Do Not Open Till....

Hello all!!!!  Thursday means another sketch over at the Creative Sketches blog.  But this week is the added the twist of also making your card a holiday card!!!  Any holiday will do, I just chose to make a Christmas card.  Never to early to get started on those!

I started with a Cherry Cobbler base, top folded, and layered with a piece of Deck the Halls dsp.  I also used the Deck the Halls fabric for my "ribbon", which I actually tied all the way around the card front!  (That means inside too, which I rarely do.)


The sketch shows the front panel straight, but I slightly tipped it once I picked out my stamp set to use.  The set I used on here is Winter Post and will be found in the new 2011 - 2012 Idea Book & Catalog due out July 1st!

What is hard to see in the photo is the piece on the smaller Cherry Cobbler panel.  This was actually sprayed with the gold Smooch Spritz onto Whisper White and dried.  It does curl it up as it's drying, but I was able to straighten it out and I did use the Tombow glue to adhere it.  Then I knew it was going to stay down!  This was actually left from another idea that didn't pan out.  I also spritzed the Soft Suede marker over some areas before stamping the postmark in Cherry Cobbler.

The couple were stamped in brown staz on and water-colored with the ink from the stamp lids and an aquapainter.  Once that was dry I went over some areas with a marker for highlights.  Soft Suede ink was sponged around the edges and the smallest of the pearls put on each scallop.  The "Do Not Open" tag is stamped in Cherry Cobbler onto the same gold Smooch paper and punched out with the Designer Label Punch.  A lot of dimension going on with the image panel too!

I was trying for a vintage look here.  Did I succeed??

Happy Stamping!!!

~~~Ann~~~

Clearly for Mother - GCA130 & LNS115

Hello all!!!  I have another Mother's day card to show you today.  As you know this is the theme for this week's GCA and for the Late Night Stampers group I belong to.

Actually, for me, this card turned out to be quite CAS!!  Doesn't happen very often, but I used the sketch from the Create with Connie and Mary blog that just said CAS to me.  And, I was able to use up some scraps that I had laying around!  Bonus!!!

The card base is Whisper White, layered with a piece of the Love Impressions textured dsp (still available in the Occasions mini).  The panel was cut at 3 3/4 x 5 to leave some of the card base showing.

For the main image I decided to open up, and use, the Beveled windowpanes I've had since the Occasions mini came out!!  I also used the stamp set, Clearly for You, which coordinates with the windowpanes.  Pretty in Pink satin wraps and holds the windowpane to the card.  These are tricky little things to play with, but I do like the end result!  I used a piece of Crumb Cake seam binding around the know and used a hat pin (non SU!, but we no longer carry these!) through the middle.

Not sure how well you can see in the photo, but I also used my Tea Stain distress ink around the edges and on the crown.

Happy Stamping!!!

~~~Ann~~~

Queen for A Day - DIC138

Hello all!!  WOW has this past week just flown by me!!!  Here we are at another UDI Inspiration Thursday.  This week Maria has provided us with a beautiful deep blue rose.  At first I thought, "What am I going to do with this??"

After I thought about it for a moment I remember the fabulous Springtime Vintage dsp and especially the sheet with the roses on it!!!  Since the rose is blue, I cut the dsp to show as many of the blue roses as possible.  Layered this on a card base of Not Quite Navy.  A leftover strip of the striped dsp was next and I topped that with Crumb Cake seam binding that I scrunched.

The interesting part of this card, I think, is the rose embellishment.  I just knew that I had to use one of the new rose adornments, available in the Occasions Mini Catalog.  But it needed to be built up just a tad and so I used 1 1 1/4" circle of NON, 3 1" circles of Baja Breeze that were crumpled up and then layered onto each other.  And just to set the rose apart slightly from the Baja Breeze card stock, I tore a piece of NON and have it peeking out.  This was then put on top of a banner strip cut from the Petal Cone die.

The layout is from the clean & simple blog, FTL130.  I also used a leftover piece of the scallop 1/2 circle from the Petal Cone die in Very Vanilla.  The sentiment was stamped in NON using the "You're a Gem" set.

If you have a minute, check out the UDI blog and play along with us!!

Happy Stamping!!!!

~~~Ann~~~

It's a Celebration - Vintage Style GCA 125!!

Hello all!!!  Since today is President's Day I have the day off and therefore I can create to my heart's desire!!  And do some laundry in between!! 

Here's another birthday card for the challenge this week.  An eclectic/vintage/collage style that I love to do!

The card base is Cherry Cobbler.  The scallops were cut with the Big Shot and Tasteful Trim die.  This is still available for purchase!  Two cut in black and one from the Newsprint dsp.  The back strips were embossed with the Perfect Polka Dots folder.

You can't see it clearly in the picture, but I used the Extreme Elements set to stamp a background.  I stamped the large "splot" in Cherry Cobbler, the feather swish in Black staz on and the Fleur-Di-Lis in Versamark.  The crown was stamped in Cherry Cobbler and versamark and then clear embossed.

The other Eiffel Tower is from the Artistic Etchings set.  Not sure who makes the "face" stamp, but I thought it went very well with the collage.  The leaf is from Martha Stewart and punched in Kiwi Kiss for a pop of another color.

And to add some bling I put a rhinestone on the sentiment tab.  A mini library clip with Very Vanilla 1/8" tafetta finishes it off.  All the images are popped up with dimensionals.

Hope to have you play along this week!

Happy Stamping!!!

~~~Ann~~~

Happy Valentine's Day to YOU!!!!

Hello all!!!  Happy Valentine's Day to all of you!  Hope it was a great day and ate lots of chocolate!!

Here's my Valentine to you.  I was playing around with a new set, Clearly for You, and this is what I came up with.  Some of the parts and pieces were leftovers from other projects.

I've also been playing around with the new style out I'll call Eclectic Vintage, and I really like how it turned out.  Really with this style there is no right or wrong.  Using a variety of the smaller stamps in the Clearly for You set, I stamped them on the DSP from Springtime Vintage.  1 1/2 lattice dies were used to layer over the top.

The rest is bits and pieces, a daisy cut from the cork, scrunched Very Vanilla seam binding, the bird is from the Hostess Level 1 set, Punch Potpourri and an antique brad.  For me, what really finishes this card off, is the little crown stamped in Cherry Cobbler and popped on top of the birds head!  Is that not cute or what???  Of course, every crown needs some bling so I put one of the rhinestones on there.

I had fun making this card and isn't that what it's all about?

Happy Stamping!!!!

~~~~Ann~~~~

Vintage Birthday Parfaits - DIC117

Hello all!!  What a week this week!  Seems like all I have been doing is running and getting no where!  Ever have any of those days?

Well it's Thursday again and time for another UDI Inspiration challenge.  Check out the UDI Blog for the birthday inspired picture.  I may have strayed slightly from the inspiration piece, but this is where I felt moved to go.

All of the pieces I used on here were scraps, either laying on my craft table or in my stash!  I just started putting pieces together and this is where it ended!  I am really pleased with how it came out.

I started with a Very Vanilla card base, folded for a top opening.  I layered a piece of Peach Parfait, cut at 3 3/4" x 5" to give it a "frame" around the card base.  Next I layered that with a piece of Newsprint dsp, which I ran through the Perfect Polka Dots eb folder and then ran the Peach Parfait ink pad over.  It shows up better than I thought it would.

I used one of my favorite new sets, Artistic Etchings on here.  This set is so fabulous for making vintage, eclectic or collage type of cards.  It took a couple of variations before I wound up with final look mostly because I didn't want to cover up too much of anything!  Especially the yummy new black lace trim from the Holiday mini!  I sooo hope we get more of that!!!

The medallion was stamped onto the new cork sheets and then cut out.  I stamped it in Black staz on.  I really like how it shows up on the cork.  If you don't have any of those yet, you need some!!  I backed a Paper Daisy on it and used one of the new Antique Brads in the center.

The rest of the images are pretty self explanatory.  I used the new black jewels on the crown.  Lots of dimension going on here too!!!

Don't forget to check out the UDI Blog to check out he rest of the team member's creations!


Happy Stamping!!!!

~~~Ann~~~

UDI Inspiration - Vintage Printed Apples

Hello all!!!  I hope your week is going good and you find time to relax this upcoming weekend.  I have a four day weekend, and I am sooo excited!!

I've mentioned the Utah Diva group I belong to on here before and now I was asked by Maria to be a part of the Inspiration challenge design group.  How cool is that??  Thanks Maria!!

The inspiration for this week is apples, and you can see it on the UDI Blog.  I am also using this card as my inspiration creation for the weekly Be Inspired challenge I host on Stampin' Connection.

Honestly this card took on a life of it's own when I started working on it!!  I have been playing with the new Distressing Essentials Kit in the catalog, and I just went to town!  Around the edges of the base card of Very Vanilla, I used the Tea Stain ink spot.  What's really neat about these spots, is that once they dry, they really change the look of the project and add a greater dimension.  By using the Tea Stain spot on Very Vanilla, it makes it look like aged parchment.  IMHO!

Since I was going with the aged/vintage look, I decided to use the Torn Frames technique I learned from the Technique Junkies.  There is something cathartic about distressing card stock!  On this panel I also used the Charcoal spot on the edges, lightly, and then went over that with the Tea Stain.  The front of the panel was stamped with the Sanded background stamp in Soft Suede, off stamped twice.  I even used the Tea Stain spot on the ribbon!!  Can't have "new" ribbon on an old card and an antique brad holds it in place!  I even distressed the sentiment punched piece.

My stamp set I used is the new Studio Sketches, which I am so glad I bought, and is a combo of three of the stamps.  I used the wine bottles, bowl of apples and bananas/apples.  All were stamped with brown staz on on watercolor paper.  The images were colored with SU! markers and an aquapainter.  Lots of dimension going on here too!  You can see it better in the close up shot.  Used more of the wonderful Newsprint dsp on here to add to the aged look.

Hope you have time to check out the UDI Blog and see what the other members of the team did!!

Happy Stamping!!!

~~~Ann~~~

Artistic Etchings 3-D project for UDI

Hello all!!  While I LOVED being in Salt Lake City at convention, it is always nice to come home!  My cats missed me and haven't let up about me being gone for a week yet!

Anyway, I wanted to show the 3D project I made for the Utah Divas International (UDI) group I belong to.  We had dinner, a card swap and 3D swap at convention on Friday night.  It was a lot of fun and good food, too!  We had dinner at Biaggi's, an Italian restaurant.

Now, not to pat myself on the back, but this shadowbox really is not as hard to make as it looks.  I am absolutely thrilled with how this came out.  The most expensive item on here is the shadowbox itself!!!  And that I found on clearance at my LSS!  The rest is done with scraps and bits of card stock, which cost next to nothing.  (I'm not sure exactly how much, but you get the point!)  And it didn't take forever to make.  I literally completed this on the Saturday before I left for convention.  Now I did have the idea thought out in my head, but we all know how those ideas sometimes come out.  What took the longest was painting the box, which is painted with buttermilk craft paint.  The frame was stamped with the medallion in black staz-on, the decorative accent in Cherry Cobbler and then I spritzed Crumb Cake over it.

The inside is layered with black textured card stock, Very Vanilla and Cherry Cobbler.  My thought for this was a collage look, so I used as many different, yet similar, items as I could.  The Very Vanilla squares were put through the Big Shot with the new Vintage Wallpaper eb folder, which I inked up with Crumb Cake first and punched with the 1 1/4" square punch and layered on black textured c.s. 

The Eiffel Tower was stamped in black staz-on, versa mark and then clear embossed.  At the top, middle and bottom levels chunky crystal glitter was adhered with crystal effects.  The crown also has a row of the same chunky glitter.  The butterflies are from the Beautiful Wings embosslit in Wild Wasabi.  These were scraps from my swap card and had been stamped with the Very Vintage jumbo wheel.  The black 1/8" taffeta is the body.  I used half pearls and 2 of the clear crystals from the now retired Pretties Kit.  The crystals are a little difficult to see, but I placed a black brad through the top.  The buttons are Real Red from the now retired Playground set.

All of the squares, and many of the items on top of them, are up on dimensionals.  I used the thick window sheets for the "glass" so it wouldn't break in my suitcase.  The flowers on the "glass" are one of the decor elements items, just cut in half.

Don't be afraid to let your imagination take you on a new adventure!  I see many more of these in my future!

Happy Stamping!!!

~~~Ann~~~

GCA #92 - It's a Sketch!!

Hello all!!  I just spent a wonderful afternoon with my club girls, and I just HAD to show them the new catalog!!!  I am super excited about what is to come, and if you need one, you better contact your demo right away!

Since I am soooo excited about the new catalog coming out, I used one of the new sets we could pre-order.  This set is called Artistic Etchings.  I can't show you all of the images, but you see 3 of them on the front of  this card.  Doesn't it remind you of Paris back in the 40's era?  And the new dsp, Newsprint, is to die for!!!

For this card I used Basic Black textured, cut to 3.5 x 7.  Haven't made a longer type card in awhile and I really like how this turned out.  I used a strip of the Newsprint dsp, tore the right edge off, wadded and crumpled it out, flattened it out and inked the edges with black staz on.  I tried to be careful when I adhered it to the card so I didn't flatten it out too much.

The Eiffel Tower is stamped in the new Cherry Cobbler and the medallion brooch is in Daffodil Delight, stamped off once.  Then I lightly spritzed the panel with the Silver Smooch spray.  The "Amour" is stamped in black staz on onto Daffodil Delight.  I used my distressor tool on the Daffodil Delight and inked the edges with black.  This panel is up on dimensionals.  A mini library clip with a piece of the new 1/8" black taffeta finishes off the card.    

For the inside I cut a piece of Very Vanilla to 3 x 6.  I wanted to have that frame of black around it.  I used the torn strip from the front piece on the edge, stamped the medallion in Daffodil Delight, the crown in Cherry Cobbler and the key in black.  The sentiment is from the new Level 3 hostess set, Occasional Quotes.

So, for this week's challenge:  Use the sketch/layout of my card front to create your project.  It does not have to be a long card.  It can be a scrapbook page, card or whatever, as long as you follow the basic layout.  Feel free to flip the layout if that works better for you.

Upload your creation to either your blog or to an online gallery and post a link to your creation to this blog entry by June 19, 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 GCA92 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 #37 - Time to get Vintage!!

Hello all!!! What a busy and crazy week I've had!! As you know, my grandson Cameron was here last week, and just went home yesterday!! I love that boy, but oh does he make me work!! LOL!

I did get some stamping time in, and I have projects to share, I just couldn't find the time to post!! My goal for today is get these uploaded and set to post during the week! Somehow I have to fit in the laundry and finish the baby shower invites!!

But, on to this week's challenge!! For this week, we are going for the "vintage" look. Now vintage can mean different things to different people and you may create your card/project with your style of vintage! This is an area I have difficulty with, but I do love all the cards/projects I've seen with the vintage style.

My sample is the teacup I made at the SCS MI Mingle in Bay City last month!! This was one of the coordinator challenges and my teacup won second place!! This challenge was hosted by Pattyb. She had the template printed on different colors of cardstock and we went to town on the rest! I was attempting to go for a "vintage" look, but not quite sure I achieved it!! I also used my new wheel, Friendly Words and my Lots of Dots wheel.

My base is Sage Shadow, which I wheeled over in Lots of Dots with So Saffron ink, and then over stamped/wheeled with the Friendly Words wheel in Basic Gray. I then took my Basic Gray pad and ran it along the creases of the cup and around the bottom edge.

The 'trim' is with So Saffron and wheeled with SS ink with my Lots of Dots wheel. Again, I ran the pad along the crease of the trim. I used the scallop lace edge punch to make it look like "lace"!

The images are from the level 1 hostess set, God's Beauty, which I colored with my Watercolor Wonder Crayons and cut out. The fern is the MS fern punch. I used the new white satin ribbon and PTI's lemon tart stitched gg to tie up the package!!

To be entered in the challenge drawing, make a card or project by "Going Vintage", upload it either to your blog, or to an online gallery and post a link to your card to this blog entry as a comment by April 25, 2009 at 12 midnight. I will choose the winner through a random number generator and post the next Sunday.

Even if you can't make the drawing deadline, PLEASE feel free to participate in the challenge and upload your creations at any time. I would love to see it! If you upload your card on SCS, Stampin' Addicts or Paper Craft Planet, please put GCA37(NO SPACE IN BETWEEN GCA AND 37) in the keyword section. That way everyone can look at all of the creations at once! If you've been waiting to join in the fun, jump on in and have some fun!!

Happy Stamping!!!

~~~Ann~~~