On Winter Break

I'm taking a winter break to spend some time with my children.  I'll be back on Monday,  February 27th.  I will still be active on Instagram if you want to follow me there!

How to Wear a Summer Dress In Winter

The last time I wore this dress it was summer (see that post HERE).  It's a wonderful summer dress because it's lightweight, has short sleeves and is short.  But I thought because it's black, I might try styling it for a warm winter day and this is what I came up with.

I thought my old sweater vest (shown previously in these posts HERE and HERE), would not only bring the extra warmth I needed but add some interest as well.

Because it's winter, I wore black tights and black over-the-knee boots.

The dress has a lovely lace up detail.

 The vest has an asymmetrical cut so it is longer on the sides and shorter in the front and back.  It's also a solid white on the back with the stripes only on the front and sides.

Because of the grommets on my dress, I didn't wear a necklace.  I wanted the lace up detail of the dress to take center stage.  I wore several silver bracelets and rings instead of a necklace and carried a beige bag.

I did punch more holes in the back strap of my over-the-knees to tighten them up a bit, but they still slip down.  If over-the-knee boots are still in style next year, I will have to look for a pair with a higher shaft.

Everyone in Wisconsin is so excited about the warmer temperatures we've been having.  It's wonderful to see the snow melting so early and I'm hoping all the ice will finally be gone from my driveway soon!

Next week were expecting temps in the 50's!!!!!!  Yeah!  We'll all be walking around with shorts and flip flops I'm sure!

And this will be my last blog post for over a week.  I'm driving down to Illinois to spend a week with my kids.  I won't be posting here, but hope to still stay active on Instagram so please follow me if your not already!

Have a Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE.

Valentine Cards

 Happy Valentine's Day everyone!  What a wonderful coincidence that Valentine's Day landed on a Tuesday this year.  I post my craft creations on Tuesdays, so today I can post the Valentine cards I made.

Every year I send Valentine's cards and a box of treats to my children.  The card below I gave to my daughter and her husband.

This card is so different than my usual clean and simple style.  It is loaded with trim and silk flowers. I added some snow flocking to the flowers to blend them into the colors of the card a bit.  The pink is a lot softer in real life.

I used wedding designer paper for the heart and background.  The grey paper is a metallic silver.  I also added some heart brads and punch a small heart through the paper as well.  The heart shapes were cut out with Spellbinders Nestabilities.

The problem with making cards like these is that they don't fit in a mail envelope nor can you mail them the traditional way.  That is why I normally don't make cards like this.  As pretty as they are, they are not practical.  But since my card was going into a box of goodies, it didn't matter that it was too bulky to fit in an envelope.

So instead of putting my card into a traditional envelope, I made a little tulle pouch using tulle left over from my daughter's wedding.  I also put some Valentine's Lip Balm in this bag.

To make the pouch, I simply folded a piece of tulle in half after it was cut down to size.  Then I sewed up the sides and hemmed the top.  I ran a piece of off-white ribbon through the hem to tie the pouch shut.

My next card I made for my son.  I cased the design from Pinterest  The lady I cased it from cased her card from a YouTube video.  You can the tutorial for both from THIS PAGE.

I thought this card was just too cute, and it was so simple and easy to make.  I love that I didn't have to spend hours coloring.  

The entire card was made using different sizes of heart dies...the same die set I used to make my other  Valentine cards.

This is the inside of the card.

And this is the back side of the card.

I glued on a red bow for an added touch of cuteness.  The eyes were made with a white gel pen and a little black dot of black card stock punched out with a hole puncher.  The whiskers were hand drawn or 'dotted' on.

The ears and nose were embossed with the "Swiss Dots" embossing folder.

And finally, here is the card I made for my husband.  It's the same card sketch as the one I used for Ashley and Jason's card, but minus all the lace, ribbon and flowers.

I kept the design clean and simple since it was for my husband.

The sentiment is from MFT and the paper is from Cosmo Cricket.

Have a Great Day and Enjoy Your Valentine's Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE.