My A Muse Purchases Today!

I just returned from the Cottage Stamper in St. Charles! Boy, oh boy are those gals sweethearts! seriously... they even kept 3 year old Andy (who was surprisingly good actually)occupied while Angie and I shopped! Lookee what I bought! Some of the images are older; the lanterns... the scalloped line.. the sentiment "it's the little things that matter" is also old I think... but check out the new! Santa Train, Partridge Tree, Robot Kid, and the sentiment "may peace be with you"... love these... especially the robot... I mean who can resist!!! And the Mrs. Clause and Funky Flake were part of our A-Muse-A-Palooza goodie bags! Free Stamps! What a great day!

click to enlarge

I Do Stamp! I Really Do!

Proof today that I still stamp... These were the cards I created for the Amuse Swaps I hosted. The participants should receive their swaps really soon! All Stamps used below are A Muse.

The 4 1/4 Square notecards are by A Muse. The little tags are raised up on dimensionals and the "berry much" sentiment is actually on the inside of the card... peeking through. I colored the images with my Stampin' Up! Markers.

This card marks my first use of my Giga Scalloped punch! DO you believe I JUST got one! I am so behind on the times. The yellow ribbon in the background is actually adhesive tape by Martha Stewart Crafts. The polka dot ribbon is my an unknown maker. Image was colored with my Stampin' Up! Markers. It was tough to match the colors in this A Muse notecard... it's more of a lime. But I think Glorious Green was a nice compliment.

My first ATC Cards! and I am hooked! I will definitely host another ATC swap at some point. Little rhinestones highlight the hat and the sentiment here. All by A Muse. I used my Copic Markers to color the hat.

Have a Swinging Day!

Almost forgot to share this card with y'all! You can find the recipe HERE on splitcoast. Of course I grappled with the "wee"... it should probably read "whee"... but it didn't look as cute for some reason... I dunno why.


Thank goodness for Karen Foster Snap Stamps. They are such a great compliment to my A Muse stamps. I heard they are being discontinued too... so get 'em while their still available! I found mine at Create for Less.

A*muse*a*palooza Update!

There is so much happening on the A*muse*a*palooza blog I can barely keep up! A really cute guessing game AND a New Challenge with a sketch! I am so impressed with all the amazing stuff they are giving away... and there is still so much more to come! Be sure you are registered so you have a chance to win some cool stuff! Tell 'em Sarah Moore sent ya!

A*muse*a*palooza 2007 fun fact: When you visit the A*muse*a*palooza Blog, note the list of potential Ambassadors... 28 terricfic stampers... and four of them named Sarah, and all of them with an "h". No other name is duplicated either! Isn't that weird? I should add; I never met a "Sarah-with-an-h" that I didn't like. :)

I have been so busy working on some other projects (involving copious amounts of glitter!) that I haven't had much time to play along with all the fun this week... but tomorrow night I should have some new stuff to check out. Meanwhile; the A Muse swap I am hosting is almost full! I added an ATC swap too... so go join up... lots of great stampers participating! Come play with us!

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Yay Nurses!

My Grandmother is a retired nurse, my mom and aunt are nurses... and I used to work in Heathcare too... so I love nurses. They work their tushies off and get paid far too little!

My mom currently manages the nursing staff at a pediatric office. She wanted to do something special for her staff for National Nurses Week, so I bought A Muse's "Florence"... (cute name right?)... to help her out!

Here is what we came up with...

Simple, simple, simple... I stamped her in black inside this adorable scalloped oval... a perfect fit! The only color on her is the little red cross on her hat. The yummy cookies were a custom order from Jarosch Bakery in Elk Grove, which is our favorite local bakery.

Happy Nurses Week!

A*muse*a*palooza Challenge Two!

The second A*muse*a*pallooza challenge (posted yesterday) is a TOUGH one! I am so dependent on Black ink... and this challenge forbid it! EEK! Here are three cards I made last night for the challenge.

Also a note about challenges... You should really participate... even if you are a new stamper r not the "contest" type... these aren't "who has the best card" contests.... but random drawings! The more you enter the more chances you have to win! And you don't need to have a blog or anything... Just upload your card to splitcoast, and post it to the Challenge post on the A*muse*a*pallooza blog. Fun!

If your name is Charlotte and I am married to your son... you should really not look at the last card in this post! (wink).

Full details on this card can be found HERE.

Full details on this card can be found HERE.

Full details on this card can be found HERE.

Because Martha Told Me To!

No... not THAT Martha! This Martha... I have tried to resist the new Martha Stewart Crafts collection that debut at Micheal's this week... but Martha Stewart has proved to be the Borg of papercraft...and she assimilated my scrap pal Martha Bonneau... and then Martha assimilated me.

Yes; I know there are a bunch of A Muse Stamps in here too...
I will get to THOSE in a minute... Just keep reading.

I have a confession. I love to hate Martha Stewart. I watch her show exclusively for the train wreck... I adore watching her awkward pauses... and I picture the "off with their heads" moments that likely occur during each commercial break. I cringe when the blender doesn't work; because I know someone just got fired.

Proving my point is Julie Balzer; who receintly attended a taping and agrees that Martha doesn't really know how to craft "hands on". I saw her fumble with a Xyron Machine on air not long ago... it appeared as though it was her first time TOUCHING a Xyron. She had no idea if she was laminating or applying adhesive... it was awesome!

All this being said; I am a loyal subscriber. Her "Food" monthly is the BEST cooking magazine ever. And "Blueprint" is uber cool. I have to hate Martha... otherwise the feelings of guilt and self loathing she dishes out would overtake me completely.

Martha at Michael's
Rumor has it the merchandise was placed on the racks by staff wearing white gloves... per Martha's demand. Overheard at the Marketing meeting... Martha: "They are to wear white cotton gloves if they dare touch my precious paper!". Flunkie: "As you wish my'lady!"

Close up pic of amazing paper; 24 sheets of 12 designs $10.99, Rick-Rac Rub-on's $ 3.99 and cool journaling stickers $1.99.

Yes, that is an adorable 1" scalloped circle... teeny tiny! Value price ribbon... 12 yards for $2.99, 1.5oz. bottles of ultra fine glitter for $4.99, and self adhesive ribbons... some plasticly/glossy, some silky like fabric... all adhesive backed and cute... $3.99.

My sister in law Angie and I agreed... the prices were not that bad... AND as the 40% off Micheal's Coupons state they exclude Martha stuffs... we were thrilled when our clerk took our 40% Joanne's AND Hobby Lobby coupons no questions asked! Zoink! Take that Micheal's!

Bird Stamps by Martha, 2 for $9.99. And lookee at ALL my NEW A Muse stamps! There are some New Summer Sets in there too! Thanks to my Husband... this was my Mom's Day present! :) The Cottage Stamper in St. Charles had their Anniversary sale today... so Angie and I got 25% off all our A Muse Stamps! Whoo Hoo! I also bought some Copic Markers, and A Muse Creative Candy mini stars.

Enough about Martha... More on A Muse!

We loved shopping at the Cottage Stamper! If you live close enough to St. Charles it is completely worth the visit. Karen and Louise were so helpful, so nice and so excited! They had all sorts of products to try out and sample, and they spent TIME with us... even though they were swamped!

The Cottage Stamper had everything we needed... and nothing we didn't! :) They are planning classes during A*muse*a*palooza that will feature the new Holiday Stamps! Wowza! Christmas in July??? Count me in!

Look how cute the shop is!

Did I mention how much we liked Karen and Louise?

We left with some free goodies from Cottage Stamper; eyelets and a cool template for me. They even had snacks; because shopping is hard work! Oh, and those Copics I bought... they will refill them for me when they run dry ($1 each), and they even wrote down the colors I bought... they keep track for you so you will remember what you need next time! Talk about service! Plus they have a nifty point system, and when I hit a certain amount in purchases I will get 10% off for life! We will be back! You can visit the Cottage Stamper online HERE.

Don't forget to Register for Amuseapalooza! Weekly drawings and stuff...

And if you feel like swappin' A Muse cards... you can join us HERE... still spots available!

A*muse*a*palooza continues... the First Challenge!

I am already having so much fun with A*Muse*a*Palooza. If you haven't registered yet for the weekly drawings you should! and if you'd care to mention me... you will help me get 10 points closer to A Muse Ambassador! I want that t-shirt... and the $250 in stamps would be nice too (insert chuckle).

Also... my A Muse Swap is filling up! So if you want in... join up soon! You don't need to be a blogger, or some sort of stamping superstar to join us... we just want nice cards! :)

So I made a couple cards for the first challenge... and EVERYONE can play during these challenges... not just bloggers.

You can read all about this card HERE. Can you tell the sentiment is INSIDE the card? It was really hard to shoot that... it just peeks through a Window through the front.

Details on this card can be found HERE.

I am really loving the simplicity of the A Muse stuff... very fun... and sort of freeing in a way. I am glad I jumped on board this bandwagon! :)

A*muse*a*palooza: and a SWAP!

Look at this super fun awesomeness... The gals at A Muse are having an "A*muse*a*palooza"! Whoo Hoo! You should totally register for their cool contests and stuff... Weekly drawings, what could be better!?!

Please when you register let them know Sarah Moore referred you to the contest; there is a spot on the survey where you can enter my name! I am trying my bestest to become an A Muse Ambassador! Wouldn't that be cool? Please let me know if you register... and if you win anything fun as a result! Best of luck to you all!

Which brings me to my next item... check out my A*muse*a*palooza Swap on Splitcoaststampers! I hope some of you A Muse fans will come and play! :)

And to kick start... a CARD! :)

Please see my Gallery on Splitcoast for all the details on this card.

I did it Julie!

Miss JulieHRR would be so proud of me! I made my first card with NO LAYERS! I might be hooked.

It was so fast and easy, and I love the end result! As most of you know I am a die-hard Stampin' Up! gal... but the A Muse images have been haunting me for sometime now. Besides; this sweetie looked to much like my own pumpkin... I couldn't pass him up! I am a bit disappointed with how these pictures turned out... so much for natural light! Can you see my brand new A Muse Oval "grounding" stamp... oh golly I love that stamp; I have all sorts of plans for it!

The XOXO is from the Micheal's $1 bin. All other images are A Muse. Ink is Stampin' Up!; Bashful Blue, Pretty and Pink and Basic Black. Stampin' Up! Markers were used to fill in the image.

If your name is Rick Moore please stop reading!

I made this next card for my Darling Hubby... I will show you his other hand stamped gifts later... just too risky to post them here, as I know he is still reading after I told him not to! Really Rick, I mean it! Stop reading!

Don't you love this sentiment! I think I will use it a ton... and that cutsie "mod" couple... LOVE them! I thought they looked better in their own black and white... no need to color them in!

Images A Muse, Ink Stampin' Up! Bashful Blue, Pretty and Pink and Basic Black.

Making Valentines wasn't the only thing Andy and I did today; we were snowed in for goodness sakes! So I hopped into my Supermom outfit (da-da-DA!) and presto...

Did you just gain 5 pounds LOOKING at this yummy cupcake! I just used a regular White Cake Mix... added some sprinkles for confetti color inside...and the frosting is... oh... I am almost afraid to TELL you it's so decadent!

One Stick Unsalted Butter
One pound (yes... a whole pound) of Crisco Shortening
One Box of Powdered Sugar (also one pound)
1/2 Teaspoon of Salt
2 Teaspoons of Vanilla Extract

Cream shortening and butter until well mixed... slowly add powdered sugar until incorporated. Add salt and Vanilla... mix well... add food coloring if desired... thin with water if needed for consistency.

Consume cupcakes in secret and hide them from your family!

Happy Valentine's Day!