thinking of you

Cristina wowed me again with this adorable burlap butterfly card.  I did my best to recreate it.  Fortunately, amuse|studio has a 3 sizes of butterfly dies, so I didn't have to hand cut my little butterfly.

stamp: Memory Box "thinking of you"

ink: VersaFine onyx black

other: A Muse butterfly die cut, burlap

happy birthday

This is another old card I came across.  It was a Savvy sample card at Impress, that I copied.

celebrate today

I was intrigued by the Make It Monday #56  from Papertrey Ink.  The challenge is to use a partially die cut image.  I don't own any chipboard, so I had a hard time creating the right thickness to keep the one side from cutting, but it was fun to play with a die cut in a different way.

stamp: Papertrey Ink mat stack 4 & "celebrate today"
ink: A Muse slate; VersaFine onyx black
other: buttons, twine, mat stack 4 die cut, circle punch

hello sunshine

I found this white card front in a stash of half-started projects.  All I had to do was add a sentiment, some Stickles, and affix it to a card.  It reminded me of Staples.  That was easy.

stamp: Papertrey Ink flowers & "hello sunshine"

ink: VersaFine onyx black, A Muse shell & grass

other: Stickles cotton candy, Copic multi-liner .05

{flower vase}

So in cleaning up my giant mess, I came across cards that I had been saving for ideas and inspiration.  I figured that I would blog them, that way they'll be stored for me and I don't have to have a giant shoe box in my clean new space! 


Here's the first of many.  My friend Theresa made me this card after I had my first daughter.  I first met Theresa when I was working at Impress in Tukwila.  She's now one of the main cogs of Memory Box.  She is über talented!! You can't see, but on this card she used glitter with the Diamond Glaze to give it something more.  She colored the flowers and stems with either Radiant Pearls or Twinkling H2O's.

just a note

Now that my desk is clean, I was ready to start creating.  Unfortunately, no ideas were coming.  So I checked out my card ideas board on Pinterest.  This adorable card by Cristina Kowalczyk looked easy enough to start with.  I like her colors better than mine, but it's still a fun, simple card.

stamps: Papertrey Ink flowers & "just a note"

ink: A Muse sage, blush, & apricot

papertrey february blog hop

Let me start of by saying, my cards are never interactive and I never take them to the next level.  If anything, I bring them down a notch (or two) and go for über simple.  Needless to say, this Papertrey Ink Challenge was challenging for me.  

My dear friend Linda Barker, taught me this card trick and it's easy and fun.  With a few simple folds of plain copy paper, you can make your cards pop!  Then in true Linda fashion, she taught me to use decorative scissors and a hole punch for a lacey look.

{Apologies for the horrible photos.  It was late, dark, and there was poor lighting with a poor photographer (me)}.

front

opening

completely open

stamp: Papertrey Ink flowers, "just for you", & "missing you"

ink: A Muse french roast

other: scalloped scissors, circle punch, square punch, Papertrey die cuts

craft space clean up

My sweet husband wanted to help clean up our office/my craft area and make it more cohesive.  He bought two table for the office space and one for my craft space plus he gave me his old office desk.  I had lots of surfaces to work on.  We undid and redid the room in a weekend.  But of course I didn't do any cleaning up or purging.  I just moved stuff from one spot to another.

Then came the holidays. I pumped out a bunch of cards to sell.  I didn't clean up my stuff.  Then I made some Christmas cards and tags.  And didn't clean up.  Then I made my youngest daughter's birthday invitations.  And didn't clean up.  Needless to say, my area was A DUMP.  It's hard to make cards when there is no where to work.  Over the long weekend, I made it my mission to not have that space look like an  episode of Hoarders.

Warning these photos make me cringe.

before

after

close up of my work desk

ready to be creative

my side table

this makes me happy

Now you know why I haven't been making any cards lately.  {Not that I'm guaranteeing mass production now that it's clean.}

kid & teacher valentines

Thanks to Pinterest, the kids and I got some fun ideas for this Valentine's Day.

preschool directors, preschool teachers, & student valentines

the valentines my son picked to give
(Glow in the Dark bouncy ball with a note he wrote on back)

the valentines my daughter picked to give
(chocolate coins with student pictures on back)

a Hershey kiss & Rolo pencil for the preschool directors

happy valentine's day

Carol created this cute number.  I just love that little robot and who can resist heart balloons?

I'm not sure on who makes the stamps or what inks we used for this.  I was having too much fun creating.

{heart flowers}

We made this in our mother-daughter's card group as well.  Super simple and fun, plus more punched hearts from cheap velvet ribbon!

stamp: Impress stem pattern

ink: (I can't remember)

other: heart punch, velvet ribbon

you are one of a kind!

I couldn't throw away the chevron scrap from this card, to I adhered it to a pale pink card and made this little valentine.  The best is that the chevron is on the back too!

stamp: A Muse gumball machine & "you're one of a kind!"

ink: Impress jet black

other: red marker

eye heart u

I thought this was cheesey and cute.  Not to mention super easy to make.

stamp: (small alphabet set, sold at Impress?)

ink: Impress jet black

other: heart punch, velvet ribbon, googly eye, circle punch

{seattle love}

We adore this card that we stole from Impress.  Another great card to send from Seattle or to our other Seattle  valentines.  The best part is that this is one wood block stamp with two great images (the Space Needle and the heart burst)!

stamp: Impress space needle & heart

ink: Impress jet black; VersaColor rose red

other: diamond Stickles

will you be my valentine?

Another fun Valentine card that's great for my fellow Seattle-ites.

stamp: A Muse cloud; Savvy or Impress (I think?) "will you be my valentine?"

ink: Impress jet black

other: white iridescent string; heart punch

{robot love}

Our moms and daughters stamp group got together at the end of January for our Valentine's Night.  Our hostesses, Carol and Kelli, wowed us once again with fun games, a delicious dinner, and beautiful cards.  I just adore our great group of women!!

I'm not sure where this stamp is from.  I tried to "google" him, but no luck (or I didn't try hard enough).  The heart was simply punched out of that cheap, fuzzy holiday ribbon.  I was surprised at how easily it can be punched!

Sorry for the lack of card details and for being so sporadic with my posts.  Thanks for stopping by!

winner

Using random.org, the winner of the felt hearts is #5 Kelly Spivey!  Congratulations!!

Email me your mailing address and I'll get those felt hearts out to you.

studio stampers blog hop

If you are participating in the blog hop, you should have come from Lianna Vigil's blog and if not, then you can start at Karen Crisp's blog and hop until you come to my blog.


I'm not the self-proclaimed "copying queen" for nothing.  Layouts and color combinations don't come easily to this brain.  That's why I love reading blogs and checking out Pinterest.  I was able to make two valentine cards that I stole from some very creative ladies for our studio stampers blog hop.


The first card is an adorable clean and simple card by the extremely talented Cristina.  My card is a complete joke next to hers, but you get the idea.

I stole the next card from Krystie Hersch.  I just love the tree and felt heart combo and wanted to "reuse" for Valentine's Day.  Krystie has an amazing eye for color.  Mine looks a tad christmasy.  I wish I did the tree in french roast.

What is the best Valentine gift you have ever given or received?
Contest is closed.
Leave a comment telling me about the gift by January 15th and you'll be entered to win a set of nine A Muse studio felt hearts (3 of each size) to play with.

i {heart} u

stamp: A Muse heart, & "i <3 you"
ink: A Muse cherry, orange, buttercup, grass, & ocean
other: twine




hello
stamp: A Muse tree & "hello"
ink: A Muse cherry & grass
other: A Muse heart die cut, tag, random ribbon i had





We hope you enjoyed the hop and found some inspiration!!
Complete list:

Karen Crisp

Kristen Watson 

Angela Schellenberg

Lianna Vigil

Kari Bell <-------you are here

thank you

Papertrey's Blog Hop challenge this month (thanks for getting me crafting again) is called "Holidays Leftovers".  My leftovers include tags, mini chevron envelopes, and ribbon from wrapping presents.  I made a little holiday thank you card, just one of the many I need to use for all the amazing gifts my family and I received.

stamp: Papertrey Ink wreath pieces & "thank you"

ink: A Muse grass, french roast, & cherry

other: A Muse die cut

a|s retiring stamp sets

In preparing for the new a muse studio catalog (in January), there are some sets that a|s will be retiring.  If you are at all interested in buying these stamps sets, now is the time.  They are limited to the stock on hand.  When they are gone, they are gone!  You can place an order here.