*once upon a time*

After a busy morning of running errands, I was delighted to come home to find my Stamping Bella order sitting ever-so-nicely inside my screen door. New stamps always make for a good day, don't you agree? The new Ketto line is so cute, and those spunky little girls make my heart happy! This one is called Missmatch Ketto. Isn't she fun? Guess what else made my little heart happy yesterday. Do you see that *crimped* layer? I did it! I was finally able to get a straight crimped layer! Will I be able to do it again? Probably not! I have no idea how I did it, so it's anyone's guess if I can master it again, but I refuse to be glum, and I will delight in my one-time success and consider it a victory... however small of a victory it may be!

Several weeks ago when I was shopping out of town, I ran across Tattered Angels Glimmer Mists. There were so many fabulous colors to choose from that it took me forever to pick one. I finally decided on Pearl, and I love it! I gave MissMatch Ketto a few spritzes, and she is simply glowing! It gave her such a lovely sparkle, and I was impressed by how quickly it dries. I will definitely be picking up a few more colors next time!

I have some more Ketto's just waiting for ink, so I'd better get scootin'!
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Missmatch Ketto by Stamping Bella. Sentiment by Studio G. Natural and kitchen chocolate cardstock by A Muse. Stazon timber brown ink. Stampin' Up so saffron cardstock, watercolor paper, blender pens, markers, white craft ink, and dimensionals. Designer paper by Making Memories. Rich cocoa memento ink. Fiskars crimper. Pearl Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist. Ribbon unknown.

*a friend who is all ears*

This fun design was featured several weeks ago as the Card of the Week in the A Muse Newsletter. I tend to use very basic colors like black or brown for my sentiments, but this time I wanted the cursive words of the sentiment to stand out. I had already chosen a pink and green color scheme for the rest of the design, so I decided to incorporate both colors into the sentiment. I think it added a bit of visual interest, and it's always fun to try something different.

If you notice, two corners of the card are rounded. That's something else I don't do very often, but once again, it made a very simple design a bit more interesting. I also added a few details to Bunny Princess's dress and wand with a copic glitter pen. A few simple dots that took only seconds to create, add a lot of detail to the final design. Sometimes we think that it takes a lot of fancy and elaborate things to make a card a little extra special, but in reality, just a few easy extras can really make a big difference!
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A Muse notecard, images, sentiment, and ribbon. Stampin' Up watercolor paper, blender pen, markers, kiwi kiss classic ink, and dimensionals. Timber brown Stazon ink. EK Success corner rounder. Copic spica glitter pens.

*appetizer, anyone?*

A Muse is about to debut their new bridal collection called Love Blooms, and of course, there couldn't be a new release without a few sneak peeks! The Love Blooms collection is simply elegant... so why not give our previews a bit of a *French* flair? Introducing amuse-bouche. It means appetizer... and that's exactly what our sneak peeks are! A tasty morsel to whet your appetite for the main course!

I hope you've already enjoyed a few of the appetizers that the A Muse crew has served up this morning. Most of them are quite elegant, so I thought I'd show you how easy it is to use the elegant new images with A Muse's existing stamps. Isn't the new umbrella cute in Little Chick's hand? This would make a darling baby shower invite, don't ya think?
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A Muse images, sentiment, ribbon, papers and notecard (NEW! 4 bar sky). Stampin' Up watercolor paper, blender pen, markers, kiwi kiss and riding hook red classic inks, dimensionals, and sanding block. Heidi Swapp edge distressor. Orange stickles. Clear spica glitter pen.

*you're one in a million*

Look familiar? Here's a slight variation of yesterday's card. This one's an envelope card, which is my favorite these days. I made this for a friend who surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Wasn't that sweet of her?

*happy everything*

Here's a happy little card I made with some new goodies I ordered from 2Peas. It's not often that I use solid images, probably because I love the detail you get from coloring in outlined images. But it was nice to try something other than watercoloring for a change... although I did watercolor the elephant's ear. I just couldn't resist coloring in those flowers! I'm not sure what color scheme I've got going on here, but it was fun using some colors I wouldn't normally think of putting together.

Butterflies are all the rage these days, and I've been noticing how cute they are with a button or a twinkle sticker on top. I just had to try it, and they are so cute I can barely stand it! Definitely the perfect finishing touch to the little sentiment tag!
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Kraft cardstock by DCWV. A Muse cardstock (natural, kitchen blue, kitchen chocolate and buttercup yellow) and twinkle stickers. Clear stamp set by Little Yellow Bicycle (Baby Safari-GIRL). Fiskars mini scalloped scissors. VersaMagic tea leaves chalk ink. Fig and melon Fresh Ink pigment inks. Timber brown Stazon ink. Stampin' Up white craft ink, blender pen, markers, sanding block, and dimensionals. Martha Stewart butterfly punch. Copic multiliner black pen. Melissa Frances sentiment. Brown gingham ribbon by Offray.

*it's the little things*

I {heart} this sentiment for a baby card. When your baby is almost 6, you nearly forget how little a newborn is. Sad, isn't it? A friend of mine who moved away a number of years ago had a baby girl several months back. I'm miserably late getting a baby gift sent to her, but I finally went shopping last week and found the sweetest little outfit on sale. I love shopping for baby clothes! They're so stinkin' cute... and oh so miniature!

One of the cardmaking trends I've noticed lately is buttons. I've especially noticed them layered over top of the ribbon and often times with a little tag attached. I thought I'd give it a try, and I like the way it turned out. The weather here in Iowa is beautiful today! I hope you're enjoying some glorious sunshine... and finding a little time to stamp too!

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DCWV kraft cardstock. A Muse papers, image, and sentiment. Cuttlebug swiss dots embossing folder. American Crafts ribbon. MME button. CTMH colonial white waxy flax. Fiskars mini scalloped scissors. Larger scalloped scissors from Michaels. Stampin' Up blender pen, markers, white craft ink, and sanding block. Clear spica glitter pen. Stazon timber brown ink.

*a get well for Vi*

Those of you who are regular readers of A Muse News have probably read this post about Linda's mom, Vi. While I've not had the honor of meeting her in person, I've heard some amazing things about her. It's Vi who mass produces all the A Muse card samples that get sent to stores along with their orders. That translates into thousands of cards and a lot of work behind the scenes! I wanted to make Vi a get well card, and I was inspired to use carrot car because of this cute little number by Novell. I would love a "wishing you a speedy recovery" sentiment, but since I don't have one, I think I'll use my snap stamps to include it on the inside. That way Vi won't think I'm crazy and wonder what in the world speedy little bunny in his carrot car has to do with her getting better!
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A Muse notecard, papers, images and sentiment. Grass decorative scissors. Timber brown Stazon ink. Stampin' Up blender pens, markers, ribbon, kiwi kiss cardstock, sanding block, and dimensionals.

*happy anniversary*

I found a little stamping time this afternoon and decided to make another envelope card. My crimping skills haven't improved since my last attempt, so I used another embossing folder instead. Cuttlebug needs to come out with a crimped embossing folder for those of us who are crimping impaired!

Luna the Moth is such a cute stamp. I've had her and a few other Huggabugs from Stamping Bella in my stash for a while, and I was glad to finally ink her up. I usually reach for my clear spica glitter pen when I want to add some sparkle, but this time I used Stampin' Up's dazzling diamonds glitter. Her little wings are so sparkly, and you can even see it in the photo!

The mushrooms are one of Anna Wight's creations. I adore her stamps. They're fun to use, and I find myself reaching for them a lot lately.

The sentiment is from a clear set by Melissa Frances. It's one of my favorite sentiment sets because I love the handwriting.

Thanks for stopping by!
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Luna (the moth) by Stamping Bella. Mushrooms by Whipper Snapper. Sentiment by Melissa Frances. Stampin' Up kiwi kiss cardstock, blender pen, markers, watercolor paper, dazzling diamonds glitter, white craft ink, ribbon, sanding block, and dimensionals. Stazon timber brown ink. EK Success 1" circle punch. Spica glitter pens. Patterned cardstocks by Lasting Impressions. Cuttlebug perfectly paisley embossing folder.

*some-bunny special* - AMC03

This month's A Muse Lounge Challenge is called Spring is in the Air. The challenge is to let spring inspire you. After being cooped up inside for a long Iowa winter, I'm ready to put on my gardening gloves and dig in the dirt! Bunny gardener is so cute... and she just screams spring! She's dressed for the occasion, and she's ready for some serious gardening!
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A Muse notecard, papers, image, and sentiment. Timber brown Stazon ink. Stampin' Up blender pen, markers, button, linen thread, sanding block, and dimensionals. Clear spica glitter pen. Marvy punches. RibbonTrends orange gingham ribbon.

*thanks a million*

Monday's Technique Lover's Challenge over at Splitcoast Stampers was to make a crimped envelope card, and I thought it would be fun to give it a try. I improvised and used a 4-bar envelope instead of an A2 and my swiss dots embossing folder instead of a crimper. For some reason, I'm "challenged" when it comes to using a crimper. I can never seem to get the paper to feed through the crimper straight, so when it comes out, the lines are slanted! I'm sure there must be a trick to it, or maybe it's just me and nobody else has that problem! Anyhoo... I was excited to use some of my new Whipper Snapper stamps. I've had them a while, but just haven't had the chance to ink them up yet. These images are Anna Wight designs. Her stamps are amazing and lots of fun to watercolor! This is going to my mom. She loves chickens, so I think she'll like it.
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Envelope, cabana blue notecard, and chocolate kitchen 4 bar notecard by A Muse. Sentiments by Melissa Frances. Images by Whipper Snapper Designs. Timber brown Stazon ink. Stampin' Up blender pens, markers, kiwi kiss classic ink, sanding block, and dimensionals. Swiss dots Cuttlebug embossing folder. Marvy scalloped oval punch. Copic spica glitter pens. Green plaid cardstock by DCWV (Nana's Nursery). All My Memories ribbon.