amyHELLER | my paperie sweets & me

Crate Paper :: World Card Making Day + Giveaway

Happy Friday everyone! I can't believe tomorrrow is October already, can you? September has been such a blur, really. I always think that when school starts back in session, all becomes routine again, but actually, it takes about another month for the dust to settle, doesn't it? We're just now having room parent meetings, Girl Scout re-registration meetings, etc., to get the year going. It's been one heckuva month! :D

Today over at the Crate Paper blog, I have a couple projects being featured. In honor of World Card Making Day, Crate is showing a couple of my cards, along with a MAJOR giveaway! Both cards were created by mixing up the new collections from Summer CHA - Farmhouse, Random and Peppermint. They really work so well together to create all sorts of colorfull fall, spring, summer or neutral projects. I love that! They aren't season exclusive at all which makes them extremely versatile!

If you'd like to see how I mixed things up, head on over to the Crate Paper blog and see my projects and find out how you could win ALL 3 of the newest collections from Crate Paper! Have a wonderful day!

Crate Paper :: Mini Album Tutorial

Hey everyone! Hope you've been well! I've been fighting off a nasty virus the past week so been feeling a bit under the weather and worn, but I'm on the upswing now - yay!

Today I'm bringing a little peek into a sweet little brag book mini album that I created for my tutorial on today's post over at the Crate Paper blog. This is a fun one, because it's a business card sized accordion book! Yep, it's tiny, but just the perfect size for a family member's wallet/purse come the holiday season. It's also extrememly economical, because you can make 3 of these sweet little mini's from one 12x12" sheet of patterned paper! Yep! Wanna see how I did it? Check it out over at the Crate Paper blog here. 

Check back tomorrow when I'll be giving you some more Crate Paper goodies to see! Have a wonderful day! 

American Crafts :: NightFall + School = Yes!

No.1 (First) Walk 2 The Bus - American Crafts

Happy Monday everyone! Today I was playing around with some American Crafts goodies and decided to give a school themed layout a try with the new collections from summer CHA. I had the perfect photos from my son's first walk to the bus stop for Kindergarten, just a couple weeks ago.  I mixed the Amy Tangerine line up with some pieces from the NightFall collections and came up with a decidedly school-themed layout full of fall yummies! Tucked in the bottom left corner is a sticker from Amy Tangerine's Regards stickers, that says "Some journeys cannot be put into words", and I thought this was the most perfect layout for those words, because that journey - his journey off to school, cannot be put into words - it's all emotions, folks! :D

I cannot wait to delve deeper into both of these collections. I have so many ideas whirling around. Both lend themselves to so many possibilities! This week I'll be working on several of those ideas so keep an eye out! ;D 

Thanks so much for stopping by! I'll be back with more stuff to share later this week! :D Have a wonderful day!

American Crafts :: Summer Afternoon + Giveaway Winner!

'Summer Afternoon - The 2 Most Beautiful Words in the English Language' - Henry James

Well, I am slowly, but finally starting to feel as though I am getting caught up on my lil ole blog. Last weekend on top of everything that happened last week with my husband working (and sleeping) overnights in the office (nope I'm not joking -we didn't see him for I think, 3 days all told), we had a garage sale we were trying to prepare for this past weekend. We've been planning this thing and storing in the garage for probably the past 6 months. Then the kids and I have all gotten sick. Plus - my husband's car decided it's about to have it's last breath, almost. We are counting the moments until it decides it's had it. Ugh. Oh, well, I think the chaos is about to simmer down a bit and routine shall prevail! (Let's hope!)

Today I thought I'd share my post from last week on the American Crafts blog - my first assignment as an AC DT member- woo hoo! Then a couple days ago, this:

What?!! My very first AC assigment became the Featured Project at Two Peas in a Bucket! Crazy!!!! I was beyond thrilled! I loved how this project turned out (if you've follwed me for any length of time, you know, I love rainbows, and bright colors on my projects, and this one just felt so happy to me!

So, for a little more American Crafts news, I'm ready to announce the winner of my personal drawing from the AC Blog Hop that took place over the weekend. The winner of my prize goes to.....

Jennifer Grace!!  Please email me (link on top left) your shipping information and I will get out your prize. Thank you to EVERYONE who participated in the blog hop and left me so many wonderfully kind comments. You are all so sweet! Congratulations, Jennifer!!

Thank you so much for stopping by today, and I hope you have a wonderful Thursday! :D

 

October Afternoon :: Fabric + More!

So have you seen? October Afternoon is now starting to manufacture their super-cute designs into darling FABric!! The first collection that has been produced is from Farm Fresh.

I was lucky to receive a smapling of the new fabrics and with very little time on my hands yesterdaym I created this fun little (6" diameter) doorknob rag weath in about 1/2 hour. I created it simply by tearing coordinating pieces into 1" strips then tying them in double knots around my 6" pressboard wreath form. So simple!! I thought this color way would be perfectly sweet and cozy looking for a sleeping baby sign for a doorknob. I wish I had one when my little ones were still that small. :) Make sure to check out the post about the fabric on the OA blog....there *might* be a giveaway going on over there! ;D

Next up is my card I created for Monday's challenge on the October Afternoon blog. Lexi's challenge was to incorporate envelopes into a project somehow. Initially, I thought, oh, my-I don't have a die to create an envelope for my project. Then with one piece of scrap paper, I figured out how to easily create your very own, perfecly perfect envelope without a die. Simply take a square piece of patterned paper - mine measured 5"x5", and lay it in a diagonal shape in front of you with the pattern you want on the outside of the envelope, face down. Then simply fold the top and bottom "points" toward the middle so that they overlap a bit, then fold the side panels toward the center so that they meet up with the bottom panel precisely. Trim off the excess from the bottom panel, and use a corner rounder to round the apex of the top panel. To adhere the botom panels together, I simply used a border sticker across the entire surface to hold them down, but you could also use washi tape on the outside, or even scrapbooking tape on the inside for a even more precise look. It was SO easy!

On a side note, today's the last day to sign up for the American Crafts Blog Hop Giveaway. Make sure to head over here to do the entire hop, if you haven't already. You won't want to miss out on ALL the giveaways there are with this one! Super fab! If you are looking for my hop post, head on over here or simply scroll down one post. Good luck!

American Crafts :: Blog Hop!

Welcome to the American Crafts Blog Hop! I'm so excited you've made it here today! I'm just your first stop on the hop, so make sure you take the time to hop your way through each of the 20 designers' blogs! If you haven't already, make sure you start up at the AC blog so you can see all of the instructions and the full list of designers, then hop away!

For our hop assignment we were challenged to create a project using all 5 of the latest collections in a cohesive way. I love challenges like this because I love mixing colors and patterns together and I think there is definitely depth enough in all of these collections to make them work together beautifully.
AC Supplies: Suflower Paper (35531)- Garden Cafe, Gleeful Day Paper (35604)- Daydreams, Scatter Sunshine Paper (35554) - Amy Tangerine, Oh Happy Grey Paper (35565) - Amy Tangerine, Work in Progress Paper (35546) - Amy Tangerine, Bellsnickel Paper (35487)- Holllyday, Blissful Day Paper (35605) - Daydreams, White AC 12x12" Cardstock (71081), Wishful Day Paper (35610) - Daydreams, Daisy’s Diner Paper (35539) - Garden Café, Clover Cantina (35537) - Garden Café, Carnation Corner (35538) - Garden Café, Bits Decorative Tags (77263) - Daydreams,  Friends Dimensional Stickers Remarks (42228) - Daydreams, Plastic Buttons Elements (85573) - Daydreams, Wishing Remarks Fabric Stickers (42216) - Amy Tangerine, All Together Remarks Fabric Border Stickers (42219) - Amy Tangerine, Remarks Accents and Phrase Stickers (42213) - Amy Tangerine, Elements Fabric Brads (85567) - Amy Tangerine, Hi Friend Remarks Dimension Stickers (42214) - Amy Tangerine, Sunshine Glitter Chipboard Thickers (53188) - Macaw, Vanilla Fabric Chipboard Thickers (53171) - Doll, White Foam Thickers (53110) - Fantastic, Pineapple Foam Thickers (53221) - Maple, 03 Brown Precision Pen (62316)
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Here, I've used some iconic Amy Tangerine pieces, like the sunshine and hearts mixed heavily with Daydreams and Garden Cafe, then with sprinkles of Hollyday and Nightfall. I really love how it turned out! My little girl really does shine and I know she's going to do great things in her life. I really wanted to showcase those traits in her, here in my page, so I used a photo of her in the late afternoon sun, glowing beautifully.

Here's a picture of my giveaway! It's an estimated retail value of $14.50! Only one entry per person please. You have until Wednesday, September 21nd at midnight EST to enter. I will randomly draw one winner and post their name here on Thursday, September 22rd.Just in time for Halloween and Christmas holiday scrapping to begin! :D Easy peasy, right?!

Now it's time for you to visit the super talented Cindy Stevens! Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend hopping on through the American Crafts Blog Hop! :D

American Crafts :: Spotlight + A Special Something This Weekend!

I know it's been a while since there's been anything of real substance on the lil ole blog from me in a bit, but that is all about to change! 

First off, I thought I'd let you know, there's a little something over here on the American Crafts blog for you to check out

AND

Starting tomorrow, through the whole weekend, the American Craft Design Team is having a super stupendous, ginormous, exciting and inspiring BLOG HOP! Make sure to check it out starting at 10am Eastern/7am Pacific Time tomorrow morning! I can't wait! :D Hope to see you there!