new stuff.

I haven't been doing a TON of crafting this month.  We've had our son visiting from California so all of my free time has gone to him.  Had a great visit, but now it's time to get back to work!  

I got caught up on a few things, including my previous Blog Hop winner's frame.  I love how it turned out!  

I have lots of stuff coming up including some decorations for my brother's wedding, a Focus Group challenge, a Week in the Life album, and a Blog Hop!!  (Stay tuned for details on how you can participate!)

xoxo Amber

a new snug.

I spent the weekend down at my mom's house.  Small, quaint, little town aka The Boonies.  BUT, I love it. :) 

We decided to take a drive on Friday to a little craft store that we'd heard about but never been.  In that store were SUPER cute minky blankets.  We were inspired and decided to make a new rag snug (aka blanket) for Bug.

Found some way cute, bright fabric in my mom's stash:

Went into town and bought some minky to match with it.  Bug {LOVES} teeky soft blankets so we HAD to have more minky than cotton.

The final project:

And, of course we had to have my Executive Assistant help us.  

How can I say no to that?!?! :)  She loves it and had been sleeping with it since that night. 

Thanks mom for all of your help in sewing and cutting!!!  You're so talented. :)

xoxo Amber

my lair.

Today was spent downstairs in my lair.  Organizing, purging, and cleaning.  What an ordeal, but boy am I glad it's DONE!  Well, almost.  Still need to finish my Cricut station. 

Before:

During aka complete and total scrapbook hell!!!

And, the finished product. :) 

Love the storage that I have now.  Thanks to JeepMama - Paula for the rack on the wall idea!!

xoxo Amber

and the winner is....

I just wanted to thank all of you that visited my blog over the weekend!!  Loved the feedback and the comments!! :)

Now on to fun business!!

The winner of the drawing for the frame is:

and #3 would be:

CONGRATS TO PANDORA!!! 

Please contact me with the color you'd like and I need your mailing address as well. :)

xoxo Amber

happy 4th of July.

I {LOVE} this country and am so incredibly grateful for everything that we are so fortunate to have.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!

xoxo Amber

love of hearts.

 I love hearts.  What girl doesn't??  I have a wall in my dining room that's awfully plain.  Kinda sad that we've been our house for 4 years and I'm really just now getting stuff hung on the walls that I really like.  Oh well - better late than never, right??

Here's the scoop:

I had a set of 3 wooden hearts from Making Memories that I've had for a LONG time.  I sprayed them down with Glimmer Mist Chalkboard in Decadence.  I let it set for about 5 mins, then took a kleenex and blotted off the excess spray.  I just wanted a fine antique-ish look to these. 

Once the GM was totally dry, I hot glued on little white flowers on 2 of the hearts, and again, used the Tulip heat setting tool for the bling.  I took the giant blossom, which was originally white, and again used the Tim Holtz Color Wash in stream and LIGHTLY sprayed (I actually had to do this on 2 different flowers.  This color was is VERY saturated and I didn't want something super dark.)  I then attached the ribbon to the hearts so they could be hung.

Here's the finished project.  It gave my wall some oomph and I love how it turned out.  The big flower matches my kitchen perfectly.  I have to give kudos to my husband who actually picked that color out when we repainted the once red room. :)

Don't forget about the blog hop! 

You still have today (Sunday) to go through them and get your chance to win some blog candy!  See my 2 previous posts for details.

xoxo Amber

day 2....

....of the Unofficial CropChocolate.com Blog Hop starts now!

The first stop on the way is Rosalie's blog (http://www.rosaliejb.blogspot.com). At that point, I need you to come back and go visit Jenni's blog (http://wishiwasscrappin.blogspot.com/). Unfortunately, if you follow Rosalie's link, you will hit a road block! Oh, and don't forget to leave comments - there is some new blog candy today!!

Also if you missed yesterday's fun, please see my post below to get caught up on all of the crafty action!  You can still play through the weekend.

Happy Saturday. :)

color wash sprayed frame and a blog hop.

Welcome to the Unofficial CropChocolate.com Blog Hop
This begins at 10am (mountain time!!) on Friday, July 1 and goes for 2 days.
Lots of blog candy to be given away so make sure you carefully read the end of this post. :)

If you don't know what CropChocolate.com is, it's an online, deal-at-a-time site where you can store your purchases until you're ready to check out!  If you haven't checked it out, click here and see for yourself how great it is. 
I also work as the buyer for them, so I MAY be a little biased. :)

I recently have become addicted to Tim Holtz distressing stuff.  Ink pads, and now Color Wash spray.  I'm new to all of these techniques so it's been way fun to play with this stuff! 

I found the Color Wash spray in my LSS and I had to try it out.  I fell in love with the color.  It's the first one of the Color Wash sprays that I've used but trust me - there's MANY more to come!  I had a wooden frame that I'd bought from Michael's (for $1!!) and this is what came from it: 

 I took a white pc of cardstock, cut to fit the frame and sprayed the template (see below) onto the paper.  Once dry, I mod podged the paper down to the frame, and used an exacto knife to cut the heart out.  I then covered the edges with some random paper strips that I had here at home, and then mod podged them down as well.  Added the studs and ribbon - ta da!  A cute {SIMPLE} frame great for your own use or as a gift!

Here are the products that I used to create the frame.  The little silver studs are put on using the heating tool from Tulip.  Runs about $14 @ JoAnn's..even cheaper if you use your coupon.  The studs are about the same price for the big container of them. 

And now for the hop... 

If you just stumbled upon my blog, please go to Wildflower - Jasmine's blog to start hopping.

Also...if you leave a comment here saying that you are now a follower of my blog, I will put your name into a random drawing to win your very own frame with your own favorite colors. :)  Winner will be announced Tuesday.

After you've posted your comment and are following me, please go to pamcake's blog and continue hopping from there! 

Happy Hopping!