Pacific Blue Birthday...

Hiya,

I needed to whip up a quick birthday card for one of the guys in our church worship team the other day so I used a few challenges to help me out: Dynamic Duos, CAS(E) this Sketch and the Paper Players...

Believe it or not, I think I actually pulled off a CAS card that I'm happy with...

I used Naturals Ivory for the card base, scoring around the edges at 1/4" from each edge, then stamped the grunge elements from Clockworks on the front with Basic Grey ink, then stamped the water drops from French Foliage over the top and embossed with silver EP. The ribbon badge image was stamped with Pacific Point on Very Vanilla and cut out, with the ribbon flags layered with First Edition dsp. The greeting was stamped with black craft ink and embossed with clear EP, then punched out with a circle punch, layered on a slightly larger Basic Grey circle, then onto the Pacific Point piece. I couldn't resist adding a couple of bits of washi tape at the top (that stuff is growing on me!).

Thanks for stopping by... Hope your week ahead is a great one!

x Amy x

Retro Mono Mash...

Hiya,

This week's Friday Mashup challenge is brought to us by Holly...

 Here's your Mashup Challenge:

1. Create a project using "A Monochromatic Color Scheme".
2. Create a project "using Baker's Twine".
3. Or Mash it Up and create a "Monochromatic project using some Baker's Twine".

I wanted to try something a little different with Baker's Twine so I looked for a shape I could wrap it around to create a frame, and I realised that the Window framelits would work...

I used this week's Retro Sketch for my layout:

Here's the recipe:
Stamps: French Foliage, Papillion Potpourri, Pop up Posies kit
Ink: Indigo Island, Pool Party, Crumb Cake
Paper: Fan Fair dsp, Pool Party, Island Indigo, Naturals White, Whisper White
Accessories: Island Indigo Baker's Twine, pearls
Tools: Bitty Butterfly punch, Postage Stamp punch, square punch, windows framelits

Make sure you check out the rest of the Design Team's creations!

Thanks for stopping by...

x Amy x

Secret Garden Sympathy...

Hi there,

When I saw the challenge over at Case Study this week I knew I had to play along. I love Maile's work, although I could never pull off the CAS masterpieces she creates! I had fun caseing her card this week - and there's a lot that I kept the same (why mess with perfection eh?!)...

I used the Secret Garden stamp set, stamping and cutting out several layers then adding some buttons to the centre. The background is Natural Composition and I added some Very Vanilla seam binding as well as the sentiment.

Here's the recipe:
Stamps: Secret Garden, Loving Thoughts
Ink: Stazon
Paper: Natural Composition, Whisper White, Naturals White
Accessories: Basic Black buttons, Very Vanilla seam binding
Tools: Secret Garden framelits, corner rounder punch

Thanks for stopping by!

x Amy x

Blue Ribbon Birthday...

Hi there,

Just popping in quickly to share a little card I made last night using the new This & That Epic Day papers for this week's Freshly Made sketch...

I kept it fairly simple for a boy's birthday...

I used some Natural's Composition dsp and smooshed a white craft inkpad over the top to get a faded, aged look, then wiped off the excess with a piece of paper towel. The medallion was made using the Blue Ribbon set and the colours from the Epic Day dsp (Calypso Coral, Gumball Green and Pool Party) I added a sticker from the This & That coordinating sticker sheets, as well as an arrow paper clip. Some linen thread and a piece of Gumball Green ribbon finished things off.

Thanks for stopping by!

x Amy x

It's an Epic Day...

Hiya!

I recently got hold of the This & That Epic Day bundle and couldn't wait to play so last night I was on the hunt for some challenges to help me. I wanted to play along with this week's Mojo Monday sketch and then I spotted the Dynamic Duos anniversary challenge so I scrolled through the previous colour combos and found one that is featured in the dsp I wanted to use - hooray!

Ok, well the dsp is actually Gumball Green and Daffodil Delight but I figured it was pretty close! Here's what I came up with...

One thing I love about the Dynamic Duos challenge is that you can use any neutrals you like, so one colour combo can have lots of different looks depending on the neutrals you add - in this case I added Crumb Cake, Basic Grey and white.  This card is my first attempt at using washi tape (can you spot the two pieces??). I've often seen it used in a CAS way, but as you probably know if you know my style that wasn't really gonna happen for me eh?! I thought the little flag element in the sketch would work with washi and I was quite pleased with how it looked over the dsp. I also added a strip along the bottom of the green dsp piece.

The flower was created using the Daydream Medallions set and coordinating flower framelits, as well as one of the leaves from Wonderfall and the autumn accents die. I added an antique brad in the centre (love those things!) and crumpled the petals and leaves to give a bit of dimension. The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes, stamped in Gumball Green and cut out with an Itty Bitty Banner die. The white card in the background is Naturals White and I stamped a flourish (from Flowering Flourishes) on it with Crumb Cake ink.

As well as using the Epic Day paper, it's my very own epic day today as it's my birthday! I was thinking about the last year and thought I'd share my top three highlights (for those who want to stick around for the personal stuff!)...
1) Lecturing in the Bible School (and being asked in the first place!). This definitely was a real dream come true for me this year and I'm so thankful to God for the opportunity.
2) Going on a last-minute surprise (and paid for!) trip to Australia for Christmas - my first time in 12 years seeing many of my family and friends - definitely a huge blessing!
3) Discovering Professor Horner's Bible Reading System. This might seem like a strange one to some, but finding this plan has really helped me in my reading and studying of the Bible, which is my passion. I've also been able to pass it along to others, which has in turn helped them, and that is also a massive blessing.
Other highlights include being on three different design teams, running my stamping classes, meeting new customers and demonstrators and making new friends in the process.

Thank you to all of you who come and visit my blog and also to those who leave me such lovely comments. I know I don't get the opportunity to thank you all or comment on all your blogs, but I truly am grateful for your sweet words of encouragement!

Thanks for stopping by today...

x Amy x

A Mashed Up set of cards...

Hi there!

It's my turn to host the Friday Mashup challenge this week and I've got a sketch for you with an extra twist...

Here's your Mashup Challenge:

1. Create a project using "the sketch".
2. Create a "set of cards".
3. Or Mash it Up and create a "set of cards using the sketch".

Over at the Friday Mashup blog there is a link to a tutorial I've created to use dsp to create a set of cards using this sketch - it can be really quick to do too (depending on how you embellish and what focal points you use!). Here's what I came up with...

I used the Fan Fair dsp for my background panels as well as the focal points, together with the Up, Up and Away stamp set and a couple of other sentiments (from Perfectly Penned and Blooming with Kindness). Here are some close-ups of each card...

 

The balloons on the last one tell a bit of a story... I had cut all the pieces, stamped and cut out the balloons and had them arranged on my work surface... then went into the kitchen to fetch something, came back and found that one of my darling kitties had knocked a glass of water over - directly onto my cards!! I was rather cross and it was quite late and I didn't want to start again, so I salvaged what I could, used the handy-dandy 'drying' setting on SU's heat gun (lol!!) and only had to restamp one greeting. The balloons on the birthday one show the effect of the water damage but I thought the effect was ok so thought I'd leave it! Oh the joys of pets...

Anyways, make sure you check out the creations of the rest of the design team this week.

Thanks for stopping by!

x Amy x

Baja Doily Dress x 2...

Hello!

I've been preparing for a class I'm running this coming weekend using the 'Dress up' framelits dies and when I saw the Dynamic Duos colour challenge I thought it would be perfect for an idea I had. Here are the pretty colours:

And here's what I ended up with...

I created the patchwork background with the postage stamp die. The more I looked at it though, the more I was concerned it wouldn't be a sensible class idea (all that punching for the background!!) so I decided to use the same idea for the dress but to create a simpler background. I saw an idea somewhere else for using a doily stamp in the background so I cased that idea and ended up with this version...

And I like this one better! The sentiment is from Create a Cupcake, which I used in two different banners. I won't go into too much detail on this one as I'll be teaching my class on it this weekend...

Thanks for stopping by!

x Amy x