Oh Yes It's Ladies Night....and I Feel Alright!

Ok, so Ladies Night was actually almost two months ago.  I actually thought I had posted these cards, but much to my surprise, I hadn't.  Ooopsy.  Anyway, now that I'm a married woman again I thought it would be fun to have a monthly Ladies Night to get together and do girly stuff.  I was the host of the first event and decided to share my card making talents with the group.  Most of the ladies are crafty, either involved in cardmaking or scrapbooking, but others were strictly quilters, painters, etc.

To make things easy as pie, I cut all the pieces so that all we had to do was stamp, trim, and glue to complete the cards.  It was a super fun time!  Of course, lots of yummy snacks, a couple bottles of wine, and great conversation helped too!  Here's the low-down on the cards....

Card #1

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE this donut set?!  Seriously, too adorable.  And the sayings?  Fabulous!

Anyway, for this card, we kept it simple but had fun coloring.  Seriously, coloring with Copics is super relaxing.  I did my Christmas cards two years ago with Santas that I hand-colored.  I thought it would be exhausting and boring.  Not so much.  It was kind of like going back in time to Kindergarten and using markers in a coloring book. Loved it!  Anyway, I showed them how to create subtle shading.  Everyone was impressed at how "professional" the coloring looked.  Copics are 'da bomb'!

Card #2

This one was probably the fan favorite.  I had this one all done actually.  (SCORE!)  It was supposed to be one of the cards for my class at the 2014 Stampede, but I got the stomach flu (um, gross) the morning off the event and couldn't teach my class or man my booth.  It was a sad day.  I did have all the kits made up though.  This card is so neat because you can cater it to any supplies you have on hand or to the favorite colors of the recipient.  I chose black, white and silver with the thought that it would be a great card for a guy or an over-the-hill party.  The stripe-y background is just various washi tapes placed over a white piece of cardstock.  You can wrap the excess tape around the back or cut it off carefully as you go.  The candles are a paper straw cut into pieces.  It's roughly one straw trimmed into thirds.  To create the flames, I used a leaf diecut, but you could easily freehand these.

Card #3

There are THREE, count them, THREE awesome coffee stamps in this year's A Muse Studio Catalog.  NO WAY!  I am a collector of all things coffee...and I drink it, religiously.

Do you see that saying?  I like big cups and I cannot lie.  How awesome is that!?!?  It was very difficult choosing which set to use, but I knew I wanted a cozy coffee card.  I decided on the big cup set, "Perk Up".  I have the matching dies (yes, dies that PERFECTLY cut the stamped image!) and I thought cutting the sleeve for the coffee cup in the limited edition cherry felt.  Then I tied a piece of twine around it for an added touch of cuteness.  To stamp the dotted circle, I used the "kiss" technique.  It's actually pretty easy.  You just need a patterned stamp and a solid stamp.  Here, I used a block stamp with big polka dots and a smaller solid circle stamp.  You ink up the patterned stamp then "kiss" the dry solid stamp against it, being careful not to smudge/slide the stamps against one another.  Take the solid stamp away and you will have transferred the pattern.  Huff to re-wet the ink and stamp away.  To make this card a little more fun, I used the gift card holder die so that this would make the ideal Starbucks or Dunkin' Donuts card!

 Note: This die will work in many of the standard die-cut machines...Big Shot, Sizzix, Cuttlebug, or Grand Calibur.  It fits inside a Bar 4 size card and larger.

Card #4

I really can't take much credit on this one.  I say the design idea on Pinterest and knew it would make a great CASE (copy and share everything) card.  Mine is a little different, but not much.  I just liked the stamp set and thought it would make a super cute and quick card.  Another fun saying in the set, "You Rock" fits equally well in the space utilized on the front for the salutation.  

I hope you enjoyed seeing our creations.  Thanks for stopping!   Happy crafting!

And don't forget, if you LOVE the products used, you can buy anytime at my website...www.amusestudio.com/lauraleland.  Thanks!