November Release Day!!

Today's the day!  The full November Collection from A Muse Studio is ready and available!  It's a fun one!  Check out the A Muse Studio blog for full details and for the winners of the giveaways.

The card I've got to share today it more of my beloved woodsy Christmas!  I added glitter to the pine cones for some texture as well as sparkle.  I love how it turned out.

Supplies

Stamps: A Muse Holiday Trimmings

Ink: A Muse evergreen and french roast and VersaMark

Paper: A Muse sage, kraft, and vanilla cardstock

Misc.: A Muse french roast baker's twine, foam mounting tape, A Muse french roast glitter, Sakura Quickie Glue pen, A Muse gold embossing powder, A Muse tag bundle and gift tag trio die sets

a•muse | studio November Sneak Peak Day 3

Day 3 of sneak peaks!  Here we are!  Last but not least, today features a little holiday tag kit!  It will include:

• Mini Messages stamp set
• Coordinating die set
• Washi tape
• 10 yards of baker's twine

An awesome deal!

I made this cute little tag with the kit.  I love a good silver/green woodsy theme at Christmas time.  

Check out the A Muse Studio blog for more sneak peaks of this kit and a final giveaway!

Supplies

Stamps: A Muse mini messages

Ink: VersaMark

Paper: A Muse kraft, sage, and evergreen cardstock

Misc.: A Muse mini messages and pinking circles die sets, A Muse silver sheer organdy ribbon, foam mounting tape, A Muse silver embossing powder, hole punch, A Muse mini starts twinkle stickers

a•muse | studio November Sneak Peak Day 2

Hello hello! Or perhaps velkommen!  (Welcome in Norwegian)  Christmas is a time where growing up in a family with strong Scandinavian hertigate, specifically Danish and Norwegian, really shows for me.  Most of our Christmas decorations are heavily Nordic/Scandinavian themed.  Lots of straw, wood, and so on.  I tend to make a lot of Christmas cards with the same theme.

Today, you get a little peak of A Muse Studio's new set called "Holiday Trimmings".  It's got some great pine and holly images, some great sentiments, but also these cute little Nordic-esque snowflake!  I lined them up, using a stamp positioner, to make a festive border.  A big component of Scandinavian decor is simplicity.  Not always my strong suit, but I think I got it just right on this card.

Don't forget to check out the A Muse Studio blog for more sneak peaks and another giveaway!

Supplies
Stamps: A Muse Holiday Trimmings
Ink: A Muse cherry
Paper: A Muse sugar cardstock
Misc.: A Muse sugar pearl stickers, A Muse lime and fern sheer organdy ribbon, stamp positioner

a•muse | studio November Sneak Peak Day 1

Here we are again!  Previews for A Muse Studio's November collection!  There's some really cute stuff this time.  Today, I can show you a sneak peak of a new set called  "Mug Life"  It's filled with hot chocolate/coffee related images and sentiments!  I made this cute packaging for a hot chocolate single packet with it.  I wanted the whipped cream to have some texture to it, so I filled the image in with  VersaMarker and white embossed it. MMMMMMMM!  Whipped cream!

Don't forget to check out A Muse Studio's blog and my fellow Design Team members for more sneak peaks! (and a giveaway!)

Supplies
Stamps: A Muse Mug Life
Ink: A Muse french roast, evergreen, toffee, and cherry
Paper: A Muse kraft, sugar, and cherry stripes cardstock and VersaMarker
Misc.: A Muse Mug Life and stitched circles dies, foam mounting tape, A Muse clear and white embossing powder, A Muse glassine envelopes

October Release Day!!

Hip hip hooray for release day!  It is the first day you can order the new October Collection stamps and their matching dies along with the new "peace" word die!  For full details, check out the A Muse Studio Blog.

Today, I have this cute little wintry snow scene card to share.  My inner zoologist always laughs at anything with penguins and polar bears in the same scene, since South Pole and North Pole.  But, they are so cute, I think I can let it slide.  I white embossed the snowflakes to make them stand out more on the pale winter sky cardstock.  It's supposed to be a La Niña year again, so hopefully in the PNW that will mean some snow again!  I am SO ready for it!  (even if my husband is bemoaning the end of summer!)

Supplies
Stamps: A Muse season's tweetings
Ink: VersaMark, VersaFine onyx black, and A Muse black dye (retired)
Paper: A Muse sugar, cobalt, winter sky, and cherry petite gingham cardstock
Misc.: A Muse season's tweetings, tag bundle, landscape, and word windows die sets, A Muse white embossing powder, foam mounting tape, Copic markers

a•muse | studio October Sneak Peak Day 3

Today's sneak peak isn't a card!  I have this fun luminary to share with you instead!

I used a popcorn box die cut shape and cut windows out of it on each side.  I stamped the domed sky image from the new "Pining for You" set and embossed it with clear embossing powder (since it's so hard to ink to dry properly on vellum, plus then it's shiny and looks neat!).  I added A Muse's new "peace" word die to the bottom and a little bit of gingham pinking border to the top and voila!

Head on over to the A Muse Studio blog for some more sneak peaks AND another giveaway today! 

Supplies
Stamps: A Muse Pining for You
Ink: A Muse cobalt
Paper: A Muse cherry, cherry petite gingham, and winter sky cardstock and A Muse radiant white vellum
Misc.: A Muse peace word, popcorn box, and medium pinking border dies, A Muse clear embossing powder, Silhouette Cameo3 and PixScan mat

a•muse | studio October Sneak Peak Day 2

Welcome to Day 2!  Today's card is one of my very favorites I made with the October collection.  it's very simple, but is just so strikingly cheerful with blue houses and red/white cording.  The glittered silver stars add just the right pop of sparkly and the rooflines with the white flocking adds a little softness.  All the stamps are part of the new "Pining for You" set which I absolutely love!  It's SO cute!

Don't forget to visit the A Muse Studio Blog today for another giveaway and more peaks of this great new set!

Supplies
Stamps: A Muse Pining for You
Ink: A Muse grass dye and cobalt pigment and Delicata Silvery Shimmer
Paper: A Muse kraft cardstock
Misc.: A Muse clear embossing powder, A Muse cherry baker's cording, A Muse silver glitter, A Muse white flocking, Sakura Quickie glue pen
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a•muse | studio October Sneak Peak Day 1

Welcome to Day 1 of A Muse Studio's October collection sneak peaks!  There's some adorable Christmas stuff this time!  Today, I've got this cute little tag to share with you!  This little birds are just so cheerful and the whole thing makes me ready for snow.  Since the only thing I like more than fall, is snow winter!

Check out A Muse Studio's blog for more sneak peaks and a giveaway today!

Supplies

Stamps: A Muse Season's Tweetings and Snow Day background

Ink: A Muse sugar and black dye (retired) and VersaFine onyx black

Paper: A Muse kraft, sugar, grass petite gingham, and grass cardstock

Misc.: A Muse Tag You're It tag bundle and landscape die sets, foam mounting tape, Copic markers, Sakura Quickie glue pen, A Muse white flocking, A Muse cherry satin ribbon, A Muse navy baker's cording, Cameo Silhouette 3 and PixScan mat

Christmas Card No. 19

Well, I've done it.  Reached the end!  Here is the last Christmas card I sent out this year.  (But, I've been hard at work making up cards for next year!)  This one is just like this one, but with a different color scheme.  This is the card I mass produced this year to fulfill about half of the cards I send out.  The pale blue and silver color scheme and simple design I think looked very elegant.  The inside says "Merry Christmas".

Supplies
Stamps: A Muse elegant tree and Merry Christmas (inside) and Savvy Stamps Joy to the world
Ink: Encore! Metallic silver
Paper: A Muse silver shimmer couture, sugar, and winter sky cardstock
Misc.: foam mounting tape and stamp positioner

Christmas Card No. 18

I swear I'm nearing the end of the Christmas cards.  I suppose then I need to *actually* make some Valentine's ones...but that day is not this day!  (Ok, I admit it.  I rewatch all of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies extended editions during the holidays...and then watch all the special features!)

Anyways, I've always loved this partridge in a pare tree image!  The frame stamp is actually only half of the frame, so I had to be sure and use my stamp positioner to get it lined up just right so it would look like one image.  (Though, I know that A Muse Studio later on made a complete frame cling stamp as part of their Graceful Greetings set) This die cut shape fit it perfectly!  It's the bonus label set that came with my Lifestyle Crafts Genius platform.  I think the inside says "Merry Christmas".

Supplies
Stamps: A Muse partridge tree, flourish frame, and merry christmas (inside)
Ink: Memento rich cocoa and VersaFine vintage sepia
Paper: A Muse french roast woodgrain, lichen, fern, and vanilla cardstock
Misc.: foam mounting tape, Lifestyle Crafts label die set, A Muse french roast silky crush ribbon, Copic markers, stamp positioner

Christmas Card No. 17

I think this card is one of my favorites.  It's similar to the first one I made.  I really liked the grey and white and gold color scheme.  It felt very peaceful and serene.  It didn't photograph all that well, but I did add some diamond glitter glue to the edges of the trees for some sparkle.  I sponge daubed an aura around the star with sparkly VersaMark too.  The inside probably said "Merry Christmas".

Supplies
Stamps: Rubber Stampede eight point star, Memory Box all is calm/bright, and A Muse merry christmas (inside)
Ink: VersaMark, VersaMark Dazzle champagne, and Encore! metallic gold (inside)
Paper: A Muse seattle and sugar cardstock
Misc.: May Arts metallic gold twine, Ranger super fine detail gold embossing powder, Stickles diamond glitter glue, sponge dauber, Martha Stewart Crafts Holiday pine forest edge punch, foam mounting tape, A Muse embossing buddy

Christmas Card No. 16

This morning my son came down for breakfast, looked at the tree and said "It's after Epiphany Mommy, why are the decorations still up?".  Oy.  The answer is cause Mommy clearly hasn't had time yet.  But, try explaining that to a four year old.

This card is a perfect example of why glitter can drive me crazy.  It stuck to all sorts of places is shouldn't have on the image!  So, just try and imagine that it's only where the stars and snow line are!  Since those are the only places I put sticky stuff.  I used a glue pen for the snow line and I think for the stars I actually used a glue pad.

Supplies
Stamps: A Muse silent night, Hero Mail clear set, and birch forest with leaves
Ink: A Muse navy and sky
Paper: A Muse navy and sky
Misc.: A Muse mermaid glitter, A Muse silver elastic cording, Sakura Quickie glue pen, and Tsukineko Essential Glue Pad

Christmas Card No. 15

This is a very simple card.  I think part of what makes it, is really nice heavy duty watercolor type paper.  I made sure to use my little embossing buddy (basically a little cloth pouch full of cornstarch) so that no embossing powder stuck on the texture of the paper.  Other than that, it's just simple gold embossed images and sentiments.  There's also rays of shimmer ink radiating down from the star, but those were really tricky to capture.  They are there, I promise.  The inside says "Merry Christmas"

Supplies
Stamps: A Muse grunged sun ray, newborn king, and holy night sets
Ink: VeraMark, VersaMark Dazzle champagne, and Encore! metallic gold
Paper: A Muse natural white watercolor premade notecard
Misc.: May Arts metallic gold twine, A Muse embossing buddy, and Ranger super fine detail gold embossing powder

Christmas Card No. 14

I'm back to trees with this card.  I'm seriously a sucker for evergreen trees, it's like I live in Washington or something.  For this card, after stamping the tree and snowflakes in green and blue, I used a glue pen to add a little diamond glitter.  The banner die I have is curved as you can see.  However, the sentiment was straight.  Fortunately as a cling stamp, I was able to curve it a little bit on the acrylic block to match the curve of the banner.  The banner also has a little foam mounting tape to keep it three dimensional.  The inside says "Season's Greetings".  I think.

Supplies
Stamps: A Muse winter stag and peace on earth sets
Ink: A Muse evergreen and winter sky
Paper: A Muse sugar and winter sky cardstock
Misc.: Lifestyle Crafts banner die, A Muse diamond glitter, Sakura Quickie glue pen, May Arts gold metallic twine, foam mounting tape

Christmas Card No. 13

The goal of this card was to look like Wedgwood dishes.  I feel like it nailed it.  I remember when I was making it I didn't have just the right shade of blue paper and I (or maybe convinced my husband) to run out to the A Muse shop and get a pack of this azul colored cardstock.  I sure will miss having access to A Muse products whenever I need them!  And even more, I will miss the people who worked there, taught there, and took classes there.  Having the shop close and move across the country makes me so sad!  I was able to help them out and do some packing and inventory work before they left though!  It's always good to help out friends.  But, back to the card.  The image is white embossed with a scalloped circle of paper behind it and popped up with foam tape.  I also embossed the sentiment with white.  The inside probably said something about a merry Christmas, maybe even "Have a cozy Christmas".  But I've since mailed the card, so I can't quite remember.

Supplies

Stamps: A Muse winter scene and cozy Christmas MA (inside) and Memory Box snow place like home

Ink: VersaMark and A Muse azul (inside)

Paper: A Muse vanilla and azul cardstock

Misc.: Spellbinders circle and scalloped circle die sets, foam mounting tape, A Muse vanilla satin ribbon, A Muse white embossing powder

Christmas Card No. 12

It's not Epiphany yet, so it's still totally legit to post Christmas cards! I got a bit behind with blogging them due to actual Christmas itself and with a cold that I've had for three weeks that has now turned into bronchitis. Thanks to some nice antibiotics I'm recovering though! And, Christmas was lovely. We had both of our sets of parents and my husband's brother. Delicious food, generous gift, wonderful company.
For this card, first I die cut the snowflake shape out of the pale blue layer. Then, I took a piece of cream cardstock and stamped it ALL over with snowflakes of various designs and colors and adhered that behind the pale blue shape so that the snowflake pattern shows through the snowflake cut out. The sentiment has three snowflakes around the words and I inked each of those in one of the three colors I used for the snowflake pattern; winter sky, cobalt, and silver. I tied ribbon around it and popped it up with foam tape. Viola!

Supplies
Stamps: A Muse taste snowflakes and Martha Stewart Crafts Holiday snowflake set

Ink: A Muse winter sky and cobalt and Encore! Metallic silver

Paper: A Muse winter sky and vanilla cardstock

Misc.: A Muse snowflake trio die set, foam mounting tape, A Muse silver sheer organdy ribbon

A Little Tag from Santa

Kieran's big gift from Santa this year is too much for under the tree.  It will be out the in the garage with a bow on it.  So, Santa will be leaving this little tag as a note to him about it.  I found some fun Christmasy free fonts via Pinterest for the text.  I was able to get my Mac to use the color meter selector to print in a red in that's the same RBG values as A Muse's cherry color!  Then, I just die cut the words out using this tag die.  I die cut a second tag in red and then used a rectangle die to cut a window out of it so that the red would be a frame around the white and text.  I ran the red frame through my Xyron and then coated it in glitter.  I figure if Santa were to leave a note, there would be sparkles.  Sparkles seem so much more magical.  The red frame as attached to the text white tag with foam mounting tape.

Supplies
Paper: A Muse sugar, cherry, and gold shimmer couture cardstock
Misc.: A Muse tag bundle die set, Spellbinders rectangle die set, A Muse large jingle bells, A Muse fern silky ribbon, A Muse cherry baker's cording, foam mounting tape, Xyron 5" create-a-sticker, and foam mounting tape

Christmas Card No. 11

More in the blue, cream, and silver theme.  Lots of different snowflakes in those colors and then die cut them with circles and pop them up on foam mounting tape.

Supplies
Stamps: A Muse think snow and Martha Stewart Crafts Holidays snowflake set
Ink: A Muse blueberry and winter sky and Encore! metallic silver
Paper: A Muse vanilla and winter sky
Misc.: foam mounting tape, Spellbinders circle die set, and A Muse silver elastic cording

Christmas Card No. 10

Sadly, here in Seattle we have no snow.  But, back home at my parent's house in Yakima there is tons! So jealous!  I'll have to content myself with this snowy card instead.  The circle snowflakes and die cut large snowflake are all popped up with foam mounting tape.  As is the cream layer.  I think the twinkle jewel stickers make it really nice.  The inside says "Think Snow".

Supplies
Stamps: A Muse Baby it's cold outside and think snow (inside) and Martha Stewart Crafts Holidays snowflake set
Ink: A Muse winter sky and blueberry and Encore! metallic silver
Paper: A Muse vanilla and winter sky cardstock
Misc.: A Muse clear twinkle stickers, foam mounting tape, A Muse snowflake die, and A Muse silver elastic cord

Christmas Card No. 9

This is my final red, gold, and cream card for this year.  I love this large snowflake!  I'm a huge fan of all things Scandinavian and it's size makes quite a statement.  The inside says, "Merry Christmas".

Supplies
Stamps: A Muse Scandinavian Snowflake and Savvy Stamps Joy to the World and Merry Christmas (inside)
Ink: VersaMark and A Muse cherry
Paper: A Muse cherry, vanilla, and gold shimmer couture cardstock
Misc.: Foam mounting tape, A Muse cranberry pearl stickers, Ranger super fine detail embossing powder