Creative Grace

Big changes ahead!

Happy new year!  Can you believe it's 2011 already?  Mind-boggling I tell ya...

I thought this would be the perfect chance to share a couple little peeks of the calendars I love to give as gifts.  

I honestly lost count of how many I gave out this year.  

It was a team effort - I just didn't have time to do it all myself so my hubby printed and cut all the paper! What a great sport (well, he did give some away too, so that's fair, right?)  Despite all the work, I think they make a nice gift.  Even nicer is A Muse's recent announcement that the proceeds from the calendar template raised more than $6,000 for their charity of choice.  (If you are on Facebook, you can read more about this huge accomplishment here).

2011 will certainly be a big year for changes!  To start, I'm looking forward to completing my coursework and thesis and FINALLY earning my Masters this summer! Yahoo!  It will be a hard road getting there, but I can smell it! :)  

As I'm sure many of you are starting to ponder, another big change is A Muse dissolving their instructor program.  I expect that great things are ahead for A Muse, but I sadly won't be teaching any more A Muse classes, and without the wonderful support I received from them, I'm afraid it's rather cost prohibitive for me to teach at all.  I started out in the instructor program because of my own personal love of the craft and the products and people behind A Muse.  In the end, I've grown a lot and I've been so lucky to be a part of a dynamic team of amazing muses (I love you all!) in addition to meeting and teaching so many amazing people I'm proud to call friends.  I want you all to know how much I've appreciated that and how much you have enriched my life.  

So, with a new year come new horizons.  I'll likely maintain my blog as long as people still read it (a comment now and again does help with encouraging the blog author, by the way ;) and will keep up links to my fellow "former" A Muse instructors so you can continue to enjoy their work.  I will also forever be a die-hard A Muse fan and will play with them any chance I get :)

I'll leave you with  little homage to just some of the amazing women and little women whom I've had the pleasure of enjoying our craft with:

Here's to a new year full of new possibilities!

New Mini Calendar!

Yesterday I shared with you my plans for making calendar gift for my friends and today I'm excited to share a new addition to the A Muse calendar line: the mini calendar!  Eek!  It's so cute!

I have always wanted to make a calendar mounted to ribbon, so I couldn't wait to get my hands on this and make a special wall hanging:

 

I think it fits perfectly in my craft room!  My room is the only place I get the excuse to be super girly, so I went with the theme of pink and black.  It's a double sided calendar with the first 6-months on the front, and the remaining months on the back.  I decided to print the calendar in grayscale so I could control colors.  I used Marvy punches to back the calendar square (mega) with a scalloped square (giga) made of A Muse's gorgeous shimmer couture damask paper in onyx.  This is SO EASY because the calendar fits perfectly in the punch!

I used two pieces of Scor-Pal tape (1/2" thick) to mount the square to the ribbon.  I opted on the Score-pal tape because that stuff is wicked strong!  I figured if it would be hanging on a wall for a year it should be well made :)

  

I attached the back first, making sure the squares were evenly spaced, then used an additional piece of Scor-pal tape to adhere the front square.

 

I added the 2010 topper (using the lime shimmer couture paper), trimmed the edges, and added a lime A Muse pretty pearl in between each calendar page.  

I love the final result and know lots of people who would love getting this as a holiday gift!  

For more information on this adorable mini calendar, check out this A Muse New blob post.   Also, don't forget that A Muse has calendars in 4 other sizes (including full-size, perfect for scrapbookers) with proceeds benefitting Water 1st.  

Calendar time!

Oy!  I've been busy!  I'm actually home from work this week recovering from surgery (sinuses... ick) so I've been occupying myself with my yearly project of making calendars as gifts.  There are so many wonderful people at my work that I want to acknowledge, so I make them calendars each year using the adorable template that A Muse makes.  The added bonus is that A Muse makes a donation for each calendar template they sell!  This years proceeds benefit Water 1st, an organization that works to implement community-managed projects that integrate water supply, sanitation, and health education in regions of the world that that are a part of the global water crisis.  You can read more about this and find the template here.  

 

In the end, I will have made 40 of these bad boys!  All of my paper is printed and cut

 

And I've started my designs... I'm almost half way through! (You know I HAD to use the sub!)

Perhaps this calendar project might inspire you to give a homemade gift (only crazy people like me make 40).  Remember, this is a gift with the added bonus of benefiting the wonderful organization of Water 1st! 

Happy June

Needless to say, I *had* to completely redesign my June calendar page when I saw A Muse's new summer fun stamp release!

I removed a couple port holes (because Alvin only has one starboard view port) with a little masking and gave it the proper paint job :)  Alvin is stark white with a red top.  My guess is that it allows for Alvin to be easily spotted by it's ship, the R/V Atlantis, when Alvin has surfaced.  

A happy June indeed!

Submarine stamp and calendar template by A Muse.

May already?

Hard to believe it's May already... just a few weeks and then life should be a bit calmer for me.  I'm knee deep in work stuff and grad school stuff and looking forward to taking a deep breath! 

So with a new month comes a little calendar treat for you...

They say that April's showers bring May's flowers.  Well, we didn't have too many showers here this past April, but the flowers are abundant.  My sweet peas have started to bloom, which always makes me happy, and I LOVE how they smell.  I hope you all are able to take time and smell the flowers and have a marvelous May!

Made with the A Muse calendar template, paper, and adorable tiny lady bug stamp!

Happy April

Spring is certainly in the air!  I love the seasonal transition April brings... longer days, honey bees zooming around, my ginkgo tree sprouting new leaves.  Although rainy days are still a possibility, new life is emerging everywhere.  Happy April everyone!

Calendar template and stamps by A Muse.

Love in February

I'll love you dear,

I'll love you until China and Africa meet,

And the river jumps over the mountains

And the salmon sing in the street.

I'll love you till the ocean

is folded and hung up to dry

And the seven stars go squawking

Like geese above the sky

-W.H. Auden

Happy February everyone!

Calendar template and stamps by A Muse

Happy New Year

Here's wishing you all a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2009!  

This is a photo of the calendar I have in my crafty space.  The template is by A Muse and when you purchase of the template, all proceeds are donated to the Leukemia and Lymphoma society!  What a great way to start the new year.  After downloading the template, all you have to do is be crafty and decorate it! :)  I keep mine super simple by using an easel and clip at the top.  I decided that the polar bear (how much do you *love* the polar bear?!?) and snowflakes with glitter were perfect for January. 

Happy 2009 everyone!

Calendar craziness

I've been busy all day today printing and cutting calendar pages.  I even had to give the poor printer a rest for a while!  This is the second year that A Muse has offered a calendar template with 100% of the proceeds this year benefiting the Leukemia & Lymphoma society.  You can make your donation and download your own at this link.   

The calendar is the perfect solution for all the people I so want to acknowledge this season.  Being a teacher at a school, I owe a lot to all of the fabulous secretaries, custodians, special ed team, para-educators, technology staff, cafeteria staff, librarians, etc.  It also makes a lovely hand-made gift for family members and friends.  

Because I make so many, I keep the calendar simple and just use a cute clip on the top to hold the pages together.  I also give a small easel or photo clip with the calendar to make the gift complete. So there you have it, a simple, thoughtful, and inexpensive gift for the countless people on your list!