TPD Life's Simple Pleasures

So sorry I haven't posted any this week.   The weather changed and I have pretty much kept a headache.  I am still not sure how I made it through three days alone with Laila feeling like that.   Jason is home now thank goodness, so I at least have backup if I need to lay down.   I did finally feel like doing a little stamping last night and made this card for Two Paper Divas.  I love this stamp set called Life's Simple Pleasures so much.  It is fun to color and so beautiful.   You can't really tell from the photo, but I added Glossy Accents to the water in the vase and it gives it a fun look.  

I was at a friend's house on Sunday doing a stamping class and got this picture on my phone.  I guess they had dress up day while I was gone.  :)    She also needed BOTH hairbows my cousin made her to match the dress.  So silly.

Chillin' with the Divas

Howdy!   It's been a few days.   I've been a bit busy answering 5,235,345 toddler questions.  lol   I did want to share my card for Two Paper Divas today.   It's been hot and humid the few days it hasn't rained, so I went for a fun summer card using this new set called Summer Chillin'.  It has a lot of fun images and my favorite is this popsicle!  So much fun to color.  I did add some Wink of Stella to them so they are glittery in person.  I left it simple because I loved the pops of color against the white!

Laila and Jason did a bit of stamping with me yesterday.   We have to work on their technique a bit.  Well, Laila's.  She was all about pushing the stamp down into the ink pad as hard as she could.  She was a bit pink at the end of her stamping session.  

Freshly Made Monsters

Oops!  I forgot to do my Freshly Made Sketches post.  I had my card made early, so something had go to wrong, right?  lol  Linda has a fabulously fun sketch this week and I had a great time working with it.   I just love these Lawn Fawn monsters and paired them with some Crumb Cake, Real Red, and Coastal Cabana.  

There's a lot of ways to interpret this one and I thought the team did a great job of showing that!

You're Purrrfect!

I tried to stamp a bit this weekend to work out of the funk I seem to be in and it did help.  I feel a lot better mentally and have some new cards to send out to friends.  Win, win!  I played along with the MFT Card Challenges sketch.  I hadn't used this cute Pure Innocence stamp and thought it was time to try coloring it.   I seem to have a lot of cat loving friends, so it's a great stamp to make cards for friends.  :)

I did do a *bit* of interpreting for the sketch so I hope that's okay.   :)  

I'm so happy she finally lets me take her picture again.  She's at such an adorable stage with her little curls and cute smile.

Two Paper Divas Inspiration

A bit of a late post today, but it's been one of those weeks where I haven't stamped much and needed to do a bit tonight.  I wanted to show off this great new set from Two Paper Divas.   It is called Let Freedom Ring and it is a fabulous patriotic set.  You can't really go wrong with stars and pennants!  :)   I did a watercolor background in blue and then used the stamps to make a banner.  It's a fairly heavy card with all those layers, but I wanted to add more of the red, white, and blue in so I just kept adding more and more mats! 

It's storming here again tonight, so it might be a rough one.  Laila seems scared of thunder lately and wakes up if it's too loud.   We've discussed that thunder means rain and rain means the flowers grow, but that only works to calm her fears part of the time.   I can't say much since I'm scared of storms too.  She gets that honestly.  

My little sleeping beauty.   She rarely naps now, but she did today and was then up late and full of energy.  It was cracking us up!  She was just going and going!   She's been working on using the potty for a while now and keeps getting better and better about asking to go when she needs to.  We are super excited about that!

FMS Crazy Bird

It's Wednesday and time for a new Freshly Made Sketches challenge.   This week is my sketch and it's a simple one.  For my card I used one of the awesome Tim Holtz Bird Crazy birds.   My sweet friend Jen M. was kind enough to send me some of the birds to try out and man!  They are so fun, but they are a bit difficult to color.  I thought my poor guy looked a little sick, so I made him into a get well card.  lol

The design team has some fabulous creations, so be sure to go check them out!  I was just blown away with their work again this week.

Our latest cooking adventure was banana pudding!  She sure loves whisking.  :)

UYS Monday: Lawn Fawn Edition

I chat with some of my stamping friends quite a bit and one thing that always comes up is how we have stuff we've never used or stuff we haven't used in a long time.   My friend Holly and I wanted to dedicate a day to using up some of this stuff, but for months we only talked about it.  Today we start!   We recruited our friend Lisa to join us so she can use her stuff too.  We are calling it Use Your Stuff Monday and hope to use some of our unloved and neglected stamping stuff before we buy more.

For my card this week I had two Lawn Fawn goodies from Christmas that I hadn't used yet.  The Stitched Leaves Die and Violet's ABCs.   I used some distress inks to color my leaves and then left the card simple so that they could really stand out.   I popped them up to add some dimension and play along with the current Lawnscaping challenge.

Do you have a set or dies you haven't used?  Or one that has been collecting dust for a while?  Get it out! Use it!  We are hoping to do this every other Monday until we get some of our stuff used up.  It's a great way to play around with stamps and also "stamp" along with friends.  :)

Mom has been very patient and is working on teaching Laila a lot of new things.  Laundry folding, using the potty, cleaning up her toys...  it's nice!   :)   We are sure going to miss her on Wednesday when she leaves.  Sad face.

An InLinkz Link-up

MFT Super Awesome

I was in a purple mood again, so I grabbed my stamps to play along with the MFT Card Challenges sketch.   I LOVE the sketch this week and think it will work with so many different stamps.  I'm totally obsessed with this set right now though, so I grabbed it and went to work.  I made it for a good friend of mine and I hope she likes it.  :)

I got a little happy with my Wink of Stella pen.  :)   That thing is addicting and it's hard to put down once you start adding the sparkle.   You get a sparkle, you get a sparkle...  

I'm off to sneak in some Easter candy while Laila is in quiet time.  If I don't sneak it, she'll eat her candy AND mine!   Momma needs her chocolate. 

Two Paper Divas Daisy

Sharing a little sunshine and happiness today.  I love this cute new set from Two Paper Divas.  It's a new release this month and it's so perfect for Spring!   I kept my card simple (and embraced the tilt again) to show off the simple beauty of the stamp.   It is definitely one of my new favorites!

Stamps:  Life's Simple Pleasures, Banners #2

We had a fun day at The Aquarium yesterday.   We talked Mom into riding the Ferris Wheel and touching some stingrays.   I always love taking her to do new things, so this was our "new" this trip.  :)

FMS Super Girl

It's time for Freshly Made Sketches!   Warning!!! Tilted panel ahead.  lol Thankfully Jen M. is my friend so I forgive her....this time!  lol  Seriously though, it's a great sketch.  I just tend to panic at tilted things, but am working on embracing it a bit since that seems popular right now.  I used an image I had already colored and hadn't managed to put on a card.   I just love this girl from My Favorite Things.

I left my card pretty simple as I need to have some mailable ones.  I'm *trying* to do better about sending them out and hope to get a few more in the mail today.  I'm also linking up to MarkerPop's challenge.  It's anything goes this time around.  

She decided we needed a photo shoot the other day while Jason was taking Grammy to the doctor.  :) 

Stampin' Up! Butterfly Basics

Hey strangers!    I swear I thought I'd be posting a ton while Mom was here.  I was thinking I'd be stamping away...but no!   Not at all.   We've been busy bees and then Mom got sick and had to go to the doctor.  Double ear infection, sinus infection, and crazy allergies.  I guess the Texas pollen was not very nice to her.  :(   She's feeling some better today, so I hope she's on the mend.  Anyway... one of my stamping friends has been working and volunteering to get her Master Gardener certification and just got a recognition last week.  I wanted to send a card to her because I know working a "real" job and doing that in her spare time is a lot of work.  I made a nature/vintage/shabby chic card and I hope she likes it.  It's not "me", but I think it's her which is what matters, right?!

Today's project was a butterfly garden!   I was so excited about making this and I can't wait to watch it grow.  Laila took Jason's gloves and went to help work on it for a while, but most of her fun was squirting us and herself with her new squirt guns.  lol 

Simon Says Birthdays

The Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge was all about birthdays this time, so I decided to play along using my March card kit.  I am so in love with these colors and the pretty flower stamps!  I went ahead and made a belated birthday card because I am behind and need to get a few out in the mail.   Hopefully they won't be a month late like the last ones.  Yikes!

Another picture from our day at the park.   :o)

Two Paper Divas Pretty Posies

A happy little spring card for you today featuring some stamps from Two Paper Divas.   I went a little out of my style and used some floral paper and did a bit of sponging.   Gayla and Melissa must be rubbing off on me.  :o)  

Stamps:  Pretty Posies,  Banners #2

I am hoping to get some stamping and scrapbooking done while Mom is visiting and Jason is home.   We are planning some actual date nights which will be nice.  I can't remember the last time we went out!   I haven't watched a movie in ages and the new theater just got a fancy new screen, so that's on our list to check out.   I want to go to one of the museums as well, just have to decide between science and art.  

We had a nice day at the park yesterday.   Laila even had Grammy sliding on the slides.   They were both worn out last night.  It's so fun to watch them together.  

Stampin' Up! Indescribable Gift

It's Wednesday and time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.   Jen T. is our hostess this week and she definitely challenged the team.   I am amazed at what everyone came up with, so now I'm really looking forward to the gallery!  

I'm a bit obsessed with coloring this image lately, so hopefully you aren't getting sick of seeing it.  Such a gorgeous flower stamp.   If you haven't purchased it yet, do it!   

My mom made it around dinner time yesterday and they are already having a blast.  :)   It's so fun to see.