How to Cute-ify Office Supplies!

The creative geniuses at a•muse used this month's spotlight special products (10% off until 11:59 pm EST on February 29th) to really cute-ify home office supplies. I love it when I can use my stamping supplies for other projects. Cards are fun, but when I can alter every day items to make them beautiful, I get extremely tickled with myself! Check out these fun ideas...

YES! Washi tape on pencils! Now my students will really know which pencils belong to the teacher, because mine will be the cute washi taped ones!

Woodgrain stamp makes a beautiful container wrap... who isn't into "upcycling" these days? 

No more boring manilla folders for me! And I've already started making 

washi taped paper clips. They're sticking out all over my new 2012 catalog, 

marking the first stamp sets that I just have to have

Love the sunshine yellow mixed with the gray and the blue! So pretty and fresh!

I'm already thinking of 1,001 things I can label with the maple tags and they're so easy to color with 

a•muse pigment ink pads.

No more boring binder clips for this girl, no sir! Not when I've got amazing washi tape at my table!

And this I'm simply IN LOVE with! I have a ton of these magazine holders that I keep paper and magazines in. They will be cute-ified right quick, let me tell you!

This month I am investing in all of the spotlight specials, because I just can't resist! Let me know if I can come show you some of these fun projects and cards to make during a workshop. I'd be happy to help you cute-ify some of your things too!

Have a great day!

Devon

February Spotlight Time!

There is something about the February color combo that is really speaking to me... I think it's the gray! That's unusual for me, but I'm just loving the neutral look and I'm usually a bright colors kind of person. Click the link in on right side of the page to order any of these great February Spotlight stamp sets.

I have two events organized for this month and I know we'll be using some of these stamps. Copic Club begins on Friday, February 10th at 6:00 and then Stamp Camp on Saturday, February 26th at 2:00. I love getting together with other people who enjoy the addiction!

It's Here!!! The 2012 a•muse | studio Catalog and Inspiration Guide

I've been waiting for this for months and it's finally here! New stamps, new colors, new paper, new ribbon, new glitter... Too much fun stuff!

Check out all of the fun NEW goodies here and then get in touch so I can 

set up a workshop for you right away!

Heading off to place my first order to prepare for February Stamp Camp on January 25th! 

Have a great night!

Devon

Clean and Simple Cards - Day 5

Yes... I've skipped day four. I haven't figured out exactly what I wanted to do with the day four challenge yet and I woke up this morning more inspired to try some of Jennifer McGuire's techniques with Distress Inks from day five. I've always enjoyed working with Distress Inks, but I haven't played very much with them and how they react with water, so I was excited to give this a try. I came up with two cards this morning:

When I pulled out the Distress Inks to begin these cards, I looked at my colors and it seems I'm mostly drawn to blues and greens. I'm going to need to add some other colors to my stash, but I love the way these colors worked together. When I finished getting all of the color on the paper, it felt somber and more like a sympathy card. They're always the hardest cards to make, so I like to have a few already in my stash. It's hard to tell from the picture, but I added a slight shimmer to the inked background with a•muse's stardust finishing spray. I don't have any Perfect Pearls like Jennifer used in the video, but the finishing spray added just what I was looking for in the shine department. 

Recipe:

Paper: Strathmore watercolor paper, a•muse sky and sugar

Stamps: a•muse essential sentiments and beautiful botanicals

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, VersaMark, Tim Holtz Distress Ink in broken china, chipped sapphire, peeled paint, faded jeans, shabby shutters, bundled sage, stormy sky ( I really need to add some reds and yellows)

Other: a•muse white embossing powder and stardust finishing spray

One layer cards are very hard for me to do and feel like they are finished, but I'm pleased with how this turned out. It's simple, but very pretty and it will be easy to mail. This will be a technique I use a lot in the future. Besides... playing with ink and spray bottles and getting my fingers all inky is just super fun!

Recipe:

Paper: Strathmore watercolor paper

Stamps: a•muse essential sentiments and CTMH Treasures

Ink: VersaMark, Tim Holtz Distress Ink in faded jeans, peeled paint, and chipped sapphire

Other: a•muse white embossing powder and stardust finishing spray

I hope you have a wonderful day! All of my boys are off and occupied with boy things today. I'm heading out to my monthly scrapbooking get together and getting some much needed mommy time. But I will be making sure I know how my Niners are doing against the Saints!

Happy Saturday!

Devon

Clean and Simple Card Making - Day 3

I am on a ROLL!!! I feel like the overly ambitious student who gets all their homework done before the deadline... Yes, I am the Hermione of the Clean and Simple Card Making class! Day 3 begins tomorrow, but I've already got a card and I'm going to publish it tonight. What the heck? It's close to midnight anyway...

For day three, Jennifer McGuire showed two cards that she used die cuts on, which she layered to add dimension to the card. Julie Ebersole showed us how she used Pinterest (one of the reasons why I get to bed so late some nights) for inspiration. I used both of their ideas in ONE card! (I'm feeling kind of cool.) Here is what I came up with:

I've noticed that lately I've been pinning a lot of things on Pinterest involving hearts, rainbows, and clouds, so that's where I drew my inspiration from for this card. There is not one actual stamp involved in this card, because I couldn't find a sentiment that went with what was swirling around in my brain. I kept thinking of "Showering you with Love" and the hearts as the rain rather than drops. So I used my printer to generate the sentiment and cut it in a banner just like Jennifer did on her sample card.

To give the clouds dimension, I layered three of the small clouds on top of each other  and then put those on top of just one of the larger clouds. I like this technique, because then I'm not looking at dimensional adhesive when I see the card from the side. It almost looks like I've cut the clouds out of white chip board. The hearts have dimension since they have been die cut from felt. 

Recipe:

Card stock: a•muse | studio - sugar and sky

Embellishments: a•muse | studio felt, Twinery bakers twine in Marachino Cherry, random felt from my stash

Sentiment: computer generated

Tools: a•muse | studio dies - heart trio, cloud duo

Have a wonderful Wednesday stampers!

Devon

Clean and Simple Card Making - Day 2

A quick post this morning - Day 2 brings us a Perfectly Flat Card from Julie Ebersole. This is the kind of card I struggle with, because I always want to add some bling or ribbon, but I'm really happy with how this one turned out. I had to dig deep into my stash to try an emulate Julie's faux letterpress style and I got to ink up a CTMH stamp set that has never seen ink around here.

Paper: Strathmore water color paper

Stamps: CTMH Paper Lantern

Ink: a•muse | studio papaya, cranberry, ocean pigment ink, Memento Tuxedo Black

Off to have fun with 2nd graders! Hopefully I'll have some energy to play some more tonight.

Have a great day!

Devon

Clean and Simple Card Making - Day 1

Woo-hoo!!! I won a spot in the Clean and Simple Card Making online class being taught by Kristina Werner, Jennifer McGuire, and Julie Ebersole - three ladies who inspire me all the time! I won the spot by leaving a comment on Tami Hartley's blog i make cards. Thank you so much Tami! I'm beyond excited to participate in this class, as my mojo has been waning lately.

Today, I came home from work t-i-r-e-d... oof! 2nd graders can suck every ounce of energy out of you, not to mention my own two little monkeys! But when I saw the sketches for today, I couldn't stop making cards. I knocked out 4 cards tonight and could have kept going if I didn't need to go to work tomorrow. I know one of today's sketches is going to be a "go to" for me for a long time to come.

Before I show you what I did, remember... these are NOT perfect. I was whipping ink around, throwing paper, and grabbing stamps like a frenzy. There are flaws and mistakes and I'm alright with that! It's a class and this is a great way to develop ideas and get the craftiness moving. Perfect can come later. And with that, here are the cards:

All a•muse products for this one:

Paper: Kraft cardstock

Stamps: wild rose 

Ink: cranberry, fern, french roast

Embellishments: Tombow brown marker, french roast bakers twine, cranberry buttons

All a•muse products:

Paper: blush cardstock

Stamps: sweetheart background and quick & cute valentines

Ink: bubblegum and Versamark

Embellishments: white embossing powder, blush felt, heart trio die, white Signo gel pen

All a•muse products:

Paper: vanilla cardstock

Stamp: life is a song

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black and cranberry

Embellishments: cranberry glitter, black pen

And this card got thrown together in a crazed moment of raiding all sorts of items from my massive stash of products...

Paper: a•muse sugar cardstock and Kodak photo paper

Stamp: a•muse hand scripted

Ink: a•muse ocean and Tim Holtz alcohol inks in Purple Twighlight, Citrus, and Sail Boat Blue

Embellishments: totally random organdy ribbon scrap from the stash, CTMH button and embroidery floss

Looking at this post, the next class I clearly need to take is a photography class, but that will have to come another day. It's on my bucket list! 

If you see any of the a•muse | studio products that you just can't live without, I hope you'll visit my webstore and check out our catalog. There are several great stamp sets that are retiring, as well as my beloved cranberry products. But all of these retiring products means one exciting thing.... the NEW catalog is coming!!!

Happy Stamping friends!

Devon

January a•muse|studio Spotlight Specials!

The January Spotlight Special has finally gone live over at a•muse|studio and I'm so excited! I've got a few of these stamp sets, but I'll be ordering the other two that aren't already in my collection at the special price. Spotlight Special prices are good until January 31st. If you want to come and play with these new stamps, I'm having a Valentine's Stamp Camp on January 21st!

All of these sweet stamps and the Rock Candy paper pack can be ordered at my webstore. I can't wait to get creating. I took a long break for Christmas and family time and now it's time to design some fun things for Valentine's Day!

Happy stamping!

Devon

Top Ten Must Haves from a•muse | studio

Oh wow! We're having a sale! A•Muse has a top ten must haves list at an extra 20% off until December 15. The three stamp sets have been on my wish list for a while and I can't resist a good deal! And, I go through a lot of Kraft card stock, so I'm stocking up now...

See anything you can't live without? You can order all of these items here. And now I'm off to the table to continue to prepare for Christmas Stamp Camp. There are 17 fun ladies on their way to my house on Saturday to make a bunch of Christmas cards! It's going to be so much fun!

Enjoy the last day of November all!

Devon

November a•muse | studio Spotlight!

Ooooohhhh!!! I am so jazzed about the deals in the November Spotlight! I've already ordered Winter Wishes and Candy Cake Wishes. Holiday Tags and Polka Dot patterns were already part of my collection. Those felt coasters? SO going to make them! You don't even have to be able to sew! Die cut the felt and stick it together with heat and bond! Yee-haw!!! I feel a project coming on! And yes... 3 packs of the Gingerbread paper pack are on their way to my house.

I've got some great cards using these products coming up at Christmas Stamp Camp on December 3rd. Let me know if you'd like to come get crafty and inky with friends. It's going to be fun! If you are interesting in ordering from this spotlight, you can click right here. 

Have a great night!

Devon

Celebrate the Season

I have a little problem with paper... and ink... and ribbon... and buttons. So much stuff to play with! And I've also found several other like minded people with my kind of problems online. One of my favorite blog people is Kristina Werner. She makes great cards that are fun to do and don't take hours upon hours, and layers upon layers. I have been following her for years.

Every year she does a Holiday Card series of videos and I watch every single one. This year she made her sketches available as PDFs through her Virtual Card Club and I knew I had to have them. The inspiration for today's card came right from sketch Number 8 in her series. I love being able to adapt her creative sketches to make cards with my supplies.

This is for my friend Kristine. She has stars in her eyes for heat embossing. I'm going to completely enable her at Stamp Camp on December 3rd!  I scored and sanded the cranberry cardstock, cut some candy cane stripe and wasabi paper, got out the scallop punch and added it all to a kraft base. Then I stamped the sentiment using Versamark and embossed it too! Cute, simple, and easy to mail.

Recipe: All a•muse | studio products

Paper: kraft, cranberry, wasabi, cocoa, and candy cane stripe

Ink: Versamark

Stamp: Celebrate The Season

Other: White Signo Uniball pen, white embossing powder, fern polka dot organdy ribbon

All products for this card are available here.

How are you getting ready for the holidays? I need to choose a card and start the production line! I want to have them all finished by Thanksgiving weekend. Then it will be time to start making caramel sauce! 

Have a great night!

Devon

A Reindeer and his Scarf

You know how people look at something someone has made by hand and they say "I could do that..." My comment is always "Yes... but do you?" I'm one of those people that likes to look at how someone has done something and then go off and see if I can do it. I've done it with cakes and desserts for a long time, and now I'm doing it with paper.

I saw a great card using the Nordic Noel stamp set from a•muse | studio that I coincidentally had received in the mail last week. It was the greatest reindeer wearing a scarf. I couldn't figure out exactly how to do the card and thought on it for a few days. Tonight my brain kicked in and I worked it out. I love it when all the brain cells finally decide to talk to each other!!!

Can you figure out how I did it? I have no idea if I did it the same way as the original designer, but it looks the same and I'm in LOVE with this card. I've made several Christmas cards in the last few weeks and this one could be a contender for the DeGarmo Family Christmas Card this year.

Recipe: All supplies from a•muse | studio

Cardstock: cranberry, candy stripe, wasabi, and sugar

Stamps: reindeer from Nordic Noel, sentiment from Essential Sentiments

Ink: cranberry and french roast

Embellishments: holiday washi tape and lime stitched grosgrain ribbon

All supplies from this card are available here. 

Thanks for stopping by to check out my little moment of being proud of myself! If you would like to make this card at a workshop or camp stamp, let me know!

Have a great week!

Devon

Baby It's Cold Outside!

So appropriate for all of our fresh new snow. When we were leaving school last night, there was quite a bit of snow gently falling from the sky and Max very sweetly said "oh... it's so beautiful!" Right now, we love it... ask us again when it is still snowing in April.

Anyway... I got the snowman die and some felt in my last order. The die cut the felt like butter! and I thought he could be quite a charmer on the front of a winter card. I didn't have any black twinkle stickers, so I took some pearls and colored them black with my Copic marker. Ta-da! Buttons and eyes! (Copics come in so stinking handy sometimes!)

I cut a tiny little nose out of some Papaya paper and a hat out of black felt and I just love it! I'm just having too much fun I tell ya'...

Recipe: All a•muse | studio products

Paper: Sky, Sugar, Onyx

Stamps: Chill of Winter

Ink: Sky, Memento Tuxedo black

Felt: Sugar, Onyx

Embellishments: pearl stickers in vanilla, altered with a black Copic marker

All of the supplies for this card (and so much more) can be found here.

Happy Stamping!

Devon

Snow Friends

Oooohhh!!! I've been playing and prepping for my very first workshop! I have a thing for snowmen. Love 'em! Every year I beg the boys to come out and make a snowman with me from the first snow we get. Soon it will be so cold that the snow won't actually stick together. If you make a snowman early in the winter, they can be out in your yard for most of the winter.

So I'm just loving playing with a few different a•muse studio snowmen. Here's a card I made using the Chill of Winter set and some Copic markers...

I like the combination of the Sky paper and the little pops of Cherry. Of course, I had to add some glittery snow in the background. Diamond glitter makes me happy! And the fun technique that I've been using quite a bit? Masking - so I can layer stamped images on top of each other. And I've finally gotten smart and I'm storing my masking images in the DVD case where the stamp set is. Then I can make the card several times if need be and I don't have to cut out the mask again. I just love a good, time saving idea. How do you save time in stamping?

Recipe: All a•muse | studio products

Paper: Sugar, Sky, Sky gingham

Stamps: Chill of Winter

Ink: Sky, Tuxedo Black

Ribbon: Cherry stitched grograin

Misc: Diamond glitter and Copic Markers

All of the supplies for this card can be found here.

Well... off to clean up the house and finish prepping for tomorrow! I'm excited!

Happy weekend all!

Devon