A Very Last-Minute Gift Card Holder (with a video!)

Hey everybody! Merry Christmas Eve Eve! Happy 4th night of Hanukkah! :)

I wanted to get in one last project share before Christmas. Hope you enjoy this fun little quick-and-easy gift card holder!




Merry Merry! <3

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!

Paper-Piecing-Palooza

(LOL I know, I know, that's a wicked lame title.)

In honor of the previews beginning for Lawn Fawn's October release (it looks amazing - check it out!), I finally busted out the second stamp set I bought from their September release, Cozy Christmas. Also, after everybody else is totally over it, I finally *finally* received the Cosmo Cricket Mitten Weather items that I ordered a billion years ago! So I decided to combine them. Word to the wise: Don't try to paper piece the stockings in this stamp set. They're teeny-tiny! There's a third stocking that I didn't end up using - an adorable striped on that I got halfway through before I gave up because I was going crazy and blind! :)

This is an über-simple card I made using Hero Art's So Thankful set and Lily Bee Designs' new Catching Fall collection. I got all three of the new paper collections - plus they have cardstock stickers, chipboard buttons, and a 12x12 sheet of rub-ons. (I was actually somewhat disappointed that the rub-ons are so big, because many of my fave sentiments are too big to use on a card). The designs of the papers are so beautiful and the details are really nice. My favorite are the two (count 'em, two!) text print snowflakes in the Christmas Town collection.

Here's a close-up of the turkey. I ended up embossing the outline using a Ranger Embossing Pen and black embossing powder, because it was hard to see the black ink on the dark brown cardstock.

safe to say I'm obsessed?

:-D

I am seriously loving Stampendous Christmas stamps! I can't even believe how wonderful these images are!

Supplies: stamp - Stampendous Cling Snuggle Season; patterned paper - Cosmo Cricket Matilda mini-deck; cardstock - Pure Luxury by Gina K. Designs, Neenah ivory, Bazzill white

Close-up :)

(Are you squealing yet?)

Here's a card I made using the Holiday Wishes set... I wasn't sure what to do with it at first, but now I'm thinking the best thing is to use the sentiments as focal images.

Supplies: stamps - Stampendous Christmas Wishes; patterned paper - October Afternoon; cardstock - Pure Luxury by Gina K. Designs, Neenah white
 
I colored the holly with Copics to frame out the card.

If you happen to get this stamp set, I don't really recommend trying to cut out the bits of holly - They're soooo tiny! :)

A Matryoshka nativity! How do they come up with this?!

Supplies: stamps - Stampendous Cling Nested Nativity, Gina K. Designs Blessed is the Season, Glory to God by Stampabilities; cardstock - Pure Luxury by Gina K. Designs (red), Stampin' Up (ivory); embossing powder - Queen's Gold by Ranger

(Sorry about the wonky angle!)

     

For now I just stamped the image and embossed it in gold. Then I masked it and stamped the scripture stamp from Blessed is the Season (Gina K. Designs) in red. But I can't wait to color this stamp!... I think I might need to pick up a couple new Copics though - not sure I want to put Mary in crayon colors! :)

I don't really know what I was thinking making two cards with embossing in this crazy, sticky, humid heat that's suddenly hit us. But I was so inspired by a card that Jennifer McGuire made with some new Hero Arts ornament stamps, and my buddy Cliff the mailman brought me the gorgeous Ornament Greetings set from Stampendous this morning, so... :)

I used some of the vintage sheet music I got from ebay for another project. (I'll share that one soon I hope!) I scrumpled it all up and rubbed on some Old Paper Distress Ink... and I don't really love how it looks. But that's ok. How gorgeous are those stamps??!?! :)

Thanks for stopping by!

tricks and treats!

ETA: It finally stopped raining here, so I was actually able to get some half-way decent photos of these cards. They're still not stellar... Man, I need a new camera! :)

I'm pretty sure Stampendous's Costume Kids stamp set is THE cutest thing I've ever seen! And I just happened to get Cosmo Cricket's Matilda mini-deck in the same envelope as the stamps! :) They're both cute and kid-like and whimsical so they go perfectly together.

This little vampire was just begging me to paper piece his cape :)

And how adorable is this paper?

Here's the whole card...

The set also includes precious little girl in her kitty costume. I wanted to color her orange, but I only have a small selection of oranges and yellows and I knew I'd have to use them on her pumpkin pail. So I chose to use two Warm Grey markers and smudge them around with my blender pen. And, I'm so psyched I *finally* got Spellbinders large and small classic oval Nestabilities! Have to say, actually, I'm a little disappointed that they don't go a little larger... I've already run into two Christmas stamps I was planning to use with them that don't fit :( But I'm still pretty darn psyched to have them!

 
Oh, and check out those cute little mice in the background paper! :)

The mini-deck includes a really fun paper with black and charcoal clouds with a little moon in the corner. I stink at "scene" cards, but I couldn't resist trying to combine that paper with the vampire. I definitely feel like this card is missing something, but I don't hate it.

I stopped in at the store where I'm selling my cards a couple days ago. It looks like I sold 9 cards in 9 days! So I have to try really hard to set aside Halloween and Christmas for a little while and get some fall-ish-looking "everyday" cards made to get me through September. My goal is to get 20-25 Halloween cards out on October 1st, 20-25 Thanksgiving cards out November 1st, and 20-25 Christmas/Hanukkah/Solstice cards out December 1st and have that be it for the store. Add to that another 20+ Christmas cards as well as all my other paper and fabric items for the craft fair I'm doing on November 20 ... which is now officially less than 3 months away!! ... Needless to say, it's a little daunting. I think I need to figure out a way to get myself a little better organized and set some more specific goals!

So, I hope you're having a great weekend! Thanks for stopping by!

I'm DeLirious over DeLovely!

... well Ok. Maybe not delirious. But I do like this collection quite a bit - it's Delectable, Deluxe, and Delicious! Ok, Ok, I'll stop. But first, I just have to make sure... you DO know Cole Porter, right? He's the one who wrote the song DeLovely. Good song. If you haven't seen the 2004 movie named after the song, with Kevin Kline as Cole Porter, you should really check it out. The soundtrack is amazing. Great crafting music :)

Here are a few more cards I've made with the line.

(Sorry this one is so similar to the one I showed you in my last post!)

I ADORE how this one turned out! I'm not sure why the picture looks so washed out (both pictures really), as it looks awesome in my iPhoto. Oh well. Anyway... I used the DeLovely cardstock stickers sheet for this one - not an item I generally purchase for Cosmo Cricket collections, but this time, on a whim, I actually grabbed it on ebay :) The stripe above the pink paper is made with two border stickers, and a Martha Stewart felt ricrac border between them. The "best friends" label is another sticker... I learned recently you can use a sticker as a dimensional element by dusting cornstarch across the back to remove the stick (thank you Kristina Werner fans!). I was certain I was going to ruin the sticker, but I tried it and it worked brilliantly! I punched holes in the centers of the flowers, threaded the ribbon through, and stuck it on with foam adhesive. Then I added a little bling with Stickles and a My Mind's Eye rhinestone. Awesome!