Independent Stampin Up! Demonstrator since 2007
Welcome to my little ole' stamping blog! I'm so glad that you stopped by! I have lots of creative things to share with you with the occasional life post thrown in! Come on in, relax and stay awhile! :)

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