Angel Dog

Last week, Maria of Crafty Creations had to say goodbye to one of her four-legged family members, Layla.  I wanted to send her a special sympathy card, and as soon as I saw on the photos she posted on her blog, I knew exactly what I wanted to do:

I just had to make an angel dog, which I did by printing out Layla's photo and using the trace feature in Silhouette Studio to cut it out, although it probably would have been easier and quicker to just cut it out myself.  The wings were a Silhouette file, and then I embossed the smaller wing using SU's Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder.  The background paper is a pretty shimmery one from a DCWV pack, matted with Smokey Shadow on a Soft Stone base (a pretty big one, too- 5.5 x 8.5 because I just could force myself to make it any smaller).  The sentiment is from Verve.  Maria did say she got a little teary-eyed when she opened it, but I hope it was in a remember-the-good-times way.

I don't even want to discuss how far behind I am in my blog comments; I had good intentions this weekend and then Every Word: Crossings on the Kindle sucked me into the couch for most of the day.  I also saw The Help, which I would definitely recommend (although the book is, as always, better).  I also saw Crazy. Stupid. Love. before school started and would definitely recommend that one, too, if only for the New Balance shoe joke (although the rest of it is pretty darn good, too).  I hope all of y'all are having a great week! 

A Muse Stamps

As you may have heard, A Muse Stamps has gone into the home sales market, like Stampin' Up or Close to my Heart.  The demo starter kit seemed like too good of a deal to pass up for $99 (+$15 shipping + tax), so I went ahead and joined up.  I'm not planning on being any super seller or anything, but if you're interested, let me know. I may set up my own webpage that you can order from (it won't be live until April 1st, though), or if you're interested in placing an order before then, you can leave a comment and I'll get back to ya.  You can see the catalog here.

This is what you get in the starter kit:

A couple close-up shots (click to view larger):

My review:
Copics: They sell copic originals, which I have never used.  Instead of a brush tip, they have a bullet point, which is definitely intriguing.  I used it to color a small area and it was nice to get into the nooks and crannies.
Clear blocks:  Very nice thick blocks with indentations on two sides for a better grip. Since Unity isn't selling their blocks at the moment, these were the nice upgrade I've been looking for.  You get five of them, including a big background one and a long skinny one.
Inks: These are pigment inks that dry to a chalky finish.  They seem pretty nice in the small samples I've done. 
Paper:  Now this is the part that is really going to cost me!!  Their paper is fabulous.  It's like the paper they use to make store-bought notecards.  It's thick enough to not be flimsy, but not thick like PTI.  The cool part is that it is white on the other side, so when you make your cards you don't have to add an extra sheet on the inside to write on.  The colors they sent are very pretty (well, except that darn orange!  But I guess it's a nice orange if you're into that sort of color).  They also send color swatches of all their colors, with the color name and family (there are four seasonal color families) printed on each swatch.  I would like to see them print a color combo chart, especially since they don't have any multi-colored patterned paper from which to get color combo ideas.
Bling/pearls/memento ink pad/paper flowers/adhesive/glue pen: All of these are products you probably already have.
Stamp scrubber & cleaner: The cleaner has a familiar blue tinge to it, but I haven't actually used it yet to compare to Ultra Clean.  The stamp scrubber is a little smaller than Stampin' Up's, but has the same type of pads in it. 

Stamp sets: A nice collection of images and sentiments.  These are "sampler" sets, so there are 2 or 3 stamps from a multitude of sets.  Yes, that means if you buy the actual set, you will have duplicates, but I still think they're a good deal.  They are mounted on cushion cling, with the images already on the cling.  They suggest you cling the block to the case, that way you can put the stamps back in their spots and instantly see if you are missing any.  I found it tedious to get the stamps in and out of their space, so I'll probably just chuck the scrap.

After all this product talk, are you ready to see some A Muse cards?  Ok, here are three quick CAS cards I made last night.

This is for a friend who has been stuck in the hospital recently...I thought the caged bird was appropriate.  This is French Roast and Currant ink stamped on Sky paper.  I colored the small pearls with a brown copic before adhering.

This patterned paper was actually the back of the A Muse welcome letter (it's also available in the catalog).  I stamped the dandelions and sentiment using French Roast, then adhered it to a French Roast base.

This final one is also for the Splitcoast's CAS challenge today.  I cut the rocket out of the box (or should I say "out of the oval?") and colored with copics and a metallic silver marker.  I used a star dust pen to add stars on the PTI Smokey Shadow background.  It's a wee little 3x3 card.

Now, don't worry, this blog won't be turning into All A Muse All The Time, but I hope you enjoyed a little peek!

It's VSN Time!

Are any of y'all participating in Virtual Stamp Night on Splitcoast?  You still have until Monday at 8:00 EST to play and upload your creations.  I like to play because it's always fun to see what I can make in 45 minutes.  Here are a couple of cards I made for it; I'll share a couple more tomorrow.

This was definitely my favorite of the bunch!  It was for Snail's challenge of embossing (either heat or dry) vellum.  I definitely need to put vellum on my shopping list, because I only have this confetti kind from a long-ago craft project.  I was puzzled for a bit until I saw this Sugar Nellie image in my stamp index, and thought a sparkly vellum moon would be so much fun.  I stamped her on the vellum and embossed with clear embossing powder.  Then I used Wild Honey distress ink to ink up the moon.  I stamped her again on white paper, and colored her in using distress inks and an aquapainter.  I was going to go with a "wish big" type sentiment, but then I just couldn't resist "I love you to the moon and back..." from PTI's Out on a Limb sentiments.  I stamped the "I love you" using Barn Door distress ink and the rest of the sentiment with Fresh Ink Lemonade, then clear embossed.  I cut the sentiment strip extra long, folded the flaps over, and adhered them to the inside of the card.  Then I used some blue & white twine to hang the moon on, securing it to the back with tape because I'm classy that way (and I was running out of time).

Embossed vellum turns out to be really hard to photograph, so here's another angle for ya:

Not Quite Navy is definitely one of my favorite colors of all time, and I used it again on this card for Resqbarbie's sketch challenge. 

Would you believe me if I told you I watercolored this card using only 3 distress ink colors (tumbled rose, peeled paint, and vintage photograph)?  Well, ok, you probably would.   But I still love it and this SU stamp!  I guess technically I used four colors, because I sponged the edges with Antique Linen.  The PTI Mega Mixed Messages sentiment is stamped with NQN ink onto Soft Suede (which is another current favorite that I need to order more of!), then punched out with the modern label punch.

Anyone watching the Oscars tonight?  I'm hoping for King's Speech to win.  We saw it last week and it was definitely the best movie of the year.  Social Network just didn't do it for me, but I am hoping Aaron Sorkin will win for best screenplay in return for Sports Night never winning anything.  Yes, that is exactly how I think the Academy Awards should work.   :)

Topic for Discussion: "Stamper's" Techniques

Do you ever wonder if non-stampers "get" our cards?  I remember a thread on SCS about someone's friend commenting the cards she sent that had all the "headless women" (aka MFT) on them.  I also wonder if people "get" TCP stamps with penguins dressed up as all sorts of characters and then I remember penguins are always appropriate. 

The reason I bring this up is the following sympathy card.  I stamped with clear embossing powder, then used my new distress inks to get that gorgeous color (yes, I want every color of distress ink--what are some of your must-haves colors?) and embossed the whole panel twice with UTEE.  And it looked pretty good. Then I asked DH if I should go ahead with my planned cracked-glass technique and he said yes (I love that my DH knows what I'm talking about when I ask him these things).  Anyway, now I'm not sure if it's ventured into stamper's-only territory (remember you can click on the pic to enlarge).  As in, will the recipient be asking herself why I sent her a dirty, broken card?  You can be honest here, I personally still like it but I'm not sure I would do it again.

FYI: I used Wild Honey, Tumbled Glass, and Vintage Photo distress inks, then PTI chamomile on the "glass" after it had been cracked.  If you don't know about the cracked glass technique, you put on a thick layer of clear embossing--either two of UTEE(ultra thick embossing enamel) or many layers of regular.  Then pop it in the freezer for 10-15 minutes, take it out and bend your image where you want the cracks to form.  Then to show them off, apply some ink and then wipe it off-it will just stay in the cracks. 

This will be my last sentence because I don't want a sentence about "wiping it off" and "staying in the cracks" to be my last sentence of my post.  So I guess this one will be my real last last sentence. 

Sympathy & Savings

I pulled out a bookmark the other day with a gorgeous pale pink peony on a black background and thought it would make a nice card.  Of course, I don't have any peony stamps, but I thought Elements of Style might work, so here it is:

I think I would have rather just kept the Smokey Shadow rectangle full size with an Ocean Tides border, and not have the ribbon or border, but I had already cut my image layer, so there you go.  I stamped Elements of Style and heat embossed with white.  Then I used Pale Sage and Peach prismacolor pencils to color it in.  The sentiment is PTI Mixed Messages, with a PTI Vintage Label border.  Here is a close up of the coloring:

It's so relaxing to color without having to worry about shading or blending sometimes.

Now onto the savings....here is a printable coupon for 30% entire purchase at Ann Taylor and Ann Taylor Loft, good until Sunday (also good on online purchases $100+). And tonight from 6-9, Gap stores are previewing a new jeans documentary and offering 30% off entire purchase.  I haven't been in a Gap in a long time, but maybe they'll have something cute that I can't live without!

So we eat out a lot. I mean, a lot.  We have 7-10 restaurants that we frequent, and quite a few of them know us as regulars, and the waiters/waitresses we've had before sometimes remember our orders because we're complete creatures of habit.  But until the other day, I've never had a waiter wait on us for the first time and know our orders.  And not just, "Oh, you get the special," but, "You have a plain hamburger with baked potato, he has the ahi tuna appetizer, and then you switch halfway through"  (so I can eat some of his salad and he can have some of my potato).  Is that a sign we should eat in more?  But then again, did I mention this place has 1/2 price wine on Mondays?

Well, I'm going to go laze about and enjoy one of my last few days of summer!

SU Loot!

I spent yesterday morning reorganizing my SU colors and as soon as I filed away the last scrap, my doorbell rang--UPS with my SU order!  Yippee!!  So of course I had to sit down and start playing!

I think this is my favorite card of the bunch.  I cut out a Nestability Label One from copy paper and used it as a mask to stamp the Elements of Style flowers in River Rock.  Then I used the negative of the mask to stamp the flowers in Soft Suede.  I watercolored them using Pink Pirouette, Baja Breeze, and Wild Wasabi inks, then sponged over the whole thing with River Rock.

This one gave me fits trying to get a nice image using Misting with Markers technique for this week's ResQChallenge (well, probably last week's by the time I post this). Either I didn't spritz it enough or I would spritz too much or I would spritz too much on one section and not enough on another.  Definitely need more practice!  I used Ruby Red and Old Olive markers on PTI Rustic White.  The image and sentiment are both from Just Believe.  The red is Cherry Cobbler--such a yummy color!  It's on a kraft card base that I stamped repeatedly with another image from the same set in Versamark.  And I love the pattern so much I did another card with it:

Who knew River Rock would make me like Soft Suede?  But it did and I do!  I used Soft Suede ink for all the stamping, then cut out the label from River Rock and adhered.  The sentiment is from PTI Mixed Messages.

Tech Tip update: First of all, I'm glad I'm not the only one who didn't know that middle-click-link-to-open-in-new-tab trick.  I read about it on a geek website (lifehacker--go ahead and add it to your google reader now.  I'll wait) and they started the article with "Everybody knows [about this trick]."  Really?  Everybody?  Anyway, Maria and Charlene were also introduced to the scroll function, which happens when you click the rollerball when the pointer is not on a link.  And my real-life friend Laura said on a Macbook, it's command + click on trackpad to open the link.  Did you know the elevators in Apple stores do not have call buttons or floor buttons?  They just open on every floor every time.

Two for the Price of One!

This week's Res-Q-Challenge was to use emboss resist. I was playing around with different ideas and ended up with two panels that I liked, so I went ahead and made two cards.

This first card is also for the Taylored Expression Sketch Challenge. (Hey, did you notice that badge over there --> on my sidebar? I was chosen as top crop for my Medallion Anniversary Card. Yippee!) I stamped the Wplus9 flowers with versamark onto SU Baja Breeze and clear embossed, then rubbed some PTI Fresh Snow ink around the flowers, then rubbed it off the embossed flowers. The tag is punched from PTI Melon Berry, stamped with PTI Mega Mixed Messages sentiment. The SU Baja Breeze button is tied onto some generic kraft-colored ribbon with some linen twine. I punched the PTI Kraft & SU Baja Breeze scalloped strips using Fiskar's Threading Water punch, then placed some self-adhesive Hobby Lobby pearls on the punched holes. The background layer is Cosmo Cricket Core'dinations paper, sanded.

I went with a cleaner-and-simpler layout for my second card, using the CAS25 sketch from last summer that I think is my favorite sketch of all time. After clear embossing the flowers on Baja Breeze again, I brayered Not Quite Navy over it. Since I liked the look of the white halo in the first card so much, I added it to this card too. The sentiment is from Verve Forever in Our Hearts, stamped on SU Baja Breeze. The ribbon is the reverse of some American Craft polka dot ribbon--I love the softness of the dark grey instead of black. The image is matted with PTI Smokey Shadow. The dp is Stampin' Up from last year.

Here's my odd encounter of the day: DH and I were outside trimming hedges and suffering heat stroke, when DH says, "there's something you don't see every day" and I come around from behind the hedges to see two horses walking down the sidewalk (they were being ridden, I mean, this is a nice neighborhood, we don't let wild horses just roam here. ;) ). They were visiting the people next door. So, uh, that was weird.