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.

It's all about twine!

 I made this card with my current favorite Thanksgiving set, Bounty of the Season, from the Holiday catalog. I added just a touch of French Roast Baker's Twine, and two Latte Pearls. I really love working with fall colors. The background paper started life as a piece of Sage Polka Dot paper, and I added some embossed leaves and a bit of sponging for depth.

This week's challenge over at the A Muse Studio Challenge Blog is twine. We would love to have you come play with us! We offer a new challenge every Monday, and there is a weekly prize!! You don't have to use A Muse stuff on your project, but we love it when you do!

September Spotlight: An Elegant Halloween

Each month, select stamp sets will share the A Muse Studio Spotlight with a gorgeous color palette to create
projects that showcase the versatility of paper crafting. And during their time in the Spotlight, you can save on
the stamp sets used to create these fabulous projects!



If you would like a copy of the flyer, just email me at CarlaMayfield5@gmail.com, and I'll send one right out. In the meantime, you can see all of September's gorgeous Spotlight projects right on the A Muse Studio website. Everything is available in my shop, just in case you can't live with out some of it!

Happy Humpday! It's all downhill from here!

 If you tried to come up with two stamp companies with the most different styles possible, you might think up Artistic Outpost and A Muse Studio. Well, here they are together, what strange bedfellows! I've used this AO bird stamp about a million times, and this time I added and a|s silver glittered swallow die cut. I love the swallows die set, yes I do! Usually I cut them out of chipboard, dunk them into glue, and give them a nice coat of silver glitter. Did you know that a|s introduced silver glitter in their Holiday Catalog? Well, they did, and it is FABULOUS, DAHLING!

 Is this card creepy or cute? I can't decide. Those oversized blue eyes are a bit much. However, I did use up some MicroBeadz on them. Remember micro beads? How many do you have stuffed in the back of a drawer? Remember how they escape and get everywhere? Those little buggers hurt when you put your elbow down on one!

Just some crazy layering here. I love the stamp, though. It's American Crafts. Baby sister bought a gazillion sets from Big Lots for a dollar or two. Screamin' deal, that. I used three Spellbinders, one PTI and one Sizzix die on this card.

A Muse Studio Challenge Blog-Inspiration!

 This week on the A Muse Studio Challenge Blog, you will find that Tami has provided a gorgeous inspiration photo! I hope you can play with us! Tami is offering a prize-we're not above bribery!!

 I used all A Muse Studio products on my top card, including:

Bermuda, Blush, Orange and Sage cardstock, Twinkle Stickers, Bermuda Satin Ribbon, Butterfly Trio and That's the Ticket dies, Buttercup button, sky stitched grosgrain, and the That's the Ticket Stamp Set! Find all of these in my A Muse Studio Webstore.

 My sister sells Ippity, I was playing with one of the sets I bought from her here.

This one features a stamp set from Artistic Outpost, and some PTI.

New A Muse Studio Challenge Blog!!

 I ordered a couple of CD's from Dover, and they are full of gorgeous vintage images. This is just one of them. I have this same image in stamp form from Artistic Outpost, so I've used it a lot!

 This darling little lion is a Shady Tree Studio image. You can find them on Etsy now. Nancy is filling her shop with her gorgeous images. Most are digital, but this one is a clear set.

No stamps at all here. Just some pretty little nothings I gathered from the chaos of my desk. You never know what you'll find there. I've started to add little touches to the insides of my cards again. Not five layers of stitched, embossed and glittered paper like I used to, but little punched flowers or borders.

I have started an A Muse Studio Challenge Blog, and I'd love to have you come play! I am giving away an Idea Book, and that's a pretty great thing, I promise! Every week we will have a different hostess and a small prize awarded to a random player. You can join the fun right here!

CPS229 (Don't forget to scroll down for BLOG CANDY!)

I love Card Positioning Systems sketches, and thought I'd give this one a go today. Thanks for the great sketch, Tami! I used a Cornish Heritage Farms edition of a Shady Tree Studio stamp. I don't think these two stamps are available right now, but Nancy Baier, the artist and owner of STS usually has a free digital image with purchase, and this one may be offered some day! At any rate, you can see how talented she is by looking at these stamps. Right now STS is holding a Christmas in July blog hop, and there are prizes involved. You can participate in the hop and be eligible for prizes by starting here!

Quick! Enjoy summer while you can!! (Don't forget to scroll down for BLOG CANDY!)

 My seven year old son and I started off the morning with the county fair parade. I think there should be more parades, don't you? Horses, weird old cars, floats, and lots of candy hurling always make for an excellent time in my book!!

 This homespun card fits well with the county fair theme, don't you think?

 I got four new sets from Artistic Outpost, two of which were free because I was published twice recently with their stamps. AO has a generous compensation plan for published work, which you can read about here.

 Plus, they just redid their website and it looks awesome! They also have an Etsy shop, if you prefer to shop that way.

 The banner is an AO stamp. The butterfly is from A Muse Studio's Butterfly Trio, which I LOVE! You can shop in my amuse store by clicking the link in my sidebar or at the top of my blog.

Finally, please scroll down for the opportunity to win some sweet stamps from Shady Tree Studio! I have a set to give away to one of my lucky readers! If you go through the entire hop, your chances will increase dramatically!

Shady Tree Studio Christmas in July Blog Hop!

Hello! You should have come from Joanne's blog if you are hopping with Shady Tree Studio.

I am so glad you are here, and hope that you love our two new stamp sets and enjoy looking at the projects the STS Design Team have cooked up for you! Also, we have prizes!! We are so proud of our STS stamps, that we want eight hoppers to have a set of their own-for free!! All you have to do is leave a comment on all six blogs to be entered, it's that simple! We will post winners on Tuesday, August 2, so please send your friends and family over so they can have a chance to win as well! As a bonus, if you follow the Shady Tree Studio blog, post twice and you'll be entered twice! Mention our hop on your blog, come back and post again, and you're entered THREE TIMES! How fun is that?!

Here is the hop order. If a link gets broken anywhere, you can always come back here to get back on track. This will be such a fun and easy hop with only six blogs to visit and terrific swag up for grabs!!

1. Nancy Baier at Shady Tree Studio
2. Roxie Glaza at Paper Scaper
3. Michelle Hetland at I Am Derby
4. Joanne Allison at Ambrosia and Iron
5. Carla Mayfield at Paper Pastorale (You are here!)
6. Lisa Silver at Silver Stamping

 This card features the adorable lamb from Naturally Christmas. The animals in this set are irresistible!

 On this card I used Naturally Christmas and Homespun Holiday.

Thank you so much for hopping with us! We appreciate your time, and hope that you love these two new sets as much as we do! Don't forget to check the STS blog and all the DT blogs to see if you are a winner. Every blog will be awarding a set of stamps for this hop! It's our way of saying thank you for your support! Now head on over to see what the fabulous Lisa Silver has in store for you at Silver Stamping!

Just some shabby stuff for my Etsy shop...

 More trinket pins. These sell reasonably well, and they are fun to make. I love shopping for the glass beads and deciding which order looks best on the pin. These are all new materials, but I frequently use vintage beads on my pins. It makes them a little more special.

 I put these on cupcake spikes and left off the flower and ribbon for cupcakes instead of drinks. This was a special request for a custom order, but I will now carry them in my shop.

 I have these in my shop in a more elaborate version on long sticks. They sell as swizzle sticks.

 This is just a little vintage dictionary paper mache bird's nest. I'll be carrying these in different sizes.

Those are regular eggs. This nest is about the size of an average cereal bowl. The silver candy dish does not come with;)

There be big doins' comin' up with A Muse Studio. You don't want to miss AMUSAPALOOZA!! We are releasing the gorgeous holiday catalog and will have extra special hostess swag! Now is the time to hold a book party if you've thought about it, or place a qualifying order yourself and get the hostess bennies that way. Remember, any time you plan a $150 order, you need to let me place it for you so you can get hostess bennies!