Spring is in the Air -

Spring IS in the air! I keep hearing lawnmowers and smelling freshly cut grass - one of my most favorite scents!! The flowers and trees are starting to bloom and the birds are singing and building their nests - Look at the happy little gingham bird here!! She's singing a happy tune because she is surrounded by TWO new papers by A Muse. I can't wait to see all the creations with that cloud paper!!! The bottom paper is called toffee.

This CPS160 layout is just right for a teeny, tiny little stamp. A plethora of punched scallops reflects the cloud silhouettes. This card is an unusual size - 3 1/2" x 7". Good thing that the new A Muse papers are all 8 1/2" x 11" - makes it possible to cut to whatever size you desire! Hope you sing a happy tune today - - -

Stamps - A Muse 2-4078A Tiny bird, 8-8532B Hello

Ink - Momento dye ink in Tuxedo Black

Paper - A Muse Cloud, Toffee, Blue Petite Gingham and Sage Green Juliette papers, white and kraft cardstock

Accessories - A Muse sheer white polka-dot ribbon, 1 1/4" circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, SU! scalloped circle punch, EKSuccess scalloped scallop edge punch, corner chomper, Copic markers, fine tip black marker (to make musical note)

Woodland Friends

In keeping with the Woodland Critters theme we have a couple of "nutty" friends here. Do you see the new A Muse paper?? There are, in fact, two new papers here - the background paper is Apricot and the woodgrain is the new Birch color! I was trying to think of a new way to use the woodgrain paper and decided to make a park bench. (You did get that that was a bench, right?!) Do you know how to mirror a stamp like I did with the two squirrels? All you need to do is stamp your image onto a solid stamp (the big block background stamp is perfect for this) and then onto your paper. Use the remaining ink on the squirrel stamp to create the other little critter. Fun, huh? Be sure and check to see what the other Muses did with the new paper!
Stamps - A Muse 2-3099C Squirrel, 9-8233B Hi friend, 3-5019G Big Block
Ink - Momento Dye ink in Tuxedo Black
Paper - A Muse Apricot, Fern, Chiffon Green and Birch Woodgrain

Woodland Critters - Crawling Critters

How cute is that little caterpillar making his way to the mushrooms? Make sure you check out all the inspiring ideas for using these adorable Woodland Critters from A Muse! Do you see the new Watermelon paper? Such a great color plus it is 8 1/2" x 11" paper so you can cut it to whatever size you want! How versatile!
The sketch came from Card Patterns Weekly Card Sketch #57. Here's a quick tip for coloring the mushrooms (I stole it from HRR Julie!) Color in the complete mushroom caps and then go back and color the spots white with a gel pen. Much easier than trying to avoid coloring them in - Stamps - A Muse 2-4122D Mushroom Trio, 7-4072B Caterpillar, 9-8457B A little note HC

Ink - Momento Dye ink in Tuxedo Black

Paper - A Muse Fern, Watermelon, Green Madeira

Accessories - A Muse Lime twinkle stickers, A Muse Lime polka-dot ribbon, Copic markers, Nestabilities, Corner Chomper

Picking up the Pieces Challenge

This fun, whimsical bird card was made for the Picking up the Pieces Challenge on the Moxie Fab blog. Paper piecing is a lot of fun - only ink and paper were used on this project.
The patterned paper came from my new Basic Grey 6x6 Offbeat paperpad. I paper pieced the grass, the bird (Hero Arts) and even part of the kraft background.
Added some fun faux stitching with a white gel pen, brown marker and even a glitter pen. Can you see how sparkly the swirls are? He's an awfully tall bird for those spindly legs - I especially enjoy his "Alfalfa" touch on top!

Tuesday Trigger - Moxie Fab World

EDITED TO ADD - LOOK! This card made it as a Trigger Target!!

Time for more inspiration from the Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger!! I can honestly say that with only boys in my house, this dress was a bit of a stretch for me to come up with something that translated into a card.

I looked closely at the crinkly fabric and decided that I would stamp plaid onto watercolor paper. Isn't it amazing how closely the texture of the paper and fabric match up?!
Thanks so much, Roni, for loaning me your SU! Plaid Maker stamps. The stamping actually went pretty quickly since I used a different stamp for each color. I didn't really measure it out perfectly since the lines on the SU! grid paper help a lot for lining things up. When I got done the plaid was more vibrant than I wanted (bright colors are scary!!) so to tone it down I gave the paper a wash of 1/2 Claudine Hellmuth Matte Gel Medium and 1/2 Blank Canvas acrylic paint.
The felt flowers are the same colors as the butterfly on the dress and the white ricrac ribbon cut down the turquoise a bit (things were getting a little too bright again!!) A cute sentiment from A Muse (Monogram Frames clear set) was the perfect finishing greeting. All in all a pretty good success!

CPS #159

This card is for sketch #159 from the Card Positioning Systems blog. I really like the colors on this card. The big, bold bloom is from SU's Fabulous Flowers set. The Bazzill chipboard flourish was painted with Claudia Hellmuth's Modern Red acrylic paint (those paints are SO thick and creamy!!) and then aged a bit with PTI's tea stain inks. It seemed like a tad too much red so I toned it down with a snippet of May Arts brown leaves ribbon.

Isn't that the perfect sentiment to fit around the flower? Clear stamps (A Muse Personal Stationery clear stamp set) are easily manipulated as you apply them to your stamping block. I've been meaning to try this for the longest time! The patterned paper is from the Basic Grey 6x6 Offbeat pad. The fabulous striped ribbon is SU!

SSSC61 - Thanks, Selena!!

This card was made for the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #61 from The Sweetest Thing blog. LOOK! My cousin, Selena, send me the SU! bird punch I've been wanting - Thanks so much!! Along with the punch she sent 4 old books with lots of yellowed pages for me to plunder. That should be good news for Corey since now his concert book is safe - for a while anyway! ;-)

The bird is punched from my new/old book paper. Do you want to know how I did the background?

I've been hoarding my Claudine Hellmuth Sticky Back Canvas for a while now and decided it was time to use it! I initially tried punching the bird from the canvas but that wasn't working. That canvas may be too tough for a hand held punch but it didn't stand a chance against the Nestabilities Classic Circle die.

I took 3 of my Tim Holtz distress inks that match my background paper (Basic Grey Offbeat 6x6 paperpad) and smooshed them directly onto my craft mat. I diluted them with a Ranger Mini Mister filled with water and a couple tiny scoops of white Perfect Pearls then swirled my cut canvas through the ink.

A quick blast with my heat gun dried it - see the gleam on the craft mat from the Perfect Pearls?
I was hoping for a more diluted look but since I used canvas (which is fabric) it soaked in really quickly. After the fact I realized that it probably would have been a better bet to have used cardstock. I also added a quick spritz of the "pearly water" to the bird elements too -

Hey mom, do you see the thing I put on this card just for you??!!

FTL83 - Design Sponge inspired

This card is for Clean & Simple Stamping's FTL83. When I find something that I love in "blog world" I save a pic of it in a folder labeled "inspiration". This ottoman is one of those pics. You can find endless inspiration at the Design Sponge site -

Funny thing is that I would never, never have anything that colorful in my house. I would, however, have that rockin' beige, velvet couch in the background. It fits into my wild color scheme of taupe, chocolate brown, sage and black. It's a good thing that I papercraft so I can indulge in my occasional ventures into COLOR!

Can you see all that A Muse shimmery goodness? The PTI Raspberry Fizz paper is matte and makes the glimmer even more effective. The sentiment (8-8537D You are the friend) and pretty orange twinkle stickers are from A Muse too - the butterfly punch is Martha Stewart.

CAS58 - Baby boy!!

The Clean and Simple Cards Challenge at SCS this past week was "Chocolate Chip Mint" - make a card with green and brown as the main colors (a color combo that is a favorite of mine). We found out the great news on Friday that Corey's sister is having a baby boy so those colors inspired this card.
Stamps - A Muse 2-3045D Lion, tiger & bear, 9-8554C Babies are, 3-5019G Big bl
Ink - Momento Dye Ink in Rich Cocoa, New Sprout and Bamboo Leaves
Paper - A Muse 4b Sage notecard, A Muse petite gingham
Accessories - A Muse ribbon, Fiskars Edge punch

Poppy Seed Challenge

This card was made for the Poppy Seed Challenge #2. I love this card so, SO, so much!! I am surrounded by boys (except for the dog) in this house and I rarely get so "gooey" in my cardmaking. I re-awoke all my feminine parts in this card - makes me want to wear a dress and drink tea in a beautiful English garden.
Anyway - the challenge is listed above - easy goals when you use Light Moss polka-dot paper and buttons. PTI mini polka-dot paper for the rose and leaves and background stamps that feature dots. Lastly, add buttons tied with baker's twine.
Here's a quick way to make some awesome leaves. I usually make mine from a 2" scallop circle punch (1). Fold in half and cut in a leaf shape and you have two leaves from one circle (2,3). That's been my usual leaf and is quite handy with flat cards you mean to mail. In class one day someone mentioned running a leaf folded in half through the crimper. I added a little distressing with my tea stain inks from PTI. LOVE these 3-d leaves. BTW - Are digging that rose?! Here is where I learned to make it - Rose Tutorial.
SIGH - I need to make cards like this more often! Can you imagine this rose/leaves on the top of a kraft paper box holding some little gift for a friend?

Tuesday Trigger - Moxie Fab World

EDITED TO ADD - LOOK! I made it as a Trigger Target for this card!!
Time for another Tuesday Trigger from Moxie Fab World!! This one was quite the challenge - I had a much easier time of it last week - If you look closely in the above link I was listed as a Tuesday Trigger Target (yeah, baby!!) This time, however, I had to cipher on what I was gonna do for a day or two.

I used a Cuttlebug folder for the texture of the woven rattan (?) - I tried to get the feeling of the pillow and cushion (which was a perfect place for a sentiment from the A Muse clear Monogram Frames set). Even did a little freehanded doodling on the "pillow" then shimmered it up a tad with a Clear Spica Glitter pen from Copic.
Tuesday Triggers are definitely open to your own interpretation which is what makes it so fun. I don't look at anyone else's posts until I've made my own so that I'm not influenced by them. PLUS when I look at what other people have done, invariably, I don't like mine as much. Sure is beautiful outside here! Today it got up to nearly 70 degrees. Rain is coming through this weekend but that's okay - just gonna help grow more flowers!

Get Sketchy #29 - Little Bird

This card is for the Get Sketchy #29 layout. I'll tell ya that this one was a real challenge for me - I decided to stay true to the sketch and make an arrow pointing at the center circle. I used a clear stamp set from Stampington - Bird Sanctuary. The patterned paper is from a 6x6 Archaic Basic Grey paperpad (that's the name of the line not what I think about the paper - hee hee). I like the chicken wire in the background -

To balance the BIG, SPARKLY arrow (I love brown glitter!) I made a stylized tiny arrow with the sentiment. The center circle is covered in Rock Candy Clear Distress Paint by Tim Holtz. I showed this card to Corey and he said, "WOW - that's really different for you!" Frankly, I couldn't tell if that was a good reaction or not - - -

Sweet Sunday Sketch 60

This card is based on the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge 60 from The Sweetest Thing blog. Remember when micro beads were THE thing?! I know you do - just admit it. I've been digging through my stash of stuff lately and decided that they were the touch that this card needed. The paper is from an Inque Boutique 6x6 pad called Memoirs.

Flowers are from Maya Road, ribbon and sentiment from SU! I dare you to go digging through your supplies - maybe you will find some "oldies but goodies" too!

Card Patterns - Sketch 55

This card was made for Sketch 55 from the Card Patterns Weekly Card Sketch. I have been finding great sketch blogs all over the place in "blog world" and this one is no exception! All A Muse except for the kraft paper - this card makes me smile!
Here's a quick Copic trick for ya - I used two Copic markers to kinda scribble in the tree foliage. Looks good but how about some extra punch -
I keep a Ranger Mini Mister filled with Colorless Blender fluid (I have Mini Misters filled with water, window cleaner, rubbing alcohol, etc. Just mark them with a small Sharpie so you know which one you are about to spray. They are great. I'd recommend getting several!) I crumpled up a paper towel, misted it with the Colorless Blender Fluid, then pounced it randomly on the tree -
A fun way to add "texture" to your tree. BTW - Do this technique when you've only colored the treetop - If you wait until you've colored your whole image you will add "texture" where you don't want it!!
Remember the paper ribbon?! Made with my A muse shimmer paper - this is awesome - I've used it on several projects now -
Stamps - A muse 2-6126G Swing Girl
Ink - Momento Dye Tuxedo Black Dye Ink
Paper - A Muse Shimmer, A Muse petite gingham, A Muse Woodgrain, kraft
Accessories - A Muse White Sheer Polka Dot Ribbon, Copic Markers, Marvy Uchida punches, Corner Chomper

FTL82 - Bothway Blossoms

These cards were made for the FLT82 from Clean & Simple Stamping. Such a fun sketch that I decided to make a whole set of cards.

The flowers are from SU! - Bothway Blossoms. They were a Hostess set from a few years back. I used to use these stamps all the time - They have the battle wounds to show from it too!

Using SU!'s Simple Shapes to color the flowers is super fast and gives a really cool, graphic look. I used two sizes of solid circle on each flower. That way it is a little darker in the middle which draws your eye in to each bloom (that's what I think anyway).

The Corner Chomper softened the top edges. A scalloped bottom and touch of A Muse stitched grosgrain ribbon finishes a quick set of cards!!

Aren't they pretty?!

Tuesday Trigger - Moxie Fab World

EDITED TO ADD - LOOK! This card made it as a Trigger Target!! WHOO HOO!
This card was made for the Tuesday Trigger at the Moxie Fab World blog - The picture of toile green chairs is the starting point - your imagination provides the rest.

This stamped image is from SU! To keep it from being too plain I put fine glitter from Martha Stewart on it. The Cuttlebug embossed background reflects the detail on the chair legs and the pale yellow layer brings in the warmth of the wood floor.

A Muse petite gingham paper on the bottom of the card with a bit of ivory ribbon finished it off. So pretty and soft - just like toile!

CPS157

This card was based on the Card Positioning Systems Sketch #157. All the patterned paper was taken from the La Creme matstack (Hobby Lobby). The middle flower was made by using the Marvy Uchida Giga Flower punch topped by a Maya Road Sheer Flower covered with Martha Stewart Coarse Clear Glitter. The button is by PTI.
The circles were cut with my Nestabilities dies. Did you know that you can nest two dies together and cut the circle out in one pass of your Cuttlebug? Just be careful that the brass doesn't overlap at all or you could damage your Nesties and that would be tragic!!

Butternut Sage Contest

Have you seen the incredible contest giveaway on Butternut Sage Designs??!! Donna is celebrating 200,000 blog hits. Trust me - you want to click on the badge to see what she is giving away - - -
The challenge is to capture Donna's style in a card that you've made - I get inspired everyday by the beautiful creations I see in "blog world" and when I browsed around the Butternut Sage site I realized that Donna uses textured layers in most of her cards - This is the card that inspired me -
I used SU! products on this card including the Manhattan Flowers embossing folder. Very simple layout but the embossing and the red/white/black color combo are so striking together! This card is already in the mail to our friends Jim and Renee who will be celebrating their anniversary this weekend.
PS - Be sure and look through the Butternut Sage blog until you find her crafting space in the basement - I want to go live with her!!!