Its been a little while....

I've not been able to be as dedicated to my blogs/artwork and online responsibilities like I wanted after I started my new job. In fact, I was only able to log on maybe once every few days and that was for only a little while. I havent created anything in a while either. Fortunately for me, the job didnt work out. I just didnt like not having time for ANYTHING other than working and sleeping. My relationship with my husband was strained... I mean... we are okay its just we NEVER got to spend time together and when we did, we were so exhausted and grouchy that we didnt want to be near each other for fear of being mean. lol. I just threw in the towel and told them that I couldn't do it. I wasn't happy, Tim wasn't happy and I really really missed my husband, art and art friends!

So.... I'M BACK! Did you miss me?!?! lol.

Because of my absence PAMC suffered =( I wasnt able to spend the time with it that it took to keep it running smoothly and actively. Because of that, among other things such as it being too complicated and over bearing with everything I was trying to do with it... I decided to close it down. However! I did not remove the blog and all of its goodies. Instead, I replaced it with a new address, look/feel and rules. PAMC is now Weekend Crafters. Weekend Crafters will be similar to PAMC except prizes are not offered as often, & there is no design team either. EVERYONE is welcome to participate in the challenge and ANY sort of craft is welcome. A new theme will be posted every Friday.Each week a participating artist will be featured. The feature will include a mini-bio, examples of work by the artist as well as links that the artist would like to share and etc. We do have a group located at the Scrapbooking and Crafting Friends network on ning. Its pretty similar to the blog except that S&CF members that participate receive points for doing so.

I'm excited for the change and I hope that this blog will be active and more fun for everyone, including myself.

In other news..... I designed the new look of S&CF, the banners and blinkies are by me, the banner and blinkies for Weekend Crafters are by me as well =D I'm so proud of them lol.

I just wanted to give a quick rundown of whats happening with me, and where I have been. I'm back though, and ready to create again! Stay tuned, I'll be making stuff soon enough! Hope everyone has a great night!

with love,

Challenge #10. April Showers, Bring May Flowers

Candy hosted the challenge this week at PAMC and she choose 'April Showers, Bring May Flowers'.. very fitting for the weather we've been having recently. BLEH!

This is my card that I put together =D I haven't had the chance to use this stamp for anything. Its been sitting in the drawer for almost 6 years untouched! EEP!
So happy that I got to make something with her. Isn't she beautiful???

I used a really pretty vellum glitter decorative paper for the background as well as a nice embossed type of lavender paper. Sorry folks not sure who they are by. The beautiful Lavender Fairy is by Stamps Happen. I colored her using colored pencils. I used purple and clear self stick gems, my sewing machine, and lavendar ribbon. =D

Head over to PAMC and check out what the rest of the design team made. Everyone has until Wednesday at noon to participate, and everyone is welcome to jump in. You dont have to be a member of the group or anything. MyGrafico is sponsoring the prize there for the month so participate and you might win a super cute digital stamp set!

Tri-fold Card for PAMC Challenge #9

This week's challenge at PAMC was hosted by the lovely Deana. Tri-fold Cards! I have really loved making cards lately. Its so much more fun to send someone a card YOU created from the heart. I like to see or hear their reactions after they receive their card from me. I've never attempted a tri-fold card though. I wasnt sure where to start to be honest but I know I wanted something I could use at anytime as a greeting card instead of a specific holiday/occassion =) I drew out all of the shapes on different colored cardstocks and cut them out/edged them etc. Then put them all together. I really love my decorative scissors! You can do so much with them! The hills have script stamped in emerald on them. and the tree has a red gem.

Items used: 2 colors of blue cardstock, White cardstock, 2 colors of green cardstock, brown cardstock, emerald & black dye inks by stampabilities, script stamp from A Time to Stamp, Happy Everything stamp from Studio G, decorative scissors, self stick gems by Darico

Check out our design teams creations HERE. They all do such beautiful work! And feel free to jump on over & participate! We'd love to see your creations!

Happy Thursday all!

Andrea

PAMC Challenge #8- Creative Flourishes

Its time for another Challenge at Paper Arts Mingles & Challenges [PAMC]! This week the very creative & talented Sara challenged us to be creative & create a piece using a flourish and an inspirational word or saying. This is my ATC for the challenge :) Here is another view of the ATC...

Materials used: Lime, maroon, and canary cardstock; Self stick gems by Darico; Fairy stamp by Studio G; Flourish stamp by Studio G; Be You stamp by Studio G; Black Dye ink by Stampabilities; Designer paper (not sure by who); Crystal glitter glue by Crayola; Prisma Colored Pencils

Check out the other Design Team Member's creations on the PAMC blog or check out the group on PaperCraftPlanet and if you are in the mood for a challenge jump on in, we'd love to see what you can do!

"Things w/ Wings" PAMC Challenge #6

This week Jeanette hosted our challenge at PAMC. 'Things w/ Wings' ... I havent really made alot of cards in the past but I wanted to try it out. Everything on this card is from Michaels. :)

If you have a chance check out PAMC's blog or the group and maybe participate in all of the fun! You can check out the other Design Team creations as well! :)

Happy Crafting!

PAMC featured on PCP!

I am OOBER excited because my group Paper Arts Mingles & Challenges has been featured on the PaperCraftPlanet News this week! Yippee! Check out the article below... very cool! Check out PaperCraftPlanet, you wont be disappointed! Its the best art site in the galaxy :) SHAZAM! :) There's still time to participate in this week's Buttons, Brads & Blings Challenge at PAMC and we also have some super cool mingles in the group. To check the group out & possibly join CLICK HERE!

Happy Monday all!
~Ande


Daily Planet Newsletter 13

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Magazines & Newspape cards scrapbooking

'Bling' ATC's for PAMC

I created these ATC's for this week's Bling Challenge over at PAMC. Toni was the host this week. Every one did great work! I loved the challenge. The Treasure The Moment ATC is my favorite :) I actually made the backgrounds for these ATC's for my tutorial on PAMC for the Bandana Technique :) If you get the chance check out the challenge at the blog HERE or you can visit the group HERE. Participate if you get the chance, the winner of the weekly challenge is featured on both sites & gets entered into a monthly drawing for a Grand Prize :)

HAPPY APRIL FOOLS DAY!

Background Tutorial

Over at Paper Arts Mingles and Challenges I posted a background tutorial tonight. Stop by and check it out.

Hope everyone is having a great night!

Off to watch idol! (GO Adam & Danny!)

Newspaper Flowers @ PAMC

Over at PAMC, its my turn to host the week's challenge. Jeanette a fellow Design Team member at PAMC posted an awesome paper flower tutorial. So I thought we could all incorporate the tutorial in our challenge creations this week. :) I love Gothic arches and so I created a couple of them for the challenge.

The first thing I decided to do after I chose my main images was use another technique (the bandana technique) to create background papers. These are the background papers I created for each arch.

Then for the first arch. I cut out the typical arch shape from my background and added my main image. Then I layered some pretty ribbons and attached them on the left of the arch. I Stamped the cute saying on white paper with black ink (the stamp is from Studio G) and I edged the square with green colored pencil. The next step was to make the newspaper flower from Jeanette's tutorial. I decided to make a large flower. I followed the steps that Jeanette gave us but I also outlined each of the 6 circles with a different colored marker and then assembled the flower and attached to the arch with a gold brad. I just assembled it all together and wha-lah! This is the finished product:

I loved the outcome of this one so much that I decided to make my blog banner with the different embels I used for the arch :)

The second arch was a little different. I used a different arch template, a more decorative one for this arch. Its one of my favorite of the arch templates :) I attached my main image first. Then I decided to try and make a sort of ley (spelling) you know the hawaiian flower necklaces lol. out of the newspaper flowers. so I made 4 different flowers and edged each with a different color. Under the flowers I glued a piece of pink thread, and then attached each flower w/ a bronze brad. I thought the happiness definition would be a fun addition. It came from my ephemera book that I found at Michaels. I cut the words apart and glued them to black cardstock as a sort of border, then just attached to the arch. The final step was cutting a larger arch in black and attaching my finished arch to it to give it a border and make the colors really pop. It was a fun one. It put me in a great summery mood :)

Check out PAMC's Blog or the Group to participate, and to see the other creations from our Design Team Members & all the other participants. I promise you wont be sorry! The Inspiration is unbelievable!

Wishing everyone a great weekend!

"Go Green" from PAMC

Sara, one of the DT members over at PAMC hosted this week's challenge "Go Green".... you can use anything green or recycle items to make new creations. -> I LOVED THIS CHALLENGE! <- To participate you can visit PAMC's Group & Join or Visit PAMC's Blog and link your creations in the comments section like most challenge blogs.

Does anyone remember Bill Nye the Science Guy? I used to looove watching his show and was just amazed at the things I learned. It was so entertaining but so educational! Well the other day while wandering through good ol' Walmart with my hubby by my side. I spotted Bill Nye on a bright blue and orange box. I stopped to look at it... it was an education craft kit on how to make you own paper from recycling paper scraps! AWESOME! So of course I couldn't help myself and decided to purchase the kit. It was only $15. Tim of course thought I was insane and chuckled at me, but I just ignore that .lol. eh, what can you say. lol.

This is the kit that I purchased just incase anyone is interested.

I thought this challenge was the perfect chance for me to use my kit! So I got it out and used some old scrap pieces of paper in green that I had and started the process. I made 3 sheets of green recycled paper with the kit. This is how they looked when I was finished.

They were really wet at this stage... and you are supposed to wait 24 hours before you use the paper so that it can dry.. but i'm impatient lol. So I got out my dryer and went to work drying the paper. .chuckles.

This is how the paper looked when it was dry....

It was really fun to use this kit and it actually did work! Once I had my recycled paper made. I went to work on my ATC for the project. I always try to recycle boxes, like cereal boxes, and other kinds of boxes that food may come in and etc. I cut the boxes up for sturdy backings for my atc's, arches, and other creations. It gives you a sturdy backing, and helps the environment!

Today I used one cut from a popcorn box.

After getting together my vintage image, stamps, needle,thread, button, word stickers, colord pencils,markers, and my homemade background paper I started essembling my ATC..... and... whalah!

There's alot going on with this ATC. I used my colored pencils to color the vintage image I used. She was a boring black and white, so I had to spruce it up a little & attached it to my background. Next I edged the word stickers I chose w/ my green marker & attached them. Next I stamped a heart image with Hunter Green ink & a heart stamp from Studio G onto cardstock. I cut it out and attached it. The next step was really time consuming! On the right hand side of the ATC I took Green floss and stitched down the side. I sewed on my green button with white thread and then sewed french knots into the spots of the heart. I wish you could see the 3d effect it all made a little better w/ the picture. sighs. The final step was edging the entire card w/ green marker.

[Note of advice: if you make homemade paper like I created... ink & markers run through the paper if you do not use plain gelatin in your mix. Not sure why but its a pain to discover @ the end of a project .lol]

Again it was lots of fun to participate. I loved seeing all the other creations from the DT members! Check them out at the group or the blog! They are fantastic! We are really hoping that the group & blog will flourish. We are all having tons of fun!

On another note, I found out this morning that I got the job I interviewed for a few weeks back! Yay! Im super excited and start tomorrow at 10 am! Wish me luck guys! Hoping everyone had a blast on St. Patty's Day!

With love,
Andrea

New Challenge & Mingle Group

Hey everyone! I just created a new group called Paper Arts Mingles & Challenges. I just wanted to introduce it and see if anyone would be interested in joining. The group is for paper art related mingles such as Artist Trading Cards, Gothic Arches, Greeting Cards, skinnies, inchies, altered art, and mixed media art.. AND each Thursday we will be hosting a new challenge for the members to participate in. The challenge will have a new host each week.... and each week a winner is chosen using random.org and the winner is featured on the group page for the week and they receive a prize!Does this sound like something fun for you to be a part of? Would you like to be a Challenge host, or a design team member? Would you like to donate a prize, or just participate in the challenge each week... would you just like to participate in mingles, or be inspired? If so... check out the group by going to http://www.papercraftplanet.com/group/paperartsminglesandchallenges