GET OUT!!!

Did you see this post on the A Muse News blog? Oh my gosh, I totally passed out when I saw it. A Designer Swap between Lisa Spangler at Hero Arts and our own Julie Ebersole here at A Muse!!! Get out!!! You have got to see these. Go here and here to see everything. And it looks like there are some giveaways. I think I peed my pants.



ETA: I happened to have some of the same Hero Arts stamps that Julie used on this card so I had to quickly run into my craft room to create one of my own. I think this is probably the first cased card from the Hero/A Muse Designer Swap!




All images by Hero Arts with exception of the brackets, which are in a Studio G $1 set from Michaels. All papers by A Muse Artstamps, Inc. I also used my new Martha Stewart Lace Doily Edge Punch

Ramblings

My dad is a planner. He's level headed, conservative, stubborn, and a planner. He has, for many years, had a notebook of information for me in the event of his death. I recently received an updated version of this information and just got around to looking at it. I think all parents, especially those in retirement, should do this for their children. He has all the information for me that I would ever need so that I know what to do when he dies. I had to chuckle as I read these updates, though, as they definitely had personal statements in there that were soooo my father. Like his opinion on lawyers and HMOs. I also noted that in this information, he had provided the birth dates and death dates of his parents. My grandfather died 34 years ago today. I don't remember him. I was 5 when he died. I never lived near him. I have pictures with him when I was young but that's about it. I remember, though, my dad having to travel to his funeral. I just found it an odd coincidence that I happened to decide to look over this information on this anniversary date. I hope he is happy and proud of his son for the wonderful father he became.

Now how do I segue that into something crafty? I can't. I just had to ramble about that and after a moment of silence will set that aside and move to something crafty. After taking care of some design team assignments recently (top secret!), I haven't really had stamping time nor any stamping mojo. My brain is geared toward the nearing end of the school year and baseball season. I did, however, have this card stored on my computer that I haven't shared yet. So, here you go...

If you have a dad that's into fishing, this would make a handy dad card, wouldn't it? I know my DH likes to stop by the sporting goods store to load up with new lures and such before he heads out on a big fishing trip so I suppose I had him in mind when I created this card. He makes an annual trip up to Canada with some friends in August. Last year they entered a local tournament at the last minute and won! Here's a picture of the salmon they caught. How's that for some good grub?! Just a couple more months and I'll be restocked with some fresh salmon in my freezer.

Something sweet

I finally had some time to stamp yesterday and was in the mood for something sweet. Whenever I think sweet, I think pink. I love pink. I also love pandas but A Muse doesn't have a panda stamp. No matter! I just turned Missy B's Mr. Bear image into one! I probably got this idea from Missy's blog, I'm sure. You should check it out. She is one creative chick. Her dolls and crafts are just kitschy cute and if I ever make it to Sacramento I am going to buy one of her fabulously cute dolls. She is also a designer for A Muse and has started teaching classes at The Paper Garden (remember Stephanie, the A Muse Guest Designer for April?-see this post. Stephanie owns the Paper Garden). If you have a chance to sign up for a class with her, you should. I would. In a heartbeat.

Card deets: Cottage Red Argyle Notecard; Stamps: 5-3101C MB Mr. Bear, 9-8259B You Make Life Sweet; Tools: Stampin Up Scallop Punch, Martha Stewart Embossing Border Punch; American Crafts Ribbon; Copic Markers

Happy Anniversary, A Muse!!!

Wow! 7 fabulous years of A Muse Artstamps. I tell you, I've been an A Muse fan for several of those 7 years. I'm not sure if my first A Muse stamp was Thanks script (3-8039B) or Hula Girl 2-6029E. I think it was the Thanks script. Anyway, I haven't had any time this week to stamp so I don't have an anniversary card to share but I did want to share 7 of my favorite A Muse sentiments:

• Happy Birthday Little Lady 9-8298C


• Journey (sentiment) 9-8236B


• Life's Simple Pleasures 9-8250B


• Hi friend 9-8233B


• You Make life sweet 9-8259B


• You rock! 9-8408B


• Sending you sunshine 9-8261B

And my 7 favorite images:

• Seattle Girl 2-6064D


• Tiny Bird 2-4075A


• Patch 2-3075B


• Rock star 2-6095D


• Tiny Bee 3-4094A


• Beehive 7-4101B


• Branch 2-4115D

Wow. That was really hard to narrow down! My list is really like 10x that! What are some of your favorites?

Happy 7th Anniversary to you, A Muse! May you have many, many more successful years ahead of you. Thank you so much for the privilege of being a part of your success this past year-ish. I can't imagine my life without you!!! You really do light up my life!

Belated Mom's Day Card

Wow, what a busy weekend I had! I suffered from my allergies terribly, though. I think my eyes are still puffy. I did great all Spring, but I think that's because we hardly had a Spring. This weekend was pure summer weather. It was awesome! Both my kids had and won their baseball games, I got to see my BFF, we BBQ'd; what could be better?


I forgot to share this card with you before Mother's Day. You could easily adapt it with another image or sentiment, though, and still use the same layout.




I used the Blueberry Kitchen notecard, threw in some Popsicle Pink and some Green Kitchen scrap along with a bit of the yellow stitched grosgrain ribbon (you must get some!!!). I'm addicted to the tiny bee image so had to use that with the sentiment on a scalloped oval. I rubbed the edges with a Cat's Eye pad, added a Prima with a Twinkle Dot and Voila! Cute little Mom's Day card, easily adaptable to an all occasion card.

A-muse-a-palooza!

It's time to get yourselves registered for A-muse-a-palooza! I can't believe it's here already. I had so much fun participating last year with all the challenges and fun activities. I hope you all get yourselves registered for all the fun, too. I have links to the right---> (top of the right column). Be sure to bookmark the AMAP blog, too.

Click here to read Linda's blog post all about it!!!

Time Flies!

Wow, it's already Wednesday today. Where does the time go? Thankfully, my blah mood only lasted through Monday and I woke up on Tuesday raring to go. This morning I was up at 6:15am, working on a baked from scratch batch of Lemon Bars to take into the office with me. My reputation as a baker is becoming known throughout the office and while I was there last week, for our quarterly meetings, it was requested that I bring Lemon Bars. Mmmmm, they were good! Nothing like homemade Lemon Bars made with fresh lemon juice and zest. Beats a box recipe any day!

For this card, I was just playing around with some stuff and pulled these together pretty quickly. I think I am addicted to the tinplate notecards. Seems like I can't stop using them; especially the Blue Raspberry and Kiwi. I stamped the Horseshoes using Stampin Up's Really Rust, then outlined it with a gold Spica atyou glitter pen. The retro background was stamped with VersaMagic Cornucopia. I layered the whole thing on a piece of French Roast (A Muse) notecard and then trimmed it with some pinking decorative scissors. I added some French Roast stitched grossgrain ribbon and it completed the card quite nicely.

A big shout out to Lexi Daly for her recent publication in the latest Paper Crafts magazine. She's got a fabulous card using this same tinplate notecard! You can see Lexi's fabulous creations on her blog and throughout the gallery over at The Saltbox Studio. You go, girl!!!

Feeling a little Blah today

It's a beautiful day outside, which is great, but I'm in a blah mood today anyway. Not sure what it is but I feel totally unmotivated to accomplish a thing. I hate it when I feel like a lump on a log!

My Mother's Day was nothing particularly special but I did get to meet up with some old college friends for lunch on Saturday. That was a lot of fun for me. It takes the one who lives in California to come visit for the rest of us who live less than an hour away from each other to get together. How lame is that?!


I've been super busy with more of that to come for the rest of the month. This coming weekend my BFF comes to town for a couple of weeks for her little sister's wedding. I've also got cards to design and lots of things to do. Yikes!

With my spare time limited I went to the Saltbox Studio gallery for some inspiration. I loved the colors Beth used on her beehive and decided to go with it. This was a lot of fun to color, great blending practice, too. Get yer Copics out and do some coloring! Don't have Copics? Get 'em here! Might as well throw some stamps in your basket, too. You can shop from the A Muse blog, Elzybells NA blog, and Saltbox Studio blog all in the same shopping cart!

Linda's Going to San Diego!!!

Lucky Linda is going to San Diego to teach some classes at Michelle's new store, Paper Tales! Read about it here. She's got a fabulous card she's shared, too. I'm totally gonna CASE it (copy it).

I have made some of my own designs, too. I taught a class last night at Stampin In The Rain and told my students I was going to blog this cute little froggy card today. I made a boy version and a girl version. My oldest son thought the boy version looked kind of girly until I set the girl version down next to it so maybe they are both girly. Whatever.... LOL




Boy version


Girl version

What do you think? Are they both girly?

On my next post I'll be sharing a Saltbox Studio card.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

I've never been one to celebrate on Cinco de Mayo but it's a great excuse to share another card! hee hee. I'm not a Tequila admirer, either. I typed a paper for a guy friend in college once and he gave me a bottle of Tequila for it. I'd never had Tequila before....can't say that I've ever been a fan since! The next time I typed a paper for him I got a really cool conch shell for it. I still have it and I swear I saw that same guy at the mall yesterday. No joke! He was with his wife, though, and she called him the right first name. I just didn't have the nerve to go over and ask if it was him. Normally I don't have any problem with that but if I would have been more sure, I would've done it. I couldn't get a close enough look to see if he had the scar on his face that I remembered him having. Oh well.

So anyway, Happy Cinco de Mayo to any of you who do celebrate this holiday!

Just a reminder that I have a 'Greetings from Seattle' class tomorrow night at Stampin-In-The-Rain. I'm sure there are a few spaces open. Hope to see you there! Store info to the right---->

Greetings From Seattle

I've got my new class samples posted at both Stampin-In-The-Rain and at Stampers Ink now. The same class will be taught at both stores. Get yerself in there and take a look-see! I think you're gonna love these! The class schedule is posted to the right.

Stampin-In-The-Rain is also having their anniversary/Grand Reopening celebration this weekend. "It's going to be a ton of fun for all with lots of great door prizes, yummy refreshments, an interesting and informative make-and-take demo and of course a big 20% off sale! Our new store hours are Monday - Saturday 10:00 to 6:00 and Sunday 10:00 to 5:00. " The new store is in a larger building within Country Village. The space is fabulous and there is a ton more room for everything! You can view my samples and sign up for my class at the same time!

Today is also New Release day over at A Muse. There are pretty Chiffon 4-bar notecards, 8.5 x 11 Kitchen and Madeira papers, a new Mainly Men clear set, and 13 new wood-mounted stamps! Oh, and orange kitchen notecards, too. These are super yummy!!! You can go here to do your shopping and remember, you can shop from the Elzybells, Saltbox Studio, and A Muse blogs and combine everything into one shopping cart!