Sunday clarity

Well I am back after a wonderful retreat with my daughter. This is the first statue you see when you walk up to the retreat center. It was so welcoming and a lovely place, I wish I could stay there longer. I am very thankful for what I did get to do and my top 5 items this week are.

1. Learning to slow down and appreciate my blessings

2. Fun times with my Daughter

3. Keeping an open mind

4. Keeping good to my Lenten promise

5. Time to do what I need to do for myself and others

Have a wonderful week.. Amanda

Altered schedule

These are leftovers from various projects. Every time I look at them I think about different things to do with them. Do you keep pieces from projects that don't make it in or are extra? Or do you finish a project, clean up, and get rid of any leftovers?

I see possibilities in these little pieces and I keep them out so that I can look at them for colors, designs, or just for the creative muse of it..

Well today is an altered schedule for me. I am going on a mother-daughter retreat with my younger daughter and I am excited but can not show it too much... don't want to over load her (I sometimes do that). This altered time is like my pieces.. a time to slow down, take stock of my relationship with her, and appreciate all the beautiful parts of my daughter and me..

Wishing all a wonderful day, take care...

Ash Wednesday

Another simple ATC for the swap over at Paper Traders. I love hearts.. and what better why do show it then with all different types of papers, textures, and sizes. And a little late but February is a whole month of love right??  Not just for Valentine's day...

And with today being Ash Wednesday, I reflect on the many loves in my life. I love my family and friends. I love paper of course and the wonderful things you can do with it.. ATCs being my new favorite thing to do with it.  Hmm.. not too sure where I am going with this post but I was just trying to be true to my Lenten Journey this year and LOVE needs to be a big part of it.. Love myself, love others, and love those who may not love me back.. And for my gifts of love this season, I give up a HUGH love... chocolate..  And I do another love and that is to take the stairs not elevators... Well if I write this in my blog, I must hold myself to it!!  Haha..

I will keep you posted on this lenten journey..  it may take a lot of LOVE but it can be done.

Mardi Gras ATC

Happy Mardi Gras!!  Here are some fun ATC I received as part of a SWAP. Love all the fun details and amazing designs. I love ATC.. but need a good way to display them. Does anyone have any suggestions?? 

Monday feeling like Sunday

 I finished a project today.. I was thinking it was Sunday because it just feels like it so I am going with that..  I was part of a swap and we exchanged Love Notes. Everyone created a beautiful embellished envelope with a love note inside. To finish the swap we were to create a book to put them in. This is the cover page. The rose and hand on the bottom was an image I used on my envelopes.

Here is the front inside view. I received 5 beautiful envelopes in the swap. They now are pages in my new book. The binding is according folded cardstock to hold each envelope.

Here is the back of the book. The masked cupid is also another image I used on my envelopes. This was a fun project. And though I missed it as it is not Sunday, here is my top 5 items I am truly thankful for.

1. A wonderful day spent with my sister and mom
2. An extra day to create art
3. Knowing as Lent approaches that I can be focused
4. WW recipes
5. Wine

Wishing all a wonderful week..

Hearts

It is very close to Valentine's Day and I still have a lot I would like to do. So here is my first card. I started with a torn paper heart. A trick that I was told to get the exact tear is to use a wet q-tip.. It worked well with the heart. Then I punched hearts from various different papers. Love the glitter and music paper. Stamped the background with random hearts and dots. The label is just simple font with ribbon layered behind. Like the simple design of this one.

Another Sunday

Time is going so quickly and I really wanted to have more done by now. I did get this one card finished. The butterflies are 3D. So the shadow cut butterfly is glued down but the cut-out butterfly wings are up.  I liked making the butterfly body of pearls too. Then the baby's name is Brooklynn Rose so I added the rose on to the name title.Wishing for more but so thankful for all that I have...

Top 5 are:
1. Believe in what I can do
2. Giving myself time to think about what I need
3. Counting my points better
4. Working on organizing my room
5. Lots of fun Swap items received and shared

Have a wonderful week...

Only on a Sunday

I had lots to finish today. And mostly things I did not want to do like taxes.. yuck!!  Well I did sneak in some fun. This is an ATC. The fun part is that it is a "Hitchhiker ATC" The concept is to add something to it and then add it to a SWAP item and then next person adds to it until the 6th person. They get to keep it. I added the stamped stencil and the hearts.  I put it with my ATC SWAP that I am sending out tomorrow. All this is part of the Paper Traders group I belong to. I have a lot to be thankful for

1. Being part of a fun group

2. Finishing little projects

3. Knowing that I may not like it but my taxes are done!!

4. Life can be hard but it makes me appreciate all the blessings I have

5. Hearts.. I love them almost as much as Pandas... did I say that???

Have a wonderful week...

Can't help it

I should be working on bills, taxes, or a million other boring things but I just could not do it. I gave myself 30 minutes to have fun then it is back to work.  Since finding the circle flower on Pinterest, I have been wanting to make a card with it. Well here it is. I embossed the background piece. Then rubbed on ink with a brayer to add more dimension. I then used pearls where the dots are in the design. The tag is a punch and used jute ribbon to tie to the flower.



The flower is seven 1'' circles folded to a point. Not sure if you can see but I used the double sided paper and so the center of the flower is showing the other side paper. I used another pearl in the center. This was fun and now I guess it is back to the other stuff, oh well.