Christmas Part II - Money Holders

Well I suppose it's high time I stop talking and start showing you all what I've been making this busy holiday season.  I am posting here, a bunch of the special money holders that I custom made for a friend's order.  They are so cute and were so much fun to make!  I used a lot of the same products on them such as stickles, create-a-critter cartridge, Christmas paper from Basic Grey and others (can't remember offhand), stampin' up stamps, etc.  If you want specifics just leave a comment and I'll try my best!  With no further delay, here they are:

Christmas Tree

Reindeer 1

Reindeer 2

This one has no lining because I didn't think about lining them til after this one was already complete!

Blue Penguin

Pink Reindeer 3

White Penguin 2 (My favorite)

Well, what do you all think?  I just love this last penguin one.  I used glossy accents for him and it made all the difference!  These were super easy and fun once I had a good pattern going.  Next I will be posting the Christmas cards I made, then the "coupon" book I made for my hubby.  Stay tuned...

XO ~ Amy Jo

I've won candy!

Just wanted to say a quick thank you to the sites I've won blog candy on so far.  Be sure to check them out!

Upstate Ramblings - there is a button on the left side of my page to get to their site.

Jill Stamps and

Fantabulous Cricut

These are some super fun blog sites to check out and I'm thrilled to be a winner!  Check em out and maybe you will win some candy too!

XO ~ Amy Jo

Catching Up - Christmas Part One

Hello everyone!  I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, for those who celebrate.  I had one of the nicest Christmas' ever!  I am soooooo lucky and spoiled rotten!  My husband is just the best, but we'll get into that later... We ended up staying home, not travelling for the first time EVER for the holidays and it was just lovely!  Woke up when we wanted, opened presents when we wanted, played some games and then my BFF came over for dinner and some more games and presents! 

Now, on to the good stuff... So, for Christmas, as you all know, my hubby bought us wedding rings as an early gift.  I have a better picture to post now so here they are...

Jesse's Ring

My Ring

Aren't they just gorgeous?  I'm so happy!  Well, as if that wasn't enough, there was a particular present I've wanted for a while now and have been pestering my hubby to death about it.  Surprise!  I actually got it for Christmas even though it cost a small fortune.  Like I said, very spoiled and the best husband EVER!  Wondering what it is or do you know me well enough to know what it would be? ;)  No further delay, here it is...

For those of you who don't know what this is or have been living in a hole (jk - lol), it's a Cricut Imagine, the newest, greatest, coolest machine for crafters EVER invented!  Top of the line, prints, cuts, does everything!  It came with the Imagine More cartridge and all my other Cricut Expression cartridges will work on here too!  I am just the happiest gal alive!  Now, if only I felt well enough to get out of bed to go play with it, that would be even better, but to be honest, just staring at it from my bedroom makes me happy! LOL

Besides all that I got some awesome clothes, stuff from Pampered Chef, an Amazon gift card, and my BFF actually went out shopping on her own for scrapbooking stuff for me (she's not a scrapper).  I am so amazed with what she ended up getting me!  She has awesome taste.  I'll post a picture when I have a chance.  She got me some paper and stamps and jewelry and a book that I've been wanting.  That girl knows me so well, I didn't tell her this was a book I wanted, but it was actually on my order list for Book of the Month club!  It's Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner, one of my favorite authors.  I've loved everything she's ever written!  I made an awesome haul this year, don't cha think?  What a great Christmas!  It's not even close to being over for us though.  I still have presents to make, wrap and send to other family members and friends, and we're still receiving gifts from family and friends!  Yay, I love it when Christmas lasts longer than just the day.  :0)

I have a lot more to share with you guys, but my arms are just hurting so badly right now, that I have to stop.  I will be posting a step by step of what I made for my hubby and some more pics and things either tonight or tomorrow so please check back!

Love you all and thanks for following me!
XO ~ Amy Jo

Merry Christmas

Just wanted to wish all my friends a very Merry Christmas.  Hope you are all sleeping, waiting for Santa to come and I hope he brings you everything you want! ;)  I'm going to go to bed and wait patiently til morning myself.  :0)

Love, Peace, Hope and Light,
Amy

Blog Candy Coming Up from Me!!!

Hi everyone!  Help me reach 75 followers and I will be giving away some awesome blog candy. You automatically get one entry just for being a follower.  The second way to earn extra entries is by referring your friends to my site and for each referral you send that becomes a follower, you will get one extra entry.  Please tell your friends to mention you in their comment that way you get the extra entry. The winner (after 75 has been reached) will be picked randomly so the more entries you can get, the better your chances are!  I don't care if you just email your friends or post this on FB, twitter, or your blog, whatever it takes to get ya there! ;)  I would so appreciate your help with this!  All you have to do is send or post my link and tell people why they should check out my blog.  Candy is always great incentive. LOL .  The winner will have a choice of either scrapbooking items or if they are not a crafter, they can choose a $15.00 gift card to Amazon instead!  Thanks friends and good luck!!!

XO ~ Amy Jo

Ok, here are the pics!

New Plan from the Doc and my Surprise Present!

Hi Wonderful Friends,

Well, I went to the Dr. on Thursday and I've been pretty much on so  many pain meds that I can't even see straight!  Turns out my doctor is not only a pain management specialist, but also a doctor of osteopathy, and he can do trigger point injections!!!  For me, that's like three docs in one!  Thing is, he gave me a chiropractic adjustment, which I haven't had done in a long time and it threw me into a really deep flare.  For those of you who don't know what a flare is, with Fibromyalgia it is where certain things trigger your body into major pain mode and for me, flares generally last a week or so.  My back and neck feel great, but for some reason my shoulders (which is where I have most of my troubles) really acted up (arms and hands too).  I always have pain there, but this is really something!  It will be good in the long run though.  My body was completely out of alignment and had been locked up that way for so long that my shoulders were starting to curl inward and that's just not good!

Also, while I was there we decided to try a different way of managing the pain for now.  We decided to get rid of the Vicodin and try Opana IR (immediate release).  Now, for those of you wanting to try this, most doctors have never even heard of Opana.  It's twice as strong as Oxycontin and a sister drug to Morphine, but still you can function.  At least on the Opana ER (extended release) you can.  So now I take the IR 4 x a day, along with my Opana ER, Lorazepam, Naproxen Sodium, and Citalopram.  I have to tell you though that I have really good insurance, thank goodness.  The Opana ER would be $600 a month and the Opana IR would be $1000 a month!!!  I cannot believe that!  I have taken my first two pills and so far it seems to work a little better than the Vicodin was, but the copay on Vicodin was much cheaper so we'll see.  If it doesn't do too much, my doc said it's a good indicator that Opana is no longer working for me and my next steps might be to do a complete detox (with monitoring and a drug to help me wean given in office either IV or injection).  Then we would start with a clean slate and start over with meds, but I'm pretty darn scared of the detox and I can't imagine being off pain meds for 2 to 3 months!!!  I can't even be off for a minute at the moment, so that seems like a huge step, but at least it's an option.  That is what I went in for, to see what my options were.  If you're wondering why I'm writing all this, I just want everyone who has this to understand some of the options out there for pain management.  It was hard to even find a specialist who understands Fibromyalgia and will listen to my needs.  I got really lucky, but it took a really long time to find him!

On a totally different note (fun stuff now), my husband surprised me with a present last night!  We have been common law married for almost two years now and we don't (didn't :0)) have rings.  I opened my present last night and inside was a BEAUTIFUL diamond ring with pink sapphires!  Even sized down to a 3 1/2, which is still a little big on me, but I'm not takin' it off! LOL  He also had another box with a ring in it for him to wear!  I'm so stoked, now hopefully people will actually believe that we are really married even though we did not have a wedding.  If you look closely at the picture, you will see that it has pink sapphire accents on each side.  Hard to tell from this pic, but I'll take one of my own to post tomorrow.  Just had to show you guys what it looks like now! LOL I just love it and am so happy to have something to wear on my ring finger.  :0)  It's just a temporary one until we can afford something else, but by temporary I mean like 5 years or so! 

Well, I'm off to finish reading some blogs, but I hope you all are well asleep (if you're supposed to be), having fun (if you're not)!

XO ~ Amy Jo

Busy, Busy, Busy

Hello everyone!  How have you all been doing?  Celeste, thank you for the sweet comments.  I so appreciate them.  You are a sweetheart!  I've missed blogging the last few days.  I have been SUPER busy trying to get Christmas card orders done!  Just finished up my sister-in-law's order and got them out in the mail today, now I'm working on a friend's order and plan on having those out tomorrow.  Also, been working on kits for work!  I feel like a chicken with its head cut off.  LOL  I love the holidays, but honestly, I can't wait for them to be over so I can maybe get ready for next year's holidays. LOL  I plan on starting months ahead of time next time, that way if I'm feelin as sick as I have been lately, I won't have to stress so much.  Also, like a dope, I just realized how all this time I could've been just using one or two layouts instead of trying to make each one different! Ha Ha!  I love making everything difficult. :p  Next year, it will be different, I swear! I am grateful for these orders though.  They help me supplement my income a little bit and I love having a great reason to get creative and make things that I otherwise might not get to make.  For instance, children's cards.  I have a nephew in my life, but no little girls so it's awesome that my friends order things for the little girls in their lives cause I have a chance to use pink and princess stuff that I have on hand.  I love girly things and to me, those are the most fun to make.  I've had a great time with all the penguins and reindeer this season though.  They are so cute!  I have so many pictures to post, it's insane!  There were a bunch of challenges I wanted to enter too, but just didn't have time.  :(  Oh well, maybe in January I can start focusing on that a little more.

Fibromyalgia has been taking a toll on me and my best friend lately.  Poor girl is having a hard time handling what it does to me and I feel so bad because I just don't have any answers.  Do any of you that suffer with this or a similar condition have this issue with friends?  Meaning, do you have friends that get so upset because of it and how you have to live, not meaning they're mad at you or anything... My best friend is there for me and not at all angry with me, just angry with this disease, condition, whatever you want to call it.  I'm so bummed because she had so kindly invited me to go to a fun and fancy lunch with another of our friends in Denver today, which is about an hour from where I live.  I was unable to go due to the way I woke up feeling and all the stuff I have to do today.  I even looked up the restaurant and found what I wanted on the menu last night and everything! :(  Having this illness makes things so unpredictable.  You can't plan for 5 minutes ahead, let alone days or weeks ahead, because you just never know how you are going to feel!  I don't even have a clue what it feels like to not have pain.  It's been two years or more now and I have completely forgotten how that feels.  Pain is a part of my life now and it is here every single day.  Not one day of relief.  I have come to accept that, not be defeated by it, but just accept it.  I choose to live my life and be as happy as I can and I don't take anything for granted anymore.  I feel just lucky to be blessed with good friends, family, a wonderful husband, and a roof over our heads, food on the table and enough leftover to do my hobbies!  It's great!  Things could be so much worse and that's what I remind myself of daily.  It's better to live and be happy than to constantly question why I have this and be bitter about it.  I feel I have this for several reasons, the main one being so I can help others who suffer the same thing.  It has brought me so many good things along with the bad and I can see that.  I'm just thankful I can.  I'm glad to have the ability to see the good in something that can be so bad.

Now for the fun stuff... I'm going to post a few cards today and explain a little about them.  Let me know what you think!  All my pics are blurry because I have something wrong with the setting on my camera, btw.  Will have my hubby fix it tonight!

The first one is a card I made custom for my friend for her daughter.  I used paper that I printed from a free file online, cut a reindeer from Create-a-Critter cricut cartridge, cardstock from my stash, stickers from my stash, and red Stickles. I cut the roof line to add a little interest to the card and inked all the edges with brown ink.  I also used a Martha Stewart punch for the snow and diamond Stickles.  I love this card and think it turned out super cute!





Next is a card I made partially from a kit that I purchased at work.  I added my own ribbon and little puffy letters for the "Season's Tweetings".  Please excuse the blurriness of the pic.  Hopefully you can still see it well enough.  If anyone wants the exact brand of anything, just hit me up and I'll get my lazy self out of bed to look at the package. ;)



Hope you all have a super fun crafty day filled with love and luck!

XO ~ Amy Jo

Taylord Concepts Blog Giveaway Til January 5th

This giveaway is AMAZING!  I would encourage all of you to enter.  It's super easy and there is so much stuff that I am not going to take the time to list it all.  Check it out for yourself and good luck!  Just click here.


The picture show is only a fraction of what you could win!!!  Good luck you guys!

XO ~ Amy Jo

Birthday Card for a Friend

Hi all,
I've been in a mess lately with deadlines and pain.  Sorry I've been so bad about blogging!  Thanks so much Celeste, for your sweet, sweet comments.  That means so much to me and another thank you I need to give is to my sweet friend Theresa from Hawaii.  She is a follower here on my blog and I follow hers as well.  She sent me the sweetest package.  A GORGEOUS handmade card made out to me and 4 beautiful handmade cards for me to use this Christmas to send out to my friends.  I am so grateful because I am so far behind I haven't even had time to make my own Christmas cards!  You ladies are just wonderful.  I will be posting pics of the pretty cards Theresa sent to me and the one she wrote out to me will be going in my scrapbook to be preserved forever because it is that beautiful and special!

Today I'm posting a cute little card that I made for a friend's b-day that her husband actually ordered from me.  Hope you like it! 

She has a little Yorkie and she loves ballet so I wanted to combine the two and this is how it turned out.  I wish I didn't have to hand write, but I don't have a printer that would work for custom designing cards so I have to write things sometimes.  I think it still turned out cute though.  The dog was cut from the Create-a-Critter cartridge, along with the word Ruff.  The beautiful ribbon is from Making Memories (Funky Vintage Trims).  The "grace" word was made from punch out letters, have the company info, but not on hand.  The little ballet dancer is a stamp that I got from Michael's as part of a set in the $1 bin.

Back to Christmas cards I go!  I have to work tomorrow so I pray that the pain I'm having in my arms will go away by then.  It's hindering me from doing anything! 

Hope you all have a fantastic day.

Much love,
Amy Jo

New Followers

Hi Everyone,
I just really want to say welcome to all my new followers and thank you for choosing to follow my blog and follow along with my life and my creations.  I am so happy to have you all here, new and old alike!  Hope you all are having a fantastic day (night now) and have had a fun day filled with doing things you love.  I have been in tons of pain again, today, and haven't really accomplished very much, but I do have good intentions! LOL

Sorry to keep this blog so short, but my fingers actually ache today and I am unable to chat as much as I'd like.  I am working on a cute little reindeer card tonight and will post it as soon as it's done.  It's a special one from a mother to her daughter and she is picking it up tomorrow so I better get on it!

Love to you all,

Amy Jo

P.S.  The picture I posted of Lexi (check blog post) has been chosen for publication, but I have to purchase the book in which it is to be published, so BUMMER scam city.  :(  I mean, I could still get it published, but it would cost like $60!!!

Blogoversary RAK from My Madkow - Click This Header

This is an awesome giveaway!  If you choose to partake, please let them know where you came from so I can get an extra entry too! 

Have fun!

Weekly Goings On

Hi all,

Hope everyone is in the holiday spirit by now and having fun baking, crafting and shopping!  I have been busy making cards and when I get a bunch done, I will be posting them all on here.  So stoked to finally be making some progress!  I just got another order today from a great friend and have to step it up a bit for sure!  Still running behind on my kitting for Capture.  Gotta get that done tomorrow so I can be a lot less stressed.  I am working on some beautiful card kits and a 4 page LO kit for work (x15).  They make the most gorgeous kits and I almost always end up buying every one!  It's hard to kit them and not want to buy one for myself!

I am looking for some inexpensive containers for bath salts to give as gifts and to sell.  Does anyone have any great ideas on where I can get some?  Went to Joann's, but the plastic ones were $3.00 a piece and that's just way more than I want to pay for the quality and size that they were.  Plus I need a quantity of at least 12.  Any ideas would be much appreciated!

I don't know if you guys have noticed, but there are a TON of blog hops, giveaways and challenges going on right now.  There's a list of at least 10 that I wanted to get involved in before the end of the week.  I need to have a clone or two to help me out with this or maybe just some Christmas elves, you know, Santa's helpers!  If you guys could send some my way, that would be fantastic! LOL

I am so busy working on projects for other people that I have no idea if/when I can get my own done.  I'm the one in the family who does all the hookups for all the other family members as far as ordering gifts, wrapping them, getting all the credit card info and doing their personal shopping.  It's always been this way and I don't mind, but it sure takes a lot of time!  I think my Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) has been kicking in overtime lately.  Yes, I have that in addition to my FMS, but they really just blur together normally for me.  This week has been rough though. Just seem to be tired all the time, but at all the wrong times.

I would love to hear what you all have been doing in preparation for the holidays and would also love to know where you all will be spending your holidays and with whom, so if you get a chance, please leave me a comment or shoot me an email.  I really do love hearing about other people and what is going on with them.  I'd love to get to know more about my beloved followers. :0)

Have a good night everyone.  I'm off to some hops!

XO ~ Amy Jo

Days and Nights are All Confused!

Hi there folks!  Well my body's all confused about when to sleep so I'm back to my "vampire" stage as my husband calls it. Muah hah hah.. >;0)  No, I really wish I could stay on track, but my system is just off lately.  I don't know if it's the weather change or what exactly, but I will deal the best I know how and that is by getting up now and getting to work!  I still have a zillion cards to make and kits to kit!  Will be posting some pics and recipes for my cards very soon!  Thanks for hangin in there with me and I'll be back to chat either later this morning or tonight!  Hope everyone is getting rest and snoring soundly. Lol

XO ~ Amy Jo

Join Creating the Hive - It's Awesome!!!

<a href="http://creatingthehive.com/?referring_user=amyjrockstar">
CreatingTheHive.com - Arts & Crafts Community</a>

Creating the Hive

Hello my wonderful friends!  How is everybody doing today?  I'm pretty sore and run down after my little party yesterday, but I'm in great spirits!  I have found this awesome website Creating the Hive and had no idea that something like this even existed.  The specific link I have posted here is for people who love to craft, but live with chronic pain like myself!  However, once you get to the site, you can click around and join all the groups (you don't have to have an illness, it's a site for ALL crafters).  Talk about a fun site!  I'm loving it and so excited to get as involved as I can! 

Well, I just got interrupted by the doorbell (UPS man) and I'll tell ya, that sure brightened my day even more!  Yes, I know it's Christmas time and you're supposed to be buying gifts for others (and I have), but I really go off the one for you, one for me type of shopping policy. LOL ;)  Sooooo, I got in a bunch of fun stuff from scrapbook.com (1st order from them) and really they do an awesome job of packaging everything together so it's all organized when you get it.  They even put the small paper packs in a reusable colored gift bag and same with the stamps I bought.  I love it when places are eco-friendly and do little extra special things like that so 5 stars for scrapbook.com!  I will post some pics of all my new stuff soon.  Most of it I truly did buy to create Christmas cards and gifts so I don't have any buyer's remorse! LOL  Got some super cute stuff!

I bought an amazing printer's tray to create a Halloween in Wonderland theme with.  I saw it on someones blog and I'm going to make a similar thing.  It was the coolest decorative item ever!  I had no idea you can do so much with paper!  The more tutorials I watch, the more amazed I am and the more inspired I become.  Now, if only my body would cooperate with my enthusiasm!  The weather is cloudy today and I'm pretty sure that's why I'm feeling so out of it.  I have to go in to work later and there are kits that HAVE to be done by tomorrow evening at the latest so I'm really hoping my pain levels drop and my energy levels rise.

I'm going to the doctor tomorrow bright and early (yuck) so wish me luck!  I have to go in to chat with him about the levels of  pain meds I'm on and how they still are not working enough for me.  I have a plan of action, but it's going to be difficult to get him on board, I fear.  I will let you all know if anything new gets achieved.  My advice to people going through this is to make sure you make yourself heard.  You need to get your point across and don't let the doc disregard what you have to say and how you feel.  That's what you are paying them for... to provide a service to you!

Better get myself in gear over here.  It takes me forever just to get dressed and decent looking! LOL

Thanks for stopping by and have an awesome day!

XO ~ Amy Jo

Pampered Chef Party

Hi Everyone,

My Pampered Chef party is tomorrow, but closes about 3 days after that.  If there's anything you need, please click on the header of this post and it will take you directly there to my actual show.  They have some great gifts!  Thanks for your support of my party.  If you do make a purchase from my party, please let me know by commenting!

XO ~ Amy Jo

My First Holiday Cards

Hi Friends!  I finally got all fired up today and had some energy to start on my holiday projects.  I went over to The Creative Cottage and downloaded their awesome freebie to start creating some cards that my awesome sister-in-law has ordered. She placed an order for 22 cards so this is just the very beginning.  Hop on over to that link and get these adorable digital downloads for free!  I had no idea how much fun digital downloads could be!  Enjoy!

Pretty simple, but I thought they turned out cute!

XO ~ Amy Jo

It is a night of giveaways for my awesome followers - Click this header

This is what you could win if you click the main header for this blog and follow the simple instructions!  It's worth a shot.  I've already one some blog candy by doing this and I hope my followers will be as luck as me!

XO

Best Giveaway EVER!!! Over $400 worth of DCWV products. Click this header to enter!

They give you 8 chances to enter to win.  Be sure to do them all and good luck everyone!
XO

Vote For Lexi and Help Me Win $1000!

If I win and you help me get there, I will send out some RAKs to 5 lucky followers.  All you have to do is click the header to get to the voting site, fill out a little info, then leave me a comment letting me know you voted!  This is my pitbull, Lexi.  Isn't she cute? :0)

XO ~ Amy Jo

Some New Cards

Well I have been really slacking in the crafty department so I thought I'd try to catch up a little!  Here are a few cards I've made recently...  And I just realized, I might have already posted these! LOL - Blame it on the Vicodin if you've seen these before.  ;0) The first one was a custom made card for a friend for her husband's b-day.  He loves rock climbing so that is the theme I went with!  I bought the paper at my work http://www.shopcapture.com/ and the stickers from Michael's.  I also used cinnamon Stickles for some of the words and the Happy Birthday came from a stash I bought from an online auction.  The stickers on the side are actually little Caribeaner stickers.  So cute!

The second card was created for my sister-in-law's b-day.  Most of the stuff I used came from some eBay auctions! LOL  I'm hooked on buying scrapbooking lots off of eBay.  Talk about a fun (and very addictive) pastime!  You can get some great deals and my friend Julie B. has the best mixed lots ever!  You can find her on ebay as craftyhappy.  She is THE best and has a new store in Utah.  If any of you live there, let me know and I'll hook you up!  The letters that spell out LISA are from around http://www.aroundtheblockproducts.com/.  They are soooo cute! The bling flower is from Me and My Big Ideas.  Ribbon is from my stash.  The glittery paper is from my work.  The pink cheetah paper is from Me and my Big Ideas.  Cupcake sticker is from K&Company and is a very cute pop up glittery sticker.  Pictures of course do not do it justice.  The saying is actually a little card stock sticker from a pack I have on-hand.  And there you have it!

I hope you all have a super fun day and happy crafting!
XO ~ Amy Jo

Just a quick hello...

Hey friends!  Just wanted to say a quick hello tonight and let you all know, I've been sleeping most of the day and working on kitting most of the night.  I have a ton of cards left to kit for work, but I wanted to mention that I won some blog candy on Upstate Ramblings!  It's my first blog candy win ever and I'm so excited!  Please click on their button at the bottom of my blog to enter some of their super easy contests.  If I can win, so can you!  I won a year's subscription to a new online service for home organization through software called About One.  Can't wait to give it try!

XO ~ Amy Jo

12 Days of Giveaways - Click This Header for Some Super Fun Giveaways!!