VMAA Challenge #3

For Rhonda's VMAA sketch challenge. Cool sketch and one I've never done! Took me a minute to work with it since I don't usually do corners. I started going down one design path and quickly realized it just wasn't happening so I picked up the Daisy Canopy image I had been coloring earlier and decided to go with that. This is for a friend who is expecting their first baby in July. Inspired by Melinda's "welcome little one" card (thanks Melinda) and also by a card I created earlier this week that I'll share with ya soon.
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Images by A Muse and Elzybells. A Muse notecards and ribbon; black cardstock, Brilliance Graphite black ink (heat-set), Copic markers (yellow green, lemon yellow, powder blue, chrome orange), Prismacolor Crimson Red marker, Copic Spica clear glitter pen, Marvy Giga scallop square punch, Cuttlebug swiss dots embossing folder, dimensionals.

VMAA Challenge #2

For Geeta's VMAA challenge - to create an adult masculine card. I did this one pretty quickly - all but the ribbon and just kept lookin at it... hmmm needed a little something more. So then I tried a few ribbons and decided on the red stitch ribbon (which I purposely roughed up on the edges). What do you think - does it work? This is totally something I could give my dad since he likes western stuff.

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Images, ribbon, and notecards by A Muse. Fluid chalk ink dark brown, Versafine black ink, Marvy super jumbo star punch, glitter, Prismacolor Crimson Red marker, Copic Spica red glitter pen, dimensionals.

VMAA Challenge #1

Ok, here we go! This is for Michelle's VMAA challenge - no coloring! We're allowed to use colored ink, but no coloring in of the image. I opted for an image that couldn't really be colored in anyway and stuck with black ink - just to keep it simple. I thought about bringing out Patch - he woulda been perfect for the challenge, but it was gonna take a little more thought to do something new with him - lol!

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Images by A Muse. White, red, and blue cardstock; Versafine black ink, Marvy Super Jumbo circle punch and Mega scallop circle punch, Sharpie white poster paint pen, dimensionals.

VMAA

Are you playing along in the first ever Virtual Meeting of the A Muse Addicts (VMAA)? There's a little more info about it on Heather's blog and all the details are in the A Muse Addicts forum. Thought I'd play along too, so stay tuned for four cards tonight! I'll be back to post them shortly!

New stuff is up!

If you haven't seen it all yet, look here and here! Lots of A Muse and Elzybells goodness!

Chick Cart *sneak peek*

Here is a sneak peek of the new chick cart stamp which is part of the A Muse spring release. I think I must be hooked on this color combo right now after seeing it at Julie's A Muse make & take at the CHA show!
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Images and notecards by A Muse. Brilliance Graphite black ink (heat-set), Copic markers (powder blue, lemon yellow, yellow green, chrome orange); scallop scissors, dimensionals.

Elzybells Spring Sneak Peek!

New ribbon, new notecards, new stamps - oh my! Here you can see a sneak peek of the Easter Chick image from the Spring Elzybells release. Sooo cute! You can also see a new color of A Muse kitchen notecards - Blueberry. And also the new stitched grosgrain ribbon in Orange Crush. I had such fun creating this!

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Images by ElzybellsNA and A Muse. A Muse notecards and ribbon. Brilliance Graphite black ink (heat-set), Colorbox Fluid chalk ink Lime Pastel, Marvy extra jumbo scallop oval punch, Copic markers (powder blue, lemon yellow, yellow green, chrome orange), Prismacolor Mint Cream marker, Copic Spica clear and blue glitter pens, dimensionals.

Back from CHA!

Whew - what an amazing event! I really enjoyed meeting several of the A Muse gals in person at our dinner on Saturday night (check out this fun picture on Michelle's blog). Sunday was the first day of the show and after stopping in at the A Muse booth (which was fabulous), Novell and I spent the day walking the show floor. It was amazing to see so much crafty goodness all in one place! We could tell lots of planning, creating, and time was spent by all the manufacturer's teams. You can see a few photos on Novell's blog of us chatting with Tim Holtz and also with Keri and Lisa at the Cornish Heritage Farms booth. Monday we covered a few more companies we missed and then I helped in the A Muse booth that afternoon and also on Tuesday. I enjoyed meeting many online friends as well as store owners.

Here is a fun picture we took with earlymorning. So nice to meet her and she was so sweet to send me the photo and let me share it here!
As far as new products go, it's funny - I was surfing some of the various CHA posts yesterday and kept saying to myself - "now how did I miss seeing that while I was there?" There is just sooo much to see and after a while, you kinda don't really "see" it - it all sorta runs together. We totally breezed by the Fiskars booth and didn't even see the new scallop border punch. But I loved the new Martha Stewart scallop border punch which we saw at EK Success. I'm looking forward to playing with the new Tsukineko Memento ink at some point and also possibly the new Clearsnap wheel handle that lets you wheel with your clear stamps. Speaking of new products, we have sneak peeks starting today for A Muse AND Elzybells! I need to whip up a card for ya, so I'll be back later with a sneak peek! Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine Treats!

This treat box is so fun and easy! The template is in this week's A Muse Newsletter. If you aren't receiving the newsletter, you can sign up here. There are two templates - one to fit an A Muse 4-bar notecard and one to fit an A Muse square notecard. The heart was cut using a Cuttlebug die-cut (did I tell ya I got a Cuttlebug for Christmas?). I'll be heading to CHA tomorrow and I won't have my laptop with me, so I probably won't post again until late next week (SNEAK PEEKS are coming!). Have a great weekend!

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Images, ribbon, and notecards by A Muse. Versafine black ink, Cuttlebug hearts die cut, 1/8" circle punch, pop-dots, square punch (to make the notched edges on the sentiment banner).

How ya bean?

I made this a while back for my Dad's birthday. I used the A Muse coffee and party clear sets to make the cup (totally inspired by this design by Jennifer Pebbles - thanks Jennifer!). Been busy stamping and getting ready for CHA. I'm excited - this is my first time attending! If you see me, please stop and introduce yourself - I'd love to meet ya! I have another project to share with you tonight or tomorrow morning, so be sure to check back!
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Images by A Muse. Vanilla, white, green, and kraft SU cardstock. Adirondack pitch black ink, Fluid Chalk creamy brown ink, Prismacolor Cinnamon Toast marker, 1/4" circle punch, ribbon, pigma micron pen, dimensionals, Copic Spica clear glitter pen.

For Julie

Thought I'd share the card I made for Julie's birthday which was Wednesday. The A Muse Addicts group got together and sent her cards that say inside "SHUT UP... it's your birthday... THUD!" When I saw this sneaky little plan, I just had to participate and I knew right away I wanted to use the "a little bird told me" sentiment.
This card was so fun to make! I used the Girl & Frog Elzybells stamp and masked off the frog. Now the A Muse tiny bird normally faces to the right, so I reversed him by first stamping him on the big bl stamp and then stamping that image facing Elzy. Tricky eh? The quality of the stamping on a reverse image isn't quite as good, but it still worked well enough. Then I also thought it'd be perfect to have Elzy holding the balloon to which I added a little Crystal Effects to make it shiny and 3D. Happy Birthday Julie - sounds like you had a great day!

ETA: To reverse the bird, I used the reflection technique (or mirror technique). You can find instructions on Splitcoast here. Instead of stamping on acetate, I stamed on the big block - which is basically a solid rectangle.

ETA on 3/17/08: Tracy created a great tutorial (here) on how to create the mirror image!
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Images by ElzybellsNA and A Muse. A Muse notecards and twinkle sticker. Brilliance graphite black ink (heat-set), Prismacolor markers, crystal effects, Spica clear glitter pen.

February Calendar

I can't believe it's February already - where did January go?! If you remember from this post, I said I'd share each month from my A Muse calendar during the year. So continuing in the series, here is February!

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Images by A Muse. A Muse calendar. White cardstock, Stampin' Up Ruby Red cardstock, Brillance Graphite black ink (heat-set), Copic Shadow pink marker, glitter.