Christmas Treat Holder. . .

Rather than wrapping one of my multi-part gifts, I tried something different and made it interactive!

Here's what magically appeared on someone's desk:


















But that's not all! If you keep pulling the ribbon. . .


















A gift card to Starbucks appears! And if you keep pulling. . .


















There's a note from me!


















Best wishes to you for a happy new year! See you in 2010!

Christmas Recap. . .

Well, I survived Christmas, and even managed to make up a fun gift card holder. I saw this gift card holder a while back on Heather's blog, and I just had to try it.

Here's the outside:
















I stamped a Paper Source long envelope with the A Muse snowflake stamp, and covered the flap with a piece of paper from Making Memories. The to go cup and its scalloped base are mounted on a piece of mounting tape and serves at the closure for the envelope. If you pull out the envelope flap, it looks like this:
















Inside, there's a panel using more A Muse stamps. . .













And then inside the actual envelope, I put a small square card with a gift card attached with glue dots.











Fun! I'll be back soon with one more to share!

Getting Ready for Christmas

Well, the holiday season came on hard and fast in my world, and the carefully thought-out homemade gifts I had decided on back in November didn't start to take shape until last week.














A Girl Scout army waiting for their call to duty. . .as notecards! (Please pardon the bad pictures, since they were taken at the last minute too!)




















All in all, I made up 10 packages of 10 notecards each to go to each of my fellow Girl Scout volunteers. I love that A Muse Scout Girl stamp, but man! it took a lot of intricate coloring.

Next year, please remind me to start earlier!

More Tags. . .

Well, the last card got me on a tag kick, so I made a few additional tags for gifts and for the A Muse Lounge December challenge (anything holiday-themed).

I have an incredible group of friends from my volunteer work with Girl Scouts. When I got married in 2007, they actually kidnapped me and took me on a destination bachelorette party to the Happiest Place on Earth, Disneyland. It was the best bachelorette party I could have imagined. I am so lucky to have these girls in my life!













Anyway, we meet up about once a month to do dinner and keep up on everyone's lives, so of course in December we'll be swapping gifts, and these are the tags for their gifts.














I usually color images with my Copics, but since these are a single layer and the Copics bleed, I opted to use my much-neglected set of Prismacolor colored pencils. Both images are by A Muse.

See you soon!

Tag Challenge

Happy Thanksgiving weekend! Did you have a good turkey day? I spent mine gobbling up WAY too much food, but it was good to be with family. I hope yours was great too!

I've got an extended weekend off of work, so I took some time to try my hand at the current A Muse Challenge, to use tags.















I found some mini tags at Staples a while back, so I tried those out on this card. I stamped the To Go Cup on them in Memento ink, colored them in with Copics, and mounted them with 3M mounting tape onto the A Muse patterned paper. I had forgotten how easy tags are to use on a card!

See you soon!

Woodgrain Wreath Card

As I was digging through my Cat's Pajamas stamps for the sketch challenge, I came across another stamp I just love, the wreath. So, I had to make a quickie card with it:


















Since I already had the red Stickles out, I colored the ribbon and the dots in with them, and then colored the image with Copics. I just love the woodgrain paper by A Muse as well.

Have a great day!

Cat's Pajamas Challenge

I happened to catch the sketch challenge for the Cat's Pajamas last week and thought I'd play along. Leigh was the hostess, and here's her sketch:













I pulled out one of my first Cat's Pajamas stamps and a scrap of paper from Basic Grey's Lilykate collection and got to work:















I colored the cupcakes with Copics and colored over the cherries with red Stickles. The flame was colored with a Gold Spica as well. The sentiment is by Hero Arts.

Have a great day!

Ridin' the Wave. . .

This week, I've discovered several new blogs that I've just fallen in love with for design, ideas and photography.

Mer Mag
Twig and Thistle
Design Dazzle
Celeste Rockwood-Jones
Lorajeans Magazine
ArtMind
Sandra Juto


Don't you just love blog surfing?

October ATC

Last night I got my October ATCs back from a swap, and I figured it was about time I showed mine.


















I had the hardest time with this ATC because although I knew which stamps I wanted to use, I couldn't figure out how to incorporate the sentiment without losing it in the background. I think it came out decently well.

Thanks for looking!

Blog Award

Hey there!

I'm still here, just busy working on non-crafty things. Luckily, Tracy Clemente nominated me for this award:












Thanks Tracy, it's an honor to be nominated by you! And here are my responses (in a word):

1. Where is your cell phone? Purse
2. Your hair? Black
3. Your mother? Short
4. Your father? Deceased
5. Your favorite food? FroYo
6. Your dream last night? Forgotten
7. Your favorite drink? Snapple
8. Your dream/goal? Skinny
9. What room are you in? Office
10. Your hobby? Crafting
11. Your fear? Cancer
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Hometown
13. Where were you last night? Party
14. Something you aren't? Opinionated
15. Muffins? Yuck!
16. Wish list item? Silhouette
17. Where did you grow up? San Rafael
18. Last thing you did? E-mail
19. What are you wearing? Scarf
20. Your TV? Oversized
21. Your pets? None
22. Friends? Changing
23. Your life? Exhausting
24. Your mood? Mellow
25. Missing someone? Jackie
26. Vehicle? Yellow
27. Something you’re not wearing? Makeup
28. Your favorite store? Scrapbooking
29. Your favorite color? Purple
30. When was the last time you laughed? Morning
31. Last time you cried? 10/24/09
32. Your best friend? Mom
33. One place that I go to over and over? Target
34. Facebook? Hooked
35. Favorite place to eat? Chevy’s

And because I'm shy, I'm not going to name names for this award. Instead, I nominate YOU (yes, you reader!) for this award. Your comments keep me going and are always over the top.

So if you'd like to play, consider yourself asked. Just leave a comment here if you do post it, 'cause we all want to see your answers!

ATC Recap. . .

I'm part of a monthly ATC swap hosted by Tracy Clemente, and while I'm busy working on this month's submission, I thought I'd show you the ATC I made for last month's swap.

I went with my favorite little guy from the A Muse A Palooza release, Fishing Penguin.














(Sorry about the funky picture, I was rushing to get it out the door last month!)

The patterned paper is by Memory Box, the ribbon and both stamps by A Muse. If you're wondering why the color scheme looks familiar, it's because I made a matching card back in July using the same supplies.

I'm about to hit busy mode, since we're hosting a pumpkin carving party at our house this weekend. The house still needs to be cleaned, the menu finalized, and everything needs to be covered in garbage bags (to minimize pumpkin gut clean-up). Yikes!

Have a great day and a great weekend!

Pumpkins with a Purpose. . .

Remember that pumpkin I showed you earlier? Are you wondering what I did with it? Let me show you!

I started by making a card for Tracy's Sketch Challenge:


















But then I couldn't stop making pumpkins! So, I started mass-producing cards for a Thanksgiving card drive I had heard about. Here are some additional cards I made:




















































I even made a pop-up pumpkin card:

















They're all super-simple, but I had to make time to write up personal notes to the elderly and homebound that will be receiving them the week of Thanksgiving. Off to make more!

Where I've Been. . .

Really, a better question would be where HAVEN'T I been. As I mentioned in a previous post, we had a couple of visitors come from Japan, and of course we had to show them the sights. The only catch is that they only had two weeks to see it all. So, we did it very efficiently.

The day they arrived we took them around San Francisco:


















Two days later we threw them an All-American BBQ, and the day after that, we flew to Vegas:



















On Sunday, we got on a bus at 6:15am and took off for the Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon. We were gone until 11pm, but we did get to see this:








Monday, we recovered from our bus trip just in time to catch a plane ride back to the Bay Area, and Tuesday, we went wine tasting in Napa:















Friday, we were back out on the road, one night in Yosemite:
















And a night in Tahoe, where we caught the first snow of the season:














All in all, some great adventures were had. Now back to stamping!

Hey there!

So sorry I haven't been around much lately. I've been playing tour guide to some visitors from Japan who've never been to the U.S. before, so of course we had to hit up all the West Coast highlights. More on that later.

In the meantime, here's a quick project I picked up from some Stampin' Up ladies that were at a rubber stamp show that I attended recently. It's done almost entirely with punches--cute and easy!

















Happy fall!

Sketch Challenge Entry #5

Happy Thursday night! I'm gearing up for a weekend of scrapbooking, but when I heard that Tracy's Sketch Challenge was extended for another week and we got a new sketch, I just had to play. You should too!


















I'm switching from card-making to scrapbooking for the weekend, but I hope to be back on Monday with more cards.

Have a great weekend!

Sketch Challenge Entry #4

Here's yet another entry for Tracy's Sketch Challenge. The numbers aren't looking good (less than 25 participants at present), so get out there and stamp!

















I needed a manly birthday card for a former co-worker at the end of the month, and party owl seemed to do the trick nicely. I've seen the orange/green/blue color scheme everywhere, so I thought I'd give it a go. I think it turned out pretty well.

I'm hoping to make one more card this evening to round my entries out to five. Wish me luck!

Sketch Challenge Entry #3

Are you sick of this layout yet? I'm not! In fact, I think this third card is my favorite so far! I love love love this card!

Want to see why?















It's all about love!

The strip down the side is actually a repeating stamped image by Stampendous. And, although you might not be able to tell in this photo, I Versamarked the Flourish Trio by Hero Arts across the red notecard. The car image is one of my favorites by Elzybells, and the Delivering Love sentiment is by A Muse (although it might be discontinued). The ribbon is by A Muse too, of course.

See you soon!

Sketch Challenge Entry #2

Good morning, and happy Tuesday! I figure if we're going to be getting to 52 entrants on Tracy's Sketch Challenge Contest, I'd better do my part with additional cards. I'd previously said that I wanted to enter 10 cards, but since it's already Tuesday, I'm starting to wonder if that's realistic.

Anyway, here's card #2:















It seems I can always use more birthday cards and thank you notes, so when I'm making a lot of cards, those are the two categories I go for. The main image on this card is by the Cat's Pajamas and is part of one of their clear sets.

Okay, back soon with another entry!

Sketch Challenge Entry #1. . .

Here's my first (of hopefully many) entries for Tracy's Sketch Challenge. You can find out more about her big contest here, or just click on her blinkie on the right.
















The yummy cupcake image is by Hero Arts, and I even glitterfied it with some Antique Linen Distress Stickles. Yum!















Remember, she needs 52 entries to do the giveaway, so enter today!

Happy Birthday!

Today is a very special day because it's my aunt's birthday! She's a fabulous lady, with a great laugh and the love of a great manhattan cocktail (which I can't even swallow!). Anyway, I thought I'd try and make her a card that's as classy as she is.

Here's my card:


















I originally saw this idea on a card by Julie Ebersole and I just fell in love. It's so simple, but it looks so complicated! I love stamps like Mini Flower that are so versatile. The sentiment is by Denami Designs, and I drew in the stem myself.

And, on a sidenote, come enter a sketch challenge hosted by Tracy Clemente! This week, she's celebrating a year of sketches by giving away $52 to a stamp store of your choice! I'm hoping to enter 10 cards (ambitious, I know), but all it takes is one to win! Come join us!

No Coloring Here!

Wow, Tuesdays masquerading as Mondays are always bumpier than I anticipate. It's like the shorter work week makes everyone panic. Good thing I have stamping to come home to!

This month's challenge on the A Muse Lounge is called "The No Coloring Zone." The challenge is to make a card without using coloring tools. I thought paper-piecing would fit the bill, and used some of my favorite A Muse papers (and one by Little Yellow Bicycle) to make up a small scene on my square card.


















I used three stamps, Clouds, Long Grass, and A Warm Hello, and hand-cut a piece of wood-grain paper to make my tree trunk. The sun was punched out of a piece of Little Yellow Bicycle Sharon Ann Baby Safari.

Have a great day!

Thanks Snow Much!

Hi there, and happy Tuesday! Did you Americans have a good Labor Day? I had a very relaxing one. I went up to Oroville, CA (near Chico) and spent the weekend with family, eating WAY too much and just enjoying the holiday.

Did you know that Labor Day is in honor of all laborers, and that the labor unions were the ones that got us weekends? I for one know that I'm grateful for weekends, so yay for labor unions and yay for Labor Day!

While I'm in thanking mode, I should also thank you, my blog readers. This is my 200th post, and I am grateful to every one of you that leave comments. So thanks!

Here's a thank you card I recently came up with.















When the new Christmas images from A Muse came out in July, I immediately gravitated toward this stamp, but I couldn't figure out how to use it for the longest time. Then, it came to me: backgrounds!

I stamped the image multiple times on blue cardstock with dark blue ink, and added some highlighting and some extra dots with a white fine tip Sharpie. A few pieces for a focal point, and a card was born.

Have a great day!

A Very Dotty Birthday. . .

My my my, how quickly a week goes by!

Today's card was actually made using a loaner stamp from my mom. I don't think I would have purchased this stamp on my own, but it IS very cute and I thought I'd give it a whirl.

Here's my first attempt:


















I stamped the image on Neenah 80lb white cardstock and trimmed it with my Tonic paper trimmer. I colored the image with Copics, then mounted it onto an oversized piece of Bazzill Loganberry Pie cardstock. I added the ribbon by A Muse and tied some white embroidery floss around it and through the button. The panel was mounted onto a piece of paper by Little Yellow Bicycle, and that was mounted onto a Memory Box notecard.

See you soon!

Trial and Error. . .

Happy Monday!

Did you have a good weekend? It was overcast and gray both mornings here in northern California, but each day it burned off just in time to reveal some pretty nice weather. So, my weekend was fun and sunny. Best of all, I got all of my projects done from last week, so I was freed up to do a few cards.

These three cards are all based on the same sketch, an oldie-but-goodie from Taylor Van Bruggen, Sketch #44.

Here's the sketch:



















Fun, right?

Well, I started off with this card:


















I was bound and determined to cut the striped patterned paper (rather than layering another blue circle on top of them), and that's where the challenge began for me. I really liked how this card turned out in terms of colors and patterns, but the circle wasn't quite even. I had cut a 3 inch square first, cut them apart and then punched the circle out of each corner before gluing them down. That didn't work.

For my next attempt, I tried using my Coluzzle to cut the circle out of the full 3 inch square, then cutting it apart and mounting it. (I also cut the center image to be the same size circle.) That had slightly better results, but the circle still seemed uneven:



















But, I think I got it on my last card. On this attempt, I used two different sized circles on my Coluzzle, the third track from the center for the patterned paper (which I pre-divided and glued down to a scrap of paper), and the second track from the center for the center image. Here's the result.


















Three cards later, I'm finally happy with the result. Does anyone else go crazy over little details like this?

Not a Card. . .

My evening schedule has gotten pretty booked up, so I'm probably not going to have a chance to make any more cards this week. But, before I go running, I thought I'd share a simple paper craft that I came up with for Girl Scouts.

















I know I know, not a card. But hopefully equally cute!

I adapted this design from a kit developed by Paper Source and shown on their blog. Unfortunately, the rest of the things I'm working on are not quite as fun or cute: writing out directions for the owl, working on a newsletter and labeling things for a Used Rubber Stamp Sale at Stamp on Over. Keep your fingers crossed that I get through all this stuff quick so I can get back to STAMPING!

Hope to see you soon!

The Road to A Friend's House. . .

My recent car troubles have made me aware of how much I really do love my car, so I thought I'd pull out my Beetle stamp (actually called Girl in Car) and show it a little love as well.

I was inspired by the card in this post by Taylor Van Bruggen. Chickie is talented, I tell you!














Although this card is a bit brighter than my usual color palette, I really like the patterned paper and how everything works together. Another card on my birthday list: done!

Have a great day!