PTI Make It Monday #33

I look forward to the new Make It Monday video every single week but I either don't have the opportunity or the appropriate supplies to play along. This week, I'm just sneaking it in under the wire before the 34th challenge rolls in tomorrow :)

This "frosted image" technique is so fun, but I couldn't get my images to smudge quite as much as I would have liked. Maybe because I can't for the life of me find a white pigment ink pad that actually works? Who knows. I still think it's a perfect technique to add brightness and depth to these pine branches.

Thanks for checking out my second post today! :) See ya next time!

Papertrey September Blog Hop Challenge

Perfect timing on this month's PTI blog hop... My stamps from the new release just arrived a few days ago, and I had the whole day with nothing specific to do!

This month's hop is a photo challenge.

 {photo credit}

As soon as I saw this photo I knew exactly what I wanted to do. Since I've been dying to use the new Christmas stamps from the September release, I knew I was going to be using Candy Cane Christmas (stripes) to make a stamped background (repetition) in all these awesome colors. Here's my card...

I have to be honest and say I'm a little disappointed with my finished card, mostly because of the limitations of my ink collection. I love the combination of colors in the inspiration photo, and I did my best to match them from the options I have.

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you had a great weekend! :)

Inky Fingers Team First Blog Hop

This is so exciting - it's my A Muse Studio team's first ever blog hop! You should be hopping over from Carla's blog... I hope you're having fun! If not, head over to our upline Liz's blog to start at the beginning.

The theme of our blog hop is Autumnal Splendor. I've been really into non-card projects recently, so I thought I'd show you how you can use the awesome new items from the A Muse Holiday Catalog for some great home decor items! :)

I used the Classic Tags die set to cut tags from Sleepy Hollow cardstock (I love this stuff!). I used fall color Distress Inks to do some acrylic block stamping for the background, and then stamped images from the Too Cute to Spook stamp set in Staz-On black ink.

Then I just tied all the tags on baker's twine, used pushpins to attach it to my mantel, and added some faux leaf garlands from my local discount store! Super simple, super cute!

So now you're off to Tobey's blog! Get on over there and check out what she's got! :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Fall Felt Boutonniere

Hello friends! Happy September!

Can you believe it's September?! Where did the summer go? This is such a bittersweet time of year, isn't it? Here on Cape Cod, we're happy to have things quiet down a bit. But I'll miss the warm weather, and I still hope to get in another trip to the beach. Still, I have to say I'm looking forward to fall.

I've been having so much fun playing with A Muse Studio's new felt. I haven't even used it on a card yet because my mind has just been so full of fun ideas! For starters...

I used the new Autumn Acorns die from Papertrey Ink to make this fall boutonniere. And I borrowed Maile Belles' awesome idea of turning a button into an acorn. I mean, come on... What goes together better than felt and buttons? :)

And check out my cutie hubs! He was such a good sport, letting me dress him up and take tons of pictures. Love him!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great Labor Day Weekend!

Anything that ends in PALOOZA has to be good!

Hello friends! I hope you'll excuse my more-than-a-month long blogging hiatus... it sure has been busy around here this summer! But now I'm back, because...

Today is the day we've all been waiting for!! :-D The *BRAND SPANKIN' NEW* A Muse Studio Holiday 2011 catalog is now live! TONS of new product is now available to you! (And is also available for us consultants to order more than one of! Wink wink!) Trust me, folks, you are going to LOVE the new options. Of course, there are new stamp sets but there are also 2 new colors, beyond adorable new dies, glitter, embossing powder, baker's twine and... drum roll, please... Hello, FELT! :)

*swoon*

Go ahead and check it out at my webstore.


ALSO - today is the very first day of A-Muse-A-Palooza! This fantastic event will run until September 30, and will feature extra-awesome hostess rewards and great deals on products!

To celebrate, I've made a card featuring one of the new stamp sets and one of my all-time-fave techniques for fall leaves. Check out my video to see how I did it!

Supplies used in this video are by A Muse Studio and are available at my webstore:
- Stamps: Fresh Foliage
- Inks: French Roast, Cranberry, Papaya, Buttercup, Grass, Fern, Memento Tuxedo Black
- Cardstocks: Sugar, Pumpkin, Fern
- Other: clear blocks, Stamp-a-Ma-Jig, Tombow Adhesive Dots tape runner, small sponge daubers

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope your week is marvelous!

0 for 4

We're not even a month into the 52 Lists project and I have not kept to my schedule once! Oops! :)

Week 3 started on Father's Day, so the theme was things I learned from my dad. This was WAY harder for me than it should have been. That's what I'm loving so much about this project... It really is making me think about my life in ways I don't usually do.

Here's my list.

The theme for Week 4 was my wishlist. This is literally never ending and could have turned into a really shallow exercise that only made me feel bad about my life, so I decided to narrow my focus a little bit and write my wishlist for July. Check it out.

Hope you're having a great week!

4th of July Treat Bag Tutorial

** Click here for my A Muse Studio Creative Consultants July Blog Hop post. **

** Click here for my Young Crafters Unite Blog Hop post. **

Happy Fourth of July!

I'm taking a quick break from the festivities (our awesome hometown parade this morning, family picnic this afternoon) to share a quick and fun project with you. I am in love with these goody bags made from envelopes - they're so versatile for any celebration!

I used the supplies I still had on my desk from making my A Muse Studio blog hop project, and made a cute little rosette to go on the front.

And, just in case you aren't familiar with the technique for turning an envelope into a goody bag (I mean, come on. It's brilliant!) ... here's a quick video tutorial for you. Enjoy!

July A Muse Studio Creative Consultant Blog Hop

** Looking for the Young Crafters Unite blog hop? Click here to see my post! **

Can you believe it's already July?! We have officially made it through half of 2011 - Wow! I hope you're having a great Independence Day Weekend. Thanks for joining us again this month for some amazing A Muse Studio inspiration!

You should have hopped over from Vanessa Buzard's blog. If not, please check out Samantha's blog to start at the beginning of the hop - You wouldn't want to miss out on any of the fun, would you? :)

Our theme this month is Red, White, and Blue. A fave color combination in this household year round! I'm especially drawn to less traditional takes on the combo - don't get me wrong, I love a good lipstick-white-cobalt, or cranberry-ivory-navy. But throw a little turquoise or coral into the mix? Yeah, that's the stuff!

So I decided to stray a little from my beaten path and whip up an invitation. I printed the party info on vellum (make sure to let it dry for a good long time so it won't smear!) and secured it with a cute grosgrain bow at the top.

I used masking and emboss resist on the cardstock under the vellum to create a subtle frame for the text.

I pulled out every color and pattern of red and blue A Muse cardstock and cut out a bunch of stars to layer. I don't have the A Muse Studio Star Trio dies (yet!) - so I hand cut all those stars! I think the end result was worth it. I also added some pearls and rhinestones that I colored with Copic markers.

Here's a little bit of a better view of the emboss resist frame. Cute, huh? :)

And now you're off to Lianne Vigil's blog! Have fun!

Supplies used in this card can be found at my A Muse Studio webstore.

Happy 4th! 

Young Crafters Unite! :)

Welcome Welcome Welcome to the Young Crafters Unite Blog Hop! Isn't this exciting? :)

If you're here from Jess Larsen's blog, then you're in the right place! If you've come across my blog by another way, I highly suggest you head on over to the Young Crafters Unite homepage and start at the beginning. This hop is huge and it's jam-packed with amazing talent. Plus, every comment you leave on the participating blogs (through July 4th) will increase your chances to win prizes from Lawn Fawn, Simon Says Stamp, and Paper Smooches. Sweet!

What makes me a Young Crafter is pretty much the obvious: I'm young, and I'm a crafter. I'm also still (yes, still) relatively new to the world of contemporary paper crafting, and I like to think of myself as something of an apprentice (in that I'm learning from them, not that I aspire to take over for them!) to "the greats," which, in my opinion, includes amazing ladies like Kristina Werner, Jennifer McGuire, Stephanie Howell, and Lisa Spangler (just to name a few!). 

For my hop project, I wanted to do something really exciting. (Well, ok, at least it's exciting to me. I hope you agree. lol.) The theme of the hop is My Favorite Things, and I have to admit I was a little bit stumped by this at first. My original plan was to wander around my craft space and choose, say, 10 of the items I'm loving the most lately, and then make a card with them. But I thought that might be too risky. So I decided to interpret the theme a little differently...

Let me be honest with you here for a moment. Lately, there have been a lot of things in my life that I'm not so thrilled about. But I'm working on it. I'm working on being happier, being more motivated, and enjoying my journey. And along with that theme, two of my favorite things right now are challenging myself and setting goals. So here are the challenges I set out to accomplish with this project:
     1. Document more of my everday life.
     2. Try out more scrapbooking.
     3. Use my Studio Calico kits.
     4. Allow a project to take more than one sitting. Don't feel the need to finish now, or rush through
         things.

So, without further ado (aka my propensity for blah blah blah), here's my project...

I'd seen a few of these accordion envelope mini-albums in various places online (most recently this beyond-amazing one that was featured on the October Afternoon blog), but I couldn't find a tutorial for them. So I decided to challenge myself to figure it out :)

Each "page" is an envelope where you can tuck photos, journaling, and memorabilia. The envelopes themselves are decorated, giving space to glue things in a more traditional scrapbook fashion.

I also made some little inserts to make more room for journaling, making lists, and gluing treasures.

Now, because I couldn't find a tutorial for this type of book, I decided to make one! Ok, two actually :) But since this has already been a very long post, and I'm sure you're anxious to get back a-hoppin', I'll let you know that the next stop on the hop is Brittney Baker's blog. I can't wait to see what she's created! And don't forget to comment along the way!

For those of you interested in how I made this mini-album, you can watch my videos below. Part 1 is about the inside, and Part 2 shows how I made the covers. Thanks for stopping by!

52 Lists, Week 2

{oops}

I guess I forgot to post my Week 2 List on Saturday, huh?

Oh well.

The Week 2 Theme was "things I learned from traveling." Well, I haven't had the good fortune to travel much - YET! - but I have spent at least a weekend in Maine pretty much every summer of my life. So I decided to use those trips as my inspiration.

Here's my list.