Paper Trufflez

Snow Place Like Home!

I know today's the "dreaded": but, mebbe some eye candy will brighten the day! *wink*

Isn't this fun?! I've been playing a little bit with oatmeal card stock--I'm finding I like it better than kraft, because it's lighter and a little "warmer" in tone.  This coloring effect was achieved using a gift from a dear friend:  Faber Castell Pitt Pastel Pencils

They're a fantastic pastel (chalk) pencil--the colors lay down fabulously--and you can blend them out!  They're wonderful for accuracy in tight spots due to the pencil format and, I'm having a ball experimenting with 'em!  And, I can already tell I'm gonna have to go see if I can buy a single white pencil (OK, not just one, but, 2--you know me!  I buy in two-sies cuz ya' never knows when ya' might mess yer dress cuz ya' ran out! I just *hate* when that happens!), because it's gonna get used a LOT for highlighting, and whatnot!

Missy Ballance's Hippie Snow Chick is so STINKIN' CUTE!!!--I'm a sucker for snow men (I have a collection), and I adore daisies, so, gee, she's right up my alley!  LOL!  I had to pair her up with last year's igloo, and  "There's snow place like home"--could NOT resist!  This sentiment is from the new Holiday GreetingsII clear set, so I could curve it around on the block to match the curve of the igloo!  COOL!

I also used Copics on this piece--I bought some of those Paper Frills in white, and then custom tinted them to match my project using the chisel tip on my Copic Crimson! WAAAAAAAAY!!!

Well, I have a full day (and evening) of work ahead of me, finishing up for tomorrow's online class with the Peace & Cheer Kit, so I bettah gitter done!

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Supplies & Materials used:
All Stamps, Note Card, Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon by A Muse Artstamps
Ink:  Brilliance Graphite Black, Moonlight White
Coloring Tools:  Faber-Castell Pitt Pastel Pencils; Copic Marker:  Crimson
Other:  Paper Frills by Doodlebug Designs

A Good Day in Frog's Life . . .

I absolutely *LOVE* these mushroom!  They are one of m' new faves!  This design so CRACKED me!  Gee--a lotta things seem to crack me, don't they?!  ROTFLMBO!  Aaaah, well.

Can't tell in the pic, but the 'shrooms were glitterfied on their spots and underbellies with Prisma Glitter.

I know what you're saying . . . " 'Dat Julie has done gone and lost her marbles!"  *chortle*   Well, lack of sleep will do that to ya'.  But, look at FROG!  Isn't he hysterical?!  I mean, can you imagine anything more pleasurable in a frog's day than feasting on flies?  I drew those!  And, his long tongue snatchin' 'em outta' the air!  BRILLIANT  I AM!!!     (insert lots of chortling and bouncing!)

I was so jazzed to see some of you post  that I'll have the pleasure of workin' with you in class at The Paper Garden Boutique on Sunday/Monday!  YAY!  Can't wait to meet some of you for the first time IRL!

Are ya' havin' good times playin' the  A Muse-a-Palooza challenges and joinin' in the silly contests?  It sure has been a lot of fun for all of us A Muse Creative Team Members to see so many of you participating, and enjoying yourselves!  (oops, startin' to bounce again!  Criminitly!)

Well, I better bounce my way down to the airport!  Sunny Sacramento, here I come!  WOO HOOOOO!!!

And, HAAAAAAYYYYYY (No, it's not just for horses!)  Keep your eyes peeled on the A muse-a-Palooza blog--something wicked fun comes that way on Monday!  Heh, heh, heh! *snarf*

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All stamps, note cards, papers, and ribbon used by A Muse Artstamps
Ink: Briliance Graphite Black
Coloring Tools:  Copic Markers in Grass Green, Salad Green, Crimson, Sand, Cool Shadow
Other:  Black Mini Brad, Sakura Quickie Glue Pen, Prisma Glitter

Happy Birthday, USA!

Lady Liberty shows off the red, white & blue, in this festive salute to our country's birthday!

I love making little banners like this for sentiments on my cards.  I usually prefer to leave a clean edge, but, in this case, the banner would have been swallowed up by the bold red and white striped pattern in the background, so I took a chance and DTP'd yellow to the edges of the banner to see if that would "pop" it and that seemed to work great!  This design was also my first time using my new Martha Stewart Scallop Border punch, and, man, is that thing SUH-WEEET!

This just cracked me!  I had to create a design featuring the Patriotic Hat, and I was inspired by a completely non-patriotic design Erika had done that featured a "parade" using Celebration Kids and some of the A Muse animals following along behind the boy, and it occurred to me that the hat would fit, albeit somewhat "over-sized" on his head.

I thought it would be fun to have Piggy, watching curbside, with a Sparkler in his tail!  I swirled around some Spica Twinklette in yellow to "spark" up the Sparkler--too fun!

I've literally been hunkered down prepping for my classes that begin Sunday down at The Paper Garden Boutique--fly out to Sacramento tomorrow night!  WOO HOOOOOOO!!!

But, meantime, I'm up to the gills in paper, paper, paper, and packing class kits!  LOL!

I love prepping.  I love prepping.  I love prepping.

OK, honestly?  I don't.  I just figure if I repeat that enough times, that maybe, one day, it will be true . . .

Say whaaaat??? 

  *chuckle*

Have a Happy and SAFE 4th of July Holiday! 

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All stamp images, papers and Twinkle Stickers (rhinestone) used in these samples are by A Muse Artstamps
Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black, Mediterranean Blue
Coloring Tools:  Copic Markers B34 Manganese Blue, R11 Pale Cherry Pink, E13 Light Suntan, E33 Sand, Y24 Pale Sepia, RV29 Crimson, BG10 Cool Shadow
Ribbon:  Papaya Stitched Grosgrain by A Muse
Other:  Martha Stewart Scallop Border Punch

Paper Trufflez: A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA: Challenge 1 - Color Combo!

Link: Paper Trufflez: A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA: Challenge 1 - Color Combo!.

SCS Keyword:  AP08Color

  Hey, Mikey!  I likey!  I wasn't sure at first, as I laid all the papers down together, but, then I looked at my Copics, and decided to pull in some French Roast paper to mat the focal for added "ooph".

Tiny Butterfly is actually a solid image, but, after stamping her in Wisteria, I traced around her with a fine tip black marker, and then did the flutter trail behind.  I recently got the Willow marker and it's a wonderful muted green to use with these other colors--very tranquil.

I was determined to use the mushrooms in this--I just love those things!  They are so stinkin' C•U•T•E!!!  I *always* wanna do the mushrooms in RED, so I had to force myself to color them brown.

I didn't stamp a sentiment on it, but, I think I'll stamp "hi, friend" inside it, cuz that's one of my favorite sentiments, and I think it would be sweet  with this design.

Hope you get to stamp happy today!

Stamps:  Tiny Bird, Mushrooms, Tiny Butterfly by A Muse Artstamps
Paper:  French Roast, Cabana Blue, Kitchen Chocolate papers, Passion Note Card by A Muse
Ink:  Brilliance Graphite Black by Tsukineko, Colorbox Fluid Chalk Wisteria by Clearsnap
Ribbon: Cabana Blue Stitched Grosgrain by A Muse
Coloring Tools:  Copic Markers in Cool Shadow, Frost Blue, Honey, Willow, Cream
Other:  Quickie Glue Pen by Sakura, Ultrafine Prisma Glitter, Slit Punch by SU! (to create scalloped edge)

So, what would happen?

Click HERE to see what Lisa did.          Click HERE to see what Julie did.

Thank you, Lisa!  It was *uber* FUN! 

Ya' gotta have a sense of humor . . . !

(In)Decent Proposal?

Stamps:  Owls, Tree, "Let's get together" all by A Muse Artstamps 
Paper:  French Blue note card, Fern, Bark paper by A Muse
Ink:  Colorbox Fluid Chalk In Olive Pastel by Clearsnap, Brilliance Graphite Black by Tsukineko
Coloring Tools:  Koh-I-Noor Woodless Colored Pencils (Pure Color), Copic Markers in Pale Cherry Pink, Barely Beige and Sand, Honey (Sand, Pale Olive, and Yellow Green used on branch, Pale Sepia used to create Tree Trunk)
Other:  Oval Punch by SU!, Foam Mounting Adhesive
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I've had this idea in my head for weeks--mebbe even months!  OMG.  Months.  Isn't that awful?  To have an idea that long in your head, waiting to be made real?  ACK! That is a most wicked kind of torture, I tell ya'.  So, it was nothing more than grilled cheese for dinner tonight, so  I could carve out a few scant and precious minutes to commit the delusion of brilliance in my head down onto paper.

The startled look on the one owl gets me giggling every single time! Nina, ya' KILL me girl! Love 'em!

In my head, the scene called for the owls to be in a tree.  Only problem was, we don't have a tree that even comes close in scale.  But, by jove, methinks the Muse graced me this time!  Not half bad for a girl who can't draw much more than stick-figures, eh?! 

But, then, I needed a "canopy" of leaves . . . After a minute of thought, I realized Tree would do the job right nicely. 

I colored the owls with a combination of Koh-I-Noor colored pencils and Copics!  Linda turned me on to these a year or so ago, and I love 'em--they lay down color like buttah!  They're woodless; in other words, they're pure color leads, without a wooden casing.  Sweet! 

I started messing around last Fall with the Copics and the KINs, after learning that graphic artists have combined Copics and colored pencils together for years.  By golly, what a good mix!

BTW, I did an article on this for Stampington Take Ten Summer which, is now finally out on the racks. I was surprised that the written info I'd sent wasn't included with the step outs, that showed the coloring progression, but, I can show something similar here:

For this design, I focused on using 3 markers for "base"color, and blending, and used the colored pencils for shading and texture.

I laid down the lightest colors of Copic first, and really, you don't have to worry about filling the image in--leave some white area without worry for this particular technique.

Next, I laid down colored pencil in deeper tones where I wanted to create shading and depth.

The last step was to come back with the Copics I had originally used when laying down "base" color, and blend the colored pencils and Copics together.

The results are quite awesome--almost resemble watercolor!  And, the best thing about it is that you can go over the same area repeatedly, re-working the color, but, you'll never pill the card stock.

With water-based mediums, you have to use watercolor paper as the water will break down the paper fibers of card stock pretty rapidly and cause what is referred to as "pilling".

Now, the branch is very narrow; I just colored those in with the markers as there really isn't enough room for glorified "shading", and whatnot, savvy?

I love using Copic Honey on things like beaks and birds feet (Or "talons"?  Sounds good, anyway!)--it's a warm orange-y yellow color--almost "mango" in tone.

Coloring is so therapeutic--Kindergarten for grown-ups, I guess?!  *chuckle*

Disclaimer:  Is this the way you're s'posed to do it?  No idea; don't care.  I just know that I LIKEY. 

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Here's a detail shot . . .

And, here's what I wrote inside . . . which is something Dave would probably say to my "proposal"!  Hah!

                        

Yeah.  Totally sumpin' he would say . . . *chuckle*

<---Uh huh.  That's me, arms wrapped 'round self, chortling gleefully over my sheer brilliance. *wink*

ETA:  OH, MYLANTA!!!  I totally forgot--I think this qualified for the current Dirty Dozen Alumni Challenge--to check out everybody's owl designs CLICK!!!  They're so awesome!

 

Super Hero, Super FUN!

Super Hero just CRACKS me!

How can anyone resist him???  He's just too hysterical!!!

BTW, if you have an inspiring idea yourself for Super Hero, hook me up with a link down in the comments to this post--I'd love to see it! He's one of my all-time favorites . . . I know he doesn't LOOK like Sesame Street's Teeny Little Super Guy, but, he still REMINDS me of him.  Anybody else remember Teeny Little Super Guy?

Just wanted to share this design which was included among the week's Inspiring Ideas.

I love the To Go Cup--it's rare for me to grab a coffee at the espresso stand; I reserve it as a treat for moments when I actually get off The Island or am on a trip/vacation.

Anyway, this design is actually *so* fitting for me right now, as it is taking pretty much this amount of coffee today, to keep me going and getting everything I need to, completed.

   

Happy Friday and happy Holiday Weekend!      

P.S.  I have a fun card that is also the featured COW this week at the A Muse News Weekly!  Check me out! 

If you love simple card designs with lots of fun and personality, be sure to sign up for the A Muse Weekly so you can get the COW (otherwise known as, the Card Of the Week--yeah, yeah, I know it's COTW, but, try SAYING that acronym.    Uh huh.  NO worky.  COW is much funn•i•er!).

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ETA Recipe Info:

Stamps:  Super Hero, To-go Cup, "With enough caffeine . . . " (Coffee Break Set) all by A Muse Artstamps
Paper:  Chiffon Green 4 Bar Note Card by A Muse, Oatmeal/kraft card stock--I like this better than kraft as it's not so dark
Copic Markers:  Cool Shadow, Sand, Baby Skin Pink, Willow
Ink:  Brilliance Graphite Black by Tsukineko, Colorbox Fluid Chalk in Creamy Brown by Clearsnap
Embellishments:  Mini Antique Copper Brads by Creative Impressions

Naughty Stamper!!! *giggle*

Elena's policeman design is the COW, and it had me BUSTIN'!!! I started laughing even harder when I read her description, just 'cuz I know Elena!     Elena, my computer monitor and I thank you for a jolly good spewing!!!

Anyhoo, I wanted to pop in quick-like and share some of my designs from today's Weekly Inspiring Ideas!

STOP!
All images and papers by A Muse

I thought Policeman needed a squad car, so I modified the car from the Simple Wishes clear set, omitting (which means to not ink/refrain from inking) the gift that sits atop the car.

Tiny Star and a T5 Copic Marker (Toner Grey No. 5) assisted me nicely, as well as a Mini Dot Twinkle Sticker and Christmas Red Stickles--what's the point without the flashing lights, right?!

The computer graphic stop sign was resized to suit the dimension of the overall card--and it cracked me that the Papaya Grosgrain Ribbon made the perfect centerline on the roadway.

I colored his uniform black, because where we live cops don't wear navy unies . . . I wonder if that's a WA state thing . . . everybody else seems to color them navy . . . hmmmmmm . .  (!)

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DUDE!  It's all about the journey!
All images and papers by A Muse

My genius on this one was actually *thinking* to use the Scallop Circle for the sun on this one!  It's POIFECT!!!  Glimmered it up a bit with some Yellow Stickles . . .

I hand drew the "wave" with a pencil on the surf paper before cutting it, as I knew I'd botch it if I tried to do it free-hand.  The fold line on this design is actually along the bottom, altho you wouldn't guess that from the pic.  You fold down the wave, and there's room to write a more personal message inside.

This design makes me wanna go some place warm, with sandy beaches . . . to take a nice long nap! No waaaaay would I put myself out there as shark bait!

Bet you didn't know I was such a chicken, didja' ?!          

Just to share . . .

I forgot to share these creations which have appeared in the A Muse Weekly Inspiring Designs, for the month of April

The yoga girl (gymnast?) reminded me of when Hayley would do cartwheels out on the front lawn, so I got the idea to do some "motion" stamping to convey that idea.  I was really tickled I was able to pull if off.

The circle edged with scallops seemed to really suit the "rotation" effect going on.

All images and papers by A Muse

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I don't normally leave my people stark white, but, for some reason, on this design, I actually liked it--it seemed very crisp and precise. 

You know how sometimes you wonder just how far to go with a design, and whether or not if you do one more thing it's going to ruin the whole thing?  Yeah.  That's what I wondered about this one.  So, I decided to stop, once I'd colored the shorts pink . . .

I even slept on it overnight!  And, when I looked at it again the next day, I still liked it just like that.  So, I decided not to torture it . . .  *chuckle*

I thought it would make a great thank-you to someone who had donated support to a Breast Cancer Run fund raising event, etc.

All images and papers by A Muse

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This one was such fun--I have NO idea why I like bees, and bee skep STAMPS--I'm actually terrified of bees! (musta been that movie, "Attack of the Killer Bees" that did me in . . .) I loved mixing the kiwi, yellow and dark to mid tone blues in this--seemed so cheery. 

I always remember to use the Twinkle Stickers, but forget about the Clear Stickers--I'm on a mission to use these more, because they are *uber* cool!  Hold me to it, eh?!  Sometimes, need prodding.  Or chocolate. Bwah ha hahaaaaaaaa!!!!

All images and papers by A Muse

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I pulled a little Beckster shabby-licious on this one, distressing the edges!  The micro oval made the perfect "rabbit" hole to have Missy B's sweet bunny peekin' out of to say hello!

I loved how the layout evolved on this one.

Must confess to feeling massively brilliant over the total effect!

All images and papers by A Muse

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Today I finished a design that I was so *giddy* about, but I hafta keep it under wraps right now.  Oh, the AGONY!!!   I'm hoping to get some "play time" soon to create some stuff I can show & tell.

Still a Spring Chick. . .

Still A Spring Chick:

Images:  Tiny Bird, Cluster of Daisies, "Still a Spring Chick" (A Muse Artstamps); Sheep (The Saltbox Studio)
Paper:  Cryogen White; Surf (A Muse), Textured Celery paper (Bazzill Bling)
Ink:  Brilliance Graphite Black (Tsukineko)
Coloring Tools:  Alcohol Markers in Nile Blue, Pale Porcelain Blue, Cream, Honey, New Leaf, Sand, Africano, Orange, Cadmium Yellow, Pale Greyish Blue, Clear Blender (Copic)
Embellishments:  Dotted Peach Sheer Ribbon (May Arts); Buttons (Stampin' Up!)
Other: Mega Scallop Scissors (Retired, Making Memories), Copic-proof Multi-liner in Black (Copic)
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I finally got to play with my Saltbox Studio Sheep set!   I dunno why I think sheep are so cute--I have no animals whatsoever!   A dear friend of mine out in E. Washington lives on a farm and has told me stories about her sheep . . . that must be why I find them enchanting!  I'm such a wuss, tho; I would never last on a farm . . . *sigh* . . .

Once I finished the scene, which ended up being larger than I anticipated (it was beggin' for an A-2 canvas), I didn't have a layout in mind . . . on a whim, I visited Anna's blog today--I just love her coloring, and fun designs with animals and thought mebbe she'd spark me--she has a way of doin' that, UKWIM?! *chuckle*  And, as luck would have it, as I sat happily drooling over all her eye candy, I spied a wonderful layout in one of her galleries that worked perfectly for this piece.  YAY!!! 

I had colored in the "rolling hills" of this scene with the chisel end of the New Leaf Copic Marker--man, was that a cake-walk!  Love it!  But, the only green card stock I had that seemed to truly have the *right* shade and intensity of green I wanted was from a pack of Bazzill Bling I'd gotten in a box of swag for having something published a while back in Cards Magazine.  It has a shimmery finish to it.  I typically prefer a totally smooth solid card stock, but, the added texture and shimmer on this was a nice compliment to the shimmery Cryogen White.

Wanna know sumpin' tricksy?

I was lazy (moi???!!!), and didn't wanna go digging around, trying to find matching thread for my buttons . . .  So, I used my Fiskars trimmer to "shave" these super narrow strips of Surf card stock and slipped 'em through the button holes, trimmed off the excess, folded the ends down and stuck a mini glue dot on the back and plopped 'em onto the card.    I am not the genius that thought of it, but,  whaddid I tell ya'?  Tricksy!

I also wanted to take a moment to thank you for your kindness, and all the encouragement and positive comments about my latest news. MONDO cyber hugs radiating out to you!