Kathleen's Christmas Gift

Hello all!!! Here's another gift set I made for another good friend of mine, Kathleen. I met her about three years ago at a vendor fair and she's been hooked ever since!! So not only did I gain a good customer, but a even better a friend!!

I had displayed the framed card I gave my friend Deb at club this month and Kathleen just fell in love with it! So, I knew what I wanted to do for her Christmas present.

Again, the frame came from the clearance rack at TJMaxx for $5.50 and initially was pink! And a little beat up, but I knew I could cover that with paint. I used cream colored acrylic craft paint for the frame.

Now she LOVES purple and her entire bedroom is done in purples and the shabby chic style, so that is what I was going for. The background dsp is the retired set that went with Carte Postale. (Can't remember the name!!) The size of the frame is 5 x 7.

The "artwork" starts with a base of Shimmery White, 3 x 5 1/2, I think! I used a scrap piece of card stock to create my inside mask so I could evenly score an inside frame. Not as evident in the photo, but it's there!

Next I cut three pieces of card stock in Pale Plum, Kraft and Kiwi Kiss. These pieces fit just inside the scored frame. The Kraft piece was stamped with Soft Suede using the grass from Inspired by Nature, which the cone flower also is from. I then torn the edges, just to add a little character.

The flower was colored with my Old Olive, Choc. Chip and Perfect Plum markers and stamped onto Shimmery White. I outlined the flower edges with my Elegant Eggplant marker, but it didn't show like I hoped. Once I cut the flower out, I mounted it onto the card base with dimensionals. I used a flower button from the Playground set and some off-brand stick on pearls.

The neat thing about this is what I used for the "glass". I knew the glass that came with the frame was going to be too thick once I added the button and pearls, so I got out my thick window sheets and cut it to fit the frame! Perfect replacement!! I initially just place the window sheet in the frame and then laid the artwork over it, but once I had the back closed I could tell where the window sheet gave away at the edges, and I didn't want dust and dirt getting in. So, I ran sticky strip around the inside frame and then laid the window sheet back down.

Around the edges of the frame, the raised swirly parts, I very gently and lightly, daubed the Champagne Mist shimmer paint until I had the look I was going for. I did it a little heavier on the inside scrolls and lighter on the outside.


I also made her a set of 12 monogrammed notecards, again using the purples! The card base is Pale Plum and I used Rick Razzleberry and the purple dsp from Rallzeberry Lemonade.

These cards also use the new Butterfly embosslit, available January 5th, and the new scallop edge punch. The frame stamp is one of the Sale-A-Bration sets, Vintage Labels, which you can earn for free with a $50 order in Jan, Feb and Mar!!!! Her initial was stamped in Pale Plum with the Lovely Letters set.

I also threw in some older SAB sets I had, which she didn't, and of course chocolate!! It was a hit.

Happy Stamping and Happy New Year!!!!

~~~Ann~~~

GCA #71 - Background Stamping

Hello all! I hope everyone had a fun and enjoyable time over the Christmas holiday.

This past Thursday the Ways to Use it challenge was to use your background stamps as a focal image. As I was working on my card I thought this would be a good, and easy, challenge for us this week!

I have a SAS next month and was working on putting together some card ideas. What could be easier than using an elegant background stamp to create a quick and striking birthday card.

I stamped the Bella Toile in black staz-on to get that rich black color, onto Whisper White. The WW part is actually the card and it's backed on a piece of Basic Black.

Again, keeping the sentiment panel and embellishments simple, I stamped the saying in black staz-on and added a piece of black gingham. The panel is up on dimensionals.

This took me all of 15 minutes, at the most, for me to put togther! That doesn't happen very often for me!

So, the challenge this week is to get out those background stamps, or wheels, and create a card, project or scrapbook page that highlights those backgrounds.

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 2, 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 GCA71 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~~~

Merry Christmas!!!!

Hello all!! Just want to pop on here and wish everyone a safe and Merry Christmas! Attached is my Christmas card to all of you! Enjoy!

Happy Stamping!!

~~~Ann~~~

Deb's Christmas Gift

Hello all!! I hope you are finding time to spend with your family and friends this week, as well as some stamping time! I have the whole week off work and both of my grandsons here! (I have now retreated to my stamp room to preserve my sanity!!! LOL!!)

This gift set I put together for my BFF, Deb. Are 40 year somethings supposed to have BFF's? Too bad, I do! Actually we have been friends since we met in 1990 when we both started our pre -reqs at the community college for the nursing program. We have since gone through our bachelor's and master's programs together and have watched both of families grow through the years. And I wanted to really give her something from the heart this year as she, and her husband, have been so good to me over the past couple of years when I needed it.

She was just amazed at how everything looked liked you would find it in a store! She kept asking me, “Did you really make these?” She knows I stamp and she buys cards from me all the time!! When people only see the cards you make they don't realize all the other possibilities out there too!!



The picture frame I found on clearance at TJMaxx. I backed it with a piece of groom’s dsp and then laid my card front over it. This actually was a card to begin with, but someone suggested I should frame it and so I did! And I think it made a lovely gift.



The candle I just covered up the label on the front and wrapped some ribbon around the neck and the body. And yes, that is a contraband butterfly punch but the current SU! one is too big and my new butterfly embosslit comes today!!!! (Pre-order for the new Occasions mini & SAB starting on January 5th.)



Then I made a set of 10 monogrammed notecards for her. She loves red, so I used my leftover Riding Hood Red and Bella Rose dsp. I am so happy with how they came out.
And, one of the best parts is this only cost me around $10 to put together! I also put some lotion/bodywash in I bought after Christmas last year on clearance. But, most of all she loved it and that is what makes me happy!!



I also gave her the button wreath card I made for GCA68. She thought the buttons were purchased that way and then I put the bird and branch on it. I think I told her three times that put the wreath together myself!

Happy Stamping!!

~~~Ann~~~

GCA #70 Winner is...

...Wendy!!!! You can see her fabulous card on her blog Got Rubber Will Stamp. She used a pop can to create her fabulous snowflake with the Big Shot!! You must check it out!

Thank you to everyone who stopped by and/or played along this week. Sorry I didn't post the winner yesterday. We had our family Christmas with both of my grandsons yesterday and it was one busy day!! LOL! But fun!

I am taking this week off of the GCA with Christmas being this week and I am spending time with my family. I hope you enjoy your family and the most wonderful time of the year! Remember though who is the real reason for this season - Jesus!

Happy Stamping!!!!

~~~Ann~~~

Christmas Memories

Hello all!! Are you getting everything ready for Christmas? My grandson Cameron is coming over tonight through next Tuesday!!! We will probably do our Christmas with him on Sunday. I am so excited to see him open his presents this year. It will also be interesting to see how Malaki reacts to all of this!

In keeping with the Christmas theme and opening presents, I have a 2 page scrapbook layout for you today. These are pictures of my son during his first and second Christmases. This was my first 2 page spread and I came up with the layout on my own!! As I am no seasoned scrapbooker, anytime I can do that I just love it!! LOL!!

The base is Sahara Sand textured with Holiday Lounge dsp, Whisper White and Taken with Teal card stock. I used the sheet with the trees and cut them out for some dimension.

The letters were cut with my Big Shot Billboard alpha strip in Whisper White and backed with Sahara Sand circles. The snowflake punch was used to help fill in some spaces!!

Can't wait to have grandson Christmas pictures to scrapbook this year!!!

Happy Stamping!!!

~~~Ann~~~

GCA #70 - Non - Traditional Christmas colors!

Hello all!!! How are things going for you this week? Are you feeling the last minute crunch of getting your Christmas cards out, presents bought and wrapped and your family get-togethers planned? I know I still have to get my Christmas cards out!

Well, in helping you get finished, this week we are making Christmas cards, tags, projects,scrapbook pages or anything you come up with, in Non-Traditional Christmas colors!!

What are those you ask? Well, they could be any of the following:

* Pink/Light Green
* Purples
* Oranges
* Browns

Anything that is not your "normal" red/green/gold of traditional Christmas colors.

As you can see, I used anything but traditional colors on this Christmas card! My colors I used are Soft Suede, Crushed Curry, Green Galore and Whisper White text. Who knew that Green Galore would this good with Curry and Suede? I used this SU! color combo site to come up with this combo!

This card is serving a two-fold purpose of my sample for this week and is my TJ 1 on 1 card for December. Each month TJ members have the option of joining in a swap with another person. During this swap you receive a card that highlights one of the TJ techniques.

On this card, I used the Fantasy Chalk technique, but I had to alter it a bit after I messed up the first! When you use chalks you need some kind of sealing medium, and usually I have a sealer. But, do you think I could find that sealer?? NO! So I thought I would try using hairspray. It's worked in the past, but you need to make sure that you use aerosol and not the pump kind!!

So I started over and this time I sealed the images with Versamark dazzle and clear ep. Not sure how well the chalks show up, but on the sentiment panel I used a combo of Summer Sun, Green Galore and Creamy Caramel chalks. On the tree panel I used Green Galore.

My layout is sketch #2 in the current issue of Papercrafts.

Upload your creation to either your blog or to an online gallery and post a link to your creation to this blog entry by December 19, 2009 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 GCA70 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 #69 Winner is...

.... paperpapier!!!! You can see her adorable little snowwoman gift box on her blog Paperpapier. Please send me your address to pinkstamper06@yahoo.com and I will get you a goodie package out! Thanks for playing along!

And thank you to everyone else who played along or just stopped by and took a look at my blog!!

Up Next: GCA #70 - Non-Traditional Christmas colors! (You knew I would do this!!)

Happy Stamping!!!

~~~Ann~~~

Gregory in Circles!!

Hello all!! I've mentioned several times about a wonderful stampin group I am part of, called Utah Divas International. For awhile now I have been one of the blog coordinators and I post a project, either one of mine or one of the other members, every Friday. Well, Max (she's the founder) sent an email out in October and stated she wanted to give the blog coordinators a gift! Of course that meant stamping goodies and mine was the clear circle Big Shot die. Thank you again Max!!

Well, in keeping with the theme for the GCA this week, and not to mention the season, I created this hanging picture display. I'm not sure if I want to keep this for myself or give it to my mom for Christmas!! I think I will make another with pics of Cameron and Malaki and put one of Greg in there at about the same age.

The chocolate chip circles were cut out with the clear circle die and the rest of the circles were cut with the Circle Scissors plus. I also cut out circles from the thin cardboard backing that comes with our dsp packs. That helps gives the "frames" some substance and hopefully not warp or anything.

This is the perfect type of project to use the wide twill tape for. It is attached to the back of the circles with sticky strip and then I put a white 5/16" circle brad to each of the circles. The bottom of the twill tape was frayed by simply pulling one of the loose threads. I love doing this to the twill tape.

There is NO stamping involved in this project at all!! Can you believe it??? I used the Tall Tales dsp and cut out the various animals I wanted from the dsp.

This was fun to make and I hope I have given you some inspiration to create a unique gift for someone you love.

Happy Stamping!!!

~~~Ann~~~

GCA #69 - Gift Giving Time!

Hello all!!! We are certainly in that time of year where the thought of giving gifts is utmost on our minds. And while many of us love to give to give gifts, we also love to be as "frugal" as we can be!

The challenge this week is to create a gift worthy of giving to either a friend, neighbor, teacher, co-worker or even the postal carrier!!! Look around your house and see what types of containers you have left from cookies, chips or coffee drinks and let your creative side take over!

My sample for you this week is an altered cookie tin with a stamped candle inside. I used the Christmas Cocoa dsp currently in the Holiday mini to decorate the outside of the tin. And since the lid already had a red trim, I went that and left it plain. The top of the lid was covered with dsp cut out with the clear circle die and then I sanded the edges to take off the tiny bit that hung over. As I was sanding I noticed I was also distressing the red trim and just took off from there! The top layer was cut from the scallop circle die and I centered it with the snowflake flocked portion of the dsp.

I used my Mover & Shapers die for the ornament tag back layer and the ornament punch for the top layer. I do so love my Big Shot!!!


For the candle inside I used my Beary Christmas set and I also stamped the tissue paper in Real Red and Soft Suede with the snowflake to help jazz it up some.

I can't wait to see what gifts you come up with week!!

Upload your creation to either your blog or to an online gallery and post a link to your creation to this blog entry by December 12, 2009 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 GCA69 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 #68 Winner is...

... Clare!!! She created two wonderful cards with buttons!! Clare please email me your address to pinkstamper06@yahoo.com so I can send out a stampin goodie package to you!!

And thank you to everyone who played along this week with my button challenge!!! I so appreciate all you coming by.

Up Next: GCA #69 - Gift Giving Time!

Happy Stamping!!

~~~Ann~~~