Creative Grace

Thanks for a friend

I got a little distracted this morning! Haha!

I have a huge agenda of card designs I need to work on for my  A*MUSE*A*PALOOZA classes (info here).  But, alas, I was distracted by a friend I would do ANYTHING for!  

Turns out, my friend will be a guest of a couple celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary at the Marconi Center in Tomales Bay, along California's northern coast (gorgeous site!!! Here's a link to the location photo gallery.  I'm so jealous).  Now, this is my friend who used to be an aide assigned to students in my classroom (and she inspired me every day - she is so amazing with special needs students and her botany knowledge is astonishing - I was so sad she moved away a year ago).  She wakes up at the break of dawn most mornings to take hikes in the habitats around her home and shares fun pictures of the wildflowers with me.  I miss her!!! 

Anyhoo... I got a message from her this morning asking if I had a thank you card she could use to give to the hosts celebrating their anniversary.  After spending some time drooling over the the place she will be going, I came up with this design:

 

Ok, seriously, I LOVE how this turned out!!!  Amazing how I can struggle with other cards for days and days and this one pops out in only a couple minutes.  

I'm so happy with it :)

 

Oh, good stuff!  Hopefully my fellow nature-loving friend will think so too!

Card Recipe:

Stamps: dill, solid bird (retired), and thank you rm by A Muse.  

Paper: woodgrain and sage green by A Muse.  Wood paper purchased at Impress 

ink: Versafine vintage sepia

Other: twine

For A Muse products click here 

Spring Pajama Party - Card #4: for a mom

Whew - one more card to share!  Some of the Muses hosted a fun Pajama Party over on the A Muse lounge last night.  Four card challenges were posted and we only had 30-minutes to make each!  Hard to believe I can make anything that fast, but I did it.  Geeta hosted the last challenge of the evening which was to make a card for a Mom.  (Scroll below to see my cards for the other three challenges.)

I'll admit that the first thing that popped into my head was the mama bird who built a nest above the door to our house.  All weekend I've been listening to those baby birds chirp frantically while being fed - that's one busy mama!  Not the best shot, but here's the bottom of nest (I didn't want to climb up and disturb the birds.)

 

 

Here's the card I created:

 

 

I don't think the bird mama will appreciate this, but I'm sure I can find a human mama to give this to! :)

Card Recipe:

Stamps: flowers and vines, happy mother's day script, and egg nest (retired, but there's a similar stamp here) by A Muse.

Paper: sage green, robins egg blue, and latte by A Muse

ink: Memento rich cocoa and bamboo leaves

Other: A Muse sky blue polka dot sheer ribbon 

For A Muse products click here

Spring Pajama Party - Card #3:

Card #3!!! WooHoo!  These challenges are keeping me on my toes.  This challenge was posted by Jenn and she wanted us to make a card inspired by a favorite flower.  

This was really tough for me since I have several favorite flowers.  But I'd have to say that all of them would fall into the category of purple!  Which, upon reflection, is really interesting to me since I'm really not a purple person. I never wear purple, purple is not in my home, and I rarely design with it... but there's something about purple flowers in my garden that makes me so happy.  Maybe because purple flowers can be hard to come by, or maybe it's because I really want my garden to look like the haunted mansion garden at Disneyland! LOL! Regardless, all of my favorites are purple! :)  I guess that's also what inspired my blog header too!

Here is some of the inspiration from my garden:

 purple pincushion flower

 

lavender that kinda grows wild in one of my pots

purple delphinium (not the best photo - but I love how the light looks)

No idea what this one is called, but I LOVE the black mondo grass!!!!  

(but in my head I say "black mambo" grass cuz that sounds cooler, LOL)  
 

 

   purple nemesia

California Lilac (native plant) - these are itty bitty flowers - the cluster is only about 10cm or so in length.  I'd love to plant *real* lilacs, but they don't do well in my zone 

purple sweet peas (just started blooming this week!!!) 

So, with that inspiration in mind, here's my card:

 

It goes with the black mondo ;)

  Card Recipe:

Stamps: chrysanthemum open and you're in my thoughts sentiment from monogram frames clear set by A Muse.

Paper: black and white card stock, and blackberry solid notecard by A Muse

ink: A Muse black dye ink

copic: v06, v12, yg95

Other: EK scroll punch (holiday 09 release) 

For A Muse products click here

Trying my hand at simple

I just LOVE this happy seedlings stamp by A Muse.  I love to garden and miss having the space to grow seeds.  So, this image is very nostalgic to me :)  But as luck would have it, I've struggled with using the whole thing.  Designs just never looked right to me.  So then I decided to just go simple!

 

Much happier ;)

Card Recipe:

Stamps: seedlings, mini flower, you color my world by A Muse

Paper: white by A Muse

ink: colorbox chalk lime pastel and warm violet

Other: yellow twinkle stickers by A Muse

I have the best neighbor...

I have the best neighbor in the world.  

For months now I've seen her and her husband walk past our house with a big bag of groceries.  Apparently, a friend and former colleague of theirs lives down the street and fell ill with cancer.  So, several time a week, they would walk to her house to bring her food.  

I came home yesterday to find my neighbor on her porch, with her persnickety cat at her side, sipping a glass of wine.  Her mood was somber and she tried to seem cheerful, but, as it turns out, her friend had passed away that day.  Although grateful that she was no longer in pain, I could see she would miss her.  My neighbor spent the day calling family members she had never met and making arrangements, among a million other things.  I can see that this is weighing heavy on her...

 

I can only hope to have a friend like that in my life when I need them.

Card Recipe:

Stamps: tiny bird and silver lining by A Muse

Paper: Yellow gingham, white, papaya, and clouds by A Muse

ink: Brilliance pearlescent sky blue and Memento cantaloupe

Other: EK 1" square punch, EK 3/4" x 1 1/2" oval punch, EK 1 1/4" x 2" oval punch, Stampendous chili pepper red fun flock, and A Muse white and papaya sheer ribbon

A fun new stamp

I had so much fun last weekend teaching at Paper Tales in San Diego.  My friend and fellow A Muse girlie, Michelle, is the owner and recently commissioned some new stamps just for her store.  They are so much fun and I was delighted to get my hands on this little number:

 

 

It was her birthday this week, so I figured she needed a special card made with her stamp!

Stamps: Sending you Sunshine by A Muse, and bird cage by Paper Tales Bird and Cage by Paper Tales

Paper:  White, blush, buttercup yellow, and shimmer couture damask lime papers by A Muse.

ink: A Muse black dye ink

Other: A Muse white polka dot sheer ribbon, A Muse white pretty pearls, and Koh-I-Noor colored pencils.  

Pajama Party, part 4! AMLPJFALL04

Here's my fourth card for the A Muse Pajama Party over on the lounge tonight!  The challenge was to make a thank you card.  Perfect for me since I have lots of those I need to make!

I love the open zinnia stamp and the blue-brown-orange combo!  

This was a great night and MUCH NEEDED creative relief for me.  Especially the chatting on Yahoo and Sherry in her blond wig!  LOL!

(Can you see her on the left?  I think she was laughing about the pole!)

Thanks for a fun night girls!