Saturday, July 4, 2009

Happy Fourth of July!

Hello! Hope your Fourth of July was bright and colorful and full of family and friends! :) We had a picnic and fire boomers with the family. The food was super yummy and hubby set off a lovely display of fireworks!

It has been a long crazy day so I will keep this post brief, but wanted to stop by and share a little something with you guys! :) I recently received a super sweet package from a friend! It was a total surprise and very, very thoughtful of her to do! It was full of fun goodies and she included a beautiful hand made card! She really brightened my day! The really cool thing is that I have never even met her! She and I belong to an online Sister group! She sent me a package out of sheer kindness! I wanted to make her a little something to let her know how much her package meant to me! I went shopping and gathered some goodies (and chocolate!)! I made this little gift for her and a card and popped everything in an envie and mailed it out to her! I know that she has since received it so can go ahead and post here! Thanks soooo much, Nikki! :)




Have a wonderful day! Be back soonest! :)

AnnMarie

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

L(etter) O(f) T(he) W(ord)!!

Hello everyone! Hope you are doing well today! :)

I recently received some of my LOTW swaps back in the mail and I must say I am head over heels about these little guys! They are such a fun swap!! You choose a word, choose a letter and then create as many letters as there are in the word plus one for the hostess! When everything is said and done you get back the completed word! They make awesome scrapbook page titles! LOVE them! I did the 'r' in soccer and the 'c' in beach! Look how cute these little guys are!




I really enjoyed these swaps and cannot wait to get back my other LOTW's! I have a few more to share with you tomorrow! Have a wonderful night! :)


AnnMarie

Monday, June 29, 2009

Inspiration for my new space!

Hello everybody! :) Hope you are having a wonderful day! I sure am! The sun is shining here today and the weather has been just beautiful! :) I went out to lunch with an extra special friend and it was so nice to just sit and visit and enjoy each others company! She and I have been friends for a long time and she is getting ready to relocate to another state. It won't be that far away, but far enough so that our hectic schedules will keep us from visiting regularly. I am really, really going to miss her.

On a whole other note...I have been slowly chipping away to create a stamping space all of my own! :) We have a library in our house that doubles as a school room! We have used it mostly for storage though the last few months. I decided I was going to clean it out and turn half of it into my space! It has proven to be a giant job though! I had no idea how much stuff we had accumulated! LOL I am right in the middle of it which means that my stuff is all over the place! I took a break though to make a little something to offer inspiration once things get settled! I found the prettiest 12 X 12 paper pack at Wal Mart on sale (some of my very favorite words!!) and it included several sheets of punch out letters! Normally these wouldn't appeal to me, but the colors were just so pretty I couldn't resist! So I bought it and a frame and took it all home to get to work! Recently I purchased a stamp that I fell head over heels for and was looking for just the right project to ink it up on! This was going to be it!! I laid everything out and it just kind of came together! No fuss, no muss...just worked out the very first time! I love these colors together too! I used background paper from the mat pack and the letters and border strip as well! I used leaves from my Sizzex die and added some bridal flowers and some pretty pink bling! Once the whole thing was finished I stamped my new stamp and added some clear stickles and mounted it on the upper corner! Just as soon as my space is complete I am going to hang this up! :) If you look closely at the stamped image you will see that there are several hidden images in the stamp! It is an Inkadinkadoo stamp. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it! ;)

Here it is:





Hope you like it! I sure do! :) Have a super day!


AnnMarie

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Wedding Bells and blog apology!

Dear Poor, sad, neglected blog!

I know it has been a couple of weeks since I have posted to you and and I thought I better stop by and explain my absence to you. I have been busy with life and although I have thought of you often and missed you a great deal, my time has been slim. I hope that you can forgive me! I keep promising to spend more time with you and then having a hard time keeping my promise. I am very, very, very, very, very, very, very sorry! Please forgive me and try to believe me when I say I will try to spend more time with you in the future!

Sincerely,
Me <3

Hello wonderful blog readers! I am sorry to you too for my lack of crafty goodness! I have missed creating and blogging so much! It just seems that there is always so much going on! I really will try to do better and be more faithful here! :)

I wanted to share a little something with you that I threw together this weekend! I have to share the story behind it first though! I have a friend that I have known now for almost 11 years! She home schools her children also. She and I (and another wonderful mom!) have mutually run a home school group together for the last several years! I have known her children since they were small people! Well this weekend her son got married and my oldest son was his best man! I have been involved in her son's life since he was just a little guy and to watch him stand up there and tie the knot put a lump in my throat for sure! He is such a sweet boy and it was a beautiful wedding, but boy am I feeling old! LOL He came to visit with me after the wedding and told me how happy he was that we were there...made me all misty eyed! My son was so handsome standing up there for him! Gosh! Talk about lots of sniffles! Ah sigh! :)

Anyhow, I wanted to make them something really special! I stamped their names in Old Olive and cut out the wedding date from the actual invitation and mounted that on Old Olive. I added bridal flowers and the leaves from my SU! Sizzex die to give it an elegant wispy look! I used Whisper White as the focal image background and mounted that against green, brown and then some really pretty paper with a gold weave running through it! The colors all worked really well together!

I used my Cuttlebug Swirl folder for the background on the card and the stamp set is To Have and To Hold by SU!. I used brushed gold and added some clear bling! The strip running down the side of the card is from the same paper I used as the back ground in the frame! I was super pleased with the way it came together! Hope they like it! :)

I have another little something to share tomorrow that I created for my new stamping area! I can't wait to show you! Until tomorrow...have a wonderful night!




Recipe:
Card:
Paper: SU! Garden Green, Brushed Gold, DSP
Stamps: SU! To Have and to Hold
Ink: SU! Old Olive
Extras: Cuttlebug Swirl Folder, Clear sparkly bling

Gift:
Paper: SU! Garden Green, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White and DSP
Stamps: Lovely Letters
Ink: Old Olive
Extras: Sizzex leaves die, bridal flowers and Clear sparkly bling


AnnMarie

Monday, June 15, 2009

Thinking about you!

Hello and happy Monday! Hope you are all doing wonderfully! :) I wanted to share a few things I whipped together this weekend! I am in the process of trying to relocate and reorganize my stamp area and boy oh boy have I created the world's most gigantic mess! I have stuff here and there and all over the place! I was determined to crank out something crafty though this weekend and guess what...I did!! I was actually on a roll and got several things on my crafty to do list 'to done!' LOL I etched out a little space big enough to create and got busy! I had several thank you gifts to create and a couple of get well/thinking of you cards to make! Here are somethings that I worked on:


This was a card I made for a friend who just had surgery. She did wonderfully with he surgery and is recovering nicely! I just wanted to send her a little I am thinking of you! I used SU's new Soft Suede for my ink along with Blush Blossom and I must say I reeeeaaaaallyyy like the Soft Suede! I didn't love it at first, but the more I stamped with it the more I liked it! The stamps are a combination of a Studio G set and a hostess set from SU! The ribbon was one of my favorites from a ribbon swap I participated in! I wanted the card to be simple and pretty! I Dazzling Diamond-ed (technical term!) the top flower (because you can never go wrong with sparkle!) and layered it into the bottom flower and curled the edges down and under!



This card is a thank you card for a friend that I have met recently, but feel like I have known forever! She is simply amazing! She has a kind heart and is always doing something nice for someone! This was my attempt to squoosh a hug into an envelope and mail it to her!


This was just a little gift I made to go along with the card! Hope she likes!! :)


I must say that I have met so many sweet and wonderful folks in the stamping community! I am so happy and excited to be a part of these fun groups!

I have hours upon hours of crafty reorganizing t get to today, but wanted to spend some time this morning with you guys! Have a wonderful day!!

AnnMarie

Friday, June 5, 2009

Pound cake...yummy!!

Hello to all of you, my wonderful blogging friends! My life has been caught in a whirlwind of chaos lately and it feels like I have been busy up to my eyeballs! I am so sorry to have been MIA around here! This hobby truly, truly makes me happy and I have discovered lately when I cannot squeeze in the time to make it happen I really miss it!

Summer is here and so that means that hopefully my time will free up some! My home school group schedule will lighten for a few months and must rush to activities should be fewer too! I am planning to try to spend much more time crafting and blogging! :)

I have a fun little recipe card to share today! I signed up for a 6 X 6 Pound Cake recipe card swap hosted by one of my wonderful friends at SCS, Melissa! (Hiya Melissa!!!) I met Melissa through another swap and am so grateful! She is so much fun and really wonderful! I have been really fortunate to find so many really special friends in the stamping community!

The design is simple! I used one of my favorite color combos. Pink, brown and blue just scream to be used together! I faux stitched around all of the pieces and added some 3d flowers that I made from a template. I used Something Yummy from Stampin Up' for my stamped imaged. I cannot wait to get these cards back and turn them into a book! :) Here is my card:



One can never have too many Pound Cake recipes in my opinion!

Recipe:
Paper: SU Whisper White, Chocolate Chip, Pink Pirouette DSP and Baja Blue
Ink: SU Chocolate Chip, White Gel Pen
Extras: Flowers, Pastel Brads

I will be back soon to share some of the other fun swaps I have received back recently! :)

Have a wonderful night! :)

AnnMarie

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Hello! Happy weekend! How are you?! Hope everyone is doing well!

I am co-coordinator of my counties home school group and this weekend was our Graduation/dinner and prom! It took us over a month to prepare for this function! We had 4 graduates this time and fed 100 people dinner! Afterwards we had a prom for our kids! We had about 30 kids in attendance and they had a blast! Our theme was "A Night in Paradise!" and so we went luau style with all of the decorations! We made a giant lei by attaching flowers to white Christmas lights and hung it from the ceiling! We hung flowers from the doorways and hung flowers from the ceiling down stairs in the dinner area! We used mini pools as our drink coolers and had mini tiki torches as our prom table centerpieces! We laid out lei's and sunglasses on the tables and hung sparkly palm trees! I cut out over 2000 flowers! We decorated peppermint patties by adding flowers and leaves and a mini banner that displayed the year! This was our 3rd graduation ceremony and as of last night we have officially graduated 10 kids! :) We have a wonderful support group and amazing kids! We are really lucky! Here are some photos from our night:

The main room pre-decorations!



Main room all set up!



The main room set up with the giant lei lit up!


This was the room before we turned it into a party!



This was the downstairs where we served dinner!
These flowers are all attached to a peppermint patty! :)



We made 100 of these!



These were at each seat!



The food table stared here!
Our graduates after the ceremony!


Little Ole Me!


The whole gang sporting their shades!


Limbo anyone?!


...and more limbo!


Hope that you are all having a wonderful long weekend! I will be back soonest! :)

AnnMarie

Friday, May 22, 2009

Butterfly baskets and baskets of Butterflies!

Hello and happy Friday! :) I participated in a 3D Swap with my demonstrator's group this past weekend and this is the project I took! I found this project at SplitCoast and had to rabbit trail through several sites to get to the template which I found here! The ones I saw were made by Qbee and she did a beautiful job! I fell in love with these little baskets! I added handles to the fronts and tied a ribbon at the top edge! These would make excellent party favor boxes or little gift baskets! Mt gift of choice of course would be to fill em to the top with chocolate, but to each her own! ;) I will be making lots of these little beauties!




Recipe:
Paper: So Saffron, Sage Shadow and Chocolate Chip Pink Pirouette DSP
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Extras: Butterfly Sizzex Die, Pink Pirouette Ribbon

I have a full day, but wanted to share this with you guys! Have a wonderful day! Be back soonest!

AnnMarie

Monday, May 18, 2009

Crafty Space!

Hello! :) How are ya?! How are ya?! I have been super, crazy, busy the last week! My home school group is getting ready to have our graduation and Prom and I have been running around like a crazy person trying to get things done!

One of my Crafty Critter buddies, Meg (hiya Meg!!), posted a challenge to us this week! She wanted to see our craft space! I am sooo embarrassed to admit that my craft space looks like a tornado whipped through it twice!! LOL I have been promising myself to get my space all organized and clean and together, but I have been so short on time and when it comes down to it...if I only have a little bit of time to spare I would rather craft in a mess than spend it cleaning and organizing! LOL Hence the laundry piled to the ceiling and the toilets that need to be scrubbed! (Sorry honey!!) Big cheesy grin! Fortunatley for me I have a wonderful very understanding hubby! :)

Anyhow, I almost graciously bowed out of this challenge! My space is just too too messy to share, but then I figured Oh what the heck!! Hopefully this tiny little sneak peek will be incentive for me to kick my own tail into gear and get the organizing into full on production mode! (I really cannot believe I am putting this out there!) LOL This is a piece of my stamping space! I usually lug everything out into the dinning room to work because I like to be with my family! That means the dinning room table gets piled high with project upon project! I didn't take any photos of that yet though! Doing this has sparked an even greater interest in getting things organized! Once I get things cleaned up and organized I will take more pictures and share those! :)

Here is my little messy sneak peek! I keep tons and tons of stuff in these drawers! Paper, stamps, embellishments, ribbon, stamp cleaner, bling, adhesives, pens, markers, magazines, stickers, punches, scissors...



Crazy, huh?! LOL What a mess!! I promise to take and share more photos of my stamp area soon! Have a super day! I will be back soonest! :)

AnnMarie

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

CCC#5

Hey there! How is everyone?! Doing wonderfully, I hope!! I am! :)

It is time for another Crafty Critter Challenge! I LOVE these! They are always so much fun! :) This one was hosted by Moira (Hi Moira!!) aka Smartbug! This was another excellent challenge! Here are the rules:

Your challenge is to create a card of any size that has the following elements:
1. Use sketch #49 from Spiltcoast
2. Use the color red somewhere, anywhere.
3. Use a stamp you have not used in the last 3 months.
4. Your card must have ribbon on it somewhere

I chose the Living Large set from Stampin Up! It has been forever since I used this set and it made me realize just how cute I think it is! LOL I kept my color scheme very simple. I used brown, red and white throughout! My ribbon was even chocolate chip! I added some bridal flowers and some red bling! I ran the the red background piece through my swirl Cuttlebug and slapped it all together!

Thank you Moira for the great challenge!



Recipe:
Paper: SU! Chocolate Chip, Real Red and Whisper White
Stamps: SU! Living Large
Ink: Riding Hood Red and Chocolate Chip
Extras: Bridal flowers, Swirl Cuttlebug folder, circle punches, red bling

Have a wonderful day! Be back soonest! :)

AnnMarie

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Hello, hello, hello!!! Happy weekend! I am sooooo excited to be sharing one of my all time favorite projects today! I belong to a group called SBS2 and I feel really incredibly fortunate to have met these ladies! They are such a wonderful bunch of people! This group was started quite a while ago and I am sad to say that it has been going through some growing pains. People get busy, lives get nutty and interest's start to wane. It really does make me a little sad, but I couldn't be more thrilled and excited by the very lovely ladies that I have met because of this group!

This is a project that a couple of us worked on together! It is a coaster friendship book! We each (HIYA CRISSY and MICHELLE!!!!!) made our own book and then sent it around round robin style to each other! We each added a few pages to each others books! I was in awe when I got my book back! These ladies are both amazingly talented and did such a beautiful job! I have included a few of the pages in my new Coaster Friendship book here! Thanks you guys! I LOVE it! You guys are the best! Great big hugs to you both! :)
















Hope you have a wonderful weekend! Big, big hug! I will be back soonest! :)


AnnMarie

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

CCC#4 Flower Challenge

Hello! I spent this morning working on a fun challenge posted by Kelly! ((Hiya Kelly! *waves!!*)) She requested that our card use flowers! I happen to love flowers so I had a super hard time trying to decide which ones to use! I have a ton of flower stamps and flower punches and flower stickies so it was a really tough choice! I finally decided on a flower stencil and my Sizzex leaves die! I Cuttlebugged the back ground and added these three flowers and leaves. I faux stitched around the edges and added some sparkle bling! I also drew little white highlights on the leaves to make them look less flat! I adhered thee leaves flat down and the flowers flat down, but popped the background image off of the second layer! Flowers...preeeetttyy! :)



AnnMarie

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Back packing anyone?! :)

Hello! :) The weather has been absolutely beautiful here the last few days! It makes me want to pack a back pack full of goodies and hit the hiking trails! We have an absolutely amazing hiking spot here that ends in a giant waterfall! It is a 2 mile hike out and then back! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!! I would go every weekend if I could!

I am feeling doubly inspired by this cute back pack we made at my demo meeting last weekend! I think the only thing that could make this little guy any better would be if it were stuffed with chocolate! :) I fell in love with this project and will be making more of these!





Ok, I am off to the grocery store and them back home to work on more swaps! Have a wonderful day! I will be back soon! :)

AnnMarie

Friday, April 24, 2009

Hi!

Hello! We had the best day today! My home school group had an All You Can Eat Ice Cream party! We met at the park and the weather was beautiful! The ice cream was delicious and the kids had a ball! Yummmm-o!

I wanted to share a card I made last week for my demonstrator's meeting! We were supposed to use a stamp set from the Occasions section of the catalog and use one embellishment. I used Best Wishes and More and used a single gold brad! I also used my new butterfly Sizzex Die to cut the butterflies! One is cut from pink Pirouette and the other from vellum. Aren't they soooooo pretty?! Love that big guy!

I wanted to keep the card simple so I kept the colors muted and the sentiment simple. I used the billboard letter die for my cute little letters! I faux stitched the brown strip which made it look like a suitcase strap. I liked the way it turned out! :)



Recipe:
Stamps: SU! Best Wishes and More
Paper: SU! Chocolate Chip, Pink Pirouette, Sky Blue and Vellum
Ink: SU! Basic Gray
Extras: White Gel Pen, Billboard Sizzex letters, Butterfly Sizzex die, gold brad

Have a wonderful day! I will be back soon! :)

AnnMarie

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Chunky Scavenger Hunt Swap Part #1

I just finished up such a fun swap! It was a Chunky Scavenger Hunt page swap! The pages were supposed to be 4 X 4 and have lots of chunk to them! The more stuff hanging off the edges the better! The theme was artsy and you were supposed to incorporate one of the things from the list into your pages! I took 2 spots and made 12 pages! I really enjoyed this swap...lots of creative freedom!

This first page uses newspaper as the scavenger hunt item! I distressed the edges with Pink Passion from SU! and stamped one of my all time favorite images on it! I added glitter in a frame shape around the image to pop it out and adhered dragonflies here and there! I attached a single dragonfly to the bottom corner with a bright pink ribbon. This one is much prettier in person because it really sparkles!



This page was my 'something purple' page! The feather is a deep purple color! I used some stars along the bottom and top corner because I thought they went well with the dream theme of this page! The whole thing looks like one of those crazy dreams you have and cannot explain! LOL



This next page may be my favorite! The scavenger hunt item was a paperclip! I covered my chipboard with aluminum foil. I folded a flower in half to make her wings and added the paperclip to the side! I strung a ghost flower and a bridal flower onto the clip to give it a little personality! I absolutely love the base image though! Something about it is just so pretty! :) This is another one that looks so much nicer in person!



This page uses a brown paper bag as the background! I ran it through my Cuttlebug and then added bridal flowers to the page with different color dew drops as the flower centers, I added a key with a ribbon and several strands of fibers to the handle! I drew circles randomly around the polka dots to break up the empty space.



This page uses candy wrappers as the scavenger hunt item. I used several different kinds! I made a tag and faux stitched it and added a ribbon to stick up over the top. I adhered different colored and shaped gems around the tag!

This scavenger hunt item was a postage stamp! I used the template on Splitcoast for faux postage! I sponged the centers with More Mustard and stamped that cute bee from SU!'s Just Buzzin' By. I added a gold string with some fun beads and a postal letter!



This item was a brown paper bag which I used as the background! I ran it through my Cuttlebug! The heart and key are Sizzex dies! I also distressed the edges to make it look worn.



The next page's item was something from a magazine ad! I punched butterflies in bright colors that matched different pieces of the page and attached them all with bright yellow ribbon and a mini library clip form SU! I drew on the fingernails and made the ring!



This last page uses leaves as it's item! I added lots of different leaves around the main image! You cannot tell form the photo, but the flowers are layered four deep so they are very 3-d in person! The colors are soft and pretty on this page!



This was such a fun project! I cannot wait to get the other pages back and assemble a book!

I have lots to share and will be back soon! Have a wonderful night!


AnnMarie

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

CCC#3

Good morning!

This is my entry for the latest Crafty Critter's challenge! I must admit that I was very hesitant to participate in this one! We do not decorate eggs in my house!
We never have! I have an allergy to vinegar and even the smell of it turns my stomach! Yuck! My kids still get lots of Easter goodies and Easter fun though! :)
Anyhow, I gave in at the last minute and decided I could handle it since it was a vinegar free project! LOL Here are the challenge details:

1. Use a real, boiled egg like you would use for doing your kids eggs.

2. It has to have craft items on it. You can't used your kids egg kits!

3. It can be ANYTHING you want it to be....just needs to be decorated with your personal craft items......i.e. rub-ons, ink, stamps, markers, glitter...just to name a few!

The rules:
When you place it in your blog and your gallery label it CCC3. This will make it easier for us to find it to enter it into our voting. We will let you know where to vote when that time comes.

After much thinking on it I decided a bunny would be the way to go here! She has a fluffy cotton tail too! You can see it in the top shot! This was fun and it makes me giggle every time I look at it! LOL Hope you like her! : )

Be back soon! Have a great day! :)





AnnMarie

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! Hope that you have the chocolate bunny filled kind of day that you deserve! :)



AnnMarie

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Lots to share!! Part two!!

Hello! This is part two of a really lengthy post! LOL Feel free to just read this one and scroll on down though! : )

I wanted to share a little bit of a giant project we have going on with my home school group! If you are new around here I co-run a home school support group and we are always doing something new and fun! Well our latest adventure is marionette making! We took in enough supplies to put Santa's workshop to shame and spread everyhting out and set he kids free to go wild! They each got to choose what type of marionette they wanted to create and we helped them to make the skeleton and then let them each do their own thing! We had requests for everything form a ferret to a sugar glider to a punk rock hippie chick! We made the bodies from a block of wood and cloth filled tubes for the arms and legs! We filled the tubes with beans and tied them off at the joints! Some of our kids opted to write plays for our new marionette friends rather than making the puppets! It was such a fun day! They all have two weeks to take them home and add the finishing touches! We will be performing the play at the end of those two weeks! The way these kids mind's work amazes me! They are all so smart and creative! I will be sure to share some more photo's of the finished project, but these are from Day #1!






These are going to be so awesome when they are all done! : )

Ok, I have lots more to share, but today we are moving my son into his first apartment so I have to run! I will be back soon!

Have a wonderful day! : )


AnnMarie

Lots to share!! Part one!

Good Saturday morning!!! Gosh! I have missed you guys sooo much! I am sorry for the lackage of posts lately, but I have been having computer issues! Now if you know me this ISN'T a surprise! LOL I have a computer brilliant husband and you would think that I would have some tiny, teeny, itty bit of knowledge from osmosis, but I've got nothing! In fact, I am probably the world's most computer challenged person ever! LOL Hubby whipped together a temporary fix for my laptop though so I could come and visit and share with you guys! I have loads to show and discuss, so grab a cup of joe and settle in...

I have been up to my eyeballs in projects and swaps lately! I have been working on lots of fun things, but haven't really been able to share because lots of it is Secret Sister stuff or gift-y things etc! I have made several LOTW's (letter of the word)though and can share the latest one! The word is HIKING and my letter was "I". I used the compass from Stampin Ups! Under the Stars set and pop dotted it off of my tiny canvas! I added Dazzling Diamonds to high light the compass face! I drew a line border around the edge to pull it all together! these little guys are so much fun to make! I cannot wait to get the whole word back! I promise to share a photo once I get them back! : )

Here are my tiny little hiking "i" s!! :




I also just finished up a really fun swap called the Altered Item Swap! This swap was unique! The hostess Susan (*Hiya Susan!!!) who happens to be the Queen Bee of all things Swap-py!! sent out 2 identical items to each participant! You had no idea what you were going to receive!! Once you received your two items you were supposed to alter them and keep one for yourself and send the other back to Susan! This was soooooo much fun! When I opened my box from Susan to find two sliding pencil boxes I knew right away what I wanted to do! I turned them into a flower garden! I covered the box with my favorite paper ever and added three rose buds to create a garden type scene. I added a green grass border and a hunter green ribbon. I covered the box bottom with a coordinating rose paper and added a happy day stamp! I filled the box with chocolate so that the little happy day note wouldn't be revealed until the chocolate was a thing of the past! I was really excited about the way this turned out! It just felt so pretty! :) Here are the before and afters! What do you think?!









I am going to end this post here and start a second one! If you read top to bottom these were backwards! LOL This was actually post 1 and the one you read first was post 2! This is just how my mind works! It is pretty exhausting actually! Giggles! Have a wonderful day! : )


AnnMarie

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

CCC2

Hello there! Happy Tuesday! Hope that everyone has had a great day! Not sure how it happened or when it happened, but somewhere along the way I have managed to lose a day! I went to bed thinking it was only the 29th and woke up to realize it is actually the 31st! Yikes!! That means my CCC#2 is due today! Here are the details:

1 - Use SCS Card Sketch 180
2 - Use pink and brown color combo
3 - Include a flower on your card, it can be in your DP, a brad, die cut, prima, etc.
4 - Use the image of your choice.

This was an awesome challenge (Thanks Tracey!!!) I just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE pink and brown together! And flower embellishments...don't even get me started! LOL I really enjoyed making this card!




I used my Cuttlebug embossing flower folder and my Nestabilities for the background pieces and added little white dots to the background image panel! That little detail really adds to the finished look! I colored the image with markers to get multiple colors and popped it up on pop dots to add dimension! It is much prettier in real life!

Recipe:
Paper: SU! Pink Pirouette, Close to Cocoa, Very Vanilla and Baja Breeze
Stamps: SU! Pocket Silhouettes
Ink: Misc markers
Extras: Pink ribbon, white gel pen, flower embellishment, sparkle bling, pop dots


Ok, I am off! I have oodles of swaps to work on tonight! Wish me luck! I will be back soon! Have a great night everyone! : )

AnnMarie

Friday, March 27, 2009

Sympathy cards and a gray rainy day...

Hey everyone! It is another gray, rainy day here! Makes me sleepy! Does make for a good crafting mood though! : )

I am sad to say that in the last couple of weeks I have had many friends who have lost someone close to them. It always makes me feel so sad to know that people are hurting and going through such hard times. I have made several sympathy cards and wanted to share one of them here with you. When I make a card I try to put so much heart and love into it, but when it comes time to fill in the middle I am usually at a loss for words. I find it tough to express how sad I feel for them, so it is important to me that the card speaks for itself! : )



Recipe:
Stamps: SU! Still Life Stems and Sincere Salutations
Paper: SU! Wild Wasabi and Sahara Sand
Ink: SU! Old Olive
Extras: SU! Very Vanilla ribbon and Dazzling Diamonds

Ok! I am off! Lots to do today! Hope that you are having a wonderful Friday!
Be back soon! : )

AnnMarie

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Hey there everyone! : )

Hope that this Wednesday finds you happy and doing well! : ) Anyone else getting rain? It started raining here today and they are calling for rain through Sunday! That is going to make my daily walk awfully soggy! Big grin!

I have a couple of things to share with you today! The first one is another page in the Chunky Scavenger Hunt swap that I am working on! The theme for this page was 'something purple'. My purple was the ink that I used! I used one of my very favorite stamps of all time for the image! She is from Rubber Stampede and I think she is just beautiful! I stamped her onto Pale Plum card stock with Almost Amethyst ink. I drew a grid behind her with a deeper purple color and added some green dots sporadically around the grid. Then I took a strip of vellum and crumpled it up and then smoothed it out and adhered it to the side. I found the dangly bling at Wal Mart over a year ago on clearance (SCORE!!!) for .25! I cut it apart and sewed it on with purple thread. I also sewed on the earring which came from the craft section at Wal Mart too! It came in a long stand and I just took one single piece off and attached a piece of the dangly bling to it to pull the whole page together! I added some clear sparkle to the edge and called it finished! I am really enjoying working on this project! I cannot wait to get the whole book assembled!

Here is page 2:




I also have a card to share! I needed a pick me up card for a friend and this little lady seemed like the best choice! She is so happy looking and just begs for a smile! I used happy spring colors and lots of polka dots! I am hoping that it brought a smile to her face!

Here she is:



Hope that you all have a wonderful night! Be back soon! : )

AnnMarie