Yay, for fun scrappy news!

Exciting week so far for the scrappy stuff!  First, I found out that I won a blog drawing for the brand new "Happy Hauntings" Cricut cartridge over at Bitten by the Bug 2!  BBTB2 was celebrating their 1000 follower to their blog last week and had several giveaways to celebrate.  Memory Miser was their sponser for the Cricut cart that I won... sooo huge THANKS to Memory Miser AND BBTB2!  I will enjoy my new Halloween cart for sure!  I'm even shocked that it was delivered to me in today's mail already... that was fast service, Memory Miser!!

AND for other fun news, I just found out Monday night that I'll be joining the design team for "Let's Capture Our Memories" for the Fall!  I am thrilled to be able to do some new dt creating!! DT work really gets me motivated and I look forward to getting to know the scrappers over at LCOM better!  Woot!  Thanks for letting me share my scrappy joy! 

Before I go I thought I'd share with you one of my latest pages...

I had entered this page in my BoBunny dt entry.  The photos are from last year's Bloomsburg Fair, which will be here next month!  I'm soo excited for the Bloom Fair... I look forward to walking around and smelling and eating all the fair food practically all year long! Can not wait!!

Squeezin' In Some Play-Time!

Hello, and Happy Friday everyone in blog-land! So nice to say that.  It's actually another cloudy rainy day here in PA, but for some reason I don't really mind... I believe it's cuz I'm suddenly really getting in the mood and frame of mind for Fall!  Yep, I was at Wal-Mart the other day and to my delite they had the shelves stocked with their Fall scented candles, and I happily grabbed a few!  Right now I have a roast cooking away in the crock-pot getting ready to make some good BBQ pulled pork and I'm burning my Cinnamon Bun candle so this house smells heavenly! 

I'm at home today... didn't get to travel to Joyce's for our Friday scrap day!  I'm hosting a little picnic here tomorrow for my mom and a bunch of her old high school besties, so I stayed here today to get some cleaning done and to prepare the pulled pork and some other stuff!  But, I did manage to make a little time for me today to create... I just couldn't resist the urge, afterall, when that spark hits, you gotta run with it!

So here's a fun card I made today during my "play-time"! 

There's a card challenge going on over at "Let's Capture Our Memories" to make a card using a die-cut of some sort, and I don't let chances to play with my Cricut pass me by too often, so I grabbed my Life is a Beach cart and new Life is Good Echo Park collection and got to creating! 

Are you looking for a place to scrap this weekend?  If you are, you don't need to leave the convienence of your home!  Simply Obessed is having their on-line "Scrap That Vacation" crop.  There are tons of challenges posted and you just maybe able to score one of their Birthday presents since it's SO's 3rd Birthday and they are giving the gifts instead of receiving! ;)  I hope to be able to scrap it up some there on Sunday if I get the chance, so it would be great to catch you all there too! 

And... one more thing before I go...

Have you all been looking for a great place for crafty inspiration?  Do you need a new scrappy home on the internet?  Do you enjoy beautiful customized kits (and kits that include equally wonderful customized stamps)?  Do you enjoy getting to know more and more scrappy and crafty friends who "feel" as though you've known them your entire life?  If you can answer yes to all of these, then why don't you head on over to For The Luv of Art.com!!! I mean it... do it as soon as you can!  I have been a member over there since Norma opened up her site in June and it is just an awesome place to be!  Everyone is so friendly and welcoming and talented and Norma's kits are truly beautiful and fun to create with... plus she designs her own acrylic stamps in the kits (just take a looksie at this new August kit)!  We would love to have more friends to come and join us there at FTLOA, and I would LOVE to have all my scrappy friends come join me there!  So please... do me a favor and come on over and register and join in with all the fun!  And if you do... please mention on your registration that I, Andrea Amu, sent YOU!!  I could possibly win a free FTLOA kit... and I would have all my friends to thank for it!  I would really, really enjoy being able to hang out with you all at FTLOA!  Yay!  I seriously hope to see you all there!  Remember that I sent you... the more, the merrier!  :D

It's a Par-Tay Up in Here and We R Blog Hoppin'!!

Yes, that's right... time for another fabulous blog-hop... who doesn't love one of those?  And for this one we are hoppin' to celebrate a very special 3rd Birthday!

Yup, Simply Obsessed is celebrating HER 3rd Birthday... woot-woot... perfect cause for a Par-tay!  So grab yourself an early morning cup o' joe or a diet dr. pepper perhaps (whatever gets you going), and prepare to be inspired with various ways to celebrate a birthday in style!  The SO Design Team as well as SO community members like me have come up with many great ideas to share, so be sure to check them all out.  The best part is that the party doesn't end here with the hop! Simply Obsessed is also celebrating with one of their famously fab on-line crops throughout the entire weekend, hosted by DT Member Jenny! She has fabulous games and super fun challenges prepared for this fun~tastic Birthday weekend!  Of course, what would a Birthday Celebration be without GIFTS??  Rather than us receiving the gifts for our birthday, YOU will! The more you participate, the better chance you will have of getting one of the MAGNIFICENT presents we have waiting to be opened! You WILL want to join us if you are wanting to scrap it up this weekend!  Hope to see you there! 


Okay, let's get this party started... you should have reached my blog from Brandi's blog! If not, please start at the beginning with the Simply Obsessed blog and work your way through, to the end. 


Here is the entire list of SO participants for your convienence...

SO blog    http://www.soscrapbookingkits.blogspot.com/
Susan       http://susan-memoriestolastalifetime.blogspot.com/
Stacy       http://sassynsweetscrappin.blogspot.com/
Ronda      http://ronda-no-h.blogspot.com/
Angie       http://mylittleblessings123.blogspot.com/
Janet        http://janetsjoy.blogspot.com/
Joyce       http://1ashjoy.blogspot.com/
Brandi      http://brandilynpitts.blogspot.com/
Andrea    http://imlivinonscraps.blogspot.com/   (YOU ARE HERE)
Jenny       http://scrappinjen-partyoffive.blogspot.com/
Julie         http://scrappinawaytheday.blogspot.com/
Lisa         http://www.createfor7.blogspot.com/
briannalm  http://www.jillofallcrafttradez.blogspot.com/
Karry       http://karryweaver.blogspot.com/
Shana      http://www.yayaprincessblog.blogspot.com/
Nicole      http://scrapmethis.blogspot.com/
Sarah       http://www.scrapcetera.com/
Barb       http://supermamascraps.blogspot.com/
Mo        http://momostamper.blogspot.com/
Pam       http://www.pamelamann-creativityunleashed.blogspot.com/
Misty     http://mommyof5kidz.blogspot.com/

For my party favor I'd like to share a Birthday card design idea with you all!

My hubby's birthday was this week so I wanted to make him a card, and I don't know about you all, but for me it's often difficult to come up with a masculine design!  So I had some negative scraps of patterned paper laying on my table which I had cut using my Cricut.  I was using a sheet of Block Party pp from BoBunny which happened to have a masculine feel with the brown tones.  I had previously cut stars out of this paper for another project, and then I got to thinking that the negative scrap of stars would look great on a birthday card for him.  I cut the negative piece into  perfect edges and then adhered it to the front of a cut and folded kraft card base. 

I then cut out my Happy Birthday sentiment with the Cricut Don Juan font and adhered the letters to the front.  I completed the card easy peasy with some BoBunny buttons and bling!  The perfect, simple card for a guy on his Birthday! 

I hope you are enjoying the SO blog-hop, and now you can go check Jenny's blog and see what for fun party favor she has for you!  And remember to keep partying with us this weekend at the SO "Scrap That Vacation" on-line crop that will begin on this Friday, Aug. 13th!  You can sign yourself up in HERE! 
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Simply Obsessed!!!

Some CHA Cards That Didn't Get To CHA-CHA!

Hey there! Wow, it's Tuesday already... I was thinkin' for a moment we were still on Monday, as it's been one of those days.  It's dreary outside and lately I've just been feeling a little gloomy on the inside myself!  But, I keep reminding myself that there are better days ahead... just got to believe that!  So, to add to the gloom and doom, lol, thought I'd share some of the card projects that I did in anticipation of going to the CHA tradeshow this past week in Chicago... but unfortuately they didn't get to make their CHA debut due to the Couture Cardstock dt being let go!  I was assigned a few Halloween cards using some of the Couture heavy-weight and metallic and sheer papers, so I thought you'd like to see them here on my blog.  These were both really fun to create, as I love the Fall season and was eager to work on the seasonal theme. 
This first card also features some gorgeous glitter paper from Bo Bunny their Terrace Glitter paper from the Jazmyne collection .  It really holds it's own paired with the gun-metal and purple colors of the metallic cardstock. 

 I cut the web and spider with my Cricut using the Wild Card and Designer's Calendar carts.  I embossed the web with the "tiny bubbles" Cuttlebug folder and then I glued on some cotton from the tip of a Q-tip swab sparingly for added texture!   I blinged out the spider with some Pink Paislee Pixi Stick glitter and highlighted the web line with a white gel-pen. 

This second card features a lot of embossed textures as well.  I used the "diamonds in the rough" Cuttlebug folder on the front panel of the card and the "criss-cross diamond" design folder is from Sissix. 

I used the sheer purple Couture paper for the half moon shape which I added some subtle texturing to with some Pearl Glimmer Mist.  The paper dries a bit crinkled, giving it a moon-surface texture. 

 The stamps for this card design are Pink Paislee. 

 I also made two other projects, but I may show them later since I've decided to submit them for some upcoming magazine publication calls.  Fingers crossed! ;)

So, what other scrappy stuff did I get into recently?  I did scrap a little this weekend and got this page finished...

I really like how it turned out with the mix of Echo Park Sweet Summertime and Girls' Paperie Paper Girl and On Holiday lines!  The photo was taken of us on Memorial Day this year... I love it!  I also used some of the yummy goodies content from July's Yellow Bag kit at FTLOA.  The stamps, the aqua dotted ribbon and the sequins that I stitched on are all from the kit! 

See those sweet clouds above?  I embossed some of  them with the "Conversation Hearts" Cuttlebug folder!  I'm loving using that sweet embossed design these days!!

There are some fun design team calls out and about right now!  Did you all hear that My Scrapbook Nook is looking for some new design team members??? I know the competition is going to be really steep over there, but I am throwing all caution to the wind and giving it a try!  What do I have to lose right?!  And heck, I just recently discovered that terrifically talented community and store... where have I been hiding my head? Lol!  I am really enjoying it there right now... tons of inspiration going on!

Oh geez, I almost forgot to mention a fun contest I just won with this card...

I just LUV the stamps I used on here, which are part of the "Traveling Stamps" being passed around over at For The Luv of Art.com! 

Punky Sprouts was the sponser of this past July's contest at FTLOA and we were challenged to use kraft or cardboard as a background to a project and mix in a bit of fabric for texture.  I cut off a pair of my jeans that I didn't want anymore and used some of the denim to create a pocket for my card.  The red houndstooth pattern was actually printed out onto a piece of kraft cardstock using a digi file from the awesome Chris Hertel.  I love this design of hers and find myself printing it out for many things!  Go visit her blog post if you want some too! :)  Oh, and by the way, my prize is a Punky Sprouts album!  If you haven't seen them or heard of them yet, you NEED to check them out!  They are made of recyled materials and they are really fun mixed media books! Well, thanks for taking a gander... I better get going for now.  Hope everyone has a great week as we all look forward to the weekend ahead!