Saturday Something

This pretty card comes on the tail end of summer.  I see everyone getting ready for Fall, back to school and halloween, and I am just not ready yet.  For us in Wisconsin, we had areally long winter with a lot of snow and very little sun, followed by a relatively cool summer.  I am just NOT ready to get back into the cold, so I am keeping the summer in my Blog for a little longer!

This is a Faux Silk technique done on the heart.

Sisterhood of the Blogging Stampers

I have applied to a new concept group for me!

It is a group of like-minded blogging crafters who take a look at your blog entries and give you support, encouragement and comment on your blog entries!

Here is a synopsis from their site:

We want every one to be part of a sisterhood group, where we can be a support and a friend to fellow blogging and stamping sisters. If you're tired of hearing the fake (yet well-intentioned), "Yeah. Uh huh. That's nice," when you show your friends or DH your stamped creations, this is the place for you. These groups are for giving feedback and sharing friendship. Try to visit all of the sisters in your group once a week and give some praise and feedback, and try to post at least one card or project per week to keep your blog exciting.

Sisterhood of the Blogging Stampers is where I found the details on how the group works, but I was led there by my friend Karyn's blog Stamping Stuff who just joined and had a post up about it.

I am very excited and can't wait to see if I am accepted!

As soon as I find out more details, I will post what group I am in (I hope I will be in group 24) and I will create a BlogRoll for all my sisterhood sisters!

Anna Banana

Friday Free For All

Yesterday my DH took the test to get a certification ... He got the Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows Vista, Configuration.

WOO HOO!!! YIPPIE!!  HUZZAH!!  

I am sooooooo proud of you!!

This is a big to-do for him and I am so proud that he passed!!

In celebration of his accomplishment, I created this card for him:

The cardstock is all from a DCWV pack - I think the brights one.  The patterned paper with the polkadots is a scrap from my basket and I dunno who made that.  I ran the green cs througn my cuttlebug using the tiny mosaic folder cause I thought it looked like alligator skin!!

I colored it with my prismacolor pencils and did not blend it so his skin would have some texture from the pencil against my table.  The polkadot ribbon is a scrap I used that I got in some swap years ago. The alligator stamp is from a SU valentines set and the "all about me" and "Congrats" are from The Angel Company.  The tag is from the office supply store and the green I used is from a Dee Gruenig marker.  Of course, there is prisma glitter on the tail...I love my glitter!

Anna Banana

Just a little gripe

Ok - I know I don't really complain much here, but I just have to vent my frustration!!

A lot of bloggers use the music feature on their blogs.  

That's just great.  I mean - it's nice that you can use the music and enjoy a song on your own blog, but time after time I go to a blog that has music and it crashes my machine!!  

Now Mind you, I am on a "BIG" MAC!!!  I have hoards and hoards of memory and Gigs because by day I am a graphic designer, but when I pop over to a blog to check something out, and I have huge art files open in Illustrator and Photoshop, documents open in Word and Excel and clipart up in Corel Draw the dumb music bytes just overload my system!  Even the small time it takes me to scroll down and find the music player to hit pause is enough to crash me.

I wish there was a way for me to block other people's music on my system.  

Besides, 9 times out of 10, your music isn't what I like!  

I can tell you that if I had music on my site, I am sure you wouldn't want to hear my Scottish Bagpipes screeching away!

Ok - that concludes my gripe!!  

If there is a way for me to block the music on other sites, please drop me a note so I can stop crashing!

Thanks!

Anna Banana

Thursday Things

Today I have this card to share with you.  The background is swiss dots embossing folder for the cuttlebug.  I love the embossed liquid applique that makes the frosting look fluffy and almost good enough to eat!!  The ribbon was printed with Yummy and I thought it was just perfect with this card!

Anna Banana

Wednesday WOW!

Today I have this really pretty card that i made with my friend Karen before she moved.  She is an SU demonstrator, so all the images, paper and ink are from Stampin' Up!

The colors and the sunshine outside today just made me feel so happy I had to share!

I just LOVE how the wings pop out and make it look like a real butterfly has landed on my card!

Anna Banana

Go Bananas 8 Slideshow

Go Bananas Challenge #8

This week I was inspired by a card I saw somewhere over a month ago.  The layout just stuck with me, but I have no idea where the card was posted.

This is my sketch based on a memory!

Design team samples will be loaded shortly!

Anna Banana

Monday Madness!!

I used to do nothing but ATC's.  Now, they are an occasional fun thing  I do.  I find that I need just a little more room to work than a 2.25 x 3.5 area can give me ... a lot of my stamps are bigger than that!

I signed up for a swap and sent this to my partner - the theme was pretty much open to interpretation... Summer.

I used scraps, a misc. flower button and some bits of fiber I had left from another project.  I love that you can use bits on an ATC and it looks like you searched far and wide for little things!  Of course, there is glitter on the wings!

Anna Banana

Saturday Something

Since I have time and a cute card, I thought I would share it with you!

Owls are all the rage right now - I see them everywhere I go!  

I was at a Make and Take last month and this was one of the cards that was offered.  I had to jump on the bandwagon and get this cute birthday bird for myself!

Anna Banana

Friday Free For All

Here is another VW Beetle car stamp that I have - I just adore those cute cars!!!

I will have one eventually!  :)  Bright Pink or Sunny Yellow - either one will make me happy!

On the car I have painted a shimmer watercolor which is radiant and pretty in real life.  In the photo it looks a little streaked depending on where more of the mica flecks dried.

Anna Banana

Thursday Things

Hello Everyone!

Here it is, Thursday again, and I have a rather odd post for you to enjoy!

My DH is a bit weird - as is his family - loveable weird,  NOT creepy weird.

Here is an example of their brand of weird.

I was invited to Christmas Eve dinner with them. 

Remember that this was my first Christmas Eve Ever with them and my DH and we had only been dating for a month at this point.  

After dinner and presents, his mom breaks out the flarp!  If you don't know what Flarp is, it's a putty/goo-like substance in a plastic jar, that when you press your fingers in it, will cause a farting sound!

Now I am totally cool with potty humor, I have a brother, so I (along with everyone at the house) was laughing hysterically after the first 10 minutes, but that was my first Christmas Eve with them and I wasn't even part of the family at that point!

So my DH's Aunt and her Fiancee just bought a house together.  Naturally we want to give them a special, unique housewarming gift.

We came across this night-light lamp at a little boutique in one of those quaint towns lined with shops, boutiques and antique stores and we knew instantly that it was going to be the perfect gift for them!

Here it is lit, with the other lights in the room on:

We call it the "hideous chicken". 

(Yes, we know it's a rooster, but Chicken sounds funnier.)

It's sitting on my living room book shelf and it's actually growing on me - which is scary in itself. I need to box it up before I can't bear to part with it!!! HAHAHA!

But what is even more scary, is that when you turn all the lights off, it transforms into:

 "The Evil Hideous Chicken!!!"

See the satan-red glowing eyes and the evil red aura it casts?

It will probably end up in the guest room where we will be staying, leering at us whenever we visit!

Anna Banana

Wednesday WOW!

I never did get up and Christmas in July cards last month, but here is one that I made that I think is rather cute!!

I got the stamp at my LSS (Local Stamp Store) in their recycled stamp section... where you can bring your stamps, old tools and other items that you are not using and sell them off to someone else who can use them!  This one was in a bin for under $3 and I could not pass it up!

You can't really tell, but I used the crystal glaze on the lamp so it shines and really looks like glass is on it!

Anna Banana

Go Bananas #7 Sketch Challenge

Here is a slide show of this week's samples! This is the GO BANANAS Challenge 

Sketch:

Monday Madness!!

Well, here it is Monday again and I never got the Go Bananas challenge up last week!  It was a crazy one with a trip to our warehouse near O'Hare airport one day and a trip to Milwaukee, WI on another day thrown in the mix!

I DID get into the choir!!  WOO HOO!!!!

I was so nervous - it has been almost 15 years since I was last singing in a choir and I got a little stage fright!  But I LOVE to sing and the choir director could hear the good quality in my voice even through the quavering nerves!

Tomorrow I will have the Go Bananas challenge up and we will just go from here with my week of insanity behind us!

Anna Banana

Go Bananas Tuesday

Sorry to disappoint, but I have been hectic all day and I am about to leave to go audition for the local Choir.  (Wish me luck)

If I have a chance when I get home I will post the go bananas challenge, otherwise, look for it tomorrow!

Thanks for understanding!

Anna Banana

Friday Free For All

Well - I wonder if you noticed... For my Friday Free For All I changed my blog header & background color!  I added some color and some elements to the header make it a little more interesting and fun - the original, while pretty, was too boring :)

Anna Banana

Go Bananas 6 Reader Sketches

Here are the reader sketches I have so far - I will continue to add to this post as I get more!

The first one is from Monica

Thursday Things

This cute little ATC was made for a swap.  I played around with masking for the first time ever :)  The bunny and the pot are two different stamps.  I was able to line them up and make it look like the little guy is popping out to say hi!

Anna Banana

Go Bananas #6

I apologize for my absence - I was called to help pack out a shipment in our warehouse which is two hours away from my home office, so I didn't get a single creative thing accomplished the end of last week!

Here is this week's Go Bananas Challenge - I really struggled with this one ... looked a lot easier than it ended up being for me - maybe it's because packing boxes in a warehouse does not lend itself to vast amounts of creativity!

Anna Banana

Top Banana Design Team Samples

Here are the Top Banana Design Team Samples:

Anna 

Karyn

Laura

Reader Cards

Monica sent me a card for last week's Go Bananas #5 challenge

Here is her card!