'Twas the Night before Christmas...

...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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

...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...

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

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...

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

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...

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

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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