simply caffeinated

playing tag...

hi there! i finally got the chance to do some stamping, yay! :) this month's lounge challenge is *tag, you're it*, and the challenge is to create a tag or incorporate a tag in your creation. i decided to make some tags, so i sat down, turned on some christmas music and got stamping! :) these mrs. claus tags were 100% inspired by (ok, case'd from!!) missy ballance. i love her punch people and i wanted to try her mrs. claus ones. i punched a hole in the top and used some metallic string so that they can hang from a gift.

then i was having so much fun making them, i decided to put one on a card! i cut a 4 bar size notecard out of a muse's red gingham paper and added a mrs. claus. i think i need to whip up a bunch of these cards too! :) these are so fun and simple to create using a bunch of circle punches, an oval punch and a couple pens. i used spica glitter pens and a copic marker for her nose. i added the little collar and showed it to my son and he said *why does mrs. claus have a beard?* so then i added some dots to it and now hopefully it looks like a collar instead of a beard, lol! :) the merriest wishes sentiment is from missy's clear holiday set.

 
next i created more tags using some silver cardstock scraps i found while i was cleaning my scrap room recently, score! i put them aside because i knew they were a great size for tags and they were! i cut them with a tag corner punch, stamped merry christmas, embossed them with the cuttlebug tiny dots embossing folder, then embossed the floral snowflake using silver embossing powder, added a brad, some ribbon and i was done! these tags also work for dawn and jane's chicka challenge, to use something that was given to you. my mom let me *borrow* her big shot last year and i still have it and i just love it! she hadn't used it in a really long time and said that i could have it for a while and i used that to emboss these. thanks mom! :)

and lastly i created some warm winter wishes tags. here in vegas there are tons of palm trees that are decorated with christmas lights for the holidays and i thought i'd make my own version using the open palm tree stampand twinkle stickers! :) this new warm winter wishes sentimentis perfect! these tags also go for glenda's random amusing challengeas well, to create anything but a card. lots of fun challenges out there, be sure to check them out if you are looking for some inspiration!

so it's new moon week!! the movie comes out at midnight on 11/20 and i will be there with all of the screaming teenagers and i can't wait!! and then on friday i am meeting up with rhonda and we are going to see it again! yay! i hope you enjoyed my tags and i hope you get the chance to *play tag* this month as well! thanks for visiting! :)

this year's card...

hi there! long time, no post! i hope you are doing well! things have been a little crazy over here. we had a really fun halloween and then unfortunately, we got sick! i don't know about you, but when your family gets sick, it just throws everything into a tizzy! my poor little daughter has been sick actually a couple different times and my husband and i have both been sick too. :( i am very happy to say that we are all on the mend now. so over on the a muse news blog starting today, there are a bunch of awesome holiday photo card ideas! i created this one, and it will be our card for this year. i use a photo on our christmas card each year, and i always enjoy trying to come up with a new idea for each one. this year i decided to go with a picture on the inside and a window on the front of the card so the picture peeks through. i try to keep my christmas cards as simple as possible since i make about 60-70 of them. i paper pieced the christmas tree, and used some of the new pearls on it. i love them! i won't be using this picture either, this one is from the summer and i plan to use a more recent picture, but this was a great one for figuring out the size that i will need for this card. be sure to check the blog this week for lots of fun ideas! and oh yeah...only 10 more days until new moon!! ahhhh!! can you believe it? i can't!! :) i hope you are having a great week! thanks for visiting! :)

supplies: christmas tree, enjoy the wonders, holly jolly christmas, blueberry kitchen 4 bar notecard, cranberry pretty pearls, ink, all from a muse, marvy punches (for the oval window), pop dots, ek success edge punch

inspired...

hi!! there hasn't been a lot of stamping going on around here lately, but i saw glenda's new challenge this week and i really wanted to play along. the challenge is to case a card created by the a muse creative team. this was an easy challenge because i just saw a card on krystie's blog that i really wanted to case! :) krystie is a new addition to the design team and i am just thrilled about it because i am a *huge* fan of her work!! so check out these cuties! i just fell in love with that first card! recently i was at target and they had a package of felt pieces in the dollar spot. it was 75 pieces i think, and it included a pumpkin, an apple, a brown leaf and a purple flower thing. i bought them thinking they would be fun to play with, but they have been sitting on my desk ever since because i didn't know what to do with them. after seeing krystie's card, i knew what to do! :) first i took one of the felt pumpkins and punched it with the little ek success pumpkin face punch (which i had to have because of how perfect it goes with a muse's new solid pumpkin stamp!) and made a little halloween card. i couldn't believe how perfect the punch worked with this too! then i made an apple card that i thought would make a great set of cards for a teacher gift. quick, easy and cute! yay! thanks to glenda for the challenge and krystie for the inspiration! :) the pumpkin card also goes for this month's lounge challenge, octoberfest. i hope you are having a great week! thanks for visiting! :)

amuse-bouche monogram

hi there! it's day 3 of amuse-bouche for a muse's new stationery release! i created this simple card and used a *lot* of new goodies on it! :) if you follow my blog, you know i love creating gifts for friends, family and my kids' teachers, especially card sets, and so many of the new items in this release will make creating gifts so easy! i am so excited about it! guess what everyone is getting for christmas this year? :) for this card i used the new monogram frames clear set, the new classic alphabet set, the new ocean shimmer paper, the new ocean damask paper, and the new sky blue pearls. yay! :) how easy and fun to make card sets using all of these gorgeous papers and stamps! the frame that i used here actually has a lot more to it, but by using a smaller circle punch, i was able to create a smaller frame. i have a dot theme going on with the frame, the pearls and the dots in the scallop border. speaking of the pearls...wow. i am in love! i will be using these beauties a *lot* from now on! like on every card!! lol! make sure you are checking out the a muse news blog for details on this release and check back here for more amuse-bouche! :) thanks for visiting!

supplies: monogram frames clear set, classic alphabet clear set, ocean shimmer paper, ocean damask paper, sky blue pearls, all from a muse, circle punches, pop dots, sanding block, blue ink

autumn amuse-bouche!

it's that time again...time for some awesome new products from a muse! yay! i think you are just going to love all of the new goodies! :) here is my amuse-bouche for today, lots and lots of new a muse goodness on this one! the new oak leaf flourish stamp, new thank you for everything stamp, new espresso shimmer paper, and new chocolate pearls! yes, pearls! yiiippppeee!! so exciting! :) this thank you for everything stamp has a little line of dots under the word thank, and i added the pearls there. the shimmer paper comes in 8.5x11 and i cut a 4.5 square card from it. it is soooo pretty! be sure to keep your eyes on the a muse news blog for all of the details on this new release and come back here tomorrow for another amuse-bouche! thanks for visiting! :)

supplies: oak leaf flourish, thank you for everything, espresso shimmer paper, chocolate pearls, fern notecard, all from a muse, fiskars border punch, brown and olive ink, sanding block, pop dots

fall treats

hi there! just a quick post to show some little projects i made today. i have had some ideas floating around in my head and i finally got a chance to make them today. the first one is a caramel apple kit. thought it would make a fun gift to give someone some caramels and some sticks...just add apples! :) have you ever made caramel apples before? they are sooo good and soooo easy! i also typed up a little recipe card to stick in the box. 

this next one is a little caffeinated treat. :) starbucks has new little packets of instant coffee and i thought a couple of them together would make a cute little pick me up. i created this little pouch to hold 3 of the packets. quick and easy! i am always on the look out for little things to make for my kids' teachers to give them *just because* and i think both of these would work great!! i hope you are having a fun weekend! thanks for visiting! :)

edited to add: i had a couple requests for the directions on these coffee packets and here they are! i took an 8.5x11 piece of cardstock and cut 3 inches off the 8.5 side so i had a piece of cardstock that was 3x8.5. i scored it at 4 and 4.25 and folded those pieces to make a little pouch. then i punched the shorter side of the cardstock with a border punch and folded it over at 7.5. i used a couple pop dots inside the pouch on each side to hold the pouch together. if you wanted to add more coffee packets in there, you could cut your paper larger than 3 inches. please let me know if you have any questions! :)

to one of my favorite (halloween) peeps!

hi there! can you believe it is october already?!?! i can't!! a new month means a new challenge over on the a muse lounge and it is a fun one! the challenge is called *octoberfest* and the challenge is to create a card based on the word october. sooo many possibilties with this one, and i can't wait to see all of the awesome cards everyone makes! here is the first card i am making for the challenge. one thing i absolutely *love* about october is halloween. i saw some halloween peeps at target the other day and i had to scoop them up! they would be so fun as peep smores and i think they are cute all by themselves too! the peeps inspired this card, and then i decorated the package a little too, thinking this would make a cute gift for my kids' friends or teachers. i hope you get a chance to play along with this challenge this month! thanks for visiting! :)

 

supplies: favorite peeps, black polka dot ribbon, orange crush notecard, black kitchen paper and ink from a muse, large pumpkin face punch from ek success, marvy scallop circle punch, sanding block, black cardstock

waiting for a new moon...

hi there! so i am sure i have told you but...i really like the twilight series. :) like, a lot. and i am super excited about the new moon movie which comes out on november 20th (see countdown below!!). my good friend and i have been planning to go to the midnight show for months, our husbands are watching the kids, our tickets are bought, we've both got twilight themed t-shirts to wear (yes, we are dorks!!) and we are ready to roll! her birthday was today and i thought it would be funny to make her a *new moon premiere survival kit*! her and i don't really know what to expect that night, but we are prepared for the crazy that we will definitely experience and i thought i'd make her a gift in honor of our fun night out!! i used a tin box that i had been saving and altered it inside and out with a muse's wood grain paper, then decorated it with all of a muse's new twilight themed stamps. so fun! i also added some glow in the dark glitter to the moon on the front. inside i added some kleenex that i also wrapped in a strip of wood grain paper (you know we are all going to need some serious kleenex in this movie!!), some advil (in case she gets a headache from all of the screaming girls), some new moon jacob and edward chocolate (to eat during the movie) and some twilight trading cards (to read while waiting in the ginormous line to get in). below is a picture of the inside and also some of the contents. i had a blast making this and she got a huge kick out of it, so it worked out great! :) 

i also wanted to say thanks to everyone that left me a comment on the last cards i posted! it really means a lot to me that you take the time to comment, and you really made me feel special, so thank you! :) hope you are having a great week and thanks for visiting! :)

tiny bubbles...

hi there! i hope you had a great week and are having a great weekend! we had a *crazy* week over here! our puppy was sick, plus my husband and i both had colds. :( not too enjoyable. thankfully, everyone is on the mend and i got the chance to create a couple cards yesterday so i thought i'd share them. not feeling tons of creativity flowing these days so i decided to play along with a couple challenges. this first one was made for the no coloring challenge on the a muse lounge (i paper pieced), along with this week's cas challenge on scs which is a sketch. i used a muse's new putting green stamp that was a had to have for me, i just love it! as you can see, i have been having some fun with my tiny bubbles cuttlebug folder. :) i was thinking it might make a good golf ball so i went with that. and then after i made it, i thought it might make a better moon, so i went with that! :)  this second card goes for the a muse challenge again (more paper piecing), and for glenda's challenge to make a card for a kid. i made this for my daughter, who is my little stamping buddy and recently told me i don't make enough cards for her, lol! :) i loved how julie had the moon coming off her card on this one, so i did that on my card too. i hope you have a fun weekend! thanks for visiting! :) 

a little note...

hi there! just a quick little clean and simple card to share! i made this for this week's cas challenge, it was a fun sketch! i think a set of these would make a really cute teacher gift, i might have to make some up! i hope you had a great weekend!! my weekend was so much fun, spent some time with the family, had a blast at the pajama party, and my bears got their first win of the season by beating the steelers!! so exciting!! thanks for visiting! :)

supplies: pencil, a little note, papaya notecard, swiss red notecard, ink and polka dot ribbon from a muse, paper clip, sanding block, spiral edge punch, pop dots, copics