June Creative Consultant Blog Hop

It's that time again... another month! It's June and summer is a-comin' in! :)

If you've come from Sarah Callahan's blog - Welcome! If you've come here another way, I highly suggest you head over to Samantha Kania's blog to start at the beginning of the hop.

For this month's A Muse Studio Creative Consultant Blog Hop, the challenge was to create our own patterned paper. I showed you a card a little while back where I did this by stamping randomly all over a piece of cardstock, so I thought I'd do something a little different for this challenge. And, with Father's Day coming up, I wanted to make a masculine card.

I used my scoring board to score a line at every 1/2 inch on the diagonal of my cardstock, and then I flipped it around and scored the other way to create the lattice pattern. Then I took my sanding block and lightly sanded off the top layer of where the cardstock is raised from the scoring.

 You can also achieve a similar look by sanding over cardstock you've embossed using texture plates or embossing folders. A Muse Studio cardstock is so awesome for techniques like this because it has a white core. If you don't want the sanded areas to be white, you can always sponge ink over them or use a marker to color just those areas. (Jennifer McGuire did a really great video on this.)

Next on the hop is Kari Bell's blog. Go on ahead and check it out! I'll catch up with you soon; I can't wait to see what everyone else has made! :)

All the supplies used on this card project are from A Muse Studio, and can be purchased through my webstore at www.amusestudio.com/annakeyes.
- solid cardstock in Grass, Orange, Kraft, Sugar
- lawnmower and sentiment stamps from "Hey, Man"
- zig-zag border stamp from "Mad for Plaids"
- pigment ink in Grass
- Memento Tuxedo Black ink
- sanding block
- other: Copic markers, scoring board and stylus, dimensional adhesive

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Happy Easter!

To all my Christian friends, I hope you have a lovely day full of family, friends, and good food!

This is the card I made to send to my grandmother in Michigan. Note the Epic Stamp-A-Ma-Jig Sentiment Fail. I still have no idea what happened, but I just couldn't make the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig work properly for me on anything I made that evening! 

Mr. Roboto

I've been playing with the Sushi and Wasabi set from A Muse Studio, and that Styx song has been stuck in my head on and off for days! :)

All materials from A Muse Studio, and available at my webstore:
- solid cardstock in Blush, Sage, and Sugar
- patterned cardstock in woodgrain (I used a scrap of the old A Muse woodgrain cardstock from my stash. The new stuff is just as cute, but a little bit lighter in color.)
- pigment inks in Grass, Bubblegum, and French Roast
- "Sushi and Wasabi" stamp set
- pearl stickers in Sugar
- Woodgrain Background stamp
 

I inked the branch stamp in French Roast ink, and then "kissed" it against the Woodgrain Background stamp to create the texture of the tree bark. (I love that the A Muse Studio inks are pigment inks because they stay wet longer so you can do a lot of great techniques with it! If you're not familiar with the kissing technique, stay tuned for a video tutorial in the not-too-distant future.) I used a Copic marker to color some of the Sugar pearl stickers so they would coordinate with the pink flowers.

All materials from A Muse Studio, and available at my webstore:
- solid cardstock in Fern, Sage, and Sugar
- polka dot cardstock in Cherry
- Memento Tuxedo Black Ink
- "Sushi and Wasabi" stamp set
- other: Sakura Stardust Pen, various Copic and watercolor markers
 

I absolutely love the sentiment on this card! So cute! (Except it kind of bugs me that the comma after the first line is completely unnecessary! - Sorry A Muse!) Nothing too fancy on this card... I just colored in the stamped image with a combination of various Copic and watercolor markers, and added a little glitter to the centers of the sushi.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope your week went by faster than mine did! :)

Video Tutorial: Glitter Tips

Welcome to the first regular installment of my weekly video tutorial featuring A Muse Studio! You will find a new video posted here on my blog, and over at my YouTube channel every Sunday.

This week's video features a birthday card from start to finish. It also includes some easy tips for working with glitter, and a fool-proof way to tie ribbon that comes out perfectly every time!

Watch video below, or watch on YouTube.

All materials from A Muse Studio, and available at my webstore:
- solid cardstock in Orange, Sky, and Sugar
- pigment ink in Orange
- Memento Tuxedo Black ink
- cake stamp from "A Very Merry Un-Birthday"
- birthday wishes stamp from "Contemporary Greetings"
- polka dot border stamp from "Polka Dot Patterns"
- Copic Markers in Y11, B00, Y17, YR16, E40 (Note: E40 not available from A Muse Studio)
- stitched grosgrain ribbon in Sky
- Tombow Adhesive Dots Tape Runner
- Sakura Quickie Glue Pen
- Diamond Glitter
- 3D foam adhesive

P.S. I want you to know I do realize how long my first two videos have been, and I promise to work on this. Filming this video went by so fast I really thought it would be way shorter! The whole thing - believe it or not! - was close to 25 minutes! I will work on restricting my yammering and try to apply my tape runner faster :)

Hope your weekend was marvelous! Is it Spring yet where you are?

playing catch-up + some exciting {news!}

Hey everybody!

I'm trying to keep the words to a minimum on this post, but please **be sure to read all the way to the bottom for some exciting news!!**

I've got a handful of projects to share with you tonight - things that have just been sitting on my shelf waiting to be photographed and posted :)

First up...

So, it's a week late, but this is my attempt at Tiffany Johnson's Sketchy Sunday TG012. This was a hard sketch for me! It was adorable in my head, but I can't decide how I feel about the actual card.

This one was made with Cosmo Cricket's new Upcycle line and a super adorable Whiff of Joy stamp. And the sentiment (I forget where it's from) is so cute - it says "You'll always be my friend... you know too much!" Love it!

And last but not least...

I made this one using some of the new Papertrey Ink yummies from the last release. A dear friend of mine is in graduate school right now studying to be a nurse practitioner. It's been really stressful and a lot of work for her. We don't talk or see each other as much as I'd like, but I've been thinking a lot about her lately and wanted to send her a cheery treat for her to find in her mailbox. Hence the bright colors. I also made some of her fave yo-yo flowers out of some fabric another friend brought back from Africa and glued them onto a barrette.

I used the PTI button card die stamped with Hero Arts' Friends Definition stamp for the backing. The barrette itself is very curved - much more than any other barrette I've seen! - so it warps the card quite a bit, but it's still a cute and easy packaging option.

So that's what I've been up to lately. Now, are you ready for the exciting news?!?!! I'm sure many of you are familiar with a company called A Muse Art Stamps. Well, they've renamed their company and are joining the direct home sales market. They are now A Muse Studio, and their stamps are just as adorable as ever, but now you can only order them from a Creative Consultant. And guess what? I am one! :) I'm so excited to be starting on this journey with an amazing company. And I've got grand things planned for my blog, including a video tutorial series! (I'm so excited about all the awesome ideas going through my head... my sleep schedule is really suffering! LOL) The A Muse Studio button at the top of my sidebar will take you directly to my webstore, where you can order stamps, cardstocks, inks, and more, or book a party 24/7! Webstores won't be available until April 1st, though, so in the meantime, I hope you'll click on the picture of the awesome Catalog and Inspiration Guide and take a look at everything they have to offer! I'll be back on the first with a super-cute celebratory video tutorial. And then be sure to check out my new friend Samantha Kania's blog on April 2nd (that's this Saturday) - She'll be kicking off a blog hop with lots of ideas from Creative Consultants all over the country!

So, friends, I hope you had a great weekend! I look forward to sharing A Muse Studio with you!

Luau Invitations

Hello and Happy Friday!

Just a quick post tonight to share the invitations I made for my former boss's daughter's 5th birthday party. It's a Hawaiian theme - so cute! :)

I used almost exclusively Papertrey Ink products on these. This was a great excuse to *finally* purchase Dawn McVey's fantastic Aloha stamp set. I used Hawaiian Shores cardstock and ribbon, Orange Zest and Hibiscus Burst ribbons, and the closest coordinating Copics in my stash. My hubby helped me print the details on the cards. You can't really see it in the photo, but I also used Hero Arts's amazing Envelope Background stamp on the fronts of the cards.

Have a great weekend, folks! :)

{little one}

Lawn Fawn's new Plus One stamp set has to be my favorite new stamp set in a long time. I have loved random things with cute little smiley faces ever since elementary school classrooms decorated in Carson-Dellosa products! :) The images are so clever and I love how all the sentiments are separate and can be combined into so many different options.

(Sorry about the weird angles here. I got the light just right on my bookshelf and I didn't notice how weird the angle looked!)

I litterally cannot get over how much I love this image! I mean, come on! It's a bun in an oven! Seriously! The instant I saw this stamp, I knew I wanted to color the oven 1950s retro turquoise, and now I'm not sure I'll ever color it any other way! :) Plus, I really like unexpected color combos for baby cards (cutesy works well when combined with sophisticated), and I just happened to have Copic markers that matched this My Mind's Eye Stella and Rose papers. (That doesn't happen very often!)

This one's a little more "traditional" for a baby card, and very simple. I love how the button looks, but it's super dimensional and not really mail-friendly. Love the ribbon from a recent Studio Calico kit - totally inspired the gender-neutral yellow theme.

Funny coincidence: I've gotten really into making rag quilts recently (via this amazingly simple tutorial) - I call it cheating because it's so not quilting. I made one using pre-cut, pre-coordinated Minkee fabric (feels like an expensive stuffed animal!) and then I made another one (turned out way bigger than I expected!) out of flannel my mom had been saving from when she made my jammies when I was little. This technique lends itself so well to baby quilts (crib quilts or "tummy time" mats), and now I've got the cards to go with... Now if only I knew someone who was having a baby! :)

Thanks for stopping by!

StampTV Thursday Sketch 10/14

This was another tough one for me... so different from what I usually do! I really wanted to change it up somehow, but I challenged myself to stick to the sketch! Except I flipped it. Oh, and forgot it was supposed to be square. Oops! :)

This was also my first time using the new Gina K. Designs set Buds and Vases, illustrated by Melanie Muenchinger. I've never Copic colored glass before, and I wasn't exactly sure what I was doing!

Here's the sketch...

And here's my card...

Hope your week's gotten off to a great start!

Penny Black + Get Sketchy + a review

Today I want to share with you my thoughts about a new product that may interest any Copic colorers out there: X-Press It Blending Card. But I wanted to share my cards first in case you don't feel like reading today. :)

I've already shared one card I made with my very first Penny Black stamp set, Jolly Friends. I fell in love with their precious hedgehogs... but I have no idea how to color them! So I started with the mice and the snowman. Here are the other 2 cards I made with this adorable set.

(You can't really see in this photo, but I created an embossed frame by scoring at 1/4" all around the perimeter of the white mat.)

The next card is one I made for the Get Sketchy Challenge #59.

Now, Nichol Magouirk recently mentioned on her blog that she'd found a cardstock specifically designed for Copic coloring, called X-Press It Blending Card. I've been having a lot of issues with my coloring on Neenah Solar White cardstock, so I really wanted to try this new product out. I'd previously used Gina K. Designs Pure Luxury Heavy Baseweight cardstock and really liked how the Copics behaved with it; however, if you colored too many layers it would sort of bead up and not blend properly. I found a 10-pack of the Blending Card on ebay for a good price, and decided to give it a go. My first 3 cards using Penny Black stamps were all colored on it. Let me tell you, if you do any Copic coloring, you must try this product! It is so smooth and just really enjoyable to color on. Nothing bled or smudged or "overflowed the dam" as my Copic guru Jenn said. Nothing, no matter how many layers of shading and blending I added. Not even the dark red. That's a big deal. I did a lot of coloring with my Colorless Blender to get a subtle gradient of color on the mice and to shade the snowman. Eventually, the paper where I was coloring the brown mouse's face did start to tear and pill just a little bit, but I'd already said to myself probably five times that he was done and I should just have left well enough alone. :) So that's just something to be aware of. Another thing I found is that this cardstock smudges and shows little bits of dirt and schmutz really easily. So just make sure your desk and your fingers are clean and be careful if you're doing any ink sponging.

If you're lucky enough to have had a three-day weekend for Columbus Day, I hope you had lots of fun! Thanks for stopping by!

StampTV Center Stage Blog Hop

Over at StampTV, the Center Stage Spotlight designer alumni have coordinated a blog hop using a sketch. I decided to play along.

Here's the sketch:

And here's my card:

Supplies: Cardstock - Neenah; Patterned Paper - My Mind's Eye (Alphabet Soup collection); Stamps - Gina K. Designs (Teatime); Misc. - Sakura Stardust pen (for the "gold leaf" on the teacups), Copic markers, buttons (pink - Papertrey Ink, blue - Basic Grey, yellow - Cosmo Cricket), American Crafts patterned masking tape

OK, OK, so I modified the sketch a little. But it's still inspired by the sketch and all the awesome CSS Alumni creations! I meant to put the teacups closer to the top and the horizontal strips closer to the bottom. So sue me. :)

Happy World Cardmaking Day!

Hope everyone's been having a great World Cardmaking Day today! Have you been productive? I tried, but there are just too many other things to do on days off! :) I had probably 5 or 6 different card ideas swimming around in my head and I so wanted to get them all done. But hey, I got two made! :)

Sorry the photo is so grainy - It was getting dark! :)

Supplies: Cardstock - Stampin' Up (Crumb Cake); Patterned Paper - Crate Paper (Snow Day); Stamps - My Favorite Things (à la modes Miss You a Latte); Dies - My Favorite Things Die-Namics (Jumbo Scallop), Spellbinders (Classic Ovals, Classic Scalloped Ovals, Ribbon Tags Trio); Ribbon - My Favorite Things (Baby Bump Ribbons assortment); Misc - Vivid Taupe dye ink, Copics

Supplies: Stamp - Whiff of Joy (Willow with Christmas Candle); Patterned Paper - Basic Grey (Jovial collection); Ribbon - Pure Luxury by Gina K. Designs; Inks - Distress Ink (Antique Linen), Memento (Tuxedo Black and Cottage Ivy); Letter stickers - Basic Grey (Jovial collection); Misc - We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, Copic markers

P.S. God Jul means Merry Christmas in Swedish. I love this stamp from Whiff of Joy because my family always celebrates - at least sort of - a holiday called St. Lucia Day, which is sort of the start of the Christmas season in Sweden. Traditionally, the oldest daughter in the family dresses in a white gown and a wreath with candles on her head and delivers breakfast to her family. (We don't do that part.) Remember the American Girl doll Kirsten? She was a Swedish immigrant. Her Christmas outfit is for St. Lucia Day. So anyway, I thought the Swedish sentiment would be perfect for this card. Best I can tell, if you say "Good Yule" the way you think the Swedish Chef would say it, you'll be approximating the pronunciation pretty well. :)

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

horn of plenty

Just one more quick post today to show another card I made with Lawn Fawn's Harvest Season. I didn't think about this card at all while I was making it, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that the stamp set I recently lauded for its whimsy can also be used on really elegant cards :)

Happy 'Hump' Day!

squash!

Hey everybody! Just a super quick post today to show you this card I made with my *first ever* purchase from Lawn Fawn! Their latest release was just irresistible! And these stamps are amazing in person.

Supplies: Cardstock - Pure Luxury by Gina K. Designs (white), Stampin' Up (yellow, kraft); Ink - Versamark, Colorbox Chalk in Chestnut Roan; Stamps - Harvest Season by Lawn Fawn; Misc. - Labels 8 dies by Spellbinders, Stampin' Up clear embossing powder, Pure Luxury by Gina K. Designs ribbon, Copic Markers, 3M foam adhesive

I bought two of the three sets from the new release. This card uses Harvest Season, which is so adorable. I LOVE this cornucopia! My one complaint (sorry Kelly Marie!) is that I can't really tell what some of the vegetables are supposed to be, exactly. But I decided they're various types of squashes and colored them accordingly. ;) I love how perfect this set is for coloring, but it's really fun and whimsical, which is awesome because I don't have the skills or marker selection to make things look super realistic!

I haven't busted out the Christmas set yet - but I promise you'll be seeing it here very soon! :)

Hope you had a happy Monday!

ETA: Haha, it's totally Tuesday! I really had no idea! :)

StampTV Thursday Sketch 9/16

Here's the sketch for this week

And here's my card using my new Hero Arts goodies that I picked up yesterday from my LSS! :)

And... Here's another variation that I made for the Hero Arts September Challenge Contest. This is more like what I wanted to do with the square card, but I couldn't figure out where I could make room for the sentiment.

Isn't that patterned paper great! It's by Moxxie. The other side is a really pretty yellow and orange with branches and falling leaves. It will definitely make an appearance soon! :)

Oh, and in other news, while DH and I were in the "city," we bought a futon! It's a really high-quality, pocketed coil innerspring mattress - not like the junky ones you find in dorm rooms :-P We're not going to use a frame - just sleep on the floor à la Japanese. We'll probably be picking it up this weekend or early next week! :) Not sure what we're gonna do with the bed we currently have... The box spring and bedframe are perfectly fine, I'm sure, though the mattress should probably just be chucked. Technically, though, it all belongs to my parents, so it's up to them what we do with it!

Have a good weekend!

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(I'm sorry, I just can't think of a good title for this post!)

I've got two cards to share today that I made with the new StampTV kit, Autumn Splendor. I'm really loving it ... been sitting in my living room watching TV (I'm obsessed with Ghost Whisperer... just started the *last* season) and working on Copic coloring a bunch of images to have on hand. These cards are roughly based on Laura's Sketch 60 from 2 Sketches 4 You.

(The sentiment says Happy Harvest. It's easier to see in person.)

Tomorrow's Friday! Yay! Have fun! :)

StampTV Thursday Sketch Challenge

I was checking my email and facebook while I was tying my shoes to get ready for work this morning, and I saw today's Thursday Sketch Challenge at StampTV. And get this - It was pretty much the card I was planning to make this afternoon anyway! Last night I sat around watching Ghost Whisperer and I colored the flowers from the Autumn Splendor stamp set. And this afternoon I came home from work and made a card based on the sketch... I just had to slightly tweak what I was planning to begin with :)

So there are things I like about this card, and things I don't like. I totally meant to emboss the larger yellow layer with the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder - but I forgot! :( I really think it would have made the card more complete/polished, but I'm over it. (Not really, actually.) I'm not thrilled with my ink sponging - I mean, look around the stems of the flowers! Eugh. I think it's gonna take some practice at the finesse of sponging, and maybe sponging off a little more of the ink on the scratch paper first.
 But, I've got to toot my own horn for a minute here... I am so proud of the coloring on this project (which kinda makes me a little bit more upset about the crappy sponging). But seriously, I'm pretty sure this is the best Copic coloring I've managed to date! :)

So there you have it. Ooh, wouldn't it be fun if I won? :)

Thanks for stopping by!