Late at Night Cards...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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