GCA #108 - Trees, Trees Everywhere!!

Hello all!!!  Yesterday I spent a wonderful day at a stamping event with my up - upline, Jan Wakeland.  She is from Pennsylvania and she some to my little town of Jackson, MI!!!  Jan is an awesome person, so full of love, warmth and such a passion for guiding you in your SU! business.  I have learned a lot from her.  She asked me to do a presentation at the meeting, showing how to use our new Distressing Essentials Kit.  It was a lot of fun, and I forgot completely to take pictures of my projects!!  I know a couple of my friends did so I will see if they can forward them to me.

As I contemplated the challenge for this week, I sat on my balcony looking out and thought "I will sure miss the leaves on the trees surrounding the back of my apartment building."  Since I live in an older complex, we have many, many grown and mature trees that shade us and create privacy.  During the spring, summer and fall seasons I feel like I"m living in my own secluded world as much of the surrounding neighbors are hidden by the trees.  So that is where the idea for this week's GCA came from!

The card I have for you is one I made last year, while still a current set (Trendy Trees), some of the papers and embellies are not.  I used Sage Shadow, dsp from 2009 Holiday mini, Sage Shadow gg, Creamy Caramel textured card stock and Whisper White as my card base.  But still, it's a cute card, if I do say so myself!  This card was created for a VSN challenge on SCS last May.  Here's the details of that challenge:

For this challenge there was a list of items you needed to include on your card!! Those are:

5 layers of dp and/or cardstock
3 colors of ink
1 image
1 sentiment
3 dew drops (brads, bling or liquid pearls will qualify for this - no faux brads/etc)
Stickles or Shimmerz or glitter or glittery gel pen to glam it up!!
some sponging....
and to get the suitcase closed, you'll need some ribbon!! (thread will work too)

* Well, I have 6 layers of card stock, not counting the base layer!
* 1 image and 1 sentiment
* 3 brads
* ribbon and thread!!
* sponging on the frame and image panel
* gold and clear glittery pens used on the tree

My frame around the main image was made using the torn frame technique from the Nov/Dec 2008 TJ newsletter. I love how this turned out, but it took over half my time to create!! Good thing the rest of the card came together very quickly!!!!

My glittery pens on the tree don't show too well, but they are there!

So, the challenge for this week is to have your creation incorporate a tree, or trees, on it.  Even branches count.  And if you don't have any tree stamps, feel free to make your own!

Upload your creation to either your blog or to an online gallery and post a link to your creation to this blog entry by October 9, 2010 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 GCA108 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 #104 - Fall Flair!

Hello all!!!  Can someone please tell me where the month of August went?  I'm shocked that September is here already and my grandson, Cameron, is starting kindergarten this upcoming week!  Seems like yesterday I found out about him and met him, now he is 5 years old!!!  And on the grandchildren front, my son informed me that grand baby #3 is on the way!  Maybe we'll get a girl this time!!!  I sooooo want to buy cute, pink, ruffly clothes!

Officially, summer is still on, but here in my corner of Michigan, a taste of fall has arrived.  And while I love summer, I DO NOT love the hot, humid, drain-you-of-everything heat we have had.  Some days it seems like it just went on and on and on!!  So nice to have the AC off, the windows open and sleep with the cool nights!  Even some leaves are beginning to turn.

That brings us to this week's GCA:  Fall Flair.  Create something - card, scrapbook page, 3-D item - that represents fall in some way.  Use the colors of fall, the leaves, sports that are played during fall or holidays. 

I made this fall card using the SCS SC295, my Autumn Splendor stamp set and fall colors.  The card base is Very Vanilla with Chocolate Chip dsp over it.  I wanted a back drop, but not anything to overwhelm the main images, so I used the subtle square pattern.  (This is now retired.)

The main image panel is using Cajun Craze, and I distressed it up using the Torn Frames technique I learned from Technique Junkies.  I did this to the circle frame with the acorns on it also.  The stamped images are in Cajun Craze, More Mustard, Certainly Celery and Wild Wasabi.  Some of the colors show up more than the others, but I like how it has the collage look.  This was stamped on Very Vanilla.

The front strip is More Mustard textured and wrapped with 2 different colors of embroidery floss.  I used the leftover pieces from punching the border on here also, but the floss covers most of it up.  It made a nice ton-on-tone look.  This panel is up with dimensionals, as is the circle image.

With the acorns, they were stamped on Very Vanilla in Chocolate Chip twice, and the nut portion cut out and popped up.

Upload your creation to either your blog or to an online gallery and post a link to your creation to this blog entry by September 11, 2010 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 GCA104 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 Fall Thanks

I haven't played in one of Beate's weekend sketches in awhile and this one just called to me. Even though the idea in my head was just slightly different than what the end result was!!

This also qualifies for Shelli's September SoShelli challenge to create a fall card. This is a thanks going out to a very special friend!

My tree was first stamped in More Mustard and then thumped on with my markers to get the colors for the leaves. I don't know what I'll do if SU! ever retires Lovely As A Tree!! It was then stamped onto a piece of the new wood sheets I cut out with my circles die and Big Shot.

The leftover small circle I used with my sentiment and Vanilla HPH. The acorns are cut right from the dsp and the leaf is cut from the die.

The "faux" brads are made by stamping an unused pencil top eraser into the ink pad and then onto your cardstock. Not sure how I really feel about these on here, but the More Mustard panel just needed something!!

Happy Stamping!!

~~~Ann~~~