You are the best!

I am sharing a card inspired by the photo at Cure for the Monday Blues challenge.  I am squeezing this one in at the last minute, but I'm sure there will be another great piece of inspiration tomorrow!  This week's photo was so calming.  Full of blacks and whites and gray with some bursts of yellow.

Personally, I was drawn to the zebra and sign on the table.  I used that bit and came up with my card.

Thanks for sharing a minute of your day with me.

Amanda

Supplies

Stanps: PTI (All About You, Ombre), Stamps by Judith (Zebra)

Paper: PTI (White, Harvest Gold, Soft Stone)

Other: Momento Ink

Dream...

Today I am posting a card inspired by the Oscar Red Carpet Challenge at Runway Inspired Challenges.  I used this photo:

This is not my type of dress, at all.  But for some reason it spoke to me.  I really liked the softness of the fabric and pattern with the slight harshness of the black writing.  I got to work to make this:

I used this sheer fabric stuff I picked up in Germany a few years back for the background over Fine Linen cardstock and then cut a border from pale pink for the words.  Normally when I use this sheer fabric stuff on a card I pull it really tight, but the picture caused me to reconsider that approach.  

I hope you like it.

Amanda

Supplies:

Stamps: Serendipity (sentiments)

Dies: PTI (Medium Scallop Border)

Paper: PTI (Fine Linen), Stash (Pink)

Other: Momento Ink, Sheer Fabric

Easter for a boy

Easter is rapidly approaching and I have a few cards that need to be made.  Every year I have the same issue - Easter is such a girly holiday.  Now, I know it isn't really.  It's just that Easter things tend to have pastel colors and flowers and well, that just doesn't work too well for the boys I know.

Today I am sharing an Easter card for one of the boys in my life.  I used the sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch and the them "masculine" from Just Us Girls.

I wanted to keep it simple and stick with a traditional Easter theme without crossing the line to "girly" as the boys would say.

Here's the sketch:

I think the boy will like it.

Amanda

Supplies

Stamps: Northwoods Rubber Stamps (Basket)

Paper: PTI (Limeade Ice, White, New Leaf)

Other: Embossing Powder, Copics, Grass Trim, Colorbox Ink, Foam Mounting Tape

Easter in Plaid

Getting ready for spring here.  I am so ready for the sun to shine!  I was really excited to see cheeriness in the Fusion Challenge this week.  I loved the plaid bow tie so much.  I kept focusing on it.

Even sitting here now that is where my eye goes, straight for the plaid.  Given that I decided to finally try making my own plaid with alcohol inks.  It was so incredibly easy!  I made several in colors inspired by the colors in the photo, but I went with this soft one with lots of green and just a hint of blue and pink.  It felt the most Easter-y to me.  

I didn't want the plaid to get lost so a simple bunny seemed just about right.  And then I needed a little something more.  I remembered the challenge over at Winter Wonderland to tie a bow and thought it went perfectly with the plaid and the bow ties from the Fusion Photo.  Just girly enough.  

Thanks for looking.

Amanda

Supplies

Stamps: PTI (Sentiment), AIP's V.I.P.s (Bunny)

Paper: PTI (White), Glossy Cardstock

Other: Alcohol Ink, Copics, Ribbon, Momento Ink

Lots of Daisies

Today I am sharing a card inspired by the photo challenge at Just Us Girls Challenge this week.  

I love the St. Patrick's Day feel of it without the shamrocks and other regular St. Paddy's Day stuff.  I really liked the bold word and the daisies.  So I broke out gold stencil paste and made a background for the bold word happy to "hang" on.  

Once that was dry I attached my banner and stamped the sentiment using Brilliance ink which dried beautifully.  I was a bit worried I was going to have to start over, but it all worked out.  

Thanks for spending a minute of you day with me.

Amanda

Supplies

Stamps: PTI (Botanical Silhouettes), Stampin' Up (Sentiment)

Dies: PTI (Happy Banner)

Paper: PTI (White,Harvest Gold)

Other: Daisy Punches, Gold Stencil Paste, Brilliance Ink, Distress Ink

Be happy...

...it's contagious.  I love this sentiment!  As soon as I saw the picture at Cure For the Monday Blues this week I thought of it.  

It's such a happy picture.  So many things to look at and so many bits and pieces to choose from.  I zoomed in on the polka dots, the color yellow, and the slight imperfections in the pieces to come up with this.

These are the days when I am glad I don't get rid of stamps.  I'm not sure how old that flower stamp is but I know where I lived and how many kids I didn't have when I bought it so I know it's been around for awhile.  The imperfect scallop is actually a stamp that was stamped with a Marvy Matchable ink pad and had cut.

Thanks for sharing part of your day with me.  I'd love to know what you think.

Amanda

Supplies

Stamps: Stampin' Up (Flower), PTI (Polka Dot Basics, Ombre), Stamping Bella (sentiment)

Paper: PTI (White)

Other: Marvy Matchable Ink, Copics, Momento Ink

Easter Wishes

I really need to get started on Easter projects.  I know Easter is still more than a month away, but I am not a last minute kind of girl.  I also don't like to count on having any kind of inspiration at the last minute.  I already had Easter on my mind this week when I popped over to the "Just Us Girls" Challenge Blog.  The color combo this week seemed like a nice fit for Easter so away I went.

I really like the light colors with that splash of navy.  As color challenges aren't my favorite I hesitated, but I kept coming back to it and eventually came up with something I liked.  

I used Year of Flowers from Gina K.  I love those flowers!  Some of my favorites of all time.  And I used Puff Pink Embossing Powder to bring the tulips to life.  

Thanks for spending a minute of your day with me.

Amanda

Supplies:

Stamps: Gina K. Designs (Year of Flowers), PTI (Mega Mixed Messages)

Dies: PTI (Tiny Tags, Oval Shaker)

Paper: PTI (Fine Linen, Soft Stone,Enchanted Evening)

Other: Ranger (Distress Ink, Embossing Powder), Sizzix (Embossing  Folder), Ribbon

Papertrey February Blog Hop

Today is the day for the Papertrey Ink Blog Hop.  A beautiful photo to interpret.

I love the colors in this photo.  They remind me of tie dying shirts and my favorite color combos.  I took the opportunity to play with my Distress Inks and watercolor paper and while I made several beautiful backgrounds, the one that called my name today was a much softer version of the colors.  I had the idea of white butterfly so when I walked into the art room this morning to the now dry papers this is what came out.

Thanks for looking.

Amanda

Supplies:

Stamps: PTI (Think Big #3)

Dies: PTI (Beautiful Butterflies)

Paper: Watercolor paper, Stash (pale, pale pink), Glossy White

Other: Ranger Embossing Powder, Distress Ink

We love you

Today I am sharing a card inspired by the Cure the Monday Blues Challenge photo.

This was a difficult photo for me to work with, but eventually the various ideas produced something.  It was a long process!  I focused on the colors of the chair and used the board on the wall to create a Mother's Day card for a dear friend.  

The card is from the little people in my world.  

I hope you like it.

Amanda

Supplies:

Stamps: PTI (Tiny Treats: Valentine), Purple Onion (Alphabet), Northwoods Rubber Stamps (frame)

Dies: My Favorite Things (Fishtail)

Paper: PTI (Aqua Mist, Pure Poppy, Lemon Tart, White), Stash (orange, pink, purple)

Other: Copics, Enamel Dots, Brilliance Ink,  Momento Ink

Orange equals Halloween

I know I'm terribly off season, but that's how it goes.  The Fusion Challenge this week has a beautiful photo with orange, teal, and brown and they have a super cute sketch to boot!  I took the orange and brown and found a big ole happy jack-o-lantern to make a sweet little Halloween card.  That's two Fusion Challenges in row that led me to Halloween.  At this rate my Halloween cards (I only need a few) will be done before Easter!

Here is the inspiration:

And here's the result:

Thanks for taking a moment out of your day.

Amanda

Supplies:

Stamps: Stamps By Judith (Jack), PTI (Trick or Treat)

Paper: PTI (White, Dark Chocolate, Ripe Avocado Patterns)

Other: Momento Ink, Copics, Tape from the Stash

Out of this World!!

This is the last of my Papertrey Anniversary challenge entries. It has been a fun week over there, but now it is coming to an end.  This challenge was to create blue ombre in on your card.  I was undecided on my approach until it occurred to me to combine this with the this week's sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch.

I decided to pull out Boy Basics: Out of this World.  I know a few little people, and a few big people for that matter, who are really into space.  However, I went with the kid feel for the Winter Wonderland challenge this week.  Lots of Distress Ink later and we have this.

I considered going with a planet that looked like Earth, but I didn't trust my drawing skills to be able to pull that off!  

Let me know what you think.

Amanda

Supplies:

Stamps: PTI (Boy Basics: Out of this World)

Dies: PTI (Boy Basics: Out of this World)

Paper: PTI (White, Lemon Tart)

Other: Embossing Folder (Sizzix), Ranger (Distress Ink), Brilliance Lightening Black Ink, Copics

Silver and Gold

Another post today...playing catch up as the deadline for the Papertrey anniversary challenges is tomorrow.  This challenge is all about metals!  Create a card using only neutrals and metallics.  I chose to use both silver and gold.  I am also entering this in Christmas Stampin' All Year Anything Goes.  

I broke out Vintage Ornaments and the Additions to make this card.  I still love the shape and classic feel of these ornaments.

Thanks for taking a look.
Amanda

Supplies:
Stamps: PTI (Vintage Ornaments, Vintage Ornaments Additions, Tremendous Treats: Christmas)
Dies: PTI (Vintage Ornaments)
Paper: PTI (Rustic White), Stash (gold and silver)
Other: Embossing Powder (Stampendous), Embossing Folder (Sizzix)

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!  I am sharing a little gift for the hubby today.  One of the anniversary challenges at Papertrey this week was to make a gift bag with matching tag.  I made a pillow box for a bit of candy using Tiny Treats: Valentine.

I took all the cute little sayings that seemed appropriate and lined them up to decorate the pillow box and then used "i love you" and the Valentine's Day heart to finish off the tag.  It was wrapped with twine to ensure no little hands helped themselves to the candy.

Let me know what you think.
Amanda

Supplies:
Stamps: PTI (Tiny Treats: Valentine)
Dies: Sizzix (Pillow Box), PTI (Tiny Tags, Tremendous Tags)
Paper: PTI (Winter Wisteria, Raspberry Fizz)
Other: Ink (PTI - Raspberry Fizz, Versacolor Boysenberry), Divine Twine

A bouquet for you

The challenges continue at Papertrey.  Today I have a submission for the Build a Bouquet Challenge. 

It turns out I don't have many flower stamps from Papertrey.  And while I'm sure I could have used some from somewhere else it didn't seem right for the challenge.  Here I used flowers from some of the free stamps the company has given over the years.  

Thanks for taking a minute out of your day.

Amanda

Supplies:

Stamps: PTI (Ruby Reprise, Botanical Silhouettes, All About You, All About You Additions, Giga Guide Lines, Pretty Petals)

Dies: PTI (Limitless Layers 2 1/4" ovals, Tiny Tags), My Favorite Things (Fishtale Flags)

Paper: PTI (Ripe Avocado Patterns, Lemon Tart, Raspberry Fizz, Kraft, White)

Other: Ranger (Distress Ink), PTI (Raspberry Fizz Ink), Divine Twine, Cellophane bag

I love you

Another Valentine's Day Card today...This one is inspired by the photo inspiration over at Fusion Card Challenge.  I loved the wood and heart elements in that photo with just a hint of pink.  

That's my kind of Valentine and when there are tween boys on your list of people to make cards for...it's a great combination.  So I broke out Background Basics: Farm and Barn to get a the wooden wall for the "graffiti" heart.  

Then I used a paintbrush and glue to paint the heart on the "wall" embossed it and added and arrow to get the message across.  

Thanks for looking and hope to hear from you.

Amanda

Supplies:

Stamps: PTI (Background Basics: Farm and Barn, Tiny Treats: Valentine), 

Paper: PTI (Fine Linen)

Die: MFT (Banners)

Ink: Distress, Versamark, Brilliance