Lot of Bright Thanks — FMS139

Posted on June 4, 2014 by amyoneillblog

Happy Wednesday! This is the last week of school here, and we can almost taste summer vacation. Just a couple more days of those pesky finals for my high schooler and middle schooler, and a fun field day and end of the year party for my third grader. Woohoo! I love having the kids home for the summer!

Meanwhile, we have another great sketch for you this week over at Freshly Made Sketches. Out hostess is the always clever and creative Rita Wright. And she is giving us the opportunity to play with tags this week. I don’t know about you, but I love making tags.

My daughter needed a card for a beloved principal who will be moving to lead another IB (International Baccalaureate) school in Nicaragua this summer. She told me she wanted to write him a note, but didn’t know what to say because her heart was so full. It made me think of a sentiment in the Lots of Thanks stamp set.

Her favorite colors are yellow, orange and blue, so those are the colors I chose for the card. I stamped the sentiment on one of the Project Life Everyday Adventure cards. I cut it down a tad to make it more tag-size.

I punched the little stars with one of the new Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack punches and added some rhinestones. The dsp is from the Kaleidoscope dsp pack, which is retired now but I haven’t gotten my order of new stuff yet, so there you go. I also used the fun Arrows Embossing folder.

We hope you’ll join us and make your own card with the sketch this week. Hop on over to the Freshly Made Sketches site for some inspiration from the other designers.

Enjoy your Wednesday! Thanks for stopping by!

A Happy Day in Moonlight

Posted on June 2, 2014 by amyoneillblog

While I had my stack of the new Moonlight dsp out, I made another card with it, this time using the Starburst Sayings stamp set, which is continuing on to the new catalog. I also used some of the new in-colors — Hello, Honey and Lost Lagoon. Basic Gray is the other color used here.

This particular sheet of dsp reminds me of confetti, so I think it’s perfect for a birthday or celebratory card.

Enjoy your Monday! Thanks for stopping by!

Mixed Bunch of Moonlight

Posted on May 31, 2014 by amyoneillblog

Oh, boy! We’re getting really close to the release of the new catalog, and I am so ready! I’ve been working on my wish list (trying to get it to a “reasonable” level) so I’ll be ready to order Monday morning.

Meanwhile, I tried to distract myself with some new dsp from the Moonlight DSP stack, which demonstrators were able to pre-order. I stamped one of the flowers from the Mixed Bunch set with Blackberry Bliss ink and punched it out. Purple has always been the most challenging color for me, but I have promised myself that I will use this new in-color. You may have to hold me accountable.

The yellow on this card is another new in-color, Hello Honey. I know I will be using it a lot, as I think it is my favorite of the five new colors.

Enjoy your Saturday! Thanks for stopping by!

Project Life Graduation Card — FMS138

Posted on May 28, 2014 by amyoneillblog

Wednesday is here again! Boy, do they fly by! You’re in for a treat this week at Freshly Made Sketches. The super fabulous Jennifer Timko is our hostess this week and she has a versatile sketch for us.

When I first saw this sketch, I immediately thought of Project Life cards. That could be because they were sitting on my desk at the time, but I think the rounded corners and the size of them are just perfect for this sketch. I love how you can use them for more than just scrapbooking.

I needed another graduation card, so I punched out some little banners with the Banner punch and added some number stickers that come with the Everyday Adventure Project Life Accessory Pack. They fit on these little banners perfectly. I added some sequins to “tie” the banners together.

The “Yippee-Skippee” is from the Yippee-Skippee stamp set, and is really the only stamping on this card. The colors are Pear Pizzazz, Crushed Curry, Strawberry Slush, and Basic Black.

You should jump on over to the Freshly Made Sketches site for some inspiration from the design team. There is such a fabulous variety from the team this week, which shows just how versatile this sketch is and just how talented these ladies truly are.

Enjoy your Wednesday! Thanks for stopping by!

Too Kind for Watercoloring

Posted on May 27, 2014 by amyoneillblog

I pulled out my Too Kind stamp set yesterday and decided to play with a watercoloring technique. I took a piece of watercolor card stock and spritzed it with some water. I then inked up my stamps and spritzed them with a little water before stamping. It gives a blurry watercolored effect.

I then took my aquapainter and added a little bit of Soft Sky ink around the flowers. It’s very subtle.

I used a new in-color on this card. The base is Lost Lagoon. I think it’s such a pretty and unique color. The other colors are Strawberry Slush, Mossy Meadow (another new in-color), and Crushed Curry.

Enjoy your Tuesday! Thanks for stopping by!

Graduation Cards — Monday Montage #20

Posted on May 25, 2014 by amyoneillblog

We have another Monday Montage Blog Hop for you. There are nine of us participating, so just click on the buttons at the bottom of each post to work your way through.

I was in need of a couple of graduation cards. I like to personalize them a little bit by using school colors and the year of graduation. Since the only graduation-themed stamp that I have is a small stamp in the Blue Ribbon stamp set, I didn’t have to spend much time on deciding what to use.

I used several different punches on these cards — circles, banner, and a new star punch. The numbers are from the Typeset Alphabet Bigz dies, which are on the retiring list.

Both of these cards are for young men, so I wanted to keep them free of any buttons and frills. But I couldn’t help but use some rhinestones. Hopefully, that won’t appear girly to them.

Now you’re ready to jump on over to Breelin Renwick’s amazing blog. If you’d rather work your way backwards, you hop on over to Wendy Weixler’s blog to check our her creative project. Either way, work your way through all of the posts because you won’t want to miss any of it.

Enjoy your Sunday evening! Thanks for stopping by!

Congrats

Posted on May 24, 2014 by amyoneillblog

My older daughter had a big day yesterday. She received a great award at her school’s awards assembly in the morning, and then played Cinderella in her school’s Spanish production last night. These are not normal things for her (though she is very deserving of both), and as a middle child it is unusual for her to be in the spotlight like that. So I thought she deserved a special card (with some tickets to Mama Mia in it — the touring production will be in Dallas in a couple of weeks and she loves the music but has never seen the show).

I used some more My Paper Pumpkin goodies on this card. The “congrats” comes from a recent kit and is made of wood. I stamped my Versamark pad on it and covered it with white embossing powder. The little arrow stamps also came from another My Paper Pumpkin kit. The colors used are Bermuda Bay, Tangerine Tango, and So Saffron (some of her favorites).

Enjoy your Saturday! Thanks for stopping by!

A Paper Pumpkin for You

Posted on May 22, 2014 by amyoneillblog

I have really been loving some of the new photopolymer stamps that have been included in the My Paper Pumpkin kits this year. I used some of them to make this card, as well as some of the new in-color, Tangelo Twist. The other colors are Soft Sky and Pear Pizzazz. These are colors from the challenge over at Color Throwdown:

I also added just a little black in there and some splatters from Gorgeous Grunge.

The new ribbon ties beautifully — I love it! Here’s a closer view.

Enjoy your Thursday! Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Watercolored Birthday — FMS137

Posted on May 21, 2014 by amyoneillblog

It’s Wednesday again already! And that means we have another sketch for you over at Freshly Made Sketches, with the incredibly talented Jen Mitchell as our hostess. Look at what she has for us this week:

I decided to make a birthday card, and I’ve been wanting to use a faux watercoloring technique again that I tried a few weeks ago (you can see that post here), so I combined the two.

I started by embossing the sentiment from Countless Sayings 2 (one of the photopolymer sets) with clear embossing powder on Very Vanilla card stock. I used a sponge dauber and dragged some Bermuda Bay ink across the bottom, some Coastal Cabana ink on the middle, and some Pool Party ink on the top, blending a little each time. With a small wet paintbrush, I lightly touched the card stock, depositing little drops of water on it. Easy peasy!

We’d love to see what you do with the sketch! Head on over to the Freshly Made Sketches site for some inspiration from the design team, and then post your own creation in the gallery.

Enjoy your Wednesday! Thanks for stopping by!

Hello Layered Flower

Posted on May 19, 2014 by amyoneillblog

Here’s a quick and easy card for you today. I took a sheet from the Neutrals DSP Stack and embossed the sentiment from Four You (a go-to set for me) with Black Stampin’ Emboss Powder. I then stamped flowers from Flower Shop and Petite Petals on Strawberry Slush card stock, and punched them out with their coordinating punches.

I added a button and white baker’s twine, and called it a day. Sometimes when you only have fifteen minutes to stamp, you’ve got to make it quick and easy. That’s one of the things I love about punches.

Enjoy your Monday! Thanks for stopping by!