Maybe a Bronze Medal for Stamping

I love watching the Olympics on TV. There was so much broadcast, that it was overwhelming, though. I watched the swimming events each night during the first week. Since I am on the East Coast, some of these events didn't happen until after 10:30 pm, so I busied myself with making Christmas cards. I had a stack of 50 cards and systematically stamped, colored and flocked each night. I haven't finished these yet, so no gold medal for me, but I thought I'd show you the work in progress.



Since I have one boy and three girls, I thought that these two stamps would do the trick. I was inspired by a card that Michelle White had made a long time ago. I couldn't find it, but it featured the A Muse elves representing her four kids. I thought it was a great way to personalize a holiday card.

I still have to stamp the sentiments on the front and inside, as well as add ribbon. Once I have completed one, I'll share it with you. I hope that I will be able to at least have 50 of my cards made by the middle of September. Then I can start to work on another design, specifically for winter.

card info: images and notecards by A Muse, Fun Flock, Spica glitter pen, Copic markers - lipstick red, manganese blue, powder blue, sand, raw silk, pinkish white, baby skin pink, walnut, cream, black.

Tickled Pink

Good morning all! I've had a busy few days, enjoying the last days of summer vacation with my kids and spending lots of time with my visiting sister. I was able to take her to get some supplies for some cards she wants to make for her girls and we had a mini escape, just two sisters together, without interruption. It was absolutely lovely, so thank you, Laura!

The other evening, I ran out to the store and I ran into a friend that went to elementary school with me. The last time I had seen him was almost two years ago, when our daughters had just been born and both were spending time in the hospital NICU. I found out that he and his wife had just had another baby girl. This card is for them. I don't really know why I associate pigs with babies because no one wants to think of their baby as a pig. But I have always loved playing "This Little Piggie" with all of my babies (and still do!), so I think birth as welcoming ten new little piggies into a family.

I will have more to share soon. I have finally taken a photo of something I worked on during late nights watching the Olympics.

card info: image by The Saltbox Studio, notecard and papers, ribbon, twinkle sticker, and sentiment by A Muse, pop dots, Copic markers.

The Final Product *sneak peek*

Here is my completed project: the Halloween mini file folder book. I love how these mini books come together so quickly and that the small size lends itself to the use of stamps. That way I am getting double usage out of a stamp! I'm not going to explain much here about the book, but please feel free to email me with any questions you might have.

And here is one more picture of my oldest two on one of the file pages. Ahhh, those robes bring back lots of memories of sewing fun.

Thinking of You *sneak peek*

I wanted to share a new sneak peek of one of the leaves from the new clear set of leaf images (that, by the way, you will get to see TOMORROW!). I saw a sympathy card by Julie the other day and thought that the leaves would make a nice, all occasion card, too. I also wanted to use some of the new beautiful aqua mist ribbon - it is so soft, sheer and sparkly! I think that aqua and black look very nice together, so I ended up with a bit more of an elegant card than I had expected. Which lead me to using the little pearls on the design, too. I recently found those at Angela's. The design came together so nicely and I am very happy with the outcome. And, it really took hardly any time at all!

Don't forget, tomorrow is RELEASE day!

card info: image, sentiment, notecard, ribbon by A Muse, pearls by Kaiser Crafts, metal tag by Making Memories, pop dots, black cardstock, Copic marker - cool shadow.

A Few Cards to Share

Lately, I have been a little lax on sharing some of my Design Team cards. I've had a whole bunch posted lately on the A Muse site, as well as on The Saltbox Studio site, so I thought I'd post them here, too. Plus, I have a bonus card with some of the new images from The Saltbox Studio.

These sunflowers from The Saltbox Studio are great! I love sunflowers in a garden, but I have not been successful myself; I've always had to cut flowers from my parent's garden.



I added seed beads to the flowers' centers. Here's a close-up:



Here is another card, good for any patriotic occasion or a member of the US military:



And this one was sentiment-inspired. I just thought it was funny and Farmer Hare came to mind: out, standing in his field, looking for carrots. I have another idea to go with this sentiment, just haven't had time to put it together.



This was featured yesterday as one of the inspiring ideas on the A Muse News blog. *Just a tip, for this one. If you try something similar, watch the placement of your sentiment in relation to the pumpkin stack's arm. If you use black for both, it isn't very readable. That is why I used purple for the upper part of the sentiment.*



And, finally, another summer/patriotic card with some of the new images from The Saltbox Studio. I love the bunting stamp, so I created it as a border at the bottom of the card, colored with colored pencils, and cut around the edge. This could be used for a housewarming or welcome to the neighborhood card.




Ok, I shared lots here this morning, but I will have a sneak peek later today, so please check back!!!

Another from the mini book *sneak peek*

Someone emailed me to ask about the file folder book and pages. It has been sitting in a drawer, untouched for a couple of years. Because it is black, I wasn't sure how I would be able to use it, but for Halloween pictures it is great. It is accordion style and has four pockets for four file cards. I can show the whole thing to you on Wednesday, but today, I will show you what a card looks like in the pocket:



And what it looks like when you pull it out of the pocket:



***I used the new kitchen black notecards here to mat the photo. To highlight the picture, I colored in the dots with a yellow marker***

It really is a very simple little project and I wouldn't be at all surprised if there were templates out there for something like this. I just don't have time to poke around, not do I know where it might exist.

I have another sneak peek for you tomorrow, but it won't be from the mini book. It will be more useful year-round. Have a lovely day!

info: all stamps and cardstock by A Muse, mini file folder book by Office Werks, Copic markers - honey, apricot, canary yellow.

A Halloween Mini Book *sneak peek*

When I first laid eyes on the new stamps, I thought about making a Halloween mini file folder book using photos from last year. I had a Harry Potter, a Hermione Granger, a black cat (Mrs Norris!) and a duck. I know, I know, there is no duck character in the Harry Potter series, but it is the costume that fit a one year old, so there you go.

Anyhoo, the new stamps fit perfectly with the theme of my mini book. I took a bunch of things with me on vacation a few weeks ago and put most of the book together while I was gone. However, I can only share one image and one sentiment during sneak peeks, so I today I will share one of the file pages from the book.




My number three was a black cat. When I saw the clear set of stamps by Missy Balance, it gave me the inspiration (read: kick in the pants) I needed to make the book. If you are a fan of Missy's work, you will LOVE this set. I think it fits really well into use with scrapbooking Halloween pictures.

I hope to have more to share tomorrow, so stop by if you can!

info: image, sentiment and papers by A Muse, colored pencils, mini file folder book by Office Werks.

This One is for Linus *sneak peek*

These *new* Halloween stamps have been so much fun to use in designs. When I saw this pumpkin stack, it reminded me of The Great Pumpkin that Linus searches for on Halloween night in the old "Peanuts" TV special. Linus is probably my favorite character because I had (have!) a much loved blanket from birth that I carried around with me, too. So, I decided to make a little scene of Linus' pumpkin patch. I meant to color in the background so that it looked like evening, but I adhered it before I remembered - whoops!

I know (some of) you are just stopping by for the sneak and have other places to check out, so come back tomorrow and I will have something else to share.

card info: notecard, papers, ribbon and images by A Muse, Copic markers - honey, apricot, grass green,sand, Spica glitter pen, black pen.

A Pirate's Life for Me! *sneak peek*

Good morning! I am happy to be sharing some more sneak peeks with you for the newest A Muse release. These stamps are focused on Halloween and fall, but I took this skull and crossbones to make a pirate themed card. I think this would be great for a pirate party invitation. It was fairly easy to make, as long as you can do some freehand drawing for the flag and sail. I popped those up with adhesive foam squares for a little extra dimension. I am quite pleased with this one. Now, if I could just find an excuse to have a pirate party...

Be sure to check out the rest of the A Muse Designers and Instructors for more sneak peeks over the next few days!

card info: notecard, image and sentiment by A Muse, black and white cardstock, twine, pop dots, white embossing powder.

A Little Late to the Peeks...

While I was away, the new images from The Saltbox Studio were released. It took me a while to get around to making some cards with the sets, so I am just now doing it. I like the way primitive images look, and if I can make simple, clean lined designs, it is great! Here, I took the large heart image from the
Summer Banner set and mixed it with the sentiment from the Simplicity set. I added some black lines to the hearts to give it a "stitched" look. If I had a smaller needle, I would have tried actual stitches. I will have some more new cards from The Saltbox Studio in the coming days, as well as sneak peeks from the *new* A Muse release SOON!

card info: images and sentiment by The Saltbox Studio, notecard and paper by A Muse, ribbon by May Arts, Copic marker - lipstick red.

Got Scraps?

I was in need of a thank you to send to a man earlier this week. I wanted to keep it very simple and I wanted to try to use up some scraps. Well, I was inspired by a golf shirt that my husband recently received from my brother-in-law's wonderful wife, Stephanie. It is green with white diagonal lines, so it looks like an argyle pattern.

So, I worked on cutting up some scraps of A Muse Kitchen papers into diamonds. Then I ran these through my Xyron sticker maker and made my argyle pattern on the notecard. The Xyron leaves a little bit of residue that comes off if you rub it enough, but next time I'll probably try using regular adhesive. I think this will be a great way to make up some gender-neutral cards to have at the ready while getting rid of scraps at the same time!

card info: notecard, papers, image and sentiment by A Muse.

And, a BIG thank you to Geeta, who found Linda's post about the Memory game from yesterday. Look here.

Summer Fun

A loooonnnngggg time ago, Linda showcased a great idea on her blog. It was so long ago, that I cannot find it. I need to do a bit more poking around, though, so I might find it! Anyway, the idea was making a Memory game using stamps and the large scallop square punch (she found it on SCS). I thought it was a great little idea. Then, sometime last year, in a moment of desperation, I found myself purchasing a kid's meal from Burger King. The toys were car games featuring Sponge Bob. I am not a fan of his, never seen the show, but the game I got was a stack of playing cards in this little square tin.



Well, I finally got around to making my kids a memory game, which we carried along with us when we went to Massachusetts. My son and I played lots of games and he also managed to play a few games with my father-in-law (who said it was kind of tricky with all the buildings colored similarly). It was so easy to do. I promised my kids that when these cards got a little too grubby or roughed up, we'd make a new set, featuring animals or people. They cannot wait! Here is a look at the final project:

Working on a Skill

This is another card I made while I was out of town. I carried a limited supply of stamping necessities with me, including Copic markers. I want to get better at using the markers for shading purposes. Here, I used two colors on the basket (as I had done before) and then two colors on each piece of fruit (which I hadn't). I had a little bleeding on the fruit, but I am not sure why. Maybe I colored over the same place too much and the color bled out of the lines.

It is hard to get the hang of shading in tiny spots. I also wanted to try the colored pencils with Copic coloring techniques, but I forgot to print out some directions. I have it on my "to do" list, though.

I have a couple of other things to share with you that I did while away. Just have to get a picture and upload, then I'll be ready for some more show and share.

card info: image by The Saltbox Studio, notecard and papers by A Muse, Copic markers - lemon yellow, new leaf, lipstick red, sepia, burnt umber, warm grays no. 2 and 4.

Inspiration in a Bush

Hi everyone! My family is back from our long trip up north. We were able to see lots of family and spend time relaxing and swimming and having fun. I tried to do some reading while we were away, but I also brought along some stamps so I could work on some Copic coloring.
This is a card that I started while we were gone, but I had to finish it at home because I hadn't thought about bringing brads. One day we were playing hide and seek and I hid near a rhododendron bush. While I was waiting for the seeker to find me, I spied a bird's nest on the branches deep inside the bush. I thought I'd recreate that for one of the all purpose cards that I will stamp with a sentiment later when I am ready to use it.

card info: images by The Saltbox Studio, notecard and papers by A Muse, brads by Making Memories, kraft cardstock, pop dots, Copic markers - new leaf, burnt umber, sepia, warm grays no. 2 and 4, frost blue, Tahitian blue.


Also, while I was gone, I got my hair cut. See my new look over there on the right? I had decided a long time ago to grow out my hair to donate. I wanted to donate it to a company that gives wigs to cancer patients. I found Beautiful Lengths in a magazine ad. I would encourage anyone that meets the requirements for hair donation to consider doing this. It really is a simple way to show your support to those who have cancer. I am hoping that I will be able to do this again before I go too grey to donate.