CraftyEngineer

Happy Halloween - Preschool Treats!

Happy Halloween! Let the eating season begin... Halloween to Easter! ;)

Just to catch up... I went to Seattle last weekend for A Muse instructor training. It was a blast! Got to see lots of the A Muse gals... always fun, inspiring and generally an all-around great time! I flew up a day earlier because of the way the flights worked out, etc. My dear friend, Edye flew up with me and we shopped all day Friday. All day. We hit a lot of stamp stores and paper stores and even made it down to Pikes Market for lunch. It was so much fun. On Sunday after training, I got to visit my niece Sara, who lives near Seattle and attends then University there. That was fun to catch up with her. More about the Instructor Training later... but I learned some cool tricks and I can't wait to try them in some classes!

Okay, back to Halloween... since I got back Monday evening, it's been a whirlwind of school activities, meetings, and getting geared up for Halloween. Yesterday my preschooler had a small party in his class sans mommies... he said it was fun! We made some treats for him to share with his classmates:

It's a little die cut box (made from my Accucut machine). Inside contains a little playdoh and a halloween shaped cookie cutter ($2.99 for 20 (I think) from Hobby Lobby). The pumpkin cutout is a Martha Stewart big punch (which punches well on A Muse cardstock but nothing else! - the Orange Polka Dot cardstock is from A Muse's Kitchen line)

I'll post teacher gifts soon.

Hope you have a SAFE and fun Halloween! Don't forget to set your clocks (YAY!). More time to stamp ;)

amuse bouche - Expressions of Gratitude

And here it is the last tasty morsel of this release...

 Today's featured shimmery paper is Onyx. I paired that up with the Pink Tiny damask shimmery paper. This card is 3.5x3.5. The "thanks" sentiment is probably my most favorite sentiment of this release or maybe a close 2nd. I just like it's size, font, and boldness. Good all around stamp!

You guessed it... those are white pearls on there. Fun, eh?

I wish you could see the stuff up close and personal. Oh wait, you can!!! Head on over to amuseartstamps.com today and check it out!

Have a great Friday!

amuse bouche - Fall Floribunda

My amuse-bouche is ...

Sneaking in under the wire... it's still Thursday here :)

TODAY'S peek features one of my favorite colors - yes, purple. OOH SO PRETTY. It's real name is blackberry. I love it.

I used the Solid Chrysanthemum and the Sympathy stamp again.  Both stamped in Colorbox Pigment ink (violet).

Tomorrow is the day that this goodies will be released, however, your LSS might already have them in!

Have you seen the blog giveaways going on over on the A Muse News blog? Go play. New stamps and papers and such up for grabs!

Hope your Thursday was a good one.

One more amuse-bouche coming up!

amuse-bouche: Mother Earth

Time for another amuse-bouche! More of the A Muse Stationery Release... have you seen what the other girls have done? I am in awe of their work. Such elegance.

Today's feature includes the Robin's Egg Shimmer paper among others. I am a *huge* fan of blues. More so than purple, even. I know, hard to believe. But it's true. I just don't scream blue since everyone else in my house is male and they have a claim to blue, green, red, and grey. Blech. So purple is all mine but blue is still my all-time favorite color (since I was probably 2!).

There are two shades of blue in this new shimmer paper. I used the Robin's Egg blue for a sympathy card. I little brighter than your usual sympathy card. I also used the new leaf trio stamp to accent one color and embellished with the new Robin's Egg pearls. Aren't these pearls beautiful? So fun!

And finally a sympathy stamp! Not happy for the occasion but happy that A Muse has created such an elegant one.

I tried to get a picture of the shimmer for you. So it's not a bright picture (i.e. kept my flash off, didn't edit it, etc) but at least you can see some of the shimmer.

Hope you are enjoying these sneaks!

Happy Wednesday!

 

amuse-bouche - harvest feast

Day 2 of amuse-bouche of the fabulous, elegant, beautiful, shimmery, gotta-have-some, wonderful,... Stationery Release. Do you like what you've seen so far?

It is really hard to capture the shimmer of these new papers. They shimmer quite a bit. It is heavy weight and it has a white core (i.e. the other side is white) but it shimmers too!

If I had this paper earlier this year when I made my nephew's wedding invitations, I would have used this stuff for sure. The colors are awesome.

Okay, you're here to see card #2...

So, I'm having a teensy, weensy problem using all of this beautiful paper. Honestly. I just want to hoard it. Not that I ever do that. <roll eyes>  When I made this card, I decided that I wanted to make a 3x3 card. I like that size for quick notes and such. And that way I could keep more of the paper for more projects! HA HA HA!

Three new items on my card: lime shimmer paper, mango damask shimmer paper, and a new sentiment: thank you for everything. That's just a very useful stamp! You may even see some of the shimmer in that apple paper.

Be sure to check out the other muses and the A Muse Blog for more amuse-bouche.

Have a great Tuesday!

amuse bouche - Autumn Elegance

Here it is! Day 1 of the BEAUTIFUL stationery release from A Muse Artstamps. There are so many beautiful things as part of this release. You'll have to check out the rest of the creative team's blogs to see some more Autumn Elegance. The amuse-bouche will continue all week... so come on back, ya' hear! ;)

Here is my 1st card:

My card base is the new A Muse Espresso Shimmer Paper. It is beautiful. Simply beautiful.

It's hard to tell in my picture but the maple leaf (new image!) is stamped in Copper Ink as is the new sentiment. And do you see something else that's new? PEARLS... yes, that's right. LOVELY. These are chocolate brown pearls.  

My friend, Michelle, is a big fan of Autumn. She's from PA. In Texas, we don't really have Autumn. We have "everything-is-green-then-it's-brown". Although we pretty much had a "it's always brown" because of our drought this summer. Oh well. Well, I guess that's the price to pay to not have "cold", eh?

Happy Monday! You're gonna love this release...

Stay tuned.

Quick Get Well Cards - part 1

Everyday, I seem to wake up with this quote in my head:

"Jane! Get me off this crazy thing!" from the Jetsons... do you remember the Jetsons? One of my all time fav cartoons from my childhood.

Anyway, I have been crafting some and taking the pictures but just not getting around to posting!

One of our school's teachers is out on medical leave and I volunteered to make some get well cards for various different groups of people to sign. Of course, by the time I got around to doing it, I had maybe 30 minutes to git-er-done (as Lori would say!).

I made 10 really simple cards. All using a different image but all very simple. I share all of them over the next few days.

Here is the first set:

The first one using all A Muse stamps and paper.

The second image is from the Cat's Pajamas. It's called "mummy dog" and I thought it was cute for a get well! The sentiment is from Memory Box Stamps. All paper, notecards are by A Muse Artstamps.

Hope all is well in your world and that everyone is healthy. It's a bit scary how many people are sick! Wash your hands!

Have a great day!