More Jewelry

Hello!! I hope you're all having a fun week! I'm anxiously awaiting some sunny weather that is supposed to hit this afternoon and last all weekend, temps in the 70's, 80's and possibly 90's?? This is a huge treat for us in the Seattle area, it has been YUCKY misty rain the last few days and mild temps for too long!! :D

I know this isn't stamping related, but still crafty, I thought I'd share some Mother's Day jewelry I made. Some 7 Gypsies Naked Bracelets I bought from Hope Stamps Eternal with pics of the grandkids for our parents and one for my sister with pics of her kids, using Chatterbox and Basicgrey patterned papers. (Sorry, one of the bracelets wasn't completed when I took the picture, I was waiting for one more photo to complete it). Also, some little Origami boxes and Candy Dishes to wrap them up in. Linda at the A Muse shop showed me how to make the Origami box on the left with the lid and I found a diagram online for the Candy Dishes. I used some various Basicgrey and Stampin Up patterned papers for those.

This next pic is a necklace and bracelet set I made for my MIL. She wears a lot of green and black so I know these are just the right colors for her.

I purchase a lot of my beads at a local bead shop called Bead Club but I also pick up beads here and there at Michaels or other crafty places if I see something I like. I really enjoy beading but don't do too much, mostly just earrings. I just got done making several pairs for my DD, she got her ears pierced last fall and is just now starting to wear some dangly ones here and there. I'm just worried they might get caught on something and rip out while she's playing!! :D The joys of being a worried mom!! :D

Have a wonderful day today!!  LOST is on tonight!! Woohoo!! Also, today is the first day to register for A*Muse-a-palooza!!! Make sure you sign up so you have a chance to win the weekly drawings!!

Blessings!!!

Coaster Mini Album

The A Muse Addicts group has a monthly challenge called Step it Up where we focus on projects that are a little more involved than just making a card. This month's challenge, posted by Michelle, is to make a Coaster Mini Album. These are so cute and simple to make. My kind of scrapbooking!

Here's what I made:

Supplies Used: A Muse stamps- Love Makes, Sundaes, Life is Good, Happy Day, Tire Swing, Lamp, Stack of Books, Blessings, Brighten My Days, Karen Foster Snap Stamps, Basic Grey Stella Ruby Collection papers, Chocolate Chip CS, Palette Hybrid Burnt Umber Ink, Memory Box Yellow Citrus chalk ink, stardust pen, A Muse stitched brown ribbon, May Arts sheer polka dot ribbon, staple, SU 1 3/8" circle punch, scalloped circle punch, Marvy Giga scalloped oval punch, SU corner rounder, Crop-a-dile, binder ring.

Happy Wednesday! Enjoy your day!

Guy cards with a spark!

Hey, what's up?? What's down?? What's all around?? :D

Awhile back I bought the Arrow punch from Stampin' Up! but hadn't gotten to play with it!! Heather has a weekly challenge on her blog called Share Your Spark Fridays. They're usually very simple challenges that anyone can do easily but I hadn't been able to play until now. The challenge this week is to use punches on your card. Easy peasy!! I LOVE PUNCHES!!! Any kind of punches make me happy!! I'm not the most organized person and my craft room is a mess, but here's a pic of a bunch of my punches hanging on my office door. I got this super cheap shoe hanger from Wal-Mart a year or so ago. The best part is that it has a clear front so I can easily see what I shove in the pockets!! :D I think I need another one for the other door so I can spread them out a little, the pockets are getting crammed!

Here's the card I made with the Arrow punch:

When I got the new Classic Stars wheel from Stampin' Up! I had in mind to use it with the Rock Star from A Muse. I know it'll have plenty of other uses too but this was my first thought. I inked up the wheel with Summer Sun ink and then bumped it in my Pumpkin Pie inkpad to give it some color variation. The arrows are punched with Summer Sun CS and sponged with Pumpkin Pie ink. The Star Line stamp from A Muse is inked with Summer Sun and just the dots were inked with Pumpkin Pie too. The diamond strip along the top (sorry it's crooked!) is from the Happiness background stamp from Stampin' Up! I followed some great advice online and split it up, bought blocks from The Block Guy and mounted the strips separately.

Also used: A Muse Rockstar, You Rock, Mini Oval, Elzybells NA Star Swirl, Black Argyle Band notecard, white and black cardstock, Marvy Mega and Giga square punches, black glaze pen, silver metallic pen.

This next card, I must confess, I made a couple weeks ago as a sample for VMAA, but wasn't too happy with it so I redid the challenge! I think this card would be just fine for a kid birthday but there's something about it that just bugs me and I couldn't figure out what to change!! :D


A Muse Surfer, Dotted Lines bl (masked), Skinny Oval, Seaweed (masked) and Little Dude MA stamps used, A Muse notecards, black CS, edge distresser, Memories Black Ink, Copics, Chalk Ink cateyes, Bordering Blue Ink too, Marvy square punches.

Have a fun day!!

Mother's Day Cards and a Concert

Hi Everyone!!

Did you have a fun weekend?? Mine was great!! Got to celebrate Mother's Day with my Mom and DH's Mom Sunday and got pampered on Sat by my DH and kids, including a trip to the A Muse shop to pick out some goodies, lots of sweet pictures and cards made by my kids along with some magnets they made and clay dish from my son, Flowers, a yummy dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, Palisade, on Elliot Bay in Seattle, and the KT Tunstall concert to follow!! SOOO fun! KT is a wonderful singer and great performer. She's got a quirky, odd sense of humor, but very fun! Here are a couple pics from the show. We were up on the balcony, so not too close, but it's a pretty small place, so we still had a great view.

The first picture is before the show, just so you can see our view with the lights on. I had never been to the Moore Theater before. I know it's pretty famous and I remember seeing one of the Pearl Jam videos that was filmed there, in high school, Even Flow. Yes, I did go through a Grunge phase way back when! LOL!!



The second pic is our view while KT was playing and then the next pic is an attempted close up! The pics were taken with my iPhone so there's no zoom, I had to crop the picture in iPhoto to get close up.

Ok, sorry for all the blabbing about the concert!! On to the cards!! These are what I made for my mom and my MIL for Mother's Day. Pretty straight forward but I sure enjoyed making them!!

I love Elyse! She reminds me of me as a little girl and I thought she'd be perfect for an M day card for my mama!! My mom and I are very close and have always had a special bond!! She's had my heart from the beginning!! :D I was a preemie so maybe that had something to do with the closeness we have, a special relationship from the start. My mom's water broke 6 weeks before her due date and the doctors kept her on bed rest and were able to keep me in for another 2 weeks before she delivered me. I didn't know they can do that after your water breaks! I was 4 lbs 14 oz when I was born.

All papers, ribbon and stamps used on the Elyse card are by A Muse. The little flowers are from the new Circle Frames clear stamp set, image colored in with Copics, Palette Hybrid Noir ink used.

This next card was for my MIL, a very sweet caring woman! I'm so blessed to get along so well with my in-laws. Makes married life much easier.

All stamps and papers used on the nest card are also by A Muse, Palette Hybrid Noir Ink, Copics and Close to Cocoa ink also used.

Thank you so much for reading my blog today!! I hope all of you Mother's out there felt blessed this weekend!! Motherhood is definitely not an easy job but so worth every minute!!

HUGS!

Teacher Gifts

Hi! Woohoo, it's Friday!!

I've got a pretty fun weekend planned: Mother's Day pampering for me tomorrow from DH and the kids (including a trip to the A Muse shop hopefully), kids staying the night with Grandma and Grandpa Saturday, KT Tunstall concert at the Moore Theater in Seattle, Church, Mother's Day celebration at my mom's, Mother's Day celebration at my MIL's and birthday celebration for my SIL too!!! Whew!! These are all fun things so I'm sure it won't seem too busy.

I thought I'd post some Teacher Appreciation gifts. We did a couple things throughout the week. The kids brought flowers one day, a store bought gift another day (personalized stuffed pig for one teacher and a Willow Tree mini Kindness plaque for another). The only things I made are these bracelets packaged in an Origami candy dish (made with SU DS papers)

and these mini notecard tins:

I think I need to prepare a little better next time so I can make a few fun and simple gifts for each day.

I just want to shout out a BIG thanks to all the teachers out there, I admire you for the devotion and kindness you show to our kids!! I know teachers don't get recognized or rewarded enough and they deserve SOOO much more for taking such good care of our kids!! Thanks for all you do!!!

Hugs and Blessings!!

Sunshine and Babies

Happy Wednesday! My how time flies, I have several posts to share but don't want to overwhelm you in one day, so I'm trying to break them up. I've been busy making Mother's Day and Teacher Appreciation gifts and haven't made time to post until now. These cards are kinda random, don't go together, but since I'm trying to catch up, I'm just gonna put them together.

The following card I made for a super sweet online buddy of mine, NANCY!! :D She made an adorable card on her blog with this Stamping Bella image not too long ago and graciously sent me some images so I could play with them too. I thought, what better way to play than to make a thank you card for her.

Ingredients:
Stamps- Happy Forest by Stamping Bella, Sending You Sunshine by A Muse
Inks- ? , Memories Black, Soft Sky and Copics
Papers- A Muse notecard, SU Jersey Shore DP, black, white
Misc.- May Arts? Ribbon, Lime Green, Yellow and Stardust Stickles, sponge dauber

This next card is a card I made recently for my friend Lisa who is expecting a baby within the next couple weeks!! She's the most gorgeous pregnant woman you've ever seen, tiny, petite, beautiful and glowing!! She feels huge at this point in her pregnancy, but if you were to look at her from behind, she doesn't even look pregnant.

She's not sure if she's having a boy or a girl yet, so I needed to keep the colors neutral.

Ingredients:
Stamps- SU So Many Scallops, SU Happiness BG stamp (split up), star from SU incentive set.
Inks- Wild Wasabi, Whisper White
Paper- Wasabi prescored notecard, white, Saffron and Wasabi paper from Prints Pack?? :D
Misc.- Marvy Mega scallop circle punch, CM circle cutter, SU scallop circle punch, Jumbo eyelets, Sheer Creations polka dot ribbon, dimensionals, Vintage Brads, SU corner punch (for scallop border.

I hope you're all having a good week!! :D

Blessings,
Rhonda :D

Trash to Treasure...

So, how 'bout it, does this look like trash or treasure to you?:

This is what Linda tossed in her trash at the A Muse shop last Saturday night while we were stamping for VMAA!!! She had punched it and didn't want to use it so she tossed it. I saw it on top of the can and quickly yanked it out and held on to it for dear life!!! She was teasing me for taking trash out of the can!! I'm sorry, but how could she throw away such a YUMMY piece of Grass Green 4-bar Kitchen Notecard??? :D She said she doesn't save the scraps cuz she never ends up using them then they pile up. I have a little plastic envelope that I keep my A Muse scraps in and look in there first before cutting up my precious notecards. I told her I'd make a card with her scrap and show her. By the end of the night Saturday, she had piled up several notecard scraps and put them at my spot on the table! So sweet! No shame in my game!! :D

Here's what I made with it:

It's a thank you card for Linda for letting me come to the A Muse shop and stamp with her and the other A Muse ladies. The best part is I still have a huge piece of this notecard left to make another card with! :D

Here's a closer up look in case you're interested. Stamps, notecards and Twinkle Sticker are from A Muse, ribbon by May Arts, white CS by PTI, Inks: Memories Black, SU Going Gray, and Copics.

Thanks for stopping by today! Enjoy the rest of your weekend!!

~Rhonda :D

I was stamping, honestly!!!

Happy Friday!!

This post is overdue, but I had to save it until after the new release since I used one of the new stamps released yesterday and am not an instructor or designer.

Some of you know about this, but in case you don't I'll fill you in. During VMAA (Virtual Meeting of the A Muse Addicts) last Saturday night, I got to spend the evening at the A Muse shop with Linda, Novell, Melissa and Heather. Well, since I was hosting one of the challenges and needed to be on the computer quite a bit during VMAA, I didn't need to do the challenges cuz I had already done them up ahead of time to post samples during VMAA. Well, Linda was teasing me cuz I wasn't stamping!!! She was writing notes and holding them up to Heather's webcam, tattling on me!!! LOL!! Honestly, I brought a few stamps and goodies but wasn't sure if I'd stamp at all and being there with the A Muse Designers and Instructors gave me stage fright!!! LOL!

I actually did end up stamping a little, and feel so blessed cuz Linda let me see the new release stamps early and play with them while I was there. Here's what I made:

and

All stamps and Notecards used on these cards are A Muse or Elzybells NA also used Marvy punches, Memories Black ink, Copics, and black and white CS.

It was SO fun hanging out at the A Muse shop with the girls and bouncing ideas off each other. Melissa helped me with which sentiment to use on the mushroom card and while she was making a card with Makenna on it, I noticed she did those adorable little white polka dots on her dress and wanted to try it, so did that on Elzy's dress.

Thanks for stopping by today!! Have a wonderful weekend!

Blessings,
Rhonda :D