Step It Up #5

Rhonda posted a Step It Up Challenge to make teacher gifts. My daughter is only in preschool (daycare) and goes year round, but on Monday when most kids start back to school here, she moves out of the Twos room and into Threes. The Terrible Twos were not that bad other than the potty training, which we now have conquered. I thought I'd make her Twos Teachers a little "thank you" gift for all their work and care. This is an empty votive jar with lid that I got at Michael's. I used my Fiskars punches for the band around it, my Marvy punches for the top and we filled it with M&Ms. I think they turned out cute and were so easy. Think her teachers will like them?

Supplies: Cutie Pie Paper and Purely Pomegranate paper, Stampin' Up; Purely Pomegranate ribbon, Stampin' Up; Thank you sentiment stamp, Stampin' Up; Copic Markers; Superwoman stamp, Amuse Stamps; White Sharpie Pen; Circle punch and scallop circle punch, Marvy punches; Border punches, Fiskars.

Weekly Challenge

In browsing the Amuse Addicts website I noticed the Weekly Challenge is now posted and am so glad I can do another challenge this week. My grandfather's birthday is over a week away and I've already made his card--big accomplishment for me! My grandpa worked in construction most of his life and was very good at it. I remember growing up when we saw him coming home my cousin and I would run out to meet him and fight over who got to carry his lunch box and who got to carry his thermos the rest of the way and into the house. I knew I needed to use the thermos stamp for him. I stamped it on the white and then paper pieced it onto the pomegranate paper as well.

Supplies: Clear stamps, Amuse; Purely Pomegranate paper, Stampin' Up; Copic Markers; Clear Spica; Marvy Punches; Argyle paper, Chatterbox; Bashful Blue ribbon and white ribbon, Stampin' Up.

My baby's birthday

My baby girl will turn 3 in one week--where does the time go? I made Disney Princess invitations at her request. I was hoping that we might put off the whole princess theme for another year, but alas, no. I tried to convince her to let me use the Amuse princess stamp, but she adamantly told me that was not Cinderella, Belle, Ariel or Sleeping Beauty. She is way too smart for her own good. So after much searching on the internet I finally found some Disney Princess stamps. There's a lot of coloring detail in one of them and I was just going to stamp it in pink or purple so I didn't have to color it, but my husband pointed out that I wouldn't be happy unless it was all colored in (he knows me too well!). Anyway, here is the outside and inside of the invitation and I'm happy with how they turned out and Annika said they were "beautiful" so that's what counts.

Note: Because I am technilogically inept I don't know how to blur out or black out the details, so I had to resort to good old fashioned post-it note.

Supplies: Regal Rose paper, Stampin' Up; Yellow and blue paper, Michaels; Stamps, All Night Media; Copic Markers.

Weekly Challenge

The weekly challenge on the Amuse Addicts website is to CASE one of the cards from the last VMAA and change it slightly or make the same card. I chose Jen's card from the "One Tree Hill" challenge. I loved her card immediately, but decided to change mine slightly. I used green rick rack for the stems and used a rhinestone brad for the centers for just a little more bling. What do you think?

Birthdays Galore

I made this card for my Uncle who has a birthday next week. I really liked the way it turned out and think the clear sticker adds just enough bling without being too girly. Since I'm caught up on my birthday cards I'm hoping to try some of the Amuse Addicts challenges this week.

Supplies: Amuse clear stamps, clear sticker and notecard; Argyle paper, Chatterbox; Copic markers

Another one...

My friend Rosa Maria's birthday is tomorrow. She is the sweetest, neatest lady you will ever meet. She is also a florist and she makes these beautiful arrangements that make you swear you've died and gone to heaven. She helps her daughters with their business, Mandardin Flower Company (http://www.mandarinflowerco.com/ shameless plug) and their work is gorgeous. Anyway, here is the card I made for her. Its a pop-up card, so I want to show the inside too.

Supplies: Daisy Girl , outside sentiment and Flower Cart stamp, Amuse; Flower bucket and inside sentiment, Stampin' up; Certainly Celery ribbon, Stampin' Up.

Happy Birthday

Today is my friend Kiyomi's birthday, so as part of her gift I made her a set of notecards for her to use. Pretty simple, but I liked the way they turned out and I hope she did too.

Supplies: Pretty in Pink and Purely Pomegranate paper, Stampin' Up; Stripe Paper, Basic Grey; Purely Pomegranate Ink, Stampin' Up; Monogram Stamp, Papertrey Ink.

Busy, busy, busy

It seems as if everyone in my family has a birthday in August. In fact, starting on the 22nd we have a birthday every day for five days. We also have a few earlier in the month and I have several good friends with b-days as well. Before I started making cards Hallmark used to love to see me coming. : ) I made this card for my cousin's son (who is also my godson). It's a pocket card and I'll put a gift card in there because I don't know what's "in" or "cool" for nine year olds.

The aftermath

Last night was the first VMAA I participated in and I have to admit it was fun and pretty inspiring to come up with a card in 30 minutes AND have to think out of the box. It inspired me to not think so "the same" all the time when it comes to the card. The Gerber Daisy stamp from Amuse is one of my favs and I thought about using it last night for Jennie's "One Tree Hill" challenge, but I had made two cards earlier in the week using it so I thought it would be cheating. I posted one of them earlier, but here's another one. The color combo is inspired by some friends who have their own business and these are their colors for their logo. I'm not sure I like the ribbon on it.

Bonus Challenge for VMAA

Julie's TV show pick is "Friends" and the challenge was to make a humorous friends card. So I don't know that mine is humorous, some might think its mean, but its all I could come up with given my stamps. This might mean I need some new stamps...hmmm...

VMAA Challenge #4

Jennie's show was "One Tree Hill" which I am going to confess I am totally addicted to as well. Good choice Jennie!! So we had to pick one stamp and use it as many times as possible, but only use one. I couldn't decide between the Retro Martini or Party Chick, but then my husband brought me up a cold corona and well...the decision was made. Plus, after four fantastic challenges isn't everyone ready for a drink. The ice cubes are glittered with the messy kind of glitter, but it doesn't show up well in the photo.

VMAA Challenge #3

LOST was the theme and challenge was to use your favorite amuse stamp, notecard, ribbon, etc. So I'd be "lost" without these two stamps and this pink notecard. I love this color of pink!

VMAA Challenge #2

The theme was "Grey's Anatomy" and so the challenge was to make a love themed card. Everyone knows how dreamy you get when you're in love--right? It's actually a window card, but you might not be able to tell from the photo. Either I'm a bad photographer or I need to find a better spot to take my pictures.

VMAA Challenge #1

This is my card for the first challenge. When I saw the picture I immediately thought of the flower cart stamp with the awning. You can't tell from the picture, but the polk dot paper is lavender colored and I colored the orange awning and cart with orange spica. The orange is also paper pieced, not colored.

Newbie

This is my first post to my blog, so its a test run for tonight's Amuse Addicts Meeting.

Materials: Die cuts with a view yellow card; Gerber Daisy stamp (Amuse stamps); Stickles Orange peel and red ribbon.