A Double Dose of Lovely Romance

Posted on August 6, 2013 by amyoneillblog

I have two cards for you today that I made for the Convention display boards using the Lovely Romance stamp set and the coordinating Venetian Romance suite.

With this first card, I made a 6-1/2″ x 3-1/4″ card. I stamped two of the medallion images repeatedly with Versamark ink and then embossed them with clear embossing powder. I added one of my favorite dsp patterns from this suite, and added some ribbon, Island Indigo card stock, and paper piercing, as well as a Pistachio Pudding Boutique Detail. The sentiment is from Loving Thoughts.

With this next card, I used the Viola’s Lace wheel to stamp on the card base. I then layered on some of the Victoria 5/8″ Crochet Trim and Pistachio Pudding 3/8″ Ruffle Stretch Trim. I did some fussy cutting with the stamped images and added some embellishments, and called it a day.

Enjoy your Tuesday! Thanks for stopping by!

My Favorite Scrapbook Page

Posted on August 5, 2013 by amyoneillblog

Of all the scrapbook pages I made for the convention display boards, I think this one is my favorite. I don’t know if it’s because I really liked the layout and products on this page or if it’s because this is one of my favorite pictures of my littlest one.

I decided to embrace the bold patterns in the dsp and let them be the star of the page, so I used a Crumb Cake background and three of the more subtle patterns in the dsp package for the accents. I cut lots of different sized and different patterned banners and placed them all under a strip of neutral dsp.

Then I looped some of the Natural 7/16″ Trim on the dsp and used my sewing machine to hold it down. I then added some buttons and In-Color Boutique Details as embellishments.

For the page title, I used one of the Apothecary Accents dies to cut the dsp and then placed little Pearl Basic Jewels around it. I used the fun Remember This and That Rotary
Stamp for the date.

Enjoy your Monday! Thanks for stopping by! Come back tomorrow for two more Lovely Romance projects.

It’s Lovely Romance Week

Posted on August 4, 2013 by amyoneillblog

In addition to the three stamp sets that all convention attendees received, the convention display stampers were also given one of the product suites with which to make several other projects. We all received different suites, and we didn’t get to choose — it was a surprise. When I opened my box and saw what my suite was, my first reaction was, “uh-oh.” Not only was it a vintage-type suite, but it has some pretty wild patterns in the coordinating package of Venetian Romance dsp, and I don’t usually do wild patterns and vintage is always a struggle for me.

But the more I worked with this suite, the more I grew to like it. It does have some wild dsp patterns, but it also has some really pretty, subtle patterns. And I love the colors in this suite. Plus, the stamps are so detailed and beautiful.

With this card, I stamped the little medallion stamp with Versamark ink repeatedly, and then embossed with clear embossing powder. I love the look of clear embossing on Very Vanilla. I wanted a subtle background behind the bold banner strips. The focal image stamp coordinates with one of the dies in the Chalk Talk framelits set. I added some of the luscious Crisp Cantaloupe 3/8″ Ruffle Stretch Trim, and some pearls and lace.

Blog Candy Winner

I truly enjoyed reading every one of the 122 comments left for the blog candy. It was very uplifting to read all of the kind words and encouragement. I used Random.org to generate a random number to select the winner.

Missy Smith says:

July 29, 2013 at 11:04 AM (Edit)

Happy bogaverary! I am SO HAPPY that you decided to have a blog because I absolutely love it! You are such an inspiration! Your work is AWESOME! And just to think you didn’t think anyone would visit is so CRAZY! I subscribed to your blog the moment I found you and I haven’t been disappointed yet! You are so talented and we need to see your creativity daily!!!! Thank you so much for sharing it all with us! It puts a smile on my face each day! I can’t wait to see what the next year brings! Again thank you for all you do and for the chance to win an awesome giveaway! Good luck to all!

Congratulations, Missy! Please email me with your mailing address (click on the “email me” widget on the right sidebar), and I will get your prize out to you right away.

Enjoy your Sunday, and come back tomorrow and I’ll have another Lovely Romance project for you. Thanks for stopping by!

End of Gorgeous Grunge Week

Posted on August 3, 2013 by amyoneillblog

Today is my last day of Gorgeous Grunge week. I have one more project from my work on the convention display boards to share with you. It’s actually a 3-d item, which started out as an unfinished wood frame, and it contains a picture of my youngest.

I started by applying three coats of gesso to the wood with a paintbrush. I then mixed several drops of Pool Party re-inker and rubbing alcohol in a Stampin’ Spritzer, and spritzed the frame until it was the shade of blue I liked. After that was dry, I stamped the Gorgeous Grunge stamps directly on the frame. Here’s a closer look at the stamping:

The flowers were super easy. I just punched some of the This and That Epic Day dsp with the Fancy Flower punch, and then crumpled them up. I then added other punches to layer on, finishing with the Very Vintage Designer Buttons. I just cut the leaves out by hand.

I was really pleased with how the stamping looked on the frame. The gesso gave it a nice base, and since the stamps have a grunge look, the stamping didn’t need to be perfect.

Well, I hope you all have enjoyed the Gorgeous Grunge week. It’s definitely not my normal style of stamping — I’m a Clean and Simple girl at heart. However, I do think it’s fun to mix it up every once and a while, and I do think the two styles can be used together.

Enjoy your Saturday! Come back tomorrow, and I’ll be starting another theme week. This one will feature the Lovely Romance stamp set and the Venetian Romance suite of products. Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Birthday — Grunge Style

Posted on August 2, 2013 by amyoneillblog

Here’s another Gorgeous Grunge card I made for the Convention display boards. On the Island Indigo card base, I stamped the “skid mark” stamp using Versamark ink, and then I used a couple of the splatter stamps with Whisper White Craft ink.

I used the Happy Birthday sentiment from Bring on the Cake, and just stamped it repeatedly down the white panel using Pool Party ink. Strawberry Slush is the other accent color used on this card.

Enjoy your Friday! Come back tomorrow for one last Gorgeous Grunge sample. Starting on Sunday, I’ll move on to another stamp set, so if you’re tired of Gorgeous Grunge, hang in there — just one more day. Thanks for stopping by!

Sparkly Grunge

Posted on August 1, 2013 by amyoneillblog

When I was making my display board samples for convention, I tried to think of some creative ways to use the stamps. When I was looking through my box of embossing powders I came across my jar of Iridescent Ice Stampin’ Emboss Powder, and I knew that I wanted to use it with the Gorgeous Grunge set. I haven’t used this embossing powder in a long time and I’m not sure why that is. I’ll definitely be using it again soon.

I stamped the white base with Versamark ink using the “skid-mark” stamp in the set, and then embossed it with the Iridescent Ice embossing powder. It is hard to photograph sparkle, but it really does provide a sparkly, cool effect in real life. The effect really isn’t grungey at all — I think it is pretty and glittery.

Enjoy your Thursday and be sure to come back tomorrow for another Gorgeous Grunge project. Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies Used:
Stamps: Gorgeous Grunge, Make a Wish
Ink: Coastal Cabana, Pumpkin Pie
Paper: Coastal Cabana, Strawberry Slush, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White, In Color dsp stack
Embellishments: Iridescent Ice Stampin’ Emboss Powder, Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch, Vintage Faceted Designer Buttons, White Baker’s Twine, Apothecary Accents framelits

Grunge and Hexagons — FMS97

Posted on July 31, 2013 by amyoneillblog

It’s Wednesday and that means it’s time for another sketch challenge at Freshly Made Sketches, and the super talented, Artisan Award Winning, Jennifer Timko has a fun sketch for us.

In keeping with the Gorgeous Grunge theme this week, I used that stamp set and the Six-Sided Sampler set (the hexagon set). I was slow in getting this set, but now that I have it, I’m having a hard time not using it all of the time.

I’m not sure why, but I’ve had a hard time using the Modern Medley dsp. At convention, it seemed like all of the stamping demonstrations included this dsp — everyone raved about it. So I’m determined to give it a fair shake and use it. And I must say, that I like it on this card. I like it with the softer colors.

I hope you’ll join us in this sketch challenge at Freshly Made Sketches. You can see what the other designers made here. Come back tomorrow and I’ll have another Gorgeous Grunge project for you.

Enjoy your Wednesday! Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies Used:
Stamps: Gorgeous Grunge, Six-Sided Sampler
Ink: So Saffron, Pear Pizzazz, Coastal Cabana, Calypso Coral, Basic Black
Paper: So Saffron, Pear Pizzazz, Coastal Cabana, Crisp Cantaloupe, Very Vanilla, Modern Medley dsp
Embellishments: Honeycomb embossing folder, Hexagon punch, Basic Rhinestone Jewels (colored with a black Sharpie), staple

A Gorgeous Grunge Scrapbook Page

Posted on July 30, 2013 by amyoneillblog

I don’t show scrapbook pages very often (mainly because I don’t make them very often anymore :)). I made this page for the Convention display boards, and used the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set and a couple of others. I used the This and That Epic Day dsp, which is a perfect dsp to use with the Gorgeous Grunge set — it looks like they were made for each other.

I also used the That’s the Ticket stamp set and coordinating punch for an accent. The large glimmer paper letters are from the Typeset Alphabet Bigz dies, and the alphabet which runs down the side is from the Designer Typeset Photopolymer stamp set.

Here’s a closer look at the Gorgeous Grunge set in action in the bottom corner. It also shows the very fun Remember This and That Rotary Stamp, which I think is a must-have for any scrapbooker.

I have been very touched by all of the kind comments I received yesterday. Thank you! If you missed it, I am giving away some blog candy to celebrate my first year anniversary of blogging. See yesterday’s post for a chance to win.

Enjoy your Tuesday! Come back tomorrow and I’ll have another Gorgeous Grunge card for the new Freshly Made Sketches challenge. Thanks for stopping by!

One Year Anniversary and Blog Candy

Posted on July 29, 2013 by amyoneillblog

Today marks the one year anniversary of this blog. I don’t know why it took me so long to start one, but it’s hard to believe a whole year has gone by. One of the reasons I drug my feet a little was that I thought no one would come visit my blog. There are so many talented stampers out there that have been blogging for a long time and I didn’t think anybody really needed one more. Well, boy have I been surprised!

Since I’m a numbers person (I was a CPA before kids), I thought I’d share some numbers with you:

325 posts
278,00 views
626 blog subscribers

What I can’t count are the number of supportive, encouraging, and kind comments I’ve received over the past year. I have truly been amazed and honored to receive all of them.

I thought that a first anniversary deserves some blog candy, don’t you? If you are a U.S. resident, please leave a comment at the end of this post and I’ll randomly select a winner to post on Saturday. You must comment on THIS post, and it must be left by Saturday, August 3rd at 6 p.m. CST to be eligible to win. Here is what will be included in the blog candy:

The blog candy includes two rolls of Gingham Garden washi tape, a packet of Bakers’ Twine, Hung Up Cute Clips, a packet of Rhinestone Basic Jewels, and a Print Poetry dsp stack. Come back on Sunday to see if you’ve won. The winner will need to send me her/his address so I can mail the blog candy.

Well, if you’re still with me, I do have another Gorgeous Grunge card to share today. As I mentioned yesterday, I’ll be featuring this stamp set all week.

I added a strip of Island Indigo card stock, which was embossed with the chevron embossing folder to the side. I embossed the sentiment from Sweet Essentials with Pewter Stampin’ Emboss powder, and added some Rhinestone Basic Jewels to a couple of Vintage Faceted Designer Buttons.

I’ll be back tomorrow with another Gorgeous Grunge project. Enjoy your Monday! Thanks for stopping by!

Gorgeous Grunge Week

Posted on July 28, 2013 by amyoneillblog

I thought it might be fun to feature one stamp set for the whole week, showing different projects made with this stamp set. I’m hoping this will show how versatile some stamp sets truly are. I thought I’d start with the Gorgeous Grunge set.

This is a card I made for the Convention display boards. I used the Designer Typeset Photopolymer set for the speech bubble and sentiment. The multi-colored stripes were stamped twice with the stripes stamp in the Gorgeous Grunge set and were colored with markers. I used my 2-Way Glue Pen and some Dazzling Diamonds to add a little sparkle to the splatters.

One of the things that I love about this stamp set is that you can’t really mess up. If you don’t stamp something straight, it doesn’t matter. Another thing I love about this set is that there is a great assortment of splatters and messy stripes.

Gorgeous Grunge

Item # 130517 (clear) $17.95
Item # 130514 (wood) $24.95

Come back tomorrow for a chance to win some blog candy as I mark my first anniversary of blogging. I’ll have another Gorgeous Grunge project to share as well.

Enjoy your Sunday! Thanks for stopping by!