Stampin' Up! See Ya Later

I think I mentioned my time with my fabulous friend Jen Timko a few weeks ago.   I adore her and not just for her stamping abilities.  :)    Anyway...   as an Artisan gal she made a lot of the samples that were on display at our Leadership event.  I loved one of them so much that I just had to CASE it.   You can see her original here on her blog.   Isn't that sun just GENIUS?!  I love it so much.   

Stamps:  See Ya Later (SAB)

Ink:  Basic Gray

Paper:  Smoky Slate, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White, Brights and In Color DSP stacks

Tools:  Banner punch (SAB), Word Bubble framelits, 1 3/4 circle punch

Now if you notice, I didn't just remake her card exactly.   For some reason, people seem to think that CASE means to duplicate a card exactly, down to the exact colors.  I don't believe that is true at all.   While it's good to find inspiration in the work of others, it is great to put your own spin on it.  I get emails sometimes asking which pink or blue that I used on a card.  Who cares?!  Use the one that looks good to YOU!  In fact, totally change up the color scheme and don't use pink or blue at all!   

CASEing was a huge discussion among my friends last week because so many people seem to do it without mentioning that they weren't the original creator of the card or not bothering to give proper credit.   I see a lot of "I saw this on Pinterest" lately.  Who knew Pinterest stamped?  They don't do they?  Go that extra step and be kind to those who create.   Take a minute to link back to the person who inspired you and recognize that while you might have been able to copy a card in a short time, they probably spent a lot of time designing it.   

The other HUGE issue is reposting people's pictures or pictures of people's work.   HUGE no-no!   While you can "pin" it, don't just take photos.  I found one of mine posted on our demonstrator website by someone else last weekend and was a bit unhappy.   It's something that I seem to run into at least one or twice a year and it's a huge headache.  Don't do that.   Really, don't do that.  If it's not YOUR picture or YOUR card, don't do that.  Just don't.  

I had a couple questions I wanted to answer for one of my awesome readers.  Tami had asked me about where I found a list of daily challenges.  I don't have a list of all of them, but if you are looking at my actual blog, about halfway down on the left side there's a list of links to the ones I know about.   She also asked about the stamp set used in this card and it's called Love & Care.  If I use a SU set, I try to remember to put the name of the set in the title of my post, so look for that if I forget to mention it.  I feel like I'm writing posts at nap time or before I crash for the night and I never remember things!

We almost have feeding our baby down.  lol  Almost.  Ha!   I wanted to try sharing a video of Laila, but I don't know if it will work.  Maybe this link will work? 

Whew.  Long post!  I need a coffee after all that.  lol  Have a great weekend! 

Stampin' Up! Love & Care

It's Thursday (it is, right?  I get my days mixed up with Jason's schedule change now.) so I thought I'd share another card made with older products.  I love this stamp set so much and it's one I'll never part with.  The flower is just gorgeous and I love the font on the sentiments.  As a big fan of purple, I also love this designer paper!  Together they can make a very simple, lovely card.

Laila is all dressed up and ready for the library.  I'm cutting this short so we can head out.  I hope we find some good books and she has fun with the other kids!

Freshly Made Sunshine

It's Wednesday, which means a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches!  Narelle is our sketch designer and hostess this week and she has a great basic sketch that I just love!  I knew immediately what I wanted to make when I saw it!  My card didn't turn out quite as good as the one in my head, but I still kinda like it.  :)  The stamped image is from See Ya Later, a set you can earn free during Sale-a-bration!  It's pretty awesome!  

See, fun!  And the possibilities are ENDLESS!  That's why I just love sketches. Everyone has such different ideas when they see them and the cards end up so different.  I feel pretty safe and happy on a team with sketches.  Throw me in a color challenge and I fall apart! lol 

Laila LOVES shopping.  She comes and tells us to get in the shower so we can go.  She even took Jason his shoes the other day and told him shopping.  lol  We did have to go grocery shopping on Monday, so she was in heaven.  We always spend a bit of time in the fruits and veggies and EVERY time she has to have an avocado.   Or 'cado as she calls it.  Here she is showing off her treasure.  We've had a much better week thank goodness.  My hormones have settled down and she's managed to get the right amount of sleep.  That's a good combination and we've had a lot fun and snuggles.  :)

Stampin' Up! Sweet Essentials

I wanted to do a bit of fun stamping today, so I looked over the current challenges and fell in love with the sketch at Create with Connie and Mary.  They always have great challenges over there and I love when I get time to actually play along! I felt like using my elegant color combo of black, red, and vanilla.   I love adding the Fun Flowers die in with them too.   Pretty simple card, but fun to make and I like how it turned out. :)

Now on to important things...  Laila!  lol  I didn't realize that my picture didn't add to my post yesterday until I saw a few comments that people had missed Laila.  Sorry guys!   

We've been playing a lot outside lately.  She says shoes on, outside.  She definitely knows what she wants these days!  We had a run in with some fire ants the other day which wasn't so good, but I did a quick online search and dabbed apple cider vinegar on them.  It seems to have helped because she didn't complain much about the bites.  She had quite a few on her hand/arm and leg/foot.   Poor dear.  I'm just glad she was able to come tell me that something was bothering her before it was worse than it was.  We had a great day today.  Bed time was a bit rough, but Jason made it home in time to help out.  It's always nice when that happens. 

Throwback Thursday

If you are on the Internet much at all, I'm sure you've heard the phrase Throwback Thursday quite a bit.   I had planned a "throwback" class for next month, but we decided on something different instead.  I thought I'd share my cards and maybe even make Thursdays a day to post cards with older sets or DSP.  With life as it is right now, we'll see how that goes.  lol  

I do love the vintage feel of this one.  I'm not a vintage girl, but it was fun to find stamps and paper that give the look while still being a clean card that IS my style!  Win, win there!   

I had a nice day today.  Jason was off and gave me the day off too.   I got my hair cut, had lunch with friends, and got to spend almost 4 hours chatting with my FMS buddy Jen Timko.  It was definitely the break I needed this week and I'm so thankful to have an amazing husband who gets that.   

Freshly Made Feathers

It's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches!  Karren created this awesome one for us this week.  I think you can interpret it a few different ways and I'm hoping she doesn't mind what I did with it.  lol  Every time I see a project with feathers I think "Feathers?  Really?   I could never use feathers on a card."  Sounds like a challenge, huh?   When I saw the sketch I totally went right to the idea.  I had a file for my Cameo that I hadn't used yet and it totally worked for what I needed.   Yay!

Island Indigo and Pool Party is one of my most favorite color combinations of all time.  I love it.   I am such a blue girl when it comes to making cards.  My sentiment looked so, so wrong in the top corner (ask me how I know...made this card twice!) so I did move it to the bottom.   It just had to happen.

This is how I know she's mine.  Nosy.  lol  We've had a rough week again already.   I really struggle with her and it seems to be getting worse.  I think part of it is my mental state and part of is the insanity that is toddlers.  I am hoping my doctors have some ideas for the depression/anxiety that's going on.  Too bad I couldn't get appointments with either of them until April.   Not good, but what can you do?  

Stamp Review Crew: Gorgeous Grunge Edition

It's a new hop of the Stamp Review Crew!   This time we are featuring Gorgeous Grunge.   I'm not sure gorgeous and grunge are two words that go together, but hey, it works!  If at any time you get lost or disorientated from all the amazing samples, we do have a main landing page for you to recoup and recover on.  

This was my first project  I saw the colors at Hand Stamped Sentiments and decided to give them a go with this set.  Believe it or not, this is the first time I've ever used Rose Red!  I don't own the stamp pad, but I did have the marker and one sheet of card stock.  I managed to get my new grid background stamp in there too.  ;)

For my second card I wanted to do a faux watercolor effect.  I inked up the stamps, spritzed them with water, then stamped.  I know it's a splatter stamp to begin with, but I think it still looks kinda cool with some water mixed in.  It's fun that card is so bright and cheery while the other is more masculine and dark.   I love stamp sets that can do both!   

Rays of Sunshine

When I saw the sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch, I knew I wanted to use my new stencil and stamps to make a card.  Jason got me this set from Papertrey Ink for Valentine's Day and I love it.   I am planning on doing Laila's 2nd birthday in a sunshine theme, so it was on my must-have list for her invitations.  :)   I always feel a bit naughty using non-SU stuff, but what can you do?!

Isn't that fun?  For all the northern folks with snow, I bet the snowman is totally on your minds.  It's warm here, so everyone is outside mowing their lawns today.   We are thinking about going to get Laila a sandbox too.  Crazy how different things are depending on which state you happen to be in.   

I hope everyone had a great day yesterday.  I did not, but I'm shaking it off.  Jason had to work and the toddler tantrums were the worst yet.  I cried myself to sleep last night from mental exhaustion.  I did make my girl some heart-shaped pancakes and a heart-shaped sandwich yesterday in between all the shenanigans. She also got a stuffed Hello Kitty that she had to take to bed and a new book.    

Stampin' Up! Starburst Sayings

Pacific Point?!  I know!  I haven't used it in FOREVER, but I won this ribbon at Leadership and figured I should use it.  It actually turned out kinda cool, so I think we'll make it at stamp club this weekend!  Isn't that Hardwood background amazing?!  I love it.  I think this is a good masculine card even with the ribbon. 

She loves playing outside.  I am NOT an outside person, so maybe she's not mine?  Ha!  My mom bought her a bag of these balls for Christmas and it's fun to fill her pool with them so she can play.  It works for when it's not warm enough for water.   :)   We had a much better day yesterday with only a bit of meltdowns and a lot of making a mess.  Toddlers could really be hired out for demolition crews.

Stampin' Up! Just Sayin'

Well, I thought I'd scheduled my Freshly Made Sketches post for today.  Apparently I dreamed that?  lol  Anyway, Jen B has this awesome sketch this week.  I almost didn't get a card made with all the toddler drama going on this week, but I finally found a bit of stamping time yesterday.  Talk about last minute!   I tried a few ideas, but most of the other ladies had already used all the cool shapes.   I decided to try the word bubbles.  I stamped them first but it looked too crowded.  I then tried this and well, Laila woke up from her nap so this it was!  It's pretty plain, but I at least made something I guess.  Be sure to check out the cards from my fellow design team members; they are amazing this week!

See?  Pretty cool sketch!   I can't wait to see the gallery this week!

This was our pants meltdown yesterday.  She wanted different pants, two pairs of pants...who knows really?   She ended up with two pairs for awhile.  lol  Toddlers!

Stampin' Up! Starburst Sayings

Tonight I took some time off and went to stamp just for fun.  Nothing I HAD to make, just fun.  I left the dishes and laundry and will worry about them tomorrow.  It's been a pretty tough week for me mentally and I just needed the break.  I used the sketch over at the Sweet Sunday Sketch challenge as my guide and some of the new in colors as my colors.  

Isn't that a great sketch?!  I really love it and plan to use it in the future.

This mom thing is really kicking my butt lately and I have been going to bed almost every night feeling like I've failed yet again.  I don't know if I'm going to make it as a stay-at-home mom to a toddler.  The poor house is a wreck, the toddler is crazy, the cats are well, cats, and this mom is exhausted.  I'm hoping that once Jason is back to working 40 hours and not 50+ it will better.  March can't get here soon enough!

Stampin' Up! Delicate Doilies

My sweet cousin in Kentucky recently signed up to be a demonstrator and is working on ideas for her open house.  I tried to help her by coming up with a card design for her.  She emailed her list of stamps and current colors and here's what I came up with.   In case she decides to use the idea, I tried to keep it pretty simple so new stampers weren't overwhelmed with their first stamping experience.   Tessa's amazing card was a great inspiration for mine.

Stamps:  Perfectly Penned, Delicate Doilies, Gorgeous Grunge
Ink:  Crumb Cake, Calypso Coral, Crisp Cantaloupe
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Calypso Coral, Crisp Cantaloupe, Whisper White
Accessories:  Basic Pearls, Linen Thread

She looks much too old for me in this one.  Lately when I look at her I find myself starting to cry.  It's going by entirely too fast.  It feels like she should still be a little baby swinging in the swing and needed to be fed and burped.   Her teething necklace is probably going to have to come off soon and we'll shop for a longer one, she's almost in 2T clothes, and I've been looking for ideas for her second birthday party.  Just crazy! Whoever said the days were long, but the years are short really nailed that one!

Before I go, someone asked about the Stenciled class.  You can find it here:  http://www.onlinecardclasses.com/  Hope that helps.  :)

Stampin' Up! Vivid Vases

Vivid Vases was one of the sets we received at Leadership, so I thought we'd use it at my hostess club this month.  I really loved the make-and-take we did, so I recreated it with what I had on hand.  :)   It's nice to have the design work done for you sometimes.  I had fun watercoloring the vases and flowers with my Aquapainter.   Do you like to color?  I usually don't but this set seems fun for that.  

Laila seems to have hit the stage where she wants to pick out her own clothes.  Yikes.  Yesterday she brought me a shirt she wanted on and I had to change her.  Today she picked out this outfit when Jason was getting her dressed.   It should be interesting to see how this progresses.  I hope it doesn't add to the million things she already has meltdowns over, but I'm sure it will.  Sigh.   It's been a long, long week.  

Bandit's biopsy came back that he doesn't have cancer.  So happy for that, but they still have no idea what's wrong.   The next thing is an endoscopy/colonoscopy or exploratory surgery.   Or just waiting to see if he improves.   It is very frustrating that we've hit over $1,000 and have no real answers.  We are going to wait a bit since he seems better.  If it gets any worse, I think a second opinion will be needed to see if someone else can figure out things.  We aren't going to have anything left for treatment at this rate.   

It looks like Laila wants to go shopping, so I guess we are heading out for a bit.  Have a great weekend!

Stampin' Up! Starburst Sayings

It's Wednesday and time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! Cindy H. is our hostess and sketch designer this week.  I LOVE this sketch; it has a bazillion (that's an approximate number) possibilities!  I won the Starburst Sayings stamp set at Leadership and finally got the framelits in yesterday.   I just had to use them on my card.  I'm still on the Real Red and Coastal Cabana kick and probably will be for a while.  I have TWO packs of the Fresh Prints (of Bel-Air) DSP to use up!

See, fabulous sketch!!   It works great with different patterned papers and just about any type of shape! 

Yesterday we had to take Bandit for his test.  Hopefully we get the lab results soon so we can figure out what's going on with him.  Laila had to go with me to pick him up and had a TOTAL meltdown on the way home.  It continued in the house for a while.  She finally calmed down once we sat down to eat a bit.  Hangry girl!  

Stamp Review Crew Hello, Lovely Edition

Welcome to another hop of the Stamp Review Crew!   You probably came here from Paula's blog and have now hit the last stop on the hop, but no worries if you haven't went through them all.  You can start at the beginning with Heidi.  :)    This hop we are featuring Hello, Lovely.  Now I personally find this set difficult to use and tend to not use it that much.  I am thankful that Tanya had us pull it out because I see some new possibilities and have found even more with all the great ideas of my fellow hoppers!

I went to bed thinking about my project one night and woke up with the image of license plates in my head.  I tried to replicate a license plate wall on my background.  (We went to breakfast at Cracker Barrel recently and that's probably where this came from.)  I think it turned out pretty cool. I wasn't trying to stamp it perfectly, so don't look too closely.  ;)  It's supposed to be a bit shabby and imperfect. I used the colors from the Fab Friday challenge because they are so awesome together.  

For my second project, I made a little pizza box and some note cards for it.   It's a simple project, but a cute gift for a hostess.  

Here's the little box.  It makes me happy. :)    I love the colors in the Fresh Prints DSP stack, so I used those yet again.  Here are the cards that go in it:

Simple, but cute, right?!

Be sure to go through the hop and see all the other wonderful projects!   There's sure to be a fun mix of paper and digital projects from this great crew! 

                              

Stampin' Up! Geometrical

I wanted to finish up a final card for my online class and finally found a minute to do it today.  I had sponged the stencil earlier in the week and it was just hanging out on my desk.  You know what happens to things that do that, right?  They end up with ink or something smudged on them.  Thankfully I got this one all stamped and put away before that happened.  :)   Other things haven't been so lucky.  Yikes!   This is a simple one, but I like how cheery it is.   It would cheer me up!   And man...I need a major sequin intervention.  I have so many now and I just want to stick them on every card!   

She must have been channeling her daddy's former football days in this one.   Are you watching the Super Bowl tomorrow?   I'm excited!  Go Broncos.  :)