Pajama Party Challenge #4

The last challenge of the night was from Geeta, who used "Some Kind of Wonderful" in lieu of "Twilight" to challenge everyone to use some kind of sparkle on their cards.

I was a bit too ambitious and Quickie Glued fine green glitter all over the branches of the Evergreen Branch, which left me also covered in glitter by the end. (If you zoom in on the photo, you can even see a few wayward flecks on the card itself.)



All in all, I enjoyed getting my hands and stamps inky again, so hopefully you'll see some new cards from me again real soon!

Pajama Party Challenge #3

Challenge #3 was all about finding inspiration from this movie poster for "Breakfast at Tiffany's."



More than the focal image, I love the little vignette off to the right, so I focused on that in my card:



Despite not being able to mat the city skyline panel, I think this card is my favorite of the evening's cards.

Pajama Party Challenge #2

The second 30 minute challenge of the evening was based on the movie poster for "Dirty Dancing." The colors on the poster are light pink, dark pink, black and kraft, so the challenge was to use only those colors.



I thought I'd try and change things up with an asymmetrical layout, and I think I like it.

Aaaaand We're Back. . .

No matter how uninspired or tired I'm feeling, there is one thing that can always get me making cards again. . .a good ole A Muse party! Tonight, the gals over at the Lounge hosted a Pajama Party with a movie theme that really got my wheels turning.

The first challenge was based on "Pirates of the Caribbean," and the challenge was to make a card for a kid. My eye immediately wandered over to my little penguin friend, and the sentiment just seemed perfect.

Have a Rockin' Birthday!

Hello, and happy hump day! This week is flying by for me. I recently signed up for a graphic design course at the local community college, and between that and my volunteering, I am becoming one busy girl!

Nonetheless, birthdays must be celebrated! This card is for an uber-hip friend that's really into music. She travels all over the country to see bands play and writes articles about it so naturally, I had to make her a rock star card.

The cardstock is all by Bazzill. I drew the star shape in Illustrator and cut them out with my Cricut and the Sure Cuts a Lot software (which is living up to its name!). I love being able to draw my own shapes and cut them out. The starry foiled patterned paper is by Die Cuts with a View. The purple striped paper is by Echo Park and it's actually Halloween-themed on the back. I love it when I can use holiday papers for non-holiday purposes!

The rock star image is by A Muse, and he's one of my favorite stamps. I couldn't find an appropriate sentiment in my collection, so I actually printed this one onto the cardstock using my printer. I was amazed at how well the paper took the printer ink, and I'll be doing that more in the future.

The finished card measures 3 5/8 inches by 8 1/2 inches and fits nicely in a #10 business envelope.

Have a great day!

To A Deer Friend

One of my friends is away at camp this week, so I thought I'd send her a little mail. I love this little deer (who's actually a Rudolph, but shh! don't tell!) and the silhouette trees provide the perfect backdrop for him. I had tried masking him and stamping the trees behind him, but I didn't get the detail that I had wanted. So, I ended up stamping him on a separate piece of paper, trimming him out and attaching him to the tree panel.



Just for fun, I also decorated the outside of my envelope to match my card. I just stamped Rudy again on the outside, and colored him with my Copics (keeping a Post-it on the inside to prevent bleed-through to the back).

Hope she likes it!

A Forest Wedding

In a couple of weeks, DH and I are lucky enough to be guests at a commitment ceremony for two of my good friends. This clever couple is doing it as a weekend-long celebration at a local campground, complete with a progressive dinner one night and a potluck for their wedding meal.

In keeping with the outdoorsy fun theme, I thought I'd make up a card to match. I used the A Muse Pine Tree Silhouette stamp that I won for this card (thanks A Muse!), an A Muse sentiment from the Everything's Rosy release, and some wedding chickies by Denami Design. The card is topped off with some ribbon I bought in 2005(!) that I finally finished off. Love using supplies I already have--the hoarding has got to stop!



Best wishes for a beautiful day!

Christmas in August. . .

I know, I know, Christmas in August? I don't know what to say, except that A Muse's new candy cane paper is cute and I had to play with it for this month's A Muse Challenge, "Stick to the Pattern." I also hadn't played with my row of houses in a very long time and Tracy's Sketch Challenge was calling me and a card was born!

Can you see the glittery Diamond Stickles on the roofs and snowbank?



All items by A Muse, except for the pearls from Queen & Co. Thanks for looking!

Ghosts in the Trees!

I've had the idea for this card ever since I saw this Birch Forest with Leaves stamp at the A-Muse-A-Palooza event I attended last week at Stamp on Over. It's a haunted forest!

The ghosties are actually part of an old clear set, Simple Celebrations, which I just love and use all the time. With a little masking, I was able to make them pop out of the forest and howl their hellos.

Coincidentally, this card also works for this month's A Muse Lounge Challenge, "Holidays in July." I'm sure that this challenge was intended to get us all thinking about Christmas, but I always find it difficult to start my cards when it's sunny and hot outside.

When do you start your Christmas cards?

Pajama Party Challenge #3: Water!

The third challenge was to make a card based on the word water. After a failed attempt at a school of fishes in the ocean, I decided to scale down my efforts and made a fish bowl instead.



Since I wanted to cut a very unique outline, I ended up attaching a white card base to the back of it (2.75 inches x 2 inches folded). I think this may be my favorite card of the bunch, just for its shape.

Pajama Party Challenge #2: Beach Party!

The second challenge is to create a card based on the idea of a beach party. Rather than a human party, I thought it would be fun to party animal style. The blue/white notecard is by A Muse, and it really made putting my scene together a breeze.

Pajama Party Challenge #1: Hot!

Tonight was the A Muse Pajama Party in honor of the Halloween/Christmas release, and although I've been out of the card-making loop for a while, I jumped at the chance to play. I started up a bit late, but I did keep to the 30 minute time limit. (You can find out more about the challenges at www.amuseartstamps.com.)

The first challenge was to make a card inspired by the word "hot."

When I think of hot, I think of being a little kid in the summer in the hot California sun, and nothing cooled me off better than a treat from the ice cream truck. I picked up this adorable Doodlebug paper a couple of weeks ago, and it was just calling my name as I was scrounging for supplies, so onto the card it went! I also especially love the striped ribbon by May Arts.

Almost a One Layer Card. . .

There is really no way to describe how hard one layer cards are for me. They’re so mind-bogglingly challenging, they’re like my kryptonite. The few times I’ve done them, the cards I’ve made look. . . naked! So, it should come as a surprise to no one that this month’s A Muse challenge “Taking Off Some Layers,” really had me stumped.

I finally settled on using the Car Load stamp to make a simple birthday card. I figured by drawing the frame it would give some cohesiveness to my design, but even then, I just couldn’t walk away. It still needed something. So I broke down and added the purple present after the fact.

Is it truly a one layer card? I’m not sure. All I know is, this is probably the most minimalist card I’ve ever made. Now I’m off to mail the darn thing before I feel compelled to add something else to it.

Thanks for visiting!

Bring on the Blue Skies!

Happy Monday everyone! Did you have a good weekend?

Saturday I hit up my favorite LSS, Scrapbook Territory where I picked up a ton of fun new things at 25% off. Congratulations to ST on 7 years of amazing patterned papers, stamps and more! Oh, how I love that place.

Of course, as soon as I got home I had to play with some of my latest acquisitions. This cloud paper by A Muse has been out for a while now, but I hadn't gotten my hands on it until this most recent trip.

I used Tracy's Sketch Challenge for my inspiration, although the final card came out a bit different than the sketch. I also made a little sentiment banner and popped up the balloons, just for fun:



















This week, I'm looking forward to a short work week with some party planning thrown in. I'm co-hosting two parties in the next 10 days, so I'm not sure how much stamping time I'll be able to squeeze in, but I've got my fingers crossed.

Have a great week!

Slow Like a Snail. . .

I recently came across a card that I had made for the April challenge on the A Muse Lounge, but never posted or entered. Oops!



















The challenge was to cut something out on yoru card, and coupled with the repetition challenge from a while back, I came up with this easy belated birthday card. I didn't have the right colored jute to go with it, so I pulled out my trusty Copic markers, and dyed it to the right shade. Messy but fun!

Pajama Party Challenge #4: A Card For Mom

Oh, the irony. Immediately after I posted card challenge #3, I came across my "Simple Celebrations" clear set, and saw the tulip image. Since I felt like I didn't rock the flowers challenge as well as I could have, I decided to incorporate the tulip into Challenge #4, to make a card for a mom.

Here's my card:













Well, that's all the challenges for tonight. Now I just have to clean up the kitchen table before anyone gets home and notices the mess I've made. Yikes!

Have a nice weekend!

Pajama Party Challenge #3: My Favorite Flower?

Challenge #3 was to make a card inspired by my favorite flower. I was stumped. I don't really have a favorite flower, and I don't have many flower stamps either. As I was scanning my stamp collection, an idea popped into my head.

My favorite flower isn't a specific flower; any flower attached to a tropical drink is my kind of flower!

So, here's my card:



















I based the card design on a sketch that Tracy came up with a couple of weeks ago. On to the fourth challenge!

Pajama Party Challenge #2: Repetition

Challenge #2 is to use repetition on your card. When I use repetition on cards, I like using an image that I can color in different ways to give it some variety, so I picked "Monarch" (which I think has since been discontinued).

Here is my card:















After stamping the sentiment, I'm now debating whether or not a yellow sympathy card isn't too chipper for such a serious occasion. What do you think?

Pajama Party Challenge #1: Inspiration Challenge

Challenge #1 is to use a photo for inspiration. You can see the photo here.

I immediately gravitated to the colors: light green, light blue, and light pink/purple. Here's my card:


















On to the next challenge!

Tonight's the Night!

Tonight's the night of the A Muse Pajama Party and I'm so excited! I'm hoping to participate in real time here on the blog. Stay tuned!