Butterfly Thanks

Hello my fellow stampers!!

On my card today I combined two challenges from SCS: Featured Stamper and Try a New Technique.

The FS this week is chelemom AKA Michelle! She is a fabulous stamper and scrapbooker and she is also on the design team with me for Treehouse Stamps!!! How cool is that? As I went through Michelle's gallery, I had a hard time picking just one card to case!! But I finally settled on this card here. I was drawn to the quiet simplicity of her card and I like butterflies!

My changes are:

* Stamp set and colors of cardstock

* Type of ribbon

* I incorporated TLC175 on my card

* I cuttlebugged the white panel with the Swiss Dots folder & rubbed chalks on it

* I changed the layout of the sentiment

* Instead of stitching, I used my jumbo wheel, Lots of Dots over the Blue Brocade panel

TLC175 is Chalk Pouncing, where you rub the chalks onto the BG first, stamp your image on using Versamark and then "pouncing" the chalks onto the versamarked image. You can see the complete instructions here. I then used a sealant to keep my chalks from getting rubbed off. I used Brocade Blue, Mellow Moss and More Mustard chalks, but it's difficult to see in the photo.

I hope everyone had has beautiful a Monday as we did here in southeast Michigan!! Perfect weather and sunny all day!!

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~~~

Here's what I've been up to!!!

WOW! I didn't realize how long it's been since I last posted!! I am so sorry to all of my loyal readers out there. Have you ever had a job where that job just kind of took over your life and you didn't know if you were coming or going?? Well, my most recent job was that way!! And you notice I said recent! Lately I seem to be having job issues, where some women have men issues! Oh well, I can roll with the times and adjust. Actually I am in training this week for a new job that appears to be promising. We'll see. But enough of my life, let me show you what I've been up to stamping wise!


This card was made for the Featured Stamper challenge on SCS - FS69. I used the Home Grown and Elegant Sentiments sets from Treehouse Stamps.

This card was created for IC131 on SCS. Again, I used my Treehouse Stamps sets of Home Grown and So Hoppy. My flowers on here are primas and others, some of which I dyed with my re-inkers.

On this card I used the newly released, Life is a Picnic set from Treehouse Stamps. I just absolutely adore this set with all the fruit, sayings and of course the cute little ants who always seem to invade any picnics!! This was Ashley's Brainwave Wednesday challenge #10. You can check out Ashley's blog here for the BWC each week. This challenge was a sketch challenge and what a challenge it was!! But I wracked my brain and this is what resulted. I really like how this turned out. I also used CC#170 from SCS on this card.

And my final card for you was a result of the leftover piece of dsp I used from my first card here!! Ever have one of those times where you look at a piece of dsp, and then look around at the scraps on your card table and the card practically builds itself? Well that is what happened on this card. I really like how this turned out, as I have a VERY hard time making simple, yet elegant, cards. I always keep wanting to add more and more stuff to them!! And the only stamping on here is the sentiment, which from the Elegant Sentiments set from Treehouse.

Well, that's all for right now. I am working on some other stuff and I have more pics of stuff I have completed to show you. And a lot sooner than a month from now, I promise!!

Happy Stamping!!!

~~~Ann~~~

Stamped some more, I did!!!

Hello all my stamping friends!!!

What a wonderfully beautiful Memorial Day weekend we are having here in the southeast portion of Michigan!!! It's been quite a few years for us to have sun and warm temps on this holiday weekend as opposed to rain and chilly temps!! I hope all you are having a fabulously beautiful weekend too!

Well, I got some more stamping time in over the past couple of days and I just couldn't wait to show everyone! The newest releases from Treehouse Stamps are just perfect for this time of year with their American Dream set. This set has the adorable little boy and girl and they can be stamped either holding an American flag or sparklers for July 4th. This card I made for the Featured Stamper today on SCS, peanutbee AKA Denise! Check out the FS68 forum here.

On my card here, I have them holding American flags in honor of Memorial Day tomorrow. Sometimes I forget just what an honor and privilege it is to live in a free country and to be able to have the freedom to choose how I want to live my life, how I want to worship and be free from constant struggles just to obtain basic living necessities.

My main image is watercolored with the ink from my SU! stamp pads and a blender pen and aquapainter. I used the aquapainter for the grass and sky, just to keep them soft and not overwhelm the image. I first stamped the kids in black staz-on to keep the lines from bleeding in to the open spaces.

The flags are up on dimensionals, as well as the main image panel.

The changes I made are:

* Stamp set and colors of cardstock

* I added an additional ribbon

* I stamped my saying and placed it in a different spot and only used two crystal embillies

* I used my distressor tool on the edges of the white panel

My second card here uses the oh so adorable Make a Difference set also just released by Treehouse Stamps.

The koala bear is so cute and cuddly how can you not fall in love with him? I used this past week's color and sketch challenges on SCS on this card, which by the way I designed during a conference for work last week!! I had to do something to stay awake in the afternoon!!!

The CC was for Soft Sky, Certainly Celery and Blue Bayou. My neutral is obviously white! I stamped each of the white panels with the fern leaf and then ran through my CB with the Distressted Stripes folder. I also did DTP to the white panels with the Soft Sky. SU!'s tag corner punch was used on all the panels and I distressed the main image Soft Sky panel and used DTP with Blue Bayou.

The koala was colored with my watercolor wonder crayons and the branch/leaves were done with my SU! markers. Then I cut him out!! I wouldn't recommend doing this too often!!

I used the small corner rounder from SU! to make the scallop strip and overstamped the saying in Soft Sky with the fern. The entire main image panel/side panels are up on dimensionals and then the koala is up on more.

Let me know what you think!!

Happy Stamping!!

~~~Ann~~~

Slacker stamper....

Yes I am!!! I must confess though, I have been stamping, but not with enough time to stop and post much on my blog. I started a new job on April 7th, and I have been working my tail off since then!! I come home many nights with enough time eat something and crawl into bed. This is the first weekend I will have the entire weekend off!!!!!! So I am going to stamp, and maybe clean my house, but stamping is a higher priority!!!!

I have three cards to show you, all just released, from Treehouse Stamps!!! They are the cutest new sets with adorable patriotic kids and loveable wildlife.

My first card showcases the kids from American Dream and is so appropriate for Memorial Day as they each hold an American flag. I used my watercolor pencils to color them in and a sponge dauber to shade around the edges.

I combined two weekly SCS challenges together on this card: the color and sketch challenge for this past week. The CC is Pumpkin Pie, Soft Sky and Ruby Red. Certainly not a combo I would put together, but they work well!!

The second card uses the same kids, but this time they are celebrating July 4th!! See the sparklers? You can interchange the flags and sparklers! What a neat idea and more bang for your buck!!

On here I used my SU! markers to color them in and for highlighting the girls dress. I used DTP in Brilliant Blue for the shading around the edges. The finished size of this card is 4" x 4".

My third card uses the Make a Difference set which showcases this adorable koala. He is so cute and fun to color. But I have to confess I am not certain what color koala bears actually are!!! But I thought he looked like a brown one. I used my watercolor pencils on here and on the background. After the image was blended, I used my sponge dauber in Bashful Blue around the edges for highlights.

This card uses this week's Ways to Use it challenge on SCS for using inchies. Well, I don't have any inchies so I made my own!! My main image panel is 3" x 3" and then I cut the piece into 1" strips and then into 1" squares. After they were cut I covered them with Versamark and clear embossed them. Next time I will cut them into squares after I emboss!!! I then put him back together and mounted him on cream panel and then the Bashful Blue panel. I used my distressor tool on the blue square and background dp panel.

Let me know what you think!

Happy Stamping!!

~~~Ann~~~

VSN weekend!!!

This weekend on SCS, VSN is happening right now!!!! Not sure what VSN is? Checkout this forum here for all the deets! The two cards I have here are my samples for the challenge I am hosting.

For this card I wanted to create an elegant Wedding/Anniversary card, and what better way than with black, silver and shimmery white? But what I love the most is how the silver ep just makes the motif pop right off the page!!!

And for just an added touch of color I used Regal Rose for the sentiment and flowers. I used SU!'s retired wide gray organdy for my ribbon so not to distract from the card. I miss our organdy ribbon!!!

For this card I wanted something soft, yet elegant, for a very feminine birthday card. I picked up the shimmery Mango cardstock at Archivers and love just how this goes with Apricot Appeal and just a touch of Pumpkin Pie. I also used Shimmery White c.s. for the Orchid and clear embossed the Birthday Wishes over Pumpin Pie craft.

I've had the big fabric brads forever and just never seem to find the right card/style to use them on. I just love the little touch of extra color they add here. The *{}* are also covered with clear ep over Apricot App. craft.

My layout came from the April/May issue of PaperCrafts JOCM recipe on page 22.

Enjoy VSN!!!

Happy Stamping!!!

~~~Ann~~~