clean & simple...day 1

I'm taking an online class about how to make clean & simple cards.  I signed up for the class because these are the hardest cards for me.  I find myself wanting to add various elements but I have to remember to pull back.

This card was based on a sketch from the first day of class.  Though there's not much going on here it took forever to find the right size stamp to place on the card.   I ended up with lemons/lime but my husband felt I was missing a key ingredient from the card...a drink!

Stamps: A muse, Paper Smooches
Supplies:  Copic Markers, Memento Ink, A muse paper

let's try this again...

I walked into my craft room the other day and found I have a room full of goodies waiting to be used.  So here's my attempt at using some of the old before I start with adding to my collection.

Here's a quick card for the Card Postioning Systems 249 sketch challenge.  It's super simple but just getting my feet wet again, I could use a bit of simple for now.

Stamps: Amuse Studio, Sassfrass
Supplies: Stampin Up scallop punch, W R memory keepers corner rounder, Copic markers, brilliance black ink. 

two posts in one day...

I can't remember the last time I was able to spend most of the day in my craft room so I took advantage today and make a couple of cards. That should give me enough posts for a few days! This is a card for the CPS card challenge, the layout was fairly simple but that didn't stop me from taking my time with paper selections. I ended scrapping one of the patterned papers and went with ribbon, seemed a little less busy that way. Thanks for looking!

Supplies: A muse stamp 'Wild about you' and ribbon. Paper: Sassafras. Bam Pop Bubble Quote.

my new favorite toy...

I braved the 3am Black Friday crowds to go shopping at WalMart for a Cricut expression, I've wanted one for a while! I bought the slice but never had much luck with it so it's in a corner gathering dust. I was hesitant to try another die cut machine, but I'm glad I took the plunge!

My first project with the Cricut was a friend's baby shower invitations. I used a program on my Mac to draw various colored circles on 5x7 sheet of white paper, then just added a text box with the invite info. Finally I used the New Arrival cartridge to cut out the little lady and purse. This is a first mock up so I may change later but not bad for a first time!

Supplies: New Arrival Cartridge, Shimmer Orange Bazzill, PTI

even longer than before...

I really missed creating something over these last few months. Life always manages to get in the way and my creativity falls to the side. So here I am again with a new year and a goal to use the things that I have accumulated. I still found time to read blogs while I was away, I got to see what's out there and pick up a few things to add to my stash. To get my brain thinking I went out in search of challenges and came up with two of my favorites. The monthly A muse challenge and Kristina Werner Color Challenge. Patterned paper has always intimidated me so I hope to play with it more!

The A muse challenge was to make a card with the 10 different things. The ten things I used were: Copics, Creative Candy from A muse, Scallop Punch, Patterned Paper, Embossing Powder, Ink, Solid Paper, Pop Dots, Tape Runner, and a Corner Rounder.

Kristina's challenge was to use the colors: deep red, coral, baja blue, mustard, saffron and white.

So there it goes my little toe is in the pool, hope to keep the creativity coming!

Supplies: Stampin Up Cardstock, Hogwild PP: Sassafrass, Stamp & Creative Candy: A muse, Fiskars Punches, Copics.

school bus...

I was able to combine a couple of challenges for this card. The sketch is from the weekly CPS Blog and the other is for the A muse Lounge challenge #7 to use new A muse stamps. Luckily A muse had a new release last week and I was able to stock up a few things. The majority being paper, I seem to be really hooked on paper these days and the new A muse gingham paper has been on my wish list for quite some time!

I used the new school bus image and the lined paper clear stamp on this card. I inked up one side of the stamp and then the opposite side to make the road larger. It's always great to get extra use out of your stamps!

Stamps: A muse. Paper: A muse & Gina K (red)

Here's a

quick shot of the Copics used.

time gets away...

Every time I think I have a few moments to stamp I stamp out as much as I can, because I know my time will be fleeting. Like it was this week! Luckily we headed to a birthday party so I had an excuse to make a birthday card for a little girl. I got to play with a new set from My Cute Stamps, the little girl stamps are super cute! Since I didn't have a lot of time I went with one of my simple go to layouts! I use this quite a bit when time is short.

As you can see from my Copic picture I had a lot of blending to do with purple since I choose some darker colors. It took a lot of coloring the image but was really happy in the end!

Stamps: My Cute Stamps & PTI polka dot basics. Ribbon & paper: A muse

i heart...

my hubby of course! I came across this stamp at Lizzie Ann Designs a few days ago and had to order it. I loved the rose emerging from behind the heart with the banner across it. I used the layout from yesterday which was a CAS challenge on SCS. I also used the colors from this week's Raspberry Suite Color Challenge to get me motivated. This was a great image to pull all these colors together!

Stamps: Lizzie Ann Designs. Paper: PTI, A muse. Ink: Memento, Copics

Here's a quick shot of Copics used to color the image.

deer friend...

I'm still working on challenges to get me stamping and this one took longer than expected. I colored 4 or 5 deer before I settled on a Copic combo I was somewhat happy with.

I've become fairly obsessed with the color teal, I bought a few packs of 'taken with teal' from Stampin Up. At a certain point I may have to hide the paper because I reach for it all the time. Brown and turquoise has become my go to color combo! Stamps: Hero Arts & A muse

I was thinking more about a Copic notebook for color combinations but until I get that together I took a picture of the markers I used in the photo.

wood paper...

I'm still playing with my newest A muse stamps and my yummy wood paper also from A muse. I made sure to pick up a big pack of paper so I don't worry about hoarding all the little pieces!

Maybe this year I will start on Christmas cards sooner so I can actually get them in the mail this time!

Paper: Amuse & Gina K white. Ink: Memento & Copic. Misc: A muse ribbon

playing with copics...

I wanted to experiment more with Copics so I pulled out one of my Rubber Romance stamps. I usually color my girls with brown hair but my husband thought she looked more like a red head! I think most people use 3 markers to blend but with me fairly new to coloring I used 5 or 6 to get the right shading. Other than I kept the card simple to focus on the coloring of the image.

Looking now I really like the blue shopping bag but I have no idea what colors I used. Wonder what others do to keep tab of good color combos?

Paper: American Crafts, Gina K white. Ink: Memento, Copic & Spica

quick card sketch...

I've been able to spend some time stamping so to keep the momentum going I am searching for challenges to keep me busy. I stumbled across the Card Positioning Systems website a while back and have always wanted to try a sketch, so here's my first try at it!

I'm still practicing coloring with Copics and am super excited to see that a certification class is coming to my town! I can't wait to take the class and get tips on using my markers.

Paper: A muse PLP, Gina K White, Stampin Up Navy. Ink: Memento & Copics. Misc: A muse Ribbon

tags a plenty...

I opened up my craft room to a friend today to help her with a project! We made 75 tags for gifts she was giving away to her family. While I stamp as a hobby to relax I also enjoy having friends over and help them create things. The hardest part is always the figuring out the design, once that's done it's just an assembly line. Here's a shot of all the tags! I have to say I love my punches, I have all kinds of die cutting machines but always go back to my punches for big jobs like this.

Stamps: A muse. Ink: Memento, Copic & Spica

apron strings...

I was trying to get a card together tonight but there was a sea of paper and stamps cluttering my desk. The first thing I saw was a clear set from A muse and remembered a card from K Werner a few weeks back. I fought the urge to take a look at her card because I wanted to use it as inspiration instead of a CASE. So this is my version of her fun card, Finally Friday - What's cooking.

Stamps & Ribbon: A muse

too long...

I've been MIA again due to a sudden and total loss of creativity. I was able to take an Amuseapalooza class that is slowing getting me back up to speed. Here's a quick card for the AP challenge over at the lounge! The challenge was to use a card with food for a sleepover so what's better than chocolates for a sleep over!

Stamps & Paper: A muse.

mia...

It's been a long two months or so! I passed the test I had been studying for and am certified, it felt good to get that off my plate.

After that I had a quick window before heading off for vacation. There were lots of late nights at work that kept my craft space empty! Vacation was fabulous, we went to Disney World. It was our second trip and it was even more amazing than the last time. I can't say enough about how magical and wonderful Disney is, we been back a couple of weeks or so and I can't wait to plan our next trip back.

Summer is coming so I'm organizing my space so that I can get motivated again!

kwerner color challenge #53

It's been forever since I've had a chance to play in my craft room but I can always count on the KWerner Color Challenges to get my mojo flowing. These colors made me think of Superman so I thought I'd go the opposite and get girly.

Stamps: A muse sentiment. Crate Paper bird. Paper: Sassafrass Lass. Ribbon: A muse.

bowl of jelly...

On April 24, 2008 I signed up for a designation for my real job, which has left me over a year to complete the certification. Surely it would be complete given I've had a year to study the materials but sadly that it not the case. I choose to wait until two weeks before it's due to even crack open the book. I've spend the last 12 hours studying and have effectively turned my brain into a bowl full of jelly. But I am happy to report that I have passed the practice test for three of the four sections. I saved the biggest and longest for last...wish me luck!




Since I don't have anything creative to show I thought I'd share a picture of my new paper storage. I picked this up a few weeks ago on clearance and I love it! I used to have my paper in rolling cart with a lid but I love that I can see all my papers at a glance. After I put it together I wished I had ordered the taller one. I was only able to put the paper that I use the most in here, of course there's like 8 shelves of A muse! Hopefully I can back in my craft room in a few days, my paper is calling me!

think simple, think a muse...

This is the slogan for one of my favorite stamp companies, A muse Art stamps. I'm not sure why but the simplier the card the harder it is for me to stop fiddling with it. This is the perfect example, I walked away and came back to this card 4 or 5 times before I said enough!

This card was inspired by two challenges. The first was this month's a muse lounge challenge I had to create a simple card with minimal layers and embellishments. The second challenge was from Splitcoast and I was supposed to to use some type of distressing on a card, since I wasn't able to use embellishments roughing up the image worked out great for me. I used the new open zinnia from the most recent A muse release to stamp and cut out the flowers. After I was done I wished I had stamped the sentiment in teal but I was too tired to redo the entire thing.

Stamps: A muse. Paper: stampin up. Ink: Memento. Misc: A muse ribbon

easter baskets...

I've seen the top note bags all over splitcoast so I forced to pick one up the top note die from stampin up! This was a super cute bag to make and decorate.

First I cut two top note dies in my cuttlebug, again thanks to splitcoast I found a sandwich that worked for me. (B plate, paper, die and B plate) Then I pasted a cut brown lunch bag in between the two dies, this will hold the eggs/goodies. Next I used the window word punch for a way to hold the bag and decorated the outside with the Jelly Beans set from My Cute Stamps and paper frills from Doodlebug. Being that's it is Easter this bunny is on serious rotation in my craft room!