Cool Bird

6x6 Finished Size
Created by Amy Ballard


All Products - Basic Grey Lime Rickey Collection & 3d Foam Squares

Needed to make a card (and needed to create) so I dashed for these super cute card stock stickers from BasicGrey. This card was SO super quick to make and I love that the stickers are thick so there is some depth to it. And how cute is that raven?!

Yummy

12x12 Page by Amy R Ballard

Photo by Amy R Ballard

• Pattern Paper Stella Ruby Collection from Basic Grey
• Star Swirl Stamp from Fancy Pants
• Felt Heart from Fancy Pants
• "Good Stuff" - Teresa Collins Haute Cuisine
• "Y is for yummy" - 7Gypsies 97% Complete Stickers
• "i love you" and "xoxoxox..." - 7Gypsies Rub-On's
• Black Dot Circle - Making Memories Monogram Rub-On's
• Archival Black Ink - CTMH
• "Just add this ..." quote - Creative Imaginations/Narratives by Karen Russel
• Handsome Rugged Man in Photo - Not Available/All Mine

Please forgive me for my lack of postings. I keep telling myself that I am too busy/too tired to create anything. While there is LOTS going on, I think that it is the other way around. I would not be so worn out feeling if I got in that studio and started creating! While this layout did have to be put down overnight, reviewed during a glass of wine and then returned to the next morning after a GOOD nights sleep...I am glad I was able to just set it down.

Things are not going to slow down. I have all three kids birthday's in the next couple months and I swear that all their friends are summer births as well. LOVE the fun we are having but not loving that I have little to no time for editing photos/scrapping. Deep breathe.

I feel more creative already. Hubby's working late tonight, laundry is caught up, nap time is almost over and I am planning a date for me and my studio again tonight!

Happy Creating!

Amy Ballard

Month to Month

A progression of my littlest from 2 months to 7 months.

Went in to the studio to create something and got discouraged in what I wanted to create.

I need to organize my photos a bit better so I can find what it is that I am looking for.

So back to digital for the day. LOVE IT! So easy and so quick. Plus I love learning how to do new things.

I am hoping that even if you are not a digital scrapper, that you will at least find inspiration in the layout/design of the page

Quote and font by Ali Edwards. Cluster frame from designerdigitals.com. Other items were freebies.

Digi Swing

Since I royally messed up my studio and have been afraid to go in there all day, I decided tonight was a good night to do something digital. Is that cheating?

Can't take any credit for this page...it was a pre-made temp from designerdigitals.com and I HAD to have it since I have a gazillion pics of my kids swinging. Whenever I see pre-made layouts, I think to myself "Self? Can't you just make that on your own?" to which I kindly reply "Yes. But that would take me a lot longer and all I really want to do is get a page done. Get those pics shared and that story told." I cave. My kids will never know it was a pre-made template, nor would they care. Pride aside...I love me some templates!

The pattern paper was a freebie found at http://www.ikeagoddess.blogspot.com/ but I am sorry I can't give credit to the person who made it. Wish I could. Don't know who you are. Lame.

Happy Monday!
AmY B

Thank you for...

I ususally make a card for my husband. I put a ton of time and effort in to it to make it just special for him and then I put a ton of time and effort in to writing the sweet stuff on the inside. Then I put a ton of time and effort in to making a scrapbook page to showcase the sweet card I made. Ugh...trying to be crafty can be so exhausting! ;)

This year, I skipped it all. I spent a ton of time and effort on a real page for him and wrote all the things on the page that I wanted him to know this Father's Day. He is completly amazing and 144 inches seemed the perfect amount of space to get at least my immediate thoughts on.

Products Used with corresponding pictures:

Front of the transparency..

Back of Transparency...

• Transparent Overlay - Fancy Pants
• "thank" - Basic Grey
• Blue Paper Strips - Cloud Nine
• 3d Foam Squares

• Script over main pic (see above photo) - Background Basic:Text Style from Papertrey Ink
• Timber Brown Stazon Ink

• Pattern Paper Base - Fancy Pants
• "you" and "you are amazing" - Ali Edwards/Technique Tuesday
• "for" - Heidi Swapp
• "happy fathers day" - Papertrey Ink
• "i am grateful." - Fiskars Stamps
• Burnt Umber Ink - Papertrey Ink
• Tulip Red Ink - Close To My Heart

• Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Linen and Brushed Courderoy

This layout took me a LOOOOONG time because I wanted to get it perfect. In that long time, I got to play with some things like Tim Holtz distressing ink on my photos and LOVED it. The two smaller pics were printed as wallets and I left the white border around them on purpose. They were too white for the page and took bright for the overall distressed look of the layout. I very hesitantly applied the distressed linen ink to the first photo, rubbed it off with a tissue after a few seconds and LOVED the look. I can see myself using this stuff a LOT in the near future!

Thank you for looking and I hope you are all enjoying a relaxing weekend!

Amy R Ballard

PS> My husband loved the layout. Know how I know? "This is a sweet layout dude. Thanks babe!". Yes...he calls me dude. Sometimes, if I am real lucky, I get a "bro"! It may not seem like much a statement to most, but for me (from him), it was genuine and perfect. LOVE him!

fork in the road

Let's pretend we are sitting face to face and I am telling you something of importance. We are long time friends and can share anything. So I am going to tell you that

I have resigned as a Close To My Heart Consultant.

Whew. That was really hard to get out.

Can I explain my decision process to you, my dear friend?

For over two years, I was torn on whether or not I should continue. It took me two years before I came to the end of my rope and just begged God to take the decision from my hands. My first love has always been photography and people were starting to approach me with requests for portraits and even weddings. Knowing I couldn't handle TWO jobs, one had to go. Then one day, SEVEN different and new people asked to hire me for their special events/family photo sessions. SEVEN. My thick head still couldn't grasp that maybe God was trying to show me something. Heck...he was SLAPPING me in the face with it.

I couldn't sleep. I prayed and prayed and literally held my hands out to Him asking him to take this conflict and help me make the decision. For the first time since before my pregnancy with my 7 month old son, I slept through the night...solid. Didn't move, didn't wake up...just drooled and slept....like a log. 0630 came around and I woke up, on my own (not normal) refreshed and completely at peace with the fact that I knew I needed to resign.

Do you know how free I feel? It is unexplainable...it's that free. While I love CTMH, I felt stressed that I had to use ONLY CTMH product when creating or else I was not doing my biz justice. While CTMH has AMAZING products, I love so many other companies as well and can't keep my hands off all the fun goodies out there. I will continue to buy and use CTMH products and I will never NEVER stop scrappin or creating. But the freedom I feel. God is just SO good.

Yes, I did decide to take photography jobs but it is SO much different. I spend two hours at a shoot and only book myself four a month. I spend two hours editing, organizing and ordering the shots. I have much more time for my first priority, my family. And since I have my camera with me at all times, I am able to practice my photography with my three willing (not always) subjects. Can you imagine me "Practicing Scrappin" with a 4 year old, 2 year old and 7 month old sitting in front of me.

SO...to prove to you that I am not done creating, please keep checking in on this little blog. I actually submitted my resignation letter to CTMH over two weeks ago and they just confirmed it with me today. And, if you noticed, I was still creating and bloggin lots...just not CTMH only and not as often. This is a passionate hobby of mine and probably always will be. It's just that now, I can't try and justify it to my husband as "business needs". ;)

I really LOVE these 4x6 photo sheets and wanted to make a page with them but not have it be too boring. I am happy with how it turned out and can't wait to make more like this. To give the page some color, I slide stripes of paper cut to just under 1/4" in the openings on the page. I also added matching paper to the photo itself, giving me space to journal a bit. I can also imagine doing some hybrid with these sheets!

Added some depth by sticking on a star with 3d foam squares. Wanted to use my cord twilight CTMH brad but couldn't find it. Told you I was hockin stuff! ;)


Button on the side added just the right pop for the left side of the layout. I used all the same color buttons as the colors in the pattern paper.

This...this was not my idea but I can't remember where I saw it. I used a hole punch to create an opening for the ribbon, slide a piece through and then tied the buttons on around the ribbon with bakers string. I have seen the whole button-tie-round-ribbon thing before but not on a page. I like this because then, in the album, it sticks out and almost decorate the album as well.

Products Used:

• Page Protector from CTMH
• Color Me Happy Pattern Paper from Basic Grey
• Star Stamp from Papertrey Ink
• Breeze Ribbon from Stampin Up
• Buttons from My Big ol Button Jar
• Bakers Twine from Impress Rubber Stamp

In case you missed the previous post and want to see a sneak at my photography adventures...check out www.amyballard.typepad.com to see what I see. Thanks for following this silly little blog and I hope to see many of you still checking in for inspiration or mockery or whatever reason you may stop by. ;)

Amy R Ballard

Pursuit of Happiness

In following my dreams, I am taking the first steps...

one of the reasons I love to scrapbook is because I LOVE to take pictures. I attempted a business before my daughter turned one but was at the pivotal point in film going digital and didn't have the money to transition over. My customers couldn't afford my old school film and it just kind of fizzled out. But my love of photos didn't...

So today, it begins. I am starting my own photography business and I am SO excited about it. Wanna see?

www.amyballard.typepad.com

Let me know what you think? Oh this is SO exciting!

Amy B