confetti

amuse-bouche :: lime green halloween

today's amuse-bouche is all about lime green for halloween!  a muse has so many great lime papers and both sheer and stitched lime ribbons and now there's new lime polka dot ribbon and lime twinkles!  while i love ribbon, especially the new polka dot sheers, i'm most excited about the new twinkles--green twinkles have been on my a muse wish list for a while and i can't wait to use them for all kinds of things!  for starters, i used a sprinkle of twinkles to highlight the older ghost trio image as they float through the chimney of the new crooked house...

boo!
:) lexi

p.s.  check out the a muse news and ct blogs for more tasty treats & don't forget to come back again tomorrow!

amuse-bouche :: eat at your own risk!

another day, another amuse-bouche!  today's tasty treats from a muse really are tasty--and sweet--but, you have to eat at your own risk!  isn't this candy apple just the cutest?!  and the sentiment and new blackberry note cards--perfection!!  hopefully, you're lucky enough to be able to run out to your local stamp store and pick up these treats right now, but if not, they'll be online soon.  keep stalking the a muse news and ct blogs for more tricks & treats and to find out when the new goodies go live...

:) lexi

amuse-bouche :: countdown to halloween

for my second amuse-bouche, i wanted to share another peek at my halloween calendar that was shown on the a muse news blog today.  i had so much fun making this project!  the school lined card stock along with the new images and the font used in several of the new sentiments added the perfect vintage touch.  i also loved that it was easy to add in some of my favorite stamps from a muse halloweens past!!  here's a look at a few more inside pages...

this little calendar book was really so easy to put together.  the paper, main colors and placement of the numbers helped establish a cohesive look and i even scattered some of the same designs here and there.  it will be fun to flip the page every day!  i think my teammate heather might need a 365 day halloween coundtown calendar though!!  you've probably already done so, but don't forget to check out the a muse news and creative team blogs for more spooky treats...

'nite!
:) lexi

amuse-bouche :: boo!

surprise!  it's time for amuse-bouche again!  the always much anticipated a muse halloween stamps are coming to stores near you any day now and to the internet very soon.  halloween is one of my very favorite holidays to stamp for and i am so excited about the images in this release, starting today with this cute black cat on fence and as always, a very cool sentiment!  check out the a muse news blog and creative team members' blogs for more tasty treats...

happy halloween!
:) lexi

iron on transfers take 2 ~ craft critique

it's time for another article on craft critique!  after my last t-shirt transfer review, i really wanted to test another brand, so that's exactly what i did.  this cute and simple little design is a very small doll shirt--i love that a muse cupcake and look at those bright colors!  click here to read all about it...

:) lexi

new mommy notes!

one of the first things i started creating way back when was mommy notes.  my original version has simple stick people kids in size order along with check boxes for each of the kids.  while that design is still very popular, some of my customers have been around long enough to outgrow the stick people or just want something different.  while no picture is perfectly cute with the right font, i had a light bulb moment while working on these and created a new version using a school icon and colors.  i love how it came out and have a few others in the works already!  mommy notes are perfect for back to school--buy them for yourself or buy them for a friend...

:) lexi

my go-to girl!

sorry to leave you hanging--it's been a busy first week of school!  there are always a bunch of birthday parties right when school starts back up and this year was no different with two parties this past weekend, right after school started.  they were both for girls, so thank goodness for that adorable mandy's world birthday girl from a muse!

once the stamps landed on my desk from the first card, it was just too easy to reach for them for the second.  i'm always so last minute, but think simple. think a muse. works every time!!

birthdays are the best!
:) lexi

back to school

we got back home on sunday night and i jumped right in to teacher meetings and last minute school errands.  talk about a quick transition from camp to school!  anyway, today was the girls' first day, so as always, i wanted to create my "back to school essentials" treats for teachers.  purell, tylenol, mints, and of course, chocolate!  the pencil and school lined card stock from the recent a muse release were perfect for the job--an easy tag and really fun candy labels.  and we can't forget that polka dot sheer ribbon that i love so much!  i wonder if the teachers had to take the tylenol already...

thanks for stopping by!
:) lexi

heading for the hills

with the texas hill country spread out in front of us, i decided to play with my camera and snap a few pics.  it's so pretty, and also so very hot!!  only one more day 'til i see the girls!  i'll be back with more cards and stuff soon...

:) lexi

for the bride to be!

one of the best things about stamping is having a studio full of stuff to create more stuff for any occasion.  we had a recent engagement in the family and in about 10 minutes i had this little notebook stamped up and ready to give to the bride to be.  she can use it in her purse to take notes on the fly when dealing with wedding details, or she can use it as a mini photo album to show off pictures of her new ring!  either way, it was a perfect little gift that she loved.  and it came together very quickly--i always love that!

best wishes...
:) lexi

credits:  all stamps from a muse, notebook from michael's??

dolls & digital meet again...

more dolly photoshop fun!  i love taking conversations and events from the doll world to create fun titles for this wannabe magazine.  these covers are the perfect blend of digital design for me--content, text, color--and hopefully, with my new toy, another good photography project!

:) lexi

awesome new toy!

my 40th birthday is this coming saturday, and this little baby has been on my wish list for a while, so since it was a state tax holiday yesterday, my husband took me out to get it!  it's actually my anniversary present (june), my birthday present (saturday), and my christmas present too--the present for 2009!!  now i need to figure out how to use it...

ready, set, smile!
:) lexi

baby's 1st birthday

i had to make a quickie card for my nephew's first birthday today and the a muse images bouncing baby and balloon just jumped right off my shelf onto the paper!  the sentiment from the recent release was just perfect, too, so the card came together really fast.  of course my favorite touches are always the small details, like the "1" on the balloon, from the cupcake clear set--i was thrilled that it was just the right tiny size!!

happy birthday baby!
:) lexi

a little bubbly!

i just couldn't resist sharing one more mandy's world project to finish off the week of a muse fun.  i just love bubble girl and she's perfect for a little bubbly party favor.  add a little cardstock wrap, a stamped layer, and some ribbon to a bubble bottle and voila!  super cute and kids will love it!  since a favor is a small token of thanks to your guests, mahalo, hawaiian for thanks, is the perfect addition to the sparkles and sunshine sentiment here.  party favors are always one of my favorite things to put together when throwing a party!

have a great weekend...
:) lexi

playing with mandy!

now that the new a muse release is live, i wanted to take a minute to re-post my one of my favorite projects featured on the a muse news during the sneaks--the mandy's world deck of cards.  we were asked to create a game and this just popped into my head.  i even included an instructions card with three possible games--concentration or memory, go fish, and birthday girl.  for birthday girl, you remove one of the birthday girl cards and play kind of like old maid, except the object is to end up with the left over card and *be* the birthday girl!  here's a close up of one of each card...

aren't they an adorable bunch?  one of the things i really like about mandy's girls is the wide open hair, perfect for coloring it any shade.  i just love all of these images and my two girlies are huge fans too.  now we just need *more* so we can have a bigger card deck!  don't forget, you can get them all (and the always awesome sentiments and new back to school) online at a muse now!!

enjoy!
:) lexi

amuse-bouche :: rockin' girl!!!

i can't even tell you how excited i am about today's amuse-bouche!  how fabulous is rockin' girl?!  if you've read my blog for a while, you might know why i'm so excited, but the picture in this post is a good explanation.  as much as i love rock star, i've always thought a fellow girl rock star would be cool.  and now she's here!!  and so totally cute!  the first thing that came to mind was to recreate my poster card with rockin' girl on the newer 4 bar size, using bright and girly colors, like popsicle pink & papaya.  i decided to stick with the "chair rail" idea from the original, using the new papaya polka dot ribbon--i just can't get enough of all the new polka dot ribbons!  the sentiment is a perfect addition and can you tell what i used to make the spotlights?  it's always fun to look at parts of stamps in different ways!!  so this is the last day of tasty treats--if you don't have a local a muse selling shop, stay tuned to the a muse news blog to see when the main course goes live...

rock on!
:) lexi

amuse-bouche :: 2, 4, 6, 8...

who do we appreciate?  a muse, a muse, yay a muse!  today's tasty treats are all about school sports!  i just love this cute cheerleader.  and the sentiment is so fun, too!  i cut the pennant by hand--trying to be a little different from my usual layouts.  i'm back home from the trip to the camp bus and i've seen the girls on the camp pics pages, so life is good.  i have some orders to catch up on while i'm home alone, but i hope to stamp a lot, too, and go out with my husband--at least when i'm not stalking the camp website for more pictures!  speaking of stalking, don't forget to check out the a muse news blog and those of my fellow creative team members for more sneaks at the new stamps...

:) lexi 

amuse-bouche :: more mandy's world

how about a little more fun in mandy's world?  today's tasty amuse-bouche is just plain yummy!  meet ice cream girl who is obviously having a delicious day!!  after making the little back pack mini card the other day, i thought it would be fun to create another one.  my 8 year old saw it over my shoulder and requested it to be tucked into *her* lunch box or back pack.  like the back pack card, this one is also the size of half a 4 bar folded in half--just the right little size!  what else is happening around mandy's world?  check out the a muse news and the ct blogs and find out...

have a delicious day!
:) lexi

amuse-bouche :: a little note

we're heading back to school today with a little note for teacher.  a muse has done it again in the paper category!  every time i receive a new a muse card stock, the first thing i have to do is create a card base with it, and this new school lined card stock was no exception!  i love, love, love it!  i don't have one of those handy edge punches that look like notebook paper, so i used a square hole punch and paper snips to do the same thing.  the lines in the paper really helped line things up--super easy.  this card is definitely "think simple. think a muse."  the pencil and sentiment are also both new and to die for--so many cute images, so little time!  as i sit in my hotel room writing this, i can't help but wish i was home stamping the night away!  check out the a muse news blog and those of the creative team for more images to appreciate...

:) lexi

amuse-bouche :: mandy's world!

although it is time to start thinking about back to school, it *is* still summer!  so for today's little a muse appe-teaser, we have summertime fun.  and not just any kind of summertime fun--it's summertime fun in a new place called "mandy's world"!  when my girls saw this new collection, they instantly fell in love and so did i.  cute girls doing fun things, nice open coloring spaces--what's not to love?!  it's hard to pick an absolute fave, but bubble girl is definitely in the running.  she's blowing a few small bubbles on her own, but i decided to doodle one extra big one since i had so much room to work with.  mandy's world is a fun place--be sure to see what else is going on there at the a muse news and creative team blogs! 

see you tomorrow...
:) lexi