Friday, January 29, 2010

My A Muse Winnings!

Not too long ago, I was thrilled to win a prize on the A Muse Lounge. It arrived last week, and of course I had to break it open and play with it!


















Even though I won after the holidays, I made a card with it:


















Then, I got to thinking. The cello bag and the red ribbon tied around my prize were sitting there on my desk, and it occurred to me that they were prizes too! After playing around with the ribbon for a bit, I came up with another card idea.














I used the whole length of ribbon as a closure to a gate-fold card. I attached it to the card underneath the image and sentiment so it wouldn't fall off. When you untie the ribbon, the card opens this way:












Either way you look at it, I'm loving my winnings. Thanks A Muse!

This month's challenge is to use 10 things on a card. I've already made one, but you should play too! Visit the A Muse Lounge for more info!

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Disney Treats!

After teaching my workshop on Tuesday, I fell in love with the projects all over again. The Ghirardelli Treat Box was the biggest hit with everyone, and I was dying to make another one. So, with hours to go before I left for a weekend trip, I started up a new batch of them. Can you guess where I went on my trip?



I drew the hat shapes in Adobe Illustrator, then added each person's initial and printed them all on a single sheet. I punched them out with my yellow Marvy circle punch and layered them on yellow circles punched with my blue scalloped circle punch, and then the rest came together pretty quickly. The patterned paper was Disney-themed as well. They were the perfect treat as we sat around the airport, waiting for the thunderstorms to pass.

Hope you had a splendiferous weekend too!

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Treats and Sweets Recap

One of the reasons I haven't been posting on here very much is that I have been super-busy prepping for an event that was held last week. As part of my volunteer work with Girl Scouts, I hosted a Treats and Sweets workshop for 25 people. We made a whole bunch of projects, with inspiration found all over blogland. Wanna see?

Ghirardelli Treat Box



















York Peppermint Patty Covers
















Pencil Pairs


















Treat Bags

















Hanging Hearts

















Lifesaver Matchbooks
















I simplified a lot of the projects from their original forms (for time and budget constraints), then pre-stamped all of the images, cut the papers to size, and created kits for each person. It was fun, but definitely a lot of work. Have you started prepping for Valentine's Day yet?

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Lovely Pajama Party: Challenge #2

For this particular challenge, we needed to make a card for our BFF. My BFF Jackie, came out to visit over Christmas break, and together we went down to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. One of the most fascinating exhibits for me was called, "The Secret Lives of Seahorses," which is where I got the inspiration for this card.














This is going to go out in the mail tomorrow to my friend, to thank her for the visit and the fun adventure.

Lovely Pajama Party: Challenge #4

For the next card, the challenge was a color scheme: only red, black and white. This one actually took me a while to come up with, but once I had the idea for it, it came together very quickly.

















By the way, these 30 minute deadlines are killing me. I hope to be back soon with another. Wish me luck!

Lovely Pajama Party: Challenge #3

On Saturday night, A Muse had a fun pajama party, complete with challenges. I was out of town for the actual festivities, but I'm trying to get caught up now with some of the challenges. Here's Challenge #3: To create a card with only one layer. Crazy, I know.

Anyway, here's my best attempt:















All stamps by A Muse. Back soon with another challenge post!

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Tracy's Sketch Challenge

I was very happy to see Tracy bring back her Sketchy Thursday feature last week, kicking it off with a fun and easy sketch, no less. One of my New Year's resolutions is to participate in more challenges, so of course I had to do this one.

Here's the sketch:



















And here's my card:

















I broke out the "You're the Best" Sparkle Clear set from Hero Arts for this card. This girl is just super-cute, and I'm working on some other cards with her already. The patterned paper and the ribbon are by A Muse, and the notecard is by Memory Box.

Have a great day!

Friday, January 8, 2010

Heart-y Leftover Card. . .

As I was cleaning up my workspace one day, I found enough fun scraps to make a quick Valentine's Day card. Here ya go!
















The pink card base and patterned paper are both by Memory Box, the image, sentiment and heart twinkle stickers are all by A Muse. I love that little takeout box full of hearts. See you next week with more cards to share!

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

A Muse-ing Math. . .

Has this ever happened to you? You go into a rubber stamp store to buy one cute stamp that you had seen online. But then there's a cute sentiment that goes with it. And on the sale table, a couple more stamps that are calling your name. After picking up some patterned paper for the upcoming holiday and a new embellishment or two, you find yourself suddenly holding ten things (or worse yet, a receipt with 10 digits after the dollar sign!)

This month's challenge on the A Muse Lounge is to make a card using 10 items. As you can see from above, the perfect ten is easy to come by when we're talking stamping.


















On my card, here's how I did the math:

4 layers+2 stamps (one on the inside)+3 Copic colors+1 heart embellishment=10 items

Good thing card-making math doesn't require sales tax!