More class samples

I've got a couple more classes coming up in the very near future. I thought I'd share some samples with you of cards we'll be making.

On Saturday, Mar 8, I will be holding a 'Springtime Fun' class at Stampin-In-The-Rain, Bothell. Class time runs from 1-3pm. This is a sample from that class. We'll be making a total of 5 totally adorable cards to get us out of the PNW winter funk! We've had a few beautiful days but the rain has returned today.

On Tues, Mar 11 I'll be holding a 'Spring Fever' class at Stampers Ink in Everett. Class time will be from 6-8pm. I promise to have my watch battery replaced today so I'm not late to class! LOL. I held a class last night and got there when MY watch said 6pm but unfortunately, the store's clock was correct and it was PAST 6pm. Oops! Here's a sample similar to the one we'll be doing in this class. The only difference is this particular sample uses the Poppin' Pastels technique while the class card will not. I'm actually giving this sample to the A Muse retail shop to showcase the Pebbles, Inc Shimmer Chalks.

If you are interested in signing up for the classes, the contact numbers are to the right, under my schedule.

I got an interesting email from one of my brothers-in-law last night. He mainly lives in New Zealand but he's quite the jet-setter. Apparently he's currently in Phuket, Thailand for some kick boxing training while on a 14 day fast to cleanse his body of toxins in an attempt to quit smoking. How on earth does one have enough energy to kick box when they haven't eaten for days??? I'm waiting for his response to that question....

I have to make a birthday card for my Aunt Nora today so I'll be sharing that soon. I think she'd enjoy something from The Saltbox Studio...

Elzybells-Friends Forever

I'm teaching a class tonight at Stampers Ink. These are some of the cards we will be making. There might be a couple of spots left...I'm not sure. If you're interested in attending, contact the store directly. There's info to the right, under my class schedule. I'll be bringing samples with me for the next class at Stampers Ink in March. Those cards will be spring themed.

I have some other classes scheduled in March as well at Stampin-In-The-Rain. There are already samples in the store for the spring themed class on Sat, Mar 8 and I'm completing samples for the Kid Cards class on Tues, Mar 25th and hope to have them at the store this weekend.

On the home front, I've been working on painting my living room, now that I've picked out my furniture. The new sofa is scheduled to arrive this Friday so everything has to be ready. The first coat of paint was with a color that was a bit too yellowy for my taste so the second coat was done with a grayer shade of green (think sage). I like it much better. The problem is, I only completed about 85% of the room with the first color so I have to finish the rest with that same color, then give it a second coat with the new color so everything looks the even. Argh! After I'm all done with that, I need to paint my entry way a lovely paprika color. That will tie everything in nicely. It will be a couple of months before the rest of the new furniture comes but I can live with that. Who uses a dining room table, anyway? LOL. When it's all done, I'll post a pic.

A Muse Secret Sister

I know Valentine's is over but I never did share with you what I sent my A Muse Secret Sister. What's an A Muse Secret Sister, you say? Well, if you pop on over to the A Muse Addicts website you'll see, under the RAKS section, a thread titled A Muse Secret Admirers. It's where you are assigned a person to send a little gift to and then follow up with a card a week later revealing who you are. I am very bad.....I didn't send a reveal. But, Geeta saved me (she's a moderator and one of the 4 folks who works very hard to maintain that website) by listing who drew who so Pat was able to find out that I drew her. Hopefully my gift made up for my lack of reveal. If you look closely, you can see that I used the 'My Funny Valentine' sentiment from A Muse on the front of the mailbox. I also used a portion of the 'Love Is In The Air' sentiment on the flag. The rest of the details are at the bottom of this post.

Earlier in the month I posted what I had received from the person who drew me....Kim L. You can find that post here. My Secret A Muse sister was good to me! And yes, the Sour Patch Kids are all gone!

Here's what I sent Pat:

Deets: Mailbox, Patterned Paper, Embellishments, and small boxes of ribbon all from Target. Stitched ribbon on mailbox, polka dotted paper on flag, Elzybells stamp, and A Muse ribbon pack all from A Muse.

If you're interested in participating in something like this, come on over and join the A Muse Addicts. We'd love to have you! There are card challenges, lots of tips, opportunities to ask questions and get quick answers, and lots more.

Happy Bee-Lated Birthday!

My kids have been out of school all week for Mid-Winter Break so I haven't had much time for stamping. I thought I'd share some other creations with you that I haven't shared before. This is the card I made for Katie Stilwater's birthday. I was a little late so I thought the bee-lated birthday sentiment would be perfect. My original card used the new yellow stitched ribbon from A Muse but I wasn't allowed to share it yet so I had to swap the ribbon out for this black gingham.


Card deets: (all supplies by A Muse, except ribbon) Blue Raspberry tinplate notecard, Papaya notecard cut for layer; Stamps: 7-4101B beehive, 3-4094A Tiny Bee, 9-8336B Bee-lated Birthday; Beehive stamped onto scrap of Papaya and then adhered to white piece; black Micron pen for bee trails; black gingham ribbon from SU

New Spring Goodness

If you visit Linda's blog there are links to all the new goodness in the Spring release today. There are new clear sets (have you seen those Sushi and Nature samples?!), A Muse wood mounted stamps, Elzybells wood mounted stamps, and new notecards.

Have some fun, go shopping, treat yourself! You've been good, right?! Remember that you can go from blog to blog and retain the same shopping cart with A Muse. How handy is that?!

The Excellent Award!

My friend, Dorinda (who named my blog) has passed me the Excellent Award! Such an honorable mention surely deserves to be shared, therefore, I am passing this award on to some of my favorite bloggers:

• Becky Rusher - {The Polka Dot Cafe}. She inspires me every day.


• Kimme - The Life of a Princess . She has the most adorable twins with a new baby on the way.


• Elena- The Stampin Shac. I love the way this girl stamps.


• Scoopy - Stamping Scoops . Without her, I'd be nothing!

So here you go, the Excellent Award:

You ladies rock!!!

Sneak Peek #4

We had a beautiful day in the PNW yesterday so I took the day off from blogging to spend some time outside. I cleaned out my car (badly needed) and then the garage. We have oodles of cleats between two kids and multiple sports. They never go beyond one season, of course, because they grow out of them. I don't like to save my older son's shoes for my younger son, either. One is a lefty, the other a righty so the way they put pressure inside their shoes is different and everyone's foot forms a different mold on their shoe lining. I will be donating these as they are in great shape.

Okay, stop with the rambling and get on with the sneak peek you say. Well, here you go. This is Sneak Peek #4. Only one more sleep and you can get your hands on these cute little chicks for yourself. This little chick with the lady bug is one of my favorites in this release. It's just the cutest little image! So fun to color, too. I used my Copic Buttercup Yellow on the chick, lipstick red on the ladybug, and Yellow Green for the stem, leaf, and grass. I highlighted sections of the white petals with my Cool Shadow marker. This helps the white to look more white. The image needed a sweet sentiment so I added 'You make life sweet.' I love this new Grass Green Kitchen notecard!!!

Sneak Peek #3

I love this little basket image. It's just so sweet! It's a very soft image to me so I decided I'd do a little shabby somethin' with it. I stamped the image onto some white cardstock, punched it with the Marvy blue scalloped circle punch. I then masked the image and stamped the Micro Oval in Colorbox Chalk Ice Blue to ground it a bit. Just a very light shadow. I distressed the edges of the scallop with my Colorbox Chalk Cat Eye in Caramel. The image itself was colored with my Copic markers. I used my clear atyou Spica Glitter pen on the yellow bow and added a micro dot Twinkle Sticker to the center. My base card is the cottage brown pinwheel. I took a Cottage Pink Reverse Dot Pretty Little Paper (PLP) and distressed the edges with the Cat Eye as well and layered it onto the card base. Popped the scalloped circle with some dimensional dots, added the greeting from a Saltbox Studio set, and Voila!

Only a couple more sleeps until these babies are available for purchase to you through A Muse. Make sure you pick up a package (or two, or three) of some Twinkle Dots. The colors are great for Spring! I've used both Mini and Micro Dots on many of my Spring cards. It's a great, simple way to add some sparkle and some dimension to your cards.

Elzybells Sneak Peek #2

Do you see it? Do you see what's new besides the image? Yup, you got it! It's a new 4-bar kitchen notecard color! When I first saw these notecards at the shop I immediately thought 'jellybeans!' The new 4-bar notecards come in the most delicious colors you will want to get them all! If you line them all up they look like a Skittles rainbow!

For this card I used the purple kitchen 4-bar notecard with a strip of the Cottage Green argyle notecard. I stamped the Chick Trio onto white cardstock, then punched and layered it onto a piece of Cabana Blue notecard that had been punched with the Marvy Scalloped Oval Mega punch. I mounted the layered and colored (with Copics, of course!) image using pop dots to give it some dimension. I then stamped the Happy Easter sentiment and placed 3 Twinkle Mini Dot stickers right below that. You probably can't see it in the photo but I also added some light blue glitter on the polka dotted egg.

I hope you are having fun chasing down the sneak peeks on the various blogs of the A Muse Design and Instructor teams. I sure have fun doing my own search every morning. I love that we can each use the same image in such a different way. I make mental notes about their layouts, color combos, and even their coloring choices. It really helps when I go into a creative block, to go back and look at their samples.

I have a class to teach tomorrow at Stampin-in-the-Rain but otherwise hope to relax this weekend with my family since I was gone last weekend. My kids are off from school all of next week for Mid-Winter break. I gotta get rested! LOL

Sneak Peek #1

I know you have all been anxiously awaiting the newest release from Elzybells. This new release actually does not feature Lizzie, but the cutest little chicks you've ever seen instead. I kept this card really clean and simple because I thought the image was really simple. It's just meant to be soft and sweet. The scalloped oval was stamped with Colorbox Chalk Ice Blue. I added some Sakura Glitter Pen to the bee's trail.

Be sure to check out the blogs of the rest of the A Muse Designers and Instructors as I know many of them will have sneak peeks of the new A Muse and Elzybells releases. The new stamps will be available on the 19th. Any LSS's that pre-ordered should have them in stock by then.

Card deets: Celestial Blue Notecard; Stamps: D0092 Mini Chick Bee, 3-5003G Scalloped Oval, 8-8401B Bee-utiful Day

Back from CHA

I had so much fun during my short trip at CHA. I can tell you I have a brand new appreciation for store owners. I have no idea how they make any decisions in this place! It was like total sensory overload!!! By the end of the first day my eyes were glossed over....everything started to look the same. There was just more and more and more patterned paper! Sadly, I left CHA with very little on my 'must have' list. There were lots of things I found to be pretty but not a lot that screamed, 'Buy Me!' Of course not owning a store, I couldn't actually place any orders, but you get the picture. One fairly recent product I had previously paid no mind to, I now think is totally cool after getting a chance to play with it.....Tim Holtz's Grunge Board!

Emily and I spent all of Saturday walking the floor. When we got to the Ranger booth, we spied Tim Holtz and Ali Edwards. We sat down and did a make and take using the Grunge Board, then contemplated whether or not to ask to take our picture with Tim (Ali had moved on). When there was a good opportunity we approached him and had a little conversation about Adirondack pads and asked for a picture. He was so nice!!!! Talks to ya' like you're a friend... Here's Scoopy, Tim, and I.

One of our stops was also at the Cornish Heritage Farms booth. Right away I spotted Keri Sereika and Scoopy spotted Lisa Strahl. We were able to meet Keri but had to wait for a bit to talk to Lisa as she was busy helping a customer. While waiting we perused the CHF booth. I got to see some images from the Rubbage Bin, Kim Hughes, the Elvis line, and Thomas Kinkade and if you look in the back left corner of this photo....Thomas the Train is coming! Now my kids are too old for Thomas but I sure would have enjoyed having these when they were younger.

I met lots fabulous SCS folks. Trudee Sauer, Debbie Olson, Ellen Hutson, and A Muse's very own Michelle White worked the Copic booth. It was fabulous to see Trudee and Debbie in action. I was able to see them demonstrate the airbrush system and their coloring techniques. Cool stuff! I also met some of the Copic staff and they were just the nicest people. Here are some other folks I met (forgive me if I left anyone off!): Jeanne Streiff, BadSherry, Kittie747, Linda Duke, Jami Siebley, saw Taylor Van Bruggen from afar, EarlyMorning, Willowsmom....I know there were more. Everyone pretty much looked like their blog and/or avatar pictures. Some were taller than expected and some were shorter than I expected but their faces were instantly recognizeable. We spotted Elsie from the Love, Elsie line at her booth. Heidi Swapp was working at her own booth as well.

The best thing about my trip was meeting the A Muse gals that I'd never met before in person. We all had dinner together at the Cheesecake Factory and Michelle has the group picture over on her blog. This is one group of fabulous women! That's all for now! I'm a little swamped from taking some time off for CHA and have a lot of catching up to do.

Off to CHA!

I'm so excited to be going to CHA this year! This will be my first experience with it. I won't be gone long...back on Monday night, so I'm not sure how much I'll really be able to see. If I can take pictures, I will, and post them here but there is a general rule about no pictures unless permission is granted. I hope to at least get pictures with people, like the A Muse gals I've never met in person.

I have lots to do today to prepare for my trip. Have to get a 'to do' list for my husband with the boys' schedules, finish up laundry, pack, charge my camera & phone, etc. Made the trip to Costco last night so the family would have food.

Here is a post of a card that will be in an upcoming class at Stampin-in-the-Rain at Bothell Country Village. I make two samples...one for me, one for the store. I usually keep the boo-boos for me. This one is a boo-boo. The sample for the store is perfect! It doesn't have any ink smudges at the bottom and the sentiment is aligned better. The prima was a last minute addition when I designed my card. This is a notch card, with the notch hiding behind the Prima. If you are interested in participating in the class, just call them directly. The number is to the right, under my schedule.

Okay, that's it for me. I have much to do. I'll be back on Tuesday.

Thinkin' of you

This is a card I designed for a class recently. It was a class for general cards. It's a very girly card, don't you think? I like girly things but unfortunately, my husband and two boys don't appreciate girly things much. haha. I also love pink. For this card I used the Fairy Dust notecard and stamped the Gerber Daisy (3-4105E), Spiral Daisy (2-4092D), and Astro Flower (2-4089C) using Versamagic Pink Petunia. I put clear Twinkle Dot stickers (using both micro and mini dots) in the centers of the flowers to bling it all up a little. I then stamped the Splendiferous Day sentiment (8-8329C) in black and mounted that onto a scrap of Plum notecard and trimmed the edges with my mini scallop scissors. To make a ribbon tab like I did, you can staple the piece of ribbon to your bottom layer, then mount your top layer over it so no one sees the staples. How's that for a handy tip?!

Fly The Coop

I'm not really sure why I made this card, LOL. I think it would be more appropriate as a girl's graduation card, or maybe a Bon Voyage card (oh, that just gave me an idea!), or a card for a daughter going off to college but the idea popped into my head and I just had to let it out. The sentiment 'The Journey Is The Reward' has to be one of my favorite sentiments. It's very versatile. I've often seen it paired with the stack of books, to represent the journey one takes through reading, I've seen it paired with a moving vehicle like the Vespa Girl or the Wheely Girl, and it can now be paired with the Elzybells Girl in Car. You could even pair the sentiment with the Prego Gal or Expecting Mother to represent the journey into motherhood. I don't ever think I've seen it paired with the birdcage and the bird flying the coop. This is a very simple card to make....a nice 5-minute card, really, but in it's simplicity I think it holds great meaning. It holds hope, anticipation, excitement, and something bittersweet as it almost always means goodbye. Not a goodbye forever, but a goodbye. So when I mentioned Bon Voyage, it made me think of my friend Michelle H., who is moving to Italy this week. ITALY!!! Her husband is already there for a new job so she will be travelling with her two young children (one under a year old). It's a bittersweet moment because it's a time full of hope, anticipation, excitement, and a goodbye. But it's not a goodbye forever, just a goodbye....and a good luck.

Card deets: (All products by A Muse) Fairy Dust notecard; Stamps: 2-7112E Bird Cage, 2-4042E Birds, 9-8236B Journey; pink edged sheer ribbon; Saffron marker. The bird was stamped onto a scrap of Celestial Blue notecard, then cut out and popped up with a pop-dot.

Saltbox Studio

Today I decided to share some cards I made using the new Saltbox Studio line of clear stamps, distributed by A Muse Artstamps, Inc. I love the art style of these stamps because they are so different from any new product out on the market with the latest influx of acrylic stamp companies out there.

Now I don't know what it is about sheep that makes us think of babies but the first card I HAD to make with this sheep set was a baby card. I will have to remake this onto pink, though. My niece, Jenny, is due to have a baby girl this Spring. Our family is so HUGE (Jenny herself is one of 8 kids and one of 18 grandkids) that we are a true flock. So, this card (once redone in pink) will be welcoming her new baby to our big flock.

My next card is a simple one. For the past few years I have volunteered my Wednesday nights to a program at my church called Pioneer Clubs. It used to be called Pioneer Girls but is now supposed to be able to include boys. However, at our church the boys have their own program so ours is just full of girls. Anyway, I thought this would be a cute, simple, mail friendly little card that I could mail them for Easter.

Have you been to the Saltbox Sampler? It's the Saltbox Studio's blog and it's chock full of fantastic information! Beth, the Saltbox gal herself, has been showing a coloring tutorial using markers and colored pencil together. She's got samples of the image in its various stages of coloring so you can really see how it's all put together. She promises more tutorials so you should make sure you keep checking her blog. Her design team is fantastic, too, and they have lots of samples on their own personal blogs and the Saltbox Gallery. The nice thing about the Saltbox Gallery is that the samples are separated by stamp set so it's easy to find just the thing you are looking for.

Well, that's it for me today! I hope you all have a wonderful day. I have lots of things to finish up before I head out of town this weekend. I'm so excited to be going on a little weekend trip but it seems weird to travel without my husband and kids. I've never done that before!

A Muse Valentine Card

I taught a Valentine card class last week at Stampers Ink. Two of my A Muse Addicts peeps were there...Rhonda and Nicole. It was so much fun! Nicole has announced she is moving so I knew this was one of the last times I would probably see her for a while. I'm so bummed...we were just getting to know each other and develop a friendship. Nicole is a FABULOUS A Muse stamper! She is just finishing her last week as the January Guest Designer over on Linda's blog. Don't get me wrong now, because Rhonda is a Fab-O A Muse stamper, too!

Here is a sample of one of the cards we created in my class:




I had so much fun creating this card!!! One of my favorite stamps is the birdcage. Paired with the new Little Bird stamp and sentiment from the latest Valentine release (you can get them here), plus some yummy A Muse ribbon....well, you get some serious cuteness like this!

I'm looking forward to sharing more creations with you this week. Life has been pretty busy for me lately, and looks like it will continue that way for a bit, but I tried to get ahead a little this weekend and have taken pictures of some cards for you in advance. This way, it doesn't take me as long to get a blog post up. My next class is Saturday, Feb 16th at Stampin-in-the-Rain so I'll be sharing some card samples for that throughout the week. Be sure to contact the store directly to sign up.

Test your IQ

So I was blog hopping today and came across Linda's blog post about a fun little IQ test. These are my results:


***Your IQ Is 125***
Your Logical Intelligence is Exceptional
Your Verbal Intelligence is Genius
Your Mathematical Intelligence is Genius
Your General Knowledge is Above Average
A Quick and Dirty IQ Testhttp://www.blogthings.com/quickanddirtyiqtest/

It's really just for fun but try it and test your own intelligence (this is NOT a scientific test!)