Cuttin' Up Blog Hop for Blog Hops with Heart

Welcome to our April Blog Hop with Heart: Cuttin' Up Blog Hop!

I'm so excited to share my project with you this month, all about die cuts!  

If you've come here from Stephanie's wonderful blog, you are in the right place.

If you are just joining in, welcome!

Keep following along as the blog hop makes a perfect circle, full of wonderful die cutting projects and inspiration!

Now, on with my project...

I felt like getting messy in my mixed media journal, although I don't know that this project will stay in it...

I wanted to use some pictures from our fabulous trip to Tybee Island, GA.

And I had some sand from the beach at Tybee Island.

So I knew I wanted to use that for my sandy texture on this project.

And here's the final project:

For my die cuts, I used mainly Studio Calico dies, cut in my Evolution machine.  

This includes the heart geotag, heart tickets and happy phrase.

I used the CTMH Artistry Cricut cartridge for the leaves and floral die cut, which is cut and partially tucked behind my photo cluster.

To create the sand, I used tissue paper, glued to my background.  I then painted it with acrylic pants and sand and then used some shimmer mist from Lindy's Stamp Gang.

The water is created from mixed media paints then sprayed with Dylusion mists and water.

I then added shimmer mist over that.

My photo cluster is backed with Glitz Paper Layers-Uncharted Waters.

The die cuts are cut from a coordinating 6x6 paper pad and some CTMH Kraft paper.

The Kraft paper was painted first with white gelato and then distress paint.

Finishing touches included some Thickers and CTMH Aqua dots from my stash.

I hope you enjoyed my mixed media/die cut project!

I had a lot of fun creating it!

Be sure to follow our hop to Jayma's fabulous blog and check out her wonderful project by clicking on the link!

Thanks for stopping by and have a crafty day!

~Amy

CC: Picture My Life™ - Live Your Day

Have you purchased yours yet?  Remember, it's only available in the month of January.  Shop on my website anytime.

Planners Gotta Plan - Blog Hops with Heart

Welcome to our January Blog Hop - Planners Gotta Plan

If you came here from Stephanie's fabulous blog, you are in the right place!

I am so excited about this theme because I love my planners!

Yep, that's right, I have two that I use frequently.

One is to keep track of everything for my family.

The other is document everything to refer to when I am preserving those memories.

Quotes, funny stories, what we did.

Anything that will help me tell the story when I go to do just that.

That's the one I will be showing you today.
My other one is an Erin Condren planner uncoiled and punched to fit in my Filofax.
I love that one, but am still working on the best way for it to work for me.
It included my to do lists (love that the CTMH rotary stamp has a To Do stamp on it), my appointments for my whole family, grocery lists, goals, etc.

I decided to use my CTMH Everyday Life planner that I got for a bundle for my documenting our everyday.  A journal of sorts.

I used the items that I got with the Planner bundle offered in December, along with the My Crush Everyday Life pages, the Live Your Day Scrapbooking Program (available this month only!) and will be using my page protectors when I get them in my next order.
Be sure to check with your CTMH consultant for the new Everyday Life Planner products.

This is how I start every month.  I got this idea for a CTMH YouTube video.
The cards are from the Live Your Day promotion.
You might notice in the picture above that there are cards that say Birthdays.
I will be using those in my pocket scrapbooking album.
This is more to remind me who needs cards and presents and I can put anniversary dates on there too.

I added a My Crush Everyday Life page in the middle of this week, with important photos on the back of this page.  Since this is where I am documenting memories, I like that I can add photos and memorabilia to this planner too. 

A group photo of my son's Show Choir  and a photo of the poster put on his locker the Friday prior to their Show Choir Invitational and the start of Show Choir season.
I've trained my family well.
Yes, he brings these all home for me to add to our scrapbook.

That's a peek in my CTMH Everyday Life Planner and how I document my family's stories and memories, so that they are easy to recall when working on our family pocket scrapbooking album.

Thanks for stopping by!

Be sure to check out Amie's fabulous planner creativity on her blog, if you haven't already.

If you have, thank you for joining us on this crafty planner blog hop!

~Amy

Happy New Year and Thank You!

Happy New Year and Welcome 2016!

I am very excited to start a New Year and very grateful to all of you who helped make 2015 a great year! 

I appreciate all my followers and customers so much!

Thanks to this wonderful business, I have met so many wonderful people, many of which I know call friends, but may have never known if I hadn't embarked on this adventure 9.5 years ago.

I did it to preserve my family's memories with a discount on the products that I loved using.
 And then it was the joy of helping other's preserve their precious memories.

And now, it's so much more than even that.

So thank you for being on this adventure with me!

The above picture shows how I made my Thank You notes for the students that I work with everyday.  I needed some Thank You notes to thank them and their families for the sweet treats that I got spoiled with before break!

It was so sweet of them to do and I wanted to create a sweet card to thank them.

But I wanted to create something that I could put together quickly.

So I pulled out an extra Cut Above kit from 2014 that hadn't been used.

Instead of a holiday greeting, I chose my M stamp with a Thank You greeting and put these sweet cards together in no time.

I love A Cut Above cards for that reason!

Beautiful cards that come together quickly!

And now for the good stuff for 2016!

A gorgeous new Seasonal Expressions idea book, which is available to shop from now!

The new product is all up on my website.

Shop at www.amymcvey.ctmh.com at anytime.

Be sure to check back in the upcoming days for some photos of one of the new workshops, Charlotte.

It is a gorgeous kit and a whole new way to do workshops that I can't wait to share with you!

A fabulous new Constant Campaign for National Papercrafting Month!

I will be using this fabulous PML card set in both my album and my planner...stay tuned for more details on that coming up soon!

A gorgeous new Stamp of the Month for January!

Beloved Banquet is available in the month of January for $17.95 or only $5 with a $50 purchase.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out all the excitement to begin 2016!

I can't wait to share more with you!

2016 is definitely looking good!

~Amy

Blog Hops with Heart-White Pines with a 12 Days of Christmas Twist

Welcome to the December Blog Hop with Heart.

This month our theme is White Pines with a 12 Days of Christmas Twist.

If you've come here from Stephanie's blog, you are in the right place.

Here's the list of all the super talented bloggers participating in this month's Blog Hops with Heart.

Amie Kiger

Kelly Janes

Becca Whitman

Stephanie Davis

Amy McVey (you are here!)

I decided to have a little fun with the theme.

I wanted to use the gold theme in the song and then I noticed that there is 5 rings on the top of the SOTM's mason jar stamp!

Perfect!

I started with a subtle White Pines paper that included Glacier in it's color since I knew the bottom of the jar would have a light blue watercolor wash for the water that the flowers were in.

I also knew that I wanted to use the Thank You sentiment and highlight how the White Pines papers can be versatile.

On my watercolor paper, I stamped the mason jar and the flowers with versamark ink and then heat embossed the images with gold embossing powder.

I also heat embossed the sentiment on a scrap of Fern CS, found in my White Pines paper pack.

I used my watercolors and paintbrushes to paint the water in the jar and the flowers.

Once dried, I assembled the card and added the gold shimmer trim across the watercolored image.

I added the sentiment on top of the shimmer trim with my 3D foam tape.

If you are interested in purchasing any of the supplies I used, be sure to check with your CTMH Independent Consultant.

Don't have one?

Check out the links below.

Supplies used (all CTMH unless noted):

White Pines Paper Pack

Dec SOTM: Candlelight Garden

Gold Embossing Powder

Watercolors 

Watercolor Paper

Paint brushes

Gold Shimmer Trim

3D Foam Tape

I hope you enjoyed my take on our White Pines Blog Hop with a 12 Days of Christmas theme.

If you didn't start out at Amie's blog here, then be sure to follow along and check her beautiful artwork.

If you started at Amie's blog, then you've completed our hop!

Thank you so much for joining us and hopping along!

We appreciate it so much!

Thanks for stopping by and have a crafty day!

~Amy

Scrapbooking with the Urban Paper Collection by Close To My Heart

Blog Hops with Heart - Hopping with Sangria and Gratitude

I am so grateful to join in on this great blog hop with such talented CTMH consultants!

Here's our blog hop list:

Amie Kiger 

Kelly Janes 

Becca Whitham 

Shelly Nemitz   

Stephanie Davis 

Amy McVey (you're here!)

You should have come here from Stephanie's blog.

On to my project:

I loved the Sangria paper pack from the moment that I saw it.

It's gorgeous colors and designs caught my attention right away!

Supplies used:

 Beyond Measure Stamp Set

Sangria Paper Pack

Cocoa ink

Sunset ink

New England Ivy ink

Gold Shimmer Trim

Vine Embossing Folder

Make It From Your Heart Vol. 1

Gold thread and my sewing machine (not CTMH)

When making this card, I used one of the card designs from Make It From Your Heart Vol. 1 How-To Program for inspriration.

I stitched the first background paper onto my card base with gold thread and my sewing machine.

I cut out and inked the edges of the chevron pattern paper in Cocoa ink.

I put my desert sand CS piece through my Cuttlebug machine with my Vine Embossing Folder and then swiped the top of the embossed piece with Cocoa ink.

I attached my chevron piece down and then my Gold Shimmer Trim.

I then layered my embossed piece on top.

Finally, I used the rock and roll technique on my pumpkin stamp.

I first inked the stamp up in Sunset ink and then rocked the edges with New England Ivy ink.  I also gently tapped it down once in the New England Ivy ink to pick up a little more green on the inside of the pumpkin.

I then fussy cut out my stamped image and placed it on the top.

I hope you enjoyed my peek at Sangria and Gratitude!

If you are interested in any of the products that I used today, please be sure to check with your CTMH independent consultant.

If you started with Amie's blog, you've made it all the way through!

If not, be sure to head over there now...you don't want to miss any of the creative projects these talented ladies have created!

Thanks for stopping by and have a crafty day!

Amy

Collection Connection: Sangria

I love this collection!  It's one of my favorites!  Enjoy this video!

Thanks for stopping by and have a crafty day!

Amy 

Embossing Folders and Diffusers 101

I love these new embossing folders and diffusers.  Get yours today by shopping my website.
Thanks for stopping by and have a crafty day!
~Amy

Seven Things You Can Do With Watercolor

I love our watercolors!  Shop anytime at http://amymcvey.ctmh.com.
Thanks for stopping by and have a crafty day!
~Amy