July ATC: Turtles!

Well, I've been busy as a bee with my new graphic design class and haven't had time to stamp much lately. Can you believe that even though it's called graphic design, I have to draw all of my designs by hand??? Crazy! I haven't actually drawn anything for a school assignment for at least 10 years, so it's been a rough learning curve. Nonetheless, I'm enjoying the challenge.



Enough about me, and on to my ATC. Thank goodness for Tracy and her monthly ATC group to motivate and inspire me! I did this turtle-themed one for July using a Denami Designs turtle and a Wordsworth sentiment. I really tried to do some shadowing on the turtles with my Copics, and I used a clear Glaze pen on their shells. Cute and simple, just the way I like it!

See you soon!

May ATC

Here's my ATC for May 2010. The little chick is by Denami Design, and the sentiment is by A Muse.

I Ruff You!

Hi there!

I'm still recovering from the weekend. On Saturday, we took a long drive (10+ hours in one day!) to a beautiful wedding just outside of Yosemite National Park. The scenery was amazing:


Royal Arches


Half Dome


Bridal Veil Falls

The only downside was that we didn't get home until 1am on Sunday morning. Needless to say, my sleep schedule is all out of whack and I haven't created anything since then. However, my ATCs just came back from the group I'm in, so I thought I'd post a pic of my ATC for this month:



I love this little stamp by Taylored Expressions! The sentiment is by A Muse, and I die cut the bone using my Cricut. The heart is glittered with Stickles.

Going back through my ATC binder, I noticed that I have a couple others I never shared, so keep an eye out for those later in the week!

And the Best Reason to Play. . .

In addition to being super-fun and challenging, the A Muse Pajama Party also involves random drawings from each challenge for prizes. And I won! Woo-hoo! Those ladies over at A Muse rock, I tell you.

While I'm here, I thought I'd finally share my ATCs from last month. Since they were due to be delivered in the first part of April, of course I had to go with an Easter theme.

Here's my ATC:



















I just love that patterned paper by W R Memory Keepers. Didja see that it even has ears on it? Love it!

Have a beautiful day!

February ATCs

Here are the ATCs I did for Tracy's February swap. If they look familiar, it's probably because they're based on an earlier card I did here.



















I'm lovin' my Liquid Pearls to make corner accents and the like, can you tell? I also colored over my seahorses with clear Spica.

Have a great weekend!

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!

A Break In the Clouds. . .

Taken March 4th, 2009

Well, the bad news is that I still have the energy of a sick person (i.e., falling asleep at 8pm every night). But, the good news is that deadlines came and forced me to stamp, so even in my weakened condition, I made time to get some stuff done and worth posting. Let's start with ATCs.

As I mentioned previously, I signed up for a "Winter Blues" ATC swap with Lee Anne. I hit a road block midway through, but I managed to come up with these, albeit a tiny bit late.















Then, I also caught The Jonas Brothers in 3-D opening weekend, 'cause who could miss that?! In case you haven't heard of them, the Jonas Brothers are a Disney band made up of three brothers that write and play their own rock/pop music. Good thing I have friends with kids that are into the Jonas-ness. I coordinated the trip for 6 of my friends, so I thought it'd be fun if I came up with some goodie bags. At the last minute, I whipped these together:



















Inside each bag is a movie ticket, the 3-D glasses, and a Japanese cracker treat called Pocky. It was just a little something to keep everyone's stuff organized and together. JoBro is how most of my friends' kids abbreviate the band name, and I thought A Muse's Rock Star would be the perfect accent, since all three boys play guitar. Here's a close-up of the topper:















Really, nothing super-special but I think I still managed to impress them. We also did Jonas Brothers trivia and took pictures with their cardboard poster. Fun!

See you soon, with a card for Tracy's sketch challenge!

The Other Thing I've Been Doing. . .

Watching these arrive in my mailbox!












It's been great to see how everyone used the stamps differently. Today's the day they have to be postmarked by, so I should have them all to me by the end of the week. If they're all here, they'll be sorted and back out on Monday! Yippee!

A Muse Christmas ATC Swap!

Update: These swaps were all dropped in the mail September 21. Thanks for playing!

I'm loving the new A Muse Christmas images, and I'm dying to see how you're using them! Come join me in my first ATC swap!

The theme is A Muse Christmas, specifically the images released during Amuseapalooza in July.

To participate, please make 10 ATCs—you will get back ten including one of your own. Splitcoaststampers has a great tutorial on making ATCs. See here.

Here are the rules:
-You must use at least one A Muse Christmas stamp from the 2008 release.
-Each ATC must have at least 2 layers.
-One embellishment is required (embellishments include ribbon, rhinestones, prima, etc.)

Please sign and number each of your swaps and put them in a Ziploc bag to ensure they survive their postal adventures. Your bag should be marked with your name and your group number. You must also include a SASE and 1 extra stamp (it’ll be returned to you if it’s not needed). No metered strips! The deadline has been extended! Your swaps must be postmarked by September 10! I'll mail them back as soon as I get them all!

To join this swap, please e-mail me at imteresa at hotmail dot com. When I get your e-mail, I’ll add you to the list below and I’ll e-mail you back with my mailing address.
If you have questions, feel free to e-mail me and I’ll do my best to answer quick! I can’t wait to see what you come up with!

Group #1: DONE!
1. Teresa E.
2. Nobuko C.
3. Tinla W.
4. Tracy C.
5. Michele H.
6. Tami W.
7. Aileen B.
8. Dawn S.
9. Connie
10. Erin

Group #2: DONE!
1. Teresa E.
2. Tinla W.
3. Lee Anne
4. Riza
5. Nancy
6. Susan N.
7. Pamela
8. Tracy O.
9. Tami W.
10. Ruth Ann

Comin' Atcha!

Well, I've been hard at work coming up with a set of ATCs for a swap I'm doing with Kristina Lewis of Balance. I bought the Mini Chick Bee stamp over a month ago from Paper Garden Boutique (Hi Stephanie!), but I hadn't had a chance to ink it up. So, I took the opportunity to break it in!


















Now that I've had a chance to play with it, I'm looking forward to coming up with some cards to create with it!

ATCs!

The ATCs are finished! After a slight mix-up with the due date, I was up until 1:30am finishing them. Nonetheless, I think they turned out all right. I did two swaps this time for the first time, which I think also threw me off. Nonetheless, I like how they both turned out.













This first one was for the Cat's Pajamas swap group. I used my fabulous new Spica pens on the sword, and copper brads down the side. This ATC took me forever to design, mostly because I couldn't decide on the layout. I had the phrase "Ahoy there, matey!" also by the Cat's Pajamas, but I couldn't figure out how to fit it or how to stamp it onto the black patterned paper. On the other hand, I know I'll have lots of ways to stamp the two together on a card front. Oh, I can't wait until I have time to stamp some more cards!


















This next card was for my Amuse swap group. The images are from Amuse's Party Time clear set. The utensils were really what sold me on the set, and I've used them a ton so far. I used my Spica silver pen to color in the utensils. The background plaid is actually a sticker I got from a Mrs. Grossman's sale. I have to say, living so close to Mrs. Grossman's Sticker Factory definitely has its perks. I got a whole roll of those stickers (in an even bigger size) for $3. Love those!

Now I'm down to one more assignment. My Secret Sister on Amuse Addicts is desperately in need of some treats. Once I finish that, I'm on to holiday craftiness!

What I've Been Doing

This is what I've been doing instead of blogging like I should've been. I signed up for my first ATC swap ever (I had never made an ATC before), and I've been stressing out over the design. Now that it's done though, I like them.

With leftover scraps from my ATCs, I also made a mini 3x3 thank you note for the hostess. Do you see the resemblance?

I think I've done more cards since my last post, so I'm off to find the pics. Perhaps I'll upload them later. Enjoy!

(Supplies used: stamps by Amuse, patterned paper by Memory box, silver and blue from Michael's, MM silver brads, Offray ribbon)