Happy Father's Day!

Here's a fun and fast Father's Day card made with the Father's Day stamp set and the fishtail pennant die.

The base is mermaid with a pistachio strip near the left edge. The small pennant die was used to cut the onyx petite polka dot cardstock and then was trimmed from the top to fit on the card. The man was stamped in onyx and the tie was stamped in grape. The sugar cardstock with the image was popped up on the grape cardstock which had onyx/white baker's twine wrapped around. That was popped up over the fishtail so it was a double-popped card. See below for a side view.

Inside of the card, is the sentiment from the father's day set. Isn't it fun with the mustache? love it! It's stamped in grape. Love grape!! wonderful shade of purple. :)

So that's it, a little die cutting...a little stamping...a little smile.

All supplies can be found in my webstore: www.amusestudio.com/seleise
 
Have a wonderfully creative day!!

Watercolor Peony Sympathy

Watercolor pencils, a water brush and bristol paper make for a beautiful floral sympathy card. Stamp the peony from pretty peonies with staz-on black ink on bristol vellum smooth paper. It's a beautiful smooth surface that has a little extra weight for doing a water technique. I used a watercolor pencil to lay some color down at the folds of the flower. I recommend putting the color on pretty thick as it will wash away as you work with the water brush. Plus, you want to pull the color from the fold to the rest of the petals to create the shades and shadows. Once the flower is dry, cut it out and place on the card. The heat tool can be used to speed up the process. The harlequin background makes a wonderful background element when stamped in mushroom ink at an angle across the corner of the apple cardstock card base. Mushroom (formerly titian) leaves cut with the oval die are placed under the flower which is popped up on the card base.

Isn't mushroom and apple great together? Mushroom and Berry looks great too!

Inside, repeat the harlequin in mushroom. It creates a venetian tiled effect and adds a subtle vintage-y feel to the card.

The fonts on the stamp set This Too Shall Pass are just beautiful and the mushroom ink handles them beautifully, don't you think?

I've made variations on this - some with glitter in the middle of the flower, some with other colors. It's beautiful no matter how you make it.

All supplies can be found on my secure webstore: www.amusestudio.com/seleise

Have a wonderfully creative day!!

Make a Wish - Chalkboard Technique: CAS214

 What happens when you emboss and then stamp over the top of embossing and rub while the ink is still wet? You get the chalkboard technique (SCS CAS214 challenge). You have to have the ink pad juicy to make this look really good but isn't it amazing how much it looks like a dusty chalkboard? Of course, now with white boards and projectors, most kids probably haven't had the joy of being chosen to go outside to bang the erasers to clear them of the chalk dust. Man, I just aged myself, didn't I? lol!

Back to the card... This card features the cherry chevron, cherry, and onyx cardstocks. A cherry polka dot organdy ribbon is on the left edge of the die cut. The sentiment is from a Hostess only gift available during May. The embossing was done with a versamark pad and a muse studio white embossing powder. White staz-on is the ink that was used to stamp the sentiment again on top. You have to work fast with staz-on because it dries almost instantly. I used the edge of a paper towel to make the chalk streaks on the card.

Here's the inside - clean and simple. Another sentiment from the special hostess set. Such a fun look!

All supplies (except for the hostess set) can be purchased safely and securely in my webstore: www.amusestudio.com/seleise

Have a wonderfully creative day!

Under the Big Top Birthday

 What could be more fun than having a circus birthday card?! This one features the ringmaster colored with copics. This is from the super fun, under the big top, stamp set which is 10% off during the month of May. The card colors are from the May Spotlight pack which is 20 sheets of cardstock, 4 sheets each of five colors. This month's pack includes saffron, onyx, apple, cherry and bermuda. I added a little strip of onyx chevron because it just seemed to want to be a part of the card. I cut the card base to 3-3/4 X 11 and scored and folded it at 5-1/2". The tickets were cut out by hand but there is a ticket die that would have worked great too. I just don't have it yet. :) The onyx buttons are decorated with red twinkle stickers to add a little more color and whimsy to the card.

Since it's a circus card, you might as well have fun with the inside too. (oops - my inside is not quite straight...oops!). The saffron pieces are from what was cut off of the side of the 4-1/4" card to 3-3/4" width.

All supplies including the May spotlight special stamps (which are at the top of the stamp section in the webstore) are available online at www.amusestudio.com/seleise.

Thanks for popping by and have a wonderfully creative day!! 

Mother's Day Cards: Tea Theme - Aren't You Sweet

There's this lovely teapot/teacup stamp set in the latest a muse studio catalog, aren't you sweet. I find it charming and it makes me think of my Grammie. She had a few fancy pretty teacups that she'd gotten over the years as gifts and party prizes. When she passed away, my sister and I each got one - so special.

I love how some of the old teacups had a pinkish or tealish hue in the glaze so I tried to re-create that below with copics.I should have written down the colors but... ;)

The vintage labels 1 die makes a perfect little placemat for a tea cup. Don't you agree?

Although it's blurry, isn't this font pretty? :)

Here the vintage label makes a sweet spot for a sentiment. The scalloped border creates a "shelf" for the teapot and teacup.

www.amusestudio.com/seleise

Thanks for popping in and have a most wonderful day celebrating your mom. I hope you're as lucky to have a great mom like I do!

Hi! What's Up?

There are 11 stamp sets with matching die sets in the A Muse Studio catalog and I LOVE them! I paired the What's Up die set and stamp set with Woo Hoo for you and this is the result!

Isn't this new Berry color fabulous?!!! I LOVE it!!! I can't get enough of it. It's rich and bright and berrylicious! And, I've got it paired with the mermaid pinstripe and a little onyx border and it just makes my heart happy! I stamped the little girl from the Woo Hoo For You and decided to put her right on the berry because not everyone likes to color. So, I wanted to show that it can still be used even if you don't color it. The berry ink is the in the what's up die bubbles and the chevrons stamped over the pinstripe. Isn't that a fun idea?

Here's the inside. The what's up stamp set and matching die set would be great for scrapbooking. You could add the fun little word bubbles by your photos to add some extra fun accents! And, they would pop in a mini album!

So, that's the card for the day. Hope you enjoyed it and thanks for popping by!

Oh - and, all supplies are available in my webstore: www.amusestudio.com/seleise

Have a gloriously creative week! 

Cupcake Companion Birthday and May Spotlight and Hostess special!

oh my gosh - so long between posts... I am trying to get organized as I have a bunch of projects that need to get finished and maybe I can be more efficient if I can find everything easily. It's a good plan, right? I hope to get some photos taken (better than this - sorry!) and get more posted soon. but, for now, here's a fun and easy birthday card. Stamp the "cupcake companion" stamp set numbers in different colors layering from light to dark. You could do these in a variety of patterns, make a cool background to layer on or circle a sentiment. fun stuff. I'm going to play with some masking and may use something similar in my May class. good times!

I'll be back with some more one-layer cards one of these days. It's always good to have some of those around so they can scoot through the mail easily. :)

If you're interested in hosting a party, May is your month! All hosts and hostesses get the free "eat cake" stamp set with a qualifying party:

And, check out the May spotlight specials:

So much fun!!! Contact me if you're interested in having a party. :)

All supplies are available in my webstore:  www.amusestudio.com/seleise

Have a wonderfully creative day!