*stack 'em!*

The newest A Muse critters just make me smile... and when you stack 'em, well, they're just about the cutest things EVER!!! This is the COTW (card of the week) in this week's A Muse Newsletter, so if you haven't seen it that means you aren't signed up for the newsletter! What are ya waitin' for?
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A Muse notecard, papers, ribbon, images, and sentiment. Stampin' Up blender pen and markers. Timber brown Stazon ink. Canson watercolor paper. Fiskars mini scalloped scissors. Orange stickles.

*snail mail*

Did you see Julie's Card of the Week in this week's A Muse Newsletter? She took the new mini flower stamp... which she designed herself, by the way... and stamped it repeatedly to create an elegant blossom. What a great idea! Now why didn't I think of it? After seeing her amazing card, I just had it to try it myself! I'm a lazy stamper... plus I'm out of post it notes, so I skipped the step of cutting a scalloped circle out of a post it note for a template and did my best to eyeball a circular shape. I traced around all the little flowers with my clear spica glitter pen, cut out the blossom so I could give it a bit of dimension with pop dots, and mounted it over top a stem from the Stitched Garden Clear Set. I stamped the sentiment in two different colors just for fun and framed it in with my Marvy oval and scalloped oval punches. One little mini flower with a tiny red twinkle sticker in the center was the perfect finishing touch, along with a few white polka dots outlining the oval and scalloped edges. I stamped a border from the Fancy Borders clear set and ran the white background piece through my Cuttlebug using my swiss dots embossing folder. A little red sheer ribbon for a splash of color and the addition of Mr. Snail, and voila... my card was complete!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you've got a fun weekend planned... with some time for stampin'!
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A Muse black kitchen 4 bar notecard, natural cardstock, images, sentiment, ribbon, and twinkle sticker. Marvy punches. VersaMagic tea leaves chalk ink. Stampin' Up riding hood red classic ink, blender pen, chocolate chip marker, sanding block, and dimensionals. Timber brown Stazon ink. Sharpie white poster paint pen. Prisma marker (avacado). Cuttlebug swiss dots embossing folder.

*the sky's the limit*

Swing girl is another fun new image that A Muse will be releasing on February 11th as part of the *Spring It On* collection. I think she's just darling, and she's perfect for watercoloring!

The rest of the team has been sharing lots of sneak peeks, so if you've got an extra minute or two be sure to check out their blogs for some amazing ideas that are sure to inspire you!

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A Muse papers, images, and sentiment. Timber brown Stazon ink. Stampin' Up blender pen, markers, sanding block, watercolor paper, and dimensionals. Copic spica glitter pens. MayArts ribbon. Martha Stewart fench punch.

*baby frame*

The other day I was rummaging around in my old craft closet and ran across this frame. I bought it ages ago and almost forgot I had it. Well, one of my girlfriends just had a baby boy, and I thought it would be fun to make her a name frame for the baby's room.

I used mostly A Muse stamps (with the exception of the submarine, balloons, and moon and stars) and even managed to sneak in a couple cute little critters from the new "Spring It On" release. See turtle walking through the seaweed?... and snail contentedly perched on the letter s? Sneaky, aren't I? I spelled out Reise using the fabulous ginormous polka dot monograms, created a little tag to attach to the frame using the "oh baby!" sentiment, added a funky border of seaweed across the bottom, and watercolored a few other A Muse critters... all to create a boyishly fun underwater scene.

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Frame and watercolor paper purchased at WalMart. Polka dot paper by My Mind's Eye. Cream cardstock by CTMH. Submarine and moon & stars images Just Johanna's Odd Bird Planet. Balloon, markers, blender pen, and linen thread by Stampin' Up. All other stamps by A Muse. Crab punch from Dollar Tree. Wrights island blue organdy wired ribbon. Baby carriage charm from Hobby Lobby. Oval scalloped punch by Marvy. Chestnut roan ColorBox fluid chalk ink. VersaMagic tea leaves chalk ink. Island (blue) Fresh Ink. Timber brown Stazon ink.

*you are the friend...*

I'm thrilled that it's sneak peek time once again! It's been hard keeping the new *Spring it On* collection a secret. This is one of my favorite A Muse releases ever, and you're gonna love it!

Little chick is absolutely adorable! I wanted to give her a softer look, so I stamped her on watercolor paper and then colored her in with some markers and a blender pen. The mini flower is also new, and when stamped randomly it's perfect for creating your own background paper, which in this case is a dreamy field of flowers. I gave each of the flowers some leaves from the clear Cupcake Builder set, and I created the "grass" with a fun border I found in the clear Fancy Borders set. Given my recent obsession with pink and orange... I gave each of the flowers a sparkly center using orange stickles. I finished off my card with the new "you are the friend everyone wishes they had" sentiment and some pink tutu stitched grosgrain ribbon. What a fun card to give a friend!
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A Muse notecard, ribbon, images, and sentiment. Blender pen, markers, kiwi kiss classic ink, and dimensionals by Stampin' Up. Timber brown Stazon ink. Chestnut roan ColorBox fluid chalk ink. Orange stickles.

*i love you more than...*

I've been on the A Muse Design team for 3 1/2 years, and it still makes me smile when one of my cards is chosen for the Card of the Week feature in the A Muse Weekly Newsletter. If you're not already a subscriber, you can sign up here. It's fun... it's free, and it keeps you informed of sales, upcoming classes, blue light special stamps, and lots of other exciting A Muse news.

I just love Elyse! She is sweetness through and through, and she couldn't be any cuter in her Mary Janes and fancy little dress. I love her paired up with the chocolate assortment stamp, which is a *must have*, especially if you love chocolate!
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A Muse notecard, papers, images, sentiment, black dye ink, ribbon, and twinkle stickers. Copic markers. Stampin' Up dimensionals and sanding block.