School's Out For Summer!

My little guy, Jack finished his last day of 1st Grade on Friday. When I picked him up from school, his face was all red and tears were streaming down. My sweet little Jack. He is my sensitive little one who definitely takes after his mama. I get all tied up in emotions and tend to cry at the drop of a hat. (Even tears of joy, I can't seem to hold back.) Even though most children are reveling in the fact that school is out for summer, Jack is sad. He has been filled with excitement all week from the year end festivities at school, but knew that at the end of the week it would be time for goodbyes. He adores his teacher and several friends in his class. One of them is even moving away to Oregon permanently. He knows deep down that he most likely said bye to his friend forever, and it is so much for his little mind and heart to grasp. We as adults know how hard it can be, and sometimes it breaks my heart to watch my kids grow and learn that we all have to encounter times of sadness and goodbyes in our life. Wow, I thought this would be a lively post, but I have progressively gone downhill! It doesn't help that I just watched Charlie St. Cloud, what a tear jerker movie!

Today I am sharing with you my final card for http://www.twistedsketches.com/. Yes, my term is up and it was a fun & exciting experience! The card is sketch #061 with "summer" as the twist. I thought this would be the perfect time to create this card for my Jack to signify that "school is out for summer" is a time to celebrate! He will have enough things to worry about as an adult...he should embrace being a child and enjoy every single minute of it. What I wouldn't give to be a child again! How about you?

The products I used are as follows:

KI Memories: lasercut Swirls in teal from the Pop Culture collection

Jenni Bowlin: Play Date Die-Cut Label Paper (I wanted to use it, but the overall image was way too big for a 5X7 card, so I decided to scan and shrink the image. It worked out perfectly. I used one print directly on the card. The other one, I hand cut the sun rays, curled them up and applied some chalk ink for extra dimension.)

ColorBox: Yellow Citrus & Sky Blue chalk inks

The Girls' Paperie: cardstock stickers from the Kitch collection

Cosmo Cricket: cardstock stickers from the Oh Boy! collection

Pink Paislee: Weathered Wood Scarlet chipboard alphas

American Crafts: Thickers Vinyl Poolside alphas

Other: kraft cardstock & white embroidery floss

I hope you all have enjoyed all the cards I have created for the Twisted Sketches Design Team. :)

Amy

Twisted Card #060 JOY

Today, Twisted Sketches has revealed our newest card creations for sketch #060 with "joy" as the twist. When I heard the word joy, I immediately thought of "comfort & joy." A dear loved one in my life has been through some major tough times both mentally & physically so I made this card especially for her.

I used lots of materials to create this card. Here is a comprehensive list of all the supplies and products used...Cricut Storybook Cartridge, Li'l Davis Designs chipboard alphas, Doodlebug Loopy Love sticker alphas, Pink Paislee's Cherry Chipboard ampersand, Jolee's Boutique Parcel gold flowers, K & Company Naked Chipboard Tags, Sassafras Life Is Beautiful paper & Cosmo Cricket Lil' Man: Silly Sam paper. I also used some ColorBox chalk ink around the dotted/embossed edges of the K & Co kraft tag...it really added some nice dimension.

Please be sure to check out the absolutely fabulous cards the rest of the girls on the design team created. They all had different takes on the word joy in fun and unique ways. While you are there, you can see the card sketch too! :) http://www.twistedsketches.com/

Have a fun & relaxing Saturday evening. Tonight is the season finale' of Saturday Night Live with Justin Timberlake as the guest. I know what I will be watching later tonight!

Cavallini Bird PEACE Window

Hello! I just wanted to drop by and share another one of my recently created windows. For the background I used some of the luscious Cavallini decorative paper "Flora & Fauna Birds & Music." Don't you love the patchwork/collage feel to the paper? I think it is absolutely dreamy. On the top of the glass, I added my signature mosaic swirls, the word "peace" and added a vintage copper trivet to the center. The diameters of the window are appx 3' tall X 2.75 ' wide.

I hope you like it, and as always thank you so dearly for your supportive comments and your sweet friendships! :)

I think I am going to go get some shut eye...I am feeling rather exhausted after a long day...sweet dreams! Amy

CURLY Girl!

Happy Saturday to all my fabulous friends! Today I would love to share with you the most amazing gift I received for my birthday (aside from the aqua typewriter ;)...

I love making handmade gifts and love receiving them just as much. My cousin Nancy presented me with this masterpiece. Talk about tons of detail with all the painting, misting, stamping, rubbings, etc...I look at it over and over again and every time find something new to admire. The title says, "No matter how straight you get your hair, you will always be a "curly" girl inside." Isn't that the sweetest? Nancy and I are first cousins and we have always shared the trials of having super curly hair all our lives. With the invention of straight irons, I have started straightening my hair more and more. This is just a sweet reminder of how close her and I truly are.

Please be sure to stop by her blog and let her know how truly inspiring her creative talent is at
http://justaboutthedetails.com/?p=3298

Thanks for stopping by, and thank you dearly Nancy for this gift I will cherish forever. I love you!

"HOOT" Owl Window

This window is one of my newest creations. It is definitely one of the smaller windows I have worked with, but it was fun to work with as I was able to see my finished product much quicker! :)

The background paper is specialty wrap designed by Carolyn Gavin. Have you heard of her? Her designs are so fun and whimsical, I stalk her blog regularly...I think she dreams up these cute creations in her sleep...she is always coming up with something new and different. She had a complete collection with K & Company a few years ago called Greenhouse. (Of course I have the whole collection, they sold it at Michael's.) All of her creations are now produced via Ecojot...with lots of fun journals, stationery, etc...you will love it once you lay your eyes on it. Her blog is http://www.designerjots.blogspot.com/.

Back to the window: the background is covered in funny, kooky owls...all different and unique. I decided to create a large scale version with my own twist. The body, wings, etc are all created with vintage plates, tile and grout. I created the feet with thick copper wiring. Since I try to continually evolve with my mosaics...I find myself trying to incorporate other things...making it more of a mixed media piece if you will. The left eye is a vinyl flower from Bella Blvd. The eye on the right, I created using an American Crafts Mini-Mark Rub-on (the white circle scallop) and a vintage bingo marker. The last piece that I found to be very essential to the piece is the light aqua crepe paper ruffle...it almost looks like a tutu or a short apron on the owl. It gives it lots of fun texture. I truly love the way it turned out. Wouldn't it be cute in a little girl's room? As always, thanks for stopping by! Happy Tuesday!

Twisted Card #058 LAUGH & Happy Mother's Day!

It's time for Twisted Card Sketch #058 with "laugh" as the twist. I have always loved the inspirational phrase, "To Live, Love, Laugh & Dream." Mother's Day is upon us as well, so I decided to incorporate the twist into the card I created for my dear mom.

I used lots of different products to create this card. Here is a comprehensive list of all the goods...The Girls' Paperie: Jubilee Striped Paper & Sticker Market Alphas, Kitch Flower Market Crepe Papers; Making Memories: Hudson Aquamarine Rub-ons; American Crafts: Mini Marks Wedding Rub-ons; Prima Red Polka Dot Transparency; Echo Park: Everybody Loves Christmas scalloped sticker; Jenni Bowlin: Reverse Red Alpha Stickers; Lil Davis Designs: Love Bottle Caps; ColorBox Ice Blue Chalk Ink; In Stitchz Edgy Borders; CTMH: Over the Rainbow Stamp Set & Breeze Ink, as well as kraft cardstock, white embroidery floss and pinking shears. Whew, what a long list!

For the inside, I decided to create my sentiment using my "new" vintage typewriter! It is one of my wonderful birthday presents. Isn't the color absolutely fabulous! I could just sit and stare at it for hours. It took me awhile as it is a totally manual typewriter from the early 1950's. Man, talk about spoiled! We really take for granted how easy it is to type using a computer keyboard. I kept looking for a return key...but there isn't one! You have to pull the silver lever on the left to get to the next line! I don't know about all of you, but I learned to type on an electric typewriter as a child. My goodness how things have changed!

Please be sure to stop by http://www.twistedsketches.com/ to see the actual sketch and all the other beautiful cards the other Twisted Sisters created.

Well, I need to start getting ready for our Mother's Day festivities. I wish all of you fabulous women out there a fabulous Mother's Day. :) Be sure to share the love with your babies, old or young and take it easy...you deserve it!

Love, Amy

Perpetual Calendar made of Cork!

This is a new take on the perpetual calendars I make. Rather than doing it on metal, this time I decided to create one on cork. Same concept, but rather than using magnets...all the numbers are pushpins!

To create my calendar let me first talk about all the fabulous images around the edges. It may look store bought because the images are so crisp, but no! Those are in fact stamped images I put on the cork...amazing, huh! About a month ago I hit up a garage sale that had thousands of amazing stamps...all brand new with intense details...full of fabulous vintage imagery. I bought about 20 stamps that day and am kicking myself now that I didn't buy more. For $1 & $2 a piece, what the heck was I thinking! 90% of the stamps used on this calendar are of those garage sale beauties...the rest are a few from Pink Paislee & the Girls Paperie. I created a mask so that the center of the cork would be untouched for the calendar grid. I placed a bracket shape piece of paper on top of the cork and started stamping away. Since there is so much texture with cork and there is so much detail in the stamps, I had my reservations at first. Let me just tell you, the key is to use Staz-On. That stuff is the bomb...I use it on practically everything! Next, I drew my grid with a Sharpie and stamped the days of the week using one of my Fancy Pants stamp sets. To create all the numbers, I went through tons of my paper & sticker stash pulling anything with numbers on it. I also used some pages from catalogs, magazines, etc. I used my handy dandy button making machine, as I have told many of you before...this is a fun, must have gadget for all you crafters out there. :)

I hope you enjoy it! Tell me which you like better. The magnetic or the corkboard, I really am curious about your thoughts. Just want some input as to whether I should make more of this kind or continue to focus my efforts on the magnetic. As always, thanks so much for your support and your sweet comments.

I turn the big "40" today. I can't believe it, where has the time gone! I plan to spend it with my sweet little Sam (3) by my side as well as many close family and friends for lunch & dinner. It is supposed to be in the 70's today & sunny...my absolute favorite kind of weather. :)