UmWow Studio - July Sketch!

Feeling a little bit in a rut w/my PL'ing and this sketch challenge popped up on my FB news feed so I thought I'd give it a shot!

You can find the link up here if you want to join, too! :)

Here's my take.

Great elements in the original sketch, but it's hard to fit all of them on a 4x6 card so this is my interpretation of it. :)  I used the heart mask and Mustard 29 flair from the UmWow store.

Now, back to my table!!

xoxo, Amber

Guest Designer - UmWowStudio - Pocket Page

Hey everyone!!

Today, I've got a Guest Designer post up over at UmWowStudio.  I've been friends with the owner, DeeDee, for over 2 years now and have been so happy to see her business start from the ground and grow into an incredibly successful business.  I LOVE seeing successful women!!

Her store has AMAZING chipboard and mask products.  If you're into Mixed Media at all, or are just obsessed with naked chipboard like me, you really need to check it out here.

She asked me to be the Guest Designer in June, and of course I said yes.

I had SO much fun with this LO, and had EVEN MORE FUN creating the insert. :)

This is SO easy, my little 3 year old could do it.

First, I took a Project Life insert (design J 4x4 is the one I chose) and put some of the UmWow Pocket Chip, UmWow Documented Hashtag Banners, random sequins, and a metal butterfly.

Once I was happy with how the pockets looked, I broke out my trusty sewing machine, and simply stitched across the top of each pocket.

That's it!  It's so easy, fun and adds so much to your spread.  I can't sew a straight line to save my life, but you really can't tell so that's another bonus.

Another product of hers that I want to draw attention to are the masks.  These are high quality, non-flimsy, pieces of delightfulness.  Last week, I did a post on how to make the card below.  For the star one, I used an UmWow star mask. :)

Here are some other close ups of the right and left pages:

DeeDee, thanks so much for featuring me!  

It's be really fun to play with your products and incorporate them into my weekly PL album. :)

xoxo, Amber

Complete Product List:

UmWow Pocket Chip

UmWow Documented Hashtag Banners

UmWowStudio Star Mask

UmWowStudio Layered Butterfly Chipboard

UmWowStudio Circle Confetti

Random Pocket Scrapbooking Cards, embellishments, washi tape.  

Guest Designer - 3 Girl JAM - Things I Love

I got a message from my dear friend, Karen, a few weeks ago asking if I'd like to do a Guest Designer post for a fabulous Design Team that she's on for 3 Girl JAM.  

Um, YES!!!  I would love to!! :)

I honestly have never used any of their ribbon so Karen sent me some and I can promise you that I will be purchasing some in the future!  It's soft, and super easy to work with.  I loved it!  This ribbon is also AWESOME for layering.  It's not thick so it doesn't add a ton of bulk to your page which really impressed me.

Before I had decided what project I was going to use it on, I knew from others that have used the ribbon that it was easy to dye so I knew that I could make it work on ANYTHING!!  I ended up not needing to, however, because the cream matches the paper/embellishments that I chose REALLY nicely. :)

Michaels has an exclusive Project Life core kit by the fabulous Maggie Holmes, but no embellishments to go along with it.  Since I work for Cuttin' and Stampin', I decided to add some of the embellishments to our store to fill that void. :)

Here's what I came up with:

Title card:

One of my all time favorite cards I've ever made - probably my favorite.  

I used UmWow Studio arrow mash and heart mask for the black hearts and main arrow.  I used a gold Wink of Stella brush on the arrow, and a blue one on the butterfly.  I also added 2 Regal Gold Candi dots to add a little more oomph to the card.  Lots of dimension to this!!  Love it!  The UmWow chipboard is the best that I've found that makes the Wink of Stella ink the most glittery.  It's really kind of hard to see the glitter in the image, but trust me - it's there!!

Left side:

Right side:

The frame on the bottom right card is a fabric frame that I just folded over the top of the picture since it's a bit bigger than this photo.  Love all of the different materials on this spread! :)  The blue heart and yellow geotag (left bottom picture) are from WeR Memory Keepers Enamel Dot collection.

Butterfly layered 4x6 card w/a strip of the 3 Girl JAM ribbon:

(again, lots of layers!)

3x4 Butterfly card with a simple knot of ribbon:

Thanks, Karen and 3 Girl JAM, for letting me Guest Design for you today!  It was a BLAST!!

xoxo, Amber

Cuttin' and Stampin' - Pink, Orange and Grey Color Combo

January 28 - February 3, 2014

Weekly Challenge - Color Combination
Pink, Orange and Grey

A while back Teresa Collins introduced her You are My Happy line.  The design team went crazy over it.  We decided that it could be used in SO many wonderful ways that we couldn't put just one theme to it.  The challenge for you is to use the colors in the line to create a project.    

(This line can also be found here for purchase!!  There is a complete product listing at the end of this post.)

In addition to this super cute line, we also just got in the CHA release from My Mind's Eye called "Record It!" and I. AM. IN. LOVE!!  I figure why not use 2 of the best paper companies out there together?!

I chose to use You Are My Happy and mix in some of the "Record It! - Charmed" line because the gold looks really good with the other collection.  

I am NOT a gold-lover.  I don't own any gold jewelry so I was kind of surprised that I was loving these gold foiled cards.

Another issue I ran into was I am actually ALL caught up on my Valentines Day pictures!  So, I decided to create my spread for our 2014 Valentines Day. :)

(Not usually ahead of the game...kind of strange for me!!)

Here's what I came up with:

Left side:

(PS it's hard for me to create a spread with no pictures!!!  The white heart cards are where I'm planning my real pictures to be.  Using these place holders makes it easier for me to visualize since I usually put my pictures down first.)

Right side:

Close up of left 3x4 cards:

Right 3x4 cards: 

Title card: 

If you want to link up and join us in this challenge, here is where to go!

Until next time.... :)

xoxo Amber

Product Listing:

(click link to take to store!)

MME Charmed Journaling Cards

You Are My Happy collection

UmWow Heart Mask

page planning process.

I wanted to document (for my own purpose - I want to see how my "process" changes over time!) how I get my pages planned and finished.

Step 1:

The first thing I do is decide which page protectors I will need to fit all of the pictures I've taken.  I am VERY picture heavy.  There's so many things that N does right now that I want to document!  I don't print my pictures to fit specific protectors.  I make what I print work in what I have. :)

After I've figured out which protectors I need to use....

Step 2:

I figure out what cards I will need - by size and qty.  It's a much quicker process to use pre-made cards, however, I wanted to make my own this time. :)

Step 3:

Cut!!  I used Everyday Eclectic by Echo Park for this specific spread.  

I went space by space and figured out which color combos I wanted to use.

Step 4:

Once I've gotten all of the cards cut that I will need comes the fun part - EMBELLISHING!! :)  I used Thickers, UmWow! Chipboard butterfly, Heidi Swapp sequined hearts - those are the main embellishments on here.

You can make this as simple or as fancy as you'd like!  Some of my spreads are super simple - others have more details.

Here's the final product:

I used a bunch of white cardstock cuts that I had already cut out using my Silhouette Cameo.  The "life is good" embellishment is self-adhesive cork that's stamped on that I got the idea from a sweet lady in one of the Facebook groups that I belong to.  You can use whatever tickles your fancy!!

Absolutely LOVE how this spread turned out!  Journaling will be done later. :)

xoxo Amber

golden.

I am, without a doubt, in LOVE with Lady Antebellum's new single "Golden".

As I was on the way home from my parent's house over Memorial Day weekend, this song gave me the {perfect} idea for a LO that goes along with the sketch hosted by UmWowStudio over on Cropchocolate.com.

My husband is my everything.  This song is EXACTLY how I feel about him, and what better way to show that than with a picture of him, and the greatest gift he gave to me. :)

I did the journaling around the picture and one of the butterflies:

Here's the title:

I linked up here:

Cropchocolate.com

UmWowStudio

Silhouette Challenges

Party Time Tuesdays

Use It! Tuesday (I used my hoarded stash of MME's Miss Caroline - reserved for special occasions!)

Anything but a Card (I used my hoarded stash of MME's Miss Caroline - reserved for special occasions!)

xoxo Amber

cutting Washi Tape with the Cameo.

These pictures are awesome... Fotofly always does a GREAT job and I have never had a bad experience there.  

However...

I have fought with these pictures for WEEKS - trying to find the "right" papers to match with them.  I put them up on my desk where I'd glare at them every time I'd walk into my lair.

2 friends suggest bring orange and pink but I never found the perfect papers.......

Until last night.

MME's "The Sweetest Thing" flower paper border on the right side got this ball rolling.  

I wanted to use a brighter pop of pink than what's in the flowers and I had some perfect Washi Tape for it.

Then I got thinking - why not cut some brackets OUT of the bright Washi Tape so it all matches perfectly?  Off I went on another Cameo adventure. :)

It's super quick and easy.  I measured out the size of brackets I wanted, covered the measured white cardstock in the said Washi, and cut!  When cutting, make sure you adjust your paper thickness because it will NOT cut through on the first time.

I may or may not have figured that out by trial and error. :)

Here's a close up of the brackets:

Linking up again to Silhouette Challenges May "Anything Goes" challenge.

xoxo Amber

she's 2.