A Muse bumper card!

So, September is almost gone. And you know how I started the bumper card thing with my SU! customers in January? Well, that has taken off and everyone seems to be loving sending and receiving and seeing new ideas. Then in August, I started the bumper card society among fellow bloggers. And that went to countries I never imagined. This month I thought our A Muse yahoo group might be a fun place to do some bumper cards. And some how I actually joined the list rather than just organize it. Know what that means right? I had to make a card ... and fast!

Here's my bumper card for September:

In the picture the card isn't folded. I wanted to show the whole scene. But the "back" of the card has the 3 buildings on the left. It's hard to tell but all the windows have diamond glaze on them and there is glitter on the store signs, etc. The sun is from a Martha Stewart punch (GASP!) that I got at Michael's for 40% off. That's the only way I was getting it! The sentiment says "I'd rather be stamping!" If only...

Anyway, I hope the receiver likes it!

Blog candy winner!

Thanks so much to those of you that advertised for me. I really appreciate it. I'm not a huge fan of self promotion but I really want this store in Austin to carry A Muse stamps.

And now, drum roll please......

Random.org picked:

RACHEL of On My Back Porch

Congrats Rachel. Be sure to check out her blog!

Thanks everyone for reading my journey. I never would have imagined blog writing to be as fun as it is.

Fire Ants continued...

First, BLOG CANDY still available here until 10 pm Central tonight.

So, I went to the allergist to see if and what they can do for me about these darn fire ants. Well, there's good news and bad (isn't that always the case?). More good, in the long run... that's always pleasant.

The good news is that I can get allergy shots for fire ants. More good news is that long term it will make me less likely to die from a SINGLE ant bite.

The bad news is that:
* one ant bite can do me in
* most likely I'm severely allergic to all stinging insects.... wasps, bees, yellow jackets, hornets, etc.
* the shots are for the rest of my life :(

Again, given that "death is on the line" (remember that line from Princess Bride?", the good news is GOOD NEWS.

So, I'm a little freaked out that all insects are potentially hazardous but as my husband said "when's the last time I was stung by anything?" Um, high school because I'm BUG PHOBIC. Guess that's a good thing, eh?

And those of you that know me... I can't stand thinking about the negative... so, on the bright side - I am EXEMPT from Lawn Duties from here on out. ;)

Thank you all for your kind words and concerns. I'm doing GREAT! Just a bit in shock from today's visit... but it's all good.

Hug those ones you love today because (wait for it...:) ).... there is "No Day But Today".

20,000 hits - Blog Candy and self promotion!

I can't hardly believe that this blog is approaching 20k hits. WOW! Thank you all so much! I need some help getting the word out that Memory Depot (one of the places I'm teaching A Muse classes) here in Austin, Texas has A Muse stamps now. They are new to A Muse as of this weekend and I'd like them to keep them in stock! So, I need help getting the word out...

AND it's TIME for some blog candy, right?


The PRIZE --- a customer direct order from Stampin' Up! (ordered by me) for $15 before shipping and handling. Only open to US residents. Sorry about this!

The fine print:
* order must be placed with me by Thursday, September 27th, 2007
* any amount over the $15 (before shipping and handling) is paid by winner
* order will be shipped directly to winner from Stampin' Up.
* open to US residents only.

The WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO DO:
* IF YOU ENTER - BE SURE TO LEAVE an email address so I know how to contact you!
* If you leave a comment here, you get one entry.
* If you have a blog, then you get 5 entries for posting an entry on your blog (post the link here in your comment) about A Muse stamps in Austin, TX.
* DEADLINE for Entry is Wednesday, September 26th at 10pm Central.

This blogging thing is so very amazing to me. I can't believe the power that our community has. So, I sincerely appreciate any help you can give me. Best of luck!

September Technique Clubs

Did you think I've abandoned by SU! life? Hardly. I had 3 Hostess clubs this month. I knew this month was going to be a little hectic so made life a bit easier on myself and taught the same 3 techniques to all three clubs. That was a life saver!

First card:
Suspension Card
I did one similar to this at my very first SU! Halloween class 2 years ago. I love the suspension technique. It's so simple yet looks hard.

Stamps: Stampin' Up! Carved and Candlelit, Batty for you and All Holidays
Inks: SU! Only Orange, Garden Green, Basic Black
Cardstock: SU! Only Orange, Basic Black, Whisper White
Accessories: Nylon thread, 1 3/8" circle punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, sticky strip

Second card:
Faux Foil
Sorry for the photo quality. It is gold embossed.
I love Faux Foil. Such an easy way to add an elegant touch.

Stamps: SU! Solemn Stillness, Many Merry Messages
Inks: Versamark
Cardstock: SU! Handsome Hunter, Real Red
Accessories: Gold EP, Sticky Strip


Third card:
Bouncing Brayer
OMG. I really think this technique is cool. All the time I was doing it, I was saying "Ooh, yuck, this isn't going to work out" and then all of a sudden.... BAM! The colors are actually more vibrant than show in this picture.

Stamps: SU! Lovely as a tree, All Holidays
Inks: SU! Kaliedecolor ink pad - pumpkin; Chocolate Chip
Cardstock: SU! Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
Accessories: SU! Chocolate Wide Grosgrain, Key Tab punch

Three more techniques under my belt. I love learning new stuff. Thanks for looking!

A Muse Bonanza class this past weekend

I had my first A Muse class this past Sunday and it was FABULOUS. I had such a great time. It was at Stamp Salado in Salado, Texas. Sandy, the owner, is just a hoot! Thanks Sandy for everything. I really enjoyed meeting all of these really fun ladies. We had a full class and they did awesome and getting everything done!

We did 4 cards and a nugget treat box.

Card One:
Santa Pocket Card
Images and cardstock all by A Muse
Accessories: Marvy Giga Scallop and Mega Circle punches, liquid applique, red jumbo eyelets, Crop-a-dile, black grosgrain ribbon, markers, and 3-d glue dots



Card Two:
Stamping/Girl's Night out
Images and cardstock all by A Muse
Accessories: Diamond Glaze, Marvy Giga Scallop Square Punch, May Arts ribbon, 3-d glue dots

Card Three:
Happy Fall
Images and cardstock all by A Muse
Accessories: Bronze embossing powder, A Muse orange crush ribbon

Card Four:
Best Witches
Images and cardstock all by A Muse
Accessories:
Black Fun Flock, Heat & Bond

Nugget Box:
Images by A Muse
Directions for this can be found on Splitcoast here.

I hope everyone had as much fun as I did!

Calling all Central Texas Stampers!!!!

I'd love to meet you at Memory Depot in Austin, Texas this Saturday, Sept. 22. I'll be teaching TWO A Muse classes:

1:30-3:30: Fun Fall Birthdays: make 5 super quick, fun, and elegant birthday cards for the Fall Season

4- 6: Sparkly, Fun Cards: Use glitter, Twinkle stickers, and some new images revealed this summer during A Muse A Palooza to make 5 fun all-occasion cards that sparkle and shine.

Click here to find out more about how to register. I'd love to meet you! Come and stamp with me!

The Fab 4

First, thank you ALL for your kind words. I'm doing much better. What a weird, freaky thing.

Anyway.... onto another topic.

I have my first official A Muse class tomorrow. Yippee! Wish me luck!

I ordered something from A Muse the other day and those ladies over there are SPEEDY. Anytime I order, it's in my mailbox 2 days later. No kidding. Well, I was expecting something today from them. During naptime, I walked to the mailbox. Our neighborhood has one of the community mailboxes. It's only 4 houses down so it's not that far away! But it's nice to walk down there without having to worry about kids or dogs getting run over, etc. I got my A Muse package, some junk mail and 2 lovely pieces of mail. Lovely. Let me back track a bit.... you guys are up for a story, right?

The internet. It's such an awesome thing. Through Splitcoast, I've met so many people. Many I don't know in person but that have a special place in my heart. You all know that I met Jenn (my dear, sweet, talented, etc. upline) on Splitcoast. Anyway, with my latest A Muse adventure, I've met three totally awesome, totally cool, very sweet, extremely talented and incredibly genuine ladies. These 3 ladies and I have crowned ourselves "The Fab 4". We, four, have worked to bring A Muse fans around the world together. Anyway, we've had just loads of fun and LOTS of laughs. And I haven't met any of them in person. The Fab 4 are crazystampchick, manyblessings, mocjen, (these are their SCS names) and myself.

So, back to mailbox. Yesterday, I received a card from crazystampchick. She congratulated me on the A Muse certified instructor-ship. Then today... I know my neighbors thought I was crazy (it's the meds!) ... I LAUGHED OUT LOUD ALL THE WAY HOME FROM THE MAILBOX. OUT LOUD... NO ONE WITH ME... SERIOUSLY, OUT LOUD. I couldn't stop. I got 2 more cards, one from manyblessings and the other from mocjen.

Why is it so funny, you ask? Here's why:

Crazystampchick's card:








Manyblessing's card:












Mocjen's card:













There are so many reasons this is funny to me. First, you girls are SILLY. The conspired together. Naughty, naughty. The whole rock star thing is such an inside joke... and I like it! :) If you've read any of the A Muse thread on Splitcoast, you'll probably understand. Lastly, it's just so ironic that I would ever be called a rock star... I am musically challenged. In all ways that one can be. Ask anyone. Ask my husband ;).

Anyway, I had to post this long story to say thanks to 3 incredible woman. Thanks so much girls! I'm so blessed to have met you. Seattle, here we come!

No day but today.

That quote is from the Musical RENT, which happens to be our (husband and I) favorite!

So, last night on a last minute whim, we decided to go to my son's school for the Ice Cream Social. It was only for an hour and we already missed the first 10 mins. Anyway, when we got there, we parked on the side of the road, I stepped out and got my 18 month old out of the car seat. I was standing in ANTS... apparently. STUPID ANTS. Anyway, I got a bunch of bites. FIREY. OUCH. Screamed a bunch ... handed off the baby, danced around, threw my shoes, etc. etc. ALMOST Striped naked! I had jumped into the baby's seat by this time. Anyway, got all situated. Walked into the school. Told my husband I wanted to go to the restroom. Shook out my pants. I was scratching EVERYWHERE. Came out. Ran into some friends. Walked over to get to the ice cream line. Told my husband, I don't feel well. He looked at me and said "OH NO!" We went to the car. He said... do you want to go to the hospital or home? "Uh, I dunno" Two Steps later. HOSPITAL. In the car, I started to lose my hearing and sight and breathing was slowly becoming a problem. Got to the ER, cut in front of people (SO SORRY PEOPLE!), handed them my driver's license... that's the last thing I remember before being wheeled in the ER room. My husband had to park and get the kids in. Things are so much harder to facilitate with kids. Don't get me wrong. I LOVE them. It's just so much harder to do things like this. And we have lots of family and friends around but no one is with you in the car right at that moment. Anyway, got into the ER... apparently, it was a life-threating situation, so says the ER Dr. He said my BP was very low and 10 mins of that at I would have had brain damage. Great. Anyway, they pumped me full of "make you feel LOOPY" drugs. Kept me for 6 hours - that's 1 am people. So. THANK GOODNESS for my SIL and husband. SIL is imminently pregnant and started having contractions on Wed. I was sure all this was going to happen at the same time. BUT we worked it through - I should say SIL and husband did. She came over with her son and spent the night (my BIL is a surgeon and was on call last night - of course!) I just think it's funny how all the life things that could happen happened at the same night. ANY other given night, everyone would have been home, etc. So, I'M FINE now - that's obvious since I'm writing this, isn't it? I do have to carry an EPI pen around forever now. Great.

So, back to the title... No day but today. I'm in denial about the severity of this issue because I just can't think of that. My husband had a pretty hard time with it but we're all good now.

AND I OWE my son BIG TIME. Many of you know that we don't give sugar to our kids - EXCEPTIONS family b'days, etc. And we decided to take him to this because he's doing so well in Kinder. It was a fundraiser - $1 per spoon and the ice cream is free. He even got the $3 from his piggy bank for us. Did he get the ice cream? Uh, no. This all happened to fast.

It's all good though. Thank you for your concern. I'm tired but doing SUPER!

Large A Muse alphabets on sale...

The LARGE alphabets from A Muse are on sale until the end of September. Just thought you'd like to know and...

I know I mentioned this before but SO many of you had asked about the polka dot alpha that I used during the A Muse A Palooza contest. I thought I'd revisit that today. I own the Large Polka Lowercase alphabet. It's a clear stamp set so it's ready to use once you get it. I JUST ordered the stitched alphabets because well, I needed a "boy" alphabet. But here are some of the things that I've made with the polka dots... you may have seen these before. I absolutely love this set. It was on my very first A Muse order. Can you believe that? I used to DESPISE polka dots growing up (as a teenager, etc.). Ask my mom... she'll tell you. In fact, she thinks I still don't like them. I don't EVER and I mean EVER wear them but I do like them for a stamp set!

The post-it note holder is my favorite. Well, it's PURPLE. Hello?!!! But I use it daily and it's right here by my computer. It just makes me smile.

Anyway, these sets are on sale (click here to buy), and I'm thinking maybe I should get some birthday and Christmas presents. Hmmm....

World Card Making Day

A Muse is a gold-level sponsor of World Card Making Day (WCMD). What is WCMD? Read more about it here: WCMD.

In honor of World Card Making Day on October 6th, A Muse is thrilled to announce a wonderful new program called:

"Cards for a Cause".

Read all about it on the A Muse News blog.

Make some cards, donate them to A Muse, and you will be entered to win some wonderful prizes. Check it out.

The cards will be donated to St. Judes. HOW AWESOME IS THAT?

WCMD is a day to celebrate this wonderful craft we all have grown to love. In doing that, making a card and donating it to St. Judes is a gracious way to bring a smile to a child. Don't you think so?

Please join me in applauding Linda and the A Muse crew for their thoughtfulness with this program. Thanks A Muse!

A Muse Fans

Did you know that we have an A Muse Addicts group over on Yahoo? Join today, it's free AND we're giving away prizes next week! Check it out:

Yahoo! A Muse Addicts Group

We also have a thread going on Splitcoast, where we're chatting up a storm:

Splitcoast A Muse Addicts Thread

GUESS WHAT?

I'm SO excited! Read this.

Sale! Sale! Sale!

A Muse is having a sale on their Large Clear Alphabets... like the polka dot one that I use ALL the time! I think I'm going to have to get some more!!!

Here are the details straight from A Muse:


End of Summer Sale from A Muse!

We all love a good sale, and we have a great promotion for you.

As a special offer to our customers, we are offering 25% off all of our Large Alpha Clear Stamp Sets! Please see a list of the part numbers below.

Regular retail $29.99 ~ Sale price $22.49!

These sets are fabulous for both card making and scrapbooking! All of these sets can be viewed on our website. Select “Products” and then “Expressions”, and they can be found at the bottom of this page.

Place your order on or before September 30, 2007 to receive this special pricing. Offer limited to stock on hand.

Sale items: Tiny flower 7-TFLLG, Graffiti 5-GRLLG, Paisley 2-PACLG, Stitched UC 2-STCLG, Stitched LC 2-STLLG7, Polka UC PDCLG, Polka LC 7-PDLLG, Barney 9-BACLG