Guest Designing for Dilly Beans for the Month of April, maybe more??? ;)

Hello my Dearest Friends,

First off, I just want to mention that I have read all of your comments and emails and am extremely grateful and touched.  I will be writing an update post next to talk more about all of that, but just had to mention it so you all would know that I've been reading what you've written. ;)

The reason I'm posting today is because I have some SUPER exciting news!  Well, for me it is anyways. ;)  I've kept this secret for a while.  Behind the scenes over here, I have simply fallen in love with Megan's amazing designs from Dilly Beans and I actually got a wild hair and decided to contact her and ask her if there's any way that I could design for her and promote her digis in exchange for some.  Sooooo, as wonderful as she is, she said yes!  So I get to start with being a guest designer for the WHOLE month of April!!!  Now I'm going to be honest here and tell you that I may be allowed to be on her team if all goes well this month so I'm asking a HUGE favor of all my friends...  Please, please go to her store (link above) and her Challenge Blog and become a follower there (tell her I sent ya).  Maybe, just maybe you could put in a good word for me? ;)  I'll post here as soon as I do the designs for the next challenge so you all can join in and see what I've been doing while I'm up at night in bed.  Thank GOD for digis to color in bed!!!  I have found a new passion and I will be taking Copics coloring classes online to develop better skills.

I want to give you a little personal tidbit here...When I came across Megan's stamps, the first ones I fell in love with are a genre I've never personally worked with much before -- kinda goth/creepy, yet still cute.  Well I do LOVE Tim Burton and her work reminded me so much of Tim Burton's that I just couldn't resist contacting her and telling her how much I simply adore not only her digis, but her amazingly beautiful artwork (that she sells no less) as well!!!  OMG, I don't want to share this because I want to buy everything she does, but I feel it's only fair to share with my loving friends so here's her Etsy store, as well - My Creative Bliss.  I hope you know, I'm only kidding about the sharing. ;)  I just love her  work so much that I bought a bunch of it after spending about three hours searching through every single digi stamp and all of her artwork! LOL  I have to mention to you that she has tons of other styles as well.  She ranges from Americana/Folk to the Goth/Cutie/Creepy style and I love every single bit!  I am sooooo excited to share with you, my creations using her digis.  I have been having a blast with them!

Now, I'm fairly new to Copics and don't have any formal training yet, but I hope you will still like them and realize the awesome potential there is working with digis.  I honestly thought I would never want to work with digis because I am the type of person who likes to hold something in my hand, be it catalogs, stamps, books, etc.  I've always found it kind of strange to purchase digital items because you don't actually have the item stored physically somewhere. LOL  Now, I've realized that OMG, it's a great way to not have to store so much stuff!!!  My craft room is soooo crowded as it is that I don't know where to put half of my things. ;p  So, with that being said I now love digi stamps and especially Dilly Beans.

Alright friends, thank you so much for sharing my exciting news with me today and for your amazing support.  I will be guest designing for four challenges so far so look for those posts coming up! :0)

XO ~ Amy Jo

P.S.  I know a lot of you have heard of Dilly Beans before, but I must have been under a rock (or well, maybe in bed too much). LOL ;)  She has some new designs and they are so darn perfect, I'm just ecstatic to work with them and work with the lovely team on the challenge blog! *squeals*

Fibromyalgia Reality Check - Updates For My Friends

Hello my Dear Friends,

NOTE:  Long personal post, if you only have a moment, please read the bolded text at the bottom.  Thanks! ;)

You are probably wondering where I have been lately and I must say I feel like I've fallen down the rabbit hole. ;0)  Ok, well the reality of it is I have been weaning off my medications for the last month and a half and I'm doing well pain-wise (for the most part), but I have EXTREME exhaustion and along with that, some major depression.  I really don't know if it has anything to do with the meds or not. Literally, I was out of bed about 3 hours total for the entire past week, maybe up to ten days now?  I don't know, my days are blurring together with each other and each night.  I have been sleeping through the night (so unusual for me), but instead of feeling rested the next morning, within about an hour of waking up I am so tired that I have to go back to bed...and so on and so forth throughout the days.

I've been having some pain off and on and over the weekend, I walked to my craft room and my low back went out!!!  I finally had the energy to work on organization and my back goes out!  Ugh.  I'll give you a funny little piece of history here...about 10-12 years ago, I used to go to crop nights with my brother's GF (at the time) and I ended up having to buy one of those HUGE rolling totes...The biggest one they make. LOL  -- Anyways, one night after a crop, I lugged the big tote into the back of my Chevy Tracker (still have the same vehicle, btw & the same tote), and I ended up slipping a disc, pinching a nerve and permanently messed up my back!  How embarrassing, while wearing a back brace, to explain I threw my back out because of my scrapbooking tote!!!  I was around 20 or 21 (and this is before scrapbooking really was a big thing) so not exactly a "hip" reason to hurt my back.  So my point is, for years I've had trouble with it and actually just the past two years it has stopped being a pain (no pun intended), ;p until this weekend.  I am sooooo mad!!!  It's rare that I have energy, and the first time I have some in weeks, I end up throwing it out again just by WALKING into the scrapbooking room!  If anyone ever gives you grief about scrapbooking/card making being a girly thing, you tell them it's a dangerous sport and sometimes hazardous to your health! LOL ;)  So here I am, in bed again... I have 10 Easter cards to make and get out by Wednesday and I'm so hoping to get to them tonight, but I'm having a super duper killer headache.

Originally when I started this blog I honestly thought it would be more about Fibro and less about crafting, but as you all know, it has turned out quite differently than what I expected (and that's a good thing)!  But, I do want to pop in now and again and explain a bit about what I am going through on a daily basis because I feel this illness needs to be talked about.  Friends who are here just to see my craft posts, I'm perfectly fine with that too; however, I would love it if everyone would just take a little time out of their day to reflect and realize how blessed each of us is, all for different reasons, but bless-ed, nonetheless ;)

So I mentioned above what has been going on with me for the past ten days or so, but I haven't really gotten down to the real stuff.  Here goes...Depression associated with Fibromyalgia is almost inevitable and from the get-go I was put on anti-depressants, not only for "supposed" help with pain, but for the obvious reason as well.  What I'm dealing with right now, my close bloggy buddies are mostly aware of, but I want to share with everyone just what this illness does.  Someday, if you don't already, you are bound to know someone with this illness (not just me, online). ;)

For me, these are just a few of the changes that have occurred since developing what I call full-blown or full-on Fibro.  I have had symptoms since I was a child, but it always went away until about four years ago, maybe five now...I can't even remember, which is one of the lovely effects of Fibro, BTW.  Yes, I used to have a super sharp memory, now I can't remember what happened yesterday and I'm not joking here.  It's one of the many things that gives out in your body.  One of the biggest things (no pun intended) that I'm struggling with right now is my weight.  Hence the major depression.  My entire life I have been extremely thin by nature.  I have never weighed much more than 105 lbs., usually rounding out at about 95, which for me was normal and healthy.  I was never able to gain weight, in fact, I was relentlessly teased all throughout my school years and I hated it until I got older.  I had finally learned to accept my body and love it just how it was.  It only took me about 25 years or so. LOL  But I was...Happy, that is.  When I first developed "full-on" Fibro I went into a program for healing and unfortunately I was put on a restricted diet and dropped down to 85 lbs., which of course, was too small.

I couldn't gain weight to save my soul!  I could eat more than anybody I had ever known, including my big brothers who had voracious appetites.  I was this way all through high school as well.  In fact, I once won a free dinner from a restaurant on a bet from the waiter who didn't believe I could eat all the food I had ordered.  Well I did eat it all and then some! LOL  I was soooooo proud of that free dinner and so was my dad...but I digress... Anyways, I got kicked out of the program I was in b/c I was losing weight.  Then, just as suddenly as my weight came off,  it started piling on.  I remember the exact time it started...two Halloweens ago I went to a friend's party and she served these delicious tiny cream puff pastries.  OMG, I fell in LOVE!!! I had never liked sweets and hated chocolate my entire life, then suddenly I started craving it, and loving it, and needing it.  You can guess how it went from there... In less than one year, I gained 65 lbs.  I'm up another 5 - 7 lbs. as of now and I am miserable.  I can't STOP gaining weight!

Honest to God, I'd rather have the severe pain that I had before the weight gain instead of the weight gain.  I'd trade it in a minute.  I have never ever been so unhappy with myself in my life and I can't begin to figure out what is wrong and why I'm gaining weight constantly and never losing an ounce, even when I don't eat.  :(  I went from a size 00 to 12/13 currently and still stretching.  Most of the weight is in my belly and in fact, several months ago (when I weighed about 15 lbs less than I do now), I got asked when my baby was due!!!  I was mortified although I can't blame the lady who asked me b/c my belly is huge and yet another lovely problem with either the drugs or the Fibro (not sure which), is I sweat CONSTANTLY, and profusely!  I'm sure she thought it was my hormones from being "pregnant". :p  OMG, seriously, how embarrassing!

My appetite has slowed wayyyyyy down, but so has my metabolism.  Ok, this is a little personal, but I had a SUPER fast metabolism and was very regular -- like three times a day regular.  Now, I am lucky if I go once every three days and when I do, every single time, it is sooooo painful that I dread going!  I rip and bleed and tear and cry every single time I go to the bathroom now!  I am on softeners and laxatives every single day and I'm still having severe issues; however, doctors have been NO help in this arena.  They can't figure out why I'm gaining the weight and why my system is acting the way it is.  So I have made a decision...The one thing that's changed more than anything are the amount of heavy duty narcotics (prescribed of course) that I take just to bear the pain associated with Fibro.  So without any better ideas, I have decided to get off of all of my medications -- detox.  Yes, it would be treated like a drug addict's detox, except for the fact that I decided to do a very slow wean, controlled by my pain management specialist, so I wouldn't have to go in to a clinic and be put on Saboxone (another form of methadone) to help me with withdrawals.

As far as the horrible, embarrassing, disgusting, uncomfortable sweating goes, here's what happens...I get up.  Within one to three minutes of getting up, no matter what the temperature is or what I do, I start sweating...and I don't stop, until I am lying in bed fairly still.  I get in the shower and within one minute after showering, I am dripping and not from the water.  My face drips, my hair gets soaked, my clothes get soaked so by the time I'm dressed, I feel exhausted and utterly disgusting.  I also get the horrible night sweats at least 2 or 3 times a week and I wake up, drenched, and usually freezing cold.  And yes, this adds to my depression incredibly.  I am a lover of clothes, fashion, makeup, all things girly and since the weight gain and the sweating I can't even wear clothes b/c it's not worth it to get dressed if I don't have to go to the doctor's that is...so my hubby says I should change the name of my blog to "The Naked Crafter". LOL! :0) It's so bad that it's honestly laughable sometimes!

So friends, this is what I've been up to lately.  I spend my days in bed, trying not to sweat, refusing to go anywhere b/c of the exhaustion & sweating that happens after getting dressed.  Oh yeah, did I mention how tired Fibro makes you?  It's so weird!  Some days I can't sleep but for 2 or 3 hours and then some days I can't wake up for more than 2 hours at a time, sometimes sleeping up to 18 hours a day!!!  It's so random, I can never make plans b/c I honestly have no clue how I'll be feeling at that particular moment.  How I feel physically changes literally at least every five minutes.  I haven't seen friends in months.  I have gotten out of the house (other than for doctor's) probably a total of 5 times in 6 months or so.  I haven't been able to craft for weeks and that is another thing that really depresses me.  I miss it soooo much!  When I'm gone for more than a day or two I feel so left out and like I'm missing out on so much in bloggy land.  I LOVE blog hops and challenges and everything, but when I feel like I do, it's all I can do to just keep my head on straight.

My poor hubby has to deal with so much.  As I've mentioned, my best friends in the world have ceased to be what best friends should be, so much of the burden goes to my hubby.  He's the one who has to listen when I'm in pain, when I'm mad at being fat, when I'm sick of sweating, when my friends don't call anymore.  It's hard and he's a trooper.

I want you all to know that the first few years of this I was very positive and optimistic, but anyone who develops this level of health issues is bound to lose some of their positivity.  And that's what's going on right now for me.  Now don't get me wrong...I thank God every day for the wonderful blessings in my life and for making my pain less severe than it was, but the one thing (ok several things) I really want people to know about a person who suffers from Fibro is telling that person things like "well, it could be worse" or "at least - blah, blah, blah" or "if it makes you feel better, I've gained five pounds too" :p does NOT help.  Sometimes, we need friends who will just go along with the bitching and say "OMG, this sucks" or "I'd be pissed off too"!  Is that so much to ask?  Of course we know things won't always be this way, or things will get better, but sometimes, dang it, why can't we just be real about our feelings???  Now normally I would start to apologize here and say to my readers, yes I really do have a good life in spite of the illness, but you know what?  This time, I'm not going to say that because that is, honest to God, not how I feel right now and pretending it is, is getting old.  I need friends who are going to let me be me and I need to be able to be myself, especially here on my blog.

Now the ONE positive thing I will say right now is that I do have some amazing friends here and I never forget that.  I thank you all for being there for me and listening to me and still loving me.  That is what keeps me going!  That is what true friendship is about, to me anyways.  For those of you reading this ridiculously long post, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.  Please do leave me a comment.  I love to hear from my readers and I will be back in to tell you all some super fun news and post some more creations! ;)

With much appreciation and gratitude,
Amy Jo

My Memories Tutorial - Uploading Your Photobook

St. Patrick''s Luck Day Blog Hop - March 17th & 18th, 2012 - Day 2

Top O' the Morning to ya!  Thanks so much for joining us today in the St. Patrick's Luck Day Blog Hop hosted by the lovely Angela of Creative Crafting.  This is Day 2 of the hop.  You should have arrived  here from Misty, but if you just happened upon my blog or are here for the Lucky Leprechaun Blog Hop please be sure to go back to the beginning.  You don't want to miss out on all the fun and prizes along the way do ya?  ;)

I hope you had a super fun St. Patty's day!  I would honestly love to hear what you did yesterday or what you're doing this weekend to celebrate.  I have to live vicariously through my friends since I don't really get to go out and celebrate since my Fibro started up (going on 5 years I believe).  So give me some details! ;)  If you missed out on yesterday's post, you can check it out ***HERE.***  You can leave a comment on yesterday's post, as well as today's for a chance to win my blog candy, but you must be/become a follower to win!  I am giving away a surprise pack of goodies. :0) On to today's project!

I'm super sorry, but I don't have a new project for you today because I was sooooo tired that I didn't get anything done.  Along with my Fibromyalgia, I also suffer from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, but to me they go hand in hand so I don't really mention that part.  It is horrible!  Makes me tired all the time and I have zero energy even though my brain really wants to craft. :(  So, since so many of you are new since last year, I have decided to repost two of my old projects that you likely haven't seen.  If you have, I apologize and I'll have some new projects this week! :0)  Enjoy!

 Cricut Cartridge Designer's Calender was used for both projects.  I used Stampin' Up paper (same line as my projects this year!!!), along with Recollections card stock, metallic green cardstock from my stash, and ribbon, alphabet stickers, and buttons from my stash as well.  Don't forget to click on the pics to get a better view!

I hope you have enjoyed my projects today!  Please be sure to leave a comment and I would LOVE it if you would like to become a follower and a friend.  That would make this a LUCKY day indeed! :0)  Hmm...speaking of luck....how bout a little blog candy from me?  Ok, well the catch is in order to win you must be/become a follower.  If you have Facebook and/or Pintrest and/or Twitter, I'd be thrilled for you to join me there as well, but that is not a requirement to win.  I will be giving away a surprise blog candy present to one lucky follower.  Be sure to leave me a way to reach you!

Next stop today is the super talented Melissa!

Thanks again!
XO ~ Amy Jo

St. Patrick's Luck Day Blog Hop - March 17th & 18th - Day 1

Top O' the Morning to ya!  (Okay, really?) LOL Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!  Thanks so much for joining us today in the St. Patrick's Luck Day Blog Hop hosted by the lovely Angela of Creative Crafting.  This is Day 1 of the hop.  You should have arrived here from Misty, but if you just happened upon my blog or are here for the ***Lucky Leprechaun Blog Hop*** please be sure to go back to the beginning.  You don't want to miss out on all the fun and prizes along the way do ya?  ;)

*Side note:  While I'm writing an Irish accent keeps popping into my head, however, I keep getting it jumbled up with a pirate's accent! LOL --Yes, I think I've had too much caffeine! ;)

Obviously, this hop is about St. Patrick's Day!  I just LOVE this holiday!  I usually make a corned beef and cabbage dinner, as long as I'm feeling well.  I've had to skip it the last few years, but I'm gonna give it a try again today.  No green beer for me anymore though.  I think as I've gotten older (and sicker) my body just can't tolerate it.  :(  So instead of that, I'm gonna celebrate by crafting today!  That's pretty much how I celebrate every holiday now. :)  Not a bad thing at all, right? :0)  Ok, well that's enough yimmer yammer... On to today's project!

For today I have created a cute lil card.  ;)  Betcha never would have guessed it!  Boy, I had a hard time coming up with something for my post for the other hop today, but once I got started, I was on a roll!  This one just came to me in literally a few minutes!  Love when that happens!  See if you can guess how I made it before you scroll down to the details. ;)

 I made a huge four-leaf clover balloon for the cute leprechaun to carry!  Be sure to click on the pictures to get a better view!  Can you see how I made it?

Closeup to show you the dimension.

Deets:  Alright my Irish and non-Irish friends... Did you guess how I made this?  Well, let me give you a little background here...my hubby was updating my Gypsy and Imagine so I couldn't use my computer or my Cricuts so I had to come up with something else!  I used my awesome new Fiskars XL Heart Punch and punched four (4) hearts out.  Then I inked them with my Cat's Eye Dark Brown Ink and decided I didn't want them to just lie flat on the background paper so I put a little fold in the center (not all the way down to the tip though) and put glue on just the two top rounds of the hearts.  I squished them together a bit and that made them pop up a bit like a balloon!  I thought it would be cute to have the leprechaun holding the "balloon" so I used some Offray ribbon and looped it under the hearts and glued it to the leprechaun hand with some red tape.  I added a little stamped (leftover) clover to the middle of the balloon to finish it off.  The leprechaun is from one of my newest favorite stamp stores, Gourmet Rubber Stamps.  They have fantastic red rubber (mounted on cling foam) quality stamps!  I just LOVE the unique variety!  You will see more of their stamps used on my cards for sure.  The sentiment stamp is from Stampin' Up, as is the ink I used, and both the background paper and the paper for the hearts.  Check out the other blog hop I'm in today for a coordinating card!

I hope you have enjoyed my project today!  Please be sure to leave a comment and I would LOVE it if you would like to become a follower and a friend.  That would make this a LUCKY day indeed! :0)  Hmm...speaking of luck....how bout a little blog candy from me?  Ok, well the catch is in order to win you must be/become a follower.  If you have Facebook and/or Pintrest and/or Twitter, I'd be thrilled for you to join me there as well, but that is not a requirement to win.  I will be giving away a surprise blog candy present to one lucky follower.  Be sure to leave me a way to reach you!

Next stop today is the super talented Melissa.

Thanks again!
XO ~ Amy Jo

Lucky Leprechaun Blog Hop - March 17th, 2012

Happy St. Patty's Day everyone and welcome to Nicolette's Lucky Leprechaun Blog Hop!  This is a 1 day hop hosted by the wonderful Nicolette of Beyond Scrapin'.  You should have arrived here from the lovely Anita.  If you just happened upon my blog today or are here for the ***St. Patrick's Lucky Day Blog Hop*** you'll want to start at the beginning with Nicolette.

This hop is all about St. Patty's day so I have made a cute little card!  I had the hardest time thinking up something.  I had all the pieces, but putting them together just wasn't working out for me!  Ugh.  Finally, I kinda just threw it all together and this is what I ended up with.  I'm pretty happy with it considering how frustrated I was at the beginning.  I hope you like it too! :0)  Don't forget to actually click on the photos to get a better view!

Deets:  I used this adorable leprechaun stamp and four leaf clover border stamp (2 separate stamps) from Gourmet Rubber Stamps.  Boy did I have fun shopping over there!  The background paper & green ink are from Stampin Up.  I used a pre-made green tag that I stamped with a $1 stamp from Michael's, then faux stitched with my Zig pen.  I used a resin flower and fabric brad from my stash, as well as green cardstock for the card base.  The torn paper is ColorCore that I inked with Martha Stewart blue ink on top and green ink on bottom.  I finished everything off with Patina colored Stickles!  Gotta have that bling! :-)  Oh yeah, I got to use my new Seeing Spots Cuttlebug folder that I bought at Joann's through my own online store (click the letter J, then Joann's view more link, then "visit" to get there)!  I sanded the spots with an emery board to make them a bit more visible.  Love that technique!  For adhesives I used some pop dots and my ATG!


I hope you enjoy my project today.  I would love it if you would leave a comment and become a follower if you want to!  Now you need to slide on down the rainbow to Jamie!

XO ~ Amy Jo

Amy Jo's Birthday Bash & Blog Hop Winners

Hi Dear Friends!

I am so sorry for not choosing our winners sooner, but somehow my days have been crazy this past week!  I finally have some energy and in fact, it's a little too much so I've been doing to much, which has made me have more pain today. Aak! I always forget to not overdue it when I'm feeling well.

First of all I would like to thank my wonderful participants in my blog hop for my birthday.  These ladies were awesome, weren't they?  They really went all out for this hop and totally rocked my birthday!  Thanks so much to the blog hop gals.  I have been receiving cards and sweet gifts ever since before my birthday and things are still coming in the mail!  As soon as I get my craft room organized I will post some pictures of what I have done with the lovely projects I have received.  I can't tell you how honored I am and how special you all made my day.  This birthday will definitely be remembered! ;)

Next I would like to say thank you to our generous sponsors and ladies who gave away blog candy.  I am touched by everyone's generosity and am honored that you would help me out for my first blog hop.  It was such a success!

Finally, I would like to thank everyone that stopped by my blog and facebook page on my birthday.  I was overwhelmed by all of the birthday wishes, oh so kind comments, and the amount of new followers we all received!  I was literally reading comments all day (on everyone's blogs as well as my own) and I can honestly say, I have never  had that many people wish me "Happy Birthday" and celebrate with me.  I didn't leave the house for my b-day, yet I had one of the best b-days I have EVER had!  Every single one of you made it so very special for me.  Often the comments were so endearing that I had to grab tissues!  I felt (and still do feel) like the luckiest girl (yes I still call myself a girl-LOL) in the world! :0)

Now it's time to do a little more to show you my appreciation.  I have several goodies to give away to some lucky followers.  It's very important to me that I honor my followers because they are the ones who have taken the time to actually look at my blog, give me their opinion on my projects, and get to know me.  I don't like to give away goodies to people that are just passing through to see how much candy they can win.  This is not about that for me.  Gifts [should] come from the heart.  I personally will not enter to win candy unless I plan on following the person giving it away and I expect my candy recipients to do the same because I value building relationships.  You guys are my only real outlet for my struggles and triumphs besides my hubby and very few close friends.  Since I have developed Fibro, I have lost some of my best friends in the world because they couldn't handle what the illness is doing to me, and have lost the close relationship I had with my family, but have gained so many caring, compassionate, empathetic friends here in bloggy land that it has often saved me from falling into terrible depression.  Fibromyalgia can be a very debilitating condition and many people don't understand what all it does to the person who has it.  Those of you who know me, do know that I struggle often with severe bouts of pain and exhaustion and many of you have been my inspiration to keep doing all I can do to stay creative, which in turn helps my mental health greatly.  That's what I mean when I say you have no idea how much your comments, concern, prayers, and friendship mean to me.  I look forward to them every single day.  I love making projects to share with everyone and I love being on teams as well.  Blogging and papercrafting have been one of the best experiences I have had in my life and I am so grateful to all of you for helping me build my dreams and helping me to follow through.

Thanks ladies, for listening and I'm so sorry to get so off track!  You are all here for candy, right?  Okay, without further ado, here are our winners! ;0)

#1.  $20.00 Gift Certificate from Scraptastical Kreations is....

Bhawana - Congratulations!!!  Thank you so much for that nice comment.  That was very sweet of you and I'm thrilled that you won!  Please contact me via email (listed below).


#2 - Winner has been chosen by Angela.  It was Me! LOL - She used random.org to pick a winner from the comments she received on her blog.  The number was 11 & that's my lucky #! ;)
  

#3 - Winner of a Gift Certificate to is...

Lisa!!!  Congrats Lisa!  So happy to announce that you are a winner!  You are always working so hard! :)  Thanks so much for the nice birthday wish and for joining me in the celebration! Please shoot me an email and I'll have Cheryl contact you!

#4 - Winner of a Handmade Pin Set from Jessica....

  is...

Heather!!!  I'm so glad some of the girls in my hop are winners!  Yay!  You guys deserve it for all the hard work you did.  Thanks for joining me and for your super kind comment.  I appreciate it so much! :0) Congrats Heather!  Shoot me an email & I'll send your info to Jessica.

#5 - Winner for Crinkle Ribbon from...

 is...

Sherrie!!! - Congrats Sherrie!   I can't believe it!  Two girls from FCCB are winners!  So very happy to announce you won!  I'm soooo sorry for missing you on my hop, Sherrie.  You will definitely be in my next one! Shoot me an email & I'll get your info to Julie! :0)

#6 - Winner of my surprise blog candy is...

Yay Kate!  I'm sooooo happy to announce you as a winner!  Woot woot!  I have a special prize in mind for you but I need to find out if you have it already. I'll catch ya via email unless you catch me first! ;)  Kate, shoot me an email with your mailing address please & I'll ship something special out to you! :0)


Congrats to all our winners!  I couldn't be happier with Random.org's picks! :0)  I did have one winner that was not a follower so I had to pick someone else. Thank you to everyone who participated in my blog hop!  You made my first one a huge success so you can bet, I'll be doing more in the future!  :0)


XO ~ Amy Jo  amyjrockstar at gmail dot com

FCCB Challenge Me Monday's #101 - Luck of the Irish

Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog - FCCB

Hello Fantabulous Friends!

I hope everyone had a great weekend.  I'm spending today catching up with things that I didn't get done on the weekend, which unfortunately is pretty much EVERYTHING!!!  AAAAAAhhhhh it's going to be one of those Mondays!  The good news is, I actually have a new project to show you! :0)  [Side note:  The reason I didn't get anything done this weekend is I was too busy on Yardsellr & EBay... Friends, if you don't know what Yardsellr is, please let me know B4 going there so I can link you through me.  When you link people, you get $ to spend on stuff!  I would so appreciate it!  It's free & it's just like a huge yard sale!!!  Leave me a comment & I'll get you hooked up, but you must have a Facebook account to really utilize all the features!  :0)  I ordered a ton of new cartridges this weekend, and my sweetest, awesomest, amazing hubby bought me one too (Kate's ABCs)!!!  I ordered Just Because (Cards), Straight From The Nest, Formal Occasion, Hey Diddle Diddle (Imagine cart), Hopscotch (Imagine cart), & three others that I can't even remember the names of!  Will update later...] Anyways...

Today at Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog (FCCB) is the beginning of the Luck of the Irish challenge!  For this challenge we are supposed to use a shamrock or the color green somewhere on our projects, along with at least one (1) Cricut cut.  Naturally, shamrocks & green go together so I decided to do both!  I hope you enjoy it!  The awesome prize up for grabs to one lucky winner picked by random.org is the cutest stamp set from Jaded Blossom.  Up until this point, I had never heard of them!  Boy was I in for a pleasant surprise when I checked out their store!  First off, followers of FCCB get a special treat when they place their order!  I can't tell you what it is so you'll have to check out FCCB to enjoy that gift. ;)  Next I discovered they have awesome stamps!  I will be placing an order right away!

For this project I used the most ADORABLE SVG set from another DT I participate in, Paper Piecings by Nikki (PPBN).  Please go check out her site!  I have linked you to her blog, but you'll want to click on her store and her Facebook group because that is where most of the action occurs.  Ladies who love paper piecing or those who have never tried it, Nikki's sets are awesome and she is very, very reasonable with her prices!  She always has lots of sales and discounts going on!  The set I used is called Luck-o-the-Irish!!! How convenient is that?  I knew it was serendipity when I saw the challenge on FCCB and took a look at my patterns from Nikki (the filename is the same as the challenge name - in case you didn't catch that)!  ;)

I used my Cricut Expression to cut it, of course b/c FCCB's challenges require you to use your Cricut machine!  I actually used several Cricut cartridges and designed my card in the Cricut Craftroom software available for free!  Friends, if you haven't tried this out yet, I encourage you to do so.  It's just like using the Gypsy, except you use it on your PC and obviously can see what you are doing, much, much easier!!!  Not to mention, the WELD feature is awesome on the software. Love it!  The only thing is, for this project, I accidentally welded my rectangle to connect the front & back of the card, backwards!  Aaak!  On the screen it looked right, but I forgot that when you close it, it's going to be BACKWARDS!!!  Oh well, let's just call it unique. ;0) LOL

Alright, so the cartridges I used are George & Basic Shapes, Designer's Calender, and Everyday Cake Sampler...Yes, you CAN use cake cartridges on the regular Cricut, and let me tell you, the cake ones are some of my very favorite cartridges!!!

Let's get to the photos!  I always take a bunch of pics because certain angles capture parts of the creation a bit better.  I also do one with a flash and one without.  Please click the pics to enlarge them for better detail.

 This pic is a bit confusing...the shamrock paper you see in the background is actually the same paper I used for the inside.  See below for better pics.

 With flash.

 Inside of card... The shape of the card is actually the scalloped circle.  I used a Stampin' Up greeting inside and some paper I had in my stash.

 How cute is the bear??? Don't forget to check out Nikki's Store!

I used two layers for the shamrock circle.  I pop dotted the top layer up about 1/8" or maybe even 1/4".  I decided to put some awesome purple tulle behind the bottom circle because all the little areas around the shamrock show through, so we have top layer - shamrock circle, then pop dots, then bottom layer, then behind that is the tulle and that shows through to the inside of the card which has the shamrock paper background.  Hope that makes sense!

When welding this card I added a rectangle with round corners so the circles wouldn't be compromised.  I love the way that worked, but next time, I'll make sure to not do it backwards! LOL  - The reason I did two shamrock circles is not only for dimension, but to make the card stronger.  I am going to add one more layer to the circles to cover up where the tulle is adhered.  

Thank you all for stopping by today.  If you have any questions let me know & since you're here, please do leave a comment.  I LOVE reading your comments! :0)

I will be entering this into the following challenges:
Sweetstamps.com Blog #55- St. Patrick's Day
Craft Your Passion Challenges 100th Challenge - Anything Goes

XO ~ Amy Jo

It's A Green Thing Blog Hop - Day 2

Hello & welcome to the It's a "Green" Thing Blog Hop- About Nature! My friend, Tina, from Crafty and Green is hostessing this hop & loves nature & being green! So, We are so glad you were able to join us today to celebrate Nature with Spring just around the Corner!  Today is Day 2, the final day of the hop.

If you arrived here from Kimberly (my fellow DT member of Paper Piecings by Nikki), then you are in the right place! If you just happened upon my blog today, please start at the beginning with Tina from Crafty and Green  because we wouldn't want you to miss anything along the way!

This is a two-day hop; however, most blogs are only making one project. I decided to add another project to the project that I made yesterday!  For those of you that were here yesterday, the first project is that card, but the second project is a little 12x12 artwork that I made and have posted previously.  I'm going to bring up creations that have been posted a long time ago, in addition to my new projects whenever I can, so you will get to see everything I've ever made! :0)  Every time there's a new follower, they normally (I do this as well) scroll back two or three posts and then move forward, missing all the older projects that have been posted and some of the older info about our lives that is important in knowing who we are!  So that's what I'm doing today.  You get a 1-day old project and a previously posted project!  Hope you all like that idea as much as I do!

 Sponsors & Blog Candy:

 $20 Gift Certificate

Scripture Sayings Stamp Set

Rules to be Eligible for The Blog Candy:

1.)  You MUST visit each blog and leave a comment on every blog in the hop

2.) You must become a follower of Crafty and Green if you aren't already!

3.) For an “Extra” Entry for the Blog Candy, Please Friend Tina at CraftyandGreen on Facebook

PROJECT 1 FROM YESTERDAY'S POST:

For today's project I decided to try my first tri-fold or shutter-fold card!  I just loved the way it turned out!  However, I'm debating adding some cute critters and some flowers to it.  Let me know what you all think!  If I get comments saying it could use more stuff, then I will do it and post it for the second day of the hop, but if I get more comments saying I should leave it alone, then the card is done! ;)  Thanks for playing along with me today.  Would LOVE to hear your opinion!  

I used all Stampin' Up paper and the Give a Hoot Cricut Cartridge (which is perfect for this hop, btw).  I did my usual inking and pop dotting and there you have it!  Easy peasy right?  Why did it seem to take me forever then??? LOL  I'm such a slow crafter!  It drives me crazy sometimes.  I hope I'm not the only one out there who has this issue! ;)  

PROJECT 2 FROM AN OLDER POST:


This project is from a challenge that I did for FCCB!  Be sure to click the picture to enlarge it and actually see the details & dimension on here.  It looks really flat until you do that, and I assure you, it is not flat! :0)  I have this displayed in my craft room for the Spring season.  It's cheery and always brightens my day up a bit to look at it.  Hope you all like it too!  For all the pictures (there's quite a few) and details on this project please click HERE. April 11th 2011.

  

Thank you so much for joining us and helping us celebrate Nature!  Don't forget to leave your comments to be entered in Tina's candy drawing and I would LOVE to see some new followers so if you like my work, please do so! Your next stop is the talented and crafty Charity!

XO ~ Amy Jo

It's A Green Thing Blog Hop

Hello & welcome to the It's a "Green" Thing Blog Hop- About Nature! My friend, Tina, from Crafty and Green is hostessing this hop & loves nature & being green! So, We are so glad you were able to join us today to celebrate Nature with Spring just around the Corner!

If you arrived here from Kimberly (my fellow DT member of Paper Piecings by Nikki), then you are in the right place! If you just happened upon my blog today, please start at the beginning with Tina from Crafty and Green  because we wouldn't want you to miss anything along the way!

This is a two-day hop; however, we are only making one project. That should give you two full days to go through the entire hop and leave comments so you are able to be entered to win the prizes!

 Sponsors & Blog Candy:

 $20 Gift Certificate

Scripture Sayings Stamp Set

Rules to be Eligible for The Blog Candy:

1.)  You MUST visit each blog and leave a comment on every blog in the hop

2.) You must become a follower of Crafty and Green if you aren't already!

3.) For an “Extra” Entry for the Blog Candy, Please Friend Tina at CraftyandGreen on Facebook

For today's project I decided to try my first tri-fold or shutter-fold card!  I just loved the way it turned out!  However, I'm debating adding some cute critters and some flowers to it.  Let me know what you all think!  If I get comments saying it could use more stuff, then I will do it and post it for the second day of the hop, but if I get more comments saying I should leave it alone, then the card is done! ;)  Thanks for playing along with me today.  Would LOVE to hear your opinion!  

I used all Stampin' Up paper and the Give a Hoot Cricut Cartridge (which is perfect for this hop, btw).  I did my usual inking and pop dotting and there you have it!  Easy peasy right?  Why did it seem to take me forever then??? LOL  I'm such a slow crafter!  It drives me crazy sometimes.  I hope I'm not the only one out there who has this issue! ;)  

I would love to see you all tomorrow because I will either add to this card or repost an older post that many of you probably have not seen if you are a new follower.  The decision of what I post will be up to you!  I would also LOVE to see some new followers so if you like my work, please do so!

Thank you so much for joining us and helping us celebrate Nature! Your next stop is the talented and crafty Charity!

XO ~ Amy Jo

Awesome News

Good morning dear friends,

I have some very exciting news to share with you!  It should have been posted a while back, but you all know my situation... I have made it on the design team for Creative Cutting Room (CCR)!!! I'm so honored that Cathie chose me to be on her amazing team.  (We were teammates last term on FCCB.) I was scheduled to be on the first term, but had to switch because of health issues and now I will be on a later term; however, I will be posting things here periodically for CCR because I will still be participating in some of the challenges and what not.  I am so thrilled that I get to work with such a talented group of women!

In other news, I am staying on with Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog (FCCB) for another term!  I will not be doing the coordination this time around, but I will be a regular DT member, meaning I will be posting a lot more projects this time around! Robin, the owner of FCCB, is taking over the coordination again this time around.  I'm super excited to start creating again!  Plus, I will still be handling the Wednesday Winners posts over there as well.  I am so honored that Robin let me stick around for another term.  Let me tell you, the new girls that were picked for this term are AMAZING!!!  I can't wait to work with them!  Several of the ladies are on my Favorite Blogs list so I am thrilled!

As you all may know, I am also on the DT for Paper Piecings by Nikki (PPBN).  I will be continuing with that, and posting many projects.  I have been on it for quite a while just kind of hovering in the background because I didn't have the strength to do the challenges.  I believe I have what it takes now, so expect to be seeing a lot of posts for this DT.  We do a lot on Facebook as opposed to a regular blog; however, Nikki (the amazingly talented owner/designer of SVGs and Digis) does have a blog that she posts our info on regularly.  Please friend me on Facebook (FB) and check out the PPBN Fan Page on FB!  We'd be honored to have you join us!

We are in for a great Spring/Summer season and I am so thrilled to share it all with you!  Thanks for stopping by my blog and please check in as often as you can or subscribe to my emails!  I can also be found on Pintrest, listed as Amy Courchaine (I believe -- same as my FB name).  If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask!

Thanks!
XO ~ Amy Jo