Silverline Designs

Je T'aime - A CAS-ual Fridays Challenge card...

2011-07-31T23:51:00.000-04:00

I am suffering from withdrawal...I have not made a card for 2 months...hopefully all the stored up creativity can be put to good use now! I have been wanting to make a card for the CAS-ual Fridays challenge since it started...they are now on challenge 13 - oh boy...

This week's challenge is to make a 4" x 9" card...my first time making one of this size!

I cut out the sentiment "Je T'aime" with my Silhouette and distressed the edges with Ranger Distress Ink (vintage photo). I adhered the sentiment to a panel of kraft cardstock (SU), also distressed with the same ink. I cut a piece of lacy ribbon I had in my stash, coloured it a bit with some brown & green copics to dirty it up, tied the end with some linen thread (SU) and adhered it under the sentiment. The kraft panel is mounted to some yummy bermuda Damask Shimmer Couture cardstock from A muse studio.

So happy to have made a card...finally!!

I'm Sew Excited!

2011-06-13T20:00:00.001-04:00

Moxie Fab World's current challenge is "I'm Sew Excited"...using sewing icons on a project. My card uses a needle threaded with baker's twine.

I stamped the needle on a scrap of ivory paper and poked a hole in the eye as well as a hole just above the eye to thread the twine through. I stamped the sentiment then I used teeny dabs of glue to strategically adhere the twine. The right edge is finished with pinking shears. I don't really card for sewing in real life, but threading this needle was fun!

Supplies:

Paper: (orange gingham & watermelon) a muse studio, (pure luxury ivory) GinaK, (basic black) SU

Ink: (noir black) palette hybrid, (tea dye) PTI

Stamps: (quilter's sampler) PTI

Accessories: (tangerine baker's twine) The Twinery, pinking shears, (pop dots) ANM, (corner chomper) WeRMemoryKeepers

Gallery Idol - Season Five...Congratulations...

2011-06-12T11:11:00.000-04:00

I have been storing up creative energy for months...you can see my last post was in May, and that was for cards made back in the winter time!! When Paper Crafts posted the Gallery Idol competition, with a grand prize being a Paper Crafts cruise in November, that was pretty good incentive to get busy! The theme for the first round is Congratulations. I have two entries to share with you today...there is still time (deadline is July 4th), so I may make a few more yet...

I haven't mentioned it here, but I recently decided to sell my Cricut and I bought a Silhouette SD to replace it. What I love about the Silhouette is that I can download designs instantly whenever the mood strikes me (most are 99 cent downloads!) and I can cut out any true-type fonts that I have on my computer - no cartridges! It was Carly that got me started thinking about getting one back when we were on the Splitcoaststampers CAS DT together and she made this card.

I used my Silhouette for both of these - I had the idea for two thumbs up in my head, and wouldn't you know, they had the shape in the Silhouette store...I also cut out the prize ribbon and the w's on it. I am very happy about both of these designs...there are over 200 cards already submitted and that number is sure to increase before the deadline - competition is fierce...wish me luck ;-)

"Good Job" Supplies:

Stamps: (School Days ) a muse studio

Paper: (winter sky) a muse studio, (pure luxury white) GinaK, (basic black) SU

Ink: (noir black) Palette hybrid

Die cuts (hand-2) Silhouette

Accessories: (corner chomper) We R Memory Keepers, (twinkle stickers) a muse studio, (pop dots) ANM

"Wow" Supplies:

Stamps: (congratulations MA) a muse artstamps

Ink: (charcoal) Palette Hybrid, (tea dye, black soot) Ranger Distress

Paper: (pure luxury white) GinaK, (basic black) SU, (buttercup, bermuda shimmer couture, orange shimmer couture) a muse studio

Die Cuts: (ribbon pinwheel, w) Silhouette

Accessories; pop dots (ANM)

Paper Crafts Card Creations 9...

2011-05-07T09:31:00.002-04:00

Did you get your copy yet? I got mine in the mail from Paper Crafts the other day - I am excited that they chose 2 of my projects for this special issue. It is full of amazing and inspiring cards for many occasions - I highly recommend you go out and buy it - you won't be disappointed!

Here is one of my cards that you'll find in this issue - the other one is on page 34.

Hope you have a super day! I am off to the nursery with my mom to buy her flowers for her pots for Mother's Day...

Paper: A muse (winter sky), Stampin Up! (yoyo yellow, real red), XpressIt Blending Cardstock (Copic)

Ink: palette hybrid noir black, Memento Tuxedo Black

Stamps: A muse (cityscape, superhero, super day)

Accessories: copic markers, pop dots (all night media), ribbon (supreme laces), Cricut (doodletype cartridge)

Tuesday Trigger: Crepe Bouquet

2011-04-24T23:02:00.000-04:00

I am getting this one done under the wire...I love the bouquet featured in this week's Tuesday Trigger from Moxie Fab World...any hand-tied bouquet is gorgeous in my books.


Crepe Paper Bouquet from Martha Stewart

I decided to make my own hand-tied bouquet on a card....

Because of the softness of the photo, I chose vellum as my card base. I used a piece of tissue paper I had saved and die cut multiple layers of flowers, crumpling them up and attaching them together with a brad. I ran a ribbon through a few holes on the bottom of a scrap of ivory paper and tucked some green tissue paper underneath for the ties. Edging and rounded corners as well as a flourishy sentiment complete the look.

Enjoy!

Stamps: Spiral Bouquet (PTI)

Paper: chiffon yellow (A muse studio), pure ivory (GinaK), vellum, tissue paper

Ink: peeled paint (Ranger distress)

Accessories: scallop trim border punch (SU), corner chomper (WeRMemory Keepers), Bigz Island Floral die (Sizzix), olive twill ribbon (SU), yellow brad (BasicGrey)

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T15:33:00.000-04:00

Now that the Easter Bunny has visited we could open a chocolate shop...nice to have a few days off even if we have strep throat and a nasty cough in the house...

Enjoy your Easter!

Tuesday Trigger: A Burst of Blooms

2011-04-10T14:09:00.001-04:00

I made a last minute card for this week's Tuesday Trigger in the Moxie Fab World.

I found some really cool trim at a local fabric warehouse a few weeks ago and it is perfect for this challenge. The trim itself is off-white, but easily coloured with copics using some of the colour combos found in the flowers. I stamped the sentiment on a card base with rounded corners, then I grounded a strip of the flower trim with an ivory scalloped base and adhered it to the card base. I love how quick and easy this was to make!

Enjoy your day! Thanks for stopping by...

Supplies:

Paper: watermelon (A muse studio), vintage cream (PTI)

Stamps: Eat Cake (PTI)

Ink: fired brick distress (Ranger)

Accessories: scallop edge punch (SU), corner chomper (WeR Memory Keepers), flower trim (NST), copics

In my Beautiful Balloon...a Moxie Fab Challenge

2011-04-09T21:30:00.002-04:00

Hot air balloons are beautiful...they are everywhere in the crafting world these days, and now that spring is here, I expect we will see some in the horizon from our back deck. I am afraid of heights, and would likely never go up in one, but I love to watch them from the ground!! I am also loving all the great creations that are being made for the latest Moxie Fab World Challenge "In my Beautiful Balloon". Here is my entry:

Here is how the card came together...I hand-drew my balloon and cut it out of kraft cardstock. I then cut out the stripes in different colours. Once they were adhered to the balloon base, I stitched the seams for dimension. All of the edges are sponged with distress ink which gives additional dimension. I had to do all of that twice because my sewing machine ate my first balloon and completely wrecked it. ACK!!! The basket is made from half of the decorative label punch topped with a large scalloped border. The sentiment fit perfectly on the basket - YAY! The balloon is accented by kraft clouds and baker's twine ropes.

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend!

Supplies:

Paper: kraft (SU), vintage cream (PTI), cherry, grass, orange & bermuda shimmer couture, eucalyptus (A muse studio)

Stamps: everyday button bits, polka dot basics (PTI)

Ink: versamark, burnt umber (palette hybrid), walnut stain distress (Ranger)

Accessories: cappucino baker's twine (the Twinery), pop dots (ANM), corner chomper (WeRMemoryKeepers), decorative label punch (SU), cloud trio & jumbo scallop dies (MFT)

Quick card - using what I have...

2011-03-30T22:42:00.001-04:00

I have not bought much lately (stamping supplies or stamps). There has been a lot of talk on Splitcoaststampers about using what you have - a great concept really, considering I could open a small store with my supplies!!

Here is a card made with some of my "older" stash:

Image was stamped in distress ink, spritzed with water, stamped onto watercolour paper and matted with black. I stamped the sentiment then adhered the main image to the card base with pop dots. The birds were "coloured" with liquid pearls.

Fast and Easy...

Magical and Happy...

Hope your day is one of those!!

Supplies:

Stamps: happy forest, magical day (Stamping Bella)

Ink: black soot (Ranger distress)

Paper: ivory pure luxury (GinaK), basic black (SU), aquarello cold pressed watercolour paper (Fabriano)

Accessories: pop dots, ruby red liquid pearls (Ranger)

Blue Gingham & Sparkles

2011-03-29T22:47:00.002-04:00

Today's card is a card just for fun...no challenge associated with it at all! These cards are rare...

I have been drooling over the way JulieHRR uses bling and this card is definitely inspired by her talent with bling placement!

I rounded the corners on my card base and the main image for a softer look. I punched the left edge of the main image then stamped the wild rose image and the sentiment. I added some accents to the rose with glitter pens (red and hot pink). I used tea dye inks to add some distressing and definition to all of the edges on the card and main image. I adhered the main image with dimensionals. Bling was added next as per Julie's card. The scalloped edge at the bottom was an afterthought...the card was missing something and this edge helps to ground the main image as well as adds that magical third red element.

Hope your day has something "just for fun" in it too!

Supplies:

Stamps: Wild Rose (A muse Studio), Have a beautiful day (A muse artstamps)

Ink: noir black (Palette hybrid), warm red, maroon (Colorbox Qs), tea dye (PTI)

Paper: blue gingham, currant (A muse Studio), Pure Luxury Ivory (GinaK)

Accessories: scallop punch, notebook punch (SU), glitter pens (atyou spica), twinkle stickers (A muse studio), pop dots (ANM), corner chomper (WeRMemory Keepers)

Tuesday Trigger: A Citrus Celebration

2011-03-27T14:45:00.000-04:00

This should get you into spring mode! These colours are bright!

The image is this week's Tuesday Trigger in the Moxie Fab World. I don't know if I want to see this image again!! The card has taken me since Friday night to complete! I got the card base, the ribbon and the border all sorted out right away, but the focal image...let's just say, there are a FEW bits and pieces in the garbage and a whole bunch more scraps in my collection!! Eventually, here is what emerged (with more layers than my usual):

What I realized after all the hours spent on this card is that I am more comfortable with lots of white space...too much brightness was hard to figure out.

BUT, I made a layered card with hardly any white on it, AND I like how it turned out.

Thanks, Cath, for another great challenge (literally)!

Supplies:

Stamps: everyday button bits (PTI)

Paper: lime, lemon whip (A muse studio), ivory pure luxury (GinaK), orange (DCWV mat stack)

Ink: noir black (Palette hybrid), lime pastel (Colorbox Qs)

Accessories: striped ribbon (May Arts), 1" circle punch, decorative label punch, scallop edge punch (SU), corner chomper (WeR Memory keepers), black pearl (Kaisercraft), spots & dots embossing folder (Provocraft), YR16 marker (Copic ), pop dots (ANM)

Magazine Monday... on Thursday!

2011-03-24T23:53:00.000-04:00

I am trying out new things these days.

Looking for new challenges, I found a colour inspiration challenge on Paper Crafts Connection. Pretty, huh?

Using pink and purple? Yet another new thing for me!! I had to scrounge pretty hard to find some purple in my stash!

I seem to be using up random bits and pieces lately...the black shimmery label was in my pile of scraps. I embossed the purple paper with dots and sanded it to reveal the white core. I coloured the flower with copics, added some glitter in the middle and then a good amount of black peals (why hoard them??). I stamped a tiny sentiment repeatedly along a strip of white and then added the punched border - the straight edge was too harsh and did not go with the flowery-purply look... More complicated than my usual style, but hey...new things, right?!

Hope you try something new too...

Supplies:

Stamps: marvelous marigolds (A muse studio)

Ink: noir black (Palette hybrid), tuxedo black (Memento)

Paper: pink & purple (DCWV mat stack), onyx shimmer couture (A muse studio), pure luxury white (GinaK)

Accessories: swiss dots embossing folder (Provocraft), kunzite glitter (Martha Stewart), black pearls (Kaisercraft), copics (BV17, V15, V12), dotted scallop punch (SU), black brads (SEI), styled labels die (Tim Holtz Alterations), pop dots (ANM)

Cityscapes are on the rise - Moxie Fab Challenge...

2011-03-23T22:01:00.003-04:00

I love big cities...the hustle and bustle...taking the subway...walking around at night and not being the only ones on the street...the shopping (can't forget that!)...Plans are in the works for a second annual get-away-from-it-all trip to New York City! I could totally live there if I had a few million to buy a place ;-)

So when I came across the Cityscapes Are On the Rise challenge on Moxie Fab World, I had to make a card!

Not much stamping on this one...only the sentiment. I used a bunch of scraps - the herringbone background, the swiss-dotted clouds and the strip of green. I used my cricut to cut out a blue cityscape silhouette. I got some Tim Holtz sentiments in a trade this past year and cut one up a bit to fit on the card. Love using bits and pieces that are laying around. You have no idea how many times I have pulled out those clouds and tried them on a card...finally, they are glued down on one!!

Hope you are living the life you have imagined...

Supplies:

Paper: lemon whip, sage, winter sky (white side), ocean & sugar shimmer couture (A muse studio), white (PTI)

Stamps: Creative Muse (Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous)

Ink: noir black (Palette hybrid)

Accesories: herringbone & swiss dots embossing folders (Provocraft), cityscape die cut (Going Places Cricut cartridge), cloud trio die (Die-manics by MFT), pop dots (All Night Media)

Yikes, a sketch challenge!

2011-03-21T23:25:00.000-04:00

I don't like sketch challenges...but I did one...the Clean and Simple challenge posted on Splitcoaststampers today is based on lisa lara's Congratulations Clothesline card. Here is my version, flipped upside down:

I saw my first robin while hiking in the forest behind my house yesterday! Spring has arrived...can't wait for the sun to shine and dry up all the mud! I am so excited to make a warm weather card for this challenge. I submitted to the last Paper Crafts call (no luck this time) and was making Halloween cards!!

The hummingbird and flower are all stamped in one layer...used a bit of rock and roll on the bird & flower for depth. All the edges are distessed with tea dye ink. I decided to embellish with bella baubles (say that 10 times fast!) because everything on the card was so flat - they add some needed dimension.

Hope you are enjoying the sights, smells and sounds of spring...

Supplies:

Paper: yellow gingham, madeira, red shimmer couture (A muse studio), vintage cream (PTI)

Stamps: birds of a feather (PTI)

Ink: tea dye distress ink (Ranger), always artichoke, ruby red, regal rose, pumpkin pie (SU)

Accessories: pomegranate bella baubles (Stamping Bella), circle nestibilities (Spellbinders), small oval punch (SU)

Tuesday Trigger: Oh so Lovely

2011-03-12T22:04:00.000-05:00

Where has the time gone...middle of March already! I certainly haven't been finding time to make cards lately - that has got to change! There is too much inspiration out there not to make something! This post's inspiration comes right from the motherlode of inspiration - Moxie Fab World's Tuesday Trigger - it's "Oh So Lovely" this week!

I love two things about this photo - the colours and the distressed look of the paint on the chair. You can see both of those elements in my card...

All of the edges are distressed with tea dye ink and then roughened up. I stamped the birdhouse and branch directly on the patterned paper and "hung" the birdhouse by a line of piercing. The twine bow helps anchor the end of the branch at the edge of the paper. The white in the twine was a bit stark so I coloured it with a copic to age it...love doing that! To adhere to the rule of threes, I added the black label for the sentiment. Adding the label helps the eye travel around the card - to the branch, down to the birdhouse and back to the label.

Hoping you find some inspiration around you...

Supplies:

Stamps: Home Tweet Home (Technique Tuesday)

Paper: robin's egg, pink shimmer couture, orange gingham, pretty little paper (A muse)

Ink: noir black (Palette hybrid), tea dye (PTI)

Accessories: scallop punch (SU), pink sorbet twine (The Twinery), E31 (Copic), paper piercer (Making Memories), label (Dymo)

My card is in Paper Crafts Stamp It! Techniques!!!

2011-02-28T12:13:00.001-05:00

I finally have my computer back...it died on me at the worst time ever...glad to have it all fixed!

I wanted to share my first project ever to be published!! It's on page 45 of Paper Crafts Stamp It! Techniques (in the paper piecing section). There are so many amazing cards in this special issue - if you don't have it already, you need it!!

Cardstock: (basic black) Stampin’ Up!, (pure luxury white 120lb) GinaK Designs

Patterned paper: (black gingham) A muse, (offbeat) BasicGrey

Stamps…rubber, foam, clear: (Lamp) A muse, (“Thank you for making us feel right at home” from Boards & Beams set) Papertrey Ink

Ink…dye, pigment, solvent, watermark, chalk: (noir black) Palette hybrid

Accent: (cranberry pretty pearls) A muse

Dies, embossing folders, brass templates: (Lots of Tags Label 1) Sizzix Sizzlits

Tool: (paper piercer) Making Memories, (Design Ruler) Tim Holtz

Other: (pop dots) All Night Media

Instructions

1) Stamp lamps on small piece of white cardstock (approximately 2” x 3”)

2) Stamp lamps again on scraps of patterned paper

3) Cut out lampshades, making sure to cut just inside the stamped line, and adhere to lamp images.

4) Ground the lamps with two pierced lines

5) Mat the main image on black cardstock

6) Adhere main image to card base with pop dots

7) Add strip of patterned paper to bottom of card base

8) Die cut label and stamp sentiment

9) Distress edge of label with fingernail for added dimension and interest

10) Adhere label with double layer of pop dots

11) Embellish lamps with tiny pearls

A muse Studio mystery!!

2011-02-18T18:28:00.000-05:00

Hi!

If you read my blog, you know I love A muse...

There is something brewing right now with A muse - something fun and exciting - big changes! You need to check out this Facebook page and/or these YouTube videos:

If you belong to Facebook make sure you like the A muse Studio page...you could win a box full of thirty nine (39!!!!) yummy pigment ink pads...

Run QUICK!!!!

A Cameo Card...

2011-02-12T23:15:00.000-05:00

I have not made a card for a challenge in ages! The current challenge at Moxie Fab World is "The Appearance of Cameos"..truly a challenge for me as I have no cameo stamps. After checking out Google Images for inspiration, I was happy to see that cameos are not just faces of women...they could be flowers or butterflies or scenes. Here is what I came up with:

Supplies:

Stamps: gossamer wings (A muse), borders & corners oval (PTI)

Paper: latte, red shimmer couture, watermelon (A muse)

Ink: versamark

Accessories: black embossing powder (SU), black superfine detail embossing powder (Ranger), black pearls (Kaisercraft), styled labels die (Tim Holtz), black ribbons (Supreme Laces), Dymo labeller, corner chomper

The butterfly and oval frame are heat embossed for a bit of dimension - I used detail embossing powder for the oval frame and regular embossing powder for the butterfly. The black elements help the eye travel around the card. I kind of like the pink label backed with the red panel - doesn't clash at all!! Hope you like it...make sure you check out the challenge and play along!

Teachers are amazing...

2011-01-19T09:00:00.001-05:00

I am sending this into my "grade one-er"'s (as he calls himself) teacher because she is clearly amazing...

We had his 7th birthday party this past weekend at our house- 2 parents to 12 boys (ages 5-8) - it was an intense 2 hours. Their energy was unbelievable - it's a wonder the only "injury" was one bloody nose! And this was not even all the boys in his class - imagine a class full!! I am still in a state of shock from the party - I don't think I'll ever forget it!!

Instructions:

1) stamp 3 pencils, colour with copics and cut out

2) cut 3 thin strips of cardstock in the same colour as the pencils

3) adhere pencils & thin strips to white cardstock of main panel

4) stamp sentiment

5) mat main panel in black

6) adhere orange patterned paper to bottom ¾ of card base

7) adhere twill ribbon where orange paper and card base meet

8) adhere main panel over top

9) adhere punched star

Supplies:

Paper: GinaK (Pure Luxury White), BasicGrey (lime rickey), A muse (cobalt blue, shimmery orange, chiffon green), Stampin’Up! (basic black), Copic (XpressIt blending cardstock)

Ink: Palette hybrid (noir black), Memento (tuxedo black)

Stamps: A muse (pencil, for a special teacher)

Accessories: Star punch (Stampin’Up!), copics, green twill ribbon (unknown source), pop dots (all night media), Corner Chomper

Time for fun...a party card...

2011-01-15T23:19:00.000-05:00

I have a "reject" from a magazine call that I thought I'd share tonight...

This card was a lot of fun to make...colouring with my copics, masking the cactus and lots of glitter! It's hard to see, but the sombrero is pretty glittered up and there is a red-glitter-dotted-border on the black mat. This card is in honour of the busy month of January with 2 birthdays in the family and a trip to Florida coming up quickly :-)

Supplies:

Paper: Pure Luxury White (GinaK), XpressIt Blending Cardstock (Copic), basic black (Stampin' Up!)

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Palette hybrid noir black

Stamps: A muse (cactus, sombrero, time for fun)

Accessories: MS glitter (carnelian), pop dots (All Night Media), Copic markers, Ranger liquid pearls (ruby red), Eclipse masking tape

'Twas the Night before Christmas...

2010-12-24T23:35:00.001-05:00

...But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!"

My Last Minute Christmas Card...

2010-12-18T22:23:00.000-05:00

I seem to do everything at the last minute...I have very little time to plan ahead because I am always doing something at the last minute that needs to be done NOW, leaving no time for planning. Sigh...

Nevertheless, I have been stealing bits and pieces of time here and there to plan bits and pieces of this year's Christmas cards in my head...this card is all of those fragments put together. There is an interesting thread on Splitcoaststampers discussing whether stampers just "wing it" or plan out their cards ahead of time...neat to see how everyone creates!! I like to and usually do create spontaneously but when I have taken the time to gather all the elements ahead of time and map out my card, less wasted cardstock and supplies is the result!

This card also fits with the latest A muse Lounge Challenge "Sparkling Season" - to make a card that sparkles...

So without further ado, here is my planned-out-ahead-of-time sparkling card:

Here is how it went together:

I traced the hill on a scrap piece of white cardstock and cut it out
I placed the white hill on the card base in order to properly position the sentiment and the snowman
Using my Stampamajig, I stamped the sentiment first and the snowman second (I pulled the white hill out of the way in order to stamp the snowman completely on the card base)
Next, I put the hill back on the base, lined up the snowman image on the acetate from the Stampamajig over the snowman on the card base, slid a post it under the hill (to avoid stamping over the card base) and restamped the (lower part of the) snowman on the hill.
Next, I ran the card base through the swiss dots folder on my cuttlebug and sanded the dots to make the white core appear on the cardstock - snow!!
Then, I adhered the hill to the base, lining up the snowman
Then, I stamped the snowman a third time on a scrap of white, coloured him with copics and cut him out (leaving off his arms and the snowballs)
I adhered the cut out snowman over the snowman on the hill.
I coloured the snowballs on the card base with white gel pen
Lastly, I used crystal effects on the edge of the hill and on the snowballs and sprinkled on glitter (I used Diamond Dust which is soooo sparkly because it is actually tiny pieces of glass - sharp if you get a sliver!!)

Hope you enjoy the holidays...thanks for stopping by today!!

Supplies:

Paper: A muse (winter sky), PTI (white)

Ink: Palette hybrid noir

Stamps: A muse (juggling snowman, enjoy the wonders)

Accessories: Crystal effects (SU), Diamond Dust (twinklets), copics, pop dots, cuttlebug, swiss dots folder, sanding block

My A muse Teeny Tiny Calendar Book...

2010-11-26T10:00:00.012-05:00

I love buying the A muse calendar every year...this year there are so many sizes available and there is always a good cause involved. The proceeds this year are going towards Charley's Fund.


Charley

My calendar this year is an adorable teeny tiny mini book. It measures 2 1/2" square. Other years, I have used the 4" square calendar and made 6x6 scrapbook pages either put into page protectors and tied together with a ribbon or bound with my Bind-it-all.

But this one...it's so cute I could just about eat it ;-)

Here is how I made it:

1) Cut 12 pieces of patterned paper measuring 2 1/2” by 5”

2) Score and fold the first piece at the halfway mark lengthwise with the pattern facing inwards. Repeat with the remaining 11 pieces

3) Open up the first piece

4) With patterned side of the first piece now facing you, adhere the reverse side of the bottom half of the first piece to the reverse side of the top half of a second piece of patterned paper (see picture below)

5) Fold the first piece back in half with the pattern facing in – you now should see the patterned side of the second piece opened up

6) Repeat steps 4 and 5 with the remaining pieces of patterned paper

7) To make a cover for your mini book, cut 2 pieces of paper 2 1/2” x 3”, scoring vertically along the long side at 1/2”

8) Adhere the 2 1/2” square portion of each piece to the front and back of the mini book (to the reverse sides of the first and last pieces of patterned paper)

9) Finally, adhere the 1/2” portions together at the top of your book to cover up the folds of patterned paper

10) Print out mini calendar and cut each month to be 1 3/4" square

11) Cut 12 2” square pieces of paper and mat each month

12) Adhere matted months to inside of each mini book page

13) Punch out year and adhere to front of mini book

14) Decorate and embellish as desired

I hope my instructions were somewhat clear! Thanks for checking out my little project!

Enjoy your day...

Supplies:

Paper: A muse (gingham, eucalyptus), GinaK Pure Luxury white

Ink: none!
Stamps: none!
Accessories: SU curly label punch, A muse mini calendar

CASEing CriminalGrace...

2010-11-25T10:11:00.000-05:00

Supplies:

Paper: A muse (gingham, robin's egg, eucalyptus, shimmery white)
Stamps: A muse (Holiday combo)
Ink: Versamagic Turquoise Gem
Accessories: MS snowflake punch & drippy goo punches, pop dots, SU silver glass glitter, a muse twinkle stickers

The Featured Stamper on SCS this week is CriminalGrace. Her card designs are always clever & inspiring, plus she loves A muse stamps! I made a card based on her Trio of Tulips...switched up the season and changed the colour scheme but kept the great layout.

I recently ordered some of the glass glitter from SU after using it at stamp camp...this stuff is heaven - glitter that actually only goes where the glue is and is really easy to clean up after! I can use it and not be a sparkling glittery mess afterwards!! I "cheated" and used the MS drippy goo punch instead of the more winter-appropriate icicle punch. Covered in glitter, I think they look close enough to icicles!!

Make sure you check out Sarah's wonderful gallery...and have a great day!

Organizing Copics & Ribbon...

2010-11-23T00:17:00.001-05:00

I have acquired a new piece of furniture for my stamping area! I got a gorgeous old (solid wood and super heavy!!) office mailbox with letter-sized slots for free!! It's clean and ready be painted darker to match the office. In order to fit it on the wall, I have to move just about everything in the office around! The ball has started rolling big-time and I have started some major sorting and organizing. So much fun!!

Today, I thought I'd show you two of my recent organizing projects.

COPICS

I received some Copic Sketch markers for my birthday - love how they have the number on the end of the lids. Most of my Copics are Ciaos which don't have the number on the lid. Luckily, I discovered Karli's free download here and now my markers look like this:

They are stored in a sage green enamel bin from A muse...they are soooo pretty, right?!

RIBBON

I was keeping my spools of ribbon in the plastic ribbon holders from SU. I found they didn't stack very nicely, it was hard to take the spools in and out and they took up a lot of room on my shelf. I found this system from Best Craft Organizers and I have been working on winding up all my spools into tidy little rolls. Some of my bigger spools have had to be wound into several small rolls...I have kept one roll for use and taped down the ends of the extra rolls. I keep all the extras in a separate dispenser in the back of one of the storage trays. I used my label maker to put the brands/colours of all the ribbons on the bottom of each dispenser. Here is a space comparison of a big spool vs. the tiny little roll:

Here is a stack of empty spools and all the ribbon rolled up and in the dispenser:

The space difference is amazing and I love how my ribbon is all sorted by colour and pattern!! Once I get everything done, I promise I'll take a pile of pictures and post them...

Pobody's Nerfect...

2010-11-20T11:01:00.000-05:00

...and that includes me with my horrible handwriting!! That is the challenge this month in the A muse Lounge - "Dashes, Dots & Doodles" -to include something handwritten on your card. Sigh...

While he was working, my dad had a piece of art in his office above his desk that my mom made (with buttons glued onto cork - very 70s!!). It featured several owls on a branch with one upside down and the saying "Pobody's Nerfect". I just received a small shipment from A muse which included this owl stamp - I had to buy it because it brought back memories of visits to my dad's office...

This card is a re-creation of that kitschy piece of art featuring my own handwriting (which I think is a complete eyesore on this card)...I wish A muse had had a stamp for this, then I could have hand-drawn the "branch" for the owls instead...

Hope you enjoy this one and have a great weekend!!

Supplies:

Stamps: A muse (skinny owl)

Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa

Paper: A muse (latte, shimmery brown)

Accessories: copics, pop dots, SU curly label punch, SU markers

What a Lineup...

2010-11-15T22:00:00.002-05:00

I was in the mood of colouring so I stamped a lineup of A muse characters and went to town with my copics. I quite like the Xpress It blending cardstock from Copic. I matted the main image with yellow to make it stand out, grounded the lineup with some ribbon and mounted it on the blue base. I stamped the sentiment and punched it out in an arrow shape.

It could be fun to make different lineups...not only people - animals, food, vehicles (a traffic jam)....

Supplies:

Stamps: A muse (scarecrow, policeman, robot kid, superhero, hello)

Ink: memento tuxedo black

Paper: A muse (cobalt blue), Copic (xpress it blending cardstock), SU (summer sun)

Accessories: ribbon (May arts), SU arrow punch, pop dots, copics

VSN - fun on Cloud Nine

2010-11-15T00:04:00.001-05:00

This past weekend was the main virtual stamping night on Splitcoaststampers...this time the theme was "On Cloud Nine". I was lucky enough to get to host the first challenge of the day on Saturday. My challenge was called "Not a cloud in the sky"...to make a card with lots of white space. There were lots of great cards made - feel free to check out the gallery for my challenge! The great news is there is still time to play in any of the challenges...the deadline is Monday, November 15th at 10pm EST.

Here is the card I made:

This would be great for scraps in any colour combo you choose...I used a 1" square punch, fussy cut the sentiment and adhered it over the squres with pop dots. To finish, I pierced a border around the card.

Supplies:

Stamps: A muse
Paper: A muse, SU very vanilla
Ink: Memento rich cocoa
Accessories: paper piercer, pop dots, 1" square punch
I hope you can find the time to make a card for my challenge...I get to choose a winner when it's all said and done...it could be you!

A muse Lounge PJ Party...

2010-11-06T00:46:00.000-04:00

I am covered in glitter and my stamping stuff is everywhere, but I had fun playing along with the four challenges in the Lounge!

Jennie's Challenge: "Pirates of the Caribbean" - make a card for a kid

Stamps: A muse (airplane)

Ink: Memento black

Paper: A muse & SU real red

Accessories: sanding block, unknown ribbon, a muse twinkle stickers

Glenda's challenge: "Breakfast at Tiffany's" - inspired by the movie poster

Stamps: A muse (cityscape)

Ink: palette hybrid noir

Paper: A muse, GinaK pure luxury white, SU basic black

Accessories: corner chomper, pop dots, SU watercolour wonder crayons

Katie's Challenge: "Dirty Dancing" - use light & dark pink, black and kraft

Stamps: A muse

Ink: Memento black

Paper: A muse, SU kraft

Accessories: Sizzix hearts & brackets die, SU circle punch, black pearls (kaiserkraft)

Geeta's challenge: "Some Kind of Wonderful" - use glitter

Stamps: A muse

Ink: palette hybrid noir

Paper: A muse

Accessories: MS glitter, MS cupcake punch, Xyron X

Phew...bedtime!!

Sweater Weather - Madeira Hello

2010-10-31T23:48:00.000-04:00

The current Tuesday Trigger "Sweater Weather"- a sweater from Anthropologie

(one of my favourite stores...)

This card uses the colours, the buttons and the subtle pattern found in the sweater. The sweater is also quite symmetrical looking - 4 buttons, 2 pockets, lines on the collar...

I stamped the madeira pattern in versamark, but it didn't stand out as much as I liked once I tried putting the buttons on, so I used some pastels in brown (popping pastels technique) to make the pattern a bit darker. I saved one of the curly labels for the sentiment. I use this layout a lot - I love symmetry! Hope you like it too...

Stamps: A muse (madeira, hello)
Ink: palette hybrid burnt umber, versamark
Paper: SU (kraft, summer sun, chocolate chip)
Accessories: SU pastels, SEI buttons, SU linen thread, SU curly label punch, corner chomper

A sympathy card...

2010-10-31T23:30:00.001-04:00

This is the type of card that no one ever wants to make...this week's CAS challenge on SCS is to make one. I got a recent shipment of Copic's new XpressIt blending cardstock and cut into it for this card. It coloured well although I notice some tiny white/light spots (?fibres?) in the paper that did not take the grey ink. Hmmm...will have to play a bit more. It does add some interest and texture to the dove! I added some silver glitter on the dove using my silver spica pen. The image was matted in black, then mellow moss and popped up. I added the sentiment and 3 pearls for a simple design. Hope you like it!

Supplies:

Paper: GinaK pure luxury white, SU basic black & mellow moss, Copic Xpress It blending cardstock
Ink: Memento black
Stamps: A muse (peace & cheer set, in my thoughts)
Accessories: copics, pop dots, black pearls (kaiserkraft)

Gingham Greetings

2010-10-25T00:17:00.001-04:00

I stayed up late to stalk CAS90 on Splitcoast because next week's evenings are all so busy my head is spinning already! How fun that this week's challenge is to use gingham and checks on a card. I am a huge fan of A muse's gingham paper, in fact I have just ordered my second multipack - I have been using, not hoarding it!!

For the card, I stamped the bird image directly onto the gingham paper. This paper handled colouring with copics fairly well, even with reds. I think it's kind of neat how you can see the gingham pattern (and it doesn't really even look blue) a bit through the colours. I stamped the sentiment on blue gingham as well. Both images were matted in black, although the sentiment got a thicker mat.

One of the reasons I did this was to help the sentiment stand out as it's relatively small. The three pearls under the sentiment also help with this. The second reason is to draw the eye to the bottom right of the card. Once your eye is there, the circlular shape of the sentiment makes you look around the whole card again. (Actually, I pretty much winged the design and figured all of this out after the fact!!)

Hope you like it...go grab your gingham and checks and make a card for the challenge!

Supplies:

Ink: palette hybrid noir
Paper: A muse (latte, gingham), SU (basic black)
Stamps: A muse (peace & cheer set)
Accessories: copics, black pearls (kaisercraft), pop dots, SU 1" and 1 1/4" circle punches

Fall Leaves Part Two...

2010-10-20T22:47:00.001-04:00

I am badly behind on my CAS challenges. I made this card for CAS88 "Crinkle". It also works for "Fall Favorites", the latest A muse Lounge Challenge. For the crinkle part, you have a die cut red oak leaf that crinkles underfoot in the forest made extra crinkley by running it through the cuttlebug for some texture. Easy & a great use for scraps of pretty dp! I cut out the other leaves from this die using other scraps in bright autumn colours - they will make a pretty card set once I can get them stuck on a card base!

Hope your fall is happy so far!

Supplies:

Paper: Basic Grey (offbeat), GinaK pure luxury white)
Ink: palette hybrid burnt umber
Stamps: A muse (big thanks)
Accessories: Sizzix Die (Leaves #2), A muse (cranberry pearls)

Fall Leaves...

2010-10-20T22:35:00.001-04:00

This card is for the latest A muse Lounge Challenge, "Fall Favorites". Fall is the best time of year as far as I'm concerned...we have had gorgeous weather so far and the leaves have been stunning. For this card, I used the Maple Leaf solid stamp from A muse with three different Ranger Distress Inks, spritzed the stamp with water and stamped onto watercolour paper. I cut out the leaves and popped them up for dimension on a neutral background. The strip of chocolate chip behind them helps draw the eye and grounds the leaves nicely. My sewing machine was feeling neglected, so I stitched a border around my card. I need a sympathy card for the wife of an older gentleman I met in London while in university...this will be fitting for her. Thanks for stopping by - hope you can squeak in a card for the challenge before the month is up!

Supplies:

Paper: SU (kraft, chocolate chip), watercolour paper
Ink: Ranger distress ink (peeled paint, fired brick , tea dye), palette hybrid burnt umber
Stamps: A muse (maple leaf solid, in my thoughts)
Accessories: sewing machine, pop dots

Clean and Simple Sketch Time...

2010-10-18T23:58:00.001-04:00

Whew...October has been just as busy as September...where has the month gone? I finally got to make a card for the Clean and Simple Challenge on Splitcoast. This week, we are using kstamper's card as a sketch to go by. I just love all the white space in her design! I felt like colouring with my copics tonight...that took the most time. Once that was done, I added the pierced border, a few baubles and the sentiment (on half of SU's curly label punch).

By the way, if you want a good deal on Copics, check out this new (Canadian) website - www.onecrazystamper.com - Copic Sketch markers are $4.95 each!!

Supplies

Stamps: A muse (carolers, falala)
Ink: Palette hybrid noir
Paper: GinaK Pure luxury white
Accessories: Copics, MM paper piercer, Bella Baubles, SU curly label punch

Granny Square Inspired...

2010-09-26T16:19:00.002-04:00

This week's Tuesday Trigger, "Not Your Square Granny Squares", is a nostalgia-invoking afghan made of Granny Squares...

I've looked at it several times this past week and finally got down to making a card last night for the challenge.

I printed out a free hexagon template from Cia's Palette - a full page of medium-sized hexagons. I overlaid three of them on a piece of kraft cardstock and pierced an outline of them. I punched circles out of a scrap of orange that I had previously run through my Swiss dots embossing folder, added a punched star and a dew drop to the middle of each "granny square". I cut the hexagons out, distressed the edges and used them as a border. Could easily work for a masculine card! Hope you are having a great weekend!

Supplies:

Paper: A muse (eucalyptus), SU (pumpkin pie, kraft, chocolate chip)

Ink: palette hybrid burnt umber

Stamps: A muse (thank you MA)

Accessories: SU punches(word window, 1 1/4" circle, small star), bella bauble (pickle), cuttlebug embossing folder (swiss dots), MM paper piercer, corner chomper

I dusted off my Prismacolours & Gamsol...

2010-09-25T18:15:00.000-04:00

I decided to keep the previous card I posted for my niece's shower to use for the wedding and made a new card. The reason? The card didn't end up matching the gift wrap. Silly, huh?! I needed a brightly coloured card to go with the brightly coloured drinking glasses that I wrapped in brightly coloured tissue paper. I have been meaning to pull out my Prismacolour pencils and gamsol for a while now and this seemed like the perfect opportunity. I still love colouring with them, and on GinaK's pure luxury cardstock, the blending is amazingly easy and smooth! I used a scrap piece of faux suede punched with a scalloped edge along the top and actually tied a bow...I rarely do bows! The piercing along the bottom of the dresses makes a unique shadow. Hope you like it...

Supplies:

Paper: GinaK pure luxury white

Ink: Palette hybrid noir

Stamps: A muse (simple dress, congratulations MA)

Accessories: ribbon (may arts), SU dotted scallop punch, MM paper piercer, prismacolour pencils, gamsol

XOXO...

2010-09-19T23:53:00.001-04:00

My niece is engaged and getting married soon...her shower is coming up this weekend. This card is for her and fits CAS85 (the latest clean and simple challenge on SCS). The challenge is to use kraft, red, brown and vanilla with optional orange. I opted out of orange this time!

I stamped the Xs and Os 3 times to make a background for the beaded hearts. In order to ensure perfection, I drew a fine pencil line with my Tim Holtz ruler and then used my stampamajig to line up the bottom of the Xs on the pencil line. I distressed this panel with tea dye inks because I cannot resist distressing every card I make (plus, it also keeps the vanilla layer from being too stark looking).

I ran some scrap pieces of stix 2 anything adhesive sheets through my cuttlebug to cut out the hearts. The dies cut through this stuff easily. Once I stuck the hearts to my vanilla layer, I peeled off the top adhesive layer and rolled them first in the bigger beads, then the microbeads to fill in the gaps. You need to press down hard to make sure the beads stick well or you get a mess! Hopefully the photo captures some of the shine and dimension of the hearts - they are so pretty!

Thanks for stopping by - hope you have a great week!

Stamps: A muse (congratulations MA, XOXO bl)
Paper: SU (kraft), A muse (shimmer couture brown), PTI (rustic white)
Ink: Palette hybrid (burnt umber & moulin rouge), PTI tea dye
Accessories: beads & micro beads (dollarama), Stix 2 anything sheets, Sizzix Hearts & brackets die

Not wishing for snow or anything...

2010-09-16T19:39:00.001-04:00

I made a Hallowe'en card recently, so why not a winter one!! This is my third card for the A muse Lounge sketch challenge. This time, I used Krystie's perfectly CAS card and flipped her layout upside down and backwards. My idea was to make a monochromatic winter card with a vintage feel...

This was a quick card to make because there is no colouring! I love these fun winter images from A muse, especially the boy trying to catch a snowflake. I punched out parts of the image and aged them with tea dye inks. Then, I overlaid them with the red punched panel(popped up for dimension). Add some dp and a sentiment and done! Might alter this idea slightly for my holiday cards this year!

Supplies:

Stamps: A muse (enjoy the wonders MA, innertubing, winter boy, catch a snowflake)

Ink: palette hybrid moulin rouge, PTI tea dye inks

Paper: GinaK (pure luxury white), A muse (red shimmer couture, red vintage)

Accessories: SU 1 1/4" circle punch, corner chomper, pop dots

One card, two challenges...

2010-09-13T00:41:00.000-04:00

This card is for the latest A muse Lounge challenge - a sketch challenge (this one is Lexi's) as well as for the weekly CAS challenge on Splitcoaststampers - an inspiration challenge based on this. To make my own birthday wreath, I grabbed all my A muse tiny birthday stamps so that I could colour them in brights like the photo. Then I took my circle nesties and used them to trace 3 different sized circles. Using my stampamajig for perfect placement, I stamped the images around the circles. The main circle is quite a bit bigger than in the sketch and I switched the image/sentiment around, but I think it still works. Hope you like it!

Supplies:

Stamps: A muse (tiny hat, tiny gift, tiny cake, happy birthday bold)

Ink: Palette hybrid noir

Paper: GinaK pure luxury white, SU basic black, A muse chiffon green

Accessories: Stampamajig, paper piercer, pop dots, copics, circle nestibilities

Boris, peeking in...

2010-09-03T23:02:00.001-04:00

Have you seen the A muse Lounge lately? It's already decorated for Halloween!! So for the latest challenge in the Lounge, a sketch challenge, I decided to make a Halloween card based on Julie's sketch here. I set out to make a scene with the spooky ingredients stamped on the windowsill of the classic window. I paper pieced the ingredients in different colours for some pop and cut them out individually. The scene begged for something else - so I cut out the window and added a bit of Boris peeking in at his concoctions. To ground the scene, I ran some vellum through my cuttlebug with the spiderweb folder. I like it, hope you do too!!

Supplies:

Paper: A muse (watermelon, chiffon green, robin's egg blue), vellum, GinaK pure luxury white
Ink: palette hybrid noir
Stamps: A muse (Boris, Ingredients, Classic Window, Hocus Pocus)
Accessories: copics, pop dots, SU word window punch, cuttlebug,spiderweb folder

Delicious...

2010-09-01T23:47:00.001-04:00

That is the theme for this week's CAS challenge on SCS. I haven't been able to make a card for this challenge in ages, so I am super excited to play along this week! For this card, I started by staring at my A muse stamps. I saw the strawberry stamp, but decided it might be too lonely on the page. I spied the caterpillar stamp, but he didn't quite fit the way I wanted him to on the strawberry. I decided he might like to be stamped along with a delicious leaf, however...and the sentiment was a no-brainer.

Leaf frond was rock and rolled in two ink colours for dimension and the caterpillar was paper pieced onto the stem. I love when an idea works out on paper the way it is in your head...

Supplies:

Stamps: A muse (caterpillar, delicious day, leaf frond II)
Ink: palette hybrid noir, SU (certainly celery & garden green)
Paper: GinaK pure luxury white, A muse orange gingham
Accessories: ribbon (May Arts), pop dots, corner chomper

Summer celebrations...

2010-08-31T21:50:00.001-04:00

Birthday card supplies:

Stamps: A muse (marigold solid, leaf frond, happy everything)

Ink: palette hybrid burnt umber, PTI tea dye, SU (cameo coral & mellow moss)

Paper: A muse (watermelon), SU (very vanilla)

Accessories: liquid pearls, Tim Holtz styled labels die, pop dots, corner chomper

Our family got together this past weekend to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries and an engagement (!) from the summer months. Our city had Ribfest going on at the park - we devoured 10 full racks of ribs drowning in sauce in addition to salads, veggies and my husband's baked beans...yum!! I managed to squeak out a few cards for the occasions at the last minute...

You may notice a few things I cannot stop using on my cards lately - the corner chomper and liquid pearls. Both of these cards feature dotted borders...love the look!

Anniversary card supplies:

Stamps: A muse (kissing couple, congratulations)

Ink: Palette hybrid noir

Paper: A muse brown kitchen notecard & blush pink, SU (very vanilla)

Accessories: A muse twinkle heart, pop dots, liquid pearls, copics, corner chomper

Great use for scraps...

2010-08-14T21:06:00.001-04:00

I made this card after coming home from dinner at the Mandarin and loving the multicoloured scallop design on their cheap paper placemats. I grabbed some scrap pieces of A muse dp for my scallops (I keep them in a folder in in my filing cabinet in front of my full sheets, and always check that folder before I slice into a fresh sheet!). I punched out 3 different sizes of circles, glued them together and cut them in half. I think they made neat waves for Moby to splash in. because the biggest circle was similar in colour to my card base, I added some piercing for contrast. Whew - another card for "Stick to the Pattern", the latest A muse Lounge challenge. Hope you like it!! I have one more card that fits this challenge...stay tuned!

Supplies:

Paper: A muse, Gina K

Ink: Palette hybrid noir

Stamps: A muse

Accessories: SU circle punches, paper piercer, copics, pop dots

Gingham & Roses...

2010-08-12T23:18:00.001-04:00

...and polka dots...perfect for the latest A muse Lounge challenge "Stick to the Pattern".

This card features my new label die from Tim Holtz and some yummy patterned paper & stamps from A muse. I don't know what I would do without my stampamajig - it was perfect for figuring out where to put everything on the label! The leaves and the rose are rock & rolled for added dimension. I debated quite a while about what patterned paper to use for my card base...I almost put the label on a more monochromatic green madeira paper, but in the end, went for the pop of red kitchen paper. Hope you like it!

Supplies:

Stamps: A muse (wild rose, wild rose branch, many thanks fl)

Ink: SU (old olive, certainly celery, cameo coral & rose red), PTI tea dye, palette hybrid noir

Paper: A muse (red kitchen, yellow gingham)

Accessories: Tim Holtz styled label die, pop dots, corner chomper

Inspired...

2010-08-08T22:44:00.001-04:00

After having the honour of being the Featured Stamper on SCS all of last week, I decided to play in the challenge this week. vdutchr has a great gallery full of bright colours and great layouts. I cased her Pretty Butterfly card, keeping the same colour scheme as well using two pearls as embellishments. I changed the layout and stamps. The gorgeous Oak Leaf Flourish stamp is rock n rolled for a bit of dimension. This is truly a 5 minute card...definitely mass-produceable - it may very well be my Christmas card layout...We'll see in November when I start my cards (love the last minute!!)

Supplies:

Stamps: A muse

Paper: A muse, SU real red & very vanilla

Ink: Palette hybrid burnt umber & moulin rouge, PTI tea dyes

Accessories: A muse pearls, pop dots

News...Challenge cards...I'm back!

2010-08-02T23:35:00.001-04:00

The month of July was so busy but ended with a great vacation...I am so relaxed and so sure I'd rather not go back to work tomorrow!

On our way back from camping, I checked my email on my phone in the truck and saw a message from Beth (MyPrecious on SCS) letting me know I am the Featured Stamper this week. WOW!! How exciting! There are so many gorgeous cards inspired by cards in my gallery - check them out here...I'd love it if you played along too!

I really haven't made a card for a month now...but all the nice comments from everyone gave me a shot of inspiration and made it easy to get started again! This card is for two challenges...the Clean and Simple challenge on SCS {polka dots} and the latest A muse Lounge Challenge {Stick to the Pattern}.

Supplies:

Paper: A muse (wheat)

Stamps: A muse (coffee break)

Ink: SU (ruby red, pumpkin pie), palette hybrid burnt umber, PTI tea dye

Accessories: ricrac, sewing machine, pop dots, twine

I made my own patterned paper using the coffee cups (which are so conveniently polka dotted) and the spoon image. I saw a fabulous window display at my favourite bakery driving home tonight - a line-up of old red and orange colanders on a shelf - so rustic/vintage...now you know why my card is all aged, distressed and stitched! I used a neat trick I learned from my copic certification class on the ricrac - it was originally red & white - I coloured over it with a light brown marker to age it too - love it even better that way! Loved the frayed ends too...

Glad to be getting inky fingers again...thanks for visiting!

Vacation...

2010-07-22T23:28:00.000-04:00

Things have been quiet here lately, huh? Here are some photos to give you an idea of what I've been up to - I haven't stamped anything in quite some time. We are headed for one more week of camping and after that we'll be back home for the rest of the summer. I'll be making and therefore posting more cards when we get back. Hope you are having a wonderful summer!!

The Last Minute...

2010-06-28T00:39:00.001-04:00

I have been wanting to try a Moxie Fab Challenge for a while. I got this card done for the current challenge, "I Want to Ride My Bicycle Challenge in the Moxie Fab World" on the last day!

Supplies:

Paper: A muse (eucalyptus & green madeira), PTI white, SU real red
Stamps: PTI (everyday button bits), A muse (tiny bird)
Ink: Palette hybrid moulin rouge, new canvas & noir
Accessories: frosted buttons (unknown source), hemp twine (dollar store), pop dots, SU 3/4" circle punch, MS grass punch, white prismacolour pencil, atyou Spica glitter pen (red)

I stamped the bike in white ink on Eucalyptus, one of Amuse's gorgeous new papers and coloured it in with a white pencil crayon. I chose frosted buttons to go with the white bike and threaded them with a teeny bit of twine so that they weren't naked. The bike was grounded with grass. I perched the tiny bird on the seat for a hit of colour...it was stamped in red and coloured over with red glitter pen, then cut out and popped up a bit. I have fat fingers, so this was one seriously challenging fussy cut!! I framed the scene in white and popped it up on the eucalyptus base. I love how the sentiment turned out...the "Enjoy" circle echoes the bike tires and provides a second hit of red. Once this was all assembled, I added a teeny corner of red to the bike scene to make a third spot of red...

I am in love with that red Tiny Bird!!

Clean, Simple & Colourful...

2010-06-28T00:19:00.001-04:00

This week's CAS challenge on SCS is a colour challenge - bashful blue, certainly celery & orange. I used Joan's new technique and stamped the Marigold onto orange cardstock then blended in different shades with my copics. I fussy cut the Marigold, glued it to a blue layer and fussy cut that again to make a shadow. I stamped leaves on my base, rounded & distressed the edges and added the sentiment. To finish the flower off, I coloured the shaded parts with a glitter pen and added the pearl in the centre. These were fun colours for a card...hope you can make something with them too!!

Supplies:

Paper: SU very vanilla, pumpkin pie, bashful blue
Ink: SU certainly celery, Palette hybrid burnt umber, PTI tea dye
Stamps: A muse (marigold, leaf frond, leaf frond II, hello)
Accessories: atyou Spica glitter pen, A muse pearl, pop dots, copics, corner chomper

Smile...

2010-06-23T23:27:00.001-04:00

I made this card a few weeks ago and am finally posting it now...I love the little camera in A muse's vintage clear set! I stamped it in 3 different colours, fussy cut them, and spent the better part of 20 minutes threading them onto linen thread. Other than all that fussiness, it really is a simple card! I tucked the thread in between the yellow and black layer and popped the whole thing up on a vanilla base. Hope it makes you smile!

Supplies:

Paper: SU very vanilla, basic black, barely banana

Ink: Palette hybrid noir, SU (real red, glorious green & taken with teal)

Stamps: A muse

Accessories: SU linen thread, pop dots

A Sketch...

2010-06-21T00:34:00.001-04:00

This week's CAS challenge on SCS is a sketch challenge inspired by Fionna51's gorgeous umbrella card. This is a card after my own heart...white base, 4/25" square AND piercing!

It seems like all the pregnant girls at work are having girls lately, so I grabbed some scraps (great sketch for scraps!!) in girly colours to make a baby card. I tried to make it a bit shabby chic, so the edges are all distressed and inked.

Supplies

Paper: PTI white, A muse patterned papers

Ink: Palette hybrid burnt umber, PTI tea dye, Colorbox Q's

Stamps: A muse

Accessories: pop dots, paper piercer, SU scallop edge punch

I played around with a larger piece of paper for the focal image, but decided to make it smaller to fit with the baby theme. I added the sentiment on the top left for a change...it seems like I always put in bottom right. I added a scalloped edge on the right for interest. I had to pierce, of course, to finish it off. Thanks for stopping by...hope you can play along with the challenge...

Not my style...

2010-06-18T22:21:00.000-04:00

I don't do vintage...too fussy and froofy (is that a word?) for me. So when my Mom commissioned me to make a card for a Diamond Anniversary AND provided me with the stamp and the supplies she absolutely had to have on the card, I knew I had a challenge on my hands. I had one very pretty Hampton Arts stamp called "Walking down the aisle" and some dollar store bling to use. I had orders to make the card "sparkle like a diamond". Oh boy!

Supplies:

Paper: Stamping Bella

Stamps: Hampton Arts

Ink: Palette hybrid noir, PTI tea dye (chai & chamomile)

Accessories: copics, MS glitter, SU 2 way glue pen, foil embossed stickers from the dollar store, pop dots, paper piercer

I stamped the bridal couple, coloured some key areas with my copics, glittered the veil, flowers and boutonniere and fussy cut the image. Everything was edged with tea dye ink. I added some strategic shiny flourishes and the "forever" sticker which I cut in two so it fit better on the layout. I finished the card off with some piercing along the bottom in the empty space. The card measures 5"x6". CAS meets vintage??? What do you think?

One Layer with a Flourish...

2010-06-17T23:55:00.000-04:00

I've made my One Layer Wednesday card (on Thursday!)...I was making some thank you cards with Moby, the whale stamp from A muse, and piercing the spout on top of his head when I suddenly remembered Susan's challenge for the week to use a flourish on a OLC. I pulled out one of my first stamps sets, a flourish set from Autumn Leaves, and found the perfect-although-kind-of-large flourish for Moby.

Supplies:

Paper: Stamping Bella

Ink: palette hybrid noir

Stamps: A muse (moby, thanks), Autumn Leaves, PTI (piece of cake)

Accessories: A muse twinkle stickers, paper piercer, copics, corner chomper

I coloured Moby with copics and added some bling to his spout. Because the left side of the card seemed kind of empty, and because Moby looked like he was flying in the air rather than floating in water, I added a few lines of piercing to ground him in a very subtle way. I think it works!

Father's Day/Teacher Thank You Gift Card Holder Tutorial

2010-06-16T23:01:00.001-04:00

I, as per my usual habits, left making teacher's thank you gifts to the last minute again this year. Thankfully, the latest issue of Family Fun magazine arrived in the mail and a craft project in it inspired me! I adapted it from the Kraft Dinner box used in the magazine to one made from cardstock and I have a tutorial to show you how I did it. The great part about it is that it works for a teacher or for a dad!

Step One

Step Two

Step Three

Step Four

Step Five


Step Six

Supplies:

Stamps: A muse (school time)

Ink: Palette hybrid noir

Paper: SU (pumpkin pie, basic grey, summer sun), A muse (lined paper)

Accessories: SU large star punch, MS apple punch, pop dots

You can decorate the tape measure as you wish. I used stamps from A muse's School Time clear set - perfect for this project as it includes the ruler and the sentiment "You Rule". I added a bit of grey cs at the end of my tape measure so it looks like a real one.

Hope you like this project...it's quick if you're in a hurry to get something done - half an hour tops now that the measuring is all figured out for you!

A "wow" day & a CAS card...

2010-06-13T23:41:00.001-04:00

I spent the day colouring today...

I attended the Copic Certification course in T.O. with Sherrie Siemens. Let's just say I was doing it all wrong and now I am more in awe of copics than I was when I didn't really know what I was doing with them. The scary thing is that I am now looking at my 144 Ciaos knowing that I definitely don't have enough (gasp) colours!!! To sum the day up, all I can say is "wow"...and if you own copics, you should take the course if you get the chance.

I stalked the CAS DT girls on SCS tonight knowing that tomorrow night will be busy and I wouldn't get a chance to make a card for the challenge. I am pretty sure that the theme is "Things that Fly". I grabbed one of my fave A muse stamps, Rocket, for this one.

Supplies:

Paper: A muse, PTI

Ink: Palette hybrid noir

Stamps: A muse

Accessories: copics, pop dots, SU ribbon, MFT cloud trio die, paper piercer

I cut out two sets of the clouds and positioned them on the blue base, trimming the ends that hung over the edge. I pierced around 3 of the clouds to help them stand out just a bit more and to help the eye travel around the card. I coloured and cut out the rocket. The stamp has some fire coming from underneath the rocket but I had to cut the flames off as they are pretty thin lines that aren't attached to the rocket at all. In place of the flames, I coloured some cream organdy ribbon with a copic then cut the ribbon into 3 parts leaving it intact at one end. I taped this end underneath the rocket. Last of all, I added the sentiment to the bottom cloud. I like it...hope you do too! Don't forget to try out the challenge!

Wild Roses & Twinkles...

2010-06-11T22:30:00.000-04:00

Here is a card I made using some new stamps from A muse...the lovely wild rose & wild rose branch.

Supplies:

Paper: A muse

Ink: Palette hybrid noir

Stamps: A muse

Accessories: SU curly label punch, A muse twinkle stickers, pop dots

I stamped the wild rose branch on the base after stamping it off first once on scrap paper. I stamped the wild rose on various colours of A muse cardstock (aren't the colours pretty?), punched them out and popped them up overtop the branch. I linked the three images together using tiny twinkle stickers. The sentiment fit perfectly on the bottom of the card with three more twinkle stickers below. I love love love how this turned out...hope you like it too!!

More One Layer Cards...

2010-06-08T23:13:00.000-04:00

Are you sick of them yet??? I am not! This month's A muse Lounge Challenge is called "Taking off some Layers" Isn't Jennie so clever with words?! I have been making OLCs like crazy and have 3 to show you!

This first one is so simple, but I had to hug myself after thinking of the idea. I was playing around with the new Vintage set from A muse and was using the sentiment "You make me smile" for another card. Being a clear stamp, you can bend it...and it goes perfectly into the shape of a smile! I tried various ideas for the eyes, the most scary looking being A muse's Sun stamp...it was the face of someone possessed!! In the end, I settled for blue buttons - more friendly!! I pierced a circle using a nestie as a circle template. Love those nesties!!

Supplies:

Paper: SU very vanilla

Stamps: A muse

Ink: palette hybrid noir

Accessories: SEI buttons, circle nestibility, SU linen thread, paper piercer, corner chomper

The second and third cards use the same layout and some of the newly released stamps from A muse - gorgeous, eh? Pretty self explanatory to make...

Supplies:

Paper: A muse (wheat)

Ink: Palette hybrid moulin rouge, charcoal & noir

Stamps: A muse (Marigold, gossamer wings, many thanks)

Accessories: Making Memories brad, paper piercer

Supplies:

Paper: A muse

Ink: SU (cool caribbean, not quite navy, certainly celery, always artichoke)

Stamps: A muse (wild rose branch, hello, gossamer wings)

Accessories: none!

Technique: rock & roll

Hope you enjoy my trio of OLCs...tomorrow is Susan's One Layer Wednesday...why stop making these???

Two roads...

2010-06-08T22:45:00.000-04:00

I love the poems of Robert Frost...and so I had to buy Lisa Strahl's stamp set "Motivational Centers" from Cornish Heritage Farms. This week's CAS challenge on SCS was to make a greeting the focal point of your card. I used part of Robert Frost's "The road not taken" as my focal point.

The rest of the card is kind of understated to allow more focus on the verse. I used A muse's new cardstock colour "wheat" for my base - it's an addictive colour!! I added a touch of gingham dp for the scene to give a bit of colour pop. I tried highlighting some of the words in the verse with colour, but I didn't like the look of it, so I changed it back to plain (ie: dragged out the stamp set and did it all over again!!)

I plan on posting a series of One Layer Cards later on so stay tuned!

Supplies:

Paper: A muse (wheat, gingham)

Ink: palette hybrid burnt umber

Stamps: A muse (birch trees, sun), Cornish Heritage Farms (Motivational Centers)

Accessories: Martha Stewart grass punch, pop dots, SU 1/2" circle punch

One Layer Time...

2010-06-03T14:05:00.000-04:00

One Layer Challenges are all over this month! Susan's One Layer Wednesday Challenge is to use repetition and A muse just posted their monthly challenge in the Lounge called "Taking off some layers"

As a result, I have a series of OLCs that I will be posting over the next week or so...I can't stop making them! Here is my card for Susan's challenge. I apologize for the slightly out of focus picture, I think the madeira paper in the background was messing up my camera somehow!!

Supplies:

Paper: A muse
Ink: Palette hybrid noir
Stamps: A muse (ladybird, hello)
Accessories: copics, black ribbon (unknown source), paper piercer, corner chomper

A muse has a wonderful selection of tiny stamps - this ladybug is one of my growing collection of these. I absolutely love the font of this sentiment...I have been using this stamp over and over since I got it - you may recognize it from last week's challenge! I think the font matches perfectly with the ladybugs' antennae this time...

I used a circle nestibility die to trace the circle, used my SAMJ to align the ladybugs around the inside of the circle, added my sentiment in the middle and pierced around the outer edge of the circle. I added the ribbon/bow and chomped off a few corners to soften the card. Hope you can find some time and some little stamps to join in on the challenge!!

To all the Heroes...

2010-05-30T22:25:00.000-04:00

Thank you for all you do and have done...this card is for you.

Everyday when I drive to and from work, I pass a house with a big yellow ribbon tied around the biggest tree in their yard. Ever since I knew about the theme for this week's CAS challenge on SCS, "Heroes", I knew I wanted to make a card with a yellow ribbon on it.

Supplies:

Paper: SU (going grey, very vanilla)
Stamps: A muse (thanks)
Ink: palette hybrid noir
Accessories: SU ribbon, A muse twinkle stickers, pop dots, corner chomper, black copic marker

This is the last card for my stint on the CAS design team...the selection process is in full swing for the summer term. I have thoroughly enjoyed doing this...CAS is right up my alley!!

The card is pretty self explanatory...I attached the ribbon with glue dots, stamped and fussy-cut the sentiment (don't you love it's size?!), popped it up and chomped the corners off. I added the twinkle stickers (coloured black with copics) as an afterthought because the card was missing something. Thanks for stopping by...hope you can play along!

Overlapped...

2010-05-29T23:59:00.000-04:00

I'm a bit slow getting Susan's (LateBlossom) One Layer Wednesday card done...here it is in all its overlapped glory:

Supplies:

Paper: A muse notecard
Ink: Palette hybrid noir & charcoal, SU soft sky & cool caribbean
Stamps: A muse (big bl, jellyfish, hello)
Accessories: copics

Amazingly enough, I did not feel compelled to add any glitter, bling or any other dimension to the card. WOW. I chose to pair the jellyfish and the hello sentiment because I thought the tentacles were similar to the hello font. I stamped the jellyfish in charcoal ink and the sentiment in noir so that it would stand out from the tentacles. I added big bl in the background to ground the image (stamped off once to be more subtle). Done. I may mass produce these or some variation for my son's teacher. Need to get working on that....4 teachers to make card sets for...

Hope your weekend is enjoyable...maybe you'll have time to try Susan's challenge!

Summer Time...

2010-05-23T16:30:00.000-04:00

As this post goes up, I am in the Big Apple for a long weekend getaway with my hubby! I will have to post some pics when I get back...

This week's CAS challenge on SCS has to do with summer. The weather here lately has been so warm and sunny, perfect inspiration for this card:

Supplies:

Paper: SU(barely banana, kraft, summer sun), PTI white, A muse (gingham)
Ink: Palette hybrid burnt umber
Stamps: A muse
Accessories: copics, cricut (going places cartridge), MFT large scallop die, SU chunky glitter, pop dots, SU word window punch, corner chomper

I started this card out with the sandcastle stamp. I made a sandy border with a strip of kraft that I ran through the xyron and glittered. I made the waves with my new MFT scallop die (LOVE it!!). I added the sunny coloured background and a sparkly sunshine. The sun was cut out using my cricut. I had to fiddle with the sentiment to get it to fit into the word window punch...it's actually longer than the punch shape. I won't try to describe this myself as GinaK has already made a lovely tutorial with pictures about how to make a long word window punch shape. This card certainly isn't my usual CAS style, but I like it!! There's still some white space, right??!! Have a great day...hope you can play along in the challenge!

Three Latte Thanks...

2010-05-17T23:41:00.000-04:00

I can't stop buying A muse stamps...I got a wee shipment in the mail from tamijo on SCS - the clear coffee break set. Had to ink it up tonight...perfect for a friend who just returned from Cuba and brought me back a gorgeous little espresso cup. Also perfect for this month's A muse Lounge Challenge, "2, 4, 6, 8, Who Do We Appreciate?"

Here is what I made:

Supplies:

Paper: SU (kraft, cranberry crisp, very vanilla)
Ink: palette hybrid burnt umber, PTI tea dye (chai & chamomile)
Stamps: A muse (coffee break & ovals)
Accessories: copics, pop dots, SU curly label punch, paper piercer, SAMJ,

I stamped three coffee mugs and coloured them with my copics. I masked them and used one of my oval stamps to ground them. I was going to punch them out with a circle punch, but my hubby thought I should use the "funky square" punch instead. Good idea!! I couldn't resist a little distressing around the edges with the tea dye inks (I'm likin' this shabby thing...)

I stamped the sentiment repeatedly along the bottom third of the card. Thank goodness for my Tim Holtz ruler - amazingly easy to line up images so they are straight. I added a strip of red under the "funky squares" because they seemed too stark white compared to the rest of the card. Then I used the ruler again to pierce lines above and below the sentiment & the images. Hope you like it!!

Shabby Chic...

2010-05-16T22:36:00.001-04:00

I have never ever made a shabby chic style card in my life! It was fun to try it out for this week's CAS challenge on SCS. I really put my PTI tea dye ink to work on this one...

Supplies:

Paper: SU vanilla, blush blossom
Ink: PTI tea dye (chamomile & chai), Palette hybrid burnt umber
Stamps: A muse (congratulations)
Accessories: EK success dotted scallop punch, sizzix tag dye, flower (Stamping Bella), Pearl (K & Co), Ribbon (SU), pop dots

I punched a piece of very vanilla with the dotted scallop punch, then scrunched up the paper until I could peel it into two pieces (faux suede technique). I layed down some sticky strip and attached the faux suede pieces in a ruffle shape. I highlighted the ruffles with the tea dye ink. The ribbon was tied to hide the edge of the ruffle. I just love this label die shape and it seemed perfect for a shabby chic card. The font on this sentiment also seemed shabby chic-ish. I finished the card off with a gorgeous flower embellishment that I have been hoarding. Everything on this card got distressed both on the edges (I just used my fingernail) and with the tea dye ink. Hope you like it...and hope you can play along this week!

A second choice card...

2010-05-13T23:20:00.000-04:00

I am posting a card that I made for CAS60 on SCS - a sketch based on my fellow-DT member Carly's card. I ended up using another card for that challenge but I still like this one...

Supplies:
Paper: SU (barely banana, sage shadow, basic grey, very vanilla)
Stamps: a muse (it's your day, simple wishes), PTI (Green Thumb)
Ink: Palette hybrid charcoal
Accessories: liquid pearls, pop dots, circle nestibilities, MS scallop punch, ribbon (SU)

I stamped 3 baskets on the circles and embellished the flower centres with liquid pearls. I added the scalloped edge and ribbon to ground the circles. The thing that took the longest was placing the flowers. I played around with that for 1/2 an hour!!

I have a few other cards like this that didn't end up being my first choice for the challenges that I will try to post over the next few weeks. Thanks for stopping by!

A day for Umbrellas...

2010-05-12T15:32:00.000-04:00

Susan's One Layer Challenge this week is to use ribbon. She said only one piece of ribbon; I said "these ribbons are so skinny, I need to use 3 of them"!! It's a rainy, miserable day today, so umbrellas were the perfect stamp to reach for for this card.

Supplies:
Paper: PTI white
Ink: Palette hybrid noir
Stamps: A muse
Accessories: ribbon (May Arts), MM paper piercer, copics

I stamped the umbrellas using my SAMJ, grounded them with 3 ribbons, added some piercing and a sentiment. For the sake of simplicity, I resisted the urge to add some raindrops. Hope you like it...and hope you try out Susan's latest challenge.

From a sketch...

2010-05-09T22:15:00.000-04:00

Kelly made this lovely card which is the sketch inspiration for the 66th CAS challenge on SCS. I also had this month's A muse Lounge Challenge in mind when I made my card.

Stamps: A muse (backpack, school time)
Ink: Palette hybrid noir & moulin rouge
Paper: A muse (school lined cardstock), SU (very vanilla)
Accessories: copics, pop dots, corner chomper

I stamped the backpacks repeatedly on a strip of paper, then coloured them with my copics in bright primary colours. The alphabet line from A muse's School Time clear set made a perfect border underneath the main image. I hand cut a heart because I did not have a punch or a die in the exact shape/size appropriate for this card (GASP!!). I stamped the sentiment from the same clear set and sponged the edges of the heart in red. I decided to chomp off the corners of my card at the last minute as I seemed to fit with the roundness of the heart.

Hope you like it! It is just about time for teachers' thank you cards...hope you feel inspired to join these challenges and make some of your own!

Note of Thanks...

2010-05-07T23:19:00.001-04:00

The latest A muse Lounge challenge is "2, 4, 6, 8 who do we appreciate?"
I swear, Jennie is one of the most creative challenge hostesses on the planet! This was perfectly timed as I needed to make a thank you card and gift for my son's music teacher. He's been going to this wonderful group music lesson since he was 2. Monday is his last day as he is starting kindergarten and can't go anymore, 'cause the class is during the day. Anyways, onto what I made!

I actually started out my making the notecard set. I absolutely love A muse's 4 bar notecards...they make it easy to create a quick set of cards! I got these pink ones by winning one of the Lounge challenges...

I pierced a line across the bottom of the card, perched the song bird on the line, added the sentiment below, the music notes and coloured the bird with sparkly at you spica glitter pens (turquoise and purple). I boxed them up and added a pretty ribbon to match. Pretty quick gift!

Supplies:
Paper: A muse notecards
Ink: palette hybrid burnt umber
Stamps:A muse (song bird, just a note), PTI (birds of a feather)
Accessories: Atyou spica glitter pens, paper piercer, ribbon (Michael's)

When I made the card, I used the same concept of the bird on the line. I stamped off big bl once then stamped it on a scrap, cut around it and distressed the edge a bit with my nail. I matted it in some woodgrain paper. The rectangle was looking kind of bare, so I stamped the clouds in the top left, then paper pieced them with white to make them look more real. I like how the one hangs over the edge! That wasn't planned to begin with...

Supplies: Paper: PTI white, A muse (woodgrain)
Ink: palette hybrid burnt umber, SU (soft sky, bashful blue)
Stamps: A muse (clouds, song bird, just a note, big bl), PTI (birds of a feather)
Accessories: pop dots, paper piercer

Thanks for coming by...be sure to head over to the Lounge and play in the challenge, there are prizes to be had!!!

Punctuation...

2010-05-06T21:31:00.001-04:00

LateBlossom has started to post One Layer Card Challenges on Wednesday! What is a Clean and Simple gal to do but play along!! This week it's all about punctuation. Susan posted some pretty gorgeous and clever samples...here is my card:

Stamps: SU (supersize symbols), A muse (thank you for everything)
Ink: Versamagic (aquatic splash, ocean depth)
Paper: SU (Kraft)
Accessories: SAMJ, liquid pearls, glimmer mist

Can you guess which symbol I used? I pulled out a never-inked SU set, Supersize Symbols for this one and used the quotation marks to make a border. They were stamped along a line and then stamped upside down again to make the pattern. I added some liquid pearls at the point where the quotation marks joined each other to cover up the slightly inconsistent spacing between them (what would I do without my Stampamajig???). I added the sentiment on top and spritzed the whole card with Tattered angels glimmer mist. I overdid it a bit with the mist and the card dried pretty wonky. It was pretty wonky still after a night under a big book...

Oh well...it was a super fun challenge...I look forward to more of Susan's challenges! Thanks for stopping by.

Birthday time...

2010-04-25T22:20:00.000-04:00

Jen, aka Miss Boo, the Splitcoaststampers CAS challenge hostess is celebrating her 40th birthday, and this card is for her...

Supplies:

Paper: SU (very vanilla), BG (offbeat), A muse (shimmer pink)
Ink: none!!
Stamps: none!!
Accessories: Cricut & Paper Doll Dress Up cartridge, A muse twinkle stickers, copics, dymo labeler, pop dots, rub on tape from daisy d's

In her honour, this week's challenge is to make a birthday card using the colour orange, her favourite. I started out with a totally different design, but it ended up too masculine. I will have to show you that one another day!

For this card, I pulled out my Cricut and used the crown image from the Paper Doll Dress Up cartridge as my focal point. In keeping with my mission to use up supplies I have been hoarding, I pulled out a rub on tape runner from daisy d's that had a funky black pattern to use as an accent. It was really easy to use and lined up well along a ruler for a straight line. I found the orange paper in my stack of basic grey 6x6 pads. I LOVE them. This one is from the offbeat collection. I finished the card of with a sentiment made with my dymo labeler and my A muse twinkle stickers which are appearing on EVERY card I make lately! Hope you like it. Make sure you wish Jen a Happy Birthday by making a card for this challenge!!

Late at Night Cards...

2010-04-22T21:00:00.000-04:00

My best creating is done near midnight...all of my neighbours must think I am crazy. Ours is the last house on our court with lights on all the time. I even had one neighbour ask me if one of the kids was afraid of the dark - he saw our light on really late all the time!

Here are two cards made late at night this week...

My first late night idea was to make a tic tac toe game using some of the cute critters from A muse. I was going to draw in the lines, but then decided to sew them on... and I wanted the snail to win...he's cuter! I figured this would make a great congratulations card for someone, so added the sentiment. I originally thought this could be a one layer card, but I had to pop up the sentiment for it to work. I think that takes it out of the running for a OLC...

Supplies:
Stamps: A muse (snail, song bird, congratulations SD)
Ink: Palette Hybrid noir
Paper: PTI white
Accessories: sewing machine, copics, atyou spica glitter pen (black), pop dots, sakura microperm 03 black pen

My second late night card was inspired by my youngest who has been busy "barbecueing" lately. He spends hours pretending to cook up yummies for all of us! I paper pieced the BBQ with red shimmer paper so it is quite sparkly IRL. I coloured the BBQ tools, handles and little round feet with glitter pens for added sparkle. The black gingham paper made a great base...can't get enough gingham lately!!

Supplies:
Stamps: A muse (BBQ, what's cookin', grass)
Ink: Palette hybrid noir, SU old olive
Paper: A muse (gingham, red shimmer), SU (basic black), PTI white
Accessories: atyou spica glitter pens, pop dots, red twill ribbon

Hope you like them! Thanks for stopping by...

Leftovers...

2010-04-20T20:51:00.000-04:00

After the A muse Lounge PJ party the other night, I had a few scraps and pieces laying around on my desk. I grabbed a few of them and put them together on this card:

Supplies:
Paper; A muse (black kitchen notecard, pink gingham, black gingham)
Ink: Palette hybrid noir, SU so saffron
Stamps: A muse
Accessories: pop dots, SU scallop punch, Heidi Swapp edge distresser

Because the pieces were right there ready to go, this card came together in less than 5 minutes!! The only extra thing I might have done is colour the ladybugs...hmmm...I'd hate to ruin a simple card with one too many additions though!! Thanks for stopping by...

Ribbit...Ribbit...Ribbit...

2010-04-18T22:00:00.000-04:00

It's time for the CAS challenge over on Splitcoastampers...this time it's a sketch challenge - based on a card I made awhile back!! I am so excited to see what everyone makes using the sketch...it's pretty simple, as you can see:

I decided that if I had to remake it, it needed to be as different as possible from my original, otherwise, where's the challenge, right? So, instead of lots of white space, I made a card with lots of black space!!

I spent the most time trying to figure out what 3 things to use on this card. I was going to make 3 people using my Cricut Paper Dolls cartridge, but do you realize how many little pieces you need to cut out to make just one person? Definitely not simple!! I did notice that there are little extras that go with each person on the cartridge and there was this adorable little frog that jumped out at me (ha!) from the instruction manual. He goes with the witch on the cartridge. I cut three of them out of A muse's green gingham.

For my black layer, I pulled out some A muse shimmer paper, knowing that it has a white core...perfect for distressing. I wanted this card to be rough and distressed..the anti-gingham apples! The black layer was scored at the bottom, sanded and edge-distressed, then glued onto a kraft base. I inked the edges of the frogs and popped them up all jumpy on the black layer. I added a strip of my much loved but retired SU soft sky for the sentiment, again distressed and pierced.

I thought I was done. I stared at my card. It needed something. I added some tiny bling for the frog's eyes. Still not perfect. I coloured the bling black with a copic marker. Still not perfect. It seemed like some colour was needed...I splurged and added an entire strip of tiny red pearls. between the score lines. DONE!!!

Supplies:
Stamps: A muse (splendiferous day)
Ink: Palette hybrid noir, PTI chai & chamomile vintage touch
Paper: SU (kraft, soft sky), A muse (black shimmer, green gingham)
Accessories: A muse twinkle stickers & pearls, pop dots, copics, paper piercer, SAMJ, scor-pal, sanding block, Heidi Swapp edge distresser, Cricut (paper dolls cartridge)

It is certainly not as simple as the first one...and I'm not sure I can say it's "clean" with all the distressing I did, but the design is still clean, right?! Thanks for stopping by...please go and create something...I want to see what you do to my Gingham Apples!!

A muse Pajama Party...

2010-04-17T23:54:00.000-04:00

Tonight there was some mad stampin' going on for the A muse Lounge PJ party! There were four challenges with a 1/2 hour to make a card for each one. Here are my four:

Challenge #1: Inspired by these cupcakes

Stamps: a muse
Paper: SU very vanilla, A muse (scraps of madeira, gingham and vintage
Ink: Palette Hybrid Noir, SU so saffron
Accessories: SU 3/4" circle punch & curly label punch, a muse twinkle stickers, pop dots

Challenge #2: Repetition

Stamps: A muse (Open Palm Tree, Thanks a bunch)
Paper: SU Kraft
Ink: Palette hybrid burnt umber
Accessories: copics, Eclipse masking tape, SAMJ, a muse twinkle stickers

Challenge #3: Your favourite flower

Stamps: A muse (flower bouquet, frirends blossom)
Ink: Palette hybrid burnt umber, PTI chai & chamomile vintage ink
Paper: A muse (pink gingham, green madeira), SU (blush blossom & certainly celery)
Accessories: SU scallop punch, pop dots, SU twill ribbon

Challenge #4: Mother's Day

Stamps: A muse
Paper: PTI white, A muse (orange shimmer)
Ink: ColourBox Chalk ink (warm red, dark peony), Palette hybrid noir
Accessories: SAMJ, A muse twinkle stickers (hearts)

Thanks for stopping by...do visit the A muse Lounge and see the all creativity that happened in 2 hours!!!

Ode to Cameo Coral...

2010-04-11T22:24:00.000-04:00

I made another card for A muse Lounge's latest challenge, "Cut it Out".

My oldest has been asking for a bird lately. I would love to have one (we had a budgie when we were little & he was so cute & friendly), but they are soooo messy and there is no practical place to put one in our house. We have been visiting the birds at the pet store instead!

I have been playing a bit lately with the scalloped line stamp. I stamped it, cut it out and popped it up. I punched a hole in it and looped a few jump rings together to hang the birdcage from. A few strategically placed twinkle stickers finished it off nicely. Thanks for visiting!!

Here is what I used:

Stamps: A muse (birdcage, tiny bird, scalloped line, swinging day)
Paper: SU (cameo coral), PTI white
Ink: palette hybrid noir
Accessories: silver jump rings, pop dots, amuse twinkle stickers

Sunset Smooch...

2010-04-11T22:08:00.000-04:00

It's SCS CAS challenge time again...this time we are going to be inspired by the beautiful state of Michigan. I got stopped at the pictures of the dazzling sunsets...

My card uses a technique called brayered sky...this is about as fancy as I get as far as techniques go. I tried stamping the kissing couple directly on the glossy paper, but you know how glossy paper is to stamp on...so I stamped them on gray paper and cut them out. (I guess that means this card also qualifies for the latest challenge in the A muse Lounge "Cut it Out").

My husband's cousin is getting married soon and I decided this could work as a wedding card for them.

I stamped the sentiment along the side of the main image and framed it in with the bracket. Some love in the form of a heart shaped twinkle sticker (coloured black with copics) from A muse finished it off.

Here is what I used:

Stamps: A muse
Paper: SU (glossy, basic black, going grey)
Ink: palette hybrid noir, SU (barely banana, summer sun, pumpkin pie, ruby red, really rust)
Accessories: SU die (originals hearts and brackets), brayer, pop dots, amuse twinkle sticker, copics

Thank you for visiting...hope you can play along in the challenges!

My sewing machine is back...

2010-04-09T22:38:00.000-04:00

When an old sewing machine from work became available, I decided to "upgrade" from my current really old (ie: antique) Singer that only sews a straight stitch. When I took the "new" machine in for service, the repair guy talked me into trading it in for a nicer, newer machine. I now own a decent simple basic sewing machine!

When I was younger, I really wanted to make a quilt with what looked to me like crazy stitching...technically the term is "free motion stitching". That project never made it past the idea stage...till now, on my card! By the way, in real free motion stitching, there is no overlap of stitches...

I sewed randomly all over the piece of pink paper, attached it to a card base, added the sentiment on a tag and a beautiful brad. Done! Another quick card...

Thanks for stopping by...maybe there is hope for those of us who struggle to sew in a straight line!

What I used:

Stamps: A muse
Paper: SU very vanilla, unknown scrap of pink
Ink: Palette hybrid noir
Accessories: sewing machine, brad from K & Co, Sizzix label die, pop dots

Sentiments only!

2010-04-04T22:09:00.000-04:00

This week's CAS challenge on SCS is to only use a sentiment. I own a pile of them, but I often grab my A muse ones. They have great fonts...I am a sucker for great fonts! This card started out with a rose....

I wanted to try making a paper flower. This rose was pretty simple. Here is a tutorial from Dozi that I loved. I ended up smushing the paper up to make it soft and smushing down the rose quite a bit until it flattened nicely. I made some faux suede for the leaves.

Because the rose was so pretty, I thought it would be perfect to use for a sentiment only card. I chose all vanilla for my layers with subtle interest added via the herringbone cuttlebug folder, paper piercing and distressed edges. The red rose was counterbalanced by a bit of red scallop on the opposite side of the card. I played around quite a bit with different other red elements to try and add a third bit of red (rule of threes) but nothing looked right so I stopped!

Hope you like the card...and that you grab a great sentiment and play along in the challenge!

Supply list:

Stamps: A muse
Paper: SU (vanilla, rose red, mellow moss)
Ink: Palette hybrid burnt umber, PTI (chamomile & chai tea dye)
Accessories: herringbone cuttlebug embossing folder, paper piercer, sizzix tag die, SU scallop edge punch, corner chomper

Too many projects...

2010-04-03T11:37:00.000-04:00

I have too many projects that need to be made...it's killing my inspiration! I have bits and pieces all over my desk, butchered cards from ideas that went wayyyy bad and deadlines for getting these things done. ACK!! The projects extend beyond cardmaking too...wish I could clone myself, or hire a personal assistant for the next month! I am going to spend the day outside & get the garden cleaned up. Then, I'll sit down and make a to do list...

Hope you are enjoying your Easter weekend!

A Two Minute Card...

2010-03-30T22:55:00.000-04:00

Today I am posting a card I made from a leftover...I made a card for Monday's CAS challenge which I didn't upload 'cause I didn't love it...and this metal square with a flower in the middle was something I had made, tried on that card and didn't end up using.

On its own, it was pretty cute, so I stuck it right in the middle of a piece of cardstock, chomeped the corners off, added a sentiment plus a few drops of liquid pearls and called it done! Hope you like it! This layout is a great way to use little bits and pieces laying around on your table...

Supply list:
Paper: PTI white
Stamps: PTI (Green Thumb), a muse (it's your day)
Ink: palette hybrid noir, rose red
Accessories: metal adhesive square embellishment (unknown from stash), pop dot, pearl brad, liquid pearls, corner chomper

Just Hatched!

2010-03-29T11:16:00.000-04:00

I just got my latest SU club order which included some linen thread...can't believe I haven't ever ordered any...I love it!!

The latest Embellish Magazine Challenge is to use stitching and some springy colours.

A colleague of mine & his wife just had their first baby, a girl, last week...these colours are perfect for a baby card!

My base is 5" x 3.5", with some faux stitching along the right edge (made with a tracing wheel a la Anna Wight).

I cut out the egg shape in the three colours using my oval nesties. I also cut a base layer to adhere the colours to once I trimmed them. I decided to add different textures to the pieces using various cuttlebug embossing folders. I tied the pieces together by distressing the edges and stitching them together. I am still waiting for my sewing machine to get serviced, so the stiches were all hand done. It helps to pierce the paper first, especially when going through a few layers of paper.

I cut out the label for the sentiment, but the actual die shape was too big for the card, so I cut it in half...it fits well on the edge of the card. A few stitches at the ends of the die cut tie it in well with the egg. To finish off, I added a little pink bird (popped up) on a small circle to help ground the egg. Hope you like it!! Thanks for visiting...

Supply list:

Stamps: PTI (just hatched)
Paper: PTI (rustic white), SU (sage shadow, blush blossom, kraft)
Ink: PTI (chai & chamomile), SU (pretty in pink), Palette hybrid burnt umber
Accessories: SU (3/4" circlel punch, linen thread), oval nesties, pop dots, cuttlebug embossing folders (swiss dot, textile, herringbone), thread (Gutermann), Sizzix label die, tracing wheel

Swimming Lessons done soon...

2010-03-28T22:10:00.000-04:00

The boys have been doing fabulously with their swimming lessons...my youngest has gone from needing bribes to enter the water to swimming to the deep end holding a noodle and almost doing an underdunk! My oldest is actually doing a front crawl!

This card, following Carly's sketch for the newest clean and simple challenge (CAS60) on SCS, is for their swimming teachers.

Supply list:

Stamps: a muse (snorkel boy, thank you)
Paper: SU very vanilla, cool caribbean, basic black, pumpkin pie
Ink: Palette hybrid noir
Accessories: cuttlebug embossing folder, MS star punch, copics, scor pal, paper piercer, pop dots, at you spica glitter pens, SAMJ

I embossed the cool caribbean squares with my cuttlebug and matted them in black. I stamped & coloured snorkel boy and cut him out. Isn't he cute?? I added some sparkle to his starfish with my spica glitter pens. The sentiment was lined up using my stampamajig. Final touches included a few scored lines, some piercing and two tiny glittered stars.

Hope you can join us for the challenge! Thanks for visiting!

I Love NY...

2010-03-21T03:01:00.000-04:00

The CAS challenge this week (#59) on SCS is an Inspiration challenge featuring New York City! I have never been there...big cities are some of my favourite places to visit...I love the hustle and bustle, being able to walk or take the subway everywhere and of course great shopping & food! I am super excited that DH and I are planning a little May getaway to, you guessed it, NYC!! Can't wait!

Whenever anyone has described NYC to me, they always mention the noise and the honking cabs. I had to use my "beep beep" stamp from A muse on this one.

Here is what I used:

Stamps: A muse (beep beep, cityscape)
Paper: SU (very vanilla, basic black, ruby red), watercolour paper
Ink: palette hybrid noir
Accessories: pop dots, SAMJ, SU watercolor wonder crayons (bold brights)

I stamped the Cityscape stamp (A muse) on watercolour paper and used my waterbrush & SU watercolor wonder crayons to paint the buildings in bright colours...the thing I love about watercolouring is that you can be a bit messy with your colouring and that's OK! The main image was framed with the "beep beep" stamp (thank goodness for my stampamajig!). I added a black border around the main image, and as an afterthought, also added a strip of red for some more colour. Hope you like it and that you can play along in the challenge!!

Inspired by JulieHRR...again!

2010-03-18T22:33:00.000-04:00

I couldn't stop browsing Julie's collection of cards and came across this one...

I loved the white flower on the red background and the mix of papers and colours...it sent me straight to my Mushroom Trio stamp and red shimmer paper from A muse. I just received a package from A muse in the mail (winnings from playing along during VSN - thank you A muse, I love everything you sent!!) which included gorgeous seafoam sheer ribbon, so I pulled off a piece of that to use. I love cards with a touch of black...grass punched with my Martha Stewart grass punch was the perfect addition...it matches the grass under the mushrooms! I stared at the card for a while, left it overnight and decided today to add in some tiny embellishments in black to complete the card (they are from Stamping Bella).

Here is what I used...

Stamps: a muse (mushroom trio)
Ink: SU craft white
Paper: a muse kitchen notecard, red shimmer, SU basic black
Accessories: white detail embossing powder, MS grass punch, SU circle punch, black flower embellishments from Stamping Bella, A muse ribbon

Thanks for visiting...check out the challenge and play along!

Chocolate Mint!

2010-03-15T03:01:00.000-04:00

Today's CAS challenge (CAS58) is a colour challenge...any shades of brown and green plus white or cream. I made a pile of cards with these great colours, but most of them turned out kind of ehhhhh....here is the one that made me happy...

Stamps: Kitchen Sink Stamps (Love & Luck), PTI (papertray)
Ink: SU (always artichoke, certainly celery), PTI tea dye (chai & chamomile)
Paper: PTI rustic white
Accessories: pop dots, bella bauble (pickle), paper piercer, leather band/strap from the fabric store

The card is regular A2 size, but the actual part that opens measures 4 1/4" square. I cannot stop making square cards. I even turn A2 cards into squares!! I taped the top part together and added a few details. I pierced a line of faux stitching above the fold and punched a notch at either side for the leather band/strap to tie into.

The word "Luck" (gorgeous font, eh?) is from Kitchen Sink Stamps...I stamped it in 2 different colours of green for a shadow effect. I used the word "good" from PTI's first ever set Papertray to complete the sentiment.

The 4 leaf clover is also from KSS...it was cut out, popped up and embellished with a bella bauble. The card base was distressed/aged with tea dye ink from PTI.

Hope you can join in on the challenge...thanks for visiting!!

March A muse Lounge Challenge

2010-03-09T21:35:00.000-05:00

This month, the A muse Lounge Challenge is to be inspired by JulieHRR. Not hard to do as she is one of my stamping idols!! I pored over her gallery for days...and left puddles of drool behind!

Here is Julie's card that I couldn't stop looking at. The gorgeous colours and the rock & roll technique on the flowers & leaves...wow!

I knew before I started my card that I wanted some black on it and I was sure I wanted to use some ricrac. Then I started rocking and rolling...I played around with so many different inks and colours of ink that my desk was covered in ink pads! Here is what I created...

Stamps: A muse (delicious day, leaf frond, solid apple)
Ink: palette hybrid noir & moulin rouge, SU barely banana, soft sky, garden green, certainly celery & cameo coral
Paper: SU very vanilla, basic black
Accessories: pop dots, SU sponges, ric rac (unknown source)

I used my Eclipse tape to mask over the apple to stamp the leaves. I cut out another apple and popped it up. I sponged around the apple with soft sky & barely banana. The edges of the main image were distressed a bit for dimension & popped up. The sentiment was perfect (a muse has the most perfect sentiments!). Hope you like it! Thanks for visiting!

It's Monday...CAS day!!

2010-03-08T03:01:00.000-05:00

This week's CAS challenge on Splitcoaststampers, "A Different Kind of Shape-abilities", calls for using at least 2 different layers of shapes. I am not one to use lots of layers because lots of layers = cards that take too much time to make! I am all about quick cards, as I am usually making them late at night!

Still in the grungeboard mood from the birthday card (see my previous post), I decided to see how my SU/Sizzix Dies would cut through the stuff. Sadly, not all of the dies I own will go through grungeboard...nesties won't, and if I remember correctly, my cuttlebug dies won't either. Thankfully, the SU ones went through like butter!!

Here is my layered, but CAS card for this week's challenge:

Here is what I used:

Stamps: none!
Paper: SU true thyme, PTI rustic cream, BG sugared
Ink: PTI tea dyes (chamomile & chai)
Accessories: Grungeboard (harlequin), pop dots, SU Beautiful Butterflies die, MM paint (manila & buttercup), Glimmer Mist (pearl), SU copper cord

Hope you have some time to play along! You will be wanting to do CAS57!! Thanks for stopping by!

All {Birthday} Partied Out!

2010-03-07T15:38:00.000-05:00

This has been the weekend of Birthday Parties. My oldest had one yesterday and is currently out at another. We also celebrated a few family birthdays last night. In the middle of all my getting ready (the party was at my place), about half an hour before everyone was supposed to arrive, I realized I did not make my "baby" brother a card. You can see from the card how old he is now!

This would count as a10 minute card. I got pretty messy and covered in paint while making it! Thank goodness for my non-stick craft mat! I decided to use a school/math theme...because I could not find anything quickly to use as an equal sign, I had to use an arrow.

Here's what I used:

Stamps: DOTS (ink splatters)
Ink: SU true thyme, PTI tea dye (chamomile & chai)
Paper: a muse
Accessories: Grungeboard (letters, numbers & shapes), Adirondack Acrylic Paint dabbers (espresso & pearl), Tim Holtz Distress Crackle Paints (fired brick & antique linen), Glimmer Mist (pearl), a muse pretty pearls (cranberry)

Thanks for stopping by!!

A new adventure!

2010-02-28T22:26:00.000-05:00

This is my first card for the Spring CAS design team on SCS. The challenge is to make square cards...not really a challenge for me, 'cause that's mostly what I like to make. I like everything even and symmetrical, so I love square cards!

I also cleaned up my craft room/office this weekend. I had quite a bit of stuff that was not on a shelf or in a container. I also had piles of really old magazines that were taking up some prime real estate on the bookshelf. My Cricut has now moved in there, leaving more room for my sewing machine. Hopefully I will use it a bit more now that it is more accessible!

Anyways, onto the card...in my cleaning, I came across all kinds of embellishments that I have been saving for years. I had a few of these ginormous buttons that I got on sale a few years ago. I don't even know who made them...they were out of their package. I found some BG paper to match and used a circle nestie to cut a circle to go on the button. I had to use some dp to cover up the ribbon crisscrossing on the back of the button. I threaded the SU grosgrain through the holes, glued the monster on, added a sentiment and a few holes with my piercer. After the fact, I rounded the corners 'cause that looked better with the round button. Here it is!

So now it's your turn...go make a square card! Here is a link to the challenge! Have a great day!!

VSN...the day after

2010-02-28T11:09:00.000-05:00

I made 4 cards during VSN (virtual stamping night) at SCS last night. I played along with my A muse stamps. There were tons of challenges over the weekend...I sure didn't have the energy to do them all! I will share my favourite one with you here...

Paper: SU very vanilla
Ink: Palette hybrid noir
Stamps: A muse
Accessories: SU taffeta ribbon, SAMJ

For the Triple Inspiration challenge we had to use 3 ribbons on a card and make it for someone who inspires us. I made it super CAS and love how it turned out. These taffeta ribbons from SU are one of my favourite ribbons...a bit of colour, but not too overpowering. The sentiment from A muse is gorgeous...the mix of fonts is perfect for the ribbons.

I made this for the boys' preschool teachers...they are so good at dealing with children - they seem to know what approach works for each individual child, and they make it look so easy! I have learned a lot about parenting from them!!

Thanks for stopping by!!

Olympics on SCS...

2010-02-25T21:05:00.000-05:00

I have been busy making cards lately as part of an Olympic event on Splitcoaststampers...the Spring 2010 CAS challenge design team. You can check out the thread here. Everyone started out as Torch runners, then the field was narrowed down to 20 "athletes", then narrowed down again to 10 finalists and then down to 3 winners. I am honoured, and very excited to say that I was chosen as one of the winners!! The other two winners are Kelly (kmahany) and Carly (PaperInBloom). They are super talented so be sure to check out what they have created!! This round, there will also be some great guest designers for the challenges. The CAS challenges are every Monday - hope you can come and play!

Below are three of the cards I made for the CAS Olympics...the challenges were a lot of fun and, well, challenging!!

Stamps: A muse
Paper: PTI white, SU basic black & old olive
Ink: palette hybrid noir
Accessories: copics, MS grass punch, pop dots, SU 1/2" circle punch, SAMJ

Stamps: A muse
Paper: PTI white, Basic Grey
Ink: Palette hybrid noir
Accessories: copics, pop dots, circle nestibilities, SU word window punch, paper piercer, a muse pretty pearl stickers in cranberry

Stamps: A muse
Paper: A muse (gingham & madeira), SU (barely banana, very vanilla & basic black)
Ink: palette hybrid noir
Accessories: pop dots, copics

Thanks for stopping by. I am going to attempt more regular blogging...we'll see how it goes! No pressure, right?!!

SCS CAS DT cards

2009-08-26T21:55:00.000-04:00

That would be short for the Splitcoaststampers Clean and Simple Challenge design team cards! There are currently 3 challenges as part of the application for the team. Here is what I came up with:

Sketch Challenge:

I cut out a stencil using the negative part of the Vine die from Sizzix. I used 3 different inks to sponge the shape onto my card base...red & green first, then I moved the stencil over slightly and sponged brown to make a shadow. I added piercing around the sponged vine which made it look quite dimensional considering it's a one layer card. The clear sentiment curved easily on my block to follow the shape of the leaf, and a thin ribbon completed the card.

Paper: SU barely banana
Ink: SU (old olive), Palette hybrid (burnt umber & moulin rouge)
Stamps: A muse (simple wishes)
Accessories: paper piercer, SU twill ribbon (old olive), Sizzix vine die

Colour Challenge:

Monochromatic brown with a smidge of red...I love Kraft cardstock, so I had to use it for this card. I also recently splurged for some PTI rustic white cardstock which is, well, rustic! It has bits of natural flecks and fibres in it. AND I just received my order of new A muse fall stamps. When I thought about the smidge of red, I knew I should use the tiniest apple from the School Time set. I stamped the apple repeatedly in brown, did a few in brown stamped off once, then added one red apple in the mix. I used my SU circle punches and a circle nestie to make the main image and its mats. I roughed up the edges of the circles a bit, popped them up on dimensionals and stamped the sentiment below. I was inspired by he disposable coffee cups at work. On the side of the cups, the logo of the coffee company is in red and the name is centered below in brown, and I've been wanting to use this design idea on a card for awhile now...I love its simplicity!

Paper: SU (kraft, chocolate chip), PTI (rustic white)
Ink: Palette hybrid (burnt umber & moulin rouge)
Stamps: A muse (school time, delicious day)
Accessories: SU circle punches, circle nesties, pop dots, heidi swapp edge distresser, EK success corner rounder punch

Theme Challenge:

Fall...it's here! Nights are cooler, it's getting dark sooner and my DS starts school next Tuesday!! He is so excited! This card is for him...
My new A muse purchases from the fall release are awesome...love the school lined cardstock and all the new stamps! I used primary colours and black for some contrast/to tone down the loud yellow base. The wider edge at the top of the lined paper fit the line up of school kids perfectly. I used the SU spiral punch on the left margin of the paper, and matted it in black. I was originally going to place the main image diagonally across my card, so I added a notebook line ( from the clear School time set) stamped in versamark diagonally across for some grounding of my main image. Once I placed it on the diagonal, there seemed like too much "white" space, so I ended up putting the main image on straight. I still like the subtle diagonal underneath...the adorable sentiment from the School time set completed the card.

Paper: SU (summer sun, basic black), A muse (school lined)
Ink: Palette hybrid noir, versamark
Stamps: A muse (school line, School Time clear set)
Accessories: copics, SU spiral punch

Whew...marathon post! Be sure to check out all the amazing submissions for the design team! Thanks for visiting!!

Pyjama Party - Challenge #4

2009-07-19T16:44:00.000-04:00

Pretty woman yeah yeah yeah....love this movie!! Wouldn't it be fun to go shopping for a new wardrobe with a gorgeous rich man's credit card??? Here is my rendition of Julia Robert's red dress:

Simple dress was coloured in copics, popped up for dimension, grounded and highlighted with light yellow and framed in black to make it pop. I added the score lines and piercing for a bit of subtle interest...wouldn't want to outshine the red dress, you know!!

Stamps: a muse (simple dress, what fun, clear ovals)
Ink: palette hybrid noir, moulin rouge, SU so saffron
Paper: SU very vanilla, basic black
Accessories: scor-pal, paper piercer, pop dots

Pyjama Party - Challenge #3

2009-07-19T16:35:00.000-04:00

A card for a girlfriend...well I have been meaning to make something for a friend at work since I saw and bought this stamp from a muse. I have had to bribe this particular friend on several occasions with chocolate!!

This card turned out a bit frilly! I don't usually make frilly cards...I would rather work outside than do housework, I am the only female in my household and I am not a huge fan of the colour pink!! Frills I used on this card were:

1) scalloped border
2) scalloped punch for the main image
3) pink accents (coloured in some of the open spaces in the madeira paper with pink, stamped the clear oval with 3rd-generation-stamped palette hybrid moulin rouge to make a pink base)
4) velvet ribbon
5) rounded corners

Now I feel like I need to go play in the mud, climb a tree and make a long skid with my bike!!

Stamps: a muse (truffle, everyone has a price, frames, clear oval)
Ink: palette hybrid burnt umber, moulin rouge
Paper: SU very vanilla, close to cocoa, a muse madeira
Accessories: SU scallop circle punch, 1 3/8" and 1 1/4" circle punches, scallop punch, ek success corner rounder punch, pop dots, velvet ribbon (Mike's), copics

Pyjama Party - Challenge #2

2009-07-19T16:30:00.000-04:00

I used to love sleepover parties for my birthday when I was younger...as my birthday is near Halloween, we used to tell creepy stories in the dark...EEK!!

This was the fastest card on the planet...I stamped the letters "boo" (made sure they lined up using my stampamajig), then stamped the ghost inside the "o" (SAMJ again to line it up). I coloured the polka dots in the alpha with orange, purple and green copics, outlined the ghost a wee bit and DONE!!

Stamps: a muse (polka dot alpha, ghost)
Ink: palette hybrid noir
Paper: PTI white
Accessories: copics

Pajama Party - Challenge #1

2009-07-19T16:09:00.000-04:00

My favourite food/drink? Ice cream...pralines and cream preferable, but I'd take anything with caramel in it!! I kept these ice cream treats plain and simple as I only had 30 minutes to put this card together. You can imagine your own favourite flavours of ice cream for this card!

I have a small stash of twinkle stickers...they make perfect cherries, and provide a bit of colour pop here. A little bit of stitched ribbon leftover from last year's a muse peace and cheer kit serves as a ground for the ice cream bowls. A muse's new gingham paper works well as a table cloth. Mmmm...now I need to raid the freezer!! Care to join me??

Stamps: a muse (sundaes, treat for you)
Ink: palette hybrid noir
Paper: PTI white, a muse (gingham)
Accessories: stitched ribbon (a muse), twinkle stickers (a muse), SU word window punch

Art Challenge!

2009-07-13T23:39:00.000-04:00

I participated in the CAS (clean and simple) challenge on SCS this week...

The card I made was inspired by this piece of art by Alan Buckle called Teal Bubble Flowers. It caught my eye because it would be perfect for my bedroom...

I cut out a square of so saffron and ran it through a cuttlebug embossing folder. I inked over this with gold ink to make it stand out more. I added some random fuzzy teal brads (aren't they fab!!) and a sentiment. I matted this in chocolate and pierced around. Pretty simple!

I made it a birthday card 'cause I have 4 birthdays coming up in my family...must get shopping!! Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: PTI faux ribbon
Paper: SU vanilla, chocolate chip, so saffron
Ink: palette hybrid burnt umber, brilliance galaxy gold
Accessories: cuttlebug embossing folder, fuzzy brads by creative cafe, paper piercer, SU small oval punch, pop dots

Cupcake Sunshines!

2009-07-08T00:07:00.000-04:00

Here's a card to fit 2 challenges...AMAP #4 "SPOT!" and SCS's CAS22 "Hey, Hey, It's your birthday!". This card was done in 10 minutes tops! Easy to mass-produce!

I marked out a 3x3 grid in pencil for spacing of the sunshines, used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to line them up, added the sentiment, erased my pencil lines and added popped up punched circles to the centres of suns. Pretty cool that the paper I used has spots on it, huh? Thanks for stopping by!!

Stamps: A muse (funnest birthday, Sun)
Paper: SU very vanilla, BG cupcake
Ink: Palette Hybrid noir
Accessories: SU 1/2" circle punch, pop dots, SAMJ

Twilight Challenge...

2009-06-30T22:14:00.000-04:00

Another AMAP challenge...Twilight!! I just started reading this series...I resisted the hype long enough...I'm anxious to get started into the third book! I decided to make a card with Eddie coming in the window- he does that so often!

I stamped A muse's Classic Window, then masked the bottom part and stamped Eddie. The images are coloured in with copics and the window cut out. I was able to make a night sky with a mix of blues, greys and violets. I consulted my book and read that Bella has light blue walls and wood floors in her bedroom...that helped me pick the card's colours! This was an easy and quick card to make! Hope you like it, and if you have not read the books yet, what are you waiting for???!!!

Stamps: A muse (vampire, classic window, in my thoughts)
Ink: Palette Hybrid Noir
Paper: SU (kraft, very vanilla, dp)
Accessories: copics, pop dots