Baroque butterfly

We're back. Yippee. Nice to be home. I miss the king size bed though:}

Here is a card made with my new Inkadoo stamp set. I love this one and went back after my initial shop to get it. I imagined a card stamped with fun flock on it. Well, my 1st attempt is needing some attention. i don't like fun flock. It's stickier than glitter! What was I thinking? lol

Anyhow, here is my next attempt. Embossing. I can handle embossing. It took over an hour to set this card together. Glad I bought the butterfly punch by Martha Stewart. it saved the card I think. ribbon slide by SU, ribbon, IDK (I don't know) I have a few other techniques I want to play with. I don't recall seeing one of them, so I'm excited to try it out. Tomorrow though. have to conduct the choir rehearsal tonight. No time to play.

Thanks for looking,
Amanda

Zoo Trip

This post is so not stamping related, but I wanted to show my family what we've been up to today...

We went to the Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium. 1st of all, it's not on the GPS system we have!!?? How can that happen? But I did manage to get a crossroad. Thank goodness. I had written directions from the hotel, but the traffic in one area was so tight, I definately would have missed the turn off there and back.

What a pretty drive. Lots of forests and hills. Am I correct in saying parts of Pittsburgh are in a valley? Seemed that way as we were driving by. My memories were validified today as I drove thru this area. Henry and I drove thru here years ago on a trip to a sailing regatta in Washington. I remember it was thunderous, huge rainstorms as we drove by, We kept behind a transport truck as the radio was giving info on really bad weather, but we didn't know where we were in relation to it. So we thought, if it's really bad, the big trucks will get off the road. So we stayed close. :}

Anyhow, the kids had a great time at the zoo. it's on a mountain top. Interesting. Rafael was so excited to have a map to follow.Here are some pictures below to highlight our trip.



This pond of fish was really vibrant, considering the water was murky. THe elephants and giraffes were on the other side. Neve really liked the fish and wanted to touch them.

This next picture of Rafael is funny as I viewed it on the camera. He's sitting so proudly right in front of the "no climbing on rocks" sign.

In this pic, he is under the merkat cage. They have a tunnel system and a few places where the kids can pop out and the merkats are running around them. Cool.
As I write this, there are horns blaring and people whoopin' it up. Guess the Penguins won. Can you believe that the game wasn't broadcast here? It wasn't on the cable pkg the hotel has anyway. Drag.

and the last pic I wanted to add because it was a fluke. Don't you think it looks like a soft painting? I turned off the flash and put the camera on the glass window. I like it anyway.

So, that was our adventure for the day. It was 20 degrees celcius. Lovely, just lovely. Tomorrow is a short day here, we're back on the road to home. bleck. More adventures to find some shoes for Rafael. he grew too much in the last month. everything is too small.
Can't wait to get home and play with the new goodies.

Thanks for reading,
Amanda

1st card I ever made

And the 1st stamp set I ever owned! Loads of Love from Stampin' UP!.
This coming Father's day marks the 2 year anniversary of my introduction to stamping.

It is an annual visit to Ottawa for a sailing regatta. This time, I brought some pics to scrapbook with the help of a good friend, Chrissy. When I asked her to help, she did and then told me she was more into stamping now. When she introduced me to it, I was is love. i don't know if I breathed. i was so excited inside to do it. I was 8 months pregnant and 1 week before starting maternity leave early due to work stress. That weekend was the 1st time I felt relaxed in 8 months! It was so free and lovely to create.

Being pregnant, I didn't know how much time I would get to actually stamp when Neve was born. rafael was such a difficult baby, I imagined my time being stuck on my butt nursing. lol But she is her own, and she was a good baby. I had time to create and I wasn't so stressed out. Maybe it was being a mom for the 2nd time.

Anyhow, I ordered the Loads of Love set, white ink and 12x12 earth elements and off I went. As you can see, I used it a bit in the beginning. I still love to colour that set with chaulks and am looking forward to seeing what I'll make this year for Father's Day cards with it.




Sorry for the poor quality of photos. It was before my intro to the world of blogging and I was only taking pics to keep as an idea file.

Oh yes, I did get to shop tonight and picked up a few things at Joann's. They had great sales, but Michael's didn't have any. I did get Martha Stewart's butterfly punch though. Looking forward to using that one.

Thanks for looking,
Amanda

Still here

hi there,

I'm still around, just in Pittsburgh at the moment. Dh came for work, so we tagged along. Best part, the hotel is across the road from Michael's and Joann's!!! I make a quick stop at Jo's with the kids, but am hoping to go back to both after supper sans kidlets.

I didn't bring ANY stamping things with me. Can you believe it? I have a few projects to work on, but didn't have it in me to pack it all up when we were getting ready. I'll just have to buy new stuff and drool over the packaging. lol

I'll dig through my card file alter and post something you haven't seen. I'll probably blurf all night without stamping stuff here.

Thanks for looking/listening,
Amanda

Anniversary card

No, you're not seeing double from last post. After my hubby brought the cards to sell at work, (great idea, I sold enough for my shopping spree in Pittsburgh next week. So pumped!) someone wanted an anniversary card. like, today! So I copied the layout from the wedding card. Changed a few things, voila, an anniversary card. Think I'll make a few more of these. I have some other colours of this handmade paper. The love and wedding cake pieces are from Making Memories. This image is from Michael's.

Thanks for looking,
Amanda

Wedding Dress

I'm singing for a wedding this weekend and I made this card for the lovely couple from my church. Her colour is burgundy, so I went with it.
Image is from Stamping Bella. The cake thingy is from making memories, I think, or the dollar store. I know, quite a difference, but I bought it at a 2nd hand sale.

That's it for now.
Thanks for looking,
Amanda

MOre ElLA and LoOloO

Ellla and Looloo. I'll have to buy the other one. I so love this one. I made the hair orange in this one for my friend's daughter who is turning 2, just around the time of my niece.

Pendant is from the dollar store. I knew it would come in handy some time. Must go to bed...

thanks for looking,
Amanda

She's turning 2

yeah, lame title. This card is for my niece, Lauren. She's turning 2 next week, but we'll be away, so I'll have to put it in the mail soon. She's only 3 months older than my daughter. Wish we lived closer. They would have a blast.

Realized there isn't a lot of stamping on this one. And it has a polka dot theme. Elephant and #2 are Cuttlekids dies. The #2
is stamped with dots from the Dots and Paisley set from SU, then embossed with pink EP. The wagon is also done in pink embossing powder. The stamp is from Stamping Bella! yes, it's true. One of the 1st images I ever ordered. Weird eh? I had to cut the handle, it was in the wrong direction.

What else? Oh yes, background: Base is a sparkle card from a box I bought at Michael's last fall, bottom vellum is cuttlebug circle plate, soft sky is cuttlebug swiss dots. I tore the papers for some interest.

Thanks for looking,
Amanda

Pomegranate fern

I enjoyed making the wish book so much, I decided to try that technique in a different colour... purely pomegranate.
Upon a closer inspection of Nichole's original card, http://nicholeheady.typepad.com/capture_the_moment/2007/06/4.html
I copied it a little closer with the sewing and layers. I didn't have any word punches or matching buttons, so I used a quickutz die and a heart brad. I made a few of these for Mother's Day also.

I have an idea in my head for my niece's bday card. I hope it will work. Off to play.

Thanks for looking,
Amanda

Square flower hug

I decided I needed to start a Portugal fund. Did I tell you we're going in a few weeks!! Yikes.
So I'm going to make a batch of Mother's Day cards to send with my husband to work. I mean, he works with a bunch of men, who I'm sure haven't even thought of shopping for Mother's Day yet. D'ya think it's a good target market? LOL

Here is a similar layout I did with my children's picture for Valentine's day. I got this sentiment with the tree frog set I bought at the CreativFestival. (I'll look up the company later). Embossed it with seafoam EP on black cardstock. The card base is from Michael's. Comes already embossed. (Let me tell ya, it's half the price in the States, where I bought it last fall) Flowers are from a bag of primas I bought a year or so ago. I need more. My colours are not very plentiful. The bling is also from Michael's.

Thanks for looking, off to put the baby to bed and play... so glad my son likes to stamp!
Amanda

Origami shirt

Here is another plain, I mean clean layout.
The origami shirt template can be found quite easily if you google it. So easy to make. The button brads are perfect for this. I've also seen the shirt with a little tie. Cute. The brown paper is from Corelations and is embossed with my cuttlebug folder and sanded to bring out the inside colour of the paper.
The "For You" sentiment is quickutz. Ribbon, Michael's from a few years ago and the brad is not a brad. It's a snap like thing that you need a cropadile for. I'm not overly fond of them as they don't have much depth. It didn't even really catch the ribbon that well. Let's hope glue will keep it there. Maybe a glue dot for extra measure.

I'm thinking Father's day for this one, but left it generic so my workshop attendees can put what they wish.

Thanks for looking,
Amanda

Essence of Swiss dots

Here's another card with Essence of Love from SU.
I've been playing with water colour paper. I coloured the stamp with my marker, misted it with a fine mister and stamped it on watercolour paper. I tried another with making the paper wet first, but I put too much water and it bled too much. When I got an image I was happy with, I coloured the flowers with versa marker and put clear embossing powder on it. I'm also trying things on glossy cardstock. It is still a learning curve for me, so I'll share once I get a decent image.

The background paper is watercolour paper. I inked up the raised side of Swiss Dots Cuttlebug die and put it through. Liking the result. I wanted to keep the card simple. Maybe b/c I have no creative streak these days, so simple and clean is working. also equals plain for me. Sorry.

Off to the Fantasy fair with the kids and uncle in tow today. We had such fun last year and now Neve will be old enough to enjoy also. She was stuck in the stroller most of the time last time.

Thanks for looking,
Amanda