A Muse Pajama Party!! Challenge #2 - "Beach Party"

Time for Challenge #2 - "Beach Party" hosted by Donna up in ALASKA!! I love my A Muse crab stamps and was determined to use them tonight. I ask you, "why does a beach party theme have to be restricted to humans?!" If I were a crab in the Bering Sea (did you catch my Alaska reference?!) I think that the idea of a cabana with a lounge chair just for me would be my idea of a Beach Party, indeed!!
I paper-pieced his eyes so they would be especially "googly" when picturing his underwater beach party complete with sand made from Tim Holtz Distress Stickles in Antique Linen. Are you having fun - I can't wait to see everyone's creations!!
Stamps - A Muse 2-7175D Cabana, 3-4097C Waves, 9-8332B Summer Fun LH, 6-3147D Crab, 2-4131D Clouds, 2-4096A Tiny Crab
Ink - Momento Dye ink in Tuxedo Black and Bahama Blue
Paper - A Muse 4b Sky Blue Band notecard
Accessories - Distress Stickles, Copic Markers, fine-tipped marker (for thought bubbles)

A Muse Pajama Party!! Challenge #1 - "HOT"

WHOO HOO! The A Muse Pajama Party has begun - This first challenge, hosted by Jennie, is "Make a card inspired by the word HOT". This card just flew together - I picked my "hot" A Muse stamps and layered them onto Petite Gingham paper!

Using hot ink colors to stamp a solid circle behind your images makes coloring a breeze in this simple card! Want to make a banner - Julie showed how on her Cuppa Time video. One challenge down - three to go!
Stamps - 3-5017C Big Dot bl, 8-8562B A warm hello, 2-4148C Sun, 2-7055C Grill, 2-7121B Campfire

Ink - Momento Dye ink in Tuxedo black, Dandelion, Ladybug, Tangelo

Paper - A Muse petite gingham black paper

Accessories - EKSuccess edge punch

A Muse Pajama Party!!! - TONIGHT!!

Click on the badge to head to the A Muse Lounge!!

Don't miss out on the fun tonight!!

Roni/Michelle Trigger -

Last month Roni had the idea for she/I to have our own trigger - she provided the inspiration pic and it was so much fun that we decided to do it monthly - this card is from my trigger below. I was drawn into the wallpaper in the back of the room and the layers of drawers underneath. The hanging lights are "ropey" and the wood of the floor/countertop was reflected in the kraft paper. Be sure and check out Roni's interpretation! If you want to play along that would be great! If this pic inspires you to make something be sure and link it so I can see it!! Stamps - A Muse 8-8532B Hello, 2-4140C Eucalyptus, 9-4176B Daisy Duet
Paper - White and kraft cardstock
Ink - Momento Dye inks in London Fog, Bahama Blue; Distress ink in Frayed Burlap
Accessories - A Muse ribbon, Fiskars edge punch, Tim Holtz Distress Stickles in Broken China (flower centers), Inkssentials Foam tool, twine
HEY - Did you know that tomorrow night is the A Muse Pajama Party??!! Such fun and I am even hosting a challenge!! It is all summer themed - click here to start - challenges will begin at 8PM CST.

Moxie Fab - Poppin' Off the Page (CPS174)

Do not adjust your computer screen - what you see before you is based on the Moxie Fab Trigger below - WOW - those are some bright colors!!
Not the kind of thing that would normally trigger a card for me! Since the trigger was so different I decided to use a sketch that is really different for me too! This sketch is from Card Positioning Systems (CPS174).
The embellishment features a Tim Holtz Fragment backed with black paper and blinged up with A Muse twinkle stickers and sentiment.
For fun, I went for high gloss between the stamped image in white gloss paper and the embellishment but balanced the sheen with some stabilizing kraft paper (there had to be some "me" in there somewhere!!) The stamps are Damask Floral (CL109) from Impression Obsession.

SSSC76 - A Muse Zinnias

This day was a day that ran off and left me behind! Does that happen to you too? All I know is that it was suddenly 8PM and my fingers were itching to touch something stampy!! So I quick whipped this card up based on the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge 76. Did you happen to see the post on the Paper Crafts Connection blog today - It was hosted by Teri Anderson who is one of my favorite papercrafters ever!! Her work is always so inspiring to me and makes me want to play with my crafts stash in new and different ways!

The post was entitled - Tooling Around with Teri: Slicing it with Fringe Scissors. I bought these scissors with big plans to make lots of grass but then they got put in the drawer and forgotten - When I saw what Teri had done with them I dug them out and put them to work!! Fun!! The flower stamps, ribbon and gingham paper are from A Muse; the sentiment and button are from PTI and in the background is my favorite embossing folder from Cuttlebug -

GASP! I only have one piece of kraft paper left in my cabinet - this calls for an emergency trip to Hobby Lobby first thing in the AM!!

Mass Production - Part II

Corey's sister in Seattle is expecting another baby!! We are so excited! Time to make some baby thank you's. This time Jen is having a boy!! Stella is going to be such a good big sister!!

First step, of course, is to decide the layout of your card - Jen mentioned that she liked this card so I decided to adapt it for baby. Next was time to gather up your materials - The gorgeous shimmer paper (adds so much elegance to a simple card!!) and sentiment are from A Muse; the ducky punch is from The Paper Source.

One important tip I have for mass production is to ALWAYS do your stamping before you assemble your card. Have you ever finished the "perfect" card and then did a bad job stamping the sentiment? I have! - no matter how well you've put your card together a badly stamped sentiment/image will be the thing that draws your eye! What I do is "mock up" my card layout and then stamp - I lay the layers onto the cardstock without gluing down and stamp (doing this ensures that you stamp in the right area of your card) and then move to the next one - I tried to demonstrate that in the above picture. The layers on the bottom are ready to be stamped - the ones above have already been stamped. Another good tip is that if you stamp poorly you can just turn over the cardstock - if you've glued it down you lose that opportunity!

Next step was to glue down the shimmer strip and punch the hole that the bird would peek through - This kind of card is fun cause it is cute when you open the card too!

There it is - a stack of 12 completed cards - took hardly any time at all! I find mass production to be really therapeutic because all the decisions are made at the outset and then you can just relax and craft. Sometimes doing a quick dose of mass production is the antidote when your creative juices seem to be dried up - Being able to construct a finished product makes you happy and can be just the thing to get the creativity moving again!! Happy Stamping!!