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Monday, August 22, 2011

A*MUSE*A*PALOOZA and Holiday Catalog and Inspiration Guide


Today is the start of a fun and exciting six-week event across the country where stamps, cardstock, adhesive, glitter, and anything else craft related will be flying around everywhere!

What happens during this time, you wonder? Well...if you book a workshop with me anytime between August 22nd to September 29th, you will can earn a free exclusive hostess stamp set called Family Favorites (available only during Amuseapalooza), receive more free fabulous products than you already get with our current hostess benefits, and make projects using brand new products from the new Holiday Catalog and Inspiration Guide that just so happens to be available today as well!


Products available from Aug. 22nd - Jan. 31st

This catalog is loaded with brand new stamps set for Halloween, Christmas, and Valentine's Day along with other fun accessories! Also, there are so many new and fresh ideas that will inspire you to make projects for the upcoming holidays!

Too Cute To Spook stamp set of 20, pg. 5

This is just one of the cute stamp set in the catalog that I love! The images and sentiments are sized just perfect for making fun Halloween treats! How cute are those bats?!

Stay tuned all week on this blog for projects I make using this stamp set and other stuff from the Holiday Catalog!

To hop on board the exciting A*MUSE*A*PALOOZA choo choo train and host a card party with your friends, send me an e-mail and I'll make sure to reserve a seat with your name on it!

If you'd like your very own copy of the Holiday Catalog and Inspiration Guide, send me an e-mail as well!

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Birthday Stash of Craft Goodies!

This is gonna be a long post! I have lots to share on a fun pre-birthday day I had when I was at Paper Garden in Sacramento a few weeks back. I was there again to take a colored pencil class taught by Dave Brethauer from Memory Box Co. I've taken this particular class a few times now and I always learn something new every time! I was lucky to have taken the class again with my crafty bud, Wanda Guess. We always have so much fun chatting the class away!

Usually Dave travels solo to different stamp stores to teach but this year, he brought his whole family on tour across the U.S.!

Dave and Cooper Brethauer
(photo courtesy of Wanda G.)

Dave's son Cooper was his assistant and they both had custom polar bear t-shirts made with them names on it...so cute!

(photo by Wanda G.)

Here's a pic of me concentrating hard on coloring this bird image. I'm showing a bunch of Wanda's pics because she's always good about snapping shots and her pics are so much better anyway! Using colored pencils is so different from using Copic markers. You have to use the lightest touch at time while laying down the color on the paper. Other times, you are coloring hard to burnish the color in. It takes a lot of practice! 

After class, Wanda surprised me with a cute little kraft box containing this yummy cupcake...

(photo by Wanda G.)

It's a delicious Lemon cupcake from a local cupcakery called Esther's in Sacramento. I think their cupcakes are by far the best ones I've ever ever had! The cake batter is so dense and they are just sweet enough along with the frosting. Oh.so.yum-my!

Wanda gave me my present early and said I could open it before my birthday while we were at dinner. 


Oh my goodness...boy was I spoiled when I opened the box because all these adorable craft goodies were in there! It's always a hazard when a crafter gives another crafter a stash of craft goods because you just don't know if they already have them. Wanda somehow guessed right because I didn't have any of that! 



Here's a close-up of the birthday card she gave me. How elegant and beautiful is this card she made me?! I love the pattern paper and that cute pink pin on top of the butterfly. Check out Wanda's post on her blog for more details on how she made the card.


I really love the stamp I got from Wanda. It's so pretty and vintagey! I had to use it to make her a thank you card.


The stamp image is so pretty on its own, I didn't want to do too much with it so I tried to keep it simple. I was inspired by a card Julie Ebersole, Director of Education for a•muse | studio, made recently and posted on her blog, Paper Trufflez

For the background, I used Bristol paper to create a watercolor effect. I took a bunch of Tombow water-based markers in a•muse | studio colors and scribbled each color directly onto a big acrylic block. At first, I tried to use the Tombow Colorless Blender marker to pick up the colors from the acrylic but it wasn't wet enough to color onto surface and ended up pilling the paper. I had better luck using the medium water brush pen instead. I had better control of how much water I could squirt onto the tip. After I finished painting on the colors, I brushed over the whole area with just water. I really like how it turned out. It's just enough to give a soft yet effective background.

I stamped the image with black ink and took my handy Sakura Quickie Glue pen and outlined some of the glass bottle and some of the flower petals so I could pour Diamond Glitter all over it! It's hard to tell in the pics but it's so much more sparkly in person! I used a Stamp-a-ma-jig to position the image in the right spot. This is a must-have tool for every stamper!


You can't see it, but I used Orange Polka Dot cardstock for the card base. Inside the card, I cut a quarter sheet of Orange Gingham cardstock and stamped the image in Orange pigment ink.

I made a frame using the Labels Eight Nestabilities die for the background and image with Orange Gingham cardstock again because Wanda loves gingham pattern!

In keeping with the delicate look of the card, I used a strip of vellum and stamped the sentiment using Staz-On ink.

To finish of the card, I added some Onyx Twinkle Stickers in the middle of the flower and made a bow with Polka Dot Organdy ribbon.

I hope you made it to the end of this post! Thanks for hanging in there with me! Have a great start of this week! Summer has sure flown by, hasn't it?

On the Wing stamp set
Medium Water Brush
Stamp-a-ma-jig stamp positioner


Card Supplies:
Stamps: Sentiment from On the Wing
Ink: Orange pigment ink (a muse studio), Staz-On Jet Black, Brilliance Graphite Black
Paper: Orange Gingham, Orange Polka Dot, Bristol Pad, Vellum (cardstock weight)
Accessories: 1/4" Orange Polka Dot Organdy ribbon, Onyx Twinkle Stickers, Bermuda Pearl Stickers, 
Tools: Assorted Tombow Markers, Labels Eight Nestabilities die, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Tonic 8 1/2" Guillotine paper trimmer
Miscellaneous: Tombow Adhesive Dots Tape Runner, Foam Dimensionals

Friday, August 5, 2011

Picnic Basket Seatbelt Purse and Card

Last weekend, I celebrated a super fun birthday in San Francisco with my family. We went to Chintatown to have yummy dim sum and hung out around the city.

A few days before my actual birthday, a package arrived at my doorstep from my sister...


It's a Harvey's Picnic Basket Seatbelt Tote!!! OMG these bags are the coolest things on the market in my opinion. The bags are constructed from real seatbelt material that is very durable. I have a couple of other ones in solid colors and they are so fun to tote around!

This particular tote is a new one that Harvey's came out with that has a wicker picnic basket pattern. It gets better when you check this out...


The inside is lined with red gingham! OH SNAP!!! How adorable is THAT?! I can't stand it! This of course is my most favorite bag in my collection now! If you've never heard of Harvey's, be sure to check out their website because they have some seriously adorable bags. I'm a huge fan!

So, back to the cute thank you card I had to make for my sister...




I was so inspired by the bag she gave me that I made a basket weave tote using Papaya and French Roast stitched grosgrain ribbon. I cut a piece of cardstock (1.50 x 2.00") and used super stick tape on the back. I covered one side with ribbon strips side by side and then wove more strips to make a basket weave. I love how it turned out!

Did you notice the felt heart on there? It's a new a•muse | studio die called Heart Trio die from the new Holiday catalog and the red felt is a brand new product in there too! The felt is a wool/rayon blend and the dies cut through it like butter.


I used foam dimensionals to pop the tote up from the background. Then, I used some red gingham cardstock to tie it all in and top it off with 1/4" Cherry stitched grosgrain ribbon.


For the inside, I stamped the inside of the card using a vintage wood-mounted AMuse stamp called Tiny Hearts. 

I can't wait to get this card sent off to my sister...I think she'll like it!

Thanks for stopping by and stay tuned for another thank you card I made for my friend Wanda G.!

Have a great weekend!

If you are interested in ordering any a•muse | studio products I used, you can order them directly from my a•muse | studio webstore. If you'd like a peek at the new Holiday catalog, send me an e-mail and I'll send you a PDF file!

Card Supplies:
Stamps: Sentiment from "Just my type", Vintage Tiny Hearts stamps from A Muse (no longer available)
Ink: a|s Cherry pigment ink pad
Cardstock: Cherry Gingham, Cranberry Solid, Kraft
Accessories: Red Felt, 1/4" Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon (Cherry, Papaya, French Roast), Red Hearts Twinkle Stickers, foam dimensionals, super stick tape, Tombow Adhesive Dots Runner
Tools: a|s Hearts Trio Custom Die, 8 1/2" Tonic Guillotine paper trimmer, Scallop Circles Nestabilities,
Miscellaneous: 2 1/2" circle punch

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