Baby Shower Onesie Invites

A couple weeks ago, my sister and mom held a baby shower for me! I made some invites for the baby shower using the onesie die (love!!), so thought I'd share them with you today.

It was a really nice baby shower, and everyone was very generous. Some of the only baby things we did not receive were diapers or toys! So we will need to stock up on those. Last weekend we finally bought the crib and I can't wait until it's put together. All of the furniture is white and we're going with a transportation theme.

I kept the invites pretty simple, because I needed to make a whole bunch of them so couldn't make it too ornate. And they needed to be mailable so no buttons or ribbon. So I chose the patterned paper very carefully, since it was going to be the focal point. I chose Martha Stewarts 12x12 baby boy paper pad. So cute, love the colors and images!

I very carefully selected which parts of the paper to use so it would fit on the onesie. To make the onesie card, I diecut two Aqua Mist onesies and a patterned paper onesie. I attached the PP onesie to one of the Aqua Mist onesies with scor-tape.

I stamped the inside with several stamp sets and scored the top of it so the card would bend when opened. I attached the onesies together by adding scor-tape above the fold.

I'm beginning to see my stamp collection as one big stamp set--it's fun to pull stamps from several sets to create just the look you want. The little sailboat is from PTI Bitty Baby Blessings, the "You're Invited" stamp is from PTI Borders and Corner Monogram set (which I had completely forgotten about until recently), the "Baby Shower" sentiment is from Scattered Showers and the invitation info part is from the Michaels Recollection set "RSVP". I love how the inside turned out!

I also decorated the envelopes a little bit too. By the way, my sister (who mailed out the invites) took the lovely pictures on the blanket!

I used PTI Fillable Frames #5, Bitty Baby Blessings and I&O Baby. The sentiment says "Sometimes it's the smallish things that take up the most room in our heart."-Winnie the Pooh.

I also stamped baby feet on a small sticker circle and the envelopes were sealed shut right above the sentiment.

The inks are all by A Muse Studio. They are Sky (very similar to Spring Rain), Papaya (similar to Summer Sunrise), and Ocean, which is a nice deep blue. Definitely recommend the A Muse inks! Let me know if you're interested in an ink sampler card, I can mail one out to you so you can see what the colors look like! :)

I'll be back tomorrow with pictures from the shower and the baby favor boxes and cupcake toppers I made! The post is scheduled and all ready to go. Thanks for stopping by my blog. Have a very sunny and happy day!

Make Your Own Journaling Tabs

Thanks so much for all the nice comments regarding the seed packet die! :) Hope you got a few ideas from that post, and if you have it or are ordering it, I'd love to see what you make with it. :)

If you've been following Papertrey Ink's latest release, you might have seen the new journaling tabs die that was released! If you bought PTI's Half and Half dies or Fillable Frames dies, you can make your own! Here is what I found that worked, if you'd like to try it!

Cut a 2-1/4" x 2" strip of paper, score 1" into the 2" side, so you will end up with a folded piece of CS that is 2-1/4" x 1". Because it is such a small amount of CS, it might not want to stay down very well, so just add a bit of removable adhesive to the inside to keep it folded.

Position it on the die, with just a tiny bit of overlap, like this:

And this is what they look like! Ready to be stamped and added to a mini book.

The little swirls that come with the Half and Half stamp set look great with the tab too.

This would also work with some of the fillable frames, either the width if you want a shorter journaling tab or the length if you want a wider journaling tab.

Here's how some of those turned out!

And here's all of the journaling tabs.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Today is my birthday and it's a big one--30!! We celebrated last night and are celebrating with friends this weekend and hopefully Hurricane Irene will have moved on by then. Hope everyone in its path stays safe this weekend!

Ways to Use the Seed Packet die

There has been some interest on the PTI forum to share some ways we've used the Seed Packet die, which is a great pocket die that fits gift cards and much more! So today, I thought I'd share some ideas with you!

My favorite use of the die is to make your own homemade glassine wax bags. They are the perfect little bag to store little items. Here's what it looks like when you first cut it out.

And then here it is assembled.

I used 1/4" scor-tape to adhere it together. The adhesive is barely visible and it sticks down on the wax paper very well (other types of adhesive don't stick at all). Here's a closeup of the tape.

You can cut the bags from regular wax paper that you'd buy on a roll, however I've found it easiest to use some precut 6 inch dry wax sheets. I bought them from Miles Kimball HERE, a pack of 350 is $8.99. They are completely flat so it's much easier to cut with.

A few tips about cutting with the seed packet die: you might need to adjust your sandwich, to make it less tight. After cutting the seed packet, if you are getting some cracking, you might try hand scoring along the pre-scored lines. Sometimes they aren't scored enough so you get some cracking.

Here is what it looks like with something in it. It's a bit see through, and has a neat frosted appearance.

The mini envelope die also looks great cut from waxed paper.

The doily dies also work well cut from wax paper and are the perfect accessory to dress up baked goods. I also use the wax paper sheets sometimes to help the paper come out of the dies more easily: just use a sandwich of die, waxed paper, then cardstock. It's also fun to emboss the seed packets with a Cuttlebug folder or PTI impression plate. I don't have an example with the seed packet, but you can see what I mean in my post HERE.

The seed packets are also neat as chalkboard accents. It's a lot of fun to make these!

You could write out a To/From on the front with chalk or personalize it how you like. Michaels sells a big roll of chalkboard sticker paper in the kid's department for only a few dollars. Then I stuck the sticker paper to some PTI kraft paper and then diecut it out! It looks cute with other dies too, but the seed packet provides more room to write on.

By the way, this is how I apply the scor-tape adhesive when I assemble a seed packet.

Another tip, the spiral notebook page die fits perfectly inside the seed packet die. It makes such a cute little note to include in a package you send out! Here it is laid on top of the seed packet so you can get a sense of how it fits.

I noticed this when I was at the Central Florida get together, when Terry let me try out her die and cut a few diecuts (thanks, Terry!). I was so excited to discover this, and so I ordered this spiral die in my recent order.

And here's a completed project I made using the seed packet die. I sent it to my sweet friend Joyce!

I cut the seed packet from A Muse gingham patterned paper card stock. Love that paper! The A Muse gingham paper is 8.5 x 11 and comes in 10 different colors. Really pretty paper. The seed packets look so cute cut from patterned paper. I attached a PTI Tiny Tag to the front with orange twine.

Next I diecut a mini card from the PTI Mat Stack 3 die. It fits perfectly inside the seed packet!

The image is from PTI Flower Fusion #1 and then heat embossed with white EP. The paper is cut from A Muse Sage cardstock. A nice feature of A Muse cardstock, is that it's coated with color on one side and white on the other side, which is great for cardmaking. Love the cardstock and have been using it a lot lately!

Here's the inside.

The sentiment fits great in the top nook of the mat stack, with plenty of room to write a message. The ink is A Muse Orange pigment ink.

Hope you've discovered a fun way or two to use the seed packet. Would love to see what you make with it too.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I have lots more ideas on how to use the seed packet die and hope to share that with you soon! I'll be back soon with ways you can make your own journaling tabs using existing PTI dies. Have a wonderful and sunny day! :)

Curious about A Muse Studio?

Have you been noticing the icon above appearing on some blogs? I thought I'd try to explain what that's all about! In case you all didn't yet know, on July 1st, I signed up as a consultant with A Muse Studio. :) It should be a really exciting opportunity to try out some fun products and to introduce others to crafting and to new and exciting papercrafting items. I know before I signed up as a consultant with A Muse Studio I was a bit confused about the details, so if you are curious, I'll try to explain it the best that I can so you can get a good understanding. So please let me know if you have any questions, but I will try to be as clear as I can! :)

A Muse Studio is a company that sells exclusive, high quality papercrafting related items: stamps, inks, cardstock, ribbons, dies, buttons, you name it! They also sell copics, nesties and other general craft supplies. Their former name was A Muse Artstamps, which began as a stamp store in Seattle in 2000, an internet store in 2007 and is now an at-home business.

A Muse Studio is similar to Stampin' Up, in that they are both consultant-based businesses that sell unique and exclusive stamping products. We do at home workshops and we also sell through our webstores! However, there are differences too. A Muse has a very distinctive modern and whimsical style. Also very importantly for me at least, A Muse Studio does not have any restrictions for its consultants at all, except that you can't be a consultant for another stamping company at the same time. That's it. So I'm free to post about whatever topics and brands that I like! For instance, I will still be posting tons of Papertrey Ink, WMS, Hero Arts, etc. to my blog. I love Papertrey Ink and own a lot that they've released so won't be letting up with that soon, but occasionally you will also see some A Muse in there too now, especially the amazing cardstock and inks!!

So this is how A Muse Studio works!

Catalogs
First of all, the full A Muse Studio catalog is available online to view as a PDF. The link is HERE. I also have some hard copies too, which have the exact same content as the PDF. We have to pay for our catalogs, and they are heavy (must be sent Priority mail), and so I charge $9.95 each to mail it to you. Let me know if you're interested. Otherwise, I'm willing to send one free with any order of $75 or higher.

A Muse just recently announced their new Holiday catalog (which is effective August 22-January 31st). We aren't allowed to post it until August 22nd, but we are allowed to email a PDF of it! If you'd like to take a look, email me at amuse1303@gmail.com and I'll be happy to send a PDF to you. I can also mail you a hard copy for $4 or it's free with an order of $50 or greater.

Ordering
If you see something you like and want to place an order, you would need to order through a consultant. You can do so by clicking on the icon to the right of my sidebar or by visiting my webstore link: www.amusestudio.com/MonicaK. If it asks, my consultant number is #1303. Once you click on the icon, it will open up a new window and at the top of the screen, it will show you my name and email. To the right of that, it says "Shop Online". If you click on that link it will take you to the main menu of products.

You do not have to contact me in advance, if you'd like to order through the webstore. It is completely automated for you to order.  I would love for you to contact me in advance if you choose so I can help you and also because if you spend over $150, you can get additional free products and discounts, and if you spend over $75, you get 2 free catalogs (the regular and holiday catalogs). I can also answer any questions you might have that way too! I will receive an email once your order is placed. It shows me your name, address and email, but no payment information (that's secure and private).

Specials

Each month on the 15th, A Muse announces 5 stamp sets that will be discounted 10 percent off for the entire month (from the 15th-14th of next month). This is called their Spotlight sale! They also have one special assortment pack of 5 cardstock colors that is offered at a discount too. I will announce the new specials on my blog each month, so you will be aware of what's going on.

A Muse is currently in the midst of its traveling event called, "On the Road". This event is open to everyone and is a great opportunity to see A Muse products in person. There will also be Make and Takes.

They are doing them throughout the country, so it's very possible that there might be one close to you! The current events are in the eastern part of the US, for a list of locations, click HERE. If you sign up to go to the event, you also would get a free stamp set. Let me know if you would like details about this fun event!

Shipping

Shipping within the United States is $6.95 for up to $50. After that, it is 10 percent of your total. 

International

A Muse Studio does not ship internationally (that includes Canada). I am really sad about this, but there are plans to one day allow this, and I will be sure to let you know the moment it opens up! An exception is that A Muse does ship to APO addresses!

Consultant Details

You may want to consider being a consultant yourself! It is only $99 for a basic starter kit and it is filled with an amazing and generous assortment of great A Muse products to get you started. The $99 kit has over $325 worth of supplies!! Or you can order a deluxe kit for $149 with over $475 worth of supplies. The only difference between the two kits is the price and amount of supplies you get, there is no difference as to what type of consultant you would be.

If you sign up now, you will have a grace period and will have until December 31st to meet your $300 minimum. Each quarter you must meet your $300 minimum. If you decide to sign up as a consultant under me, I will offer you tons of advice and occasionally samplers, etc. too! I'm very involved and will do what I can to answer your questions and to help you out if you need me. Consultants receive a 20 percent discount on their orders and sales. Uplines receive 3 percent of the consultants sales (the Consultant still receives their full 20 percent). A Muse consultants have access to the A Muse Lounge forum, which is filled with tons of advice, inspiration and other friendly consultants. The culture of A Muse consultants is really wonderful, everyone is very nice and supportive of each other!

I hope this has helped to answer any questions you might have about A Muse! I will also be posting some reviews of the wonderful inks, cardstock and more, as well as offering samplers and giveaways, so check back if you can. If you have any additional questions or are curious about more details, ask away in the comments or send me an email at amuse1303@gmail.com.

Mini Bitty Bird Cards & Giveaway winner!!

I have some super simple mini note cards for you today! I just can't stop making them, I love them so much. The other ones I've made are here, here and here. I'm also announcing the winner of the ribbon giveaway. It's at the end of the post! :)

The Tag-It's stamp sets that Heather has been making are perfect for these mini note cards! I used the Tag-It's #2 with the lunchbox note die. The sentiment is from Tag-It's #1. I love all the mini images you get in the sets!

I also made a flower version too.

And here is the back, which is how I've been "signing" the back of my cards lately. :)

I made several of them to have on hand!

Thanks for all of the really nice comments about my San Francisco trip. We really had a great time and I'm glad I got to share a bit of it with you!! And without further ado, the winner of the ribbon giveaway is:

Lucky 13! Which would be, SUE ANN! Congrats, Sue Ann! :) Email me with your details and I'll get your ribbon out to you! :)

Thanks for taking a look! Have a sunny day!

Bon Voyage!

My hubby is away right now. He's in Croatia visiting his mom. I usually go with him, but this year I stayed behind because I'm 7 months pregnant. Missing him like crazy, but I made him this card before he left and then handed it to him at the airport.

The inside is stamped: "You mean the world to me" from PTI's Masculine Motifs set. I stamped the background sentiments and then covered it with a piece of vellum to resemble a soft sky with clouds. Then I attached it with brads to hold it in place instead of adhesive. The two planes represent him leaving and then coming back home!

The ink is Brilliance Rocket Red, Brilliance Coffee Bean and Versamagic Ocean Depth. The paper and twine is Papertrey Ink.

Here's the stamp set I used to make the card.

It's by Michael's Recollections. I really like those little Recollection stamp sets and you can't beat the price, it was on sale for $3.50! Just make sure to use pigment inks, because the dye inks don't work with acrylic very well.

By the way, look how close the color scheme is to this week's Card Camp color challenge. I almost entered this card, but it had a speck of blue in it so I think it might not qualify. I will definitely be making a few cards this week using this color scheme though. I LOVE it!! :)

Thanks so much for stopping by. And don't forget to enter my giveaway HERE. Hope you're having a nice sunny summer day!

God Bless America...

I sent something off to my brother at school a few days ago, and I made him a little mini patriotic note to go with it! :) I used the PTI Americana stamp set: est. 1776. I also got to try out my new Jenni Bowlin inks. I really love them! I used Fountain Pen and Chili Powder. They are a wonderful dye ink. The ink gives such good coverage, it almost looks like a pigment ink.

I added another phrase to the inside flap. I kinda liked that the phrase is the next lyric in the song, so you almost sing it to yourself as you're opening the card, "God Bless America, Land that I Love..." Makes me kind of teary-eyed whenever I hear that song. The 4th is definitely one of my favorite holidays!

I continued the stripe pattern on the back of the card.

The light tone on tone ink color is Antique Linen by Tim Holtz. And the die is my favorite Papertrey Ink die, the Lunchbox Note die. I use it all the time, because I love making mini notes!

And a peek at the inside...

Hope you had fun celebrating last weekend. I spent some time with my relatives in south Florida at the beach. We had a great time! And by the way, HERE are some tips about taking pictures of fireworks! So sorry, I meant to share this with you on the 4th, but I was still in south Florida and wasn't able to get a post up in time. Hopefully you can bookmark it for future use.

Don't forget there's still a few days left to enter my giveaway HERE! Have a sunny day!

My San Francisco trip plus a ribbon GIVEAWAY! :)

Source: fleetstreetscandal.com via Monica on Pinterest

My husband and I took a wonderful trip to San Francisco a few weeks ago. I've been meaning to share with you some pictures I took there. It's really a lovely place and I highly recommend going if you're ever able to. We also did quite a bit of driving around including a Pacific coastal drive along the Big Sur. I also picked up some goodies there to share with you so be sure to check out the end of the post for the giveaway!

I took along my regular camera as well but these two pictures were taken with my iPhone. I really love my iPhone camera! Along the Big Sur, are a couple of famous bridges, including the Bixby Bridge, built in the early 1930s during the Great Depression (part of the New Deal I believe?).

The vistas were breathtaking...

Here's my hubby and me posing...

On our drive, we also stopped by the Santa Cruz pier and amusement park. It's very old, one of the first beachside amusement parks. I didn't get to ride on any rides this trip (not until the baby is born), but it was fun just to walk around and take it all in! It was surreal to see a roller coaster so close to the beach!

Beautiful California poppies. These were popping up everywhere. Being used to Florida which is quite monochromatic, California's landscape is very colorful and vibrant with beautiful flowers.

We also stopped by Alamo Square which had gorgeous views of San Francisco. And someone was flying a kite that day too! ;)

And this is what it feels like to be crossing underneath the Golden Gate bridge...I took this with my iPhone in the car looking up as we passed through. Really amazing feeling!

Here's a foggy vista of the Golden Gate bridge. The ship going underneath the bridge there is the same one that we took when we took a Bay Bridge cruise underneath the Golden Gate. It was sooo windy, but so worth it!

And here's a pregnant belly shot of me with San Francisco and the bay in the background. ;)

We also stopped by Boudin's bakery and restaurant in Fisherman's Wharf. They are famous for their yummy bread bowl soups, which I tried. They also have the neatest breads baked into all kinds of shapes and animals including a lobster, a turtle, a crab, a bear, a gator and more!

I'm a total bookworm so a stop by the City Lights bookstore was a must! Such a cool store filled with unique books. This is where the Beat poets got their start and published their works, and it was named a historic site in 2001. They still publish books today.

And this was the view from the top of Macy's in Union Square in downtown San Francisco. You must go to the top floor if you're ever there. Very pretty views!

One of the crafting stores I found in downtown Union Square was the amazing store Britex Fabrics.

It has four floors filled with fabrics, ribbons, buttons and any other kind of trim you could think of from all around the US and the world. It is truly heaven! It is a one of a kind store, only one location and it's been there since 1952. Some of the famous guests include fashion designer Diane von Forstenberg and other designers and celebrities.

Here are some pictures inside this amazing store.

They had a huge section with tons of new and vintage laces in many colors.

Here are the cream laces...so many in a row and very elegant!

Here is their third floor filled with ribbons as far as the eye can see! Every width and style of ribbon.

That wall behind the counter is covered in BUTTONS. A whole wall of buttons all arranged by color (love!). Sorry there are no close-up photos. They do not allow that in the store!

Here I am standing in front of their wonderful wall of trims. ;)

More of the color coordinated fabric...I so appreciate that because that's how I have everything arranged in my home!

One of the ribbons that caught my eye were the 100% silk hand dyed, hand cut ribbons. They are so beautiful and silky and would be wonderful tied on a card or on project or sewn into something special.

As a thank you to my blog readers, I bought a yard of several different colors of this pretty 100% silk ribbon to give away.

You must be a follower to enter (just click the follow link to the side if you're not yet a follower) and then just leave a comment below. That's all you have to do! I'll ship it anywhere in the world and I'll pick one winner by random.org generator next week.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Sorry about the delay in posting, I have many more crafting posts ready to go and can't wait to share them with you!