Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone who's celebrating!

But cheers to all those anti-valentines singles! It's time to get sassy!

This is an old card I did for a swap a year or two ago. I used the water misting- watercolor crayon technique on the patterned hearts and then stamped over with the sentiment.

My Bunny Valentine

From December/ January Stampers' Sampler, page 8.

Sorry for the scan from the magazine. I couldn't find my original scan of it.

All stamps by A Muse Artstamps.

from CHA

Here I am having dinner with the fabulous The Cat's Pajamas Rubber Stamps ladies! We went a little south of the convention center to Alcatraz, a restaurant at the Block at Orange. (I'll have to do that food review on my food blog later. I'm just a tiny bit behind there.)

From R-L
Toni Armstrong, Alma de la Rosa, me, Tracy Falco and Janice Williams

(thanks to Toni for the picture)

More CHA pictures coming!

CHA- brief note

I went to CHA this weekend! I'll post the make and takes I did in the next couple of days.

I was excited by so many new products but I'm most excited about the label maker Around the Block is coming out with. You can change the fonts! And they'll have upper and lower case fonts.

I also really like how easy Marvy's new paper trimmer is to change out from straight edge to scoring to scalloped blades. And there's a handle you can snap the blades into for free hand cutting.

It was great fun seeing Tracy Falco, Jen Pebbles, Julie Ebersole and Lisa Johnson at the show! As well as running into Violet and Janna from Violet's Rubber Stamp Inn in Ventura.

Here's one of the cards I made for SunSpirit Studio. SSS will be carrying the wooden business card holders soon. Colorbox chalk ink stamped beautifully on the wood though I'm sure Staz-on and Brilliance will work just as great.

I actually ended up giving this card to a friend who never got to celebrate her 1st birthday so the happy duck fit right in with her kiddie birthday party theme. She makes wonderful letterpress cards and invitations. People are saying we should get together! Now wouldn't that be funny? To see my designs mass produced. But I still believe in the beauty of a handmade card. See the rest of my cards here.

By the way, if you haven't signed up for the newsletter, it'll be going out this week! Sign up and put SD in the codeline.

Birthday card

A birthday card for a friend.

Stamps: glam girl from Adorned Surface, phrase from American Art Stamp, balloon from Paper Candy.

I have a lot more stuff to post. I can't believe it's been so cold! I wasn't feeling that great the last couple of months and now I've finally succumbed to a bad cold. But making art does make me feel better! Heehee.

alert to a sneak peak!

Have you signed up for the SunSpirit Studio newsletter yet? It's going out tomorrow and there'll be a sneak peek of new stamps! Love the DoodleFactory stamps from SSS? Well then, you're going to have a fabulous surprise!

Hurry, sign up! Just plug in your email and SD in the signup code box. :)

Ohhhhh...I can't wait to start playing with these new stamps when I get 'em!

Here's a pic of my project for SSS-- Sophisticated Valentines!

tags, tags, tags!

I'm trying to dig myself out of the mounds of presents to be wrapped! Here are some gift tags I made. All stamps by The Cat's Pajamas. (oops, except "love peace joy" phrase, that's Stamping Bear)

They were supposed to be quickie tags that somehow got more complicated as I worked on them. I punched out scalloped circles from white cardstock, swiped some Christmas tree green Vintage ink, inked up the trees (there are two different ones), added Twink, flipped them over and stamped Poochie, Sprinkle in a snowglob and earmuffs Sprinkle. Hmm, something's missing. I know, glitter! And twinkling H2Os. And and and twinkle stickers (A Muse) on Twink's nose. And and and...prima flowers with Queen & Co brads. Ooh, better edge these things with ink. And and...ribbon! Okay, better stop now. So, it took me about an hour and half to make 16 gift tags. I still think it was time well spent!

bookbinding

I had a craft day last weekend and learned to make books using the traditional Japanese stab binding technique. I have been hoarding this black, magenta flocked paper but thought it'd make a lovely book. I loved contrasting the yellow binding, the blue/purple interior and the first green page! Sorry for the bad photos. I haven't had much experience taking inanimate objects yet!

I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do with this book. I won't give it away because it's basically a mess of glue all over the place (that Yes! paste is stick stuff) but maybe I'll record little whimiscal thoughts.

I am thinking about stamping something and adding to the front of the book though! It just doesn't feel right if I don't stamp something I make. :)

Whose picture is all over the internet?

SunSpirit Studio's December e-newsletter just came out today! And guess who's the new editor? Yep, that would be me! Sign up for the nifty newsletter and hear about how everything is marked down. It'll be a progressive sale that will be sure to knock your socks off! Just call me, Ms. Enabler. :) The signup code for the newsletter is SD!

It's December and I'm still creating super fast, simple and elegant holiday cards! Nothing says "warm winter wishes" than the warm tones of this tan and copper stars card. The purple and bit of red gives a stylish punch! Get your copper stars from SSS! They're handmade and I just love supporting lovely people like Andrea.

Yay!

simple stick!

A Muse's simple stick rocks! I created this glitzy look by stamping the dotted block with versamark and then sprinkling simple stick on, heat until glossy (not long!) and dusted it with prisma ultrafine glitter. The whole card took about 30 seconds to make! :) People can't stop touching the glitter! Heh, nifty.

Design by SLD, stamps by A Muse.

Joy Love Peace

An easy masculine card! Great for the holidays or just a great overall sentiment. Let's have joy, love and peace ALL the time! All stamps by A Muse, design by SLD. The silver is Brilliance Starlight Black. I think it's the niftiest new ink I have! I just love that color. It's much more glimmery in person.

bad swap hostess

That would be me! I meant to get my Halloween swap out to the Goddess stampers sooner...but well, life happened. But here are the cards. Yes, when am I going to get my holidays current? :) I really can't wait to show you the cool new A Muse stamps for Valentine's day. Stay tuned early December!

I love the idea of the pulsing heart on the mummy. I got that grand idea from Lisa Johnson, designer extraordinaire! To give him more of a punch, I used Sakura's glitter pen scribbled on the bandages.

Design by SLD. All stamps by A Muse. Nifty brads from Queen & Co.

ho ho ho!

I love this card. So simple and so fast to do! I used the larger sized clear polka alpha, stamped "ho" three times and then stamped the surfin' Santa on a scrap. Punched him out and added him to the card with foam tape. I think I can pump out dozens of these cards for the holidays. But I still haven't narrowed my design yet.

All stamps by A Muse, design by SLD.

scans from the last TT

Wow, when did this mag come out? Sept. 1? Okay, so I'm way behind in showing the scans from the mag. I meant to find my original scans but never did find 'em. I blame getting a new computer...

Anyway, here are the scans! Clicky-click for bigger images. All stamps by A Muse and they are my original designs.

3 easy Thanksgiving cards!

click on the images to make 'em bigger! All stamps by A Muse, design by SLD.

pink and brown Halloween?

I forgot to post these- I made 10 of these for Betty Spaghetti- *waves hi* She requested "anything with brown" so here you go! To give one of the spiders extra sparkle I added a micro pink dot A Muse creative candy sticker. Because it's pink, it's not as scary as a black widow, right? Right??? :)

All stamps by A Muse! Design by SLD.

Black ATCs!

As I contemplate what are my favorite things to trade at conventions, I think ATCs are one of my favorites. I created these in a jiffy for an upcoming convention (Carson- anyone going?). SunSpirit Studio is carrying black ATC blanks and neat little envelopes that fit the ATCs exactly!

All stamps by SSS. Be sure to signup for the newsletter to find out the special deals of the month. SSS' new business manager and design team member, Tracey, has selected some awesome deals for everyone! When you sign up, please add "SD" to the code line. Thanks!

Happy Halloween!

What is everyone dressing up as? I was so in love with A Muse's catwoman stamp this year, I went out and got kitty ears! But I'm dressed as a punk rock kitty a la Josie and the Pussycats! I hope I have a pic soon! But here's a pic of my friends and I at a cool Halloween party this past weekend. I went as Velma Kelly from Chicago since it was a Villains themed party.

Here are some Halloween cards I made in...a minute at Stampin' EJ's demo a few weeks ago!

New time for class!

My class time has been moved to 9:30 to 12:30 for this Saturday. Here's another card I'll be teaching. I just love making these pocket cards to hold gift cards and tags. Don't forget you'll be making 10 cards and a couple of tags total in a marathon 3 hour class!

Violet’s Rubber Stamp Inn
Ventura, CA

Please pre-register in store or call: (805) 648-7610.

OHHHHHHHHHHHH! Have you heard?! The fabulous Jennifer Pebbles is a MM Idol finalist! Go and vote her because she's not only a great friend but a fantastic designer! I dig it, do you?

Go vote!

Class in ONE week!

Just a reminder I'm teaching a 10-card marathon class at Violet's next Saturday, November 4.

Please pre-register in store or call: (805) 648-7610.


A Muse Holiday Marathon
Time: 1:30- 4PM
Date: November 4

Join Shauna for an A Muse holiday marathon card class! You'll leave the class with 10 brand new designs as well as a couple of holiday tags ideas. Play with the newest cute holiday designs, Twinkle Stickers, Creative Candy and more. Please bring your favorite scissors and adhesive.