Butterflies & Lattes - What a perfect combo!

Hello everyone!!! I have 3 cards to show you today!! Yes, I have been busy stamping up a storm, but my camera was MIA for awhile so I had to wait to take pictures.

The other day I was going through my scrap bins, yes I have bins, and was astounded to see how much useful cardstock I had! And to explain, I have my scraps stored in plastic shoe boxes according to SU! color families. Little anal-retentive, but most nurses are!! So I decided to challenge myself to see how many cards I can make using ONLY pieces from my scraps! Here's what I've done so far!

My first card is for this week's color challenge on SCS: CC182 -Monochromatic. Sometimes I have a very hard time using this kind of color scheme, but in the end I like how this turned out! The colors I used are More Mustard, So Saffron reg & dsp and Barely Banana with Whisper White as my neutral. I didn't have a set layout to begin with, but just played around with my scraps and such, and went from there. All three circle pieces were found in my scraps which is how I came up with the panel for the butterfly.

I am just LOVING my new SU! scallop edge punch and use as often as I can! It certainly makes short work of creating scallops, but what an impact it gives! I used my Paisley background stamp on the white panel and then spritzed it with my So Saffron marker. The Word Window pieces are each of the colors and then I used Barely Banana brads. The butterfly panel is up on dimensionals and I them stamped the polka dotted butterfly in More Mustard on Barely Banana, cut it out and adhered with Tombo glue. Iused my new SU! set - Flight of the Butterfly.

The next card is for Ashley's weekly challenge: BWC20. This week she presents a sketch for all us. You can see the sketch on her blog here. A simple and easy sketch to try!

I used the soon-to-be-released set: Friends & Lattes! Love this set, but then anything having to do with coffee makes me happy!! This set will be available on Friday, September 5th!! Again, I used my scallop edge punch on the large square, but only to make a frame and not punch out the entire piece. Then I just layered my other pieces inside.

I seem to have an obsession with cutting this coffee cup and the steam out, as you will see in the next card too! I colored the coffee cup with my SU! markers and then went over it with my white gel pen. The coffee cup and the scalloped edge square are all up on dimensionals. The steam is glued to the corner of the cup and then just rests on the upper left corner of the square.

And my last card for today is for the Sketch Challenge on SCS: SC192. A simple and clean sketch, but with many possibilities to it!! Again, this card is made using only scraps from my scrap bins, which made the overall size of this card 5 1/2" x 4". The Sage Shadow piece was just a tiny bit narrower, but overall I like how the card turned out!

As I went searching through my scraps, I came across this retired dsp from SU!: Wintergreen, and seeing how it matches the Sage Shadow and Kraft, I used it. And who doesn't love a hot cup of coffee on a cold day? (Too bad it's 90* here in Michigan this week!!!)

Again, I colored the coffee cup with my SU! markers and then cut it out, along with the steam! I found these wonderful aged copper large eyelets at Hobby Lobby and just had to have them! I used a strip of chocolate stitched ribbon (non SU!) where the two dsp's meet.

The entire image panel is up on dimensionals, as well as the coffee cup and steam. I did some paper piercing around the Kraft layer, but with the shading I'm not sure how much you can see.

That's it for today!! Must get back to working as I am working from home this week.

Happy Stamping!!

~~~Ann~~~

Have a Witching Halloween - Oh My!!

Hello everyone!!! While I've been busy stamping this week, I haven't had time to upload anything!!! Tonight I have 1 of the cards to show you using a new set from Treehouse Stamps!!

This is for Ashley's Brainwave Wednesday Challenge she does every week. And yes I realize it's Thursday, but I finished this up last night and was just too tired to post it!!!

I used the Creepy Crawly set, which is available now from Treehouse Stamps. This is an adorable Halloween set with great sentiments and images. BWC20 this week was a sketch, and to see that sketch check out Ashley's blog!

I went with CC181 this week of Kraft, Rose Red & Black. I wasn't sure how this would turn out for a Halloween card, but I like it! I stamped my witch's hat in Black Staz on and used the "Out of the Box" technique to show it off more. Not sure how well you can see, but I also cut out the spider's legs! Look real close! I also stamped the hat again onto Rose Red dsp and cut out the larger circles and glued them onto the hat. I used my gel pen to color in the smaller circles. I then used my white gel pen on the black bottom piece to make my "Faith dots"!

The bat was stamped onto Rose Red cardstock, cut out and adhered using foam tape. The entire main image panel is up on dimensionals.

The swirled background is a small stamp with this set, and I just stamped it several times until I liked the coverage. I did "stamp off" once onto scrap paper and then stamped my card, in Rose Red ink.

I also am using up retired SU! ribbon, which is the polka dotted Pomegranate on here. The sentiment was stamped "full strength" in Rose Red and the star was stamped in black stazon onto Rose Red dsp.

Don't forget about this week's CGA! I'd love to see your creative idea based on the bedding!

Happy Stamping!!

~~~Ann~~~

New Treehouse Stamps Available now & Coming Soon!!!

Hello everyone!!! I have 3 cards to show you today which highlight 2 news sets from Treehouse Stamps available now and one coming in September!!!

The first card showcases the "Friends & Lattes" set which will be available on September 5th. I just love this coffee set, probably because I love coffee so much, but this set is just so fun to stamp with!!! This card is also for Ashley's Brainwave Wednesday Challenge (BWC19) found here. I love the combo of pink and brown and put coffee with it, what an awesome combo!! I also took some of my design from the picture Ashley posted, like the crib bed ruffle and they have a scalloped feel to them.

I went a little crazy with the coffee cup as I paper pieced every part of it and did paper tole on it!!! The coffee cup is raised up from the saucer. Not sure what I was thinking when I decided to piece all these spots on the cup, but I do like the way it turned out!

And what about the steam? My intent was to just cut around the outside edges and put it on, but as I was cutting I wound up cutting more than I first anticipated, but the final result was worth it! It looks like the steam is actually coming right out of the cup!!

And you can't have coffee without a snack so how about a cupcake? I put crystal effects on the cherry and on the "coffee" in the cup. If you love coffee as much as I do, you HAVE to order this set on September 5th!! The creations with this set are endless!

My next card uses one of the new Halloween sets "Creepy Crawly". This set has the most adorable Halloween images! I'm not into the scary, gory images, but cute and crazy ones I can go for.

I used CC179 and SC189 on SCS for my colors and layout. The colors were Taken with Teal, Old Olive and Elegant Eggplant. I think these colors lend themselves to Halloween very nicely, so that's what I went with. I did a technique here I learned from Technique Junkies called the Bandanna technique. It's very fun and easy to do. If your a junkie you know all about this, if not click on the TJ logo on the right and find out what your missing!!

I stamped my images in black staz on and colored the spider with my SU! markers in Perfect Plum and Pale Plum. The sentiment is in Elegant Eggplant. I used my distressor tool on the 2 inside panel edges.


My third card uses the new "Happy Fall Y'all", now available. This set has wonderful fall images of pumpkins, leaves and a farmhouse. I was having a low mojo day when I created this card, and while I like how it turned out, I feel like it needs something more.

I used my Pumpkin Patch spectrum pad to stamp the pumpkins in and to edge the torn piece on the scarecrow. He is colored in with my SU! markers.

And I used these adorable white button brads I have on his jacket!

I'm working on more projects for my annual SU! Open House this Sunday, so be on the lookout for more pics!



Happy Stamping!!


~~~Ann~~~

Rockin Oliver Owl BWC16

Hello everyone!!

It's Wednesday and you know that mean Ashley's BWC is here!! I combined the color challenge on SCS (River Rock, Soft Sky and Very Vanilla) with the BWC sketch and this is what I came up with!

The stamp is a soon-to-be released stamp from Treehouse Stamps, called Oliver Owl. He will be sold as an individual and the sentiment is also available as an individual. Both of these, and more, will be released on August 7th!! I will be showing you more sneak peeks in the coming days.

I decided to try something different on this card, and I must say I really like how it came out. This is my first attempt at the "Out-of-the-Box" technique. I was never quite sure how to do this and honestly, I almost cut off Oliver's head last night while trying to do this!! I may just offer this technique up in one of my Getting Creative with Ann challenges!!! Be on the lookout!!

I ran the Soft Sky background panel through my Distressed Stripes CB folder and then used my distressor tool on the edges. I also distressed the edges of the smaller sky panel under Oliver.

To create Oliver I stamped him in Choc. Chip craft and embossed in clear. Some of the parts didn't embossed very good, but you get the idea. I used my simple SU! markers for coloring all but his belly. His belly was colored with the Soft Sky ink pad and blender pen. I then stamped him again, cut out and colored his wings, and put them on with dimensionals. The entire panel of Oliver is on with dimensionals, and then thicker foam squares were used on the entire panel of Oliver.

I used choc. chip polytwill and wide gg to breakup the colors some, and then added a touch of Very Vanilla taffeta.

Hope you like it!! I really like this sketch and have a swap card ready to go for convention with this sketch. And yes I know that convention is next week!!!

Happy Stamping and be sure to check out the first Getting Creative with Ann challenge just below!!!

~~~Ann~~~

It's Wednesday & time for BWC#15

Hello everyone!!

Well, it's Wednesday again and you know what that means!! Ashley's BWC!!! This week Ashley challenged us with another great color combo: Bravo Burgundy, Old Olive, Choc. Chip and Whisper White.

I kept my card pretty simple as I am trying to finish up my swaps to go to convention with!!! Yeah, I leave in less than two weeks now!!

I used the Quiet Moments set here, and if you love this set it is now in limited quantities so hurry over to Treehouse Stamps and put your order in!!! I just love this sentiment as it is so true. How else can you dream if you're surrounded by loud noises and interruptions from all over?? Now I personally don't like to fish, but I could be the girl just sitting on edge of the stream, dangling my feet in the water and dreaming.

My base card is made with Old Olive in a 5" x 5" square size and layered with Bravo Burgundy followed with the white main image panel. I incorporated TLC177 from SCS this week on the main image panel. The technique was to create a grid on your cardstock by scoring. I used my Scor-Pal for the scoring in a diagonal fashion.

To create my image, I first stamped the girl in brown staz on and then I watercolored the grass, water and sunshine with my aquapainter and reinkers to give them a softer look. To color in the girl I used my SU! markers since I wanted her to stand out from the rest. And then I took my SU! markers in darker colors to create highlights in the water and grass.

I used my Martha Stewart border punch for the choc. chip piece and highlighted that with my Signo white gel pen, ala Faith dots!! The same for the top edge of the Bravo Burgundy piece.

The butterflies are a Martha punch and punched with coordinating colors in dsp and Cuttlebugged stock. The sentiment is up on dimensionals.

Enjoy and Happy Stamping!!!

~~~Ann~~~

It's Wednesday!!!!

And that means it's time for the Brainwave Wednesday Challenge!!! This week Ashley challenged us with a color combo of Sage Shadow, Certainly Celery, Barely Banana and Very Vanilla. At first I thought, no problem!, until I started putting the card together!!! Sage Shadow is not a color I use very often and I'm not sure I like on here how I layered it with the Certainly Celery.

But I do like how the overall design and thought came together. You'll see the same layout on the second card, which I did for this week's CC on SCS, and I was amazed at how this layout came together. I was just pulling scraps out of my boxes and the next I knew there it was!! I love it when it comes together so easily!

My first card uses the Life is a Picnic set with the adorable summer picnic images. I cut out the grapes, after watercoloring them with my ink pad lids and blender pen, cut them out and popped them up with thick foam squares. The oval mat the any is on is up on SU! dimensionals.

My second card uses one of the newest individual stamps, called Fishy Friend. The CC on SCS is Purely Pomegranate, Certainly Celery and Wild Wasabi. I added black to break up the two greens.

I first stamped my fish on watercolor paper in black craft and then embossed her with clear EP. Using my ink pad lids and blender pen again, I watercolored her with the CC colors. I have a couple more images of the fish stamped and colored for future projects and I just love how fun she is to watercolor.

The buttons on here are a gift from secret big sis on SCS and from BasicGrey. I used them to mimic the bubbles my fish is blowing.

All stamps here are from Treehouse Stamps and can be found on their website, which you can easily get too by clicking on the Treehouse logo in the right sidebar.

I hope everyone is having an enjoyable summer so far and has many picnics and fishing stories to tell at the end!!

Happy Stamping!!!

~~~Ann~~~

Life is a Picnic

Hello all my fellow stampers!! I hope everyone is having a wonderful Wednesday!! As you know, on Wednesday Ashley from Treehouse Stamps, has a Brainwave Wednesday Challenge. This week it is a sketch challenge. Check out her blog, Ashley's Creative Corner, for all the deets!!

On my card here I used the adorable Picnic set which includes ants, fruits, cakes and wonderful sayings perfect for a summer card, scrapbook page or whatever!!

I also used CC172, Taken with Teal, Wild Wasabi and Whisper White. My dsp is the Wild Wasabi paper from the Level 1 print pack.

The fruit images were colored directly onto the rubber with my SU! markers and the ant I stamped in black staz-on and colored in with my Creamy Caramel marker. I used my white gel pen for the highlights around the scallop.

My card is a 5" x 5" square and will fit into a medium square SU! envelope. I used my 1 3/8", 1 1/4" and scallop circle punches for the images and the photo corner punch for the corners. The 2 smaller circles are up on SU! dimensionals and the center scallop image is up on thick foam squares to put it just slightly higher than the other two. Some white ric-rak and a silver swirl clip and that's it!

I hope you get a chance to try out Ashley's BWC and see where it takes you!!

Happy Stamping!!

~~~Ann~~~

Happy Mail Day!!

Hello everyone!!! Who wouldn't love to receive this adorable snail from Treehouse Stamps in their mailbox? Much better than receiving bills and junkmail, that's for sure!!

This card was created using Ashley's Brainwave Wednesday challenge she hosts on her blog, Ashley's Creative Corner, every Wednesday. This is for last week's challenge, BWC #11, which was a color combo with Bravo Burgundy, Old Olive, Taken with Teal and River Rock. I used white as my neutral.

I used Bravo Burgundy for my base and then decided to use my Diamond CB folder, I just had to have, and hadn't used yet for my next layer. Before I ran it through my CB, I inked up the folder on the negative side with River Rock, put my white layer in and than ran it through the CB. When your done, you have the ink on the non-embossed parts of the cardstock. You can check out this cool technique and others by clicking on the Technique Junkies logo on the left and see everything they have to offer.

I also used SC #180 for my layout. I put my olive layer on to mimic the snail in the grass. To color in the snail I used a blender pen and my River Rock and Taken with Teal ink pad lids for watercoloring. Once dry, I went over all the Teal parts with a clear glitter pen. Not sure how well this shows up in the photo.

The scallop sentiment is up on dimensionals, and I used SU!'s Old Olive polytwill for my ribbon.

That's all I have for tonight, but I'll have BWC#12 up tomorrow!! So be sure to check back here tomorrow and check out Ashley's blog for all the deets!!!

Happy Stamping!!

~~~Ann~~~