Sanding

People like to dry emboss backgrounds and then sand  them so the core shows though.  It gets the dry embossed image to really pop.

I did it here and really makes the background look like old bricks or worn cobblestone  I'm not a big fan of sanding though.  I swear I always feel as though I've coated my body and desk in grit afterward.  Don't hold your breath expected me to invest a lot of money into scenic embossing folders.  I'll let those other people do it.

The Fine Print: Embossing folder by Darice, Medallion 5 by Spellbinders and ribbon by DeNami Designs.

Painting with Splash

I finally did it! I finally tried painting with the Splash spray that A Muse Studio sells (which is probably similar to all those other sprays on the market).  A|S consultants have been sharing their masterpieces painted with Splash for quite awhile, but no one really gave any how-to's on how to go about doing it.  I'm not really into experimenting.

I just want to know how it is done so I can get down to the business of doing it.  I know Splash it messy business and that put the kibosh on any experimentation as well.  Finally I thought what the heck and did it.  I heat embossed a feather and then water colored it with Splash.

Okay, I'll even give you my how-to's even if it isn't right; it is what I did and it seems to have worked fine.  I shook up the Splash spray to mix it, then I unscrewed and removed the top.  I dabbed the tube that leads up to the spray nozzle onto a plastic palette so it left a small puddle of Splash spray.  I then took a mister bottle and misted the puddle.  Then I sopped it up with a paint brush and painted with it.  Easy peasy and not messy.  I rinsed off the palette in the sink before switching colors.

The Fine Print: All products by A Muse Studio.  Stamps--Fine Feathers, Haunted Mansion Background and Best Friends Forever; cardstock--mermaid and sugar; other products--mermaid and papaya Splash and gold washi from the metallic assosrtment.

One for the Road

I am going to close out this Thanksgiving season with one last Thanksgiving card.  I don't believe I shared this with you already, but if I did you can just look at this as more leftovers.... just like the mounds of turkey and ham you have in your fridge right now.

The Fine Print:  All products by A Muse Studio.  Stamps--Give Thanks Girl, Let us Be Thankful, and Redwood Background; cardstock--eucalyptus, pumpkin, orange, papaya, and sugar; other products--mysterious manor designer paper, antique brass brad, and hey foxy leaf dies.

Giving Thanks

Today is the day to be thankful for the things that make life worth living like food, shelter, food, freedom, food, leisure time, food, health, food, folding money, food, and people and pets to share it all with.  And no, kitties, that doesn't mean you can eat my dinner.

The Fine Print:Stamp by Impression Obsession, designer paper by DCWV, foil leaf stamp from the party store because nothing says party like foil leaves.  And food, don't forget the food. And to my snarky contingent, sorry I didn't share the story of Suppose you Cooked a Thanksgiving Dinner and Nobody Came.
 

Sketch Card

My big stamp club did a sketch card for our card exchange last month.  You know sketch challenges were a hot commodity for awhile there and might even still be.  It was surprising how many ladies never heard of one before and wanted dimensions and ideas.

Many were adventurous and willing to try it out.  Unfortunately I can't find my copy of the sketch to share with you but I think you can pretty much figure out what it looked like by my card.... except tilt it to the left.

Yeah, that's what it looked like.  Only that direction didn't work for me. I don't remember if I stamped a greeting on the inside or not but probably because my stamp club tends to get persnickety if you don't stamp.  They've never threatened to show me the door though so I suppose all is well.

The Fine Print: Designer papers and card base by DCWV, leaf from my stash but taken off a leaf centerpiece from the craft store (like I purchased it to dismantle it, not that I pinched some from the store!), glitter brad from my stash, and French Roast twine by A Muse Studio.

Imagination

Sometimes it is good to get from A to Z, but mostly I just want to get from here to there.  I guess I need more imagination.  Definitely, wherever it is I'm going, I need my glasses!

The Fine Print:  All products by A Muse Studio except chalk from my stash.  Stamps--Geek is the New Chic and World Map; cardstock--French Roast and Vanilla; other products--French Roast twill ribbon.

Make Up Monday

I know my Make Up Monday posts all seem to be Club Scrap but that is because that's the stuff I stash all over the place and discover later.  It is like Christmas only better because I didn't have to buy anything for anyone and plan family activities.

This time I went searching for some fall colored cardstock and accessories for a project I was working on.  Instead I found a box with some cards already made and a few that just needed assembling.

 It was bada bing, bada boom, instant cards!

 Of course, I did get distracted along the way and forgot about my original project...

...which I then stashed in the Club Scrap box to be discovered at a  later date. 

The Fine Print: Most everything by Club Scrap except the chevron stamp in the background of card #2 which is by A Muse Studio.

The Time is Now

I don't think I shared this card with you before and it has been languishing away in the pending file since last month.  It's almost one layer and very CAS which makes it a different card than I usually make.  I was really pleased with it though.

The layers of washi tape are to prove I do actually do more than hoard it.  I actually use washi almost every time I send out a card or letter as I "seal" the envelope with several strips of coordinating tape.

The Fine Print:  Stamp by Stampin' Up, dies by Spellbinder (the square was corner rounded), and washi by Doodlebug.  BTW, you want to know how to remember who makes the washi after you take it out of its package?  You write it on the inside of the roll in Sharpie.  You're welcome!

Life's a Hoot

Have y'all missed me?  I've missed me.  I have felt sub par lately but now I have antibiotics, pain pills, and a whole new outlook on life. Woo hoo!  Or should that be woo-hoot!?

The Fine Print:  All products by A Muse Studio. Stamps--Fall in the Forest and You're Too Kind; cardstock--Papaya, French Roast Woodgrain, and Sugar; other supplies--Fern grograin stitched ribbon and paper pierced.

Oops!

So there is this one lady I often end up in crafting groups with and she cracks me up.  At every gathering she'll be like, "Oops! I forgot my adhesive." Or, "Oh, I forgot my scissors."  Every gathering she forgets some major component of paper crafting.  We've all been there and all done that but not every single time.

The funny part is she'll always follow up her "Oops" with, "I didn't realize we needed that."  I truly don't think she is making a joke or being ironic, which is silly because if you are a paper crafter then how can you not realize you need scissors, adhesive, or a bone folder.  I'm betting if she ever held a workshop she'd forget the paper.

Anyway, she's a good pal so we all forgive her and share our tools.  After all, paper crafters are good people.

Oops. I  forgot to put any stamping on this card.

Star Light, Star Bright

I wish I may, I wish I might...

...have a whole bunch of wishes.  Because then I would wish for warmer weather (this lizard is not amused), healthy cats (how much ear infection can one poor kitty put up with), magically happy teeth (no more rotten roots that ache all the way to my eyeball),  and a nap (kind of self explanatory, dontcha think?).  See! I'm not even excessive with my wishes.  Well, that dental one is probably way outta line.  *sigh*

The Fine Print: Star border die by Memory Box, two connected stars cut from Taylored Expressions star border die, single stars, greeting, silver cording, and star jewels from A Muse Studio.

Merriest this Christmas

This is the last of the quickie copied cards I made for my sample box. I liked this one so much that I decided we would make it at our workshop.

It is slightly modified from the original which was a one layer card.  I wanted more color to it so I added a colored card base and more snowflakes.

The Fine Print: All products by A Muse Studio.  Stamps--Wishing You the Merriest and Snowflakes; cardstock-sage, sugar, and wasabi petite pinstripe; inks--winter sky, sage, and cherry; other products--lime chevron ribbon, labels 8 die cut, and cherry buttons.

Christmas Blackboard

This is another quickie CASE card that I made when I was trying to fill up my sample box for an upcoming workshop.  I liked the blackboard look to it and the use of black and red (so non-traditional!).

I don't usually like the backboard look because it often is made with a shadow of itself on it and to me that just looks like you are drunk and can't focus.  That's not Christmasy.... or not in my family.  But now that I think of it that might have improved things!

The Fine Print:  All products by A Muse Studio.  Stamps--Very Merry and Mini Blooms; cardstock--kraft, onxy, cherry chevron, and sugar; other supplies--mini blooms matching dies, cherry sheer ribbon, and sugar embossing powder (holy shit! I embossed!)

Christmas Branches

I drafted several posts but failed to schedule times for them to appear.... whoopsie!

This is a CASE card I made when I needed a Christmas sample ASAP.  The ornaments have been glittered like a fiend, but you couldn't tell that by this scan.  There are several pieces of bling nestled in the tree branches as well and if you look hard you can see them.

The Fine Print: All Products by A Muse Studio.  Stamps--Handdrawn Trimmings; cardstock--winter sky and sugar; other supplies--Spica glitter pen, clear and blue twinkle stickers.

Workdesk #284

Hi doods! I'm Dio here to share workdesk Wednesday wif you all and be nosy and wook at desks all days long.  Julia is hosting number 284 for us today.  My mom tooked terrible piktures today, except for mine cuz it is hard to get a bad foto of Dio! My mom cood do it though!

The desk is boring though becuz mom pikked it up again. It is becuz she coodn't fink of any playing to do and there woz tape on it and my sister Cindy tried to eat it all up.  Dat's so weird.  So mom tooked a foto of the table too cuz it haz stuff on it.

 

Dis is some fings my mom wants to work on. She gots sum scarey crow doods and a die cut fing that cuts and folds so yew need dubble sided papers for it.  By the ways, I had to hold the scarey crow doods down so they woodn't excape!

 Dis is a card my mom maded for a swap and there had to be a tag on it.  Not a price tag! But if it had a price tag I wood say sell it for a hundered million dollars!  And then gibe sum to me! And mebbe buy my dad a new mote control.  Hiz is broked. I dint do it.

The Fine Print: Mom sez sorwy, she try to make a messes for next week.  All the stuffs on the card are by A Mews Studio except the brown inks wot is made by sum dood named Tim. I guess yew all no him bery well. I neber met him.  Love, Dio xx (that's kisses not a beer).

Fall Leaf

Look!  It is a fall leaf caught in the act of changing colors:

BTW, someone needs to invent a die for that leaf otherwise that might be too much fussy cutting for this fussy lady, I mean uh.... this fussy cutting lady.  Yeah, that's it.

The Fine Print: It's all by A Muse Studio.  If you don't see me around much it is because my computer caught Ebola and had to go into quarantine at the computer hospital.  Ta-ta for now!

Merry Merry

I hate to do this to you...  Hell, I hate to do this to me, but it is what it is.  Yes, it is Christmas card making time if you haven't already done so.  I made this card using grass green because it seemed like a good idea at the time.

But then I got a better idea and went for evergreen green and I made this one instead.  This second one made me happier. Who knew that evergreen green would be the better choice for evergreen trees??!!!

The Fine Print: All products by A Muse Studio.  Stamps--Bottle Brush Forest; cardstock--cherry, wasabi petite pinstripe, grass green evergreen green, and sugar; inks--grass green, cocoa brown, evergreen green; other producsts--Nestabilities square and scallop square, merry die, glue pen and diamond glitter.

Whatever Floats Your Boat

Somewhere tucked among all the Halloween cards, fall swaps, Thanksgiving stuff and earth tone colors, this card came to be. That's because I had to tie something up with twine (or use it in some fashion) on my card and everyone else had already done fall, H'ween or earth tones.  I had to march to the beat of my own trombonist.

Although I didn't really.  This card is a CASE job with a couple of minor modifications.  It really floats my boat. I hope it floats yours, or at least doesn't sink yours.

The Fine Print: All products by A Muse Studio. Stamps-You're a Lifesaver; cardstock-navy, cherry, navy petite pinstripe, cherry polka dot, ocean and sugar; other products-You're a Lifesaver matching dies, wood window dies, scallop circle border, circle dies, and navy baker's cording.

Leafy Goodness

Taking a cue from another A Muse consultant's card I made this autumn card, which has two versions.  One is (*gasp*) fussy cut and the other isn't.  I tried it out with my small stamp club and asked which version they preferred.  It turns out that they preferred having a choice.

It is six of one, half a dozen of the other for workshop prep, so I am leaving it as is and letting people chose how they want to do it.  There are pros and cons to each.

This version is the non-fussy cut version.  I highlighted around one edge of every leaf to give it the illusion of depth.  That works good, but since I'm a fussy cuttin' fool, I like that version better.

The Fine Print: All products by A Muse Studio.  Stamps--Hello Fall and Essential Sentiments II; cardstorck--cherry woodgrain and sugar, other supplies--French Roast twine, lime and orange sequins, and Copic markers a'plenty.

Peep Hole Card

I had a workshop group make this card last month.  A Muse cardstock is colored on one side and white on the other--great for dark colored cards because you can still write on the inside.  That feature means if you turn a card inside out it is (wait for it...) white on the outside and colored on the inside.  Then you can cover up that white front with another piece if you so chose.   And we chosed! Then we added a peep hole to the inside!

That chevron ribbon drives me crazy.  I never know what to do with it since it is so tricky on the eye, but I like it tried up here even though it hangs out next to a bunch of wobbly woodgrain lines.

I was totally pleased with this card and used it for an A Muse consultant swap as well.  The inside greeting says "Hello, Friend."

The Fine Print: All products by A Muse Studio.  Stamps--Fall in the Forest; cardstock--orange, French Roast woodgrain, onyx, and sugar; other supplies--Spellbinders circle dies, Fall in the Forest matching dies, and orange chevron ribbon.  I think this photo is a bit hard on the eyes.  My camera is less than friendly these days.  Or maybe it is the lighting.

A Flip but no Flop

The other day I cleaned out some mysterious corners of my crafting area and came across some fun dies that I forgot I had.  So of course I had to play with them!

I learned how to make flip flop cards back in the day when you had to use a ruler and an Exacto Knife.  Believe me they are much easier nowadays and you can get fun shapes as well.

I felt the flippy floppiness of this card should be the focal point so I didn't put much else on it than a few embellishments and stamped images.  I really liked how it came out.

The Fine Print: Flip Flop Die by The Stamp Doctor, stamps by Stampin' Up, felt leaves from Joann's Craft store, and papers from DCWV.  BTW, I was thinking this style would make great Christmas cards because there is no room to write so no one would expect it of you!

Wonky Workdesk Wednesday

I'm joining in sharing my desk for Workdesk #283 rather late today because it has been one of those days. You know, one of those it-is-almost-the-full-moon-so-let's-all-act-uncivilized days and I seem to be in the middle of it all.  Anyway.... the desk, disappointingly clean and ready for action.

It has fun things on it though like these wonderful dies which came about because a friend asked me if I had any Thanksgiving or fall dies and I said no.  Later I remembered that I had a Sizzix turkey.  Anyway, I decided to fix that lack with these:

Then there is this cute little basket filled with wonderful wild and wacky washi tape.  I like that it slides right under the desk overhang so that certain naughty evil kitties who like to eat tape can't get to it. 

That's all I got for you.  It's taken me a long time to write this post because the moon is a loon and so is everyone around here.  Especially me.  When the boss called I told him I had fired myself but he said that didn't mean I could leave. *sigh*

The Fine Print: Dio wants it known that he is not evil, nor naughty and does not like to eat tape. And he wants you to know that the scarecrow die is by Frantic Stamper and isn't actually in our possession yet but we do have this fine die cut to tide us through until the post office dude brings it to us.  And actually most days that dude is a lady.

Bad Ass Cat Post by a Bad Ass Cat

So it wooks wike if I don't rite a blog post my mom neber will.  So I'm Dio.

My mom tooked me to the doktor on Fridays.  She sed, "Doktor, look in that's cat's ear."  I said, "No way! Do not wook in the Dio ear!" and I hissed and I hissed and I hissed.  Then the doktor gabe me some medicines that made me falls asleep.  Wen I woz sleeping he did a opperashion on bof my ears! At the same times!  Welp maybe not the same times. I'm not shure. I woz sleeping.

Den my mom sed a silly fing.  She sed ebery time we go to the doktor it costeds so much monies! So I say we shoodn't go there eny more.  Dat's easy enuff.  Den we can save monies to buy crunchie treats.

Here's a pickture of a bad ass cat. I'll bet nobodie messes with his ears!

The Fine Print: That's a card made wif a stamp on papers wif eyelets. The only name on the stamp is the lady who used to own it.

Ruminations...

And not the kind a cow does.

I've had this crafty friend who I've known for many years now.  She was a lot like me, worked full time, had a family (hers are hubby and kids, mine is hubby and cats) and had lots of other things going on that limited her crafty time.  Like me she collected all sorts of stamps from all sorts of companies and all the inks, papers, supplies and embellishments that a girl could possibly need, along with all the latest and greatest tools and techniques.

A few years back she started selling one of those home party companies. For the longest time she continued on with her buying of various random companies along with the brand she sold.  But then she started slowing down on buying those "outside" companies.  She noticed that she didn't have the time to devote to using products from both her brand and other companies.  Then she started selling off some of her older off brand merchandise, realizing she'd never have time or space for it.

The one day in a big fell swoop she went through her craft room and got rid of almost everything that wasn't the brand she sold. That included not only the stamps, but the inks, papers, and embellishments as well.  She did keep a few of her old favorite stamps and stamp sets; the ones she'd pull out to use from time to time when she wanted to make something that wasn't from the brand she sold.

I was with her right until that last step.  It seemed so final and so concrete and I'm the queen of downsizing.  I wondered if "some day" when she had more time (you know, that magic some day we all keep waiting for) she would regret ditching it all and only owning that one company.

She doesn't.  She is retired now,  the kids are grown enough, and she has all that time and she is as pleased as punch with owning basically just the one company.  Oh sure, she occasionally buys a stamp or an embellishment from *gasp* someone else, but mostly it is just her company.

I'm starting to get it now that I'm selling A Muse Studio. I don't look through all my stacks, stashes, and piles of random cardstock--I go to the A Muse drawer and pull out what I need.  When I need a stamp, my brain first thinks of A Muse since I look through the catalog so often and point out pluses to other people.  When I think embellishments I think of bling, pearls, ribbon or washi all in A Muse colors and styles.  It's like I forget the other stuff exists.  As you can see on my blog I've turned away from a|s lately to use other companies but that's because I made a conscious decision to not use A Muse so much.  And that's not gonna last because I have samples to make!

The Fine Print: Top card stamps by Stampin' Up and bottom card stamp by Magenta, background papers by DCWV, flowers and ribbon from my stash, but the antique brass brads are A Muse because I "forgot" I own all sorts of brads but other people.  Don't be looking for me to get rid of everything I own that isn't A Muse though. Not yet anyway!