Only one more sleep!

Only one more sleep until the newest A Muse release. Since last week, many of the A Muse Design and Instructor team have been sharing their sneak peeks with you. I've been a little busy so haven't been able to share until today. I was able to make several cards over the weekend, though, so I'll have some to share all this week.

For this sneak peek, there are actually 2 new stamps being shown. One is the ballerina, the other is the tiara. I used my Stamp-A-Ma-Jig to help me place where I wanted the tiara to be used ornamentally. I popped the scalloped image with some foam dots. On her tutu, I added some pink glitter just to give the card a little something. This is a really simple card but I wanted to show how you can think out of the box with these fantastic new images.

Only one more sleep, too, until my oldest son goes off to camp with his fellow classmates. I'm so sad cuz I'm going to miss him so much. I asked him if he would be embarrassed if I cried at school when he leaves and he said, "yes!" haha. Maybe it's better if Dad drops him off. I don't know why I'm so anxious about it. I know he's in good hands and I know he's going to have lots of fun. I just wish I was there, too.

It's snowing

Because I live in the Seattle area, you might think what you see in this picture is rain. Let me assure you, it is not rain. IT'S SNOW!!! When is Spring really going to be here to stay for a while? I'm so done with winter!!!

Last night I took the most awesome class from Lance of Rusty Pickle. I just got my book completed and need to take some photos so I can blog it for you. It's the most awesome project! Totally time consuming but worth it. Plus, I got to go with my friend, Joyce.

Okay, here's wishing for spring:

No sneak peek here

Sorry, no sneak peek here. We've had a lot of crazy things going on around our house. The day my niece had her baby, my husband's aunt died. His cousin is the only surviving member of that family and he's gone a little haywire so my husband has been trying to help him out. We also got a call from the autobody shop that repaired my husband's truck from his accident in November, saying the other guy has maxed out on his liability and we now owe them over a thousand dollars for the balance of the repair costs. Needless to say, I've been spending time on the phone trying to get this taken care of. It hasn't left me with much time to make any cards for the sneak peeks (and they snuck up on me so I wasn't already prepared with samples).

Instead, I will leave you with a card I already had in my stash. I'm sure you've seen the sneak peeks here, here, and here of women involved in some sort of sport. I'm thinking of putting together a class using images of these outdoor women so look for that in the near future.

Confession

I need to make a confession. I bought a card. Yes, I BOUGHT A CARD!!! I was at the pet store last night, buying some dog food, when I realized I needed a birthday card for an 8yr old's birthday party that is taking place this afternoon. I can't show you the card I purchased because it would violate copyright laws but I can give you this link to the company that produces these cards. They are hilarious. The one I picked is a chihuaua with blue shiny goggles on and a hooded terry robe. He has a medallion 'C' around his neck. The sentiment inside says 'Party in the hood!' It's hilarious, trust me. The card has this really cool metallic sheen over it, too. My son loved it and he thinks his friend will love it, too.

Here's a birthday card that I CAN show you. It's my niece Alysia's birthday today. I made her a card that much like the one I made for my sister. If you remember, I had posted about my sister's card but didn't get a chance to take a picture before needing to give it to her. Well, this is a pretty close replica.





card deets: French Roast notecard by A Muse; all images by Memory Box, sentiment by Savvy Stamps. All ink is Versamagic by Tsukineko



Here's another card I'm going to leave you with. I'll be teaching this tonight at my Kid Cards class at Stampin-In-The-Rain. I actually picked this design off the A Muse website and revamped it with some new colors to bring it new life. Here's the 'old' version. Below is the new version.

Saltbox Studio

Did you all have a great Easter? It poured with rain most of the day yesterday, with a few sunbreaks in the middle of the day. We went to my MIL's for Easter dinner, as we do every year, and due to the rain the egg hunt was held indoors. The youngest kids always love doing an egg hunt and then they all come running to show us what they got. Then we raid their candy, LOL. The new baby came to visit for a little bit and I was able to get a turn with her. We sat in front of the window together so she could get a bit of sunshine.

Today I thought I'd share this card with you. It's another niece's birthday tomorrow (she's an aunt to the new baby). I didn't make this card for her but her birthday gives me an excuse to share this. hee hee. I used the Candle Glow and Candle Glow companion set. My youngest son chided me a little because the sentiment says "blow out the candles" while there is only one actual candle on the card. Leave it to a child to point out the obvious! Looks cute anyway, right? I added a little inset so you could see the actual coloring of the candle up close. I added some yellow shimmer chalk to the light around the candle.



Card deets: French Roast notecard by A Muse, images by The Saltbox Studio, colored with Copic Markers and distressed with Ranger's Distress Ink in Antique Linen

I'm an auntie!

I just got a surprise phone call from my husband that my niece had her baby last night. I know nothing else except that they are all okay. Don't know how small she is (she's a few weeks early) or even what hospital she's at. Now I have to track her down so I can go see her!

Yesterday I went on a field trip with my son's class to Padilla Bay. Living in the Puget Sound really gives us awesome learning opportunities about our environment. At Padilla Bay there is a learning center. We learned all kinds of things about estuaries and then ventured out on the beach to find all sorts of creatures. It was cold, SUPER windy, but I think the students really enjoyed themselves. Because of the wind, I couldn't really take many pictures on the beach. I had to hang onto other stuff and I think my fingers would have frozen off anyway. I did capture a picture of my son enjoying the indoor part of the field trip, though. He looks really thrilled to be there. The picture below that is of our 'instructor' at Padilla Bay. His name was Alex and I thought he did a fabulous job.




I've kind of lost my stamping mojo this past week or so and don't have much new created that I can share. I haven't had much time to find my mojo, either. I'm hoping to fix that really soon. I have to prepare some more samples for classes so I'd better figure something out! I'll leave you with this, though. I hope those of you that celebrate it have a very Happy Easter this weekend!

Spring Cards

I figure you've been neglected long enough and that I'd better get my act together and get something posted before you all desert me. It's been a busy last few weeks, as usual. My husband and I have finally finished our living/dining room, baseball is in full swing, my kids have school projects, field trips, and camp coming up so my attention has been directed elsewhere. It's all good, though. Just means spring is coming.






I designed this card for one of my spring card classes. It's a really easy card to make, nice and softly colored with the Fairy Dust notecard and Versamagic Tea Leaves combo. I love the little ladybugs wandering amongst the Flowers & Vines image. It's something I could really envision them doing. One thing you probably can't see in this picture is that after I colored the ladybugs, I went back over them with my Sakura Clear Glaze Pen to give them a shiny shell. Hope you like this.

Novell Condos

Okay, how's this for weird? Between my sister's birthday lunch at Blue Fin, located at the Northgate Mall and my niece's baby shower I headed to the Pottery Barn located at the University Village Shopping Mall (way cool place) in the University District (think, U of Wa). As I'm driving down 45th, which is the main street that takes you from the freeway to the U-District, I pass a sandwich board sign for 'Novell' condos. Practically smashed myself into the car in front of me, I tell ya'! So of course, I have to take a detour to check out my condos (didn't know I HAD condos!). Here's a link so you can check out all the amenities. I took pictures with my Blackberry of the condo sign but haven't figured out how to set my email up to email it to myself. I keep getting an error about the connection not being found, even with the USB cable hooked up to my laptop. Wonder how the building owner came up with the name for their condos?

Anyway, I will share my sister's birthday card later. I didn't have time to take a picture of it before giving it to her. I need to recreate it. It was a crazy, busy day yesterday.

Baby Shower

My niece, Jenny, is going to pop soon with a new baby. Her shower is this weekend. I've already got the gift purchased but didn't have a card ready. When Debbie Olson made this card, I just knew I had to order Teddybella from Stamping Bella for Jenny's card. I paired the image with the Gypsy line from Basic Grey, using the 6x6 pack. I paper pieced the dress from one of the smaller prints and colored the rest of the image with my Copic markers. The sentiment is a retired one from A Muse. The ribbon and rest of the cardstock is from Stampin Up. I love the bright colors of this card. It'll coordinate nicely with the baby outfit I bought.

Kid cards!

Well, another fun class has completed so I've updated my class schedule to show the next few coming. I'll be taking photos of those cards soon so I can post samples on my blog. Here's a sample of one of the cards we'll be making at Stampin-In-The-Rain at the end of March. On the 25th of March, to be exact. Hope you can make it. The store is still in Country Village but has moved to a much larger location and the new class space rocks! This card was inspired by Lexi Daly, a favorite blogstress of mine. (Yeah, I just made up that word.) I love the Warhol-ish effect and think it would suit most any teenager.





Some have been thinking this is a class where kids come to make the cards but nooooooooo, it's a class where you make cards FOR kids. I have samples made up that will suit boys and girls and in various age ranges. They are also general occassion so you can use them 'just because' or add a birthday greeting inside to make it a birthday card. All of the samples are on display in the store, if you care to swing by.

I have not checked but I presume there are still some spots open for my class tomorrow nigh at Stampers Ink. That will be a Spring themed class with an Easter card thrown in since Easter is coming so early this year. Contact the store directly if you wish to check on availability and to sign up. Would love to have you!

Green, Green

Green, green. That was a title to one of my favorite Japanese children's songs off a very old album I still have. All the words are in Japanese except for 'green, green.' I don't even remember what the song is about but I remember the tune in my head. This card reminded me of the song because of all the green. Green also happens to be the color in the weekly challenge over at the A Muse Addicts. If you haven't already participated, head on over there and check it out!





The card I'm sharing today uses images from The Saltbox Studio. The sheep image comes from the 'Sheep' set while the sentiment comes from the 'Sheep Sayings' set. I also used the A Muse tiny flower for some added interest in the Green Madeira notecard "grass." I used my Copic .05 multiliner pen to add faux stitches along the two layers of grass to define them more. I also distressed the edges just a bit. I used my Signo White Gel Pen in the center of the flowers just to accentuated them and the flower stems & leaves I drew in myself. The sheep was colored in with a white Prismacolor pencil. Have your Saltbox sets seen some love lately???? They'd make perfect Easter cards!!!

Happy Birthday, Alicia!

Well, today is my cousin Alicia's birthday. She is about 7 months younger than I am. She's been through a lot these past few months. Her mom, my aunt, had a double brain aneurism in mid-December and things were really touch and go for a while. She recently was able to return home, well to Alicia's home, and is now back in the hospital after having suffered what they think is a seizure. It's just taking her brain longer to recover because of the brain damage she suffered in December. This is the card on its way to my cousin. I know...it's late. My cards are always late. But, I called her this morning to wish her a happy birthday so it's all good!

The idea for this card came from another A Muse Designer/Instructor's blog but I can't remember whose it was and don't know if this is an exact case or not. I just thought Alicia would think it was cute. And she needs a lift...the poor girl has to be both physically and mentally exhausted! Her kids are the same age as mine, within a few months, and between taking care of her mom and taking care of her own family, she's gotta be beat.

Life's Simple Pleasures

I'd love to hear more comments about the style of picture taking you all prefer so keep those comments coming! I'd already taken this picture and don't really have time to retake it at less of a wonky angle so you'll just have to take it as it is!

Here's one of my Life's simple pleasures:

How do you like to see pictures?

I don't have any statistics things on my blog so I have no idea who or how many people visit it. I figure the best way to get an answer to my question is just to have a post like this. If you noticed on the Snoopy card I posted, I have taken that picture all wonky. Do you like that? Do you prefer to see pictures of cards taken straight on the way I've been doing it? Maybe a mixture? I'd like to hear from you....

Busy with Birthdays!

The last few weeks have been really busy with birthdays for me. It started off with my manager's birthday on Feb 23rd and my mom's birthday on Feb 24th. My Aunt Nora's birthday was this Saturday, my nephew Hunter's birthday was today. My cousin Alicia's birthday is Wednesday, my sister and my SIL Marcy's birthday is the 16th. My niece's baby shower is also the 16th. My best friend's son's birthday is the 17th, and another niece has her birthday on the 22nd. Whew! Plus a friend just had a beautiful baby boy on Feb 22nd. I got a few cards done but have to get busy making more!

My manager's card:

My Aunt Nora's card:

My nephew Hunter's card:

I hope to post more pics of cards in the next few days. Remember the baby card I made using the Saltbox Studio Sheep set? Well, that's the baby card I'm sending to my friend who just had a little boy. I knew that card would come in handy!