I met stampin' Celebs!!

Hey there!!

I'm so excited!  I got to go to one of Novell's A Muse classes at a LSS here in our area and not only did I get to see Novell again, but I got to meet Nicole Miller there too!!  I thought I'd share a pic of the 3 of us from last night.  Novell provided 5 adorable Christmas cards for us to make, so much fun!!!  I would post them, but not sure I'm allowed to since she uses them for classes, wouldn't want to ruin the surprise element for anyone who may still be attending one!!

Have a fun weekend everyone!!  Hopefully I'll be on the ball and post a few things for you this weekend!!

Somebody Pinch ME!!!!!!!

I must be dreaming!!!  I got a knock on the door this morning thinking it'd be UPS with some Stampin Up deliveries, but NO, it was not!!!  It was the Mail man with a priority mail box from.........

Are you ready for this?????

A MUSE!!!!!!!!!

Yes, that's right!  And no, I did not order anything, so this was completely out of the blue and unexpected!  Can you believe what I got???  It was a gift from Linda and Heidi and everyone there at A Muse to say Thank You and Happy Birthday... TO ME!!!  I should be sending them gifts!!  I'm completely blown away and amazed!  Linda is one of the most generous people I know and I feel like I just won the lottery!  

Do you remember in my post from a couple days ago that I said I was bummed that the A Muse store was closed when I stopped by on my birthday and that it woulda been the icing on the cake for me???  Well, this blows that candle out!  This is the cherry on top and the chocolate ganache in the middle for me!! :D

Funny thing is when I was in the store the other day I was gonna pick out some notecards but couldn't decide what I wanted so I only got one pack, this took all the guess work out of it for me!!  Now I've got enough notecards to last me at least a couple weeks!! :D  LOL!!  This is a big fat giant blessing!!!  The cards included with the gift are simply gorgeous and this picture does not do them justice.  The coloring on the flower is remarkable with the Copics, whoever colored it has got some major skills!!  And the paper pieced and glittered cake is so sweet!!  It's hard to tell from this picture, but the notecard used on that cake card is actually the Kitchen Green 4bar notecard (it kinda looks brown in the pic.)

Thank you, thank you, thank you SO much to Linda and Heidi and everyone at the A Muse store for this AWESOME gift!!  

Birthday ATC

These are the A Muse ATC swaps I did for Taylor's swaps she posted on her blog.  I've searched all over my computer and can't find the picture of the other one I did for the Elzybells swap.  It's not even in a trash can in iPhoto or on my main desktop anywhere.  So weird!!  Well, when I get the swaps back, if I have one of my own I'll post it then!!  Hopefully that'll be soon!  The coloring on this photo is a bit more yellow than it really is but I liked that this is closer up and you can see a little bit of the sparkle from the Spika Gold glitter pen.  Stamps are by A Muse, colors are Very Vanilla and Elegant Eggplant with More Mustard sponged all around.  The PP I think is Basicgrey.  Thanks for stopping by today!!  Have a wonderful day!!

*I used SU!'s 1 3/8" circle punch and scallop circle punch for the cake!  :D  (Sorry I didn't have a way to contact you directly Teresa, to answer your question.

A Quick Card

Hey there!

I've been busy trying to get my house put back together after letting it go for a few days over the holiday. I haven't done much in the way of stamping so therefore I haven't been posting!! :D I thought I'd share this card today. I made it about a week ago just for fun. I need to come up with some birthday card ideas and just haven't been in the mode lately. I have a couple of ATC's to post maybe tomorrow, but I deleted one of the pictures and can't find it on my computer now!! Hopefully I'll be able to retrieve it cuz I already sent the ATC swaps out awhile ago and haven't gotten it returned yet!

I hope you're having a great week and getting back into the swing of things!!

Birthday Cruise

Hi everyone!! I'm so sorry I've not been blogging the past few days, it has been a whirlwind of birthday and Thanksgiving activities!! Of course we had a wonderful relaxing Thanksgiving at my in-laws place. Then on Friday we did a little shopping and dinner and a movie. We saw Bee Movie, pretty cute, nothing too spectacular for me, but not bad at all! :D Then Saturday morning we got ready, dropped the kids off at my mom's place and DH took me on a surprise trip to downtown Seattle to go on an Argosy Lunch Cruise!!! It was so fun!! A gorgeous sunny day in Seattle, no rain, but a little chilly. We stayed inside the boat at our table the whole time, didn't venture out on deck, but it was a perfect date, just me and DH and the beautiful scenery and a delicious meal!! Of course we hit Starbucks before boarding the boat, gotta have my coffee!! And, DH paid, so I didn't have to use my precious Starbucks giftcards from my A Muse friends!! :D Afterward I was so excited cuz I conned DH into letting me go to the A Muse store for my bday, the icing on the cake, right?? Well, not so much!! We got there at 4:30 but they close at 4:00 on Saturdays!!! :( I was SO sad and pouted all the way to the car!! :D Oh well, I'm sure I'll make it there later this week! Maybe tomorrow if I'm able to!! Then we spent the evening at my mom's place for cake, and card playing! Thanks for letting me share some of my birthday details with you guys!! I hope you all have a wonderful Sunday!!

More BRAKs!!! :D

Thanks you so much everyone for your birthday wishes, this has been a truly amazing birthday!!! It is so overwhelming all the love I have received, I'm very grateful for your thoughtfulness! Here are a TON more Birthday RAK cards I've received in the past few days!!

These are a collection of beautiful BRAKs from my LOSTie sisters on SCS. Happy card with circles by Jess Colligan, pink and brown Bella card by Colleen Wold, Chickie on Presents card by Cindy Karasz, Fall Trees card by Debbie Stein, PresentaBella card by Anna Fiebelkom, Snappy Birthday card by Kim O'Rosky :D, Cute Chick card by Tracy Houston!

This Lovely assortment here is from a group of friends I'd like to call the FAB 5 for purposes of this post!! 5 very sweet and generous friends of mine from the A Muse Addicts Yahoo group sent these wonderful cards and gifts! Favorite Peeps card and Starbucks Giftcard from Geeta Suggs, Present with hearts card, penguin bandaid tin with Starbucks giftcard and mini notecards inside from Jennie Moczan, Sweet Birthday Cake card and 4 mini clear stamp sets from Novell Eckstrom, Cafe Card with purse giftcard holder and Starbucks giftcard from Michelle Clark and Circle Presents card with Starbucks giftcard from Katie Stilwater.

Some BRAKs from my fellow A Muse Addicts friends: Coffee card by Ann Ito, You're cool (penguins) by Doris Garvey, Mermaid card is a mystery, not sure who it's from, someone special in CT!! :D Scalloped oval bday cake card by Jen Daloisio, Book Shop card by Nancy Floyd, Happy Birthday cake card by Teresa Ehteshami, Happy Autumn card by Elaine Yang.

More BRAKs from my A Muse Addict friends: happy Birthday suspension card by Tracy Clemente, Bird-day Chief card by Katie Kibbe, Skating Girl card by Dawn Stein, Little Ladies polka dot card by Amanda Beers, You're cool penguin card by Edie Faulhaber who is also one of my special LOSTie sisters too! Happy Brrrthday penguins by Kim Linley, Sweet Makenna card by Nancy Pope.
Even more BRAKs from my A Muse Addict friends: Mouse card by Wanda Gerhardt, Girl with flowers card by Jo Ann Fannon, Balloons card by Donna Gotsch, Hot Diggity Dog folded card by Diane McVey.

These are some beautiful BRAKs from some sweet SCS ladies. The first card is from Linda (Studbo), the middle card is from Kim Kowal, the last one is from Mary Alice (hot4teacher).

Thank you again everyone for all the love!! You're the best!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's my favorite time of year! I love Thanksgiving, a time to think about all your blessings and give thanks for all you've been blessed with. A time to get together with family, eat lots of yummy food, relax and chat, nothing beats that in my book!! It's a gorgeous sunny, chilly day here in the Seattle area, no rain or gloomy clouds in sight, all is perfect. DH and the kids are sitting on the couch watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade right now as I type!! I'll make this quick but I just wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving to all of you and post this card I made for my cousin Heidi. Her birthday is today, 2 days before mine. Every few years one of us has our birthday on Thanksgiving and it's always special to me so I thought I'd send her a Thanksgiving birthday card to celebrate her big day. Happy Birthday to Maureen and Colleen in the A Muse Addicts group too!!

I'd also like to give a shout out to my sweet niece in the Portland area, her birthday was yesterday and she turned 11!! Happy Birthday Robin!!

This card was inspired by a card that Julie Ebersole made with the Pilgrim Girl holding the turkey, the possibilities are endless to what you can have her hold!! :D

Many Crafty Blessings

I've got to be the most blessed girl I know!! In the past couple months I have gotten so many RAK's from online friends, it's amazing. Here is a collection of many of the RAKs I've received, for your viewing pleasure!

I got this first set of cards a couple days ago from some of my fellow A Muse addicts for my birthday (coming up this Saturday.) Superwoman by Karen Van DeWalle, It's Your Day Window Card by Rachel Baird (a fellow LOSTie sister too!), Margarita by Janice Spry, Birdie Scene by MJ Weston.

The 2nd set here are more A Muse Addicts birthday cards that I received yesterday. Flower Cart by Riza Almanza, Birthday Cakes by Marcia Butler, Flower Drinks by MissConnie Heitner, and Happy Birthday (view finder card) by none other than JULIE EBERSOLE!!

These are birthday RAKs from my wonderful LOSTie sisters on SCS!! Pumpkins by Barb Hahn, Huggybellas by Suzanne Karns, Penguin by Tammi Buck, Cupcakes (pocket card) by Justine Wogsland, Fuzzy Bee by Alyson Levin.

This beautiful bunch of Stamp Shop cards are from my fellow FAB 4 mods in the A Muse Addicts Yahoo group. They all banded together and sent me thank you cards using the Stamp Shop from A Muse. Top left card by Geeta Suggs, top right card by Michelle Clark, bottom center by Jennie Moczan.

The cards in this photo are Bumper RAK cards from the A Muse Addicts Yahoo group, the Treasure Chest and Gerber Daisy cards are both from Jennie Moczan, Marcus card by Sandee Horsch, Sniffer Dog card by Kim Linley :D.

This last photo shows some general RAK's and thank you cards from my fellow A Muse Addicts. Elvis card by Lexi Daly, Butterfly with Dots by Cathie Relf, Tree with Park Bench by Edie Faulhaber (also a fellow LOSTie sister), Friend card by Rachel Baird, Bird on Branch by Kim Linley, Hula Girl by Katie Kibbe, Moochas Grassias by Courtney Crosby.

I have recieved a few other RAKs too including some adorable ATC's by Kelly Hardwick but have most of my cards all mixed up in a bin and can't remember what are from swaps and what are RAKs! Sorry!

Thank you everyone for your kindness! You have no idea how you've touched my life and blessed me. This Thanksgiving, one of the things I'm very thankful for are the amazing groups of women I've met online and have formed instant friendships with due to our love of stamping and other common interests!

I know this is a day early, but Happy Thanksgiving to ALL of you!! Many blessing to you!

More A Muse Christmas Cards

Hey there! Here are the other 2 Christmas cards I talked about on yesterday's post. I hope I didn't disappoint with the suspense!! :D

I'm not sure if I've already seen the farm Christmas idea before, but I was thinking about what I could do with an animal (thinking Patch) and a Christmas tree and I had a RAK from a SCS friend of the barn image that I hadn't used yet so it prompted me to pull out the cow and pig and make a scene. The barn, cow and pig are all cut out and glued on with my Quickie Glue pen. I stamped the cow and pig on the main white piece too, so I didn't have to cut out the tails. I wanted them overlapping the barn and the tree to get some dimension without masking. The ornaments on the tree are just dots of Stickles. On the snowflake brad and fire rhinestone brad I cut off the prongs and stuck them on with mini glue dots, thanks Novell for that tip! The ribbon is from Jo Ann's. Images colored with Copics.

The Mistletoe card is super easy and looks cute IRL. I used 4 SU! punches on this card, the Tab Punch, Scallop Circle, 1 1/4" circle and 1 3/8"circle. Not sure if you've seen the tutorials on different blogs or maybe even SCS, but to make the larger circle, you punch the tab punch, then rotate it 180 degrees and punch it again, makes a perfect large circle. I learned that at a local SU! gathering. The scallop circle is attached to the inside of the card with dimensionals. I pierced the scallops and added a little Stardust Pen to the berries.

Thanks for stopping by!!

A Muse Christmas Cards

Happy Monday!!

Here are a couple of A Muse Christmas cards I made over the weekend. Probably not something I'd make a bunch of, but just fun to play with my stamps and see what I can make. I put a little Lime Green Stickles on the leaves of the tree and some Christmas Red Stickles on the fire for some added sparkle. The A Muse Swirly Bracket is one of my favorite stamps that I don't use often enough. I adore A Muse's yummy ribbon too! It's fun to put a couple of them together! On the fire card, I tried to have the orange strip mimic the fire a bit by using the grass deco scissors to be like flames. I stamped the Stitched Pinwheel bg all over the orange piece too, (kinda hard to see), but it still felt it was missing something so I used my Lasting Impressions piercing template to give it some interest. Both cards were colored using Copic Markers.

I have a couple more A Muse Christmas cards to post tomorrow that I'm very excited to share with you, but you'll have to wait!! :D Check back if you're interested!!

Merry Christmouse!

I got these black and white polka dot notecards in the dollar bin at Michaels awhile back and wasn't quite sure how I'd use them, but thought they could be fun. I saw that Nicole Miller used hers recently for a Halloween Card found here, and it inspired me to pull them out and use them to make a Christmas Card. I originally envisioned black white and blue and using the A Muse penguin, but it evolved into this instead. Maybe someday I'll try out my other thought again!

This is for sketch challenge 150 on Splitcoast Stampers. It's a pretty straight forward card! All stamps are by A Muse, the red strip is a Pretty Little Paper by A Muse also. I used a bit of Christmas Red Stickles on the hats and Signo White Gel Pen on the cuff and tip of the hat. Ribbon is by A Muse also! Love their ribbon!!

Thanks for looking!

Wonderful Time for a Mouse

Happy Friday!

Here are a couple cards I made with the Mouse Bauble stamp from Elzybells. That stamp is so cute, makes me think of the Ratatouille movie!! :D

The first card is a giftcard holder. I posted one not too long ago in my SCS gallery and there are instructions there on how to make it. I got the idea for these from my LSS, they had an adorable one on display made with patterned paper and coffee stamps. Perfect for holding a Coffee giftcard! It's tough to see, but I used a Sakura Clear Glaze pen on the ornament and some Stardust Stickles on the branches. The second picture shows it open, you place the giftcard inside the pocket which is a lot like a coin envelope, you could easily use one of those for this holder and just cut the edge off and punch a half circle with a circle punch.

The last photo is another Mouse Bauble card with the cute A Muse sentiment Most Wonderful. I think it's very fitting for this mouse! I used Crystal Effects on the ornament for some shine. It looks much more glossy than the Sakura Clear Glaze pen used in the top card.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a wonderful weekend everyone! :D

Mission Accomplished!

The A Muse Addicts Yahoo group challenge this week was to make something to go with a gift for the holidays, ie: gift tags, gift card holders, gift bags or wrapping paper. We also had a mini challenge on the SCS A Muse Addicts thread to use our Cuttlebugs/Big Shots.

I decided to make tags/little notecards to put on Christmas gifts and just for fun, a little holder for them. I had originally planned on putting all 12 gift tags in the holder, but I didn't make it big enough. I could fit 6 in it, but it bulged out too much and didn't look right, so only 3 really fit nicely in it!! Maybe a little pointless, but I'm not able to make a bigger one right now, so it'll have to do for now!

Here are a few photos of the holder and gift tags. The holder measured 8.25 x 6 and I scored it at 2.75, 5.75, and 6. Then used a rounded ruler to make the scoop out on the inside flap. The gift tags measure 2.5 x 2.5.

I used my Dots and Spots, Swirls, Textile and stitched frames Embossing Folders with my Big Shot machine and punched out the stitched frames with my Marvy Mega scallop square punch.

All stamps by A Muse and Elzybells, papers, ribbon and brads by SU. Star twinkle stickers by A Muse.

Hey! Erika Hall is giving away some awesome A Muse blog candy on her blog! Check it out!

Fake-n-bake Elzy!

LOL!! Ok, so I'm playing around, making these cards, I figure out how I want to do them, get them colored and play some more with the colors. When I go to make some duplicate cards, instead of picking Raw Silk Copic marker for the skin, I colored them in with Sand!!! It's a much darker brown (not sure if you can tell from the photo). Which is fine for some images, but since she's blonde, it looks like she fake-n-bakes!!! Maybe I should add a hint of orange for the full effect!! I made 4 of these cards and only 1 has the Raw Silk for the skin. I didn't realize what I had done until after I colored them in and took a better look!! :D Oh well, we gotta love Fake-n-bake Elzy too!! :D

I used a bunch of punches on this card! Martha Stewart border punch, Marvy Mega Scallop, Marvy snowflake punch, SU double rectangle punch and EK Success Corner punch. All Stamps by Elzybells except for the Scallop Oval Frame which is A Muse (I had a tough time stamping that evenly.) Images colored in with Copics. Snowflake is punched from DCWV glitter mat stack, Cell phone bling sticker on snowflake, Stickles added to outfit, ribbon retired from SU.

Thanks for looking!

SC140 Wonderful Friend

My good friend and online buddy Jennie~ Simply Caffeinated and I occasionally do some of the SCS challenges together. We have both been so busy lately, we haven't had our virtual stamp nights. Well, tonight we got to play again!! :D I'm so excited! This is for Color Challenge 140, Purely Pomegranate, Whisper White and Kraft. I think it's a fun color combo and it could make for some cool Christmas cards too! Check out Jennie's blog to see her cute A Muse card she made with this color combo! It's adorable!

All supplies used for this card are from Stampin' Up! Thanks for stopping by my blog!! :D

The Big Day

Hello! Happy Monday! Yesterday was Veteran's Day and my son's ARMY birthday party. It was so much fun, but I was exhausted when it was done! I think it's that way after any birthday party!

My Father in-law came to the party and played Sarge for the kids, which was great, he's a Vietnam Vet and brought some fun gear he has from his time in the ARMY. We played some fun games like tug-o-war, Soldier Rescue, paper airplane contests, some basic training and marshmallow gun fights!! The kids had a great time! Thankfully it didn't rain!

Here are a couple pictures of the cupcakes I made and pics of the kids at the party. That's my son in the middle with the Spiderman T-shirt on. The kids were so silly! Making all sorts of funny faces for the pictures. My daughter cracks me up, she wanted so bad to be one of the big kids and have fun with the boys. There were a couple more girls at the party, but they stayed inside and played Barbies!! :D

The Force

A fun card I made for my son's friend Daniel. He's having a Star Wars party today and I had to make a card quick!! I always wait until the last minute. Not sure why, but I guess I work better under pressure! :D

Stamps: A Muse Robot, SU On the Spot BG, Provo Craft Circa? stamp (you can rotate the letters to create the words you need, like a date stamp.), A Stamp in the Hand Bg swirl.
Paper: black, white, Basic Gray
Ink: Memories Black, Basic Gray, Going Gray, Copic markers, CM silver pen
Accessories: SU silver brads and stretchy silver cord

More Elzy Cards

Happy Saturday! Here are a couple more Elzybells cards I made yesterday. These stamps are adorable. I'm so excited that A Muse is offering them.

On the reindeer card, I don't know if you can see it, but I used a Stardust pen to highlight the snowflake and swirl a bit.

Stamps: Reindeer Star, Falling Snowflake, Snowflakes Spiraling (all by Elzybells. Paper: A Muse Cabana Blue Asterix, black and white. Ink: Memories Black, Sand and Carmine Copics, Stardust Pen. Accessories: Quick Picks Petal Poetry Prima, SU Ice Rhinestone brad, paper piercer.

On the Girl w/Sleigh card, I colored it in with Prismacolor Pencils and some Gamsol. I also dotted a little silver in the middle of the twinkles up top, kinda hard to see that. The glitter on the snow is my favorite part. A friend of mine (Carefulwish) tipped me off to this awesome glitter, she uses it quite a bit on her projects. I typically use more of the ultrafine glitter,but this kind is bigger round circles. So pretty. I found it at JoAnns, it's in a tube and looks like it's a Jo-Ann's brand called Craft Essentials. Also, I got the idea to use the Cabana Blue Band Notecard "upside down" (to me anyway) for the sky and snow, from Novell. Thanks for the great ideas girls!! :D

Stamps: Girl with Sleigh, Delivered in a Twinkle, Starline (all by Elzybells). Ink: Memories Black, CM Precious Elements silver pen. Paper: A Muse Cabana Blue Band notecard. Accessories: Michaels ribbon, 2-way glue pen, Prismacolor Pencils and Gamsol, Jo-Ann's glitter.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!! Have a fun weekend everyone!

WSC27 Juggling Penguin

I love this little guy! I didn't HAVE to have him until Novell let us use him at one of her workshops, then there was no question!!

This is for Beate's weekend sketch challenge #27 on her blog.

Stamps: Elzybells Juggling Penguin
Ink: Memories black, Prismacolor Crimson Red Marker, Copic Honey Marker, Signo White Gel Pen
Paper: A Muse Reverse Asterix Swiss Red notecard, black, white
Accessories: Marvy Circle Punches, SU horizontal slot punch, paper piercer, Ribbon from Michaels, Stardust Stickles

Skating Elzy

Yay, my first Elzybells card! I was up until 2:00 this morning cleaning up my stamp area and decided to make a card while I was up! It didn't turn out how I expected, it definitely took on a life of its own as I went.




Stamps: Elzybells Ice Skater and Warm Winter Wishes
Ink: Memories black, Copic Markers, CM Precious Metals silver pen on skates
Paper: A Muse Black Tiny Dot Notecard, white, black, Hot Hues Christmas Design paper
Accessories: A Muse ribbon, Snowflake brad, black brad, scallop scissors, Coluzzle Circle Cutter, dimensionals

Captain Jake

It's my son's 8th birthday today! I can hardly believe it! We're having his birthday party this weekend, but I wanted to be sure and make a card to give him today. He's having an ARMY birthday which is fitting, cuz it's Veteran's Day on Monday. Jake has many dreams and plans for his life, he already knows he wants to be in the ARMY, then he wants to be a Pirate, not a bad one, a good one that helps people and explores, looking for treasure. He also wants to be a photographer to take pictures of all the places he goes on his Pirate journeys!! :D So cute!

This card is super simple, but I know he'll love it! The notecard is A Muse, the stamp set is Ahoy Matey by Stampin' Up! Memories black ink, Stampin' Up! markers, Spica gold glitter marker on the sword handle and hook hand, Creative Memories Precious Element silver pen on sword. Creamy Caramel SU ink sponged on with dauber, SU Bella fiber for rope, decorative scissors to make mat around pirate.

Thanks so much for looking and stopping by my blog!! :D

Testing...1...2...3

Well, it's official, I'm starting a blog! I have no clue what I'm doing here, so bare with me! I'm still searching around trying to figure out how to get this all set up.