FTL142 - Embellish Text Color Trends Challenge

Today's card has lots of fun embellishments!! How apropos since it is for the Embellish Magazine Color Trends with Text Challenge! How do you get text? With a computer, Sillyhead! Oops, I meant to say with a typewriter, of course. Remember those?? I learned to type on a manual typewriter - tells you how old I am and how poor our school system was - no electric typewriters until high school. I even placed 1st in Typing Regionally in FBLA and got to compete at the State level. YUP - I am a nerd but I am a fast typing nerd!! My boys are endlessly impressed since they grew up knowing computers but not knowing how to type on them.

The layout is from Clean and Simple Stamping's FTL142. I ripped out a page from my old children's dictionary (you can never go wrong with old dictionaries - usually can be picked up from a thrift shop for a buck or two - I have about 4 of them now.)

All supplies used are from a muse|studio (except for the dictionary paper) and include the Just My Type, Hearts A Plenty and Polka Dot Patterns stamp sets. The paper color is Eucalyptus and the Washi tape is from the Fall collection. Ink is Slate (a personal favorite color)!!

All items are available in my online a muse|studio shop!!

Less is More - Week 17 - Pick a Square

Super quick post today - This card is based on this week's Less is More Challenge using all a muse|studio products.  Who says leaves and flowers can't be Latte and French Roast?  This card may look monochromatic at first glance but there are many colors - just neutral colors.  That little peek of French Roast gingham paper is the perfect backdrop!  Stamp sets include: Beautiful Botanicals 2, Seasonal Branch and Graphic Sunflower.

All supplies are available through my a muse|studio online shop!

PDCC83 - Black/White with a splash of Green

Today's post is very different than the norm - This week's Play Date Cafe Challenge is a goodbye to their designer, Sarah Anderson, as she moves on to other opportunities. Sarah is fabulous at mixed media art and that inspired me to try my hand at something different - a 6" mixed media canvas!

The Color Splash challenges are always fun - plus it featured my favorite color - GREEN!

That green background is made of many layers of paint, paper, sprays, glass beads, etc. Maybe I'll post about it on another day if you are interested. I am also sharing some pen drawings (Zentangles) that I did nearly a year and a half ago.

When I did them I was in the place where "nothing was ever good enough" so I never shared them on the blog - now when I look at them I go, "pretty cool - ought to put them on the ol' blog."

I actually have lots of these little 4" square doodles but these are two of my favorites. Connor told me that the round one was the best choice to mount but I put removable adhesive on the back of both of them so I can switch them out on the canvas when I get a wild hair.

My hands are painty but it is so fun to try something different. Lots of layer, texture and details and yet totally CAS - what do you think??

OLW55, Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger: The Pyrex Effect

Today, I combined my two favorite challenges to make a card for Caleb.  This was his last day of 4th grade and he will be moving on from Sutton Elementary to the Middle School South Campus next year.

Inspiration was taken from the trigger picture above from Moxie Fab's Tuesday Trigger and from One Layer Wednesday to use Cats and Dogs.

I used the two little dogs from the a muse|studio Ooh La La stamp set.  Here's my secret - I cut them apart back when I got my set.  It is okay - I promise - when I mount them together on an acrylic block they stamp just like they originally did.  That is one of the great advantages to cling foam red rubber stamps.  If this stamp were wood mounted it would've been more difficult to stamp my dogs separately!  Don't worry - I haven't gotten a ticket from the "stamp police" yet.

A liberal dose of stamp positioner was used on this card along with bits and pieces of LOTS of a muse|studio stamp sets including:  Ooh La La (dogs), Mad for Plaid (bottom line), Lots of Dots (solid circles), Woodland Friends (quote bubble) and Hey, Man (sentiment).  Also used the middle die from the Scallop Border die set to let the red inside of the card show through and a bit of black polka dotted ribbon on top.  Caleb must like this card cause he showed it to his dad when he got home from work.

All supplies are from a muse|studio and available through my online shop!

BTW - We made it through the storms last night just fine but friends of ours got their deck demolished when a tree fell on it.  Times are much different than when I was a kid.  My family (and dog) were in the hallway but three of us were texting back and forth with family/friends to see how they were.  

FS224 - Carly Robinson

This week's Featured Stamper on SCS is Carly Robertson!!  She not only is a fabulous CAS stamper whose blog, Paper in Bloom,  is chock full of inspiration but also you should be prepared to die of jealousy when you see her house AND her craftroom!!  sigh. . .

 I decided to CASE this card for the challenge and I tried out a new technique from SCS - Paper Buttons.

Look at my super cool a muse|studio Swallow die button!  Wish I'd have taken a pic of the button before I tied the ribbon in it - hindsight is always 20/20.  Buttons don't always have to be round, you know!!

So I am finishing up this blog post sitting in the hallway with my family while the tornado sirens are going off and the wind is blowing really hard - I hate this time of year!!  We've got a flashlight, shoes, pillows and candles - hoping to not have to use them and not to have to spend the night in the hallway - it is cramped!!

International Wear a Tiara Day -

Did you know that today is International Wear a Tiara Day?  Nope, I didn't either but I do happen to have a  picture of me sporting one (don't you?)  - top row, far right.  All the fabulous gals sporting the bling in this photo are the 2010 Paper Crafts Stamping Royalty - clink on the link for an update on what everyone has been up to in the past year.

CFC3, LIM16 - Bling-y Butterfly

I LOVE this card!! I know I say that a lot but this one came together even better than I expected - usually it goes the other way, right??

This card fulfills the requirements for four different challenges - CASual Fridays - Bring the Bling, Less Is More - Butterfly, Flutterby Wednesday and Paper Crafts Connection Color Inspiration Challenge #5.

I used a variation of Julie's recessed window technique but instead of stamping a sentiment in my window I used some twinkle stickers!! Fun and easy! All supplies are from a muse|studio!!

FTL141 - Tissue Paper Butterfly

 Quick post tonight - I have things I need to do but why do them when I can post a cool card, right?

Sketch was taken from Clean & Simple Stamping's FTL141.  I got a wild hair and decided to cut a butterfly out of tissue paper using the largest of the A Muse|Studio Butterfly dies. . .

When I showed the card to my husband my hands were kinda shaky and he said that I was "fluttering the butterfly at me".  He seemed impressed - much more so than when I flutter my eyelashes at him!

Other supplies include vintage French dictionary book paper (look closely to spot my favorite phrase:  "to sigh for the flesh-pots of Egypt" - definitely not a phrase you see everyday but apparently the French use it!), Zva swirl, Maya Road Kraft Doily, Stella Rose (My Mind's Eye) patterned paper, and Basic Grey micro mono stickers (that dot on the "i" was quite tricky - one got lost before I successfully stuck one on the card).  Only four more days of school left so lots of activities to do this week!!

Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger - Some Royal Fun

Today's card is kinda like a crazy circus of stamp-y, sketch-y goodness.  Lest you think that this concoction came from my brain look below at the Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger picture -

Kinda explains the card, huh?  I wanted to emphasize the colors (blue, black, white and pink), the pink frosting swirls and the banners.  If the layout looks kinda familiar is is because it came from the CardPatterns blog but I finished the card too late to enter it into the gallery.

The swirls are from the A Muse|Studio Ornate Elements stamped in Bubblegum ink.  Sentiment comes from the Graphic Sunflower stamp set.  The Cuttlebug got a bit of a workout cutting out the scalloped circle and the A Muse|Studio Banner and Butterfly dies.  This card is a shout out for my bud, Veronica who got a happy e-mail from Paper Crafts yesterday!!  Whoo hoo!!

Supplies used are available from my A Muse|Studio online shop - 

PDCC82 - A Muse Recessed Window card

This card was made for this week's Play Date Cafe Challenge using the Recessed Window Tutorial featured in Julie Ebersole's blog.

Not only did I use the Play Date Cafe's colors but the retro, vintage look of the suitcases made me think of old patterns in wallpaper/linoleum that I tried to recreate!  Do you dig my homemade A Muse|Studio background paper?  Want to know how to make it?

I used the Monogram Frames square and stamped it repeatedly in a pattern onto my cardstock with Papaya ink.

Stamped another layer - Yes, I do realize that the stamping is off kilter - but my sheer enthusiasm for trying this technique trumps over perfection, right??!!  Also - this way you can see that you don't have to stamp perfectly to get a cool outcome in the end.

Used the circle stamp from Monogram frames stamped in French Roast.  Do you see the pattern starting to come together now?

The whole thing is finished off with the smallest flower from the Clever Girls set stamped in Ocean.

Here is a quick pic of the supplies used - I am realizing now that the Vintage Labels die snuck back away to the drawer before the pic was made.  I like to keep my supplies all neat and tidy when I am done stamping but when I am in the middle of creating there can sometimes be quite a mess - behold -

My supplies took up the entire length of our long kitchen table!  In the foreground you can see my Scor-Buddy, rulers, trimmer and Cuttlebug leading up to the true mess -

right at the end of the table where I like to sit.  Quick tip - I keep all my adhesives in a bread tin (lower left hand corner).  You always need adhesive and sometimes several different ones within one card so having them all in one location makes for quick retrieval/cleanup!

I am really tickled to have used my A Muse|Studio supplies in a new way.  The sentiment comes from Marvelous Marigolds and the satin ribbon is Bermuda.  All supplies are available in my online A Muse|Studio shop!

OLW54 - Baby Cakes

This little beauty is based on this week's One Layer Wednesday Challenge:  Baby Cakes.  At first I thought, "How does Susan know what my husband, Corey, calls me?" but then I realized that it was actual baby cakes we were to be inspired by - not by one of the many nicknames I go by around these parts!  Go to the Cake Wrecks blog (if you haven't seen this site go check it out - what a hoot) and be inspired by the cakes from this particular post.  

I was not in a baby card inspired from actual baby cakes kinda mood but this tree caught my eye - love the initials carved into it!!  Grabbed a bunch of A Muse|Studio supplies: Woodland Friends stamp set, Sage Gingham paper, Lime Organdy Polka-dot Ribbon, Grass die, Sky dots twinkle stickers and some Copic markers and set to work.

It amazes me sometimes how much mess I can make and then end up with only a 3 1/2" square card in the end.  Folding the gingham paper to the inside is out of the norm and fun.  My favorite part (and Corey's too) are our initials that I "carved" into the tree's trunk (a teeny bit of tape masked off the area of the tree stamp that I didn't want to print).  Gotta dash - duty calls - a trip to the grocery is in order so that we have some milk and other staples around this place!!

My online a muse|studio shop