Clever Girls Notepad

Here's a fun little notepad cover. I love the bubblegum shimmer damask mixed with the retired a│s onyx polka dot paper. A little bubblegum ink is perfect for stamping "Isn't it Amazing what Clever Girls can do? - Peter Pan" from the a│s stamp set Clever Girls. The spellbinder circles and scalloped circles dies created the perfect shapes and a little ribbon, a little bling and a pen finish it off. I'll have some similar items in my craft fair items this fall. They make great gifts! :)

Have a wonderfully creative day!
www.amusestudio.com/seleise

Tutorial: A "SPLASH" Holly Jolly Christmas Card with Gift Card Insert

Spoiler alert! If you participate in my monthly card class, only read this post if you want to see all the details for one of the cards we'll be making in October. :)

Now, let's dive in! I haven't done a tutorial in a while but thought it was time to share a fun way to add the SPLASH ink spray to a project. SPLASH is one of the new products from A Muse Studio and it's SUPER FUN! It's a permanent ink so can be used on fabric as well as on paper. LOVE IT!

Here's the tutorial. The steps will follow each photo and the project will feature the a│s Santa Claus is Comin' To Town stamp set.

1. Stamp image with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 3 ¾” X 3 ½” on Twas the Night cardstock. (my 4-1/2" X 4 1/2" a muse studio acrylic block was in use in another project so I had to use one of my old blocks. As you can see, it works but the square a│s block would have been ideal!)

2. Create a Tombow mono/multi glue mask. Here's the back of it - see the glue? So, how do you make the mask? Stamp the Holly Jolly santa image on a piece of cardstock. Put Tombow Multi glue all over the back in a thin layer and let dry (yep, I got a little carried away on the feet and hands. oops!). When the glue dries completely, it turns the image into a "post-it". Yep, it's removeable. But, if you glue two pieces of cardstock together with the same glue, it's permanently adhered when the glue is dry.  How cool is that?

3. Place the Tombow mono-multi masking image over stamped image to protect from spray. As you can see from the splattered Santa, you can re-use the mask.

4. Spray cherry splash with gentle pressure on the nozzle and across a cardboard box (spray inside a cardboard box to protect your clothing and floors since it's permanent ink) on cardstock. If you spray closer, you'll get more of a full coverage look. If you spray across the length of a rectangle cardboard box, you'll get more of a splatter effect which works best for this project.

5. Here's what it looks like after you've sprayed. Remove the mask. Hopefully there aren't any splatters where your image is.

6.  Color the image using cherry and onyx Tombow markers for the clothes, hat, belts and boots. Use an E00 copic marker for the face and hands and the Signo silver gel pen for the belt buckle.

7. Use the quickie glue pen to highlight the “fur” on Santa’s outfit by adding Diamond glitter. Glue and glitter the fur on the hat, pour off.  Glue and glitter the cuffs, pour off. Glue and glitter the fur band on the belly. Drag the ink pad on the edge to create a thin black border.

8. Add a strip of silver metallic washi tape to a piece of candy cane stripe cardstock and adhere to a cherry cardstock base. Then, pop up the image on top. Add some some cherry petite polka dot stars from the star die trio to finish off the outside.

9. Add a gift card insert cut from the a│s die and add to the inside of the card. Finish off with a sentiment and you're done.

A fun way to use SPLASH, washi and patterned cardstock! I hope you enjoyed the tutorial! www.amusestudio.com/seleise

Have a wonderfully creative day!!

Sympathy Cards - Thinking of You

Here are some sympathy/thinking of you cards. The stamps are mostly A Muse Studio as is the paper. The iris is Heartfelt Creations.

The memory box dies are just wonderful to create these beautiful shapes, don't you think? I just discovered Memory Box in July and wow - love their dies!

And, look at this lovely iris image from Heartfelt Creations. I forgot to take a photo of the purple one I made. Love coloring these with copics. Great shading opportunities.

The cardstock and washi tape are A Muse Studio. Love it!! And, the inks for the sponging are A Muse as well. Hope this has given you some inspiration to play. www.amusestudio.com/seleise

Have a wonderful day!

Splashy Monster Birthday (with Gift Card Enclosure)

Check out this super fun birthday card feature Dill from the monster bash stamp set. Dill is all decked out in cherry ink and his white triangle background has been "splashed" with cherry splash ink. The Splash ink is a new product and let me tell you, it's super fun!!! It's opaque so you can do backgrounds or if you spray a little easier and off to the side, you can get this great splatter effect. It's permanent so you can splash on fabric (think die cut shapes and onesies!!!). Doesn't it look great with the polka dots and gingham?!

The inside features the new gift card die which also holds a business card perfectly (and a fun pack of m&ms too!!!!) *wink* The gift card die piece is cut out of onyx petite polka dot and then layered on top of the cherry petite polka dot so you can see that it's not a full card base size. It would look good on the inside flap of the card and then you could put a sentiment where the die-cut currently is place. :)

This was one of my class cards for September. I've got a workshop this week-end so may have to try some Splash with them too.

All supplies are a muse studio: www.amusestudio.com/seleise 

Have a wonderfully creative day!

Robot Birthday

Here's a little robot birthday fun for today. It features the following A Muse Studio  products: Love Machines stamp set, sage petite polka dots,onyx gingham, onyx and sugar cardstock, sage ink and some sparkly gel pen to ground him.

And, you have to bring a little robot friend inside too to finish off the card. The sentiment is from Stamps of Life.

Hope you're having a splendid day!!!
www.amusestudio.com/seleise

Too Cute to Spook

Here's a little Halloween fun for today! A fun bicycle, a groovy die-cut fence and Halloween stamps are all you need to make this scene. :)

The cardstocks are onyx, orange, seattle, bermuda and graph.The inks are onyx, orange and slate. A little masking helps the kitty "sit" in the bike basket. The stamp sets are enjoy the ride, too cute to spook and spooky boo day. The little jack-o-lantern is stamped, cut out and popped up on the other side of the fence. The graph cardstock looks pretty good as a sidewalk, doesn't it?

Here are more bats to finish off the inside!

Hope you have a way spooky boo day! :)
www.amusestudio.com/seleise

Welcome Little One - Published!

I'm super excited as I got some happy mail today! I got published in the latest Just Cards - the Fall Spectacular! It's my second time to get published in an industry magazine and I'm so excited! Here's the card that got published:

Welcome Little One
 1. All products used are from A Muse Studio. Cut sage cardstock for the base, 5 ½” X 8 ½”. Fold in half. Stamp two sentiments from a│s little peanuts in grass ink on the top and bottom of the card.
 2. Cut a 5 ½” X 1 ½” piece of buttercup gingham cardstock and a 5 ½” X 1” piece of sage petite polka dot cardstock. Use vintage labels 1 die set to cut lemon whip cardstock. Adhere to cardstock base.
3. Stamp the elephant from a│s little peanuts in memento tuxedo black on the buttercup gingham cardstock and cut it out. Stamp the elephant again on the lemon whip die cut piece and glue the gingham elephant on top to paper-piece the elephant. Layer on the card with pop dots.
 4. Use a sponge dauber to color paper daisy flowers with lemon whip ink. Add pearls and adhere to card under the popped up image.
5. Stamp sentiment from a│s little peanuts in grass ink on the inside of the card.

Did you know that you can earn free stamps through the A Muse Studio publication rewards program? It's true! It's open to consultants and customers. Here's the information: https://www.amusestudio.com/publication-rewards-program.asp

Have a wonderfully creative day!
www.amusestudio.com/seleise

Winter Joy

Here's some sponge dauber action at work! :) What a great thing to cut some random templates and then just sponge off of them to look like mounds of snow. The little snowman and sentiment is from Holiday Tags and the trees are from Cool Yule.One tree is cut out and popped up for visual interest and the snowman was also stamped and cut out (arms cut off) and adhered to the card base.

Thanks for stopping by!
www.amusestudio.com/seleise

Miss You - CAS186

Ahhh.... felt! The a muse studio felt is just beautiful and there are three new colors that have been introduced! Two are featured here - current and orange - which are perfect for a fall card! And, the new leaf dies cut the felt beautifully, don't you agree?

The background stamp is also new - screenprint background - stamped in orange on an apricot card base. I LOVE it! It covers a full 4.25" X 5.5" (A2) card front and it will be a great background for so many different cards.

A little french roast and white baker's twine, a sentiment from Wish You Were Here and the card front is complete. Easy Peasy! :) And, the inside has another sentiment from the same set that says "wish you were here."

I'm also entering this in the Splitcoast Stampers CAS Fabric Challenge CAS186. There are some fun cards in the gallery.

Maple Tag Snowman Ornament

A Muse Studio carries these AWESOME maple tags that you can make into the cutest card/scrapbooking embellishments, photo key chains, Christmas ornaments and so much more! We went the Christmas ornament route in my August card class because it's getting to be that time of the year!

This is the 2" diameter maple tag. A Muse Studio also has an 1.5" tag. They are sold as sets of 12. The 1.5" are $3.95 + tax/shipping and the 2" are $5.95 + tax/shipping. Each maple tag comes as a solid circle but the crop-a-dile can punch right through it with no problem.

The first step was to assemble the ornament. The bottom layer is a spellbinder circle cut from candy cane stripe paper. The top layer is a vanilla cardstock spellbinder scalloped circle. The snowman from Holiday Tags is stamped in memento tuxedo black and colored with copics. The winter joy was stamped in cherry and cut to fit the front. The layers were assembled and then edged with the sponge daubers in cherry ink.

The next step was to make the ornament sparkly! After it was assembled but before it was punched and a baker's twine hanger added, I pressed the versamark ink pad over the top to cover the entire front of the ornament. Next, I covered the top with diamond embossing powder, shook off the excess and heated it up. It made for a wonderfully sparkly ornament front. You can see in the photo below that the embossing powder really reflects the camera flash so it's hard to get a straight-on photo but you can see a hint of the sparkle layer in the angled photos above. Once the ornament was embossed, the hole was punched and cherry/white baker's twine was added.

These would make great stocking stuffers and package tags. You could take photos of your kids, (or your class or your pre-school or your nieces and nephews or your pets or... ) and layer them instead of the scalloped circle and you have instant Christmas gifts for the grandparents or parents or aunts and uncles or... They'd also be a great way to add photos to make a family photo wreath. The possibilities are endless!

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderfully creative day!

Monster Bash Birthday

The new monster bash stamp set from A Muse is sooooo CUTE! It's super cute and fun for Halloween but it's also great for other cards for kids! Here's a simple bday card that shows off some of the cute little characters! Three of the images are stamped in heather, burano and bermuda inks with some bermuda ink sponged around the card edges and their feet. The bat monster was stamped on the card and also stamped and cut out and popped up over the other. A strip with three silver brads was added to provide a border for the birthday greeting. :)

More stamping on the inside makes a birthday card for a little guy or gal just a fun card to get.

Have a wonderfully creative day!