My "bestest cuz" Selena was in this weekend so while the men watched the kiddos we headed off to Harbor Freight to find some steel stamps. There has to be a better way to add a monogram to a metal blank than hammering it on your back step but until I find that "better way" I guess that is what I am forced to do!
Selena asked me to make a necklace for her friend, Lexi too - I think these turned out pretty good - I'll have to attempt this again soon - Maybe one with an "M" for me??
When I bought this teacups stamp I thought, "A fussy stamp should be on a fussy card." Therefore, lots of coloring, ribbon, pearls, glitter pen, punching, etc. ensued. I like this card a lot but it really isn't me -
Then I decided to try something much less fussy and more graphic. Now this card lives up to its sentiment, "You make me smile" - Fun, quick, easy and much more my kind of card.
Which do you prefer?
What fun - A Paper Bouquet!! There is some fabulous Petallics Shimmer Cream Cardstock included in Serendipity's Blissful Papercrafting Kit that was just ideal to try making some handcrafted flowers.
The small tag, simply stamped (A Muse 9-8064B) and topped with a pretty satin bow (tied with the Bow-Easy) is a great finishing touch!
The big Kusudama flower was a little complicated but well worth the effort - the carnations whipped up in no time flat with a 2" scalloped circle punch (I left off the brad. Just make two and glue them back to back). How about another fun project?!
This is a fun canvas I made with elements of Serendipity's Blissful Papercrafting Kit. Nestabilities were used to make the bird (quick tip - the wing was made with the smallest bird Nestie - just cut off the beak). The wording on the bird comes from my old ledger paper copied onto vellum - a good compromise - that way I can use my paper without ever cutting it!!
I tried to make these really clean and simple but, as usual, I couldn't stop fiddling until I added some punching and contrasting paper (defeated my plan for a one layer card) and then had to add a ribbon to the top -
It's okay though - now I feel calmer - I have a couple more cards for my stash and now I need to buzz out the door!!! The Big Thanks stamp is from A Muse (9-8616C Big thanks) and the rest of the stamps are bits and pieces from various SU! sets - Have a great day!
This is the card I will be demo'ing this Saturday afternoon at Serendipity. Lots of fun - it incorporates Perfect Pearls, the Stamp-a-ma-jig and the new EK Success Embossed Curve punch. There will be a Secret Sale and the supplies for this card and lots of other great stuff will be available!! See you then!
I used my retired SU! set Priceless for the stamped flourishes -
Used my Classic square and Scalloped Square Nesties to cut out the monogram panels -
The patterned paper is by Basic Grey - Granola and Ambrosia 6" paper packs - 
The Monogram stamps are the new A Muse clear stamps - Classic Alpha (9-CLALSM) and Monogram Frames Set (6-MNFRMS). Naturally, my favorites are the brown ones but it is interesting how the same design in different colors can look so sophisticated - 
My cousin Selena and her husband Steve just celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary! Corey and I were both in the wedding and we watched the video with them last weekend while we were down visiting them in Mississippi - WOW we were young!!
I love the look of ruffled ribbon but was too lazy to get the sewing machine out so I opted to take the easy way by stapling the ruffles on - worked great. Then made some vellum elements and put some Stickle bling -
I had more fun putting this together than I ever thought I would - who knows - maybe I'll venture into making another page sometime? 
Be sure and check out Kim's blog and Roni's blog for more papercrafting goodness! Have a great weekend!
I thought I'd revisit an "oldie but goodie" today. I made this card a couple of years ago - I liked it so much that I made MANY of them!! I dug all the textures, layers and colors. The felt birds (Jenni Bowlin) are so tactile - basically, a masculine card. However, my husband hates this card. So much so that I keep the one I have left hanging in my stamping cabinet to torture him (that's just the kind of girl I am!!) In fact, if he is really pestering me I've been known to attach it to my shirt with a glue dot for maximum irritation! I still like it - even though it has very few fans!
A couple summers ago on a visit to Seattle we went to Pike's Market (isn't it almost the law that you have to go there and smell flowers, taste honey and eat doughnuts??) I found this batik stamp in an import shop and had to have it - I love that it has a history behind it and the paisley is a favorite of mine also.
Corey had a customer that knew I loved stamping and sent the other batik stamp to me - This one has a handle on the back of it. These stamps are used to make batik cloth by stamping onto cloth with wax (instead of ink) and then dying the cloth. The wax acts as a resist on the cloth and keeps the stamped areas the original color. Pretty cool!
Time for more papercrafting goodness with the new Blissful Papercrafting Kit. A simple gift can be so much more when you take a little time with the packaging. Recently I bought some soaps that smelled great but didn't look so great in their original packaging. I rewrapped them with waxed paper and then patterned paper but still something was missing - a custom box.
After measuring the needed dimensions for the box and using the ever handy Scor-Pal I decided that it would be good to cut an opening in the lid so you could see the prettily wrapped soaps. A Long Scallop Rectangle Nestabilities die made that a quick and easy task. The next step was to back the cut opening with clear acetate.
Another fun step was scalloping the edges of the box with an edge punch before assembling.
It is hard to hold slippery satin ribbon to tie a tight pretty bow, so a pair of locking hemostat pliers is a great tool to keep on hand! You can buy these online but here's a quick tip - these pliers are used by fly fishermen to tie their lures so if you have a sporting goods store nearby you can probably find them there.
Finished - I really like how the scallops are on the top and the sides of the box. Last step - a pretty tag to finish it off.
I used the new A Muse Monogram Frames Set for the sentiment, sponged the edges a little bit, scalloped the bottom and then finished with a pretty flourish that was cut with my Slice. (TIP - I cut the flourish out then sprayed some adhesive on the back, layered onto my tag and then cut the excess off).
Let's not waste the piece we cut with the Nestabilities die for the lid - it was the perfect size to back one of the scented tags included in the Blissful kit. WOW! This tag smells so good that it makes me want to eat a cookie (okay, fine - I ALWAYS want to eat a cookie!) The new A Muse Dill stamp (2-4163G) added a simple elegant touch to this quick tag.
Simply layer paper (more scallops) and a big Sentiment from A Muse (9-8616C BIG Thanks) on a kraft bag and you have a beautiful gift presentation. This paper is so pretty and timeless that you could make a gift like this ahead of time and save it for when you need a hostess gift or other small thanks.
Don't ya love the patterned paper at the top of this card? WAIT - it isn't patterned paper at all - it is the clear stamp set - French Dictionary. There is a lot of potential for this stamp set as backgrounds, etc. Looks just like old newsprint.
The soldering stuff is from Simply Swank (available at Serendipity - hint, hint) and the beads, etc. are from my stash. The paper is from Basic Grey.
LOOK - it is reversible - I am so obnoxiously proud of this - I've never made a necklace from scratch before! I've made lots of soldered pendants but this is my first monogram one. Don't look too closely at the beading cause I'm definitely a novice at this!!
Can you see the shimmery scrolls? That look is courtesy of a Stampington stamp (Wrought Scroll C8473) and Perfect Pearls in Bronze. Kim told me I'd like these but I had no idea how much I'd like them!! So pretty - quick and easy - and the best thing is that a quick spritz of water from your mini mister sets the built-in resins so there is no flaking or smearing.
The ribbon in this kit is so soft and satiny - 3 beautiful colors and the leaf ribbon is so cool!! The sentiment is new from A Muse (9-8614C Thank you for everything).
We don't want the insides of our cards to be plain when it is so pretty on the outside -
The Blissful Papercrafting Kit retails for $25.00. It has lots of other elements that will delight you - You need to hurry though - it will only be available for a short time at Serendipity (of course).
Time to hop over to Roni's blog to see her Design Team creation and the Blissful kit's details - 
This is one of the cards we will be making this Wednesday in the Copics 101 class - This acorn stamp is one of the newest A Muse stamps and is so fun and easy to color with Copics. BTW - this is the third card in a row that was green and brown - can you tell that they are my favorite colors?!! Part of the reason I love Fall is that I can indulge in all the brown and green I want -
A clear Spica marker added a little bling to the plain main panel. You don't need any fancy inks for this - Momento Dye Ink in Bamboo Leaves worked just fine.
The tree stamp is from Hero Arts - sentiment and ribbon from A Muse.
