Listen to this...

Merry and Bright Card Class

Hi everyone! My Merry and Bright card was rescheduled for tomorrow night and here's a sample of one of the cards we'll be making.  I still have some openings so please call Scattered Pictures to sign-up (503.252.1888). Hope to see you there!

Fishing Penguin

Hi there! Sorry I haven't posted in a few days.  I really haven't made anything new (except for class/design work) so I thought I'd show you one of my class samples.  This is one of my favorite cards that I made using the new AP stamps.  Isn't the penguin fishing so cute? And I added the little gift that he's fishing for - what a fun suprise for him! :) 

Okay, off to clean my house that hasn't been touched in two weeks - yikes! 

All images, notecards, black ink, ribbon - A Muse Artstamps
Markers - Copic

 

 

A*MUSE*A*PALOOZA Sneak!

I've got a little amuse-bouche for you guys!  Yippee! Here's a card using the new Elegant Tree and Seasons Greetings sentiment, plus the new polka-dot ribbon!  Hope you like it! Be sure to check out the A Muse blog for more yummy goodness! :)

A Muse Challenge - Ribbon

I'm getting my ribbon challenge card done just in the time!  Have you been playing along with all the AP fun over at the A Muse blog? If not, what are you waiting for? :)  They've got lots of fun challenges and contests going on and that means there are lots of prizes to win!  Be sure to check it out!

For my card today, I didn't do anything too creative, just tied three of my fave grosgrain stitch ribbons around the card and added a sweet little sentiment.  Super easy but cute! 

Isaiah's birthday is tomorrow but we're having a little party for him today so I have to go get ready for it.  I'll try to take some pictures and post them tomorrow.  Hope you're all having a good day!

~Katie

How cool is this??!

Check this out! I won a a$50 gift certificate to A Muse!! Suh-weet!!!  Thank you to everyone that signed up with me as their referral, I really appreciate it!

Can't wait to spend my loot!

Seattle Re-cap

Carolina and I had a GREAT time in Seattle yesterday -- everything was perfect! The weather, driving (no traffic!), having a girl's day and (of course!) the stamps!!  We started out at the Tukwila store of Impress Rubber Stamps and it was soooo fun!  I've only ever been to the much smaller University Village store so this big store was a treat! They even had a bunch of The Cat's Pajamas stamps so it was cool to see all of those.  I got about 6 stamps there and brackets punch which I'm REALLY excited about!

After grabbing a quick lunch (at Taco bell - gotta save the money for stamping!) we headed to the A muse store.  AAAHHHH! I love that place! This is my third time going and it was just as cute as always.  The new AP stuff wasn't out, but it was still awesome to be there and see all the rubbery goodness!

Here's Carolina and me outside the store-

We were there for a long time and it was a blast!  I got some stamps and notecards.  Next we did a couple of non-stamping things, ate dinner and then headed to Monkey Love for the A-Muse-A-Palooza event. 

Monkey Love was a very cute store and Sandy (the owner) is a doll!! I really liked her :)  The event itself was soooo much fun! We got to make FIVE make and takes that were totally adorable and they had all the new stamps, notecards and paper! Yep, they have the new vintage full sheets of paper! Oh man, that stuff is fantastic!! And one of the best parts was hanging out with fellow A Muse Addict Kim (kasevers). She is super sweet and we had a lot of fun!   Hi Kim!! *waves*  I also got to meet two other Addicts Aileen (ablackmore) and Janie!

Here's me and Kim (sorry the pic is blurry)

And then here are us Addicts - Janie, Aileen, Kim, me - (it's sooooo fun to meet in real life!!)

And now, I'm sure you all want me to quit yapping and get to goods so........................ here's what I got -

Lots of yummy paper-

And stamps galore! My two new faves are the chick with the ornament in her mouth and the snowman with the flower wreath - they're both stinkin' adorable!! 

Here's something fun.  Ya know how I started stamping  5 years ago when I saw an adorable wedding card and thought "I have to do that!" and bought everything to totally CASE it?   Well, Monkey Love had the card that started it all so I had to take a picture of it!  Hhmm, just think, without this little card, I wouldn't be where I am today! :)

And thanks to Carolina for a FANTASTIC day! I'm so glad I got to have this adventure with you! :) Can't wait 'till next year!

 

A-Muse-a-palooza starts today!!

It's finally here!  Yippee!! I'm heading to Seattle today with a friend to visit 3 different stamp stores including...the A Muse store! I'm sooooooo excited! Can't wait to see all the new stamps!

Have a great day, chickies!! See ya tomorrow and I'll show you all my brand new rubbah!!! :)

Happy Birthday to U

Helle was the mystery Hostess this week over at the AP Blog and her challenge was to make a pink, black and white card with a little bit of bling on it.   I bought this "U" initial awhile ago with the hopes to use it with this birthday sentiment so I figured this was a good time to pull it out.  I stamped it in CTMH Blush ink and then masked off the "you" in the sentiment using Scotch tape and stamped it above the "U". After it adhering it to the card, I used my MM Ribbon slot punch to thread the ribbon through then added some A Muse Twinkle Stickers (scroll down) for the bling.  Thanks for looking!!

All images, notecards, ribbon, Twinkle Stickers - A Muse
Ink: VersaFine - Onyx Black; CMTH - Blush

 

AP Challenge - Pocket Card

Geeta was the Mystery Hostess this week on the AP Blog and her challenge was to make a pocket card.  I like pocket cards so this was fun to do.  I wanted to try something a little different so I thought I would try cutting a shape out on the card instead of stamping something.  So I looked through my stamps to get inspiration for something and I saw the "For a special teacher" sentiment and thought "Ah hah! I could do an apple!" The rest just came easily from there.  I free-hand drew the apple shape on the back of the red polka dot paper (so it wouldn't show on the finished apple) and then cut it out.  The stem and leaf were also cut from the same paper in different colors.  On the inside of the pocket, I added a red scallop piece of paper after it was mounted on the green.  The school house was colored with my new Koh-I-Noor colored pencils that I got at Paperdoll. 

Thanks for checking out my blog, girlies!! I sure appreciate you all! Have a good day!

All images, paper - A Muse
Ink - CTMH
Accesories: Ribbon - offray; Colored pencils - Koh-I-Noor; Scallop blade - Fiskars rotary cutter

 

BBQ Invite

There's a sketch challenge going on at the AP Blog and this is the card I made for it.  I love having friends over in the summer and I thought this would make a perfect invite for a summer BBQ!  And while I don't have an orange barbecue, I do have an orange oven and outdoor fireplace so I colored my bbq to match those :)  The party flags were stamped on different colored A muse notecards, cut out and then popped up to give them some dimension. 

Have a great day!

P.S. Thanks to Tracy for alerting me that there seems to be something wrong with mylivesignature.com so none of my siggy's are showing up.  Not sure what's going on with that.  Please let me know if you have any info on it.  Thanks!

All images, notecards: A Muse Artstamps
Ink: Adirondack
Accesories: Marvy scallop and circle punch, EK success circle punch

AP Blog - Taylor's Challenge

Taylor was the secret hostess this week at the AP Blog and her challenge was to make a card using something with Twinkle - glitter, stickles, etc.  That is definitely no problem for me because I almost always use some sort of sparkly stuff on my cards :)

(BTW, if you haven't signed up on the AP blog, you can do that here and please list me as your referrel, thank you!!)

This card was super simple to make, it took me less than five minutes!  Love that!

All images: A Muse
Paper: A Muse; Neenah Crest Solar White
Ink: Adirondack
Accesories: Glitter - Art Institute and Stampendous; Nestabilities - Scallop and Standard Circle - Small; Quickie Glue pen

Amy's sketch

Amy was the mystery hostess last week on the AP Blog and she had a sketch challenge for everyone to try.  Be sure to check it out!

Here's my version of her sketch.  The green panel is popped up above the white circles and I had a bit of hard time lining them up so they're not perfect.  Oh well, sometimes good enough is good enough. 

I LOVE this to-go cup stamp, isn't it just the cutest? I think this would make an excellent giftcard holder - just add a Starbuck's card!

All images: A muse (To go cup and Coffe Break clear set)
Paper: A Muse, CTMH
Ink: Adirondack
Accessories: Circle punches, Copic Markers, Pop-dots

 

A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA Refer a friend!

Hey all! There's a new contest happening over at A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA and I'd really like to win! (Wouldn't we all? LOl!) Soooo, would you mind heading on over there and signing up (it just takes a sec) and then put me (Katie Stilwater) down as the person that referred you? Thanks so much, friends! I really appreciate it!

AP - Inspiration Challenge

This is for the Inspiration Challenge that was posted on the AP Blog yesterday. Jenn posted a picture of a bag and we were to make a card using it as inspiration.  You can see the bag here.  The lighting is really off on my card, I couldn't get a good picture of it so just imagine that it's much cuter in real life. 

P.S.  I'm working on my TCP Tuesday card so I'll be posting that soon, too!

All images, blue notecard - A Muse
Ink - ColorBox
Paper - CTMH
Accessories - Felt Flower - American Crafts; Brads - MM

Challenge Card #2 - You make my heart sing

I just loved this color challenge so much that I had to make another card!  I actually have a few more card ideas in my head but we'll see if I have time to get them.

The birdie is colored with a mixture of Copic markers and PrismaColor Pencils and the hearts are hand-drawn with a colored pencil.  After I drew the hearts in, I was wondering if anyone would "get" what they were and then Isaiah said, "Ooh, a pretty song!" so I guess if a five year old got it then everyone else will!  :)  For the ribbon, I attached the strip across the front and then cut a piece off, tied a bow with it and then glued the bow down seperately using a glue dot.  Enjoy!

All images: A Muse
Paper:  A Muse, CTMH
Ink:  Adirondack - Pitch Black
Accessories: Nestabilities - Standard Heart; Ribbon - A Muse; Copic Markers, PrismaColor Pencils and Blending pencil

     

The first AP Challenge!

I'm soooo glad AP has started again! I had so much fun with it last year and really feel like I grew as a stamper so I'm pumped to get to do it all again! 

The first challenge on the AP blog is a color challenge - chocolate kitchen notecard, cabana blue and passion purple.  This is a color combo I would never have thought of on my own but now I love it! It's so fun and springy!

I can't wait for the rest of the challenges, it's going to be so much fun!  Are you playing along?

Images: A Muse
Paper: A Muse; CTMH - Amethyst (close enough to the A Muse purple passion notecard)
Ink: Adirondack - Pitch Black
Accessories: Copic Markers; PrismaColor pencil and blending pencil; Swiss Dots CB Folder; Nestabilities Scallop and Standard Rectangle - Small; A Muse Twinkle Stickers; Quickie Glue Pen, Stampendous Ultra fine white glitter; Scallop blade - Fiskars Rotary Cutter

 

AP starts today!!!!

All the fun and festivities have started over at A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA Blog!!!! Yippee!!!!! I've been DYING for this to get started!  Have you played along with the first game yet?

A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA

The AP Blog has gone live! Yippee! Can't wait for the big event! Although, I have to say (and since this is my blog, I can say what I want, haha!)  I am sooooooo bummed AP isn't going to be at Paperdoll again this year.   Janene (the owner of Paperdoll) and I met last year at AP when she hosted it (for the first time in Portland) and have since become very good friends, I love that girl!  She is a woman of integrity, creativity, originality and honor.  She runs her business with the highest regard to her customers, prices, quality and aesthetic - she definitely has the cutest store around!  And she LOVES A Muse!  But, she decided not to host this year because a competitor opened a new store a few miles away and snagged AP first.  Bummer.   

Mini class -pocket card

There is a mini-class at the AP blog and it's how to make a pocket card.  Check it out here.  This is my version of it.  The notecard and book stamp are new fom A Muse and the sentiment is from Cat's Pajamas.

I'm sure you all already know...

That I didn't win the Ambassdor competition.  Congrats to the winners!  That's all I'm going to say.

A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA!!

So, I finally made it to Paperdoll yesterday and I gotta say, it is such a stinkin' cute store!  I want to move in!  And Janene (the owner) is one super cute, super cool chica!  AP was great fun!  We made four cards in the class that I took and they're really cute, I love all the new stamps.  And listen to this! As part of the festivities, she held a card making contest and I entered this card and I won!! Isn't that awesome?! So I won a goodie bag with A Muse notecards, Little Papers, a Colorbox ink, a Paperdoll pen and a Christmas Tree stamp.  So fun!

Listen to this! Seriously, one of the funniest things ever happened.  When  first got to the store, Janene, Dawn (the instructor), their friend Sarah and I were standing around taking about the Ambassador competition and Sarah said something like, "Yeah, I was going to sign up but there was way too much to do with all the blogging and everything.  I mean, on the AP blog, some crazy lady made like, 30 cards last week and won a prize.  Who has time for that???!"  I was like, "Um, yeah, that was me."  Sarah - "That was you??!!"  "Uh, yeah."  Then we all laughed hysterically!  Now I'm the crazy lady that makes all the cards! (Just for the record, I am so not a writer and it was way funnier in person.)

Of course, the best part of the day was seeing all the fun new stamps.  My faves were the sentiments (as usual) - "Thanks snow much" "we're havin' a party" "you're cool" and I also loved the "christmas drinks" one -it's like the flower drinks but with a candy cane and holly in them instead of flower.  I also like the "Partridge in a pear tree" and square snowman with a little birdie on his shoulder.  Unfortunetly, I don't have much in the ol' stamping budget so I only got two stamps - "thanks snow much" and "you're cool."  Hopefully more will follow soon. :)

Here's a couple of pictures that I took -

Pretty much all of these stamps are new.  I really want the stack of books with the mug on it!

All the cards were designed by the super-cute Dawn Sorem.

The window dispaly that Janene made.  It's even cuter in real-life.

Dawn in her cute pink tee!

Here's the view of the store window from the outside.  My pictures soooo don't do it justice. 

All in all, it was a very fun day!

My local stamp store is opening...

And I'm not there!! Darn you, hot weather!  Why is today the one day my husband gets the car with the AC??  Now I'm at home cleaning instead of out oogling all the new A Muse stamps (and by "cleaning" I mean playing on the computer looking at all the things I should be cleaning, haha!).  I guess I'm just going to have to just chill out and have patience. 

What stamp am I?

I decided I'm the drumset!  What about you? (See post below.)

What stamp are you?

That's the name of the latest game at the AP blog.  The challenge is to go to the A Muse website and pick a stamp that is the most "you."  I haven't done it yet...I'll let you know who I am, lol.  You can see all the deets of the game here.

Okay, for reals, I'm dying here!

AAahhhh!!!! I can't stand it! Everyone else is out seeing all the new cute A Muse stamps and I have to wait until tomorrow night to see them! My LSS isn't opened on Monday's and Stacy gets the car tomorrow (it's supposed to be 100 degrees and his car doesn't have AC) so I have to wait until my class at 5 pm! Seriously, I hate waiting...and I really hate it when other people get to know stuff before me, haha!  I have to be the first to know everything!! LOL! *Sigh*  As Isaiah would say, "Have patience, Mama."  Good advice. 

The countdown is over!

Woo-hoo!  A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA is finally here!!! My LSS isn't open today so I have to wait until tomorrow to see the new stamps! Aaahhh!! It's killing me. 

Be sure to check out the AP blog 'cause there were several winners announced and they'll be showing daily sneak - peaks of the new stamps.  Lots of fun-ness going on over there!

Only 3 days to go!!

The countdown is on for A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA!  Only 3 more days! Woo hoo!  You gotta go check out the blog, they're having a super fun, silly game in on honor of 3 days left!  I've entered, have you??

First ATC!

This is my very first ATC!  It was pretty fun to make, even though I'm not thrilled with the outcome.  Plus, now I don't know what to do with it, lol!  This is for the challenge 10 - Anything But A Card.

All images - A Muse
Paper - Doodlebug, Craft Warehouse
Ink, eyelet, Adhesive Sheets (for glitter), Swirly Things (What are these called??) - CTMH
Ribbon - Craft Warehouse
Glitter - Stampendous
1 3/8" Punch

Challenge #10

This will probably be my only entry for the challenge #10 - Anything But A Card.  I don't really make much but cards but I made these tags for a friends baby shower so these will count.  These are the party favors we're giving to the ladies that are coming.

The lotion is from Bath and Body Works.

All images - A Muse
Paper - CTMH and uknown
Ink - Color Box and CTMH
Marvy scallop and square punches

Challenge 10 - Anything but a card!

Okay, so this is the final challenge for A-MUSE-A-PALOOZA and it's a tough one.  Challenge #10 is to make anything but a card!  Yikes!  I don't make many things but cards.  Hopefully I can come up with something!  Good luck!!