Prairie Paper & Ink

Here are the first...

of several cards I've made using one sheet of patterned paper (Soft Flowering Vine from the LOFT collection by Chatterbox for those interested!).

I alluded to the fact that I've done quite a bit of stamping over the past few days - and I have been! I've been doing "One Sheet Wonders" and making several cards with ONE sheet of patterned paper, and using a variety of matching embellishments, card stocks, etc etc.

The great thing about doing this is I can pull out all my supplies at the beginning, and then just leave them out and come back to them when I have time. I don't bother cleaning up until I'm done the last card with the paper and want to move onto something else.

I don't follow any set diagrams or anything when I'm doing OSW's - I either just chop up the paper any which way (which means I can end up with only a few or a LOT of cards!) or I'll cut them into 4x4" squares (which means you'll get 9 squares from one 12x12 sheet of patterned paper) - which is what I mostly did with this sheet.

For these cards I used some of my My Favorite Things stamps - I have several sets sitting here that haven't even been inked up yet - so I needed to change that!

Ever since I got the Going to the Chapel set I've had the idea to do this dress in vellum.

I stamped her first onto Papertrey White CS (Brilliance Black Graphite ink heat set), and cut out just the head/torso/arms. I used my paper snips and a craft knife to cut the center part out.

I then re-stamped the image onto vellum CS using Brilliance Moonlight White ink, heat set it then cut out the dress.

To make adhering all the pieces easier I used my little Zyron "X", peeled them off the sheet then adhered them to the Bashful Blue CS.

I used my Quickie Glue Pen on parts of the dress then poured on some Dazzling Diamonds (SU!) glitter - which not only stuck to the glue but to the sides of the dress where a teeny bit of the Zyron adhesive was.

The black velvet ribbon I got from WalMart or Michaels - can't remember which - and the jumbo brads holding the silk Primas are from the Dollarama. 

For this card I used the new Falling for You set - I LOVE this image of the gal in the pile of leaves - it just makes me grin! I stamped it onto Papertrey White CS with Brilliance Graphite Black ink (heat set it), then used Copic Markers to color it in. I rounded the corners with Stampin' Up!'s 3/16' Corner rounder punch, sponged the edges and matted it with a piece of River Rock (SU!) CS.

The flower is from one of the Prima Silk Road tins. I have bought 2 or 3 of them so far and loooovvvveeee them!! They are SO pretty and come in a lot of different shapes. I dumped them all out of their tins and have them in a drawer on my desk so I can just dig through them when I want one in a certain color.

The brad is by Karen Foster - I got a pack of them from my LSS (local scrapbook store) eons ago and finally pulled them out to use! Ribbon is from May Arts.

We Have a Winner!!

Here's what random.org spit out for me:

Here are your random numbers:

132

Timestamp: 2007-08-19 03:28:31 IST

So the winner is.........

I love reading your blog daily. Great blog candy! Your cards using the Make a Wish set are beautiful!

Posted by: Harriet | August 17, 2007 at 01:10 PM

CONGRATULATIONS HARRIET!!

Please e-mail me <----click! with your mailing address and your choice of either the circle or oval set and I'll forward it to Gina so we can get your goodies sent out to you ASAP!

And a HUGE thank you to everyone for participating - I really did have a blast reading all your comments! I wish I had a lot more to give away as this was a lot of fun! I hope to have another blog candy post sometime in the *near* future so stay tuned!! *wink*

Now I'm off to spend some time with my hubby! Have a great evening everyone!!

There's Still Time

To enter the Blog Candy giveaway in the post below!

Scroll down to the bottom of the Make a Wish post to add your comment (one per person please!) to be entered to win! The contest won't close 'till tonight so you have plenty of time!

And just an FYI but I HAVE been reading every single comment that comes in (and I'm totally blown away at how many there are!) as I always do - I love hearing what y'all have to say and man all the sweet things that were posted really made my MONTH!! I pretty much have my stamping mojo back (you should see all the cards I've made over the past couple of days!! LOL well y'all will see them on here eventually!) but what a boost it got after hearing from you all!!

Here's a few comments that jumped out at me :o)

When do we get to see pictures of the new place? - Keri J

Ummmmmmm I dunno LOL! This place is usually in some form of disaster and I can't make myself take any pics when it's like this! It's SO much smaller than our other place that the girls pretty much have the run of the house and it shows!! However I DO plan on taking pics of my studio once I have it all set up and whatnot as I'm liking how it's turned out! So stay tuned for that......

I WISH IT ONLY TOOK ME ONE CARD TO GET BACK IN THE GROOVE.I SIT AND STARE FOR HOURS - REGINA P

Actually it took more than the one card. I did all my samples for the Papertrey release before that and had THE hardest time (even using such fabulous sets!) making them. My brain just wasn't working for me - but I'm glad everyone seemed to like what I came up with! I did a LOT of sitting and staring and had to leave the room and come back to it MANY MANY times - it took a while but thank goodness my mojo came back! *grin*

Your blog is like crack for me.

hmm that sounds like I use crack.

Your blog is like twizzlers for me.

:)

The other day DH and I were discussing where to visit/possibly move in Canada (dreaming) and I say, "Where in the Prairies does Amy R live??" and he knew who you are and where you live from me talking about you and showed me on a map. We are on our way! hehe ;) - ErinK

ROFLOL!! Well if you ever ARE in the area lemme know!! That's one of the things that sucks about living in the middle of the Prairies - there aren't many stampers to hang out with! That's one of the biggest reasons I started this blog - I had to share all my creative rambling with SOMEONE!!

Hi Amy,
I read your blog every day, and look forward to seeing what you are up to! I don't think you lost your mojo - FIRST you almost committed Amycide with the hot knife thingie and THEN your two Sweetnesses were up all night and you had to put all your energy into resisting giving them a new life as foster children!! Everything you "Show and Tell" on your blog sounds as if it comes from a loving, cheerful heart. I love it! Thanks, Amy! - Liz S

I just had to post this one as it really gave me a chuckle......"Amycide" - bwahahahahahahahaha!! Yes it was pretty nearly that - I lucked out that's for sure!

Make a Wish!! AND ------ BLOG CANDY!!!

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Read down to the end for the Blog Candy Announcement!

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Here are the first three samples I've made so far with GinaK's new stamps for a cause - Make a Wish set!

This first card took me at LEAST 2 hours to make. It was one of the first things I tried stamping after having NOT stamped for so long - and my brain just wasn't IN the stamping groove.

So I fiddled and fiddled and left it several times to come back to later and FINALLY finished it.

I used Vintage Violet Stampin' Up! CS (retired) and stamped the star image onto it with Brilliance Moonlight White ink. I used my Quickie Glue Pen and added some light pink glitter (from this MM set) to the stars and tail.

The rest of the card was just a matter of layering and sponging. I used some patterned paper from this DCWV slab (I LOVE that paper - a lot of it has glitter on it and it's really heavyweight!!).

To finish off the card I added some stitched violet and pink organdy ribbon (both retired from SU!).

STAMPS: Make a Wish set by GinaK Designs. CS: Papertrey White, Vintage Violet, Pretty in Pink, Vellum Paper (SU!), Patterned Paper by DCWV. INK: Brilliance Moonlight White, Vintage Violet. ACCESSORIES: Silver Brads, MM Pink Glitter, Dimensionals, Ribbon, Sponge Daubers.

Now THIS card came a lot easier to me. I think once I got myself over that first hurdle of making something my brain got back into it's stamping groove and I could finally think about what to do without much effort!

Again I used patterned paper from this DCWV slab which inspired the color combo for this card as well (Bashful Blue, Barely Banana, Orchid Opulence and Green Galore - hows that for a fun combo? I LOVE it).

I stamped the cake image in Brilliance Graphite Black ink (heat set it) and colored it in with Copic markers. I sponged the edges and added some Icicle stickles to the stars.

The flower is Bazzill and I picked it up at my LSS (local scrapbook store) the other day. I went in there with the sole intention of getting some goodies to help jumpstart my stamping mojo - and walked out with 2 bags of buttons, several of these flowers in different colors, some white WeR Large eyelets (flower center) and some fun foam LOL! So I attached the flower with the large eyelet (those things are really cool - and WeR has them in a TON of different colors! Plus Stampin' Up! carries two different metallic finishes of them too) and added some Icicle stickles to the eyelet.

I inked up just the Happy Birthday from the set and stamped it, added some May Arts ribbon, then finished off the card with some Faux Stitching.

Card measures 5.25" square.

STAMPS: Make a Wish set by GinaK Designs. CS: Papertrey White, Barely Banana, Green Galore, Orchid Opulence. INK: Brilliance Graphite Black, Orchid Opulence, Copic Markers. ACCESSORIES: Icicle Stickles, Sponge Daubers, Dimensionals, Bazzill Flower, Large Eyelet, Paper Piercer, White Gel Pen, Ribbon.

For this one I pulled out one of my Fabriano note cards that I got from StarLitStudio eons ago. I LOVE these notecards - they're really really nice very lightly textured watercolor paper. And they're already scored so all you have to do is stamp them!

I stamped the wishing well from the set (isn't it the cutest image ever? I love all the images from the set but this one is a favorite!) in Brilliance Graphite Black Ink, heat set it, then watercolored it with Stampin' Up! Watercolor Wonder Crayons.

I finished it off by adding the sentiment and some brown May Arts ribbon and that was it!

STAMPS: Make a Wish set by GinaK Designs. CS: Fabriano Note Card. INK: Brilliance Graphite Black. ACCESSORIES: Watercolor Wonder Crayons, May Arts Ribbon.

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Isn't this such a great set? SO versatile and the fact that $7 from EVERY set is getting donated to the Make a Wish Foundation is WONDERFUL! You can find out more about it here <-------click!

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NOW FOR SOME BLOG CANDY!!!!! *grin*

Leave a comment on THIS post and I will enter you in to win all of this!:

This contest is now over - congrats goes to Harriet for winning!!

A bottle of Mono Multi Adhesive (my FAVORITE adhesive - I use this stuff all the time!)

A 2oz Bottle of Ultra Clean Stamp Cleaner

and YOUR CHOICE of either GinaK's Scalloped Frames and Doodles set Large Ovals OR Large Circles.

When I pick a winner you will be required to e-mail me your address along with your choice of set and then I'll have the set PLUS the adhesive AND the Cleaner sent to you!! :o)

Good luck!

ETA - Winner will be chosen by Random.org - and please only one comment/entry per person!!

The winner will be announced tomorrow (Saturday August 18) night!!

So.....

What did y'all think of the latest Papertrey release?? Aren't the sets FAB?? I swear Nichole is a total GENIUS!! The floral set especially is a must-have.

I kept my samples pretty simple for this release as I was stressin' out over all the things I had to get done and the fact that we've just moved etc etc etc! I still had fun with it tho.

I LOVE all the new packaging that is available now - are they not the neatest things? And CHEAP!! I will for sure be stocking up on the different coffee bags and gable boxes and whatnot.

You can see the supplies used for this gable box here and don't forget to check out the rest of the Design Team's creations here and here. Everyone really outdid themselves!

Now I must run and sweep up a mass of Cheerios - hopefully I'll have another post up later this morning!

My Children...

Can drive me up the wall a lot of the time - but they are so cute they always make up for it ROFLOL!!

I don't remember if I mentioned it on here or not - but in this place we're now living in we only have 2 bedrooms so the girls have had to start sharing a room. It's been going pretty well --- they've gone to bed pretty well and slept and the only drawback is they wake up WAY earlier than they used to. I was really pleased with how well they seemed to have adjusted.....

That is until last night............

They were up ALL night - they were crying, fighting with each other (Josie is still in her crib and Veronica has her own bed - but they were yelling at each other and whatnot), Josie kept jumping in her crib and bonking her head.....etc etc ETC - it went on ALL night. I was at my wits end with both of them.

<------------ This was halfway through lunch - Josie just totally conked out she was so tired LOL! So of course I took a bunch of pictures before cleaning her up and putting her down for her nap.

And this is Veronica right now. This chair (SO comfortable - we got it from IKEA for cheap!) is in front of my desk in my studio and she was sitting there watching me stamp and playing with her doll.

I couldn't see her anymore so I stood up to look over the edge of my desk and this is what I saw.

I'm not surprised that they're both exhausted - but man oh man they better not pull a repeat performance tonight!

I wish I could curl up and go for a nap - but I have a ton of things to get done!

Little monkeys......................*grin*

Edited to Add: I forgot to mention that the cut in my leg is healing up fine! Thanks to everyone for their concern and well-wishes! It doesn't hurt at all and doesn't look like it cut too deep (thank goodness - it could have been SO much worse!).

I'm still keeping the hot knife tho - I'll just pay a LOT more attention and be a LOT more careful when using it!! *wink*

Swap Card

I am so not sure about this card!!

I made it for my Control Freak swap (it's an invite-only swap group I'm in with some pretty fabulous stampers!!) and made 40 of them right in the midst of packing before the move!

I used Stampin' Up!s new Garden Whimsy set and matching wheel - both of the butterflies were stamped on white CS and cut out (yup 40 of each!) and I added Dazzling Diamonds glitter to the wings which you can see better in the pic below (both pictures can be clicked on for a larger pop-up view).

I adhered only the body of each butterfly and bent the wings a bit so that they stuck out more.

I free-handed the "flight paths" with the paper piercer, added a little faux-stitching to the corners, and attached some of the new stitched grosgrain with staples.

I REALLY hope my swaps are up to scratch and I can't wait to get them back as they are always FABULOUS!

STAMPS: Garden Whimsy, Whimsy Wheel. CS: Whisper White, Wild Wasabi, Bashful Blue, Purely Pomegranate, Basic Black. INK: Wild Wasabi, Bashful Blue, Purely Pomegranate, Basic Black. ACCESSORIES: Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, Paper Piercer, White Gel Pen, Sponges, Stitched Grosgrain, Staples.

VERY Soon!!

Y'all will be able to see the newest Papertrey sets!! At midnight tonight the 2 newest sets along with a TON of alterables and accessories will be available!

And as if that wasn't enough - Nichole will be HOSTING a special thread in the General Stamping Forum on Splitcoast starting at 11pm tonight!! So everyone can hop on there and chat with Nichole and have a merry old time during the reveal! Hopefully I will get the chance to be there too (at least for a bit) as it sounds like it will be a lot of fun!

I can't wait to see all the samples all the other DT gals made with these sets!! I got mine in JUST under the wire and let me tell you even tho I'm having a hard time getting back into my "stamping groove" - I still had a lot of fun with the sets and can't wait to play some more with them! I hope y'all like what I came up with!

Now I must dash and finish supper!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.....

Now that the song is running through my head I thought I'd pass it on to the rest of you!!! *evil grin*

Wanna know WHY I feel like this??

THIS is why:

My A Muse order is here!!! It didn't take much for me to use the FULL $250 gift certificate AND I paid for some more on top of it LOL! The box arrived yesterday and I only *just* got to pull them out now (I had to get my samples with Gina's Make a Wish set and Papertrey's newest sets done first!!).

I obviously got a TON of sentiments (I love A Muse sentiments!) and just a few images - it was really hard to narrow down my list!! I changed it like 15 times before I sent in my order! There's still a bunch I want but these should tide me over for a while one would think eh? -------- *wink*

(oh and yes I did have fun stacking those stamps - I have the ceiling fan going here in the studio and it was kinda fun to see how high I could get them before they toppled over because of the "breeze". Veronica thought it was pretty fun too LOL --------- see there's a lot you can do with stamps!!!! *grin*)

EDITED TO ADD: Yup those are NEW oval stamps!! (bottom left corner) - A Muse released the Mini oval BL and Micro Oval BL just recently so of course I HAD to get them --- the micro one is just 1" across! It's so cute! Anyone who's been reading this blog for a while knows I *heart* my A Muse Ovals (the original Skinny Oval BL and Skinny Oval BL Small are MUST HAVE's in my opinion!!).

Note To Self......

Do NOT multi-task when using a Creative Hot Knife!!!

That is a pic of my leg...............wanna know what I did to get that?? I can't believe how stupid I was!!

I was on the phone with Lauren, and while chatting I was also cleaning and organizing my studio. I came across this new hot knife and glass mat that I got from All That Scraps not too long ago.

I hadn't had the chance to try it out since it arrived right before we moved, so I plugged it in and grabbed a Stampin' Up! set I had sitting here that needed to be cut and mounted.

This knife gets REALLY hot by the way - somewhere around 900 degrees I think? And I let it warm up for at LEAST 10 minutes (more like I was sidetracked with everything else I was doing at the time that I wasn't paying attention!)................

and then...........

I had the front door open to let in the breeze..................and my next door neighbors revved up their junky truck (don't even get me started on that! It is SO annoying and they do it like 5 times a day!) in order to get it going and it startled me and I tripped on the cord to the knife....................I thought I had only knocked it on the floor........that's till I saw all the blood and realized it had nicked me as it fell.

I am VERY thankful it was just a tiny cut (about 1/4" or so across and I'm not sure how deep) on the side of my leg - as it could have been a LOT worse!! There was a LOT of blood (I was wearing pj pants and it cut right through them and I didn't notice till I saw all the blood on my pants!!) and when I took this picture (NOT easy to get a clear pic of the side of my calf LOL!) it was about 10 minutes later and it soaked through the band-aid within a few minutes!!

So I learned my lesson - when using a tool like this - NO multitasking. AND I won't use it unless the girls are in bed - b/c thankfully they were in another room when this happened - and I don't want them anywhere near this thing whether it's on or off - the knife tip is sharp!

I DID get the set cut out tho - much later in the day when I could concentrate on just that!

I've heard that this knife is FABULOUS for cutting through EZ Mount (Emily of Stamping Bella carries it as well and raves that it cuts through the EZM like buttah!!) but it's been a hit and a miss when cutting through rubber - so I wanted to try it out on a SU set and see what happens........

The knife needs to be HOT for it to work on this many layers (rubber, foam and paper backing) - it needs to heat up for at least 5 minutes.

I had to hold the knife almost vertical in order for it to cut through the rubber properly, and needed to make a couple of passes for each cut - the second pass was to cut the paper backing (that's where the glass mat came in handy as I just pressed down and it cut through no problem!)

As you can see I did a pretty decent job - so it DOES work!! It's time consuming tho - it took way longer to do it this way then if I had just used my craft & rubber scissors. And it gets HOT! I stopped halfway through and turned off the knife and went and did something else. I came back later and finished off the set. So you can really only do one set at a time if you're cutting through this many layers.

Once I get more unmounted rubber stamps I am so pulling the knife out to use on the EZmount - I did a tutorial here <----------click! on how I use unmounted stamps with EZ Mount - and it will be SO much faster to use the hot knife then my craft & rubber scissors (and will make much nicer cuts around the stamp too!).

So there's my story ------ I still shake my head at what an idiot I was!! Hopefully my stupidity will prevent SOMEONE out there from doing something similar!!!

Oh and you can read Emily's (always funny and worth the read!!) review on the hot knife HERE <-----click! and Christine's (owner of ATS) review on it HERE <-------click!

Oh Glorious Ribbon

I have been a very good girl up to now ---- but I couldn't resist!! Did y'all see the ribbon shares Jody has going on on her blog?

You didn't?

Well then you better head on over there and check them out ------------ *another evil grin*

Don't say I didn't warn you ROFL!!

August May Arts Share <-------------CLICK!!

That plush velvet ricrac looks good enough to EAT!!! I so can't wait till mine gets here.........................

Oops!

Here are 3 cards I made for the Papertrey Borders & Corners release that accidentaly got lost in the shuffle (I made 10 cards for the release and between the file sizes/supplies list/etc etc I had to do multiple e-mails and these one's got missed!! I didn't even notice till at least a week after the release so I thought I'd upload them here instead!)

The were all rather simple cards so I'll just list the supplies used and then run off to try and get my stamping mojo back and make samples with GinaK's Make a Wish set, and the soon-to-be-released Papertrey sets!!

STAMPS: Borders and Corners {Square}

CS: Papertrey White, Cool Caribbean, Orchid Opulence (SU!)

INK: VersaMagic Chalk Inks in Jumbo Java and Spring Pansy.

ACCESSORIES: Dimensionals, Marvy Mega Scalloped Square Punch, Paper Piercer.

(card measures 4.25” square)

STAMPS: Borders and Corners {Rectangle}, Faux Ribbon

CS: Papertrey White, Blue Bayou, Wild Wasabi, Ruby Red (all Stampin’ Up!)

INK: VersaMagic Chalk Inks in Jumbo Java, Ocean Depth, and Red Magic.

ACCESSORIES: Marvy Giga Scalloped Rectangle Punch, Dimensionals.

STAMPS: Borders and Corners {Square}, Faux Ribbon.

CS: Papertrey White, Cool Caribbean, Elegant Eggplant, Bazzill Doodlebug Bumblebee.

INK: VersaMagic Chalk Inks in Aquatic Splash, Purple Hydrangea and Mango Madness.

ACCESSORIES: SU! Small Corner Rounder Punch, Marvy Super Jumbo and Mega Square Punches.

Plodding Along.....

Slowly but surely I'm getting things put away around here! I still have a zillion boxes of stuff in the basement to go through but that all will wait! For the most part all the other rooms in the house are in order (or in as much order as they can be!) and I've been working on setting up my studio. I have a LOT of things put away yet still have quite a bit to organize and whatnot. Just typing about it is giving me the itch to get it all done - I hate clutter and disorganization! It's driving me crazy!

It's also going to take some work to get my stamping mojo back. I made one card right before the big move and that was the only stamping I did in like 2 weeks! I have things that NEED to get made (like samples with GinaK's new Stamps for a Cause set) and I am drawing a total blank!! Right now just getting back in the groove is going to take some doing......

And now here is a card I promised to post when I posted this card <------click! and then never did LOL!

The patterned paper that the flower (from Stampin' Up!s Doodle This set) was stamped then cut out from is this Salsa pack by Junkitz - I also used a strip of the same paper on the card base.

The flower center is one of the new pewter jumbo eyelets from SU - those things are very cool! I have some similar ones from WeR (same company that makes the Crop-A-Dile) and need to dig them out to use!

The sentiment is from the Level 1 hostess set So Many Sayings (I cut it up when I got it and mounted it on EZ mount so that I can just grab the saying I want for the card - SO much easier that way and I am actually USING the set!).

The turquoise scalloped edge was made using the new 3/16" Corner Rounder punch from SU - I LOVE that punch and when using it like this it makes the nicest scallops! And they go so well with the marvy scalloped punches *big grin*

Enabler Alert!

Lauren did a pretty good job with her post so I'm just going to link it here - check it out!!:

What you need to know! READ IT AND THANK ME LATER :D <----------click!

(*evil grin*) Happy Shopping!! LOL

Oldies but Goodies.....

I finally have a few free minutes (OK I really don't but I'm taking a few anyway!!) and thought I better upload these cards that I made I don't know how long ago!

I used the CC Designs Summer Set for both cards - I LOVE this bug stamp and the little surfer dude is really cute too.

For this one I basically grabbed pieces of CS from the pile on my desk (I can get really bad at putting the scraps into the files where they belong!) and made them work!

I stamped the bug and pail onto a giga scalloped oval, masked them both and stamped the small and large shadow spots as "sand" then sponged the oval's edges. I used Prismacolor Pencils and Gamsol to color the images in.

On the bashful blue piece I repeatedly stamped the little fish from the summer set for a quick background, then adhered it over the green CS and attached everything to the Creamy Caramel base. I finished off the card with a few Bazzill mini brads, and a Bazzill flower with the ribbon (from my stash) tied through the center to hold it in place.

I wanted to make waves in the background for this card - so I grabbed a piece of patterned paper (from this DCWV stack) and using my craft knife I freehand cut the curves then roughed up the edges with my fingernail and glued them to the card base.

The little surfer dude was stamped and colored in with Copic Markers, and I added some stripes to his shorts with a white gel pen then attached the piece to the card with some jumbo brads from my stash (I *think* the brads are Making Memories? but I'm not 100% sure).

I used a couple of scraps of creamy caramel CS and tore the edges for the "sand", stamped the sentiment from the Summer set and added some dots with the gel pen and that was it!