. I would love to see it! If you upload your card on SCS, Stampin' Addicts or Paper Craft Planet, please put GCA43(NO SPACE IN BETWEEN GCA AND 43) in the keyword section. That way everyone can look at all of the creations at once! If you've been waiting to join in the fun, jump on in and have some fun!!

Please remember to add the correct keywords to your creations, or give proper credit on your blog, if you use any of the CAS sketches or ideas from either site!!

Happy Stamping!!!!

~~~Ann~~~

GCA #42 Winner is....

....Vickilyn!!!! You can see her wonderful creation on her blog, Paper Hugs. Vicki please send me your address to pinkstamper06@yahoo.com so I can send you out some stampin goodies!!!

Up next: GCA #43 - Clean and Simple!

Happy Stamping!!

~~~Ann~~~

Butterfly Healing - WT220, LSC22 & LNS 21!!

Hello all!!! Well, I haven't stamped in almost a week for a variety of reasons!! Last weekend I was busy taking advantage of the holiday weekend and four days off, painting in my apartment. That was all fine and dandy, until Monday morning when I bent over to pick something up off the floor, and there went my back!! Early in my nursing career, I injured my back while transferring a patient at the hospital, and every once in awhile it goes out! Usually with little to no warning, as it did this time!!

So, off to the doctor on Tuesday and the rest of the week off work! Sounds like a vacation right?? WRONG!!! I tried to stamp, thinking all I have to do is sit, but I didn't realize how much I twist and turn and reach and grab when stamping! So, three days this week have been spent either lying in bed or sitting with my feet up and taking the good drugs my doctor prescribed as ordered!!! I AM GOING STIR CRAZY!!!! I don't mind time at home, but I really am ready to get back to work.

Anyway, today I finally was able to stamp without causing unnecessary pain to myself, and I combined 3 challenges into one card! For me, I would also classify this as Clean and Simple!!

First off is the Late Night Stampers Yahoo group challenge of a summer theme. What says summer more than bright colors, flowers and butterflies?? The only stamping on here is the sentiment and you;ll see why in a sec!

The LSC this week is to focus on Patterned Paper!! Only the card base could be plain card stock, any other paper on here had to be patterned! My choice was the Tea Party dsp along with the Certainly Celery prints for my leaves. I used my Big Butterflies and Oval Scallop frame dies, the Birds & Blooms and Little Leaves sizzlets and the Simple Flower embosslit. And since we are to keep embellishments to a minimum, I used 3 buttons and some crochet thread. The main flower is up on double dimensionals and the rest are on single dimensionals.

The WT for this week is to use buttons!! I love using buttons and SU! has some fabulous ones to choose from. One here I used the Button Latte and Pretty in Pink buttons.

I am also sending this out to a fellow demo who recently lost her husband.

Please send a prayer up for son's girlfriend, Misty, who trying very hard to bring forth my grandson Malaki, who is being stubborn!!! (Just like his daddy!!)

Happy Stamping!!!!

~~~Ann~~~

I made the High Rollers Gallery on SCS!!!!

Well, I just can't believe that my card I created for VSN, in the "Hitting the Tables" challenge was a chosen winner!!! You can see the card I created in this post, which we used as last week's GCA!!

I love playing in VSN and am always amazed at all the wonderful talent out there which shows up during this time. You can go to the VSN forum on SCS to see what it is all about and to get to the High Roller's gallery to see all the amazing cards!!

Thanks to Sara, the challenge hostess, for picking my card!! I am honored and humbled!!

Happy Stamping!!

~~~Ann~~~

GCA #42 - Neglected Embellishments!!

Hello all!! I hope this Sunday finds you happy and well!! We are having a gorgeous weekend here in Michigan and I have been a busy little beaver in working on my apartment! One of the reasons I chose the place where I currently live, is because we are allowed to paint!! Some apartments do not let you do that, my mine does!

So my goal was to paint the bathroom (easy!) and the kitchen this weekend! Well, I did get both painted and I just love how they turned out. Yesterday I started cleaning out my stamp room and working on a better layout, and as I was pulling everything out, I thought I should go ahead and paint in here too!! Oh how my muscles ache today!!!

So this is how I came up with this week's challenge! As I was sorting through my stamping stuff I came across some embellishments I just HAD TO HAVE, yet are still in the package unopened!!!

So the challenge is to find some new, unopened embellishments in your craft room and use them on your card or project! There is no limit to the amount of new embellishments, just that they have been in your stamp room for awhile and you haven't used them! I know we all have some of these!!!

I'll have my sample up tonight or tomorrow, need to put the stamp room back together!!!
To be entered in the challenge drawing, make a card or project using new, unopened embellishments upload it either to your blog, or to an online gallery and post a link to your card to this blog entry as a comment by May 30, 2009 at 12 midnight. I will choose the winner through a random number generator and post the next Sunday.

Even if you can't make the drawing deadline, PLEASE feel free to participate in the challenge and upload your creations at any time. I would love to see it! If you upload your card on SCS, Stampin' Addicts or Paper Craft Planet, please put GCA42(NO SPACE IN BETWEEN GCA AND 42) in the keyword section. That way everyone can look at all of the creations at once! If you've been waiting to join in the fun, jump on in and have some fun!!

Happy Stamping!!!

~~~Ann~~~

GCA #41 Winner is....

....Raindropecho!!!! You can see her card here. Thank you so much for playing along!! If you would email me your address to pinkstamper06@yahoo.com, I will get some stampin' goodies out to you!!

And for those of you who have packages coming, they will be in Tuesday's mail!! I so appreciate all of you playing along and I'm sorry I haven't gotten these out to you sooner!

Up next: GCA #42 - Neglected Embellishments!

Happy Stamping!!

~~~Ann~~~

GCA #41 - It's All Black & White!!

Hello all!!! Today is getting away from me as I work on laundry and finishing up my cards from VSN over on SCS!! I love playing in VSN, as the challenges are so unique and fun. That is how I came up with this week's challenge!!

One of the VSN challenges was to make a Black, White and Red card. No other colors, just those three. While for the GCA, I am changing it up just a bit, and allowing you to use any other color, just do so in MODERATION!! The primary focus of your card should showcase black & white.

On my sample I decided to make a simple thank you card. I love to make B&W cards, but they sometimes don't always turn out like I envision them!! But this one did! I pulled out my level 2 hostess set, A Little Somethin', which I haven't even used yet!!, to create a dramatic thank you card. I am sending this off to my best girlfriend as a thanks for letting me use her lake cottage for the weekend!

I made this with the Taste of Textiles Black linen and the satin white stripe. The stamped image is clear embossed, but it's not showing too well.

On the inside I used the leftover Top Note frame and used a piece of the Real Red textured to highlight the frame. I just love my Little Leaves sizzlit and will probably wear it out someday!!!

Again, I used my Daisies #2 die for the inside flower.

To be entered in the challenge drawing, make a card or project using Black, White and a touch of another color, upload it either to your blog, or to an online gallery and post a link to your card to this blog entry as a comment by May 23, 2009 at 12 midnight. I will choose the winner through a random number generator and post the next Sunday.

Even if you can't make the drawing deadline, PLEASE feel free to participate in the challenge and upload your creations at any time. I would love to see it! If you upload your card on SCS, Stampin' Addicts or Paper Craft Planet, please put GCA41(NO SPACE IN BETWEEN GCA AND 41) in the keyword section. That way everyone can look at all of the creations at once! If you've been waiting to join in the fun, jump on in and have some fun!!

Happy Stamping!!!

~~~~Ann~~~~

GCA #40 Winner is....

.... Neva!!! Congrats to you Neva and thanks for playing along this week!! Please email me your address to pinkstamper06@yahoo.com. I can't find it!!

Up next: GCA #41 - It's All Black & White!!

Happy Stamping!!

~~~Ann~~~

GCA #40 - Quite the Krafty combo!!

Hello all!! This week for the GCA we are focusing on color! And more specifically the color combo of:

Not Quite Navy

Kraft

White (or neutral of your choice)

My sample for this week came about from the WT this week on SCS. All those abbreviations!!! The WT this week is to find ways to use Kraft card stock. I really like Kraft card stock and the impact it can make on your card or project.

As I was thinking of what I could do I was looking at my stack of dsp and saw the vellum and the striped Kraft from the Taste of Textiles dsp pack and my card was born!! And, since I just received my Daisy's #2 die, I had to use it!! Love this die and I don't know what took me so long in ordering it!!

So there you have the GCA for this week!! Of course, if you don't have the exact colors, use what you have closest! But if you don't have any Kraft, I strongly recommend you order some!! This is a staple card stock in your supply!! LOL!!!

To be entered in the challenge drawing, make a card or project using the color combo above, upload it either to your blog, or to an online gallery and post a link to your card to this blog entry as a comment by May 16, 2009 at 12 midnight. I will choose the winner through a random number generator and post the next Sunday.

Even if you can't make the drawing deadline, PLEASE feel free to participate in the challenge and upload your creations at any time. I would love to see it! If you upload your card on SCS, Stampin' Addicts or Paper Craft Planet, please put GCA40(NO SPACE IN BETWEEN GCA AND 40) in the keyword section. That way everyone can look at all of the creations at once! If you've been waiting to join in the fun, jump on in and have some fun!!

Happy Stamping!!!

~~~Ann~~~

GCA #39 Winner is.....

.....actually there are 2!!! Brandy and Cathy are my winners this week in celebration of Mother's Day!!

I'll get some stampin goodies out to both of you this week!!

Happy Mother's Day!!

Up next: GCA #40 - Quite the Krafty combo!!

Happy Stamping!!

~~~Ann~~~

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!

Hello all!!! I just wanted to take a few minutes and wish all the wonderful women a Happy Mother's Day!!! Today we have a beautifully gorgeous sunny day, a little chilly, but gorgeous here in Jackson, MI!!! And my son is taking me to a movie!

GCA #40 will be up soon as well as the winner for last week!!

Happy Stamping!!!

~~~Ann~~~

A Note for You!

Hello all!! I hope everyone is having a fabulous week and that spring has finally come to your area! Here in Jackson, MI, we are finally having warm, sunny days, birds are out and the flowers are blooming!! I love spring!!

My card for you today is one I made for the Inspiration challenge on SCS (IC176).

This IC is from a site called SKEEM - and it has a variety of eclectic candles and perfumes, all with amazing inspirations to get your mojo flowing!!I chose this pillar here: http://www.skeemshop.com/SkeemShop/p...illa%20Tobacco

The colors and simplicity of the design are what pulled me in. As I find it difficult to do "simple" cards, I wanted to take another stab at it! So for me, this is a simple card! My card base is PTI's white, along with SU!'s brushed silver, creamy caramel and black. Until I put these colors together, or saw them in the candle!!, I would never have thought they looked this good!

Let me know what you think!!! I love reading your comments!

Happy Stamping!!

~~~Ann~~~

Happy Birthday Mom!!

Hello all!!! Tomorrow is my mother's birthday and this is the card I made for her.

I finally inked up my Sense of Time set that I've had for almost a month now! When I bought this set I immediately thought of all the male cards I could make, and what is the first card I make?? For my mother on her birthday!!!

I also used CC214, (Bordering Blue, Choc Chip & Pink Pirouette) which doesn't necessarily lend itself to a male card. Not all men like pink, and I as I was working on this I thought this would be perfect for my mom. I used some new socket hardware by Tim Holtz, I just had to have, when I saw them!! They go so well with this set! And I finally put my hands on the three butterfly punch by Martha, and I used that as well!!

The sketch is SC224, and I attempted to do the "Out of the box" technique with the clock. Not sure I achieved the complete look I was going for, but I do like how this turned out.

Happy Stamping!!

~~~Ann~~~

GCA #39 - Tempting Templates!!

Hello everyone!!! Sorry for the late posting, but I've had a few computer glitches I needed to take care of!! Mainly I needed to get a new keyboard!!! Does make things a little difficult if you can't type!

On to the GCA for this week. The focus this week is to made a card or project that requires using a template. You can use any type of template, from a website, SCS or one you make up!! If you do use one from another site, please give that site credit or even link us to that site in your comment!!

My sample for this week is the dress template from Papercrafts magazine. I also used this template for IC177 on SCS, which is Prom Dresses!!

I know this dress can found at many other places, but I am uber excited to see all of the different templates!!

I used the now retired Groovy Guava dsp and cardstock for my card base and the "fabric". Vellum cardstock was used for the apron overlay and then I used some olive textured cardstock I had for the bodice and scallop neck trim. A little white gel dots and white satin ribbon, are all that I needed! Except for the flower, of course! Every girl who goes somewhere nice needs a corsage!!

To be entered in the challenge drawing, make a card or project using a template to create your image, upload it either to your blog, or to an online gallery and post a link to your card to this blog entry as a comment by May 9, 2009 at 12 midnight. I will choose the winner through a random number generator and post the next Sunday.

Even if you can't make the drawing deadline, PLEASE feel free to participate in the challenge and upload your creations at any time. I would love to see it! If you upload your card on SCS, Stampin' Addicts or Paper Craft Planet, please put GCA39(NO SPACE IN BETWEEN GCA AND 39) in the keyword section. That way everyone can look at all of the creations at once! If you've been waiting to join in the fun, jump on in and have some fun!!

Happy Stamping!!

~~~Ann~~~

GCA #38 Winner is....

......Char - The Mad Shopper!!! Wonderful card Char and I am so pleased to have you play along!! Email your address to pinkstamper06@yahoo.com and I will send you out some stampin goodies!!!

Up next - GCA #39: Tempting Templates!!

Happy Stamping!!!

~~~Ann~~~

An Award for me from Jennifer!!

What a wonderful surprise to check my blog this morning (Saturday the 2nd!) and see I was nominated for an award by Jennifer at Racing Towards Creativity.


Now I want to give a few myself. Here are the details for giving the award.


1. Cut and Paste the logo and put it on your own blog
2. Pass it along to at least 5 other bloggers and leave them a comment with the link to this post.
3. Link it back to the person(s) who gave you the award to show appreciation.


My picks:


* Michelle of The Crafty Cat


* Brandy of Brandy Stamp and Share


* Emma of Lady and the Stamp


* Gretchen of Inspiration in Action


* Vera of VeraStamps


Take a moment and check out these ladies and their wonderful work!!


Thanks again Jennifer for sending me this award!!


Happy Stamping!!


~~~Ann~~~