Some Bad News

An update on our little spring nest with eggs:

Ever since our discovery of the nest we have been checking on it daily. It became a fun ritual for my children and I.

All was going well until this afternoon when a dust devil ripped through the backyard. My husband and I immediately came to recover the tarp that was blown into the side of the tree and I checked the nest.

Unfortunatley all the tiny eggs were thrown from the nest to the ground below. All of them cracked, I am so sad. The nest is still in tact within the branches. Hopefully it's still early enough into spring that momma bird will have another chance. :(

Many Thanks

So my husband and I have been busy for the past month and a half planning a chili cook-off for our church. We held it this past Saturday and needless to say all our hard work paid off. It was a great event and we received many positive comments from several people. There was plenty involved in planning the event, but it would not have been such a success without all the help from several volunteers. And so, that led me to creating many "Thank you" cards for all that helped. Here is what I created: The majority were made for my "chili cookers" and just a few for those that assisted with baked goods {hence the cupcake} and providing beverages. Not a whole lot of detail or embellishing, yet still homemade and filled with a huge amount of gratitude!

Spring Discovery!

This is amazing. As the weather gets warmer {a sure sign of spring} my children discover mother nature's beauty. The kids head out to play every afternoon, I'm already busy pulling weeds and tending to newly budding plants. My husband has mowed the grass for the first time this year {thank goodness he was able to start the mower after sitting idle all winter} it looked like a hay field. Our beagle is also happy with the change of season, her naps in the sunshine are extra long these afternoons.

For the last couple of days though our beloved beagle has been barking non-stop at one of the trees in the backyard. My son decided to investigate. He was quite taken by surprise when a bird flew in his direction, darting from the tree. Upon careful and cautious investigation he discovered a tiny birds nest nestled in the upper branches. I took a moment when momma bird was away {probably eating dinner} to snap these pictures. The nest is amazingly intricate and the 5 little blue speckled eggs are just delicately darling. I will keep an eye on the nest and eggs and keep you updated.

Spring Inspired!

Here are the results of a recent "Spring Inspired" card exchange. The ladies could create cards for easter, decorate them in flowers & blooms, or simply apply a spring inspired quote or colors! The first card is my own and it's the one I gave you a sneak peek of last week.

My Latest Obsession!

Like many other's out there I have been 'bitten' by the Twilight bug ... or should I say vampire! I saw a suggestion in the latest Creating Keepsakes magazine to scrapbook about these books. I also noticed some other CTMH consultants creating their pages about the latest obsession. I tell ya, there is just not enough time in the day for all of my hobbies! I'm so glad I created these pages to preserve the memory of the best book series I have ever encountered.

Most product is Close To My Heart: Papers are from the Silhouette collection, chipboard letters & cardstock. Ribbon and ruby bling are not CTMH.

Happy St. Patty's Day!

St. Patrick's Day is a fun holiday filled with merriment and green beer!! With just a wee bit of Irish in me I enjoy wearing my green and trying to speak in an Irish dialect. May the luck of the Irish be with you today.

This is a fun little tag I made with thank you notes attached to give to my customers placing orders with me. I always make some little treat to send in their bags, I'll try to get around to photographing some of the others I've done.

Birthday's Galore!

In my previous post I mentioned all of the birthday madness in March. My husband and father share the same birthday and it is no small task to spoil them equally. My daughter celebrates her birthday a few days after and she turned 10 this year. Yikes! A whole decade old. My baby girl is growing up way too fast. Not to mention it reminds me that I too am another decade older... double Yikes!!

What would any 10 year old want for their 10th birthday? A bedroom makeover of course! She was due for new bedding and we needed to do a major cleaning and re-organizing in there anyways. Here are some before and after photo's. This is only what I was able to accomplish in about 4 hours so I really hope to add more art and decoration down the road. Regardless, she was thrilled with it and even made the comment "My room looks like someone from T.V. came to our house and decorated it".

The Before:

The After:

The surprised birthday girl seeing her 'new' room for the first time:

Besides remodeling bedrooms, here are a few sneak peeks at some projects I've been working on.

March Madness!

This month will be crazy for me, so I wanted to apologize for my lack of posting. I hope to have some new artwork that I can show soon. Some of my projects are gifts as there are several birthdays and baby showers coming up. I will also be collecting Easter exchange cards this month and hope to post the fabulous creations here soon. Please be patient with me and stay tuned!

Thanks, Amy

Build~a~page!

This is a workshop I will be doing next month. I decided to call it "build~a~page", because your doing just that. Scrapbooking a page is as easy as building or layering your pages. A great foundation begins with a fabulous template. I love the books that Close To My Heart offers. {You can find more information about them on the right hand column.} By simply using a basic template from any of the books you can lay down a base to build upon. It's good to keep in mind which photo's you'll want to use and be sure that your colors all coordinate when choosing papers. Next, you'll add your photo's to the layout. A strong title is key to the page, and once that is in place you only need to add journaling and embellishments. My hopes are that through this workshop anyone can scrapbook and will not be intimidated by the craft. Here is one page I completed of my own as a sample.

Base page/Template:

Add Photos:

Journal & Embellish:

Happy Valentines Day!

Birthday Treats!

I whipped up a quick batch of more treat boxes. These are little treats for some of my daughter's classmates celebrating recent birthdays. They really are simple to make and I finished 8 of them in about an hour. Instead of the Ghiradelli chocolates, I filled them with rafia and chocolate kisses. I used spring colors, sentiment stamp and present stamp that I pop dotted to the top. All products are CTMH.

A student for the day!

I have not been a student for some time, always busy teaching others. It was a welcome change and a great experience to see familiar faces and new ones too! I finally met the gal that leads myself and several other area consultants. Her name is Karen Morris and she is a savvy business woman, a rewarded leader, and a creative spirit. Not to mention that with all of her accomplishments, she is completely down to earth, warm and friendly. Here is a picture of us at the recent workshop.

I was looking forward to all the advice and support, but mostly the projects we created. The first project was created by one of the first consultants I ever attended classes with, Julie Jay. This super talented lady created this Memory File. Her design was simply fabulous with the envelope pockets, tags and hidden magnet closure. Fairly easy to assemble and lots of fun to embellish.

Finally, Karen shared a treat box with us, perfect for tucking little Ghiradelli chocolates inside. Hers was embellished in a Valentine's theme, so pretty, but I chose a Spring theme. I used the Key to my Heart papers and the new Fancy Cut Botanicals. This also was a fairly simple project that would be great for making multiples for quick gifts or classroom treats.

I Love Mini Albums

Scince I can't post some of the things I'm working on, I thought I would dig up some past projects. These are mini albums I have made and continue to make new ones all the time. Now, don't get me wrong, I love my big 12x12 albums, but these mini ones are a whole lot of fun to make and look through as the years go by.

The first was inspired by a Close To My Heart publication last year. It required some sewing, which I'm not good at, but I sure can hide it with some paper and glue!

This next album is from a workshop I taught 2 summer's ago. It is made from a CTMH circle album, papers and stamps. We are huge Disneyland fans and loved that I could create the perfect Mickey mouse face with the circles. One day I'll get my pictures in it!

There were a few more pages in this album, mostly with coordinating papers, no specific theme. With the metal ring binder I can still add just a few more pages to it in the future. I hope to attemp a clear My Creations Acrylic mini album soon, stay posted!

Here I Am

I just wanted to say a quick hello and a sincere sorry. I have been a horrible blogger lately and not posting more often. Well, here I am, and here's the deal. I have been busy and some of my creations can't be revealed yet as they are gifts for someone special. Also, a couple weeks ago, I discovered a chip in the lense of my camera. My children have been making videos lately and let's just say that Sir Dragon Rider's sword swung too close to the camera. I have been researching camera's lately and finally found one that fits my needs and is in my price range too. I found a great website that fits your photography needs to a camera in your budget. Go here to find out more. Here are some pictures I snapped with my new Canon Power Shot of my Pot Belly Beagle!

{A dog's life is so ruff}