Tuesday Trigger - Nice and Neutral

YUP - Cath Edvalson and I had a chat a week or so back and I said to her, "Cath, what's up with all these colorful Tuesday Triggers?  Why not have a Nice and Neutral trigger to make me happy cause we all know that the Tuesday Trigger is all about Michelle, right?"  So now you know the amazing influence I have over Cath cause here is my perfect trigger picture!!  (Cath and I may or may not have chatted - perhaps I was talking to myself. . . there's nothing weird about that - nothing at all. . .)

sigh. . .  nice, nice, nice!!  This picture is very Moxie Fab what with the banner and homemade flowers but very attractive to the beige/taupe/grey lovers among us!!

I borrowed my friend Roni's Daydreamer stamp set from PTI.  Isn't that sentiment perfect for this trigger - wouldn't you have good dreams in this bed?

LIM30 - Critters on Parade

HELLO?!  How cute is that little squirrel?  He and his friends decided to play this week with the current Less is More Challenge Recipe of using a combination of 3 previous challenges to make a clean and simple card.

I had so much fun with the ink challenge (LIM28) recently that I decided to do another variation of it.  Take a piece of computer paper that is the same size as your cardfront and cut a square out with a Nestabilities die.  You can then get perfectly sponged squares in no time flat.

a•muse|studio Wheat cardstock with wheat ink give a great monochromatic look that goes with the LIM Monochromatic Challenge (LIM18) and LIM Pastel Colors Challenge (LIM5).

 All these furry friends work for the LIM Things That Move Challenge (LIM29).

Friends Fur-ever is one of my favorite sets in the a•muse|studio 2011 catalog.  6 animals, 8 sentiments and 5 foliage stamps!!

If you want to make critter cards of your own all supplies are available through my a•muse|studio online store.

MAX Name Frame

Here's the last of the handmade gifts that went into last week's care package.  My SLICE (Basics 1 cartridge) quickly cut the letters out of Stella Rose (My Mind's Eye) patterned paper layered on SU! cardstock and Basic Grey paper.

These frames came from IKEA and are fun cause they have options.  You can frame your picture deep like a shadow box - or you can frame them where the picture is right at the surface like a traditional frame.  I wish I'd have had these skills when my boys were little but then again who has time to craft when your kids are little?!!

Moxie Fab World - The Square Challenge

So the other day when I stamped with the girls I only used a limited color palette of cardstock -  white, vanilla, kraft, black and wheat (a•muse|studio).  While that might have caused most of you "color lovers" to panic, for me it was quite enjoyable!

Used this sketch from Moxie Fab's The Square Challenge in Card Ideas Week and stuck closely to the layout.  That gorgeous flower is the Stampendous Cling Jumbo Dahlia stamped in Wheat ink (a•muse|studio).

Loved it so much that I made another one - the sentiments are from a•muse|studio (Marvelous Marigolds, Avian Notes) and were finished off perfectly with the addition of a few black twinkle stickers.

LOVE these!!

CFC17 -

Doncha love it when the sun smiles at ya?  The past couple of weeks it has cooled down here a teeny bit and there are moments where it is actually pleasant out in the morning before it heats up - makes the dog happy cause she has gotten walked more lately!  This card is for the current CAS-ual Friday Challenge Stuck on You.

I have had this sticker from K & Company ever since I found out my SIL was having a baby boy - my intention when I bought the cute sheet of stickers was to make several thank you cards for her but then I forgot and made different cards.  Now the baby is a year old so it was high time that at least one of those stickers found the light of day.  

The sentiment is from the a•muse|studio vintage a muse stamp set.  Look close and you can see the texture on the white that was added with Roni's PTI Linen/Canvas Impression plate.  Got to stamp with the girls today which was so nice since we hadn't gotten to do that in months - now I have some fun stuff to post over the next couple of days. 

LIM29 - Things that Move

Don't you love a beautifully wrapped gift?  I've been so inspired by the things I've been seeing on Pinterest that I wanted to make a card that that reflected one of my favorite looks - white and kraft!!

This week's challenge on the Less is More blog is Things that Move.  It is pretty open to your own interpretation.  This card works because birds move and bird charms move even more!  

The dimension from the seam binding adds to the movement too - can you imagine how cute this would be on the front of a kraft gift bag?
Sentiment is from the a muse|studio Graphic Sunflower stamp set.

Soldered Mother/Daughter Pendant Necklaces

I've been really crafty this weekend - just not with paper.  Today I made matching mother/daughter soldered necklaces for Jen/Stella.  BTW - The hand that I've modeled the necklaces on is an old latex rubber glove mold that I picked up in an antique store in Franklin, TN a couple years back.  Cool, huh?

What I love about these pendants is that from a distance you see what seems to be stylized pink flowers but after a closer look what you are really seeing is a graphic photoshopped pic of Stella when she was just a few months old.  Jen's photographer friend did these pics.

The other side sports a black/white pic of Stella.  Won't it be cute when they both wear their necklaces?  I hadn't dug out my soldering iron in over a year at least so I was pretty proud that they turned out as good as they did!!  The small pendant is 1" square and the larger one is 1 1/2" square.  Usually soldered necklaces are on ball chain but I tried to spice it up a bit with something a little more fun and chunky - what do you think?

Amigurumi for Stella

SQUEEEE!!!  Isn't this the cutest amigurumi doll you've ever seen me make?  Yuppers!! cause it is the only amigurumi doll I've ever made!!  I got the pattern from Jenny & Teddy Creations.  There are several free patterns on that site - plus many others for sale in their etsy shop.

What is amigurumi you (my mom) might ask?   Basically it is a fancy Japanese word for crocheted little doll.  So here's the choice - Crochet (fancy French word but only two syllables) or Amigurumi (fancy Japanese word with 5 syllables) - I'm definitely going for the word that makes me sound more awesome!!

This girly is for my 3-year old niece Stella who has curly blonde hair - so, so cute!!  I made the barrettes out of tiny clothespins with a muse|studio flower ribbon glued on.  The purse can actually hold stuff - maybe I should put some coins in it.  Someone should have $$ in their purse since mine is usually empty after being raided by the males in my family!
Edited to add:  I've made another amigurumi for my other Washingtonian niece - Check out Amigurumi for Violet.

CFC16 - Cuttlebug Knuckle

This week's CAS-ual Friday challenge is to use embossing - I chose to heat emboss my sentiment and I made this card for my husband, Corey, whose been working extra hard lately!

I took my inspiration from a pillow I found online but I have no idea where I found that picture now - probably Design Sponge - I loved the look of the layered trellis and wanted to recreate it on my card - that's when I suffered from "Cuttlebug Knuckle" - have you ever had that injury?  Most likely you have if you own a Cuttlebug - most people learn their lesson the first time they suffer this trauma but some of us get a bit overconfident and get whacked more than once.  It happens when you have a particularly thick "sandwich" that you have to use extra torque to get through your machine.  If the handle happens to slip from your fingers it will come back at your poor knuckle with the speed and force of a jackhammer - YeeOUCH!!  Who says papercrafting isn't dangerous??!!  My poor swollen, purple knuckle says otherwise!

Stamps - a muse|studio (a|s) Marvelous Marigolds
Paper - a|s French Roast, Vanilla, Kraft and Sugar
Ink - a|s Versamark with Satin Pearl embossing powder
Accessories - a|s 3/8" French Roast twill ribbon; Lifestyle Crafts Trellis die

a muse|studio August Spotlight

Time for another a muse|studio spotlight!!  Each month a few selected stamp sets take the spotlight (and are on sale) along with a gorgeous color palette to make your fingers itch to play with paper!!  Click here to learn more!!

LIM28, CFC15, FTL153 - Avian Hello

What do you think of peanut butter and jelly? . . . how about soup and salad? . . . crackers and cheese?  Each item is good alone but is even better when paired with a friend.  This week two of my favorite challenge blogs decided to pair up their challenges. . .CAS-ual Fridays and Clean & Simple Stamping are sharing this sketch: 

To make things even more "tasty" I decided to add another challenge - the Less is More one layer challenge for this week!  Do you want to know how I made that colorful background using the "Mortise Masking" technique?  Click to see a great tutorial video by Julie Ebersole.

All supplies used on this card are available in my online a muse|studio shop!

Ink:  Bermuda, Ocean
Stamp sets:  Avian Notes, Monogram Frames

Tuesday Trigger Trifecta

This card incorporates THREE inspirations from the fine ladies at Paper Crafts.  The first comes from the Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger - Luminous Layers pictured below - I am enamored with this dress because it features my favorite earthy colors - cool!

The vertical panel of scallops are easily made with my scallop tutorial that was featured on the CREATE blog.  To add some zing/shine to my scallops there is a strip of copper tape at the top and bottom of the panel - this tape can be found in the stained glass section of your local hobby store.

It is no secret that I am a big fan of Teri Anderson and am inspired by her creations all the time - these fun flags are based on her recent tutorial on Paper Crafts Connection.  Last but certainly not least this card was also made for the current August Paper Crafts Gallery Challenge of Girlfriend-themed projects.

Remember when I posted about how I used up my entire marker making this?  Later that day I found out that I won the random drawing on Dina Wakley's blog Ponderings of all the fabulous things above, which includes the very markers that I used up!!!  Oh happy day!!

I was even happier when my box arrived and Dina had so kindly added some amazing Jenni Bowlin products as well!!  Dina is a terrific mixed media artist from Arizona that has a new line of stamps with Stampington and makes mixed media layering and painting seem effortless - I spend lots of happy time at her blog.  Hope you've had a great weekend!!
Stamps - PTI; Paper - Basic Grey, My Mind's Eye

PDCC94 - Watercolored background block

Let me just start by saying that I LOVE this card - I love it so much that I would bake a cake from scratch for this card and watch while it ate it!  I love it even though it has blue in it - go figure!

The colors of Fudge, Goldenrod and Teal are courtesy of the Play Date Cafe - look how easy it is to make the colorful background -

Started with my a muse|studio 2.25" square acrylic block and scribbled two colors of Tombow Markers (443, 993) onto it and added a quick spritz of water.

Flip it over and stamp onto your watercolor paper - it can be a bit tricky - too little water and you get a spotty impression - too much water and you get a green puddle!

Used French Roast ink on some of my favorite stamp sets - amuse|studio Just Because and  Friend to Friend.  Love the sentiments from the friend to friend set - there are 6 different sentiments with that mix of script and print which is so fresh and popular now.

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

psst - wanna know a secret?   a muse|studio is going to be releasing a supplemental catalog with new stuff including stamp sets, dies, cardstock/ink/ribbon, patterned paper, baker's twine and even felt!!  This 44 page supplemental catalog won't be going live until August 22nd but if you are nice to me and ask pretty please I can e-mail you a .pdf file of it!!  Just e-mail me at msmathey@gmail.com if you want to peek and start your wish list.

Carla Sonheim - Faces 101

These small watercolored pics are a product of my attempts in the Carla Sonheim Faces 101 class.  In this exercise we made watercolor splotches (approximating face shapes) and then added hair.  The details are mechanical pencil.  My dudes crack me up - wasn't quite sure why I put a mustache on the upper left guy but what goes better with a mustache than a gob of wild hair?  Mr. Green Hair was meant to be a girl but the features were too masculine so I added the scruff - now he's a girly guy.

Girls were much harder to do for me - guess cause I wanted them to be pretty as princesses and they looked more like the evil stepsisters.  My favorite was the gal with purple hair but the males in my family did not agree - I'm having big problems making smiles on the profile pics - they look kinda sad but I guess they looked in the mirror -

Speaking of smiles - our babies started back to school today!  Guess they aren't babies any more - Connor is 14 and started high school and Caleb is 10 and started middle school.  Big transitions for both of them but they were both happy and satisfied with how their days went when I picked them up.  I can't believe how old they are getting but Corey and I are about to have our 21st wedding anniversary so really I guess I can't believe how old we (Corey/me) are getting!!