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

Gift Card Holder - Photo Tutorial

Oh boy! I have never even considered doing a photo tutorial, but I discovered that I get a ton of hits on my blog about the Christmas gift card holders that I've made in the past. I had found a link on how to make one and they're super easy. I thought I'd give this tutorial thing a go...

Step 1: Cut a piece of cardstock at 4 1/4" x ll. I used 'twas the night before christmas from a•muse studio (of course). Optional step: If you use a plain piece of cardstock instead of patterned paper, you could choose to stamp a background on both sides of the paper at this point.

Step Two: Turn the paper landscape and score at 3", 5 1/2", & 8".

Step Three: When you score the paper you want to fold it slightly so it resembles an "M".

Step Four: On the second panel from the left, put adhesive in a C shape from the top, down the left side, and across the bottom. It's hard to see in the phone. I used 1/4" adhesive from my ATG gun. It's good strong adhesive that will hold well.

Step Five: Fold the paper over so that you get an inside pocket. If you've used patterned paper, the patter will be on the outside, and your pocket for the gift card will be on the inside.

Step Six: Trim off 1/2" from the section that becomes the pocket. This is where you will be sliding the gift card inside.

I slide one of my business cards inside to demonstrate and make a contact at the same time! 

Step Seven: Get ready to decorate the outside of your gift card holder. I used a piece of cranberry and sugar cardstock from a•muse studio cut at 3 1/4" x 2 1/4" for the cranberry and 3" x 2" for the sugar.

Step Eight: Assemble your outside image. I used Holiday Tags, some Christmas washi tape, and white flocking to dress up Santa's suit.

Step Nine: Stamp a quick To: and From: inside. Leave space for a message!

Step Ten: Cut a length of ribbon and adhere it to the card around the middle. Then adhere your focal image over the ribbon.

Ta-da!!! An adorable gift card holder that the recipient will appreciate almost as much as the gift card it holds! You can do these either in landscape or portrait, depending on the stamps you want to use. I chose landscape for this one because I wanted the image to be in line with the text.

Here is an example of another one I did in the portrait orientation. 

I hope I did a good job with the tutorial and that it makes sense! Let me know what you think? Would you be interested in making these yourself? I'd be happy to help get you going at a workshop. Get in touch: paperismypassion@gmail.com All of the supplies for the gift card holders can be found here.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Devon

Not a Card!

Cards are great, and I do still scrapbook, but when I find something I can do with paper that is not a card or a layout, it's such fun! This cute little bag would be the perfect way to give someone a pair of earrings, or any little treat. And, you can make it with just 1/2 a sheet of paper! I love it when I can make 2 of something and have an extra on hand for those last minute gifts.

Recipe: All a•muse | studio products

Paper: Bermuda for bag, Sugar for sentiment

Stamps: Lots of Dots, Brief Notes sentiment

Ink: Ocean

Ribbon: Ocean stitched grograin

All supplies for this project can be found here.

Have a wonderful day!

Devon

I just got the Fresh Foliage set and the Autumn Harvest paper pack in the mail. Such yummy paper! I think I'm going to have to go all fancy this Thanksgiving and make the place cards. And even though the snow is going to fly any second, I'm going to make some cute cards for my friends who are still experiencing fall. Those Autumn Leaves are calling me too.... Good thing these sets are 10% off right now. 

If you are interested in ordering any of the specials in the October Spotlight, just click this Spotlight link to visit my a•muse | studio web store.

I'm having my first Workshop at my house on November 5th and 6th from 2 - 4! I'm so excited to share all these fun stamps that I'm just loving. If you'd like to attend, just drop me an email at paperismypassion@gmail.com. 

And now I'm off to the table to have some inky fun!

Happy Saturday!
Devon

With Sympathy

It's never easy to lose someone. We lost my dad almost 13 years ago this coming Christmas. One of the things that got me and my mom through the whole thing was hearing stories people told about Dad and what an amazing man he was. Making a sympathy card can be a daunting task. I think sympathy cards should be understated and simple. Remember, it's the message that you send inside that comforts the receiver.

This card, made with supplies from my consultant kit, was originally designed as a birthday card. It didn't seem bright and cheery enough for that, so I thought it would make a lovely sympathy card.

I made a few changes, including doing a little heat embossing with clear embossing power. I love heat embossing! It gives such texture to your work and looks so professional. Plus... it's just fun to watch that stuff melt!

Recipe: All A•Muse Studio Products

Paper: French Roast, Fern, Bermuda, Sugar

Ribbon: French Roast stitched grograin

Ink: Versamark and French Roast

Other: Clear embossing powder

Can it really be Friday already? My weeks seem to be flying by... Christmas will be here before I know it. I'm going to start getting prepared now. I'm going to hit the Book Fair at school to send gifts to the kiddos in our lives. I've already got some cute ones picked out for a couple of sweet little girls in Seattle! 

Have a great day!

Devon

A Quick Thank You

Who doesn't need thank you cards? I keep them in my desk at school to make sure I send them as quickly as possible. Being a 2nd grade teacher, we often get little treats or gifts from our students and their families. I think it's a great way to show your gratitude by giving a handmade card.

This thank you card has a special element. The white paper flower was colored with Copic markers. You can use Copics to add color to more than just regular paper. I added the color to the middle of the flower and then blended it out toward the petals with the colorless blender pen. I love that I can customize embellishments with Copics to suit the colors in my project.

Recipe: All a•muse | studio products

Paper: Sugar, Papaya, Orange, Sky

Stamps: Sentiment from Friend to Friend, Polka Dots from Polka Dot Patterns

Embellishments: Flower from Meadow Mix, Clear Twinkle Sticker

You can find all of the supplies for this card here.

I'm super excited! I'm making my first consultant order today. As a new consultant, I'll be getting an extra 10% off my first order. I'm finding it so hard to reign myself in and not order absolutely everything right now. There are just so many stamp sets and fun things that I want to play with!

What are your most favorite crafty/stamping items to play with? What are your must haves? 

I'm excited for the weekend to come. We're heading out to a reindeer farm on Saturday with the boys and their Tae Kwon Do team. It should be a fun outside activity before the snow starts to fly. I also want to come up with some card sketches for my Christmas card and start planning what kind of cookies to make for the November 5th and 6th workshop at my house. And of course I want to make some cards! 

Have a wonderful Thursday!

Devon