confetti by lexi

splash of color

 
another post for the a*muse*a*palooza challenge 2--no black ink.  it's getting easier!  but i'm still thinking...  so back to my stamping table!

:) lexi

quick hello

 
quick is my word of the week!  i just had to take a minute to participate in the a*muse*a*palooza challenge 2--no black ink.  the first thing that came to mind was using the polka dot letters and i've been looking at this martha stewart paper for a few days and wanted to use it too--quick color!  i used green chalk ink for the letters and a blue glaze pen on the dots to mimic the butterflies on the paper.  a bolder green ink might have been a better choice.  i have to keep thinking about how to use the line images i have for this challenge--maybe i'm thinking too much, but after this easy one i should probably make a more original effort!

happy friday!
:) lexi

quick gifts

 
so busy again this week.  here are some quick gifts i stamped today for a group birthday dinner.  the cards are 3 x 3 minis--great for gift giving!--and feature adhesive ribbon and alphabet stamps by martha stewart at michael's.  i'm dying to stamp for fun & challenge--hopefully i will have time this weekend, so stay tuned!

:) lexi

let's get together!

 

sometimes when i see an image, i immediately think of another image in my collection.  that's what happened when javabellas arrived.  the a*muse cafe, an actual cafe when paired with the a*muse shopper girl below, suddenly became a hanging sign in my mind when i saw the size of javabellas.

it's taken me a while to get around to figuring the actual design and layout, but i finally worked on it this weekend while bella stamping with the girls.  after two days of fiddling and then having to adjust my poorly centered hand written sentiment by adding the cup, i think it's pretty close to what i imagined!

enjoy!
:) lexi

ETA:  if you haven't already, don't forget to check out the mother's day inspiration gallery at a*muse news and vote for your favorite card--voting ends tonight at midnight (pacific time)!

 

my mom stamps a lot!

 
that pretty much sums it up, doesn't it?!  i was kindergarten parent helper today and my group activity was to have the kids copy and illustrate "my mom..." sentences they'd come up with last week.  colleen was in my first group and i just had to take a picture!  some details she pointed out to me:  my lamp, an ott-lite; my blue jacket, because i'm always cold; and my overflowing trash can.  she said i was stamping cruisabella (who arrived last week).  colleen loves the bellas--in fact, we were stamping bellas together yesterday afternoon...

 
colleen's beachabella

mignon's beachabella  "babe"!!!

i'm still working on mine, but i'll share them as soon as i finish...

:) lexi

first communion

the invite: mostly printed with a hand stamped cross.  i was creating the background for another invitation and it dawned on me that it would be perfect to go with a cake that caught mignon's eye in her american girl magazine.  here is our version to match the invitation and the occasion...

 

the cake featured in the american girl magazine is round with blue sky & clouds only--i chose square to frame the cross--but the real treat is what you get when you slice it...

 

a rainbow!  the secret ingredient: a tablespoon of jello mix--one for each layer--added to the cake batter for color and a little extra flavor.  did you notice the martha stewart glassine paper again on the cake board?  this time, i stamped the board first with a polka dot border to mimic the invitation.

and speaking of martha, here is my centerpiece--created with a martha craft kit from my recent trip to michael's...

 

the kit included pre-cut pieces to create three different types of flowers that were easy and fun to put together.  arranged in my own pitcher vase, i now have a pretty spring arrangement that doesn't need water & won't die!

happy sunday!
:) lexi

if the dress fits...

 
buy one in every color!  still playing with my black ink pad and a*muse stamps.  should be more actively cleaning up and getting ready for lunch tomorrow after mignon's first communion!

credits: boutique stamp by amuse; polka dot stamp from polka dots & paisley by su!; paper, matching markers, & circle punches, also su!; sakura stardust glitter & clear glaze pens; miscellaneous ribbon; handwritten sentiment and the required black ink pad: my choice, versafine onyx black.

back to work...
:) lexi

more black ink

 
the girls always need cards for birthday gifts, so i thought i'd use the a*muse*a*palooza challenge 1 guidelines as an excuse to create a couple today... polka dot letters by a*muse and doodles from su! doodle that.  the cards also feature "decorative tape" from the new martha stewart line at michaels.  the starburst punch on the c card is also a martha stewart item--love it!--layered on a 1" circle.  the m was just a little too big for the starburst punch, so i punched it with the 1" circle and trimmed the black layer with mini scallop scissors.  these were so easy, i may have to create a stack of them to have on hand with different patterns & tapes!

:) lexi

ETA:  these are mini cards--finished size is 3 x 3

when in doubt, wear pink!

 
a*muse*a*palooza stamp extravaganza is coming to stores around the country this summer--sadly not to new orleans.  but, at least there will be fun blog activities along the way!  i really like a*muse stamps, but so far only have a few.  this card is for the a*muse*a*palooza countdown challenge 1--black ink only.  i still had the same stamps and scraps on my desk from working on cards for the a*muse mother's day inspiration contest (check it out & vote for your fave!), so i used them as my starting point.  and since coloring in with markers was okay, i chose to stick with pink & black for this card.  oddly enough, two of my three submissions were stamped in black only too!  the saying is from a pink plastic wrist bracelet that i have in my studio--i like pink, so it makes me smile! i stamped it with two sizes of karen foster snap stamps--mini & small casual.  it's been dark and rainy all day, so it's hard to see some of the details: a*muse micro dot twinkle stickers under the boutique sign and dotting the i; sakura stardust glitter pen on the sign, dress and hat; sakura clear glaze pen on the awning; white signo pen in the flourish designs; and piercing along the top and bottom edges.  i look forward to seeing the other players' cards!

enjoy!
:) lexi

thirsty thursday!

 

margarita, anyone?!  i did the invitation below a few weeks ago and the client decided to have me create a centerpiece cake for the party.  the invite featured peppers, but she didn't want a red cake.  i'm not big on red either--a good red takes too much icing color, even with the tasteless version.  so we came up with the idea to do a margarita in bright colors since that would work well with how they were decorating.  there was a moment at the end of icing it when the cake almost broke--yikes!--but it came through in the end.  i created the lime out of fondant icing and even "salted" the rim with sparkling sugar sprinkles!  i covered the board with glassine paper from the new martha stewart line at michael's.  i loved everything there, but this was the item that excited me the most.  years ago i purchased a card making kit from the old ms online store that had a variety of glassine papers in it and i fell in love with them, but never found them anywhere else.  after i ran out of that small collection, i came up with other good ways to cover my boards--pretty paper covered in cellowrap, wax paper, foil--but i'm so glad to have glassine papers as an option again!  they are perfect for cakes because they are food safe and grease proof.  and now that i don't have to hoard them, i can collect and replenish all the pretty colors and play with them in my paper crafting, too!

thanks for stopping by!
:) lexi

how does your garden grow?

the push-pull card i shared recently reminded me of this invitation i did for colleen's birthday party last year--she chose a gardening theme.  like the push-pull card, it's another way to make your card "grow!"  it's a standard size card, with the top folded back up on itself, so that when you open it up...

the flower grows!  it also reminded me of a card i used to make with my students for their moms back in my first grade classroom teacher days--love grows or something like that.

we're still working on colleen's theme for this year--her birthday is the last day of the month.  she's my child who changes her mind every time she sees something new, but we really have to commit and put it to paper soon!

:) lexi

p.s. the flower, from stubby stampers, and the leaves are the same stamp--the "even" design of the flower made it easy to cut out perfect matching leaves.  other credits: the grass wheel and little "sprout" (a flower part from tropical blossoms) on the envelope are su!, i printed the polka dots with the words and the flower pot???  it's unmounted and i think i purchased it at a small stamp convention that came here a while back.  now that i buy more unmounted stamps, i've started labeling them much better!

let's hear it for the boys!

i definitely think like a girl and because i have two girls, i create lots of girly things.  but i have so much of fun when i get orders for boys!  here is an invitation i created on the computer recently...

 

and a few of my favorite gift enclosures & stickers...
 
 
 

i'll be adding these and others to the photo albums over the next few days...

thanks for stopping by!
:) lexi