Paper Trufflez

Roll With It!

The week flew by.  BLURRED by.  How does that happen?  And, why does it seem to blur even faster, the older I get? *chuckle*

I actually did get some stampin' done this week, but, alas, nothing I can share just yet.  I could just bust sometimes to share, when sumpin' turns out so purdeeee!!!  I get to bouncin' right off my stool and can only imagine how ridiculous I look!  But, that's all part of the affliction, now isn't it?!  *wink*

Stamp It 2009 has (or will soon) hit the racks!  My comp copy arrived in the snail today, and it was fun to spy a number of fab designs by girls I know, including Miss Katie, fellow A Muse Instructor!  YAY!!! 

We're permitted to post ONE of our choice, when our work appears in a CK Media pub, so this was the one I thought I'd share, since it was my favorite of the 3 that made it in:

 

I love sushi.  Love loVE LOVE it!  Not so much the raw octopus kind, but, the rest, oh, YUM-YUM!

The sentiment in the Sushi Set cracks me up.   Fun.  Funny.  I like that in a card. *chinkle*

This week has been . . . busy.

I think I'll go for a dip in the appletini tonight . . .

Happy weekend!

All images by A Muse Artstamps--check out Stamp It! 2009 for recipe info and instructions!

5MQ for Friday seems apropos

 

This was a COW (OK, technically, a COTW:  Card Of The Week) in the A Muse Newsletter a week or so ago, but, as I've said before, "COW" is way more funner to say.  And, yes, I do know "funner" is not a word and "more funner" is improper grammar.  I don't care. I likey.  *wink*

The newsletter contains all kinds of juicy A Muse tidbits--if you're not on it,  well, criminitly!!!

GET THEE ON THE NEWSLETTER so's ya' get it straight to yer inbox, peeps!

--> Subscribe here:  A Muse News eNewsletter

There's a new COW in it each week, sometimes a special you may not otherwise be aware of, and subscribers to the newsletter also get a special birthday discount!  It's short n' sweet, easy and fun to read--I like that muchly in a newsletter, personally speaking, 'cuz I always got that mach 3/hair afire thing goin' on, if UKWIM?! 

Here's the low-down that accompanied the above COW (one of those brief and elusive flashes of brilliance *chortlin*) in the Sept. 12th edition:

Card of the Week
by Julie Ebersole
 
All of our tiny images have become staples in my stamp collection-- they can be used so many different ways! Mini Flower is no exception-- it looks awesome with our new Long Grass, but, here is yet another fantastic way to use it!

I punched a scallop circle from a Post-It note and placed it over my card front. Then, I repeatedly stamped Mini Flower first with soft blue chalk ink*, and then in some darker blue inks*, all within the opening of the punch out. This helped me contain the flowers in a circular shape, forming a larger blossom! After removing the Post-It note, I used a white gel pen (Uniball Signo) to highlight the centers of some of the flowers and add random speckles, for more depth and dimension. A quick stroke of green marker (Copic Yellow Green, from this set of my faves, to be specific) made the stem, keeping it angled so that there was room for the sentiment.

One of my new favorite tools are my scallop circle punches--I love using them to create quick "stencils" I can stamp or sponge within!

Sorry.  Can't help it.  I really love, loVE, LOVE that little flower, and finding all the different ways to use it.

It's basketball play-off mania for this household, and my weekend's chock full of it!  Hope you have a good one, too!

        

A Muse Product links:
Stamps: Mini flower, You are the friend
4-bar solid notes: White
Embellishments: Uniball White pen
Other: 2" Scallop Circle punch

*Colorbox Fluid Chalk in Ice Blue and French Blue by Clearsnap

Hello . . .

I was so taken by this batch of cards Jennifer McGuire shared on her blog, that I just had to try the color combo!  So striking and bold, UKWIM?

This Cordenon Perlé Abysse (blue) card stock I've had laying around is so pretty--a rich, vibrant blue, with silver flecks in it--and seemed like it would work well with the Palm Green and Buttercup Yellow . . . 

It's kinda fun to use our papers with Cuttlebug Embossing folders (Swiss Dots again here) because they're white core--a little different effect than with dyed card stocks.  Sometimes, I even sand it with a sanding cube to emphasize the effect even more.

This was the maiden voyage of my newest set of Nestability dies, too--I wanted to try that *uber* subtle sponging Krystie sometimes does and see if I could get the same--her card designs always wow me . . .   A quarter of a rounded sponge, cut from the whole sponge, and then pinched to create the most rounded effect, produced the results I was looking for best--with Ice Blue Fluid Chalk Ink, it ended up soft, and airbrush-like!

This wasn't the layout I planned in my head, but, it seemed to work out, too!

And, I love these tiny butterflies (Martha Stewart multi-butterfly punch), fluttering above the Mini Flowers and Long Grass.

Had to white-emboss the sentiment, to really make it pop gainst the blue; white detail EP is good for words and other more delicate line type stuff.

So much to do this week--must hunker down and git to it! 

Happy Tuesday! 

Supplies Used:  Mini Flower, Long Grass & Hello stamp images, Buttercup Yellow note card, Palm Green paper, Orange Sheer Ribbon, and Micro Dot Twinkle Stickers (yellow) all by A Muse Artstamps; Bracket Label Nestability Die by Spellbinders; Butterfly punch by Martha Stewart; Fluid Chalk Inks in Ice Blue, Lime Pastel by Clearsnap; Versacolor Indigo Pigment ink and Versamark clear Watermark ink by Tsukineko;  Detail White Embosing Powder; Cuttlebug Swiss Dots Embossing folder by Provo Craft; 1/8" Eyelet by SU!; Green Gingham Ribbon by May Arts; Fine Tip black Marker for detailing

Stamping Inks & Papers for Copics

I Like Markers: Stamping papers and Inks.

Marianne Walker, Product Specialist for Copic, listed the best inks and papers she's tested for stampers, when using Copic markers!

A Muse Black Dye Ink is among her top picks for ink!

If you plan to get one of our fab ink pads, I highly recommend getting a reinker bottle at the same time.  I got into the habit of doing this whenever possible, with every new ink pad I buy.  Trust me; when you're in the middle of a creative stamping frenzy at 1 am, and you discover your pad is dry, you will be *so* glad. 

Ask me how I know . . .

Lovey dovey, and all that sap!

A number of folks have inquired about the availability of the carrot car, shown in this post:  Zoom, zoom, zoom!  He's featured in the A Muse Spring release, which was unveiled on Wednesday.  Zoom, zoom!   Yes, that means you can get him NOW! *chuckle*

Tomorrow's Valentine's Day--and, believe it or not, I got some Valentines made for Dave and the kidlings!  I know--don't fall down dead! *snarf*

Anyway,  wanna see? 

HAYLEY--NO PEEKING!!!

Hayley's Valentine:

 

I used some yummy scalloped velvet ribbon I bought at The Paper Tree in NH, when Linda and I were back east teaching classes last November. *SO PLUSH*   Of course, NOW, I wish I'd bought at least 5 yards, instead of only one!  ACK!  *smacks forehead*

 

I gussied up a natural white note card with the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug embossing folder--my fave--and everything was colored with Koh-i-Noor pencils.  Blinged it out, naturally . . .

The little heart punch outs are from a Martha Stewart multi-heart punch --last one at the rack at Michael's!   Could not believe my luck!  SCORE!!! 

Taylor's Valentine:

Taylor will prolly cringe over a PINK squirrel.  Then again, mebbe not.  He claims real men wear pink.  But I spared him the glitter treatment.

 

I love this very contemporary wood grain background stamp by Hero Arts, and thought it made the perfect backdrop for Squirrel!

Of course, I got the idea to color the squirrel pink in the first place from this design by my buddy Lisa!

But, I need to keep practicing; I'm still too heavy handed in my colored pencil work . . . Taylor will not notice this, however.  He'll just wonder if there's any money inside the card--typical 12 yr. old.

Dave's Valentine:

 

This groovy tree from the Trees 2 set is one of my absolute faves!   There's just sumpin' about it that makes me happy!  When I first got the idea to do this card for Dave, I knew I *had* to use this tree!  This tree is totally fun to color and shade with Copics--it's not too small, and yet, not so big that it takes a long time.

I cut the cloud free-hand with some shallow, longish scallop decorative scissors--Provo Craft?--and, by jove, I think they are actually called "cloud", coincidentally! 

OK, back to my brilliance in design.  *chortle* See the tick marks that indicate movement to the tree?  It actually does move:

 

I coiled up some wire to make a spring, and taped it to the back of the tree, and then to the card front.  When you pull it out of the envelope, or flick it with your finger, it boings around:

 

I'm not even gonna tell you how many shots I had to take to get a pic of the boingin' action--WITHOUT MY FINGER in the way.  ROTFLMBO!

Now, Dave will not suspect what's inside, but, if you're a fan of A Muse, I'll bet you do . . . *wink*

Yeah, those Owl Buddies never fail to CRACK me!!! *chortling*

It's a 3 day weekend--enjoy it!

 

New A Muse Goodness for Spring!

A Muse News: Our New Spring & Easter Release Unveiled!.

They're all so fun, it's haaaaard to pick a favorite!

OK, true confessions:  I'm especially fond of one.  And, it makes me giggle.  Every time I look at it.  Because it's so tiny.  Because it's my first.  And, quite possibly, my only! *chortling*  But, it was really fun!  Dave wants to put it in a shadow box.  Which made me bust a gut--cuz, seriously, I don't think they make shadow boxes small enough for this!  BAH HAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! 

Geeze Louise was it ever frosty here this morning--I had to make my own Spring for today using the new release!

 

I love the Buttercup Yellow note cards!  I wanted to call them just "butter", but, that made Linda laugh--for some reason, I apparently seem to think of color in relationship to FOOD all - the - time!!!  

In an event, I *do* think it (buttery yellow) looks awesome with warm reds and pinks, and a hint of fern green, of course.  And, the touches of black really seem to set the whole color combo off, doncha' think?

 

This is a trick I've seen Em doing, and I just LOVE it!  She uses the brush nib of her Copic Ciao or Sketch Blender Pen, to wick color from the chisel tip of another color marker--this diffuses the intensity of the color--and then she brushes this gentle swath of color directly over or beneath a sentiment--it's such a COOL effect!  In this instance, I wicked color from an R21 Blush marker (one of my favorites--I use this color all the time for cheeks on my peeps [people]), taking a chance it would coordinate with the rest of the card, and it did!

    *giddy*

BTW, I love that sentiment--one of my all time faves--an itty bitty A Muse classic, fo'h sho'h!

 

It may be harder to tell in the photo, but, I first inked up the Long Grass with Lime Pastel chalk ink (I really like Colorbox Fluid Chalk Inks for this), and then added some Olive here and there and towards the edges.  With Mini Flower, I used Rose Coral and Warm Red.  I love the added depth and dimension this (Rock & Roll) technique adds--altho it is a little bit trickier when working with such small images.  Anyway, I approach it a little differently, in that instead of actually rocking and rolling the stamp against the pad, I usually flip my stamp rubbah side up, and ink from that direction.  I seem to have better control that way, especially with tiny images.

I had to accent the centers with some black gem stickers from Hero Arts--I've been hoarding them, as I only have one package.  Note to self:  GET MORE!!!  And, the black gingham just seemed to suit this design well, and give a little more interest.

Methinks it turned out cheery--perfect for sending sunshine to a friend, eh?! *wink*

Zoom, zoom, zoom! Sneak Peek, Spring 09

I haven't done anything on kraft in a while, so this was *uber* fun!  I love using my Koh-i-Noors on kraft!  The colors are just so vibrant--the Carrot Car  (your local A Muse retailer should have 'em in stock for you to drool over IRL) and grass just "pop", don't you think?  I did decide to use a Generals white CHALK pencil for the Clouds (new) and the bunny, tho--I wanted a very stark constrast to the kraft.

I 3D mounted one of the clouds for extra dimension, AAAAAAANNND--this is one of my favorite things to do: use 3/16" black eyelets for the wheels on the A Muse vehicles--they're just the perfect size almost every single time!  *giddy* 

A true story!

I had been sitting on the floor at CHA Anaheim, inside the foyer, for nearly 2 hours (long story for some other time), when my cell phone rang . . .

From out of the blue, a very dear old friend was calling . . .

"Julie?  This is Brenda!"

"OMG! Are you serious?  BRENDA!!!!" (I kinda yelped, I was so surprised and happy to hear her voice after so long--too long!)

"I was cleaning my bathroom, and I just had to call you!"

  Um . . .  is it flattering to know that cleaning the bathroom would inspire a friend to call . . . ? 

"No, listen!  I was cleaning the bathroom and thinking about these cards I wanted to make.  I had picked up a copy of this magazine and had marked these two cards I really wanted to make!   And, as I was cleaning, I couldn't get these two cards out of my head, so I stopped and went back to look at them again--AND YOUR NAME WAS LISTED AS THE ARTIST--ON BOTH!!!"--she was shouting at this point.

 (see the card on the lower right cover; the other card she is referring to is on p. 20, if you happen to have a copy of this issue, and features my beloved A Muse To Go Cup!  )

I began to laugh . . . She's so gosh darn cute when she gets excited, my friend Brenda! 

I *miss* her--I knew absolutely no one when we moved to Eastern Washington those years ago, and she was my first friend;  she happened to be the only stamper on the staff where my hubby had taken a new job. 

We became instant chums, and oh, the rubbah road trips we would take, haunting the stores up in Spokane.  GOOD TIMES!!!

We chatted and chatted, and caught up on so much!  Who'd have thought that one fun surprise would bring another even more wonderful one?!

  Love you, Q-Bee!

 

Just a swingin' . . . Sneak Peek, Spring 2009

Well, I said I'd be back.  So, I am! *chuckle* I had to watercolor this--I love watercoloring and hadn't in so long . . . I'm not particularly good at it, BUT, I am just enough to be happy with the results!  I subscribe to the Julie Ebersole watercolor painting method of "slop it a little heavy here, a bit lighter there, and leave some white space." Could it BE any easier?!! (said in my best Chandler Bing voice)  ROTFLMBO!

 

Isn't she sweetness???  I stamped her with chalk ink (Chestnut Roan), onto some scraps of Fabriano Mediovalis I had left from a botched project--never toss that stuff, if you can salvage any of it after a botching. *wink*

I TRIED to catch the light right, so you could see the Clear Spica sparkle on her, but, oh well . . . IRL, it's so subtle, but very pretty, and effective! 

Swing Girl (coming soon, by A Muse)  just enchants me--she's like the stuff of storybooks, I swear--so playful, *so* sweet!  I didn't put a sentiment on the card because, well, sometimes, I don't think you always really *need* a sentiment--at least not on the front.  But, you could put one inside, of course.

I bought some TINY mulberry flowers by Prima a while back--the colors were so fetching!  And, I kinda danced around when I realized they'd coordinate well, by coincidence, with this design.  I was sitting there thinkin', "Hmmmmm.  I need sumpin' there in that spot, but what . . . ?"  Purely providential, I do believe!

Such a happy little scene, full of sunshine, and blue sky!

If you have some time, I'm sure you'll enjoy blog-hoppin' the Muses' blogs (see my Muse blog roll there in the right side rail).  They have been sharing lots of cute ideas with these coming new stamps, and for sure, more sneak peeks will be poppin' up at their blogs, and at the A Muse News Blog!

Happy, happy Friday! 

 

Happy Trails, Sneak Peek Spring 2009

This is now showing as today's sneak peek over at the A Muse blog!

SNAIL TRAIL!!!  Get it?!  *deep chortling*  I could not resist--it was just too poifect!   

Among these 4, 3 images are new and, well, pretty much GOBS of fun to work with.  This li'l scene just makes me smile.  I've been anxious for us to have a snail for so long, and he's so stinkin' CUTE!!!  I'm also lovin' the new 4 bar notes--especially the greeeeeeen ones!

I had fun doing Paper Tole on Snail--there are a vast number of online tutorials for Paper Tole--just do a google and they'll pop up everywhere.  Paper Tole can be rather elaborate, however.  I don't have a lot of time, so my version of it here is *very* simplified.   I stamped Snail only 3 times, once on the card, and twice on some scrap.

I didn't bother to color the one on the card front; I colored the 2nd snail on the scrap completely, then trimmed him out, minus his antenae, and then just the shell on the 3rd snail.  These two layers were 3D mounted with foam tape over the top of the one stamped directly on the card front, and that's what gives him this charming dimension.  And, of course, I had to add some sparkly stuff!  *chinkle*

It's Friday, and it has been an *uber* busy week.  I actually had a brief opportunity to enjoy some creative play time last night--keyword:  PLAY.  Sidebar:  I'm so proud of Kristina for reclaiming her play time--her joy time. (see A Change In Direction)  I've been a fan of her creative works for a long, long time, and had a chance to meet her at CHA a few weeks ago. 

Anyhoo, I have another Spring design to share that I had whoppin' good fun makin' and soon as I have some decent daylight, I'll film it, and share it.  Hopefully later today.  If you feel like comin' back.