Crafty Blessings

Update

2010-04-03T12:32:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone!

I just wanted to jump on and apologize for being MIA!! :D Life has gotten crazy and zapped me of my creative juices. :D

I'll be taking a break for awhile but hope to start creating again in the next couple months.

Hugs and blessings to all of you!

Treasure

2010-01-08T10:17:00.000-08:00

Hi!

Today is my hubby's bday!! Happy Birthday, Honey! I did make him a card and will post it soon but for today I'll share a card I made for my good friend's son, for his birthday this week:

I used A Muse's new Coral stamp and A Treasure sentiment as well as Snorkel Boy which came out this past year. I used some Sky Blue Pearls to finish it off.

Happy Friday!

Sea of Love

2010-01-07T11:48:00.000-08:00

Hello there!! Yes, I'm still around! ... and I'm still searching for my crafty Muse, but hoping she's close by and ready to stay for awhile. I've been slowly working on rearranging and cleaning my craft room, so hopefully once that gets done I'll feel less cluttered and able to focus better!

A Muse has a fun new stamp release for Valentine's day that is very versatile and can be used for many other occasions throughout the year. I just started playing around with them and here's the first card I created using the adorable new Jellyfish stamp and a couple of old classics, Waves and Hi friend:

Hope you're doing well! Happy new year to you!!!

Cyber Hugs!!

New Moon

2009-11-18T09:25:00.000-08:00

Hey there!

So I'm leavin on a jet plane for Vegas today! I get to go see the premiere of New Moon while I'm there and have a visit with my friend Jennie!! :D I'm so excited!

Jennie's awesome! She sent me the Twilight tin stamp set from Barnes and Noble as an early bday present! Such a fun collector's item! I opened it up right away to make her a thank you card:

Hope you are all doing great! For all you Twilight fans out there that are gonna be seeing the movie this week, have fun!! We'll all be together in spirit!! :D

Hugs,

Happy Birthday Jake!

2009-11-07T22:06:00.000-08:00

Today is my son's 10th birthday! I can't believe he's in the double digits now!! Poor kid has had a rough week with the flu and is just now getting over it, so we'll be extending his birthday celebration all week with the family.

Here's the card I made for him:

(A Muse sentiment, notecard and heart twinkle sticker, Martha Stewart Skull and Bones Punch, Great Impressions paper piercing template, SU Key Tag Punch, Designer Label Punch, brads and 1 3/8" circle punch)

For the longest time when I'd ask him what he wants to be when he grows up, he'd say he wants to be a nice pirate that has his own ship and crew and gets to sail all over the world looking for treasures! Here's hoping he has a year full of treasures and adventures.

Blessings,

A Muse-Bouche Day 5, Expressions of Gratitude

2009-10-15T12:46:00.000-07:00

It's release day for A Muse's new product line!! Gorgeous new stamps, papers and accessories for you to feast on!! :D

Here's another sample using some of these beautiful products:

New Products used: Chrysanthemum Open, Chrysanthemum Solid, Shimmer Couture paper in Chocolate Petite Damask and Mango solid, Latte Pearls.

I inked up the Chrysanthemum Solid stamp with Dandelion and Pear Tart Memento inks and lined it up with the Chrysanthemum Open stamp to fill it in, then used a little bit of Pumpkin Smooch to add a little shimmer to the flower. I lightly stamped the Chrysanthemum Solid stamp a couple more times to add in the bg. Here's a closer up shot of the flower colored with the Smooch, not sure if the shimmer is very noticeable in the photo for you:

And, I tried to pick up some of the shimmer of the Couture paper too:

Hope you've enjoyed the sneaks this week!!! These are some of my favorite products A Muse has had to offer, to date!! And that's saying a lot because they have SO MUCH fabulous stuff!!

************* For a chance to win the complete set of the new wood mounted stamps from A Muse (this release), see this post!!***************

Have a fun weekend!
Hugs,

Amuse-Bouche Day 4

2009-10-15T09:08:00.000-07:00

Hey!

I have an Amuse-Bouche to share for today using some gorgeous new products coming soon from A Muse:

Featured new products: Chrysanthemum Open and Chrysanthemum Solid stamps along with a sentiment from the Monogram Frames clear stamp set, Slate Petite Damask shimmer cardstock and Pink Shimmer cardstock, white pearls.

I hope you enjoy your day!

Amuse-Bouche catch up!! :D

2009-10-14T16:50:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!! I'm so excited to share some Amuse-Bouche for the upcoming Autumn Stationery release but also sorry I got off to a late start! :D Better late than never, right?

Here we go:

New products used: Big Thanks, Acorn, and Oak Leaf Flourish stamps, French Roast Petite Damask shimmer cardstock and a teeny tiny Chocolate pearl topped off on the acorn (thanks for the tip Novell!)

New Products Used: Flatware and Dill Stamps, Apple Petite Damask and Mango Shimmer cardstocks, Lime Pearls.

New Products Used: Leaf Frond Stamp, Classic Alpha and Monogram Frames Clear sets, Lime Petite Damask and Lime solid shimmer cardstock.

I LOVE this new release coming up and KNOW you will to! Beautiful products to create very elegant cards easily!!

Hope you're having a wonderful week!

Hugs,

Courtney's Bday

2009-09-25T11:24:00.000-07:00

My baby turned 6 yesterday!! So exciting! Her dream for the big day was to wake up to her bedroom filled with balloons! Although it wasn't completely filled, I tried to make it work:

Then we celebrated with a spaghetti dinner (her favorite) at the Old Spaghetti Factory:

I think she enjoyed it!

Here's the card I made for her, inspired by her favorite colors and her bday balloons:

(The Stickles was still wet when I took the pic, sorry!!)

And another card I made recently that's similar:

All stamps, papers and ribbons used on these cards are by A Muse Artstamps.

Thanks for visiting today! Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Cupcake Inspiration Challenge #25

2009-09-20T10:56:00.000-07:00

My friend Rachel hosts a Cupcake Inspiration Challenge each week on her blog, tons of cute ideas to pull from! I've been wanting to play along but never made time for it. This week I decided to go for it.

Here's the inspiration pic:

And here is my card:

Pretty simple and straight forward, but I enjoyed having an idea to start with and seeing where it takes me. All stamps, papers, pearl stickers and ribbon used for this card are by A Muse Artstamps. Glitter by Doodlebug Designs, Inc. (mixed 3 different chunky glitters together), also used Moonlight Smooch on the cupcake frosting.

Hope you've all had a wonderful weekend! Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs,

Fall PJ Party Challenge #4

2009-09-19T14:48:00.000-07:00

This is it, the last challenge of the night, hosted by yours truly! :D

My challenge for you is to create a Thank You card. Super easy and always useful! With Thanksgiving around the corner I thought it would be appropriate.

Here's my sample:

All stamps, and papers used on this card are by A Muse Artstamps.

I know it's tough to see in the picture, but I created a border by scoring at 1/4" around all the edges of the white square. Just gives it a little something extra. 2 thumbs up for Scor-Pal! :D

Hope you all had fun tonight. You still have until tomorrow night (Sunday the 20th) at 8pm Pacific time to submit your challenge cards in the appropriate threads on the A Muse Lounge. Winners will be drawn at random for each challenge and will be awarded a prize directly from A Muse!! :D

If you weren't able to join this time, keep your eyes peeled for the next one, we'd love to have you! The more the merrier.

Blessings,

Fall PJ Party Challenge #3

2009-09-19T14:40:00.000-07:00

Challenge #3 is here!! Hosted by the rockstar herself, Geeta!! The challenge is to create a card based on your favorite tv show/series starting up this fall. Lots of cool shows to choose from, but one of my favorites that I've been watching and excited about is So You Think You Can Dance. Here's what I made:

All stamps, papers and ribbon used on this card are by A Muse Artstamps.

One more challenge to go! It's amazing how quickly the time flies by during these online party nights!!

I'll be back soon!

Fall PJ Party Challenge #2

2009-09-19T14:29:00.000-07:00

Time for the second challenge of the night. Hosted by Jen Daloisio, the challenge is to make a card using Fall colors! How easy is that?

When I think of Fall I think of browns, greens and oranges. I typically think of leaves too, but I went a different route with this challenge, mostly cuz I needed to make a thank you card for my kids' bus driver. She's super sweet and caring and so enthusiastic to see the kids each day. Makes me feel good to have my kids in her care to and from school. I still remember my first bus driver from Kindergarten to this day, cuz she was cheerful, made a point to smile and seemed happy to see me each day. Hopefully my kids will feel the same about their driver.

All stamps, papers, ribbon and twinkle stickers used on this card are by A Muse Artstamps.

Hope you're joining the party and feeling inspired to stamp!

Stay tuned for more!

Fall PJ Party Challenge #1

2009-09-19T14:13:00.000-07:00

It's party time over at the A Muse Lounge!! Our first challenge, hosted by Jennie, is to make a card inspired by our favorite Halloween candy. As much as I love Candy Corn and those types of treats of the season, my absolute fave of all time, and what I looked forward to in my loot each year, was Almond Joy! Unfortunately it was my mom's favorite too, so she'd inspect my candy and say they looked suspicious and she needed to test them for me to make sure they weren't tampered with! :D Great trick! :D

I decided to take the colors from the Almond Joy wrapper and the idea of coconut and translated it to this:

All papers, stamps and ribbon used on this card are by A Muse Artstamps.

I hope you'll join the fun tonight. There will be a total of 4 challenges and lots of chit chat on Yahoo Messenger!!

Hugs,

No Coloring Zone

2009-09-15T13:27:00.000-07:00

Hi!

Each month Jennie posts a new challenge on the A Muse Lounge and sadly I rarely make time to play! I did make one for this month's challenge, to make a card without using coloring tools like markers, pens, or pencils, etc.

Here's what I made:

Super quick card to make, something I rarely do! Victoria gave me a box of inchies a long time ago and I saw them sitting there in my drawer all sad and lonely, decided to give them a go! :D I may have cheated a little by using red Stickles in the apple, but I kicked myself after doing it! I didn't color the main images though, just rubbed red chalk ink along the edges of the inchies. Super simple!

Hope you're enjoying your week so far!

Hugs,

Team Jacob?

2009-09-12T12:48:00.000-07:00

Hey there! Still playing around with my new A Muse Twilight stamps over here. Although I'm definitely team Edward, I couldn't resist making a Bella and Jacob card:

I'm so in love with the new Blackberry notecards from A Muse and the Woodgrain cardstock for that matter!!! The blackberry is such a gorgeous color that makes my heart flutter when I look at it!! The sentiment was printed on the computer. I so need to get my hands on some more Karen Foster Snap Stamps when my budget permits, feels weird using the computer for my card!! :D I did get to try out my new EK Success Moon and stars punch, didn't end up using the stars, but it makes a pretty perfect little moon!

Thanks for stopping by, hope you have a fabulous weekend!!

Hugs!

Sparkles and Sunshine

2009-09-11T10:00:00.001-07:00

Happy Friday!

I've been trying to work in a little crafty time here and there this past week. Taking longer to make a card than I'd like it to, but it's coming back to me!!

Had to play some more with my new Twilight Stamps from A Muse!! Kind of a weird color combo for me, wasn't how I planned it to turn out, but you never know 'til you try, right?? :D Tough to see, but there are Stardust Stickles on Eddie and Yellow Stickles on the sun.

I have a couple more to share in the next week too, so stay tuned.

Blessings to you today!

New Twilight stamps

2009-09-03T16:29:00.000-07:00

Hello!! Long time no chat! Sorry for such a long break, I've been enjoying the busyness of Summer and haven't had much stampin' time.

I'm so excited about A Muse's new Twilight stamps in the Halloween release! I'm trying to get back into my groove, but it may take some time. I played around a bit today, not quite sure how I feel about it but I'll keep trying!

On the inside I stamped "Happy Birthday." I suppose you could say anything on the inside and it'd work with the movie quote!

Hope you've all had a great Summer! My kids start school on the 9th, I'm sure looking forward to the Fall routine starting back up.

Hugs!

AP Spot Challenge

2009-07-07T15:54:00.000-07:00

There's a new challenge on the A Muse blog this week for A-Muse-A-Palooza. The challenge is to make a card inspired by the word "spot."

I thought of all sorts of ideas but landed on the Spot the dog children's book series, using Patch. Here's what I made:

Spot's First Walk

Spot's Birthday Party

Spot at the Farm

And one more card just for fun, inspired by inkspots:

I used Adirondack Alcohol inks, dripped and splattered them randomly. Also colored in the main image using the same inks from the bottles and a blender pen. This turned out totally 80's to me! I remember having a sweatshirt with ink splatters all over it! Heehee! (And, yes, I wore a high-up side pony tail with a scrunchie and big bangs!!) :D

All Stamps, Papers and Twinkle stickers used on these cards are by A Muse Artstamps (except for black and white basic CS).

I'm gonna be taking a break from blogging this month since I'll be on vacation but look forward to hopping back on in August! Hope you're all enjoying your Summer!!

Happy A-Muse-A-Palooza to you!!

Hugs!

One More Twilight Card

2009-07-02T10:12:00.000-07:00

Hey!

Here's another "Twilight" inspired card for the 3rd A-Muse-A-Palooza challenge on the A Muse blog this week:

I've been wanting to do a "you're cool" card with Edward for awhile and finally got some time to do it. Pretty silly, but it was fun to make. I think Eddie looks a bit like Liberace in that glittered up cape! LOL! Of course, I had to add in some woods in the bg to be authentic! :D All stamps and papers used on this card are by A Muse Artstamps, Memento Inks, Copic Markers, Marvy Circle Punch, EK Success trees border punch, Black Diamond Stickles, silk ribbon, dimensional tape, and sponge daubers also used.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!!

Blessings to you!

A-Muse-A-Palooza Twilight Blog Challenge

2009-06-29T18:12:00.000-07:00

Hi!

Woohoo!! I'm so excited! A Muse has a super cool challenge on their blog this week! The inspiration word for the challenge is Twilight!!! How fabulous is that??? Of course it made me think of the books/movie first thing.

Here's what I made:

I had a tough time deciding on which sentiment to use, was tempted to do "you're cool" or "have a scent-sational day" but opted for "life's simple pleasures" instead. Twilight sure is one of life's simple pleasures!!

All stamps used on this card are by A Muse Artstamps, inks by Memento. Notecard by A Muse. Misc. items used: Marvy oval punch, sponge, blender pen, decorative scissors, dimensional tape.

Can't wait to see what everyone comes up with! I'm thankful these challenges are here to get me inspired again!

Hugs,

Has it really been a month??

2009-06-25T12:32:00.000-07:00

Yikes, that's a long time to go without blogging!

Been busy with end of the year school stuff and a little trip to Chicago, haven't been too crafty lately, sorry! (I know, nothing new there) Hopefully I'll get my groove back soon!

Are you all excited for A-Muse-a-palooza!!! The fun has already begun! I wasn't able to participate in last week's blog challenge to create a card inspired by the word "square," but made time for this week's challenge to make a card inspired by the word "ribbon" and combined it with the square challenge just to make myself feel better.

I was thinking about what to do with ribbon and decided that other than tying bows or knots, I love threading and wrapping ribbon. I pulled out my Fiskars Treading Water border punch and started from there.

Stamps, ribbon and papers by A Muse Artstamps (not sure of the brand on the shimmery brown CS but got it at the A Muse shop), Inks by Memento, Copic and ColorBox, brad by SU!, flowers by Prima.

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you're all off to a happy Summer so far!

Hugs,

Summer Release A-Muse-Bouche Day 5

2009-05-22T18:26:00.001-07:00

Day 5, the final appetizer before the meal is available to all!

New goodies used: Snorkel Boy, Sand Dollar, brown gingham paper.

Look for the full new release on A Muse's website Midnight tonight!! Woohoo!!

Have a wonderful day!

Summer Release A-Muse-Bouche Day 4

2009-05-22T18:21:00.000-07:00

Day number 4 of the Summer release appetizers!

Kinda silly, I know, but hey, it works! :D

New goodies used: Pirate Girl, Surfboard, Enjoy the Ride, Orange Gingham paper.

Happy Memorial Day!

Summer Release A-Muse-Bouche Day 3

2009-05-22T18:19:00.000-07:00

Day 3 of Summer release appetizers!

New goodies used: Hippo, Hippo Birdie and Grass Gingham

Hugs and blessings,

Summer Release A-Muse-Bouche Day 2

2009-05-22T18:02:00.000-07:00

I'm gonna keep my posts short the next couple days but here's day 2 of A Muse's Summer release appetizers!!

New goodies used: Sun, Sailboat, Sun-Sational Day and Blueberry Gingham paper!

Happy Saturday!

Summer Release A-Muse-Bouche Day 1

2009-05-22T08:24:00.000-07:00

Yay!!! A Muse's Summer Release is on its way in just a few more days!! I'm so excited! These Summer images won't disappoint! (Like any of A Muse's releases ever do!!)

I'll keep this short and simple. I have 2 cards to share today, here goes:

2 new stamps used on this first card, Open Palm Tree and Life's a Breeze. Also, our new blue gingham paper!! So cute. I cut around the top of the 3 trees and layered the paper on the inside of the card as a backdrop. I used grass decorative scissors for the grass and tiny little black buttons for the coconuts. I also pulled out my trusty Tinplate background stamp for the water. I love that stamp!

This next card is pretty basic, but thought I'd do it anyway! New stamps used: Palm Silhouette and A Warm Hello. I colored the middle of the Primas with a Copic Marker and used my new Doodlebug Sugar Coating chunky glitter to sparkle up the island.

Enjoy the sneak peaks! I should have a few more to share before the release!

Blessings!

Panda

2009-05-19T10:34:00.000-07:00

Hi!

I have a quick post today. I got to have a stamping play date with a couple friends recently and wanted to show them how to make one of these framed window cards and decided to try one with A Muse's cute new Panda stamp:

It's very light and tough to see but I also used the Bamboo stamp on the bg. Such a beautiful stamp. I love that adorable panda too. A Muse rocks and makes it so easy to make quick and cute cards!

Hope you're all enjoying your week so far!

Blessings to you!

Quick Gifts

2009-05-12T17:13:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd share a couple of gifty items I made last week.

Super quick teacher card sets inspired by Geeta:

And some quick gift card packaging, decorated very simply, using the purse die and the pillow box die on the Accucut Machine in the A Muse shop:

Sorry for the poor lighting on these photos. :D

Hugs and blessings,

Time to Hit the Books day 2

2009-05-08T09:01:00.000-07:00

Are you ready for this??? :D More cards for Jennie's monthly challenge on the A Muse Lounge?

If you haven't read the Twilight series, most likely you'll be scratching your head wondering what in the world I'm thinking!!! And I'm not going to elaborate on them so I don't spoil too much of the books for those that are reading them or are planning on reading them!

I don't know why my brain thinks this way or why I felt the need to create these scenes, but hopefully you'll forgive me!! :D I did get a little carried away and the cards got cluttered, that's what happens in my head when I think too much! I completely smudged the Breaking Dawn card too, but I wasn't about to re-do them!

Here goes:

Eclipse - Space Heater

and

Breaking Dawn - "Why am I covered in feathers?"

So, not exactly true to scenes in the books, but the ideas are there! :D Had to add my artistic interpretations! :D

Thanks again for the fun challenge Jennie! This was just what I needed to get the wheels turning and just create for fun!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend and Happy Mother's Day to all the mother's out there!

Hugs,

Time to Hit the Books

2009-05-07T10:08:00.000-07:00

Hi!

I have a fun post today!! (For me anyway!)

Jennie the challenge Guru on the A Muse Lounge has come up with a fabulous new challenge this month to stretch our creativity! The challenge is called, "Time to Hit the Books," to make a card inspired in any way by a book.

Since I've been so addicted to the Twilight series lately (yes, I admit it) they were my first thought for inspiration! Lots of ideas floated around in my head, but the love scenes were what ultimately got me!! (beware!)

So, I decided to make a card for each book in the series (minus Midnight Sun). I'll post the first 2 today and the other 2 hopefully tomorrow! Here goes:

Twilight - "S"moo-chas Grass-ias - the Meadow Scene!!

Heehee!! I couldn't resist! I knew I wanted to use the kissing couple even though they're a stretch for Bella and Edward, (the clothes are all wrong), but it's the idea, right? I did add some Stickles to Edward's face to make him sparkle!! The sentiment came later as I was looking through my sentiment stash. I saw the "grass" in it and instantly thought of the meadow and them kissing and decided ""smoo-chas" would work!! I got to use my new, cute, little EK Success scallop border punch too!! (All stamps and papers used here are by A Muse Artstamps)

New Moon - Book Cover - Thinking of You

So, this is the only card of this series that I didn't do a "romance"scene on. I have thought for awhile about the covers of the books and how they'd make cool cards, maybe someday I'll attempt to make some more inspired by the other covers, but this one in particular, I love,with the upside down Tulip:

Since I didn't have a Tulip stamp or punch that would pass as a Tulip. I just used an EK Success 5 petal flower punch and punched it twice, folding it down over itself an layered it. Not exactly a Tulip but still a flower that could pass to represent the cover. Not sure if I needed to add some ribbon across the top of the card or not, but decided not to over do it.

Stay tuned for the next 2, they're silly and maybe a little naughty, but still PG, maybe 13? I don't know you let me know tomorrow, K?? :D

Hope you have a wonderful day!!!

Blessings to you!

Zinnias

2009-04-24T14:45:00.000-07:00

A short post for today!

I made a couple floral cards yesterday using the Open Zinnia stamp from A Muse's March stamp release. No specific reason, just playing around:

All stamps, papers, Twinkle Stickers and ribbon used on these cards are by A Muse Artstamps. Inks by Memento, Colorbox Chalk and Stampin' Up! (whisper white). Punches by Fiskars and Stampin' Up!

Not sure I'm very happy with the second one, turned out too busy for me, but I went with it anyway! :D

Thanks for stopping by today!

Enjoy your weekend!

Newly Hatched

2009-04-23T16:14:00.000-07:00

I'm sure you've all checked out A Muse's new stamp release, Newly Hatched, but if not, be sure to head on over to A Muse's website and take a look at ALL the super cute new stamps now offered!

I attempted to play around with some of the baby stamps today, here's what I made:

This card uses 3 new stamps, Bouncing Baby, Crib and Star is Born.

Thanks for stopping by! Enjoy your day!

Hugs,

Tooth Pillows

2009-04-22T15:51:00.000-07:00

Hello!

I decided to bite the bullet and be crafty today! I'm in such a crafty slump right now, this is shocking for me!

My youngest DD has a VERY wiggly tooth (her first one) and I know she's gonna lose it any day now. I decided I wanted to make her one of those adorable Tooth Fairy Pillows that Missy Balance provided an easy tutorial for on her blog.

And since I was already making one I decided to do a few, one for each of my kiddos:

I'm such a beginner sewer and embroiderer, these definitely have their flaws, but it's the thought that counts!! My kids won't notice my mess ups.

Thanks Missy B for your cute project!!

Masculine Birthday Cards

2009-04-14T10:25:00.000-07:00

Hey there!!

Happy Belated Easter! I hope you all had a fun weekend and enjoyed your Easter celebrations.

I've been such a slacker-blogger mostly cuz I've been a slacker-stamper as well!! :D But I'm trying not to worry about it, just do what I do and post when I post! :D I haven't spent much time looking at blogs lately either, I'm missing it! I was so absorbed in the Twilight books I pretty much let everything slide. Now I've finished and am trying to get things back in order. Although, I did start reading Twilight again last night! Starting the series over but I don't think I'll feel the need to rush through it this time, just read a little here and there.

I have a couple of birthday cards to share, one for my Stepdad, his birthday was this past Sunday on Easter, he's been big into finding great recipes for grilling marinades lately. And one for my mom's boss who is an avid fisherman and makes the best smoked salmon ever!!

Here are the cards:

All stamps and papers are from A Muse Artstamps.

I altered an earring base to make it look as much like a fish hook as I could. I also gave a little texture to the fish by using Copic blending solution on a rag and dabbing it on, thanks to Marianne, the Copic Queen for that tip!!

Have a fabulous week!!

Hugs and blessings,

Happy April Fool's Day!!

2009-04-01T08:52:00.000-07:00

Hope you're able to do something silly, just for the fun of it today! It's tradition for us to do Ostrich Eggs (A plate full of Cool Whip with an upside down Peach half on top) for the kids, they look forward to it each year. I'm hoping to do a couple more food tricks for them to surprise em! The Family Fun website has a bunch of great ideas.

Speaking of fools, I made some of those super cute cupcake socks that Lauren Meader posted a tutorial for on her blog. She made them with kid socks, but I thought they'd be cute for adults too. A good friend of mine just had a birthday and what birthday is complete without cupcakes??

Here's what I made:

And a box to put them in:

The camera didn't pick up the sparkle of the glitter on top, much cuter IRL.

Aren't I a great friend, getting her some brown socks for her birthday?? :D My DD was very worried that I needed to be sure and tell her not to EAT these cupcakes! :D Too cute!

Enjoy the day!!

The Twilight Zone

2009-03-26T08:51:00.000-07:00

That's where I've been this past week!! Yes, I finally gave in and decided to start reading Twilight!!

After a year or so of friends saying how great of a series it is and that I should read it, I was finally convinced and gave in! I'm not much of a reader, not much can hold my attention for so long, but I'm so glad I gave it a go!! Such a fun book to read and no, I couldn't put it down and when I had to, I couldn't wait to pick it up again and start reading!! I was up until 2:00 this morning reading!! I couldn't stop. I just have the epilogue left and the sneak peak of New Moon, the next book in the series.

I'm amazed at how captivating the book was, how you could feel every emotion and I got butterflies in my stomach when Bella talked about how she felt about Edward. The magnetisma and electricity between them is so exciting! Very tastefully written book! Although, I must admit that I enjoyed the first 2/3rds of the book much better than the last 1/3rd. I loved reading all the parts of them getting to know each other and the deep connections they felt for each other. Although there's always complications in a good story, I didn't want the bad guys to be in there getting in the way of their relationship. I'm excited to read the next book in the series but I just hope the deep connection is still there and jumps out from the pages like in the first book.

So, consequently, I haven't been stamping much, surprise, surprise! I even have A Muse's amazing new Bridal/Floral release stamps waiting for me to play with them, but sadly they're un-inked. I'm in one of those phases where I have a bunch of different projects I want to work on; making baby blankets, jewelry projects, scrapbooking, cards for an upcoming class and many others, that I just don't know where to begin! I did manage to make an anniversary card for my mom and stepdad last week:

I tried to keep it clean and elegant, I hope they liked it. I got to use one of my new EK Success thin border punches from Michaels. It's a cute punch, but was difficult for me to line up well and because it has the embossing, it left marks where I didn't want them. I think I was able to conceal them in the end, but took some getting used to.

Hugs to all of you! Thanks for stopping by today!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2009-03-16T17:57:00.000-07:00

I hope you're all wearing green! If not, consider yourself pinched! :D

I don't usually do much for St. Patty's Day, mostly cuz I don't believe in luck, but I think Ireland looks like a beautiful place and I do think it's fun to see how many things we can make green for the day and make a good Corned Beef and cabbage dinner.

I made these little shamrocks this morning for my kids plus a couple extras to have on hand for the day.

They were super quick, I made them before they left for school and put them in their lunch boxes with a little note on the back.

I was inspired to make a card last night. Not sure it turned out how I expected, I think I missed the mark on the sentiment:

I was inspired by Peter Rabbit stories. I was trying to think of how to incorporate clovers and bunnies and the idea of a spilled pot stuck out. Then I thought it would be cute if the pot was his little home. Although, the idea of the sentiment is not to have a small house necessarily, but lots of friends to fit in whatever size home you have. I was also thinking about the fact that bunnies multiply so quickly and that this little guy would have tons of friends. Maybe I shoulda made the pot bigger and added a bunch of bunnies all over!! LOL! Oh well. I used brown fun flock for the dirt, a tiny pom pom for the bunny tail and Lime Green Stickles on the clovers.

Last but not least, here's a delicious Glazed Corned Beef recipe that we've used in our family since I was a kid. Not sure where the recipe came from, but it's DELICIOUS!! The glaze makes the top layer of the corned beef taste like candy with a tang!! I'm super picky about my meats, so I always cut off as much of the fat on the corned beef as I can. I'm sure it takes away flavor, but it just icks me out!! :D

Glazed Corned Beef

3 lbs corned beef
1 cup Dark Orange Marmalade
4 Tbsp Dijon Mustard
4 Tbsp Brown Sugar

Boil water in large pot, add corned beef, simmer for 3 hours. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, mix marmalade, mustard and sugar. Glaze corned beef, bake for 30 mins or until glaze is crisp and browned.

Have a fantastic day!!!

Hugs and blessings,

A-Muse-a-Coladas

2009-03-05T09:17:00.000-08:00

"If you like Pina Coladas, and gettin caught in the rain...." (pretend you can hear me singing that song, only it sounds good in your head, k?)

My friend Cheiron recently made a Hula Girl A Muse card and it got me thinking about Hawaii, lounging on the beach (or by the pool) and sipping Pina Coladas and Lava Flows and how I wished I could go there. I asked her if she wanted to join me, but since I'm broke and we can't realistically go, I had to send her a thinking of you card with A-Muse-a-Coladas on them:

This card also qualifies for Jennie's Monthly challenge on the A Muse Lounge this month, Stamping to the Music, to make a card inspired by music. I was singing that Pina Colada song the whole time I made it, so it inspired me for sure!! I got to use my new Fiskars Apron Lace border punch on this card and try something new by punching half circles all around the edges of the main piece. I also had fun playing with my copics to get the pina colada drinks to look pina colada-y. :D All stamps and papers used on this card are from A Muse Artstamps.

Thanks for stopping, enjoy your day!!

Hugs and blessings,

Project Hero Mail

2009-03-04T10:41:00.000-08:00

Hello!

Have you seen the recent Hero Mail post on the A Muse blog?? So exciting! The A Muse Addicts on the A Muse Lounge pulled together (with the help of Geeta coordinating it all) and made 1001 cards to send to the troops for Project Hero Mail!! What a blessing and great way to help encourage some of the soldiers that are fighting for our freedom!

I made a few cards to contribute (only 35), but every little bit helps!

It's tough to see the blue stars on the red cards in this picture, but they're there!

Thanks for stopping by!

Hello Bear

2009-03-02T14:20:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone! Happy Monday. Did you have a nice weekend? Mine was pretty good, other than having a cold. I got to go out with my sister Saturday night. I haven't seen her in several months since she lives down in Portland, so it was a special treat for me. Sunday afternoon was nice, got to go out to lunch with my in-laws after church, then I came home and took a much needed nap!

Not a whole lot going on here stamping wise the past few days (I've been making earrings for my youngest DD) but I did make this card the other day and thought I'd share. I cut these pink polka dot PLP's up, for my class last month, and didn't have the heart to throw them away so I thought I'd put them to good use and make cards with 'em. It was tough thinking up a fun layout but worth it so I didn't have to toss them! :D

Thanks for stopping by today!

Blessings,

Where is my head?

2009-02-27T08:50:00.000-08:00

Have you seen it? Cuz I'm pretty sure I've lost it! My friend Tracy does a sketch challenge on her blog each week and this whole month she has been featuring sketches that I used for my A Muse Guest Designer series in January on the A Muse blog. I didn't even think to link her blog here to let you all know!!! I'm so sorry! I'm sure you all check out her blog regularly anyway, but if not, I feel bad that I didn't let you know so you could play along!! Here were the challenges from this past month:

Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5

On the last post (yesterday) I got to pick some of my fave sketches that she's posted in the past for her weekly sketch challenges (listed on her sidebar under Sketch Challenges) and made cards using those sketches. Here's what I made using stamps from A Muse's new Spring release :

Thanks so much Tracy for the opportunity to be featured on your blog, such a sweet honor and a huge blessing to me!!

Hugs!

Funky iPods

2009-02-25T13:05:00.000-08:00

It's a rainy day here in Seattle (surprise, surprise!) It's actually been very nice and sunny lately and has been awhile since it rained so I'm sure this is overdue, but makes for a perfect day to stay in and stamp! While I'm working on some projects I thought I'd share a card I made for my nephew last week for his birthday:

He just turned 15 so I wasn't too sure what kind of card to make for him, but this seemed appropriate. Hope he liked it! I used a white gel pen to color in the iPods, a silver gel pen for the accents and a stardust pen for the screens.

I hope you're enjoying your week so far!

Blessings to you!

Clean & Simple Challenge #2

2009-02-20T11:07:00.000-08:00

Jennie posted one of the cutest cards on her blog yesterday (nothing new there) and alerted us to the new CAS (clean and simple) challenge going on over on SCS. This is just the kind of challenge I need to get me thinking simple and motivated. PERFECT challenge for A Muse fans!

I went with a completely basic layout for this one:

The challenge is simply to use one button on a clean and simple card. This is a really old plain, misc. button in my little button jar but sometimes plain is all you need. I colored the flowers with my Copic markers.

Also I just wanted to put in a last minute plug that there are still a few spots left in my Warm Wishes class at the A Muse shop tomorrow night (Sat. the 21st) from 5 to 7 pm so if you're in the Seattle area and want to join us, I'd love to see you there!! You can sign up quick and easy on the A Muse website. Here's a sample of what we'll be making in class tomorrow along with 4 other fun cards:

If you can't make it tomorrow here's another class coming up next month, hope to see you there:

Blessings to you!

New 4-bar notes

2009-02-19T12:16:00.000-08:00

Hi!

It's me. I know I seem to say this often, but I sure am in a weird stamping funk lately!! The inspiration is there and I keep jotting down notes of things that spark ideas, but when I sit down to stamp either I can't get it to translate to paper or I'm just not thrilled with the results.

On our road trip down to California for the funeral I got tons of inspiration and I have several pages in my little notebook of ideas and things to try but I may need to wait a week or so to do them! Here are a couple ideas I did manage to work on though, using the new Lime band 4-bar notecards!

I used the Trees 2 clear stamp set for this one, sponged the sky and grass with chalk inks and used the Rosie's Roadshow cloud stencil (I love that thing even though I'm still getting the hang of using it).

This did not turn out very close to what I had intended!! I originally wanted to do a barn with a farm house and 3 trees on the path, but all the trees I had were too big for what I needed and these "trees" (from the Trees 1 clear set) are a little small so I added more. I used the Tall House stamp from A Muse and masked off the bottom half of the house to make it the right proportion on here. I made the field stripes by adhering Eclipse tape and then sponging the areas that weren't covered with tape. The mountain was an experiment for me. I basically used the faux tearing technique and then drew in the outline. I was gonna leave it without the line but it seemed to be missing something when I did that.

On a different note, I made a couple of YUMMY recipes last night and thought I'd share links!! I made an I ranian Rice dish that I had been craving for awhile now and boy was it delicious??? It has tons of dill in it so I think it's addictive, you can't stop eating it, want to go back for more and more!! It's a cool recipe cuz when it's all done cooking, it makes a crusty layer of rice on the bottom of the pan and when you flip it over onto a dish you've got all the softer rice underneath and a delicious crispy layer of rice on top!! Sorry I don't have pics to share! I also made an Indian simmer sauce with a tomato base, Indian spices, chicken and chickpeas to go with it, but I don't have a recipe for that, just added a bunch of ingredients to get what I wanted. Then for dessert I made baked S'Mores!!! This recipe was super easy and completely delicious, I'm sure I'll make it often!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!!

Hugs!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2009-02-13T19:34:00.001-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day!!

I thought I'd share some of the goodies I made this week:

These were for my kids, super simple but they LOVE these conversation hearts and I couldn't just give them the boxes of them. I got the tubes a long time ago at Impress, they came in handy.

These were Valentine's that my youngest DD and myself made for her to give to her siblings and close friends. I also made a couple for my neice and nephews. They're super cute triangle boxes. Yet another project I got from our make-n-takes at the A Muse shop.

Here's the VDay card I made for my hubby, LOL! Victoria let me use her MFT stamp set while she was over for a play date a few weeks ago.

I made a couple of these heart boxes for my DH, my sister and my good friend Liz in Wisconsin. Not the greatest pics of myself and others in the photos, but I worked with what I had. My DH LOVES Rolos, but I found these caramel kisses and thought they'd work just as good. We'll see if he likes them. Haven't given the box to him yet.

Enjoy your day! Eat lots of yummy sweets, calories don't count today!!

Hugs,

Jewelry

2009-02-13T16:35:00.000-08:00

Hi there! Long time no post!! We were out of town for a few days last week for the funeral which was very nice, so glad we were able to attend, then we got home and have been dealing with a sick DD and now myself! No fun. I have been stamping a bit and making Valentine's goodies, but the cards I've been making are for upcoming classes, so I can't share them :( sorry. I'll post the VDay goodies tomorrow though. For today I thought I'd catch up and share some jewelry I made recently:

This necklace and earrings set was for my mom for her birthday. These are definitely her colors, so I think she was pretty happy with them. The next picture is a bracelet that my 7 yr old daughter designed for my mom (her grandma) for her birthday as well and I finished it up for her and made some earrings to match.

These are a couple of gift boxes I made to put them in. We've been making all kinds of adorable make-n-takes at the A Muse shop each week, both of these boxes were templates we used at the shop. The first one, not sure what it's called, is kinda like a french fry box, it folds over in the front. The second one is a nugget box and please pardon the ribbon! I attempted to make a ribbon blossom from the tutorial on SCS but it didn't work so well! I would recommend using sheer ribbon or at least a thinner ribbon than the stitched grosgrain I used.

This next picture is a set I made for my sister for her birthday. She's a Vegan and a very earthy girl, so I wanted to do something that looks kinda natural. I just sent it down to her so I haven't heard if she got it or likes it or not, but hopefully she will.

I made this next set for myself. I love the bracelet, just not sure I'm too crazy about the earrings. I may redo them and just use one bead on each one so they're not too big.

And these last two pairs of earrings were just for fun, playing around with my beads. The bottom heart beads were a gift from my mama, I just got to turn them into earrings.

Happy Friday to all of you! Enjoy your weekend!

Blessings,

Birthday girl

2009-02-03T12:16:00.000-08:00

I finally did it!

I got around to making one of these adorable little punched girls inspired by Missy B. and Michelle. So fun to make!! There are so many possibilities with them, different hair styles, colors, face features, you can mix 'em up any way you like!! :D I made this one for my sister since her birthday is coming up next week. I'm sure she'll love it!

I used Shimmer Chalks for the cheeks, an oval punch for the pony tails (punched one then drew a yin-yang shape on it and cut it in half), and one fun little tip I discovered while making this is that the Martha Stewart Pop Up Hydrangea punch (the one with the 3 little flowers on it), works perfectly with A Muse's Kitchen notecards/cardstock! You can perfectly punch out the 2 smaller flowers with a white center!! :D So fun!

I know my posts have been delayed lately so it's no surprise to you, but I wanted to let you know I won't be posting for a few days. My DH's uncle passed away so we're heading out of town to visit family for his funeral.

I hope you enjoy the rest of your week!

Charming

2009-01-28T12:32:00.001-08:00

Hi Everyone!!

How's it goin? Things are pretty good here. Most of us have colds at my place, my middle child has it the worst, but we're relaxing and taking it easy.

I've been in a bit of a stamping slump lately, just not feeling motivated to do much, but I did manage to make a birthday card for a good friend of mine. We get together with her and her husband almost every Tuesday night for dinner, drinks on occasion, some games, and to watch American Idol!

She loves a good glass of wine so I thought this would be appropriate for her.

She's not very girly, she was raised with 3 brothers, so I didn't want to go over the top girly for her, but I did want to do something fun with it, so I thought of wine glass charms!! I pulled out my jewelry making supplies and made a simple little charm to embellish the card with.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Hugs and blessing,

Saltbox Color Challenge

2009-01-19T09:23:00.000-08:00

Hey! Happy Monday!

Today there's a Saltbox Studio color challenge to use Swiss Red and Cabana Blue notecards with any Saltbox Studio images. I'll have to admit that I didn't own any Saltbox Studio stamps before this weekend, but I picked up a few and am completely LOVING them!! So cute. I had several stamp sets in my hand and had to put a couple back so I didn't spend way too much!!

Here's what I made for the challenge:

I used the Celebration Companion set with the cute little mouse and A Basket Celebration set for the basket full of cupcakes (I'm pretty sure they were meant to be muffins, but I couldn't resist!) After all the talk on the A Muse Lounge about Koh-i-Noor pencils I gave in and picked some of those up too. I played around with them on this card using Gamsol to blend them. I also used Rosie's Roadshow Cloud stencil for the sky and sponged around the edges of the card to create the grass and blue edges around the rest.

Here's a link to the A Muse creative team gals that made samples for this challenge as well:

Lexi
Elena
Jennifer A.
Mary rose
Geeta
Emily
Lori
Novell
Sherry

I hope you have a fabulous week!

Hugs!

Hi, Friend

2009-01-13T09:27:00.000-08:00

Hey! How's it goin? I hope you're all having a great week so far. I've been slacking in the card making department the past few days, so I thought I'd share a card I made for some of my A Muse friends for their birthday last month.

All stamps, papers, Twinkle Sticker and ribbon on this card are by A Muse Artstamps. Ink by Memento and Copics, Flower by Prima, corner punch by EK Succes.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Hugs and blessings!

Happy Birthday Honey!

2009-01-07T19:45:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow, January 8th, is my hubby's birthday! He's got the day off, so I thought I'd post a day early so I won't be on the computer too much on his special day.

He's a huge Mac/Apple Computers fan, so I decided to make him an apple card with the new "To the Core" stamp from A Muse:

After making it, I realized I shoulda just done a white apple on a black card, woulda been more appropriate, but this will do! I let my DD do the black and white one. Victoria let me use her SLICE for the apple die. So fun!! Thanks Victoria!! Now I need a SLICE!!!

Also, I have BIG news!!! I'll be teaching my first official A Muse class at the A Muse retail shop on Saturday January 17th from 5-7pm. Classes have been added to the A Muse website under "A Muse Favorites - Events". Here's a link:

You should be able to register for the classes online if you'd like!

If you haven't checked it out yet, come on over to the *NEW* A Muse Lounge, a fun place for A Muse fans too hang out, chat, play and get inspired!!

Have a great day!!

Sneak Peak

2009-01-06T09:01:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is the big day!!! The new A Muse Sweet Shop goodies will be released!!

Here's a card I made with the new Love Shack stamp:

Such a fun stamp with lots of sentiment possibilities to go with it!!

Hugs!

I have.....

2009-01-04T09:27:00.001-08:00

I'm so excited to share the news!!! Have you checked out the A Muse News blog today??? Julie (Her Rubber Royalness) asked me to be the JANUARY GUEST DESIGNER for A Muse!!!! Aaaackk!! Can you believe it?? My jaw completely dropped when I got the email, then I got super nervous but that didn't last long cuz I needed to get busy stampin!!

So weird to see my face so huge on the A Muse blog!! LOL!!

If you haven't yet, head on over there and leave a comment for a chance to win some new release goodies (the Love Shack stamp and a pack of 4 Bar Popsicle Pink notecards!) There will be 4 Guest Designer articles posted this month so if you leave a comment on all 4 you'll have 4 chances to win!!

Hugs!

Sneak Peak!

2009-01-04T00:12:00.000-08:00

Hey there!

I won't bore you with any long stories today, just wanted to share a sneak peak from the new A Muse release coming this Weds the 7th! You're sure to want EVERY stamp in this release, it's AWESOME!!

I used 2 new stamps on this card, Chocolate Assortment (masked off the other goodies and only used the chocolate bar) and Live on Chocolate sentiment. I also used a new French Roast 4 Bar notecard, Madeira brown cardstock, Popsicle Pink stitched ribbon and an oldie but goodie, Curly Girl.

Hugs and blessings to you!

Jewelry and a Polar Bear

2009-01-03T08:21:00.000-08:00

Hey! Happy Saturday!

Are you all enjoying the A Muse Sneak Peaks out there?? This next release is a fave for sure!!! Sorry to disappoint, but I don't have one on todays post, but I do have a couple to share with you this week so stay tuned!!

Before I get ahead of myself on posts this month I wanted to share the necklace and earrings I made for Victoria for her birthday, packaged in a cute little A Muse mini treat bag made with a Vintage Black 4 Bar notecard and some bling. I turned it into a little purse.

This picture isn't the greatest, they're much more sparkly IRL. Not sure how to pick that up on my camera.

I got to spend the day stamping with Victoria yesterday! We had a great time as usual, stamping and chatting. We even got to go out to a cute little pizza place for lunch and had some awesome pizza with tons of roasted garlic on it!!! Yummmm!

We played around with lots of different stamps including the new A Muse release coming up but didn't forget to do our traditional routine, working on the Stamp of the Week challenge for the A Muse Addicts:

I love this Polar Bear, such a classic stamp to me.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!

Hugs!

Happy Birthday Victoria!

2009-01-01T15:45:00.001-08:00

It's my good friend Victoria's birthday today so I wanted to be sure to spread the word and give her a shout out! I'm so blessed to have met her this past year and so excited for her to have gotten over the hurtles and struggles she's had with cancer this past year. If you're feeling up to it please visit her blog and wish her a Happy Birthday!!

Here's the birthday card I made for her:

She's a French Fanatic!!! Love's all things having to do with France so this Eiffel Tower stamp by A Muse was my first thought for a fitting birthday card for her. I hope she liked it.

This next picture is kinda silly, but I wanted to share it anyway!! My kids were sitting at the table eating lunch a couple weeks ago and my daughter was talking about squirrels outside and went into this elaborate story about what if there was a Santa Squirrel and he went around to everyones houses and left them each a nut! I thought it was too cute so I decided to make each of my kids one of these 2 cube boxes decorated with the A Muse Squirrel with a walnut inside. I thought it was so clever, but my kids didn't think it was as cute as I did. They're not too fond of walnuts and were disappointed that was all that was inside the box!! LOL! I had to explain my reasoning and that it was just for fun.

And, last but not least,

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!

I'm so excited to have had a card featured on the A Muse blog yesterday! This is the card that got featured, using the Bubbly stamp:

I hope you all had a fun, safe New Year's Eve! May your year be blessed!!

Hugs!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-23T16:12:00.001-08:00

Hi Everyone!!

Merry Christmas to you!! I hope you're all enjoying the season and keeping warm!

I wanted to share a couple more pics of the snow we've gotten here:

This a view of our back yard. It's a tiny yard, but pretty easy to maintain!

This next pic is of my daughter with the snowman that she and a neighbor boy made. So cute!!

And this last one is a shot of all 3 of my kids outside:

It's really quite amazing for us to have so much snow and BEFORE Christmas. We don't call it an "Evergreen Christmas" here for nothing. This year we actually get to say we've had a White one!!

I wish you all the best!

Hugs and blessings!

Winter Wonderland

2008-12-18T09:07:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone!! Long time no post. I have a feeling it'll be few and far between for the next couple weeks, but I'll try to pop in at least once a week to say Hi! I've had a yucky cold this past week or so and we've been snowed in!

Pretty much all week we've had off an on snow storms come through and I think there are more in the forecast this weekend or Monday. The kids have been home from school and I've been watching my neighbors kids as well. It's been a bit crazy! My youngest daughter actually got bored at one point and decided to decorate the house. She even decided to add pencil eraser toppers to the bottom of our candy canes on our tree!! Too funny!

Anyway, I have some cards to share. I made a couple more gift card holders ala Jennie!! :D

So, I have many blonde moments throughout the year and it sometimes bubbles over into my stamping. I originally did the top penguin GC Holder and thought it was so cute, but realized it's not really a penguin, it's a Chubby Bird, so I made some more and turned it into a Robin instead. I just like the color combo better on the top one. But, it's all good, no worries.

I hope you're all doing great and keeping warm. I still haven't completed my Christmas cards! I think I'm gonna go light and just send to close family and friends this year. I worry and stress myself out too much about Christmas cards and I don't think that's what it's all about! If I could I'd send one to everyone I know!

Belssings to you!

Nordy's inspired

2008-12-09T12:50:00.000-08:00

Hi!

I have a card to share today that was inspired from a recent Nordstrom's catalog. I was thumbing through it and came a cross some cute little pictures so I tore some out to keep in my inspiration book. Here's the inspiration pic:

And here's the card inspired by it:

It was fun to recreate that look with A Muse stamps!! :D I love how versatile these stamps are, that you can use them in so many ways to create different looks and scenes!

(All stamps, papers and ribbon used on this card are by A Muse Artstamps)

Have a wonderful week!

VMAA - Bonus Challenge

2008-12-05T19:43:00.000-08:00

Hey there! One last challenge for the night! Our bonus challenge is to make a card inspired by your favorite holiday movie. It's tough to pick a fave, but one of the funniest ones to me is Elf!

Here's what I made:

The layout came from Taylored Expressions blog, cupcake challenge number 44. I was surprised at how quickly it came together with all those layers. Layouts are always the toughest for me. If I can start with a layout in mind and know what stamps I want to use, then they'll come together easily for me. It's subtle, but I used the A Muse Cityscape stamp for the background behind the main panel.

Thanks so much for hanging out and hopefully playing along with us tonight!!

Many, many more hugs and blessings to all of you!

VMAA - Home Alone

2008-12-05T19:27:00.000-08:00

Our 4th challenge is hosted by Jennie and is inspired by the movie Home Alone.

Her challenge is to make a card that reminds you of your holidays when you were a kid. Anything that was special to you, traditions, smells, foods, gifts, people, places, anything you want! This gave me lots of options, but the thing I remember most was decorating the house and putting up mistletoe! I was fascinated with it and made a huge deal out of people standing under the mistletoe and insisted they had to be kissed!! Of course, I stood under there often begging for kisses!! :D Here's what I made:

Yes, that is supposed to be green shag carpet on the card! :D I'm so sorry my photos are all washed out tonight. Not sure what I did wrong with them.

Lots n lots of hugs and blessings!

VMAA - Scrooged

2008-12-05T19:00:00.001-08:00

Our 3rd challenge tonight is hosted by me and is based on the movie Scrooged.

The challenge is taken from the scene in the movie where the guy on stage tells Frank he's having trouble gluing the antlers on the mouse and Frank tells him to try staples!! Too funny! Your challenge is to create a card using staples somewhere on it. Here's my sample:

I thought it would be appropriate to use a mouse and a deer image on this card since the scene had to do with antlers! The sentiment is just the icing on the cupcake!! :D I decided to use these green Making Memories staples in a crisscross pattern.

I hope you're enjoying the challenges!!

VMAA - Polar Express

2008-12-05T18:33:00.001-08:00

Hey!

Our second challenge tonight is hosted by Geeta and is inspired by the movie The Polar Express.

Her challenge is to make a Wintery card that's mostly blue and white with lots of glitter!! Here's what I made:

Not sure I got the mostly blue and white part, but I did do blue and white as the base! :D The main image is stamped on shimmery white cardstock and I made a glittery border around the main image. There's also glitter all over the snowflakes and polka dots!

Thanks for joining us tonight!

More Hugs,

VMAA - A Christmas Story

2008-12-05T13:53:00.000-08:00

Hey! Happy Friday everyone! Does everybody know what time it is???.....

....

Tool Time!!!!!!

.......

No, not really, it's VMAA time!! Virtual Meeting of the A*Muse Addicts!!!

Our theme this time around is It's A Wonderful Life and is inspired by our favorite holiday movies.

The first challenge is hosted by Michelle and is inspired by the movie A Christmas Story.

Her challenge is to create a holiday card for a child. This should be an easy one, there are so many cute A Muse images to choose from. I had a tough time deciding, but went easy and made this:

It's almost impossible to see, but I stamped the A Muse Lots of Flakes background on the blue band an added white dots to the centers with a gel pen. I also added stardust pen along the edges of the Snow Angels and along the edge where the blue and white portions meet.

I hope you all have fun playing along with us tonight!

Hugs,

Not that innocent...

2008-12-01T00:57:00.000-08:00

Are you ready for one of my silly cards? I'm sure you'll need to be able to understand my humor to get it:

I was looking at this Yoga girl stamp wondering what I could do with her and decided that if you turn her on her side, she looks like she's slipping. Then I got to thinking, I wonder what she could slip on??? Not exactly sure why the margarita glass came to mind, but I'm thinking this works!!! One too many drinks maybe?? :D You'll have to forgive my attempt at a spill, Victoria and I decided it looks like a slug!!! LOL!! Anyway, this was a just for fun card, playing around and seeing what I could come up with!

This next card I made for Victoria cuz she got me a super sweet birthday gift!! We've gone stamp shopping together at Impress and she remembers me pointing out the Inchie goodies and saying I thought they were cute and wanted to try them but am too cheap to buy little one inch chipboards!! So, for my birthday, she gave me a GORGEOUS card and a little gift bag filled with Inchie notecards (12 Inchie Notes and notecards), Inchie papers, Inchie Squares and this adorable Lockhart cup!!! So, I made her a Thank You card using a little bit of all the goodies she gave me:

The picture is a bit blurry, but I thought I'd post it anyway. THANK YOU SO MUCH VICTORIA!!

I hope you all have a wonderful week!!! Friday night is the next A Muse Addicts Virtual stamp party (VMAA). I hope you'll be able to join us!

Blessings to you,

Winter Cards

2008-11-29T20:38:00.000-08:00

Hi!

I haven't gotten around to making any Christmas cards yet, but I have managed to make some Winter cards to get me going. I made this first card last week while stamping with Victoria:

(All stamps, papers and Twinkle Stickers used on this card are by A Muse Artstamps, snowflake punch by Marvy, Inks are Memento and Copics)

I got the layout from OZ-Somestamps blog, I just reversed it. Her blog is fabulous and always has super cute, simple sketches to be inspired from. I subscribe to her blog and get email updates. Unfortunately I don't always have time to play or post comments, but when I saw this layout I knew I needed to try it. It also qualifies for Glenda's weekly challenge on her blog to use 3 of something on a card (snowflakes, in case you weren't sure! :D I know I'm a snot!!)

This next card I made awhile back for a card class I did at my church. I was inspired by a card from A-muse-a-palooza last year done with a mod dot notecard and this penguin with the sparkly Creative Candy clear epoxy sticker.

(All stamps and paper used on this card are by A Muse Artstamps as well as epoxy sticker and ribbon. Palette Hybrid Ink, SU Soft Sky ink, Copic Markers, Iridescent glitter and dimensional tape also used.)

Hopefully I can get my rear in gear and start working on my Christmas cards for this year! Aaack! I don't know why I don't feel motivated to make them yet.

HUGS!

A Good Thanksgiving

2008-11-28T23:04:00.001-08:00

Hey there!

Are you all stuffed yet??? What a great Thanksgiving it's been so far. We're stretching it out and celebrating all weekend, as it should be! I can't believe how much I've eaten this past week with my birthday and Thanksgiving, my hips are thanking me for sure!! :D

I just wanted to do a quick post of a Thanksgiving card I made last week.

(All stamps and papers used on this card are by A Muse Artstamps)

And last but not least:

May your stuffing be tasty
May your turkey be plump
May your potatoes & gravy
Have nary a lump.
May your yams be delicious
& your pies take the prize
May your Thanksgiving dinner
stay off of your thighs!

Make it a good one!!

Hugs and blessings to you,

Alpine Hut

2008-11-26T09:30:00.000-08:00

Hey! Happy Hump Day! The day before Thanksgiving, already!!

Since my good friend Victoria has gone back to work we don't get to have play dates too often anymore, but thankfully, she got this week off of work and we got to hang out and stamp together yesterday!! She made some super cute cards and I worked on a couple as well. One of the cards I made is this one:

One of the stamp of the week challenges this week on A Muse Addicts is the Alpine Hut which I love but hadn't inked up yet!! When I look at that stamp, it makes me think of Leavenworth, this cute little Belgian town in the Mountains, so I decided to make a little town with it. Victoria had this fun "Snow in a bottle" that she let me use for the mountain tops. It was strange stuff, kinda like drywall putty with sand in it, pretty gritty. I added some Martha Stewart crystal fine glitter over the top of it. (All stamps and papers used on this card are from A Muse Artstamps)

I hope to post a Turkey day card tomorrow but in case I'm not able to carve time out to post, Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! I'm definitely thankful for my online community of friends, you're all a blessing to me!

Hugs!

Kreativ Blogger Award

2008-11-21T15:25:00.000-08:00

Hey there! Happy Monday!!

The ever so sweet Giovana nominated me for the Kreativ Blogger Award over a week ago and I've been so busy being un-Kreativ that I forgot to play!! :D LOL! Whoever created this award did a great job, it's so purty!

Here are the rules:

~The winner may put the logo on their blog

~Put a link to the person who sent you the award

~Nominate 5 blogs

~Put links to their blogs

~Leave a message for your nominees

And the nominees are (I've always wanted to say that!):

And one more cuz she just started a blog and it's already fabulous:

~Joyce

All of these gals have wonderful inspiring A Muse ideas to share and are just all around good peeps!!! :D If I could I'd nominate ALL my blog friends cuz you're all creative and inspire me so much!

I finally got around to playing with my A Muse Cupcake clear set!! :D

This cupcake reminds me of the ones Cindy made at the A Muse Cupcake social!! I heard those cupcakes were delicious, but I was too busy runnin around doin stuff I didn't take time to stop and try one!! I did get her recipe for the frosting on the A Muse Addicts site and tried making some last night. The frosting didn't turn out half bad especially considering I don't have the right kind of mixer for it, but I completely overcooked the cupcakes and they were dry as can be!!! (I'm so not a great baker!) I accidentally turned off the timer to time something else and forgot I was using it for the cupcakes already!!! Eeek!! I seem to be having more blonde moments lately?? Maybe that comes with age?? Is it too early for that?? :D

Have a wonderful day!!!

HUGS!

Robin's Birthday

2008-11-21T10:47:00.000-08:00

Happy Friday everyone!!

Today is a special day, it's my niece's 12th birthday!! :D Unfortunately she lives a few hours away so I don't get to see her on her big day.

I thought I'd share part of her gift and card I made:

This gift was so fun to do!! My A Muse Addict friend Ingrid was so sweet and sent a tin like this to my daughter for her birthday and she LOVES it and uses it everyday. I thought, what little girl wouldn't want one of these?? It's like a build your own earring kit! It has a base pair of ear wires and a bunch of random earrings to attach to them. I just went through my bead stash and made a bunch of different earrings I thought she might like. I decorated the tin super simple with silver embossing powder which I had seen done a year or so ago, I think on Sarah and the Stampstars blog, and added a simple band around it with her initial. Her favorite color is lime green, so that's where I started for the band and card.

Have a wonderful weekend!!!

I hope all you local gals will be able to stop by the A Muse shop tomorrow for the Grand Re-opening celebration!!

Hugs,

Judie's wedding

2008-11-18T16:21:00.000-08:00

Hello! Long time no post, eh?? :D

It's been a CRAZY couple of weeks! A Muse instructor training, sick kids, My son's birthday and my computer crashed about a week ago! I just got it back last night so I haven't been doing my normal internet browsing lately.

My long time friend from junior high got married last month in Hawaii and had her Wedding reception locally last weekend for all of us who weren't fortunate enough to attend her special day in paradise. I worked on wedding favors and Thank You cards for her. She had them at each place setting, the Thank You's were folded in the white linen napkins. It looked beautiful.

Here's a pic of what we made:

And here's the card I made for her:

I was so excited when I saw Jennie's awesome gift card holder that I knew I had to make one. She's been with her Hubby for several years now and has 2 kids with him, so I figured a gift card would be better for them to decide what they need rather than me getting them something to clutter up their house that they won't use.

Thanks for stopping by today. Hopefully I'll be able to post a bit more in the next few weeks before Christmas.

Hope all is well!

Hugs and blessings to you!

Skull & bones, Party Time!

2008-10-31T16:07:00.000-07:00

Hello!

Here are a couple SOTW challenge cards for the A Muse Addicts group. The stamp challenges this week are Skull & Bones or Party Time clear set. I made one of each:

(All stamps and papers used are from A Muse Artstamps)

I hope you all have a fun weekend!!

Hugs!

White Card Weekly Challenge

2008-10-30T17:38:00.000-07:00

Hi! I wanted to share one of the cards I made while stamping with Victoria today:

This is for Jennie's weekly challenge on the A Muse Addicts site to make a card that's only one layer and a white base! Very cool challenge and makes for super simple cards!

The flourish on this card is from Baroque Motifs from Stampin' Up! I inked it up with Bamboo Leaves Memento ink and used the DTR technique to add some Cantalaupe and Potter's Clay Memento inks to it as well. I also used black Glaze pen on the crow to give it a glossy, raised look.

I had SOOO much fun with Victoria today!! We got to go to her beautiful house this time and were surrounded by tons of elaborate Halloween decorations. I should get her to post some pics of the fun decor she has. She really knows how to go all out and celebrate the holidays. Her house is full of all kinds of inspiration. We stopped by the new A Muse shop today too, to see how it's coming along!! So cute!! Of course I lost track of time and had to run out the door super fast to pick up my kids from school! I felt so bad leaving V in my dust!! :D I'm gonna be so sad when she goes back to work next week, we won't get play dates as often.

Hugs and blessings to you!

Heartfelt Sympathy

2008-10-29T10:41:00.000-07:00

Hey! Happy Hump Day! :D

Here's a sympathy card I made last week for a coworker of my DH's. Her father passed away recently and he wanted to be sure to give her a card to let her know he cares. I don't do sympathy cards very often. I intend to but never know the right words to say so I usually end up not doing them.

For this card I pulled out my only sympathy stamp set (Close as a Memory) from Stampin' Up! and since I was on a SU kick I also pulled out some of my fave SU papers and colors, True Thyme and Vintage Violet. This is definitely my old SU style on this card with the distressing, layers and sponging, but I enjoyed making it and doing something different than what I've been doing lately.

I hope you're having a great week!

Hugs,

Quick cards

2008-10-26T22:14:00.001-07:00

Hey there!

I thought I'd post another group of cards to get myself all caught up! These are cards I made over a week ago on a play date with my friends Kim and Sara, I just hadn't gotten around to posting them.

These are all super simple, quick and easy Stampin' Up! cards, which is not something I do often. If you know me, when I do Stampin' Up! I tend to keep adding more and more, lots of layers and embellishments. So much so that I completely over do it and end up with a not so pretty card, but since I put all the effort into them I post them anyway!! :D

We were focusing on doing a variety of birthday cards to have on hand when we need to grab one and go. A couple of them were shoebox swap cards that Kim and Sara provided and the others were created during our play date, playing with various designer series papers. That's one of the best parts about stamping with friends, we all get to work together making cards, helping each other out with ideas.

All products used on these cards are by Stampin' Up! Some stamp sets are retired, but still great sets!! :D

I hope you have a happy Monday!

Blessings to you,

CENSORE*D!!!

2008-10-23T18:07:00.001-07:00

Are you ready for today's post??? "Warning this post is not suitable for stampers without a sense of humor."

Victoria and Kim and I all got together to have a playdate today! Remember a few weeks ago I had mentioned that Victoria and I were scheming up ideas for naughty cards?? Well, it all started from Victoria's new MFT stamp set "Twisted Sentiments" and went down hill from there. I was good and started out the stamp session by working on the A Muse Addicts SOTW challenge and Weekly challenge this week (Trees and Fall card) and then got busy workin on naughty cards!! LOL!! Here's the Tree card:

Victoria got a bunch of super fun crafty goodies to play with including this Martha Stewart Picket Fence punch! I'm in love with it along with the cupcake punch which I didn't get to play with (insert sad face here). She also got the new Slice!!! Such a cool die cut tool!!

And here's the first naughty card:

I had the idea in my head, but getting it on paper was a challenge. It took the collaboration of all 3 of us to get it to work good! Thanks girls!!

After Kim and Victoria left for the day, I played around with the sentiment set a little more and made some simpler cards:

So, I know the last one's not naughty, but since I made it with the same MFT set I thought I'd post it as well.

I have several more ideas, hopefully I can get around to stamping them soon! Thanks so much for stopping by!! :D

Hopefully these aren't too bad and you'll all forgive my sense of humor!!

Hugs!

Happy Birthday Linda!

2008-10-22T16:23:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!! It's Linda Carnell's birthday today! In case, for some strange reason, you don't know who Linda is, well, she's none other than the A Muse Guru herself, owner extraordinaire!!!

If you're up for it, pop on over to her blog and send her some birthday wishes. She's an amazing woman with a heart of gold!

Happy Birthday Linda!!

This is the card I made for her. The pressure is definitely on when making a card for the owner of A Muse Artstamps, but I just went with it! I don't know what her fave stamps or colors are, so I decided since she's working so hard on getting the new retail shop up and ready that the stamp store would be appropriate, then it all just fell into place from there. I stamped the city background along with the Tower (Space Needle) stamp since the shop is in North Seattle. The p*a*r*t*y letters were paper pieced from scraps in my stash. Notice anything different about the Tiny Bird?? He/she's facing the opposite direction. I had already stamped the tiny bird flying in the background and putting it on the line was an afterthought. I thought it would look weird to have both the birds facing the same direction so I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig imaging sheet (the smooth side), stamped the tiny bird on it, then flipped it over and pressed it on the card leaving a light imprint. Then I used a black Pitt Artist Pen to trace over it. Maybe not the most efficient way, but it worked. The great thing about that pen is that it didn't bleed when using my Copics to color in the pink birdie! Yay! :D I put some Stardust Stickles on the bird and some Clear Glaze pen on the window of the shop and on the light post.

Thanks for stopping by!!

Hugs,

Remember Me?

2008-10-21T15:55:00.000-07:00

Hey there! Do you still remember me?? It feels like it's been so long since I've blogged. It's definitely very sporadic for me lately, sorry.

I actually have been doing quite a bit of stamping but not much in the way of A Muse cards. I've been working on some Christmas Party invite samples for my mom's work, some wedding thank you cards for my friend Judie's reception coming up soon along with some party favors, some simple grab and go thank you cards to have on hand at home, a sympathy card, a birthday card for someone VERY special, and I got together with 2 of my good stampin friends (Kim and Sara) for a play date last week and made a couple of shoebox swap cards and a bunch of super quick birthday cards. I'm gonna post a few cards today and a few later this week. I probably won't post the Christmas party invites or the wedding reception thank you's though. There's probably info on those that may not be good to post on line. They're all super simple though, nothing elaborate so we can make a bunch quickly.

On with the show! :D

Here's a card I made with Kim and Sara. I love this Inky Antics Coffee Girl stamp and Inkadinkado flourish. I definitely need to pull them out and play more often.

These next 2 cards use up some of my Carousel Notes from Stampin' Up! I've had them on hand but hadn't been using.

The cards are huge (6x6 base), but were still fun to make. I used Iridescent White Mist Scribbles 3d paint for the whipped cream and Clear Glaze for the cup. I only had a couple of the Groovy Guava Carousel notes, so I mixed it up a bit and gave options for the shoebox swap and used the Wasabi and Soft Sky ones too. Kim had the idea to use her new Party Hearty birthday stamp set from Stampin Up with the Wasabi and Saffron colors. Fun set, but I'll admit that this kinda looks more like a baby card. I guess it could be for a little girl's birthday.

This next card is a Criss-Cross pocket card. Pretty straight forward but I got to use up some of my DS papers I had on hand that I hardly ever use.

And last, a SUPER simple, basic SU thank you card. I've been selling off some of my stamp sets on Craigslist and needed something to put in the packages I've been mailing out. I figure they'd be good to have on hand when I need a quick Thank You note to send.

Thanks for stopping by today!! I hope you're all doin great and getting ready for the Holiday season! I'm gettin the holiday bug for sure!! Such a fun time of year!

Hugs and blessings to you!

Troop Card

2008-10-10T10:48:00.000-07:00

Hey there!! A Muse is releasing a new clear stamp set called Hero Mail along with coordinating notecards that will be sold in kits to help bless our troops and brighten their day! I think they'll be announcing more info about it on the A Muse News Blog later today so stay tuned.

There are so many great images in this set, it was tough to choose which ones to use first. Here's what I ended up making:

I definitely need more practice with clear stamps! I think pressure is my issue, but I think it'll still be ok. I used a black glaze pen on the tires and bolts and a clear glaze pen on the windows.

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs and blessings!

Contain Yourself

2008-10-09T19:18:00.000-07:00

Yes, another post today!! This is for Step it Up challenge #7 on the A Muse Addicts site. The challenge is to make any type of container, box or bag to put small gifts or goodies in.

This is a super easy goodie bag/box to make:

The template is from SCS for a 2,5,7,10 box.

I hope you'll join me this month! This challenge will go through the end of November, to give us ideas for holiday gift giving.

Blessings,

Weekly Challenges

2008-10-09T16:38:00.000-07:00

Hello!

It's been a great day today! Victoria came over for some stamp time! I think she's just what I needed to get myself in the stampin' mood again. I had a great time bouncin' ideas back and forth with her and have a bunch of new ideas but not enough time to work on them today. As usual, we worked on A Muse Addict weekly challenges. I only got around to doing the Stamp of the Week challenge, to use the Leaves clear set, the Wine & Cheese stamp or the Wine Glass. I also stamped an owl card cuz I've been wanting to make one for awhile and decided to go for it.

Here's what I made today:

The layout for this card came from ScrapJazz online. I was browsing through the galleries and came across a scrapbook page with this layout and thought it could be scaled down and make a great card layout too. I like it, but it was time consuming for me, deciding which papers to use and cutting all the pieces to fit right. The wine glass in the front is popped up.

This card uses the Leaves clear set (thanks for letting me borrow it V!!) and the new Trees 2 set. I have no idea for what occasion I could possibly use this, but the thought popped in my head and I couldn't resist putting it down on paper!! Maybe I can save it for when my kids go off to college in 10 years!! LOL! This ribbon has been in my stash for awhile now but I hadn't used it yet. I got it at a LSS that went out of business, I'm thinkin' it's May Arts ribbon, but not sure.

And last but not least, this owl card!! I'm so excited about this!! First off I need to admit that Victoria came up with the cute sentiment!! I was stumped trying to figure out what to use with it and she blurted out "yoo-hooo" and then there was no stopping me from using it! So fun! What I'm most excited about on this is that I got to use flax seeds on the wings!! At my DD's preschool, they have a sensory table filled with flax seeds and while working on crafts there, some of the seeds fell on the glue for a project and stuck to the page, it made a cool effect and I got to thinking it could be very cool on these owls!!! Hey, if people can glue sand to their cards, why not flax seeds?? :D

I hope you're having a great week! Hopefully I won't be a stranger and be able to post some more this week.

Blessings to you!

A Wedding Card

2008-10-07T14:39:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!

Although I don't feel out of my stamping slump, I have done a little stamping lately. I made this card over the weekend for a friend of mine from Jr High. She finally tied the knot at a fancy country club nearby. Such a fun wedding and party, got to see a few friends I hadn't seen in years. It was a crazy blustery day though!! At one point during the ceremony we thought the tent was gonna collapse on all of us! (yes, some people do actually have outside weddings in the Fall in the Seattle area!)

Her wedding colors were black, white and red so that was the color combo I chose:

I used Shimmery White cardstock to give it a punch of elegance and used a quickie glue pen and DD glitter for the dress. It's a window card, so the Bride & Groom are stamped on the inside.

I hope you're all having a great week. It's thundering outside right now, so I'm sure we're in for a rainy one!

Hugs and blessings to you!

Stamping Slump

2008-09-30T10:07:00.000-07:00

Hello!

How's it goin? I'm in a bit of a stamping slump! I'm thinking it has to do with my cold, but I'm not quite sure. If you all could send your creative juices my way, I'd certainly appreciate it!! I have no stamping motivation at the moment (or for the past week for that matter!)

I don't have much to show since I haven't really stamped for over a week now, but these cards I made a couple weeks ago and hadn't posted yet so I thought I'd share them:

These are birthday cards I made for a couple of my good A Muse Addict friends. I made a similar card awhile back with the Madeira stamp and Thank You Mix MA with the orange chiffon notes and decided to make some with different colors and stamps for these birthday cards. I love the layout, it'll definitely be one of my fall back on layouts in the future.

This was a quick, last minute card I made for my friend's bachelorette party. These are her wedding colors, chocolate brown and baby blue. A super simple card and not too over the top for me. I used Spica glitter pens to sparkle up the glasses a bit. It's tough to see but I did stamp the Tinplate bg stamp on the bottom portion of the card, tone on tone.

I hope you're all doin great and enjoying your week!!

Hugs and blessings to you!

My Baby is 5!!

2008-09-24T09:58:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone! It's my baby's birthday today, Courtney is 5! It's hard to believe she's not a baby or toddler any more, she's growing so fast! I know people say that all the time, but it's so true!! We had a party for her on Sunday which was very fun, but CRAZY! There were about 18 kids!! Our house just doesn't accommodate that many people well! It wasn't rainy fortunately, but the ground was wet, so most of the kids wanted to stay inside to play most of the time.

Here's a picture of her getting ready to blow out the candles, she wanted cheesecake for her birthday!! She had been asking for it for a couple months now, so we made sure that's what she got!! :D

The highlight of her birthday was these boots that my mom got her:

They're "real" cowgirl boots, Durangos! She's a horse FANATIC, so she feels so special in them!! And they're pink and have jewels on them, can't get any better!! :D

So of course getting ready for the party, I completely spaced making her a birthday card, so the day before I scrambled to make a quick card:

She's been noticing the squirrels everywhere lately and makes sure to point them all out to me and gets so excited to see one, so I thought this would be appropriate for her.

Ok, one more picture, I know there are a lot here, but this one cracked me up, she tried this wig on at the party store the other day and I think it's definitely her!! :D She's a silly girl just like her mommy!!

I hope you're all having a great week!!

Hugs and blessings,

Cityscape SOTW Challenge

2008-09-18T17:37:00.003-07:00

Here's the card I made yesterday at Victoria's place, using the Cityscape stamp from A Muse for the Stamp of the Week challenge on the A Muse Addicts site posted by Jennie:

This was inspired by Julie's cute boutique card here.

Also, I thought I'd share a beautiful card that Victoria gave me that she wasn't able to post on her blog (forgot to take a picture before giving it):

Victoria is the biggest sweetheart ever and this card just warmed my heart and made me feel so thankful to have met her and blessed to have her as a friend.

Hugs and blessings to all of you!

Ahoy, me hearteys!!

2008-09-18T17:37:00.002-07:00

Yo, ho, ho!! LOL! I had no idea today was national Talk Like a Pirate day!!! LOL!! I remember it coming around last year and thinking how much fun it was, but wow, this year flew by so fast, seems like it was only a couple months ago!!

Well, I was debating whether to post this cuz I was really just trying to figure out how they work, but avast ye, I made this little Fun Flip game thing after seeing the Star Wars ones me lassies got in their Lunchables and it fits in with the pirate theme o' the day!

It's probably tough to figure out what it is if you haven't seen one, but it's two pieces of cardstock adhered together in just the right places and each piece is cut in half opposite o' each other and scored opposite o' each other, so ye can flip it around every which way and it reveals different pictures!! Very fun but shiver me timbers it was tough to figure out!! LOL!!

Thanks for stopping by! Arrrrr!
Godspeed!!

Tic-Tac-Toe

2008-09-18T17:37:00.001-07:00

Here's another game I made for the A Muse Addicts Step it Up challenge this month:

After seeing all those cute little Shrinky Dinks Jennie has been doing on her blog, it got me thinking about them and how they'd make fun game pieces for this so of course I had to pull out my old stash of shrink plastic and give it a whirl! I could not for the life of me, get those circles to stay flat though!! Maybe Jennie will give us another tutorial to show us how to do that?? (Pretty please??) Other than making the Shrinky Dink magnet pieces, this project was SOOOOO super easy to do! I did get to play with 2 of my A Muse clear sets for this project, Fancy Borders and Uppercase Large Polka Dot Letters!!

I spent some time with Victoria today, out drooling at Impress and shopping at Target. We did end up going to her place and stamping a little, but I didn't have much time there since I needed to come home to pick up my kids from the bus stop. I did manage to get one card made (yes, I finished it V!!), but haven't taken a picture yet, so I'll do that tomorrow and post it then!! :D

I hope you're all having a great day!!

Hugs and blessings,

A Muse Calendar

2008-09-16T15:29:00.000-07:00

Have you seen the new 2009 A Muse Calendars that Linda has available on the A Muse News Blog??? My good friend Victoria is being honored through the sales of the calendars this year! All proceeds raised for the calendars are going to The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society an organization that Victoria got to pick which is dear to her heart because she was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma earlier this year.

I got to play around a bit with the calendar and use my Bind-it-All machine that I bought earlier this year and had never used!!! Here's what I made:

Victoria and I were working on calendars together one day and she showed me a calender she made a while back that she had a template for, to make these cool stands for flip calendars. I didn't have her template, but I got the idea from hers and made my own version. I put a piece of window sheet on the front of the calendar so it's protected and has some sort of cover. I also added a little bit of Stardust glitter pen to each page to give it some sparkle and unity throughout the pages. The "2009" numbers were stamped with A Muse's Birthday Builder clear set.

I realized after I bound it all together that I should've taken pictures of the pages before doing that so I could combine them, but I just made a little extra work for myself having to take pics of each page and uploading so many pictures!!

I hope you like the calendars and are inspired to get your own version and help support this wonderful cause!! There are 3 different versions of the calendar available for purchase through donation and 3 different donation levels for you to choose from!! So fun to have choices!! What a great opportunity Linda has given us to help support those in need!!!

Hugs and blessings to you all!

Step it Up Game

2008-09-15T14:35:00.000-07:00

Hi!! I made a couple projects over the weekend for this month's Step It Up challenge on the A Muse Addicts site. The challenge is to make any type of game or toy using A Muse products.

I'll share one for today:

We sell these cute little tins in the A Muse shop for $1. It was super simple to make, I stamped the images (added some black glaze pen to the spider), cut them out with my CM circle cutter, punched holes where desired, added some double stick foam tape to the bottom of the circle, placed it in the tin, added some ball bearings, put the lid on and added some ribbon to decorate the outside. Maybe not all in that order exactly, but you get the picture! :D Super easy project but it's definitely a challenging game, those balls fly around so fast in that tin!!! :D My son was so sweet, he said, "You make such cool things mommy!" Gotta love him, boosted my ego for sure!! :D

I hope some of you will be able to try out the Step It Up challenge this month!!

Hugs and blessings,

Happy Friday!

2008-09-12T15:15:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone! Happy Friday to you!! I hope you had a great week and are ready for a fun or relaxing weekend!!

I finally got to do some stamping again yesterday. I feel so busy lately that I haven't even been thinking about stamping!! That's definitely a very sad thing!! Victoria came over again for a play date and we made a few cards together. I did manage to get one Stamp of the Week challenge card done for the A Muse Addicts site, this Love Bus card:

I put some Crystal Effects on the bus to make it glossy. While I had the Mushroom Trio stamp out I decided to do a mushroom card too!

While I was at the University Bookstore the other day I saw a super cute little notebook that had mushrooms on it and the sentiment that went with it was "Let Peace Grow", how cool is that?? I don't have a sentiment like that so Victoria and I were looking through the sentiments I had and decided we could put "Peace" from Peace on Earth MA and "grows" from Love Grows together to make "Peace Grows." I think it works well! I love it when an idea unfolds and works. I originally tried coloring in the mushrooms with Souffle Pens and they worked, but weren't giving a good variety of color, they looked too washed out, so I decided to paper piece them instead.

This is a donut card, even though it looks like a cupcake card!! LOL! (I try!) The cupcake image and black scallop are on the inside of the card and there's a punched out scallop circle on the front of the card so you can see the cupcake from the front of the card.

I have a couple ideas for Bernice, this one didn't quite work out how I hoped it would, I was hoping to do a quick easy card with her, but it ended up taking much longer to make this card than I expected. I masked off her lizard/rat and added the balloon. Doesn't she look just like me??? :D

And last but not least, I need to share these fabulous pictures of Victoria and I!!! LOL!!

We were playing with Photo Booth on my computer and trying to get a nice picture of the two of us to post on our blogs, but as I was adjusting the screen, I ended up focusing on our chests by mistake, so we decided to play it up and take a fun photo!! Victoria said, "Oh, it's one of those types of pictures!!" LOL!!

Then we couldn't stop laughing about how silly we are!!! And, yes, I was having a bad hair day and that is my messy office/craft room! That's ok though, sometimes we just gotta live life and not worry so much about what we look like, right?

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today!!!

Hugs and blessings,

First Day of Preschool

2008-09-08T17:16:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone!! How's it goin?? Me?? I'm wiped out!!! LOL!! Today was my DD's first day of Co-op preschool and I forgot how much work it is helping out in class!! It was a busy day, lots to do and clean up! I was in charge of helping the kids make gingerbread cookies (um, can we say messy??) Then with all the other activities and just keeping up with all the kids, I feel completely zapped! But, she had a BLAST and completely loved it and can't wait to go back! She had sharing today and I was so proud of her, she wasn't nervous at all, so excited to tell everyone about her toy kitty she brought in and even put it on the green mat so all the kids could play with it.

I'll share a simple card today. I made this a couple weeks ago for my mom cuz she bought these stamps and wanted an idea of what to do with them.

Then I saw this post by Jeanne S and thought I'd give the sponging a try!! I still need some help with it, but it did give the card a little something more than the original.

Stamps: A Muse Cow, Grass and Moo-chas Grass-ias
Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, Always Artichoke, Old Olive, Soft Sky, R20 Blush Copic
Papers: A Muse Fern notecard, black, white
Accessories: ribbon by May Arts?, dimensionals

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you have a fabulous week!

Game On

2008-09-03T10:16:00.001-07:00

Hi there! Today is the first day of school for my 2 older kids. So exciting!! My youngest starts pre-school on Monday so she's counting down the days!

I have a project to share! The Step It Up challenge for the A Muse Addicts group this month is called "Game On"!! :D The challenge is to make any type of game or toy using your A Muse products. This will definitely be challenging, but I have a few ideas I hope to work on this month. Here's what I came up with to start:

Pretty simple idea, a Memory/Match game using some of my favorite A Muse stamps! I think all 3 of my kiddos will have fun with this, but I was mostly thinking of my pre-schooler and giving her another activity to do while her big brother and sister are in school during the day. I made a simple Origami box to hold the cards in (thanks to Linda for sharing this box idea with me a few months ago). Here are some similar directions for an Origami box. The version I made is modified a little, since the cardstock is thick, I cut 2 sides before folding them in (I know, not true Origami). To make the bottom, use a square that's 1/4 inch smaller than the lid.

I hope you're having a wonderful week!

Hugs and Blessings,

Stamping with Victoria

2008-08-29T11:56:00.000-07:00

Hello! Happy Friday! Yay!! This week went by fast.

Victoria came over yesterday and we got to stamp and chat again. I love getting together with her, she's so funny and we have a blast together. The funnest part was coming up with a bunch of naughty card ideas!! LOL!! Although we didn't make them yesterday, maybe sometime we will and share!!

We did work on the Stamp of the Week and Weekly challenge for the A*Muse Addicts site this past week.

Here's what I made:

This card qualifies for the Stamp of the Week Challenge (Stack of Books) and the Weekly Challenge (using office supplies on a card.) The pin on the ribbon is actually a T Pin from Staples. I put some clear glaze on the mug and some Spica Glitter pen on the steam and coffee to give it a little something extra too.

This card is also a Stamp of the Week challenge card (Superhero). So, maybe it qualifies for being a naughty card too?? Now you can see where mine and Victoria's head was yesterday??? :D This could be one of two things in my mind, either, Role Playing or A Costume Party gone wild??? Still fun, maybe I'm the only one who thinks it's funny though??? LOL!

And last but not least, I played with Bernice for the first time. She and Boris are quite the pair!! Victoria and I were trying to think of fun sentiments to go with them and we were thinking something like "We have chemistry," or "Instant Chemistry," or "Weird Science," or "She blinded me with science." Too many fun ideas!!! I did the Bouncing Brayer technique on this card, using 2 shades of orange ink, but you can hardly tell on this yellow notecard. I also used clear glaze pen on their glasses and the beaker and test tube.

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!!! Thanks for peaking in on my blog today!!

Hugs and blessings,

Girlie Birthday cards

2008-08-25T11:30:00.000-07:00

Hi! Happy Monday! It's a cool rainy day here and I'm definitely feeling Summer coming to an end. My kids go back to school next week and I'm not sure if I'm happy about that or not. I love the freedom of no schedules!!

I thought I'd share a couple birthday cards I made a week or so ago. My friend has 2 little girls with birthdays only a couple weeks apart, so she has joint birthday parties. I made these for her girls.

All stamps, papers, ribbon, twinkle stickers are from A Muse (other than black and white CS.) Memento Tuxedo black ink, chalk inks, Copic Markers, Marvy oval punches, and Stardust Stickles also used.

Hugs and blessings,

Madeira Challenge

2008-08-20T12:10:00.001-07:00

Jennie's Stamp of the Week challenge on the A Muse Addicts site this week is to either use the new Madeira stamp from the latest A Muse release or the School Bus. I played around a bit last night and came up with a card using the Madeira stamp. Here it is:

This also qualifies for her weekly challenge, Advanced Planning, to make a card for an upcoming occcasion or holiday. With Fall and Thanksgiving around the corner, I was looking to do a Thank You card using Fall colors. I got this Martha Stewart lace border punch last week and have been itching to play with it. I'm lovin it, much more than the other one I have.

Stamps, papers, twinkle sticker and ribbon by A Muse, inks are Palette Hybrid Burnt Umber and SU! Apricot Appeal.

I hope you're enjoying your week!
Hugs!

Happy Birthday Michelle!!

2008-08-18T14:55:00.000-07:00

It's Michelle Clark's birthday today!!!!! (aka: crazystampchick!!) If you're so inclined, pop on over to her blog and wish her a happy day, I know she'd be tickled!!! :D

She loves Vespa Girl, it's her absolute fave, so Geeta, Jennie and I all decided to send her something similar using Vespa Girl or Nadia (the scooter) or the Eiffel Tower and the "have the funnest birthday ever" sentiment so they all tied in together. Geeta came up with the color combo, to use Kitchen Orange and Kitchen Grass Green notecards since Michelle also loves those, well, I couldn't bring myself to put those 2 colors together for this (too 70's-ish for me, although, this turned out 70's-ish anyway), so I chose to tone it down a little with the lighter green Kitchen notecard. I'll admit that I went out and bought Vespa Girl just for this special occasion, cuz I didn't have her!! Life's tough, huh?? :D I love how Michelle covered the scooter with red glitter on this card, so I decided to give it a try too! So fun!

Stamps: all A*muse, (Vespa Girl, Eiffel Tower, Bridge, Funnest Birthday, Mini Oval)
Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics, Going Gray (SU!), Clear Spica Glitter pen
Papers: A*Muse Kitchen Orange and Kitchen Green, white
Accessories: A*Muse red sheer ribbon and Stitched Orange ribbon, Michael's black polka dot, Xmas red Stickles, SU! Keytag punch, dimensionals

I hope you have a wonderful day!! Blessings to you!

Sa-weet 16

2008-08-14T14:58:00.001-07:00

It's my nephew's birthday today! Happy Birthday Peter!! :D (I seriously doubt he reads this blog, but just in case, I needed to shout it out!)

He's a tough one to make a card for cuz I just have a tough time with guy cards in general. He loves many things like skateboarding, reading, drawing, and video games, so I tried to think of something cool I could stamp for him. This is what I came up with:

I love the sweet 16 saying, but since he's a guy, I knew I needed to make it cool somehow or not use it at all cuz it seems too girly. Not sure if teens still say "sa-weet" any more or if I'm just aging myself, but I thought this was pretty fun!

On the inside I stamped the snowboarder stamp by A Muse and added wheels to make it a skateboard. I originally wanted to stamp it on the front of the card along the words (to make it look like he's skating down them) but I thought it might throw it off balance and look too cluttered so I added the arrows punch from SU instead.

The "16" is stamped with the A Muse birthday builder clear set and the "sa-weet" uses the lower-case small polka dot letters clear set from A Muse, (I just filled in the polka dots with a black Staedtler Triplus Fineliner pen so you can't see them). I outlined the punched arrows with a Signo white gel pen to add interest and balance the white from the popped up circle. The notecard base is A Muse and the ribbon is from Michaels.

I hope you're having a fabulous week!

Hugs and Blessings,

SIU Teacher Gifts

2008-08-07T16:45:00.000-07:00

Hey! A couple days ago I posted this month's Step It Up challenge on the A Muse Addicts site. The challenge is to make gifts for our kids' teachers or for that special teacher friend in our life. Very useful challenge, only thing is, I didn't have any samples ready!! Eeekkk!! I promised to work on them this week and post them ASAP and here they are:

I used a variety of A Muse Kitchen Cardstocks to make the gift colorful. The picture frame isn't complete, I need to pick up the Polka Dot Numbers clear set from A Muse so I can stamp the year on the bottom of it. The can has no goodies in it yet, but as soon as I figure out what I want to put in there, I'll fill it up and complete it. I used the Martha Stewart Scallop border punch on most items to keep them looking like a set, along with the little Elzybells emblems and gingham ribbon.

Here's a close up of the clipboard, it says, "you've got CLASS." (I'm so punny, I know!!) :D

I got the idea for this binder clip note/picture holder from the A Muse shop, we have one sitting on the counter with a business card in it, so cute!! They make adorable gifts and they're super easy to make!! (BONUS!!)

Here are a couple close ups of the Elzybells emblems. Just colored in with Copics, matted and added an A Muse clear sticker over the top to finish it off. They're popped up on dimensionals (except the one on the clipboard).

If I finish up the other teacher gifts to complete the set, I'll be sure to post them for you.

Blessings!

Brilliante Award

2008-08-06T12:54:00.000-07:00

Awards are going around for sure!! :D I got nominated by Kim, Jennie and Victoria for the Brilliante Award:

The rules for the "Brilliante Weblog" award are:

The winner can put the logo on his/her blog.

Link to the person you received your award from.

Nominate at least 7 other blogs.

Put links to those blogs on yours.

Leave a message on the blogs of the people you have nominated.

So of course I think the women that nominated me have Brilliante blogs as well, so consider them nominated, and they nominated others that I think are Brilliante so consider them nominated too, but here are my nominees for blogs that I think are Brilliante as well:

1. Lori
2. Lexi
3. Katie
4. Mo
5. Amanda
6. Linda
7. Kim
8. Rachel
9. Stacy
10. Novell

Although I could keep going and nominate many more, I'm gonna stop at 10.

Thanks so much girl for the sweet award! Please stop by and show some love to the Brilliante bloggers I listed above, I know they'll appreciate it!! :D

~Rhonda :D

Crafty Blessings

Update

Treasure

Sea of Love

New Moon

Happy Birthday Jake!

A Muse-Bouche Day 5, Expressions of Gratitude

Amuse-Bouche Day 4

Amuse-Bouche catch up!! :D

Courtney's Bday

Cupcake Inspiration Challenge #25

Fall PJ Party Challenge #4

Fall PJ Party Challenge #3

Fall PJ Party Challenge #2

Fall PJ Party Challenge #1

No Coloring Zone

Team Jacob?

Sparkles and Sunshine

New Twilight stamps

AP Spot Challenge

One More Twilight Card

A-Muse-A-Palooza Twilight Blog Challenge

Has it really been a month??

Summer Release A-Muse-Bouche Day 5

Summer Release A-Muse-Bouche Day 4

Summer Release A-Muse-Bouche Day 3

Summer Release A-Muse-Bouche Day 2

Summer Release A-Muse-Bouche Day 1

Panda

Quick Gifts

Time to Hit the Books day 2

Time to Hit the Books

Zinnias

Newly Hatched

Tooth Pillows

Masculine Birthday Cards

Happy April Fool's Day!!

The *Twilight* Zone

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

A-Muse-a-Coladas

Project Hero Mail

Hello Bear

Where is my head?

Funky iPods

Clean & Simple Challenge #2

New 4-bar notes

Happy Valentine's Day!

Jewelry

Birthday girl

Charming

Saltbox Color Challenge

Hi, Friend

Happy Birthday Honey!

Sneak Peak

I have.....

Sneak Peak!

Jewelry and a Polar Bear

Happy Birthday Victoria!

Merry Christmas!

Winter Wonderland

Nordy's inspired

VMAA - Bonus Challenge

VMAA - Home Alone

VMAA - Scrooged

VMAA - Polar Express

VMAA - A Christmas Story

Not that innocent...

Winter Cards

A Good Thanksgiving

Alpine Hut

Kreativ Blogger Award

Robin's Birthday

Judie's wedding

Skull & bones, Party Time!

White Card Weekly Challenge

Heartfelt Sympathy

Quick cards

C*E*N*S*O*R*E*D!!!

Happy Birthday Linda!

Remember Me?

The Twilight Zone

CENSORE*D!!!