amyHELLER | my paperie sweets & me

American Crafts :: May Projects

Hi everyone! It's the end of the month, and that means we are sharing lots of American Crafts projects from the design team all over the place! After creating my workshop for Two Peas in a Bucket over the past couple months, recently, I've felt really creatively "winded". The mojo has been gone, and I just wanted to not scrap for a while. But now that I'm back at it, and feeling like I'm wanting to challenge myself again, I decided that I needed to take a step back and rather than just pop something out, I decided to slow.down and really think about what I wanted to create. 

I have TONS of Silhouette files that I've been picking up the past several months, but haven't even put a dent in them, so I decided to dig in. I know hexagons are big right now, but it's been a few years since I've really played with them, so I thought I'd give them a go with one of my American Crafts' project for this month. 

I created a hexagon background with my Cameo, using AC kraft paper, then filled them various pieces of patterned paper from Amy Tangerine's Sketchbook collection papers, stickers and other embellishments. I focused the page on all the beautiful neutrals in the Sketchbook collection. Pulling them out, and using them together, I'm REALLY loving them. I'm telling you, I haven't found anything from this collection, that I haven't used. It's a definite favorite of mine, I'm sure for a long time to come.  Here's a set of cards that I created with the collection as well. One very simple, and the other a little more colorful and "full". I really like them both for different reasons. The simple "Hi" card, is really lovely in person, and something that I would defintely love to receive - very simple yet colorful. The other is just plain fun. I focused on the pinks and orange in this "I'm Here" card. And as I was thinking about it with the camera as the focal point, I thought that really is a fun sentiment if you think about it, like a picture lasts forever, this card says "I'm Here" forever. I'm stickin' around like an old photo - whether you like it or not! LOL. I like that. :)

I hope you've been having a good week so far! I'm excited about the weekend and finishing up some yardwork that needs to get done, like laying the rest of our 15 yards of mulch - yep! I layed probably 5-6 yards last weekend by myself, but this weekend it's going to be a family project, so we'll be working hard to make our yard beautiful for the summer!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a wonderful day! :D

WINNER! | My "Through the Kaleidoscope" Workshop!

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you've had a wonderful weekend, and for those who are celebrating Memorial Day weekend, I hope you've continued to have a wonderful time, and are ready for the short week ahead!

I'm so very excited to announce the winner from last week's Gardeners' Digest, and the winner of my workshop, "Through the Kaleidoscope | Making Sense of Color 4 Scrapbooking" for Two Peas in a Bucket!

Congratulations to:

Marunbtol, I have sent your information to Jamie, and she should have your workshop available to you asap!!

Thank you SO much to everyone who commented and are excited about my workshop!! I do hope that sign up if you haven't already!! We're having fun already in our private message board, and if you have any questions at all about the workshop, please, let me know, I'd be happy to answer anything for you!!

Two Peas :: Sketch Challenge

Happy Saturday everyone! Hope you are enjoying your weekend! Here in the States, it's a long holiday weekend for Memorial Day on Monday. This weekend usually is tokened as the kick-off of summer and that means lots of summer preparations and traveling involved throughout the weekend. If you will be doing any of these things, please travel super safely and enjoy your weekend!

I also wanted to say thank you so much to everyone who took the time to read and leave sweet words of encouragement on my post from yesterday. I was so humbled to know that so many people really cared about how I was feeling and what I am going through. It really touched me deeply, so, thank you so very much. You are all so wonderful and thoughtful. It really meant a lot to me. :) Big hugs!Now onto something on a much lighter note! I have a page that I created for this week's Two Peas in a Bucket Weekly Challenge. I created a sketch that uses lots of geometry and basic shapes, which makes it a really easy and fun pages to create and interpret. To check it out, make sure you visit the page here to see the sketch as well as all of the detail images. 

I'm so loving orange right now, can you tell?! He he! I hope you join me in this week's sketch challenge! If you do, and you upload your project by next Friday, you will have a chance at a $5 gift certificate from Two Peas! Who doesn't like prizes like that? :)

Lastly, I thought I'd just give you one last heads-up that the drawing for my workshop giveaway closes tomorrow night at midnight Eastern time. If you haven't already, take a look at this post here for your chance!

Thanks so much, everyone! Have a wonderful weekend and enjoy!! Be safe! :D

"Sometimes, Life... Just Plain Sucks"

 

Source: google.com via Anna on Pinterest

 

...that's what I said to my husband about three weeks ago, as we sat together, cried, and held each other upon learning that his Mom was diagnosed with Stage 4 ovarian cancer.

At the time, I was putting together my workshop for Two Peas, in its the final stages, my hand was still recovering from gouging it with a glass after falling - which I still can't feel one of my fingers from. He was up to his eyeballs in work after having this boss leave just a couple weeks earlier, and all the responsibility was put on his shoulders - working 15 hours a day if not more. Commuting 4 hrs a day, and dealt with a plethora of new challenges to oversee.

We cried; held each other, and in those moments, I felt closer to him than ever.

Now, a little time has passed. The sting has worn off, a little, about the news of his Mom's illness. Now we are in "wait and see" mode to learn how her chemo is working after this first round is wrapped up in about a month's more time.  

We pulled ourselves together, put on strong faces, and plowed through those 2 weeks of torture, between our family news and work related issues. It was a time when we should have been celebrating the new adventures in our future, instead we were just trying to scrape by, and "make it" through. 

I don't often share a lot of personal stuff here on my blog, mostly because I try to live a pretty happy, non-momentous, stress and drama free life. In other words, it's pretty boring, and that's just the way I like it. I've been through enough drama in my life to last several, and I simply can't function with it. 

So, now that the dust has settled from everything, I feel like I'm melting a little, and that's hard. It's always like that isn't it ? You always get through it, it's afterward that's the tough part.The emotions are strong, and I just want to hide under the covers until I feel better, until the sadness wanes.

I miss my husband who's job is taking over his life, I miss my Mom and my sister who are 3,000 miles away, I miss being connected with my family and friends from "home". I feel helpless being so far from my MIL, who I would love to be there for right now. And there's so much more....it just all sucks.

I know it will pass, as all sucky things that come up in life do. I am a glass is half-full person by nature, so I always try to see the other side of the rough patches in order ride them, knowing it will be alright in the end. Right now, it's just tough. I'm grateful for all that I have, don't get me wrong. Sometimes, life is just rough, for everyone. Bottom line is how you deal with it and recover from these bumps.

I recently read a quote that said, "You were given this life because you are strong enough to live it".

I like to think that is true. 

This too, shall pass and great things are to come in this life, I know. I'm just plugging along right now . . .don't mind me. ;)

October Afternoon :: Thursday Sketch Challenge

Happy Thursday everyone! I hope you've been having a pleasant week!

Today, I thought I'd pop in to share a card I made for today's Thursday Sketch Challenge on the October Afternoon blog. The sketch is hosted by Marcy, and she has a great inspiration piece to share along with her sketch for this week. I can't help but think that her inspiration piece was just "meant" to go with the 9 to 5 collection from OA - it's just perfect!
This week on the blog we've been featureing the latest product from OA, their new Designer Brads. They are so awesome, and have just the perfect look that is absolutely fresh an oh, so, "October Afternoon".Oh, and did you see yesterday's OA post? OA is hosting a Flickr gallery contest, and the grand prize is a variety of NEW product from the upcoming "Cakewalk" collection! To participate, you need some 9 to 5 product which I've linked up below and here for you. Then, just follow the rest of the rules on the post, for your chance to win!

Oh, and don't forget about the Two Peas giveaway of my workshop, Through the Kaleidoscope | Making Sense of Color 4 Scrapbooking found here. That contest will remain open through Sunday!

That's going to wrap it up for me! I have a challenge going live at Two Peas later this week, so make sure you watch out for that! :D Have a wonderful remainder of your week!

May Gardeners' Digest + GIVEAWAY of My Workshop!

Hi everyone! Today is that special day of the month when the Garden Girls from Two Peas in a Bucket bring you our Gardeners' Digest blog hop! The Gardeners' Digest is a monthly update (blog hop) that includes sneak peaks of upcoming projects, recent inspiration found at Two Peas, and our favorite products found in the shop! So you probably just arrived from Lynn's blog. If not, start the hop at the NEW Two Peas blog here.
So, what do you say, should we get started?

Here's a peek into an upcoming project that will be coming to the Garden here soon. I am not sure what.it.is, but I am LOVING orange right now! Love it! I want it on everything I create! So, nevermind me, if you see orange in everything I post today! I have a slight obsession with it right now. LOL!

I just love this page by fellow Garden Girl, Jen Gallacher, called "Epic". Everything comes together here so beautifully, from the colors (including orange!), the layout, the pinwheels, the tab on the left hand side. Everything. It's one, that I may just have to lift at some point, because it really is just so awesome! For even more great photos of this wonderful layout, check it out here. :)

Okay, so I snuck in a 6th product, because well, it's my workshop and of course I think it's pretty fun! The other 5 products are on my NEED to have list, for sure! Notice anything? Yep, more orange! LOL! All except the new Amy Tangerine, camera album that is. That is just plain, cool! :D

I'm so excited to be giving away a spot in my very first online class, and to have it with Two Peas in a Bucket, is just a dream come true! 

Here is the "official" blurb:

Do you wish you could add more color to your scrapbooking projects? Have you ever wondered how to mix manufacturers' products and collections with ease? And let's talk about all those products you've been hoarding in your stash, ever wish you could learn to use more of those in your projects? Join Garden Girl Amy Heller as she teaches a color theory based workshop, 'Through the Kaleidoscope | Making Sense of Color 4 Scrapbooking' based on the principles of the color wheel. 

As a graphic designer and former creative and art director by trade, Amy's experience in color has spanned not only from the crafting world, but over 10 years professional experience in the design of advertising, brand development and packaging. Over five chapters, she'll share 50 brand new scrapbook pages by her and her group of contributors. Each chapter contains a printable PDF containing beautiful color inspiration boards from daily life as well as from scrapbooking supplies for each of the principles and colors covered, as well as a coordinating video. Included is a handy, portable flip card set with each of the color theories covered as well as the full color wheel for taking to your next crop or simply having in your craft area for easy and convenient color reference. 

The content of this workshop will be available immediately upon purchase. The lessons are available for you to work at your own pace and upon purchase can be accessed in the "Workshops" section under "Classes & Events." A private message board forum is also available to ask questions for Amy and to connect with other participants. Enjoy!
I can tell you that we've already gotten a bunch of people who've started the class, and are having a great time, so, I hope that you are able to join in the fun with us! 

The workshop is available for purchase here, and if you’re the winner of my giveaway and you’re already signed up, no problem – you’ll receive a full refund or you can gift the workshop to a friend if you prefer. :D

To enter: Please leave a comment on this post telling me what your biggest challenge is with color. Maybe its using the same color(s) over and over, maybe it is that you just don't like certain colors, or maybe it's how to mix colors. For me, I really had an issue with purple for a long time. Creating this workshop, really helped me to embrace this particular color so that now, I think I'm going to seek it out so that I can have more of it on hand when my photos call for it. :) Also, please leave your 2Peas username, that way when I draw the winner we can get you hooked up with the class as soon as possible. It will be available immediately through your account once it's been activated by the folks at Two Peas! :D

I will leave this giveaway open until Sunday, May 27th, midnight EST. The winner from my post will be announced here on my blog on Monday, May 28th. Good luck!!

 Okay, now back to the hop! Here's the list of everyone in order, so now you should be headed on over to Laura's blog!

Two Peas Blog Shimelle  Jen G  Amy T  Jill  Lynn  Amy H <----That's me :D Laura Kimber  Nancy  Wendy  Becky  Wilna  Shannon  Kandis Two Peas Blog

 Have a wonderful time hopping and thank you so much for stopping by today! ;)

October Afternoon :: Monday Challenge

Happy Monday everyone! I'm back and it feels really good to start the week back in a "normal" routine! Thank you so much to everyone who commented on the launch of my new workshop at Two Peas in a Bucket! I'm so excited! And I'm even more excited that you are excited about it, too! :DSince I am getting things back to normal, today I'm sharing a page I created for today's Monday Challenge over at the October Afternoon blog. I won't tell you what it's all about, but I'm betting you can guess from my page! :) Just in case, make sure you check out the post here, where Wina joined me and she created a beautiful interpretation of the challenge as well!

AND , just in case you missed it, Two Peas now has 9 to 5 from October Afternoon IN STOCK, but I'm sure that won't las long as it is hot, hot, hot! So if you are interested in this fabulous new line, check it out here! I've also linked up specific products that I used in my layout today so you can go directly to them. :)

Thank you so much for stopping by today! I hope you have a wonderful day! Tomorrow's going to be a fun day on the lil' blog, so make sure to check it out! ;D