halloween on the brain...

So I'm trying to keep the stamp mojo following by working on cards when I can. I have a lot of work stuff to get thru so hopefelly I can get some stamp time at night. I find it easier to stamp when I have an end goal in mind so I'm going to try a few challenges to keep me fresh. This challenge was to use stamps are that new to me. I picked a few stamps last week that were all about Halloween. I masked one of the jars and stamped the grasshopper in it to make it look like a roach. I also masked the sparkler behind Boris' head to show his crazy brain working!

Images & paper: A muse. Ink: Memento, Prismacolor Markers & Spica glitter pen

The afternath...

need I say more

Bonus Round w/Julie

Just when I thought it was over, they threw out a bonus challenge and I think it's my favorite. Create a humorous friend card...



Images & Paper: A muse. Ink: Memento, Koh-I-Nor pencils & spica yellow glitter pen

VMAA Challenge 4

This one was the hardest for me, you could only use one stamp!!! The ladies during the chat gave me great advice...think simple, think A muse. After that it came to me...

Images, Ribbon & Paper: A muse. Ink: Memento

VMAA Challenge 3

This challenge was about your favorite things. I have to say that I really love everything A muse! I've been stamping for 2 years now and my collection has grown to monstrous proportions. I think that's why I had such a hard time with this one there was too much to chose from.

My newest non A muse purchase was the nestabilities from Spellbinders. I picked up a set from cutathome.com for 40% off, how could I resist. I picked up the rectangle but was wishing I got the squares also. They really could have come in handy when cutting the squares on this card. I ended up using my scissors and made a total mess. I will retry this card when I get the squares ones.

Images & Paper: A muse. Ink: Memento & Copics

VMAA challenge 2

This next challenge was all about love, using this as a place to start. To be honest I've never seen this show so I was pretty litteral in my interprentation. I used the colors in the pictures as inspiration and then choose the Dr. stamp. A little obvious but that's you get with 30 minutes!

Images: A muse. Ink: Memento & Prismacolor Markers

VMAA Challenge 1

So this is the first of a couple of posts today, last night was the third VMAA and it was fun!. Two hours of stamping and chatting. I wasn't able to chat much because I used every minute of the time I had for each card. My mom asked me what I was doing last night and as I tried to explain what it was and rules involved, she came to the conclusion that it was the equivalent of 'Iron Chef' for stampers.

The first challenge was called 'Passport to Europe', use the picture to the right as inspiration. What a beautiful picture, the colors really pop off the page. I was a little stumped at first but after reading I could use the colors as inspiration I was off! I choose to use orange, purple and blue as the main colors. Then I used the red from the building on the right in the flowers. I was really happy with the end product.

Images & some paper: A muse. Ink: Memento, Prismacolor markers & spica clear marker

everyone's a critic

I didn't stamp for a few days and lost my mojo...it comes and goes so easily. So I've spent the better part of this last week buying stamps and not actually stamping. I scored some A muse stamps that have been on my wish list for a while.

Tonight I decided to play with some of them...

It's very plain but I think I was trying too hard to use the new stamps. Last week with the 'Rock Star' stamp this came naturally...this one felt a bit forced. Maybe it's because I'm not a nature girl, I'm an air conditioning kinda girl. :-)

Back to the title...I showed this card to my husband and he did not feel it was one of my best. His contribution to the card was the grass, he felt the deer was hovering and needed to be grounded. I'll get him stamping one of these days!

Images & Paper: A muse. Ink: Prismacolor, Copic, Memento, Tombow, Kohn-I-Nor pencils & gamsol.

not too hot...

quick post since I'm not feeling too great...card is for Addicts challenges, yet another rock star...

Images & Paper: A muse. Ink: Memento & Prismacolor Markers

Ode to John Mayer...

My friends and family know that I obsessed about one thing in particular, John Mayer. I was able to go to one of his concerts late last year and sit in the fifth row. So after playing with the 'Rock Star' stamp this week my thoughts turned to John Mayer and that concert. In the past, if I'm on floor at a concert I can weasel my way to the front. Unfortunately the Mayer concert was an exception, there were tons of police separating the stage and the front row. This card is my memory of that night...

Images: A muse Ink: Memento, Prismacolor, Spica pen

Technique note: I found the tip on how to do the spotlight from Julie E.





The other funny thing about this design is that in came to me this afternoon while I was at work. I even got out a piece of paper to sketch it so I wouldn't forget. Here's a picture of the sketch which clearly appears to be drawn by my three year old.

dude...sweet!

This is officially my favorite I've ever done!!! The A muse addicts challenge is to use 1 of 4 stamps on your card. Of the 4 I only have one...rock star. So this week will be devoted to all things rock staresque. To create this image I masked his strumming arm, then stamped him on the page next I inked up his strumming arm and flipped it upside down. I couldn't have done it without my stamp-a-ma-jig!!!

Paper & Images: A muse. Ink: Memento, prismacolor markers, spica glitter pens & stickles

when the cats away...

I was almost where I wanted to be with this card, the only thing I was stuck on was the sentiment as usual. I might still try and figure it out!

I used the rock star stamp and masked him over the couch to make it look like he was jumping off. Then i used the girls night out and masked the girl piece, I wrote in boys to finish the idea.

Paper & Images: A muse. Ink: Memento, Koh-I-Noor pencils, gamsol.

Coffee Cup

I created these cards for the Amuse Addicts Weekly Challenge...the coffee cup is really cute and had been waiting to use it!

This first card was a fun for me, my husband loves his starbucks in the morning. Luckily where we work there's a Starbucks on site, it's rare to see him from 8-11 without a cup in his hand. It doesn't even have to be warm, which I find pretty gross!

I cut a slit in the back on the truck to slide in the cup of coffee. Then I used a pop dot to give it some dimension.

Paper & Images: A muse. Ink: Memnto, Koh-I-Noor pencils w/gamsol, and prismacolor markers.

This next card was actually the first card I made, I had stamped three cups but could only fit two so the previous card was born! I'm still working on the AP online class and my favorite take away so far has been the brown paper I used for this card. It really makes an image pop so I'm going to try and pick some up! Other than that I got to play with my new color pencils, they were nice but I'll need to learn to have a lighter touch. I'm one of those people who get blisters on their writing hand from pressing so hard on the pen/pencil.

Paper & Images: A muse. Ink: Memnto, Koh-I-Noor pencils w/gamsol.

Marker Storage

I'm in love with my new marker storage. I picked up a tip on splitcoast about using the Quickutz Magpie storage, upside down. It's just the right size and it allows me to see all the colors without going thru my pencil box, which was my previous storage! The great thing is there's still room to grow my marker collection.

when inspiration strikes...

I got this and 10 other cards from the Paper Garden Boutique in Sacramento, CA. I believe it was part of the make-n-takes from the AP party going on. I really liked it and wanted to do something similar so here's my take below...

















It's raining candy!!! I used the cloud stamp and masked the snowflakes. Then used the candy stamps that came with kit to fall from the clouds, I also put one in the elf's hand. The last thing I did was use the 'home sweet home' & 'warm wishes' to get 'sweet wishes'

Paper and Stamps: A muse. Ink: Spica Glitter pen, prismscolor markers & memento ink

My favorite color

is Purple! I use it whenever I get the chance. I usually pair it with green for a nice combo. For this card I was able to pull out my prismacolor pencils and gamsol. I'm totally hooked on this method...color, blend, color some more, blend some more and so on!

Images & Paper: A muse. Ink: Memento & Prismacolor pencils.

Wishing You...

AP is winding down for the year, one of the last things being offered is a stamp kit with a free online class. This is the first card I made from the class and it took me forever to finish it. I think I got hung up on looking at how great the original card looked and I over thought the placement of each stamp. Hopefully the rest will go a bit faster...

Images & paper: A muse. Ink: Memento, Colorbox, Prismacolor.

AP Clear Challenge

This is a quick card for the AP clear sticker challenge. I used two of the new stamps from the most recent release. I also got the chance to play with a new punch I picked up this weekend.

Images& Paper: A muse. Ink: Versamark.

I really have been stamping...

I just haven't had the chance to update in a while. I was able to take a day off from work and I had the whole house to myself. So I spent the afternoon stamping, which was perfect since it was raining outside.

I made a few cards for last week's AP challenges but each took an hour. It truly takes me a while to get my ideas together. I always read about people that knock out cards in 5-10 minutes but it takes me that long (or more) to figure out what stamp I'm going to use. Here are the ones I worked on this past weekend.

Images: A muse. Ink: Memento Paper: A muse. Images: ScrappyCat Ink: Memento Images: A muse, Studio G. Ink: MementoImages & Ribbon: A muse. Ink: Memento

AP Goodies

Here are my goodies from this year's AP, time to get stamping!