A little bird told me…

Posted on October 17, 2009 by Driven to Ink

Baby Annoucements

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A Muse Stamps used: Elephant & Baby and Little bird told me. This was a really easy project thanks to the AccuCut Card Portfolio die-cut – I cut a few corners by using the printer to print both the inside and outside of the annoucements, as seen below. I used the A Muse Kitchen Purple and Gingham pink papers for the portfolio, as well as A Muse twinkle stickers and ribbon.

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Welcome to the world baby Sarah Emily Baird Locke! This gift was a real crowd pleaser at Ally’s shower, I did up two matching portfolios, each with 12 annoucements in them (24 total) and I decorated one annoucement in each portfolio so she would know what they were going to look like. I had to take them back so I could print the details inside when Sarah was born, but that could be avoided by leaving a line for the mom to fill in the information herself. The elephants on the cards are all hand stamped and cut out of Bo Bunny double dot cardstock. I included a pack of pink photo corners with the gift so All would be able to attach her own chosen photos before sending out the annoucements. I’ll have to remember to post a picture of the inside as well when mine arrives 🙂

Tricks & Treats

Posted on October 14, 2009 by Driven to Ink

Holy Mackrel, it’s SNOWING in St. John’s, Newfoundland today! It’s actually a combination of snow and torrential rain – eeeew. I’m tucked away in the cosy office at The Paperie waiting for my ride. I made this card for a Halloween Tricks & Treats class I’m teaching on Sunday…

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A Muse Stamps Used: Crooked House, Tiny Witch, Parade, Happy Trails. When I was doing the ordering a few weeks ago I totally messed up and forgot to order the new A Muse “Boo” sentiment. It would’ve been absolutely perfect for this card because of the nice bold font – most of the sentiments I had didn’t show up on the green Gingham paper. I ended up using an acrylic alphabet set to spell “Boo” which turned out okay, but still wasn’t quite what I had envisioned. The Happy Trails stamp worked out great with the little Parade of costumed kiddies – love that stamp so much!

Here’s another card I made for the aforementioned class….

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A Muse Stamps used: Boris, Be Scary. I always refer to interactive cards as “trick cards” – this was my first-ever attempt at a spinner card and I was surprised by how easy it was. The tutorial I watched recommended you use two pennies, but I didn’t have any and was eager to try it out so I cut out two chipboard circles that were roughly the same size and it worked perfectly (and it was 2 cents cheaper! ;))

Congratulations

Posted on October 10, 2009 by Driven to Ink

I made a quick congratulations card for my friend who just eloped – now that’s the way to do it! Part of me thinks it would be nice to tie the knot in front of all my friends and family, but the other part of me thinks… I’d rather spend that money on stamps. And maybe a honeymoon, but stamps most importantly. Maybe I will end up a crazy cat lady, with a hundred cat stamps and one cat (I’ve discovered that I am not too interested in scooping up after more than one kitty cat every day). But enough about me! Here’s that card I mentioned…

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A Muse Stamps used: Flourish frame, Bride & Groom, Congratulations MA. I saw this Flourish frame on a sample that A Muse sent to The Paperie and I knew I had to have it. The stamp is actually half of a frame so you can make your frame as wide as you like – or use it alone as an accent. Gotta love versatility like that! The Bride & Groom is one of my go-to stamps for almost every wedding card I make.

I am a big worrier when it comes to repeating the same images on cards that are for the same people – that typically won’t happen for a wedding card, but for birthday’s and Christmas it’s nice to know who got what. For the last three years I have promised myself that I would make a book of my stamps so that a) I would know which ones I have (not that I could ever forget, each one is like a child to me) and b) I could record who has received what images.

Basically, the idea is to have an index card for every three stamps with the image/words and name of the stamp on it, then put the name of the people who have received a card using those stamps on the back. I started to make this book once using a 4×6 photo album and I hated it so I gave up. I think the only way is to make one from scratch – I should really get started on it soon because as my stamp collection grows it becomes an even bigger undertaking.

My goodness, I’m rambly today… since the theme of this blog entry is Congratulations, it seems only fitting to congratulate… MYSELF! *hehe* My card for the A Muse “No Coloring Zone” Challenge made it to the A Muse Challenge Round-up on their Blog! YAY! I also had some projects featured over on the AccuCut blog on Thursday – pretty exciting stuff!

I can’t wait to celebrate Thanksgiving with the family tomorrow, this has been such an incredibly wonderful month and I truly do have so much to be thankful for. Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

A muse Instructor Submission

Posted on September 24, 2009 by Driven to Ink

Below you will find pictures of my submissions for the A Muse 2009 Instructor Call (previously unpublished/private).

Update: These are the cards that helped me land a spot on the A Muse Instructor Team back in 2009 – sweet memories.

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Close-up of Zinnia (coloured with Smooch ink):

Close-up of Smooch Ink

For my first card I stamped the Solid Zinnia on a Cabana Blue Square Notecard with Blue Memento Ink. I then embossed an Open Zinnia with silver embossing powder on some watercolour cardstock and coloured it in with the new Pool Smooch Ink from Clearsnap (love that stuff!). I cut out the embossed flower and popped it up on top of the centered solid flower.

Inside of To Go card:

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For my second card I stamped the To Go cup in the center of each circle and stamped a separate cup on a sheet of white cardstock. I then printed a real Starbucks cup off the internet and cut out the logo to adhere to my white To Go cup, which is popped up on the card front with dimensional foam tape. Inside the card is a pocket (made from the orange Gingham paper) to fit a Starbucks gift card.

For my third (and favourite) card I used the woodgrain paper to make a tree and cut out the little Squirrel with Gift to adhere outside the circle. On the original prototype I made the squirrel was on the inside of the card but I liked it better like this. The “tree” is popped up off the Fern green notecard with dimensional foam tape. The inside of the card has a little pile of 9 masked presents but I forgot to take a photo and my batteries died! Doh!

For my final submission, I decided to make a Portfolio of Baby Announcements featuring the Elephant & Baby stamp using the AccuCut Card Portfolio die-cut (highly recommended!). This submissions was actually based on the announcements I gave to my friend as a gift and the cards inside are her actual announcements (Baby Sarah Emily Baird Locke was born on September 17th!).

This gift was a real crowd pleaser at my friend Ally’s shower. I did up two matching portfolios, each with 12 announcements in them (24 total) and I decorated one announcement in each portfolio so she would know what they were going to look like. The elephants on the cards are all cut out of Bo Bunny double dot cardstock and the text was actually printed on the computer. I included a pack of pink photo corners with the gift so she would be able to attach her own chosen photos before sending out the annoucements.

Thanks again for your consideration! I just realized I used foam tape on all of my cards – I guess I just love a little “pop!” – what can I say!?

-Meghan

No Colouring – the sequel!

Posted on September 24, 2009 by Driven to Ink

Here’s another card I made for the A Muse “No Coloring Zone” challenge.

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Ok, even *I* impressed myself with this idea (although I’m pretty easily impressed). I printed off a wintery Starbucks cup from the internet and stamped the “To Go” cup over it, then cut it out and popped it up with dimensional foam tape in the center card. The sentiment is originally all one line on the actual stamp but it didn’t fit as well so I staggered the sentiment by stamping one word at a time.

Here’s another card I made with the same idea, but I cut out the logo from the cup above and adhered it to the plain white cup – unfortunately I did not have the right size circle punch for the logo, but I made do… as you can probably tell, I never use a stamp positioner so my cups aren’t all aligned perfectly.

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I’m kinda sad that the Mod Dots Notecards are discontinued, but the plethora of beautiful new papers coming out definitely makes up for it.

Look for more Blog postings from me in the near future – I have gratefully inherited a laptop of my very own! Watch out Internet – here I come!

No Colouring Zone

Posted on September 21, 2009 by Driven to Ink

A Muse Challenge: No Coloring Zone

I’ve been without a personal computer for the last few months which is why my online activity has been limited, at best. It has been maddening, but now that I’m back in action I thought I would make a card for the latest A Muse challenge over in the A Muse Lounge…

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A Muse Stamps: Elephant & baby, Tiny bird, Little bird told me.

For this card I paper pieced both the Tiny bird and Elephant & baby using A Muse papers. My friend just had her second baby girl on the 17th and I used the Elephant stamp to create her Birth Announcements as well (I’ll post pictures later).

I’ve been trying to come up with a clever Header for my blog – something to match the name, but I have been thus far uninspired. Luckily my friend Marg loaned me all of her A Muse stamp today and I spied the Octopus in there so inspiration might just be an inkpad away…

Birthday Birds

Posted on March 1, 2009 by Driven to Ink

I used a reverse masking technique for this card by punching a 1.25″ circle out of a post-it note (near the sticky side), then stuck the reverse-mask down over each dot one at a time so I could stamp each bird inside of the dot without going outside the lines.

Birthday Birds

Supplies: Hero Arts Decorative Birds, You Hoo Owls, Birthday Messages, Bird Greetings, and Clear Smooth Gemstones (coloured with yellow Sharpie); A Muse Mod Dots Notecard; Tombow Dual Brush Pens; EK Success Circle Punch, Signo White Uni-ball pen; Onyx Black VersaFine Ink

Happy Cupcake Day

Posted on February 20, 2009 by Driven to Ink

I made this card for another Paperie class a few weeks ago – I thought it was a stroke of genius to add some micro beads to the liquid applique before heating it. Then I googled the “liquid applique” + “micro beads” and saw many other bloggers who had the same flash of inspiration. Ah well, I am still waiting for that ONE perfect, original idea to strike. Someday…

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Happy Cupcake Day

Supplies: A Muse Cupcake Builder Set; Marvy Punches and Liquid Applique; Tombow Dual Brush Pens; Stix2 Microbeads; Onyx Black VersaFine Ink; various cardstocks.

Brooklyn's bunny…

Posted on February 5, 2009 by Driven to Ink

More exciting news – I got an honourable mention on the Hero Arts Blog for last week’s Hearts challenge! I made this card for my neice Brooklyn’s 2nd birthday because she loves bunnies.

Happy Birthday Bunny

Supplies: Hero Arts Happy Day Animals, Three Stitched Hearts, Birthday Messages, Celebrate Simple Joy (tiny heart); Signo White Uni-ball Gel pen; Pinecone VersaColor Ink; Frost White Colorbox Pigment Ink; Watercolor Pencils; Kraft cardstock; miscellaneous buttons & ribbon.

to blog or not to blog…

Posted on January 16, 2009 by Driven to Ink

I’m slowly easing into this, maybe I’m overly ambitious to attempt the daunting task of updating two blogs… I also maintain the blog for The Paperie, where I work full-time. Most of the cards seen here have likely appeared on the Paperie blog as well.

Here’s one card I made recently… who says you have to stop making Christmas cards once Christmas is over?

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Supplies: Hero Arts DesignBlock Flourish, Script Writing & sentiment; Basic Grey Winterland (Wreath); X-Mas Red and Lime Green Stickles; Pinecone VersaColor Ink; Spanish Moss & Crimson VersaFine Ink.

I love the technique of using Stickles to colour in the berries and leaves instead of markers or pencil leads. I learned that little trick from an A Muse card sample that was sent to The Paperie.

Partridge in a Pear Tree

Posted on December 15, 2008 by Driven to Ink

When I saw this patterned paper from Basic Grey I knew it would be “peared” perfectly with the Partridge Tree stamp from A Muse.

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Supplies: A Muse Partridge Tree stamp; Hero Arts Peace Holiday Word Border; Basic Grey Offbeat 6×6 Paper Pad; Marvy Punches; Spica Twinkling pens; Golden Star Gelly Roll metallic pen; Onyx Black VersaFine; Brown Tombow Marker

Chubby Bird

Posted on November 29, 2008 by Driven to Ink

I loved this little Chubby Bird stamp from A Muse and was happy to see the stamp appear in a clear set with lots of other cute stamps – the inside of this card reads “Season’s Tweetings” – one of the sayings that came in the set.

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Supplies: A Muse Peace & Cheer Clear stamps and Holly Jolly Christmas MA; A Muse Notecard; Graphite Black, Thyme, & Rocket Red Brilliance Inks; Spica twinkling pens; EK Success Square punch.

Classic Window

Posted on October 27, 2008 by Driven to Ink

I love the Classic Window stamp from A Muse – the options are only limited by your imagination. In the card below I thought it would be funny if this clever Bandit was coming out of the window on Halloween with his loot – what better night to walk around in your burglar garb?

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Supplies: A Muse Classic Window, Bandit, Tiny Pumpkin, and Happy Halloween stamps; Tombow Markers (Purple, Grey, Orange, Black); H20 WaterColour Brush; pencil (to draw “siding”); Onyx Black VersaFine Ink, various cardstock.

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Supplies: A Muse Classic Window; Hero Arts Halloween Stencil Print, Ink’n’Stamp Web & Cat stamps; EK Success Circle Punch; Tombow Markers (Orange, Yellow); H20 WaterColour Brush; Onyx Black VersaFine Ink; VersaMark; ColorBox Tangerine Chalk ink (to ink the moon); Reminisce Holoshimmer patterned paper; various cardstocks.

I'm a winner!!!

Posted on October 23, 2008 by Driven to Ink

Forgive my excitement, but this is the first time I’ve won something I was seriously excited about since the time I won a trip to B.C. back in the twelfth grade…

Check out the Hero Arts Blog today – the Countdown Calendar that I made for a class I taught this past Sunday at The Paperie won FIRST PLACE in the Hero Arts Paper Challenge last week! VERY thrilling, especially considering all of the ridiculously talented folks who submit to the contests.

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Supplies: Karen Foster 8×8 Countdown Calendar; Making Memories Fa La La Patterned Papers; Hero Arts Jolly Christmas ClearDesign Stamps; EK Success Paper Shapers 5/8″ Circle Punch; double sided tape, Basic Grey Precision File Set (to sand edges).

This Calendar can be made in 2 hours or less! All you need to do is cut twenty-five 1.5″ squares out of some patterned paper and adhere the squares to the box. Using double sided paper, like the Making Memories Fa La La collection, will make it even easier to coordinate colours.

Before taping, you should place all of your squares on the surface of the Calendar to plan where each colour will go. Then work on one box at a time, tracing the half circle on the reverse side of each square with pencil so you know exactly where to place your punch. The finger openings are slightly off-center on some of the boxes so tracing is a good way to ensure you have proper paper placement each time.

Once your half circles are punched, adhere the squares to each box and sand the edges with the Basic Grey File kit, using the largest file for the sides and the smaller file for the finger openings. Adhere the number stickers that came with the Calendar to the right corners of each box.

Stamp a few critters from the Hero Arts Jolly Christmas ClearDesign stamp set on Ivory paper, colour, cut out and adhere to some of the boxes, trimming off the excess so the animals appear to be peeking. That’s all there is to it! This project can be used year after year, and if you ever got sick of the colour scheme you could turn the individual boxes around and decorate the other side!

excercising my creative license…

Posted on September 15, 2008 by Driven to Ink

So here is my little corner of the interweb where I hope to kick my creative juices into gear. You would think this would be easy for me, working at a scrapbooking and rubber stamping store, but sometimes I get so overwhelmed by the constant stimuli that I can’t seem to clear my head and just… create. I guess we’ll see what happens!

The Short Story:

I make cards and stationery with ink, stamps, tape and other fun stuff
I love cats, cheesecake, obscure bands and making out like a bandit
I create handmade invitations and assorted stationery for weddings & events

The Long Story:

My name is Meghan and I’m here to stamp.

On my first day of pre-school at a quaint little preschool called Happy Times, I strolled on in with my kitty cat backpack and announced “My name is Meghan and I’m here to paint”. You see, my mom had a hard time convincing me that I would enjoy preschool. In fact, I was very much anti-Happy Times until my clever mama said to me “but Meghan, you get to paint at Happy Times!” She has always known the way to my heart.

A similar situation emerged almost 20 years later in 2003 when my mom invited me to a stamping party. Once again I was having no part of it, not the least bit interested. Mom neglected to mention the possibility of painting this time around, so I stayed home and off she went to make cards. Weeks later I was rummaging through my mother’s desk looking for a pen when I came across pages and pages of neatly stamped, crisp, clean Halloween images. Crayola-ahoy! I was on colouring cloud nine and haven’t looked back.

I’ve long since traded in my Crayolas for Copic Markers, Tombow brush pens, Zig Wink of Stellas, Twinkling H20s, water colour pencils and paints, and every other medium I can get my hands on. Colouring is still the most appealing part of stamping for me and I love it just as much as I did when I was 4.

I can’t promise I will update often, but I hope you’ll check in from time to time.