Thank you just for being you

Our current challenge over at The Paper Girls is to make a Thank You card.

So here's what I have:

The floral and chevron strips are washi tape. The aqua floral paper is from BasecGrey's Hipster line (I love that paper!). And the stamp is from Simon Says Stamp - I think it was an exclusive to one of their monthly card kits last year.

Easy peasy. And now I have a Thank You card to send (and who doesn't need more of those!) and I put a very small dent in my washi collection.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Snow Day shaker card

Hi! I am over at the Craft Warehouse blog today with 3 Christmas cards. I got to use Lawn Fawn's Snow Day collection. Go have a peek!

I also had this shaker card that I made. My first shaker card. These are so much fun!

 I used Distress Ink in Weathered Wood and a waterbrush to paint the snowy hills. Then I used the Snow Day stamp set to stamp the snowflakes, tree line, rabbit, and sentiment. There are also matching dies for the stamps So I used those to cut out the rabbit and single tree.

 Then I used random sequins and glitter to fill my frame. I can't wait to make more!

Thanks for stopping by today.

And thanks to Craft Warehouse for having me as a designer today. If you are in the Pacific Northwest please stop by one of their stores - they are great!

1-year-old layout

I just found this photo of my niece in my craft room. Oh my goodness she was a cutie.

 I had to scrap it right away.

 I created a background for the photo using texture paste and a stencil. After it was dry I rubbed some gold gelato on it. I sprinkled some olive paint across the page. Punched a bunch of butterflies and popped them with foam. Added an Epiphany Crafts epoxy heart. And finally hung some chipboard from some twine.

I need to find more photos of her and scrap them too. It was fun making something so girly (which I rarely do since I have 3 boys)!

Thanks for stopping by today. I'm posting this over at The Paper Girls Challenge blog. Our current challenge is Anythng Goes. Come join us for a chance to win some crafting goodies!

cup of love

 Hi folks! It's National Coffee Day and I am participating in the Coffee Lovers Bloghop and this is my second entry. Click here if you'd like to see my card.

I've been working on getting my craft room organized and decorated and decided to make some art for it. So I painted this little 6x6 canvas. I love it and can't wait to get it hung on the wall.

 It's a little hazy here in the Pacific Northwest today so I'm not sure how much of the true colors are coming through on this photo. 

The word COFFEE is stamped using Simon Says Stamp's Sketched Alphabet stamp set. Due to the texture of the canvas the sketchiness didn't show well, so I filled it in with a paintbrush.

And since it is National Coffee Day I am sharing my morning mug of Pumpkin Spice. I was feeling a little Halloween spirit today! I wait all year to use this The Nightmare Before Christmas mug that I've had for years. It's nice and tall and holds a LOT of coffee :)  And yes, my desk is always that messy. Sometimes even worse. Hey - I just noticed that you are getting a 2-for-1 today on mugs. I use that old cracked tree mug in the background to hold water when I paint.

(I'm taking it as a sign that today will be a great day since my manicure soooo matches my mug!)

Thanks for stopping by today. Feel free to come enter the blog hop for your chance to win one of the many many prizes up for grabs!

coffee = love

 Hi folks! It's National Coffee Day and I am participating in the Coffee Lovers Bloghop.

Did you even know there was such a thing??

My first project is this card:

I could have sworn that I had some coffee stamps somewhere. But I couldn't find anything so I drew this little mug of happiness. Cut it out and popped it up on a panel of watercolored goodness. (Hmm, I'm thinking I could save a lot of money on stamps if I start drawing more of my own images!)

And since it is National Coffee Day I am sharing my morning mug of Pumpkin Spice. I was feeling a little Halloween spirit today! I wait all year to use this The Nightmare Before Christmas mug that I've had for years. It's nice and tall and holds a LOT of coffee :)

Bonus - you know it's gonna be a good day when your manicure matches your mug!

Thanks for stopping by today. You have until midnight tonight if you'd like to enter the hop and win one of the many many prizes up for grabs!

sorry i'm late

 Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge is Back to School.

 I have this birthday card (that might have been a little late!) hence the overdue library book theme. Even thought they don't use these cards anymore, I sure do remember having them in all my school's library books way back in the day!

The papers are from Lawn Fawn's Dewey Decimal set. I absolutely love these papers!

And speaking of back to school, my kids go back this week! My oldest will be in middle school. Middle school. Gasp. He's getting old. I guess that means I am as well!

Thanks for stopping by today. Have a great week!

a happy birthday card

Over at The Paper Girls Challenge blog Jessica is letting us design our own challenge!

Here is my card:

For the challenge Jessica wants us to select 3 of the following:

I chose to make a card, to do something messy (used watercolor and spray ink), and use washi.

Pop on over and play along in the challenge with us!

Thanks for stopping by today!

super hero card

 Over at The Paper Girls Challenge, Michele has challenged us to make a superhero project.

I started on a layout of my little guy from a few years back I just couldn't get it finished. So instead I made this superhero card!

I used the Heidi Swapp confetti stencil and some yellow distress ink to get the stars on. I then used Simon Says Stamp's Shoot for the Stars stamps set to add a few larger stars and the red outlined stars. The sentiment is from the same SSS stamp set (which I can't find online - it must have been an exclusive for their kit of the month I guess). See that red punchinella in the back?? I have had that for almost 5 years now! It felt good to finally use some of it up!

Thanks for stopping by today! Come on over and play in our Superhero challenge. Michele has a great prize waiting for the winner!

Fall Greetings. Sackelope style.

 I made another project using Unity's latest stamp of the week called Pumpkin Greetings.

This time I made another sackelope!

I made this card earlier this week and decided to make this project much brighter and happier and less vintage-y than my card. I layered some bright modern prints and vellum on a striped kraft bag.  I stamped the pumpkins on watercolored paper and colored in with Distress inks and a waterbrush.

Lots of fun was had making this little guy.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Fall Greetings, a Unity blog hop

Welcome to the Growing in Unity blog hop from Unity Stamps!

This time the May and June GIU girls are participating in the hop. We are using the new Stamp of the Week.

I love this little pumpkin designed by Angie Blom (I'm a big fan of hers and she is the reason I love Unity. I have no idea how I found her blog a few years ago but she is the one who lead me to Unity, their kit of the month, and down the mixed media path as well. She has no idea who I am but I was delighted to get one of her stamps! Happy Birthday, Angie!)

So I started by stamping the cute pumpkin onto watercolor paper. I stamped it using a brown Distress Ink and then water-colored it in using a few orange and yellow Distress Inks.The brown ink slowly breaks down with the water to give a cool vintage effect (versus a stark black line if I used my permanent ink like I normally do). I think I learned this technique from Swarup Murthy on the Unity design team. You should definitely try it out some time.

I cut some strips of coordinating papers, added some cool textured ribbon, and placed them behind my panel. Then some twine and the sentiment on a banner and I'm done.

 It may be 90 degrees where I'm at but it sure was fun to play with this pumpkin and think of the cooler days ahead! Thanks for stopping by and here's the rest of the hopping order for you:

Dawn Fields

Miwa Lee

Paula Driver

Jennifer Loftfield

Amber Sheaves - you are here!!

Amy E.

happy day

I made this happy little card using a couple challenges.

First is this lovely inspiration photo from Unity:

And then the current challenge from Simon Says Stamp to use something clear.

 First I used a heart stencil and applied some clear embossing paste. After that was dry I painted on some distress inks using a flat wide brush. The paste will resist the ink. It's really hard to photograph that clear paste!

Make sure you wipe off the ink as soon as you are done painting as even the distress inks can stain the paste. There is a faint orange tint on the top hearts, hardly noticeable though.

Some twine, enamel dots, and a fun stamp from Unity finish it off.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a happy day yourself!

finally. some crafting.

I haven't crafted in so long it's driving me crazy. We were just on the road for 12 days traveling from Washington to Colorado for two family reunions and some vacation time. I packed a small craft bag with some supplies but still didn't get around to doing much. I'm hoping to spend the next several days crafting up a storm! Or at least sorting and printing the over 500 photos I took and getting some scrapbooking done. :)

My little niece is turning 7 so I needed a quick card to mail her and this is what I came up with:

I was browsing my Pinterest Card Ideas board for an idea and I saw this card from Miss Fabulous herself, Tenia and decided to CASE it.

(you know...now that I look at it I realize I didn't just use it for inspiration, I flat out stole the design. sorry girl )

 I love this "you" die from Simon Says Stamp. I cut it four times and layered it up.

 The butterfly is from Unity's Devoted stamp set. 

That is gold washi tape running under the butterfly but it's a little hard to tell inn the light.

I'm linking up to:

Moxie Fab World Challenge: Wonderful Words Challenge to use a word die

Unity Stamps {be Inspired} monthly color challenge

Virginia's View to use a die

Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge: Birthday Bash photo inspiration

Thanks for stopping by today!

Have a great day!

Happy Faulker Satherhood. And some undies.

Well I haven't made any time for crafting lately. My kids are FINALLY out of school though. Man Washington schools seem to go on forever. We've never lived anywhere with such a late last day of school. But they are out and now I am trying to keep them all entertained! We have workbooks, chore time, exercise time,  reading time, and outdoor play time. The funny thing is that they don't mind any of it. They actually really like having a bit of a schedule. They have really enjoyed helping out in the garden and watching plants grow and then picking fruit to eat.  I love that they love that!

Anyway, they are taking most of my time now. But I don't mind in the least :)

 This is the first thing I made in like a month.

It was a Father's Day card for my husband.

So does anyone get the sentiment??? I hope someone out there does!

Well here's the story in case you don't.  http://www.cakewrecks.com/home/2009/5/4/happy-falker-satherhood.html  If you don't desire to click over I'll just paraphrase and say it was a Father's Day cake gone terribly awry. For some reason my husband and I find it terribly amusing. And we refer back to it every year on this date.

I decided to turn it into a card. Why not??

And if I wasn't rolling with enough laughter to begin with I {for some reason} decided I needed underwear as embellishments. Just as random as the sentiment I guess.

 The underwear are from Unity Stamps' set called Change is a Good Thing.

Perhaps I have been spending too much time with three little boys but I find this extremely funny!

Well, folks that's my laugh right now. Underwear humor. It can't be avoided when you mother 3 boys.

Thanks for stopping by. 

I'm linking up to Unity's FWF hop. Come comment for your chance to win some stamps!

GIU Winner!

 So if you stopped by last week and left a comment on my blog then you were eligible to win some free stamps from Unity.

I drew a winner and it was commenter #2 on Thursday's post:

Bella's mama!

Go grab a drink and then sit down and look through all 60 pages of Itty Bitty stamps and  select your two favorites! Shoot me an email at amberloyana at yahoo dot com and I will send your choices over to the peeps at Unity.

Thanks for all the lovely comments that you all left!

3 silly monsters

My middle child loves to be a clown and have attention. And bother his brothers! All I wanted this nice afternoon was to snap a few photos of them together and he certainly kept it entertaining for us!

This layout was inspired by this sketch from The Paper Girls Challenge:

And this mood board from Jot Magazine:

Without the mood board I totally would have gone with more natural muted colors. But I like the bright colors and the fun monsters!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Linking up to Jot Magazine May Mood Board

kind of a hot mess up in here

This is my 2nd post of the day. For my Day 5 GIU post click here.

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So I saw a background page in my art journal that I really liked and tried to replicate it on this 6x6 canvas. It sorta worked. I sprayed some dark navy, lime, and teal inks and sprays on it. I stamped some background stamps (Classified Newsprint and Quatrefoil).

Then I wanted to use this sentiment stamp (that I still can't find the name of) so I smeared on some gesso to make a spot for it. And then proceeded to smudged the sucker when I stmaped it. So I had to go over it with my fine tipped Pitt Pen to fill it back in. Then it was getting lost in the messy background and I decided to spray some yellow paint and spread some yellow gelato around it. Hmm. See what I meant when I titled this post a hot mess?

I liked the stars and wanted to add some more yellow. So I tinted some modeling paste with my yellow and gold gelatos and and applied it over a star stencil from Heidi Swapp up in the left corner. After they dried I added a little glaze to shiny them  up.

It was still a bit bright and busy so I smudged some grey gelato around the edges to soften it up a bit.

Then I walked away from it not thinking I would even share this baby on the blog. I even thought about painting over it and starting over. But then my son said it was cool. I love that kid.

So I am trying to agree and see it from his eyes.

It's growing on me!

GIU Day 5

It's the last day in my week as Growing in Unity!

Every day Monday-Friday I will post a project using Unity stamps. You can comment each day for your chance to win two Itty Bitty stamps of your choice.

So this last card of the week is roughly the fifth project I made or partially made for today. Nothing seemed to work. So let's just pretend that this is all nifty and stuff okay?!?

 My craft room is such a mess that I can not find the package for this stamp to tell you the name of it. It's a sad state of affairs on my craft table right now I tell you what.

Thank you all for stopping by this week. I loved reading all your wonderful comments. You make a girl feel all good and stuff.

Remember to come back on Monday to see if you are the winner of the two Itty Bitty stamps!

GIU Day 4

I am the lucky girl who gets to be the Growing in Unity girl this week at Unity Stamps!

Every day Monday-Friday I will post a project using Unity stamps. You can comment each day for your chance to win two Itty Bitty stamps of your choice. And by the way - the stamps are not exactly itty bitty. :)

 I used the Unity stamp set  Gratitude = Joy for this card:

 After I photographed it I realized the kraft cardstock was really washing out the card.

So I took everything off and added it to a darker color kraft cardstock and I think I like it better.

I think. Hmm.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by today. See you tomorrow for the last day of GIU.

GIU Day 3

I am the lucky girl who gets to be the Growing in Unity girl this week at Unity Stamps!

Every day Monday-Friday I will post a project using Unity stamps. You can comment each day for your chance to win two Itty Bitty stamps of your choice. And by the way - the stamps are not exactly itty bitty. :)

It's day 3 and we are half-way done!

Today I made a card with one of my favorite color combos.

 I made a yellow watercolor background on my panel, dropped some ink splatters, and stamped that wonderful greeting from Imagine It in grey. Several layers of fun patterns later and it's a card. I'm trying to get myself to use more patterned paper on my cards because, well, I like it and also because I need to get rid of all this paper so I can justify buying more! Anyone else do the same thing?!?

Thanks for stopping by. Keep coming back through Friday for more chances to win. And stop in on Monday to see if you are the winner. Have a great day!

Linking up to Virginia's View challenge to use stitching.

GIU Day 2

I am the lucky girl who gets to be the Growing in Unity girl this week at Unity Stamps!

Every day Monday-Friday I will post a project using Unity stamps. You can comment each day for your chance to win two Itty Bitty stamps of your choice. And by the way - the stamps are not exactly itty bitty. :)

Today I've got just a quick little card using Tiny Giggle Grove and Born an Original.

Thanks for stopping by today!

GIU Day 1

I am the lucky girl who gets to be the Growing in Unity girl this week at Unity Stamps!

Every day Monday-Friday I will post a project using Unity stamps. You can comment each day for your chance to win two Itty Bitty stamps of your choice. And by the way - the stamps are not exactly itty bitty. :)

Today I have a trio of cards I made:

The first one uses the Devoted stamp set and the monthly color challenge from Unity as well. Lots of Distress inks were used to create the background.

Both of the next cards use Imagine It and Something Within stamp sets. 

This one used lots of Ranger Archival Ink and alcohol for the marbled background.

 And this one used Distress inks and water for the softer watercolor background.

Thanks for stopping by today and remember to stop by every day this week and comment for your chance to win some lovely Unity stamps!