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Showing posts with label Easter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Easter. Show all posts

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Dilly Beans Friday Challenge - Pastel Palette (A Little Late)

Hi Sweet Friends,

It's time for another Friday challenge from the awesome Dilly Beans Challenge Blog!  I'm sorry I'm so  late in my posting.  I am going to put the projects I've made here as I finish them up.  I have one to share with you right now and will have either one or two more later today!  Since I am late in my posting, Megan might not have these up yet on the challenge blog, but I would encourage you to go there anyways and see the amazing projects the DT has created.  They are seriously pretty!  (I've already peeked.) ;0)  I would also highly suggest visiting the STORE as Megan has lots of darling new images for sale and  a great SALE going on until May 1st!!!  OMG, I can't wait to get all the new ones!  Wish me luck on becoming a DT member!  I'm still pushing for it. ;)

The first project I have is one that I had given you a sneak peek of during the Easter challenge for Dilly Beans.  I have it all finished up finally and it fits our Pastel Palette challenge perfectly! :)


For this project I used the Amalia Easter Bunny from Dilly Beans, an egg cut from Doodlecharms (Cricut Cartridge), butterfly brads, an adhesive pearl gem, and purple polka dot ribbon from Creative Charms, paper from Stampin' Up and my stash, twine from My Craft Spot.  I colored my image with colored pencils and finished off the project by inking the edges with dark brown Cat's Eye ink.  

Thank you all for stopping by today!  I hope you enjoy my project.  It was super fun to create, now I'm off to the next one! ;)

XO ~ Amy Jo

P.S.  Since you're here, leave a comment! ;)

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Hippity Hoppity Easter's On Its Way! - Blog Hop April 7 & 8th

*PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR THE "ALL SPORTS BLOG HOP"*
*PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR MY GUEST DESIGN POST & CHALLENGE FOR DILLY BEANS*


Happy Easter everybody and welcome to Day 2 of the Hippity Hoppity Blog Hop by Lisa of HoneyBearz Designs!  You should have arrived here from Cindy, but if you just happened upon my blog today be sure to go back and start at the beginning, as this is a 'HOP' after all! ;0)  We are so happy you could join us today!

I'm super egg-cited to show you some of the Easter projects I have been working on.  Everyone that knows me, knows how much I love a great holiday just for the excuse to make some more cards or crafts. I found some great inspiration on the hop yesterday and decided to try out my very first side-step card.  OMGosh, I had soooo much fun making this!  I wasn't feeling well and almost didn't do it, but I had an image in my head and just had to go through with it.  I'm so very happy I did! :0)

Details for this project are below the pictures.  (Click the pics for enlarged images.)





Fort this card I used the Cricut Craft Room software.  I love that program when it works! ;)  I have no problem on my Expression, but my Imagine is another story. ;p  I used Create-A-Critter, Doodlecharms, Ultimate Series Creative Sampler, and Kate's ABCs (for the first time!).  I think I need to get a Jukebox for the Cricut because switching out four cartridges and waiting for them to load takes a while.  Not all of them can link to the Cricut Craft Room for some odd reason.  Does anyone out there own a Jukebox and if so do you like it?

All the papers and cardstock are from my stash so I don't know the paper lines, unfortunately.  I used several layers for everything and I'm so pleased with the effect.  I decided to try out a bit more doodling than usual too and I think it turned out well.  I used a brown Marvy Memories pen.  I inked the papers with my Cat's Eye ink in Dark Brown and stamped the "Hoppy Easter" sentiment (Making Memories) with Basic Black by Stampin' Up.  Of course I added lots of pop dots and some blue/white twine from My Craft Spot.  I cannot  believe how quickly this card came together!  Normally it takes me forever to make a simple card and with this being my first side-step, I was amazed!  I hope you all like it as much as I do. ;)

Thanks so much for joining us today, sweet friends and be sure to head over to Shelly Lynn - KC Croppers as she is the next stop on this bunny hop!  If you get lost, I have posted the entire lineup below.


8. Shelly Lynn - http://kccroppers.blogspot.com - Next


Happy Easter Everybody!!!
Amy Jo

P.S.  I will add the challenges I am entering later...

Friday, April 6, 2012

Hippity Hoppity Easter's On Its Way! - Blog Hop April 7 & 8th

*PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR THE "ALL SPORTS BLOG HOP"*
*PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR MY GUEST DESIGN POST & CHALLENGE FOR DILLY BEANS*


Happy Easter everybody and welcome to Day 1 of the Hippity Hoppity Blog Hop by Lisa of HoneyBearz Designs!  You should have arrived here from Cindy, but if you just happened upon my blog today be sure to go back and start at the beginning, as this is a 'HOP' after all! ;0)  We are so happy you could join us today!

I'm super egg-cited to show you some of the Easter projects I have been working on.  Everyone that knows me, knows how much I love a great holiday just for the excuse to make some more cards or crafts.  I've been piddling around with digis as you all know and I bought some of the awesome limited digis from Simply Betty Stamps.  For those of you that do not know Betty, she can use all the support she can get right now, as she is struggling with a teenage son diagnosed with and fighting cancer.  OMGosh, can you even imagine?  I know how expensive cancer treatments are and every sale we help her with goes towards her son's treatment.  Ladies, this is a great way to help out a wonderful person with an amazing heart and amazing talent.  I am a HUGE fan of Betty's and I'm sure you will be too!  I ask that you go to her store and check out all of her amazing designs.  A lot of these are limited edition digis and once they're gone, they may not come back!  Get 'em while you can & while you're there, sign up for her newsletter and check out her blog/Facebook Fan Page.  It's the best way to keep up with the sales and knowing what's coming out and going back into the "vault".  I just happened upon there and was soooooooo lucky as the digi I used for today's project was only available for two or three days!!!  I couldn't resist!

I hope you will enjoy this project as much as I did, making it! ;)  I used Zig pens and colored pencils, notice she is holding a chocolate bunny with his ears bitten off! ;)  Click the pic for an enlarged picture.  I also used a white gelly roller for some highlights. :)



For this card I welded two oval shapes together with my Sure Cuts A Lot 2.0 software and used a scalloped oval from Clear Dollar Stamps or Clearly I Stamp.  I used a deep purple cardstock from my stash for the card background and the scallop, along with background paper from Stampin' Up (if you visit Jill, please let her know Amy Jo sent you).  I used pearls from Creative Charms.  They're having a HUGE sale right now!  I inked the papers with my Cat's Eye ink in Dark Brown.

Thanks so much for joining us today, sweet friends and be sure to head over to Shelly Lynn - KC Croppers as she is the next stop on this bunny hop!  If you get lost, I have posted the entire lineup below.


8. Shelly Lynn - http://kccroppers.blogspot.com - Next


Happy Easter & please come back tomorrow for new projects!!!
Amy Jo

Dilly Beans Friday Challenge - Easter

Good morning all my wonderful and thoughtful bloggy friends,

How much I love you all - old friends and new friends, alike.  I have been overwhelmed by your kind words and honest replies to my posts lately.  Bless you all.  I still want to write a follow-up post, but have been very happily busy actually crafting a little more lately so that comes first for now.  I haven't forgotten I need to draw a blog candy winner for the St. Patty's day hop as well.  Sorry for my tardiness!  To my friend, Leanne, I have not forgotten about you either and to several of my friends, I have cards to get out to you as well.  It's all here on my mind, I just haven't had the cooperation with my body yet, but I'll get there and want you all to know I never forget the kindness you have all shown me in so many different ways, be it cards and gifts or comments and emails.  I appreciate it all. :)

First off I just have to say thank you to Megan for her sheer awesomeness and amazing talent that inspires me to no end!  Thanks for giving me the opportunity to join your team for the month of April and possibly more. ;)  And thank you for being so incredibly sweet and understanding when it comes to my Fibro.

Today I am super excited as it's my first Friday Guest Design spot for the lovely Megan and the talented gals at Dilly Beans Designers & Friday Challenge Blog.  As I mentioned in my earlier post, Megan had said I could do up to four projects for each challenge and believe it or not, I have actually accomplished that task (at least for this first challenge, still working on the others)! ;0)  My first two projects for the Easter Challenge are some of Dilly Beans' (DB) cute country style images.  The second two projects are some of the darling people images that are available in the STORE.  Okay, well one is actually not quite a person, it's a zombie bunny, but she has a personality all her own. ;0)

Let's get on to the projects, shall we?  Don't forget to click on the pics to see them in a larger format for better details.  Project details are listed below each individual project.

 Project 1 - Outside of card
 Project 1 - Outside Closeup
Project 1 - Inside of Card

For Project 1 I used the Posie Bunny digi stamp from DB, colored with Copics.  I'm very happy with the way this turned out.  I just decided to kind of play around with them and see what I could do.  I made the bow a peachy color with some lovely peony colored polka dots and I am just loving the way the floral bouquet turned out.  I had so much fun with this image!  I purchased a lot of my Copics from Fluorishes, LLC.  They have great sets of three or four Copics that won't cost you an arm and a leg, and it's a wonderful way to build your collection!  

The card itself, is cardstock from Recollections and the printed papers are from my stash.  I used a random basket rubber/wood stamp that I had on hand and stamped the image onto patterned paper, which I also used for the background of the inside of this card. I then fussy cut around the basket and also the inside of the basket.  I wanted the bunny to show through, so I cut out a window in the purple cardstock as well. Then I popped up the basket with some pop dots. I used a clear Easter egg stamp (all over) to make the background on the front of the card.  I stamped it, using a rainbow pad from Joann's.  The "Happy Easter" scroll stamp is one I found in the $1 bin at Michael's, inked with Stampin' Up Basic Black.  Perfect for many projects! I then added a bow to the basket from Really Reasonable Ribbon.  I always love buying my ribbon from them.  Fabulous company with great prices!  

For my second project, I decided to make a card that went with Project 1, so I used many of the same elements.  Again, please click the images to get a better idea of the details/colors.  The background of this card is actually a minty green from Recollections.

 Project 2 - Outside of Card
 Project 2 - Inside of Card, Left Side
 Project 2 - Inside of Card, Right Side
Project 2 - Inside of Card

For Project 2 I decided to use the "Hatching Chicky" from DB stamps.  I printed it out on white cardstock and OMGosh I was soooooo amazed at the line thickness and quality of these (all DB) images when I printed them!  I used my Copics again to color the egg and the chicky and used several different colors in the same family for both the egg and the chick, with a touch of gray for some shadowing.  This is a perfect image for Easter, as well as for many other occasions if you want to use it for one of those "Hey Chick" or "Popping up to See You" type of cards.

For this one, I used a green patterned paper from my stash to stamp the basket on and then I outlined it with my black Zig pen (did the same for Project 1) just to make it look a little sharper.  I fussy cut the basket and the window again with a craft knife (mine's from Doodlebug) and it surprisingly wasn't nearly as difficult or time-consuming as I thought it would be!  I popped up the basket again and then I added some orange Offray ribbon for the bow to finish it off.

Again, I stamped the background of the front of the card with that same clear egg stamp and I used two different shades of Martha Stewart ink.  Love the way it looks in person.  Sorry the pics don't quite do it justice.  I also inked around the edges of the card with the MS ink as well.

For the inside of the card I wanted to create my own sentiment so I used some darling stickers from Bo Bunny.  Can look up the exact sheet if you would like. ;0)  Behind the chicky I used a gorgeous paper from Stampin' Up because I just really wanted the yellow chicky head to stand out.  I love the combo of those colors together.  I inked my edges and then added the same Michael's stamp and the Dilly Beans Hatching Chicky image.

The 3rd Project was created using the first image I fell in love with from Dilly Beans, the Zombie Bunny.  OMG, I just LOVE her so very much!!!  I am so incredibly happy with the way this one turned out and I hope you will all love her as much as I do.  :0)  This is so out of my normal realm of images that I use for my projects and this is just the beginning of this style.  I have many more that I'm working with from DB and I have finally decided that it's ok to create things I love, without having to have a specific person in mind to send them to.  It took me a while to grasp that concept! LOL  

I decided to keep this project super simple and just let the image shine.  I went over paper after paper and layout after layout and decided that simple was simply  the best. ;)  Again, click the pics for a large image!  The colors are soooo fun!

 Project 3 - Outside of Card
Project 3 - Closeup of Image

Alrighty, for this lovely little Zombie Bunny I just had the best time coloring her!  I used a lavender/grey tone for her face, with olive green eyelids.  I used yellow and orange shades on her hair and her jacket is pink with purple.  The carrot has two shades of orange and two or three shades of green.  Her background has two shades of green and I used the colorless blender to give it a fun effect.  I decided to leave the black/white border as is and I fussy cut around the whole image. 

I didn't want to do anything to detract from the image so I chose papers that bring out every color.  I was stoked to see that I had papers that, to me, were so perfect for this project.  The three strips are all from Stampin' Up. (SU)  I tell you, I just adore their paper lines!  Stop over and say hi to Jill and please tell her Amy Jo (Courchaine) sent you!!!  She is a wonderful consultant!

The background of the card is again, that same mint green cardstock from Recollections and the layer on top of that is another green print I had in my stash (note it is the same line as the yellow from the Posie Bunny card and the green from the Hatching Chicky card).  I decided I wanted to distress it a bit so I used my emery board and roughed it all up, as well as inking it with my Martha Stewart ink.  I inked the actual cardstock as well.  The strips of SU paper were inked with Rust SU ink.

The inside of this card is still in progress...  I need some help here.  I want to make up a quirky "Little Bunny Foo-Foo" type of poem/sentiment, but haven't quite figured it out yet.  Doesn't she look like a perfect Little Bunny Foo Foo?  I mean, she was a little demented right? ;0) LOL  Thing is, I couldn't decide if this darling Zombie Bunny should be Little Bunny Foo Foo or if the Amalia Easter Bunny in the next project would make a better Little Bunny Foo Foo.  I'm almost thinking the Amalia one is too sweet to be dubbed that title though.  Help me decide friends!  I would LOVE to get your input and then I'll show you the inside after WE decide. ;)  Check out this next project and let me know what you think!

Sorry friends, got in a flare before I could finish Project 4 and decided instead to use it for one of the upcoming Dilly Beans challenges.  Look forward to that post later this month!!!  Here are the details (a teaser for you) of the project as well as a picture of the image I will be using for this project that way you can help me decide still for the Little Bunny Foo Foo question. :0)

 For Project 4 I used the brand new Amalia Easter Bunny!  OMG, did I squeal when I saw her in the store!!!  I'm not kidding, I emailed Megan immediately and said I MUST have her! LOL  Oh, I just fell in love with her darling little bunny body and I hope you all will too.  I did this one in colored pencil and I am very happy with the simplicity of that.



Again, I decided to "match" her to the Zombie Bunny card and will likely use the same paper lines and general colors for her.  I colored her in colored pencils and by no means, do I have any idea when it comes to shading and highlighting, but I still love her just the same.  (Hence the need for some classes here.) ;0)  I decided I didn't want to fussy cut her as close as I have been doing the other images because I thought she would look lovely with just a small border around her so I cut her with my scissors and just eyeballed the distance.  I'm very pleased with this effect!


Alright friends, now it's your turn to link up your projects at Dilly Beans Challenge Blog for your chance to win some free digis!.  I thank you all so very much for stopping by today and please do leave your comments.  Don't forget the Little Bunny Foo Foo conundrum!  Also, even if you don't enter the challenge at Dilly Beans Challenge Blog, I would love for you to stop by there and check out the amazingly talented designers work and leave some love there too and become a follower if you like what you see.  Tell them I sent ya!  One thing you really don't want to miss is the Dilly Beans Store so you can purchase some of these awesome images.  Megan's store is huge!  She has so many images, I was truly stunned!  Can't wait to hear what you all think & please come back here and tell me what you purchase if you do make a purchase!  Maybe, oh just maybe a little tiny bribe here I will do... ;0) -- If you purchase something from Dilly Beans and come back here and leave me a comment telling me what you bought, I will choose one or two random winners to pick out a card I have made that they would like to have.  It doesn't have to be these, it can be any one from my blog postings (as long as I still have them - or I can make a duplicate if you find one you really want).  How does that sound?  :0)

Have fun shopping and creating, my Darlings!

XO ~ Amy Jo

Challenges I'm entering:

Zombie Bunny Card - Beyond the Burtonesque Dolls - Rotten Eggs for a Wicked Easter Challenge

Monday, April 2, 2012

FCCB Challenge Me Monday - #105 EGG-ceptional Easter

Good Morning my beautiful, wonderful friends,

Today is another Fantabulous Challenge Me Monday at Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog (FCCB).  For this week's challenge we (you as well) were/are to create a project with an egg on it and of course you must always use a cut on your Cricut machine.  Now, if you used an SVG like I did today, just be sure to note that.  Please be sure to note any cartridges you may have used as well if you would like a chance to be chosen for the Top 5 or as our random weekly winner. :0)

I had so much fun with this project.  I actually had a fairly decent day on Saturday and got to watch movies all day with my wonderful husband, while working on my crafting.  Such a blessed day for me and so rare. :)  For my creation I used the Quacky Beans Pattern Set from my darling, Nikki (of Paper Piecings by Nikki's) STORE.  I just love this set, as I love all of Nikki's sets. ;)  She's just the best and has so many adorable new sets and even aps for your Android-based cell phone now.  I would be thrilled if you would visit the store, as well as her Facebook Fan Page as that's where all the action happens over there. :0)

Without further ado here is today's Challenge Me Monday project!  I like to use two pics, one with flash, one without so you can better see the details of certain elements.  :)



For this card, I used my Cricut Expression to cut my SVG file.  All colors of cardstock and patterned papers are from my stash.  I two colors of jute twine that I purchased online and some stickers from Recollections (I believe).  I cut the bottom and top of the pink cardstock with "Peaked" scissors to make them look sort of like the crack in the egg shell.  I also doodled on the inside of the card to match that as well.  Will have to post that pic a little later as my camera is not handy.

I inked the background of the pink cardstock with pink ink and loved the watermark effect it had so I stamped my little egg stamp with the same ink and used it as a background behind the chick.

I'd love it if you'd leave a comment and feel free to ask questions if you have any!  Thanks so much for stopping by today and don't forget to head to FCCB to enter your own project for Challenge Me Monday!

XO ~ Amy Jo

Challenges I'm entering this into are:

My Craft Spot - #50 Easter Challenge
Simply Create Too - Challenge #10 - Eggs and/or Bunnies
More Than Favors - #68 Easter/Spring Theme
Word Art Wednesday - Challenge #22 - Thank you so much, Karen, for inviting me to link up even though I did not use the sentiment.  I will be certain to do so for the next challenge.  I appreciate your encouraging words.  You seem like an incredibly sweet person and I'm so excited to get to know you and your challenge blog better. :0)

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Hoppy Easter Card for Challenges

Hi Everyone!  Seems like I've been a little MIA.  I have actually.  My hubby and I have been busy turning our guest room into my very own scrapbooking room!  We have painted the walls an amazing bright pink and the inside of the closet is now black with (soon to be) white furniture inside.  It's coming along nicely and it's wonderful to have a room to go to now that really gets me out of bed and motivated.  I'm going to purchase either a big black shaggy area rug or a zebra print rug for the room next, then I plan on framing some of my favorite fashion scrapbooking paper to make some gorgeous wall art.  Can't wait til it's all setup completely!  I will post some pics for sure!

On to the card... I made this cute little card yesterday for a challenge that required ribbons and pastel, however, by the time I got it all finished up, that challenge was already closed! :( So, I have been searching around and found some other challenges to enter it in and then it is going on to a friend of mine who has ordered a set of Easter cards. BTW, I am now taking Easter orders!



Hoppy Easter Card

Hoppy Easter Closeup

Hoppy Easter Dimensional View

Hoppy Easter Bow Closeup

I am so pleased with the way this turned out!  I  even got to use my Copics for the first time!  My hubby bought me a set for my birthday and I am soooo happy to finally bust them out of the box, but I really need to learn how to blend and how to properly use them so, homework time for me! 

For this card I ended up using four different types of ribbon!  Some came in kits that I have gotten and the cute tulip ribbon came from RRR.  I just love it and thought it was perfect for this card.  I put the green wavy ribbon below it to make it look like grass.  I made a bow at the top so I could qualify for the "Tie a Bow" challenge over at My Craft Spot.  This is the first challenge over there, ever!  Yay!  Fun blog, check it out.  :0)  The complete list of challenges I'm entering is at the bottom of this post.
 
I used a pretty pastel purple cardstock for the card from a stack that came from Joann's as well as the yellow cardstock.  They are having stacks on sale for $2.00 now!  If you shop online, please go through my site for special deals.  http://www.amyjrockstar.com/ I would so appreciate it because I get credit for every sale made through my site and my clients get (sometimes) special benefits as well.  In fact, if you do shop through Joann's through my site, please let me know and I'll come up with a little something special for ya! ;)  The background paper came from my stash.

For the rest of the card:  the bunny is a stamp from Sandylion (same set that I used for my previous butterfly card) that I cut out and colored with my Copics.  The spring is a stamp from We are Memory Keepers: Maple Grove, and the Hoppy Easter is a stamp from Making Memories:  Magnetic Stamp Sayings.  Ink is a standard black from Colorbox.  I also used my black Zig to add some definition and drew on some spots. :0)

The flowers are Prima and the brads are Basic Grey.  I used my ATG gun and superglue for my adhesives and inked all my edges with a gorgeous Studio G eggplant color.  Love those and they're only $1 at Michael's!  That's where I get into my trouble is the dollar section of those stores.  Before you know it, I have 50 things picked out, translating to $50!  So easy to do!

Well, I hope you all have enjoyed my first little Easter card and please leave your comments.  I read each and every one and it really just brightens my day.

Challenges:  My Craft Spot #1 - Tie A Bow (entry 2)
Card Creations by C - #6 - Patterned Ribbon
Creative Card Crew - For A Child
AUD Sentiments Challenge Blog - #25- Sentiment/Card for a Child
LOTV Thursday Challenge - #90 - Spring


Hugs!
XO ~ Amy Jo