the.amanda.sewell

I needed something to take to my girls who I visit teach this month, and I made this super quick. I stamped the images in black and then used clear embossing powder over them to make them pop! I used my SU punches to punch the first two layers (the image and bright color) and then my nestabilities to punch the scalloped black layer. I adhered them using some redline dots (from Jody's shares), to the york patties and put them in a cello bag with a black and white polka dot organdy ribbon and VOILA! Stamps : Batty For You (SU!) Paper : Neenah Solar White, Green Galore (SU!), Lavendar Lace (SU!), Only Orange (SU!), Basic Black (SU!) Ink : Onyx Black Versafine Accessories : Cello Bag, Black and White dotted Organdy ribbon, 1 bag of York Peppermint Patties, clear embossing powder, heat tool, scalloped circle nestabilities, circle punches (1 3/8 and 1 1/4) (SU!) If you have not entered my 500th Post Celebration Blog Candy drawing , don't forget to do that before you go! Wi...

So I am in love with all the Verve Stamps sketches that they have been posting for their anni-verve-sary celebration. I think sketches are my favorite type of challenge anyway (with color and inspiration as a close second), but Julee is a total layers girl and her sketches show that and are SUPER fun to work with. I loved how the two sketches I chose today had a triangle pointing inward to the image, that is something I never would have thought to put on there, but that works and looks pretty cool! I still don't have a lot of Verve stamps, mostly sentiments, but I decided to play along using some other images that I had pre-stamped and/or pre-colored lying around. It was fun! My desk did not even get that messy! YAY! Anyway, hope you like what I did! Happy Tuesday! AVS04 - Riley Moosemas! Stamps : Christmas Tree Riley (Hanna Stamps), Things Riley Would Say (Hanna Stamps) Paper : Real Red, Paper Salon Ornamental Holiday: Green Stars, American Crafts - The Goods: Wrappin...

Oh my goodness, I spent the whole morning working on the first of the three challenges -- the one that seemed to be the most challenging to me and I am still not satisfied completely with the results. I need to revisit this simple white card again in the future to see if I can come up with something that just knocks my socks off . . . these three just turned out okay. Maybe I should try one without any cuttlebug embossing? Anyway, here is JulieHRR's challenge: One of my most favorite cards to make is a clean, simple white one! I encourage you to try letting color, imagery, and just the right amount of embellishment shine on a simple white base! Here are the details for the three cards! I will be back later with some more challenge cards as I finish them! Merry Christmas Snowman -- Stamps : Snowman - High Hopes, Sentiment by Amuse Paper : Whisper White, Handsome Hunter Ink : Onyx Black Versafine Accessories: Prismacolor Pencils, Sansodor, Blending stumps, diamond sti...

DO YOU HAVE THIS SET YET? IF NOT, YOU NEED IT!!! October is only a few months away, my friends. I am absolutely in love with this set and totally and completely in love with Halloween. It is my favorite holiday ever. So many people don't understand at all -- my husband included. He just does not see the draw. I think I like the mystery of it all. I love seeing all the little kids in fun costumes. I love that everyone comes out to play. I like that it is creepy! This first card was inkspired by a layout I saw in Chantel's gallery. I had added it to my favorites a long time ago, and yesterday it just came to life for me. The paper is by KI Memories (I am pretty sure I got it at Hobby Lobby). I added polka dots to the spider because it made him less scary and more fun. Also, I had a polka dot theme kind of going on, so I just went with it. The colors are apricot appeal (a color I don't use too often), old olive and basic black. I really love the way black seem...

I don't have a boss, I am the boss, *smiles* well, at least of my household during the day! But, M does have a boss, and so I made it a quest to create a masculine card for him to give his boss. It was not an easy task for me, but here is what I came up with. I really hope his boss likes it. I used SU's "Set Sail" because I don't have any masculine sets that are current. Good info for me though for Fathers Day -- clearly I will need one. The colors are creamy caramel, ruby red, and not quite navy. The neutral paper is confetti cream. The ribbon is American Crafts Elements ribbon. The bottom has some linen thread double tied. The sentiment is from SU "Much Appreciated." Oh, and I paper pierced the edge of the caramel layer for interest. I think it turned out pretty good for a masculine card. Happy Boss' Day. Don't forget to thank your boss for a job well done. Oh, and in other news, Mr Brown (aka UPS) will be coming today to drop off ...

Am I the only one who is random in their selection of what stamp set to use? I have this nice shelf to store my stamps on, but somehow they always end up in a big pile on the floor. SERIOUSLY!! (a little Grey's Anatomy reference for all you GA fans) Today, SU "Bugs and Kisses" just happened to be the one on top, calling my name, so it got a little more use. I have been playing with my alcohol inks and made this blue and green background, and when I grabbed this set, I instantly could imagine the bugs embossed in black on this background. SO, I did it. I think it turned out cute. It's a very simple layout, but it works. The background was created by placing a round magnet on the paper and then dotting around it using the gel pen. Really simplistic, but I think it worked out well. The sentiment is framed using chipboard hardware by Basic Grey. I painted it black using the coolest paint -- it is glossy paint. I got it at Walmart for 77 cents. It works perfect...

Okay, I admit it! I am obsessed. I seriously just love the rose in SU Mixed Bouquet. I hardly use the other stamps in the set. It just looks awesome no matter what you do with it. You can color it in any colors. It is just such a "me" stamp. I cannot believe how much I use it. Some other stamps sets are starting to complain because they are feeling neglected *wink* This morning I tackled the color challenge, and also the bonus on the sketch challengeand the ways to use it challenge from last Thursday, and this afternoon I will work on the actual sketch challenge. For the color challenge I did not have any sahara sand, so I used some "khaki" cardstock that I had from Michael's which I thought looked similar (although perhaps a bit more green than the sahara sand). I stamped the rose and leaves in versamark and then chalked them using cotton swabs. It has been a long time since I have taken out those stampin pastels, but I really like how it looked when ...

So I decided that since I slacked off yesterday (READ: did the laundry and all the housework I had been neglecting instead of stamping), I would try out the color challenge and get one of my new sets inky! I got this set because I love sets that you can color in, and because the sentiment in it is just too cute!!! The colors I ended up using because I do not have all the new colors yet *shock* were bashful blue (I know, my picture does not look quite like that -- camera messed it up), apricot appeal and cranberry crisp. I also added Old Olive in for the leaves and it worked with this particular color combination. In the card above, faux stitching was done on the cranberry crisp using the white gelly roll pen I have. The apricot appeal is stamped with linen background, tone on tone. I don't know how well you can see it, but I distressed the interior edges of the cranberry crisp square. Then I rolled them back a bit. The image was watercolored with a blender pen and the top of my...

So, my poor "Bugs and Kisses" SU set was being treated cruelly. I got it right after the new catty came out and it has sat on my shelf waiting to be used and I have ignored it. So, I decided to play with it and see what I could come up with. My first inkspiration was to use the worm as gummy worms. I was looking at my bag of grosgrain scraps and the colors just kind of came to me. The colors used are tempting turquoise, regal rose, yo yo yellow, and green galore. The ribbon was done in the perfect bow method, only I used three colors. The black gingham was tied through the original loop. The yellow strips of grosgrain were to replace the paper strip in the original sketch challenge idea, and the black brads at the bottom were just to add interest. Also, stamped tone on tone in the background there are more worms. The only thing this card is missing is a little glitter. I think overstamping the worms with irridescent ice would complete the yummy gummy worms look. M...