GCA #102 Winner is....

...... Lawren from AHobby-holic.  Check out her fantastic card at her blog.  Lawren please email me with your address to pinkstamper05@yahoo.com and I will get a stampin goodie package out to you.  Thanks for playing along!

Thanks to all who played along, or just stopped by this past week!  You are appreciated.

Up Next:  GCA #103 - Under the Weather!

Happy Stamping!!

~~~Ann~~~

Havin' Fun in PA!!

Hello all!!!!

Just wanted to let all of you know what I'm up to while I am in PA!! My up-upline - Janet Wakeland, is having a Remarkable Retreat for demos in her downline!! Many of us did not go to convention this year and this is a way for us to "experience" a convention type event this year! I came with my friend and side-line, Brandy.

I have already won 2 door prizes!!! I won a 6x6 red linen album and the Decor Elements "Welcome" sign. As soon as I get a project done with my new stuff I'll post pics!!

And I found someone to buy a convention bag from!! Thanks Judi!!

Happy Stamping!!

~~~Ann~~~

In Search Of 2009 Convention items!!

Hello all!! OK, I am shamelessly using my blog to search out for anyone who might want to part with some 2009 convention items!

What I am looking for the most is the bag!!! And I mean the bag you received at check in. If anyone out there has one, and you decide you don't want it, I would love to work out a deal with you!! Just email me at pinkstamper06@yahoo.com with your price/terms!

Happy Stamping!!

~~~Ann~~~

Slacker I am!!

I need to send out a HUGE apology to all of you waiting (still) for a package from me!!! Unfortunately I have irritated an old back injury which is leaving me limited with my movements!! It's about all I can do to work during the day, and then sit in my stamp room with the ice pack on!! (Or lay in my bed!)

But, I am going to the chiropractor and have an appointment made with the massage therapist, too. It's just never been this bad before and sometimes I don't know when to stop and sit still! Very hard for me to do!

With all that being said, I anticipate your packages finally making it to the postal station by Wednesday or Thursday of this week. I will send an email to all of you when they go out!! Again, I am sooo sorry!!

Happy Stamping!!!!

~~~Ann~~~

A Blog Award from Raindropecho!!

Ann, from Raindropecho Designs, gave me this wonderful blog award awhile back and I am just now posting it!! I am such a slacker!! Thanks Ann for thinking of me and passing this award onto me!

Now, as with any of these blog awards, the idea is to pass on the appreciation to fellow bloggers.

There a couple of fun "rules" (well, more like guidelines) to this award:

Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link.

Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you’ve newly discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

My chosen bloggers are:

stuff by carol (Carol M)

Brandy's Stamp & Share (Brandy W)

Lady & the Stamp (Emma F)

PaperPatty (Patty B)

Stop and Stamp the Roses (Michelle - sf9erfan)

Where M&M's Gather (Charlene M)

Got Rubber...Will Stamp (Wendy H)

Stamping 411 (The Operators - a blog filled with useful stamping tips)

Rubber Stamping Diva (Samantha P - a blog filled with all kinds of projects)

Racing Towards Creativity (Jennifer E - my UDI stampin sis!)

Clean & Simple Stamping (Natasha T and others)

Stampin' Fevre (Eileen F)

Vera Staps (Vera S)

Inspiration in Action (Gretchen B)

A Time to Stamp (Michelle H)

I hope you can find time to visit these blogs and find even more inspiration for your creations!!! Thanks again Ann!

Happy Stamping!!!

~~~Ann~~~

He's here, He's here!!!!!

Hello everyone!!!! Drumroll please................ Malaki Lee Stone has arrived in the world!!

STATS:

7 lbs 13 oz

21 1/2"

Born at 3:25 pm

Proud parents: Gregory Stone and Misty Wampler

Big Brother: Cameron Lee Stone

He is the MOST BEAUTIFUL baby in the world!!!! I know, I know I am a little biased, but he is just too darn precious!!! He looks so much like his daddy, but I do see some of his momma in him too!

Misty and Malaki came through the entire procedure just fine. While Misty was not planning on a C-Section, she is happy with the end result! You can't really tell in the photos, but he has a head full of hair and his head is sort of "cone-shaped"!! He got stuck in her pelvic region because she is so tiny and that is why they did the C-Section. I am so thankful to God and the medical personnel for a wonderful outcome.

Happy Stamping!!!!!

~~~Ann~~~

Malaki is on the way!!!!

Just wanted to let all of you know that Malaki is on his way, but has given his momma a hard time!! My son called me at 2:30 pm today to tell me they were prepping her for a C - Section!!!

Now I am off to the hospital and hopefully meet my new grandson soon!!

Please keep them in your prayers and I'll post pics when I get some!!

Happy Stamping!!!

~~~Ann~~~

Last Chance Items from SU!!

Hello all!!!

SU! posted the last chance list, retiring accessories and decor elements today! I have to say, some of the stamp sets and items from the Decor Elements line really surprised me!!

I lost 16 stamp sets to retirement, 5 hostess sets and mini catalogs sets we are not sure if they made it to the catalog or not!!

I will be compiling a list of my retired sets I wish to part with and then posting on my bog. I will put this up within the next few weeks, but if it is before July 1st, I WILL NOT be including current retiring sets until after July 1st! If you are looking for any particular set, leave me a comment and I'll let you know if I have it.

Until then, 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~~~

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~~~

A MI Mingle weekend & I'm sorry!!

Hello all!!! I am so sorry about not posting this weekend, but I went to Bay City, MI for the 2009 SCS MI Mingle!!!! Last year was our first event and this year was even bigger and better!!! It was so much fun to reconnect with old friends and to meet new friends!

I met Kristi Ferro of Hanna Stamps and Karen Desmet of ArtDeclassified. They are both from MI!!! I never knew! And such wonderfully funny and talented ladies!!!

Kristi, her friend Judy, Brandy and myself all went shopping together at Wal-Mart Saturday night!! Kristi gave all the minglers a wonderful gift bag with Hanna stamps and a Riley!! You'll see new cards soon with those! That's Kristi in the picture just above! I'll have more pics to show you later!

And Karen created a stamp set just for the mingle!! It even has one of the images we use on our t-shirts!!! I promise to post pics soon!!

So, I have to say this week we are skipping out on Getting Creative with Ann!!! But I have A LOT of fresh and wonderful ideas from this past weekend to share with you!!

I can tell you for GCA #35, you will need a clear plastic frame for the project. Any size will do you, but you can get the 3.5 x 5 at Wal-Mart for $1.49 I believe!!!

Happy Stamping!!!

~~~Ann~~~

Chance for awesome blog candy!!

Hello everyone!!! Hope you are having a wonderful day and you find a small amount of time for stampin'!!

Tiffany Bauer, of My Crafty World, is giving away a huge amount of SU! stuff in celebration of her free trip to Hawaii. Tiffany was the #1 Rising Star for 2008 and is currently enjoying a free vacation with SU! and many other demos!!

Now, Tiffany wont remember this, but I met her on the Trax in Salt Lake City last year while we were there for Convention!!! Was I surprised when I saw her name as #1!!

So check out her blog and enter!!

Happy Stamping!!

~~~Ann~~~

Debra has tagged me!!

I don't get tagged very often, and when I do I am soooo slow to respond, but this tag is relatively quick!!

Debra tagged me and I am to go to my pictures folder, to the 6th folder and the 6th picture and then post that photo!

This photo is one of my grandson Cameron, at 9 months, and myself!!

Now I have to choose 6 people to tag!

Michelle - The Crafty Cat

Patty - Paper Patty

Ashley - Ashley's Creative Corner

Brandy - Brandy's Stamp & Share

Faith - Stampin' with Markie's Mom

Michelle - CMU grad - My Stamp of Approval

Here's what you do ladies:

Open your photo folder on your computer

•Open the 6th folder of photos

•Select the 6th picture
•Post the picture on your blog with a description

•Invite six friends to join the challenge

•Link your six friends to your blog post

I hope you all can play along!!!

Happy Stamping!!!

~~~Ann~~~

GCA#13 Winner is.....

.....Cathy!!! Congratulations to you Cathy on your winning entry! You can see the card she made here.

Thank you to everyone who played along this week!

And thank you to everyone who sent me birthday cards and well wishes!!! I had fun playing at my friends house with her Big Shot, but haven't had a chance yet to create anything with my goodies!!

Up next, GCA 14!

Happy Stamping!!

~~~Ann~~~

Happy Birthday to Me!!

Hello everyone!!! Yes today is my birthday! I am now officially 42 years old and still wonder where the years have gone! (I bet my mother does too!) Most times I don't feel, or act, my age, but when I have Cameron, boy oh boy do I feel every year!!!! And now grand baby #2 is on the way! My son's girlfriend is due on May 28, 2009! That's five days from Cameron's birthday!!

I have received many wonderful birthday cards and I will take pics and post them later. Thank you to everyone who sent me a card.

I'm off now to visit with a fellow demo and play with her Big Shot and dies. Also her new CB folders! I'll show you my goodies later!!

Happy Stamping!~!

~~~Ann~~~

I'm Back!!

Hello everyone!!!

I am so sorry for being silent for the past few days, but my Internet decided to take a rest from me!! LOL!!! Really, it's not a laughing matter as I feel so cut off from the world if my Internet goes wonky like that!

And, I've had my precious grandson Cameron since last Wednesday!! He's a busy 3 year old that doesn't leave me much time for anything else! To all of you out there who are moms with young kids, or single moms, my hats off to you!!!!

With all of that being said, I have not forgotten about last week's GCA winners or this week's GCA!

For GCA10 there are two winners!! As I've said before I'm a sap and hate to chose if there is only 2! Brandy and Cathy claim the winning spot once again with there wonderful creations! You can see both of their cards here. I have cards/stamping goodies to send out to both of you!! I also discovered, buried under papers on my stamping table, items I thought had gone out last week!! So I have many "thick" envelopes to send out!!

Since it is already Tuesday, I am skipping GCA11 for this week and will post it on Sunday, October 5th! Maybe sooner if my grandson lets me!!

Happy Stamping!!!

~~~Ann~~~

Convention was AWESOME!!!!!

Hello everyone!!! I'm back safe & sound from Salt Lake City and the 20th anniversary SU! convention!!! What a blast I had! This was my first convention with all demonstrators together and it was fantastic!

I must say the new Fall-Winter catalog is filled with wonderful new products and I can't wait to show what they are! The stamp sets we received in our bag are just amazing and the Make & Takes we did were over the top. As soon as I unpack my camera I'll get pictures posted.

I also haven't forgotten about the Getting Creative with Ann challenge and will post #3 later tonight. I had very limited computer access while I was in SLC.

Happy Stamping everyone!!

~~~Ann~~~

It's about to begin!!!

Hello everyone! The Getting Creative with Ann challenge will begin this weekend!!!! Thank you to all of you who voted in my poll, with the result finishing at either day! Actually this works out the best for me, and I hope it does for you too!!

What exactly does that mean for you? Well, the majority of weekends I will be posting my challenge either late Saturday evening, or Sunday. Since I have a full time job outside the home, Saturdays are usually days where I try to catch up with housework and such. You notice, I said try. Stamping usually interferes with that!!! But on the chance I actually do some housework, I don't want to be stressed about also getting my challenge posted. Once I get into a groove, I know I'll find the perfect time to post.

With all that being said, I'm working on my sample for the first challenge right now!! I couldn't decide what I wanted to do first and so it took me a while to get my sample started. So check back later today, or tomorrow to see the first challenge posted.

Happy Stamping!!!!

~~~Ann~~~

Coming Soon!!! Getting Creative with Ann challenge

Hello everyone!! Just like many of of my fellow stampers, I sometimes lose my mojo and need assistance getting creative. As I think about ways to re-energize my creative thoughts, I decided to throw my rubber stamp in the arena and offer up a weekly creative challenge. I know many stampers in blogland are offering the same type of challenges, but I want to offer this for my loyal visitors and friends in way for all of all to grow as stampers. Thus, the Getting Creative with Ann challenge has been born!!

What is this creative challenge you ask? Let me explain! My weekly creative challenge will embrace many types of challenges such as:

Sketch challenges - My own sketches, old SCS sketches or sketches from any of the popular crafting magazines, to name a few.

Color challenges - just like the color challenge on SCS, a grouping of colors will be provided for you to create with. You may see old color challenges from SCS or anywhere!

Technique challenges - here you will get to try out a variety of techniques such as; easy & familiar heat embossing, Cuttlebug Smoosh or something I come up with!!

Spotlighted Stamper challenge - we all know the "famous" stampers in our venue such as Beate, MaryJo Albright and Sharon Johnson just to name a few, but what about all the others out there who quietly stamp and share their work with world? This challenge will spotlight those "unknowns" and their creations. This could be a stamper with only an SCS gallery or a stamper who has a blog and an SCS gallery. I have a few ideas for a fun twist with this challenge!!

Minimum Materials - are materials at a minimum? Then this challenge is for you! Here materials you would be allowed to use on your creation would be kept to a minimum! Remember the early days of stamping, or if you're just getting started you don't own everything you would like to!!

Embellishment Encore - with this challenge the focus will be on the embellishments and finding avenues to showcase them on your creations. How many embellishments do you have sitting around, still in the package, you just aren't sure how to use??? I know have my fair share!!

Creative Idea - this challenge will motivate you to create based on a visual stimulus. Like a picture of a beach sunset, photo of nature scene or just looking around your home or out of your stamp room window.

So, my idea is to focus on a different challenge every week to help you, and me, grow in our stamping talents. On each challenge I will choose a random winner who will receive the creation I post as my sample, along with some simple stamping goodies. How's that sound??

Do a lot of these challenges sound familiar? They should, as many of them are featured on SCS and is where my idea came from. I have my own ideas to put a spin or a twist on each of these, but also going back into the early days of these challenges and focusing on them too. Credit will always be given where I found my ideas. SCS is a major influence on my stamping and what helped be to grow as a stamper.

I have a poll going on the right asking what day of the weekend, Saturday, Sunday or either day sounds good for you. I know a lot of the challenges already out there are during the week and I want to focus more on the weekend. Especially since I work during the week, as I know many of you do too.

So cast your vote and let me know what you think about new feature to begin!! I hope many of can join me in Getting Creative!!!

Happy Stamping everyone!!!

~~~Ann~~~

Some Oldies, but Goodies for You!!!

Just a quick post of some cards I've completed recently and haven't shared. Then off to work for me this afternoon!!!

This card was created for Color Challenge 152: Real Red, Ballet Blue and Apricot Appeal. I have used Apricot Appeal and Real Red together, but not with Ballet Blue. Honestly, Ballet Blue is a color I do not use very often! This was a valentine I sent to a special friend.

I started with my Ballet Blue large panel already stamped with Tres Chic in the same ink. The edges were distressed with my distressor tool as was the smaller Apricot Appeal panel. The rest of the layers are pretty simple to follow in the picture, but the ribbon treatment is what I really like!

I used the new Boho Blossoms punch for the flowers, punched a hole in the center, knotted a strip of White taffeta and threaded it through the hole. The hole I punched was little big so I had to play with it some to keep the knot from pulling through! I put a small piece of SNAIL on the ends and stuck 'em down! I really like how the ends frames the image panel.

This card was made for Featured Stamper challenge #53: Sarah Green. She has an amazing gallery and I just loved the three panel card she made. You view it here: Thank You Mom

My changes to the card are:

*Colors, stamps, and holidays!!

*I placed my sentiment on a separate piece of cardstock

*I used one less layer on image panels

*I only used two ribbons on each tie on

I kept her same layout and number of layers on the other parts.

My last creation for you today are pictures of nametags I am making for an upcoming get together happening in Frankenmuth/Birch Run, MI on March 7 & 8th!!!!!! A group of SCS MI gals are meeting for a fun-filled weekend of stamping, eating and having an all around fun time!!!! I have 56 nametags to make and not many started!!!!

My goal was to make them easy, quick and simple to make, but not boring!! I think I succeed! What do you think? The names will be printed off the computer and then trimmed to fit the tag. The finished size of the nametags is 3 x 4.

I'm using up my large stash of retired Petals & Paisley's dsp and the flowers are from So Many Scallops SAB set and the Boho Blossoms punch. On the back will be a pin to attach them with. Each nametag will be slightly different so we a variety for everyone!!!

That's all for today!!!

Happy Stamping!!!

~~~Ann~~~