Sneaky, sneaky!

Those gals over at A Muse are sneaky, sneaky... another sneak peek THIS Friday! Check it out.

Psssssst! A sneak peek is coming! Our first sneak peek was super sneaky and some of you missed it. So we are letting you know that FRIDAY is the day to see the next one! It will only be up for 24 hours so see it while you can! Any guesses as to what it might be?

Boris revisted.

Today is my oldest son's 5th birthday. OMG. How did this happen? No, not how did "he" get to be so old ... yadda, yadda, they grow up so fast, time flies by, enjoy your time with them now, etc. etc. yadda, yadda, yadda. That's not entirely what I mean. I mean how does 5 years of my life go by in a blink. My life, not his. I just can't believe it. At least with his life, there are MAJOR milestones... walking, talking, sleeping through the night (yes, this is a MAJOR one in our house), etc. but me... five years... um Milestones = 2.... 2 kids. Okay, that's not true either. It's been an AWESOME 5 years. I just can't believe how fast it's happening.

Anyway, today is his actual birthday and we're not even home. But his party was on Saturday.

Remember the Mad Science party and the search for the right stamps... AND A MUSE has a Mad Scientist named Boris! Yeah! Well, I made lots of stuff with good old Boris for the party. First I searched high and low for kid lab coats... found some Adult size small in the right price range. Did I mention that the party was 100% success and that we had 100% attendance. 100% attendance. That has never happened for his b'day because it's the beginning of the summer and people, you know, have plans. Anyway, he had a blast with the Mad Science thing. We had a volcano cake and it was yummy. All the kids showed up, we greeted them at the door with a "welcome to our lab, here is your lab coat, googles, badge and lab notebook."

So, here are the lab uniforms:

These are the lab coats. In one pocket are the safety lab googles (I found this for $1 a piece!) and in the other pocket is a pen and a lab notebook. The badge is clipped on the lapel. Most of the kids loved it!


Here is one of the notebooks. I made it very plain because they are a bunch of 5 year-olds and could care less if I used pretty patterned paper or not (plus I didn't have time!) . Anyway, I used my Bind-it-all that I got from eclectic paperie to make the books. This was my first project with it and I had to make 15 of them. Went pretty fast. I'm liking the BIA a lot. The covers are 4" coasters. And of course, Boris. :)

I went to Wal-mart and got the name tag holders they have and made badges for each child using Boris. I have such an unusual name for here in the States that I'm all about giving gifts with names on it. I'm such a nut that I still look for my name at those touristy places that have everyone's name but mine on everything from pencils to shot glasses! HA! Uh, no, never found one. Anyway, now I look for my kid's names and they, too, have unusual names (no Spencer is not my son's name!). I mounted the white on Real Red since my son wanted Red.

Oh and the Mad Science party was AWESOME. I, strongly recommend it if you need an idea. The scientist kept their attention the WHOLE time and it was awesome. At the end, they all made slime that they got to take home. AND they (Mad Science) will do the party favors for you if you want (science related stuff). How cool is that? They come to your house and everything. Easy Peasy! Check them out at madscience.org AND then order Boris from A Muse artstamps.

Here's just one picture from the party... it's where the boy was holding this Cathode tube and the Scientist touched it with a Tesla coil to light it up. How cool is THIS? Okay, so I am a geek... what did you expect with an engineer, eh? Electrical engineer even.

A Muse Challenge #6 is posted

Can you believe the we are on week 6 of these challenges?

I am on vacation (yes, again... husband is on 2 month sabbatical from work!). More about this later. BUT this week's will be a CHALLENGE for me. I don't have ANY of the needed supplies here with me (i.e. no heat gun, no glaze pens, no glaze glue, do embossing templates, no stylus... etc.) in SLOWEST.INTERNET.CONNECTION.EVER world. I brought some stamps, some ink, and some paper, thinking that should cover it. HA! Not even close. BUT, Emily, if you read this... I'm going to try to come up with SOMETHING.

Here's the challenge straight from A Muse:

"We are already half-way to A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA! Sooo, it's time to heat things up! Dust off your heat tool, this week your challenge is to use heat embossing on your design! You may use your choice of ink, papers, colors, stamps (please use at least one A Muse stamp if possible), embellishments, etc. If you do not have a heat embossing tool, you may use glaze pens or glaze glue (for a faux embossed look) or dry embossing instead. "


If you haven't played yet... what are you waiting for? Come join the fun. They GIVE OUT FREE PRIZES. Just register (tell them I sent you - I'd really appreciate it!). They give away prizes randomly just for registering. How cool is that?

Artist Trading Card Swap!

In order to fulfill another requirement for the Amuseapalooza Ambassador Contest, I'm hosting an ATC (artist trading card). PLEASE join me. It'll be loads of fun!

I've not done ATCs before so I thought it would be a great learning adventure! If you haven't done them either, here's a great tutorial on them.

I have this listed over on SCS but here are the details. I'll keep the list over there.

I would like to host a few swaps to fulfill a requirement for the AMUSEAPALOOZA Ambassador contest.

I'll add groups if there is interest.

Description: ATC (2.5inx3.5in)
Quantity: 6 ATCs - you will get one of yours back.
Vendors Products: Please use at least 1 A Muse stamp, NVR on everything else
Quality: 2 layers and 1 embellishment, your *best* work
Recipes: Recipes are not required but are certainly welcome.

Mailing:
Please put your swaps in a ziploc bag and mail them with a self addressed stamped envelope. For postage mail your envelope via First Class Mail, inside please have the same amount of postage on your SASE that it cost to mail your swaps to me. No metered strips. If you sign up for more than one group, please put your SCS name, Real name and group number on the bag.

Your swaps are due to me by Monday, July 2nd. I will swap them all out on Tuesday, July 3rd. Any not received by July 2nd will be returned unopened.

Wanna join?

Swap candy!

Is that what it's called when you give away free gel writer pens? I'm giving two to everyone who partipates in my A Muse Swap over on SCS.

Come join me. All you need is one A Muse stamp to play. Everything else can be something else. We are making 3x3 gift enclosures. You know the kind you put in a gift bag whenever you give a gift.

Anyway, I REALLY need more players. Won't you join me? It'll be fun! How can you say no to FREE gel pens?

The thing about A Muse stamps...

The thing that hooked me onto A Muse stamps is their fonts on their sentiments stamps. It's no secret that I'm not crazy about SU! font selections for sentiments. Many of you have heard me rant about that more than once. I'm an engineer (okay, so I used to be one) and a stereotypical one to boot. We don't like change and we like simple, straight lines, etc. Well most of us do. At least, that's my experience with all the engineers I know. I know SEVERAL engineers out there that won't "tear" their cardstock or won't mount their pieces crooked, etc. That's just not how you do. You know who you are.

So, A Muse has beautiful fonts. And this is how my A Muse collection started.

While on vacation last week, I packed all the bellas I have and some SU! shimmery white paper, an aquapainter and my new Peerless Watercolors (LOVE THESE!! LOVE THEM!) from Gina K over at stampingfreak.com. That is a GREAT product and it TRAVELS WELL! So, I colored multiple bellas at the airport, on the plane, at the beach, etc. etc. This is a great thing.

Now, you'll see me post a bunch of cards over the next couple of weeks, all made from those bellas. I needed a bunch of birthday cards and I love the A Muse sentiments... so here we are.

I'll upload them all to my gallery over on Splitcoast instead of here because there are so many and they all count (I think) towards my A Muse contest. But here's a "funny" shot of them all lined up ready to get their picture taken:

Go check them out in my gallery at SCS. There are a couple that my friends Amy and Michelle will like, I know. ;)

A Muse Challenge #5 - Card 6

Here's #6:

I didn't quite have a hammock when I was in the Caribbean earlier this week but it was something like this. Providenciales (the island of Turks & Caicos we were on) is only 21 miles long. So, this picture really represents that.

Do you like my Gerber Daisy SUN? I "rock-n-rolled" it in summer sun and pumpkin pie.

A Muse Challenge #5 - Card 5

Card #5:

Alright. Did I mention this was hard? I do like the little pup though.

A Muse Challenge #5 - Card 4

Card #4:

Okay, so this card is just silly. I was thinking to draw stirrups but decided that might be a bit much. This was the last card I made last night so.... well... you know. Anyway, the little celery oval is supposed to be a rug. It does have woven rings in it, just can't see them in the picture.

A Muse Challenge #5 - Card 3

And #3:

Lancelot is protecting the castle. Isn't that great? :)

A Muse Challenge #5 - Card 2

Card #2:This one had so much potential. And then I think I stamped a couple too many grasses. But it's really colorful in real life. It reminded me of past 4th of July's and some really spectacular fireworks.

A Muse Challenge #5 - Card 1

Okay, this challenge is HARD for me. I thought it would be easier. Hmm... not so much. Maybe I'm just tired. Yeah, I know it's late but it wasn't that late when I started these. I even sketched them out first to see if I liked them. I never do that.

If you missed it, Challenge #5 is about making scenes with your A Muse stamps. These stamps are built for this. They all go together so well.

So, here's my first card:

I've got Mad Scientist on the brain. My son's b'day party is this weekend and you may remember that it's a Mad Science (see madscience.org) party. I'll post more about the party stuff *after* the party 'cause I don't want to spoil it for some of you party goers.

Anyway back to this card. Boris is in TEXAS now and he caught himself a good ol' Texas FIRE ANT. MWAH HA HA. Is that how you spell that? LOL. So, should he just keep it on his shelf with all his other specimens? Nah.... I say blast him to smithereens... yeah, I'm so not fond of fire ants. Or scorpions. (had one of those in the house tonight but I taught my oldest son how to kill it without me actually having to get near it. Boys. They rule - when it comes to bugs).

Blog Candy Winner!!

I used the random number generator from here to pick the winner.

And the winner is.....

Debi

with this post:

I'm glad your stamps made it back home! I would have to guess 69.

Debi, please email me your address so I can mail out your goodies. Congratulations!

Now, so many of you were so close on guessing the number of stamps in my handy-dandy, fancy-schmancy Ziploc carrying case (LOL). But no one guessed the exact amount. In fact, many of you guessed the same numbers. Interesting.

Let me first say, I am SHOCKED by the number I have. A Muse should be a publicly traded company and then I should buy stock.

And the number is.... 49.

FORTY-NINE... OMG. Uh, and that doesn't include the 2 I left here, or the acrylic stamp sets, or the polka dot alphas. Did I mention that I'm a SU! demonstrator. With. A. Serious. Addiction. To. These. A. Muse. Stamps.

So, this giving away stuff is fun... I'll have to do another very soon. I'll keep you posted.

And here I just noticed that I'm at 6000. WACKY.

New game over at AMUSEAPALOOZA!

There is a new game over at AMUSEAPALOOZA. Check it out.

You need to register to play but you could WIN PRIZES. If you haven't registered, do it... if you'd like to tell them that I sent you that would be AWESOME. If you have registered... GO PLAY!

Go play! It's fun!

Dog thanks!

I wanted to use the little doggie stamp but since my A Muse stamps were still on vacation without me yesterday, I turned to the soon-to-retire SU! Ruff Day set. I needed/wanted to make my neighbor's son a card for dog sitting for us. We have 2 Papillons... one of them (the little princess is my avatar over on Splitcoast). Anyway, the A Muse dog stamp would have represented their size better... but, here is the QUICK card I made. I used the Sakura glaze pen on the nose to make it all wet and shiny looking.

A Muse Swap... need players!

Come join my A Muse swap over on Splitcoast. Check here for more info.

My First Blog Candy

So, many things to say....

Last night before I went to bed, I was 2 away from 5000 hits. And some how this morning, only FIVE hours later (yes, I know.... only 5 hours... uh, the boys are HOME! YAY!), I'm at 5200.

Did I mention that my luggage didn't come home with us Sunday night? UH, HELLO... my stamping stuff was in there!!! Okay, okay, calm down. BUT ALL of my A MUSE stamps except 2 that I loaned to my friend Amy, were in there. Did I say ALL.... yes, ALL. Okay, breathe in, then out... so at 11pm last night, our luggage showed up. All 3 pieces. The connection in Miami to Dallas was really tight and we had to RUN through customs with our bags. "They" stopped me and said, "Ma'am, you need to slow down". I said we're not going to make our connection... (and I have to get home to my boys... okay I didn't say that but I was thinking it). So they looked it up and said, "Do you think you can run all the way to your gate?" They took our bags, led us through the employee security section and off we went. We made it... our 3 bags didn't. Anyway, my A Muse stamps and the rest of my stuff are safe in their home now.

But these 2 things together made me think that's it's high time I did some blog candy. So, I'm going to do my own rendition of the A Muse luggage contest, guess how many stamps are in there - only because they are all still packed. Leave a comment here with your guess before midnight Central Wednesday night. The winner will be picked at random from the comments (i.e. not the one that guesses the number - although if you guess the EXACT number, I'll send you something too).



The prize:


Lots to alter and some other stuff:
2 large Gable boxes
3 small Gable boxes
Target $ spot green stripe container (great for cuttlebug dies)
6 medium weight coasters
5 chipboard flowers
Some prima flowers
Some black and white polka dot ribbon
Michael's Pregnant lady stamp
SU! Small incentive stamp
Tags in various colors of SU! cardstock including vellum
10 white bags - good for kid's school treats (they are the thin kind)
2 mini manila folder embellishments
6x6 12 month Desktop calendar to alter

Let the guessing begin.

Thanks so much for following my creative journey...

Fonts that match Stampin' Up! sentiments

Hey, ever wondered or needed to know what font a particular stamp is so that you can match the inside of your card (if you print it out from the computer.... like the details to an invitation or something)? Well, here's an interesting thread from Splitcoast:

List of fonts that match some SU! sentiments

A Muse Challenge #5 is up!

Can you believe it's week five already for these challenges! Time is just flying by... as usual.

Anyway, challenge #5 is up here. This week's challenge is to create a scene. I've been wanting to try to do this more in my cards. The A Muse stamps are great for this.

Here are the details of the challenge:

"Let's see your scenes! A Muse images work so well together that creating scenes is simple and fun! So your challenge this week is to create a scene. You may use your choice of ink, papers, colors, stamps (please use at least one A Muse stamp if possible), embellishments, etc. "

Go over to Amuseapalooza and register your self. There are weekly prizes JUST for registering. If you want to put my name in as the person that referred you, I'd appreciate it. Then make some cards and play along. Have you ever made any scene cards?

On our way home....

It was a fun, short vacation. We're very ready to come home and see the boys.

One last shot from here....

Turks & Caicos, British West Indies
May 26th, 2007

Happy Memorial Day. Stay safe. And take a moment to remember all those that lost their lives for us.... preserving our freedom.