Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Crafting with Kids

Since I started blogging my crafting accomplishments in February, I have been doing a lot more crafting, and finishing many more projects. It feels great to be using my supplies. I feel more like a crafter now, versus a collector...or heaven forbid....A HOARDER!!!! Well, with more crafting means I spend more time in my craft room, which also means the kids want to be in there with me too. It can at times be a little crazy, to say the least. The kids love to look at all my stamps, inks, ribbon etc. Sometimes it looks as if a tornado hit the room after we are ALL finished with it. Most of the time our craft room adventures end with me yelling at the kids and banning them from the room.

Finally I wised up.....
Tip of the Day: Don't fight your kids need to be with you, embrace it. When you are crafting, encourage your children to craft with you. I set a TV tray/"craft desk" for my daughter right next to mine, so she could work on projects too while I am working on mine. We set specific rules for using my materials (ie. one stamp set and ink at a time, clean stamps after each use and put back materials before getting out new [that's one rule I need to learn to follow]. It has been great, and we really enjoy our crafting time. I have also found that because I have allowed her to craft with me using some of my "special" materials, there isn't as big of a desire to get in and use what is forbidden. Granted there a still some crazy times, but far less than before. Note the craziness occurring right in the background of the below picture as her little bro tries to get into supplies on my other table. Looks like we need to bring in his blocks or Lego's. Here is an example of a little project she worked on to give to her cousins for Easter. We started with a carton of Whoppers.

I stamped the cute rabbit figures from the CTMH Sensational stamp set to create an Easter scene, mounted it on some card stock and scored fold lines to place around the carton. My daughter loved coloring the intricate stamp images. It was better than a coloring book.

We glued them around the carton added a handle and some crinkled up paper. They made perfect little gifts for her cousins. She was proud to give them.


~Amy

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Bunny Hop

"Here Comes Peter Cotton Tail....hoppin' down the bunny trail....." Couldn't help but use the Peter Rabbit Stamp from the CTMH "Sensational" stamp set for my Easter cards this year. He is just so cute...I just love his little pink nose. Hope Mr. McGregor isn't around to chase this little fellow away.

CTMH Materials used; Papers-Lilac Mist, Sweetleaf, Sweet Pea Gingham, Stamp Sets; Sensational, Happy Easter and Serendipity, Used the watercolor pen to color in "Peter" with Chocolate, Baby Pink, Lilac Mist and Sweetleaf. White Grosgrain Ribbon.

Check out the Heart 2 Heart Bunny Hop starting Monday, April 18th at http://heart2heartchallenges.blogspot.com/ for more great Easter artwork.

~Amy

Friday, April 15, 2011

Lindy's Linky Party

My friend and Fabulously Artsy CTMH consultant, Tresa Black, is on the Lindy's Stamp Gang design team (http://www.fabulouslyartsy.com/). This week they are having a "linky party" and I decided to join in. I have never use their products before, so this is a first for me, and I have to say spraying and dying can be pretty addicting. Check out my creation below. I used CTMH Colors Desert Sand, Chocolate and Sorbet, along with Lindy's Stamp Gang Starburst Spray Cocklebells Coral (sprayed background on card and sprayed flowers). The picture above does not show how pretty and colorful the spray is, but this closer picture shows the pretty shimmer the spray left on the flowers.
~Amy

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Going Green

This week the Heart 2 Heart Challenge (http://heart2heartchallenges.blogspot.com/) was to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. I decided to take advantage of this cute little "purse" box I received as a promotional from Pampers. I know, its a cute box on its own, but I was happy to re-decorate it into a cute birthday box. Here's the purse before. No one wants to receive a gift with a Pamper's add on the inside.
Using the paper from the "Sweetheart" paper pack, primarily Tulip and Hollyhock and the "Treasures" flower stamp set I was able to reuse this cute little box.

No more Pamper's ad, instead a birthday greeting.
Cute insert tab to write a personal birthday message.
I am excited to use this fun box and am glad H2H inspired me to create it this week. I could get use to this whole going green thing....maybe I'll try something else this week. I'll keep my eyes open for inspiration.


~Amy

Sunday, April 10, 2011

April Showers Bring May Flowers

Every May our beautiful Hawthorne tree blooms and brightens up the corner of our yard with it's bright pink blooms. It is one of my favorite trees, so I wanted to create a layout that showcased it, along with my daughter playing in the yard. Lately I have been using the Silhouette Paper pack for cards and thought the floral paper would work well for a spring lay out, I used the neutral B&T papers-minus the black accents, as well as the Sorbet, Creme Brulee and Juniper accents from the Botanical Die Cuts Kit. I plan to add some journaling to the right of the blossom title, once I get a a brown archival pen to write with.
This layout was copied from the Sophia Workshop on the Go Kit. Does it look familiar?
The Botanical Die Cut added just the right splash of color to this layout.
Where did my B&T Paper with Sorbet Stripes come from? Check it out. The black stripes were a little too much for this soft layout, but I wanted some stripes, so I covered the black with floral B&T.
Then added small strips of sorbet B&T to finish the look. What an easy and simple way to change the look of your paper to fit your layout.
We are looking forward to May, are hopeful all this rain will help our pretty Hawthorne bloom again soon.


Check out more April Shower and May Flower projects on the Heart to Heart Challenge Page. http://heart2heartchallenges.blogspot.com/


~Amy

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Heart 2 Heart Top 10

I was so happy to learn I one of my projects was featured on the CTMH challenge page for the month of March. Below is a picture of one of the shadow boxes I entered in the home decor challenge week. I was pleased with it and was thrilled the H2H team liked it as well. Check out the complete entry at the following link. http://mnmscrapbooking.blogspot.com/2011/03/baby-shower-gifts.html

Although, I really can't take complete credit for it. I was inspired very much by the altered clipboard I made at Creative University. Thanks Denise Anderson Turley for the inspiration and for teaching me to make this awesome piece of artwork at CU. I am sure you can see the similarities.

Make sure you check out all the top 10 by clicking on the badge at the lower right hand side of my blog.

Thanks again H2H!!

~Amy