Back to blogging + June currents

13 June 201612 June 2016

Ameliawrites-June2016

Breaking the silence on the blog this past month with a list of Currents as I ease back into life after a very, very fulfilling and restful trip with my favorite people.

I had all these big ideas for scheduling posts, but as you might’ve guessed, things didn’t quite work out as I planned.

Trying: to tolerate the humidity. Singapore’s weather is killin’ it.

Reading: Essentialism by Greg McKeown and Newspaper Blackout by Austin Kleon

Missing: the feeling of being on vacation, but

Loving: everything we did, places we saw, and people we hung out with – so good! So grateful for safety, travel, delicious food and memories made.

Planning: to be productive this week.

Hoping: everything goes as planned so I can get lots done this week.

Praying: about new seasons of life.

Learning: lots from webinars. So many good ones, and many of them are free!

Catching up: on my to-do lists.

Dreaming: of big plans and experimenting with new things.

Remembering: to not be afraid of failure, nor of trying.

Looking forward: to making stuff again with all my new supplies from the USA. Also, I really want to get on top of documenting all our travels!

Feeling: excited about sharing my creative workspace on Crafted by Pam! I’ve never shown my crafty space in this much detail before – it’s where all the magic happens, which isn’t always pretty, but it’s definitely worth it! It’s been up for awhile so hop over if you missed it.

Here’s to the rest of June being just as rad; have a wonderfully productive week! xx.

Creative book review: 20 Ways to Draw series

27 April 20164 May 2016

20 ways to draw series - a complete review

Spending time drawing is something I never thought I would do. But after this experience, I was so inspired that I couldn’t help myself. Thankfully, my school art department has some generous resources so I got to choose from this entire range/series of books.

I always love reading book reviews and getting a glimpse of what others think, so here’s the lowdown of my experience with these books!

Of all the variety that there was available from school, I practiced self-control and just chose two books – 20 Ways to Draw a Tree and 44 Other Nifty Things from Nature and 20 Ways to Draw a Doodle and 44 Other Zigzags, Twirls, Spirals, and Teardrops.

I am not an artist – 3 life lessons from art

2 March 201630 April 2016

3 life lessons from art

“I am not an artist.”

That was the thought that ran through my mind as I attended an Art + Drawing Professional Learning Course (PLC) at my school. As I glanced around at the other participants’ work, I was convinced that my drawings looked nothing like how they should’ve.

After all, whenever I think of an artist, I think of someone who is artistically inclined and amazingly talented, goes to art school, is an art student, and knows what to do with the beautifully large array of art supplies in the art store, of which I just go crazy over, but have no idea what to do with.

Since I don’t consider or identify myself as an artist, I was hesitant to attend the art and drawing PLC when it was announced. But since my colleagues were attending, I signed up eventually.

Serendipity notebooks + printing on vellum

19 May 2015

I love notebooks.

I typically carry a notebook with me wherever I go, and I’ve accumulated quite the stash of notebooks over the years.

For my post on the One Little Bird blog this month, I put together these notebooks using the pretty patterns and happy colors from the Serendipity collection.

I even printed on vellum (yay!), and had so much fun combining digital and more traditional supplies from my stash.

You can read all the details of my project here. Have fun!

Fun + versatile celebration cards

22 April 2015

I’m happy to share that my very first post as part of the One Little Bird team went up on the blog yesterday.

I loved playing with the One Little Bird products and had so much fun putting these cards together.

Hop over to the blog to see all the details of these cards here. Enjoy!

DIY | Quick & easy (last-minute) Valentine’s Day cards

12 February 2015

I’ll be honest and say that I’m typically not much into Valentine’s Day. I mean, why pay exorbitantly for flowers, chocolates, and dinner at a fancy restaurant, right?

But I’m definitely all about love – giving love, showing love, celebrating love, loving people. And Valentine’s Day is pretty much a perfect excuse to do that.

Since Valentine’s Day is now only a couple of days away, I made some simple Valentine’s Day cards, which you can quickly put together before Valentine’s Day arrives!

I love giving handmade notes. Because after all, love isn’t just about all the fancy stuff, but the stuff that comes from the heart.

Valentine’s Day Card DIY:

Trim kraft cardstock to 4×6 and score.
Fold the cards (so you end up with 3×4 cards) and round the corners.
Splatter with white mist.
Punch out scalloped circles and die cut hearts (I used the Becky Higgins die set).
Add foam dots and adhere.
Stamp a sentiment (I used Heidi Swapp and Amy Tangerine stamps).
Violá! You’re all ready to add your note and send love.

There are so many ways to add variety to these – you could stack the hearts in a row of three, or swap out kraft for white cardstock. But I wanted to make everything into a nice, neat set so I just used different patterned paper.

I’ll be pairing these cards with homemade Valentine’s Day cookies and I’m excited to give these away this weekend!

Inspiration blog hop

2 September 2014

Last week, I was more than happy to agree when Catherine from Green Fingerprint emailed me to ask about participating in this blog hop. I couldn’t think of a better way to start September, so here we go!

WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON? Currently, my biggest project is documenting life through Project Life and working on getting all caught up. I also have plans for several travel mini albums and themed albums that are all works-in-progress. Plus, I’m hoping to give the blog a makeover soon!

HOW DOES YOUR WORK DIFFER FROM OTHERS? For me, photos are a big focus of what I do. I love incorporating color and mixing various products to come up with fresh combinations.

WHY DO YOU CREATE WHAT YOU DO? I create to reflect my Creator. I create to remember the memories. I create because I can. I create because expressing creativity is part of what I do and love. And sometimes, I create just because I need an excuse to buy and use pretty paper.

Ameliawrites-Inspirationbloghop

HOW DOES YOUR CREATING PROCESS WORK? My creating process differs depending on what I’m creating. If I’m working on Project Life, I typically follow the process of planning, editing and printing photos, and completing the spreads (I’ll share more details in a future post). If I’m working on a layout or handmade cards, I let myself be inspired by the products I’m working with, or whatever is around me, and just roll with it. Like I said, it varies and really depends on my creative project at hand.

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This week, I nominate Lauren, Vanessa, and Pam to participate in the blog hop. These ladies are incredibly creative. They constantly inspire me with their style and work and I am so privileged to call each of them friends! Be sure to check out their blogs next week to read more about their inspiration and creativity.

I also nominate YOU, my wonderful readers who want to jump in on this. Leave a link in the comments if you do so I can check out your post!

Project Life 2014 | week 8

29 May 2014

Week of: 17 February to 23 February 2014

What happened this week: Nothing too out of the ordinary – had some friends over for dinner, worked on a school project, went on a long run and ate dinner out.

Techniques: Not many techniques this week, if any at all. I actually kept this week super simple and stuck with the basics – stamps, wood veneers, and mini kit cards.

Left-hand side

Right-hand side

Thoughts: I actually surprised myself with the minimal supplies that I used this week. This was one week where I actually didn’t have many photos at all. So I got to use plenty of Project Life cards from the Amy Tangerine Plus One mini kit – I LOVE the watercolor and script on those cards. It also made things super simple to put together, despite the lack of photos.

With more than ten weeks to catch up on, I’m going with simple all the way. Totally my thing.

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Supplies used: Amy Tangerine Plus One Project Life mini kit, Studio Calico wood veneers, American Craft thickers, Studio Calico Atlantic 6×6 paper pad, Kelly Purkey Bon Appetit clear stamps

Tools: Becky Higgins Project Life Design A page protectors, American Crafts white cardstock, Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher, Tsukineko Brilliance ink in black

Project Life is a memory-keeping system created by Becky Higgins. I’m embarking on this year-long project to document all my memories in 2014. You can see my other Project Life posts here.

Project Life 2014 // week 7

15 May 2014

Week of: 10 February to 16 February 2014

What happened this week: Went on a girls’ date, IKEA, and the Air Show.

Techniques: As you might be able to tell, my new-found love for stamping on photos did not stop at week 6 and totally spilled over into week 7. That, and Kelly Purkey’s alpha stickers on my photos. Perfect combination. Plus, I just had to find a way to include my new Kelly Purkey stamps into the spread.

Other familiar things this week included Instax photos and a trimmed Project Life Design C page protector insert.

I also included a die-cut of the free printable that my friend Vanessa made of her amazing script writing. Love it.

Here’s the full spread with the front of the insert:

And the back of the insert. Nothing too fancy here.

I made a flap for the top photo of the insert because I had too many photos and wanted to include them all!

Thoughts: You know how there are some weeks where you just adore the color scheme? Yeah. That was this week for me. The colors of the Dear Lizzy Daydreamer kit + Maggie Holmes Flea Market kit worked nicely for an (unintentional) mint and pink color scheme so I just rolled with it. I liked how it fit the Valentine’s Day feel too.

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Supplies used: Project Life Dear Lizzy Daydreamer mini kit, Maggie Holmes Flea Market mini kit, Studio Calico Atlantic 6×6 paper pad, Project Life Midnight edition, printable from Vanessa, Kelly Purkey alphabet stickers, Kelly Purkey Documented clear stamps, Kelly Purkey Bon Appetit clear stamps, Basic Grey enamel dots, Dear Lizzy Daydreamer wood buttons, Studio G clear stamps, Amy Tangerine Remarks stickers

Tools: Becky Higgins Project Life Design A page protectors, Becky Higgins Project Life Design C page protectors, American Crafts white cardstock, Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher, Becky Higgins die set, Sizzix Big Shot, Tsukineko Brilliance ink in black

Project Life is a memory-keeping system created by Becky Higgins. I’m embarking on this year-long project to document all my memories in 2014. You can see my other Project Life posts here.

Project Life 2014 | week 6

8 May 2014

Week of: 3 February to 9 February 2014

What happened this week: Ran several errands this week, sent a friend off to National Service, and attended the Air Force Family Day.

Techniques: Besides including instax photos, I tried several “new” things – including a trimmed Project Life Design C page protector as an insert for all my extra 4×6 photos, stamping on my photos with Brilliance ink, and saving memorabilia in the form of our Family Day passes.

Here’s the full spread with the front of the insert:

And the back of the insert:

I used grey washi tape to seal the pocket with our passes so they wouldn’t slip out, and used my Tiny Attacher to staple an October Afternoon die cut label to the insert.

Thoughts: I was a little nervous about stamping on my photos at first because I was afraid the ink would smear. But Brilliance ink did a really nice job. Just give everything a little bit of time to dry. Since it worked, I actually really love the look of stamping on my photos and will definitely do it again. It fills up the white space in photos very nicely.

I also used quite a bit of kraft (from Maya Road) on several pockets to bring the whole spread altogether. Again, I love using coordinating papers from one collection to help the spread come together in a snap!

This was such a fun week and I’m so glad that I have memories recorded!

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Supplies: Studio Calico woodgrain geotags, Studio Calico wood veneer, Maya Road kraft tags, Amy Tangerine Draft clear stamps, October Afternoon Travel Girl tidbits, Dear Lizzy Daydreamer Project Life mini kit, Project Life Midnight edition core kit, washi tape, Doodlebug enamel dots, Studio Calico Atlantic 6×6 paper pad, Studio G clear stamps

Tools: Becky Higgins Project Life Design A page protectors, Becky Higgins Project Life Design C page protectors, American Crafts white cardstock, Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher, American Crafts 2-inch scallop punch, Tsukineko Brilliance ink in gold and black

Project Life is a memory-keeping system created by Becky Higgins. I’m embarking on this year-long project to document all my memories in 2014. You can see my other Project Life posts here.