Freshly Made Sketches #50

Hello!  Happy Wednesday!  Freshly Made Sketches is back with a new sketch for this week.  I really wanted to make a Halloween card because I got a new stamp set from A Muse Studio that is totally awesome!  It's called Nevermore, and as you may have guessed, it is Edgar Allan Poe themed.  And since my card for Freshly Made Sketches #49 (last week) was easy peasy, no stamping involved, I went all out on stamping with this week's card.  Everything on this card was stamped using the Nevermore stamp set.

I love how this turned out.  The skull and raven are so awesome!  And, of course, the sketch provides the perfect "bones" for this card (pun intended).  This week's fun sketch comes from our amazing Lesley!  I love it; there are so many possibilities!  This is definitely a sketch I will use over and over again.

Be sure to stop by Freshly Made Sketches and check out all the wonderful creations from the Clean Team!  And please come and play.  I'd love to see your take on this week's sketch!  

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great day!


Details:
Cardstock: PTI Smokey Shadow, A Muse Wasabi, Pumpkin and Pebbles
Stamps: A Muse Nevermore
Ink: A Muse Onyx
Size: 4.25" x 5.5"

Vintage Vacation

Today I have a card to share that I made a couple of weeks ago.  I was getting ready to go on my own summer vacation so I was definitely thinking vacation.  I hadn't inked up Vacationland from A Muse Studio yet and I knew it was time.  I love the vintage images in this stamp set.  I decided to create a set of labels - like you might see on suitcase.

I stamped the images on different colored cardstock in different colored inks.  Then I cut out the ones I liked the best.  To make them look older, I distressed the edges and crimped and bent the corners.  I chose the French Roast as the card base and layered the distressed labels on it.  I love how the labels turned out.

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great day!


Details:
Cardstock: A Muse Studio French Roast, Burano, Lichen, Lemon Whip, Pebble, Toffee
Stamps: A Muse Studio Vacationland and Let's Be Adventurers
Ink: A Muse Studio Burano, French Roast, Onyx, and Fern, PTI Tea Dye Chai
Other: Tim Holtz distressing tool
Size: 4.25" x 5.5"

Freshly Made Sketches #49

Hi there!  Time for a new Freshly Made Sketch again!  And Sketch #49 by Jen Mitchell is another fun fresh sketch!  How do these ladies keep coming up with these great sketches?

Well, the new holiday paper collections are showing up in the stores.  I recently got the Winter Wonderland collection from My Mind's Eye and decided it would be perfect for this sketch.  And since the elements I chose to use were letters and words, my card uses no stamps.  Sometimes you just gotta go with easy peasy!

I love the colors in these papers.  And Jen's brilliant sketch made it so easy!

Please stop by Freshly Made Sketches and check out this great sketch from Jen and all the wonderful creations from the Clean Team!  Won't you come and play?  I'd love to see your take on this this week's sketch!

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great day!


Details:
Cardstock: PTI Aqua Mist
Patterned Paper: My Mind's Eye Winter Wonderland collection
Other: My Mind's Eye Winter Wonderland chipboard elements
Size: 4.25" x 5.5"

The North Shore - Part 2 and Done

Hello!  I'm back home and relaxing today before I go back to work tomorrow.  The rest of my trip to the Minnesota North Shore was great!  There was just one hiccup when I had an accident at the Lutsen Alpine Slide and got some pretty bad scrapes on my arms.

My sister caught this photo of me as I finished the slide.

You can't see my scrapes here.

We then headed for the Canadian border where we naively thought we would quickly grab lunch and then head back down the North Shore for more sightseeing.  Guess we should have checked the maps first!  After 50 miles or so of driving in Canada we didn't find any restaurants so we turned around and went back to Minnesota.

One of our stops after we were back in Minnesota was to Devil's Kettle Falls at Judge Magney State Park.  A two mile roundtrip hike to the falls.  Beautiful!  But beware of the stairs - there are a lot of them!

Devil's Kettle Falls, Judge Magney State Park

These falls are beautiful and mysterious!  The river splits into two falls.  The falls on the right continues downriver. The falls on the left disappears into a hole.  This is Devil's Kettle.  No one knows where it goes.  Some believe the water continues to Lake Superior through underground passages, but no one knows for sure.  People have even thrown things into the Kettle but they have never been seen again.  You can read more about it here.

What a day!  On the way back to our hotel, we stopped in Grand Marais for some yummy, yummy puff tacos at Hughie's Taco House.  And who would've guessed but they had homemade pickled snow peas for sale.  My sister bought a couple of jars and we all had to try them.  Yummy!

That was my vacation!  I had a great time visiting with my Minnesota family!  I'd like to thank my sisters and niece again for a great birthday dinner at the Bluefin Resort.  It was delicious and that cherry cake was so yummy!

Now that I am back home, The Great Purge begins!  It is time for me to do a major cleanout of my craft room.  I started today with my closet and have barely made a dent.  This is definitely going to take awhile!

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great day!

The North Shore - Part 1

Hello!  As you can see I haven't been posting much.  It's because I am currently on vacation in northern Minnesota with my two sisters and niece.  Jackie and I (both living in California) flew to Minneapolis, rented a car and drove to our parents' house in Pine River.  I helped them set up a new computer and played with their new puppy, Mya.

Mya is a Schnauzer-Lab mix

Jackie and I then drove to Duluth and met my sister Fay and her daughter.  First time I have ever been to Duluth - and I grew up in Minnesota and went to college in northern Minnesota.  Go figure!  Duluth is a really interesting place.  It was very cool to see the big ships coming and going on Lake Superior.

At Canal Park in Duluth

After Duluth we headed up the North Shore along Lake Superior toward Canada.  We stopped at sights along the way - Gooseberry Falls and Split Rock Lighthouse.  The lighthouse was especially cool.  We started at the top and toured the lighthouse, then walked down about 170 steps to the lake and I took this awesome photo:

Split Rock Lighthouse

That's it for now.  I'll be back with more later!

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great day!

Freshly Made Sketches #48

Hello Wednesday!  Time for a new Freshly Made Sketch!  And today we have an awesome sketch from Tui Nathan!  I've been making a number of Christmas cards lately, so I think I should get a Halloween one in there.  LOL!  And when I saw Tui's sketch, I decided to play more with my A Muse Studio patterned cardstock.  This is what I came up with:

I love the new chevron paper - this one is Wasabi.  Great for Halloween!  I really wanted to use the new Halloween washi tape from A Muse, but I couldn't apply it directly to the patterned papers because it wouldn't show up nicely.  So I took the tape and applied it to white cardstock and then cut it out into strips.  I then popped them up over the woodgrain and chevron papers.  Then I just applied my top panel.  

For the top panel I used A Muse Studio's Sleepy Hollow text paper, stamping a couple of spider webs and a spider on it.  Then I stamped the sentiment and raven onto some vellum and layered the vellum over the text to complete the panel.  I have to say, vellum is no friend of mine.  It took multiple tries to get an image I liked; I think I just psych myself out.   In the end, all was good!

Here is Tui's awesome sketch:

Be sure to stop by Freshly Made Sketches and check out all the wonderful creations from the Clean Team!  And please come and play.  I'd love to see your take on this week's sketch!  

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great day!


Details:
Patterned Paper: A Muse Studio Slate Woodgrain, Wasabi Chevron, and Sleepy Hollow
Stamps: A Muse Studio If You Dare (retired)
Ink: A Muse Studio Onyx
Other: A Muse Studio Halloween washi tape, vellum
Size: 5.5" x 4.25"

Freshly Made Sketches #47

Happy Wednesday!  Yes, it's time for a new sketch challenge at Freshly Made Sketches!  This week's sketch comes from Jennifer Timko and it's a really fun one!!

I was in a Christmas mood this past weekend - might have something to do with getting some new Christmas goodies from My Mind's Eye.  I couldn't resist the cute snowman chipboard so he became the focal image for my card:

And here's the great sketch from Jen!

Be sure to stop by Freshly Made Sketches and check out all the wonderful creations from the Clean Team!  And please come and play.  I'd love to see your take on this week's sketch!  

The best thing about being on the Freshly Made Sketches design team is 1) seeing all the wonderful cards and projects that are submitted, and 2) leaving comments.  But lately, I've run into more and more blogs with word verification turned on and after squinting hard and mistyping squiggly letters multiple times, it puts a damper on my desire to leave comments.  So, please be kind and turn word verification off because I really, really do want to leave you a comment.  

I believe most people don't even realize they have word verification on, so here is how you can turn it off in Blogger:

If you have upgraded to the new Blogger interface:

• Go to your Blogger Dashboard.
• Click on the Blogger Options icon ( the little gray gear wheel in the upper right corner of the window )
• Select Old Blogger interface ( the old interface will open )
• Click on Settings for your blog
• Click on Comments and scroll down to Word Verification and select NO
• Save Settings
• That's it!  
• The next time you go to your Blogger dashboard, it may still be using the old dashboard.  Just click on Upgrade to go back to the new dashboard.

If you are still using the old Blogger interface:

• Go to your Blogger Dashboard.
• Click on Settings for your blog
• Click on Comments and scroll down to Word Verification and select NO
• Save Settings
• That's it!  

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great day!


Details:
Cardstock: PTI Rustic White
Patterned Paper: My Mind's Eye Winter Wonderland collection
Stamps: A Muse Studio Winter Wishes (retired)
Ink: PTI True Black
Other: My Mind's Eye Winter Wonderland chipboard element
Size: 4.25" x 5.5"

August Spotlight

It's here!  The August Spotlight is here!  During the whole month of August you can save 10% on the stamp sets shown here:

And, also available is the special Boardwalk cardstock assortment pack!

Here's a card I made using the Enjoy the Ride set:

I love the bicycles and sentiments in this set!

Vacationland - sale price $18.89

Wish You Were Here - sale price $15.29

Let's Be Adventurers - sale price $19.79

Enjoy the Ride - sale price $18.89

Extraordinary Background - sale price $14.39

Boardwalk cardstock assortment pack - sale price $7.65

(4 sheets each of Blush, Apricot, Papaya, Orange and Bermuda)

Prices good through 11:59 PM EST on August 31, 2012.

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great day!


Details:
Cardstock: A Muse Sugar
Patterned Paper: A Muse Grass Petite Polka Dot and Clouds
Stamps: A Muse Enjoy the Ride
Ink: A Muse Onyx
Other: A Muse Papaya grosgrain stitch ribbon
Size: 5.5" x 4.25"

Compliments of the Season

I'm here today with my Waltzingmouse Christmas Card Challenge submission for July.  I almost forgot it!  And, boy, the July challenge is a doozy!  Make a card that features ORANGE.

Okay, I can do this!  I decided to also use this week's Waltzingmouse sketch challenge for the card.  It's been a while since I played along with the sketch challenge.

I recently got Authentique's new Festive paper collection and found a pretty green pattern that I thought make a good background. Then I looked through my WMS holiday stamps - when I saw Big Bloom Poinsettia, I knew what to do.  Next, I needed to find the perfect orange.  I pulled out my new A Muse Studio inks and chose Burano - I think this is my new favorite color!  I pulled a couple other WMS stamp sets, and did lots of stamping and then lots of cutting and ...  

Voila!  An orange christmas card!  I am really happy with how it turned out.  It was definitely worth all the fussy cutting.

If you love Waltzingmouse Stamps, be sure to check out the Waltzingmouse Christmas Card Challenge.  It's a great way to get your Christmas cards done early!

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great day!


Details:
Cardstock: PTI Rustic Cream, A Muse Studio Burano, Fern
Patterned Paper: Authentique Festive collection
Stamps: WMS Compliments of the Season, Big Bloom Poinsettia, Nordic Winter
Ink: A Muse Studio Burano, Papaya, Fern and Onyx
Other: Nestabilities Octagon dies, October Afternoon Woodland Park velvet trim
Size: 5" x 5"

Holiday Hoopla Starter Kit Special!

If you've been on the fence about becoming a consultant for A Muse Studio, now's the time to take the plunge!

When you join between August 1 and September 30, 2012, you will not only get a fabulous deal on the Basic Starter Kit, but you'll also get 4 holiday catalogs and a free stamp set of your choice for free!  Click on the image above for all the details!

Also, the August Spotlight is coming next week! August will focus on memories of summer vacation!  You won't want to miss it!

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great day!

August A Muse Studio Blog Hop

HOLIDAY HOOPLA  

Blog Hop

Welcome!  It's August and a group of my fellow consultants and I are displaying creations using products from the new A Muse Studio holiday catalog!  So many awesome new holiday products!

If you are joining us in the blog hop, you should have come from Karen Crisp's blog, which is also the starting point for the blog hop.

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays!  I don't have small children anymore and no grandkids yet so I don't make a lot of cute little treat bags and such right now.  But I love to make Halloween cards and, even though Halloween isn't a big holiday for sending cards out, I send them to family - they indulge me.  ;-)

Here is what I created with the new Toil and Trouble stamp set and chevron cardstock:

Love it!  There are still lots of A Muse products I haven't gotten yet, but I'm working hard at it. LOL!  So I've mixed a few other things in.  The pretty pattern papers are all A Muse.  And all the stamps, with the exception of the green bubbles, are from the Toil and Trouble stamp set:

What a great stamp set!  And there are lots more like it in the holiday catalog!  Don't wait until they are gone to order yours!

Now on to your next stop Tami Grandi's blog to see more awesome examples of new, and old, A Muse Studio products!

Blog Participants:

Karen Crisp

Linda Suarez       <<<< that's me!

Tami Grandi

Kristine Vicente

Kathy Hatzke

Pamela Fredrickson

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great day!

Details:
Cardstock:  A Muse Fern, PTI Vintage Cream
Patterned Paper:  A Muse Orange Chevron (brand new), Onyx Petite Polka Dot, Sleepy Hollow
Stamps: A Muse Toil and Trouble (brand new), Penny Black Wow...
Ink: A Muse Onyx and Fern
Other:  MFT Oval Stax 1 & 2 dies
Size: 4.25" x 5.5"

Freshly Made Sketches #46

Happy Wednesday!  Time for a new sketch from Freshly Made Sketches!  The sketch this week comes from uber-talented Lesley!  I decided to play with soft colors this week, so I chose some pretty blues and greens and came up with this:

And here is the awesome sketch that Lesley provided us:

I chose to add a simple sentiment directly to the stamped image instead of adding a sentiment banner.  Some coordinating patterned paper and I called it done.  It makes me "smile" when I look at it!  ;-)

Stop by Freshly Made Sketches and check out all the wonderful creations from the Clean Team!  And please come and play.  I'd love to see your take on this week's sketch!

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great day!


Details:
Cardstock: PTI Rustic White
Patterned Paper: Studio Calico Heyday, Take Note and Autumn Press collections
Stamps: A Muse Hand Scripted and Beautiful Botanicals
Ink: PTI Ocean Tides, Aqua Mist, Spring Moss and True Black
Other:  PTI small scallop border die, Nestabilities Labels Eleven die
Size: 5.5" x 4.25"