CraftyEngineer

amuse-bouche - Winter Scene!

So sorry I haven't been able to play along in this week's amuse-bouche! I've been busy teaching AP classes around Texas though. Two more classes today... YAY! It's my birthday today and I can't wait to be around stamping people all day! So fun!

This is one of my cards from my Holiday Classics class that I taught this week here. I *love* this stamp. It's called Winter Scene and it is a cling stamp. A Muse released several cling stamps for AP 2010. I think they are awesome! Love everything about them, especially the clean images. They ink up wonderfully!

The winter scene is white embossed on A Muse's navy cardstock.  A Muse now has MANY colors of solid white core 8.5x11 cardstock (not to mention the BEST pattern cardstock around!). YIPPEE. I love that. Now I can make whatever size cards I want!

Supplies:

A Muse winter scene, let heaven and nature sing images; navy 8.5x11

Marvy Giga Scalloped Circle, White Detail Embossing Powder, Colorbox Frost White Pigment Ink, Memento Paris Dusk Ink

Have a great day!

amuse-bouche - snow fun!

WOHOO! It's mid-week of A*Muse*A*Palooza (AP) 2010! I hope you've been checking out the A Muse News blog and the rest of the Creative Team for some wonderful amuse-bouche (sampling of this year's AP 2010 images!). I've been busy prepping for more AP classes this week. I'll be at Memory Depot in Austin tomorrow night (Thursday) and also Saturday - it's my birthday Saturday - hope you can join me for fun stamping time!

The AP 2010 images are available exclusively at participating AP stores around the country.

Okay, on to the card already... well, I quickly made this card because this image is the image that I'm going to use for my holiday cards this year. I think. :) I'm all about snowflakes. And this one is perfect.

It was really hard to get the photo on this one but hopefully you can see well enough. It's a clear card with the images stamped in white stazon. The inside has a strip of Sky Blue paper (love that A Muse has so many colors in 8.5x11 now!) to put a handwritten message.

Hope your summer is going well. I don't want mind to end. :)

All images, cardstock and ribbon by A Muse Artstamps

Teacher Appreciation Gifts, amuse-bouche, and a birthday!

Today is my fabulous mother's birthday. Happy Birthday, Mom! I made this card for her and then um, forgot to mail it in time to get to her (NOT anything new, mind you). But I'll see her later this week and hand deliver it! Bad daughter!

Today is also the last day of amuse-bouche for A Muse's new Everything's Rosy release. Check it out at our LSS or find it on the a muse website.

I told you that these roses will become my favorite. Look at how simple the card was to make yet it (IMHO) is still lovely.

Today is also the first day of National Teacher Appreciation Week! YAY Teachers! I have so many teachers on my list that I don't know how I'll get it all done but I will... how about you?

I'd like to share something fun with you... as I mentioned this weekend, my dear friend Jennie and I have some fun plans this week... WELL that's not all... We are happy to tell you that Lori Barnett is joining in the fun! We call it "Teacher Tag" - 3 A Muse Artstamp teachers sharing ideas for the teachers in your life. Each day EACH of us will show some teacher gift-y thing that we're doing this week. Just remember to Think Simple, Think A Muse and all will be good :)

Here's my Monday gift idea:

A set of notecards (4) and matching envelopes. The notecards and envelopes were cut on my Accucut machine. The size of the notes are a 3.75" x 3.75". 

I used the same stamps from the card above and in no time I had a quick little gift for one of my boy's teachers. Can't tell you who... she might be watching :)

NOW, please check out my gal-pals... for more Teacher Tag:

• Jennie
• Lori

See you tomorrow for more Teacher Tag!

amuse-bouche - Take Flight

Butterflies!!! How fun! My 2nd grader's class is the butterflies. This new release has some pretty cool butterfly images. Check out your LSS to see the stamps from this release!

I embossed the entire card. I seem to be embossing more and more these days. I think it's because of the really nice wood embossing gun stand that the owners of Stamp Antonio gave me (handmade by Ms. Carol down there!). What an awesome thing. I would never leave my heat gun out just in case the boys were unattended (that never happens, right???) but now I have it at the back of one of my big counters so they can't really mess with it unless they are *trying* to. Anyway, now I get to emboss more and it's not such a chore.

It's a bit hard to see my sentiment and butterfly but they are there and very easy to see in real life. They are clear embossed. I really liked the way this turned out. The floral is Queen Anne's Lace and it's embossed in white.

Supplies:

Stamps: gossamer wings, queen anne's lace, and dream's take flight

Paper: watermelon 8.5x11 made into 4 bar

A couple of weeks ago, my boys and I were out front and we saw this huge. HUGE. butterfly on our Mountain Laurel. I got my camera out but he was a hard one to get a good pic of. Here he is. He was HUGE and  beautiful.

Another busy week coming up. I *personally* can NOT wait until school is out. I'm so done with this year. It has been quite a year - quite a year of change. Anyhow, it'll be a GREAT week ahead...

Monday is my mother's birthday! Happy Birthday, Mom! Monday also starts Teacher Appreciation Week. And we all know how much I love to make gifts.Well, so does Jennie! Jennie and I have some projects to share with you. Lots of stuff. Stay tuned!

amuse-bouche - Everyday Elegance

The birthday celebration continues for A Muse! Today's amuse-bouche is about everyday elegance. I think I found my new favorite flower stamps. I *really* love this wild rose and the wild rose branch. And I'm not a flower stamp girl! But who doesn't love roses???  I like to make long, skinny cards too. This one is 3 x 5.5 folded.

Supplies:

Stamps: wild rose, wild rose branch, scroll border, merci

Paper: robin egg's blue, apricot

Teacher Appreciation is coming next week (May 3 - May 7). It's time to appreciate all those wonderful people that not only care for and teach my boys but also help mold them into wonderful, curious, great men that they will become. My dear friend, Jennie, and I have something fun in store for you. Hope you can join us starting Monday!

Happy National Scrapbooking Day!

amuse-bouche - You are in my thoughts

This card is actually very soft IRL. I was going for the comforting look using Pink Chiffon and Sage card stock.

The new stamps here are the branch and sentiment. But the branch has the leaves mounted separately on the side of the wood block. I *love* that kind of versatility. 

More amuse-bouche coming up this weekend! Happy Friday!

amuse-bouche - Have a beautiful day!

And the birthday party continues!

Can you say new stamps??? YAY! And they are all SO pretty...

 Would you look at this ginormous Marigold? Lots of coloring - YAY! Coloring is therapeutic to me, how about you?

And guess what I think about the fonts on the new sentiments... BEAUTIFUL!

Have you seen the A Muse News? There are many ways to wins some grand prizes over there. Check it out! I hope you had a chance to check out the muses, as well. They're work is always an inspiration to me!

Stay tuned for more amuse-bouche tomorrow!

amuse-bouche - Happy!

Happy what? Happy EVERYTHING!  But especially HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO A MUSE.

The new HAPPY clear set is a keeper! It is so versatile. In fact, I think I'll be using it a lot this month for various projects! And of course, I simply love the fonts!

Happy Birthday A Muse!

Supplies:

A Muse Happy Clear Set, balloon

Paper: Watermelon, Apricot 8.5x11 paper

Diamond glaze on the balloon (hard to see here!)
 

amuse-bouche - Vintage Set

YAHOO! It is time to get this party started (okay, so the party started already over on the A Muse blog) - but better late than never!

A Muse is turning NINE in a few days and we're all celebrating! New stamps, new cards, new inspiration... Old stamps, too. WHAT? Old stamps???? YES! Some previously retired stamps have been brought back for this party, all together on a VINTAGE SET. There are some on this set that were pre-me (meaning before I found A Muse) so I'm so excited to use them!

I really like this bicycle and sentiment. Again, A Muse sentiments are awesome...

Supplies:

Stamps: A Muse Vintage Set

Paper: A Muse Robin's Egg Blue, Latte

Ribbon: A Muse Stitched Grosgrain

Be sure to check out the rest of the gals (links on the right) for LOTS of inspiration and to see some of the other images that are part of this Vintage Set!

amuse-bouche - Valentine Treats!

And here we are to the last serving of amuse-bouche - Valentine Treats! What is Valentine's, if not a day to give out treats? As I was creating this last night, I was trying to come up with something grand and clever and awesome and ... And nothing happened. Does that ever happen to you?

You know a few years ago, maybe it was last year, I don't remember, but I think it was Ali Edwards that talked about having a "word" for the year. A word defining what her world would be. Well, I've decided that my word for 2010 is "SIMPLE" - I'm using that in my craft world but then maybe it will spill over into my everyday world too.

I find that I sit and try to make something grand, big, more, better, etc. and in the end I just don't like it as much as if I kept it SIMPLE. It's day 5 of 2010 and so far so good - except that it is a HARD mind adjustment for me. I have to concentrate on simple. Julie had an awesome card that I'm CASING for my thank yous this winter and I keep coming back to how clean and simple it is.

Okay, so back to this endeavor... after a few failed attempts to make something clever, I decided I was trying to hard and needed to come back to simple. Hmm, what have I done in the past and really liked? My valentine treat amuse-bouche is none other than the good 'ol Bag-a-lope from days past. The first time I made one of these many years ago in my former SU! life, I was in awe of the cleverness of it. If you are unfamiliar with bag-a-lopes, here is a tutorial from SCS but I modified it a bit. It's a bag made from an envelope. EASY. BUT wait there's more... A Muse is so perfect for SIMPLE... you can get a pack of these already patterned (AND VERY CUTE) envelopes from A Muse (and 10 in a pack!).

1. seal the envelope shut

2. score on 3 sides at 1/2" from the edge (2 long sides and 1 short)

3. using a zigzag decorative scissors (or any you like), cut off the non-scored short end to height desired of bag

4. open up from top and form bag (like a paper grocery bag); secure points/corners on bottom with mini glue dot

5. decorate tag or image for front.

What do you think? If you haven't made these before, I encourage you to do so. Let me know what you think. I just love that the envelopes are already decorated. Sure, you could do this with cardstock but it's more work and the envelopes make a lighter weight bag - I almost made it a purse! ;)

Happy Tuesday!