Life Lately

I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving and a successful Black Friday if you went shopping amidst the craziness! I did a bit of shopping online and decided to avoid the crowds, although I did make a trip to Walmart last night with my mom for a 32" TV for only $98 that my dad apparently couldn't live without. :) Luckily the wait wasn't too bad but the amount of people was insane! Lines were weaving through aisle after aisle... I'm glad we were in and out of there rather quickly.

Anyways, instead of sharing a project today I thought I'd share a bit about what it's like in the life of Ashley... outside of her craft room. :) I don't normally share a lot of my personal life on here, but if it's not too early to make a New Year's resolution, that's something I'd like to start doing, so why not start early?

Currently I'm a student at Ashford University, it's my first semester here but I'm a junior since I spent two years at a local community college earning two Associate's degrees - one in Art and one in Science. I'm loving the small school atmosphere and my classes, my professors are great and even though I have quite a heavy workload, I'm really enjoying it. Oh! I'm studying to become an elementary school teacher. :) 

Since I had to leave both of my library jobs to move to attend school, I'm not currently working a regular job, although I'd like to be. With my class schedule though and all the hours I have to spend in classrooms, I really wouldn't have the time. So, I found a job that doesn't have a regular schedule... teaching craft classes!

When I moved to Iowa to start school at Ashford, I came across an advertisement for a new brick and mortar scrapbooking store called The Scrapbooking Studio in Davenport, about 45 minutes from my school. They were looking for instructors, so I thought what the heck?! Inquired about it, and took a drive down there not long after that for an interview. I now teach Copic classes there on a regular basis (putting my certification to use - yay!) and am loving it. It's so much fun to put my knowledge to use and teach others how fun coloring can be and how fantastic Copic markers are.

Not long after I agreed to teach at The Scrapbooking Studio, I received an email from a local scrapbooking store back home called Peddlers Den that was also looking for instructors (home is about an hour and a half away from Ashford). I inquired there as well, and have been teaching classes there since mid-October. 

So in a nutshell, life is pretty crazy. I can honestly say I don't remember the last time I was bored, or that I didn't have anything to work on. But, I love the craziness and I really feel like I've grown a lot since starting at a new school. Thanksgiving break is almost over and then it's time for finals, but thankfully 5 of my 7 finals are projects/presentations, so I won't have to do much studying. My motivation is three full weeks of break with hours upon hours to craft. If there's one thing I dislike about school, it's that it takes away from my crafting time, but I know in the end it'll be worth it.

Have a great weekend, everyone.

You Keep Me In Stitches!

Happy Tuesday! I'm afraid it's not as happy as I'd like it to be though, since my mojo decided to take a vacation without me. I hate it when that happens! It only happens twice a year or so maybe, but when it leaves, it takes its time returning. Ugh! Hoping it comes back soon because I have lots of holiday projects to get started on, but without my mojo, I'm lost!

Anyways! Before my mojo abruptly betrayed me this weekend, I made a card for the current sketch challenge at Peachy Keen Stamps using the adorable sewing machine stamp and sentiment from their November Stamp Set of the Month:

I rotated the sketch and decided not to make the card as long since I really wanted to use that 6x6 polka dot paper from Authentique's "Spring" collection. I colored the sewing machine using RV11, RV23, and RV25, with YG03 for the green accents. I adhered the sewing machine to the card using pop dots, and ta da! All done.

Like I said, I'm really hoping my mojo returns soon so I can start sharing holiday projects with you (I even went to Michaels the other night and bought supplies for my Christmas cards - ugh!) and I'm also planning a "Life Lately" post so you all can get a peek of what it is I do besides create projects and share them on my blog. :)

Come on mojo, come on home!

Sew Sweet

Happy Tuesday evening! Just a quick post tonight to share with you a "sew-per" fun tag I made for this week's Anything Goes challenge at Peachy Keen Stamps using their new November stamp set of the month:

All papers used to make the tag are from Echo Park's "For the Record 2" line. I love the color scheme! The 6x6 pad even had patterned paper filled with small sewing advertisements, which went along perfectly with the snowman stamp. I stamped the snowman on Copic Xpress paper and colored her with YR04, Y407, YG11, YG17, YG25, Y13, and C1. 

The twine on the top of the tag is from Two Berry Creative. I used Charcoal Black, Limeade, and Lemondrop. 

My semester is starting to wind down with really only final projects left to complete, I'm looking forward to having an entire week off for Thanksgiving next week when I can get started on those projects, and more importantly, have hours upon hours to craft! I seriously can't wait. :) I'll also be making some fun changes to my blog starting with the new year, and can't wait to get working on those as well.

Thanks for stopping by!

Thanksgiving Place Cards

Hey crafters! Can you believe Thanksgiving is just around the corner?! Only two weeks from today, yikes! Thankfully this past weekend I was able to get a head start on some Thanksgiving decoration ideas using fabulous products from Two Berry Creative!

I made few place cards for our Thanksgiving table and cornstalks that can be used to label food items (there's only one in this post since I was testing out the concept - I'll be making more for the other foods, I promise we won't just be eating mashed potatoes!)

The place cards are made using Rectangular Blank Tags and some fall paper from my stash. I adhered some patterned paper to a clothespin for decoration so the clothespin could be used to hold the card in place. I also distressed the edges of the tags with Tim Holtz Gathered Twigs Distress Ink. 

Above are a few close-ups of the cornstalk. Making it was really easy! Here's what I did:

1. Cut strips of gold cardstock into 1/2" x 6" strips.

2. Lightly distress the edges of the paper with ink of your choice, I used Gathered Twigs Distress Ink on these also.

3. Using a clear tube as a base, adhere the strips around the tube, lightly folding the ends of the paper to give them a curled look. 

4. Add more strips to the inside of the tube to give the stalk a bustier look.

5. When all of your strips have been adhered, wrap twine around the center of the stalk. I used Gold Metallic twine from Two Berry Creative.

6. Use a Rectangular Blank Tag to write the name of the food dish, and tie it around the cornstalk. I distressed this tag with Gathered Twigs also. 

Super easy to make and not very time consuming! There are lots of different ways you can embellish these place cards and I hope you found a bit of inspiration today, thanks for stopping by!

Season's Greetings!

Happy Tuesday! Although it feels like a Monday for me since I'm recovering from a long weekend. :) As much as I love having the extra day, it makes it extra hard to get back into the swing of things!

Today I'm sharing with you all a card I made for the photo inspiration challenge at Peachy Keen Stamps going on this week. Don't you love this color combo?!

I know I do! While the colors are very Christmas-y and neither is the photo (although that little bird is so pretty!) the color combination that first caught my eye was the brown/red/gold, which instantly made me think of creating something with gingerbread men.

From there I decided to use the non-traditional holiday cards and create a patterned background using snowflake stamps from Peachy Keen's November Stamp Set of the Month. As for ink, I used Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Evergreen Boughs, Dusty Concord, Barn Door, and Scattered Straw. The sentiment is from Get Inky Stamps' 2013 Holiday stamp set.

I cut the gingerbread men at about 2.75" using a cut from Create a Critter 2. Their faces are from the PK-520 Winter Faces Assortment stamp set, and I embellished them with Liquid Pearls in White Opal, Peacock, and Rouge. 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Don't Forget To Say Thanks

Happy Veteran's Day and 11/11! (And happy long weekend to me!) I've been quite the busy bee this long weekend, too. Friday night I went out to dinner with a few friends, which was much needed after the stressful week I had. Saturday I taught a Copic class at a local scrapbooking store, and Sunday I got a hair cut and just about finished my research paper - yay! In the midst of all that I managed to get some crafting done, and wanted to share with you a card I made for the new 'Thankful' challenge at Get Inky Stamps.

I love how this card still screams Thanksgiving but features a non-traditional color combination using papers from Echo Park's "This & That" line. The Turkey digital stamp is from SKdigis. I colored the turkey with the following Copics:

E18

E25

E29

Y21

Y26

YG67

YR07

BG18

The card also goes along with the "Let's Talk Turkey" theme at All that Stickles (my challenge/inspiration blog), so I added some Golden Rod and Cinnamon Stickles to the turkey's feathers. The sentiment is from Get Inky's Joyful Jar Drinks stamp set. 

P.S: Both SKdigis AND Get Inky Stamps are sponsors at All that Stickles this month, so there's some awesome prizes at stake for creating fun Thanksgiving projects using Stickles!

Have a great rest of your day!

Happy Homespun Holidays!

Happy Sunday evening! I hope everyone has had a fabulous weekend. :) Mine has been a mixture of homework and crafting, it's nice to have a stress-relieving activity to fall back on for when I'm tired of thinking and in need of some creativity. This weekend I created projects for Peachy Keen's November release party!

The first release challenge was to create a treat bag using the colors green and orange, while also incorporating at least one button. This was the more difficult of the two challenges for me, but I'm happy with what I came up with!

Both the snowman and the 'SWEET!' sentiment are from Peachy Keen's July Stamp Set of the Month. I colored the snowman cutie with Copics YG11, YG13, YG17, YR07, E25, and C1. He's adhered to the topper using pop dots, and I added a couple of tiny buttons as an accent. The treat bag is filled with chocolate chunk cookies - yummy!

Now on to my project for the second release challenge, which was to create an "upcycled" project using something from around the house. I upcycled an old mason jar that would be cute to fill with some hot chocolate or cookie mix! (Can you tell I was hungry while crafting this weekend?!)

All the papers used to embellish this jar are from Teresa Collins's "Santa's List" collection. I paper pieced the mittens and added White Opal Liquid Pearls to the tops to give them a textured look. The 'Happy Homespun Holidays' sentiment and the mittens are from Peachy Keen's November Stamp Set of the Month. What a fun project this was to make!

I'm off to create a couple more projects and finish up this research paper (finally!) have a great rest of your night and a wonderful start to your week!

Give Thanks Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to Whimsical Designs' Give Thanks Blog Hop!

You should have arrived from Stephanie's blog, which is also the beginning of the hop, so if you need to start the beginning of the hop, please head over there. :)

For my project, I decided to work ahead a bit and create a Project Life layout for the week of Thanksgiving. I've worked on my PL album here and there since the semester started and really plan on catching up over my holiday break, and then making it a regular feature on my blog starting in 2014.

My mom's side of the family always has an early Thanksgiving the Sunday before Thanksgiving day, and this is what this spread will primarily be about.

Obviously there aren't any pictures yet since the event hasn't happened, but I've embellished everything so pictures are ready to be put in place, and within just a few minutes the spread will be complete. I used a mixture of cards from PL kits and also made a few of my own cards using Echo Park's "Fall Reflections" paper collection, which has been an absolute favorite of mine this fall. (And yes - that's a feather in the top right of the layout).

These two cards that have writing on them are from Project Life's Mini Seasons Kit. It has lots of fun cards for holidays year round! I wrote some of my favorite Thanksgiving foods on the menu card, and wrote about a tradition we have every year. I cut the turkey silhouette using my Cameo and added some washi tape to the plaid card.

This leaf was cut using my Cameo as well, and I used Champagne Stickles around the border of the leaf. I also used some gold metallic twine from Two Berry Creative to accent the leaf, and adhered it to the card using Glossy Accents. 

This top card will be used to document the events of the holiday, and I used the turkey from the silhouette cut-out as an embellishment, adding a bit of Champagne Stickles to the turkey's feathers. I believe this 4x6 card is also from the Mini Seasons Kit.

Thanks so much for joining us in today's hop! Your next stop is Elisabetta's blog.

Stephanie: http://www.stephanie-whimsicaldesigns.com

Ashley: http://especiallymade.blogspot.com

Elisabetta: http://scrap-colors.blogspot.it

Yvette: http://daileyscrapper.blogspot.com/

Nanné: http://nannes-creations.blotspot.com

Jane: http://scossiejane.blogspot.com

Sheila: http://parttimepretties.blogspot.com

Misty: http://abusyplace.blogspot.com

Melissa: http://melissa-moecreations.blogspot.com/ 

Caroleanne: http://theprettypaperpatisserie.blogspot.co.uk/

Cathy Caines: http://inthecatcave.com/2013/11/ww.html

Margie Calenda: http://nobeesplease.blogspot.com

Tereese S: http://fridayscreations.blogspot.com/

Leah: http://leahschaeffer.blogspot.com

Sue: http://soojay.co.uk

So Blessed

I feel absolutely terrible about neglecting my little blog lately, school has just been keeping me way too busy! With Thanksgiving and Christmas break coming up, I plan on catching up on projects to share with you all, and giving my blog a makeover to kick off the new year! In the meantime, though, I'm stuck writing a 14 page research paper - ugh! I've got about 5 pages done so far, and hope to get a few more pages done this weekend. 

In need of a dire break from writing, I decided to get crafty and create a card for this week's Peachy Keen challenge! This week's challenge is all about creating cards with leaves:

I'll be honest and say that I'm sort of over making fall cards and ready to start working on holiday projects, but I am totally in love with how this card turned out! Using Echo Park's Fall Reflections paper, I created a leaf wreath by cutting leaves with my Cameo and embellishing them with some Distress Stickles for texture. 

The Distress Stickles I used are Scattered Straw, Walnut Stain, and Aged Mahogany. I love the textured, subtle sparkly look it gives the leaves, as if they were picked up fresh off the ground on a fall day. The 'So Blessed' sentiment is from Peachy Keen's October stamp set of the month.

The sentiment is a great reminder that even though life seems pretty rough sometimes (especially recently), that I am truly blessed with great friends and family, a hobby that I love, and a future career I cannot wait to pursue. A perfect card to kick off the month of thanks!

Have a lovely rest of your weekend. :)