Cosmo Cricket does Valentine's Day

 This year I made most of my Valentines with Cosmo Cricket's Love Notes. It's my favorite CC of all time, and I have finally depleted my stash. I don't know if it's still available, but that's okay! I enjoyed it while it lasted, and I have about a thousand lonely pieces of paper in my stamp room waiting to come into their fruition.

 I have a sheet of Crafty Secrets Valentine stickers, and boy do I love those things! Such a huge bang for such little money! I think I have every sticker sheet they ever made.

 I got those little white doves at a little craft store in Ogalalla, Nebraska. They were an insanely good buy and have found their way onto many projects this month.

 Baby card using A Muse Studio's little banner die. Isn't it the sweetest?

Every now and then I go on a die cutting rampage to build up my supplies. When I do, I ALWAYS cut a bunch of butterflies with my A|S Butterfly Trio, then cover them with silver glitter. Irresistible, they are! I used a Karen Foster Loopy Brad as the antennae on this one. Raise your hand if you have a package of KF Loopy Brads in your stamp room!

I've started working out again. I'm doing Leslie Sansone. Much to my chagrin, I can do about a quarter what I was doing the last time I did it. Why does fitness go away so quickly? During August, I rode 60 miles a week on my bike, now I'm doing one mile to a DVD. *SIGH* Well, I'm going to do a Fitness Boot Camp of my own design. This week I'll walk a mile a day, next week two miles and so on. I figure I'm starting out slow enough that I won't really need a day off. Walking isn't too hardcore anyway. I have four miles of Leslie, so in a month, I should be ready to branch out to some other DVDs.

Toodles, friends!

Love is in the air!

This week's challenge at the A Muse Studio blog is called Love is in the Air! This is your opportunity to make a Valentine or love related card and possibly win some bling! Here is my Valentine:

 I apologize for the dreadful picture above. It's wintertime in Colorado, and I just have to take what I can get in terms of light. I used the Vintage Labels and Quick and Cute Valentines stamp sets for this card.

 This card is chock full of a|s goodies! I used three dies, including the hearts, Vintage Labels and Scalloped Border. LOVE THEM!! I hope we have lots of new dies in the new catalog because my cards are starting to get redundant!

I am super sad to see the polka dot paper retiring. I use it ALL THE TIME! I know there will be many beautiful replacements, so no tears. There's a sneak peek for you on this card! The card base is one of our NEW colors, GRAPEFRUIT! It's a softer pink than Bubblegum, and much brighter than Blush and Shell. We now have FIVE gorgeous pinks in shades to satisfy every stamper's pink cravings whether you like the intense shout of pink drenched Watermelon or the sweet whisper of Blush.

As a finishing touch for this card, I added a strip of washi tape to the inside for a special pop of color. The back of a|s cardstock is white, making special touches easy to add on the inside. Not to mention that you don't have to line cards anymore!

A Muse Studio Challenge Blog-Heat Embossing!

 I've been the hostess at the a|s challenge blog for two weeks running, and I'm sort of a one trick pony.

 Last week my challenge was to do heat embossing of any kind.

 I made the above Valentine with Black and White A Muse Studio embossing powders. The heart featured on that card is from Hearts A Plenty, which is on our retiring list. I think it's a must have set with nine hearts all in completely different sizes, shapes and styles. When this set is sold out, it will be gone forever, so if you are looking for a really versatile heart set, get it now!

 This week's challenge is to use any kind of adhesive to grab your embossing powder. I used red line tape and a|s white powder on mine.

This card features the soda glass from Sweet Love stamped twice and colored with Copics. I will say that I really like a|s's white embossing powder a lot. It comes in a big jar and the coverage and handling is excellent. Listen, no one ever accused me of being handy with the Copics, but you CAN consider me an embossing powder expert! I love it and use it all the time. The only thing I do more than emboss is add Diamond glitter, which of course this card has, too!

Please come play with us this week, I'm giving away the If You Dare stamp set, which is a darling Halloween set. It's on our retired list, and I'm sorry to see it go. Find our challenge here.

Mostly Blue Christmas

 This year, most of my Christmas cards were made with Doodlebug paper from five or six years ago.

 I like frosty blue, white and silver Christmas stuff. I added a few Melissa Frances rub-ons for good measure. If you want my opinion, MF rub-ons are by FAR the best I've ever used. I don't know why they are so much better, I just know that they are.

 I made this card with an old My Chemistry With Paper set. I used to be on the MCWP DT, but they went wholesale only. Now I have no idea how they are doing. This economy has been hard on small stamp companies, hasn't it?

 Yes, I used fiber. The funny thing about my supplies is that it doesn't really matter if they are the latest and greatest thing. My Etsy customers have no idea what the latest paper crafting fads are. They just go to my shop and buy stuff they like.

I enjoy using older supplies, and I get a real kick out of using a product up. It's so much fun to toss all that bulky packaging knowing that I put it to good use. I can probably do that for about five more years buying only adhesive, envelopes and kraft cardstock. How long could you go, do you think? Let's use things up this year. Enjoy what's bought and paid for. How many times have you bought a new release before you used last month's release? Me, too many times to mention. Does that make sense? Is that the kind of people we are? When we give a handmade gift, does the recipient think to themselves, "That Cosmo Cricket paper is from five years ago! How lame!" No, they think and they say, "Thank you! I love it! I love that you thought of me and made this yourself!"

A Muse Studio Challenge Blog-Inspiration!

I made this card for this week's A Muse Studio Challenge Blog, I hope you can come play with us this week! You have until Sunday night, and all players will be entered to win an assortment of a|s cardstock!

Speaking of cardstock, I adore these three colors together! I've used Bermuda, Eucalyptus and Cranberry or Cherry. Did you notice the little candy cane stripes peaking out at the bottom? That's our festive candy cane cardstock, and I'm putting it on everything. It's just ther perfect Christmas touch!

Lots of stuff, but little to say...

 I made this for the A Muse Studio Challenge Blog on Halloween. Please come play with us here, we'd love to have you! This card is ALL a|s!

 This sweet box AND the cupcake are from Creative Cuts and More. They have every die cut you could ever need!

 That adorable image is from Crafty Secrets.

 So is this one.

I don't have this stamp set anymore, I sold it last week in my Etsy shop. I am having pretty good luck selling off my SU! stuff to make room for a|s. I used to love all these tag sets. I haven't had the heart to part with the punches yet, but I plan to let them go eventually...maybe. I love my punches!

It's a MASH_UP!

 The card on the right was designed by someone at A Muse Studio. It's one of the cards in our Ready To Roll Workshops, which are pre-designed and come complete with cutting measurements and a supply list. They are a huge time saver. For the card on the left, I used the EXACT same supplies, and just changed the sentiments and the primary image. I even paper pieced the rocket! You know that this CAS style is not usually how I roll, but I think this is a pretty dang cute take on the original design. I hope you do, too.

 ECE--Extreme Close-Up!

 A Muse Studio Halloween goodness. I'm afraid I bought an imprudent number of Halloween sets, but I love Halloween stamps!! The cute black cat is stamped on hang tags from Office Depot. They are already cut in that classic tag shape, and the strings are in place and ready to go. Easy!!

 These tags were made using one of my girl Nancy from Shady Tree Studio's sets. You can get it here. It's a Christmas must have, really!

 I don't remember what company that stamp is from. I think the flowers are SU! chipboard from about five years ago. I painted them in Antique Linen Distress ink and then added some white touches when they were dry.