The 11th day!

The 11th day ... there must be something lucky in that right?? Well, I think the lucky part is that the A Muse girls saved my patootie by stuffing my box with some yummy candy! Last minute Lucy that I am, I was making this box at the last possible minute before I went to Seattle last month, and I completely forgot about getting something for the inside. This probably stems from the same part of me that is so concerned about how a card looks, and then totally forgets to send it to the person it was made for! Scatter-brain, I tell ya - that's what I am! Anyway - let's just say that I filled the box with L-O-V-E!!
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Supplies: A Muse Fawn (from the clear Peace and Cheer set), numbers from the Cupcake Builder Clear Set, Vintage Green Paper, Vintage Red Paper, Green Kitchen Paper, Red Stitched Grosgrain, Red Micro Twinkle Stickers.

A Pirate Birthday

Yo Ho Ho!! Happy Birthday to my favorite little Pirate! This was a card from a while back that got lost on my camera! Our friend Addy had a Pirate birthday party a few weeks ago, and of course I had to make him a pirate card with the awesome A Muse pirate stamps!
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Stamps: A Muse Captain Jack, Treasure Chest, Yo! Ho! Ho!
A Muse Clear Stickers - Scallop Oval

Happy Birthday Parker!

My middle son turned 4 years old yesterday, and he got one heck of a celebration! We started off last weekend in Minneapolis for the Monster Jam show! We had a great time, and I even got to meet up with this cool chickie and her husband for dinner and margaritas! (Okay, I will admit it, the weekend was not really all about Parker!)
We also did a bit of shopping and playing at the Mall of America! The kids love the rides, and I like the shopping, for a little bit! That place is so huge, and I got turned around more than once! I swear that I used to have an excellent sense of direction! Lyndsay, Jenn and Tracy will beg to differ with me! :)
Me and Parker on the flying bus ride!
Lily really enjoyed trying on shoes at the Nordstrom Rack! I was looking at the Uggs again - when it is 10 degrees outside, fuzzy shoes look more and more appealing! - and I turned around and Lily had a black patent leather shoe with a shiny gold heel on her foot!
Henry got to do this cool flight simulator thing at the MOA. He got briefed on his mission, then he got in the plane and flew for 30 minutes! He loved it and is already begging to go back!

Thanks for sticking with me with this photo heavy post! I am a bit beat after working a night shift last night, so I apologize if none of this makes much sense! Take care and have a great Thursday!

P.S. Be sure to check out the A Muse News Blog tomorrow - there may be a little something from me!
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All stamps, paper and twinkle stickers by A Muse, ribbon by Martha Stewart.

Celebrating the Season

A super quick and easy card featuring the A Muse Big Block Stamp, one of my faves! Just a little pink square, and the flourish tree and some bling!! When I was in Seattle last month, Julie tried to teach me (and the rest of the A Muse team) how to tie a bow ... I think I need to practice more!

This card also works for Glenda's Random A Musing challenge for this week, and the A Muse Addicts weekly challenge! Won't you come play along?
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In other news ... Lyndsay was nice enough to nominate me as a Kreativ Blogger! Thanks girlfriend! To pay her back, I am going to go to Minneapolis and give her a big hug!! Okay, really we are going to Minneapolis to see the Monster Jam show (yes, it's a little bit WT but my boys *love* it!), but I am so happy that I get to see Lyndsay while I am there!! Lots to do between now and then ...

I am going to tag some of the newest members of the A Muse Instructor Team! Check out these creative gals, and get yourselves out to one of their classes!

June - North Carolina
Sherry - New York
Michelle M - Kentucky
Liz - Massachusetts
Jen A - Florida

All stamps, papers, twinkle stickers and ribbon by A Muse.

I'm thankful for you!

I'm in a bit of denial about Thanksgiving (and I have to admit, about Christmas, too!)! I can not believe that it is one week away! I have to work on the actual day, so we will be celebrating next Saturday with some friends and family! I was thinking fondue or maybe a big steak ... does that say "thanksgiving"?

This card was created for the A Muse News Blog "Oldies but Goodies" section a while ago, but there were some techy problemos and it didn't make it (Jenn and I were thinking along the same lines today!), but I wanted to share it with you today! This little Pilgrim girl and boy are so fun - and easy! A little Copic to the face and hair and you are good to go! This is one of my favorite A Muse sentiments, too - and in my humble opinion, it gets way too little love!! In this season of counting blessings, I count my friends twice!

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Details:
Stamps: Pilgrim Boy, Pilgrim Girl, Mini Oval, A true friend MA
Papers: A Muse French Roast, Orange Crush, Kitchen Brown
Ribbon: A Muse Stitched grosgrain in Orange Crush

Oh my goodness ...

What the heck happened here? My blog is stuck in October! I wish I could say that it was one thing that pushed me over the edge, but really, it has just been a combination of a super crazy fall! Homeschooling my 11 year old has been more of a challenge this year (somehow I thought it would get easier), the other two kids are kind of hellions (love them bunches, but really, do we have to fight over dryer lint?), and I just took a new job at work which in theory will reduce the time that I spend away from home, but right now it is sucking me dry!! Okay, enough of all this, Tisha - just show me some crafty goods!!!
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These simple Florence cards were part of a "Thank You" gift that I made for my new boss, whom I have known for quite a few years. I have always wanted to use the "thanks for being flexible" sentiment with Florence, but never really had a reason to - but I knew that my new manager would! :) So I whipped up a quick set of 10 notes for her! The card at the top of the post is what I gave her with the present!

Thank you all for sticking with me through this unscheduled blog break! I am so lucky to have such amazing crafty friends! Leave me a little comment love , let me know you are still here!!

Coming up next: pictures from my trip to the Motherland - A Muse Headquarters in Seattle!
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Supplies: Maderia and Kitchen notecards, Stitched grosgrain ribbon, Florence, thanks for being flexible, mini oval, copic markers

Oh Boris, how do I love thee...

Let me count the ways!
I love you like this for the A Muse News Blog ... quick and easy with just a tad bit of brown ink on the edges of the card for a spooky, Halloweenie feel!
And I love you like this for a bit more complicated (read - pain in the butt to line up the jars in white staz-on, having to heat set each time to keep it from smearing with the stamp positioner) way!

You are such a cute little mad scientist ... don't go changing on me!
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Supplies:
Stamps:
A Muse Boris
A Muse Frightful & Delightful
A Muse Ingredients

A Muse Notecards in Palm and Passion
A Muse ribbon in Orange Crush stitched grosgrain and Passion Purple Sheer

Eyelets, tag punch, scallop oval punch, Copic markers.

File under "S"

... for Super Quick!! My brother-in-law's birthday was a few days ago, and I needed a card - quick! My stash is seriously lacking in the "male" birthday card department, so I whipped this up in - really - less than 5 minutes!! I also discovered that I have misplaced my "You Rock" sentiment ... I know I had it! I may be losing my mind, as well as my stamps!! But this works, too! A quick Happy Birthday on the inside, and we were ready to head out for some yummy BBQ for dinner!!

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Supplies:

Stamps:
A Muse Rock Star
A Muse Big bl
A Muse One of a kind

Other stuff:
A Muse white notecard
Lime Pastel Chalk Ink
Black Versafine ink - still my all time favorite - especially for a small scale sentiment like this!
Black fine-line pen

More trees ...

The new Trees I and Trees II sets from A Muse just rock - 'nuff said!

This card was previously seen on the A Muse News Blog ... it's just too pretty not to share again!
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Supplies:
Stamps: A Muse Trees I clear set, Tiny Bird
Paper: A Muse Brown Kitchen note card, Swiss Red note card
Other: A Muse Palm stitched grosgrain ribbon, large silver eyelet by We R Memory Keepers, corner rounder punch.

Hello October!!

Oh my goodness ... where does the time go?? Things have been crazy around here -homeschooling, a new preschool for my 3 year old, and just the everyday stuff that is life with 3 kiddos! I have not had nearly enough time for stamping, and my mini-makeover that I started what? - 2 months ago - in my craft room is still not really finished! It's together enough to stamp, but every time I go in the room, all I can see is all the unfinished c-rap that I want to do!! Oh well - it will happen, eventually!! Onto the stamped goodies!

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I made this little clipboard for Parker's new preschool teacher - just a little beginning of the year gift! I found these printed coasters at Joanne's - they look a lot like the A Muse Black Kitchen paper - so these were super quick! I made 25 pages of paper - just cut up some copy paper and stamped the name on with Snap stamps. The apples went super quick with Momento ink and Copics!

Here's my big 3 year old, ready for his first day!

Little sister couldn't resist being in the picture, too! You know, when they aren't screaming at each other and fighting over really important things - like ice chips- they really love each other!
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Supplies:
Stamps: A Muse Tiny Apple
Inks: Copic marker, Momento Black Tuxedo

Trees, trees, trees!

Oh, how I love me some tree stamps!! They are so incredibly versatile, and you just never know where they will pop up! A Muse has TWO new tree sets coming out very soon!! Get ready! Here is a sneak peak of one of the new sets! See that fun circle around the sentiment - that's part of a tree!! This particular tree is so much fun to paper piece!

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Details: A Muse Trees 2 Clear Set (available 9/22/08), A Muse Maderia Notecards in brown and green, A Muse 8.5x11 paper in Maderia blue, A Muse stitched grosgrain ribbon in French Roast, Momento Ink in Rich Cocoa.

Off (or in) to school!

Happy Labor Day! I just can't believe that it is September already! This is always a crazy time of year for us - school starting, birthdays (umm, MINE!), going to the Kansas State Fair (don't laugh - it's more fun than you'd think!)! Lots to do!

Here are a couple of things that I created for the A Muse Newsletter! Are you loving the new format?? I think it's awesome!
Super quick and simple "school supply" card! I was thinking masculine, give-it-to-your-favorite-male-teacher kind of card! I didn't even put any sparkle on this card! But I did use the awesome new color of A Muse ribbon-palm!!

Super Goo!! This was for our "Teacher Gift" feature in the A Muse Newsletter! I think I was mostly inspired by my new "Drippy Goo" Punch! Love that name! This is a bottle of Purell hand sanitizer, quickly covered with A Muse Kitchen orange paper! The "Super Goo" is stamped with my sadly discontinued Karen Foster 1/2 inch snap stamps!

Tweet!

I have been so intrigued by the things that Julie has been doing with white pencils on Kraft colored paper, I just had to try it myself!! It's super fun! And super simple - but it really gives you an awesome effect!

Things have been the normal crazy around here! Getting my oldest started on our lessons for the year (the second year of homeschooling is going much more smoothly than the first!), getting my 3 year old ready to start preschool next week, and trying to control my wild toddler!

Are you loving the new A Muse website? Isn't it so fun! If you haven't checked it out - get going!
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Supplies:
Stamps: A Muse Stitched Garden Clear Set
Notecards: A Muse Kitchen Red, Jasmine
Ink: Momento Rich Cocoa

Our new baby is here!!

After an amazing amount of work by the incredible A Muse staff, our new website is up and running!!! You can now order all of the amazing A Muse products online, with just a click of your mouse!! And not just A Muse stamps! You can also order the amazing Salt Box Studio stamps (I have to get my hands on the sunflowers!) and the exclusive to A Muse Elzybell's images! So grab your credit card and head on over!! You will not be dissappointed!!

BTW - If you use Firefox as your browser, make sure that you have the most updated version - things on the new site like to jump around (they are just so excited!) with the older versions!

Putting it all back together

The craft room mini-makeover is getting there - not quite done yet! The paint is on the walls - I was going to show you the color online, but it looks nothing like the color on the walls! It is a silvery blue color - not as bright as SU Bashful Blue, but a bit more saturated than Soft Sky. I am planning on some cream and chocolate accents, and making the room more "family" friendly since it is the room that we usually use for school! I think things are going to be a bit more difficult this year because Lily is 19 months old and wants to be right in the middle of everything, and if you tell her "no" she throws herself on the floor and SCREAMS! Ahh, toddlers ... they are so much fun!! I promise I will take pictures when things are finished! It may be the best decorated room in my house!!

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Onto some crafty goodness!
I needed a sympathy card last week. This came together so quickly - although I think I was a bit heavy handed with my sponging!! I have just been loving this leafy tree stamp lately!! I am using it for everything!

Hope that all is going well for you and yours! I think we are finally over all the germs in this house - the black cloud is lifting! We are having awesome weather ... it has cooled down, and we should be outside more, but we are busy in the craft room!! Oh-well!!

Details: Stamps by A Muse, inks by SU, Momento, ribbon by May Arts.

August, already???

Where does the time go?? I really can not believe that it is August - except for all the back-to-school sales, my itch to buy pencils, and paper and crayons, and the blistering heat here in the Midwest! Things have been just crazy around here - sick kids (bad), sick husband (even worse!) and trying to get ready for our 2nd year of homeschooling!! I got a wild hair in my you-know-where yesterday and decided that my craft room/classroom needed a new coat of paint before we could even think about starting school! I am about halfway done now - just need some kids to nap so I can keep painting! I really *have* to be done by this weekend so we can start school on Monday!

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Okay - on to the stamping!

All the sickies around here have needed a few "nursey" thank you's for the amazing nurses that took care of us - who are also my friends and co-workers! I kept it nice and simple - just the way I like it! These will get a little gift card to the coffee shop at the hospital stuck inside!

A few more of the same card!

Details: Stamps, note cards, twinkles by A Muse. Colored with Copics and Spicas.

Just a little something ...

Oh how I love Makenna and the pink kitchen note cards and that fancy Martha Stewart punch!! 'Nuff said!

BTW - have you seen the new and improved A Muse News blog?? Go check it out, and be sure that you register for the newsletter - it's going to be new and improved, too!! Ch-ch-ch-changes!!

Crazy Kiddos!

Or - "It's all fun and games until ..."

Last week we got a box of goodies from a friend - think Carnival prizes - and before she gave it to me she asked if my kids were allowed to have those sticky wall walker things. Sure, why not, I said! The kids had a blast digging into the box ($2 worth of c-rap provided us with at least an hour worth of fun!)!

First Parker (3) & Lily (1 1/2) tried on all the jewelry.

Is he cool or what??
Then Henry (11) started playing with the wall walker thing. Threw it on the wall, on the fridge, on the table. I had a small freak out when it hit my new stainless steel stove, but no biggie. Then this happened:

It's all fun and games until you get your wall walker thing stuck in your sister's hair!

More Christmas in July

Just playing with the new A Muse Peace and Cheer Clear stamp set and kit! Have you gotten yours? Are you playing along in the free My Creative Classroom class with the amazing Julie Ebersole?? No - well, what the heck are you waiting for??

Details: All stamps, note cards, ribbons contained in the Peace and Cheer Clear Kit.

A Muse Addicts Stamps of the Week!

The amazing A Muse Addicts site turns ONE! this week!! I can't believe that it has been a year! If you aren't a member - check it out here! Every week, they pick a "stamp of the week" - this week, they picked 4!!

* Rock Star
* Vespa girl
* Elyse
* Coffee Break

Apparently, I got confused ... and made this, thinking to myself the whole time - "look at me, participating in a challenge, making a card on time!"

Except I used the wrong stamp!!

Oh well - I'll try again!

Details: Stamps, note card, paper, ribbon, twinkles by A Muse, black CS from my stash, colored with Copics.

Gettin' Dave Ramseyfied!

My husband and I have been taking a class for the last few weeks - Financial Peace University by Dave Ramsey. Mr. Ramsey has lots of great ideas, and we are doing really well with our Baby Steps! I have been really amazed how many people are out there blogging about Dave Ramsey, living frugally, etc! It's been great! Here are a few of my favorites:

Simple Mom
Frugal Dad
Small Notebook

One of the parts of the budgeting plan is to use an "Envelope System" - basically, you put cash into envelopes at the beginning of the month to spend on certain things. The thinking is that this keeps you on budget - if the cash isn't there, you can't spend it - and keeps you from reaching for a credit card (which Dave Ramsey never uses - ever, ever, ever!!)! For us, we are using the envelopes for Food, Household needs (Target runs!), Entertainment and Blow Money (I haven't had a Starbucks in a couple of weeks now because I don't want to get into my blow money!)

I know, this is a crafy blog - what's all this financial nonsense?? Well, I just COULD NOT put my money in plain white, boring envelopes! I couldn't do it!! So I made this:
I came up with a kind of "wallet" template, and used this pretty SEI double sided paper to make it! My measurements were based on the SU open ended envelopes that I put on the inside. The whole thing closed with ribbon and 3 velcro closures. Don't you think the the A Muse Shopping Gal is appropriate?

There are 4 tabs across the top, made with the SU tab punch. So, the envelopes are made, now I just have to work on staying on the budget!

Sharing my Holiday Spark

It's Friday - must be time to catch up on Heather's Share Your Spark from last week!! She challenged us to make something for the Holidays now! Easy, smeezy with all the amazing new stamps from A Muse!!

Cute new Cindy Lou, sentiment from the new clear Sentiment set, and the new Swiss Red Vintage Paper (love it!!)!!
Do you see those pretty snowflakes in the background? Those are in the awesome Peace and Cheer Kit available here! I'm planning all kinds of things with those!

Details: Stamps, papers, ribbon, twinkles by A Muse, colored with Copics.

A Butterfly Gift

My beautiful goddaughter,
Miss Mira,

turned 3 years old a couple of weeks ago.
We celebrated last week (a bit delayed because Mom and Dad were getting used to life with this one added into the mix!)

(Mr. Jonah Frederick Bertolino)
and had a great party with cupcakes and fun at the park!
I made her gift after being inspired by Ali Edwards here and Michelle Clark here!

I think the hardest part of this project was covering the mat with the paper. I used some of the pink Prism sparkly cardstock. The mat was longer than 12 inches, so I had to get creative. It worked pretty well to just miter the corners (lay both square pieces over each other, then use an exacto knife and a straight edge to cut through both at an angle). The butterflies are punched out of the tag pieces in the Basic Grey Oh Baby Girl! 12x12 paper pack! The scale on the tags was better suited to the punch than the bigger paper. And I had enough left over to make a card, too!!
This card makes me super happy!! The Gerber Daisy is stamped with the glue pad, and then covered with pink ultrafine glitter. **Tip: I think I have finally mastered the glue pad: Really soak 1/2 of your pad with glue, stamp into that, then blot the glue on the other half of the pad! Works great! **

Details: Stamps (Gerber Daisy & Happy Birthday Little Lady) by A Muse, ribbon, twinkle stickers by A Muse, punch by Martha Stewart, patterned paper by Basic Grey.

A "Clear" Challenge

Another challenge has been posted on the A*Muse*A*Palooza blog - this one is hosted by the amazing Jennie Moczan - many of you know her as the challenge queen on the A Muse Addicts site!! Here are the details:

This is a Creative Candy Clear Sticker challenge, and here's how you can enter to play:

• Create a card using the at least one of A Muse's fun Creative Candy Clear stickers (you can use any shape!)
• The card must feature at least one (1) A Muse stamp image
• Upload your card to the A Muse-a-Palooza 08 Gallery on Splitcoaststampers.com, taking care to include the keyword AP08CLEAR in the photo description or keyword box.
• Post a comment on the original post on the AMAP blog with a link to your card and you could win an amazing prize!!

Here's my card:
I'm not 100% in love with this one ... I was going for something "different" with the scallop oval clear creative candy, so I thought they kind of looked like lanterns (??? maybe, just a little bit??) I think it works, but it just seems a bit "flat" or something! I probably should have drawn in the top of the lantern to give it a bit of dimension! Oh well - it is what it is!!

FYI - punching your creative candy with a hand held punch is kind of a bad idea - punch paper, not big pieces of plastic!!

Details: A Muse stamps, papers, creative candy clear stickers and twinks!

Helle's Challenge

Helle ( the big winner from last year's A*Muse*A*Palooza and now the co-owner of Paper Tales in San Diego - I know, I'm trying to keep my jealousy to a minimum!), had this awesome color challenge for A*Muse*A*Palooza last week! Black, white, a little pink and some bling! Love it! This came together super quick - I paper pieced the hat and boots, then smacked myself in the face 'cause I had spent so much time cutting out a SOLID color! Oh well, it gave little Miss Seattle Girl a bit of dimension!

Details: Stamps, paper, ribbon, twinks by A Muse.

How well did you know me??

Last week on the A*Muse*A*Palooza blog, you were asked to match the designers to their cards - how did you do?? Did you guess that this was my card. Don't feel bad ... I'm not sure I could have guessed that this was my card!!

How about that AWESOME magic keyword game?? I have just been amazed at the cleverness and the amazing quality of the pictures that Heather has found! It's been so much fun to play along!!

A*Muse*A*Palooza is so close ... I can hardly wait!!

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Did you see this post about the A*Muse*A*Palooza kit, just for us poor souls that don't have a store close by! So exciting!

Details: Note card, paper, ribbon, stamps by A Muse, colored with Copics and Spicas.