Wednesday, May 30, 2012

May Christmas Cards

Hello!  Today I have my May Christmas Cards to show you.  As most of you already know, I play the Splitcoaststampers Christmas Card Challenge where we make Christmas Cards all year long so that were not pressed for time in November/December. I make around 4 Christmas Cards a month so I'll have about 50 by the end of the year.  May is the hardest month for me to make Christmas Cards, because there is just so much gardening to be done, but I did it!  I did cheat a little though.  Do you remember a previous post where I made Princess cards by recycling old First Communion cards?  Well I did the same thing with the four Christmas Cards below.  In their previous lives, they were all First Holy Communion Cards that didn't sell at my local consignment store, so I re-purposed them into Christmas Cards.  I simply removed the First Communion image and sentiment, and added a Christmas Image/sentiment instead.  Quick and easy, exactly what I need for the month of May!

For my first card, all I did was use a K & Company Sticker. 

 For my second card, I used a Crafty Secrets Vintage Santa Clause image.  I simply glittered around the edges with Stickles. 
 The bird image is also from Crafty Secrets.  You can't see in the photo, but I put Stickles all over the snowflakes and around the image.  The sentiment is hidden slightly underneath the translucent ribbon.
And my last card I used an old Stampin Up! image called 'Holy Triptych'.

Hope you enjoyed my 'quick and easy' Christmas Cards this month!

Have a great day! Amy

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Digital Tuesday Challenge 'Just For Laughs'

Hello and welcome to another Digital Tuesday Challenge.  This week's challenge is 'Just For Laughs'.  Simply make a card or project to make someone laugh, and be sure to include at least one digital element.  Our sponsor this week is Doodle Pantry.

To make my card I used the Doodle Pantry image "Branch Birds" and a sketch by MFT (MFTWSC70).  The paper is My Mind's Eye Stella Rose 'Gertie'.  The flower was made with a MFT die, the banner is Nestabilities. 

If you'd like to play along with us this week, simply click on the Digital Tuesday Challenge Blinkie in my sidebar and it will take you directly to the Challenge Site with further instructions.

Have a great day! Amy

Thursday, May 24, 2012

10 Minute Engagement Card

Hello!  Today I'd like to show you an engagement card that I literally made in minutes.  I procrastinated making a card for a relative, and when I couldn't put it off any longer, I had to come up with something and come up with it fast.  So I pulled out the DCWV Matstack "Once Upon a Time" and made the beautiful designer paper the focus of my card.  Here is what I came up with:

All I did was use two different sheets of designer paper, added some lace trim and some gold rings from Jolee's and a sentiment embossed in copper.  I used designer paper on the inside of the card as well.

Hope I gave you some ideas on how to make cards FAST when your in a hurry!

Have a great day! Amy

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Digital Tuesday Challenge 'A Color Challenge'

Hello and welcome to another Digital Tuesday Challenge.  This week's challenge is a color challenge.  Simply make a card or project using the colors purple, yellow, and brown and be sure to include at least one digital element.  Our sponsor this week is MyGrafico and they are giving away one digital stamp set and 20% off an in-store purchase to one lucky randomly chosen winner.

To make my card, I used the tree and dinosaur image from the Zenware Designs Digital Set called 'Dinosaur Digital Stamps'.  My sketch is from MFT (MFTWSC42).  The designer paper is from DCWV 'The Chateau Lavender Matstack' and 'Lemon Flower Matstack'.  The purple card base was made with a Cuttlebug Embossing Folder, and the grass was made with a Fiskars Border Punch.


If you'd like to play along with us this week, simply click on the Digital Tuesday Challenge Blinkie in my sidebar and it will take you directly to the Challenge Site with further instructions.

Have a great day! Amy

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Warm Wishes

Hello!  I decided to play along with a Splitcoaststampers Sketch Challenge last week.  It's Sketch SC383.  I used a retired Stampin Up! image called 'Window on the World'.  I popped the image up on dimensionals twice so it really looks like it's sitting on a windowsill in real life.  The paper is My Mind's Eye Stella Rose.


I hope your enjoying this beautiful Spring weather!  I know I am! Except when I have to work.

Have a great day! Amy

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Digital Tuesday Challenge 'Clearly Beautiful'

Hello and welcome to another Digital Tuesday Challenge.  This week's challenge is 'Clearly Beautiful'.  Simply use a clear element on your paper crafting project, and be sure to include at least one digital image.  A clear element is anything you can see through:  it could be vellum, plastic, a clear dew drop, crystal effects, etc.  Our sponsor this week is Stamp Fairy.

To make my card, I used a Heather Ellis Digital Image and a computer generated sentiment.  My sketch is from I Love Sketches.  And since clear elements are so hard to photograph, I'll tell you where it is:  there is a clear plastic flower behind the paper flower, and there are two clear dew drops in the lower right hand corner.  The clouds were made from an MFT die.  The paper is My Mind's Eye Stella Rose 'Hazel'.

If you'd like to play along with us this week, simply click on the Digital Tuesday Challenge Blinkie in my sidebar and it will take you directly to the Challenge Site with further instructions.

Have a great day! Amy

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Recycled Princess Cards

Hello!  Today I have some cards to show you that are totally not my usual style, but I wanted to show them because they are an example of 'recyling unwanted cards'.  Several YEARS ago, when I use to sell my cards at the local consignment store, they specifically requested for me to make First Communion Cards,  Well, I'm not Catholic, so I had to buy a $15.00 First Communion Stamp Set, and I feverishly began working to create about 13 First Communion Cards.  They were gorgeous, but you know what?  NONE of them sold!  I was not happy that I wasted so much time and money on them.  So, long after the consignment store closed, I still had these beautiful cards that I hated to just throw away yet I knew I would never use because I didn't know any Catholic little people who were celebrating their First Communion.  So I finally decided to 're-purpose' them.  Since a majority of the cards were 'purple-themed' because of the grapes and wine in the First Communion image, I decided to use an old Princess Tiana Sticker/Embellishment set I purchased on Clearance at JoAnn's Fabrics and Crafts.  I got this set for only $1.97 and the stickers are gorgeous in real life.  They are all dimensionals and covered in glitter/sparkly gems.  Here's a group shot of what I created through 'recycling':


To make each card, I simply took the First Communion main image panel off the original card.  Added a new white main image panel, and then applied the Disney Stickers.  Easy Peasy.  Sometimes there was a First Communion sentiment on the inside of the card and I had to cover that up with a new sentiment too.

 This one is my least favorite of the bunch, but I thought it might make a cute anniversary card.  Quick and Simple!
I think any little girl would love receiving this card for her birthday.


And finally, this sweet card would be good for an anniversary too, and I always have plenty of those cards I need!
I hope I've inspired you to take all of your unwanted cards and recycle them!

Have a great day! Amy

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Digital Tuesday Challenge 'All About Ribbons and Buttons'

Hello and welcome to another Digital Tuesday Challenge.  This week's challenge is 'All About Ribbons and Buttons'; simply make a card or project with ribbon and a button on it.  Sounds easy right?  I think I put ribbon and buttons on almost every card I make!  Our sponsor this week is Spesch Designer Stamps and they are giving away three digis to one lucky randomly chosen winner.

I decided to make a Mother's Day Card using the image "Mother's Day Digital Stamp".  Isn't this image so beautiful?  It would be the perfect image to use on a card for a mom who just had a new baby too.  To make my card I cut the image out and popped it up on dimensionals in front of Prima Annalee Designer Paper.  The sentiment is computer generated.  The sketch is from "I Love Sketches".

If you'd like to play along with us this week, simply click on the Digital Tuesday Challenge in my sidebar and it will take you directly to the Challenge Site with further instructions.

Have a great day! Amy

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

The Smokey Mountains


 Hello!  I'm back again to tell you more about my Romantic Getaway with my husband to North Carolina.  As I stated in previous posts, we went to North Carolina to visit the Biltmore Estate, and really didn't have any other plans other than that, which I think was one reason our trip was so enjoyable because there were so many pleasant surprises and no expectations.  On the first full day of our visit to Ashevelle, I stopped at the hotel lobby desk and asked the clerk 'Are there any good places to go hiking around here?'.  And he said 'Yes, if you go a mile down the road you can get on the 'Blue Ridge Parkway' and there are many hiking trails on that road;.  Well, I never heard of the Blue Ridge Parkway before, so I had no idea what was in store for me....

Here's a sign as you get on the Parkway.  To our wonderful surprise and amazement, my husband and I discovered that The Blue Ridge Parkway is a beautiful scenic road that runs for 468 miles and goes through the Blue Ridge Mountains,and the Appalachian Mountains in North Carolina and Virginia.  My husband and I stopped and watched a video of the Parkway at the Visitors Center and saw lots of old footage of how this beautiful road was built through the mountains.  Believe it or not, construction started on this road in the 1930's and it wasn't finished until the 1980's!  Wow!  They had to blast through rock to create lots of tunnels, there are so many twists and turns, and steep cliffs, it's actually kinda scary to drive if you've never seen mountains before.  There were so many times I was terrified we were going to drive over the edge!  And neither my husband nor I knew that you were suppose to put the car in a lower gear when driving DOWN the mountain, so we definitely needed new brake pads when we got home to flat Wisconsin! 
 
All along the parkway there are 'scenic overlooks' where you can just stop your car, get out, look at the beauty and take pictures.  It was so funny because when we first started the drive, we were awestruck at the slightest elevations, little did we know what lied ahead!  Here I am at one of the lower elevations, a mere 3000 feet, it's nice and warm outside, in the upper 60's.


A few thousand feet later and we dropped about 20 degrees in temperature and it started to get very chilly.


These next pictures show the highest peak of the Blue Ridge Mountains East of the Mississippi River.  I was never so cold in my life.  The wind was so strong it literally knocked me off my feet several times, and it felt like icicles on my skin.  The only way I think I would have been warm was if I had a parka on, mittens and a ski mask.  Were were so ill-prepared for the cold temperatures.  We had no idea the temperatures got so cold that high up in the mountains.  But oh, the beauty.  It felt like we were in heaven looking down on the earth.  The mountains seemed to go and on forever in the distance.  Just gorgeous!




And finally, I leave you with my favorite picture: 


I really enjoyed our visit on the trail.  I'm the type of person who loves nature, and enjoys hiking, but doesn't want to do anything too dangerous or adventurous.  The Blue Ridge Parkway was perfect for me because you basically get in your car and drive, enjoy the beautiful scenery, then you stop, get out and hike a few tenths of a mile, stretch your legs, and see views like above.  But for the more adventurous hiker, there are many longer, more difficult trails, and also lots of mountain climbing, mountain biking, etc.  So there is something for every age and every physical ability.

Have a great day! Amy




                                                                                  

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Digital Tuesday Challenge 'Bugs and Blooms'


Hello and welcome to another Digital Tuesday Challenge.  This week's challenge is 'Bugs and Blooms', simply make a card or project with insects or flowers on it and be sure to include at least one digital element.  Our sponsor this week is Robyn's Fetish and they are giving away four digital images to one lucky randomly chosen winner.

To make my card I started with a sketch from the The Sweet Shop (SSS47).  My digital elements are the digital papers from Blackleaf Studios called 'Busy Bee Papers' and the sentiment which I created on the computer.  The flowers and bee I found in the dollar bins at JoAnn's Fabrics and Crafts.  The grass I made with a Fiskars border punch, and I hand drew the stem on the flowers.

Here's a close up for you.  Isn't the bee just the cutest?  I love his wire antennae and vellum wings.


If you'd like to play along with us this week, simply click on the Digital Tuesday Challenge Blinkie in my sidebar and it will take you directly to the Challenge Site with further instruction.

Have a great day! Amy