Little Something Sunday with Staci Taylor

Today I am going to show you how to make this little flowerpot.


Homemade flowers seem to be all the rage right now, so I made some of my own to jazz up this flowerpot for my daughter to collect her spring flowers in. I started with a small pot I found from the dollar spot at Target.


Although the pot was cute to begin with, I didn't want the star to show, so I covered as much of the base as I could with paper.


I think paper roses are so pretty, and a gal at Teresa Collins' booth at CHA explained the spiral method to me, so I decided to give it a go - I love the result! The first thing you need to do is cut or punch a circle. I used my largest circle punch (3 inches).

Next, you need to cut the circle in a spiral all the way to the center.

Then, starting from the outside of the spiral, start rolling the paper tightly in toward the center. Make sure that you keep the side up that you want to show on the flower petals.


Once you've rolled your paper all the way to the center, gently let go so that it opens up and unwinds a bit. Once you have your rose open at the desired amount, glue the outside petal to the bottom of the flower.


At this point, feel free to experiment. You can add paint, glitter or spray ink to your flower or leave it as it is. I sprayed some Pearl Glimmer Mist to mine to give them a bit of sparkle and to allow me to bend the leaves out a bit. Once you have the amount of roses you need to make a border around your flowerpot, simply glue them on. It's an easy way to bring a little bit of spring into your home :-)

Design Team Recommends with Staci Taylor

Happy Saturday! Today we are going to take a look into the creative mind of Staci Taylor and see what products get her creative juices flowing in this installment of "The Design Team Recommends". It looks like Staci is in a spring-time frame of mind.

So have a look below at some of the products that Staci is coveting and just click on the link to be taken to that line in the store.

Don't forget that domestic orders can receive $5 shipping!

American Crafts Dotted Blue Thickers

Making Memories Flutter Line
Journaling book

Love these umbrellas!

Fancy Pants Vintage Valentine Line

Jenni Bowlin Tangerine Dreams Collection

4x4 patterned paper sheets-perfect for creating quick and easy mini books.

Thanks so much for coming by today!

April's Inspired by...

Hello AMM blog readers. I'm here with a new month's Design Team Gallery Inspiration post. We are calling these Gallery Inspirations because the design team's work is more inspired by the original rather than a lift of the original. So let's get on to this month's inspiration, former AMM Design Team girl and one of my favorite people, Susan Dupre!

Susan created this super cute layout for our March challenge using Rachel Hall's sketch and Tonya's twist to use a song lyric or title as the layout title or in the journaling.
"9 Goals" by Susan Dupre

Let's see what the design team did! First up is Larissa Albernaz who said, "I loved the creative way how Susan listed her goals and I loved the clean and clever design with beautiful colors! I tried to make my scraplift in a way I could include on my layout a list, some circles and the position of some embellishments."

"Sew" by Larissa Albernaz

Next up is Staci Taylor with this super sweet layout featuring a flower from one of her recent blog tutorials. Staci said, "I loved Susan's awesome layout. My favorite element was all the circles, and I loved how she journaled around them. I took inspiration from Susan's circles by adding some to my own layout, and I also did my title and my journaling around the perimeter of the circles."

"Last Baby" by Staci Taylor


Next up is Kat Glossop who said, "I was inspired by the circles on Susan's layout, and how it was separated into the two sections giving two distinct focal points to the page, with the title on the bottom half."

"Imagination" by Kat Glossop

Last but not least is this layout by Rachel Hall who said,"I loved Susan's use of circles and embellishments in her page and used a similar look in my layout using the negative left over from a package of embellishments. I also loved how she used the flair in her circles and played around with a similar look as well. Thank you Susan for inspiring us all with your beautiful work in the gallery!"

"Team Awesome" by Rachel Hall

April Design Team Challenge Update

We are taking a few minutes today to take a look at our submissions so far for our new design team challenge for the month of April, hosted by Staci Taylor. You can find more information on the requirements for this challenge and how you can win a $10.00 AMM store gift certificate by clicking the link over there on the left.

Here are the submissions we have so far.

First up is this pink perfection by Chris, also known as "emmapaige" on the message boards.
"Talent Show"


Secondly, we have this submission from AMM newbie, Suzanne, also known as "SuB" on the message boards.
"Passover Seder"

Next is this layout by CaroleAnn.

"True Love"

I do hope you will give the design team challenge a go this month. It is an awesome little prize up for grabs. Remember, you have until the 21st to get those projects uploaded to the challenge thread here.

Technique Tuesday with Stacy Cohen

Mosaic Covered Chipboard Tutorial:

If you’re like me and you have a massive chipboard obsession and collection, then hopefully you’ll find this little idea useful. I’m always looking for different ways to cover and embellish my chipboard pieces. I covered the chipboard star that I used on this card using a paper mosaic technique:


Instructions:
1. Tear the patterned paper into small pieces. Cover the chipboard with adhesive and adhere the torn paper pieces so that they overlap as shown. It’s okay if the paper pieces hang over the edge of the chipboard.


2. After the chipboard is completely covered with the paper pieces, coat the top with Mod Podge.


3. Once the Mod Podge is dry, use fine tip scissors to trim away the excess paper hanging over the edge of the chipboard. If necessary, you can then use a file to sand off any uneven edges. Just be sure to file in a downward motion so that you don’t pull the paper off the chipboard.

And there you go!!

Member Monday with Staci Taylor

A new Member Monday for all of you blog readers. This week's Layout of the Week was chosen by Staci Taylor. She chose this canvas project by Wendy Kwok.

Staci said, "Wendy's canvas really caught my eye in the gallery. I am a sucker for home decor items, and I just love all the gorgeous details Wendy added to this canvas to personalize it. The colors are so soft and elegant - it's perfect to celebrate a wedding!"


Check out more of her gallery here or her blog!

Little Something Sunday with Tonya Dirk

Today we are sharing a little Easter love with this super cute BoBunny project from Design Team Coordinator, Tonya Dirk.

Isn't this just too cute! Tonya has written up some instructions for us on how to create these little carrots.

Instructions:

1. Cut a circle out of orange paper, mine was a 12 inch circle
2. Cut the circle into four so that you have four pieces that are identical
triangles with one edge that is arced.
3. I used decorative scissors to cut along the arced edge, that will be the top
part of the orange portion of the carrot.
4. Form each triangle into a cone and tape the edges.
5. Cut four 6x8" of green paper.
6. Fringe the first 6" of the green paper and leave the last two inches intact.
7. Apply double sided adhesive to the uncut edge of the green paper and adhere
to inside of the top of the carrot.
8. Tie a ribbon around the base of where the paper fringes start.

Hope you all have a wonderful and blessed Easter!

The April Kit Reveal!

OK, here she is! The April kit, "A Spot of Tea with Jenn". I swear I had nothing to do with naming this kit at all. But I do love the sweet tea party sort of vintage feel to this kit. You can get your kit here. Read on to see the full kit contents.

Kit Contents:
Papers:
2 My Little Yellow Bicycle Fresh Print Clothesline Papers
2 Girls Paperie Paper Girl Papers
1 Prima Watercolors Paper
3 Websters Pages Papers

Embellishments:
American Crafts Bumble Puffy Glitter Alphas
12 x 12 sheet of Prima Chipboard Glitter Shapes
Hambly Studios Rubons (brown)
Prima Say It In Pearls Flourishes (with porcelain flowers)
Prima Pearl Centered Flowers
1 yard AMM Pink Pearl Sequined Crochet Trim
1 yard AMM Cream Crochet Vintage trim
AMM Vintage White Bumpy Buttons
AMM Silver Metal Butterfly

April Design Team Challenge with Staci Taylor

Happy April Fool's Day. I was going to play a big joke on you all and tell you there was no more AMM, but then I thought that would be too cruel and possibly cause a riot so instead today I bring you the April Design Team Challenge hosted by Staci Taylor.

As I mentioned last month we have revamped the design team challenges, but once again, here is the run down.
1. Your entry must be based on the sketch below, created by Karen Grunberg.
2. The twist to this challenge is to make your layout monochromatic!
3. Challenge is open through midnight PST April 21st. Entries must be posted to the gallery and the challenge thread here by that date.

Do all that and you will be entered to win a $10.00 store gift certificate along with a few yards of Michelle's AMM trim! So without further ado, here is your sketch. Get scrapping!!