Prairie Paper & Ink

Simon Says Stamp HDSA Fundraiser

Hello friends!

If you don't follow me on my social medias (specifically Instagram and Facebook) you may not be aware of this awesome fundraiser that Simon Says Stamp is currently doing:

You can check out the Crafty Parcels at the links below (these are NOT affiliate links - 100% of the proceeds is going to charity):

$50 Donation to HDSA

$150 Donation to HDSA SOLD OUT!

Also, if you would prefer to forgo a Crafty Parcel and just want to make a donation directly to HDSA Central Ohio you can do that HERE <-------click!

This cause is very near and dear to Heidi (owner of SSS) who has lost family members to Huntington's, her hubby has it and there is a 50/50 chance of their children getting it. For more info about this fundraising effort as well as a list of just some of the amazing companies that have donated product (not only have companies donated TONS of product, a lot of wonderful people - including Heidi and her family and staff at SSS - are donating their time to fill these boxes. It's just heartwarming to see so many in this industry come together for a good cause) - check out the Simon Says Stamp blog post HERE <-------click!

💙💙💙

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you all a VERY Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from me and my munchkins!! 

An important message from one of my sponsors...

I had posted this video on my Facebook page, but I know a lot of you aren't on Facebook so I finally figured out how to upload it to my YouTube channel from my phone so that I could post it here too!

My little man has become quite the chatterbox - funniest thing is is whenever I pull out my phone he stares right at it and starts talking away. He's the only one of my kids that doesn't get shy when the phone/camera comes out! Which of course I completely adore, and I'm trying to get his sisters more comfortable with the camera so that I can get more pics and videos of them too!

Anywho - here's the important message from my "sponsor":

 

To watch directly on YouTube click HERE <------click!

I plan on doing another Life Update video soon, as well as getting back into card making and crafty videos! It's all on my "to-do list" - just a matter of figuring out the logistics around these 4 munchkins of mine! :) 

AmyR Life Update Video - June 2015

Hello everyone! I am still alive :P - people have been commenting and e-mailing wanting to know how things are since I've pretty much disappeared these past several weeks. I won't lie it's definitely been a struggle (to put it lightly) trying to adjust to everything and juggling 2 kids, a toddler and a newborn on my own. 

I filmed a quick Life Update video for y'all:

 

To watch directly on YouTube click HERE <-----click!

AmyR Life Update Video May 2015

Well I combined Gavin's birth story with my latest life update. This is my life now:

 

You can watch directly on YouTube HERE <------click!

He's here! Quick video

I just posted this on YouTube and thought I'd put it here too for those that might have missed my earlier announcement :) I had a photographer come in to the hospital to capture some moments with my little man and his sisters getting to meet him for the first time. So SO glad I did it as I've got some wonderful pictures and memories captured - in a 1000x better way than I could take with my phone camera LOL!

I included a couple of the shots in the video:

 

You can also watch directly on YouTube HERE <-----click!

Welcome to the World Gavin <3

Gavin Xavier was born April 16 weighing in at 8lbs4oz. He's absolutely perfect and we're doing REALLY well. His big sisters are overjoyed that he's here and have been loving on him from the moment they met him ;). We're back home and settling in and I will be back posting soon - not sure about videos and whatnot as I'm just taking it all a day at a time! <3 <3 <3

Checkin' In

Hey everyone :).

No baby yet - still a little left to go - I'm 38 1/2 weeks! But for those that don't follow me on Instagram (which is what I tend to update the most frequently as it's convenient), I had the wonderful stomach flu visit the house over the Easter holidays.

Needless to say it was a week of hell. Katelyn got it first and it lasted for 3 days (poor kid), and I was run off my feet. Then *I* got it and am at least thankful mine only lasted 24 hours - believe me having the stomach flu at 38 weeks pregnant is not an experience I would wish on ANYONE. I already hadn't slept in 3 days and getting sick myself made it a record 4 days of NO sleep. I am SO thankful my mom was able to take my kids during my sick day so I could concentrate on not dying (somewhat an exaggeration but seriously it was awful). My oldest ended up getting it the day after me but hers was also short-lived. I did more loads of laundry than I thought possible this week!!

So between that and the fact that I am at the stage where I'm feeling pretty uncomfortable and just outright TIRED (without having to deal with sick kids and sick self!) I haven't been feeling too creative. That plus I'm finding sitting at my computer or sitting at my craft desk to be only tolerable for short amounts of time.

Anywho that's what's been going on in my life - laundry, sickness, attempting to get things cleaned and organized before baby gets here etc etc. I'm definitely a LOT more prepared around the house this time versus when I had Katelyn (those that remember we were right in the middle of studio renovations and moving my salon and didn't even have the crib put together yet - it was massive chaos). I learned my lesson from that time so I've had the baby's room ready to go for a couple of weeks now and won't have to dig through boxes trying to find baby things and put them together LOL!

I will be back with cards here on the blog soon though - possibly a video or two too - it just depends on how I'm feeling and whatnot. Now that everyone is feeling better and I'm back to getting *some* things accomplished the creative juices just might start flowing again ;). And when the baby arrives of course I'll be letting y'all know on here and on my Instagram/Facebook/YouTube accounts ;) ;).

Life Update: 37 Weeks Video

Here it is finally :) - lots of people requesting another update and wondering what's going on. Honestly not a whole lot other than life LOL. I'm still hanging in there - just super crazy busy and tired!

So here's my rambling random update - I'm sure I forgot a million things to tell y'all but like I say in the video I filmed this after a loooonnnggg day in the city and was so exhausted, but at least it's another thing off my to-do list ;)

ETA: Just an FYI - y'all can keep checking in as I'm not planning on taking any time off from my blog/YouTube channel etc etc. When I said in the video that I'm not posting another Life Update video 'till after the baby comes it was just THAT type of video - not everything in general. I'll still be posting *somewhat* regularly on here and doing card videos and all that as time allows me. I'll be busy of course but I'm ALWAYS busy LOL!

Also I do a lot of this as a job, and being self-employed means there's no benefits or paid time off. So I do what I have to to pay the bills and put food on the table ;). Of course it all depends on what happens when the baby arrives but the great thing about what I do is that I'm able to do it around all the chaos and at odd hours and whatnot. I love what I do - being creative is a BIG stress-reliever for me as well - so I'll keep posting on here as much as I can!! :D

 

To watch directly on YouTube click HERE <-----click!

Life Update! 30 Weeks + Gender Reveal! Video

FINALLY got this one done. I actually filmed it last Friday, edited it at some point this week and uploaded it a day or two ago so here it is!

So many people asking for updates and info and whether it's a boy or girl - and yes I did finally find out and tell y'all in the video. I appreciate all the comments and concern and well-wishes. I've been CRAZY-busy but that's how it always is with me LOL so I just take it all in stride and do what I can do!

 

You can watch directly on YouTube HERE <-----click!

Life Update: Preggo Vlog?!?

Hello everyone! It's been a while since I posted - the past week has been pretty rough - LOTS going on, coupled with me being exhausted/achy/not feeling well/etc etc etc. I just haven't felt up to stamping or being creative much at all - my stamping mojo has completely abandoned me :P. 

I've had a lot of requests for updates/info/life update videos etc - and it's been long overdue. Needless to say this one was LONG - and took forever to upload LOL!

If you missed my blog post from a couple months ago announcing this pregnancy you can see it here.

 

You can watch directly on YouTube HERE <----click!

Now that I've got this off my to-do list I can get to working on some other things - which will hopefully include some stamping! I miss it...

Big News...

So this got posted on my Facebook page and Instagram account - and since I know there's a lot of people that read my blog that don't follow me on either of those accounts I better post this here too!

Another one of the reasons (among work and family and all the technical issues my blog has been having lately that I've already mentioned) I haven't been posting as much on here lately. I've been naseous and tired and not feeling all that creative! But hopefully I'll be posting with some regularity ASAP!

(sorry for the cruddy pic - I took it with my phone in the evening and Katelyn couldn't stand still if her life depended on it LOL. So I just chose the best least blurry shot)

Updates! 20lb Weightloss, Erin Condren Planner, GIVEAWAY!

Hey everyone! I've been running around like a crazy person the past couple of weeks, but finally took a few minutes to film a quick update video on all the things people have been asking me lately.

I apologize for the out-of-focus video - totally didn't realize it wasn't clear 'till I went to edit - and I HATE having to repeat everything - so I'm sharing it anyway:

  

To watch directly on YouTube you can click HERE <------click!

Here's the link to my original What's on My Wrist? It's a FitBit post <---click! I am REALLY happy with it still. I don't notice it's there and I still love having my steps calculated. I forgot to mention in the update video that I still haven't got their Aria scale but it's on my list to get it - mostly for the convenience factor. The scale we have now is OK but I want that one and those that I've talked to that own the Aria scale love theirs so I plan on getting it in the near future. If/when I do I can let y'all know or show it in a video if there's enough interest.

You can check out all the different FitBit options and the scale here:

FitBit

And here's the link to my original Erin Condren Life Planner Unboxing Video post <----click! I definitely couldn't live without mine now. I LOVE it, and keep track of all the craziness I have going on with it. I much prefer a paper planner to anything on a phone/computer - I never use my iPhone calender or anything like that. I just don't like to. I prefer writing it down and keeping track that way. So the Erin Condren one works fabulously for me. You can find them all and the options here:

Erin Condren Life Planners

Which brings me to the GIVEAWAY! I'm giving away a $100 gift certificate to Erin Condren to one lucky winner - so enter your info in the Rafflecopter giveaway below (if you're reading this through a reader you may need to click over onto my blog to see the widget) for your chance to WIN! 

ETA: Thank you all who entered and for all your encouraging comments! A winner has been chosen and e-mailed with 48 hours to respond before another winner is chosen! :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

What's On My Wrist? It's a FitBit!

NSR (non-stamping-related) post today - so like I say in the video if these sort of posts don't interest you it's OK to click out and I'll catch you next time with a card-related post/video! ;)

Anwyho - I never planned on sharing all this with everyone, but I've been getting a LOT of questions about what's on my wrist and people wanting more info - so I decided to film a video explaining what this is and why I'm wearing it!

 

You can watch directly on YouTube HERE <-----click!

EDITED to add - new links to Amazon! My old FitBit bit the dust, and now they have several new and nicer versions than the one I show here. My plan is to get one (haven't decided which one yet!) and get my steps in again! :)

If you want to get one for yourself you can get them here on Amazon <-----click!

I mention in the video my hubby now has one too and he loves it, some of his co-workers have one, and several more are interested. Even my mom has one. 

As of posting this I've lost 13lbs in 3 weeks since I started eating less and trying to hit 10,000 steps a day (some days more, some less). It's definitely a lifestyle change and it's hard - but SO motivating to see results!

So that's my story! Totally nerve-wracking to put it out there on the interwebz like this, but if I find this helps even one person out it's totally worth it! And it's working for ME which is the most important!

Do you have a FitBit? Or something similar? Let me know in the comments below whether you do or not and if it's helped you! :)

Katelyn's Birthday Card - Making a Card #67 Video

Image courtesy Little Black Dress Photography

It's hard to believe almost a year has gone by since Katelyn was born! She used to be sooooo little and now she's crawling everywhere, trying to climb EVERYTHING (neither of her older sisters were climbers but this kid is insane), has stood on her own for about 2 seconds - so walking isn't far behind.

She chatters all the time (y'all hear her in a bunch of videos chattering away in the background LOL), is starting to say actual words - "Dada" and "baba", "mama" *sometimes*, her sisters are a little more difficult to pronounce - Veronica is currently "Verdah" and Josie's is "adah" (only a couple of times she's said "Jojo" but she hasn't said it since).

The current word is "what" - everything is "what?" - the way she says it is hilarious.

I wanted to make her birthday card and had got the stamp for it months ago - I'm still loving all things watercolor lately so I went with that and just had fun with the card:

I used my new Distress Ink mini's for this entire card - smooshing them on a stencil (SO fun), watercoloring the main image, and stamping them watercoloring the balloons.

And of course I popped the images up on foam tape.

I finished off the inside with a stamped sentiment and stars from the SSS Birthday Balloons stamp set.

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

  

Or watch directly on YouTube HERE <-----click!

Art Impressions BIRTHDAY WHOOT Cling Rubber Stamp	Simon Says Clear Stamps BIRTHDAY BALLOONS	MFT Stencil Cloudy Day	My Favorite Things CLOUDY DAY Mix-ables Stencil	Ranger Distress Watercolor Cardstock 20/Pkg (CCD)
Tim Holtz DISTRESS WATERCOLOR CARDSTOCK Ranger Ink (SSS)	Hero Arts DYE Ink Pad BLACK	Faber-Castell COLLAPSIBLE WATER CUP	Claudine Hellmuth Studio Paint ARTIST BRUSHES	C.C. Designs Copic Quality White 110lb Cardstock
Tim Holtz Distress Markers BLACK SOOT	Precision Heat Embossing Emboss Tool Gun Hero Arts	American Crafts - Hemp Basics	Scotch Double-Sided Foam Mounting Tape (CCD)	3M Scotch DOUBLE-SIDED FOAM TAPE Permanent
Distress Mini Ink Kits / Kit 1	Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad MINI KIT #1	Distress Mini Ink Kits / Kit 2	Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad MINI KIT #2	Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad MINI KIT #3
Distress Mini Ink Kits / Kit 3	Distress Mini Ink Kits / Kit 6	Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad MINI KIT #6	Fiskars Compact Stamp Press	Fiskars Compact STAMPING PRESS
Tim Holtz Tonic CRAFT KNIFE Tool Blade Retractable w Spares	Ranger Inkssentials Non Stick CRAFT SHEET Reusable 15 X 18

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