GCA #90 - Colors of Memories!

Hello all!!!  Hopefully things are back to more of a normal pace now, but one never knows!!  Today, my son, Misty and Malaki are moving out of my apartment!!!  I am so happy to have my apartment back, finally!!!  Love my son, but he would stay forever if I let him!

Here's a pic of my girlfriends I spent the weekend at Memories Manor with.  Now that I am home, and have pictures taken of what I accomplished that weekend, I'll get them loaded soon.

For this week's challenge we are focusing on the colors of Memorial Day.  As most of you know, tomorrow May 31st, is Memorial Day here in America.  I associate the colors of this day with the colors of our flag, Red, White and Blue.  I know that some people put these colors with the Fourth of July, and so do I too, but they also help to remind me what Memorial Day is really about.

So, for this week's challenge you need to incorporate the colors of Red, White and Blue on your creation.  It does not need to be a patriotic creation or specific to Memorial Day, but just include the colors.  And you can use any shade/hue of these colors.  I'm finishing up my sample which uses Riding Hood Red and Blue Bayou.

For my sample I took a 6x6 page I created of Cameron and "transplanted" it onto a 12 x 12 page.  The 12 x 12 is RHR.  The center blue is Blue Bayou and the 6 x 6 is using River Rock.  Both Riding Hood Red and River Rock will be back in the new catalog starting July 1st!!!

The dsp I used is the Western Sky, which also has the colors of Soft Sky and Ruby Red.

Upload your creation to either your blog or to an online gallery and post a link to your creation to this blog entry by June5, 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 GCA90 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~~

Memories were made at Memories Manor!!!! & GCA #89 Winner!

Hello all!!!  Bet you thought I forgot all about you didn't you?  Well, I didn't.  I had every intention of posting when I got home last Sunday, and it just didn't happen.  I had two back-to-back out-of-town work weeks with only 1 1/2 days at home.  And then, the weeks were more than I anticipated.

As you know, I spent the weekend of the 21 - 23 at a scrapbooking bed & breakfast retreat, Memories Manor, with a group of the most wonderful girlfriends a girl could have!!!!  I met these ladies through Splitcoast Stampers and for the past 3 years we had a Mingle get together with around 50 other Michigan stampers.  This group was only 10 of us.  Memories Manor caters to your every need and serves you meals out of this world!!!  All home cooked and delicious!  My good friend Brandy came too and we were roomies again!!  Love that girl!  I soooo can't wait to go back next year!

Now, on to the winner for GCA #89.  WOW, there were a lot of new players and some returning ones too!  I'm am so humbled and happy to have all the players that come!

So, this week's winner is......

Shannon of Desert Designs!!!  Check out her round & round set of cards here.

  Shannon please email me your address to pinktamper06@yahoo.com and I will get a stampin goodie package out to you.  I believe I owe 2 people, Scrappy and Jan R, packages and those will go out on Tuesday.  If I have forgotten you, please let me know!

Now - on to GCA # 90 - Colors of Memories!

Happy Stamping!!!

~~~Ann~~~

GCA # 89 - Round & Round we Go!!

Hello all!!!  Sorry for the delay in posting the winner for GCA #88 and posting the new challenge.  This whole weekend was a very busy one, and I had to actually leave my apartment!!!  Spent most of the day at the laundromat on Saturday.  Not my ideal way to spend the day.  On Sunday I had my club girls over and then I spent the rest of the day, which went way too fast, getting ready to go out of town this week.  And this weekend I am going to a place in St. Clair, MI called Memories Manor.  This is a bed & breakfast that caters to groups of scrapbookers!!  How cool is that??  I am going with a group of friends I've met from Splitcoast.  I am so excited!!!

Now on to this week's challenge!!  This week we are going around in circles!!!   Sometimes I feel like that all the time! 

Circles are very trendy right now and you find them in just about everything!  Stamps, die cuts, patterned paper and embellishments.

For this week your creation needs to have some type of circle on it.  It can be your embellishments, on your dsp, made with die cuts or punches, or your actual creation can be in a circle.  However you feel like going round and round!!!

Upload your creation to either your blog or to an online gallery and post a link to your creation to this blog entry by May 22, 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 GCA89 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!

I'll get my sample up soon!! 

Happy Stamping!!!

~~~Ann~~~

GCA #88 Winner is....

.....Scrappy!!!!  You can see her wonderfully sweet, memory filled creation on her blog It's a Scrappy World.  Scrappy please email me at pinkstamper06@yahoo.com with your address so I can send you out a stampin' goodie package.

Thanks to all who stopped by this past week and played along at the Nook!!!

Up next: GCA #89 - Round & Round we Go!

Happy Stamping!!!

~~~Ann~~~

GCA #88 - Sweet Memories!!

Hello everyone!!  I hope the mothers out in the crafting world had a wonderful day yesterday.  I did!  That's why I didn't make it back here to post yesterday!!

With the beginning of May, many special days come at us and many special occasions.  All of those days give us SWEET MEMORIES!  I came about this week's challenge as I was working on my gift for my mother.  Her birthday and Mother's day are just a few days apart and I so I usually combine her gifts with one large one. 

Here is my sample for this week.  Not too happy with how the pic came out, but I tried to fix it with the "fix-it" program!!  As I said earlier, this is for my mother as a combo Mother's Day and birthday gift.

I decided to create a shadow box, with the emphasis on the picture.  This is a picture of me when I was 15 months old and the last picture of me before my accident.  If you look at my profile picture closely, you can where I had some burns to my mouth area.  I took the original picture, which is very tattered and torn, and had it copied at Meijer's.  This picture started out as 8x10, but I cut it down to 5x7.

The shadow box came from Hobby Lobby and is 8x10.  I covered the back panel with a piece of dsp from the Sweet Pea stack, spritzed it with the Soft Suede and Old Olive marker and then used the direct-to-paper technique with the Soft Suede.  My intent was to go vintage.  The actual picture is matted with a piece of Soft Suede textured and then I used the distressor tool around the edges.

I used a leftover piece of "ruffled twill" I had from another project on the bottom.  The flower is made using the Flower Folds die in Cameo Coral and was distressed with Soft Suede ink.  If you look closely you can see the flower on my dress and I was attempting to bring that out.  Some of the buttons are non - SU!, but are "vintage" looking.  The flower buttons are from the Button Latte and I used a flower brad on the other button.  I used a Vanilla HPH designer label bracket for the nameplate.  A couple of nature "twigs" and it was done!

So for this week I want you to create something that either evokes the memories of past happy events, as in my sample, or something you need to create for an upcoming special day.  With graduations, Father's Day, weddings, birthdays and so many more the list is endless.
 
You DO NOT need to create a 3-D project like I did.  You can create a scrapbook page, a special card or anything your heart leads you to!  Just make it so the memories will be sweet when the recipient looks at it.

Upload your creation to either your blog or to an online gallery and post a link to your creation to this blog entry by May 15, 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 GCA88 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~~~

HAPPY MOTHER"S DAY!!!!  I thought this poem/saying I received today was quite appropriate!!  Enjoy!!

MOTHERS

Real Mothers don't eat quiche;

They don't have time to make it.

Real Mothers know that their kitchen utensils

Are probably in the sandbox.

 

Real Mothers often have sticky floors,

Filthy ovens and happy kids.

Real Mothers know that dried play dough

Doesn't come out of carpets.

Real Mothers don't want to know what

The vacuum just sucked up....

Real Mothers sometimes ask 'Why me?'

And get their answer when a little

Voice says, 'Because I love you best..'

Real Mothers know that a child's growth

Is not measured by height or years or grade...

It is marked by the progression of Mommy to Mom to Mother........

 

The Images of Mother

4 YEARS OF AGE - My Mommy can do anything!

8 YEARS OF AGE - My Mom knows a lot! A whole lot!

12 YEARS OF AGE - My Mother doesn’t know everything!

14 YEARS OF AGE - My Mother? She wouldn’t have a clue.

16 YEARS OF AGE - Mother? She's so five minutes ago.

18 YEARS OF AGE - That old woman? She's way out of date!

25 YEARS OF AGE - Well, she might know a little bit about it!

35 YEARS OF AGE - Before we decide, let's get Mom's opinion.

45 YEARS OF AGE - Wonder what Mom would have thought about it?

65 YEARS OF AGE - Wish I could talk it over with Mom...

The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure she carries, or the way she combs her hair..

The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes,

Because that is the doorway to her heart,

The place where love resides.

The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mole,

But true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul.

It is the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she

Shows, and the beauty of a woman with passing years only grows.

gca #87 Winner is....

....JanR!!!!  You can see her fabulous creation using diamonds on her blog Huh. So This is a Blog.  She has the cutest story about her creation involving her computer inks and Copics!!!

Thanks to all who played along this week, stopped by or left comments.

Hope all you fabulously crafter moms are having a wonderful Mother's Day!!

Up Next: GCA #88 - Sweet Memories

Happy Stamping!!!

~~~Ann~~~

GCA #87: Diamonds: A Girls Best Friend!!!

Hello all!!!  Now that I finally have gathered up some energy, I can get this posted!!!  All weekend I have been nothing but lazy!  This weekend has been overcast and rainy which makes me very sleepy.

This week we are focusing on diamonds!  Every girl loves diamonds, right?  Well, we may not be using actual diamonds, but I'm sure we can find a suitable replacement!!!

You can use any type of diamond look or style you want.  Use an embossing folder with diamond shapes, cut your card stock into diamond sizes, use stamps with diamonds on them or use any type of embellishment in the shape of a diamond.  Or that looks like a diamond.

On my sample I used two different ways of showcasing diamonds.  The black panel was run through my Big Shot with the diamonds texture plate.  I used the Black linen from last year, from SU!  My other diamonds are crystal square rhinestones turned in the shape of a diamond.

My layout came from the newest Paper Crafts magazine, Go-To sketch on page 20.  A great layout for a clean and simple card.

My card base is Gina K.'s white card stock.  The black is the black linen and the yellow is one of the new colors coming in the new catalog, Daffodil Delight!!!  It is soooo pretty.  The sentiment panel is up on dimensionals and the white satin runs behind the panel and out through punched holes.

Upload your creation to either your blog or to an online gallery and post a link to your creation to this blog entry by May 8, 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 GCA87 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 #86 Winner is....

......Yogi!!!!  You can see what inspired her on her blog Art with Yogi.  Yogi please send me your address to pinkstamper06@yahoo.com and I will get a stampin' goodie package out to you!

Thanks again to all who stopped by, played along or left comments!

Up Next:  GCA #87 - Diamonds: A Girls Best Friend!

Happy Stamping!!!

~~~Ann~~~