ONE....

Sometimes you just gotta say yes to something pink and polka dotted.

Or something pink sprinkle dotted.

The Fine Print: Brand new stamps from A Muse Studio "Sprinkled with Love" set, bubblegum petite polka dot cardstock, mushroom satin ribbon, French roast pearl and flax paper flower old and carried over A Muse Studio stuff. 

TWO...

I've enjoyed paper piecing long before I knew it was call that.  I thought it was neat to stamp your image out on plain paper and again on patterned paper, cut out a portion of the patterned image and adhere it to the plain image.  It gives a neat look.

Paper piecing is not for those who hate to fussy cut, especially for smaller images.  But for those of you who are up to the challenge, check out these little ladies below.

You can have a lot of fun giving them all sorts of funky patterns on their bathing suits and caps.  They are a bit fussy to cut out, but the look is worth it in the end.

The Fine Print: Brand new stamps by A Muse Studio "Bathing Beauties" and brand new designer paper "Fiesta" (available July 1).  Bermuda polka dot cardstock, scallop border die, and Everything's Rosy designer paper (lady on the left) old stuff that will be carried over to the new catalog.

THREE....

I've been dabbling with water colors lately because I think water colors are cool.  Since they are trendy right now and everyone is going on about various water coloring techniques I  thought I should toss my hat in the ring.

I read about a technique where your liberally mist your paper with water and then stamp on it in dye ink. The ink reacts to the water and runs a bit to give your image a water color look.  It works best with bold stamps especially the ones that already have a water color look to them.

So I liberally misted my paper with water, stamped my images and watched them run right off the paper completely.  I guess I got carried away with the water.  For this card I barely misted the paper at all before stamping.  It did not get a true water color look to it at all.  Maybe next time when I find the middle ground between running images and barely moist ones.

The Fine Print: Brand new stamps by A Muse Studio "Beautiful Birthday" (available July 1) stamped in Memento ink on watercolor paper, butterfly die and lime pearl also by A Muse Studio (old stuff but will be carried over to the new catalog).  The light gray circles in the flower centers are made with a pencil eraser.

Ah, Interesting...

I shampooed the carpets in my house this past weekend, paying special attention to the area under my desk that gets cruddy from the office chair wheels.  What that meant is I shampooed myself right out being able to use my desk that day.  So I opted to sit at a table and play with a random box of goodies.  I made this and a passel of other cards that day.  It was kind of fun crafting in a new location, even if it was a bit frustrating because nothing was at my fingertips.  Oopsie.

The Fine Print: All products except faceted flat sticker (Stampendous) by Club Scrap the "Lock and Key" kit.

Maroon and Gray

I made this card for a card exchange where the theme was maroon and gray.  It's not a color combo I would have dreamed up but I think it looks nicely elegant together.

The Fine Print: Flower stamp by A Muse Studio "Charming Gardeners" set, greeting by Eat Cake Graphics, butterflies by Stampin' Up.

Postcard from the Ledge

This month my big stamp club's card exchange theme is "postcard."  We can do with that whatever we want as long as we have a matching envelope. I thought the obvious thing to do was make a postcard.

I made a postcard out of a postcard themed stamp that I ordered on-line.  It is huge but it is perfect for this project and I can see it being fun playing with it for other large projects, complete with layers!  I enjoyed coloring it in, blending like a pro.

I used a postcard embossing folder for the back.  My postcard is two 110 lb weight pieces of cardstock glued together.  That way the color bleed through and the embossing do not affect the other side.  The result is a nice thick postcard.  As required I decorated a gold foil edged envelope to go with it.  I didn't photograph it but it has some postal themed stamps on it to jazz it up.

The Fine Print: Postcard stamp by Just Rite "Rose Postcard Background" colored with Copics and sponged with distress ink.  Embossing folder by Sizzix "flourish and postcard A2" sponged with distress inks.

Make Up Monday

Today's Monday and that makes me cranky.  Cranky enough that I'm gonna flip you

THE BIRD!

And not just once, but twice!  Because I'm that way.

I'm rather surprised that these are still in the pending folder so maybe you've seen them before on my blog and this is a repeat.  I'm too cranky to look though.  And too busy flipping the bird!  Twice!

The Fine Print: Everything by A Muse Studio except that patterned paper which is by someone who isn't A Muse.  That's all I know.  Well, that and the square root of 144.

Green & Yella, Kiss a Fella

Yesterday I mentioned that I just happened to have a boy-friendly stamp set sitting out on my desk.  That's because I was bound and determined to use the frog out of it. And I did!

 My embroidery floss comment yesterday made me pull it out again to wrap around the striped layer.  If you didn't rush out yesterday to buy some in every color, never fear!  Today is another day.  I'm really happy with how this card turned out. I'm especially tickled with the dots on the frog.  They are made with a blender pen. Hot damn! It almost looks like I know what I'm doing.

Since I used snippets (the designer paper and yellow cardstock) I'm going to hook up with Pixie's Playground to see whatever one else is up to.  Go check it out!  Use some of the newly purchased embroidery floss with your snippets and join in today!

The Fine Print: Frog stamp by Paper Smooches "Little Fella," designer paper snippets by KI Memories, eyelet square by Spellbinders, bling, flower, and big brad (swoon) from my stash.... Oh, just learned that American Crafts makes those big brads.  Buy some of those too!

For the Boys

I was recently asked to send a card to friend's little boy.  Before I got around to making that card I was asked to send a card to a different friend's boy.  Well, then, time to break out with the boy-friendly set that just happened to already be out on my desk!

I also pulled out a very old paper pad that was mostly used up in the hopes of finishing it off this weekend. That might be a bit ambitious. Also ambitious is the thought that I was going to come up with two different card ideas.

The Fine Print: Stamps by Paper Smooches "Little Fella" set, designer paper by Provo Craft "The Den," oval dies by Spellbinders, tag punch by Marvy, navy satin ribbon by A Muse Studio.  Tag tied onto the ribbon via embroidery floss; that stuff is handy to have around. Get some today! In every color! Just to be safe!

Happy Mail Day

Since I haven't made anything new lately so share with everybody, I thought I'd share some cards I got in the mail instead. 

This is one of those cards in a box that are all the rage these days.  This came from my friend Sue. I told her she was brilliant for using paper flowers because I never would have thought of something that obvious myself.

My friend Helen wanted to show off her latest die purchase and made this card for me.  I used to make cards like this back in the day when you had to measure it yourself and cut it with an Exacto knife right after you walked home from school uphill in the snow with only bread wrappers for shoes.

Yeah, die cuts are soooo much easier.  And there is less chance you'll lose a finger.  That was my happy mail day!  I suppose next up will be a pile of bills because karma's a bitch and after two great cards in one day I'm doomed to get something icky.

The Fine Print: I know the top card stamp is by Penny Black, but I got nothing for anything else.  I can tell you that my friend Helen uses that butterfly and flower stamp once or twice a month and I'm always impressed with all the different things she does with it.  She puts the rest of us to shame, you know those of us who only use a stamp once or twice period. 

Stampin' Up Stuff

I made some fun cards at a workshop last night.  I enjoy workshops because you get to make something that you didn't have to think up, you get to hang out with fun people, and you get a fun finished product at the end.

I like workshops best when I get a useable card at the end, like this one.  I can immediately mail this to someone if need be.  And as an added bonus I have most of the stuff that made this card so I can make similar ones as well.

I'm not quite as fond of off-shaped or heavily constructed cards.  They take a little bit more effort to mail plus I usually want to keep them to use as a guide in case I ever decide to make a similar one, which given that I don't usually make those kinds of cards is kind of silly.  I'm really tickled by this mechanical card though because it is simple to make. I would actually duplicate this card.

Now then, stay tuned to see if I do!  The center opens up to reveal the greeting inside as you open the card (in case you can't figure out the mechanics of it).

The Fine Print: All the everythings by Stampin' Up except the big bar staple (Fastenator).

Polkie Dots!

A piece of designer paper with large polka dots had recently taken up residence on my desk.  I moved it from one corner to the other, tucked it in various piles, and shuffled it around for a few days.  I finally decided that its time had come!

And I made these two cards with it. I kept it simple for the first card as I wanted to showcase the large brown flower I discovered in my stash.  I love that huge brad; I wouldn't mind having more of those.  For the second card I tried my hand at collage.  I think I did pretty good considering at was at a loss on what to add to make it "collagey."

The Fine Print: Polka dot paper by Pink Paislee.  Top card--flowers and brad from my stash, greeting by Simon Says Stamp "Beautiful Words," and border punch by Fiskars.  Bottom card--paper doily and metal turn piece from my stash, baker's twine, clear button and bird stamp by A Muse Studio "All for Love," music note washi tape by Tim Holtz, and script washi tape by Recollections.  Edges sponged with a Tim Holtz ink.

Make Up Monday

Another Monday in a vast sea of Mondays and more Wisteria in a vast sea of wisteria.

And now that I said that, there isn't any actual wisteria on this card.  That's just how I am, folks.

Here's a little taste of some for you here.

And... none here because I'm a tease like that.

And yet again with no wisteria... well, I swear that the name of the kit these cards were made with.

The Fine Print: Embossing folder by Cuttlebug, list of words stamp by A Muse Artstamp, flower, circle, and large butterfly punches by EK Success, small butterfly punch by Martha Stewart, purple bling by Hero Arts, all other stamps and supplies by Club Scrap.

From the Garden

The other day I made a couple of cards for Darnell's Never Before Used Stuff challenge (which is still going on if you want to join).  The cards came from a workshop kit a friend passed my way.  It was to make a gift bag and several gift cards.  Given that the theme was for babies and pastels, there is no telling why I wanted to be included in the workshop since I don't do babies and I don't do pastels... well, not very often.  Just this past week I was pinching baby toes and offering to eat them up (baby toes are good eating) and occasionally I've done things with sad washed out colors (also known as pastels).

This card was to be a 3"x3" gift card, which you can see in the center.  I added some more layers to it to round it out to an A2 sized card.  The original pink flower was pretty tattered so I substituted for random  fancy flower from my stash.  

Next was supposed to be one small rectangular gift card the size of the green piece in the background.  I chopped that up for a background to make a 4-bar note card. The first card is pretty much how the directions called for.  I did change out their butterfly for a punched one.  They had us fashioning one out of cut up paper flowers but I thought it looked too distracting.  For the second card I raided my stash of snippets to bring it to life.

After that I just used the concept of the next gift card to make these note cards.  They had one cut up paper flower with a baby peeking out of it and I opted to layer lusher flowers and tuck the baby in.

I still have some pieces left to make some more gift tags and the gift box. I'm sure I'll use their suggestions as a starting point, but I know I won't be making what they suggest.  Since I thought outside the kit and used some of my own snippets I'm going to join in at Pixie's Snippet Playground.

The Fine Print: Twine, Buttons and Stamps used by Close to My Heart "Color my World" and "Flower Child."  Other supplies used: Martha Stewart Butterfly punch (the one with 3 butterflies on it), bling by Hero Arts, leafy designer paper by unknown, and fancy flowers not by Prima, pink & white striped ribbon from my stash.  Now a couple of you go have baby girls so I have someone to send those last two cards to!

Seriously, Take the Sunshine

I made this card at a workshop a couple months ago but didn't finish it.  There were some more chipboard elements to glue on and I didn't much care for the color sentiment was stamped in so I hadn't tacked it down.  I found it on my desk today so thought I should finish it off and call her done.

I left off the extra chipboard pieces and did a similar sentiment stamped in black and edged in pink.  I think I'll add some bling to either edge of the sentiment piece now that I think of it.  If I could package it up and send it I'd definitely send you some of our sunshine.  Now I love the sunshine and am a big fan of vitamin D, but a little less heat and sun would make this desert lizard happy.  Just for day, mind you.

The Fine Print: Sentiment by DeNami Designs, card base, papers, and chipboard by Close to My Heart.

Happy Happy!

Happy Friday the 13th to you!

Happy Full Moon to you!

Happiness is embracing your inner psycopath!

May you be happy today!

Check out this happy mouse.  He is going to win first prize with this crazy daisy who grew big, tall, and strong.  It's a happy day for Mr. Mouse.

Here's a happy party cat.  He's planning to go to a big catnip party tonight and howl at the moon.  He's going to live it up.  It's a happy day for Party Cat.

It's a happy day for me too.  I don't have a crazy daisy or some 'nip to credit for it, but it is a happy day nonetheless.  I'm pleased with myself for using some more of these gingham card blanks I've had in my stash for a coon's age (that's a really long time as we're talking about a clean-living coon here).

The Fine Print: Top Card-stamp by Great Impressions, ornate corners by Cuttlebug/Provo Craft, "scallops" by Stampin' Up (really punched circles), and paper flowers by Prima.  Bottom card-stamp by Lost Coast Designs, colored with Copics, paper flowers by Prima.  Yes, the cat has a medical catnip license, what do you think?!!

NBUS Challenge!

Woot!  My bestie Darnell is hosting a challenge for Never Been Used Stuff.  I'm not sure that she's going to get any participation though because none of us have crafty things lying around the house that we haven't used before!  Amiright?!  I say for the sake of humoring her, we'll "pretend" we have stuff we haven't used before, okay?

We'll pretend that I found a kit from 2008 that had papers, stamps, and directions in to make gift cards and bags that I never used before.  We don't have to pretend that I made full-sized cards instead of gift cards because that was reality and here are my cards!

You can check out and join in Darnell's NBUS Challenge #1 right HERE.  The theme is anything goes with an emphasis on friendship.  The friendship portion of my cards is that both of these are already in the mail being sent to crafty friends.  There is also an unseen friendship element to these cards in that this kit came with two stamp sets in it and I lent one to a friend the night I opened the kit.  Amazingly, all these years later I remembered who it was and she still had it.  She knew it was borrowed but didn't remember from who, so how exciting that I can get that back to finish off the rest of the cards and gift bags (although I'll probably make cards with supplies instead of bags).

I want to give an extra shout out to Darnell for hosting this challenge and getting us to use our mythical never before used stuff.  This is a great motivator!!

The Fine Print: Stamps by Close to My Heart (Color My World), striped embossing folder by Cuttlebug, big dot embossing folder by CTMH, butterfly punch by Martha, glitter glue by Stickles and Tim Holtz, bling from my stash, and inks by Memento.

Make Up Monday: The Ho-Hum Version

I guess that was all just a weird hallucination that I posted something to my blog this past weekend.  What a ridiculous hallucination!  It's like the time I dreamed my arm itched....

 ...yes, it is true. I am so boring that the best I could dream up was an itch on my arm.  Which maybe was real or maybe not real...

...all I know is I kept scratching and scratching and it wasn't feeling any better.  That was in my dream.

But apparently it was in real life too, because when I woke up my arm was scratched all raw.  Oops.  And that's my dull story of my dull dream to go with my ho-hum hallucination.  It's a living.

The Fine Print: Cards made with left-over bits from the Club Scrap kit "Natural Resources."  Stuff not Club Scrap is: Top card greeting by unknown; 2nd card twine and scallop die by A Muse Studio; 3rd card leaf by PSX, pearls by A Muse Studio, and designer paper from my stash; 4th card botanical stamp by A Muse Studio and dragonfly brad by Recollections.

Fiesta Friday!

Hola amigos y amigas!! Guess what I've got for you today? No, not fabulous cash and prizes, sorry, but I do have a sneak peek of some fun things coming out of the new A Muse Studio catalog that goes live July 1.

This fun southwestern set is a blast from the past, revitalizing some of A Muse's old wood mounted stamps.  I've always loved this mini pinata llama stamp and now it is in cling as part of a fun stamp set called "Hola Amigo."  It also has a mariachi man, a Mexican hat, a skinny saguaro cactus, and a margarita along with some great sayings.

The mini banners are from another new set called "Fiesta."  The banner stamps have matching dies and there are more fun greetings in the set.  A Muse is going to have some scrumptious new colors coming out in papers, buttons, inks, and their splash spray.  I can't wait to see what other great things the new catalog will have.  It's so exciting!

The Fine Print: All products except the inks (Memento) by A Muse Studio, stamp sets used-"Hola Amigo" and "Fiesta," dies used-"Fiesta," cardstock used-mermaid chevron print, habanero (new color!), and sugar.

Stripy Hello

So here's me making a card with the same leftover stuff that is out on my desk.  Nope, I still didn't get through it all but I am definitely liking the addition of random background papers.  Which you might think would inspire me into making more cards...

...but no!  Instead I got this brilliant idea of taking all the stuff out of the multi-drawered Iris cart next to my desk and reorganizing it in a more useful fashion.  It didn't take long for me to get bored with that idea, like right after I emptied a couple of drawers. So now I've got piles of things that were formerly in the Iris cart on my desk along with the leftover card kit pieces.  I think I'll go read a book.

The Fine Print: Card base and the two yellow layers by Club Scrap "Solstice," purple designer paper by unknown (a friend gave me a nice selection of random 6x6 paper including this), ribbon by DeNami, and sequins by A Muse Studio.

Blue 'n Yella

I had this brilliant idea that I would take the leftover bits from the Solstice kit box and use it all up, like in one fell swoop, just get it done and over with.

However, the reality is I made these three cards and decided I was bored with that idea.  Probably those bits and pieces will have to sit on my desk for another six months before I use them up.  How tedious!

The Fine Print: Most things by Club Scrap "Solstice" kit except for designer floral paper by DCWV, paper flower by Prima, yellow cord by Recollections, and iridescent sequins (my new exciting purchase from Michael's!).  I really hope it doesn't take me six months but I think my git up 'n go might have done got up 'n went.

Rain, Rain, Come Today

I've been a really good kid today.  I think I should be rewarded with some nice rain.

Of course in this weather it would just turn to steam and burn the heck out of everybody so maybe that is a bad idea.  Darn you, Mother Nature!

The Fine Print: Stamps, ribbon and button by DeNami Designs. Hotter than hell weather by Mother Nature.

Make Up Monday

I have it on good authority that today is Monday again.  That means it is time for Make Up Monday, when I show you cards that have been languishing in my pending file.  These ones actually haven't been languishing in the file for long.

They have been languishing in a box for really time though.  I didn't remember making them and then leaving them in their box.  Usually I make cards and pull them out to use, but apparently sometimes I don't.

There were also a lot of bits and pieces in the box so maybe I just left the whole kit and caboodle in there with the idea of getting back to it shortly.

Since I've found these I've now pulled them out and used them.  It only seems right since they've waited so long to see the light of day.

The Fine Print: card stuff, stamps, supplies, greetings, etc. by Club Scrap "Solstice" kit with the except of the paper flower and brad from my stash 'o goodies.