Forever Night Challenge #55

Forever Night Challenge #55 - Use the Color Purple

Hello sweet friends!  I hope everyone (in the US) had a good Turkey Day, yesterday.  My hubby and I just stayed home (as usual) because I'm currently too ill to go anywhere until I can get some of my health issues taken care of.  I'm still waiting to get an approval to even make an appointment for the Mayo clinic in Minnesota, and in the meantime, I'm still having serious bladder issues and can't get in to see a urologist until the 28th, so pretty much miserable over here. :p  I wanted to thank all of you that left such wonderful comments on my last post, and please know that I plan on visiting everyone's blog who left me such kind words.  I'm sorry I haven't been able to get to everyone quite yet, but I want you all to know how much it meant to me to hear from you and to  have your support.  I really love you gals (and guys)!  It really lifts me up to hear from you. :)

Now for some good news...

A long time ago I got accepted as a member of the super fun Forever Night Challenges team, but I was on hiatus as you all know, so I never really took up my term.  The lovely ladies over there decided to give me another chance and join for the upcoming term so I am here today with my first post!!!  You have no idea how good it feels to be part of a DT again and to actually push myself to get out of bed and be creative! :D  I would absolutely LOVE it if everyone would pop over there, tell them Amy Jo sent you, and become a follower.

For those of you who don't know, it's a blog that takes on a bit of the darker side of things. ;)  I really enjoy the challenges they have and I've found some really creative people over there!  Please join in our challenges.  We'd love to have you!

This week we were sponsored by Dilly Beans and I just love the image I got to work with!  At first I was going to start a mini album for all of my colored Dilly Beans images that I've worked on, but when I finished with this project I just had to hang it on my wall instead!  It looks so cute up there against my pink walls!  I still plan on making a mini album, but for now, here's my cute 8x6" picture.

Click to get a better view

For my project I started with a cereal box that I cut down to 8"x6" and covered with paper from Recollections Ravenhead Manor paper stack (purple background).  Then I added a spiderweb patterned paper from DCWV Ghosts & Goblins mat-stack that I inked and border punched along one side with the Martha Stewart (MS) scallops & dots border punch.

I used the "Cori" image from Dilly Beans, as well as on of the sentiments from "artist quotes", both available for purchase at Megan's store.  I just loved the head-shot, but I wanted to do something different so I made her a body from some fussy cut bottles (from that same DCWV mat-stack) that I glued together and then stuck her head on top.  I think it turned out pretty neat and totally "out of the box" for me. ;)  Look closely to see the spider crawling up her.  I colored her with Copics (4 different shades of purple -- even her skin is purple, with green eyes) and a white gelly pen for details.  I also added an earring, which has purple, black, and green!  It's actually an epoxy eyelet charm from Making Memories.  I popped her up off the page with pop dots.  I printed the sentiment on blue cardstock and fussy cut the words out.

Lastly I added two potion bottles from MS (love those!) and how perfect is the tombstone that reads "Mrs. Anita Newbody"??? I was thrilled to find that, cause essentially that's exactly what I did...gave her a new body. :)  The cute tombstone button is from Dress It Up.  As always, I inked all my edges with Colorbox Cat's Eye ink in "Blackbird".

I hope you all enjoyed my project as much as I enjoyed making it!  Please join us this week at Forever Night for our challenge "Use the Color Purple".  I would love to see you there!

In addition, I will be entering this project in the following challenges:

Lady Anne's Challenges ~ Anything Goes (used digi stamps)
Crafts 4 Eternity Recipe Challenge ~ R#99 - Midnight Magic (nighttime theme using stars, moons, beds, etc.)
Pause, Dream, and Enjoy Challenges CH# 47 - Anything Goes
The Octopode Factory - Words

XO ~ Amy Jo

I'm Back!!!

Oh my friends, my wonderful crafty friends, how I have missed you all!  I am so happy to see that most of you are still following me and I thank you deeply for that.  I apologize for going on hiatus with absolutely no notice or reason.  To be honest, I wasn't expecting it myself!

Since all of you here know about my condition, I feel no reason to hide why I've been gone... I've been struggling.  Struggling with the fibro, the lack of relief from the pain, the depression that goes along with it, the extreme exhaustion, and especially the weight gain that goes along with the use of painkillers.  I am also going through addiction.  Let me just say, when you have a chronic pain condition it is IMPOSSIBLE not to get addicted to the pain meds.  I am proud to say, I am almost off of Oxycodone, which was a major addiction for me and I didn't even realize it until I would wake up in the morning with the shakes and the sweats and couldn't even move until I had some in me.  Now, don't get me wrong...I am still on pain meds and probably will have to be unless by some miracle, my fibromyalgia goes away, but I am trying so hard to work through it with less addictive (at least in my opinion) medications.

To boot, I now have possibly another chronic condition Interstitial Cystitis, which is beyond annoying!  I don't know if you all know what that is, but for those of you that don't, it is a chronic condition in which your bladder is constantly irritated.  Basically it feels like you have a UTI, but you can't get rid of it!  I have what feels like pressure on my bladder all the time and OMG, it's extremely frustrating!  This is new... Just started about three weeks ago and I have yet to see a urologist, but my doc says there's a good chance this is what it is and for those of you with fibro, you likely know that once you have fibro, a whole onslaught of other chronic conditions may arise or go hand in hand with it.  Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!  Yes, I feel like screaming most of the time!

Ok, and one more complaint or rather, update... Pain meds (opiates) can ruin your teeth!!! I had no idea about all of these horrible side effects before I started taking it.  As far as the weight gain, within two years of being on opiates most people will double their weight!!!  and I did! and the fact that it's like using methamphetamine or heroin.  It will rot your teeth.  I have always had strong, albeit crooked, ;) teeth, but now they are starting to decay!  I couldn't believe it when I went to the dentist.  He's like "You must eat a lot of sweets" and I'm like "No, actually, I don't, why?"  and then I said I'm on pretty heavy duty medications and he told me that they are affecting my teeth.  Amazing that no doctors told me this before getting on it right?

So that, in a nutshell, is what's going on in my life and why I've been absent for so long.  I haven't done much crafting but I did get a custom order from a friend for a baby shower so I will share with you, that creation!

First off, I started with the cutest SVG file from Paper Piecings by Nikki (you may remember I was on Nikki's DT for quite a while).  I was so excited to see she had exactly what I was looking for!!! How cute is this cut???

The paper is DCWV Lemon Berry stack (I think that's what it's called), the sentiment is from Crafty Sprouts and I punched the ticket shape from an EK Success punch.  I used some pop dots to pop up the silhouette and the sentiment (inside) and that super cute silver/clear ribbon is from Flourishes.  I inked the edges with a Cat's Eye brown ink and used my ATG for the glue.  I also added some Stickles Pearls to the dress to make it a little fancier. ;)

There you have it!  My first project in ages and I sure hope you enjoyed it!  It's good to be back and it would mean sooooo much if you would leave your comments.  I would love to catch up with everyone!

XO ~ Amy Jo

High Park Fire - Fort Collins, CO

Hi Friends!

I'm so sorry it's been so long since I've posted!  I have just been battling with my illness and depression as well as weaning off my medications, which is hard.  I am hoping to be back in action this week and hope to make some new projects to share with you all.

Right now, we are in the middle of the 2nd largest fire ever in Colorado history and unfortunately it is somewhat close to where I live.  The air has become very poor and it's really getting to us!  We have headaches, my nose and throat hurt and my and my hubby's eyes are itchy and painful.  We are not close enough to be in direct danger of the fire, but I will share some photos with you that were taken literally right outside my door.  Keep in mind, what you see here is all smoke NO CLOUDS!!! That bright red ball is the sun!  It was blood red and huge!  Wish I had better pics to showcase it.  Click on the pics for a bigger view.

 Smoke & the sun

 Smoke as seen from outside our front door, over the neighbor's house

 Look at the color under those smoke plumes - the whole sky was lit up with orange

Pretty Colorado sunset?  Not quite!  Again, this is FIRE not clouds!  Crazy huh?

Thanks for popping in today and let me know what you think about the pics!  Say your prayers for all of the people that had to evacuate and all of the poor animals affected by this 20,000 acre fire!  Some people have already lost their houses, but it's too hard to tell how many have actually been burned.  The fire grew from 2 acres to 20,000 acres in a matter of 36 hours!!!  Inside our house it smells like a campfire.  Our windows are shut, but it's still coming in.  We may have to go somewhere else tomorrow if it gets worse because the air is very potent.  It's like being at a bonfire, but it smells like that inside and outside our house!

I'll check back in soon!

XO ~ Amy Jo

P.S.  - If you want to help please click HERE.

Dilly Beans Friday Challenge - Flowers

Hello Fabulous Friends and welcome to another Friday challenge with Dilly Beans!  This week's challenge is "Flowers".  Easy peasy, right? ;)  I am thrilled to be Guest Designing again for the month of May!

For my project I used the Crinkles Daisy Framed #362 store.  I just love the Dilly Beans' Crinkles line!!! So darling! :0)

Front of Card

Closeup of Digi Stamp

Deets:  For this project I used my Copic markers in four different shade for Crinkles, three different shades for the flower, and to make the sky I used a lovely light aqua color and added the colorless blender to spots that weren't completely filled in to make it look more like a sky with some clouds.  Click the pics for a closer view of that.  I'm happy with the subtle effect. :0)

The background cardstock is from Recollections and the two patterned papers are from different Basic Grey 6x6 stacks (one is Olivia).  All other cardstock papers are from my scraps.  I used Bo Bunny brads for the center of the three large flowers, which were created with an awesome EK Tools layering punch.   I've had it for at least a year now and this is the first time I've gotten to use it!  Behind those three flowers is a strip of peach colored ribbon from my stash.

The two fabric flowers were part of a kit I purchased from Creative Charms, as were the pinkish pearl adhesive gems.  Love this store!

To finish everything off I inked around all my edges with my Cat's Eye Colobox ink in Dark Brown and used my white gelly roller for some little details throughout.

_____________________________________________________

Thank you all so much for stopping by today and keep those comments coming!  We would absolutely LOVE for you to join this challenge at Dilly Beans!  Also, be sure to check out the STORE as once again, there are some new AMAZING digis that I'm totally in love with and I'm sure you will be too!

I will be entering this card in the following challenges:

Card Makin' Mamas - Challenge #45 - May Flowers
Crafty Ribbons Challenge - Challenge #19 - Flowers
LEJ Designs - Challenge #3 - Lots of Layers (the flowers I punched have four layers including the brads, I used two layers of patterned paper for the background and the image is popped up, creating another layer) ;)
Hooked on Craft Challenges - Challenge #20 - Flowers

XO ~ Amy Jo

Dilly Beans Friday Challenge - Bling it On

Hey Sweetie Pies!  Hope everyone's doing well.  So sorry I've been behind on my postings/blog candy drawings/life, etc...  Honestly, been in bed with a horrible flare up and still those darn migraines (hmm...deja vu here or what?)!  Idk what is going on, but I know a ton of my friends are getting them!!!  Again, just want to make sure that you all know how much I appreciate all of the amazing comments I have been getting lately!  I have sooooo many of you that I want to get back to and repay the favor so please just know I am so grateful to all of you and don't mean to ignore or deliberately not respond to anyone...if it takes me forever to get back to you, I apologize, but I will do my best to do so! ;) LOL

Alrighty then!  On to today's matter at hand...  It's another awesome Friday challenge over at Dilly Beans!  Yep, I'm still guest designing and oh so happy to be doing so!  I don't know if I've mentioned this (LOL), but I LOVE Megan's digis!!! :)  No matter how sick I am (for the most part anyways), I can usually grab a digi and color in bed, which is perfect for getting my crafting fix in when I can't get up!  I have lots of images colored, but I need to actually make them into something, so for today I have only one project to show you so far.

This week's theme is "Bling It On".  To be honest, I had created this card for an earlier challenge, but didn't quite get it done in time so I took it out today and added some more bling to make it appropriate for this challenge. :)  I just LOVE the way it turned out, and I hope you enjoy it too!  Notice the flowers have rhinestones, and Stickles around those rhinestones, and I added some Stickles to the butterflies to make them a bit prettier.  I doodled on the image (as I almost always do if there's a plain background) and I thought about adding bling to that part too, but I was happy with the two toned method I had used so didn't want to cover it up.  I used a black Zig pen and a really light aqua colored Copic.  More deets below!  As always, click on the pics for a better view. ;)

Happy Spring card - front of card

 Hard to tell here, but her hair is two different colors, the butterfly is three different colors,and the swirls I added are actually black with aqua-ish shadows. 

 I love the way using Stickles around the rhinestone stickers looks in person.  Sorry so washed out here, but I would suggest trying that for a more dramatic effect. 

Deets:  In addition to what I had mentioned above, I used the Amalia & Butterflies Framed #351 digi from the Amalia collection at the Dilly Beans store.  Isn't she darling???  The papers I used are Recollections (background cardstock) and Stampin' Up (patterned paper & flowers).  I actually fussy cut the flowers from a patterened page.  I used a Paper Smooches stamp for the "Happy Spring" sentiment and rhinestones from Creative Charms collection. The blue twine I added is also from Stampin' Up.  If you need a good rep, let me know as I have a super sweet lady who takes care of me. ;)  As always, I inked around everything with my Cat's Eye ink in Dark Brown.  If you are interested in all the Copic colors I used, hit me up and I'll get you the info! 

Don't forget, this is a challenge, meaning, we would LOVE to have you join in!!!  Head over to Dilly Beans Friday Challenges and help us Bling it On!!!  Let them know who sent ya. ;)  Thanks to all the lovely gals over there for letting me join in the fun!

XO ~ Amy Jo

P.S.  Join me this weekend in a great Mother's Day blog hop!

The Dance Blog Hop - May 5th, 2012

Good morning friends and thanks so much for joining us today for Gill's blog hop, "The Dance".  If you arrived here from the lovely Jamie then you are in the right spot!  If you just happened upon my blog today and want to start at the beginning (a very good place to start), then you'll want to click HERE to check out her blog.

For today's project I decided to go a little off-kilter.  I had this really cutsie Cricut ballerina card designed, but then I got tired and didn't want to fuss with all those layers so instead I chose this super cute stamp from Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps.  OMG, I just LOVE their stamps and bought a bunch last time I went shopping.  So happy to get to finally use this one! ;)  Hope you enjoy!  As always I do a photo with flash and then one without so you can see the depth of the colors.  I made this card with scraps around my craft room that I just grabbed!  I wanted to see what it would be like to make a card quickly without too much thought (which is where I usually get hung up) and I must say, I'm pretty content with how it turned out!

 Click the pics for a better view

If anyone wants any details on products I used let me know and I'll post 'em, otherwise, I'm pooped!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I'm your final stop on this hop ***(oops, looks like we may have a last minute addition - please go to Lisa's Blog to see her project for this hop)*** and would be so honored if you would leave a comment and become a follower if you're not already!

XO ~ Amy Jo

Dilly Beans Friday Challenge - Texture

***For the Save the Earth FCCB Cricut Crawl, please click HERE.***

Hello to all my new and old followers alike!  So happy to have you on board! :)  It's time for another Friday Challenge over at Dilly Beans!  I am so super duper excited as Megan has kindly let me stay on as Guest Designer for the month of May!!!  I'm still hoping to be a part of her amazing team and am soooo honored that she is letting continue this month! :0)

Today's challenge is Texture.  For my project I created a card with lots of texture, featuring the Ragdoll Ruby Digi (#297).  I just love the way this turned out and I hope you do too!  Be sure to check out the store because Megan has added lots of new adorable digis recently!

 Closeup of Ragdoll Ruby

Full card (be sure to click on the pic to see the texture)

Deets:  For this card I used black Recollections cardstock that I embossed with the Seeing Spots Cuttlebug Folder, using my Big Shot machine (for all textured items on this card).  I used some Ranger Ink Distressed Stain in White Picket Fence to give the black a more grungy feel.  Then I sanded over the dots with an emery board to make them really noticeable.  Next I took two three inch squares of patterned papers from the Basic Grey 6x6" Stack, Marjolaine.  I embossed the arglye one with Swiss Dots Cuttlebug Folder and the Lime Green Patterned Paper was embossed using the Mesh Cuttlebug Folder.  I then added black ink across the swiss dots to make them pop up a bit and I added distress stain (same as above) to sink into the "impressed" pattern on the lime green paper.  Afterwards I ran my silver Creative Memories pen over the top to add even more  dimension and I sprinkled some lime green glitter over this piece before it completely dried.  I wish you could see it in person!  So much better than in the pics! ;) 

I used my Copics for Ragdoll Ruby in two shades of blue/green and lime/olive green, as well as a touch of gray for the bow. I then fussy cut her.  I love how she turned out!  I popped her off the page with 1/4" pop dots. 

I cut a small tag from a tag making punch I have (Marvy I think) and used a Paper Smooches stamp for the sentiment.  Then I inked around the edges with Black Cat's Eye ink.  To finish off the card, I added several layers of paper and fabric flowers with large silver brads as their centers.  Then I used that same silver Creative Memories pen to doodle around the whole card and voila!  There you have it! 

Thanks so much for joining me today and if you would like to take part in the challenge and see what the awesome DT has created please hop on over to Dilly Beans!  C'mon...You know you want to! ;)  *nudge, nudge*

Since you're here, leave a comment!  I love getting them! :)

XO ~ Amy Jo

Save the Earth Fantabulous Cricut Crawl

Welcome to and the SEVENTH Fantabulous Cricut Crawl...Fantabulous Cricut's version of a Blog Hop!

In honor of our Home Planet, Mother Earth, we're having a "Save the Earth" Crawl...each Design Team member will be featuring an original Upcycled-Themed Project that includes at least one Reuseable/Recycled Item along with at least ONE Cricut Cut.

I'm the  first designer on the hop today and want to thank you all for joining us today!!!  If you came here from  FCCB, you're in the right place! If you've just happened across my blog and would like to play along with our Fantabulous Cricut Crawl, start with FCCB so you can catch a sneak peek of all the projects as well as to see how to win some great prizes along the way!!!

Make sure to check out each DT member's blog for some awesome inspiration! There will be PRIZES along the way at our DT members' blogs, AND there will be a Grand Prize up for grabs at FCCB for one participant that submits a "Save the Earth" project at FCCB!

How fun is that?

For my project I decided to finally make the dog treat holder that I've been saving this plastic beef jerky bin for, forever!  I have lots of pics and I'm sorry to bore you with them, but I couldn't find an easy way to photograph a cylinder! ;) LOL  I have pics from start to finish so I will post them here and list the details below for anyone who's interested.  If you want to get on over to the next stop on the hop, I don't mind, but be sure to read about how to win some blog candy from me! ;)

 Top of Jerky Bin to be converted to Dog Treat Holder

 Yep, been meaning to make this project for about a year now LOL 

 Karen Foster paper, cut down to size

 Closeup of label - Tim Holtz Coredinations Cardstock w/Kraft Core from Nostalgic Collection, Quickutz Embossing Folder, sanded down with emery board to show the polka dots (notice the Kraft core peeking through?)

Full shot of label with paw prints from This & That Cricut Cartridge, Font from Martha Stewart BDay Cake Cartridge 

 Notice the cute texture behind the "Doggy Treats", used A2 Quickutz Polka Dots embossing folder

 Added a couple of paw prints

I left a space in the back to see how full the treat bin is at all times so we don't run out! ;) 

I just had to add ribbon to the top and then I thought this adorable dog collar sticker from Karen Foster went perfectly with it!  The "newsletter" stickers for my dogs names are also from Karen Foster.

Full Deets:  I used Karen Foster Designs Dog Scrapbook Kit for the background doggy treat paper, and all of the stickers (dog names (Oso, Lexi, and Bella) and collar).  For the first time in a long time I did NOT use pop dots because I wanted this to be pretty, but practical and pop dots would cause hangups.  I did decide to add some nice deep red ribbon from Stampin' Up to finish off the sides of the lid as well as using Offray ribbon in black for the top and bottom of the 3 1/2" x 12" label that has the paw prints and "Doggy Treats" on it.  I loved distressing the Tim Holtz Kraft-Core Coordinations card stock with my emery board from Basic Grey.  The Kraft core came through so nicely!  Sorry for the dark photos there... It's 2:00 AM and I couldn't find the right lighting. :p  I inked the edges of everything with Cat's Eye ink from ColorBox in Dark Brown and/or Blackbird.  I used red tape, ATG, Craft Essentials Glue (Joann's), and Adhesive Tech for my adhesives.  I was really wanting to use my glue gun (for the first time), but I was too lazy to get it out and mess with it.   For the paw prints, I didn't cut them deep enough on my Cricut, which worked out well because it gave me a guideline instead to color in the paw prints and add some details with my black Zig pen and white gelly roller.  I also used my black Zig pen to outline the "Doggy Treats" letters because they just weren't popping against that red background.  I used the other side of the Tim Holtz paper for the letters themselves and I used Cricut Craft Room to design them, moved them til they were touching and welded them.  Much easier than adding letter by letter, right? ;)  Ok, now that I've bored you with all the details, on to the good stuff! :)

Blog Candy:  I will be offering some blog candy today and all you have to do to win is please become a follower and leave a comment.  In your comment please note if you are an old or new follower and leave a way for me to contact you please in case you are the lucky winner!  I only give candy away to people who take the time to become a follower and hopefully a friend!!! ;)  Winner will be randomly drawn.  I will give everyone a full week to enter so I will post the winner next Tuesday!

You will get these five stamps if you are the winner! :)  Aren't they cute?  Of course, I got a set for myself too! ;) LOL  

Now it's your turn! Let's see your Upcycled-Themed projects! Make sure to include a Cricut Cut somewhere on your project and please note what cartridge(s) you used  so we can count you in for the prizes!

Next stop... Amy's blog, Redheaded Crafter. Go see what she has in store for you today... And when you're done, make sure to link up your project to FCCB's Fantabulous Cricut Crawl post to be entered into the contest!

Happy Crawling!


P.S.  I will be drawing winners from my St. Patty's Day hops this week.  So sorry for the delay, my friends!!! I just got some new goodies in to share with you so i hope it was worth the wait!!! ;)

Dilly Beans Friday Challenge - Pastel Palette (A Little Late)

Hi Sweet Friends,

It's time for another Friday challenge from the awesome Dilly Beans Challenge Blog!  I'm sorry I'm so  late in my posting.  I am going to put the projects I've made here as I finish them up.  I have one to share with you right now and will have either one or two more later today!  Since I am late in my posting, Megan might not have these up yet on the challenge blog, but I would encourage you to go there anyways and see the amazing projects the DT has created.  They are seriously pretty!  (I've already peeked.) ;0)  I would also highly suggest visiting the STORE as Megan has lots of darling new images for sale and  a great SALE going on until May 1st!!!  OMG, I can't wait to get all the new ones!  Wish me luck on becoming a DT member!  I'm still pushing for it. ;)

The first project I have is one that I had given you a sneak peek of during the Easter challenge for Dilly Beans.  I have it all finished up finally and it fits our Pastel Palette challenge perfectly! :)

#392 Amalia Easter Bunny

For this project I used the Amalia Easter Bunny from Dilly Beans, an egg cut from Doodlecharms (Cricut Cartridge), butterfly brads, an adhesive pearl gem, and purple polka dot ribbon from Creative Charms, paper from Stampin' Up and my stash, twine from My Craft Spot.  I colored my image with colored pencils and finished off the project by inking the edges with dark brown Cat's Eye ink.  

Thank you all for stopping by today!  I hope you enjoy my project.  It was super fun to create, now I'm off to the next one! ;)

XO ~ Amy Jo

P.S.  Since you're here, leave a comment! ;)

FCCB Challenge Me Monday's #107 - April Showers (LATE POST)

Hello my sweet and wonderful friends!  Thank you all so much for hanging in there with me and leaving such nice comments for me.  :)  Sorry I've been so out of touch!  Same ol' Fibro stuff going on and just hanging on over here by a thread, but your support truly keeps me going!  I appreciate all my new followers too and thank you for following!  I apologize to my friends for not keeping up with responding to your comments and emails.  Please know, I do receive and read every single one and I will be getting back to everyone slowly, but surely. ;O)  It is super important that you know how much I love you all!

I have a fun, albeit late little project for you today that was actually supposed to be for last week's FCCB challenge, April Showers.  I got it done a few days after it was due and just decided to post it on the Wednesday Winner's post instead.  I am going to go ahead and enter it into a few challenges since I've posted it now. :)  I hope you enjoy it and I apologize for the crummy photos.  Without the flash it looked too dull and with the flash it looks too glossy, but I will post all the pics anyways, but keep in mind, it's much cuter in person. ;)  I actually made this for a friend of mine who is going through a very rough time.  I'll post the deets below for those that are interested. ;)

 Cricut Cartridges:  April Showers, A Child's Year, and 3 Birds on Parade

 Sentiment stamp is from CTMH and punched out with a Creative Memories double-punch.

 With Flash

Glossy Accents and Stickles

DEETS:   I was super excited to use A Child's Year for the first time, for the background shape of this card. There's some great shapes on that cartridge!  I used 3 Birds on Parade for the bird/umbrella/raindrops and April Showers for the clouds that I welded.  I designed it all in Cricut Craft Room.

All cardstock used was from my stash and most were from scraps!  For the background I really wanted it to look like rain coming down and found an awesome stamp in my collection that was perfect for this!  Notice all the white swirls in the background?  I don't know the stamp set off-hand, but if anyone wants to know what it is just leave a comment and I'll look it up for you. ;)  I also used a CTMH stamp set that I bought online and I am in love with this set!!!  I'm in bed at the moment and can't remember the name of it either, but again, am happy to look it up. ;)

I did a lot of little doodles and extras on this card with gelly rollers, ink, Glossy Accents, and Stickles.  I decided the bird looked too plain so I gave him a funky little 'do and some eyelashes too. ;)  I popped things up with foam dots to add some depth and there ya have it!  

Thanks so much for stopping in today and since you're here, why don't ya leave a comment?  I'd love to hear from you! :)

XO ~ Amy Jo

Challenges I'm entering:

Victorine Stamps - #32 Anything Goes
Papertake Weekly - April Showers

Teacher Thank You Gifts Blog Hop - April 15th

***For my latest Guest Design post for Dilly Beans please click HERE.***

Hello my lovely friends!  Thanks so much for stopping by today and joining us for the Teacher Thank You Gifts Blog Hop hosted by the talented and lovely Dena of The Unknown, Entertaining Mind of Miss Dena Jones.  If you've arrived here from Jamie's Blog, then you are in the right spot!  If you just happened upon my blog today please start at the beginning with Dena so you don't miss out on any of the fun and prizes!

Teacher Appreciation Week this year begins on May 7th and ends on May 11th.  If you're looking for some teacher thank you gift ideas, you've come to the right place!  Each of the designers in today's hop is sharing a wonderful gift idea for a teacher.  We hope you have fun hopping with us while picking up some great ideas!

For my project today I decided to make an altered composition notebook to go with a card that I had posted last year (shown below) so I can sell them as a set!  I have no kids and no teachers so I have no need for these items, but nonetheless I had so much fun creating them!  If you are interested in purchasing them, please let me know.  They will be added to my STORE if I don't hear from anyone. ;)

 Card from last year's FCCB post.

Inside of card.

For details of the card please go to THIS POST.

For the notebook, I thought the background of the notebook could actually look pretty cool without having to cover it with paper so I just added to it rather than covering it up completely. Please click the pics for enlargement.  I used the Makin' the Grade Cricut cartridge as well as the Imagine More Cards cartridge (for the notebook paper).  I was stoked to find out that Imagine More Cards had a perfect notebook paper print because it comes in handy for so many projects!  I will post further details below the pics if you are interested.

 Full Cover

 Vellum tag in bottom right corner

Details:  Wow, I used a lot of little elements here.  Let's see if I can remember where they all came from! ;0) LOL  - I used several elements from this package I won from Julie at A Little Bit of Bling (note the stickers on the left.

From my stash I used, an apple & class notes sticker from Sandylion, a scrap of ribbon, shiny red brads and blue and red cardstock.  I used Lime Green Stickles for the leaf and stem of the apple, Colorbox Blackbird ink for the edges, Bo Bunny buttons and Doodlebug twine.

Thanks so much for joining us today!  Now you are off to Cely's Blog to see what she has created for us today.

XO ~ Amy Jo

P.S.  If you're here, please leave a comment!  I love to hear from you all!