save the date!

I'm coming to Stamping Details in Poway (north San Diego) on August 6! Get ready for cool holiday fun and all occasion card classes!

Class descriptions and samples soon.

Expanding on the Swivel

Here's the mini-book I made for a friend's daughter. A custom fairy tale!

Just in case

There was a slight mix-up on the SOC9 schedule. My class is scheduled for tomorrow, the 31st. On the newsletter, it said Tuesday, the 31st and obviously today is the 30th. If you can make tomorrow's class, it'll be a fun one! Here are the samples!

You'll be playing with acrylic paint as well as several of the new A Muse acrylic alphabet sets! Come on by!

Well rested

So, did you catch the latest a-muse-letter? :) Here's my blog exclusive- the swivel card in action!


Woot! There's something about long weekends that leaves one well-rested. Hope everyone had a great time this weekend! Here's a card I did the other day. I just love the station wagon and the little canoe. How fun! More Card-of-the-day cards here.

At the beach (COTD- 5/24)

I'm having so much fun with this little scalloped circle punch! I love making this custom tag. I also used a little bit of Japanese cord that I got in Long Grove, IL years ago (must stop hoarding stuff!). And of course, I love playing with new stamps! I've been eying this little bathing suit from A Muse for a while now and finally bought it. It'll be perfect for summer cards and baby girl cards. You can't see the shimmer too well but I used Twinkling H2Os on the suit. I also love the guard chair and matching phrase! To the beach we go!

Years ago, I started a calendar swap with the Stamping Rock Stars and one of my coworkers was so enchanted with the project, she wanted us to create a calendar at work. Every year, I work on at least three calendar swaps but somehow this year has been a little difficult to get all the necessary months together for the work calendar. I had to whip up a dozen quick calendar pages last night to help out one of my coworkers. See my quickie June page here.

I love long weekends! More time to play! I plan to finish the 40 baby announcements for another coworker. They'll look like this lion card and this bunny card. The card is based on this card I made for fun a few weeks back. But because it was cost prohibitive to buy all those sheets of background paper, I made my own with my stash of cardstock, ink and stamps.

Don't forget, I'm teaching TWO classes next week at Stampin' on Cloud 9. The Monogram class is filling up but there's still plenty of room in both classes. Check out the class schedule.

5/23 COTD- Good Morning, Baltimore!

Although I went out last night (opening night of Hairspray at the Pantages in Hollywood), I had time to make this quickie card with some of the new stamps I just got. I may have been a little too quick as the brownstone is slightly smeared on the pink vellum. Ah well. I tilted the vellum a little bit towards curly girl to illustrate the road to a friend's house is never long. :) The leaf is from Paper Source. I am so in love with the color of the pink leaf! They were only $2 for 25 of them (well, maybe it's a bit pricey considering the kajillion prima flowers you can get for $6).

Oh yes, I loved Hairspray! I didn't know the story before but I'm totally in if there's lots of singing and dancing. Love musicals!

The card could also be called, "Good Morning, Baltimore" in honor of the show!

Summer Birthday (COTD 5/22)

Yay, I got an A Muse box o' goodies yesterday including some summer stamps I meant to buy last summer. I couldn't resist the halter dress! Here's a quickie card for yesterday's Card of the Day (I'll always be about a day behind- even more on the weekends, hope y'all don't mind). Red and Orange- the sizzling hot colors of SUMMER!

Did you see? There's a new blog in town! Check out the A Muse blog written by owner Linda Carnell and get the scoop for the 5-year-anniversary sale. It's too good to be missed! The sale includes all the new summer stamps (all images have been uploaded to the site including the cool clear alphas). Just remember you have to be on the a-muse-letter email list to take advantage of the sale. But you want to be on the list anyway. I'm writing an article for A Muse that comes out next week!

Card of the Day (5/19-5/21)

5/21 Baseball card

5/20 Wheely card

Pocket card for 5/19. See the inside tag here.

All notecards and stamps by A Muse. Designs by SLD.

Gettin' busy

I've finished all the cards for the Sparkle class. Ooh, you will have so much fun. I'm breaking out the Twinkling H2Os for this class! Next up, I'm working on the cards for the Christmas in July class. Oh jingle jangle, there will be little bells and other fun embellishments to play with.

Tomorrow (or later today-- hey wait, it's after midnight???) I'll be posting my card of the day for the past three days. I've been having so much fun with these new summer images.

Guess what?! I'm in the newest Take Ten (on newstands June 1)! That makes four Take Ten magazines in a roll. I'm so excited! When I get my artist comp issue, I'll upload the pics into my gallery.

And mark your calendars. I'm coming back to Ventura September 16 for another fun and exciting A Muse day. I'm planning the classes now but the first class will probably be Halloween and the other two Fall/ Winter classes. Get ready for some holiday sparkle!


{edit}

Awww, in honor of A Muse's 5 year anniversary, I wanted to post a couple of cards with my very first two A Muse stamps; giraffe and small shower gift tub. I got these at Stamp On Over in Chicago almost three years ago. How time flies!

Hot tub?

Everyone's doing it! I had to post my kiddie pool card too. I think this little surfer guy got lost on his way to beach surf shop and decided to "hang ten" in the kiddie's pool. Or maybe it's a hot tub! Yeah!

New summer stamps from A Muse. Design by SLD.

Tennis, anyone?

I'm taking up the challenge to stamp daily! Here's the card I stamped yesterday with some new A Muse summer images. I love this little tennis girl. I used to manage my high school tennis team and she brings back so many memories.

And yes, I can't stop using the spiral daisy! The Love stamp is a little bit older (may have been discontinued) but you can use the nifty new clear alphabet stamps to spell out "love."

(stamps by A Muse, design by SLD)

Ex-boyfriends

One of my favorite swaps I was involved in was the ex-boyfriend swap I did with the Stamping Rock Stars. I finally uploaded the pictures to my gallery. I didn't load the ATCs I made that went along with the cards only because they're a little personal. But I wanted to share the cards.

Here's one of my favorites!

I'm a little sad to see Leave Memories close because I use the Yearbook alpha quite a bit (it went along with my Adorned Surface yearbook stamps so well!).

Pretty girly

Pink and Purple!

I neglected to post this picture during the spring release. I liked how the inked flower came out though possibly a little...too bold? What am I saying? I like bold!

I can't decide- which headshot?

I'm going to start adding my headshot to class boards. Which headshot do you like best? Also, I've gotten comments from folks that they can't leave comments because I have this blog set to registered users only. So, I'm opening it up now to everyone wants to comment! (just don't spam me! heh).

(all photos c. Sherri Koop)

A Little Bloom

I made a couple of versions of this card. I'm not sure which one I like better. I think the yellow one is more summery but tweaking a little green into the pink and brown combo is fresh to me.

Class might be cancelled tonight if we don't get another one signed up. That's about two hours away. I'm not worried or sad. I have to be zen about it! But I really think it'll be fun to teach the sandcastle card (the card has been tweaked for tonight). It'll be the first time I'm teaching simple stick and it's such a cool thing!

So, if you're even remotely interested and near Monrovia, come by tonight! Call the store and let 'em know.

Lemonade Stand

The other day, I was driving along and spotted a pre-fab lemondade stand. I was so disturbed by the sight! I can't believe you can buy little stands now. How unclassy! The showy banner and the pre-printed signs for $.25 were extremely disgusting. I could almost imagine the lemonade wasn't even made by the poor little girl behind the stand!

That's why I'm so glad this new A Muse lemonade stand looks just like what I imagine a lemonade stand should be. Handwritten signs and a sweet jug of freshly-squeezed lemonade!

(new summer A Muse images, design by SLD)

Yessss!

One of my favorite Stamping Rock Stars (and fellow SunSpirit Studio Design Team member and A Muse Instructor), Lyndsay Neumann, has joined the ranks of stampy bloggers!

We met long before either one of us started to seriously stamp. I probably have hundreds of postcards from her when we both were in a postcard community. Then we started stamping and now we have hundreds of beautiful handmade cards from countless swaps (I was doing 50+ swaps a year for a few years). Through the years, I've visited her in Minnesota and she's been out to California a few times. It was fantastic when we were both selected to be A Muse instructors and we met up again in Seattle.

I was so happy when our cards were published on the same page in the last Take Ten issue! Our shoe swap was so much fun and I just knew when I mailed off those cards to Stampington, they'd make it for publication!

Here's to a cool stampy chick! I can't wait to read all about her projects and if you're in Minnesota, take one of her classes!

Rock on, Lyns!

summer stamps are here!

Woohoo! I got my box of stamps yesterday and I was ecstatic! I made 6 quick cards almost immediately! Yay, now I can work on my summer II class cards. Here's my favorite of the bunch I stamped yesterday.

I was hoping for a tankini stamp and am so happy A Muse made one for this summer's release! I also love the spiral daisy. So cute!

There are three more in my summer gallery.

...ooops...there is only ONE person signed up for next Tuesday's class. The class will be cancelled if there aren't a few more signed up. Call the store now to reserve your spot! We'll be using A Muse's simple stick and all sorts of nifty fun stuff. Remember, I always give goodies for students. See you then!

Stampin on Cloud 9 Monrovia, CA

Please pre-register in store or call (626) 358-2886 6:30-8:30 PM

A Muse Summer I
Date: Tuesday, May 16
Just in time for summer, you’ll have fun making 6 sizzling hot cards. See all the latest stamps from A Muse’s new summer line. Please bring scissors, adhesive and pencil with eraser for notes. Detailed supplies lists will be provided.

Steady as she goes

There's this new song by the Raconteurs that I love, Steady As She Goes. Though the lyrics have nothing to do with the following card, I heard it in my head (still need to go buy the CD) while working on class cards for the summer.

Samples for the Summer I Class 5/16

Samples for the Monogram Class 5/31

Samples for the Summer II Class 6/2

********NEW SAMPLES**********

Samples for the Sparkle Class 6/16

Samples for the Christmas in July Class 7/7

Samples for the Quick & Easy Class 7/25


I'll be bringing the June and July class samples to the store next week! See you then!

pssstttt...class schedule.

Artbar Open House

D'oh! And I just mailed off 14 cards yesterday to Stampington for consideration.

Artbar Open House

Hmm, I have a vague plan to go to Escondido that day for justjohanna's party at Cat's Craft Cupboard but I don't know if I can really drag my friend all around the Southland. It's kind of tough that none of my friends stamp so they're really not that interested in going on stamp store crawls with me.

But I'm so excited the next Take Ten is coming out on June 1. Just maybe I'll get a comp issue before then. *wink*

I really, really hope the new A Muse summer stamps show up today! I'm in major summer mode right now. This card features stamps from last year's summer release. I love all these darn stamps so much- so cute.

I got my newest SU punches yesterday. I can't wait to play with them. And I'm still on a brads binge. I'm expecting a zillion Bazzill brads today from Queen & Co. They're doing a major clearance sale right now. I got a lot of the tiny stars and tiny flowers brads. Love how they come in three matching shades. Aaaaannnnd, I got my SunSpirit Studio package so I'll be working on something special! I have the greatest idea.

Whee, a happy mailbox is a happy me!

Summer II Class at SOC9

Stampin on Cloud 9 Monrovia, CA

Please pre-register in store or call (626) 358-2886

A Muse Summer II
Date: Friday, June 2
6:30 -8:30 PM
Come and play with the new A Muse summer stamps. Create 6 sunny and cute cards. Please bring scissors, adhesive and pencil with eraser for notes. Detailed supplies lists will be provided.

Here are the two fun, fun sample cards! I'm now expecting the brand new A Muse summer images early next week--- thanks for your patience! I do promise you'll get to play with them in both the first summer and second summer classes. In the meantime, I still love these older but well-loved summer images.

Baby Flamingo

Hahah! I posted this card on 2peas yesterday and said there are of course, pink birds. A commenter said it was a baby flamingo. I like that!

I was trying something a little different with my new oval handpunch (Fiskars). I fell in love with it at CHA when I used it at the Heidi Grace booth. It took a little while to order it but now that I have it, I'm trying not to use it on everything.

Yep, you guessed it...I opened another roll of ribbon!

I realized last night that my second summer class is just two days after my Monogram class. Eek! I made samples and the class board last night. I'll load the samples in a bit.

Variation on a theme

I don't often repeat myself. But sometimes, when I find I've stamped what I think is a great card, I try it in different colors and see what happens. I like both these cards. I like the pale peach/mint combo because it reminds me of the 70s but so does the orange and brown combo. I remember my dad coming home one day exclaiming he loved the orange and brown uniforms from Burger King (sometime in the 80s). At the time, he was looking for something a little bit different for his staff's uniforms. You guessed it, they got orange and brown. I think they were still wearing those colors 20 years later.

(stamps & notecards by A Muse)

Another blogger!

Yay, Moondaughter started a blog! I'm really excited about all of Elishia's upcoming rubber adventures. I'll be designing samples for her line of goddess themed stamps later this summer. We met in the Goddess Stamps yahoo group a few years ago and have exchanged many pieces of Halloween themed artwork. This is my card was from last year's swap. Halloween is hands down my favorite greeting card holiday.

Devil kitty is from Fusion Artstamps, greeting by Rubber Moon and I believe the phrase is from Limited Edition (I'll have to check on this later). The poison label is from Stampola. Polka dot paper is from DCWV and I think the bat sticker is from Jolie's. Unknown brads.

New Monogram Card-- May SOC9 classes

There are a lucky few who got to see the "G" monogram card! However, due to product not being available yet, the card is being revised for class. In the meantime, enjoy this new sample card, Cupcake.

All classes are 6:30 - 8:30 PM. As always, goodies to all students!

A Muse Summer I Date: Tuesday, May 16	Just in time for summer, you’ll have fun making 6 sizzling hot cards. See all the latest stamps from A Muse’s new summer line. Please bring scissors, adhesive and pencil with eraser for notes. Detailed supplies lists will be provided.
A Muse Monogram Date: Wednesday, May 31	Use a mix of A Muse’s latest acrylic alphabet stamps with favorite wood mounted stamps to create 6 fun and fabulous cards. Please bring scissors, adhesive and pencil with eraser for notes. Detailed supplies lists will be provided. Stampin on Cloud 9 Monrovia, CA Please pre-register in store or call (626) 358-2886

Little Ellie

Ribbon. I have been opening one roll at a time of my hoarded American Crafts ribbon. I kind of like this card though the colors don't really go together. Actually, they do because I think they do. I did my favorite sort of background alteration- DTP (direct-to-paper) but now I'm thinking I should have put the phrase on the inside.

I got some lovely ribbon over the weekend at Zinnia, a stamp store in South Pasadena. I was lured there for big sales but managed to buy nothing on sale! At least the street fair happening right outside was nice. It was a gorgeous day. It was very nice after a gloomy week and it's gloomy again today.

Still no summer stamps from A Muse yet...ah well..maybe soon. I did play with some ones I bought a couple of weeks ago last night. I even opened two more rolls of ribbon. It feels good to use what I've been hoarding!

I need to go through my class boxes for this weekend. The sushi/stamping workshop might have 15 or so people. I'm a little nervous about getting them all through six cards in two hours but it'll be very helpful to basically have two experienced groups (intermediate and advanced) of stampers to help with the one group of new stampers. I'm debating whether or not to add embossing to the mix.