WT389 - Head In The Clouds

This was for the Ways to Use It Challenge on Splitcoast Stampers, find a way to use clouds.  The cloud die is one of my favorites so I couldn't resist joining in.  And I think my love of polka dot cardstock has been well documented here as well.  I colored the little house from the Hero Arts set  with my sadly neglected Copic markers - almost forgot how to use them!
Forgive the lighting - it's been dark and dismal most of the day here as the storm clouds gather overhead.  
Edited to add:  the cloud die is by A Muse Studio - set of 2 for $5.95

A Muse Challenge - using felt

Angie is our A Muse Studio challenge  hostess this week, and she challenged us to use felt somewhere on our card.  This is the first time I've used felt with our dies and I was very pleased with the results.  Nice clean cuts with no frayed edges and I had no problem at all running it through the machine. ( I use a Vagabond)  The bat is the smallest die in the Big Bat trio, a set of Spellbinder dies exclusive to A Muse Studio, and for the orange moon I used one of the Nestabilities standard circle which we also carry.
The cards also feature the Nevermore stamp  set and the orange and cherry splash inks.  All of these things were on my first order from our new Holiday Hoopla catalog which can be viewed in the side bar.  I am having the hardest time not ordering one of everything in it....

In case you didn't know.....

....I love Halloween!  I love the colors, the images, the decorations , just the all around spookiness of it all.  I tell you this in fair warning of the fact that between now and October there may be an abundance of the theme showing up here because I have way more than my fair share of Halloween stamp sets and every year i add to them because  I HAVE NO WILLPOWER. 

And because people keep coming out with stuff to tempt me.  Lookie...

Bat dies.  There was no resisting these beauties, although I really did try.  For about 2 days actually and then I gave in.  Resistance was, in fact, futile.  I have the MS bat punch which has seen more than its fair share of use, but it  only gives you small bats.  Go large, I say.  And i did.

There are actually 3 dies in the set, which is made by Spellbinders exclusively for A Muse Studio.   They are batiful, am I wrong?

I really, really tried to hold off with the Halloween stuff until at least September.  I had it all planned - Spooky September and all that - can we consider this a sneak peek at Spooky September?

August Spotlight

One of the (many) things I like about A Muse is the monthly spotlight, which features a bunch of sets at spotlight (read sale) prices, together with an assortment pack of cardstock , which is also at a reduced price.  It's a great way to build your collection of colors without having to buy a whole pack at a time.   I pretty much always end up adding a pack and, if I'm being honest, I pretty much always end up with at least one of the featured sets too because the price is just too good to pass up!

One of this month's featured sets is "enjoy the ride".  This set has been mine since the 2012 catalog came out.  It was on my very first order because I loved it so much and this card was one of the first things I made with it.  Quick and cute, my favorite type of card!

Happy Friday, y'all.

Card A Day Bloggers

Although I've fallen a bit behind in my 100 cards in 100 days project, some of my fellow challenge participants are already done.  Over achieve much, ladies??

There have been so many other good things happen with the challenge, other than the card making.  We've made new friends, learned new things, added more goodies to the wish lists and cheered each other - so much so, that the quick finishers decided they wanted the fun to continue on and now we have a new group,  the Card A Day Bloggers, so we can carry the friendships and encouragement on even after the 100 days is up.

Our first group challenge was from Bexx, my fellow Brit;  a London Calling Challenge:

Anything BRITISH goes... think cups of tea, buses, the Olympics, Big Ben, the weather, moaning... 

I was all over it!  A Muse has some very British stamp sets in the main catalog this year, which I immediately ordered and then didn't really know what to do with. This was a great excuse to use them, so I totally went to town with them.

And I've tipped just over the 50 card mark with around 30 days left to the finish mark.  It's still do-able right?

A Muse Studio Red, White and Blue Challenge

The Olympics are in full swing and I'm glued to the TV for hours, cheering on people I don't know, playing sports I've never watched before.  I get totally caught up in the emotion of it all, whether it's the happy emotion of watching athletes achieve their dream or the sadder emotion of watching those dreams crushed - the tissues are right beside me and generally very much needed.  I'm originally from the UK, but have lived in the US for a long, long time so I have two teams to cheer on , which leads to double the drama.

So in spirit of the games and to honor the achievements of  the athletes from both my countries, the A Muse Studio  challenge this week is to make a card using red, white and blue.

 As soon as I saw these sets in the 2012 catalog, I knew they had to be mine!  The above card is made with the set "stamp on" embossed on to cherry red card.  Very quick and easy!

The card below is from the aptly named "british invasion"  It's full of very British images and sayings and so appropriate for the theme of the challenge

t's such an exciting time for A Muse Studio - August 1st saw the launch of our Holiday Hoopla, the 2012 holiday catalog.  If you haven't seen one, click on the link on right hand side bar to see the download.  But be warned, your craft budget may well be blown by the time you are done - there are so many wonderful new sets!  I have a wish list a mile long!

And there is more!  There is a special stamp set , available only for Holiday Hoopla hostesses, as well as a sign up special.   From now until September 30th, not only can you join the A Muse family for the discounted price of $99, but you can choose an additional stamp set to add to the standard kit contents.  It's a wonderful opportunity - if you've ever wondered, waivered or wobbled on whether or not this might be the right fit for you, now is absolutely the time to find out.  Please feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions at all.

And  please jump on over to the A Muse Challenge - you don't have to use A Muse products to play along but we love it when you do.

Down, but not out

So I suffered a little set back in the 100 cards challenge in the form of a nasty chest infection which really sucked the life out of me.  I can't believe how long it took me to get back to feeling near normal, or to have any desire to do anything creative.  Ah, well - such is life!  I don't get sick often, so I'm not going to complain too much.

 These cards were (obviously) meant to go with the Christmas in July theme I had going on.  I know it's August, but hey, what's a girl to do?

I'm hoping to get in to the craft room today - let's see if Mr. Mojo is feeling better as well!

Day 44 - 100 Cards in 100 Days

Continuing the Christmas in July theme - and the one cut, two cards epiphany, here are the next two cards for the 100 cards challenge.  I went back and counted all the duplicates, plus the cards that are so almost exactly alike that I won't be posting them and I'm at 35 cards!  And since this is the 14th of July,  I'm almost exactly where I should be.  With a little this weekend, I might even get ahead.....

I'm having so much fun with this - it has turned into so much more than just making 100 cards.  Many, many  thanks to Mindy for starting it all off.

Snowflakes in Summer

Our current A Muse Studio challenge is "Christmas in July"  so I pulled out my Christmas sets for that and went with it.   Helps me get a head start on Christmas cards for Operation Write Home too!

Here are cards 100.10 & 100.11 - and lesson # 2 learned from this challenge.  If you plan ahead, you can  accentuate the positive by using the negative .

Usually when I die cut, I  try to get the most number of cuts out of the piece of card stock,    Then it finally dawned on me that I could use the negative space too and double the cards for pretty much the same amount of effort, if I planned out where to place the die BEFORE i randomly ran it through the machine.  I'm probably the last person on the planet to realize this, but I'm sharing the light-bulb moment just in case I am second to last.

I was so thrilled with this realization that I did a whole set of these so I'm gaining on my 100 cards goal too.  Some of my co-challenge peeps are way up there, posting card # 89 and scary high numbers like that - even with my duplicates and such I'm still creeping along in the 30's.


A Muse Supplies used:
Snowflake Trio Die,  essential sentiments, sugar, winter sky & silver shimmer couture cardstock, seattle ink.   

CAS-ual Friday Challenge 60

I'm learning a lot with this 100 cards challenge!  Inspiration can be elusive, and challenges can really help with that.  I don't think I ever fully understood that before - I thought a challenge, a "must do that this way" would do the absolute opposite of creative inspiration, which just goes to show what I know.  I've found out I love 'em - I just don't always make the deadline.  

One place I always check out is the CAS-ual Friday challenge blog.  There are some jaw dropping creations over there, people!  Go  play along.  I finally found the time to post the card I made before the next challenge posted.  I may now have to go lay down in a darkened room to recover from the shock of it all.

CFC60  Use text in your Clean And Simple design

A Muse Studio Challenge - Christmas in July

Where did the last two weeks go?  Add me to the list of people who can't quite believe it's July already.  Before we know it, it will be Labor Day, then Halloween, then Thanksgiving and then Christmas again.  Which leads me neatly to the next challenge being thrown down at A Muse Studio Challenge Blog - Christmas in July.
 

 Hop on over to see what the rest of the design team has created then, put on the holiday tunes, get a jump start on your holiday projects and share what you create with us.
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You can find everything you need to create any of the projects in my Online Store If your order is $150.00 or more, please contact me directly to place your order for you, as you will receive hostess benefits!!