Quick Update

Just a quick update:

My next class will be this Saturday, November 10th at 11am. I dropped my samples off at the shop before I remembered to take any pictures. Actually, I thought I had taken them but it appears I didn't. Waaah! I promise, you'll love these! We'll make a combination of holiday cards and projects like a CD envelope for treats and this really fun zip/tear gift card holder. Call the shop directly to sign up and if you have my email address, pop me an email to let me know you are coming.

Also, I've had a few inquiries about the 4x4 calendar I used in my class. The calendar was created by fabulous A Muse Studio Consultant, Brenda Lee. Brenda has given me permission to share this calendar so please leave me your contact info if you would like a copy. Or, you can visit Brenda's blog here, find the small blogger icon just under her profile pic (of her cat), then click on her name. You will see a link to email her for the calendar.

More PaperCrafts Holiday Inspiration

My apologies for the poor photo quality but it's been pretty darned rainy and gloomy here in the PNW. Plus, the only time I have to take these photos is either very early in the morning or late in the evening when it's dark out.

Anyway, I wanted to share more PaperCrafts Holiday Cards & More, Vol 7 inspiration with you. I was inspired by the card on the left side of page 18 by Cristina Kowalczyk. I loved the grey birch trees with the red accents and realized I could play around with the same idea with my A Muse Studio stamps. I love this Peace on Earth cling set, but don't be looking for the little birdie there! I pulled that out of another set. I also love using kraft paper for winter cards. There are so many colors that work nicely with it, especially white and red. You can't see it in the photo, but there's a second layer of white cardstock that I glittered the top portion of with a glue stick and some sparkly diamond glitter (from A Muse, of course!). Such a peaceful winter card, don't you think?

Don't forget, A Muse is still giving away their Fight Like A Girl breast cancer awareness stamp set during the month of October, while supplies last. You can get yours here.

Supplies from A Muse Studio

Before I share more PaperCrafts Holiday inspired projects, I'd like to share some other information with you that's really important. For the month of October, A Muse Studio is kicking off their Breast Cancer awareness campaign. They have created a special stamp set called Fight Like A Girl and are giving away 10,000 FREE* COPIES!!  Included with each set is a brochure on breast health. This set includes a really cute pushpin stamp that you can ink up and use to mark important dates on your calendar like your mammogram, or other doctor appointments. 

The Fight Like a Girl Stamp set has a retail value of $18, but you can get one for FREE* during the month of October**. 

* Please note there is a $3 fee that covers shipping and handling for this stamp set
** Available while supplies last
*** Please allow 6-8 weeks for delivery

Unfortunately, breast cancer has affected members of my own family (on my husband's side) as well as several friends. Thankfully, with early detection, each of those women is a survivor!! Please share the link so that you and your friends can all get one of these fabulous sets and spread the word about early detection.

Click here to learn how to order your very own free* set, available while supplies last. 

This Saturday, October 6th, I'll be holding my annual 4x4 Calendar class at the A Muse Studio retail shop. We'll be making the base, cover, and decorating the twelve months in-between with a variety of images and products. I hope you'll be able to join me!  Please see my 'Class Schedules' page with details as to how you can contact the shop and reserve your spot. Can't make the class but want a calendar? Just let me know!

PaperCrafts Holiday Cards & More Vol. 7

Whenever a special publication like the new PaperCrafts Holiday Cards & More, Vol. 7 comes out, I'm always inspired to create. Let's take this zippered gift card holder, for example. Betsy Veldman created a fun design which you can find on p. 115. I don't have the same products that Betsy used, but this design made it easy to adapt with images and products I actually DO have in my collection. Not only that, but I actually even had an empty matching gift card! This gift card came from Macy's a year or two ago. I like to keep empty gift cards on hand for card designs... it's a good thing I kept this one!

Stamp sets from A Muse Studio: Snowy Day Background, Let it Snow, Making Spirits Bright
Ink from A Muse Studio: Winter Sky, Cherry, Fern, Ocean
Paper from A Muse Studio: Vanilla, Vintage Blueberry


I don't have the die that Betsy used to create the zipper so I pulled out my Cutterpede paper cutter with a perforating blade to create the zipper. I stamped the snowflake from A Muse Studio's Let it Snow cling set with their Ocean pigment ink onto some Shrinky Dink ® plastic. I used a circle punch to punch it out, then used a standard sized hole punch to create the hole for the twine. When it all shrinks up, the hole is the perfect size for putting twine or ribbon through without a fight. The cherry/white twine with a little jingle bell was the perfect touch for my pull tab.

I've got some more creations I'll be sharing which were also inspired by other designs in this issue. I know it's a little early to be thinking about Christmas, but hopefully, you'll be inspired to create, too.

My next class is Saturday, September 15th at the A Muse Studio Retail Shop. I hope you'll be able to join us to make some really fun Halloween and Fall cards because as evidenced by my recent trip to Target, Halloween and fall are right around the corner! Eegads! I'm not ready for summer to end!





















Since the Halloween candy sections are also popping up, we'll follow up this fun card class with a Halloween Treats project class. I'll show you how to make some really cute and simple treat holders that you can easily adapt to any holiday, or even no holiday at all!

Now when I hold back to back classes, my "regulars" like to have lunch together, so if you're interested in ordering a Vietnamese sandwich for lunch, let me know! They are cheap and super tasty. Nom Nom!

Hope you can make it! I would love to see you. In October, I'll be holding a calendar class so you can get a head start on making them for all of your friends. Check my Class Schedule page for details on how to get signed up for these fabulous classes.

I'm so excited to have had the opportunity to get my hands on some of the latest products in the 2012 A Muse Studio Holiday Catalog. I set right to work designing my next few classes, starting with this one! Come join me for some Holiday Hoopla on Saturday, August 18th from 11:30am to 1:30pm at the A Muse Shop in Greenwood. We'll make 4 holiday cards and a fun mini pizza box to get your creativity started. Call the shop directly to reserve your spot. See my Class Schedule page for details.

I've also designed my next two classes, which will be held on September 15th. There will be two classes, back to back, with a short lunch break in-between. We'll be focusing on Fall and Halloween themes. Save the date!

Quick Post, Quick Card

The Fourth of July is right around the corner so I thought I'd play with Lady Liberty. A clean, simple, and definitely quick card to make. I love this Pistachio colored cardstock! It's such a soft and yummy color. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to play with some more Fourth of July stuff but it's been really busy for me in my day job and I've got some baking to do. Thanks for checking in!

It's been so busy at work for me lately, that I haven't had a chance to do any crafting. I made this card a couple of weeks ago and thought I'd share it with you. Not everyone is a cat person, including myself, but one can still appreciate the imagery because I'm sure we've all seen a cat ready to pounce on a mouse, a bird, or a butterfly at some point, even if it was on TV or in a movie.

To create this card, I stamped the flower field image from the 'Sunny side of Life' cling set using A Muse Studio's Sugar pigment ink, then stamped the butterfly from the same stamp set and the cat from the 'At Least One Cat' cling set. I embossed it all with white EP. I did use my Static Buddy prior to any of my stamping to keep the EP from getting everywhere. Heat setting from the underside can help that problem, too, but I think I was a little lazy this time. Layered the Cobalt onto some Papaya cardstock and wrapped some lovely Papaya satin ribbon around it. The button came from my button stash. I think I need A Muse to make/sell wood buttons now. A little twine keeps the button from lookin' nekkid.

Anyway, back to the rat race. My kids have 2 more days of school and then I can sleep in for one more hour every day until summer's over. Hooray! Can't wait!

Next class is this Saturday, June 23rd at the A Muse shop. If you aren't signed up already, make sure you do!

One of my nieces graduated high school this weekend. I had made a cookie bouquet for another event and had some cookie dough and royal icing left over, so I thought I'd make her a graduation cookie bouquet in her high school's colors. The first bouquet I made for the other event, I had my friend arrange for me. She's a former florist. So she's good at it. I'm not good at it. I arranged these. Most were leaning forward. When I walked into my kitchen to grab the box on the way out the door, I noticed 2 of the cookies had fallen off their sticks. Right after I presented it, fallen cookies and all, another one fell off its stick. haha! Not to worry. I've run over Christmas presents before and they've forgiven me so what's a few cookies that have fallen off their sticks?! It's the thought that counts, right?

















I also got my new Stampin Up catalog this weekend. While I rarely order anything from SU these days, I do like to have the catalog for inspiration. I found this lovely idea at the bottom of p. 38. While the catalog was for a wedding set and they used sparklers in the envelope, I thought I'd make a graduation wand. You could put some money inside the envelope, too. That said, I gave my niece a store bought card. It just happened to say exactly the words I would want to say to her, which was essentially, you'll hear lots of inspiring speeches but just be true to yourself, be yourself, and success will surely come.

I recently ordered a milk carton die made by a well known manufacturer. I love it! It's really cute, but it's pretty tiny. I wanted a bigger carton, so using the same format as the die, I just made a bigger carton with a piece of cardstock and my scoring tool. Voilà! I have my desired carton size. Since I don't have the new mustache set from A Muse, I used the old one, Foiled Again! I also die cut a scalloped circle from my Petite Dot Cherry cardstock, a plain circle from Sleepy Hollow cardstock, then stamped, embossed, and trimmed the mustache and attached it with foam tape to the circle. I then taped the circle to the fun paper party straw from my stash with some lime green washi tape. I loooove me some washi tape!

For one of the days during Teacher Appreciation week, I actually purchased some new, unused milk cartons from a shop nearby full of random goodies, and filled it with mini homemade chocolate chip cookies. Takes milk and cookies to a whole new level, don't you think?

How do you close this carton, you say? Well! I purchased some small metal binder clips from one of my favorite stores, Tarjay (Target), then wrapped some washi tape over the metal binding. Close up the top, clip on the binder clip, and off you go! You could probably glue it shut, too, but where's the cute in that?

I just love it when the sun comes out to play. It inspires me to create. I've really been leaning toward clean and simple designs with a lot of white space lately. For this card, I cut a square of Sugar cardstock, put some strips of double stick tape across it, peeled off the backing, then covered it with some yummy Bubblegum pink glitter. I took another piece of Sugar cardstock, trimmed it to my liking, die cut the largest A Muse butterfly die out of the center and stamped a pretty sentiment underneath it. I took that pretty bubblegum glittered piece of cardstock and glued it behind the opening created by the die. Layered that whole thing onto some lime cardstock and popped it into a Sugar 4-bar notecard.

Of course you could always purchase some glittered cardstock to make life easier, but it's just not as fun, is it? haha! Now go create something fun!

Sorry for the last minute notice, but I've updated my class schedule page. Next class: Contemporary Greetings, Saturday, May 19th from 11:30-1:30. We'll create some lovely cards for your stash using some contemporary images and greetings. Come join the fun!

Cupcake Camp Seattle 2012

This Sunday, I'll be attending Cupcake Camp Seattle, which is a fundraiser for the Hope Heart Institute that I discovered last year. This is the 3rd year for the fundraiser and if you are a cupcake lover like I am, you need to be there!! Attending the fundraiser requires the purchase of a ticket, which not only gets you in the door, but works as a punch card for..... CUPCAKES!! All sorts of area cupcake stores come to Cupcake Camp with their cupcake displays. It's a great way to try out new flavors and see what the latest cupcake trends are. The bonus is that you're helping a great cause. No, not helping your waistline but really... who cares?!

Here's my ticket, which was designed by CakeSpy. Note the small icons at the bottom... that's the punchcard part.

This was one of the lovely cupcake displays. Can't remember who the vendor was on this one.

And then there were these gorgeous cupcakes. Yum, yum!! Salivating yet? Free on Sunday afternoon? Well, then get your tickets here. Be sure to arrive early or you'll be disappointed. These cupcakes disappear FAST. Oh, and bring a box to take your cupcakes home in because they don't supply them and you don't want any cupcakes taking a face plant onto the sidewalk as you walk back to your car. That would suck. Badly.

Had a fabulous Spring/Easter class and believe it or not, it's already time to plan on the next one! A Muse Studio has some fabulous boy sets in the current 2012 catalog and I was dying to play with them. We'll be making 4 cards, including an interactive one, plus this very fun box. I hope you can join me! See the Class Schedule page for details.

Stamp set: Love Machines

Paper: Pebble 4-bar notecard, Sky

Ink: Navy, Memento Tuxedo Black

Other: B&W twine, washi tape

Just a fun, quick little birthday card post. I love the new Love Machines cling set from A Muse Studio. My boys aren't so little any more but I still get a kick out of the robots. I used a paper piercer to put a hole in the center of the robot's "hand," then pushed some B&W twine through the hole and taped it on the back side. I stamped the "HB2U" sentiment onto some cherry cardstock, then punched it out with a circle punch, taped the other end of the twine to the back, then attached it to the card with some foam tape. Washi tape across the bottom. Clean, simple, quick!

Spring and Easter class

My apologies for the terrible picture but the weather is not cooperating! New class posting for Spring/Easter cards and a carrot box project on my class schedules page. It's a little close to Easter, but there will still be time for you to get these cards mailed out! Class will be held Saturday, March 31st from 11:30-1:30. Please call the shop directly to reserve your spot! Hope to see you there.

Keep Swimming!

a muse studio stamps: Chevrons, Keep Swimming

a muse studio papers: Sugar, Eucalyptus

a muse studio ink: Ocean pigment inkpad

Other: Copics, crystal glaze, Memento Tuxedo Black inkpad

Chevron stripes have become the latest trend. Seems like I've seen them everywhere! With this card, I decided to use the chevron stripes as waves. I know two kids who are fighting two different types of cancer right now, and it was with them in mind that I created these cards. One is a sophomore boy in high school who has leukemia and the other is a 7th grade girl in middle school who is fighting cancer on her spine. These kids both come from two wonderfully supportive families. While they are all so strong facing these challenges head on, I know they must feel defeated at times. So, this is my hope for them... that they just keep swimming. Both have great prognoses for recovery.

(Had some old notecards to use up. These striped notecards are no longer available)

One of the new A Muse Studio sets is called Charming Gardeners. I love this set because it's really versatile. There are these lovely floral images, pretty leaves, stamens for the flowers (which can be used as floral images themselves), and a lovely sentiment. You can't see the watercolored blue background very well in this photo, but it's there and it really helps to set off the flowers. I haven't touched my watercolor pencils in a long time. It was fun to break them out again with my Niji waterbrush.

Here's a photo of the stamens used as flowers. You can find this card in the current catalog.

Photo © a muse studio

Birthday Bonanza

New class for February! We'll be breaking out some new rubber from A Muse Studio's 2012 Catalog and creating so fun birthday cards to rebuild your stash. Come join me for this fun class! Check out the class schedule page, then contact the store directly to sign up. Hope to see you there!

A Muse Studio Die Storage

I thought I'd share with you the way I store my A Muse Studio dies. I used to have a scrapbook binder that had sticker storage in it and wished I could find those storage pages to purchase, but Michaels did not seem to carry such an item any more. So, I thought hard and it came to me... baseball card page protectors! What you see in the above picture are 2 pages of baseball card page protectors that store my small A Muse Studio dies. Yes, the top of the sleeves have openings in them that could result in the small dies falling out, but only if you don't store the binder standing upright. So, for now, this works for me. I suppose you could also cut magnetic sheets into baseball card sized pieces, then stick the dies to those if you are worried about losing anything.

This is the way I store larger A Muse Studio dies. I have them in heavy duty page protectors with a sheet of cardstock to make the page a bit more sturdy. Pictured in the photo above is the new Popcorn Box die, which does require the use of extended cutting plates if you are going to use your Big Shot. Does that product offer an extended platform? I don't know. I have an extended platform for my Revolution so I actually used that when I cut my box.

There might be better storage options than this, but this is what works for me. I thought I'd share it with you all in case you are also looking for a reasonably priced storage method, too.

Start time for class on Jan 14th has been moved from 11:30 am to noon!

I've designed a very fun Valentine class for Saturday, January 14th. I picked up some of these Chinese Take-Out boxes at a nearby shop for the class and baked up some homemade fortune cookies. (Don't worry, we'll have fresh ones for class!) We'll be making 2 valentine cards and 2 treat boxes, including this take-out box. We'll hand dip the fortune cookies into some melted chocolate and add sprinkles, then place them inside. There are cute little a muse studio valentine greetings already tucked inside!

I know it's short notice but I hope to see you there! Be sure to call the shop to reserve your spot. Looking forward to a new year full of new projects, stamps, and goodies! Current catalog expires the end of January so be sure to pick up any retiring products before they are gone for good! You can see the list of retiring items here.