Suki's Blog

now this

2008-07-29T14:21:00.002-05:00

nearly made me pee in my pants. really.
http://dsharp.typepad.com/dsharp/2008/07/uh-oh.html

back soon with something crafty ... i just have to over come the trauma i faced the last time i was down at my craft desk ... let's just say the cats left me a tiny, gray, DEAD conquest under my desk. zzzzzz! YUK!

is this thing on?

2008-07-24T21:30:00.005-05:00

ok. first, this makes me happy. really happy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpcUxwpOQ_A

second. i recently remembered how to stamp ... and that it makes me happy too.

see ...

(everything by A Muse except pumpkin & vanilla paper by SU!)

but this ... this last thing makes me the most happy ... even if he has kept me from stamping for a while.

ga ga ga goo!

ROCK CHALK CHAMPS!!

2008-04-07T23:21:00.002-05:00

They won!!!!! National Champions. What an awesome game. Mario Chalmers is my new hero!!

ROCK!

CHALK!

JAYHAWK!

KU!!!

ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-04-05T21:06:00.002-06:00

YEAH!!!

IN YOUR FACE ROY WILLIAMS!!!!!

GO HAWKS!!!!

(***delurking momentarily from my baby-growing, house-selling, no-stamp time INSANITY to cheer for my boys!!!!****)

Peep!

2007-12-15T14:34:00.001-06:00

Hi! It's me again. And this time I have a tiny little bit o' stamping to share. My youngest sister is graduating from college today! Woo hoo. I'm so proud of her (even if she did go to "the school that shall not be named"). Here's the card that I made for her ...

The sentiment is by A Muse and the skull image is from Just Johanna. The rest of what I used is pretty standard. There's stardust pen on the outline of the skull ... it looks RAD but didn't show up in my scan.

Meanwhile, I am just floundering in unfinished Christmas tasks. I thought that since last year I made thirty GORGEOUS Christmas cards that I never sent I'd be ahead of the game this year but not so much. {Remind me to post those cards. They are so B.A. (bad a$$), if I do say so myself, which is not what I usually am able to say about cards (etc) I made a year ago.} Anyway, beyond cards, I have Christmas presentos to buy and teacher/therapist thank you's to make and write and finish and my house to clean and on and on and on it goes. Thankfully my oldest is really really PSYCHED about Santa Claus this year and that is making things SO much fun. Just one small example here, we have the most AWESOME leverage (ie, being put on the naughty list) when he can't stop talking about "poopoo heads" at the dinner table. Suh-WEEET!

Don't forget to check this out ... there's a chance to win some goodies.

My Other Big Announcement!

2007-12-03T08:07:00.000-06:00

It's up! Go here to check it out. What an honor and privilege! Thanks to everyone over there!

Where in the world ...

2007-12-02T10:58:00.000-06:00

have I been? Well, the short answer is on my couch. That sounds really lame so let me offer further explanation. I've been spending some serious quality time in sofa city because of this ...

Seriously! And along with the joy and excitement of anticipating kiddo number three (!!!) has been lots and lots of nausea. It's been like feeling the worst motion sickness ever, continuously for the last two months and counting. Ironically, I've been feeling slightly better in the mornings lately. I won't bore y'all with any more details, since this is a craft-blog after all? Suffice to say, I have managed to eke out a tad bit of creativity here and there when I wasn't all consumed by my morning-sickness-couch-coma and I am hoping to post a bit of it soon. I also have something coming up SOON that I'm really excited about. AND lastly, in an effort to bribe myself back into the good graces of the last two or three people out there reading this blog, I have a BLOG CANDY GIVE-AWAY. Yeah! Free stuff coming soon!

Last but not least, I want to offer a big, public apology to any of you LOVELY, THOUGHTFUL people who've emailed or commented during my "hiatus." I am super lame for not emailing back and thank you for your thoughts and concern.

Forgive me blogger ...

2007-10-14T21:06:00.000-05:00

for I have sinned. It has been NINE days since my last post. I have really good excuses for not blogging. BUT I'll spare you and just post some cards I made (and am really happy with) instead. I'm donating ten cards to a fundraiser that's going to be held at the beginning of November. The gal who asked me to do it put the value at $40!!! Yikes!! Anyway, here are the first two ... (aka the only two so far!)

There are tiny rhinestones in the flower centers and larger rhinestones in the corners. The background flowers were dotted with stardust gel pen. I may have gone a touch overboard with the sponging ... but I still like the card overall.

Deets: All materials by Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted. Stardust gel pen by sakura and rhinestone stickers by paper salon (??).

This next card may look familiar but I was so proud of the original that I figured it needed a reprise! I don't know how you can not love this (enormous) stamp. It's so much fun! The tub is covered in IIEP and so are the bottles. I covered the bubbles with crystal effects which made them SUPER shiny (yah!) but it also made them look a tad gray (boo!). I think I like this layout even better than the first.

Deets: All materials by SU! unless otherwise noted. Babs by Rubber Romance, Relax sentiment by A Muse. Silver sparkle gel pen by sakura. Cheap-o white brads from Hobby Lobby.

Alright ... back to work with me ... I have mucho to finish this week! Also I received my amuseaddicts bumper card from Kelly H (some cool ATC's--thanks!) and more birthday cards and BRAKs than I know what to do with so I will post those soon also! I'm so grateful to everyone who's sent me a card! What a great birthday! I'll post about my birthday at length soon. It was F.U.N.!!!

Not my own work ...

2007-10-05T12:48:00.000-05:00

I feel so fortunate to be receiving such wonderful mail this week. Here are a few cards from some wonderful stampers. These first three cards are birthday RAK's through the amuseaddicts yahoo group. They are each really special and I am so grateful!! Thank you ladies!

I just got two more in the mail today so hopefully I'll get them photographed and uploaded tonight.

I also received a wonderful RAK from Tami Wood (A Muse Instructor Extraordinaire!) She sent these super fun ATC's ... aren't they awesome?!

Tami also sent this totally fab Halloween card. Check out all the fun details: the inside is stamped, notched and has floss (?) ... so cool. The entire card is just so much fun. I especially love how she used the brackets ... what a great idea. THANK YOU TAMI!!!

The only problem with all these cards is that it's really adding a lot of stamps to my wish list!!! Seriously. Thanks everyone!

Lastly but not leastly ... I hope everyone saw the big announcement over at Linda's blog today. My best gal TISHA is one of the elite members of A Muse's new clear design team. All I can say is WAH-HOOO!!!! Congrats girl! Miss Tish is an extremely talented stamper who manages to make all of it (stamping, motherhood, friendship etc) look easy and fun. She rocks.

Gracias.

2007-10-01T22:15:00.000-05:00

Here's a quick little card I did over the weekend. I know it was inspired by a card Elena did a long while back -- that gal has SKILLZ! I had a lot of fun with this card and BONUS I finally gave my prismacolor markers a little attention.

Here's a photo of the card closed ...

And here it's completely unfolded ...

Deets: All stamps, paper and embellishments by A Muse; ink is black staz on and color box chalk ink; prismacolor markers, sakura stardust gel pen and black glae pen and ribbon from ???.

We had kind of a long day today (to say the least) so I just vegged tonight. Tomorrow, I'm getting back downstairs and revving up the stamp space in preparation for World Card Making Day (also known as, the day before my birthday). Ha! (It's starting to get annoying that I keep mentioning that isn't it?!?!?)

And even more cards.

2007-10-01T22:13:00.000-05:00

Here's a card I did tonight with my NEW A Muse stamps (that is my second most favorite phrase in the world, the first being "free new a muse stamps"! Duh!). I have had this card in my head for weeks now and am so relieved to have finally made this card. It was so much fun to make.

First a few comments on the card ... I outlined everything with my almost amethyst SU marker. I think it added a really nice, kinda weird glow. There's glitter on the edges of the ghosts and dotting the witch and clear glaze on the bottle. The orange ribbon and the orange harlequin PLP match in real life, honest! This whole card was made possible by contributions from my stamp-a-ma-jig and inspiration from superstar stamper Lexi Daly (who had the great idea to have the ghosts emerging from a [poison] bottle --see her card here.)

Deets: All images, ribbon and orange harlequin paper by A Muse; all other paper, ink and glitter by Stampin' Up!, clear glaze and quickie glue pen by sakura.

Here are the two cards I made for my neighbor (aka my best and only customer!) last week. She wanted ones similar to cards I made here and here. I obliged but also changed things up. I think she was happy with these too. Thanks to Tisha (the bomb!) for the eyelet/ribbon idea. I felt like something was missing on the last card and this totally worked!

Deets: All images by A Muse; All paper, ink, IIEP and ribbon by SU!; silver sparkle and stardust gel pen by sakura; oval and circle punches by SU, rectangle punch (layered twice) by marvy; eyelets by WeR, copper stickles.

This card is pretty straight up.

Deets: All images by Stamping Bella; patterned paper by Luxe(?); rest of paper, ribbon and ink by SU, brads by american crafts, key tag punch by SU, scalloped oval punches by marvy, clear glaze and stardust gel pen by sakura.

Thanks, as ever, for visiting.

Crazy Blogger!

2007-09-30T18:04:00.000-05:00

Please check out my post "Last two old cards". It's two posts down from here (or just click that link). I just don't understand blogger sometimes. Sheesh.

More birthday cards ...

2007-09-25T07:49:00.000-05:00

Here are the other two cards I did for my neighbor last week. I guess she liked them well enough to ask me for two more. She wanted one like the grumpabella card I did in the last post and one with the A Muse hammock here. I will take photos and post those as soon as I can.

Before I get started though, who else watched the premiere of the Office? Oh have mercy that was funny. Holy moly!! SO, so good. "I'm not superstitious, I'm only a little stitious." Ha!

Alright. This one is pretty straight up. The colors are pixie pink, pink passion and celery. Aww, yeh. And all I have to say is "welcome back big and little pieces" ... I felt like I was having flash backs to Christmas using these!!!

Deets: Stamps by Stampin' Up!, A Muse, and Lockhart; Paper and Ink by SU!, ribbon by ???, liquid applique and stardust gel pen.

Now this card may feel a little "been there done that" to me (who has seen every stamper and her auntie do the "cuttlebug swirls as ocean waves" trick) but my neighbor was REALLY impressed. Who doesn't love that feeling? This card needed something else but I was in a pinch time wise when I finished it. I think the "re-make" I did tonight is better. I'll post it soon.

Deets: All stamps by A Muse; Paper, punches, saffron brad and ink by SU!; cuttlebug swirls embossing folder, sakura stardust gel pen, and copper stickles.

I also plopped down some of my squirreled away stamping money and bought a few new stamps today (online). Hopefully, it'll all arrive next week and I can heat up the new rubber! Also my sister and my neffy-poos are coming for a visit (wahhoooo! my 4 year old is going to be on cloud nine!!!) and they're getting here a week from this Sunday (cough, cough ... my birthday ... cough, cough).

Birthday Series

2007-09-25T07:47:00.000-05:00

My neighbor asked me to make 5 birthday cards for her recently. They were going to three guys and two gals, one of which was turning 90! She said they were well received ... actually I think she said everyone thought they were "interesting." Hmmmm .... I think I'll take that as a compliment. Anyway here are the first three.

It might be a little hard to tell but the front flap of this card is about one inch shorter than the back flap and I added a little margin of black for emphasis. And NO, I did not totally mess up the placement of the sentiment on the front and end up cutting it off in a last ditch effort to salvage the card. Why do you ask?

Deets: All stamps and ribbon by A Muse. All paper, glitter and ink by Stampin' Up! Stardust gel pen and quickie glue pen by Sakura.

I love how this card turned out but I am not sure that grumps SCREAMS birthday. I hope the recipient enjoyed it.

Deets: All stamps by Stamping Bella. All paper and ink by Stampin' Up! Punches by marvy. Stardust gel pen by sakura and ribbon by ????

My neighbor wanted "funny" cards. Yeah ... I don't have a lot of stamps that scream Shoebox but I thought this one sorta worked. Funny, punny, whatever!

Deets: All stamps by A Muse. All paper by SU and Basic Gray. All ink, glitter and ribbon by SU. Punches by marvy and SU. Quickie glue pen by sakura.

I hope you enjoyed these cards. Does anyone want to come over tonight and help me crank out 30 or so moving announcements??? Anyone? No one??? Ha ha ha! I'll be sure to post that moving card tomorrow. I like the layout now but after all this mass production I have the feeling I'm not going to be quite so fond tomorrow.

Ciao!

Last two old cards ...

2007-09-25T07:45:00.000-05:00

Here are the last two cards I did during my recent FRENZY! This first is a moving announcement I'm doing for a very dear friend of mine. She's an extremely classy gal and I hope this "worked" for her. It's a really really simple card (the way to go when you're mass producing, don't you agree?!).

Deets: All images A Muse, All paper & ink by SU!, ribbon and detail white ep by ???, punch by marvy.

Here's my bumper card for Tinla over at the AMuseAddicts yahoo group. She sent me an email saying she'd received this card so now I can finally post it. I'm super pleased with this card and am very relieved that Tinla did too!

Deets: All images by A Muse; patterned paper by love, elsie; solid paper, slit punch and ink by stampin' up; brads and rhinestone from paper salon; white glaze, silver sparkle and silver gel pens by sakura; scalloped rectangle punch by marvy.

In other retail therapeutic news, Tisha and I went to the Rubber Stamp Harvest that was way out in Independence MO Friday night. For the most part the stamps and techniques (etc) showcased there are really not my style. I did however come home with a little something that if it hadn't been in my hot little hands I never (probably) would've bought! I bought the rectangle nestabilities!! They were as cheap as I've seen online and who can resist when someone says, at least you don't have to pay shipping!? Anyway, I'm excited to try them out ... I think they'll be quite versatile.

OK. I have at least one other card I need to photograph and post and then I'll be all caught up. I'll try to get to it tomorrow.

Saving some for later ...

2007-09-23T20:41:00.000-05:00

I am NOT going to post every thing I've made in the last three days here all at once. I am going to try to post a little bit at a time. Especially since we have a thing on Wednesday night and this AND this are happening on Thursday (Eeee!) AND I have to get 30 moving announcements done before FRIDAY! Needless to say, I may not be able to get much stamping done otherwise this week. SO! Here is the first (of many) installment.

I am TOO TOO pleased with this card. Isn't it SO cute? I know I am going to be casing myself over and over again with this one. At the top of the hangers are light pink A Muse twinkle stickers. The brads were from sweet little Tami Wood (famed A Muse instructor and all around great gal). I am so stoked at how perfectly they match the Stampin' Up! Loves Me paper (it's retired-boo hoo). Gotta love that stamp-a-ma-jig!

Deets: Paper and Ink by Stampin' Up!, dotted scallop and maternity dress by A Muse, sentiment from small sayings by SU!

Next are two cards I've recieved from my cyber pal Liz (check out more of her fab stamping ----> here!). The one on the left was a bumper card from the amuseaddicts yahoo group. It's AWESOME!! Thank you so much LIZ!! The other is a sweet thank you she sent. I love the layout of that one so much.

OK. More tomorrow, I promise. I hope everyone enjoyed these. Have a great night!

ATC's and more

2007-09-20T23:10:00.000-05:00

What a week!! I am going to distract myself by posting a bunch of cards and ATC's that I finished this week. Jeez! My stamping table hasn't seen this much action since A Muse A Palooza!

Here's a card I did for my niece who turned one on Sunday. I really like this card and it was totally inspired by this card (Tisha is so talented isn't she???!!!).

Deets: Stamps by A Muse; paper by SU, Bazzill, & Paper salon (?), Ink: stazon & SU!, punches by marvy & SU, ribbon and glitter by SU!

Here's the birthday card I made for my old man. It was his birthday yesterday. I wanted to use both these stamps but I didn't think they made any sense together until I glanced upwards and saw that unopened bottle of turquoise FLOCK on my shelf. **Insert tooting horns of inspiration** I just colored the monster in, added the A Muse twinkle heart, covered him with my quickie glue pen (kiss kiss, love that thing), dumped on a bootie load of flock, mushed the whole bootie load down and then tapped/flicked off the excess. VOILA! Click on the pic to see it a little closer up. Flock + Quickie Glue Pen = total bomb-ness.

Deets: Stamps and twinkle hearts by A Muse, ink and paper by SU, cheap-o brads from HL, punch by marvy, sakura stardust gel and quickie glue pen.

Next I have a couple of ATC swaps I did (and mailed at the very final moment -- sorry ladies). If you're in my group and you want to be surprised ... go no further. I was in a hurry to get a lot of this out the door so that is my excuse for the so so pictures.

Here's the first one. The color of this one seems off probably because I propped it up on my padded mailers. I really like this ATC otherwise.

Deets: Stamps by A Muse, Paper, Ribbon and Ink by SU, punches by marvy, liquid applique.

This is the second ATC. I did a twinkle sticker on one nose, black glaze pen on the top hat and ear muffs and glitter over the word "Cool" -- I hope everyone likes these.

Deets: Stamps and twinkle sticker by A Muse, Paper and Ink by SU!, glitter by ???, sakura black glaze pen and quickie glue pen.

I have at least 6 more cards (finished, I have that many and more TO MAKE!) to post ... maybe I'll try to spread it out over the next week since I am so sloo...ooo..ooow about posting these days.

I hope every one's Friday wraps up with at least one moment of peace and quiet. And, til next time, ciao!

Ps. Thanks Aura and Tami for your comments/posts. Too funny! Thanks for sharing!

Tag.

2007-09-17T23:21:00.000-05:00

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) - Cinco Odyssey (awesome!)
2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fav ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) Strawberry Pirouette (!)
3. YOUR “FLY Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name) SBert (Is this like the 80's video game QBert?)
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) - Blue Pine-Marten (huh?)
5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born)- No one needs to know my middle name ... really.
6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) - Ber-sa (can I be a jedi youngling?)
7. SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink put “The”) The Pink Dirty Martini (yeah baby!)
8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers)- Fred Angelo
9. STRIPPER NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne, favorite candy) wait for it ... Happy Candy Corn (yeah, I'm getting all the tips baby!)
10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names) Bor-ring!

Thanks LIZ for the tag. This was some silly fun! Now I'm tagging anyone reading this ... most especially MY SISTER and Tami Wood. I want to hear what YOUR answers are! Leave them in a comment on this post. PLEASE!

Ps. I've been stamping like a mad woman. I just need to take/upload pictures and won't I have some fun to post! Hopefully tomorrow... till then, nighty night!

Back in the Saddle Again.

2007-09-13T09:01:00.000-05:00

Just in time to go out of town for the weekend. (*insert some self-deprecating remark about how lame and inconsistent a blogger I am and a plea not to abandon me yet--you, know the same ol' start to all my posts these days!*)

Here are some cards I did recently ... (I also did a decent birthday card for my homie (sp?) Tisha but I didn't get pictures snapped before I gave it to her. If she weren't out having fun at the fair, I'd run over and take pics of it but oh well. Hopefully later.)

This card is for the amuseaddicts challenge from LAST friday. Yeah, just getting it in under the wire. Story of my life! The "sport" here is cow wranglin'. The cow is cut out, popped up and roped with hemp twine, which I glued down with two small dots of mono multi. This layout leaves a bit to be desired (by me at least) but hey, I'm just happy to have STAMPED!

Deets: All materials by Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted. Stamps: All images by A Muse (Calamity Jane, cow, yeeehaw, large oval bl); Paper: soft sky and whisper white; Ink: black stazon, wild wasabi, and soft sky Markers: real red, blush blossom, pretty in pink; Misc: giga scallop oval punch by marvy, crop-a-dile, 1/8" white eyelets by WRMemory Keepers, star twinkle stickers by A Muse, stardust gel pen by sakura, hemp twine, wild wasabi ribbon, dimensionals.

The next two are sympathy cards for some very close friends who've suffered a loss recently.

Deets: Stamps: All images by A Muse (birch trees, starry sky, sentiment); Paper: (all SU!) night of navy, soft sky, whisper white; Ink: SU night of navy, SU soft sky, versamark; Misc: ultra fine white embossing powder, SU dazzling diamonds glitter, sakura quickie glue pen.

Deets: Stamps: All images by A Muse (tiny bird and flower, tree stump, sentiment); Ink: brown stazon, versamark, alabaster chalk cats eye, SU:cool caribbean, close to cocoa, rose red, SU Markers: chocolate chip, cocoa, caramel, turquoise, certainly celery; Paper: Basic gray Mellow patterned paper, whisper white, chocolate chip; Misc: basuc gray ribbon, making memories brads, marvy giga scalloped circle, mega circle, and super jumbo scalloped circle punches, ultra fine white EP, sakura stardust gel pen, dimensionals.

I have a LONG list of projects ahead of me: two sets of ATC swaps (10 and 14), 7 birthday cards, 30 moving announcements, and a bumper card. All by sometime next week. And did I mention I'm out of town this weekend. Yikes! Hopefully I'll make it out of all this stamping insanity alive!!!

Anyway, have a great weekend. And if anyone has any mojo to spare can you send it my way. Thanks!

How much do I rock???

2007-09-03T18:15:00.000-05:00

Disregarding the total lack of humility for a moment ... I totally DO rock. Check out this card! I did this for my goddaughter ... it's a fairy because I'm her godmother. Get it!? (groan!)

It's a "suspension card" or something. I have no idea WHAT they're called. I didn't follow a tutorial I just winged it! I punched giga scalloped ovals in each layer (the white card base, chocolate chip and the patterned paper) and then suspended the mega scalloped oval inside on silver cord (SU! ret). The mega scalloped oval is punched out of groovy guava and has super jumbo ovals on both sides. Behind the back side SJ oval I put a length of silver cord (adhered with scotch double stick tape) .... oh frick! I cannot describe this process adequtately ... here's a tutorial from splitcoast which has step by step instructions which may or may not confuse you more or less than I have ----> suspension card tutorial.

So here's what I can explain ... more about the details of the card. Here's an up close look at the fairy images.

Front ...

I stamped the fairy three times, once on white, once on the patterned paper (from the punched out oval) and once on vellum. I colored in the fairy, cut out the vellum wings, leaving just a little "wedge" underneath, and then cut out and adhered the patterned paper dress. The vellum wings just got sandwiched between the white and patterned paper and I bent the wings outward. There's stardust gel pen all over this, including the vellum wings. SO FLIPPIN' COOL!!!

and back ...

She's much simpler but still dazzled with stardust pen. I used my paper piercer to pierce holes in the scallops of the mega oval.

Here's the envelope as well as a view of the card from a different angle. This card just made me so happy!

The dots inside the letters are highlighted with stardust gel pen (naturally!) and the prima hydrangea/rhinestone brad combo is adhered with a glue dot. I highlighted a lot of the patterned paper with gel pen as well as the edge of the chocolate layer and just outside the small oval where the sentiment is. The patterned paper is from the BasicGray LilyKate 6x6 pack. Love that stuff! I did something very similar here (also one of my favorite cards!).

Have I also mentioned that I rock the acrylic stamp casbah?! No? Well, I do. Ha ha ha! I did this (see pic below) with the three acrylic stamps on those thank you's I posted yesterday. And I did the same thing with the letters on the envelope above.

This way they always stamp in a straight-ish line.

OK. It's time to go knead the crick out of my arm that I've developed from patting myself on the back so ferociously here. Maybe I'll even stamp a little later. Have a great week everyone!!

PS. Liz, thanks for your comments (as always). I'll try to come up with some kind of tutorial on those CD tins. They look so cool and were SO ding dong easy!!!

Deets: All materials by Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted. Stamps: Fairy image and polkadot lowercase small alphabet by A Muse, swirl from Priceless set, sentiment from Fancy Flexible Phrases (ret); Ink: close to cocoa, black stazon, groovy guava, SU Markers: cocoa, blush blossom, pretty in pink; Paper: whisper white, groovy guava, chocolate chip, BasicGray LilyKate 6x6 patterned paper, vellum; Misc: silver cord (ret), guava double stitched ribbon, making memories silver brads and rhinestone brads, marvy giga and mega scalloped and super jumbo oval punches, large and small SU oval punches, prima flowers, paper piercer

Prepare thyself ...

2007-09-02T15:32:00.001-05:00

for the mother of all posts. I have much to share so grab something to drink and get comfy. I hope you enjoy! First, a couple of minor bits of unimportance ... I hope no one minds the frequent altering of my blog. I'm searching for the perfect layout. It's like the living room arrangement, perfection is elusive and whatever you come up with is good only for a little while. AND B) I'd like to point out this post. I don't know if anyone saw it before it got pulled (failed DT attempt) but I want to make sure you all see it now. I am rather pleased with how the card turned out.

OK, now onto the stamping. Here's that trifold card with some changes. I just wasn't happy with the sentiment's arrangement so I added the key tag punch and the brads. I think it looks a lot better.

I also decorated the envelope. The alphabet is whimsical lower (ret) by Stampin' Up!, the swirl (behind her name) is from the Priceless set, also SU! The stork is by A Muse. The colors are bashful and brocade blue. There's a little rhinestone sticky over the "i" in the congratulations. The bashful blue brads are SU! I punched the brocade key tag out and cut it in half and then glued them onto the back of the white key tag -- I just eyeballed it for symmetry. The whole deal is up on dimensionals. I am much happier with this overall than I was before.See this post for all the rest of the deets on this card.

For the shower gift, I did ten thank you cards, five blue and five green. As seen here ...

There's a little bit of stardust gel pen (I am addicted!) on the images. I tried to keep the bling factor subdued since it's for a boy. I packed everything up into these clear boxes from Impress. They utterly rock. I added a ribbon for ... well ... because everything looks better with ribbon.

Here's the front ...

Here's the back ...

Deets: All materials by Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted. Stamps: All images by A Muse. Ink: brocade blue, wild wasabi; Paper: bashful blue, brocade blue, wild wasabi, certainly celery, whisper white; Misc: ribbon mfr unknown, sakura stardust gel pen.

Here's a card I did a few weeks ago (though it's not worth going into why I held back on posting it ... bor-ring story).

This one is really over-the-top sparkly. I stamped the big flower (camellia??? what kind is it?) twice each in rose red and groovy guava. I cut them all out differently and then did the whole versamark/iridescent ice embossing powder thing on them. They're all held together by a rhinestone brad. There's a little rhinestone sticky over the "i" in "kind" and I used stardust gel pen all over the place here. I also used my stamp-ma-jig to make sure the swirls went AROUND the sentiment instead of over it. So purdy!

Deets: All materials by Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted. Stamps: flower from Fabulous flowers, linen bg and swirls from Priceless, sentiment by A Muse; Ink: groovy guava, rose red, versamark and brown stazon; Paper: rose red, groovy guava, chocolate chip and whisper white; Misc: iridescent ice EP, sakura stardust gel pen, edge distressing tool, chocolate chip grosgrain (ret), making memories rhinestone brad, and dimensionals.

You'll have to forgive me if I don't remember every detail about these. They were Christmas gifts I made last year.

I bought the CD tins at Archiver's (speedily going down my list as good craft stores). I stamped them with versamark ink and then embossed them with silver EP. It looks SO cool in real life. I took some scrap card stock and did a template for where to score the "belly bands" then did them for real in cocoa card stock. The patterned paper (etc) doesn't go all the way around it's just for the front. The letters were covered with regal paper then embossed with IIEP.

Deets: All materials by Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted. Stamps: Big and Little Pieces, Small Sayings; Ink: versamark, regal rose, and pretty in pink; Paper: close to cocoa, regal rose, whisper white and loves me DP (ret); Misc: flirty ribbon originals (ret), making memories chipboard alphabet letters, IIEP, silver EP, cd tin (archivers--boo!).

OK. I think I'm going to end this post here. I hope you have enjoyed all these projects and don't forget to check out this post. I'm really proud of that tiers of treats card. COME BACK TOMORROW, I want to share the card I made for my goddaughter's baptism. It really is so FLIPPIN' awesome that I about want it back. So I'll post all that tomorrow.

Happy Sunday everyone!

Don't you ...

2007-09-01T23:59:00.001-05:00

forget about me.

I really am still here. And even doing some stamping. Actually I whipped up this darling little number for my goddaughter's baptism which is tomorrow. It's all basic-gray-A-Muse-scallop-oval goodness. (My hubby said it's one of my best ever ... HA! What a sweet talkin' guy!) I just have to photograph it and get it on the computer. I also completed a little thank you card gift set this week and a couple cards to boot! Plus I have some fun projects I came across in the "pre-blog archives" that I would love to share. Alas all this boasting a bragging mean NOTHING as I don't actually have any of it ready to post. I promise tomorrow I'll work on getting them all up. And then you can ooh and aaah and tell me how much you love them and how FABULOUS you think they are.

Anyhoobie, enough with my rambling excuses, I hope you're all having a WONDERFUL long weekend! Later peeps!

Yadda-yadda-yadd-a-bella ...

2007-08-26T21:35:00.000-05:00

or something like that. Here's a little bit of the same ol' same ol'. I really don't know what it is about the bellas that I can't seem to get away from. Maybe this is part of it ... when I was young I had this fashion plate toy that I really loved. I get the same feeling coloring in the bellas I did when I was little playing with that toy. (OK. A quick aside, I am not so old that toys from my youth should be labeled "vintage"!!! GEEEZ!) Anyway ... I have two bella cards to post tonight. Here's the first ... (sorry in advance for the scans vs. photos ... I tried taking pics and they were all blurry ... looks like I'll be breaking down and getting out the tripod after all).

My card here is a variation on this tri-fold card. I fudged the edges and scoring a bit and ended up without enough room to do the slit punch bit. Oh well, it still looks fine. Here's a look at the inside flap.

Unfortunately, the scan didn't pick up the subtle sparkle that is on parts of the image. God bless the sakura stardust gel pen!

Deets: All supplies by Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted. Stamps: teddy bella by stamping bella, large oval by A Muse; Paper: whisper white, bashful blue, brocade blue, petal prints ds (retired); Ink: black stazon, bashful blue, markers: brocade, bashful, chocolate chip, cocoa, blush blossom, night of navy and blender pen; Misc: prismacolor 30% gray marker, stardust and black glaze pens by sakura, white gel pen, ticket corner punch, giga scallop oval punch by marvy, brocade blue brads, rhinestone stickers by paper salon, dimensionals and coluzzle.

WARNING: the following card contains strong language which may not be suitable for children or adults of delicate constitution. Proceed with caution!

Here's a card that I have been stewing over for a long time. I am really proud of my coloring on this little lady -- subtle though it may be. She sat on my desk for months because I wanted to do her justice. I knew I wanted to put all these elements together but I wasn't sure how. This is the result ... I love this combo and the card turned out pretty decent too. It'd probably work well as a belated birthday card ...

Deets: All materials by Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted. Stamps: Grumpabella by Stamping Bella, sentiment by Paper Source; Ink: black stazon, markers: rose red, blush blossom, pretty in pink, close to cocoa, creamy caramel, blender pen; Paper: rose red, whisper white, basic black, patterned paper by Basic Grey Perhaps collection; Misc: paper piercing tool and mat, prismacolor 30% cool gray marker, small and large oval punches, ribbon by may arts, rhinestones by paper studio, dimensionals.

At long last ...

2007-08-22T16:27:00.000-05:00

a card. Some stamping finally. I squeezed in some stamping between an appointment and picking the boy up from Pre-K. I'm really happy with it. What do y'all think? Is anyone still reading this blog? Ha ha ha!

This is for a mom in one of the kid's classes who's newly prego. The sentiment is covered in IIEP -- it's a lot more readable in real life. I also sponged the edges of the sentiment in soft sky ink. I just have to say that I am so seriously in love with this wide red grosgrain that I am thinking of running away to Vegas with it. SERIOUSLY. It is LUSH-USSSS!!! I am not super happy with the picture quality (sorry, I was being a tad lazy about that today!) but I am glad that you can see her "patent-leather shoes" which was the black glaze pen.

Anyway, I'm so pumped over how well this card turned out today that I may have to get back downstairs this evening. Unless our fridge shoots craps AGAIN tonight (grrrr, long story!) or something else insane and annoyingly time consuming comes up unexpectedly! I am laughing about it now but really ... how about a good surprise or two now and again.

Also, I really am happy and totally NOT jealous at all that Tisha gets to go to Seattle and visit the A Muse store AND gets to see Linda. I'm not jealous or envious or at all willing to sneak myself into her luggage. Really.

Deets: All materials from Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted. Stamps: prego gal and dotted frame by A Muse, sentiment from Small Sayings; Paper: patterned paper by Crate Paper, whisper white and soft sky; Ink: black stazon, versamark, wild wasabi, soft sky, real red, blush blossom, creamy caramel, close to cocoa, and a 30% cool gray prismacolor marker; Misc: iridescent ice EP, wide red grosgrain, white brads by paper studio, red twinkle sticker by A Muse, word window punch, black glaze pen by sakura and dimensionals.

What I did last night...

2007-08-21T09:05:00.000-05:00

THIS.

Uh. Mah. Gawsh. It was so frickin' awesome. If you remember, it's from this. Totally worth the wait and the money. The only annoyance was the KS/MO mix up. Sweet, sassy Neil kept saying how great it was to be in Kansas. Oops. I guess he forgot to read the back of his concert tee where it says "Kansas City, MISSOURI." Otherwise it was an incredible night and a reminder that we should get out MORE OFTEN. (Good luck with that, right?)

Thanks for all your patience with my lackadaisical posting. I have been rather uninspired to stamp but I have been getting organized. My stamps are all done and I have a BIG chunk of my big storage thing-y emptied out and semi-organized. That feels awesome. I took a bunch of before pics and will post the "after" really soon. Now that the kids are back in school (OH PRAISE THE HOLY END OF SUMMER!) I should have a few spare minutes during the day to get SOMETHING done.

OK. Later lovely peeps.

Sittin' on this egg ...

2007-08-16T19:05:00.000-05:00

What a nut job of a week we've had. Lots of ups and downs and even a little charity action. I managed to get a big hairchop and had enough of a ponytail that I could donate it to "Locks of Love" ... that felt good and so does my short(er) hair. Anyway, I have this to share. I don't know why I've sat on it this week when I've blogged so little. Apologies.

Here's a little homemade gift certificate I made for a friend (we were giving her money so she could go get a cut and color, which she really wanted but was trying to be frugal). I did this in about um.... 10 minutes. I hope that explains it. My friend Erin came up with the super clever rhyme ... she's so great with words. My hubby (architect = perfect handwriting) wrote it out for me.

Deets: All products by SU! unless otherwise noted. Stamps: flower from oh so lovely set, sentiment by A Muse; Ink: black stazon, wasabi, amathyst, real red, celery and cocoa; Paper: Real red and whisper white; patterned paper by Crate Paper; Misc: red grosgrain, quickie glue pen by sakura, dazzling diamonds glitter, aquapainter and blender pen

Ps. The laptop's internet connection is kaput again. I'm going to follow my sister's advice and go Office Space on that thing real shortly. ARGH!!

Fa la la la laptop!

2007-08-13T22:25:00.000-05:00

Hooray! Today is a momentous day, chiquitas! Our super fabulous computer guru friend Matt came by and helped us fix our "issues" with our laptop ... more specifically, with getting our laptop to connect properly with the router downstairs. Anyway, it's fixed and fantastic and hopefully I'll be able to post more frequently. I don't have anything to post that's stamp-y. I did do some "outsourcing" for my sister -- stamped and w/c'd 20 "Tiers of Treats" and had a massively busy weekend on top of it. I had 4 or so birthday cards that had to be given this weekend and managed to pull all of them from my "stock" -- such a good feeling.

Alright, I'm committed to spending some quality time with my stamps tomorrow night and hopefully will have something fun to share. Thanks for visiting.

Yummo.

2007-08-07T22:19:00.000-05:00

OK. Truthfully, I don't ever have the opportunity to watch Rachel Ray ... it's on during the day and my son has this thing where if the TV is on it's supposed to be tuned to HIS channel (qubo ... anyone else? yikes!) and strongly worded complaints ensue if there is even a hint of alternate programming. Mostly I just try to keep the tube off so ... no R squared for me. And now back to stamping ...

Apologies for the quality of this picture. I need to work on a better photo set up but I cannot bring myself around to the idea of spending possible stamp money on one of those studios in a box ... instead I'll just bemoan the fact that everyone else I'm related to got my dad's brilliant photography gene (even, according to my mother, my 4 year old son) and I did not. Anyway, I stole this ENTIRE idea from my sister -- don't be ticked, I'm just working the kinks out for you!! The treats part of this card is "wicked spah-klee" with lots of glitter and gel pen abounding. The SU hardware has the ribbon tied through the holes and is all stuck on with a glue dot (which will hopefully not fall off overnight).

OK, I'd better wrap this ramble up ... the old man wants some screen time before bed. Ciao and thanks as always for visiting!

Deets: All materials by Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted. Stamps: tiers of treats by stampendous, HB sentiment by A Muse; Paper: chocolate chip, whisper white and basic gray phoebe 6x6; Ink: black and brown stazon, brocade blue, SU markers, blender pen; Misc: martha stewart blue/brown ribbon, chocolate grosgrain, hodgepodge hardware, key tag punch, rhinestone brads by making memories, dazzling diamonds glitter, {silver, silver sparkle, stardust, clear glaze and quickie glue pens all by sakura}, craft sponge, piercing kit

Bird brained

2007-08-07T09:15:00.001-05:00

Don't we all have this happen from time to time? An idea gets stuck in your head and you have to get it out no matter what. Well, thus this card. I will not share with you how many times I tried to align those two "birds on a wire" images before I got it right. Finally it worked just to have my stamp ma jig betray me on the owl/branch image. AAaaaaarrrrrrggggghhhhhhh! Well I had to just keep stamping. (My sister would probably tell me that if I hadn't pointed it out no one would've noticed but oh well I need sympathy!)

Ah well, here it is in all it's glorious mis-execution ...

I do believe I covered all the A Muse bird stamps I own. The pink flamingo is totally next on my list. It probably would've been cute here. (Aside: Would that flamingo be cute or obnoxious on a moving announcement? A friend's asked me to make 30-40 for her but I don't think it'd be her style. Hmmm ... moving announcement suggestions welcome.)

Deets: All supplies by Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted. Stamps: All images by A Muse; Paper: Wild Wasabi, Whisper White, So Saffron; Ink: Black Stazon, SU! Markers, rose red; Misc.: may arts polka dot organdy, cream grosgrain, white gel pen, white glaze pen and stardust gel pen by sakura, rectangle hand punch by fiskars, blender pen.

No excuses ...

2007-08-05T23:09:00.000-05:00

just some stamping.

I know what you're thinking. Ummm ... she hasn't posted ANYTHING in, like 5 solid days and this is what she comes up with???? Sha. Right! I know, it's a little light in the ol' stamping department but well ... I won't say anymore and will just refer you to the TITLE of this blog post. Regardless, it's not a bad little card. A little liquid applique, a lot of various sakura gel pens, some scallop-py bid-ness, and some glitter and VOILA!! Not too shabby.

Hey, did I mention that I SOLD some cards to my neighbor? So, I made some money at this stamping thing! Hoo hoo. I did sell her two cards that I really kind of miss a little (sad, no?) but yeah me!

Also, I'm thinking about doing this. I hope I've got the nerve to do it and not make my self insane over thinking things. We'll see .... Anyway, I made one card so far with that in mind. I took forever on it and ultimately it's not too bad. I'll post it here once I've committed to entering.

Alright peeps. Off to bed with me.

Deets: All materials by Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted. Stamps: Cupcake by Lockhart, sentiment by A Muse; Paper: whisper white, pink passion, pixie pink, patterned paper by SU; Ink: jet black stazon, SU markers; Misc: red grosgrain, paper piercer, giga and mega scalloped square punches by marvy, corner rounder punch, clear glaze, quickie glue and stardust gel pens by sakura, liquid applique, dazzling diamonds glitter and dimensionals.

Boo Yah.

2007-08-01T22:12:00.000-05:00

Some stamping to post! In your face, lost stamping mojo!!! Take this ...

Not that it's hard to be inspired when you have this lovely Rubber Romance stamp sitting on your desk!! Anyway, full materials disclosure at the end but here are the basics of what I did. I stamped Babs twice, once on white and once on soft sky (LOVE this color!). I colored a few spots with my white gel pen on the soft sky images then cut them all out, dipped them in versamark and embossed with IIEP (iridescent ice embossing powder from SU!). I did the same embossing trick to the small oval with the sentiment on it. The bubbles all have crystal effects on them (Oooooohhhhh! Shiny!) and there's an A Muse twinkle sticker in her hair. The bathtub legs and little table have silver sparkle gel pen on them. That's it! And it's about time, I'd say!

Deets: All materials by SU! unless otherwise noted. Stamps: sentiment (A Muse), Babs (Rubber Romance), Polka Dot; Paper: whisper white, soft sky, basic black, stampers select white (Papertrey); Ink: versamark, jet black stazon, going gray , SU! Markers; Misc: detail white EP, IIEP, crystal effects, white gel pen, stardust and silver sparkle gel pen (Sakura), twinkle sticker (A Muse), 30% cool gray marker (Prismacolor), black polka dot organdy (May Arts), small and large oval punches

Blog Candy Winner!

2007-07-31T22:20:00.001-05:00

I drew a name from the hat (figuratively ... I used random.org to pick a number) and now I have a winner for my blog candy. Hooray! The lucky winner is ...

Nancy Grant said...
Hey there! My fav color combo for the moment is turquoise and brown. I just used it with a sketch challenge.Thanks for asking.;-)

Hey Nancy! Congrats! Just shoot me an email with your address and I'll mail this all out ASAP! I was just visiting Nancy's blog and it's really fantastic ... everyone should go take a peek. She's got some REALLY neat cards and projects on there, what a talented stamper!

I finally did get some stamping done tonight (with Babs no less ... thanks for the comment Liz, you're so sweet!) and it looks great but is unfinished (boo!). Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to post a finished card! Thanks as always for visiting and a BIG thanks to all of you who left a comment ... all the comments, compliments and color suggestions were AWESOME and so appreciated. Have a great night!

No I haven't evaporated ...

2007-07-30T21:02:00.000-05:00

How could I in this humidity? I've just been ... mmm ... busy, out of town, lazy, whatever. I always debate how much "personal" blah-dee-blah to include on this blog. No one probably visits a craft blog to read about someone else's strife ... I mean, who doesn't have STUFF of their own? It's enough to say that I have been distracted from stamping by Real Life lately and am hoping to get back into some kind of balance with my LIFE and stamping this week. I really hope so.

On the lighter side, my new catalog SU! order is supposed to be delivered tomorrow (yeah!) and I also have not inked up enough of my A Muse stamps from the new release so I doubt I'll be in need of something new and fun to play with. (Shhhh ... I just got Babs in the mail from the Ink Spot ... hee hee! I am officially not allowed to buy anymore stamps. <-- famous last words) I am pretty excited and hope to have something to SHARE soon soon soon!

For now though, I am going to give away some fun stamps and STUFF!!! Whoopee! I'll do the drawing tomorrow so please leave a comment on that post. Thank you all so much for all the comments. Hooray! Be sure to check back tomorrow night to see if you've won!!

Have a great week.

Worth Reading ...

2007-07-24T21:44:00.000-05:00

First off, my apologies for the scarcity of stamping posts lately. I have been feeling rather scattered this week. I just can't get things back on track (even though I have some cards that need to get done). Partly it's THAT book ... it really was so incredible. It just won't get out of my head. That and a lot of "stuff" has left me feeling really mentally fuzzy and crafting wise, rather low on the mojo. I'm heading out of town at the end of this week. Just a quick trip to visit, who else, my gracious sister. I'm really hoping that a change of scenery will rev the engines. Regardless, I wanted to say thanks to everyone who's visited recently by offering some ...

BLOG CANDY!!!

What's included here is:

1 A Muse stamp (Starry Night)

2 small acrylic blocks

1 acrylic stamp set

2 michael's wood mounted stamps

2 acrylic rhonna ferrer stamps

>1yd each of 4 bright colored gingham ribbons

1 pink flower sticker

AND at least one of MY AMAP cards (I'll have to decide which one I can bear to part with).

TO WIN: please leave a comment here and tell me your favorite recent color combo. I'll do a random drawing when I get back in town. Let's say ... one week from now, Tuesday July 31st at 10pm (CT).

Where I've been ...

2007-07-22T08:33:00.000-05:00

right here. I was first in line (dork) at a small bookstore near my home. I didn't read all night but did most of yesterday (I owe the husband BIG TIME). I finished this book around 9PM last night. All I can say is ..... Yeah, I'm nearly speechless.

WOW. This book! WOW!

I'm going to be re-reading this book right away but at a much slower, more reasonable pace this time. I LOVED it and cannot believe it's over.

Card and IT!

2007-07-19T23:02:00.000-05:00

First the card and then the IT.

What do y'all think? I think I might be in love with this curly haired little lush. The dress is pieced and embossed in IIEP. The "champagne" has stardust gel pen on it and the wine bottle and glasses have clear glaze pen. This was a fun one ... once I committed to the layout.

Deets: Stamps: winobella by stamping bella, small oval and sentiment by A Muse; Paper: pink and white by SU!, patterned by american crafts, textured paper by bazzil bling; Ink: black stazon, versamark, cool carib and markers/blender pen by SU!; Misc: brad by joann's, clear glaze pen, stardust gel pen and black glaze pen by Sakura, iridescent ice embossing powder by SU! and ribbon by ???

Now the IT:

I was tagged by Tracy a couple of days ago and today Tish tagged me as a "rockin' girl blogger". Thank you both for your kind words of support and enthusiasm. I'm going to combine both of these and pay it forward to a few folks whose blogs I really enjoy.

1. Liz at Liz's Papercraft Gallery. Liz is super nice and a really great stamper to boot! She's going places, mark my words.

2. Jan at Stamps, Paper Scissors. How can you not LOVE this gal? She's funny, enthusiastic AND comes up with the most fantastic cards and projects. Jan has mad skillz!

3. Mary at It's All About the Journey. I love Mary's cards. She's got real talent and had some great stuff to share during A*Muse*A*Palooza.

4. Jenn at {creative chick}. I have been following Jenn's blog since well before AMAP and really love the cards and pictures she posts ... I love her stuff. If only she were teaching some classes in Kansas!

5. Lexi at Confetti. I think she's been tagged before but I really love her super original cards. I can't get over how cool some of them are! I mean really ... check this one out (make sure to watch the video too)!!!

I hope you check out these gals. They are all so super talented.

I'm down with MFT ...

2007-07-18T22:15:00.000-05:00

Yeah! You know me!
I've finally had a chance (and a smidgen of inspiration) to dig into some of my non-A Muse goodies I picked up at the Ink Spot. Here's my first try with this set. I really need to exercise that "muscle" that comes up with card layouts because regardless of how good or bad the end result is I always struggle. Maybe I need to commit to doing some of the scs sketch challenges ... anyone want to join me?

I'm super pleased with how my water coloring turned out. I didn't use w/c paper and there were some moments where it was as "touch and go" as you can get when you're talking about paper crafting. That's a big space to color in and whisper white gets eaten up by that blender pen after a couple of passes. BUT I'm really satisfied with the final product so that's what matters, right?

Alright ... more tomorrow, hopefully!

Deets: Stamps: My Favorite Things You Take the Cake Set; Paper: All SU! (whisper white, cool carib., tempting turquoise, pretty in pink, regal rose and petals and paisley's patterned paper); Ink: Black Stazon, SU! markers and blender pen; Misc: brads (lt pink by SU!, the rest by ???), stardust gel pen, clear glaze pen and quickie glue pen by Sakura, dazzling diamonds glitter by SU!

How sad is it ...

2007-07-18T10:51:00.000-05:00

when you'd rather stamp than shower? Really, really sad. Oh well. I may be stinky but I got a totally ROCKIN' card made. This is *insert triumphant trumpet blasts here* going to go in the mail!!! Love it! What do y'all think of this little number?

I'll include the "deets" at the end of this post. There's stardust pen all over the floral layer and her sweater. There glitter on the baby. I also did her shoes in black glaze pen. If I can't have patent leather boots at least the BELLAS can!! The only thing I wasn't sure of here was how to "shadow" the baby head. It's totally just floating there in midair. Hmmm ... Anyway. I hope my girlfriend likes it.

Well, I may be able to neglect my own basic hygiene (Eeeewwww!!!!) today but the 2 year old won't let me off the hook when it comes to FEEDING HER!! So, off I go. Toodles all!

Deets: Stamps: Mamabella by Stamping Bella, small oval and sentiment by A Muse; Paper: taken with teal, whisper white, and gable green by SU!, Tulip (floral) and Lilac (I used the striped front and the red back) in the Samantha Coll'n by Crate Paper; Misc: apple green grosgrain by SU, teal grosgrain from ???, hodgepodge hardware and dazzling diamonds glitter by SU!, stardust gel pen, black glaze pen and quickie glue pen by sakura, rhinestone brad by making memories, primas, turquoise twinkle sticker by A Muse.

The last few challenges ...

2007-07-15T22:09:00.001-05:00

I did manage a little stamping tonight. I wanted to get my "name in the bucket" for the last (sniff!) of the A Muse challenges. Here is what I did tonight ...

For the "Last Chance Challenge" ... (I'm flashing back to the ribbon challenge, though this card could probably fit into a number of different ones)

All images by A Muse. Quick and easy. There is stardust and silver sparkle gel pen on everything here. It's really snazzy! The paper is all by SU! and the ribbon is from Mike's.

Here's another card for the "Last Chance Challenge" ...

All images by A Muse. The patterned paper is also by A Muse. I'm really pleased with this simple little card.

I missed out on entering for the Mini Class Challenge, so I'll just enter this one in something else ... the new stamps challenge probably. Here's the pocket card, closed.

Here it is open.

There's all kinds of fun stuff going on with these cards ... souffle pen, glaze pen, IIEP, glitter and glue pen, stargdust gel pen!! The ribbon is from a TVB share.

I am a little nervous to post these last few pictures. So, NO JUDGEMENT please ... I do generally strive to be on a strict stamping budget but it's A MUSE stamps!! Plus, I'm cutting WAY back on my new catalog order from SU! so ... well, enough of my rationalizing here it is.

Here's my Non-A Muse stuff ... some 12x12 paper (isn't that green and brown biz DA BOMB?!) and a bunch of little goodies. Please note the STRANO ribbon (could you just squeeeeeal with delight?) -- it's sitting off to the left in front of the mega rectangle punch.

Here are my new little pets. Kiss kiss kiss. Aren't they just the keenest?

And, as promised, here are the cards we made Thursday and Friday. I didn't do individual shots because, A) I'm lazy and 2) I've seen them posted a bunch of places ... so chances are everyone has.

Alright, I've got to get to bed. I promise to respond to some very sweet emails FIRST THING tomorrow. Thanks, as ever, for visiting!!

AMuseA*Palooza 2007: this time it's personal.

2007-07-13T21:57:00.000-05:00

Just kidding.

We had a fantastic time in St. Louis yesterday and today. By we I mean myself, Tisha and my sister, Aura. Let me give you all the "Down Low" because I KNOW you've been waiting, waiting ever so patiently for my return and review. OK. From the top chickadees.

We got into San Loo-wee in the late afternoon and had an early dinner at Brio (feh) and then scooted our patoots over to The Ink Spot. {Quick Aside: Those gals there KNOW what they are doing with the stamp BIZ! AND I simply adore the owner, Julie. What a GEM. Absolutely one of the most on the ball, lovely, charming and engaging, fellow A Muse LOVERS out there. *HI Julie! I hope you're reading this!** I now know one more place that I will HAVE to go every time we're visiting my in-laws. Yeah!} We got there a smidgen early but that was OK we had plenty o' time to browse (and warm up our shopping baskets with other essential goodies ... **cough, cough ... can you say mega rectangle scallop punch? ... cough, cough**). At six they counted down and revealed the new images. Hee hee! What fun!

We managed to get exactly what we wanted (minus the pumpkin tree ... oh well, guess I'll have to do a bit more shopping later on!). There was little to no stampeding, pushing or shoving. I only threw a few elbows and clotheslined one little ol' lady stamper to get to my little penguin and Inuit girl! Hey, those few times watching my husband play club hockey paid off ... I've got MOVES!! Alright, alright. I was polite. Frankly, everyone was so lovely. Julie even had handy postcards out so if there was anything anyone wanted in particular all they had to do was write it down and she'd order it for them. **CUSTOMER SERVICE AT IT'S BEST!!***

We did an adorable Make 'N Take, tallied the damage to my stamping account (not TOO bad) and hit the road. Tish and I were the only ROCK STARS wearing this year's A*Muse*A*Palooza tee shirts (Julie had on last year's tee ... so cute ... I want one!). {We made the rounds (during our non-Ink Spot time yesterday and today) to some of St. Louie's more shnah-shnah malls. I wanted to know what it would be like to go in to a store without having to bribe someone with fruit snacks ... and what do you know? it was a lot of fun!} Anyway ... After some shopping, we stayed at my mother in law's place, chatted, laughed at goofy pictures of my husband when he was going through his "bolo tie phase" (don't you love the eighties???), petted our new goodies and went to bed. Aura had to head back EARLY this morning for some weak excuse like her kids or some thing. It was lonely without her but we soldiered on.

We went back today for two A*Muse*A*Palooza classes at the Ink Spot (taught by the LOVELY Barb). The cards we made were so, so adorable. Yeah, Barb!! What a sweetie. Knowing we were driving back afterwards, Barb let us cruise through all six cards in two hours. Yee haw! After finishing the class we headed downstairs to ring up the last couple of A Muse stamps that I couldn't live without (even after sleeping on it! I know!). We had the most lovely, heartfelt "follow your dream" chat with the owner Julie ... have I mentioned how much I liked her? Frankly, I'd drive 4 hours just to chat with Julie, she was a very inspiring woman.

OK, now that I've gotten you all warm and fuzzy, I will just vent a wee little bit. In the interest of full disclosure and complete honesty, the Ink Spot was not the only stamp/craft place we visited while in STL. One was a big national chain whose name I will not mention (rhymes with shmarchivers) and one was a small crafty, stamp-y, trinket-y store not far from the Ink spot. Like I said, the Ink Spot wasn't the only place we visited but it's the ONLY place I'll visit again. The cranky ladies we dealt with at each of the OTHER places only highlighted how hard Julie and everyone at the Ink Spot worked to make each customer feel valued, important and special (never mind carrying a really REALLY great selection of rubber!). Tish and I were wearing our A*Muse*A*Palooza shirts and naturally folks asked about them. (No, not because, like dorks, we were wearing IDENTICAL tee shirts in public which normally might've alerted the fashion po-lice but because they are so flippin' COOL!!) We explained what it all was and how far we'd come to celebrate. I couldn't believe how much disbelief and FLACK we got for driving 4 hours to go to these events! At the small store (where they were familiar with A Muse) we got astonishment and negativity at coming all that way for STAMPS, and A Muse stamps at that! It was kind of frustrating. I sort of felt like saying, if you want me to spend money in your store, please at least be polite to me ... if you are, I might be just a teeensy tinsy more inclined to BUY SOMETHING which last time I checked was sorta the point of your store being here. Sheesh! Vent over!

But a few bad apples didn't spoil my time! Actually, Tish and I laughed about it. If we had our own stamp store ... hey, wait a minute ... that's not a bad idea!!! HA HA HA!!! Anyone out there with a lot of money and an interest in being a silent partner please see my email address at right.

Anyway .... what a blast. Here are the pictures of all the fun we had ...

Clockwise from the top: Aura, me and Tish. On the table are our CUTE little Make N' Takes.

Tish, Aura and I in front of The Ink Spot. That gal (doh! I didn't catch her name but I think she works there) on the stoop behind us was taking a lot of photos ... Barb's supposed to send me the link to her/the blog and I will post when I have it.

From Left: Aura, A*Muse*A*Palooza attendee #1, A*Muse*A*Palooza attendee #2, A*Muse*A*Palooza attendee #3, A*Muse*A*Palooza attendee #4, Tisha. These gals were totally having lots of fun. Don't you wish you were there too??? Everyone was brandishing their new card (from the make 'n take) with pride and love ... see it there in nearly every person's hands.

Me, Barb and Tish. What nice, nice ladies I was able to spend my afternoon with!

Julie (owner of the Ink Spot), me and Tisha. The ONLY A Muse Tee wearin' folk in St. Louis. Shouldn't we get some kind of prize for that alone??? HA!

OK. Off to bed with me. Hopefully tomorrow I'll have some time to play around with all my new loot! ***THRILLS!!!*** I promise to show some pictures of everything AND the fun cards we made this afternoon!

All done ...

2007-07-11T22:54:00.000-05:00

with A*Muse*A*Palooza swaps. Phew!! Everything is received, swapped, packaged and ready to go IN THE MAIL TOMORROW!!! Hooray! Please let me know that your package got to you in one piece.

Here's a pic of the final group of STELLAR swaps. I really cannot thank each of you enough for all your support, time and energy in doing these swaps with me. I hope you enjoy what you receive.

Aren't they grand!?? The only downside to doing all these lovely swaps has been the expansion of my wish list!!! Oh well ...

There are still more announcements, fun peeks and challenges going on over at THE BLOG. Join the fun ... there's still time to win. The quickie challenge for today is "Keep it simple" ... here's my attempt. I am not sure if I succeeded but I like my card regardless.

All images and paper are by A Muse and so is the twinkle heart. The ribbon is May Arts and the eyelets are by American Crafts (I am addicted to their 3/16" eyelets ... it's official).

I don't know if I'll have a chance to post anything interesting tomorrow. I'm leaving around lunchtime for St. Louis. Tish, my sis and I are heading to the Ink Spot for the wine and treats stamp release party. I really really can't wait. Kristina's been posting all the fun she's been having up in MN with Tami Wood and it's only made the wait harder!!

OK, time for some beauty rest before the big day tomorrow. I will post about our adventures and some pics on Friday!! Happy A*Muse*A*Palooza everyone!

ATC Swap Group 3

2007-07-10T23:26:00.001-05:00

Hooray! Another group swapped and hopefully in the mail tomorrow. These are some really bright, fun ATC's. So so cute! Thank you to Aura, Liz, Elena, Nancy P and Ericka for participating.

Stay tuned. They should be posting the winner(s) of the ambassador competition over at THE BLOG tomorrow. Plus there are about a zillion fun things going on ... contests, sneak peeks, parties, togas, kegs ... ok just kidding about the last two. But it's fun and it's only just begun.

Night all!

Group 1 ATC Swaps

2007-07-09T23:04:00.000-05:00

Here's the group 1 collection of ATC's. Could they be any cuter? Really ... so so darling! Don't you just love how fun these are!!!???

I'm hoping to be able to post the last two of my swaps tomorrow night! What a great way to ring in A*Muse*A*Palooza!!! Thank you Liz, Tisha, Aura, Cori and Tracy for participating in this swap.

Did you think I was ..

2007-07-09T12:32:00.000-05:00

going to quit doing challenges? Now way Josee!!! I'm in for today's challenge with this card.

The challenge is to use 9 (NINE!) stamps!! It was a bit of a stretch ... note the random embossed doodle flower there in the bottom left corner ... and also the grass behind the fence (hope you can see that!). Yeah!

Okay ... don't forget to check out the A*Muse*A*Palooza blog today ... it's HOPPIN'! Lots of posts, winners and sneak peeks. Check out the A Muse designers too ... there's a really cute card over on Jenn Shurkus' blog ... love the school bus!

Off to feed and water my poor kiddos. Later peeps!

The last of it all ...

2007-07-08T23:40:00.000-05:00

I powered through a bunch more cards (etc) this afternoon and evening. I seemed to get more done today though I had more TIME yesterday. I figured I'd post everything I did today here. Hoo hah. Everyone comfy? OK. Settle in folks.

In no particular order ... **All images by A Muse. All solid color card stock (including whisper white is by Stampin' Up!**

The patterned paper is from the new Basic Gray line (can't remember the name). The sentiment is stamped in versamark and embossed in pink EP. Does this pattern give you a headache? Maybe I've been staring at it too long, I think this was the first card I did today ... I have got to put that stuff away for a while.

Can you tell I stamped the sparkler behind the kissing couple? I stamped it in versamark and used iridescent ice EP. Maybe next time I'll emboss it with silver EP to make it stand out more ... awww, who am I kidding? I never do cards over. This note card is by A Muse.

The patterned paper is by A Muse, the ribbon is May arts and the clip is by making memories. Thanks to Elena S. for the inspiration.

There's glaze pen all over this little Seattle gal. Love her. I think she was my first A Muse stamp. I love her paired with this sentiment. The ribbon is may arts and the brads are SU!

I cannot remember who this paper is by ... I've had it in my scrap pile for months. I stamped the A Muse tiny flower along the bottom but it's hard to see in this crappy picture. Sorry. I'm lovin' red today peeps!

A super fun ATC ... the striped paper is by SU! I don't know where I got this superfine red glitter ... paper source maybe? But superfine glitter of any color ROCKS when applied to the quickie glue pen. It barely rubs off at all. Wow! Thanks to Taylor V for the inspiration on this one.

Heh?! Why don't I love this card? I love all the little parts separately but together this one just turned out "ahh-ight" for me. I'm just not feelin' it dawg. (To quote this guy.) Well, maybe I like it after all.

Simply ... weird. Does anyone even GET this card? Light a BBQ?! OK ... it's a stretch. Anyway, I really wanted to use my grill stamp tonight but ultimately I think this card needs the BBQ Dude. It's really sad to say but I don't have that stamp ... (sniff!) ... and technically, that sentiment's on loan as well. Poor little stamp girl am I. (ha! -- is anyone still reading this?)

Now this one I really like. I stamped the frame/sentiment on an A Muse PLP, cut it out and embossed it. It looks Suh-WEEET! And it totally has that A Muse feel (for me anyway). Thanks to Tami for the inspiration here.

I like this cosmo cricket patterned paper but it's hard to match up with SU! colors. Anyway ... I love Billy. He's so cute!

The dino is cut out and embossed in IIEP and the sentiment is embossed in pink EP. I think I may have a good chunk of my valentine's cards done for next year with all these LOVE themed cards tonight. Ha ha.

Here's a special card I made with my kiddo this afternoon. He picked out all the stamps and colors. I just helped with the stamping (yeah ... sorry pal-zee but no touching mommy's stamps or mommy gets a little neurotic!!!). He wanted to make a card for Auntie Aura and had to make sure it was "Sparkly" ... he also decorated it with a pencil sketch of a "robot" and, at the top, his name.

(Do you think I can count this one for Ambassador points???? HA HA HA!!!)

And last but not least, I'll show you what an A*Muse*A*Palooza Aftermath looks like ... check this out! Warning ... not for the highly anal retentive feint of heart ...

Important things to note so you can laugh at my slovenly mess: A) my actual "work area" has shrunk to a 6 inch square spot; 2) my stamp scrubber is an unholy black color and C) my trash overfloweth BIG TIME! Yikes! Say "Hi" to Willoughby! He keeps my chair warm and covered in cat hair for me.

OK. I think that's it for me folks. I'm done. What an absolute blast to have been part of this Second Annual A*Muse*A*Palooza. I really feel like I've grown as a stamper over the last 10 weeks. Mostly, I have had a lot of fun, a lot of laughs and made some new friends in some really lovely stampers. I can't wait to go to the Ink Spot on Thursday night! Woo hoo! I'll be the one in the pink shirt, with the dorky badge and the goofy grin! See you there!

Counting down the minutes!!!

2007-07-08T15:10:00.001-05:00

I hope everyone is as excited as I am. I can't believe it's almost here!! Only ONE day left. Go over to the A*Muse*A*Palooza blog and check out the latest contest ... Post a comment with a "1" in the time stamp and you're entered to win ... something! Hooray!!! I know lots of instructors, designers, Linda and THE BLOG are planning lots of fun sneak peeks etc for tomorrow so get your party pants on EARLY!!! Hooo hoo! I'm trying to get some last minute stamping on today and tonight as it's the LAST DAY FOR AMBASSADOR POINTS!!! I'll be sad to see the competition end. It's truly been so much fun and I have LOVED reaching out into the stamping world and meeting so many WONDERFUL people. (Hi Tami! Hi Liz! Hi Tracy!) What a ride it's been. Yeah!! OK, what are you doing still reading this ... go enter the latest countdown contest!! Hurry!

Pre-Party Pairs

2007-07-08T15:09:00.001-05:00

and the winner is Aileen! Congrats. She won some cute bathing suit stamps. Lucky girl! Check it out right .... here!

Another Featured Store

2007-07-08T09:04:00.000-05:00

Stampstruck in Medford, OR. Sounds like an awesome place to be for A*Muse*A*Palooza or just getting your "stamp on" in general. Check out this post over at THE BLOG for more info.

There's still time to play in the Perfect Pairs Countdown Game. SO scoot! And don't forget your "anything but a card" so you can win some AWESOME stamps in Challenge 10. Hurry hurry. It all ENDS TONIGHT!

Productive day

2007-07-08T00:45:00.000-05:00

Thanks to the hubby hangin' with the little peeps, I had a decent chunk of time to stamp today ... here are a few of my favorites from today. I posted the rest over at my Flickr Gallery.
Warning Tangent ahead ... I know I keep posting a lot of stuff over there ... I don't think I'll exclude stuff from my blog in the future but with A*Muse*A*Palooza wrapping up, I don't want to drown anyone in all these cards, etc. Maybe that seems a little counter intuitive for a stamping/craft blog but oh well ... plus you're all already drowning in repetitive updates from the A*Muse*A*Palooza blog but hey ... DID I MENTION I WANT TO BE THE NEXT A*MUSE*A*PALOOZA AMBASSADOR!!??? You may not have noticed. (OK, I'm done now. Tangent over.)

Now, where was I ... oh yes, favorites from today.

All images by A Muse. I really feel like I'm finally finding my groove with this pinata stamp. At first it seemed a little awkward for a stamp but now ... I LOVE IT. Especially colored apricot. I don't know why? Just do. The paper is by SU! and A Muse. The eyelet is from Hobby Lobby. The glitter and the precious, precious silver cord are by SU! Cutie patootie!

All images by A Muse. Awww yeah! I used an A Muse note card!!! The patterned paper is basic gray (romani/gypsy line -- can't escape it!) The 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" circle punches are by SU! There's glitter on all the flowers too.

I'm really pleased with how both of these cards really FEEL A MUSE-ish. Hoooray!

Lastly, I made this as a fun little thing to take with me to the A*Muse*A*Palooza events I'll be attending at the Ink Spot in St Louis, next Thursday and Friday. How cute is this?!?!?!

The "s" is for "such a dork"... just kidding. The "s" is from the Big Deal Alpha. from SU!, the rest of the images are A Muse. I love the color combo on the announcer! Check out the back ...

I used KF snap stamps and the ribbon stamp and "time for fun" sentiment are both by A Muse. The paper is all SU! The grosgrain ribbon is SU! and the dotted is by May Arts. There may or MAY NOT be more of these ... somewhere. Hmmm ....

All right, it is officially WAY past my bedtime. More tomorrow hopefully!

Finished projects ...

2007-07-08T00:25:00.000-05:00

I finished my Thank You notes tonight. EIGHT more had to be done and now they are. Phew!!! I'm posting all of them in my Flickr Gallery. Here's my fav from tonight.

All images by A Muse. All these cards are similar but different in the details. Please see my post from a few days ago for more specific details about what I used or, as always, feel free to email or post a question in the comments section. I'm happy to oblige.

Speaking of finished projects ... I finally completed* my last two ATC swaps. Hooray!! Here's what I've got for group 3.

All images by A Muse. The paper's SU! The ribbon is from a TJL share. Does the ribbon translate as "waves"??? That's my intention here. There's glitter all over the fish and seaweed. The turquoise layer is up on dimensionals. I hope everyone in this group likes it.

Here's for group 4.

All images by A Muse. The star twinkle sticker is by A Muse also. More glitter here and I paper pieced her dress and crown. The ribbon is from Mike's and the paper is SU! The pink layer is also up on dimensionals.

* = the layout is done but the mass production is not. Definitely by tomorrow ... I promise!

CH-CH-CH-Changes ...

2007-07-08T00:21:00.000-05:00

Just so you all know, Michelle White's schedule has changed at her events in San Diego! Go check out her blog for details AND to see one of the AWESOME goodies up for "grabs" at her events. Some lucky attendee will get it ...

Another count down contest

2007-07-07T16:23:00.000-05:00

This one is for your FAVORITE pair of "coordinating" A Muse stamps. Quick ... it won't last long. So hurry and leave a comment for your chance to WIN!!!

If you want some teasers, go scan through the comments on this contest and the last one ... Linda is leaving them all over the place. See, I told you THIS was the place to be this weekend!!!

For all you Texans ..

2007-07-07T16:20:00.000-05:00

(Is anyone reading this from Texas???) There are now A*Muse*A*Palooza events at the Stamp Antonio store in San Antonio, Texas. Head on over to their website for more details.

Congrats to ...

2007-07-07T16:18:00.000-05:00

Broni ... she won the Trio Contest over at THE blog to be at this weekend. Hooray!

My new favorite fun thing to make...

2007-07-06T23:41:00.000-05:00

Mini tags. So quick and so easy. No beating my head against my desk agonizing over layout. Sheesh! Even with my last two ATC swaps (not done YET!!) I cannot get happy with my ideas. Anyway, the tags I love. Smooches to these single image/sentiment combos. Here's my favorite of the four I did tonight. The rest I am posting over at my Flickr Gallery.

Three days left!

2007-07-06T20:48:00.001-05:00

The countdown is ON. AND now there is another fun little contest. Go check it out here. (You have to be registered to play ... tell 'em Sarah Bertolino sent you!)

Iterations ...

2007-07-06T00:05:00.000-05:00

or rather variations on a theme ... I have many thank you notes to write this week. I just posted fiver or six more over in my Flickr gallery. Here's my favorite of the bunch. They all are different but very similar.

All images by A Muse. I used my Ornare piercing template for the swirly piercing. Love that thing ... I would love to have all those templates someday. SIGH. (I don't know why this card looks so badly washed out. Boo!)

Clarifications etc ...

2007-07-05T13:19:00.000-05:00

I posted yesterday about what you could win if you register online over at the A*Muse*A*Palooza website. Sadly, I was incorrect but luckily Emily sent me an email with the CORRECT info so ... here it is for everyone's edification. THANKS EMILY!!

Hi Sarah,
I noticed your blog post yesterday about the weekly winners where you mention registering and the Grand Prize. To enter the Grand Prize drawing, people need to fill out an entry form at a retail store AP event. Registering online only gets them registered for the online festivities (challenges, games, weekly prizes). We have lots planned for the blog next week, so registering is still a great idea.. I just wanted to make sure that there isn't any confusion about the Grand Prize. I am planning to post a note on the blog about it too.
Thanks!
Emily

She did just post a quick little entry about this very topic at the A*Muse*A*Palooza blog too. Don't fret though, you can still win LOTS of goodies even if you're only registering online (and referring yours truly ... wink!) AND what could be a better motivation to get yourself to one of the A*Muse*A*Palooza events??? Hey, I'm driving 4 hours to go to one! Hope to see YOU there!

More weekly winners ...

2007-07-04T23:34:00.000-05:00

have been posted at the A*Muse*A*Palooza blog. It could be you! Go sign up and maybe you could win some super fabuloso prizes. Boo-yah! And don't forget to tell them that Sarah Bertolino referred you!

Power stamping ...

2007-07-04T23:12:00.000-05:00

Must be my inner "Cobra" coming out and giving me lots of energy to get these projects done tonight ... especially after our action packed day. I hope everyone else had a wonderful, safe, and not too sweltering Fourth of July, too.

Here's what I got accomplished tonight ... (not my ATC's though ... DOH!) ... I hope you enjoy.

These are my "Mini-Tags" ... they're 2 1/2" square. The eyelet is in the corner of the marvy giga punch layer which is up on dimensionals. This would make it easy to write something inside the tag but still be able to hang it or tie it onto the gift. And FANTASTICALLY, I have destinations in mind for all three of these bad boys. Yeah! All images are by A Muse.

There's pink glaze pen on the mug dots and stardust pen on the steam. All of these eyelets are by American Crafts.

There's stardust gel pen on the pinata harness.

This is a remake of the tag I did for our neighbors last night. I am much much happier with this one. There is DD glitter (and quickie glue pen) on the welcome mat. Zing.

Speaking of Mini-Tags. Here's one that's just the SU Key Tag punch. I thought it would look cute one something small and sweet. There's A Muse twinkle stickers on the cupcakes.

This ATC turned out a little bizarre. I was inspired by one of the scrappin' kits out of the new SU catalog but I don't have the new wasabi color so I substituted green galore ... eh, not so much.

Lastly, I am working on some thank you's for Missypants' birthday gifts ... here's the first ... a CASE of a card out of the new SU catalog. (Can you tell what I've been reading lately??)

What do you think of the off set image. Cute or annoying? Honesty, please. I could go either way. I know there's a smudge or two and I think I'll skip the saffron "shadow" next time.

BIG Congratulations

2007-07-04T08:12:00.000-05:00

To Elena Shacochis. Linda just announced YESTERDAY that she has been added as the newest member of the A Muse Design Team. Elena definitely has the creative SKILLZ to run with all those super talented A Muse gals. CONGRATS Elena! And the rest of you go goggle at her blog. She's got some super sweet cards (etc) there. Here's some links to some of my favorites ... click here, here and here. But there's so much more so go browse pals.

oh, and

HAPPY 4th of JULY!!!

Welcome Tag

2007-07-03T23:37:00.001-05:00

Here's a tag I did for our new neighbors ... if they ever decide to MOVE IN!!! It's been almost a month since our beloved former neighbors moved out. It looks so lonely across the street! Anyway ... I want to make them cookies or something so I did a tag with an A Muse stamp I borrowed from my sister. I think I'm going to mess with it some more if I don't like it by tomorrow.

All images by A Muse. Paper, glitter and ribbon by SU! Eyelets by American Crafts. Quickie glue pen by Sakura.

ATC Warm Ups!

2007-07-03T23:30:00.001-05:00

These are some ATC's I did while working on my swaps. I don't think I'll use any of them as my actual swaps but I did gain some ideas. I hope you like them as well. All images are by A Muse.

The paper and punch here are by SU! The brads are from making memories.

The paper is by SU! and My Minds Eye. The brads are by making memories and the cord and corner punch are by SU!

The paper is by SU! and A Muse. The punch and glitter are by SU! The eyelets are by making memories and the glue is by Sakura.

New Featured Store

2007-07-03T23:27:00.001-05:00

Crop Til You Drop in Dartford, Kent, UK! The owner Beverly is also an ambassador contestant and has her own blog going. Check it out.

The new challenge is up!

2007-07-03T23:20:00.000-05:00

Challenge 10! It's up! This time it's anything but a card. This should hopefully not be too difficult. Hopefully no one will mind if I am working mostly in the ATC genre. They are quick, fun, new (to me) and easy -- most of the time. Plus I have TWO more ATC swaps due at the end of this week anyway. Regardless, I'm going to really try to go out of this A*Muse*A*Palooza contest with a bang (though this week has really started off with a whimper). OK! Let's get started!

Even more instructor info ...

2007-07-03T23:16:00.000-05:00

Just in case there is someONE out there who by chance reads my blog, lives in El Cajon, CA and doesn't check the A*Muse*A*Palooza blog website first thing every morning ... A Muse instructor Michelle White will be teaching classes in YOUR area. Quick! Get yourself to her blog or the A*Muse*A*Palooza blog to find out more!

Winner!

2007-07-03T23:13:00.000-05:00

MJ won this week in the ambassador drawing over at the A*Muse*A*Palooza blog. Go check out what she won. I think it may have to go on my wish list too. Lucky duck!

ATC Swap Group 2

2007-07-02T23:29:00.000-05:00

Here they are. Apologies for the scan vs photo. Our camera is bogged down with a plethora of birthday photos and on top of that I'm too lazy to go get it from upstairs. Oh well.

These are some super dooper swaps. I can't get over how much fun I have had doing ATC's. And my gals (wink) have totally out done themselves .... THANK YOU LOVELY LADIES!!! All of these swaps ROCK!!!

I am mailing most of these out tomorrow. Please let me know when you recieve them. Thanks so much!!!

AGAIN! No original stamping tonight. We have guests and are busy with family stuff. Hopefully I'll squeeeeeeze some stamping time in tomorrow. Till then, thanks for checking in!

Challenge 9 Winner!!

2007-07-02T23:26:00.000-05:00

again, was not me. Boo hoo. All those lovely golf stamps are going to someone else's home. I hope she'll love them as much as I would've! Ha ha! Congrats HeatherP! Okay, now here's looking forward to tomorrow and hopefully one last wingding of a challenge. I can't wait!

So busy ...

2007-07-01T22:46:00.000-05:00

ugh. I am so tired I can barely prop my eyes open to write this. We had a beautiful day today for Mira's party. Threats of rain did not materialize and the bouncy castle was an absolute HIT for all the kids and a few adults. The whole day was wonderful. I also got to skip off for a girls night afterward and leave the dishes and bedtimes to dad (not that it was a difficult bedtime after all that BOUNCING!!!). Bliss I tell you. I would really like to stamp. But I MUST SLEEP. I am truly hoping to finish strong for A*Muse*A*Palooza. But tonight is not the night I will do any catching up. Hope all of you had a wonderful weekend. I promise ... more stamping soon. I have received some of my swaps (not all) and I will post them as soon as they are all in my hot little hands.

Cheers,
Sarah

Avalanche stamping ...

2007-06-29T23:41:00.000-05:00

That's what I call what happened to this card.

First, I stamped the lovely LOCKHART image and colored it in. Fine and dandy. Then I decided to do my "clear glaze + quickie glue + dazzling diamonds glitter = megabling" trick. Fine. Then it needed this lovely paper and some lovely coordinating ribbon. Then the bow/ribbon was overpowering the card so it needed more layers and then the brads and the punched out sentiment (BY A MUSE) and on and on and on ... it was like an paper-ribbon-embellishment avalanche careening down a mountain. I was powerless to stop it. Is it a disaster? I won't be able to tell until tomorrow morning. I must step away. What do y'all think? Is it over the top?

Well, I think that's it for me tonight. Happy weekend all. Thanks as always for stopping by!

PS. Wow! That's a bad picture. I will try to take a better one tomorrow in some daylight.

Somewhere I would like to go ...

2007-06-29T23:32:00.000-05:00

a nice quiet deserted island ... just me, a hammock, some stamps ... Sawyer from Lost .... (oops! did I just say that?). JUST KIDDING!!!

OK. Back to the card ...

All images by A Muse. OK first, aren't you all so proud of me. I actually used an A Muse note card (instead of hoarding them like I usually do)??? Yes, I am proud too! There's quickie glue pen and DD Glitter EVERYWHERE!!! The button is SU! and the ribbon is May arts. Easy peasy!

ATC Swaps ...

2007-06-29T23:18:00.001-05:00

I have two rounds of ATC's due in this weekend. Yippee!!! I have never done them before and MAN has it been a LOAD of fun. I even bought the SU! ATC book to keep 'em all in. I wanted to go ahead and post my two swaps. I'll post a picture of all of them when I send them out.

If you want to be surprised ... don't peek!

Here's the one I did for my first ATC swap ...

All images by A Muse. There's liquid applique on the sundaes, red stickles for the "cherries" and the sentiment is stamped in versamark and embossed in light pink EP. The punches are by marvy (scalloped ovals) and SU! (ticket corner).

Here's the ATC I did for my second ATC swap ...

All images by A Muse. The paper is by SU! and American Crafts. The snaps are from Paper Source. There's black glaze pen on her boots. Yeah baby! The punch is by SU!

I hope everyone enjoys receiving these as much I as enjoyed making them.

Featured Store ...

2007-06-29T23:07:00.000-05:00

More fun for the East Coast Set. This week's featured store is Ink About It. It looks like a really cute store and lots of fun to shop at. Ink About It is in Westford, MA. Actually, my husband grew up near there -- his family lived in Pepperell (only about half an hour away -- thank you Google Maps) for about 6 or 7 years when he was grade school age. He remembers it quite fondly. So fondly that he frequently likes to pretend he has a "Baaaw-stun" accent and say things like "wicked" and "Hah-vaaad yaaad." It was funny. The first time. A jillion years ago.

(Wow. This post veered off into a tangential ditch. Yikes!)

These will actually GO IN THE MAIL!!!

2007-06-28T23:45:00.000-05:00

Can you believe it!?!? I am actually going to put the following in an envelope and mail. them. out!! Holy stamp-ma-jig, batman!! Technically one of them is a swap and shouldn't really be considered as MAIL but it is going in the mail so I'm counting it.

This one's going to a certain someone (names omitted to protect the surprise factor, though it's probably obvious). I'm really happy with it.

All images by A Muse. There's quickie glue pen and DD Glitter on the door, wheels and cone. The ribbon is from Mike's. The punches are by Marvy. Don't you just love this ice cream truck?
Secondly today, I managed to come up with something I really liked for Elena's swap. Thanks to everyone for their kind comments on that chair/lamp card yesterday. I really appreciated them. I like that card but I think ultimately the patterned paper was a total no-go for me, color combo wise. This is way more my cup o' coffee (pun intended ... and if you want to be surprised Elena, don't scroll down)

All images by A Muse. I hope everyone likes it. Elena said we could do single layer cards and sometimes those can be the biggest struggle. Anyway, these are just very vanilla SU paper stamped with stazon timber brown. The ribbon is by American crafts. I colored in the dots of the mug and used quickie glue and DD glitter on the steam. Ya ta-ta ta! Here's a group shot of all the cuties. I really like how these turned out.

Also, stay tuned. I have two ATC swaps due to me by Saturday so hopefully I'll be able to post what everyone's sent this weekend. I'm really excited about those. This weekend is going to be busy. My sis and her family will be in town for Miss M's birthday (see previous post) and we're going to be rockin' it old school style (two year old) style. Word. Meet you at the bounce castle peeps!

And even more class info ...

2007-06-28T23:34:00.000-05:00

All these wonderful classes and fabulous teachers! It's getting me really jazzed about our trip to the Ink Spot in St. Louis. They've posted Jenn Shurkus's A*Muse*A*Palooza classes over on THE blog. Her classes sound lovely. I'm sure they're going to "sell out" so hurry and click here if you're lucky enough to live nearby.

On a completely unrelated note, today is my little girl's birthday. Happy #2 to my sweet Miss M. You're welcome to check out the old man's blog ... he posted a funny little post today ... complete with a baby pic of me! Ha ha ha!

The Mojo Tank is on E

2007-06-27T23:34:00.000-05:00

I guess I will have to "recharge" tomorrow with, hopefully, a glimpse at the new SU! catalog. Eee! I haven't gotten mine YET, but I've got connections, see! Heh heh. I'll post a review if possible tomorrow. I've been warned not to drool ... who me? Over stamps??? Sha! Right!

OK. So much for finishing strong. This is all I could eke out of my tired little brain tonight. "I'm just not feelin' it dawg."

All images by A Muse. The patterned paper is by American crafts, the rest by SU! Where did I go wrong here? I really don't know. I wanted to use this card for Elena's swap that I'm in but I'm so "FEH!" on it I don't think I can. I have to get crackin' tho! I've got to mail out her swaps by FRIDAY at the latest. Yikes!

All images by A Muse. Well, I love Florence. Unfortunately she technically belongs to my sister (along with those DARLING golf stamps I used yesterday. Don't you see, peeps at A Muse? I need to win them!!) I just don't have a great sentiment for her ... that is the only problem-o with this card. Also, I hand drew the stripes on her outfit. CUTE!

More class info ...

2007-06-27T23:28:00.000-05:00

Emily's posted more class schedule info for A*Muse*A*Palooza. This time it's for classes taught by Melinda Matzen at Angela's Happy Stamper in Reston, VA. These sound pretty sweet ... how about making your own "spooky Halloween House" using A Muse stamps? Kew-el!

Bizzy Day.

2007-06-26T22:42:00.000-05:00

I got a lot of stamping done today. I was really going for "think simple. think A Muse." Thus ... EIGHT cards!!! It's amazing what I can do when I don't OVER THINK my cards. I really feel I'm trying TOO hard and making my cards too complicated lately. I'm much happier with what I turned out today versus what I did yesterday. PLUS, There's only ONE week to go until A*Muse*A*Palooza and I want to FINISH STRONG in the Ambassador Competition!!!

ANYWAY ... rather than run up a long tally of posts here with all these cards, I'm posting them ALL in my Flickr Gallery. ***A quick Flickr tutorial in case you want to look at close ups of these cards, all you have to do when you're in the MAIN gallery is: #1) click on the picture you want to look at; #2) then click on the "all sizes" button above the picture. This should give a decent ZOOMed in view. I JUST figured this out so I thought I'd share.***

I'm going to post a group shot and my favorite of the day. If you have ANY questions about these cards (especially regarding what materials I used or techniques) please feel free to post a comment here or email me a question. OK ... now for pictures.

Hee hee. They look so cute all huddled together like that!

Here's my favorite from today. Though, I was so pleased with myself (uh oh), it was hard to pick only one.

All images by A Muse. The strawberry has glaze pen and then, before the glaze what totally set/dry, I outlined the strawberry with quickie glue pen and tossed on some DD glitter! The result is some seriously sparkly fruits. The sentiment is detail embossed in white. The ribbon is by May Arts (I think!?). I also layer THREE! 3! marvy mega scalloped squares behind the fruit layer. (I'm still using a stash of those squares Tish gave me from when she did this. Isn't she talented? Isn't her baby CUTE!?)

Don't forget to check out the rest of the cards. I had a lot of fun today. Also, if you haven't registered for A*Muse*A*Palooza yet then for pete's sake get hoppin'!! And tell 'em Sarah Bertolino sent you!!! Have a great tomorrow!!

Ribbon ribbon bo bibbon...

2007-06-26T10:15:00.000-05:00

It's up and it's going to be a good one. The weekly challenge (#9 if you're counting) is to USE RIBBON. Fun fun fun. And the prize is a great one ... a "golf package"... a really nice assortment of golf related A Muse stamps. Go have fun!

Lastly tonight ...

2007-06-26T00:05:00.001-05:00

I tried to make it quick and simple. Really. It just got away from me. It's not my fault.

All images by A Muse. I think it looks extra busy because the paper is so ... busy. I used my corner rounder punch (with the guard removed) to scallop that mega marvy oval. How simple!! The white (amer. crafts) eyelet hides the "gap" where the first and last scallops didn't quite meet. Hee hee. No one will ever know! Except all of you! The chair's covered in clear glaze pen and the lamp post and chair feet have stardust gel pen. The organdy ribbon is by SU! and the grosgrain is from TVB's recent swap. The patterned paper is from that gi-gun-do stack from Costco ... I've got to start using it up!

All right folks ... off to bed, with my dorky self. Thanks for visiting!!!

Just for fun stamping continues ...

2007-06-25T23:49:00.000-05:00

With this little card bugger that's been stuck in my brain for a while. It didn't come out exactly as I envisioned but I still like it a lot. Surf's up, dude.
The surfer is by A Muse. The wave stamp just says "Fruit Basket Upset (c) Stamp Francisco". I have had it so long I can't remember where I bought it. I know WHY I bought it though ... because it reminds me of Tsunami by Hokusai. How could I resist pairing these two stamps? Anyway, there's MORE quickie glue pen on the wave image and DD glitter. It really holds that glitter well -- with some glues, including the glue pad (in my experience), the glitter falls off or brushes off exceedingly easily. Not so with that trusty glue pen! The polka dot paper is from that gargantuan paper pack from Costco (by MME) and the orange paper is by basic gray. The DUDE is popped up on dimensionals. I wanted to include the "yahoo" sentiment (a la Linda's card) but couldn't find a spot for it. Oh well.

Seeing Spots ...

2007-06-25T23:40:00.000-05:00

Here's a card I did yesterday. I feel a little dizzy looking at it. Did I go overboard with the dots?

All images by A Muse. The even polka dot stamp (on the green galore layer) was inked with versamark and embossed with IIEP. The patterned paper is by {Love} Elsie. I paper pieced and IIEP'd the mariachi's pants. I could have just done one or the other. I think the ribbon is may arts but I'm not 100% sure. The brown brad is by amer. crafts; the silver is by making memories. There's quickie glue pen on the mariachi's jacket and hat and it's dusted with DD glitter. I LOVE that quickie glue pen. I LOVE it MUCHO.

Thanks for looking.

Hooo-weee!

2007-06-25T23:37:00.000-05:00

That's one busy stamper! Miss Katie Stilwater won as this week's ambassador contestant ... for posting the most cards to her blog this week!!! Hot-cha-cha she posted 28 cards!! Yowza! You go girl!

Challenge 8 Winner!!

2007-06-25T23:33:00.000-05:00

Wasn't me! It was Ericka ... lucky, lucky gal! She gets all those summer stamps to play with just in time!!! If you want to win, there's still time to play. Emily should be posting the next challenge tomorrow so warm up that stamping mojo and join the fun!

Another marathon night ...

2007-06-25T23:21:00.001-05:00

for posts. I hope no one minds. It's either this, send about 20 emails that are nagging to be written in the first place and then sent or blog. Guess which one I'm choosing? Hmmph.

I checked the A*Muse*A*Palooza blog this morning and lo! and behold! who's classes are featured??? Ms Tami Wood (of several of my swaps FAME!! Ha ha!) Too exciting. Her Artsy Tartsy classes look like a hoot. I also found a nice interview with her over on Kristina's blog (ETA: fixed the link!). Congrats Tami for the publicity!!! (And PS you're package came today ... your swaps are CUTE! Thanks!)

National Chocolate Celebration Day (Nov 17th)

2007-06-23T23:59:00.000-05:00

Thanks for hanging in there with me folks. This is my last post for tonight.

This is a holiday I can really get behind. Or rather a holiday I can get a really big behind from! Ha! (It's late. OK?) I mean to be honest, isn't this a holiday many of us celebrate EVERY DAY? Me! me! me! Oh well ... I can always handle a new excuse to eat chocolate and use one of my FAV A Muse stamps.

Truffle image by A Muse. Sentiment by SU! (from Like it a Latte). Really simple card. I used Chestnut Roan and Dark Brown Chalk Ink here. The card is by A Muse. That's it. I think it's the first time I've used a patterned A Muse note card like this one. LOVE IT!

More stamping tomorrow ... Have a wonderful Sunday all!

Happy Swimming Pool Day (July 11th)

2007-06-23T23:50:00.001-05:00

All images by A Muse. The duck is actually cut out and popped up on a couple of glue dots. The paper is by SU! except for the patterned paper, that's A Muse. There's stickles in the water and on the dots of the pool ... in this photo it looks really poopish but in real life it is NOT SO! There is an A Muse twinkle sticker on the "I" in time. The punches are by SU and Marvy. The ribbon is by SU! also.

Happy National One Hit Wonder Day (Sept. 25th)

2007-06-23T23:40:00.000-05:00

Here's one to commemorate this coming September ... "Too Shy" by Kajagoogoo. Or maybe "Pass The Dutchie" by Musical Youth is more your celebratory style. What ever the band, whatever the "hit" ... remember it with a card. Like this one...

All images by A Muse. Deets: Paper/CS by American Crafts and SU! Punches by Marvy. Ribbon from Mike's. Stickles and stardust gel pen. There's also clear glaze and silver gel pen on the guitar.

Ps*. Want to remember any other One Hit Wonder's you've forgotten? Do you want to be able to browse them in a handy decade by decade format? Well here's the website for you ... http://www.onehitwondercentral.com/ (*I, as the author of this blog, am in no way affiliated with, working for, or in any other way selling out for aforementioned website. I just thought I'd share!)

Happy Hero's Day (Jan. 20th)

2007-06-23T23:33:00.000-05:00

Well, that is if you're a resident of Cape Verde ... gotta love Google. Here's a card I plan on sending to someone who's from Cape Verde, or someone who knows someone from Cape Verde, or knew OF Cape Verde prior to my wikipedia link to it. Post a comment if you do and I'll send you this card. Honest.

All images by A Muse. The ribbon is from Mikes. The eyelets are by American Crafts. The punch is by Marvy. There is stickles all over the super dude. The card is an A Muse note card (courtesy of Tami).

Speaking of Swapness

2007-06-23T22:56:00.000-05:00

Hold onto your hats peeps ... here it comes,

MY VERY OWN FIRST EVER SWAP!!!!

Can you stand it!?!?! It really is this exciting. Plus aren't these cards totally AWESOME!? Here's a little up-close, card by card fun ...

This card is by Allison Fillo over at Stampin' When I Can. I love how versatile this card is, boy or girl, I can add any sentiment to the inside and make it any kind of card I need. Love it!

This card is by Liz at Liz's Papercraft Gallery. I love the colors and all the dainty little details. That scallop stamped at the bottom is so totally going to happen on one of my cards really soon!

This card is by Aura who is one of the last two individuals holding out on starting her own blog. This is such a darling card ... she used two of my favorite colors, saffron and celery. Can you tell there are stickles in the flowers and stardust gel pen on the sentiment? This whole card is so fresh and classy! Just like my sister!

This card is by Tami Wood (the other blogging holdout! Ha ha, get going gals.) Tami really pays attention to details. There's glaze pen on the windows and silver gel pen on the bumpers. Everything coordinates here ... the flowers are everywhere ... the bus, the ribbon and the sentiments. Tami even stamped some on the inside. Right on! ***ALSO, Tami has a great paper saving tip: Cut your A Muse cards in half (along the fold) and you DOUBLE your "patterned" paper. Just glue one half to the front of another card. Phew! Now I won't have to be so darn STINGY with my A Muse note cards.****

This card is by Tisha Welch. Apologies, my pictures for all these great cards totally stink. I hope you can tell that Tisha cut out the recliner and embossed it with UTEE. It totally looks like an awesome, stick to your backside, vinyl recliner. LOVE IT! I love how Tisha has a way with layouts ... so original.

And last but not least ... my swap.

All images by A Muse. I'm super please with how this one turned out. I did a little fancy masking for the sentiment (with some help from Ye Olde Stamp-Ma-Jig!) ... how perfect are these two together??? I didn't include the recipe with my card. Sorry ladies. Here are the important parts. The ribbon, CS, punch and patterned paper are all by SU! There's quickie glue pen on the balloon and the skunk's stripe with SU Dazzling Diamonds glitter on them. The last little touch is the A Muse twinkle stickers on the flower (the stem was hand drawn) and the sun.

PS. I got all these swaps in the mail to everyone TODAY!!! Please let me know when you receive them.

A Lot to Post ...

2007-06-23T22:34:00.000-05:00

I'm going to try to keep all of this brief and to the point tonight as I have MUCHO to blog about. Bear with me folks, shortening the story is not one of my strengths. Plus in the process of making some Challenge 8 cards, the silly rubbed off on me.

FIRST.
My swap is full. I want to thank all you lovely, lovely ladies who've volunteered your time, talent and paper goods in joining (ALL of) my swap(s). If anyone feels left out of the swap-eriffic fun, please email and we can get MORE swaps going. More is always better, especially when we're talking A Muse!

SECOND.
Have ya SEEN what the prize is for Challenge 8??? No less than 8 fabulous summer-y stamps from, you guessed right!, A Muse!!! Here is a quick pic ...

You would have seen these as early as last night if you were registered for A*Muse*A*Palooza -- you get the A Muse Newsletter delivered right to your very own virtual doorstep. If you're not in this oh-so-fabuloso loop ... A) I feel a little sad that your being left out of all the fun and B) get your pa-toot over and register RIGHT NOW! And tell them I sent you. Me. Sarah Bertolino. Your friendly neighborhood A*Muse*A*Palooza Ambassador Contestant. Good.

Onward stalwart blog readers. I have many a' post to go!

More winning and swapness

2007-06-22T23:10:00.000-05:00

Kristina Lewis won the drawing from among the A*Muse Ambassador contestants. You go girl! (She's just sent me an adorable swap! Yeah!) Congrats! She won some cute stuff.

Speaking of swaps. I have all of my first full cards in my hands and swapped. I hope to get to the post office tomorrow. I'm working on posting all of the cards online tomorrow. But tonight I am too bleary eyed to type anymore. Sorry ... another evening at the pool ... I'm zapped. THANK YOU ladies for your swaps. They totally rock and I'm ecstatic to post them.

Lastly ... I have one lonely little ATC swap spot left to fill ... any takers?

Have a great weekend.

Ps. Thanks for the email Liz! I did get your swaps today ... they are awesome! THANK YOU!!

WinAPalooza

2007-06-22T23:06:00.000-05:00

It's what's happening gang! Go check it out! They've drawn to random A*Muse*A*Palooza registrants to win some totally cool swag. It could be YOU! Go register NOW! if you haven't been badgered enough to have done it already! Tell 'em Sarah Bertolino referred you!

Happy Lollipop Day (July 20th) ...

2007-06-21T10:15:00.000-05:00

I'm getting a jump start on my Happy Lollipop Day cards. Have you made yours yet?? Better get busy ... there's only a month left!!! Tic tock.

Makenna stamp by A Muse. The miraculous morning nap is over so this is going to be quick. Deets: Paper by Scenic Route and SU!; glitter, celery brads, white gel pen by SU!; pink eyelets by Amer. Crafts; quickie glue and clear gel pens by sakura; ribbon from Michael's; punches by marvy. I used my prismacolor markers for her hair and skin.

Have a great day!!!

Happy Vanilla Milkshake Day!

2007-06-20T20:33:00.001-05:00

I will bet you didn't know today was Happy Vanilla Milkshake Day, did you? It's true! (I read it on the internet so it has to be true!!) Anyway, a fabulous holiday like this deserves a card (and an entry into Challenge 8!) so here's mine ...

All images by A Muse. I had to make do with this "happy day" stamp. I think I'll petition Linda to come up with a "Happy Vanilla Milkshake Day" sentiment stamp ... think how often you'd use it! ANYWAY, this patterned paper is Charlotte (Blossom Street Floral) by Scenic Route Paper Co. I used the floral side for her dress (paper pieced), the stripes on the back of this paper seemed a lot more ice cream-y. I also used very vanilla paper and colored her in with my prismacolor makers as I don't like to watercolor on vanilla -- it's too absorbent. I did use my SU! markers on the vanilla milkshake image. I used micro dot A Muse twinkle stickers -- light pink on the stem of the glass and red in place of the cherry. I used these "pool" colored snaps from Paper Source. The rest of the paper (and the ribbon knot) are by SU!

I'm still trying for yet ONE more swap. Any and everyone is invited. Please click here for more details and email me to sign up. Thanks.

Purdy!

2007-06-20T20:25:00.000-05:00

The A*Muse*A*Palooza blog is featuring one of their big sponsors in this post. It's Strano Designs -- a delicious ribbon company run by a husband and wife team. It all looks so lovely. When you've finished drooling over all the luscious ribbon, stop and check out Jennifer Strano's blog ... I love knowing that there are *REAL* people behind these companies.

Time to get ...

2007-06-19T22:40:00.000-05:00

SILLY! Challenge 8 is up and it's a doozie! Cards for silly celebrations. If I weren't so dadgummed beat I'd rev up the stamp space and crank out a card. Hmm ... maybe that's a card ... "Happy Too Tired To Stamp Day!" Okay, no one steal my idea! (Ha ha, as if!)

I still have spaces open in my A Muse ATC swap ~FRENZY~ !! Come be a part of the fun.

Scavenger Hunt Winner!

2007-06-19T11:23:00.000-05:00

They've announced the winner of the scavenger hunt over at the A*Muse*A*Palooza blog. Big congrats to Kaylyn!! Look at what she won!!! How awesome!

At least I was in the running. They posted the answers to the scavenger hunt questions and I got 'em right. Sweet!

Stay tuned, they should be posting the next challenge sometime today.