Sunday, July 7, 2013

Beautiful Dreamer - Scrapbook Page #1 for Artisan Award entry


Happy Sunday everyone!!!  Today I have to share with you the first of my scrapbook pages I entered for the Artisan Award Design Team contest by Stampin' Up!

The page is 12 x 12 and uses Basic Black as the main page color.  I pulled the colors for the page from the picture of my granddaughter, Alysha, and what she was wearing.

I just love this picture of her and how I seemed to capture her dreaming off into the future!  That's why I went with the butterflies and cloudy day embossing folder (now retired) to try to capture that.

The butterflies were cut with the Beautiful Wings embosslit and Beautiful Butterflies die.  The large butterfly was actually "double cut" with the two large half butterflies on the die to give you a double effect.  I hope that make sense!  I then topped it with the larger butterfly from the embosslit.

The scallops on the title are actually circles cut with the 1 1/4" circle punch and topped with rhinestones.  I finished off the page by shadowing the edges with the Whisper White craft pad.

I really like how this turned out!!!

Thanks for looking!!!

Stamped Blessings!!

Ann :)

Saturday, July 6, 2013

Mardi Gras Mask - 3D Project #2 for Artisan Award Entry



Hello all!!!  Here is my second 3D project that I submitted for the Artisan Award Design Team contest.  It's a mardi gras mask.  I've had this idea in my head for the longest time, then SU! made one in October 2011 (I think!) and I TRIED to make one last year, but it didn't work.  Soooo, this year I rethunk my plan and this is what I came up with!

First, I found a bigger mask to work with than I did the first time.  And then, instead of trying to cover it with designer series paper (dsp), I covered it with our now retired More Amore fabric.  I was so happy that I got the words on here straight the first time!!!  I adhered it with Mod Podge.

I colored rhinestones with a black sharpie and outlined the eyes with them.  The Vanilla Flower trim (now retired) was colored with Real Red ink.  The paper doilies above the eyes were colored with Basic Black ink and just cut in half and glued onto the back.

To give the mask a little more height,  I cut some dsp from the neutrals stack and the rosette die.  I then adhered a large rhinestone at each of the scallops.

The rest is pretty much embellishments to help make it "look pretty"!

Thanks for looking!!

Stamped Blessing!!

Ann :)

Friday, July 5, 2013

Burlap Topiary - Artisan Award 3D project



Hello all!!!  I really must get back in the hang of posting on my blog!  I have so many creations to share, but it seems like life just gets in the way!

What I have to share with you today is a burlap topiary.  I made this project as one of the 3d items for the Artisan Award Design Team contest through Stampin' UP!  Unfortunately, I was not chosen as a finalist, but now I do get to show off my projects that I submitted!!

This is a double ball topiary, pre-made, that I cut flowers from the Fun Flowers die out of burlap.  I used four different shades of burlap, 2 dark shades and 2 vanilla shades.  The center of the flowers have smaller burlap flowers in contrasting colors and then centers cut from our now retired fabric.  All of the flowers were attached with straight pins and then covered with the flower centers so you can't see the pins.  I have NO idea how many flowers I cut, but I DO know that I had burlap dust everywhere!!!  And was sneezing my head off!!

The jar was painted with plain white craft acrylic paint that was tinted with Pool Party re-inker.  There is two coats inside to give it a nice thick coat.  I kept the embellishments outside simple, since I wanted the focus to be on the topiary.

Of all the projects I did, this one was my favorite.  And took me the longest to complete too!!  Probably about 3 full days if I added it all up, but it was worth it in the end, even if I didn't win.  I just hope to see it on display at convention.

Thanks for looking!!!'

Stamped Blessings!!

Ann :)

Monday, April 8, 2013

Aloha My Friends!!!

OK, I'm trying this again today!!  Back in March I was scheduled to go on a weekend stamping retreat with some friends I've met through Splitcoast Stampers.  It's actually an organized event for those of here in Michigan, and some who have since moved away, but come back just for this weekend.  That's how much fun we have!!

One of the things we have is a Creative Mojo Door Prize, which is optional to enter, but I always do because you always have exceptional items to choose from.  Our theme this year was Tropical, so I decided to use my retired "Hawaiian" dsp and went from there.  Just an FYI, most of the items I used on this projects are now retied, sorry.

I started with a stand alone photo frame that I bought after Christmas on clearance!  Can't beat that huh?  The front of the frame was covered in a glossy finish so I opted to use Mod Podge to attach the dsp to it.  It took three coats to finally get it to stick!!!  But I love the final result.



To cover the seam between the two dsp's, I used a strip of the Natural Cotton ribbon stitched to a piece of white tulle I had laying on my desk.  Makes think of the grass skirts the hula dancers wear.  To get it to stick I hot glued it on.

The photo mat layers are made up of Purely Pomegranate, Pumpkin Pie and Whisper White.  The Pomegranate and Pumpkin layers were distressed and white layer was sponged with Pumpkin ink.  A 4 x 6 picture will fit on here.  And since my fiance and I are planning a honeymoon in Hawaii, this frame will come in handy afterall!!

The flowers are the retired crocheted, felt and pretties ones.  The brads are non-SU!  The letters are "Thickers".  I wrapped a piece of linen thread around the bottom and the picture will slip right under it.

I hope you find some inspiration in my creation today!!!

Happy Stamping and Thanks for stopping by!!!

Ann  :)

Sunday, March 31, 2013

Where has the time gone???

I guess the saying "Time flies when you're having fun" really is true!!!  WOW!  I didn't realize that I haven't blogged in soooo long.  But so much has happened in my life that blogging just didn't become the priority I used to make it.

For one, I have met the most wonderful, caring, handsome and loving man.  We have been together for 1 1/2 years now and we are engaged!!!  Hoping for a summer wedding, but we'll see.  I also moved out of my apartment and into a wonderful new home.  (Not brand new, but new for us!!)  Much more room to move, play and stamp!!!  But, you didn't come here to read about my all that.  I haven't quit stamping and I have lots of projects to show and that's what I know you want to see!!!

I'm still an SU! demo, 8 years now!!!  This year they are have an "open call", so to speak, for all demos to submit projects to be considered for display stampers for the many events that SU! puts on for all the demos all over the world!  Of course, there are certain things they are looking for:  3 cards, 1 scrapbook page and 2 3-D items.  So this post is all about the items I created to submit to be considered for a display stamper.


The first card uses Very Vanilla as a card base, French Foliage and the 2013 SAB set Vintage Verses.  This card actually came about from leftover pieces of from my stamp club where we did the emboss resist technique.  The colors used are Crumb Cake, Cajun Craze, Pumpkin Pie and Old Olive.

This is a top fold card, so I cut a small slit to run the linen thread through.  The embossed pieces were punched out with the 1" square and Old Olive back with the postage stamp punch.  These are all up on dimensionals.

The sketch came from the Jan/Feb 2013 Paper Crafter's magazine.


The second card uses a Crumb Cake card base, Artistic Etchings, That's the Ticket and Lovely Little Labels sets.  Again, I had the leftover honeycomb Lucky Limeade piece and just cut it to what I wanted.  Since we don't have a hexagon punch, yet, I ran the Tea for Two dsp through the same eb folder and then cut the pieces out that I wanted by hand.  The strip of Champagne glimmer paper came from my stash too!

The ticket stamps were done on Melon Mambo dsp in Melon Mambo and images from the Lovely Little Labels set were stamped in Early Espresso, as was the Eiffel Tower.  The tickets are held together with an antique brad and one from Artisan Embellishment Kit.

Some distressing with new distressor tool, piercing using the oval mat and Crumb Cake ink to "dirty" it up a little, and viola!!


The third card uses Crumb Cake as a card base and the Friendly Phrases set.  Very Vanilla was through with the Stripes folder and Pool Party was put through the Delicate Designs scallop folder.  Both were "dirtied" up using Crumb Cake.

The flowers were cut from burlap and the More Amore fabric using the Fun Flowers Bigz L die.  Tied them all together with a Naturals button (flipped over) using the Pool Party baker's twine.  The flower is up on dimensionals.   A strip of Pool Party seam binding softens it up a bit along with the pearls.


The scrapbook page is 12x12 and uses Pink Pirouette as the base.  I pulled the colors from granddaughter's pic!!  I used Soft Suede, Very Vanilla, Lucky Limeade and Fan Fair dsp.  The stamp set is Bloomin' Wonderful from 2013 SAB.

The "Love" tickets also come from the Artisan Embellishments Kit and the rosettes are cream, but can be colored with the ink pads!!  Cool, huh?  I used Rose Red on here.  The flowers were off stamped 2 and 3 times to keep them faint.  The butterflies were punched using the new Bitty Butterfly punch.  And LOVE that two tone ribbon on here: Pink Pirouette/Rose Red!!!


My first 3-D item is a photo holder.  I saw something similar in my local super grocery store, and thought I can do that with my SU! stuff!  And, I was able to upcycle/recycle all that chipboard that comes with some of the dsp we get I've been hoarding!!!

I used the Fan Fair dsp and went with the sheet that already had the images on them.  However, I also used the Daring Adventure set and overstamped on lot of it too!  The Letter It alpha stamps were embossed in clear ep, after stamping in Basic Gray ink and Versamark.  I then grunged them up with Crumb Cake.  The photo holder is what I like the best.  I used two heavy magnets which will be the "holder" for the photo.

The Silver designer button was glued on with Tombo, as was the back magnet to the chipboard on the photo holder and the middle layer.  I was worried they might not "connect" after that, but no worries there!!!  Again, using some scraps I had on my table, the Natural cotton ribbon is stitched to plain white tulle and gathered and the photo will just slip under it.  When I find the right pic for this, I'll post another photo.

I used an old shoebox cover as the base to hold it up and it works perfectly!  I did put strips of Island Indigo around the outer edges of the cover just to help pretty it up.


 My second 3-D project is a mobile.  Not sure how I came up with idea, but as spring starts to come to 
Michigan I was watching the birds outside and it just hit me.

I used the Elegant Bird Bigz die and more of that lovely chipboard I've been hoarding!!  (Don't throw it away!!!!)  The birds are covered with the Flirtatious designer fabric and then I used my Melon Mambo marker around the edges to cover the chipboard.  The wings are covered in Whisper White.  For the front of them I ran them through the Perfect Polka dots eb folder.  Silver glass glitter edges each of the wings to help capture the light.  These were attached with dimensionals.

The "base" of the mobile is a grapevine wreath and I used the Melon Mambo striped organdy to tie it together.  The birds are attached to the wreath using nylon thread.  What fun that was to use!!!!  But, I really wanted them to seem like they were flying and any other type of thread wouldn't give that illusion.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

I hope you like my projects I have to show you today and believe me I many more to show from now on!!!  And, I hope that SU! likes them too!!!

Take care and have a wonderful day!!!

Ann
XOXOXO