Guest Designer - September 2007

by Julie Ebersole

When Linda invited me to write about the newest A Muse Guest Designer, I was so tickled--I love having a chance to look at others' clever A Muse creations up close and personal.  And, so, I am rather excited to be introducing you to Lexi Daly!  Lexi and her family live in New Orleans!  Over the last 8 years Lexi has operated a small business herself, from home, designing custom hand-stamped or digital stationary and greeting cards!  She is also a super party planner--you've just got to spend some time in the "theme parties" gallery at her blog: Confetti! The spa CAKE will blow your mind!

Hi! My name is Lexi Daly.  I'm beyond excited to be the A Muse guest designer this month!  I've been stamping for about 8 years, but only recently found A Muse.  I got hooked on blogging through Paper-Trufflez.com and Stamping Scoops and fell in love with everything A Muse thanks to Julie's and Emily's wonderful creations.  From there, I found Linda's blog and those of the rest of the design team and I was even more hooked.  But, it was the A *Muse*A*Palooza blog challenges that truly turned me into a junkie!  When I saw Linda's post a while back about being guest designer, I responded immediately--actually I had to respond twice because I hit send too fast!  It was late and I was about to go to bed, when my new email "pop'd"  with a response--needless to say, I had trouble getting to sleep that night despite the time and the exhaustion I'd felt only minutes before!

Choosing my stamps was tough, but, getting the box of goodies was a lot like Christmas. It was also a little like Halloween--scary!  I had to just lay it all out and stare at it at first.  How to begin?  Would my designs measure up?  I'm not an insecure stamper--I like my work.  But everyone likes something different and I'm following behind some really great stampers here. And there are more out there sharing their work, too.  Finally, jumping in seemed to be the best route and things just took off from there.  Having newly released stamps and two of my favorite holidays to focus on made my job much easier!  To conserve my A Muse mojo while working on my cards, I held back from posting A Muse designs on my blog, surfing  and commenting on Splitcoaststampers.com and playing the challenges on the new "amuseaddicts" yahoo group, but you can bet I'll be getting back to all of that soon!  I hope you find something in my work that inspires you, cause that's what it's all about.  Thank you so much, Linda, for this wonderful opportunity to share!

Now Halloween is comin' up fast, and Lexi's designs for this holiday are just delightful.

Best Witches:  Check out owl, here, just hangin' out on his broom, waitin' for some Spooky Boo Day action!  It may be difficult to tell in the photo here, but orange, black & purple are the three colors primarily used in this sample.  I love how she tied these three colors from the paper and coloring altogether with the ribbons she used to embellish the card.  The buckle/band on the hat and the broom have been detailed with sparkly Stardust pens, and if you look closely, you can see that Lexi used the "Out of the box" technique--take a look at the tip of the hat!  Instead of trimming completely square all around the focal, she dropped the top cutting line a bit, to allow the hat to extend beyond the edge, making it just a little more fun and interesting!

Pumpkin Tree:  This is one of those fast & easy designs that everybody should have in their stash!  Need a card in 5 minutes?  This is POIFECT!  I liked the effect of stamping the oval in a dark grey tone, but the tree in deep black--it gives a nice contrast.  She only needed one marker to color the pumpkins in, and then went over those with a clear glaze pen so they gleam when you tilt the card in the light.  And, SHAZAM!!!  That's it!!!  Gotta love it!

Hey, You . . . : I couldn't help but LOL over this card!  "Hey, you guys, there'll be no spookin' me tonight--I can SEE you hiding in the trees!!!"  I liked how she used the border image from the Clear Personal Stationary set to accent and define the different areas on the card, separating the greeting.  And, to make the trees more conducive to the ghostly effect, she colored them in with black ink.  By doing this, she didn't have to mask the trees, to make the ghosts appear to be hiding behind them! CLEVER GIRL!

Haunted House:  I'm just guessing, but, doesn't the black stitched ribbon on this make you think of a street in front of the Haunted House?  Did she intend it?  I dunno, but I love the illusion it lends to this card--spooky house, spooky trees, on a spooky street! ooOOoooOOOooo!  LOL!  She accented the pumpkins, and the eaves of the house with Glaze Pens, so they have a nice shiny gleam to them, but, what I found most enchanting about this design was that she stamped the house twice, trimming out the 2nd one and 3D mounting it!  Fantastic!

I have many more of Lexi's designs to share, so stay tuned.  And, just wait 'til you see what she did with the Costume Shop!!!

--Julie, HRR

Comments

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[Melissa Roth]

I love Lexi's cards! The ghosts peeking out behind the tree is such a fun card:)

[happy_stamper_Nancy]

Lexi..you are so creative! All your cards are just perfect!

[Regina]

Hi Lexi,
Congratulations on your term as guest designer. I love your cards!

[Sarah]

All of these are so cute.... I had to go out and get me a few of these images :) thanks for sharing your work!

[Kristin]

Love all your Halloween designs!! Great job!

[Jen]

I just LOVE Best Witches- it came out so great!! Wonderful job!

[Michelle S.]

these cards are amazing and SO inspirational! Love the "street" ribbon on the last card, and the one with the ghosts hiding behind the trees!! Thanks so much for sharing with all of us!!

[Teresa E.]

Oh, that card with the ghosts in the trees is awesome--good job!

[PennyH]

Great cards Lexi! You are truly talented! Thanks for sharing your creations! :)

[june g]

lexi i love your designs, very clever.

[Beth]

Lexi is a great choice for a guest designer!

[Mary Duffek]

Awesome cards...I like how you used the pumpkins dangle from the tree....so cute!

[Alison]

These designs are fabu! I love the ghosts hiding in the trees, and the 3-D haunted house in particular.

[Suzy]

welcome aboard LExi! Love how you take the images to the next level - so fun!

[Mary A]

The Haunted House... so much detail! Nice work!

[Tisha W.]

Congrats Lexi!! I am so happy for you! I love what you have done - the ghosts behind the trees ... just fabulous!! You have such talent and it is great to see it displayed here!! You go girl!!

[Jennifer]

Great cards Lexi!!! Looking forward to more! Lovin the 3-d action on the house. :)

[Rose Ann]

Awesome cards, Lexi!! Congratulations on being the Guest Designer!! So well deserved!!

[Denny]

Neat cards! The owl is the funniest stamp. Thanks for sharing!

[Melissa F.]

Beautiful cards. Great to see a local New Orleanian gain great stamping recognition.

[Michelle M White]

Way to go!!! Your "work" is always perfection!

[tami]

way to go Lexi. I love all your cards and your blog.

[Kirsten]

Yeah, Lexi! I knew it was only a matter of time! She's been rockin' A Muse for a while now! Congrats, Girl!

[s.patel]

what great ideas to make for my nieces and nephews! can't wait to see more!

[mj]

Whoo hooo Lexi! Congrats to you! I love all your cards! They are awesome ... can't wait to see more!

[KristinaaLewis]

Oh! I am so excited! Lexi is as sweet as she is talented!!

[Bryn]

Yay Lexi!
I just joined the A Muse Addicts group on Yahoo, and am starting to recognize the members names when Bam! The A Muse guest designer is someone I "know"! The cards are adorable! The ghosts hiding in the birch trees is my personal favorite, it has just the right chills down the spine look!

[Rhonda Maynard]

Congratulations to you Lexi!!! This is awesome and your cards are so creative!! Love the stamp combinations you've put together here!! My fav of this bunch is the trees with the ghosts and stars behind them!! So spooky!! :D

[Connie]

YAY! I have been a Lexi fan for a while. Great work, it is so nice to see it showcased here.

[Heather C]

Very cool! Your cards and creations are great!

[Ericka]

Wonderful cards, Lexi!!! Congratulations!

[Amy]

Lovin' these cards, Lexi! Congrats on your guest designer gig; looking forward to seeing more of your fantastic work!

[Ingrid]

I love these cards! The colos an layouts are such fun. I love the ghosts in the trees and the owl with the hat - adorable!

[nicolem]

I'm lovin' on that owl witch big time! McFabulous! Lexi's blog is super fun also, inspiration galore. Congrats, looking forward to some inspirational fall designs!

[Elena]

Yay, Lexi! Awesome cards :) Can't wait to see what is next, too!

[Novell]

Lexi, your designs ROCK and I can't wait to see more!!!!

[Lyndsay Neumann]

Fabulous cards! Congrats, Lexi! Awesome job.

[Sarah B]

Congrats Lexi!! You've got MAD SKILLZ! Hooray! I'm so happy for you!

[Jennifer Nagel]

WOW Lexi, congratualtions!!!! Your cards are awesome.

[Melissa Norris]

Great job and congrats Lexi!
~Melissa

[Geeta / TexasLonghorns/Craftyengineer]

OMG! LEXI!!!! I *know* you! CONGRATULATIONS! These are fabulous!

[Regina D.]

Wow! These are all spectacular...especially the third one. I can't wait to see more of Lexi's creations.

[Riza Almanza]

These cards are so innovative! My favorite is the ghosts behind the trees. Thanks for sharing these fun spooky cards!