VMAA "Do the Hustle" Challenge

One more VMAA challenge card for ya - which was a sketch from Rhonda. This one is for Michelle and Helle in honor of their new shop! I got to play with my new Fiskars threading water punch too! There's also a little *sneak peek* in here... the "congratulations" stamp! OK, that's it for my VMAA cards - which is your favorite?
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Images, ribbon, and notecards by A Muse. Brilliance graphite black (heat-set), Marvy super jumbo circle punch, Fiskars threading water punch, dimensionals.

VMAA Bonus Challenge

Linda's bonus VMAA challenge was to create a card based on a word, which was "weekend". My family has been riding our bicycles alot lately, so that was actually my first thought for this challenge. Now A Muse has like three different bicycle stamps and can you believe that I don't have any of them? Gotta fix that! So my next thought then was the kids drum circles that we sometimes attend on weekends. So I grabbed one of my son's drums and used the colors from it as inspiration for this card. I thought it'd be fun to make a thank-you card for the folks that run the drum circles! OK, I have one more VMAA card for ya but I'll probably post it tomorrow since it has a tiny sneak peek in it. Lots of new posts below though, so make sure to scroll down to see them all!

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Images and notecards by A Muse. Versafine black ink, SU Summer Sun ink, SU Eggplant ink, Palette Giverny Green ink, Provocraft mini pinking scissors, dimensionals.

VMAA "Saturday Night Fever" Challenge

Next up was the Saturday Night Fever challenge - which was to use black & white on a card (like John Travolta's suit). I noticed a large shadow chandelier wall decal in a home catalog recently and thought it was interesting since we've been seeing those in the papercrafts world for a while now. So that immediately came to mind for this challenge since I had been curious how the A Muse chandelier would look if I colored it all black to make it look like a silhouette. I just *love* how it turned out!

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Images and ribbon by A Muse. White cardstock, Brilliance graphite black ink (heat-set), Sakura Micron black pen, Copic black marker.

VMAA "Disco Ball" Challenge

The next challenge was to get messy with glitter! Now glitter itself is messy, but I decided to make the card a little messy too. I've had a pack of red/silver/blue Martha Stewart glitter since last summer and I rarely use it. The minute I read the challenge details on this one, I knew this glitter was the way to go. So I pulled it out along with the sparkler stamp to make fireworks! At the winter CHA show, we stopped at the Art Institute Glitter booth and watched a technique called "glitter lacing" where you put one color of glitter over one section and then layer one or two more glitter colors in the remaining areas. Such a fun technique with very sparkly results! Now normally when I use the sparkler stamp as fireworks, I mask off the stick so that it doesn't show up when stamped. But we only had 30 minutes to do each of these challenges, so in the interest of time, I decided they had to stay - lol!

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Images, ribbon, and notecards by A Muse. White cardstock, Essential glue pad, Versafine black ink, Cuttlebug slider oval die, Martha Stewart crafts glitter.

VMAA "Let it Be" Challenge

OK, here we go! The first challenge in the 2nd Virtual Meeting of A Muse Addicts (VMAA), is to "let it be" by not using embellishments. I decided to make a Mother's Day card for my mom and this just so happens to include a *sneak peek* too!

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Images and notecards by A Muse. Adirondack Latte and Espresso ink, Brilliance graphite black (heat-set), Copic markers (raw silk, sand, and migonette), Marvy Giga scallop oval punch, dimensionals.

VMAA!

Did you participate in the 2nd VMAA?  I did all the challenges and am hoping to post them later today!  I even managed to incorporate a sneak peek in with them too, so stay tuned!

More fun stuff!

Check this out! Michelle and Helle are opening a store on May 1st in San Diego and it will have all the A Muse goodies! Linda will be there for the Grand Opening on May 31st and I am hoping to make it there for the event!

Oh - and I forgot to mention in my VMAA post, that sneak peeks are coming this weekend!

VMAA #2 - this weekend!

Just wanted to post a quick note about something fun coming up this weekend:
The second VMAA (Virtual Meeting of the A Muse Addicts) is this Saturday from 8-10 CST! If you haven't already registered on the addicts forum, the link is http://www.amuseaddicts.com. I am hoping to get a chance to play too!

Ballet Dancer

This is similar to my Ballerina design in this week's A Muse Inspiring Ideas. I actually designed this version first! I just *had* to put her up on stage with a red curtain! But after creating this, I decided it needed to have a little more "pop", so I evolved it into the one in the newsletter by changing the background colors.
I use to go to the ballet alot when I was little. My mom and dad both volunteered in different ways for Ohio Ballet. I remember helping my mom with the boutique where they sold logo shirts during intermission. And I went with my dad to several photo sessions since he was one of their photographers. Can't say I ever wanted to take a ballet class though - lol! But I enjoyed watching and learned *alot* by helping my parents. My favorite ballet was "Cakewalk" - it had the most amazing costumes!
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Images and notecards by A Muse. Brilliance graphite black ink (heat set), Fluid chalk ink Ice Blue, Copic markers in milky white, shadow pink, and sand; Art Glitter, Provocraft scallop scissors.

Great Greetings

While we're on the topic of flashbacks, here's another one for ya! I mentioned this in my bio on the A Muse Addicts forum, so I thought I'd post a photo. I had one of these when I was little and loved making cards with it. You just put three plates under the pink window along with a sheet of paper and then rub over them with the side of a crayon. Not sure what happened to my original Great Greetings set, but I found this one on ebay a while back along with a different version that makes trucks and thought it would be a fun thing to do with my son. He loves experimenting with art supplies while I'm working, and this actually holds his attention for a little while (with very little mess which is a definite bonus)!

Preppy Whales

Did you have a purse in the seventies/eighties with a whale on it? I was recently flipping through an LL Bean catalog and noticed these flip-flops with whales on them! Instantly flashed me back to my little whale purse and inspired this design. Can you believe, I actually still have my purse along with a couple of others from around that time? So I pulled them out and set to work. This whale from the A Muse Animal Wishes clear set is just so cute and he was perfect for this design!
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Images and notecards by A Muse. Navy cardstock, Palette Hybrid blue ink, Versafine black ink, Staedtler triplus fineliner green pen.

Baseball Season!

Here are two of my designs from the most recent A Muse weekly! This week is the first home game for our local Baseball team (class A - with a great stadium and a short drive). We love going to the games and my son has been waiting all winter for the season to start. This baseball card was based on one I did a while ago (here) and I was so excited to use the baseball stamp from the Sports clear set!

Then the design below uses the new lady golfer stamp. I love the pink and green together - not a color combo I usually use, but fun! I'm sooo not a golfer (well, except for putt-putt - lol!), but I do have a full set of clubs since my hubby builds them for fun. One of these days, I should learn to use them!

My son's preschool started up again this week (after a two-week spring break!). So I'm hoping to have some time soon to create some fun new designs to share with you. Gotta finish up an assignment first though - so I better get back to work - *wink*!

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Baseball card: Images and notecards by A Muse. Brilliance graphite black ink (heat-set), fluid chalk ink (warm red, creamy brown), Copic markers (sand, milky white, lapis lazuli), pigma micron black pen, dimensionals.

Golf card: Images and notecards by A Muse. Brilliance graphite black ink (heat-set), fluid chalk ink (lime pastel), Copic markers (sand, milky white, shadow pink, warm grey 2).