confetti by lexi

ghouls rock!

 

rock star takes flight on halloween night!  (and for the weekly amuseaddicts challenge, yet another card with my favorite a muse stamp, the rock star!)

have a safe and spooky halloween!
:) lexi

i've got my eye on you!

 

last wednesday was my turn to do "parent show-n-tell" for colleen's first grade class.  the basic idea is to show and tell the class something about you and/or do an activity with them.  i teach these little guys computer lab, so it was fun to share how i spend the rest of my week.  i asked them what they thought i did when i wasn't teaching them and one cutie answered, "play!"  i guess that's not too far from the truth, huh?!  colleen and i decided on a halloween theme and while they enjoyed seeing a few of my invitations and how i come up with rhymes, they were even more excited about decorating cupcakes--big shocker!   we did these fun and easy spooky eyeballs.  i wish i had remembered to take a picture of theirs, but i forgot so i had to make another to photograph at home.  and not to leave stamping out, i made bags so they could take their eyeballs home along with name stickers that they colored while we passed out supplies...

 
 

a great time was had by all--and most importantly, my sweet-tooth, creative colleen was in heaven!

:) lexi

laptop issues continue...

 

this is what my laptop keeps telling me and it's not good.  i have it out for official diagnosis right now, which is why i haven't been around so much in the last few days.  hopefully, i'll hear something soon and five months of trouble will come to an end one way or another!  meanwhile, we have a desktop too, but it's older and doesn't know all of my favorites or have my updated programs.  plus, i have to share it with everyone else!  i did some stamping and baking last week that i have yet to share, so i'll be back with one of those projects shortly...

:) lexi

kitchen sink stamps ~ craft critique

 

this week is kitchen sink stamps week at craft critique!  for my review, i was given two sets to play and create with and i further challenged myself to stamp outside of the box a bit--so much fun!  for example, this turkey, one of several cards i featured in my article, is created with the set pretty petals, a flower set!  go check it out along with the rest of the reviews--you even have a chance to win new stamps!

thanks for stopping by!
:) lexi

scalloped, embossed & perfectly nested!

 

okay, so this is a very simple card.  and i do love simple, but here my main goal was to play with my new nestabilities--so easy & oh so cool!  i chose to enter this new world with the square sets since i only have one of the marvy square punches.  i have the sizzix bigkick, so i followed the compatability chart for that along with other recommendations shared in the splitcoast forums.  i had some cracking sounds and embossed lines even when just cutting, so i need to play a little more, since i don't want embossing every time.  but i definitely see more nestabilities in my future, shape by shape!  in addition to the embossing, my favorite thing about these is the variety of matting sizes--gotta love options!

best witches!
:) lexi

poor old pear...

 

my third grader, mignon, brought home this very cute new halloween decoration for our collection.  the lesson, poetry; the assignment, to create a rhyming epitaph on a wooden tombstone, complete with moss and greenery.  i just love creative lessons like this!

watch out for stairs!
:) lexi

and the winner is...

here he is in all his glory!  when i counted, i got 17... but, i didn't even think of the fact that i used the word *cards* and one of the designs was a *mini-book* until it was mentioned in the comments!!!  so for that reason, both 16 and 17 were counted as correct.  for those of you who missed one rather than leaving off the book, you got lucky!  now, on to the random winner...

linda ss!!!

who covered her bases and said both!  congrats linda!  send me your address and i'll get your very own rock star in the mail!

to everyone, thanks for playing along!  i wish i had one for all of you.  definitely think about adding rock star to your next a muse order.  i've had a lot more fun with him than i ever thought i would--you really can dress him up for anything!  and i'm sure he'll make an appearance here from time to time if you need a little inspiration!

thanks again ~ you rock!
:) lexi

 

penguin surfing + another chance to win!

 

                            rock star, rock star...
            how do i love thee?  let me count the ways!

linda posted the "lexi-winners" today--congrats to mary, pegg and teresa who now have a chance to fall in love with rock star too!  i hope i get to see what they create with him!  and, again, thank you so much to everyone for the sweet comments you left on my guest designer posts over there--they really made me smile!

so, how about one more chance to win my guy!  i have an extra rock star along with a you rock! stamp and an assortment of a muse cards to give away, so i thought a little scavenger hunt would be fun.  hence, the love poem...

it's pretty well established that i *love* the rock star...
            but it's up to you to *count* the ways!!! 

so i'll give you until monday night (8pm cst) to figure out how many cards i've posted here starring rock star and i'll pick a winner from all correct answers!  {hint: one of my post tags will get all of my a muse posts in one place!}

i guess i need to go figure it out too!  see you monday...

:) lexi

how to bake a margarita

i've been wanting to share my shape cake decorating process, but kept forgetting to take pictures while i work.  plus most of my recent orders have been more simple.  last week, i had an order for the margarita cake i did a few months ago and since it was the second time creating it and more involved, it was perfect to document...

this cake is created using three 9 x 13 cakes.  i would love to try to bake them from scratch one day, but i love betty crocker butter recipe for now.  i usually bake them the night before and have them nicely chilled to make cutting them up easier.

 
i should have taken a couple of pics during this part, but i kept forgetting about the camera!  basically, the top is two layers, trimmed on the corners to look like a margarita glass and the bottom is created by cutting the third layer in two even strips for the stem and, from the third strip, four small half rounded pieces for the base.  my family loves the leftover scraps a cake like this leaves for them!

 
the next step is to dismantle the cake and put it back together with icing between the layers and to "glue" the pieces together...

 
followed by the crumb coat--a quick coat over the whole cake to seal in the crumbs.  this is usually the part where i think that it'll never come together and i'll have to scrap it and start over!  after this, the cake goes into the fridge for the icing to firm up and make the decorative icing easier.  for the icing, i use a yummy cheater buttercream:  2 sticks salted butter, 2T milk, 1t vanilla + 1 box of powdered sugar, sifted.  this "homemade" touch makes such a difference!

 
this cake is covered in two shades of green, so i did the "margarita" shade first...

 
followed by the darker "glass" shade.  i try to get the icing as smooth as possible, unless the design needs texture.  for example, on this one i wanted the margarita to be a bit swirvy and i plopped on extra at the top to make it look more like a frozen margarita fresh from the machine.  also, as smooth as i can get it, the camera still picks up every stroke line, even though they don't show so much in person!

 
finally, i add the finishing touches--here, a little piped icing to define the glass and add the honoree's names and a green fondant lime!  and there you have it--how to "bake" a margarita!

cheers!
:) lexi

what's brewing?

 

another quick card today, this time for the amuseaddicts weekly challenge.  i took the opportunity to ink up boris and his ingredients, both by a muse along with the notecard.  i almost didn't get him on my last order, but my girls insisted--he really is so cute!  this week, we were challenged to "get punchy" and i did just that with the marvy super jumbo circle and the su! word window.  i almost used the mega scallop punch too, but i wanted a pinked edge, so i trimmed with pinking shears instead.  i also needed a pop of color under the sentiment, so i trimmed a close layer around that one too.  the card is also pretty sparkly in person, but as usual, hard to capture on camera.

enjoy!
:) lexi

diy chipboard ~ craft critique

 

a quick post for a change, two easy-peasy cards using die cut coaster elements left over from my craft critique article today.  click here to check it out and visit craft critique every day this week to hear what our reporters have to say about other chipboard products!

:) lexi

p.s. welcome to all of the papertrey fans who've stopped by today--i hope you'll continue to check in from time to time!

lilly-wonka!

i had hoped to post this over the weekend, but we were away at a family wedding in memphis.  colleen was a wild child dancin' queen--i'll have to share pics of her doing the robot!  anyway, i mentioned working on this invitation a couple of weeks ago--it was one of those creations that turned out better than perfect and now ranks as one of my all-time faves!  birthday girl lilly was so excited about it too, which makes it even better.  of course, i'm a big fan of charlie and the chocolate factory and as soon as my friend melissa told me her idea for the party, i knew we had to do a candy bar complete with a golden ticket...

 
 

i wanted a somewhat authentic feel, so i did an online search for the wonka bar and golden ticket and based my design on the images i found.  i also tried to stay as close as possible to the original ticket wording, changing it only as necessary to properly include the party info.  i found the golden paper at michael's and was able to print on it without smudging if i let it dry and heat set it a bit.  i trimmed it with my marvy paper trimming buddy to more closely match the one from the movie.  the wrapper and ticket fit the 5 oz hershey bar and for delivery, i packaged them in matching labeled bubble mailers which lilly handed out at school...

 

mignon had to miss the party because of our trip, but was quick to give me party scoop she got at school today and it sounds like it was as much of a success as the invite!  she did, however, enjoy the invitation fully, finishing off the last bit of it for dessert tonight!

sometimes nutty, always sweet...
:) lexi

so excited!!!

 

yay! this card won guest star stamper for me this month at papertrey ink for the stamp set take a bough.  after months of entering consistently and a few honorable mentions.  i was thrilled to get those, so to actually win--wow, what an honor!  and free stamps on top of that.  thank you so much, nichole!

so, anyway, remember the halloween tree card from when my stamps arrived and i wasn't ready for christmas so much?  well, for the contest, i decided to expand on the idea and create a holiday tree series, which included the original, along with the winning christmas tree and an easter tree.  here's the complete set...

 

and, since i haven't posted it anywhere yet, a close up of the easter tree...

 

a few design notes: 

• i built up the branch a bit to make it more like a tree using the small add-on branch in the set. 
• i used the pot from green thumb stamped on various papertrey label scraps in coordinating ink to create the polka dot tree pots. 
• i was thinking charlie brown tree when i created the christmas one, so i bent the branch under the pressure of the ornament--i love the flexible nature of clear stamps.   
• and i used crystal effects on the egg ornaments to get the same look of the page pebbles on the other two, since they have a different shape and the pebbles wouldn't work. 

these were so much fun to create--and you really could decorate the tree for any occasion.

thanks again nichole!
:) lexi

boo! guess who!

 

we got a boo! and made it two.  the girls love taking our turn to find two houses without a ghost to drop off our boo!'s to.  i originally wanted to alter a plain bucket, but saw these in the target $1 spot (for $2.50 actually) and thought they were cute.  we included spider webbing & spiders, eyeballs, popcorn, pencils, candy corn mix, ghost lolli's and of course, a ghost and the poem...

there are lots of versions of the poem on the internet.  i copied and pasted one and dolled it up a bit to always have it ready to print when i need it!  feel free to copy, save and print it for yourself.  boo!'ing is such a great way to have fun with neighbors and spread a bit of random cheer.  my girls look forward to it every year and i highly recommend getting it started in your neighborhood if you don't do it yet.  so...

boo! to you!
:) lexi

inside the haunted house!

our decorating didn't stop outside.  we have lots of inside favorites, too, including a few new finds and creations.  first, here's the pottery barn tree that inspired this card from a couple of weeks ago, complete with lollipop ghosts...

   

black roses by the front door...

 

this is the ghost that haunts our kitchen window--can't get any cheaper than bubble wrap!

please pass the spaghetti & eyeballs!  this one's new from target.  the spiders seem to be enjoying it...

and saving the best for last...

i just had to add the ingredients to our witch's brew stand after seeing the a muse window linda and nina designed recently.  that stamp is one of the girls' favorites and colleen was especially into creating our very own "real" ones.

   

we're feeling quite spooktacular around here!

:) lexi

back to the season at hand...

i'm finally getting around to embracing the fact that it is october despite ridiculously sticky high temps.  the girls had the day off on monday, so we pulled out our halloween decorations and got busy.  our neighborhood goes all out for halloween and we love to go with 'em!

 
 

 
 

 

most of our decorations are the same from year to year, but this year we added the very cute martha stewart beware tape & the little bale of hay under the plastic jack (both from michael's) and new tombstones for the garden (from target).  colleen was really disappointed that we didn't have our tattered "katrina" shutters still up.  they really added to the general spook appeal last year, but we finally got around to changing them this summer.  we'll add some real pumpkins next week or so--can't have them around too early with the heat we're having!

i'll show some of the inside decorations tomorrow...

:) lexi
 

the end...

yesterday linda posted the final chapter of my a muse guest designer series, so i wanted to share a few new designs here to add to those.  i'm not quite in the mood for christmas yet (i love halloween and it still feels like summer here!), but these a muse holiday images make it much easier to get there! 

this design was meant to be on a cabana blue band note, but i messed up when stamping the house, so i cut the band with santa off and mounted it on a fresh white card and i like how it adds depth to the scene.  i also extended the edge of the snow under the house to place it on a hill and ground it behind the frozen lake.  i hand wrote the sentiment with a white glaze pen--it shows up much better in person.

 

there were several comments on the a muse blog about my christmas color choices and i have to credit the a muse note cards themselves for the inspiration.  when working on the designs i sent in, using the cards and the images, the colors just sort of fell into place.  and i love the bright feeling of them.  now, i have to figure out how to incorporate similar colors into my usual photo christmas card this year!

 

for this design, i was originally going to make a tree out of ornaments with the tiny star on top (and i still will!), but my new baby penguin was sitting there begging to be used!  so, i created a tree with him holding the ornaments.  after i started working on it, i remembered the great welcome card rhonda sends to new amuseaddicts members--so i'm sure that was part of my inspiration!  if you want to see that one, you'll have to join the group though--it's a good thing!

i can't tell you how much fun it's been to see my designs posted on the a muse news blog over the last few weeks and to read your very sweet comments.  i hope i've inspired you to take out your stamps and play or enabled you to add more to your a muse collection.  i've certainly been enabled myself--if anything, i'm even more addicted than before!

i want to give a *huge* thank you to linda for giving me this awesome opportunity to play with her wonderful stamps, note cards and ribbon (love that ribbon!).  i still grin from ear to ear whenever i think of the middle of the night email way back when!  many thanks also to julie for describing my cards to you like they were little treasures.  she even made my least favorite ones look better with her words!  and although it's the end of my time as guest designer, it's just the beginning of the ideas floating around in my head--and now, i have lots of stamps to make them work.  so, i hope you'll continue to stop by and see what i'm up to!

thanks so much again & happy stamping!
:) lexi

xronia polla!

here are the rest of the kritikos party items i created.  it was fun pulling it all together and coordinating the various pieces.  and it kept me and my printer quite busy!

little tags for favor bags...

cards to scatter with mardi gras beads as part of the centerpieces.  xronia polla is greek for happy birthday!

 

monopoly money and the many faces of mr. kritikos, also to toss around the tables.  you can download the money from the monopoly website...

ike-isms--mr. kritikos' catch phrases...

a bar sign announcing the special drink of the evening...

and name tags for the grand kids, who were to be dressed in togas and given new identities!

 

i hope they had as much fun using these items as i had creating them!  and i can't wait to show you a super cool invitation i did for this coming weekend.  it's now one of my all-time faves, so stay tuned later this week for that...

:) lexi

it's all greek to me

a friend's father is turning 80 and she and her brother and sisters planned a family reunion celebration this weekend, including a party for their dad.  i was asked to do the invitation and given a variety of art pieces, photos and information to include.   the idea was to have a greek theme with new orleans touches.  my two favorite elements are superimposing mr. kritikos' head on the crete man inside and adding the pelicans from the louisiana state flag to the back of the roof.  even though i was given the artwork to use, this invitation was definitely a fun challenge!  kind of like stamping, i had to fit the different images and elements together like a puzzle.  i also created a few other bits and pieces that were used to decorate the party last night.  rather than make this post too long, i'll share those tomorrow.

 
 
 

thanks for stopping by!
:) lexi

world card making day!

 

new a muse stamps arrived today (*way* quicker than i expected--thanks heidi!) and among them was baby penguin, who is too cute!  i just had to ink him up for a quick set of cards to send in to the a muse cards for a cause collection, which fulfills the amuseaddicts challenge this week, too.  gotta love a two-fer!  so, instead of doing them all the same, i decided to go with one color scheme on different layouts.  i started with the front of a cabana blue mod dots card, cut into three strips with the penguin stamped in the dots.  at first, the set was going to be three cards with a strip on each, but then i decided to cut apart one of the strips and put each penguin in an "ice block" with creative candy clear scallop square stickers.  those ended up being my girls' favorites.  i'll post the individual pictures in my splitcoast gallery soon, so check there in a bit for details and close-ups.

i figured this was a fitting way to spend world card making day, along with entering the hourly contests at paper crafts (fingers crossed!) and finally catching up on my blogging buddies.  i wish i lived closer to a muse to be able to attend the store anniversary celebration today--lots of reveals on the a muse news blog, new stamps, new purchasing ability, great samples!  but i have really enjoyed my lazy saturday and i will continue into the evening with a bit more stamping and blog surfing--just call me a happy stamper...

enjoy!
:) lexi