CraftyEngineer

Never too late to be a ROCK STAR!

I made some cards a while back with some stamps that I had laying around.

Definition: "laying around" - never put away from their initial purchase. <roll eyes>

I really liked the "rock star" sentiment. I think I got it about 4 or 5 months ago. Whoops!

Anyway, those "kid" saying stamps always crack me up.

Somehow this card made me think about my son's 2nd grade teacher. Not sure why. But it does. :)

The girl rocker is all sparkly, of course...

Busy weekend around here. Cub Scout pinewood derby races this morning, PTA fundraiser this morning, party this afternoon, party this evening... and um, a party tomorrow. And guess what? NONE of them are kid ones! YAHOO! I hope you have a great weekend!

A Muse PJ Party - Challenge #4

WOW! I've said it before and I'll say it again... A Muse PJ Parties are the fastest TWO hours of my life!

Here we are to Challenge #4...

Our host is Glenda Wyatt...

Her challenge is make a card using ONLY RED, WHITE, and BLACK.

Hmm, seems that most of my cards tonight are that color!

Here's my card:

Seems like I've made a similar card with this stamp before. Maybe. Anyway, I like the color combo. Stands out.

All products by A Muse.

Okay, that's it! I hope you had a good time. Be sure to check out the lounge for links to everyone else's creations tonight!

A Muse PJ Party - Challenge #3

And here we are to challenge #3...

That's ME! I'm the hostess for this challenge. If you read my blog earlier this week, I was rambling on and on about how I'm trying to redefine my style... so I made my challenge one that CHALLENGED me...

CHALLENGE: Create  a ONE LAYER card...

Okay, so I made TWO... but I like the white one better. Which do you like?

Do you like the heart shaped mini flowers?

    

So, there you have it... a ONE Layer card!

Ready for the LAST challenge? Stay tuned...

A Muse PJ Party - Challenge #2

And here we are ... challenge #2...

Have no idea what I'm talking about... logon to the amuse lounge!

Challenge # 2 is brought to you by one of our newest DT members... Krystie Lee

Her challenge: make a card for your best friend

My bff and I have this thing about lady bugs. Probably because that was the first stamped card we fell in love with at our first Stampin' Up! party. And that's how it all began...

So, here is my card. I used the A Muse small polka dot alphabet set (clear) and then the tiny lady bug. Why are lady bugs so darn cute?

I put diamond glaze on each of the lady bugs to properly dress them ;)

See?

All images, ribbon, and note cards by A Muse

On to challenge #3... OOH that's mine ....

A Muse PJ Party - Challenge #1

It's time again for a fun night of stamping... get your pjs on, log in to the lounge, and get ready to stamp! Four challenges, 30 minutes each... REMEMBER THINK SIMPLE, THINK A MUSE

READY, SET, GO....

First up, the hostess of all hostesses, my dear friend Jennie Moczan...

Her challenge: Make a card inspired by your celebrity crush!

Well, I know you all have guessed RPatz is my celebrity crush but he's not, actually. Yes, I like him but I really want him to be with KStew, not to mention I'm old enough to be his mom! So, I dug a little deeper and realized my crushes from my teenage years have ALL turned to be losers in their older age. Humph. So, okay, back to the drawing board.

I would probably pick Johnny Depp. But I didn't want to make a pirate card. That's a movie inspiration.

So FINE. Alright. My celebrity crush card is not Rob Pattinson but Edward. Edward is a celebrity, right? He is an action figure, so he MUST be...

I used a "new to me" product on here. Smooch Spritz in clear and Cherry Ice. I *LOVE* them. I got 11 colors when I was up in Seattle. And um, yeah, broke them open today. It's only been 3 months...

The white heart has the clear sprayed on it and the cherry ice is the red heart. But the red heart is actually white cardstock so the spray coverage is excellent!

All A Muse images, ribbon, and notecard

Here's a closeup of the spritz but it's hard to see the shimmer and sparkle... edward HAS TO SPARKLE...

On to the next challenge....

Thanks 5 of 5: Teal & I go way back...

Over on splitcoaststampers.com, this week CAS (clean & simple) challenge is to use Teal, white and one other color on your card. I *had* to play. Teal is my husband's favorite color - of course, he calls it green. In fact, teal was one of our wedding colors... no purple was not the other :p

In any case, teal has a place in our home and both my boys think "green" is their favorite too. Go figure.

I really like the way this card turned out. It has that "clean" look I am struggling to achieve on all my work. The new A Muse pearls (this one is Robin's Egg blue) accent some of the mini flowers. Did you know that Julie illustrated that image? Is there anything that woman can't do? Amazing lady.

A Muse products: thanks large, mini flower, A Muse pearls

So, this concludes my trial of using the same image on 5 different cards. You have no idea how hard that was for me. I'm a "mass producer" of one creation... so this was good. A good exercise. But when I do it again, I will try to use an image rather than a word. I *do* love that thanks stamp though!

In other news - TOMORROW NIGHT (Saturday night), I hope you can join me and some of the other A Muse gals as we meet online for the next A Muse Pajama Party. Here are all the details! Can't wait... so much fun and SO MUCH INSPIRATION in such a short time. Hope to see you then!

Thanks 4 of 5: One layer quickie

Every year I set new year's resolutions but only crafty ones. This year there is one in particular that I'm working on: I'm trying to change my "style". I'm trying to do clean and simple and not my usual "add one more thing" plan. I have to say it is a hard resolution. I figure the good news is that I'm consciously trying to do something differently so maybe that will stick. One layer cards are things I want to get better at. They are an art form, I think. You have to balance your focal point with some background stuff all on one dimension. Seems hard to me.

When I made the cards for this challenge, this was my first card that I completed. Not super crazy about it but it's a start.

images: A Muse Fun Star, A Muse thanks large, A Muse retro rectangle

ribbon: A Muse red polka sheer ribbon

Happy Thursday!

Thanks 3 of 5: Clearly Thankful

I love making clear cards yet I forget to do so quite often. That's weird, isn't it? This card is a clear card with the inside having a little area to write a note. I stamped the front of the card using Moonlight White Brilliance Ink and then heat set it.

A Muse images: thanks large and dill; A Muse stitched grosgrain ribbon black

Some of my A Muse friends are playing along ... check them out: Lori, Novell, and Meghan. So fun!

Thanks 2 of 5: For your Service

Here it is, card 2 of 5 using the "Thanks Large" stamp by A Muse. I really like the font on this image, as well as the size. Makes it easy to multi-color the letters... RED, WHITE, AND BLUE!

all images, notecards and ribbon by A Muse Artstamps

Thanks 1 of 5: Purple, of course

A while back (good grief, it's been about 18 months already. HOW DID THAT HAPPEN? I thought it was like 6 months ago), the queen herself, Julie Ebersole, did a week long celebration of the A Muse cityscape stamp. Basically, she had a bunch of different ideas with that stamp and posted a different card each day for 5 days. It was AWESOME.  For a very long time (18 months apparently!), I have wanted to try to do that same thing with a stamp I chose. So last week, I posted a challenge on the A Muse lounge to do this same thing but mainly to make myself do it.

I chose this stamp: Thanks Large. I've loved this stamp since it came out. I also *need* thank yous so it seemed like a good idea at the time.

The challenge seemed hard until I actually got started then it went a bit smoother.

Here's my first card... it had to be purple, of course.

The card base is an A Muse blackberry notecard (PURPLE, unlike the picture!). Very simple card to recreate.

Thanks for stopping by! Come back tomorrow for card 2...