Happy New Year...almost!

It's always fun to do a year in review to look back at some favorite cards from the past year.   Here are mine:

January:

I love this masculine valentine! Original post here.



February:

This clean-and-simple card is one of my favorites EVER I think.


March:

This was the month of the display stamper tryouts and this card was my favorite for sure!


April:

Another favorite card.  I really need to use this stamp set more!


May:

This one is a bit morbid I guess, but it was perfect for a fellow forensic science person.


June:

I love animal stamps, so this card was definitely a favorite.


July:

You know a coffee card had to find it's way in here.


August:

This is always a rough month for me creatively, but I found one I liked at least.


September:

The Christmas cards start showing up this month.


October:

Pinterest can help you find some awesome cards to CASE, like this one!  Just remember to give credit!


November:

Gotta love the fox craze!


December:

Quite a few cards I like from this month, but this simple one is my favorite.


Have a very happy new year!

Stampin' Up! Just Sayin'

It's been a week, so I figured I should try to post something today!   It's just been so busy that I haven't had time to stamp!  I spent my free time last week cleaning and rearranging my stamp room.  I'm glad I did because Jason got me a Silhouette Cameo for Christmas.  I'm a bit scared of it, but I'm going to try to do a project with it soon.   For today I wanted to use some new products that you'll be seeing in the Occasions catalog that starts soon.   I used the sketch as Pals Paper Arts as my inspiration.   I hope they think I'm close enough to it anyway.  ;)  

There's an awesome little pack of designer paper in the catalog that has the combination of Coastal Cabana and Real Red.  I just love them together!   I used a new embossing folder, that paper, and a fun new stamp set, Just Sayin'!   

I'll share some of our holiday fun today.  Mom made up some gingerbread so that Laila could cut out some little men.  It was messy, but fun.   :)

Stampin' Up! Wetlands

A simple card using the sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch and the colors from Create with Connie and Mary.  I was having a rough day yesterday, so I decided to try to stamp my blues away.  I didn't have a lot of time, so I went for simple, yet elegant.   

Stamps:  Wetlands

Ink:  Cherry Cobbler

Paper:  Cherry Cobbler, Cherry Cobbler Coredinations, Silver Glimmer paper, Whisper White

Accessories:  Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding, Faceted buttons, Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine

Wednesday was Jason's birthday and yesterday was mine.  To celebrate, we took Laila and my mom to the zoo on Tuesday.  I'm pretty sure Mom had the most fun of us all, but Laila enjoyed her first trip there too.  She and daddy fed the giraffe and played some bongo drums! 

Freshly Made Sketches 117

Happy July 4th!   Oh wait...   It appears that I was a bit confused for Freshly Made Sketches this week.  Red and blue SEEMED like a good idea for Jason's birthday card, but well... it's a bit patriotic.  lol   Amy, who I like to call the stamper who never makes an ugly card, is the hostess this week.  I want to be her when I grow up. Or any of the other FMS people actually.  I don't know how I ended up with that talented bunch!  Those ladies can stamp like nobody's business!  

 

Fun sketch, eh?   I've been hanging out with my Canadian friend. ;) 

Stamps:  Itty Bitty Banners

Ink:  Real Red, Pacific Point

Paper:  Real Red, Pacific Point Coredinations, Whisper White, misc red DSP

Accessories:  Brights Candy Dots

Tools:  Big Shot, non-SU embossing folder, Bitty Banner Framelits

My girl is getting so big.  I just can't believe it sometimes. We added another girl to our house this week too.  This is Minnie.  :)

Stamp Review Crew: Perfect Blend Edition

It's the 3rd Monday of the month, so that means a new hop for the Stamp Review Crew!  This time we are featuring a favorite set of mine, Perfect Blend.  I'm totally addicted to both coffee and coffee stamps, so of course I had to have this one.  It's such a fun set!   You should totally get it if you have any coffee lovers on your card list.   

If you came here from Kerry Willard Bray's blog, I'm sure you were treated to a special project.  Be sure you've went through the entire hop!  I'm the caboose of the group, but you can start all over with Heidi Baks and her amazing blog.  

Yeah, yeah... Starbucks red cup addiction.  I have it in both drink and craft form.  :)   I just couldn't resist!  I love the red, green, kraft combination too.  Another current addiction I guess.  lol    Isn't it so fun and festive?!  You could totally add a gift card and make it a gift for that coffee lover on your list...or me.  I'd take it for sure!  

Stamps: Perfect Blend

Ink:  Early Espresso

Paper:  Crumb Cake, Real Red, Old Olive, Brights Designer Series Paper stack, Polka Dot Parade DSP

Tools:  Big Shot, Elegant Stripes TIEF, Merry Minis punch pack, Dotted Scallop Ribbon border punch

Accessories: Real Red 1/4 stitched grograin ribbon, Brights Designer buttons, White baker's twine

My second project shows that you can use it for a lot of holidays!  :)   I love coffee, so this card would be well received by me!   Maybe I should give it to Jason to give to me.  Ha!  Crumb Cake and Real Red...like I said, I love them...even without the green!

Stamps:  Perfect Blend, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Ink:  Real Red, Early Espresso

Paper:  Crumb Cake, Real Red, Whisper White, Brights Designer Series paper stack, Fresh Prints designer paper stack (Occasions catalog sneak peek!)

Accessories:  Whisper White 1/4 stitched grosgrain ribbon, Basic Pearls

Tools:  Modern Label,Word Window, and Small Heart punches

We are off to the airport today to pick up my mom!  Laila will get two whole weeks of grandma time!  I hope that means I'll get some stamping time.  :)

Stampin' Up! Yippee Skippee

I thought I'd share one of the cards we are making at my stamp club on Sunday.  One of the members had asked to do the color blocking with cardstock technique, so I finally managed a design with it.  I know, what's up with the Valentine's Day, right?   I'm a bit over Christmas.  This time of year is stressful and after going through what we did with Eli in December and then losing him in January, I'd be happy to just fast forward from Thanksgiving to February.   So...I kinda did I guess.  I have to get busy soon to make Jason a birthday card.  Our birthdays are both next week!  I can't believe I'm turning 25...again.  Ha!  ;)   We won't say how many times I've turned that now.

Stamps:  Yippee Skippee
Ink:  Raspberry Ripple
Paper:  Raspberry Ripple, Primrose Petals, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White
Tools:  Big Shot, Hearts framelits, Stripes TIEF, Small Heart punch
Accessories:  Basic Rhinestones

One of my friends came over today with the puppies she's fostering.  Laila and I enjoyed playing with this little guy.  We are thinking about adding a dog to our family, so Sunday we go to meet Minnie.  We'll see how it goes.  I hope Laila likes her because I've fallen in love with her picture!  I've never had a dog as an adult, so it should be a learning experience.

Stampin' Up! Endless Wishes

I was originally going to use this stepped up version of one of my class cards for Freshly Made Sketches this week.  I kinda wished I had because I like it better than the one I posted!   I really love the combination of red and kraft.  It's becoming a favorite for sure.

Last week we worked on some spoon skills.  Forgetting the bib and giving her applesauce to practice with a messy thing.  lol  She doesn't look too happy with the situation.

Stampin' Up! Perfect Pennants

I got myself together this week and am back on track with Freshly Made Sketches!   Narelle, who is seriously the layer and bow queen, is our hostess this week and she has a fabulous sketch.  It is so fun!!  I used some new products that arrived Monday.  Now they were supposed to be here last Friday, but we won't talk about that... 

See?  Fabulous?  I had to turn it to make it work for my sentiment, but that's the fun of sketches.  :)  The sentiment is from the Perfect Pennants stamp set that will be in the Occasions catalog and a fun embossing folder that is a Sale-a-Bration item this year!  Oh, and those bit of designer paper are from my new favorite thing from the Occasions catalog, the Fresh Prints Designer Paper stack.  

She LOVES cars and trucks right now.  My mom had bought this truck for Eli not long after he was born and it had been sitting in our closet for years now.  I got it out for her and she loved it.  She is also enjoying the Hot Wheels that he never got to play with.  It's a bit sad, but I'm glad we kept them and can enjoy one of our children playing with them.  

Quick & Easy Christmas

Yesterday I held a "Oh crap I haven't made my Christmas cards" class.  Ha!   We used the notecards and envelopes to stamp up some simple and easy ones that we could hurry and mail.  I thought I'd share two of them with you.  I love kraft and red and of course blue and red for the holidays (or anytime really), so we used those for these.   Simple, but I love them! 

I seriously love the Endless Wishes set. It doesn't surprise me a bit that it sold out.   I hope you were able to get one before they were gone! Those eBay prices are already CRAZY!

Here's Laila's other picture with Santa.  :)

Don't forget an awesome clearance rack blitz starts tomorrow!

Stampin' Up! Perfect Blend for Mojo Monday

I'm still alive!   It's been a long week for sure.  I took the week off from Freshly Made Sketches after losing my creativity this week.  We took Eli's tree out to the cemetery on Tuesday and that, along with a very unhappy toddler, just didn't make for a desire to stamp.  I've had a better few days and decided to stamp yesterday. I wanted to play along with Mojo Monday's new sketch.  I haven't used much of my Epic Day DSP so I started with that and here's what I ended up with.  :)

I made a shabby bow to start and couldn't decide between it and this bow.  I got tired of pulling them off and looking at them, so I just left this one.  :)  

Here's one of Laila's pictures with Santa.  I still can't get over how much she loved him!  

Stamp Review Crew: Festive Flurry Edition

Welcome to the first blog hop of the Stamp Review Crew!  We'll be featuring a stamp set on the 1st and 3rd Mondays of every month.  This month's set is the gorgeous Festive Flurry set that also has matching framelit dies!   You probably arrived here from the fabulous Kerry Willard Bray's blog.  Wasn't her project awesome?!  I love seeing all the beautiful projects everyone made.

I don't have this set yet, but a dear friend was kind enough to send me some images to play around with.  After making my card and looking through my fellow demos' projects, I am totally kicking myself for not investing in this one.  The snowflakes are amazing and the matching framelits to cut them out makes them so much more versatile!

I actually designed this card in my head before my happy mail from my friend arrived.  I was hoping that it looked as good on paper as it did in my head.  I believe it did too! :)   This is one of those sets that you just can't make a bad card with if you tried!   It's that awesome!

My blog is the end of the hop, but if you want to go through it again or if you didn't start at the beginning, be sure to go back to Heidi's blog!  She never fails to have fantastic projects to share.

Stamps:  Festive Flurry, Greetings of the Season
Ink:  Wisteria Wonder, Elegant Eggplant
Paper:  Wisteria Wonder, Elegant Eggplant, Whisper White
Accessories:  Paper Doilies, Basic Pearls
Tools:  Big Shot, Elegant Stripes TIEF, Festive Flurry Framelits

If you get lost or confused, you can always go to our main landing page, The Stamp Review Crew blog.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving...with a Christmas card?   Sorry...it's all I have to show.  lol   I wasn't going to even post this one as I am a bit embarrassed about it, but my FMS teammate Jen Timko told me it was cute.  I'm curious to hear what you think?   I almost sat out this week at Freshly Made Sketches because I didn't want to post this one.  Thankfully I had time to make another card that I did like better.   I keep looking at this one, but I don't like any better now than I did on Tuesday.

I have some news to share today to make up for that awful card.  I was asked to be part of the Stamp Review Crew!  It is going to be a fabulous blog hop that will give you lots of ideas as we are featuring one set each hop.  Our first hop is Monday, so be sure to tune in for that!

Jason has to work early in the morning, so we put up the tree yesterday instead of tonight.  I hate breaking our tradition, but I want him to be able to rest after cooking today.   Laila is very fascinated with the tree and likes to tell us what all the ornaments are.