a|s blog hop

My team is having another blog hop today!

Leave a comment on any or all of the blogs in the hop and win the sentiment set used above, thank you mix! I'll randomly draw a winner on Friday, May 6th. U.S. only, please.

YOUR NEXT STOP ON THE HOP ----> KATHY HATZKE

Kathy Hatzke - http://www.kathatstamps.blogspot.com/
Kelly Spivey - http://www.southpawpaperarts.com/
Liane Vigil - http://www.llamatales.blogspot.com/
Lisa Wakabayashi - http://www.dragonfliesandcats.blogspot.com/
Lesa Wolfe - http://www.thepaperpundit.blogspot.com/
Veronica Zalis - http://www.lk2thestarz.blogspot.com/
Kari Bell - http://www.karikards.blogspot.com/

This is a super-quick card, perfect if you need to make several. When I was pregnant, I made a up stack of thank you cards ahead of time, because people are always bringing you gifts or food or whatever. Sending someone a handmade thank you right after you just have a baby makes you look like super-mom who has it all together. They didn't need to know that I was probably wearing the same pajamas for three days in a row. lol! Anyway, a stack of cards is a thoughtful gift for a bride or mom-to-be. :)

I used all as products, available in my store:
Stamps: damask greetings, thank you mix
Paper: sugar, damask bubblegum
Ink: onyx, blush
Other: onyx sheer organdy ribbon

Random review - Mt. Rainier getaway

Hello! I hope you guys had a fun Easter weekend, we definitely did! I love a weekend getaway..LOVE. It's one of my favorite things. We stayed in a cabin just outside Mt. Rainier National Park and went on the Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad Easter Bunny train.

First, the cabin. We really like Three Bears Lodge. They have four properties in the Mt. Rainier area. Their cabins are clean, comfy, and well stocked. We've stayed at the Lazy Creekside cabin before, it is so charming and cozy. I'll absolutely rent that again...off season. It's expensive. :) It's one of the nicest vacation rentals I've ever stayed it, maybe even my favorite. They really went over the top on the cabin theme, everything has a fish or a bear on it, but it's done in a good way. This time around, it was just our family, so we opted for the Little Bear cabin. It was very clean and well stocked, just as I had expected. It doesn't have the cabin feel of the creekside property, but it had everything you need. They have a nice hot tub, and a good selection of books and movies. I didn't take a lot of pictures of the cabin, but it's comfortable. We did a lot of lounging:

Our big "event" for this trip was the Easter Bunny train offered by the Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad. The kids had never been on a train, nor had I, so this sounded fun. I think this was their first event of the year, they were running a bit behind, close to an hour. That got rough with a line full of antsy children, but we got through it. Everyone was very nice and took lots of pics, including this one:

We started off in a closed car and it was a lot like riding the bus, to be honest. It's an old train, the windows don't stay up, it's dingy, you know. It was an absolutely beautiful day, amazing weather, and we were shocked to find empty seats outside! You know, right behind the thing that spews the billows of black smoke and makes you feel guilty because the day before was earth day and your kids are breathing known carcinogens:

Choo! Choo! *cough-cough*

The top speed is only like 15mph, so you're not being whipped in the wind when you're outside, it's really lovely and the only way to experience the train, imo. This ride included a stop with an egg hunt and Easter Bunny visit. It was cute, but not that memorable. One thing that was curious was a large pile of wooden stakes in the little kid egg hunt area. They were covered in splinters and had screws sticking out. Maybe they have a vampire problem there. *shrug* Obviously, that's what every toddler boy wanted to play with, and Tuffy nearly got clobbered with one, so we peaced out and got back on the train.

Choo! Choo!

Our rental had a nice kitchen, so we opted to cook all of our meals except for one. We stopped for lunch at a nearby restaurant. We didn't let the tumbleweeds rolling through the parking lot deter us. Outside the front door, there was a man struggling with and swearing at a large, inflatable bunny. When we went in, I discovered that he would also be our server and chef. I got the feeling this wasn't the kind of place that went in for high-falutin' stuff like safe food handling practices and hand warshin', so we opted for fried food all around!

This is a 100% candid photo I took of Jesse at lunch, it sums it up nicely:

My fish sticks had extra stinky fish flavor, and what appeared to be a long, white cat hair garnish. I didn't mind so much, because I had just finished this thing:

*hiccup!*

On our way home, I swear to you, there was a pug outside the restaurant who did his best to hoist his fat body into our car. I thought I heard him yelp "Heelllp meeee".

So, that was our trip!

a muse studio - celebrate in style

I took the super-elegant chandelier from the celebrate in style set and paired it with polka-dots to make this fun and funky blank greeting.

Have a great day!

All products by a muse studio:

Stamps: celebrate in style, darling dots background

Paper: vanilla, slate, blush

Ink: versamark, apricot

Other: onyx embossing powder, onyx satin ribbon

a muse studio - foiled again!

I'm not a fan of moustaches, unless they're of the paper variety, then I love them! This 'stache is extra fun because it's covered in black flock to make it soft and fuzzy! :)

Thanks for stopping by today!

All products by a muse studio:
Stamps: foiled again!, woodgrain background, swanky backgrounds
Paper: kraft, nutmeg, vanilla, slate
Ink: wheat, versamark, onyx
Other: white embossing powder, vanilla twine, onyx flock

a|s blog hop!

You're not lost, this is still Cupcake Martini! I decided to start spring with a new look and a new domain. My blog is now CleanAndSimpleCards.com. I want to give a huge shout out to Missy Ballance for the super cute new banner!

On to the hop! Twelve awesome ladies signed up to be consultants in my team last month and some of us decided to have a team blog hop!

I'm offering a prize for this hop, a $20 gift certificate to my A Muse web store. To win, just comment on one or all of the blogs in this hop. I'll randomly select one blog and then one winner on April 5th. Please note, you must have a U.S. shipping address to win.

Next Hop Stop - Kelly at South Paw Paper Arts

If you get lost, here is the complete list:

Krystie - You are here! CleanAndSimpleCards.com
Kelly- http://www.southpawpaperarts.com/
Lianne - http://www.llamatales.blogspot.com/
Kari - http://www.karikards.blogspot.com/
Lisa C. - http://www.piesafepapergoods.blogspot.com/
Lesa - http://www.thepaperpundit.blogspot.com/
Lisa W. - http://dragonfliesandcats.blogspot.com/
Kathy - http://www.kathatstamps.blogspot.com/

About my card:

I made this for my sweet BFF, Amanda!

All products by A Muse Stamps: Handscripted, Beautiful Botanicals II Paper: sugar, orange gingham, cranberry Ink: lichen, apricot, orange, onyx Accessories: cherry stitched grosgrain, butterfly die, micro-dot red twinkle stickers

p.s. My webstore went live today, feel free to get your shop on! Remember my loyalty program. I track all of your orders placed in my store and when the combined total before tax & shipping reaches $200, you get $20 in free product! That's on top of hostess benefits or any other specials! ;)

I'll be back tomorrow with something fun!

(Sorry in advance if the formatting is wonky on this post. Blogger is being difficult today!)

The winner is....

The winner of the giveaway is Lesa from The Paper Pundit! Congratulations, Lesa! Your goodies are on the way!

A Muse Ink

I'm hearing great feedback about the new A Muse studio ink. I know that I love it, but it's nice to hear it get rave reviews around the web. Did you see that it got the Paperlicous stamp of approval? :)

I really want to give you a chance to try this ink, so....

• If you are one of the next five people who purchase a catalog from me, I'll throw in a free inkpad for you to try. (The color will be randomly chosen.)
• If you place an order of $50* or more with me this week, I'll add an inkpad in the color of your choosing for free.

*amount before tax and shipping

Have a colorful day!

Giveaway!

***This giveaway is closed, congratulations to The Paper Pundit for winning!***

I wanted to have a little giveaway with some of my new A Muse Studio goodies. St. Patrick's Day is next week, so I thought I'd go green!

Leave a comment on this post and I'll choose a random winner on St. Patrick's Day!

Thanks to everyone who has contacted me since the launch of A Muse Studio. My team is really growing and it's so exciting! I've had SO many questions about becoming a consultant, I've added a F.A.Q. to my sidebar. This will give you an overview, but please e-mail me at krystie.hammer@gmail.com with any other questions.

Have a great weekend!

More A Muse details.....

Hi guys!

The new A Muse Studio catalog is now online! Yay! Check it out and let me know what you think!

There is one thing that I want to mention, because it was a big consideration in my decision to join as an A Muse Studio consultant, and I've heard a lot of questions about it. Consultants are NOT restricted from being on stamping design teams, linking to your friends' blogs, even if they represent other companies, linking to stores you like, or anything like that. The only restriction is that you cannot design for, represent, or promote another home-party based stamp company. If you want to do Pampered Chef, or Mary Kay, or any other home-party companies that aren't stamp-related, that's fine.

Have a great day! :)

FINALLY! A Muse Studio is here!

*DEEP BREATH*

Wow, I have been waiting to write this post for months!

Here's what's up with A Muse, they have changed their business model. Instead of selling through retail stores, they'll now be a catalog / home party based business, selling through consultants.

Super exciting fact #1 - I contributed to the new catalog! Eek! This was so thrilling for me, and a little terrifying, too. I think the catalog is beautiful and I hope you will, too!

Super exciting fact #2 - I've signed up to be a consultant!

For customers- I want to reward your repeat business with me. I'll track all of your orders with me, when the combined total reaches $200 before tax and shipping, you'll get to choose $20 in product on me!

For consultants- I look forward to supporting my downline. I know how important it is to have great samples to show your customers, so I want to help you with that! Each quarter, I'll send you five new samples to display or use to plan your events. If you're just joining to take advantage of the $99 starter kit deal, that's ok! You can use them for your own inspiration, send them to your Grandma and pass them off as your own, whatev!

***Important! You can sign up as a consultant online, but to be in my downline, I need to notify them, so make sure you let me know if you want to be in my group!***

Here's a little sneak of the first five samples my downline will receive, I'll pop these in the mail as soon as you sign up with me!

Sooo...if you want to sign up as a consultant, order a catalog, place an order, ask a question...e-mail me at krystie.hammer@gmail.com!

I'll be back tomorrow with more details on the new products and the projects above! :)

Glenda's 100th Challenge!

Please excuse the horrid picture. I lost my camera battery and had to take this pic, at night, with my iphone. No need to watermark this one, nobody is trying to steal this hot mess! :D

Glenda at Rock, Paper, Scissors is celebrating her 100th weekly challenge! I love her challenges and am excited to help her celebrate!

The challenge for this card was simple, just use red somewhere on your project.

Glenda is offering a chance to win some blog candy to those participating in this challenge, so I hope you'll play along! Make sure you link to your project on her blog and/or use keyword GRAC100 if you upload to an online gallery.

Congrats, Glenda, thanks for all of the fun challenges!

Check out the rest of the peeps helping Glenda celebrate:

Allison Fillo http://stampinwhenican.blogspot.com/
Allison Miles http://allistamps.blogspot.com/
Beate Johns http://beate.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/
Belinda Chang Langner http://cadnileb.blogspot.com
Carly Robertson http://carlyrobertson.typepad.com/
Cheiron Brandon http://www.cheironbrandon.typepad.com/
Chris Sather http://cattsscratchingpost.blogspot.com/
Dawn Stein http://www.lavendergiraffe.blogspot.com/
Donna Hitz http://www.frozenstamper.blogspot.com/
Elena Shacochis http://thestampingshac.blogspot.com/
Geeta Suggs http://www.craftyengineer.typepad.com/
Jenn Shurkus http://jennshurkus.typepad.com/creative_chick/
Jennie Moczan http://www.simplycaffeinated.typepad.com/
Jill Grace (& family) http://creativegrace.typepad.com/
Joan Jeffery http://www.j-jcreations.blogspot.com/
June Gibbons http://perfectlikeacurl.blogspot.com/
Kamila Younkman http://littlescrapsofheaven.typepad.com/
Meghan Fahey http://driventoink.com/
Michelle Clark http://www.sparkledesigns.typepad.com/
Michelle Mathey http://msmathey.blogspot.com/
Michelle Woerner http://stopandstamptheroses.blogspot.com
Nance Lempinen-Leedy http://nanceleedy.blogspot.com/
Sherry Czarnecki http://littlestampsbiglife.blogspot.com/
Silke Ledlow http://silkeledlow.blogspot.com/
Teresa Kline http://www.enjoythevasunshine.blogspot.com

Stamps: Queen Anne's Lace, Big Bl, Friends blossom, all by A Muse.

Let's talk child leashes...

Before I had kids, I had lots of great ideas and opinions about child-rearing. Then I *had* kids and now I laugh at how stupid and clueless I was.

One of those opinions was thinking that child harnesses were horrible. I recently bought one from Amazon and I am IN LOVE, people.

I never bought one with my daughter. I only had one child. But now we have two, and one is a toddler. FACT: When in public, siblings are unable to run in the same direction. You are forced to pick your favorite child and just chase that one.

We took a flight over the holidays and I was very nervous about the airport. Brandt (Tuffy) just turned two and, like most toddlers, he can be wild and willful. We'll be holding hands and walking along, something will catch his eye and he'll just bolt. I couldn't have that in the crowded airport when I have luggage and whatnot.

I decided to try the harness and it was awesome! I didn't walk him like a dog the whole time. I would hold his hand, but I'd hold the leash, too, as an insurance policy. It actually gave him more freedom, because when we were standing around, he could let go of my hand and walk a few feet to touch something or play with his sister. There wasn't one tantrum in either airport!

We used it at the zoo today, which is the picture above. I liked having it when we were near stairs or drop-offs, and to keep him from tearing down the icy pathways.

I was prepared for sneers or rude comments, because I'd heard horror stories from other moms who have used these, but didn't get either. In fact, a couple of moms stopped to ask where they could get one.

Haters gon' hate, but I think this is one of the best inventions ever!

Christmas Cards

Stamps Used: Wreath and Berries and Vintage Merry Christmas

Hello! Wow, it's been so long since I blogged. Last time, I talked about how I was going to blog more frequently. I swear, every time I say that, it's the kiss of death and I don't blog for months! hehe!

The card above was featured as A Muse's card of the week! You only see these on the A Muse newsletter, you can subscribe to that HERE. A Muse is also on Facebook!

If you missed the newsletter, they announced a sale, 50% off holiday stamps! Nice, right?!

I wanted to show you a few of my favorite holiday images and give you some last minute card ideas if needed.



Stamps: Christmas Tree and Happy Holidays



Stamps: Elegant Pinecone and Evergreen Branch

Obviously, I made this for Thanksgiving, but I think it would be lovely for Christmas, as well. Maybe add a little snow to the pine cone? Gorgeous!

Warm holiday wishes to all of you who are kind enough to stop by my humble little blog! Thank you!

WCMD!

Hi guys! I hope you had a great weekend, especially since it was WCMD (World Card Making Day)! woot-woot! :)

There were so many awesome challenges out there this past weekend, I just had to jump in and participate in a few.

Both cards use stamps by Technique Tuesday. I just got a few of their stamps the other day and have been wanting to ink them up.

The cards are pretty straightforward. I paper pieced the flowers for dimension and added twinkle stickers. I didn't have a large, yellow twinkle, so I colored a clear one with a Copic marker.



This card used:
Spiro Garden by Technique Tuesday
Verbose by Technique Tuesday
Twinkle stickers by A Muse
Fresh Ink by Impress
Sheer white polka dot ribbon by A Muse

Made for these challenges:
HYCCT03- Splitcoast - Unsentimental hosted by Joan (Paperlicious)
TTWCMD - Technique Tuesday (on SCS) - Markers
TTWCMD2 - Technique Tuesday (on SCS) - Participate in any SCS WCMD challenge
TTWCMD1 - Technique Tuesday (on SCS) - Use TT stamps
Paper Crafts Connection - Upload your WCMD projects

I did a little sewing on my next card. I finally got the Janome Sew Mini up and running! Thanks to GinaK for her great tutorials on this machine! Even with the sewing and the precision cutting, this was a 10 minute card.



This card used:
Autumn Afternoons by Ali Edwards
Polka-dot paper by Bo Bunny (I think?)
Sewing
Fresh Ink by Impress

Made for these challenges:
HYCCT03- Splitcoast - Unsentimental hosted by Joan (Paperlicious)
TTSCS5 - Technique Tuesday (on SCS) - Ali Edwards Stamps
TTWCMD2 - Technique Tuesday (on SCS) - Participate in any SCS WCMD challenge
TTWCMD1 - Technique Tuesday (on SCS) - Use TT stamps
Paper Crafts Connection - Upload your WCMD projects

I hope you had time to participate in some challenges, too. Have a great week!

You are my sunshine

I used the You Are My Sunshine stamp set by Green Grass Stamps.

I needed a little more sunshine when I took this picture, it was really dark and dreary!

Happy Thursday, have a great day!