How much do I love you?

Is it this much:

or this much:

This was Mr Corgi's Christmas card, although I think it would work as a Valentine as well by changing the papers.  It starts off as a 4 1/2 x 8 1/2 card, then expands to be 11 1/2 inches long (hence the difficulty of getting a good picture). I designed it in the Silhouette Studio using the Print and Cut feature, which made it easy to make sure everything would line up and to get nice straight cut lines.  Then I used steps 6 & 7 from the Splitcoast Slider Tutorial to make the slider portion.  I used small glue dots cut into thirds to hold down the loops of the twine, making sure I had a loop at the slider cut since I thought that would give me a bit more wiggle room for matching up the twine on the slider portion (and it worked!). 

I know there is someone out there who'd like to win a Silhouette vinyl hook just for trying out one of my Silhouette files, so I'm going to extend the giveaway on this post until next Sunday, January 8th.

And now it's time for my final book reviews of 2011:

Book #50:  The Buddha in the Attic is a book Amazon kept recommending for me, so I finally downloaded it from the library.  It is a short book about Japanese women who come to America as mail order brides for Japanese-American men.  It is beautifully written in the first person plural, which I'm not sure would work for a longer book, but is wonderful here. 

Book #51: Next to Love was another Amazon recommendation, but they didn't hit it out of the park with this one.  The story of three friends from WWII to 1965 and how the war affected their lives throughout that time.  I started off being intrigued by the three separate stories, but at the end it had the effect of making me not care about any of them very much at all.  It does have quite a lot of good reviews on Amazon, so maybe I'm just an outlier.

Book #52: Daring Young Men was loaned to us by my dad for the drive home from Thanksgiving.  It is the story of the Berlin Airlift, of which I knew absolutely zero.  The first half was a thrilling tale of these daring young men joining together to keep West Berlin alive, the second half was a not-so-thrilling tale of the politics of keeping it afloat.  If you know a history buff (or are one yourself), I would recommend it.

Book #53: I'd been struggling to find a really, really good book to read over vacation and when the local librarian declared The Language of Flowers as her favorite book of the year, I thought I should give it a try, and it was exactly the book I was looking for.  About a foster child named Victoria, it tells the story of her transition out of foster care at 18, with alternating chapters of her life with her foster mother at 10.  Oh, and also throws in using flowers to communicate.  Recommended!

There you have it, a book for each week of the year, plus one to grow on.  Here's another year of good reads and fun crafts!

Market Street Geek Love

Who's ready for some geek love?

I've been wanting to make a graph with the Pretty Perfect Grid ever since I got it in my hot little hands.  I started by stamping the grid in gray onto gray cardstock, leaving a bit of a border. Of course, we all know that you should always label your axes, and the two sentiments from Simple Joys were perfect to show my love for the hubby growing over time (to really geek out on you, I wanted it to be an exponential graph, but I think I would have gotten to x = 4 before it went off the card, so I went with the linear equation y = 2/3x + 1).  I thought about just adding some bling for the points, but then remembered this small little heart from Gone Campin' that was the perfect size!

Then, being the good stamper that I am, I clean off the sentiment stamps and start putting them back on the sheet, when what do I spy?   Yes, there is an actual equation in Simple Joys.  It was like Angelica knew there were geeks out there wanting to make a love graph.

One more note: If you enjoyed this post, thank your math teacher.  Or any teacher.  Maybe get your kids in the spirit of Thanksgiving and have them write thank you letters to their teachers.  Maybe write one yourself to that teacher that inspired you to _____.  Believe me, it will make his or her heart grow-and this time it definitely will be exponentially!

So You're Saying There's a Chance?

I was not really a fan of Dumb & Dumber, but this joke always cracks me up:


Lloyd: What do you think the chances are of a guy like you and a girl like me... ending up together?
Mary: Well, Lloyd, that's difficult to say. I mean, we don't really...
Lloyd: Hit me with it! Just give it to me straight! I came a long way just to see you, Mary. The least you can do is level with me. What are my chances?
Mary: Not good.
Lloyd: You mean, not good like one out of a hundred?
Mary: I'd say more like one out of a million.
[pause]
Lloyd: So you're telling me there's a chance... *YEAH!* 


I always think of it when I submit to Papercrafts that even if there's 1300 entries, there's still a chance.  Sometimes, however, I think my card can do a little better than one out of a million, like everything came together to make the perfect card for the theme and really I should just go ahead and mail to them now.  


And then they pick the other two that I submitted.  


NOT that I'm complaining, of course, because this is the first time they've ever picked two for the same issue from me, but just goes to show you it's always a surprise.  One of the "chosen ones" was a card I made for Gallery Idol, but then went in a completely different direction.  I mention that because another Gallery Idol contestant, Amber, is hosting a Paper Craft Reject Hop, so I thought I'd join in.  


Wow, that was a lot of work to get to this card:

Ok, so yes, I think it would have been better if the colored gnome was maybe half an inch to the left, but I sure as heck was not going to restamp the panel.  It was definitely a fun card to make, trying to be "random" in my gnome placement but still not have the same gnomes too close together.  And Chowderhead font makes every day a party, doesn't it?  The colored strip of paper is becoming my go-to accent: it doesn't add as much weight to card and is easier to mail than a bow.   


Scheduling update: I think I was too excited about TAR last week, but unfortunately it doesn't start until next Sunday.  Fortunately that gives Mr Corgi and I more time to get through The Good Wife (we should be finishing up disc 4 today).


I hope y'all are having a wonderful weekend!  I have some blog commenting to catch up on and then some fun cardmaking planned.  Yippee!


Gnome Like You Supplies:

There She Goes My Little Friend	Chowderhead Font	Memento Tuxedo Black	Abyss Green BG75 Copic	Pale Olive YG95 Copic	Egg Shell E50 Copic
Acid Yellow Y08 Copic	Prawn R24 Copic	Chamois E35 Copic	Papertrey Ink Simply Chartreuse Cardstock	A Muse Studio Eucalyptus	Papertrey Ink White Cardstock

InLinkz.com

Market Street Sketch Challenge

Happy Wednesday, everyone!  And not just any Wednesday, but the third Wednesday, which means it's Market Street Sketch Challenge Day!  Please come play with us on the Market Street blog!
Here's the sketch:

and here's my card:

Like everyone else in the entire world, I love Market Street's Gone Campin set, so I stamped the camper and colored it in using copics and prismacolor pencils, using the tiny heart stamps from the same set in the doorway.  The background paper is, appropriately, from October Afternoon Campfire paper pad.  For the orange strip, I cut a rectangle from a post-it to use as a mask, then stamped Bit of Burlap background stamp.  The sentiment is from the jam-packed Simple Joys sentiment set (which is definitely unlike any other sentiment set I've seen before).  I hope you can see the words on the heart which say, "if this van's a-rockin', don't come a-knockin."  I typed the phrase and copied it repeatedly in MS Word, printed it out, then cut out the heart.

And make sure you don't come a-knockin', because the van really is a-rockin!

I used the tilt card tutorial from Splitcoast Stampers to make the van rock back and forth because, well, it just had to be done.

I hope you all are having a rocking week (wink, wink) and I can't wait to see your sketch creations!

More Retroness!

Last chance to vote!  Closes at 1:00 Central Thursday.

Before I get to my card, I've spent some time working on some new pages on my blog, so check them out.  My favorite one is the "Inspiration" one because I got all geeky and turned the blogger blog list sidebar widget into a page (if you're interested, I just followed these instructions which were really easy once I realized the "edit HTML" for your template is way down at the bottom in the new blogger), so now you can go see snippets of my favorite blog peeps (and you may be on there!  If not, remember these are still in work.).  I also added a blog list of challenges (which is really sparse, so hook me up with some good ones in the comments) and where I like to shop (which again is also sparse, but that's probably a good thing for my wallet).

Onto the retro card!  If you enjoyed the pink radio from Monday, you're probably the right age to enjoy this card.  I actually made it for the Gallery Idol die cut challenge, but somebody thought it was a bit too obscure-pop-culture-y.

If you get this joke, you're a nerd just like me! And I have to interject this fact: TWO HUNDRED AND TWELVE LINES, B%)(*&!  (speaking of being a nerd....)

Again I did this with my Silhouette, but yes, every single square was cut out and placed individually. I made multiples of the seven different tetris shapes in Silhouette Studio, then played around with them in the software until I got them to fit.  I took a screenshot of it and printed it out so I could use it as a reference for gluing down the squares.

After that, the rest came together easily...some more rectangles, circles, and rounded rectangles for the buttons, Neuropol font (cut out of self-adhesive cardstock for "you complete me", printed directly on the green paper for the score [which is also our anniversary]), plus a pixelated heart.  I made three copies of the buttons and stacked them for a 3-D look and also added some acetate for the screen.
 
I've also added all the Market Street Stamps design team gals to my sidebar, which reminds to me, if you didn't see it yesterday, there is a Super Sale going on until Friday!

Do you know what's really cool?  Angelica went back and gave everyone who bought during the reveals yesterday the 20% off because isn't it the worst when you buy something only to have it go on sale the next day?  That just really impressed me and I know a lot of unnamed stamp companies that would never dream of doing that.

Also you have until Thursday night to leave a comment on each Market Street Stamps DT Reveal post from yesterday for a chance to win a MSS set and there is also a new Color Cue Challenge today.

So remember you need to fill me in on: Do you like the new pages? I'm always open to suggestions of how to blog better.  Can I make an open suggestion to everyone out there? Please no music (even if you're a really popular stamp company) It always scares the bejeezus out of me when it starts playing. What are some challenges you like to play in?  Can you beat my highest line total? What other retro thing would you like to see turned into a card?

GIU: I got a pocket, got a...

(remember voting closes at 2:00 Eastern for gallery idol!)

I got a pocket, got a...

a pocket full of sunshine!

I couldn't have a Growing in Unity week without breaking out my first (and favorite) Kit of the Month, A Pocket Full of... (July 2009). 

Yes, I was totally inspired by Easy A:



(which, as a side note, I would recommend for anyone that is craving a good ol' eighties-esque teenage romantic comedy [but as a warning, I'm not sure I'd want my hypothetical young teenager watching it].)

So many stamps got to see some ink for this card!  For the Baja Breeze base, I stamped and embossed the clouds in white.  The sentiment was made from the "a pocket full of" and "you are my sunshine" stamps (using tape to mask off the words that I didn't want inked and also breaking out my stamp-a-ma-jig), with the "sunshine" clear embossed.  The pocket was stamped onto textured paper, embossed with tan powder, cut out, and distressed.  The sun was clear embossed onto Echo Park patterned paper.  As a final touch, I embossed "love" from the "sending you love" sentiment from August 2009's KOM in tan onto a strip of red that I folded over to make the Levi's-esque tag, and also added two eyelets for the pocket rivets.

Besides sunshine, I've also had my Kindle in my pocket a lot recently, so it's book report time!  Click on the book to be taken to its amazon page.

Book #24: I admit it, I am powerless against Goldens, so this book has been tempting me at Target for quite some time. Then I figured out that Tuesday is still with us, so it also passed the PIP (pets in peril) test.  The synopsis: dogs are AWESOME and war is not.  The story about how Tuesday and the author both got to where they were was very interesting, but the writing (and the story of them after they met) was not very interesting, if you know what I mean.  It also puzzles me that the author went to Columbia for journalism yet had a co-author for this book.  If you like true dog stories, get it from the library and read the first half.

Book #25: Incendiary was recommended to me by Lindsey of Bashful Blogging, based on the fact that I recommended Little Bee by the same author.  Like Little Bee, this is not a happy story, but a good one:  A mother who has lost her husband and son to a bomb attack write a letter to Osama about her story.  It kept me turning the pages and rooting for her.  Recommended, but if you'd can only read one Chris Cleave novel, I'd make it Little Bee.

Book #26: I really am a happy person even though I seem to be reading some not-happy stories recently.  The Girl Who Fell from the Sky started off very good, with an eleven-year-old girl, the daughter of a black father and Danish mother, being the only survivor of her family.  The girl goes to live with her black grandmother and the story covers most of her teenage years in snippets.  The ending felt a bit too coincindental and abrupt, but I enjoyed most of the book.  Maybe it felt abrupt because I wanted to know more of what happened to the girl, which I guess is a good sign.

Book #27: Even though I love going out to eat at nice restaurants, sometimes I have a craving for some Ruffles potato chips.  This book was my most recent Ruffles book.  Three months after her long-term boyfriend breaks up with her, Annie gets married to a new man.  Of course the old boyfriend decides he wants her back and Annie must choose what type of life she wants.  I felt so silly because I was crying at the end of the book and then when I went to tell Mr Corgi about how silly I felt for crying, I started tearing up again.  When did I become That Girl?

As always, I love to hear what you're reading!  (It also counts as a chance to win a Unity stamp set, too!)

Unity and Elmer's

As I mentioned yesterday in my Gallery Idol post, (psst...vote here) Elmer's Glue-All and I took our relationship to the next level this past week (which is why I felt I should refer to him with his proper "Glue-All" name instead of "white school glue.").  What started this new-found love?  Why, it was this gorgeous masterpiece from Craftastical:

Photo from Craftastical Blog

Isn't that the most gorgeous thing you've ever seen?  Really makes me miss my old monogram-"C" just doesn't do it for me.  Nonetheless, I thought it would be fun to try and use the same idea with a stamp: Unity's So & So Loves.  So while my husband sat down to watch Das Boot, I sat down with a bunch of 1/4 inch strips of paper, cutterbee scissors, tweezers, a foam brush, and Elmer's.  Three hours later the movie was over and this was finished (as well as some tasty chocolate chip cookies because that's the type of good wife I am):

I started off by stamping the image using PTI white ink.  Since it was a bit hard to see, I stamped it again on some scratch paper, then used that image as a reference to cut all the pieces to length.  I did one tree at a time, cutting all the lengths, then gluing them on to match the image.  The letters I did free-hand because I'm wild like that.  Extreme close-up:

I stamped the bird on red paper, cut him out, then put little support pieces behind him to hold up near the edge of the paper.  Certainly not as sophisticated and elegant as my inspiration piece, but sometimes I'm more of a camp-craft-y gal, know what I mean? 

Thanks again for all of your comments yesterday on my Unity & Gallery Idol posts and remember to leave another comment today for a chance to win a Unity stamp set!

Gallery Idol Top Twenty!

So the competition for Paper Crafts Gallery Idol starts TODAY!  You can see the top twenty and VOTE here. Our first challenge was to create a DIY embellishment.   I thought and thought and thought.  And thought.  Ate some chips.  Then thought and thought and thought.  Pinterested.   Thought.  Played fetch with the dog.  Thought.  Talked to Mr Corgi and of course Mr Corgi was talking about the last shuttle launch (sniff!) and finally it came to me!  I could make a space ship....

Out of a Coke can! I remembered seeing something about coke can flowers somewhere so I did a little google research and it seemed easy enough, since many of the crafts were recommended for elementary-aged children.

HA.  Maybe if you don't like elementary-aged children very much.  I'm not saying it was extraordinary difficult, but it was no walk in the park, either.  So I'm going to fill you in on all the ten mistakes I made so you can make your own metal embellishment with carefree ease.

1) Yes, these cans are sharp!  Especially when you first cut them (cut the two ends off with a utility knife, then you can use scissors to cut down the side and clean up the edges).  I never cut myself, but I'm pretty sure there are metal pieces floating around in me where they weren't any before.  Probably should have taken their suggestion to at least wear gardening gloves, except my gardening gloves are in the trash after a poison sumac encounter.

1A) BONUS MISTAKE!  Poison sumac does not always follow the rule of "leaves of three, let it be." Sometimes it can just look like a leafy vine.  You should probably not do any weeding in order to avoid it.

2) The embossing buddy is your buddy!  Don't forget to use it unless you would like a full embossed rectangle.

3) The can is metal. Metal gets hot when you heat it!  Adhere a strip of paper to the back (longer than your metal piece) to act as a handle.  Do this before you stamp it.

4) Even if you used your buddy, you're not going to get a perfectly clean embossing (or maybe you will and I'm just not lucky).  Use a small dry paintbrush to brush away excess specs. Use a black copic or sharpie after embossing to clean up any lines.

5) Cut it out before you color.  Depending on the size of your stamp, it may still want to curl.  I pulled it over the end of my desk and that helped a bit, then I stamped and cut out another ship from chipboard (aka cardboard from back of paper pad), then used glossy effects to adhere them and then sent them through the Cuttlebug.

6) A little glossy effects goes a long way.

7) Put some paper and blank chipboard (aka cereal box) in the Cuttlebug unless you want your rocket embossed with all the previous cuts on your B plate.

Doesn't this look like something you'd find in Dr Horrible's lair?

8) SHARPIE, not copic.  No, no, no copic.  Unless you're going for a distressed finish.

9) The flames are from ethernet wires that Mr Corgi was using to network the house.  They were different colors, though, so I used stickles to recolor them.  Curl the wires (I wrapped them around the paintbrush from mistake #4 and the sharpie from #8) before you stickle, otherwise the stickle comes off like a snakeskin.


10) Ok, not really mistakes but the rest of the stuff that I did: I accordion-folded a two-inch strip of paper and used that to attach the shuttle.  The letters I cut using the Silhouette from  DCWV metallic paper, and the background paper is October Afternoon Campfire collection.  The space ship is from The Cat's Pajamas.

11) BONUS MISTAKE:  FORGETTING TO VOTE!!  One mistake you DO NOT want to do.  :)  So go there now!

Rain-delayed Fourth

We had some nasty storms come through yesterday afternoon, which resulted in losing power for about an hour and half, which meant I-gasp-actually stamped an entire card.  But you don't get to see that today.  Instead you get to see a couple of cards I made for Splitcoaststamper's CAS July 4th Holiday Challenges. They have 22 different challenges posted (along with some fabulous inspiration cards!).  You have until July 8th to play along, so you should!

This one is for Lisa Lara's "what a melon" color challenge of red, pink, green, and white, as well as fionna51's tea challenge:

Since my husband is addicted to Earl Grey, I thought this poster would make the perfect card for him.  Yes, it's foam taped again, which, yes, means I had to foam tape those stupid "A" triangles again.  I did use a little trick for the "steam" dots: I cut them out of adhesive-backed paper, then very carefully cut around them and lifted the backing off.  If you're very careful, the dots will stay in the main sheet until you press them down onto the card, then you can peel away the unused portion, and voila, your dots are perfectly adhered in your precise pattern.

This next card is for another of Fionna51's challenges; this time it was to use something sparkly.

(yes, I call my husband "babes" with an s. I can't explain it.)  I'm thinking of using "you light me up!" for the inside sentiment, but am open to better suggestions.  To make this, I used a rhinestone template from the silhouette store, designed the card in the silhouette software, then cut it out to use as a stencil on my cardbase, like so:

I didn't tape it to my face; it's an ad from the magazine I was using to tape everything down to because I am milking my SU grid paper pad for all that it's worth.  Am I the only one that gets excited when it's finally time to turn to a new sheet?  And then gets sad when something gets on that new sheet, even though that is its purpose in life? No?  That's just me?  Ok, uh, then let's just go back to the card: I drew some lines to help me remember what dots were which color, then went to town filling in the circles with stickles.  Cutting out the words also provides perfect placement of the separate letters, too. If you're smart, you'll adhere those before you get started on the stickles (of course I did the stickles first).  The silver letters are metallic paper and the red ones are foil paper from DCWV.

One more picture before I head back to stamping.  Addison is not a fan of the thunderstorms.  Or firecrackers.  Or cats.  To help with the first two, we bought her a thundershirt, and it certainly got a workout yesterday:

Teehee!  I tried to get a back view because it's pretty funny--all her hair sprouts up at the top like a historical ruffled collar. Good times. Good times.

Earworm!

If you're looking for my house card post, go here!

Yes, you will be singing "on a bicycle built for two" for the rest of the day.  You're welcome.

I made this card for The Play Date Cafe's color challenge of barn red, slate blue, and grey.  Last night, I caved and bought a Silhouette subscription.  They were 25% off, so for $7.50 a month I get $25 worth of downloads--score!  That led to this PITA took three tries and still not perfect seriously what's with those spokes adorable tandem bike frame cutout.  The letters are Black Jack font, cut out of adhesive-backed paper.  Why has it taken me this long to be made aware of this invention?  I bought a little tiny pad at Joanne's and will probably be going back for more.

I think the dinner bell is ringing, so I better make this short and sweet!  Adios!

Hold on to Your Hats

I think I'm getting pretty good at this whole Silhouette card designing.  I made two anniversary cards for my DH, and I really can't decide which one is my favorite, so that will be an exercise left to the reader.  Are you ready?
Card #1:

The silhouette is based on this picture from our wedding: 

(side note: check out our photographer's blog for some haunting tornado pictures) It took a couple tries to cut this as I'm still having issues with some of the fonts not cutting cleanly, but I think the result is well worth it. 

Card #2:

GET IT?!?!  "Otter" half?!?!  Hahahaha.  This pun is from pinterest, and the image is based on a t-shirt (that of course I own) that is based on this video (make sure you watch it until 1:20 for the cutest part):

The polka dot paper is Echo Park, and the "water" paper is My Mind's Eye Love Me Do collection--it has little hearts all over it, so I couldn't resist using it.  The font is Chowderhead, and I used word wrapping and welding to wrap it around the circle.  I used the "trace" feature to trace the otters and their bellies, then used the "trace outside edge" feature for the black matting. I left the black the same size, then glued it just a smidge off so it gave it a water/shadow effect.  I definitely had to add the black to the feet, otherwise, they looked like, shall we say, "Baby Ruths."  

In other news, the subway art was definitely appreciated by Mr Corgi!!  I think he may have gotten a bit misty-eyed when he read the "as you wish."  Or maybe it was the paint fumes.  Hard to say.

Trend Setter!

What can I say, I've known hot air balloons were the next "hot" thing ever since 2006.  Why was I so ahead of the curve on the hot air balloon trend?  Could be because Mr Corgi proposed to me in one; could be I'm just that stylish.  You decide.

Being a HABT (hot air balloon trendsetter), I had to play along in the Moxie Fab "In My Beautiful Balloon" challenge and make a card for Mr Corgi:

I was inspired by this photograph, which is even more GORGEOUS in person (ask me how I know and how well Mr Corgi picks up Christmas present hints).   I heat-embossed this adorable Cat's Pajamas stamp (hello! dog and HAB?  Had to have it!) onto two pieces of patterned paper and cut them out.  Yes, even the strings.  Yes, I'm crazy, but I also know the secret packing-tape-on-the-back-before-you-cut trick.  The cloud paper is Echo Park.  I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder (one of those tiny 2 inch ones that you bought when you first got the CB and haven't used since) to make the skyline out of A Muse yellow gingham paper.  I was originally planning on cutting down the skyline to fit inside the frame, but then I like how it looked outside (it's also on foam tape for dimension). I put some twine between each HAB and the pop dot I used to adhere it, then wrapped the twine around the back and secured with adhesive.  I tied the bows separately and used half a glue dot to attach them (I debated for about 10 minutes about adding the twine and I'm glad I did).  The sentiment is also Cat's Pajamas, stamped in Soft Suede (did y'all notice how many parenthetical asides I've had in this paragraph?).

Hope everyone is ready for Monday.  We fortunately have a short week.  I think I can make four days!  Five would have been doubtful. 

A Muse Stamps

As you may have heard, A Muse Stamps has gone into the home sales market, like Stampin' Up or Close to my Heart.  The demo starter kit seemed like too good of a deal to pass up for $99 (+$15 shipping + tax), so I went ahead and joined up.  I'm not planning on being any super seller or anything, but if you're interested, let me know. I may set up my own webpage that you can order from (it won't be live until April 1st, though), or if you're interested in placing an order before then, you can leave a comment and I'll get back to ya.  You can see the catalog here.

This is what you get in the starter kit:

A couple close-up shots (click to view larger):

My review:
Copics: They sell copic originals, which I have never used.  Instead of a brush tip, they have a bullet point, which is definitely intriguing.  I used it to color a small area and it was nice to get into the nooks and crannies.
Clear blocks:  Very nice thick blocks with indentations on two sides for a better grip. Since Unity isn't selling their blocks at the moment, these were the nice upgrade I've been looking for.  You get five of them, including a big background one and a long skinny one.
Inks: These are pigment inks that dry to a chalky finish.  They seem pretty nice in the small samples I've done. 
Paper:  Now this is the part that is really going to cost me!!  Their paper is fabulous.  It's like the paper they use to make store-bought notecards.  It's thick enough to not be flimsy, but not thick like PTI.  The cool part is that it is white on the other side, so when you make your cards you don't have to add an extra sheet on the inside to write on.  The colors they sent are very pretty (well, except that darn orange!  But I guess it's a nice orange if you're into that sort of color).  They also send color swatches of all their colors, with the color name and family (there are four seasonal color families) printed on each swatch.  I would like to see them print a color combo chart, especially since they don't have any multi-colored patterned paper from which to get color combo ideas.
Bling/pearls/memento ink pad/paper flowers/adhesive/glue pen: All of these are products you probably already have.
Stamp scrubber & cleaner: The cleaner has a familiar blue tinge to it, but I haven't actually used it yet to compare to Ultra Clean.  The stamp scrubber is a little smaller than Stampin' Up's, but has the same type of pads in it. 

Stamp sets: A nice collection of images and sentiments.  These are "sampler" sets, so there are 2 or 3 stamps from a multitude of sets.  Yes, that means if you buy the actual set, you will have duplicates, but I still think they're a good deal.  They are mounted on cushion cling, with the images already on the cling.  They suggest you cling the block to the case, that way you can put the stamps back in their spots and instantly see if you are missing any.  I found it tedious to get the stamps in and out of their space, so I'll probably just chuck the scrap.

After all this product talk, are you ready to see some A Muse cards?  Ok, here are three quick CAS cards I made last night.

This is for a friend who has been stuck in the hospital recently...I thought the caged bird was appropriate.  This is French Roast and Currant ink stamped on Sky paper.  I colored the small pearls with a brown copic before adhering.

This patterned paper was actually the back of the A Muse welcome letter (it's also available in the catalog).  I stamped the dandelions and sentiment using French Roast, then adhered it to a French Roast base.

This final one is also for the Splitcoast's CAS challenge today.  I cut the rocket out of the box (or should I say "out of the oval?") and colored with copics and a metallic silver marker.  I used a star dust pen to add stars on the PTI Smokey Shadow background.  It's a wee little 3x3 card.

Now, don't worry, this blog won't be turning into All A Muse All The Time, but I hope you enjoyed a little peek!