Game On

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

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

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

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!!

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

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

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!