Prairie Paper & Ink

SNEAK PEEK - AmyR Stamps Thank You Sentiments

Man I have all my days screwed up!! I thought the sneak peeks for my set started TOMORROW not today! Add that to the fact that my studio is an absolute DISASTER (seriously I've made a path from the door to my desk as the floor is covered in junk) and I need to clean it before I can even think of creating as it's really affecting my mojo - this card took me all of last night and this morning to make:

 

The sentiment is from my soon-to-be-released Thank You Sentiments set.

All the patterned paper is from the Wisteria line by Basic Grey.

The leaves were cut with the SU! Little Leaves die.

The sentiment and mats were cut with the nesties Labels Four dies (LOVE those - so elegant looking!).

And the inside of the card:

Another sentiment from the set and more patterned paper.

I gotta run - this is a crazy day for me!!

Make sure to check out theATS sneak peek postb/c if you leave a comment on that one you'll be entered in to win your own Thank You Sentiments set!!

Later! :o)

Friday Sketch! (May 29/09)

Hoo boy what a pain it is when Mr Linky is down. I have no idea if it's going to show up at the end of this post or not - if you don't see it you can just add your link in the comment section.

And just FYI on last week's sketch I was able to export the links that were added before Mr Linky went down, and then I went and hyper-linked all the participants right under it that linked in the comments so that y'all can see them. You can check that out HERE <----click!

Here's the newest sketch!:

- keyword to use when uploading to public galleries is AMYRS68.

- link directly to your creation when posting a link to your card - why you ask? Check out this link for more info.

-not sure HOW to link provide a DIRECT link? Check out this post by Kristina Werner - she explains how to with her video (it's meant for her color inspiration challenges but it's the same idea) - check it out HERE <----click!

-you are welcome to save this sketch to your computer (right click then save to your computer) and upload it to your blog post along with a direct link to this post with credit given to me for the sketch :o)

- have your card done and linked before next Thursday at 10pm EST in order to have it included with the participants links - other than that there is no time limits - this is all for fun!

- ANYONE can participate- you can use whatever products/stamps/embellies you want - sky's the limit :)

- I WILL remove any links I deem inappropriate (self-promotional, spam, card not following sketch in any way etc etc etc).

.................................................................................................................................................................

AmyR's Friday Sketch! Participants

1. lily 2. Mary Brown 3. Janice Melton 4. Kylie Maher 5. Amber R. 6. RobbynW 7. Sue W.

8. IRIT SHALOM(ISRAEL) 9. Marcie Sharp 10. Shannan 11. Kelley 12. k berthiaume 13. Scrapotte 14. StephC

15. Amy Schultz 16. Michelle R 17. Ivette- Sunshine Florida 18. Anna Fiebelkorn 19. Rachel A

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More Beachy Cards!!

First off **FYI the sneak peeks have started on the ATS blog! New sets will be released on Monday June 1st (ACK! I can't believe it's almost JUNE!) - one of which is mine - y'all will see sneak peeks of that in a couple of days! Head on over to the ATS blog to start seeing some creative goodness!**

Second - I had these images sitting here all colored from the Beachies II release and my OCD just wouldn't allow me to work on anything else (well that and the fact that the set being peeked today hasn't arrived in the mail yet darnit!) so I finished these 2 cards using them:

 

I don't have pics of the Copics I used as these were colored a couple of weeks ago.

This is the Waving Emma stamp from the Beachies II release.

I added the polka dots with my white gel pen, then added a little rhinestone from my stash to the flower center.

I die cut the aqua cardstock with one of my circle nestabilities dies.

For the sand I die cut the same size circle from SU! Creamy Caramel cardstock, then freehand cut parts from it. I sponged the edges with the same color ink then spritzed on darker brown ink before adhering the "sand" onto the aqua circle.

The "smile" is from my Beach Sentiments set - fit perfectly!

And yes I STILL have Flair Hit the Beach papers left - well bits of papers - I used them on both of these cards (and lined the insides of both cards with the same papers - I didn't bother taking pics of that tho - sorry!) and am thisclose to completely using them up. I've LOVED using these papers - they're 25% off at ATS and I don't know if they've been retired or not - I'm going to miss using them but it's time to move on!

 

I did a lot of the same stuff on this card using the Sunglasses Emma image.

I used my long oval nesties for the main image and made my faux sand, stamped another sentiment from the Beach Sentiments set, and more Flair Hit the Beach papers.

I added some Prima flowers to this card, and still had a couple of petals left from the big green Prima I cut up the other day so I added them as leaves.

K I gotta run as it's suppertime and I better feed my kids!!

 

Card 1:

STAMPS: CCD Sugarplums Waving Emma stamps, AmyR Stamps Beach Sentiments.

CS: CCD White, SU! Creamy Caramel and Chocolate Chip, Flair Design Hit the Beach patterned paper, PTI Aqua Mist.

INK: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic Markers, Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip.

ACCESSORIES: Circle and Labels Three Nestabilities dies, Ranger White Gel pen, Rhinestones, Dimensionals, Ribbon.

Card 2:

STAMPS: CCD Sugarplums Sunglasses Emma stamps, AmyR Stamps Beach Sentiments.

CS: CCD White, SU! Creamy Caramel and Chocolate Chip, Flair Design Hit the Beach patterned paper, PTI Aqua Mist.

INK: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic Markers, Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip.

ACCESSORIES: Long Oval and Long Scalloped Oval Nestabilities dies, Ranger White Gel Pen, Primas, Brads, Ribbon.

Sketch Card

I made a card!! Are y'all falling over in shock?? I know I almost did ROFLOL!!

The weather has FINALLY been really nice here - so I've been spending more time outside in an attempt to clean up our yard.

Anywho I made a card yesterday and got distracted with other things and forgot to post - so here it is now:

 

I have been wanting some Ketto stamps from Stamping Bella ever since they were first released - and during their last free shipping sale I got a few (thanks to some Mother's Day $$ that Tim gave me!! For what he could have spent on flowers locally I was able to place an order and get free shipping at Stamping Bella - he knows what makes me happy!).

The package just arrived on Friday so between yardwork/housework/company/etc etc etc over the weekend I took a few minutes to mount them onto EZmount (I do that with all my Bella stamps - you can also use double-sided tape on an acrylic block but I prefer having all my stamps on thin black EZmount) then pulled out this one to use on this card for my latest Friday Sketch!

I stamped the image onto CCD White Cardstock (I ALWAYS use Memento Tuxedo Black now when coloring with my Copics. It is the BEST ink I've tried so far. And it doesn't need to be embossed or heat set like the Brilliace Black does - which was my fave till the Memento inks were put on the market) and colored it in with my Copics.

The image didn't look "finished" after I had colored it so I went nuts with a bunch of Stickles - Diamond, Fruit Punch, Yellow, and Lime Green - and glammed it up a bit.

 

I used my circle nestabilities to cut the image out and then cut a couple of scalloped circles to mat the image.

The patterned paper is Basic Grey's new Lime Rickey (I always LOVE their papers but lately I barely have a chance to USE them before new lines are released! I JUST got the Lime Rickey and Wisteria 6x6 pads and whatnot and now there's 2 more lines that were just released that ATS should be getting in right away. I guess I just need to get crackin' and create more often!! *wink*), the ribbon is May Arts and the Primas are from my stash (I cut up a big green one to use as leaves).

The sentiments on the outside and inside of the card are from my Friends Sentiments set.

 

STAMPS: agnes KETTO from Stamping Bella, AmyR Stamps Friends Sentiments.

CS: CCD White, Prism Razzleberry, SU Black, Basic Grey Lime Rickey Patterned Paper.

INK: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic Markers.

ACCESSORIES: Circle and Scalloped Circle Nestabilities dies, Prima Flowers, Stickles, Brads, Dimensionals, Ribbon, SU! Scallop Edge Punch, SU! Word Window Punch.

Cards for Heroes Blog Hop

Cards for Heroes is hosting a MEMORIAL DAY BLOGHOP this Saturday May 24th. Bloggers from all over the US and abroad will be posting a card and sharing why THEY participate in honoring our nation's heroes. And everyone else gets inspired! This bloghop will be helping us to get the word out to even more crafters and financial donors-so we can get more cards out to our heroes! We're getting more and more requests all the time and need to step up our game, and this is one really fun way to share what we're doing...letting YOU share!  Hop through blogs, and get inspired to make more cards or donate funds toward our work! Tell your friends about it, even if they're not cardmakers...it'll do everyone's patriotic heart good to hear about so many Americans wanting to help our military. Visit bloghop central here. 

I was honored to be asked to join but I didn't see the e-mail 'till yesterday and didn't have a chance to make a card - BUT I wanted to make sure to post that you can go HERE <-----click! to start the hop and check out all the creations that the participants made!

Friday Sketch! (May 22/09)

Geez I've been a rotten blogger these past couple of weeks haven't I?? I DID have this week's Friday Sketch! ready but Mr Linky was being wonky (which should thankfully be fixed as of right now) and I wasn't able to close off last week's sketch and post this weeks.

Anywho this week's sketch is another oldie-but-a-goodie:

You can see the original post and sketch here.

And all the usual info!:

- keyword to use when uploading to public galleries is AMYRS3.

- link directly to your creation when posting a link to your card - why you ask? Check out this link for more info.

-not sure HOW to link provide a DIRECT link? Check out this post by Kristina Werner - she explains how to with her video (it's meant for her color inspiration challenges but it's the same idea) - check it out HERE <----click!

-you are welcome to save this sketch to your computer (right click then save to your computer) and upload it to your blog post along with a direct link to this post with credit given to me for the sketch :o)

- have your card done and linked before next Thursday at 10pm EST in order to have it included with the participants links - other than that there is no time limits - this is all for fun!

- ANYONE can participate- you can use whatever products/stamps/embellies you want - sky's the limit :)

- I WILL remove any links I deem inappropriate (self-promotional, spam, card not following sketch in any way etc etc etc).

.................................................................................................................................................................

The Mr Linky auto-widget isn't working and I don't know when it will be (I contacted them and they don't have an ETA at all) - so for now just add your link to your creation in the comment section of this post and I'll try to come up with some way to feature them. Sorry for all the hassle everyone!!

AmyR's Friday Sketch! Participants

1. Melissa Barkwith 2. Sue W. 3. Amy Schultz

4. Neva 5. Emily 6. RobbynW

7. Kim Murphy

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Here's everyone that participated after Mr Linky went down:

1. MacKenzie Bruckler
2. Tammy Fielder
3. Arlana
4. Donna MacDonald
5. Rachel Arambula
6. Kimberly O'Rosky
7. Judi
8. Karine
9. ivette
10. Shannon Erskine

 

Want to win a Gift Certificate?

All That Scraps is giving away a $25 GC to their store - all you have to do is check out THIS POST, vote in the poll and post a comment that you voted.

A random winner will be chosen and sent a $25 GC to the store!

Oh did I mention it has to do with the NEW CuttleBug folders that will be released soon and that you can see all of the A2 embossing folders in that post?? Head over there and check them out and don't forget to vote!

Good luck!

Beachies II

Man what a weekend.

It was a long weekend here for us Canadians with Monday being a holiday. Sunday was FABULOUS - just gorgeous outside so we spent most of the day in the yard with the girls playing, doing yardwork and putting together our mammoth fire pit I had ordered it from a flyer and it was WAY bigger in real life - I had over 60 bricks to unload from the truck - each weighing well over 10lbs each - maybe more - then haul to the area for the pit. Needless to say I was hurting after it was all done!

Then Monday came around - lets just say the girls are all-of-a-sudden obsessed with playing "Christimas" and wanting to be good so that Santa will come. Yeah it was snowing Monday morning. So they watched a Christmas movie inside and I keep overhearing them talk about Santa coming. LOL

This weather sucks!!

Needless to say I haven't done any stamping for days and days - and I NEEDED to make something - so I gave digi stamping a shot and used the new Beachies II images that ATS just released. And thankfully they're being released in rubber too! You can check them all out HERE.

 

I just opened the file and printed it out onto CC Designs white cardstock - and since my printer pulls paper from a tray it has a hard time with heavyweight cardstocks (the top loading printers would work way better for printing on heavy weight CS) but I was able to get it to work.

I used my Copics to color in the image (I had NO smearing of the printer ink on the CCD cardstock - I use an Epson with Epson ink by the way) then added polka dots and highlights with my white gel pen.

I cut the image out (video tutorial on that here) then attached it to the oval die cuts with dimensionals.

The sentiment is from my Beach Sentiments set.

I used my latest Friday Sketch! for the layout on this card.

 

The patterned paper is from Flair's Hit the Beach line (still got a few pieces left!), ribbon is May Arts, and the 3 flat back crackle things (sorry my brain stopped and I can't remember what they're called!) are from Stamping Bella (I can't get their site to come up right now to link to them - I'll edit this post later when I can get to the site).

ETA - OK I was able to access the site and they're called Bella Dots (so simple yet my brain just couldn't process! haha) - I didn't see these light blue crackle ones - but there's TONS there in all kinds of styles - glitter, marble, crackle, solid etc - and colors. They're lightweight and totally flat so I use mini glue dots to attach them and they're good to go. FYI I've never tried the "donut" ones that have the hole in the middle (they're like a "faux eyelet") so I don't have an opinion on them!

K I gotta run - I promised my mom I'd help out at the coffee shop for a couple of hours!

Friday Sketch! (May 15/09)

Sorry this is a little late!

Here's the latest sketch:

- keyword to use when uploading to public galleries is AMYRS67.

- link directly to your creation when posting a link to your card - why you ask? Check out this link for more info.

-not sure HOW to link provide a DIRECT link? Check out this post by Kristina Werner - she explains how to with her video (it's meant for her color inspiration challenges but it's the same idea) - check it out HERE <----click!

-you are welcome to save this sketch to your computer (right click then save to your computer) and upload it to your blog post along with a direct link to this post with credit given to me for the sketch :o)

- have your card done and linked before next Thursday at 10pm EST in order to have it included with the participants links - other than that there is no time limits - this is all for fun!

- ANYONE can participate- you can use whatever products/stamps/embellies you want - sky's the limit :)

- I WILL remove any links I deem inappropriate and/or not post them with next Friday's sketch (self-promotional, spam, card not following sketch in any way etc etc etc).

.................................................................................................................................................................

AmyR's Friday Sketch! Participants

1. Janice Melton 2. Melissa Barkwith 3. Joan Ottevanger 4. Erica Johnson-Wanzer 5. RobbynW 6. Ching 7. Sue W. 8. Brenda Martin

9. Philippa Petty 10. Pam Varnell 11. Melissa 12. Rachel Arambula 13. Cat Spicer 14. jenn Muraoka 15. Mercy Kerin 16. Tasha Beasley

17. Kelly Schelske 18. Janet R 19. Emily 20. Tammy Fielder 21. Paula C 22. StephC 23. Linda C 24. Kim N

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Puppet Anya's!!

Sorry folks for being such a rotten blogger this week! I had NOTHING crafty to share, and didn't feel like making anything. To top it off I said I was going to try and take a few videos but the camera I use for that has a dead battery and I can't find the charger for it (and that ALWAYS happens when I go to use it!!).

ANYWHO I have something cute to share now. I had this idea bouncing around for a week and finally decided to sit down and make it since it IS a pretty easy project:

Check out my little popsicle puppet Anya's!

 

I pulled out all the single Anya stamps I own (all 6 of 'em! Woohoo!! LOL), stamped them onto white cardstock then colored them in with Copics.

I cut each one out and adhered it to a small popsicle stick with red line tape (and for this picture the bowl is filled with rocks to hold them in place and I dumped my entire jar of green primas to make it look prettier - I still have to clean all of them up and get them back in the jar!).

I used various Stickles on some of them to bling them up a bit. I was tempted to add some adhesive rhinestones/and or pearls but decided against it as I know the girls would pull those off (and in Josie's case there's a good chance she'd eat them - she may be 3 1/2 but I STILL catch her putting things in her mouth that she shouldn't!).

Veronica "modelled" one for me to take this picture:

They all turned out pretty cute!

You can click on the small pics of each individual one to get a pop-up with a larger view.

  I'm glad I own an even number of these - that way I was able to give 3 each to the girls and they can't fight over one getting more than the other. They LOVED them, as soon as Tim got home from work they were at the door showing them all to him - so cute LOL!

 

SUPPLIES:

Anya Stamps:

Mermaid, Angel, Princess, Rockstar, Teacher, Flutter.  

CS: CC Designs White.

INK: Brilliance Graphite Black, Copic Markers.

ACCESSORIES: Stickles, Clear Embossing Powder, Small Popsicle Sticks.

Issues

I hope y'all had a great weekend :) I wasn't planning on taking a "blog break" but it's sort of turned into one.

I cleaned house all morning on Saturday, then had company and was EXHAUSTED by the evening. I went to bed early and since Sunday was Mother's Day Tim let me sleep in - I ended up sleeping for over 12 hours!! I can't even remember the last time I did that (it would have to be YEARS ago - definitely before kids!!) and man it felt good. Normally I just CAN'T sleep in b/c I have so many things to do and my brain just won't let me relax (not to mention 2 little girls that are up at the crack of dawn).

Anywho I haven't stamped a thing in several days. I've been wanting to do a few more videos and prolly will this week. The only cruddy thing about that is they're time consuming and no matter what I do it always ends up taking nearly a full day for me to upload just ONE.

I've been having 'Net issues too - another reason I haven't posted. I have someone coming out tomorrow (hopefully!) to fix the phone line and hopefully fix the problem. I am getting really tired of losing posts and having to re-upload videos and whatnot every time my modem goes out.

So I'm praying tha my whole 'Net issue will be fixed tomorrow and we'll see if that makes it easier for me to upload videos!

Anywho that's all the excitement around here right now. I'll be back ASAP once I've got somethin' crafty to share!

My Friday Sketch Sample

 

Here's my sample for this week's Friday Sketch!

Click on the sketch image to be taken directly to the sketch post.

I pulled out my never-before-seen-ink content-to-be-a-bella image for this card (I'm getting there! I'm too scared to count just how many Bella images I own that haven't been used yet! ACK!) along with a sentiment from my Friend Sentiments set.

I stamped the image onto white cardstock then colored her in with my Copics.

I made the polka dots on her shirt with my Ranger Gel Pen (FYI this is the BESTEST white gel pen I have ever used!! I have the Signo one (the one SU sells) and more than one have clogged on me to the point where they won't work at all. The Ranger one has worked perfect from day one!).

I cut out the image with a circle nestie then left the die in place and sponged ink around the edges (making sure I cleaned off the die with rubbing alcohol first! And it was a good thing I did as it turned out the die had a bunch of purple ink on it. I didn't want a repeat of THIS). 

I used Basic Grey Urban Prairie papers, buttons and brads to dress up the card, along with a bunch of Prima's from my stash.

**TIP - if you don't have primas/flowers in the color you want you can color them with your copics. If you don't have white just use a pale shade of the color you want. I had pale yellow flowers but I wanted them darker to match the colored Bella image - so I colored over the yellow Primas with the YR31 marker to get them the color I wanted.**

For the inside of the card I lined it with more Urban Prairie papers then stamped and colored the "inside out" image that comes with this bella, cut it out with a smaller circle nestie and matted it with a scalloped circle and that was it!

 

STAMPS: content-to-be-a-bella by Stamping Bella, AmyR Stamps Friend Sentiments.

CS: CC Designs White, SU! Basic Black, PTI Aqua Mist, Basic Grey Urban Prairie Patterned Paper.

INK: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic Markers.

ACCESSORIES: Circle and Scalloped Circle Nestabilities Dies, Brads, Primas, Buttons, White Gel Pen, Sponge Daubers.

Tammy's Sample

Here's the sample Tammy made for her first sketch - be sure to check out her blog HERE for more info!

 

I'll post my sample later on today.

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ALSO - if you want to add the AmyR Friday Sketch! badge to your blog sidebar feel free to do so!

You can get the HTML code in this post <----click!

I've also included the link to said post directly under the badge in my sidebar there on the left.

Friday Sketch! with a Guest!! (May 8/09)

I have a surprise for y'all today - I'm announcing an AmyR Friday Sketch! Guest Designer!!

I hadn't planned on doing this - but when I lost my mojo and was having a rough time getting it back this gal e-mailed me. She had included in her e-mail a TON of sketches she made and sent them to me JUST to help inspire me. Seriously I was blown away - not only be her fab sketches but by the fact she was sharing all of them with me!

Well we've been e-mailing back and forth and I wanted a way to share her sketches with y'all and thought why not have her as a guest sketch designer on here?

So right now the plan is to include a sketch by her once a month - and I think you all will LOVE them just as much as I do!

Without further adieu I introduce y'all to Tammy Fielder!! Her blog is here: Layout in the Sun

And here's her first sketch!

- keyword to use when uploading to public galleries is AMYRTFS1.

- link directly to your creation when posting a link to your card - why you ask? Check out this link for more info.

-not sure HOW to link provide a DIRECT link? Check out this post by Kristina Werner - she explains how to with her video (it's meant for her color inspiration challenges but it's the same idea) - check it out HERE <----click!

-you are welcome to save this sketch to your computer (right click then save to your computer) and upload it to your blog post along with a direct link to this post with credit given to me for the sketch :o)

- have your card done and linked before next Thursday at 10pm EST in order to have it included with the participants links - other than that there is no time limits - this is all for fun!

- ANYONE can participate- you can use whatever products/stamps/embellies you want - sky's the limit :)

- I WILL remove any links I deem inappropriate and/or not post them with next Friday's sketch (self-promotional, spam, card not following sketch in any way etc etc etc).

.......................................................................................................................................................

This week's Mr Linky is now closed - if you've made something using this sketch feel free to add your link to the comment section on this post! And don't forget to check out the current Friday Sketch!

AmyR's Friday Sketch! Participants

1. TAMMY FIELDER 2. Michelle R 3. Emily 4. Sue W. 5. Robbie 7. Tina Hale

8. Anna F 9. Kimberly L 10. Lara 11. Amber R. 12. Denise Marzec 13. Vickilyn 14. Ivette ( Sunshine state Florida)

15. Melbourne Robyn 16. Chen R. 17. Kimberly O'Rosky 18. Karine 19. Janet R 20. Miri K.

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Featured

Just a quick FYI to y'all that I was featured on the Inspirational blog today! How cool is that??

You can check out the post HERE <----click!