House Mouse & Friends Monday Challenge

Good Morning House Mouse Lovers! It's time for another challenge :)

House Mouse & Friends Challenge #53: Buttons

This week use buttons on your project. Thanks Patricia Rose for this great idea! Check out the HM Challenge Blog to see what the design team has come up with for inspiration.

I have yet ANOTHER Halloween card to share with you. :) I just can't get enough of Halloween this year. Isn't that mouse SO CUTE in those purple wings!! And those are black Swarvoski Crystals on top of the antennas. Nuttin' but the best for the mice. hee hee. I also used my wonderful Janome sewing machine. Yes...REAL sewing on this one! My card layout is from Splitcoaststampers Sketch Challenge #246. I colored with my favorite method -- Prismacolor Pencils & Gamsol. BUT...I added something MORE this time. Read on :)

These next 2 pics...you MUST click on them to zoom in. I used some NEW FALL colors of SHIMMERZ -- along with some other colors I already had. HELLO!! These new colors are TO. DIE.FOR! On the wings I used the new Vintage Wine and Angel Wings. Angel Wings is not new...but it's a MUST HAVE! Vintage Wine is toward the center of the wings...Angel Wings on the lighter outer edges. The pumpkin is painted with a color that is no longer available -- Beeswax -- which is why you gotta get those limited edition colors when they are available!! ;)


This next picture I used new Shimmerz Spritz colors. This is the first time I've tried the Spritz. Let me tell you...this stuff is KILLER! So fantastic I had to show you the before and after pics. I sprayed the new Licorice on a Slate note card from A Muse (new from A Muse Artstamps) OH MY!!! LOOK AT HOW FANTASTIC IT IS!! I about fell out of my chair when I saw how this turned out! Then...I used the new Treasured Hymn Spritz on a Paprika note card from A Muse (yet another new note card color from A Muse Artstamps). THUD!!!!! LOOK AT IT! I seriously want to spray EVERYTHING!! YEAH BABY! They even have Spritz Miniz! Yep...1oz spray bottles. Git-er-done!



Here's the 2 note cards before I sprayed on Spritz.



Last but not least...the inside of my card :)



Well...whatcha think? Could you feel my excitement?!! LOL!

I hope you have a chance to do the challenge with us. Remember...it's now every 2 weeks...so you have plenty of time to git-er-done. And I know you all have buttons stuck in a jar somewhere just waiting to be used :)

Recipe:
Stamps - House-Mouse Designs Halloween Clear Set
Paper - Neenah Classic Crest Solar White; Karen Foster Magic Nights; Bazzill Raven; A Muse Artstamps Slate & Paprika Solid 4-bar Notes
Ink - A Muse Artstamps Black Dye Ink, Vivid! Purple & Butterscotch
Misc. - Prismacolor Pencils; Gamsol OMS; Blending Stumps; A Muse Artstamps Black Sheer Dots Ribbon; Shimmering Products Shimmerz Vintage Wine, Beeswax & Angel Wings, Shimmerz Spritz Licorice & Treasured Hynm; Swarvoski Black Rhinstones; Button from stash; JoAnn Rub-ons; Janome Sew Mini Machine; Dimensional Foam Tape

Fall Cooking

A Family Tradition

When Fall comes around that means it's time to make the Caramel Corn. I made my first batch Wednesday...and it was gone by Thursday afternoon!! Soooo...I gotta make another batch today :) I KNOW what you are thinkin'....you're thinkin' MAN THOSE PEOPLE CAN EAT! LOL!!! Well...ACTUALLY we shared it. Michaela took a bag to her teacher and I shared some with my class yesterday. So we really didn't eat ALL of it -- only half!!

I'm picky about a couple of the ingredients....

Don't look!!! Naked Popcorn!!

The magic begins...

About an hour later it's time to dig in!

Now THAT'S a BIG bowl of happiness :)


Would you like to make some?

Caramel Corn

6 Quarts of Popped Popcorn

1 Stick Butter

1/2 C Corn Syrup

2 C Brown Sugar

1 tsp Salt

1 tsp Vanilla

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

Melt butter in pan. Add Corn Syrup, Brown Sugar & Salt. Stir constantly over medium heat until boils. Boil 5 minutes longer without stirring. Remove from heat. Stir in Vanilla & Baking Soda. Pour over popcorn and toss. Pour into 2 shallow pans cook at 200 deg. for 1 hour. While cooking stir about every 15 minutes. Cool and store in airtight containers.

===========================
Lori's tips:

Make sure you don't get ANY unpopped kernels mixed in!! That's a big no no! I pop my popcorn with an air popper. To measure my popped popcorn...I use a 2 quart drink pitcher -- fill it 3 times and you have 6 quarts :) I put the popped popcorn in one of those big throw away aluminum turkey roasting pans. Then I just wash it out and save it for next time. I use light corn syrup and light brown sugar. I cook the caramel in a non-stick pot and stir with a wooden spoon. If it seems like it's taking a long time for the sauce to start boiling...turn up the heat just a little more. Then when it's boiling...make sure it's not a hard boil because it might scorch the sauce. Always keep stirring until it's boiling! I usually turn down the heat to medium for the 5 minute boil time. I use 2 cookie sheets to pour the caramel corn on to cook in the oven. After it's cooked for 1 hour I take a chunk out and let it cool - then eat it to make sure it's crisp enough. It only takes a few minutes for it to cool...so I leave the caramel corn in the oven till I decide. If it's not crispy enough...I just give it another stir and another 15 minutes.

A Muse Pajama Party Challenge #4

Here's the last challenge for the A Muse Lounge Fall Pajama Party.

Challenge #4: Hosted by Rhonda. Create a Thank You card.

This card was so quick & easy.
Taking the picture and posting to my blog - not quick & easy!

I inked the Retro Rectangle stamp with light purple...then edged it with a darker purple. Had to keep with the Halloween colors ya know! :) This card is really sparkly. Green glitter around the edge of the green layer -- black glitter around the edge of the slate layer -- crystal glitter around the edge of the sentiment layer -- and crystal Twinkle Stickers! Oh yeah baby!! I'm thinkin' maybe I might add a little black cat in there somewhere...or a witches hat.

If you were not able to join us for the party - maybe next time you can. It's really fun. FAST...but fun! And did you know there are gonna be prizes for each challenge!!! Yep...1 name will be drawn from each challenge and will receive a prize direct from A Muse.

All stamps, papers and stickers from A Muse.

A Muse Fall Pajama Party Continued

Last night was the Fall Pajama Party over on the A Muse Lounge. I managed to whip out 2 cards and get the pics loaded as the challenges were being posted. Then I got side tracked when my hubby came home with pizza! LOL

No problem...cause we have till tonight 8 pm Pacific time to get the challenges done and posted. So today I did the last 2.

Challenge #3: Hosted by Geeta. Create a card based on your favorite TV show/series starting up this fall.

Since I don't watch much TV -- this was really hard for me to think of something. I love the Food Network. The other night I was watching Ace of Cakes...so that's the TV show I went with for my card.

The party is Fall Themed - so I went with fun Halloween colors and accents. The cupcakes are colored with Copics and the sprinkles are covered with black glitter.

Something VERY rare for me is to hand write on my cards. I do NOT like my handwriting!! But....I really wanted "Ace of Cakes" on my card....so I went for it. OK OK OK...I admit...it took me like 8 times to get it good enough! ha! I guess it works :) I really did get this card done in the 30 minutes. Writing the sentiment took the longest!

All stamps, papers and ribbon from A Muse.

Challenge #2

Time for the second challenge of the night. Hosted by Jen Daloisio, the challenge is to make a card using Fall colors.

I embossed each leaf. You probably can't see it...but I used green embossing powder on 1 leaf and brown on the other.

The sentiment is glittered using the A Muse Simple Stick Powder. I LOVE THAT STUFF!!

Moving on to Challenge #3. I'm SO BEHIND! EEEKK!!!

All stamps, papers and ribbons from A Muse.

Fall Pajama Party at the Lounge

It's party time over at the A Muse Lounge!

This is a fun way to create A Muse's signature style "Think Simple. Think A Muse." 30 minutes to create each challenge. Funny thing for me...but it takes me longer to take a picture of my project and get it posted than it does to make the challenge!

Challenge #1

Hosted by Jennie - make a card inspired by our favorite Halloween candy.

Since I love all candy -- I decided to make a cute and quick treat bag to stuff full of sweets. Now I just gotta go get some Halloween candy to put in it! ha ha

I used the new Candy Corn stamp and the new Eat at your own risk stamp. Colored the candy corns with Copic Markers and added Spica Glitter Pens over the top. Then cut out and glued around the circle.

Now off to check out Challenge #2!

All stamps, paper, ribbon from A Muse.

House Mouse & Friends Monday Challenge

Today is our 52nd HM & Friends Challenge. That's a LOT of challenges! Have you noticed on the HM Challenge blog there are 287 followers! WOW! I hope you have enjoyed each challenge...and have found time to play with your HM stamps.

Important News - Challenges are now going to be posted every other Monday instead of every Monday - starting today. 2 weeks to get a challenge completed....you can handle that...right?! LOL ;) So when is the next challenge? Monday September 28th.

House Mouse & Friends Challenge #52: A Year-In-Review

Choose from any of our past challenges and create a new project. Make sure you let us know which one you pick! But wait...hold on to your tails...we have a sponsor this week!! YIPPEE! Wait till you see all the stash up for grabs!!!

Get all the details HERE.

Now......on to my card. I picked Challenge #30 - make a shaped card. I had this idea of creating a tombstone shaped Halloween card - so the shaped card challenge worked perfect. What a cool lookin' bat that mouse makes.

The gray cardstock is embossed with a Cuttlebug folder and then sanded off. I lined up the folder so the skull was right up there on top! OH YEAH...that is perfect! I also added little black Twinkle Stickers in the eyes of the skull. Check out that cool fence at the bottom ;) Since I don't have a fence border punch *gasp!* I created my own.

Take a closer look at that mouse...

Those wings are covered with Sugar Plum Shimmerz Paint. Soooooo shimmery! I also used a clear glaze pen on the eye.

Open up the card to find a bunch of bones. Imagine that! LOL!


Recipe:
Stamps - House-Mouse Designs Halloween Clear Set; Inkadinkado Spider and Web; SU Haunting Halloween
Paper - Papertrey Ink White CS; Bazzill BlackCS; DCWV Fall Stack CS; Bo Bunny Press Dem Bones patterned paper;
Ink - A Muse Artstamps Black Dye Ink;
Misc. - Prismacolor Pencils & Gamsol; A Muse Artstamps Black Twinkle Stickers; purple rhinestones from stash; Shimmerz Paint Sugar Plum Paint; Tim Holtz Mini screw brads; Cuttlebug Embossing Folder; Sizzix Tag Super Scallop; Die Cute machine; Crystal Effects; Dimensional Foam Tape; Sanding Block; Black Micron Pen; EK Success Bat Border Punch; Sakura Clear Glaze Pen

An Apple for the Teacher

Back To School - A Muse Style

It's official....school is now in session. I wonder how many teachers have apples sitting on their desks? Better yet...an apple AND a piece of chocolate. ;) I decided to make a fun teacher card today. After all.....I have these fun new images from the A Muse Back to School Release that NEEDED to be played with. :)



I REALLY love how this turned out. I stamped the Solid Apple with Versamark and then applied Simple Stick to adhere the red glitter. Now that's one sparkly apple!



Recipe:
Stamps - A Muse Artstamps School Time Set, Solid Apple
Paper - A Muse Artstamps Papaya Yellow 4-bar note cards, Bazzill Red & Black Cardstock, White Cardstock
Ink - A Muse Artstamps Black Dye Ink; Clearsnap ColorBox Chalk Yellow Ochre; Tsukineko Versamark
Misc - A Muse Artstamps Simple Stick; A Muse Artstamps Papaya Yellow Polka Dot Ribbon; Art Glitter True Red; EK Success 1 3/4" Circle Punch; Marvy Uchida Circle Punch and Scalloped Circle Punch; Copic Markers R22, R29 & YG17; Heat Embossing Tool; Paper Piercing Tool; Dimensional Tape

House Mouse & Friends Monday Challenge

The House Mouse Mash

I was working in the craft room late one night

when my eyes beheld an eerie sight

for a mouse from my card began to rise

and suddenly to my surprise

He did the mash

He did the House Mouse mash

The House Mouse mash

It was a craft room smash

He did the mash

It caught on in a flash

He did the mash

He did the House Mouse mash

I'm sure you all remember that song...well...maybe not my version. Sooooo...what's that song have to do with my card? It's based on this weeks House Mouse challenge - Song Title/Lyrics. Get all the challenge details and see the design team samples HERE.

I picked The Monster Mash. That song always brings back memories of Halloween when I was a kid. I remember how cool it was back in the day. ha! Since it reminds me of Halloween...I made a Halloween card.



I used black Flower Soft under my little mouse ghost. After I sprinkled on the Flower Soft, I sprinkled ultrafine Black Glitter all over it. The glitter sticks to all the Flower Soft glue that's still exposed and covers it up. Looks SO COOL.



This is the inside. The sentiment and the ghost mouse are from the same House Mouse Halloween clear set. Then I stamped a spider and drew a little line to make him hang.



I got the layout for my card from this weeks Card Sketch Challenge over on Splitcoast Stampers. See Sketch Challenge 244 details HERE.

Recipe:
Stamps - House-Mouse Designs Halloween Clear Set; Inkadinkado Spider

Paper: Bazzill CS; DCWV Fall Stack CS; SU CS; White CS; Around the Block patterned paper; Hot Off the Press Patterned paper
Ink: A Muse Artstamps Black Dye Ink; Colorbox Pigment Ink; Versafine Black

Misc. - Copic Markers; Martha Stewart Bats Corner Punch; Stampendous White Embossing Powder; Smooch; Flower Soft; Martha Stewart Glitter; A Muse Artstamps Twinkle Stickers; Dimensionals; Crystal Effects; SU Twine; Sanding Block; Black Micron Pen; Embossing Heat Gun

House Mouse & Friends Monday Challenge Blog HERE.

House-Mouse Designs Official Website HERE.
Tips on how you can easily color the House-Mouse Stamp Images HERE

Genius in Training

Simply Scrappin' with A Muse.

I was playing around with the new Back to School goodies from A Muse and this is what I came up with. I had this idea about creating a 6x6 book having 1 page for each school year. I always seem to have bunches of wallet pics left over from school pictures...so this size page is perfect! OH YEAH...this is cool!



The main picture layer is popped up on foam tape...and so is the Genius in training layer.

Recipe:
Stamps - A Muse Artstamps School Time Set, Birthday Builder Set
Paper - A Muse Artstamps White Cardstock, Lined Cardstock, Black Gingham Cardstock; Bazzill Red Cardstock
Ink - A Muse Artstamps Black Dye Ink; Clearsnap ColorBox Chalk Amber Clay, Lipstick Red, Olive Pastel, Charcoal
Misc -EK Success Small Brackets Punch; Sakura Quickie Glue Pen; Black Brads; Small Hold Punch; Foam Dimensional Tape