Year in Review Part Two

Back for the second part of my yearly wrap-up!  

For July my choices were a bit limited.   Laila was still so new and I was way too busy with her to stamp very much.  I did make a few cards that I liked though!   One of them even earned me a win at The Paper Players!  I had been dying to win there and had set it as a goal way back when I first started doing challenges.   It was so exciting when it finally happened!   Here's that card:

August was a rough month as we were dealing with a newborn and our sweet Eli's birthday.   It's also so sad to see another year come and go and him not be here with us to celebrate.  I didn't get a lot of stamping in and what I did make wasn't that great.   My favorite was probably this simple Christmas card that I designed. 

In September I rejoined my buddies at Freshly Made Sketches for our one year celebration.  I just love the card I made for it and it's one of my absolute favorites!   Even better is the fact that it went to a great home where it is/was appreciated.  :)  

October ended up being the month of my greatest stamping accomplishment to date.   I was able to complete all the cards for the Hope You Can Cling To challenges hosted over on Splitcoaststampers.   It was so much fun to make them all and send them to the MD Anderson Cancer Center which is located near me in Houston!   I hope they find their way into the hands of some special patients and/or their families.  I picked out a few favorites for this month since I made so many!

Okay...moving on!  That was a lot, sorry.  I just really loved all those.  :) For November, I loved my card that I made for my sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.  You just can't go wrong with the owl punch!

Finally for December, my favorite is a card I just made recently!   It's cold today, so a quilted Valentine seemed perfect again for me.    

Thanks to each and every one of your for making 2012 a great year for me.  I look forward to stamping and sharing with you in 2013!  Happy New Year!  

Yearly Favorites Part One

I love the yearly wrap-up of sharing our favorite cards from the year.  I'm a little behind posting my first half, but here goes:

January was a tough stamping month for me and looking back I see that my mojo has totally not working!  I did find one that I made towards the last of the month that I liked.  It was a CASE of my dear friend Kathy.

February was special for me because I entered this card in the So Shelli Creative Challenge and won a free stamp set of my choice!   The rest of the month looks pretty bleak though.  I guess I didn't realize how much pregnancy affected my creativity until I started looking back at my cards.  Yikes!

March was another lean month for good cards, but I did find one that I really liked.  I really LOVE this stamp set and now that I've added both a cloud and a grass die to my collection, I really need to pull it out and play!

It took me a bit to find a good one in April, but I LOVE this one.  I miss Fox & Friends so much.   It was really my favorite of all my sets.  I still have it, but now that it is retired I don't find myself using it as much.  The starburst technique is also a favorite of mine and I need to try my hand at it again soon!  It's a good way to use up some DSP!

Now May saw a good card month for me and it was a struggle to pick a favorite.   I finally decided on this one as it is one of my favorites that I've made in my stamping journey.  While I was not a fan of Peach Parfait, I just love this card!

June was a reflective month for me as the birth of my sweet Laila drew closer and finally happened on the 27th.  I hadn't went back and read this post, but as I did tonight it made me tear up a bit.  I really do love stamping. Anyway, I couldn't decide between two cards, so I'll share two favorites.   :)

I'll hope you'll join me again tomorrow to see the next 6 months of favorites!   

Quilted Valentine

Told you I'd be back with a card!  :)   I started this one last week and it just sat on my desk in pieces. I started to just put it away, but I really wanted to try to work on it and finish it.   It was for a sketch challenge at Retro Sketches (boy did I miss THAT deadline!).   Anyway, I was inspired by Erin's quilted heart and wanted to make one for Valentine's Day.

I just hope there's someone out there who might like a rustic, country Valentine.  :)  I need to get started making them to put in my display in our local shop.   I have two done and many more to go...

Someone loves their new pal Violet.   :)   She wasn't asleep in this one, but it looks like it.   That's a pretty cool toy when you take the time to program it.  It almost freaks me out when it says her name.

Christmas Recap!

I'm going to try and stamp today, so hopefully (fingers crossed) I'll be back later with a card to share!  I wanted to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who has sent emails, a card, or left a comment lately.   I am way behind in responding and will try my best to get caught up, but wanted to say that I do appreciate the kind words and thoughts.   Many times I've thought about doing away with my blog but I keep "meeting" so many sweet stampers that it just never happens.  I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas holiday.  We did and I'll share a few pictures below.  

Grandma and grandpa got Laila a wagon.  While it will be a while before she can really use it, we had to take a few pictures.  :)  

My Mom, Laila, and Me! 

I guess Santa didn't bring her what she wanted.  ;)   She still looks adorable even crying.  (and Liz, if you are reading this we LOVE this outfit and it was warm enough for her to wear it out this week.)

Paper is WAY more exciting (and tastier) than the present.

She did a pretty good job ripping off the paper.   We were surprised and enjoyed watching her so much. 

This is one of my favorite pictures from the many that I took.  That girl LOVES her daddy! 

Now before I go I wanted to ask if anyone might have an idea for a fundraiser.  It has been a while since we raised some money for SMA and my heart feels like it is time to do it again.   We did a cook book last time and I thought about that again or trying to do something with my cards.  Anyway, I'd love any feedback or ideas.

Happy Holidays!

I just wanted to check in and say hello to all my readers and friends.  It has been a pretty rough week and while I did manage to stamp, it was sympathy cards and I didn't feel like taking pictures and posting those.  A family who has a son with SMA lives near us and last week the dad was tragically killed in a car accident.  Little Cooper is in the hospital battling pneumonia as well, so it has been a hard week for the family.  My heart is just broken for Crystal.  Her Jason was the same age as mine and I honestly just don't know what I'd do without mine. If you start seeing a lot of thinking of you cards on my blog, they are going to her.  It's always good to get a little note to let you know that people are thinking about you.  

We did have an exciting event here at home.  Laila finally got to try some real food!   We started her off with avocado and she really seems to like it.

If I don't get a chance to check back in before the holidays, I hope that each of you has a wonderful Christmas.   Hug your family tight because you just never know what life has in store for us.

Happy Birthday to Me!

It feels like ages since I last posted.  It has been a very emotional time for me with all those beautiful children being murdered and I just haven't felt like stamping at all.  Normally I turn to creating when my mind is troubled but it just wasn't happening this time.  I did manage to make it into my room to get my card made for Freshly Made Sketches this week.  It was not easy for me to make, but my sweet friends Anne Marie and Mindy were kind enough to let me bounce ideas off them via our phones.   It's good to have friends like that when your mojo is missing.    I made a birthday card because today is my birthday. :) 

When I saw the sketch I automatically thought Fun Flowers, but then I couldn't find my die.  I couldn't come up with anything else since I had my mind set on a flower, so I grabbed my scallop circle punches and put this simple flower together instead.   I wanted to add the banners, so I moved the sketch around to make that work.  I hope Tui doesn't mind.  :)    I did use a new product from the upcoming Spring catalog, the honeycomb embossing folder.  It's pretty neat, huh? I like it a lot!  

Monday finally saw an end to her throwing up, but now my poor Jason isn't feeling well. He fell sick yesterday on his birthday.  :(  The good news is that my mom arrived yesterday to stay for two weeks, so it will be nice to have an extra set of hands around.  I'm so happy that she made it down for Laila's first Christmas!    I just hope we don't end up passing any of our sickness on to her.   

Club Card and a Funny!

With Laila being sick, I'm running a bit behind on preparing for club.  I finally designed a card to go along with our ornaments today and got it all ready to go.   I'm not sure we'll have time to do both, but we'll see how the night goes.   I saw a fun sketch at Create with Connie and Mary and while I wasn't able to stamp and enter it, I still had a great time with it.

My Happy Hour set seemed neglected so I thought I'd pull it out and make something fun. With the way this week has been going, I could use a cocktail.  lol   Maybe I can treat myself on my birthday next week!  :)

I'm pretty sure my Old Olive went into shock when I pulled it out to use it today. I remember back in the day when it was THE green to use.  I think both it and Chocolate Chip are probably a bit depressed these days.  

Now on to the funny...  

Jason and I were cleaning out some drawers and found this "gorgeous" Valentine that I made him back when I first started stamping.    It's very special that's for sure.  I tried right?   It's good to look back and see how far I've come with my hobby and how much using Stampin' Up! almost exclusively has helped as well.

My sweet girl isn't throwing up today but she is pretty tired.  She fell asleep playing in her bouncy seat today.  I think her tooth is starting to push through the gums a bit more so she has been pretty fussy today.  I am not a fan of teething so far that's for sure.

FMS65: Cupcake Cutie

Here's my buddy Linda's fun sketch for Freshly Made Sketches.  I used a few new things including a new DSP from the upcoming catalog and a stamp from SAB. 

Just a really quick post for me.  Laila has been sick all day and we are exhausted.   I almost forgot to type this up and schedule it before I tried to get a little rest.   I'm sure it is going to be a long night.   Those darn stomach viruses are the worst!

MDS Santa Page

I just had to scrapbook this awesome picture.  :)  I'm not even close to catching up on her book yet, but I skipped ahead to play along with a challenge on a new MDS Facebook group that I joined.  They taught us how to add a picture into multiple photo boxes and it was new to me and pretty fun!   I keep playing around with this page, but I might leave it like this.  Maybe...

FMS64: Birdie Love

Time for a Freshly Made Sketch card again!   Cindy created this fun sketch for us this week.  There's so many possibilities that it took me ages to decide on something.   Now don't laugh when you see my card, okay?  When I say that I'm OVER Christmas, I mean I'm SO OVER Christmas.   :)

Oh yeah...Valentine's Day!!!!  :)   I have been making Christmas cards since July and I think I'm done with them for this year.  I hope anyway.   I admit that I'm a bit of a Grinch this time of year anyway, but 5 or 6 months of Christmas cards is more than enough.  

Now if I can just finish my holiday shopping!   Are you finished yet?   I just have stocking stuffers left.  Jason and I both have birthdays coming up, so I do have to go shop for a gift for that and the ingredients for a cheesecake since that's his favorite.   It's getting so crazy out there that I don't even want to leave the house. I love Amazon and become more thankful for it every year.   

Yikes.   I can't believe we'll be starting solids soon!   I keep telling her that Santa will be bringing her an avocado in her stocking.  Jason put together her little highchair and we put her in it for a test run.   It made me cry a bit.  This is all new stuff to us and every little milestone is just amazing.  

Perfectly Penned for Club

Wow you guys!!!!!!   I see that I went over the 200,000 views mark this week.   That's crazy!!   I appreciate you all visiting and seeing what's going on in my little corner of the internet.  I have a few cards that I'd love to send out to a few of you, so leave me a comment and I'll pick a couple random folks to send one out to!  

Are you like me and have a favorite sketch that you go to a lot?   This one from Try Stampin' on Tuesday is quickly becoming my favorite. I was working on some ideas for club cards and wanted to do one where people could pick their sentiment.  I like having a choice because some folks might need a birthday card while others need a thank you.   Perfectly Penned will work for either of those AND this layout.   Win, win!  Thanks to Glenda for her gorgeous inspiration.  

Santa was going to put these cute leg warmers in Laila's stocking but he sorta dropped them off a bit early.  :)   She's really discovered her toes now so she LOVES grabbing them.

Fabulous Dinosaur

Laila decided to take a long nap today (after not sleeping that great last night of course) and I had a bit of time to go play along with the challenge at Fab Friday.   I love the sketch and am glad I had time to play.  I don't know what's up with my horrible picture taking lately, but I'll try to work on that.  I think I moved my light tent the wrong way and it is not working out.   

Still working on cards for the younger folks and still trying to use up some of my hoarded DSP.  I used some old Halloween paper, Pick Your Poison, and embossed it with the chevron folder.   I love embossed DSP for some reason.   Do you ever do that?   It looks pretty cool I think.  I kept it pretty simple since I didn't know how much time I'd have to finish it, but every dinosaur card needs a bit of distressing!  :)  

After seeing all the other moms going on and on about Sophie the Giraffe, I finally broke down and bought Laila one.  She must be quite tasty as she likes to gnaw on her.   She seems like a dog toy to me, but what do I know?   :)   

Merry Mini Christmas

I'm a bit over Christmas cards since I've been making them since July, but my club ladies and I are doing a swap and cookie exchange at our December meeting and I need to work on some ideas for that.  Since my Merry Minis stamps were still on my shelf uninked, I figured it was about time to change that.   I bought them after seeing this cute card in our monthly demonstrator magazine's July edition.   I don't normally CASE cards, but it was just so adorable that I wanted to try to make one.   I'm not sure it will be my swap, but it's a cute card I can send out to someone if not.  :)

Now on to something even more cute...

Here's the picture we picked from Laila's Santa picture proofs! I LOVE it so so much!   There were several poses that were great, but I just fell in love with this one.   I already made and ordered some Christmas cards today using it.  :)  

Paper Players in Orange

It has been way too long since I had time to play along with my buddies over at The Paper Players.  I loved Jaydee's sketch this week and thought I could make it work for a young girl type card.   I was in the mood for some Pumpkin Pie (not the dessert as I think that's gross) so I used that and white for my card.  It's rare to just use one color and a neutral, but it happens every now and then.  :)

I really like how this one turned out.  I love the mix of patterns, the bit of bling, and the ORANGE.  Finally a bit of my retired DSP got used too.  I am running out of room, so I am trying to make myself use up some of it and NOT allowing myself to buy any more until I clear out some.  

The Christmas tree was just too bright for her.  :)