Up cycled chunky picture frame!!!

Made this awhile ago and realized I haven't shared it!!

I bought the frame a LOOOONG time ago, intending on doing something with it! It originally was pink with brown crowns all over it. I painted it a soft ivory with paint I used in my living room paint job. It's a nice chunky wood frame. Once it was painted, I covered the front in a piece of off white burlap, adhered with spray adhesive.

The flowers were made with the now retired Amore fabric from SU!. The three small flowers are rolled and topped with a gold metal button. The larger flower was made using the 3 inch circle die and then folded over and hot glued to a piece of felt. The leaves are made from the Mossy Meadow satin ribbon. The ruffled burlap ribbon came from Hobby Lobby.

I love how it came out and how it really makes the photo pop! That is a picture of my husband and I on our wedding day, riding off after we were officially married!!

Thanks for looking and Happy Stamping!!!

Ann

GCA #128 - You Are In My Thoughts!

Hello all!!!  Another week has just flown by and it's Sunday once again.  Unless, you live under a rock, you know all about the massive earthquake and tsunami damage in Japan.  The more I look at the images coming from Japan and read the articles, the more I am grateful of where I live, but most importantly my heart just breaks for those who have lost their lives and the families left behind.

So, this week the focus is to create a card, or something, for someone you know, or don't know, and let them know that you are thinking of them.  It could be a Thinking of You, Sympathy, Get Well or just a general You're in My Thoughts.  Not only have the events in Japan occurred, but closer to home I have lost a dear co-worker and another co-worker fractured her pelvis while skiing.  So, I have cards to get done!  And I have had a couple of RAK requests come through my inbox that I need to get out.

Here's my sample.  Tried to keep it simple, but that doesn't always work for me!!!  I used the sketch from TechnoStamper's blog (AKA MaryJo), TSSC164.  I'm also using this for the Late Night Stamper's weekly challenge - to go green!

The thought here was to keep the colors somewhat subdued, yet still give the recipient a bright spot to their day.  The dsp is Greenhouse Gala, layered on a Very Vanilla card base.  The Top Note piece is cut from Old Olive, layered with Cajun Craze and then Very Vanilla.  The Cajun Craze layer was punched with the corner and border scallop trim punches.  Almost forgot how to do that I haven't done it in a while!!

The large butterfly was cut with the butterfly die in the cork and the smaller one is from the Beautiful Wings embosslit.  Layered those with an Old Olive button and Pumpkin Pie flower brad.  I took the prongs off the flower brad and used my hot glue gun to attach to the button.  The entire butterfly piece is up on dimensionals.  The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes.

Upload your creation to either your blog or to an online gallery and post a link to your creation to this blog entry by March 19, 2011 at 12 midnight. I will choose the winner the next day. If you upload your card to SCS, PaperCraft Planet, Stampin' Addicts, Stampin' Connection (for SU! demos) or Stamp TV, please put GCA128 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~~~~ 

A Michigan Lighthouse!

Hello all!!!  Not too long ago I was in the thumb area of Michigan for work.  Now, I have lived in Michigan my entire life (except for 5 years in SC) and I have NEVER been to the thumb, or seen Lake Huron!!!  How sad is that???  The countryside up there was just gorgeous and helped to remind me just how beautiful our state is.  I'm not too impressed anymore with the area I live in.  That's me in front of Lake Huron.  The second pic is of the lake.

Anyway, the tiny town I was in, Deckerville, had an awesome scrapbook store that was going out of business.  Everything was 50% off!!!  I bought more than I needed, but I got some good deals!  The lighthouse stamp was the last they had and of course I had to buy it.

As I was looking through cookiebaker's, AKA Charlene and FS176's, wonderful gallery, I came across this card http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ga...p;ppuser=16247 that just called out to me.  Good a reason as any to put ink on this stamp!
My changes are:

* Colors & type of dsp

* My "charm" is a button. Kind of reminds me of those life ring thingys.

* Kept the lighthouse idea, but used a different one

* Used butterflies

Sending this off to a good friend who lives by the lake.

Happy Stamping!!!

~~~Ann~~~

GCA #91 - Where the Butterflies Are.

Hello all!!!  Another week has gone by and I spent time playing with my new goodies.  I have lots more to show you this week.

Butterflies are everywhere and one of my favorites.  They can be so beautiful with their unusual colors and designs, it just amazes me.

This week, you need to have a butterfly somewhere on your creation.  It can be stamped, on dsp, a die cut or made with ribbon.  However you decide to include a butterfly, at least one must be on your creation.

My sample for you uses the Beautiful Wings embosslit from SU!  This is the largest of the butterflies and was cut/embossed from Sweet Pea dsp.

The card was put together using all scraps from my stash!  I love it when I can do that!!  The card base is Kiwi Kiss and folded at the top.  Layered with White, and the layout is from the Stampin' Connection weekly sketch challenge.  I ran the Chocolate Chip piece through my Big Shot with the lattice eb folder and punched the edge with the scallop trim border punch.  The strip of Ruby Red dsp comes from the Write Stuff speciality dsp. 

For the center of the butterfly I punched the scallop circle from the Bitty punches and topped it with one of the clear bitty scallop circle buttons.  The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes.

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 12, 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 GCA91 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~~~

Deb's Christmas Gift

Hello all!! I hope you are finding time to spend with your family and friends this week, as well as some stamping time! I have the whole week off work and both of my grandsons here! (I have now retreated to my stamp room to preserve my sanity!!! LOL!!)

This gift set I put together for my BFF, Deb. Are 40 year somethings supposed to have BFF's? Too bad, I do! Actually we have been friends since we met in 1990 when we both started our pre -reqs at the community college for the nursing program. We have since gone through our bachelor's and master's programs together and have watched both of families grow through the years. And I wanted to really give her something from the heart this year as she, and her husband, have been so good to me over the past couple of years when I needed it.

She was just amazed at how everything looked liked you would find it in a store! She kept asking me, “Did you really make these?” She knows I stamp and she buys cards from me all the time!! When people only see the cards you make they don't realize all the other possibilities out there too!!



The picture frame I found on clearance at TJMaxx. I backed it with a piece of groom’s dsp and then laid my card front over it. This actually was a card to begin with, but someone suggested I should frame it and so I did! And I think it made a lovely gift.



The candle I just covered up the label on the front and wrapped some ribbon around the neck and the body. And yes, that is a contraband butterfly punch but the current SU! one is too big and my new butterfly embosslit comes today!!!! (Pre-order for the new Occasions mini & SAB starting on January 5th.)



Then I made a set of 10 monogrammed notecards for her. She loves red, so I used my leftover Riding Hood Red and Bella Rose dsp. I am so happy with how they came out.
And, one of the best parts is this only cost me around $10 to put together! I also put some lotion/bodywash in I bought after Christmas last year on clearance. But, most of all she loved it and that is what makes me happy!!



I also gave her the button wreath card I made for GCA68. She thought the buttons were purchased that way and then I put the bird and branch on it. I think I told her three times that put the wreath together myself!

Happy Stamping!!

~~~Ann~~~

GCA #68 - How do you use those buttons?

Hello all!!! I hope everyone is enjoying the end of the Thanksgiving weekend, but the start of the Christmas Holidays!!!

I love Christmas with all the lights, sounds, decorations and simple happy time the season evokes. But, we must also remember, at least for me, the real reason for the the Christmas Holidays - the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.

As I was thinking about what to do for this week, I had some spare buttons laying on my table and started to play with them and viola! - GCA #68 was born. I've also seen some very cute cards lately where buttons have been used in place of more traditional items. Like what you ask?

Well...

* red buttons as holly berries
* green buttons as a wreath or Christmas tree
* white buttons as snow or snowmen

The possibilities are endless and only limited by what you want to create!!! Now, the challenge this week is to show how you use your buttons on a papercraft creation, either card scrapbook page or gift item, but DOES NOT have to be Christmas related.

Well my sample for you this week took on a life of it's own as I created this card!! It took me all day, as I had to wait for the glue to dry and then decide on placement and so on!!! But, I love the end result and this is a card that will be going to someone very special and not through the mail!!!

For my button wreath I used buttons from the Playground and Button Bouquet sets - only the green ones! The red ones came from the Playground set. To make my wreath I first started with a circle template cut to use as a guide. The buttons cover this so you can't see it. I used linen thread through my buttons and then placed them in a circle after they were all strung. Using Tombow multi glue, I glued them onto the circle template.

Because I had three different sizes of the green buttons, I used the two larger ones for the wreath base and the smaller ones for adding a second layer. The red holly buttons were strung together as the green ones and then pulled snug to "jumble" them. I used my 5 petal flower punch for the leaves in Garden Green.

The bird is actually a leftover piece I had on my table from an earlier project and I thought it looked just right on the wreath. The bird is from Friends 24-7 and is stamped in craft Garden Green on Certainly Celery and clear embossed.

My base card is Shimmery White and I used a piece of scrap Christmas Cocoa dsp in the flocked red on the top. The wreath is up on dimensionals as is the bird on top of the buttons!

Can't wait to see what you come up with for how to use your buttons!

Upload your creation to either your blog or to an online gallery and post a link to your creation to this blog entry by December 5, 2009 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 GCA68 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~~~