I almost forgot...

In all the A Muse craziness I completly forgot about the Bella stamps I received. This is my first chance to work with the Bellas and they are super duper CUTE!

I know this card is pretty simple, it should have taken about 15 minutes but I spent well over an hour on this card. Chalk it up to my newbie status. It was also the first time I was able to work with Prismacolor Markers...fabulous! I intially had to heavy a hand with the markers so I was drawing outside the lines like a four year old. By the third time I had figured out how to work them. So all in all this is my style...simple and basic.

Images: Bella Stamps, Dotted Paper & sentiment: A Muse, Ink: Prismacolor Markers & Colorbox

Baby/Wedding Shower

I needed a card for a baby shower and a wedding shower; this is what I came up with. I'm pretty sure I'm going to use this one for the wedding shower because I'd like to do something a little more baby centric. Hopefully I can finish the other card tonight!

Mini Challenge- 9 Stamps Card 2

I thought this was a pretty tough challenge, make a card with 9 stamps. That's a lot of stamps! So for my second card I drew my inspiration from the Mexican Bingo cards called 'Loteria'. I wanted to write the Spanish word under each item but as I mentioned I only have 8th grade Spanish under my belt so that didn't work out the way I planned. Next I wanted to come up with a sentiment to hand write but I couldn't settle on one. The only deliberate placement on the card was the Love Potion Number 9 stamp because in the center of things baby, it's starts with LOVE!

Any thoughts/suggestions on a cute sentiment???

Images: Amuse Art Stamps, Ink: Colorbox, Punch: Marvy

Mini Challenge- 9 Stamps Card 1

This is the first card I created for the mini challenge this week. So I went for the obvious choice...the months of the year. I didn't have a sentiment that said what I wanted so I had to free hand it in the end. Most of the months don't need explaining but two. The party hat is for July because it's my birthday month! The mariachi head for September celebrates 'Diez Y Sies' which I remember from my 8th grade Spanish class and that's about it.

Images: Amuse, Ink: Colorbox, Circle: Creative Memories Circle Cutter

A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA Challenge 10 ATC 9

This is the last of the ATC's I submitted for this challenge and my least favorite. I had an idea in my head of where I was going with ATC but I got lost somewhere along the way. I think it was after my husband told me he didn't like the striped paper behind the butterfly image. It's probably that comment that's hidden in the back of my head that makes think maybe it was too much after all. So there it goes you were right, Honey!

Images and sentiment: Amuse Art Stamps, Ink: Colorbox, Paper: American Crafts

A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA Challenge 10 ATC 8

If you haven't been able to tell there are two tools I use more than any. That would be my heat gun for embossing and my scalloped punches.I've read on different threads that embossing is a pretty old technique but I love the look and feel of raised ink off the paper. In this ATC I used VersaMark to imprint 'oh baby' behind the image to add more to the card. I knew I was going with boy colors so I was trying to stay away from ribbon or flower embellishments.

Now my love affair with the Marvy punches will probably continue for some time. Almost any stamp that I have fits perfectly into one of the punches. I will try to be creative with these in the but I'm not making any promises.

Image and sentiments: Amuse Art Stamps, Ink: VersaMark and Colorbox

A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA Challenge 10 ATC 7

Yesterday I was reading another card blog from someone that submitted an item for the Amuse challenge. They were talking about the their stuff not being crooked it was just the angle that the photo was taken. Well I think it's my cards and photo angles that are crooked! Sometimes I get to far into something and if I mess up it's just too late to start over. In the end I think it adds character and realism at least that's what I tell myself.

The other cool thing about this ATC is this is my first attempt at watercoloring with my markers. I know lots of firsts but it gives me a chance to pr active. Overall I liked the effect of a soft look to the outline of the stamps. Now I'm not sure what's going on with that humongaloid sun but I was going for a shaded effect around the edges. From the looks of this sun, it appears to be an ozone alert day...someone get those flowers outta there!

I realized that I already professed my love for my favorite A Muse stamp yesterday but I completely forgot about 'Mikey'. How could I forget adorable Mikey, so today I declare Mikey as my favorite stamp of the day!

Images and sentiment: A Muse Art Stamps, Markers: Tombow, Ink: Colorbox

A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA Challenge 10 Card 6

Sakura gel pens are smacktacular! Instead of coloring in the drinks with markers I used the pens and was pleasantly surprised. It's a great glossy look for drinks. These are obviously the kind of drinks you order on vacation or during Happy Hour. I took creative license with the orange drink I can't say I've ever seen one.

This was my last of the ATC's I came up with today. I have a few more ideas for tomorrow, hopefully I can get to them.

Image from Amuse, Marvy Scallop Punch, Sakura Gel Pens and Colorbox Ink.

A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA Challenge 10 Card 5

More fabulous ribbon from Strano Designs, again totally inspired the colors for the card. I used my tombow markers on the car but as you can see it left lots of streaking on the car. I just 'won' an Ebay auction for new markers so I hope to have better luck with those. I love the idea of winning on Ebay even though I didn't actually win the item. The sentiment is a bit crooked but what can you do!

Images and sentiment from Amuse, Marvy Scalloped Pucnhes and Ribbon from Strano Designs.

A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA Challenge 10 Card 4

Peeps...what's to say about those little puffed marshmallow devils. To this day I cannot stomach a peep after an all you can eat encounter with pink peeps when I was younger. But the phrase 'Peeps' is a favorite saying of mine, like most people I'm sure. So this ATC goes out to all my peeps...you know who you are.

When I worked on started working on these this morning, I had just received my order from Strano Designs (http://stranodesigns.com/). This particular ribbon inspired the color palette for this particular card.

Images and sentiment from Amuse Art Stamps, Ribbon from Strano Designs, Markers from Tombow, Ink from Colorbox.

A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA Challenge 10 Card 3

Another ATC, pretty straight forward on this one. I liked the idea of stamping Captain Jack into the screen of the TV because Pirates of the Caribbean was one of my favorite movies this summer. I added a few brads to give the TV a little oomph!

Images, sentiments and paper by Amuse Art Stamps. Brads from the MM.

A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA Challenge 10 Card 2

This is one of my favorite stamps from Amuse, I love the roundness of the pregnant belly. I stamped the image on the striped paper that you see under neath the green punch. The paper was glossy so I had a hard time with the ink smearing on the paper. I was able to cut out the main part of the dress and adhere it to the stamp. It left a bit of pink ink on the outside edges but I smudged it to give it a softer look. Love these colors!

Images and sentiment from Amuse Art Stamps, Marvy Uchida Scallop Punch, and Colorbox ink.

A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA Challenge 10 Card 1

When I saw the A Muse challenge I was a little worried. I'm barely getting used to creating cards and they throw a curve ball my way, to create something other than a card. I found myself thinking about this challenge most of this week and came up with the ATC. Being new to stamping I had no idea what an ATC was so here are my best attempts at creating Artist Trading Cards. This ATC was inspired my crazy sister, her super crazy husband and all their 'mexiCANness'.

Images and sentiment by Amuse Art Stamps, Colorbox Ink, and Stickles by Ranger.

Boys are Gross!!

Let's start at the beginning...I have a two year old son that I love dearly but seriously boys are gross. For about two days there was this smell that I could not wash away from him. I bathed him about three times a day and wiped him with baby wipes all day. Nothing could get rid of the smell so we gave in and took him to the doctor. So what are you supposed to say when the nurse asks why you need the appointment? 'My kid stinks, please help!!' After she stopped laughing at me I had my appointment. Fast forward to the appointment, the doctor checks his ears as a precaution then on to the nose. And the words I feared the most came next 'FOREIGN OBJECT'. Ewwwwwwwwwwww!!! He wasn't sure how long it had been up there but that's what was causing the smell. I promised my little one a lollipop if he let the Dr. look up his nose, which he was more than happy to oblige. Believe me I wanted to look away but since my husband wasn't there I knew I had to look because he was going to ask a thousand questions. So out came a skinny piece of blue foam and up came a bit of my lunch. I have been warned this is the first of many of these escapades!

Craft Window

From what I can tell most people are able to dedicate a whole room to their scrapbook/stamping supplies. There are two reasons I'm not able to do this just yet...1. Before my son was born I took up cake decorating as a hobby. I went to classes, bought a bunch of pans and supplies. Two years later the supplies are stuffed in my pantry and I only use them for special occasions. Needless to say my husband is worrying this is another passing fancy. I have to admit I started scrapbooking primarily and have moved more to stamping side. I think I read a magazine that featured some of the A Muse stamps and I was hooked. 2. We don't have the extra space right now but soon hopefully. So I've made do with the space I do have, my kitchen's bay window. This was a space that was previously used by my cat, he has since taken up residence on my couch.

All of the white containers are from Target with the exception of the one that holds stamps. I love, love, love the Target containers. I originally found a similiar type of storage system at M's but it was double the price.

The stamp/inkpad holder was from a company in Canada that I found on Ebay. This was my original stamp collection until a few weeks ago.

The eight clear containers are the rest of my stamps, all A Muse. When I have the space I hope to display them to make them easier to work with. It's a work in progress but it's mine!

Cards from A-Muse-A-Palooza Challenge 9 Card 5

I think this was my favorite card of the challenge since Cupcakes are a fantasical pick me up!!

Sentiment Stamps: A Muse, Ribbon: Michael's, Paper: American Crafts, Punch: Marvy. Stickles for a sparkly look.

Cards from A-Muse-A-Palooza Challenge 9 Card 4

I cut a piece of turquoise paper in half so I suppose I felt obliged to use the other half. I believe I even used the same color scheme of Pink, Turquoise and Lime Green. So much for creativity after 11pm. Again wanted to add an additional sentiment to 'Sunny Days' but I did not have the stamp to say what I needed so I free handed it.

Stamps: A Muse, Punch: Marvy, Ribbon: Creative Express

Cards from A-Muse-A-Palooza Challenge 9 Card 3

This was my first foray into the world of Ultra Fine glitter. I painted the glue onto the stamped image and dropped the glitter on. Glitter away!!!

Since this was a ribbon challenge I had a hard time finding ribbon that matched really well. So I just added two accent pieces but I'm not completely sold on the fact they belong. I seem to be draw to orange, brown and blue right now. Today I bought three spools of ribbon from M's and when I was paying I noticed that all three had these colors in common.

Stamps: A Muse, Punch: Marvy

Cards from A-Muse-A-Palooza Challenge 9 Card 2

So I saw this duck family and wanted to use them. But I didn't have a cute saying, I knew what I wanted to say but I'm not fond of my own writing. So off to M's I go and I came across this 10 space old timey office looking stamp. Like the kind you see in movies where someone stamps 'Rejected' on a bank loan or something. I thought it would be perfect but to my surprise it was not. The letters were way too far apart so I find my self struggling to read the caption clearly. Anywho...it says 'Let's get together'. I guess I'm going to have to work on my writing...

Stamps: A Muse Art Stamps, Punches: Marvy, Ribbon: Clearance from M's.

Cards from A-Muse-A-Palooza Challenge 9 Card 1

So this is the first of six cards I made for the A-Muse-A-Palooza Challenge. This was first time I played with Liquid Applique; it was really cool to see the white puff up off the page. I'm thinking about ordering a few different colors to see what else I use it for. So the moon in very generic but I found a neat way to make a better moon. Stamping Scoops 'http://stampingscoops.blogspot.com/' created a card called Fly me to the moon. From the notes she uses the CM circle cutter to mask a perfect circle for the moon. I used an oblong stamp from another set and cut it out. My Mom thought I should draw a face on the moon but I was thinking it might have one touch too many.

Stamps: A Muse Art Stamps, Marvy Punches, Creative Express Ribbon, and White Liquid Applique.