Wild Rose Sympathy

I can't tell you how much I adore the Wild Rose stamp set from A Muse Studio. It's so great for sympathy, birthday, congratulations, wedding/anniversary cards and more. Here's a sample of a congratulations card made with this set. I love that you can make it look so different with different ink colors and can also make it look so elegant with embossing. Really versatile!

I used the scalloped oval and oval nesties and just cut rectangles for the sentiment. The leaves are in latte and the flowers are in current. Can you see the teeny tiny polka dots from polka dot backgrounds? I'll be playing with those polka dots some more soon!

Here's the inside. I like to add a little touch of the image to the inside of the cards - just seems to finish it off, don't you think?

Have a wonderfully creative day!

All products used are from A Muse Studio: www.amusestudio.com/seleise

Hello!

Good morning! Here's a little black/red gingham card for you this morning. It's another quick card that a few spellbinder dies help pull together. Don't you love nesties? I can't get enough of them!!! A fiskars border punch was part of the creative process as well. CAS - don't you agree? I hope so as I'm participating in the Just One Word challenge on the "Less is More" CAS blog.

What do you think? I love the music notes - aren't they wonderful? Have a fabulously creative day and keep a song in your heart!

All products except the fiskars punch are from A Muse Studio: www.amusestudio.com/seleise

Quick Coffee - How Ya' Bean?

Here's a super quick "how ya' bean" card. A little vintage and vanilla cardstock, sponge dauber, ocean and french roast ink, nestie shape and grosgrain ribbon and you're good to go.

I love how well the a muse studio ink handles the detail, even on the littlest of stamps. Those teeny tiny coffee beans look crisp and clean. Love that! Have a wonderfully creative day! www.amusestudio.com/seleise

Merry Christmas! !

Merry Christmas to you and yours!! I am taking a brief break for family but will be back with a post soon. Have a wonderful holiday!!!

My Photo Helper, Nicest Thoughts AND Bonus Recipe!

I have a bunch of things to share with you today. First, one of my nephews decided that he wanted to be part of the photos when I was taking pics for a card order. He's 4 and picked his own poses. What a hoot!

Here's cute!

 

Here's serious.

And, here's "look, Sees, I can talk like a fish!" LOL!

So, here's a card that reflects my fun day. You're one of my nicest thoughts! Isn't that a great sentiment? Wouldn't you love getting a card in the mail on a crappy day and open it up to see that someone thinks you're one of their nicest thoughts? If I ever got my own cards mailed, I'd love to brighten someone's day that way. But, I'm postally challenged. :)Perhaps I will be better in 2012. :)

 

Here's the inside.

What do you think? I love the ocean and pebble inks layered on top of each other, don't you? This card used Beautiful Botanicals and Friends Fur-ever stamp sets, Kraft, Vanilla and Vintage Cardstock and Ocean, Pebble a│s ink and black memento. Oval and scalloped oval nestabilities finished it off. All products are a muse studio and can be purchased anytime online at www.amusestudio.com/seleise

Oh - and a bonus is a new favorite recipe of mine. It takes under 5 minutes to make from beginning to end. If you love cinnamon toast or cinnamon snacks, this snack mix is for you!!!

Cinnamon Munch

1/3 c. sugar
1 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
4 tbsp. butter
4 c. crispix (or rice or corn chex)

Combine sugar and cinnamon. Set aside. Place butter in a 2 quarts baking dish or deep bowl. Microwave on high, 40 seconds or until melted. Add cereal to butter mixture. Stir gently until evenly coated. Microwave on high, for 2 minutes, stirring after each minute. Sprinkle half of the cinnamon-sugar mixture evenly over the cereal. Stir to coat evenly. Sprinkle with remaining cinnamon-sugar mixture and stir again. Microwave on high for 1 minute. Spread on absorbent paper to cool. Yield: 4 cups.

Have a wonderfully creative day!!! 

Mitten "Sleigh" Candy Treat Box

I hope you've enjoyed the last three posts as we walked through the projects from my December class. It's time for the final project and it's a fun one for holiday treats - a mitten "sleigh" candy box. You will see these on my craft fair table next year. :)

I was so excited when this came together because it's just super fun! Cut four mittens - two from each side of the onyx polka dot cardstock. Glue together. (you can skip this step if you use double-sided cardstock - fyi - the a muse studio cardstock is double-sided but the inside is vanilla so you can write on it if making a card). Use the small snowflake die and cut two vanilla snowflakes. *I'd wait until you assembled the mittten and then add the snowflakes so they don't get "beat up" during assembly. I used one glue dot in the center.

Cut a 3 X 3.25 in piece of cardstock and score 1" from the edge on each side. Cut the cardstock as indicated in the graphic. Fold and glue the "flaps" to make a box.

Attach the 1" side of the box to each mitten but not all the way to the bottom of the mitten. Tie on some baker's twine and add some Andes Peppermint Crunch - or your favorite small snack or note or maybe even quarters and you're done.

What do you think? I just got the large mitten die from a muse so I can't wait to make a larger version of this same project. Good times ahead!

All products used are a muse studio and can be purchased anytime at www.amusestudio.com/seleise

Have a wonderfully creative day!

Blackberry Shimmer Damask Thank You

Shimmery wonderfulness!!! Seriously - the a muse studio shimmer papers are DIVINE!!! They are a little "spendy" but if you compare them to buying a $5 card for a special occasion, they're not "spendy" at all.

This is a super simple and yet beautiful card with a soft shimmer. It features the blackberry damask and the butterfly die. The butterflies are cut from the opposite side of the blackberry damask cardstock. It's shimmery too!!! I paired the shimmer with the regular blackberry cardstock and it goes wonderfully together. The butterflies are just glued in the center so they look like they just landed on the card.The shimmer paper is layered on a sugar card base. It helps stretch the use of the more expensive paper.

Inside is a simple Thank You from Avian Notes in blackberry ink. Isn't the font pretty? A clean and simple card to let someone know you care about their kindness. What do you think?  

I'm heading to a crop this week-end so plan to stamp up a storm. Maybe I'll get my Christmas cards made. I'm only 3 years behind. And, yes, I know it's ironic for a cardmaker to not get her own cards out. I'm usually filling other orders and don't get my own projects done. That's a good problem to have, right?! :)

Have a wonderfully creative day!
Shop online anytime: www.amusestudio.com/seleise #1379

Valentine Felt Coasters

A Muse Studio (a│s) does a spotlight flyer each month to highlight some products and they always have super cute creative ideas too. Felt coasters were on the November spotlight (see it here). I really liked the idea but wanted to change it up just a bit so made it a Valentine's project.

How do you make it? Use the a│s cherry and bubblegum felt and the circle and scalloped circle spellbinders (the next to largest size). Before you cut the bubblegum felt, place the heart die in the middle of the scalloped circle die and cut the bubblegum. You'll have a pink scalloped circle with a heart opening in the middle. (use the bubblegum heart on your card or packaging. Then, use the same heart die to cut a heart from the cherry felt. Use heat and bond to put it all together. Easy and cute and fun! What do you think of the variation?

All products are a muse studio: www.amusestudio.com/seleise

Thanks for stopping by my blog and have a wonderfully creative day!

Rosette Snowman Gift Tag (or Banner Piece)

Do you ever have an idea simmering in the back of your mind for a card/craft idea and when you sit down at the craft table and start creating you hope it works out as you see it in your head? I do that all the time and well...sometimes (many times) it just doesn't work out. LOL! But, this time it DID!!! I love when a plan comes together! I was thinking "rosettes are big right now and they're fun to make and I love snowmen so why not combine them all together?" Here you go...

This is a 4 1/4" X 5 1/2" size gift tag. It's perfect for your big Christmas packages, tied around a bottle of wine or it can even be the start to a Christmas banner. It would even look great just hanging on it's own.

So, how do you make it? Take a 3/4" X 8 1/2" of sugar cardstock. Score every half inch and then flip it over and score every 1/4" in-between your 1/2" scores. Why flip it 180 degrees? This is so you get mountain and valley folds. Accordion fold your piece and when you have it all pre-folded, trim off one 1/4" piece from the end. Then tape the ends together. By cutting off 1/4" piece, you'll have an end that tucks perfectly into the valley of your accordion fold. Push the center of your circle towards the table and you'll have a beautiful little rosette. Hot glue the rosette to a small circle base and set aside. This is the head.

Take two 1 1/2" X 11" strips. Score each at 1" and flip 180 and score the 1/2". You don't need to trim any ends off of these pieces as the mountains and valleys work out evenly. :) Tape the two strips together and finish the rosette as listed above. This is the body.

Spray both the head and the body with the Stardust Finishing Spray to get that pretty shimmery finish. Cut a nose from a piece of orange cardstock. Add some bling for eyes and buttons or use googly eyes and buttons or use cardstock or whatever.

For the scarf, I used the Cherry felt. Wow - this stuff is AWESOME! So thick and nice. It's really a good quality felt. Cut some fringe on each end of the 1/2" X 8 1/2" felt. Use felt scraps to assemble a hat.

The base is kraft cardstock (edges trimmed off to make a tag shape and a hole punched in the middle of the top) with Snow Crystals stamped all over in cherry ink. A sponge dauber worked perfectly for distressing the edges. Add cherry grosgrain ribbon for the hanger.

As you can see from the side view, the head is popped up since it's a little narrower. Assemble everything - you can even tie the "scarf" if you choose - and you're done. :) What do you think?

All products, except for the larger "bling", are A Muse Studio (a│s). You can shop securely anytime on my shopping site at www.amusestudio.com/seleise

Check back soon for more of my December class projects! Have a wonderfully creative day!

Joy - Believe - Rejoice Banner

Before we get into the banner, check out the lovely *ahem* dusty lavender linen-like background. That's my cube wall in the cube farm where I work. It doesn't show off the banner to the best advantage but I wanted a photo before I delivered it so... :)

Now we can focus on the banner. This uses two TAC stamp sets, some shimmer paper and embossing powder. Can't go wrong with that combo!! I made a few of these in four different colors for the craft fairs. I love embossing and especially love the cream on the bright shimmers. It's the little things that make us happy. :)

Have a wonderfully creative day!

Graduation Snow Globe

Here's a fun take on a graduation card. Yep, I'm in a graduation mood, I guess. :) And, yep, that's a snowglobe! *wink*

I love snowglobes so decided to see what else would make cool snowglobe items besides the traditional wintery things. Here's my take on a graduation hat snowglobe. I took the (a│s) snow globe die and cut out the globe in vanilla and the base in onyx woodgrain. Then, I took the hat from con-GRAD-ulations in Memento ink and stamped it up and down and all around on the vanilla piece. I should have put a few gathered at the base to look like the globe had just been "shaken" and was starting to settle back in but that just occurred to me so not so helpful. :) I wanted the "snow" effect so decided to go back to the versamark/embossing powder option. I pressed the versamark pad all over the globe and then added the diamond embossing powder. Hit it with a heat gun until all the embossing powder was melted and assembled the card. The base is vanilla with onyx and cherry on top. The sentiment was added and then the globe.

Time to play with some more options. :)

All products are A Muse Studio (a│s): www.amusestudio.com/seleise

Have a wonderfully creative day!!!

Simple and Quick Graduation Card

The A Muse Studio (a│s) stamp set "Con-grad-ulations" is an awesome stamp set for graduation cards. It has everything you need - a great saying, a big ole "conGRADulations", a graduation hat and a diploma. It's AWESOME!!! You can design cards so many different ways and can combine it with so many different papers that it will make you seem like it's a new set every time you make graduation cards. That's an awesome stamp set!

I got invited to a graduation party and I picked up a little gift but it occurred to me during lunch that I hadn't made a card. OOPS! I needed to get back to work so I took some pre-cut supplies that I had in my stash and got busy. Two labels 3 nestie cut-outs, a│s onyx polka dot paper and a│s cherry ink. One quick note, if you haven't tried the a│s inks, you are missing out. The coverage and the colors are FANTASTIC!!!

 I love, love, love this sentiment. It's so true!!!And, don't you love the red, black and cream combo? I especially love the red cut-out on the onyx polka dot. :)

I don't have the onyx a│s ink yet so I used palette for the hats. I didn't get the best coverage so hit them with the stardust gel pen and added some shimmer. Because everything was cut, this card took less than five minutes. You can never go wrong with this color combo and having a stamp set with everything you need made it even easier. :)

What do you think?

Have a wonderfully creative day!

Cool Yule "Snow" Ornament

I'm still here!!! Made it through the last craft fair and have been trying to finish up special orders and Christmas orders so please forgive the time between posts. I hope to get back on track soon. :)

Tis the season to make merry and give gifts. Here's a fun little gift that can be modified in so many different ways to fit so many different interests of the recipient. I sold these at the craft fairs with snowmen on polka dot backgrounds and trees on music backgrounds. I love snow globes so decided they'd be a fun as an ornament too. :)

How do you make it? Start with a favor tin and use some vintage sheet music or patterned paper to make a background - use a nesties circle or circle punch to get the round shape. Stamp and cut out a tree from A Muse Studio Cool Yule and the sentiment too. Add some spica glitter pen to shimmer it up. Pop up the tree and then double-pop up the sentiment to create layers. Punch a couple of hole in the top with your crop-a-dile, add a button detail to cover the holes and add some button love to the ornament. Then put in a pinch of fake snow for the "snow globe" effect" and glue the tin shut. You could do these as wedding favors or gifts for your church choir or as tags on your Christmas gifts or so much more. Have fun playing!!!

Have a wonderfully creative day!!!
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Top 10 Must Haves

Here are the Top 10 Must Have Items and they're on SALE!!! woo hoo!!!
www.amusestudio.com/seleise (#1379)

Retiring List

The following stamps are being retired from the A Muse Studio product line. If there's any that you want, grab them before they're gone because when they're gone. They're gone for good!
www.amusestudio.com/seleise (#1379)