Butterfly Garden Inspired

This card was inspired by this fun Butterfly Garden fabric that I saw on Elisalou's blog. I used several different A Muse Studio nature sets and inks - so fun!

Hope you had a nice Summer and are enjoying Fall!
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Images, paper, and ink by A Muse Studio. Palette Hybrid ink in Claret. Versafine black ink.

Have you seen this?

A Muse Studio is going on the road!

Get the scoop and register --> here!

If you live in any of the nearby areas, you have GOT to go - good times!

Go forth!

Can't believe it's May already and the school year is coming to an end. Time to think about graduation cards! My cousin recently graduated from Penn State, so I made this card with him in mind. Guy cards can be tricky so I kept it really simple.

A little trivia for you about this "go forth and do good" quote from the new A Muse Studio ConGRADulations stamp set... it was said by my uncle who was the President of Illinois Wesleyan University. He used it frequently in graduation speeches and you can hear him saying it on this youtube (scroll to around 4:35). I am *so excited* to have it as a stamp and you may have also seen a version of it on some of the "quotable cards" products out there on the market (he would vary the wording a bit to keep his speeches fresh). I think it is the perfect quote to give to a new grad and works great for both guys and gals!
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A Muse Studio conGRADulations stamp set, cobalt cardstock, white pearl, 3D foam adhesive, cobalt and onyx inks.

Me in Kindergarten

When I was in Kindergarten, one of the parents came to our class and drew silhouettes of each child. We each sat in front of a white screen with a light shining just right to capture our silhouette. My mom has kept mine all this time and recently had it framed for me! I couldn't resist using it on a card after seeing all the silhouette images at the CHA show in January. It's too large to scan, so I took a photo of it and then pulled it into Photoshop Elements so that I could print it on cardstock. Kept the rest of the card simple with A Muse Studio damask shimmer paper and Nestabilities dies - plus a little white organdy ribbon for the final touch.

Sorry for the long blog break! It has been a busy first quarter! Good busy - birthdays, the launch of A Muse Studio, and spring break! Hope you are having a nice Spring!

Ooo - A Muse scoop!

Been curious what's going on with A Muse? Here's some scoop! Check out the new A Muse Studio Facebook page! Click on "like" at the top of the Facebook page and then watch the video!

Olympia and Hedwig

You might remember seeing this adorable owl on Lisa Spangler's blog early last year (this post is looong overdue!). Her name is Olympia and Lisa sent her to me when I sent her this fun felted flower. Well, soon after Olympia came to live with me, I was inspired to learn crochet. I know how to knit, so it wasn't too much of a stretch to pickup crochet. Within a few weeks - Olympia had a friend... soooo meet Hedwig!

Not too bad for my first crochet project! It was fun, but I don't think I'll be tackling too many other projects like this anytime soon. Just like with knitting, I found that my hands tensed up from working too long. Does that happen to you?

Hello tree

I made this a while back and noticed it in my files yesterday - realized I hadn't shared it with ya yet! This was inspired by this adorable lunch box. Super simple and quick! To make the red polka dots, I used a piece of A Muse Kitchen paper and colored in the dots on the printed side with red Copic marker. The dots soak through to the natural white side of the paper! (See this tip on the A Muse blog for a photo and description of how to do this.)
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Images and notecards by A Muse. Lipstick Red Copic marker, black ink, corner rounder, circle punch.

12 Days of A Muse Christmas Wishes!

We are having lots of fun over on the A Muse Facebook page! There are ten more days left in the 12 Days of A Muse Christmas Wishes - so there are still lots of chances to win!

Get the scoop on the A Muse blog --> here. Then hop on over to Facebook and share your wish! :)

December Calendar

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Images, Black Dye ink, Juliette patterned paper, and calendar by A Muse. White cardstock, Copic markers, Bind-it-all and 5/8" wire, Smooch white, Spica glitter pen.

November Calendar

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Images, Black Dye ink, Juliette patterned paper, and calendar by A Muse. Memento Desert Sand ink, White cardstock, Copic markers, Bind-it-all and 5/8" wire.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! This design is one that was shared on the A Muse News blog during the A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA sneak peeks. Thought I'd give you the scoop on how I made it. The graveyard gathering image is stamped with white pigment ink and then embossed with white embossing powder. I used post-it notes to mask off the areas where I wanted to write the invitation details and then sanded away some of the notecard to reveal the white core (the post-its keep you from accidentally sanding off the embossed areas). Then used a fine tip black pen to handwrite the invitation info. A little distressing on the edges and done! Sooo can anyone tell me based on the address who is hosting this gathering tonight? :)

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Images and notecards by A Muse. White pigment ink, white embossing powder, black micron pen, sanding block, post-its, edge distressor.

Nuts about you

My hubby and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary last week and this is the card I made for him. We are both Ohio State grads/fans and it's also where we met, so I knew my Ohio State die cuts would be perfect for his card. I was thinking about sentiments and then it hit me that "nuts about you" would be perfect with the Buckeyes (they are nuts, but you can't eat them - they're poisonous!). Guy cards can be challenging but I just stuck to some manly colors along with the required scarlet and grey. And... I guess it worked because he loved it! He even noticed the bits of sanding I did around the "O" to reveal the white core. It was tricky to get in the small spots with a basic sanding block, so I have a Precision File set (Basic Grey) on order - for the next time I need to sand tight spots!
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Images and notecards by A Muse. Ohio State die cuts by Quickutz (varsity O and buckeyes) - created for Cord Camera but look to be discontinued - Quickutz outlet might still have them; foam tape, scoring tool, sanding block, VersaMagic chalk ink.