thank you

One of my fellow teachers, Linda Barker, makes beautiful and intricate cards.  She teaches the calligraphy classes and the Halloween classes at Impress (and probably a few more I don't know about).  In fact, Linda has such a following of people who take her Halloween class every year that she has to buy new stamps to keep the variety up (because of it, no one has a bigger collection of Halloween stamps)!  

Our moms and daughters stamp group hired her out to teach a class for us.  I came across this old picture of a card we made.  That polka dot paper was so amazing.  It was a fuzzy velvet, but thin enough to punch out. The light pink paper were actually card fronts that Dave used to sell at Memory Box, but he no longer carries. You can easily make your own with a large circle punch though.

stamp: Impress "thank you"

ink: VersaFine onyx black

other: flower punches in 2 sizes, brad, circle punch

moxie fab & a|s

Cath over at Moxie Fab has given amuse|studio her "stamp of approval" and is giving away five (yes, FIVE) stamp sets.  Just leave a comment over there by Sunday, April 17th at midnight EST and then check back to see if you won.

I personally just bought the Clever Girls set.  If you don't win, you can still buy the fun stamps here.

happy happy birthday

Switching it up today and using my Papertrey Ink goodies to create.

stamp: Papertrey Ink flower, background type, squiggle frame, & "happy happy birthday"
ink: Papertrey Ink ocean tides, VersaFine onyx black
other: Papertrey felt, Papertrey die cuts, Memory Box jewel stickers

i love you

I am mortified.  I completely copied this card.  No variation, no change of color.  Exact.  And I lost the information about who created this lovely card.  It's too cute not to share (if it's yours, let me know and I'll give you the credit you deserve).  Aaack.  How did I do that?!

stamp: A Muse heart, background dots, & "i love you"
ink: A Muse grass, VersaFine onyx black

happy birthday to you

I stole this card from Lindsay Spencer and switched it up and used some blue tones.

stamp: A Muse "happy birthday to you"
ink: A Muse sky & ocean
other: pinking scissors; A Muse stitched ribbon sky

thinking of you

Another cute A Muse card that you can make with your starter kit.  This one is from Michelle Mathey.  While it is simple to recreate, it's quite stunning.

stamp: A Muse flower, background dots, & "thinking of you"
ink: A Muse blackberry & sky
other: A Muse twinkle stickers clear, corner punch

prize winner

So I'm a big dork.  I used a random number generator on-line, but I can't figure out how to embed the image onto my blog (it won't let me just right click & "steal" the image).  So you'll have to trust me that #13 is our lucky winner! 
(I know, how rigged does that sound?!)

Princess said...

Seriously...not just one card...but several! Wow, what a treat. I adore all of them. I, too, rarely decorate the inside. But my husband keeps checking...he thinks all cards should have something inside. Really? Who has the time?! =)

Congratulations!  You have one week to claim your prize.  Click the "Email me" button on the right hand side of my blog, give me your name & address, and I'll get those glorious ribbons on their way to you!

For those wanting more prizes, keep you eyes peeled for another A Muse blog hop.  There will definitely be one on May 2nd and maybe more!

welcome, little one

Stephanie Jake posted this card along with her announcement to join the A Muse consultants.  I adore the bright colors on kraft paper.  I don't have the fun dragon (yet), so I changed it to a gender neutral baby card.

stamp: A Muse backgrounds, crib, and "welcome, little one"
ink: A Muse grass, orange, papaya; VersaFine onyx black; Memento tuxedo black
other: Copic markers (YG23, YR04, Y21); corner punch

you're one of my nicest thoughts!

I love this card by Julie Ebersole, but the best part is, is that it's all made from the starter kit stuff!  I don't have any washi tape (pg 84-87, I'm going to start with the spring assortment myself) so I used some gingham paper instead.

stamp: A Muse flowers & "You're one of my nicest thoughts!"
ink: A Muse grass, shell, & bubblegum; VersaFine onyx black
other: square punch (banner edges), flower punch, A Muse twinkle stickers clear

a muse consultants blog hop

Time for another blog hop!  Yesterday's hop involved my A Muse upline "cousins" (if you're here for that and came from Lianne's blog scroll down to the next post).   We are all lucky to have Krystie as our upline lady.

Today's hop includes a variety of A Muse consultants who connected through the online forum.  If you are participating in this blog hop (first of all, congrats because that's a lot of hopping), you should have come from Jeanette's blog and if not, then you should start from the beginning with Samantha's blog until you come to my blog. There are lots of prizes to be won, so leave some comment love!!

Enough nitty gritty.

Do you ever have scraps of adorable paper that you hate to throw away?  Well, here's a reason to start hoarding your scraps (did you need one?).  You can tape them side-by-side to a piece of scrap paper and die cut a beautiful image.  I can't take any credit for this idea though.  I saw it on the cover of a Stampin' Up catalog.  Brilliant!

I also really wanted to play with A Muse's paper flowers.  I'll be honest, I didn't think I'd be a fan of them.  Plain, white, boring, blah.  But you can make them ANY color you want.  To match any paper, ink, copic marker, ribbon, jewel, etc that you want.  I personally used the A Muse ink pads to color mine, but you can also use Copic markers and other mediums as well.  From a girl who loves to "match" colors, I'm sold.  Plus the flowers are thin and you get a bunch in a single pack!

Enough words.  Here's my card

stamp: A Muse "just for you"

ink: A Muse ocean, grass, latte, & french roast

other: Papertrey die cut, A Muse flowers, A Muse twinkle sticker clear

If you are inspired to shop, my webstore is now open!  I have 5 more A Muse cards to share with you here, so start "following" and come on back to see the goodness.

okay, now you're off to Veronica's blog

a muse studio blog hop

If you are joining the blog hop, you should have arrived from Lianne's blog.  If not, you can start all the blog hopping fun at Krystie's blog.  There are a few prizes involved and not too many blog hop stops, so why not?!  (The more blogs you comment on, the better your chances of winning A Muse goodies.)  Even if you don't have time to comment, you'll get to see a variety of A Muse inspired cards.

I got really excited and made three cards!  This first one only utilizes the A Muse stamps (no other A Muse products), but I wanted a shabby chic, rock look.  Do you think I got it?

Next up, I wanted to do a white on white card and stick to only A Muse products.  Plus I wanted to challenge myself to decorate the inside of a card (I usually like to leave the insides completely blank).  What do you do with your card insides?

It's not much, but it's a step in the right direction.

Finally I wanted to make a kid card.  My son will have lots of friends turning five this spring and summer and what five year old doesn't love rocketships?!

I did the inside on this card too.  What do you think?

If you are ready to shop, my webstore is now open!!


Okay, now on to Lisa C's blog.  Thanks so much for stopping by!  I have 6 more A Muse cards to share with you here, so start "following" and come on back to see the goodness.


Wait, one more thing!  Want a little treat?  Leave a comment and you'll be entered to win a prize (a yard of each of the deluxe kit's ribbon [1/4 in. stitched grosgrain in sky, french roast, & lime; 5/8 in. satin ribbon in cherry, orange, and bubblegum] ).  This contest is now closed.



you make life more fun
stamp: A Muse guitar & "you make the road of life more fun"; Memory Box flourish

ink: VersaMagic pixie dust; VersaColor opera pink

other: buttons, twine, Memory Box jewel stickers azalea, Papertrey die cut

happy birthday

stamp: A Muse butterfly, leaf branch, polka dots, & "Happy Birthday"

ink: A Muse ocean & grass

other: A Muse ribbon grass; A Muse twinkle stickers clear

birthday wishes

stamp: A Muse rocket & "birthday wishes"

ink: VersaFine onyx black

other: Papertrey die cut

{blank flower}

I found an old picture of a card I made at a Stampin Up! workshop long ago (I think with my friend, Mandy), so I thought I would post it now while I was showing other Stampin' Up cards.  Do you ever get attached to a card or really like one more than others even though it's not that special?  I feel that way about this one.  There's nothing fancy or hard about it, but I just love it.

It might even be one of those cards I never gave away to anyone, I just continue hoarding it!

all supplies Stampin' Up!

Thanks for stopping by today!  Come back tomorrow, April 1st, at 3 pm PST and check out a blog hop with my A Muse gals!!  There will be several of us in Krystie Hersch's downline putting on an A Muse blog hop!   Krystie was an A Muse teacher and also contributed to the samples in the catalog!  The next day, on April 2nd, I will be participating in another A Muse blog hop with a bunch of consultants.

it's your birthday!

At the Stampin' Up workshop, Pam had an adorable card with circle punches all over it. I was super excited to make it, then I found this great birthday stamp, so I had to create my own "square" version.

We all laughed because while this card was "free form" and the circles (or squares in my case) were randomly on the card, it was much harder to make and have "just right" than any other card.  Isn't the spinner great?

Do you like doing "free form" cards better or straight forward cards?

{blank} gift enclosure

This was a cute little gift enclosure that we made at the Stampin' Up! workshop.  I just love the little rose on the cupcake.

happy birthday

I went to a Stampin' Up! workshop this weekend with Pam Hirschberg.  I had a great time chatting, catching up with friends, and crafting.  We made three cards and had access to Pam's big shot and the Stampin' Up! embossing folders.

This first one started out as a tag, but since I rarely use tags (I just love shipping straight from Amazon to people), I attached it to a card at home.

all Stampin' Up! goodies except the "Happy Birthday" stamp is A Muse and the chai ink is from Papertrey

i can always count on you

I wanted to make a masculine card and tried copying a card I saw on the A Muse gallery (for consultants only), but when I stamped the wrenches to cut them out, I ended up with this scrap and wanted to try a card with the wrenches stamped like this.

stamp: A Muse wrenches, zig-zag, & "I can always count on you when I'm in a tight spot" 

ink: A Muse slate & orange

you rock!

I copied this card from the A Muse gallery.  It's by Rhiannon Christianson and while she didn't blog about the card you can see some other cute cards (and more A Muse cards) here.

stamp: A Muse guitar & "you rock!"

ink: A Muse grass, orange, & ocean

other: Papertrey Ink die cut

thanks

This was not how I envisioned this card, but here it is anyways.

stamp: Papertrey dots, flower, & "thanks"

ink: A Muse ocean; Colorbox parchment; VersaMark

other: Papertrey Ink die cut, white embossing powder, corner punch

thank you kindly

I made this awhile ago, but it is springy and more fitting for this time of year.  I'm hoping for more spring weather too.

stamp: Stampin' Up! flower and outline; Impress "thank you kindly"
ink: ColorBox marigold & orange
other: rhinestones, gingham ribbon

you're the best!

I decide to participate in the Embellish Magazine's Masculine Color Trends Challenge.  It's always a task to come up with those manly cards!

stamp: A Muse wrench, harlequin background, & "you're the best!"

ink: A Muse slate; VersaFine onyx black

other: circle punch, square punch