Flowers make me happy

Since March, I've been making these. They make me happy because they are pretty and are a form of Art Therapy for me. They are portable - so when I need to de-stress and relax my mind, they are the perfect thing to make.

Another bonus - they make great gifts. This particular one was for a very special Physician's Assistant. I've actually given away most of what I made, but my hope is to get my Etsy store chocked full of them :) Not giving up on my plan yet!

Make things that make you smile!

Gratitude

The only people with whom you should try to get even are those who have helped you.  

~John E. Southard

 For some very special people working 11 North at UMH.

You don't always have to make a card or gift to say "Thank You", but I believe taking a minute to find a way to acknowledge someone's kindness is always the right thing to do - its impact can mean more than you know.  A note is often enough, and more than most people end up doing.  Make someone smile.  :)

Halloween and ATC's

As promised, I'm posting pictures of my finished ATCs. (It's a miracle!) I love how they turned out, but am still struggling a little with feeling like they look too plain, but since I ended up making them in the wrong order, there's not much I can do. I started them at the store, but probably should have waited and started at home where I could have done my stamping and sewing first. But, if you've ever taken a class of mine and know my cheesy saying: "there's no such thing as mistakes in art, only happy accidents", I guess it wasn't really "wrong". :) The biggest happy accident was doing my embossing *after* adhering my sequin strip. It definitely needed an embossed image close the the ribbons on the bottom, but the heat gun melted the sequins a bit. It actually gave it even more texture, as the sequins curled up a bit.

I'm really excited about doing ATCs. I've been doing so much with fabric lately, and I've neglected my paper stash. Doing the ATCs will allow me to use the things in my stash I have lots of - you know, how you buy a whole box of chipboard embellishments just for one card? Finally all my repetitive supplies will be put to good use. AND, it's a good reason to break out my stamps and embossing supplies. I get a little lazy about stamping (even though I love it) because I make one card at a time - I don't want to break out the stamp binders, inks, blocks and embossing goodies just to stamp one "Happy Birthday" sentiment and image. Now, ATCs are the perfect reason to bust out the stamps.

Also, just in time for Halloween, Gine found my Halloween cards I made last year for a class I didn't end up teaching. Perfect! Halloween cards = Done! Still love these cute images. (They're a little "cutsy" for me, but I like "cutsy" for Halloween)



I've got lots to catch up on for the blog - more posts to come.

Happy Halloween Y'all!

Finally Joining the ATC Club!

I know, I know - an actual post! Thanks to Mindy for pointing out that I could actually download the Blogger app for my iTouch and blog live from the Niche!

So, the girls talked me into it & I'm going to join the ATC Club! I confess, I've never actually made an ATC before! But I am going for it tonight & am happy with my "base". I'll post a picture of the completed ones.

Hope everyone is doing well! :)

Finally Croppin'!

I'm blogging LIVE from the Paper Niche tonight! Haha - seriously, I'm so happy to be working on some cards and hanging with girls. What it always funny to me is seeing how little I actually get done at a crop - I spend much more time talking then scrapping (some things never change). My goal tonight is small - two cards. I'll let you know if I actually get them done!

Life has been pretty crazy and my blog is very neglected, but I'm hoping this little blog post will jump start me. Lately, I've been making fabric flowers - pins and hairclips. Making them has been very healing - i'll post some pics as soon as I can figure out how to do so from my new iTouch (seriously love that thing!)

I have big plans to do a lot more with these, so stay tuned!

Hope all is well with everyone!

Sometimes, It Takes a Little Nudge...

October 13th?!?!? That was my last blog post?!?! Man, I'm horrible about keeping up with my blog posts, but I'm still determined to do better. I had been thinking about it, but putting it off and putting it off. Then, I got a little "nudge" from Jean to provide an update. Just when I thought nobody read this thing, out of nowhere, I'm reminded someone does. Thanks, Jean, for the little nudge. :)

Since my last post, my two big events were the Honeymoon Cruise we finally took and the Seaside Soiree event I went to in San Diego.

Our cruise was great! Scott and I had such a great time! The western Caribbean was still quite hot in the end of October - that would be the only thing I would have changed. It may have been 2.5 years after our wedding, but at least we got to take our Honeymoon at some time! I'm telling you - cruising is the way to go. We didn't have to think about anything!

Roaton, Honduras

A rainbow in Roatan leaving port.

A very cool door on a side of a building in Grand Cayman

Me holding a turtle in Grand Cayman

The beautiful waters of Grand Cayman

Us :)

We played chess onboard - nice and peaceful!

In early December, I was fortunate enough to be able to fly to San Diego for the Charity Wings Seaside Soiree event. It was such a blast! It was actually held in gorgeous Oceanside, CA, just north of San Diego. I met so many wonderful women, made new friends and got quite inky and painty. It doesn't get any better than that. Here are just a few pictures - there are more to come.

Michelle and her clutch/turned iPad bag during Alisa Burke's class.

The canvas that will soon be my clutch.

Elena, my Roomie Rachel and Me at dinner

Two of my Roomies - Carmen and Rachel

Me and my mermaid scarf and necklaces!

The view from the event room - gorgeous the entire weekend!

The beginning of an mixed media piece - wait till it's done!

This cutie pa-tootie is Lauren - it was so great to meet her. She works so hard for Charity Wings.

Remind me to tell you what this Modge Podge Magic is!

Me and Bev with inky hands - so glad I she got stuck with me for the weekend!

This is the only art I was doing for weeks leading up to the event - I made 36 of these tote bags for the attendees.

There will be more to come, but wanted to get a post done sooner rather than later. :)

I hope everyone is having the most wonderful holiday season - may you all be blessed with love and laughter!

Talk to you SOON!

~Amy

A New Chapter, A New Look

Anyone who knows me well knows that I refer to the changes in my life as "another chapter" in my book of life. I try to be positive about change, although I have moments when it scares me. Right now, I'm going through another BIG period of change and I feel so good about the next chapter. Instead of being apprehensive, I want to focus on what I'm loving about life right now:

• 2 1/2 years after our wedding, we're finally going on our honeymoon! In less then two weeks, I'll be MIA for 7 days and we'll be cruising, baby!
• Lots of Babies are being brought into this world by my friends and family right now and I'm beyond honored to be a new Godmother and soon-to-be Aunt.
• I'm spending more time than ever with my wonderful husband and am loving where we are at.
  
• I am the new Volunteer Coordinator for a fabulous charitable organization - Charity Wings (formerly known as Scrapbook Royalty). Look for information about them all over the new blog. I'm so honored to be part of this great cause. I'm also thrilled to get to know the amazing founder of Charity Wings, Elena. (This Princess Rocks!)
  
• I've been spending time with my friends and am loving their company - time with friends is by far one of the most powerful healing tools!
• I'm going to start selling one of the most awesome lines of stamps out there - {Ippity} by Unity. If you love Unity Stamps (who doesn't!?!?), you'll love {Ippity} Stamps. I'll be posting all kinds of projects using the stamps and can't wait to dig in and start creating with them.
  
• Tis the season for all things pumpkin and a pumpkin cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory made it's way to my house. (Pumpkin....mmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!)
• For the first time in many, many years I'll be making holiday presents and cards.
• I get to go to this fabulous retreat in December - the Seaside Soiree being held in Cali.
• I was offered a creative side job (more like a one-time assignment) and have the time to say "YES!"
• I actually made necklaces this weekend - jewelry - I thought I forgot how!
• I'm taking the time to PLAY with my doggies - not just let them out, feed them, say hi and move along with whatever I have to be doing - time to pet them and show them love.
• The weather in SoFL is a smidgey cooler - not a ton, but enough to take the edge off. My sunroof was open this weekend!

Just a few things to be grateful for, but there's more on the horizon. :)

So......with a New Chapter comes a new look! I hired the fabulous Leah to create a custom blog banner for me and she nailed it! She's knows I love all things Jenni Bowlin and my fav color combination is red & turquoise. Plus - this design is just a *tad* on the vintage side - not *too* much - just the right amount. Check out her digi work here - the girl has mad skillz!

I also added lots of information about Charity Wings and {Ippity} and each has a dedicated page on top of the blog. I still have to load all the {Ippity} stamps I have for sale, but I'm working on it.

I still have to update my reading list, but that's probably enough excitement for one night, right? Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some serious blogging to catch up on!

Thanks for all the love. :)
~Amy

Art Saves and Scrapbook Royalty

I LOVE my Stampington Magazines. Most are more like books than magazines, and are filled with so much inspiration. When I was traveling nearly every week, reading them on the plane

was one of the only things I could do to still feel connected to art. I’d have a journal with me and jot down ideas and draw sketches (someday I’m going to try my hand at a real art journal!) In reading them, I became familiar with the then Editor, Jenny Doh. She now is the Founder and President of CRESCENDOh – “a special locale where we share inspired stories, shop for totally hot products and help those in need”. Check out the site here.

Be sure to read all about Art Saves. All the proceeds from the Art Saves initiative are donated to the following charities:

• Life Through Art Foundation www.ltaf.org
• Graceworks www.graceworkshopenet.org
• A Place to Bark www.aplacetobark.com
• Scrapbook Royalty www.scrapbookroyalty.com

Here’s more about Crescendoh:

GOALS

• CRESCENDOh actualizes its mission and values by creating an online presence where:
• Like-minded creatives gather to shine light on the best projects and ideas from the online world. In doing so, CRESCENDOh builds an organic, home-grown development of increased visits to CRESCENDOh, resulting in a mutual home-grown development of increased visits to its linked sites.
  
• In addition to the links to projects and ideas, CRESCENDOh helps tell unique and heartfelt ART SAVES stories from successful artists who serve as Guest Curators throughout the year. Through these stories, an organic and home-grown development of organizations born out of the stories grow. Reader-submitted stories about ART SAVES are also collected and shared, to help the CRESCENDOh community learn about the global power of art.
• The concept ART SAVES is carried out further through exclusive ART SAVES merchandise sold in the shop. These items are created with original work by artists, and 100 percent of proceeds go to CRESCENDOh's charities of choice.
• All other facets of CRESCENDOh.com — CRESCENDOhTV, In the Know, Book Reviews, Readers Share, That's Totally hot! Product Reviews, and Proof Positive are all built to align and enhance the mission, values, and goals of CRESCENDOh.

Awesome, right?

Check out these amazing Art Saves stamps found here:

They were created by:

• Tim Holtz
• Michelle Ward
• Claudine Hellmuth
• Danita
• Lisa Engelbrecht
• Hope Wallace
• Pam Garrison
• Christine Mason Miller
• Traci Bautista

So many projects with these are calling my name. And best of all – all the proceeds for them went to charity!

I also just joined Scrapbook Royalty, and beginning in September, will be actively participating in their Club Royalty.

Here’s a little more information about the club:

It's all about Charity, Crafting and Sharing and how we can use our love of Creativity to tie them all together!

What is Club Royalty?

This is a club just for Charitable Crafters! And you get to chose how involved you want to be. Here is how it works:

Charity
Each 3 month cycle we will give you 3 Charitable Acts to do- one each month. The tasks will vary and can be something like:
Taking blankets to a homeless shelter
Making handmade cards for the troops overseas
Taking flowers to a nursing home to cheer up their lobby

Crafting
You can stop there and feel great about giving of yourself once a month or take photos or journal about your experience then create something to document your charitable act.
It can be:
A Scrapbook Page, Quilt, Video, Collage, Painting, Book, Doll, Skies the Limit!

Sharing
Creating is so therapeutic and for some people, it is just for them but if you want to share you can upload a photo of your creation to our gallery and each cycle we will have lots of special gifts to giveaway from the amazing manufacturers, artists, and scrapbook stores that support Scrapbook Royalty! We will randomly choose as many winners as we can!

There will be lots of other perks.

• We will have special manufacturer discounts just for members
• Special video tutorials from amazing artists sharing their charitable acts and their creations.
• An online forum on the SBR website just for Club Royalty members to connect, share their stories and encourage each other's volunteer efforts.
• And other special bonuses throughout the year. This club is bound to grow and you know we will keep adding more perks as it does!
• The cost to join is just a small $20 donation per cycle. There is no commitment, there are no requirements. You can do as little or as much as you want. If you just want to donate $20 per cycle we are grateful for that too!

I just love all this – art for a purpose – helping others – bring the healing power of art to people’s lives. I try to do my part, but like many of us, get so caught up in the drama of our own lives. Recently, I’m trying to immerse myself in positive efforts like this so that I can enjoy one of the best things about art – sharing it with others. I can’t imagine a better combination – creating art and doing it for a good cause.

I’m determined to make these efforts a part of my life. If anyone is interested in participating in any of these events with me, please drop me a line and we’ll get together.

Have a great week!

Thank Yous

A few "Thank You!!"s to pass out:

Thanks to the fabulous ladies who took my Ribbon Flower classes at The Paper Niche. For those of you I met for the first time - it was a pleasure to meet you! To those friends I was able to see again - it was great to see you!

Isn't this the most beautiful tag? I saw my friend Dear Lizzy making these and have shamefully oogled over them for several weeks now - she's very talented and makes these (and many other beautiful goodies) for swaps. Last weekend, I saw she had an extra one, shamefully oogled some more, and she took enough pity on me to give me one. I'm so honored to have A Lizzy Original - Thank you, Dear!

August Class at the Paper Niche

Hello all! Still trying to get caught up after a week away, but going to CHA was worth it! I'm so grateful for the opportunity - it was an amazing experience. I still haven't uploaded all my pictures, but Gine has some great ones on her blog and you can check them out.

Here is the information for my August class at the Paper Niche. Come and join me - these ribbon flowers are seriously addicting!

Ribbon Flowers with Amy $20
Thursday, August 5th 6pm - 8pm
and
Saturday, August 21st 10am - Noon


Handmade flowers are all the rage right now, and this class teaches you how to make 3 different variations. These flowers make great embellishments for pages, cards, altered projects and even clothing! You will use the flowers to cover this adorable Maya Road album in class.

Supplies: Please bring your basic tool kit, Wet adhesive (Zip Dry is recommended)
White or cream acrylic paint

M & O

My husband's birthday was this past Saturday, and I always try to make him something as a gift. This year, I made him an mini-album all about our wonderful dogs Maggie and Oliver. I used the super-cute Max and Whiskers line I got at the Paper Niche. I love how it turned out - it's easy to create an album with such cute subjects.

I'm going to miss them all while i'm away at CHA this week. I'm so excited to see the Mother Ship of crafting events, but am worried about Ollie - he has pneumonia and is at the puppy hospital. I know he's being well taken care of and he'll be fine, but the poor little guy just isn't feeling well :(

While we're away, we'll be sending pictures and updates for the Paper Niche Blog - follow Tammy, Gine and myself at CHA and get sneak peaks of all the fabulous new products.

Also, check out this awesome blinkie made by Leah. Head on over to the Paper Niche blog and grab one for yourself! (and an extra thanks to Leah for making me a special "I coordinate" blinkie!!!)

Be back soon!

A New Adventure

Hello all! I've been a horrible blogger lately - where has the time gone?

I'm so excited to share my next adventure - today is the "official" start of my new job - being the Class/Crop/Events Coordinator at the Paper Niche! I couldn't be happier - being able to coordinate bringing art into people's lives - it's a great fit. Additionally, this will allow me to go

back to teaching - I have so many class ideas bubbling in my brain - if only there were time for them all. I'll be working many of the crops on Friday and Saturday nights, so come and hang out with me. :)

Stay tunned for great projects and classes coming from the talented ladies of the Paper Niche!

10089 Cleary Boulevard
Plantation, Florida 33324
Tel: 954-577-0999

www.paperniche.com

http://paperniche.blogspot.com

Art for ME!

So, I'm sure this sounds like a selfish blog title, but that's not how I mean it. :) Between teaching classes and making art for gifts, I rarely keep what I make. Don't get me wrong - I love making art to share - it's like giving a piece of my heart! But I was ecstatic to complete a project for our new home. It's SO me - my fav color combo of the moment (aqua and red) mermaids, sea shells, paint, texture - I'm really happy with how they turned out. Hopefully, there is more art for the house in the near future.

Off to VintageFest this weekend - I'm so excited! (I haven't been on plane in a whole FIVE MONTHS - it will be weird!)

Alameda - My First Sewing Project!

So, I'm totally in love with Kenner Road's kits and the inspiration Kerry Lynn Yeary is dishing out. When I saw this kit, I had to get it, even though I didn't have a sewing machine - I just figured I'd hand stitch it, but I didn't care! Then, when the hubs surprised me with the machines, I was thrilled to make this my first official project.

It's such a cleaver project idea - she took a vintage quilt and cut it into pretty pieces to use as the book's covers. There were even vintage book pages from some kind of sewing book, so it was all fitting. KL used her book to document an event, but I decided to make mine a sewing reference manual, as I was buried in the manual and online resources trying to learn all the stitches!

Now I'll have this cute little book as a reference guide for all my sewing projects - yay!