Colorful and Funky Birthday Mushrooms - DIC133!!!

Hello all!!!  Another Thursday is here and that means another fabulous UDI Blog Inspiration challenge!!!  This week Maria has provided us with a fantastic picture of glass-blown mushrooms.

So it was a no-brainer to dig out my Funky Four set and go with it.  The sketch is SC317 on SCS.  I had not intended on using the tree, but once I started working on this I know that I needed something for the background to help "ground" the mushrooms.  Clear as mud?  The tree was colored with my Garden Green and Choc Chip markers.

The mushrooms were stamped in Concord Crush, Daffodil Delight and Tangerine Tango.  The large ones are popped up with one dimensional and the smaller ones use two.  Even more dimension is used on all the panels.  The Garden Green has one layer and the Choc Chip layer has two.  The sentiment, from the fabulous SAB set So Happy For You, is stamped in Choc Chip, placed on a Garden Green strip and popped up with dimensionals.  Just for some texture I distressed the edges with my cutter tool.

A brass mini library clip and three brass brads finishes it off.  Not sure how much you can see in the pic, but I was off center with my brad placement and so I covered those up with 1/4" circles under the brads.  I think this will make a fabulous manly birthday card.  The dsp I used on here is the Woodland Walk.  Took me forever to order this!  Not quite sure why!!

Hop on over to the UDI Blog and play along with us!!!

Happy Stamping!!!!

~~~Ann~~~

Playdate Goes Western!!

Hello all!!!  Here we are at the end of 2010!  Kind of hard to believe that in 24 hours, or less, we will be starting a New Year!  Do you have your resolutions ready?  And can you keep them for more than a day??? LOL!!

Today I have 2 cards for you that I created using my newest set, Out West.  This set is perfect for any and all male cards.  And, if you are like me, those are not the easiest to create!!  Both of these cards actually started, and were completed, with scraps/leftovers on my craft table.

Each card uses pretty much the same supplies, just in different ways.  The background piece is what started it.  This was left from the strips I used on my reindeer scrapbook page.  It's rolled with the Rough Texture wheel in Crumb Cake and stamped with the Sanded bg in Choc. Chip.

What I really want to point out are the techniques on the two cards.  On the first card, I used the out-of-the-box technique with the horse and cowboy.  Normally I would leave a little more of the base card, but every time I placed it on the square layers it looked liked just a little more needed to come off!!!  I do like how the cowboy and horse seem to really be coming off the card!  They were colored using my aquapainter and stamp pad lids.  Once dry, I went over some of the highlighted areas with my markers.

On the second card I used the "Depth of Field" technique I learned from Technique Junkies.  You have to look very carefully, but the horseshoe is there, stamped in So Saffron.  Then the cowboy hat in Old Olive and the steer in Choc. Chip.  Not sure how many cowboys wear green boots, but it certainly does make the boot pop off the card!!  The felt ribbon is from last year's holiday mini and the baby safety pin came from a recent clothing purchase.  It was just sitting on my craft table and tried it on here.  I like how it looks on here.  This will be my card for my supervisor who is retiring in April.  Since he likes "cowboy coffee" I thought this set was appropriate!!

I'm also entering both of these in Shelli's monthly So Shelli contest.  This month is focused on techniques!

Happy Stamping!!!

~~~Ann~~~

GCA #101 - A Happy Birthday!!

Hello all!!!  No, it isn't my birthday, but it is someones birthday somewhere in the world!  Corny I know.  When creating new cards I tend to make alot of birthday cards.  Seems like you can never have too many of them.

So this week, the challenge is to create a birthday card.  No special requirements, BUT if you make a man/boy tween/kids birthday card, you'll get extra points!  Seems like I always am making cards for ladies and when I need one for a man or kid, I don't have them!!

My card was created with a man in mind, but after I finished it I thought it would work for a male tween too.  They are one finicky group to make cards for!!

This was actually created with scraps left on my table.  I created a One Sheet Wonder (OSW) using Sense of Time and Extreme Elements.  I used the colors of Night of Navy, Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie and Very Vanilla.  I actually pulled this combo from my new color coach.  This is a great tool to have, especially with the color renovation SU! did with this catalog.  Who would of thought that Cherry Cobbler and Pumpkin Pie would go together???

So, using the scraps from the OSW and others on my table, this is what I came up with.  The sentiment is from the new Word Play set (fabulous set of sentiments) and stamped in Cherry Cobbler.  I first stamped the small dotted stamp from Extreme Elements in Pumpkin Pie, after off-stamping twice.  Just to add a little "bling" I put the new Champagne glass glitter on the star above the (i).  This panel is up with dimensionals and I used linen thread around the bottom.  I added the 1/2" library clip on here, just because!!  The Old Olive strip was distressed on the edges.

Upload your creation to either your blog or to an online gallery and post a link to your creation to this blog entry by August 21, 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 GCA101 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 #46 - All About the Man!!!

Hello all!!! I hope everyone is enjoying a Happy Father's Day with the special man in their life today!!

And with today being Father's Day, the GCA for this week is all about men!! Well, masculine cards or projects that is!!

I don't know about you, but I have a very difficult time making masculine cards. I want to put all the frilly, pretty girlie things on and for a man that just wont do!

I have three samples from you, which I pulled from my archives!!! (Getting ready to leave for Indy for the week for training and not a lot of time to create!!!)

The first two samples use the Wanted set, which I think is perfect for creating male cards!! And the third sample uses the Boatloads of Love set, which would be a perfect Valentine or anniversary card!! IMHO!!

So, for this week's GCA you need to create a card, project or scrapbook page that is masculine themed, 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 June 27 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 GCA46(NO SPACE IN BETWEEN GCA AND 46) 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!! male theme!

Happy Stamping!!!

~~~Ann~~~