hello

Good morning! How was your weekend? Mine was pretty good! My ankle is still limiting what I can and cannot do. I was crafting last night and had to finish up my day in the craft room because my foot was so swollen it was uncomfortable. Craziness, I tell ya! Today, though, I'm going to do some exercising...nope, no jumpy around aerobics but some upper body and ab work. I can't sit around forever!

Today's card is a card I made real quick to send with an A Muse Studio catalog that I was sending out. It is super simple but I had been wanting to try a line frame for quite some time. I only messed up once which is pretty good for me! The flower and 'hello' are from the Kindred Spirits set. While you can't tell from the photo I used shimmer chalks on the flower and in real life it is all shimmery and pretty! The ink I used is Papaya and the cardstock is lichen. All products used for this card can be found HERE in my a|s store.

Alright, that is it for today. This week I've got some cards for ya from the regular list of suspects as well as a new company (to me) thrown in there (not DT stuff just for fun).

Have a wonderful Monday! Today is the day the Lord has made; I will rejoice and be glad in it! Psalm 118:24.

the perfect blend

Good morning friends! We had an absolutely wonderful time away for our anniversary Wed/Th! Scroll down for my favorite photo.

Today is another anniversary definitely worth celebrating. Today is my mom and dad's 44th wedding anniversary. I am blessed to have three sets of parents and this is the set of parents that I was given through marriage. I love Don and June so much and it has been an absolute privilege to have them be in my life. I adore the card that I sent to them but, honestly, it doesn't fit them all the well...they don't drink coffee. (The image and sentiment are from the A Muse Studio set called The Perfect Blend) What I love about this card is the sentiment 'the perfect blend'. Seriously how could you be married 44 years and not be the perfect blend? So Happy Anniversary you two!

Alright, I wanted to share my favorite photo from our anniversary trip. Todd and I had just had our dessert (I had strawberry shortcake...it was just like what my mom used to make!) and were enjoying the view from our balcony when Todd said...take a photo of this, plopped the glass on top of the railing and I took the photo. Isn't it just lovely? It was the perfect ending to an incredible day of hiking, good food, and my wonderful husband for company! If you were wondering about Cave B you can go check it out HERE.

Guess what is exciting about today? I get to meet my blogging friend, Danni! I can't wait until she is no longer a blogging friend and is a real life I've met her in person friend! I made her a fabulous little something so come back tomorrow to see it!

Have a wonderful Friday and make sure you wear RED today to remember everyone deployed!

A Muse Studio 2011 Holiday Catalog!

Good morning friends!

I'm excited to announce that I have seen it! I have seen the A Muse Studio 2011 Holiday Catalog! It is fabulous! Oh, you want to see it too? Oh, okay...just go ahead and send me an e-mail and I will send it in PDF form right back to you!

Items from the new holiday catalog will be available for purchase Aug 22nd!

There are so many exciting things happening in the next couple of months...check out A Muse A Palooza!

It is an exciting time to join A Muse Studio - - especially for $99!

A Muse Studio Consultant Blog Hop

Hello all! Welcome to June's A Muse Studio Consultant Blog Hop! If you are participating in the blog hop, you should have come from Kelly's blog and if not, then you should start from the beginning with Samantha's blog until you come to my blog.

I'm excited to get to join in this month but sad that my photo doesn't show the one thing we were asked to do which was to make our own background paper.

Since you can't see it just pretend that the black paper and the papaya paper both have a smaller version of the grunged sunrays (from the rock star set) on them. It looks great in real life, I assure you! I just used VersaMark on the black and papaya paper to give it that subtle but definitely there look of patterned paper.

The sets I used on my card are grunged sunrays and rock star both of which I think are perfect for male cards but I have seen some super cute female cards made with the rock star set too! And again the cardstock colors are sugar (white), papaya, and onyx (black). You can find all the above at my A Muse Studio store on the web right HERE!

Now on to your next stop, my wonderful upline, Lori's blog. Enjoy the rest of the hop and see you back here tomorrow for more exciting crafting!

A Muse Monday

Good Monday morning friends! How was your weekend? Mine was pretty good but our weather was very rainy causing flooding in our town. Lots of people were affected so we shall see how it plays out this week.

Today's A Muse Monday card is a thank you card for a high school senior that volunteers in the children's ministry with me at church. Not only does he volunteer with me but he does lots of other volunteering at the church most recently helping get the phone/internet to my office and the nursery. He has done it all without complaint and I want to make sure he knows how much I truly appreciate it. The guitar image and sentiment are both from the Rockstar set on page 54 of the A Muse Studio Catalog. I used the patterned paper without thinking so it is not A Muse Studio paper and thinking about it I wish I would have used orange gingham paper as I think it would have been just as nice. Anyway, you can go shopping in my A Muse Studio store HERE. As always...let me know if you have any questions! Oh, and the layout is from Clean and Simple Stamping for this week, too!

Well, I can't think of much else to tell you right now so I'm going to be on my way. Today I will be putting finishing touches on the inside of a Sweet 'n Sassy stamps card to show you soon. I took the Mother's Day card that my oldest son gave me and used it as inspiration for my card. Lots of paper piecing took place on this card so I know you'll love it!

Alright...have a wonderful day everyone!

A Muse Monday

Happy sunny Monday afternoon to you all! Bet ya thought I wasn't going to post today, huh? Psych!

Being that today is A Muse Monday I thought I'd show you this super fun card that I made with the Foiled Again! set (page 58). One of the things about the A Muse Studio catalog is that it has a great selection of stamps for men/boys. At first I just stamped the moustache's but the black wasn't deep enough for what I was looking for so I used Onyx Flocking (page 93) on them and not only do they look the way I want they feel really neato too! I had to use the 'you da man!' sentiment as we say it often in our house, so it was perfect. You can find the Gingham paper in the catalog as well (page 89). I think this would be a great card for a birthday, anniversary, or even a great job type of card.

The layout is this week's CPS sketch but I can also enter this card in the following challenges too. Pollycraft Challenge, Cards for Men, and Sentimental Sundays.

So, I'll see ya tomorrow with a non-card post. Have a wonderful rest of your day!

A Muse Monday

Good morning everyone! I don't know about you but I stayed up a little later than normal last night after hearing the news about Osama bin Laden. I wonder what the textbooks will say about this?

Onto my card. It is Monday so I created a card with some beautiful A Muse Studio images and papers. The flower is from the Beautiful Botanical set (found on page 26 of your catalog) and the sentiment is from the Essential Sentiments set (found on page 76 of your catalog). I used French Roast cardstock for the base and my accent color is Buttercup. Just a little bit of our 1/4" stitched grosgrain ribbon in French Roast really "ties" (teehee) this card together. You can do all of your A Muse Studio shopping by clicking HERE to go to my online store. The layout for my card is from the East Sleep Stamp sketch Thursday. Go check it out!

I should be back for several more posts this week as Doodle Pantry has a new release on the 5th and I will be posting on the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps blog on the 4th so...I'll see ya then!

Swingin' Day

Just a quick post on this fine Monday morning to share a fun card I made with some images from A Muse Studio.

The golfer and sentiment are from the set called Swingin' Day...how appropriate, huh? The gingham and french roast paper are also from A Muse Studio. I added the pearls to make it look like the ball moving away from the golfer...right to that hole in one!

You can purchase all the supplies you need to make this card through my A Muse Studio Store right HERE. That includes the Copic Markers!

Enjoy you day everyone!

A Muse Monday

Good Monday morning friends! I hope you had a wonderful weekend. Did anyone get to work outside? We thought about it but decided not to at this point although I do need to weed my flower gardens already. There are more weeds then signs of growth...ugh!

Anyway, today is A Muse Monday and I have a fun card to show you. This image is an older A Muse Artstamps image called Honeymooners and I thought it would be perfect for the wedding card I will need this summer. The sentiment is from the new A Muse Studio Essential Sentiments set. I love the script of the sentiment...so pretty! Sorry about the not wonderful photo. I had a hard time with the shimmery white paper for some reason. I made the card following the Clean & Simple Challenge for this week. I didn't follow it exactly but I think it is close enough.

I've got a busy week planned. My office is moving at work so I need to get everything packed up and ready to go for Saturday...the official move out of the office day. I don't think I'm going to get moved into my new office prior to leaving for our cruise next week so I have a lot more work to look forward to when I get home. Oh, well...the new office is worth it!

Well, you all have a wonderful Monday! I'll see you back here tomorrow for TWO posts and then not again until Thursday.

A Muse Studio

It's aalliiivvee...my A Muse Studio store is alive and awaiting all you wonderful ladies to come and visit!

You can go check it out HERE!

A Muse Monday

Well, it is Monday. How's it going for ya? I should be happy with the beautiful sunshine but for some reason I'm stuck on grumpy which I absolutely hate!

As you can tell from my post title I have dubbed Monday's to be A Muse Monday here on my blog. I will be a good way for all of us to know what is coming each week! (I'm just as lost as you guys are sometimes!)

Something fun did happen today though. I received some blog candy in the mail that I had won a little while back from my blogging buddy, Sari. I so adore her vintage style and LOVE everything she makes so when I get a chance to win something from her I try! On the right is the pretty card that I got with the Greeting Farm stamps she sent me! I think she was thinking of me when she made the card as I love myself some pink!

I think the flower is so pretty and I was working on a card that I just could not get to come together when I realized that the flower from Sari's card would look lovely on my card so...I hope you don't mind Sari...I put it on my card and it does look lovely. What do you guys think?

The colors are from today's Christian Paper Crafts color challenge Monday and the layout is this week's Clean & Simple Layout. Also, this week is an open week on the Flutter By Wednesday challenge blog so I'll be linking this up there too. The butterflies are from the A Muse Studio set called Just Because.

This is actually a sympathy card. My friend's mom passed away on Friday after struggling with Alzheimer's for several years. Loss is always hard but it must be especially hard to watch your loved one slip away from you the way that Alzheimer's steals them away from their family.

Anyway, there you go1 I hope you all have a wonderful rest of your day and I'll see you soon!

A Box

Happy Saturday everyone! I hope your day is going well! I got a box from UPS the other day. Shocking I know..NOT! I was expecting a box to arrive but not the one that you see to the right. I thought now that is interesting. I'm getting restaurant food. I took it inside anyway.

And what did I see when I opened it? Another smaller box, some clear acrylic blocks, AND A Muse Studio catalogs. NOW I was getting excited! It was the box I'd been waiting for! My A Muse Studio starter kit! Yep, that is right A Muse Art Stamps is now A Muse Studio a home based stamp company and I am Creative Consultant #1156 (keep that number for future reference...you know, when you are placing an order!)! Yes, yes it is true! I really enjoyed having my friends over to create at my house and I was missing them soooo I decided to try out A Muse Studio. It is wonderful in so many ways! (Like I can link to any of my friends blogs and it is okay!) I will get to that in the coming days and months I'm sure!

Well, after opening the smaller box and digging a little more in the bigger box I was able to take a little photo of some of the wonderful things that I received in my kit that includes 21 ink pads, 7 Copic markers, ribbon, bling, and 5 fabulous studio sampler stamp sets! Click HERE if you want to see what came in my kit (yes, I got the deluxe kit...it is such a great deal!) and if you are interested in being on my team let me know so I can give you the low down! I am beyond excited at the new stuff in my house! So much so that I quickly made a card.

Please remember that pigment inks are new to me and I didn't use a stamp-a-ma-jig to stamp my sentiment when you look at the card, k?

Isn't it cute though? I love that little hedgie and the cleanness of the card are really appealing to me. I also, honestly, don't think the receiver will care if the sentiment is a little crooked, do you?

Well, there it is. My newest exciting news! All this means for you guys is that you get to see A Muse Studio creations here on my blog and you can order their fabulous products right from my online store (which will be active on April 1st) which I have a link to in my left sidebar!

I hope you all have a wonderful Saturday and share in my excitement about my new business!