Balloon Pups!

Something a little different today! My hubby thought learning to make balloon animals would be a fun hobby, so we picked up a kit for him at the bookstore. We both figured it out pretty quickly and made these pups! It wasn't long before we were making hats, swords, and swans too! I can hear him downstairs right now twisting balloons - can't wait to see what he created! It's really not difficult with the right supplies and instructions (and some practice). Ya just have to be willing to break a few (make sure to remove your rings first - yup, I learned that the hard way - lol! Balloons sure are LOUD when they pop!). And no, I won't be booking any birthday party gigs anytime soon - although the thought did cross my mind - lol!
I have some new cards to share soon too, so stay tuned for those!

Cards of the Week!

Get the scoop on this design over on the A Muse Weekly! I was so tickled to have a COTW featured two weeks in a row, so below is my card from last week as well!

A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA 2008!

Yippee! Registration for A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA 2008 is now open! Check out the website and blog for more details!

Happy Mother's Day!

Just a quick post to wish all the moms out there a very Happy Mother's Day!

Tami is blogging!

I've been helping A Muse instructor, Tami Wood, the last couple of days with her new blog! You can check it out ---> here. She had already setup her basic blog and when I saw her blog title, I knew she needed a fun blog banner to go with it! So I thought I'd surprise her by creating one and I was really happy with how it turned out. Tami is known for using ribbon on every card. So I piled up some ribbon (yummy A Muse grosgrain stitch ribbon in every color!) and took a few photos - which I cropped and used as the basis for the banner. I recently got the new version of Photoshop Elements (6), so this was a fun excuse to practice using it. I hadn't upgraded Photoshop Elements since version 2.0! Some definite improvements in version 6 (although still takes some practice!) Congratulations on your new blog Tami!

Dr Seuss inspired!

Inspired by "Horton Hears a Who"! This is my version of the clover flower that Horton carries around in his trunk in the story. On the tip of the flower is a speck where the Whos live in Whoville. I had forgotten about this story, but after seeing the movie I was inspired to capture those flowers on paper! I used the sparkler stamp (minus the stick) and then dabbed a little 2-way glue over it and added some shimmer chalk to fill it in. The stem is a clear stamp from the stitched numbers clear set which I bent slightly before stamping. Then I went over the stem with a lighter color Copic marker to fill in the gaps. Worked like a charm!
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Images and twinkle sticker by A Muse. White cardstock, purple cardstock. Fluid chalk ink in wisteria, green ink, Copic marker, Pebbles shimmer chalks.

Rock Star

This is for my brother's birthday coming up this month. He plays bass guitar in a band and you might remember this card I made for him last year. I was looking at various album covers for inspiration when I made this, and decided that using a grunge look was the way to go. So I spritzed black ink (see Kurtis's tutorial) on the natural cardstock and (*shock*) distressed the edges of practically everything. I'm usually very clean and precise in my designs, so it was actually kinda fun to not worry about ink smudges and being messy this time! Oh - and Happy Cinco De Mayo!
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Images and notecards by A Muse. Brilliance graphite black ink (heat-set), Adirondack Pitch black re-inker, dry brush, Marvy star button punch, Copic markers (sand, baby skin pink, neutral grey 7, warm grey 2, manganese blue), dimensionals, art glitter and 2-way glue.

New stuff!

Check out all the great new stuff from A Muse ---> here! Note that the Mainly Men kit is on a separate page. There is also a link to an album of inspiring ideas for the kit!

And, I am sooo excited to see that A Muse is now carrying my favorite stamp positioner! (Scroll down to the second item on Linda's favorite things page.) I've been using this positioner for two years and I love it! I actually won one when I attended A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA in 2006 before I was part of the team, and I think I've used it almost everyday since then - LOL!

Happy May!

Continuing in my monthly calendar series.... Happy May!
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Images and calendar by A Muse. White cardstock, Pink cardstock, Brilliance Graphite black ink (heat-set), Copic Shadow Pink marker; Prismacolor markers; Spica glitter pen, bind-it-all and 3/4" wire.

More Mainly Men *sneak peek*

One last sneak peek before the release tomorrow! There are three new images here - all from the Mainly Men clear set. I masked the coffee cup to make the thermos appear to be behind the cup. And I'm happy to say that my husband approved of both of these "manly" sneak peeks!

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Images, ribbon, and notecards by A Muse. Adirondack Espresso and Cranberry ink.

Mainly Men *sneak peek*

Woohoo - another sneak peek for ya! The new Mainly Men clear set is perfect for making guy cards. And I was so *tickled* with how this design turned out! The laptop screen is blank which made the perfect canvas for "that bytes". And I used my crop-a-dile to make the holes on the edges of the white cardstock - to resemble old-style printer paper! I thought about adding some wide stripes to make it look like the "greenbar" printer paper we used when I was a programmer in my first job out of college (lol!). But I decided to keep it simple! Check back tomorrow for another sneak peek!
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Images, ribbon, clear sticker, and notecards by A Muse. Brilliance graphite black ink (heat-set), crop-a-dile, Copic markers (warm grey 2, frost blue), 1.5" and 1 3/8" circle punches, foam tape.

More sneak peeks are coming...

...tonight and tomorrow!  So stay tuned!