My Multiple Sources of Income and V-Day Updates

Hello you beautiful, wonderful, inspiring, crafty, amazing people!  I am so lucky to have you all here with me.  Some of my favorite friends definitely do live inside my computer! LOL  I hope everyone's had a fantastic week.  I've caught a nasty cold that has been going around, but at least it's not the awful flu that my Bestie caught!  That was a nightmare, poor thing.  It has been going around FoCO like crazy!  Very scary.

So I thought I'd just give you guys a little look inside my world this week and give you the boring details of my week and my current thoughts and goals.  I spent most of the week being lazy because of feeling pretty sick.  I have wonderful thoughts of all I have to get done and all I want to get started on.  I even signed myself up for a hop with a challenge and I have Valentine's cards galore that I have to make to be sold, including a local event at Luminous Skinn where my cards will  be for sale and some of my "romantic coupon books" as well.  My generous friend, Maggie, so thoughtfully contacted me to make some cards for the event to sell and I don't have to attend because she will be there to do that for me.  What a sweet opportunity so, of course, I said yes to that!  Point being, I need a drill sergeant over here to get my butt in gear if I'm gonna get this all done in time! LOL - Nah, I'll swing it.  I work well under pressure. ;) If nothing else, I'll turn my hubby into a card maker yet! LOL  I will post the flier here for you all to see once I get the revised edition from Maggie, that way any of you local gals and guys can attend or send your SO's over there to shop for you!  This event was set up mainly for guys to come to so they could do all their shopping in one place and have the advice of women available to help them pick out something fantastic for their gal; however, I think women should go to, especially if there is a daughter or mom or some special gal in your life that you would like to get a gift for.  This would be the perfect place to go to get something very unique!  I will be making a bunch of great Valentine's cards for this event, so locals, please stop by and pick up a card at least.  Prices are very reasonable!  Anyone interested online please contact me and I'll hook you up!  The ladies that are going to be there are Silpada Jewelry demonstrators and Miche Bag distributors!  How fun is that!  We can certainly get orders to ya before V-Day if you think of anything you want.  Just let me know ASAP!  I'll also post the links to their websites for you to check out what they sell.  As far as ordering cards from me, if you feel so inclined ;) just shoot me an email or leave me a comment.  Prices start at around $1.00 for the little kids Valentine's, depending on what you need!

Phew, sorry to go on so long about that!  In other news (LOL), I am just trying to schedule meetups for my meetup group and find a few assistant organizers for that, which will help me out a ton!  I am reading a book for my book group and I've set up a meetup for the next book group.  Also, I'm working on my other businesses and trying to get them some more business and btw, did I mention, I'm signing up to be  a MEMORY-WORKS consultant!!!!  Yay!  They have awesome stuff, awesome prices and I can't wait to get it up and running for you all.  I would love to have some great customers and I know that all of you scrapbookers love to buy stuff for scrapping and I'd hope you'd want to help a friend out and shopping with me will give you extra benefits!  I will be doing special discounts and giveaways and fun stuff real soon, so look forward to that in the next couple of weeks. :)  I am super excited.  They carry some of my favorite scrapbooking lines and items and their prices are fantastic!  Cheaper than most sites and definitely cheaper than the stores.  I'll keep you all posted and my first customer will be sure to get a very special treat!

The next thing I'm working on is bumping up my Be Young Essential Oils sales.  Oh yeah, did I mention I'm a Be Young Consultant? ;)  For those of you interested in amazing, pure, delightful essential oils, I sell the best available (in my opinion after trying tons of different companies products).  From those oils, I have been creating and selling custom blends for ailments such as menstrual cramps, headaches, sleeplessness, etc. and my bath salts are the bomb!  I've had wonderful feedback on my bath salts.  I only use pure ingredients and no special preservatives or artificial anything.  Ladies, give them a try and I promise you won't be disappointed.  I also wanted to tell you I believe in supporting each others businesses.  If you shop with me, I'll make a point to shop with you and send people your way too!  So I don't have pics of the products I create from the Be Young, but my website where you can shop directly is http://www.beyoungeo.com/amyknight.  This is a link to the actual Be Young site and they offer AMAZING products.  If they seem a little pricey, it's because of the sheer quality and the process they go through to extract the purest oil available.  If any of you are interested in the healing properties of essential oils and aromatherapy, please let me know and I'd love to help you figure out the right things for your body so you can feel great.  It's another one of my passions and it deals directly with Fibro for me.  Essential oils absolutely have provided me some relief with my symptoms and I would love to chat with you gals with fibro about these benefits and the proper way to use them and the correct oils to get and why the way they are harvested is so very important.  Hope this gets some of you inspired to learn a little about what nature has to offer.  :0)  Thanks all for listening to my ramblings today.  I'm not trying to do a sales pitch, so please forgive me, but I do want to let everyone in on the other things in my life that take up my time.

One last one is Amy'SWay.  This is one of my businesses that is the most important to me.  Please check it out on my website at http://www.amyjrockstar.com/ and click on the Amy'sWay tab.  The products I sell with this business and the people I meet make me so happy.  I am a true lover of this business, but there is so much to it, it's best for people to check out the website and contact me so I can answer questions and head you in the right direction!

Thanks all for reading today and please, when you get the time check out some of these fun businesses that I am involved in.

Lots of love,
Amy Jo XO

Guess What??? Winner has been chosen!!!

Finally!  I have added up all the entries including all the extras for the gals who went above and beyond and the random generator came up with number #75 (isn't that super ironic?), which is Sweetsue!  Sweetsue, you are the winner!  Please contact me within 48 hours or I will have to pick again.  Congrats and I hope you enjoy your goodies.  I will need your mailing address please and I'll get them out to ya right away.  Shoot me an email at amyjrockstar at gmail dot com.  For the rest of you who have played along and became a follower/friend, thank you sooooo much!  I appreciate each and every one of you!  Now that this blog candy has been completed, I'm SURE ;) there will be more to come!  Just give me a lil bit to come up with a new goal or a new RAK.

XO ~ Amy Jo

Pet Sympathy Card

Hello wonderful, patient ;) friends,
I just wanted to post a cute little card I made for a friend of mine who recently lost her doggie. :(  His name was Joey and he was a daschund so I thought I would focus on that.

Front of the Card

Inside of card

Inside liner (construction paper)

Ok, so for the front of the card I used a teal cardstock from Bazzill, black cardstock and rust cardstock all from Bazzill.  I used the Four Legged Friends Cricut Cartridge, ribbon from my stash, Zig pen in brown, Platinum Stickles, Glossy Accents for the doggie ear, DCWV Naturals Matstack for foiled paper behind the doggie, the word Cry is a petite metal signage self adhesive embellie from Making Memories, and the cute little paw print border sticker is from Max & Whiskers from Basic Grey and I inked the edges with ink from my stash.

For the inside I have used two different wood mounted paw print rubber stamps.  The sentiment is also a rubber stamp.  I loved the way this turned out (except for my handwriting on the front :p) and I hope you do too!

XO ~ Amy Jo

Giveaway Status

Hi Friends,

I am so sorry, I got behind in everything I was doing today so I'm going to have to do it (don't kill me) by Thursday night.  I'm giving myself extra time b/c I have a SUPER busy schedule with a lot of deadlines due by Wednesday, but I will try my best to get to it before than.  Sorry to keep you all hangin in limbo!  I appreciate your patience and understanding and hope everyone had an awesome weekend (hopefully blog hopping and crafting up a storm!).

XO ~ Amy Jo

Newsletter In the Works

Hi Ladies and Gentlemen,

I had an idea today that I would like your help with.  Actually, a few ideas.  First off, I am going to start a newsletter full of fun info and discounts and tips and lots of other good things. I am going to become a Memory Works consultant by February and really want to get all of my little businesses together in one spot.  My question to you all is what would you like to see in a newsletter and what would make you more likely to read it?  I want to create something that people actually look forward to getting so any advice would be fantastic and much appreciated!

The second topic that I need advice on is my blog.  Would you like it better if I did step by step pictures along the way or is just posting the card and what I used enough?  What would make it more fun for you?  Are there more ideas or topics you would like to see on here?  What can I do to improve this site and make it fun and again, something you look forward too.  And yes, the candy will be drawn later today and more will be along shortly! ;0)  Who doesn't love blog candy? Please let me know what I can do to improve and keep you all interested and happy.  You all have been such a lovely bunch and I want to repay you by making a blog you actually want to read and check into!

Now I have a little research to see who all gets extra entries for the drawing today and who all posted on their sidebar etc.  It's going to take me a little time to track down where everyone came from so please bare with me.  Are you getting excited yet? I sure am!!!  Also I will have another cute card to post later as well.

Thanks guys for your advice and all the comments you leave and support you give.  I have some great projects coming up that revolve around all the good things like that and it's going to get pretty exciting here in blogland pretty quickly.  Changes are coming! 

Also please note, I will be messing around with my layout til I get it right, so if it looks funky, it's just because I'm working on it.  Will get it right one of these days, but I never stick with something too long.  Being a crafter means being creative. Having the same layout all the time is not creative enough for me so I hope that nobody minds!

Christmas Card 1 of 3

Good afternoon everyone,

Well I am still (forever) working on Christmas cards.  This one goes with a package I have yet to send and I have two more to do still!  I will post as I get them done.  I am attaching a picture of the outside and the inside of this one.  It was super easy, yet I think it turned out pretty.

Seasons Greetings Outside

Sentiment Inside Card

I absolutely hate it when you are stamping something with a wooden stamp and it gets moved slightly, therefore making it blurry, which is what happened in this case.  Does anyone have any good tips on how to avoid that or fix it?  I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Now onto the products used:

Card stock from Recollections at Michaels

3 Background papers from the Eskimo Kisses pad from Basic Grey (I absolutely LOVE this paper pad!) that I bought at http://www.scrapbook.com/.

The star paper was a cutout from a full sheet of paper with different tags you can use. (purchased at Capture, Inc.  The middle was white so I added a popped up Season's Greetings sentiment from another sheet of sentiments to that (also purchased at Capture, Inc.)  I also did some faux stitching with my red Zig pen.

The yarn (ribbon) accent looks like it was homemade!  I got it in a stash from Craig's list.

The big round brad is from Harmonie, purchased at Capture, Inc.

I then added X-mas red Stickles to the bottom of the square tag piece and inked the edges of the card stock with red ink that I bought at Capture, Inc., as well.

I used pop dots and my new ATG gun (for the first time)!

Hope you all like the card and have some suggestions for my rubber stamping question.

P.S.  Drawing will be held on SUNDAY!  Wooooh Hooo!

XO ~ Amy Jo

Shirt and Tie Card

Hello all you wonderful people!  Today I have a card for you that I made as a thank you card.  Our friends gave my hubby a beautiful suit with tie and even shoes for our business!  I thought this card would be very appropriate.  I did it all by hand and then after that, I realized there is actually a shirt and tie cut n one of my cricut cartridges!  Who knew?  After spending a ton of time trying to figure out how to do this, I found that out just a about a minute later! :p  So here it is...

Front of Card Closed Pic 1

Underneath the Tie

Front of Card Closed -2

Onto the deets... The following materials were used in this little venture:

1. Tie and kerchief:  Paper that I won from  http://www.jillstamps.com/

Pocket and shirt: Recollections card stock from Michaels

Card base:  Recollections card stock from Michaels

I made the buttons with my awesome new Epiphany punch that I purchased at work http://www.shopcapture.com/

I used a Zig blue pen for the faux stitching

Thank you very much stamp - not sure where it's from (ebay LOL)

Adhesive by Tombow I think
and I used my Martha Stuart Scoring Board for the folds

This is my first attempt at a card like this and I think it turned out pretty darn cute!  I didn't have a pattern to follow really, just visualized it for the most part.  Even borrowed my hubby's tie to kind of compare.  If you have any other questions let me know!

XO ~ Amy Jo

Quick Note

It's the midldle of the night and I'm on enough Lorazepam to knock out a horse, but I just had to menton to you all that I will be posting some fun cards tomorrow and also wanted to let you kow that I am open for orders for Valentine's day.  My cards range from $2.00 up to $5.00 and Valentine's for kids to give to friends are cheaper and I have the cutest Valentine supplies ever!  Please concider placing an order with me and I promise to make something unique and just your taste.  I will post, when I'm more awake, about some of the ideas I have for selling.

Love to all of you my wonderful followers new, and old.
XO ~ Amy Jo

75 Followers and a Note

Hi All!  Looks like, thanks to you all, I have made my first goal!  I will pick a winner by the end of this week (randomly to make it fair).  Some of you have earned more than one entry thanks to posting to your sidebar and referring friends to me.  Good luck to all you!  I am soooooo excited that I'm already thinking about my next goal and my next giveaway.  :0)

Sorry I've ben MIA for so long with posting my crafts!  I have a million to post, but have been so ill with my fibro, that I just haven't had the energy!  I have been mostly in bed again this past week.  These meds are making me so tired and I just can't kick it!  I have a ton of things to do as usual and I feel like I'm sleeping my life away.  I did get out on Saturday to go to a class at Capture, Inc. (where I work) and meetup with some gals.  That was fun!  We attended a Valentine's card making class.  They are the cutest cards ever, but I didn't quite get to finish mine because I got sucked into work.  But that's ok!  I will finish them up at home and I'd way rather have the work anyways.  It was great to get out of the house and socialize a bit.

So I've been thinking a bit about what I want to do for my birthday next month and I think I want to have a scrapbooking/card making/crafting party at my house, but I need some advice and tips on how to make it fun and different.  Please, please post any ideas you may have for me!  I figure since I can't go out and party anymore this would be a fun alternative. :0)  I sure hope my friends agree with me! LOL  Also, I need to figure out something fun for my hubby to do while all this is going on and no, he's not a football guy.

Well, as sorry as this is, I am already feeling exhausted and ever sick so I am going to go back to my newest addiction of blog hopping and entering giveaways, but I will be back soon with prizes and new projects to post!

Hugs to all!
XO ~ Amy Jo

Surprised and Amazed - Blog Candy/Hops Explained

Wow, Hi Everyone!  I am amazed to find so many new followers so quickly!!!  Thank you all for signing up to be a part of my blog and daily ramblings and creations.  I am thrilled to have you all here and VERY soon we will be doing the blog candy giveaway!  Only 9 more people to go! Yay!  Thank you all for the great comments as well.  I read and appreciate every single one!

I wanted to let you all know I was accepted to participate in a blog hop coming up in March!  I will tell you all more about it very soon so you can put it on your calendars.  Have all of you gone blog hopping yet?  I know some of my friends don't quite understand what that is so I will try to explain it here as best as I can.  A blog hop is where a group of people with blogs of a specific type (in this case, scrapbooking) are picked to participate in a hop by posting a particular subject/project, that the organizer of the hop has decided upon, on their blog and post links to everyone else in the hop who will be doing the same project in their own style. You then "hop" from site to site until you hit the end.  Normally people post a lot of blog "candy" on blog hops, which means awesome chances at awesome prizes (candy = prize, not actual candy) throughout the whole hop!  That's a great reason to follow hops, but also you learn so much and get so much inspiration!  Blog candy is generally won by following the blog giving away the candy and leaving a comment, but sometimes there are additional rules or entries.  It's usually up to each individual participating in the hop as to whether or not they will be giving out "candy" and they get to make up the rules as to how they want to pick the winner of the candy and what you need to do to enter for the candy.  Winners are almost always chosen by getting a number assigned to their entry then put into a random number generator.  I have won 5 blog candies so far!  That's pretty impressive to me and I've won some super fun stuff like papers, stamps, adhesives, software, and books!  It's so much fun and can easily become an addiction once you start winning! ;)  I could think of worse addictions than winning free stuff, can't you?  Hope that helps clear it up and hope that didn't make things more confusing! LOL

I'm leaving my post right now to see what hops are going on (there's almost always at least one per day) to see what I can learn and hopefully, win!  Wish me luck and I wish you all luck.  If you haven't tried this before, give it a shot and let me know what you think about blog hops!

Love and Light to You and Yours,
XO ~ Amy Jo

This one's for Celeste :0)

Hi Friends!  I have something to share with you that my sweet, talented friend has posted on her blog.  http://ccscards.blogspot.com/2011/01/card-and-shout-out.html  She is so kind to me and I just had to share that with you all.  Please check out her blog and send some love!  She deserves it!

Celeste,
I know you'll be reading this so I'd love it if you could send me your mailing address because I have something special for you for being such a great friend to me! :0)  Flattery will get you EVERYWHERE! LOL

Thanks all for supporting my site and for taking the time to visit a blog from someone amazing and who means a lot to me. 

Love and Light to you all ~ Amy Jo

New followers - New Card!

Hi Everyone!   I just wanted to say hello and thank you to all my new (and old) followers/friends.  I appreciate you all so very much and can't believe how quickly my numbers are growing!  We'll get to 75 in no time and blog candy will be given with great joy!  I can't wait to send it out to one lucky follower.  Please be sure to tell your friends and if they name you in their comment, you get an extra entry for each friend you send here!  I don't have a cool blinkie or anything for you to post on your blog, but referrals are fantastic!  Thanks to all of you and your continued support of my ramblings and whims.  I hope you truly enjoy my blog as it is written to be read. :0)

Enough mushiness right?  Onto a cute project I've created in the last few days.  This one is a birthday card for my Bestie.  I was going to make her a card with a cowgirl and a horse cause I was dying to try out my new Once Upon a Princess cart, but I scraplifted a perfect paragraph I found on some one's blog (if it's yours, please let me know and I'll give you proper credit).  I just have a hard time remembering where I get things cause I subscribe and view a couple hundred blogs a day!!!  No intention of stealing and claiming as my own, I promise!  The saying was just gorgeous and absolutely what I wanted my friend to know.  Without further ado, here is the card:

Happy Birthday to Michele 2011

Happy Birthday to Michele 2011 Closeup

For this card I used the following:



• Yellow card stock from Recollections from Michael's
• Ribbon from my stash
• Yellow flower from Lil Davis Designs
• Happy Birthday metal plaque from stash
• Patterned blue paper that I won from Jill :0) www.jillstamps.com
• Inked the edges with blue chalk ink from the dollar bin at Michael's
• I printed the paragraph from my computer and it was running out of ink so I just added the chalk ink to it to make it look like it was supposed to be that way! ;0)  I think it turned out nicely!

Simple, but sweet card and I think it turned out lovely.  Come to find out (couldn't believe I didn't know this already) blue and yellow are two of her favorite colors!  She loved the card and it really came from my heart.

Thanks all for viewing and hope you have a scraptabulous day in crafty land!
Xo ~ Amy Jo

Christmas Part III - Cards and Health

Hello my beautiful friends!  I'm so sorry I haven't posted in a few days.  I have really been struggling with my medication and health in general. Yesterday, I even ended up in Urgent Care.  Totally unrelated to my fibro, but still ruined my whole day/night.  I feel like I have been doing nothing but sleeping for a week!  In reality, it's kind of true!  I have so many super fun ideas to get rolling, I just have to be awake though. LOL  I hope all of you are doing awesome and having lots of fun with New Year's Goals and Resolutions.  I'd like to hear how everyone is holding up so please leave me a comment and let me know what you're up to at the beginning of 2011.

The 5th was my bestie's b-day and she came over show I could show off all my new crafty goodies with her and help her with a scrapbook she has been working on for a while.  Maybe she can do a blog (hint, hint) and show everyone the before and after when we get it all finished up!  Don't you all agree? ;)  While she was here, I had to take a rest and we decided to watch TV, well I fell asleep!  Some party pooper, huh?  Luckily this didn't ruin her day.  She was able to go out and party it up later and had a blast!  I, continued to sleep. *sigh*

Well, I figured you guys might like to see some more work so I am posting some cards that I had made for Christmas.  Here we go...

Joy 2010

Merry Christmas 2010 Kit & Cricut

Peace 2010 Kit

Seasons Greetings Kit & Cricut

Deck the Halls Kit and Tree Stamp

These cards were mainly made from a kit I purchased (if you need the name, let me know and I'll get it for ya).  Some parts were Cricuted, many parts were Stickled and they were super easy and fast.  Hope you enjoy!  The Season's Tweetings card on a previous post was also part of this kit. :0)

I have millions more to post, but this is all for now.

Thanks for hanging in there with me and have a craftabulous day!

XO ~ Amy Jo

Halloween Hanging Sign - First 2011 Project!!!

Hi All,
You're probably wondering what the heck I'm posting a Halloween item for, but here's the reason... I have been meaning forever to send a "thank you" card to my friends who hosted the amazing Halloween party we went to, but have just not gotten around to it!  So today, I decided to finally do it and I wanted it to be Halloween themed, but a card just wasn't big enough for what I had already created to work with so I decided to go bigger and made a little 8x8 hanging sign that they could put up every year if they wish.  I am going to post several pics of it.  I made a little tag that tucks into the gate and is removable and reversible.  One side has a handwritten note of thanks to them and the other side has stickers that say Memories Like These.  Enjoy the pics!

Full Pic with Side 1 of Tag Showing

Full Pic with Side 2 of Tag Showing

Closeup with Side 1 of Tag Showing Through

W/O Tag

Side 1 of Tag

Side 2 of Tag

Supplies I used were:

• Gypsy Wanderings Cart. for Thanks
• Mansion and Fence from Happy Hauntings Cricut Cart
• Ribbon from Offray Spool O' Ribbon
• Metallic Brads from We R Memory Keepers
• Background Paper from Recollections from Michaels - Ravenhead Manor
• Bat Epoxy Sticker from Creative Imaginations
• Tag from full sheet of paper from my stash - purchased at Capture, Inc.
• Cardstock from my stash
• I backed the sign with chipboard from scrapbook.com
• I inked all the edges wit Blackbird Cat's Eye ink
• Memories Like These stickers from stash

Tools Used:

• Cropadile bought at Capture, Inc.
• Scotch adhesive clear glue
• This to That strip glue runner from American Crafts
• Guillotine paper cutter

Hope you all enjoy my little project, and Heather B. if you happen to read this, this is for you and Kirk!  XOXO

XO ~ Amy Jo