Teacher Gifts -

Finally finishing up the teacher gift sets - seems like I've been working on them forever. I downloaded the desk set template from PTI and made a total of 11 sets of stationery. Found out today that I spelled one of the teacher's names wrong!! AARRGGHH - Need to fix that tonight and deliver tomorrow.

The Guidance Counselor at the elementary school is retiring so I wrapped up a set of coasters as a gift to her - We just got the Bow Easy in at Serendipity and it is so easy to make up pretty matching bows in no time flat.

Please excuse the blurry pics (not sure what is up with that!!) but the little butterfly is punched from one piece of patterned paper and one piece of acetate. Any adhesive would have shown through the acetate so I got the idea to use a piece of copper cord to tie the two pieces together. Matched the box perfectly and ended up looking like antennas!! I think that was my favorite touch.
BTW - my cuttlebug B plates are in horrendous shape - very battle weary and scarred from lots and lots of cutting - In fact, I have another set of pristine B plates for embossing since using the old plates embosses all the scratches onto your paper - In this case, with the leaves, I thought that embossing the scratches would add texture and "veins" to my leaves. Love that little SU! Sizzlet.

Snorkel Boy in a Bubble

I LOVE Snorkel Boy - he is my "hands down" favorite stamp from the summer release! It has been very hard for me to wait to post this card! I stamped him on Neenah Classic Crest White cardstock and colored him in with my Copics. Then I put an A Muse Clear Circle Sticker on top and cut him out - I stamped him, the sand dollar (another new stamp!!) and the tiny crab on kraft paper.
Finished him off with some A Muse Clear Twinkle Stickers for extra sparkly bubbles. Did you see the new BROWN gingham paper?! Anyone who knows me knows my love of all things brown! Weird, but true! I am really tickled with this card - Snorkel boy will definitely be part of a summer Copic class!! Hope you've been enjoying all the Amuse bouche that the A Muse team has put together - they've been great!!!

Stamps - A Muse 2-6129D Snorkel Boy, 2-4135B Sand Dollar, 8-8565B Little fun today, 2-4096A Tiny Crab
Ink - Momento Dye in Tuxedo Black and Rich Cocoa
Paper - A Muse Gingham Brown, A Muse 4b notecard in Sky Blue, kraft paper
Accessories - A Muse Clear Circle Stickers, A Muse Clear Twinkle Stickers, copics, Koh-i-noor pencils

ME on the beach!! Jealous?!

Here is a recent lovely photo of me enjoying some fun in the sun! WAIT - maybe Corey snapped this pic when I hopped up for a smidge more sunblock and another Diet Coke (it is too early for a drink with an umbrella - sigh). Nope - Today is the first day of A Muse's amuse bouche (sneak peek) for the Summer Release!!! Check out the blogs of the A Muse Creative Team in my sidebar for 5 days of sneaks at the new stamps!!!

Stamps - A Muse 2-7175D Cabana, 2-4148C Sun, 8-8570C Sunsational day, 3-4097C Waves, 2-4096A Tiny Crab
Paper - A Muse Gingham paper in blue, Cabana Blue Band square notecard

We had a blast on Wednesday making lots of fun acetate creations!!

More Acetate Fun!

It isn't too late to join us in playing with Acetate! There are a few spaces left in Wednesday's class at 11AM. Here are a couple more of the projects we will be making. (I've gotten more ideas since I designed this class so don't be surprised if acetate pops up again in the future!)
I like the bookmark because the acetate not only makes it sturdier but it helps contain the glitter that escapes from the Doodlebug paper (We love sparkly paper!!).

This is a "box in a bag" although I always want to call it a "bag in a box". The acetate makes it fun cause you can see the contents. I'm off on another search for gumballs - I got a hint from one of the ladies in class the other night (I flat out forgot to take pics on Friday - SIGH). I found gumballs at Sam's but don't think I need 8 lbs. of them!!! I had a big bag of wrapped gum but my younger son has raided it more times than I had realized - maybe I need 8 lbs. of gum after all!

Stamps - A Muse 7-7143C Stack of books, 9-8064B Little things, 2-7165C Gumball machine

Ink - Momento Dye in Tuxedo Black

Paper - A Muse 4b notecards in Chiffon Yellow, Sky Blue, Kitchen Red - Doodlebug Sugar Coated Cardstock in Pistachio

Accessories - A Muse Sheer Ribbon in French Roast, Amuse Grosgrain Stitched Ribbon in Swiss Red, binder clip, nestabilities (classic scallop rectangle), 1/8" handheld punch, eyelets, Copic markers, Spica Glitter Markers

Sneak peek - A Musing Acetate

The first of two A Musing Acetate classes start on Friday - Just thought I'd share one of my favorite of the 5 things we will be making in class. I really like how bold this card looks with the addition of the yellow border made by simply running the Copic Marker chisel end along the edge of the stamped panel.
Stamps - A Muse 2-2143G Blossom Branch w/Bird, 9-8250B Life's Simple Pleasures
Ink - Momento Dye in Tuxedo Black
Paper - A Muse 4b notecards in Green Madeira and Sky Blue
Accessories - A Muse Sheer Ribbon in Papaya, Copic Markers, acetate, Fiskars Threading Water Punch, dimensionals

Photo talk -

I get really frustrated taking pictures of my cards and projects - I learned in Seattle that it is nearly always better to take pics without flash - (I believe Heather said, "Flash is the devil.") and I've truly been finding that to be true. However, sometimes you need a little flash - I was experimenting with the camera today. Taking a picture with the sun behind the subject ends up with a bright background and your subject in shadows - Trying to compensate with the fill flash can end up washing out your picture.
I know that photographers filter their flash with fabric and umbrella thingies (I know no photography terms, obviously) so I tried covering the flash with a bit of paper. Cut down the flash but still a little too dark.

Then I had a great idea - I covered the flash with a small piece of vellum. It cut the glare with its opacity but the bit of sheer still let just the right amount of flash through -

What??!! You don't take endless pictures of a PlayMobile guy like I do? How about a bonus nature shot? Bee and flower in backyard.

Teacher Gifts -

It is Teacher Appreciation Week around here and since I am ALWAYS on top of things - my boys' many teachers have gifts ready for them. SIGH - I wish!!! The gifts should be finished up over the weekend - I'll post pics of the desk sets I'm making for all of them then - in the meantime, however, I did manage to get Mrs. Ring's name frame finished. She is Caleb's 2nd Grade homeroom teacher.
This is my favorite part - I ran the ribbon under the letters and the glass but I attached the button/ribbon embellishment on the outside of the glass with a gluedot. FUN and added a kinda cool 3-d effect to the frame.

Happy 8th Anniversary!!

A Muse is celebrating its 8th anniversary!! What fun! Want to win the items used to make these cards? Hop over to the A Muse News Blog to enter -

National Scrapbooking Day!!

Things were hopping at Serendipity today - Kim taught a Spring wordbook class and I followed up with the Copics - Basics and Beyond class. 9 ladies and I had fun coloring with the awesome Copic markers and I taught some fun techniques with the colorless blender fluid -
See the treetop below? We colored with Salad(YG05) and Celadon Green(YG25)then spritzed a piece of sponge with blender fluid and pressed it against the colored area for added texture.
Check out the license place I saw outside the shop - Is that not perfect for today?? Ribbon for me! (at least that's how I interpreted it).

OH NO! I forgot to take pictures until three of students had left for the wonders of shopping in the front of the store!! SORRY!

I'll be teaching this Copic class again on June 6th at 2pm - I'd love to see you then!

Flower Fun -

I've been admiring the beautiful flowerpot cards on SCS and decided to make one of my own - I used the HUGE purple Marvy Uchica punch and Making Memories Flower Patch paper (I used the 6" x 6" paper pad but Kim also has the 12" x 12" papers!)
I used A Muse Green Madeira paper for the leaves and an A Muse Stamp (8-8347B Just a Note) for the sentiment.

Then I made a flower pot!! This little pot came for the $1 section at Target. I put floral foam in the bottom then added A Muse Green Madeira for "grass". I inserted my flowers through the paper and added ribbons for fun. These flowers are papered on the back as well so it will be pretty from all sides!

I had to laugh when I was done - there's not a pink flower in there! Most people would never have made a sparkly brown flower but I love "sparkly brown"!! Can't wait for the new sparkly brown Spica marker to hit the store!!

All the papers, buttons, stamps and punches are available at Serendipity (of course!!)