Cupcake Sunshines!

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...

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

Announcing...

I am still up...it's after 1am...I started fiddling around with my ribbon scraps and I ended up making another card for AMAP's second challenge. I used my scraps of ribbon to make a stage curtain for the Announcer. The ribbon is cut into small pieces and adhered to the back of a strip of black gingham with glue lines. I popped up the strip on glue dots for dimension.

I started out colouring the Announcer in shades of blue/turquoise only, but then decided to add a bit of red for some pop. I was tempted to add a bit of crystal effects to his hat and boots for dimension, but at this hour of the night/morning, I figured I'd likely just make a big mess. So I didn't. Maybe tomorrow...

The announcer is shouting "You're the best"...the perfect sentiment to use on a card for one of my bosses who is retiring next week. I will miss her...a lot!


Stamps: A muse (announcer, you're the best)
Paper: A muse black gingham, PTI white
Ink: palette hybrid noir
Accessories: copics, unknown ribbon, glue dots

AMAP...second challenge!

First of all, I must brag a wee bit! The card I made with the mosaic squares made the AMAP challenge round up here. Go check out the other gorgeous cards that were featured...lots of inspiration!!

Ribbon is AMAP's second challenge. I love ribbon! I am usually pretty predictable with my use of ribbon...I just lay it across the width of my card and tie a nice knot in it...done! For this challenge, I wanted to use it differently.

Enter Snail...one of the latest additions to my "collection". I decided to dress him/her up in a lovely red stitched ribbon shell. This card went together in 5 minutes!!



Stamps: a muse (snail, sentiment from simple wishes)
Paper: PTI white
Ink: palette hybrid noir
Accessories: copics, paper piercer, ribbon (amuse), glue dots

A-Muse-A-Palooza challenges have begun!

I am back to blogging...A-muse-a-Palooza (henceforth known as AMAP) was what got me started with this blog last year...posting was OK for a bit, then my blogging slowed down to a trickle and then stopped. UGH. Hope I can keep a trickle of posts going from now on.

Jennie's first challenge for AMAP is SQUARE! I love squares. I love clean lines. I love 4.25" square cards. This challenge is perfect! I ended up making two cards...

I started with the idea of using my tiny 1/4" square punch to make a frame of little squares around my main image...after playing around a bit, the idea morphed into making a mosaic out of the tiny squares to accent my main image. Once I got my main image stamped and matted, I decided the little mosaics were too much for it so I kept the card plain and accented the image with a sentiment stamped repeatedly as a frame. I once took an online class with Julie Ebersole (fab class, learned a ton!!). She had us plan and sketch our cards out in rough before making them. Although it was a great exercise, I can't seem to do it in real life...I'm too impulsive and just need to do things...thinking about things for too long before doing them is not my forte! So my creative process is very much "fly by the seat of my pants!".

Here is the first card that "happened":



Now I had two cute little 3/4" square mosaic tiles to use up...so I stamped a sentiment on the bottom right corner of a square card, made one more mosaic tile, played around with the position of the three tiles for half an hour (yikes!) and stuck 'em on with pop dots. I added a little paper piercing on the bottom (I love piercing, it's subtle but adds something). Done. Not at all what I envisioned at the beginning, but now I have 2 cards that will definitely use within the next week! Here is the mosaic tile card:



What's in card #1:
Stamps: a muse
Paper: SU very vanilla & basic black
Ink: palette hybrid noir & SU soft sky
Accessories: SAMJ

What's in card #2:
Stamps: a muse
Paper: a muse, SU basic black, very vanilla
Ink: palette hybrid noir
Accessories: SU 1/4" square punch, pop dots, MM paper piercer

I dusted off my sewing machine....

Here is my entry for the A muse Addicts' Home page contest. In my recent craft space re-organization, I moved my sewing machine to a more accessible location, hoping to get more use out of it. I found a neat sketch on the Card Positioning Systems site (it's # 22) to start me off. The contest requires either a Thanksgiving card or a Thank you card...here is my fall-themed thank you card:

I cut out the circles with my nesties and stitched all around them as well as the card base. I sponged the edges of the card base, vanilla circle and die cut flower to dirty them up a bit. I tried to find a thank you sentiment from A muse in my collection, but I don't have one (gasp!!). I will have to remember that on future shopping sprees!



Stamps: A muse (crow), PTI (little lady)
Ink: Ranger Distress Ink (walnut stain)
Paper: SU (very vanilla, pumpkin pie), A muse (vintage orange, brown madeira)
Accessories: Nestibilities, sewing machine, flower die cut (provocraft/cuttlebug), SU chocolate twill ribbon, button

A muse challenges got me stamping at last!

I finally got a chance to stamp...I have been busy running around like a chicken from one thing to the next as well as organizing various parts of my house. I've reorganized my stamping space/home office - I added 2 shelves to the bookcases to make more room for my growing collection of supplies. I reorganized my plants...repotted some, threw some dying ones out and moved my orchids to a less sunny spot in hopes they will rebloom. I've been decluttering toys and kid's clothing slowly as well.

Anyways, onto my stamping! This is a card for the A muse Addicts weekly challenge to make a one-layer white card:



Stamps: A muse (innertubing), PTI (holiday treats)
Ink: Palette Hybrid Noir
Paper: PTI white
Accessories: Copics, Lasting impressions piercing template, SU! Accents & Elements little felt flurries, corner rounder punch (EK Success)