Share Your Spark!

I love checking out Heather's Share Your Spark Fridays, but never have time to participate. Today is different! Well, I didn't make this card specifically for her challenge, but I made it last weekend and it happens to meet her challenge this week! ;) So yes, I suppose I'm cheating a bit.

I made this card for our good friend Shaun who celebrated his birthday last weekend. He plays guitar, so of course I had to use Rock Star! I usually have trouble with masculine cards but this one just whipped itself right up.




I mean REALLY? I love it. I think I managed to pull off using ribbon and glitter on a masculine card without making it girly! I stuck two concert tickets inside using clear photo corners, so this card was perfect in so many ways. ;)


Supplies:
A Muse Stamps: Rock Star, You Rock, Little Dude, Fun Star Small
A Muse Kitchen 4-Bar Notecard: Red
Colorbox Fluid Chalk Ink: Warm Red, Yellow Citrus
Copic & Prismacolor Markers
Palette Hybrid Ink: Noir
American Crafts Ribbon
Queen & Co Brad
Stardust Glitter Pen
Fiskars Deco Scissors: Pinking
Silver Stickles
Black Cardstock, White Cardstock
Love, Elsie Stamp: Radio
3M Foam Tape

Happy Anniversary, A Muse!

I'm two days late on this, but better late than never. Right? ;)

(Truth is, we've had a major fiasco with the hotel we booked our rooms/groom's dinner/gift opening with. So bad that I cancelled everything and have been working with another hotel to reschedule all of our events. Needless to say - a month out from the wedding - I've been in a panic all week. I'm feeling fine now though because I'm getting it all taken care of today! Signed contracts and deposits are on their way to the new hotel and we are looking good again. Whew!)


Anyway, A Muse celebrated their 7th anniversary on Wednesday! A Muse is such a great company to be a part of, and Linda is totally the best boss I've ever had. ;)



I can't believe I didn't notice the crooked ribbon before taking this picture! Gah.

In honor of their 7th anniversary, I have some fave A Muse 7's to share. It was super hard to narrow my faves down! I don't recommend it to anyone ... my head hurts now. ;)

7 Favorite A Muse Images:
2-4062D Grass
3-5017C Big Dot Bl
2-4075A Tiny Bird
2-4087B Flower Doodles
7-5044E Scallop Label
2-6095D Rock Star
3-1039A Tiny Heart

7 Favorite A Muse Sentiments:
9-8408B You Rock
3-8357B Brewing Fun
9-8180B Beep Beep
9-8227B Think Spring
8-8400B Favorite Peeps MA
8-8493B Congratulations MA
8-8490B Thank You Mix MA

7 Favorite Notecards:
Lime Peel Band
Lime Peel Solid
Cabana Blue Solid
Surf Solid
Popsicle Pink
Green Kitchen 4-Bar
Pink Kitchen 4-Bar

7 Favorite Supplies:
Mini Dot Twinkle Stickers
Micro Dot Twinkle Stickers
Pretty Little Papers
Black Sheer Ribbon
French Roast Sheer Ribbon
Cabana Blue Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon
Papaya Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon

I feel so lucky to be in my 3rd year as part of the A Muse family. I've met so many talented and amazing people along the way, and I feel like my own stamping has evolved over the years. I'm looking forward to many more exciting years, classes, products and friendship!


Supplies:
A Muse Kitchen 4-Bar Notes: Yellow, Brown
A Muse Solid Notecard: Cabana Blue, Orange Crush
A Muse Twinkle Stickers: Mini Dot
A Muse Stitched Grograin Ribbon: Cabana Blue
A Muse Birthday Builders Mini Clear Stamp Set
Colorbox Fluid Chalk Ink: Chestnut Roan, Ice Blue
Marvy Uchida Punches: Super Jumbo Flower, Extra Jumbo Flower
Tonic Punch: Scallop Circle
Sakura Stardust Glitter Pen
Fiskars Deco Scissors: Cloud
Stampendous Ultrafine Iridescent Glitter
Sakura Quickie Glue Pen
3M Foam Tape
Ivory Cardstock

Boy oh Boy!

Just sharing a quick baby card today for a coworker. Boy cards are so hard for me!


~Stamps, cardstock, and twinkle sticker by A Muse Artstamps~
Palette Hybrid Ink, COPIC Markers, May Arts Ribbon, Marvy Uchida Clever Lever Punches

Make a Wish!

Remember my two super-students - Dawn & Karen? They've been with me from the very start of my teaching gig with A Muse. They're the most awesome women ever! Here's a cute pic of us from my last class before taking the summer off for wedding fun.

cutie-cutes!
Dawn, me, Karen


Anyway, Dawn's birthday was this past weekend. I actually managed to get a card made and a little gift packaged up to mail - the day before her birthday! Haha, almost on time - so proud of myself. Here's the card - Dawn loves purple! And A Muse and Elzybells, but who doesn't? ;)



So YAY DAWN! Happy birthday to you!

That's all for today - just wanted to share a little Elzy cuteness! :) Watch for more posts this week. My to-do list includes a baby card, birthday card and gift, and of course wedding stuff!

Mother's Day Goodies

Hmm. No love for my blinged out clutches? It's okay - I love them and I know my girls will too. :)

Maybe you guys will dig these more. ;) Mother's Day cards and gifts, and a bridal shower card.

A co-worker asked me to make her a "generic" Mother's Day card. Haha - here it is. I hope her mother likes it!


For Geoff's mom ...


For my grandma ... I made this from an *oops* version of my co-worker's card! (My grandma is currently in a transitional care facility. Good vibes sent her way would be much appreciated.)


For my mom ... and a close-up of the glitter!




For my future sister-in-law's bridal shower last weekend ...


Okay, I'm a little late to this party but oh-my-heavens-to-betsy am I addicted to this project! I whipped up two in two nights this week. Back in February, the fabulous Ali Edwards posted a butterfly collage project on her blog. And then the equally fabulous Kelli Crowe did one too! It's been in the back of my mind ever since, so when I spotted the Martha Stewart collector boxes on clearance at my local Michael's - you knowI had to grab them all and also the MS butterfly punch with my coupon. (Oh snap - they're on clearance on the MS Crafts website too!)

*blog break for shopping*

Okay, we're back. So after purchasing the boxes and punch, I knew I needed some new papers to work with. Amy Butler (for K & Company) to the rescue! Michael's had all scrap cardstock pads on sale for 40% off, so I gave in to three different Amy Butler collections. GORGEOUS - if you haven't spotted them yet - get thee to Michael's right away! I also bought a fabulous pad of new SEI papers, but didn't use them on these boxes ... yet. :) I also used the Amy Butler papers on two of the cards above.

I glittered every single butterfly, stuck them down with a piece of a glue dot, and added a A Muse Twinkle Stickers to the outside.

Behold!

For my mom ...



For Geoff's mom ...



What do you think? I think I'm exhaused from all of my recent crafting. But totally motivated and inspired too, so I have a feeling this weekend will be just as productive as this past week has been.

Happy Mother's Day to all of you lovely mothers out there! I plan to enjoy every moment with the wonderful mothers in my life. :)

A little bling ...

Just a little something for you guys today.

I bought these clutches at Target about a year ago. I just couldn't pass them up when they were on sale, and then had to have the pink one for myself when it went on clearance.

The other day, I was wondering how the girls would tell their clutches apart without opening them. I thought of monogramming them, but both of their names start with C! So, I present to you my blinged out clutches. :)



Lily asked if it took me forever to glue all of those tiny rhinestones, but here's my secret: MAMBI rhinestone stickers!! Just peel and stick. Oh yeah!

The picture isn't fabulous - it makes them look like pleather. Haha! They're satin though and they will look great with the girls' short black satin dresses. And the inside is leopard printed! They are by Issac Mizrahi, so they are really nice quality.

Courtney's is the star, Candice's is the martini, and mine is the heart! Cuuuuute, huh?! Geoff was even excited about these when he saw them sitting on the table, which cracked me up. ;)

I've heard from two people that they've received the wedding invitation already. Eek! We're really getting married!

Hostess Gifts

Does anyone read Danielle Thompson's blog? If you don't, you should add it to your Google Reader ASAP! I find her blog SO SO inspiring. Seriously, her style is just so fabulous, I could squeal. When I saw this entry, I totally stole the rub-ons/jar candle idea. Perfect thank-you gift for my 4 bridal shower hostesses!

It was a little tricky (okay a lot tricky) to get the rub-ons to transfer, but I love how they turned out and had a hard time giving them away!




FOR CUTE, right?! I packaged them up in black/hot pink glittery bags (purchased in the $1 bins at Target a few months back), along with a bottle of Bath & Body Works shower gel. I stamped a little tag, wrote a note on the back, and attached it to the handle with ribbon. Voila!




I have oodles of the rub-ons left because I bought a sheet of black and a sheet of ivory. Anyone have any other cool uses for rub-ons? I want to stick these on everything. The birds and owls just make me so happy!

*coming soon*
- blinged out clutches for the wedding
- wedding favors
- thank-you cards for shower gifts
- mother's day cards

Shower Gifts

Thank you to everyone for their super-sweet comments on my invitation post! hee hee *blushing*

Let's see ... more projects to post today!

As I may have mentioned here before, Geoff's brother Tom is getting married 3 weeks after us. The boys' family had a "shower day" up north for me and Erin (Tom's fiancee) a few weekends ago. Here are a few tiny things I whipped up to put with her shower gift. Their wedding colors are green and pink, if you can't tell. :)

Lots of random goodies were used in these projects, so just let me know if you have a question about something in particular.

As always, click on the image and it will open a super-huge version. I wish these pictures were better quality, but I was quickly snapping them before I had to wrap everything.

Two little notepads - found the glittery notepads in the $1 bins at Michael's and added glittery chipboard E's and tied ribbon to the spiral. We used one to record her shower gifts!



Two sets of thank you cards. I found the sets of cards in the $1 bins at Michael's - then I added the punched ovals and tied them up with tulle!



Last, but certainly not least, I made her a scrapbook. I haven't scrapbooked in seriously for-everrr, so I had a lot of fun. I had been picking up little things in pink/green/wedding theme for a few months when I spotted things on sale or clearance. I kept putting everything in a basket, so when I sat down to make this scrapbook it was super easy! All of the pages look similar, as you can see. I was able to whip this up in just two nights. She loved it, and can't wait to stick some photos in there after the wedding.

Wedding Invitations! *phew*

This project was definitely a labor of love. There were so many times I thought I couldn't do it. It just felt like too much and it was so overwhelming. I'm so happy to say these are (almost) done and will be mailed this weekend if it kills me.

(I say "almost" done because we were 10 short (forgot some people that my mom wanted to invite), but my mom has envelopes ready for them. I just have to put 10 more invitations together and stuff the envelopes.)

Honestly though, I'm so glad I made my wedding invitations myself. It just wouldn't have been my wedding without handmade invites. I owe so much to my lovely mother, best friend (maid of honor), cousin (bridesmaid), and aunt for their help in assembling these. We cranked them all out in just a few hours at my dining room table on a Sunday afternoon! I have the best little troop of helpers ever. :)

Without further delay, here they are! I think if you click the images, you will get a super-huge version. (please don't stalk our wedding!) ;)




What do you think? :)

The black and pink papers are shimmery. The white is linen textured. The three cards on the left are perforated so guests can easily tear out the RSVP postcard and mail, and also tear out the accommodations tab to make hotel reservations. The photo can be removed from the photo corners and kept, if our guests are so inclined.

My mom addressed all of the envelopes. She knocked on my door at 6:30 yesterday morning on her way to work, and delivered these! The funny thing is, she's a mail carrier. She stood on my doorstep in her uniform and said "special delivery"! :)


So pretty!


Close up of the envelope. They are iridescent. Doesn't my mom have lovely handwriting?


The return address labels match the business cards I used to make our save-the-date magnets. Hard to see, but it's a black background with loose diamonds scattered and our names are hot pink.


So ... I have many more wedding-related crafty projects done and in the works. Both for my wedding, and Geoff's brother's wedding in July. Is anyone interested in seeing those as I finish them? I have to say, making this post has made me feel even more accomplished. :)


Supplies:
Anchor Paper cardstock and envelopes
A Muse stamp (tiny heart)
Vistaprint return address labels (free with coupon code)
Autumn Leaves/Rhonna Farrer stamps (swirls)
Love stamp
May Arts ribbon
MAMBI and Hero Arts rhinestones
CutterBee Bugs perforator
Palette (Noir) and Stampin' Up (Pink Passion) inks
3M Scotch Double Sided Tape