Prairie Paper & Ink

Distress Crayon Watercolor Backgrounds | AmyR 2017 Christmas Card Series #5

Hello everyone! I'm hopping along with a bunch of talented designers for Scrap N Stamp Canada today! We have a blog hop and we are all using Distress Crayons in our projects! FYI SnS has the Distress Crayons on sale HERE for 25% off (no code needed the discount is already applied).

If you didn't come from the Scrap N Stamp blog you can check out their post HERE <-----click!

Here's what I created:

I used my Distress Crayons to create all these fun backgrounds. I scribbled the different colors onto a non-porous palette and picked them up with a flat paintbrush and painted them onto pieces of Distress Watercolor paper.

I did 2 layers of all the colors to intensify the look, then once dry I trimmed them all down with my paper trimmer.

I used Mama Elephant's Season's Wishes and Holly's Snowflakes stamp sets on all the cards. I embossed the "Season's Greetings" with Tonic Nuvo Classic Silver embossing powder, and then heat embossed the snowflakes with Hero Arts white embossing powder.

I adhered all the watercolor panels flat to the card bases with my Xyron Mega Runner. All these cards are easy to make multiples of and easy to mail ;).

I finished off all the insides of the cards with sentiments from the Season's Wishes set and more stamped snowflakes and that was it!

To see how these cards came together check out my video below:

Or watch in HD over on YouTube HERE <------click!

Next stop on the hop is Julia's blog! <-------click!

I get asked a lot about where to purchase the supplies I use in my videos and blog posts. I list all the supplies I use at the end of my posts (below) or in the description box directly below my video on YouTube. If the product images have sets of letters below the image it means there's more than one place it can be purchased. SSS = Simon Says Stamp, AZ = Amazon, MFT = My Favourite Things, SnS = Scrap N Stamp (Canada) etc. Compensated affiliate links used when possible at no extra cost to you. Affiliate linking is what keeps my blog and YouTube channel up and running and enables me to work from home with my kids! I appreciate your support more than words can say!

I occasionally receive product for free from stores/manufacturer with no obligation on my part to use/review - I only use and share what I personally love. Everything else I purchase myself!   

SSS Christmas Squad Tag Set | Prismacolor Pencils | AmyR 2017 Christmas Card Series #4

And I'm back! If you missed my Unboxing Video of the SSS December Card Kit you can check it out here:

Simon Says Stamp December 2017 Card Kit Unboxing! | Milk & Cookies Card Kit

Now on to what I've made with it!

I decided to create several tags - this way I could use all the characters from the set LOL!

I die cut the Neenah Desert Storm card stock with SSS's Large Tags dies, then did some stamping and masking to add each character and tree from the Christmas Squad stamp set.

I coloured in all the images with Prismacolor pencils, then added highlights with a white gel pen, darkened the eyes with a black glaze pen and added a bit of shimmer with a Wink of Stella clear glitter pen.

I finished off all the tags with patterned paper and confetti from the kit, and added some bakers twine from my stash and that was it!

To see how these came together check out my video below:

Or watch in HD over on YouTube HERE <------click!

I get asked a lot about where to purchase the supplies I use in my videos and blog posts. I list all the supplies I use at the end of my posts (below) or in the description box directly below my video on YouTube. If the product images have sets of letters below the image it means there's more than one place it can be purchased. SSS = Simon Says Stamp, AZ = Amazon, MFT = My Favourite Things, SnS = Scrap N Stamp (Canada) etc. Compensated affiliate links used when possible at no extra cost to you. Affiliate linking is what keeps my blog and YouTube channel up and running and enables me to work from home with my kids! I appreciate your support more than words can say!

I occasionally receive product for free from stores/manufacturer with no obligation on my part to use/review - I only use and share what I personally love. Everything else I purchase myself!  

Simon Says Stamp December 2017 Card Kit Unboxing! | Milk & Cookies Card Kit

Hello everyone! I'm SO excited to share this unboxing with y'all - and from all the responses I've been getting on social media over the sneak peeks I was sharing I think a TON of you are just as excited as me LOL!

Simon Says Stamp's December Card Kit was just revealed and it is BEYOND adorable:

You can watch in HD over on YouTube HERE <--------click!

I have links to everything below - they've released a coordinating die set for this stamp set as well - LOVE that! I mentioned in the video that I predict this kit will sell out really quickly - any of the ones they do with Doodlebug always do - and this one is no exception!

I get asked a lot about where to purchase the supplies I use in my videos and blog posts. I list all the supplies I use at the end of my posts (below) or in the description box directly below my video on YouTube. If the product images have sets of letters below the image it means there's more than one place it can be purchased. SSS = Simon Says Stamp, AZ = Amazon, MFT = My Favourite Things, SnS = Scrap N Stamp (Canada) etc. Compensated affiliate links used when possible at no extra cost to you. Affiliate linking is what keeps my blog and YouTube channel up and running and enables me to work from home with my kids! I appreciate your support more than words can say!

I occasionally receive product for free from stores/manufacturer with no obligation on my part to use/review - I only use and share what I personally love. Everything else I purchase myself!  

World Kindness Day with Honey Bee Stamps

Hello everyone! Today is World Kindness Day and Honey Bee Stamps has a special blog post and sale going on today with tons of inspiration and some giveaways as well!

You can check out their blog post HERE <-------click! for all the info, and I have info about their sale HERE in my Sales & Coupons page.

Here's the cards I made for today:

I pulled out the Zen Bouquet stamp set yet again b/c I am rather obsessed with it LOL! I used it to create my background, which was heat embossed onto watercolor paper with Nuvo's Classic Gold embossing powder. After I'd melted the powder I did my "faux Distress Ink watercolor" by rubbing several Distress Ink minis onto the paper and spraying it with water.

Since the Zen Bouquet stamp is so large it's easy to get 2 card fronts out of it. After I'd split it up I die cut the "Kindness" from pale pink card stock and sponged them with a couple of the same distress inks. I used the coordinating Kindness stamp set to heat emboss sentiments for each card front and adhered them with foam tape.

I finished off the insides of the cards with a sentiment from the Honey Bee Stamps Forest Friends stamp set, and stamped the large Zen Bouquet image with the same light pink ink as the card stock and that was it!

To see how these cards came together check out my post below:

Or watch in HD over on YouTube HERE <--------click!

I get asked a lot about where to purchase the supplies I use in my videos and blog posts. I list all the supplies I use at the end of my posts (below) or in the description box directly below my video on YouTube. If the product images have sets of letters below the image it means there's more than one place it can be purchased. SSS = Simon Says Stamp, AZ = Amazon, MFT = My Favourite Things, SnS = Scrap N Stamp (Canada) etc. Compensated affiliate links used when possible at no extra cost to you. Affiliate linking is what keeps my blog and YouTube channel up and running and enables me to work from home with my kids! I appreciate your support more than words can say!

I occasionally receive product for free from stores/manufacturer with no obligation on my part to use/review - I only use and share what I personally love. Everything else I purchase myself!  

PPP Stitched Foliage | Distress Oxide Inks | CTD468

Hello everyone! Here's my late-as-always card(s) for this week's Color Throwdown Challenge:

Check out the CTD blog post HERE to see what the rest of the team created <------click! and there's still time to play along if you'd like!

The white mottled pumpkins in the photo really inspired my cards:

I sponged 4 different colors of Distress Oxide ink onto some Distress watercolor paper then die cut them using Pretty Pink Posh's Stitched Foliage die set.

To get the white on the pumpkins I used my Copic Opaque white and a stippling brush/sponge. 

The sentiments are from PPP's Everyday Greetings stamp set - I heat embossed them onto the Kraft card stock with SSS's Gold embossing powder.

I also added some gold splatter with my Gansai Tambi Starry Colors palette - gotta have some splatter in there somewhere!

I finished off the insides with sentiments from the PPP Thoughtful Greetings set that I heat embossed with the same SSS gold embossing powder and that was it!

To see how these cards came together check out my video below: 

Or watch in HD over on YouTube HERE <-------click!

I get asked a lot about where to purchase the supplies I use in my videos and blog posts. I list all the supplies I use at the end of my posts (below) or in the description box directly below my video on YouTube. If the product images have sets of letters below the image it means there's more than one place it can be purchased. SSS = Simon Says Stamp, AZ = Amazon, MFT = My Favourite Things, SnS = Scrap N Stamp (Canada) etc. Compensated affiliate links used when possible at no extra cost to you. Affiliate linking is what keeps my blog and YouTube channel up and running and enables me to work from home with my kids! I appreciate your support more than words can say!

I occasionally receive product for free from stores/manufacturer with no obligation on my part to use/review - I only use and share what I personally love. Everything else I purchase myself!  

Ellen Hutson LLC Abstract Paint Strokes | Distress Oxide Stamping

Hello everyone! Ellen Hutson's November Release went live on November 5th, and all week they've been having mini hops to celebrate - today being one of them!

I'm the last stop on the hop today - if you didn't get here from Laurel's blog <-----click! you can start back at the beginning at the CLASSroom blog <-------click!

I used the new Abstract Paint Strokes stamp set as my focus for today's cards:

I pulled out one of my favourite color combos of Distress Oxide Inks: Peacock Feathers, Peeled Paint and Salty Ocean to stamp several of the paint stroke images with.

After all the stamping with the Distress Oxide inks, I heat embossed one of the Abstract Paint Stroke images with Avery Elle Rich Gold Metallic embossing powder. I also heat embossed one of the sentiments from the new Totally Random Sayings stamp set onto a strip of vellum and adhered it to the card front.

My card bases were Neenah Desert Storm 100lb card stock, and I stamped some of the same Abstract Paint Stroke images with the Oxide inks, then added stamped and heat embossed sentiments and that was it!

To see how these cards came together check out my video below:

or watch in HD over on YouTube HERE <---------click!

I get asked a lot about where to purchase the supplies I use in my videos and blog posts. I list all the supplies I use at the end of my posts (below) or in the description box directly below my video on YouTube. If the product images have sets of letters below the image it means there's more than one place it can be purchased. SSS = Simon Says Stamp, AZ = Amazon, MFT = My Favourite Things, SnS = Scrap N Stamp (Canada) etc. Compensated affiliate links used when possible at no extra cost to you. Affiliate linking is what keeps my blog and YouTube channel up and running and enables me to work from home with my kids! I appreciate your support more than words can say!

I occasionally receive product for free from stores/manufacturer with no obligation on my part to use/review - I only use and share what I personally love. Everything else I purchase myself!  

Two Minute Tips: Creating Stickers with Die Cuts & Xyron

Hey everyone! I'm up on the CLASSroom blog today with a fun Two Minute Tip video! You can check it out HERE <-------click!

Honey Bee Stamps Season's Tweetings Blog Hop | AmyR 2017 Christmas Card Series #3

Hello everyone! Honey Bee Stamps Holiday 2017 release went live late last night, and now we're doing a blog hop to share inspiration using all these new products! Stay tuned as there is giveaway info at the end of the post!

I HAD to use the new Blah Humbunny set to make a couple of Christmas cards - I just got such a giggle out of this set it needed to be the first one I inked up:

I made 2 cards using each of the bunnies in the Blah Humbunny set. I stamped the images onto some grey card stock with Versafine Onyx Black ink and coloured them in with Prismacolor Pencils and blended them out with artist grade odourless mineral spirits (I have a category with tons of blog posts on that HERE).

I heat embossed some of the sentiments from the set on black card stock then used the coordinating dies to cut them out, stamping the companion sentiments with the same black ink.

I used the Honey Bee Ocean Borders stamp to stamp my backgrounds, then when everything was adhered I splattered on Copic Opaque White onto my card fronts.

To finish off the insides of the cards I stamped the bunnies with light grey ink, then added more sentiments from the Blah Humbunny set and that was it!

To see how these cards came together check out my video below:

 

Or watch in HD over on YouTube HERE <--------click!

Next stop on the hop is Bibi Cameron's blog! <---------click!

I get asked a lot about where to purchase the supplies I use in my videos and blog posts. I list all the supplies I use at the end of my posts (below) or in the description box directly below my video on YouTube. If the product images have sets of letters below the image it means there's more than one place it can be purchased. SSS = Simon Says Stamp, AZ = Amazon, MFT = My Favourite Things, SnS = Scrap N Stamp (Canada) etc. Compensated affiliate links used when possible at no extra cost to you. Affiliate linking is what keeps my blog and YouTube channel up and running and enables me to work from home with my kids! I appreciate your support more than words can say!

I occasionally receive product for free from stores/manufacturer with no obligation on my part to use/review - I only use and share what I personally love. Everything else I purchase myself!  

Now for the GIVEAWAY info!! Be sure to visit each blog & leave a comment to be entered to win!!! Honey Bee Stamps will be giving away a $50 gift card to the Honey Bee Stamps store. The winner will be posted on the Honey Bee Stamps Blog Monday, November 13th.

Thanks for visiting me here today and good luck!!

Honey Bee Stamps Holiday 2017 Release & Review!

I'm back with another Release & Review video - this time for Honey Bee Stamps Holiday 2017 release!

You can watch the video in HD over on YouTube HERE <-------click!

As of right now I don't have links to the new embellishments - I assume they're waiting to get them in stock - I will update the list as soon as I see them in the HB store! 

I get asked a lot about where to purchase the supplies I use in my videos and blog posts. I list all the supplies I use at the end of my posts (below) or in the description box directly below my video on YouTube. If the product images have sets of letters below the image it means there's more than one place it can be purchased. SSS = Simon Says Stamp, AZ = Amazon, MFT = My Favourite Things, SnS = Scrap N Stamp (Canada) etc. Compensated affiliate links used when possible at no extra cost to you. Affiliate linking is what keeps my blog and YouTube channel up and running and enables me to work from home with my kids! I appreciate your support more than words can say!

I occasionally receive product for free from stores/manufacturer with no obligation on my part to use/review - I only use and share what I personally love. Everything else I purchase myself!  

MFT November 2017 Release & Review!

Hello everyone!! My Favorite Things November products are available now! You can check out the entire release HERE on the MFT website or HERE on the Simon Says Stamp website, and I have individual links to everything below the video.

You can watch in HD over on YouTube HERE <-------click!

I get asked a lot about where to purchase the supplies I use in my videos and blog posts. I list all the supplies I use at the end of my posts (below) or in the description box directly below my video on YouTube. If the product images have sets of letters below the image it means there's more than one place it can be purchased. SSS = Simon Says Stamp, AZ = Amazon, MFT = My Favourite Things, SnS = Scrap N Stamp (Canada) etc. Compensated affiliate links used when possible at no extra cost to you. Affiliate linking is what keeps my blog and YouTube channel up and running and enables me to work from home with my kids! I appreciate your support more than words can say!

I occasionally receive product for free from stores/manufacturer with no obligation on my part to use/review - I only use and share what I personally love. Everything else I purchase myself!  

October 2017 Happy Mail Haul! | Cards from YOU

Hello everyone!! Is it just me or does it feel totally bizarre that it's November already?!? Although I'm glad October is over as I was sick nearly the entire month, November is my least favourite month of the year. Here in Saskatchewan it's the darkest month of the year, and the lack of daylight and all the snow settling in makes it difficult (for me, thankfully the kids love the snow (well technically I do too - I just hate having to drive in it) - though the lack of sunlight not-so-much) to handle.

Anywho - I got a chance to sit down and film the October Happy Mail Haul - everything that showed up in my PO box last month!

You can watch in HD over on YouTube HERE <------click!

Thank you all so very much for sending me cards and gifts (the gifts are always unnecessary but nevertheless very much appreciated). I know how much time and effort goes in to making a card and taking the time out of your day to do so and then send it on to me is a big deal. I love sharing what all of you are making and I am so glad you all enjoy watching these and sharing in them with me whether you send in a card or not!

Please leave some love in the comments (as well as any questions etc you might have) for the senders - I know they'd love to read them!!

If you'd like to mail a card to be featured in an upcoming Happy Mail Haul video here's my mailing address:

Amy Rysavy

Box 1041 MARTENSVILLE PO

Martensville, SK

S0K 2T0

Canada 

November Theme: Winter/Shaker Cards

December Theme: Ice/Sparkle/Glitter

January Theme: Love/Valentines Day

February Theme: Kindness/Thank You

Like I mention in all the Happy Mail Haul videos - I am not strict with the themes.. The post can be notoriously slow especially getting to me here in Canada, so I like to share everything that shows up in my PO Box the previous month regardless!

SSS Kindness Matters | Distress Ink Watercolor | CTD467

I can't seem to get caught up (let alone get ahead with work - now THAT would be a wonderful thing) for the life of me. I finally have my card made for this week's Color Throwdown Challenge:

You can check out the CTD blog post HERE <-------click! to see what the rest of the ream created and there's still a bit of time to play along with this challenge before the next one starts!

Here's what I made:

I took the inspiration rather literal, and pulled out Simon Says Stamp's Dancing Fruit stamp set and used the apple image from the set. I stamped it onto Strathmore watercolor paper with a dark brown hybrid ink then watercolored it in with Distress Inks.

The sentiment is the SSS Kindness Matters wafer die, I die cut it from green and black card stocks, offset them a little and backed it with vellum.

I pulled out my SSS exclusive Studio Katia clear drops mix - I LOVE how those look on cards. I also added some of the Studio Katia Red Hearts - in real life they're so pretty and iridescent the way they catch the light.

I finished the inside of the card with a sentiment from SSS's Big Scripty Greetings set and stamped the apples again with the same Distress Inks and that was it!

To see how this card came together check out my video below:

 

Or watch in HD over on YouTube HERE <-------click!

I get asked a lot about where to purchase the supplies I use in my videos and blog posts. I list all the supplies I use at the end of my posts (below) or in the description box directly below my video on YouTube. If the product images have sets of letters below the image it means there's more than one place it can be purchased. SSS = Simon Says Stamp, AZ = Amazon, MFT = My Favourite Things, SnS = Scrap N Stamp (Canada) etc. Compensated affiliate links used when possible at no extra cost to you. Affiliate linking is what keeps my blog and YouTube channel up and running and enables me to work from home with my kids! I appreciate your support more than words can say!

I occasionally receive product for free from stores/manufacturer with no obligation on my part to use/review - I only use and share what I personally love. Everything else I purchase myself!  

MFT Snowglobe Shaker Cards | AmyR 2017 Christmas Card Series #2

Its Friday! Yay! I've had a lot on my plate this week and didn't get even close to the videos and cards I wanted to share with y'all. However I DID make 2 more cards that happen to be shaker cards for my Christmas Card Series:

I wanted to play along with MFT's Wednesday Sketch Challenge this week. I talk about their challenge blog in the video - they have new ones posted every week and you can check them out and bookmark their blog HERE <-------click!

So this was the sketch challenge and I decided to base my cards on that. I ended up going completely overboard and used a TON of products on these cards - what can I say I was having fun and just reaching for things at random LOL!

I ran through all my pieces of card stock through my little Xyron Sticker Maker with the dies in place BEFORE die cutting everything. That way all the pieces had adhesive on them so to make both of my snow globe scenes I just had to peel the backing off them and press them into place.

I used the coordinating Dome Shaker Pouches - I love these things. Makes making shaker cards SO much quicker and easier than fiddling with acetate and foam tape - plus all the fun shapes take it up a notch.

I stamped the insides of the cards with sentiments from MFT's Handwritten Holidays stamp set and that was it!

To see how these cards came together check out my video below:

Or watch in HD over on YouTube HERE <-----click!

I get asked a lot about where to purchase the supplies I use in my videos and blog posts. I list all the supplies I use at the end of my posts (below) or in the description box directly below my video on YouTube. If the product images have sets of letters below the image it means there's more than one place it can be purchased. SSS = Simon Says Stamp, AZ = Amazon, MFT = My Favourite Things, SnS = Scrap N Stamp (Canada) etc. Compensated affiliate links used when possible at no extra cost to you. Affiliate linking is what keeps my blog and YouTube channel up and running and enables me to work from home with my kids! I appreciate your support more than words can say!

I occasionally receive product for free from stores/manufacturer with no obligation on my part to use/review - I only use and share what I personally love. Everything else I purchase myself!  

Studio Katia Merry Poinsettia | Mission Gold Watercolor | AmyR 2017 Christmas Card Series #1

It's November! And it's the start of my 2017 Christmas Card Video series! Technically the first video in this series this year was this one, but my lofty goals of making one or two Christmas videos a month throughout the year just didn't pan out LOL. So we're restarting at one and I'm hoping to upload a LOT more.

I used Studio Katia's Merry Poinsettia set for these cards, stamping them onto Canson XL watercolor paper with Versafine Onyx Black ink and using my Mijello Mission Gold watercolors to color them in.

I die cut the Merry sentiment from gold foil card stock, then used the Christmas sentiment from the CZ Design Coolest Yulest set to create my greeting.

I finished off the inside of the cards by stamping the poinsettia's and leaves with some SSS dye inks, and that was it!

To see how these cards came together check out my video below:

Or watch in HD over on YouTube HERE <------click!

 

I get asked a lot about where to purchase the supplies I use in my videos and blog posts. I list all the supplies I use at the end of my posts (below) or in the description box directly below my video on YouTube. If the product images have sets of letters below the image it means there's more than one place it can be purchased. SSS = Simon Says Stamp, AZ = Amazon, MFT = My Favourite Things, SnS = Scrap N Stamp (Canada) etc. Compensated affiliate links used when possible at no extra cost to you. Affiliate linking is what keeps my blog and YouTube channel up and running and enables me to work from home with my kids! I appreciate your support more than words can say!

I occasionally receive product for free from stores/manufacturer with no obligation on my part to use/review - I only use and share what I personally love. Everything else I purchase myself!