I'm still here & GCA #82 winner is.....

Hello everyone!!! I haven't dropped off the face of the earth, but I do apologize for being absent the past couple of days. I was in Grand Haven, MI (for work) last week and then I went out of town this past weekend stamping/scrapping. Needless to say it was alot of traveling and little time to do anything else!

The get-together I went to was the 3rd Michigan Mingle of Splitcoast Stampers who live in Michigan. This time we were in Novi and what fun we had! I have met some wonderful ladies and have many I feel fortunate to call my friend! So, by the time I arrived home on Sunday, I was totally wiped out and ready for bed! I even stayed home Monday because I was so drained.

I had a lot of un-packing to do and cleaning up, so that is why I haven't been on here sooner!
So, without further ado, the winner for GCA #82 is.....Melanie!!!! You can see here creation on her blog The Crafty Critter Creations.

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

Up next is: GCA #83 - Flowers with Pink & Brown!

Happy Stamping!!!

~~~Ann~~~

GCA #82 - Here Comes Peter Cottontail!!!

Hello all!! We are experiencing one beautiful, slightly chilly, day here in Michigan! They were forecasting snow/rain mix, but I haven't seen any of that in my area!!

Do you realize that Easter is only 2 weeks away??? Do you have your Easter cards or projects done? Well, if not, here's where this weeks challenge comes to the rescue.

For this week, you need to create any type of project: card, scrapbook page, 3-D item or whatever you can image, which represents Easter.

And while the title of this weeks GCA mentions Peter Cottontail, you DO NOT have to have a rabbit on your creation. Anything Easter themed is good!

How's this for a cute, and quick, goodie bag? I found this idea on SCS in the gallery of Diana Seitz, AKA paperball, and you can find all the details on her blog: Stamping Moon.

Her goodie bag is made from a 3 x 3 mini envelope, and while this is very cute, I decided to change the size just a tad. I used 4 x 6 envelopes and only put the dsp on the front of the envelope.

I am using these as my 3-D swap for a stamping event I am going to this upcoming weekend. And since I only need to make 10, I thought I would expand the size and that way I can put a little more chocolate in them!! I used 1/4 sheet of tissue paper for the insert and then just trimmed the excess off once I had it in the envelope.

It's a little difficult to see in the photo, but the dsp I used is Bella Rose, now retired, and it's the Pink Pirouette damask print. The same print as the Kiwi Kiss dsp, but my camera washed the Pink Pirouette out. Another thing I did different on this bag is the ribbon. On Diana's she punched holes in the sides and tied the ribbon through. Because I used a larger envelope, I used sticky tape on both sides of the ribbon, Kiwi Kiss, and adhered it to the inside of the envelope. A piece of Pink Pirouette gg finishes it off.

The bunny was stamped in Chocolate Chip and Versamark and then clear embossed. Doesn't he look good enough to eat??? The flowers are from the stitched Sweet Pea felt flowers in the current Occasions mini. Not sure if I like the pom-pom on his tail or not.

Upload your creation to either your blog or to an online gallery and post a link to your creation to this blog entry by March 27, 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 GCA82 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 #81 Winner is...

.... Li-Bee-Ti!!! She created a wonderful scrapbook page and this is her first one!!! You go girl! You can see her page on her blog: Creations with Love.

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

Thanks to all who stopped by and/or played along!!!

Up next: GCA #82 - Here Comes Peter Cottontail!!!

Happy Stamping!!!

~~~Ann~~~

Hello all!!! Well, I made this card using the same sketch as for the scrapbook page, and I really like how this turned out.

Stampin' Up! has a community site for demos only and I host the weekly Be Inspired Challenge. This week our inspiration is to use Geometric Shapes. One of the pictures I chose showed the different shapes using primary colors and that is what I went with on here.

I started with a Whisper White card base and then used Brilliant Blue, Only Orange, Real Red and Yo Yo Yellow. While I had this pictured in my head, it was a tad brighter than how it actually turned out. The Bold Brights family is not one I often gravitate too.

The stamp set I used is Fox & Friends in Occasions mini. I have the clear mount set and I love it! They are so much easier to use for positioning, but they are still the solid red rubber that Stampin' Up! is known for!

Next week I'll be showing you some cards/projects using a new set coming in the 2010 - 2011 catalog. It's a two-step set and you can get it in clear mount!! WooHoo for me!!! There is also a special starting April 1st, where hostesses can earn it free!!!

Obviously, I used the same colors of ink as the card stock. I just put the different colors on different colored mats.

The sentiment set is from Whimsical Words, which is a Sale-A-Bration set and you can earn for free with any $50 order. But, only until the end of this month. And yes, I have this in the clear mount and it made it sooooo easy to put the sentiment right where I wanted.

Now, you can't tell very well in the photo, but the giraffe panel is up on thick dimensionals and the other two are up on thinner ones. The yellow strip is adhered directly to the card front.

My embellishments are buttons from the Playground and Latte sets and the red gingham ribbon.

I think this will make the perfect baby boy card! What do you think?

Happy Stamping!!!

~~~Ann~~~

GCA #81 - A Scrapbook Sketch!

Hello all!! I just spent the afternoon stamping with my club girls! That is why I am so late in getting the GCA posted! We had a fabulous time together and made some great projects. One of the projects we made today is the idea for this week's GCA.

My club girls are a mix of card makers and scrapbookers, so we make at least one scrapbook page each month. This is something I just started this past year, as I am not the greatest scrapbooker! But, since I have been doing more pages I am feeling more and more comfortable with my scrapbooking.

The layout (SBSC59) came from the scrapbook challenges on SCS and was gathered from the Sept/Oct 2006 Simply Scrapbooks magazine. To see the actual sketch, click on the link.

For this week, use the sketch in my scrapbook page above to create a scrapbook page or a card. This is a versatile sketch and putting it onto a card would be easy. I'll work on that this week.

On my sample I used a 12 x 12 textured beige card stock. (This piece is not SU!) Once I figured out the pictures I wanted to use, I built my page from there.

These are pictures of my niece and nephew when I took them to the zoo in 2000. They were so little and cute! And since I was using zoo pictures, I knew that I wanted to use my Tall Tales dsp for the accent. Both strips are torn along the bottom edge. And to make sure my pictures and such were straight, I put this strip on first, after I lined it up with my grid paper lines and a ruler!!! LOL!! No crooked lines here! My strip is cut a 10" long for both and the dsp is 1 1/2" wide and the Old Olive piece is 2" wide.

The pictures were matted on Very Vanilla. I didn't want to use anything that would overpower the pictures and Very Vanilla seemed to not do that. One of my girls placed her mats with a small (about 1/8") space between the pictures. I liked the effect of that too. So play around with your placement a bit to wee what you like best.

My letters for the title were cut from Chocolate Chip with my Timeless Type alpha and Big Shot.

I kept my embellishments simple since I like to go overboard! The buttons have cream colored embroidery floss through them and the Chocolate Chip ribbon is from the now retired Valet Ribbon Originals.

Simple journaling finishes off the page.

Upload your creation to either your blog or to an online gallery and post a link to your creation to this blog entry by March 20, 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 GCA81 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 #80 Winner is...

...... Nance from Snap, Scrap & Dazzle

Please take a moment to check out her adorable Easter card, all in white, with a touch of pink!!

Thanks to all who stopped by, left a comment or left a comment and played along!!

Nance please send me your address to pinkstamper06@yahoo.com and I will get your blog candy goodies out to you!!!

Up next: GCA #81 - A Scrapbook Sketch!

Happy Stamping!!!!

~~~Ann~~~

GCA #80 - White on White!!

Hello all!!! Things, for the most part, have calmed down in my house for now and I am back to stamping!!

I see that I have a few new followers to my blog since I've been MIA this past week, and I welcome you!!

This week we are focusing on the color of white. Now, I don't know about you, but I have a very hard time creating white on white cards. But, last weekend was the VSN weekend on SCS and one of the challenges was to create a card mostly of white. You could add a touch of color, but not too much!

My sample for you this week is that card I created for VSN. I'm actually very happy with how it turned out.

My card base is, of course white, and is from Gina K Designs. This is her pure luxury heavy weight card stock. Great for making a white card base. I love my SU! colors and card stock, but I really wish we would get a heavier weight white!

The background panels were run through my Big Shot using the Petals a Plenty and Perfect Polka dots embossing folders. Both of these eb folders are available now!! Once they were put together, I used my distressor tool around the edges. This helps to break up the different layers of white.

The main image panel was punched with the new Scallop Trim border and corner punches now available. The border punch is free with a $50 order during SAB, which ends this month!!!

Once this panel was punched, I stamped my bird, from a A Spring Song, in black staz on. This is a new set for me that earned during SAB!!! I then watercolored the bird using my aqua painter and ink from the lids of Pretty in Pink, Melon Mambo, Creamy Caramel, So Saffron, Apricot Appeal and Sahara Sand. Watercoloring is not one of my strong areas, but I like how this turned out.

I wrapped the white satin organdy around the end, secured it with a crystal rhinestone brad and added the leaves from my Martha Stewart punch. You can't tell in the photo but some of the leaves were punched with leftover embossed white and from the Brides dsp.

This whole panel is up on thick dimensionals. And, for me, this is Clean and Simple!!

So, the challenge for this week is to create a card using 95% white card stock, embellishments, ribbon or whatever you use. You can add a touch of color using ink, card stock or whatever you want, if you desire. The main point is to embrace the white and keep color to a very low minimum!!

Now, I do recall that I stated earlier this week I would also have some blog candy up for grabs with this challenge!! And, I do!

You have the chance of winning: (picture coming soon. need batteries for my camera)

* Patterns Pack 3:
* Night of Navy, Really Rust, Sahara Sand, Mellow Moss & Ruby Red
* Ribbon set from SAB 2009:
* Certainly Celery poly twill and So Saffron gg
* Bearing Gifts individual stamp from the Holiday 2009 mini

And, I may throw in some surprises when the package gets mailed!!

Upload your creation to either your blog or to an online gallery and post a link to your creation to this blog entry by March 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 GCA80 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 #79 Winner is....

..... Wintam!!! You can see her delightful creation and wonderful use of ribbon on her blog Ta Ta Ta Tam.

I know that I am a few days late in posting this and I am very sorry. The past couple of days seem to have just flown by and my head is spinning!! I am going to take this week off the GCA and come back on this Sunday with an awesome challenge and another great chance at some blog candy!!!!

Take care & Happy Stamping!!!!


~~~Ann~~~