Trip Pix

I realize that some of you may me checking in for something stamped, but I just wanted to share a few photos from my trip to New York this past weekend. You may recall that I took my son-to-be seven year old daughter to see "The Little Mermaid" on Broadway. We had a wonderful time despite the gray, dreary weather.



This is the marquee outside the theatre. The show was at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. It was really an amazing show to see because of the colors and constant movement, as if things were floating under water.



This was a "etched glass" decal that was on the front doors of the theater. I missed it one our way in because the doors were being held open, but my brother, who came along for the fun of it, pointed it out to me. My husband said, "Those folks at Disney don't miss a beat!"



Here is the Empire State Building on Sunday morning. The fog and mist was fairly thick most of the time we were there.



Sunday morning went to Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral, then walked over to Rockefeller Center to find some breakfast.




On Saturday evening, around 6 pm, we were walking back to our hotel and we saw this: a bunch of workmen on top of the Lehman Brothers building, getting ready to take down the sign. It was weird to see this happening, at dusk on a Saturday. The next morning we walked past the building and the letters were gone, as if the company had never existed.

Well, that is it for my trip photos. I promise to be back soon with something stamped for you. PLUS, I have sneak peeks of the newest release from The Saltbox Studio. This one has lots of fall and holiday stuff!

Got Candy?

Over on the A Muse News we are sharing some ideas for Halloween treat containers. I didn't have mine done early enough, but I did manage to make this one. It is an altered Diamond Almonds container. I used the A Muse Fancy Borders clear set to make the patterned paper to wrap around the tin. This is one of my favorite ways to use this clear set. Here's a look-see at my container:



Julie had made a card (look here) with a bottle cap embellishment. It inspired me to pull out one of the three caps I had and use it. I decided that a little bat would be perfect even if his wings extended out a bit. I added some of that beautiful Martha Stewart black glitter to him, too. Here is a look at the bat on the bottle cap:



Tomorrow, my daughter, mother and I are headed to New York to see "The Little Mermaid" on Broadway. It was my daughter's idea for her birthday and we are very excited. I haven't been to see a Broadway show before, but I have actually walked on this same theater's stage long ago. I made myself a little reminder notebook to carry with me, too. A while back, Adelina sent me some white coasters to play with. I finally used two of the ten she sent to me for this. I cut the coasters down to fit over the little rolodex cards I used for the interior pages.



Here is a look at the "don't forget" page for our trip. I am always having to make lists of things to pack when we travel. This will now be my listing space. I like this because it will also serve as a bit of a reminder of trips that we have taken.

Howdy

Hi all! I'm sorry that I've neglected this little blog of mine lately. I've had some stamping assignments that needed attention (you know what that means? *sneak peeks*) and busy with planning a few trips that I will be taking here over the next couple of months. That has left me with little time to stamp for fun.

However, I was in need of some more cards to have on hand to send to my sister. One of the ways I am trying to communicate with her right now is through hand stamped cards. She has always been a fan of crafty things and is one of my biggest cheerleaders in the stamping part of my life. Although she is having trouble reading, I know that someone will read her my notes.

This card was made because I wanted to use the black and white polka dot button. I have no idea how it came to be in my button jar, but I saw it the other day and wanted to use it. I don't know if it really works, mixing patterns and colors like this, but Becky does it so well (and, I bet, so effortlessly) that I decided to give it a go. What do you think? For another look at this piggie, check out this post from Novell. I like her flower sun!

It reminds me a bit of the hog pen my Papaw Lawrence used to keep. Boy, did he have some huge hogs out by his barn! Whenever we went to visit Arkansas I would walk around the farm and out to the shop then over to the barn to look at the pigs. It is such a fond memory for me :)

card info: image by The Saltbox Studio, notecard and yellow cardstock by A Muse, kraft cardstock, patterned paper, button, COPIC markers - lipstick red, warm gray #4, raw silk, blush, cream.

Yo! Ho! Ho! Mateys...

So, today is "Talk Like a Pirate Day" and I thought it would be fun to share a skull and crossbones card today. I struggle with the light ink on black cardstock, so I used embossing powder on the bracket and colored pencil for the image. My gel pen is unreliable, otherwise I would have tried using it. Nothing ruins a card, or your stamping mood, like a big splotch of white gel pen on a spot you don't want.

My little scalawags and I are headed to the library for a fun pirate program this morning and we are looking forward to some fun stories! Have a good tide!

card info: images, sentiments and twinkle stickers by A Muse, black cardstock, white embossing powder, white colored pencil.

Calendar Stand How-To

I received a few emails and comments about the calendar stand that I had made. Last night I put another one together and took pictures that I could share with you.



This is the strip of 4.5" x 12" piece of cardstock that is used for the stand. You will need a piece of 4.5" square cardstock for the cover, too. I measured, then scored, this piece at 4.5", 9", 10.25" and 11.5".



Then I folded along the score lines. All folds were in the same directions except for 10.25" (this one is the base inverted fold).



After it is folded, I lay really sticky adhesive along the smallest scored area (11.5" to 12" strip). Then I fold it up and under to adhere to the facing edge (along the 4.5" side).


Here are the parts ready to assemble.  See the cover?  It is a *sneak peak* of the new A Muse clear sets that come out on the first day of fall!   Now is when I get the Bind It All machine out and get to work.



And here is the final project (you can see the pretty trees better now)!  This works really well for the A Muse calendar that is the square format.  I haven't played with the 4-bar or A2 sizes, but I'm sure all are easy to adapt.  Maybe if I can find some time, I will try it.  If I am successful, I will share, too! Here are a few more of the interior pages.  I used a variety of A Muse and Saltbox Studio stamps.  And I made it really simple, just using my colored pencils to outline each image. And I used a different scalloped line between the month and days. I really love the look of it this way. If you have any questions about this, leave a comment or email, please.

Mini Spooky House

The last few weeks, maybe more, have been crazy. We just said good-bye to three Boston based bachelors who come every September for "Guytown" here. It is fun for my kids and husband, but I'm sure that the guys leave here shaking their heads and hoping never to have four kids!

One of the things my kids wanted to do was to have some decorations for fall when they came. We pulled out a bunch of things and set it all up on the mantle. Their school crafts gave me an idea to make a spooky house from an A Muse notecard. I remembered Michelle White's glitter houses from last year. I had printed out the template she mentioned and got to work on a less glittery house.
** The Memory Makers website was having some problems when I wrote this, so I don't know if the link will work, but here it is: house template. **

I used a 4-bar notecard and lined up the template so that one of the fold lines was on the scored line of the notecard. Here is the front and one side view of the house.



Here is the other side.



For each side, I gently highlighted the edges of the windows/shutters with yellow ink for a bit of a glow. I think my X-acto knife blade needs to be changed because the edges look a bit rough. My kids love it, though and keep playing with it. I might have to make another one :) Oh, yeah, this also is for Heather's Share Your Spark for this week - anything but a card!

all paper and stamps by A Muse, Colorbox chalk ink, Spica glitter pen, COPIC - warm gray no. 2, grass green, apricot.

Thinking About Next Year?

If you read the A Muse News blog regularly, you will have seen the 2009 calendar for purchase today. The specifics are on the blog, but it is important to note that the proceeds got to a charity and if you order before Sept. 21, A Muse will match funds! The calendar is offered in a variety of sizes, including two that fit onto A Muse size notecards.

I thought I'd show you two pages from a calendar that I made. I can't show the cover, yet, because it is a little sneak peek of some new clear stamps!!! Here are two months, though; the current month and December, because it is my favorite month of the year.






All stamps for this project are from A Muse, some clear, some wood-mount. I used my Bind-It All to put it together. The cover/stand is made from a 4.75" x 12" strip of cardstock that I scored and folded. Pretty easy to do and it actually can lay flat.

Be sure to check out all of the wonderful ideas for this calendar, too. Linda provided lots of links to blogs to peruse.

Boo!

Today on the A Muse News blog, my "boo blocks" are being featured. I thought I'd share the other two stamped sides with you. *The tops and bottoms are just covered with patterned paper.*



These were so easy to do. I had some small wooden blocks, cut paper to fit, inked or sanded edges, added stamped images, and glued down. On a couple of the sides, I added glitter. However, I couldn't find my Quickie glue pen, so I used a different one that had a much larger point, so the fine lines came out quite thick. Oh, well. It was still fun to do and now my kids have the itch to decorate for Halloween. I hope to be back soon with another little Halloween decorating item.

Celebrating with a Race

Today my sister and her family are taking part of the Komen Race for the Cure in Boston. She had wanted very much for her girls to see and participate in a breast cancer event, and luckily they found this one. While the race seems to celebrate survivors, my sister is living with cancer. Some would find it hard to celebrate when you are dying from cancer, but my sister has always been a bit of a non-conformist. That is one of the things I love about her, too!
I wish I was there with her to walk or push her wheelchair. My in-laws who live near Boston went to walk with them, though, so my whole family is there is spirit. Since I couldn't be there, I sent her this card the other day, letting her know that I'd be waving a big ol' banner with her name on it.

I hope everyone is having a lovely Sunday, and if you are on the east coast, I hope you are drying out, too!

card info: notecard, paper, image, sentiment, twinkle stickers by A Muse, black cardstock, Copic markers - pinkish white, tender pink, shadow pink,blush, black.

Cards for Boys

If any of you have 7-12 year old boys, you are in tricky card stamping territory. My son is eight and into all kinds of sports and action figure things. Do I have many of those kinds of stamps? No! He had two birthday parties in the last month, too, so I could either buy cards or make cards. Since both of the parties were sports-themed, it made it a bit easier. One party had birthday Olympics, so I thought a card with an award/medal/blue ribbon would be good. Here is what I did:



I even popped the soccer ball a little:




The other birthday party was actually for a set of twin boys. So, then the dilemma was making two cool boy cards. Ugh! Then it came to me. Make one card for both boys using the two soccer kids stamps. I omitted stamping the soccer ball from one stamp and the ponytail from the girl player. And I colored each player to look like one of the twins. Here it is:



I have to say, I am pretty satisfied with this one. While I like the idea of making the twins, I am happiest with the sentiment idea. I will have to make another like this one.

card info: notecards, paper, images, clear sentiment, wood mount sentiment, by A Muse, pop dots, Copic markers, black cardstock.