Two Paper Divas Bundle of Joy

Okay, I am so happy that this is the last day of this month.  It has been such a tough one for me and I will be happy to see it go!   I am so behind on stamping and blogging, but my mom is here now and I'm hoping to really catch up and maybe get ahead?  I'm thinking that won't happen, but caught up sounds good at least.  :)   This is my sweet little card using a new Two Paper Divas set called Bundle of Joy.  We love giraffes at our house, so I was excited to color this little cutie.    Now somebody needs to have a baby so I can send it to them.   Any takers on that?!  lol

Stamps:  Two Paper Divas Bundle of Joy
Ink:  Stampin' Up! Chocolate Chip, Memento Black, Copics
Paper:  Neenah Solar White, Stampin' Up! Crushed Curry, Stampin' Up! Chocolate Chip
Tools/Embellishments:  Big Shot, My Favorite Things Blueprints 20, My Favorite Things Stitched Tags STAX, Stampin' Up! Lucky Stars Embossing Folder, Studio Calico Wood Veneers Stars, Paper Smooches Baby Bow Die

These two are pretty much attached at the hip.   It's so awesome to see how much they love each other.  I admit it's a bit sad for Jason and I as we cease to exist when Grammy is here.   I guess we can share her for a couple of weeks though.  :o)

Freshly Made Flower

It's my week as sketch designer at Freshly Made Sketches.  I'm a bit unsure of this week's sketch, but I think it will be a challenging challenge.   That's the point, right?  lol   I made a few attempts before I decided to just go with this one.  I figure if it's a bad card, at least my flower is pretty.  :o)    The rest of the team totally rocked it, so be sure you go see their awesome creations over on the FMS page.

I still love banners, so this was a fun way to play with them.  I hope you will try it out and link up to the gallery this week!   Good luck! 

Laila has been enjoying her Koala Crate projects a lot more lately.   I was about to cancel it, but now she's actually sitting down with us to do it.   This was her snake she did over the weekend.   :)

Harry Potter Rocks!

One of my former coworkers is a huge Harry Potter fan like myself, so I looked around online to find a digital image to make a card for her.  Bugaboo Stamps has a bunch of really cool images based on different books and this is the one I ended up getting.  I LOVE it!  Now I need to go get more of them!   :)  Professor Snape for sure and maybe some of the Wizard of Oz ones for a friend who loves that movie!  It's it fun to personalize your cards for the person you are sending them to?  I love doing that!

I don't think you can tell, but I added some Crystal Effects to his glasses and some Wink of Stella to the stars.    I can't wait to go mail it!  She lives near me, so it should get there pretty quickly.  

My little stamping buddy crashed out on me while I was working on my card.  :)    Everyone seems to be feeling some better, but Jason did catch whatever it is I'm fighting off.  I feel some better today, but I still am not 100%.   My mom comes soon, so I hope we are all feeling better so we can enjoy her visit!

Sparkly Coffee

When I saw the new challenge at Sparkle and Shine I knew I wanted to play along.  I don't get to do as many challenges as I used to, but I enjoy it when I can find time.   I haven't played along with this one yet, so I'm happy to finally get to do that.   :)   I love this coffee set from Create a Smile stamps and thought it would be a fun way to show off some green!  I'll probably add a little Starbucks gift card and send it off to a friend.

Today has been a good day.  Laila is still fighting a fever, but she's been playing and eating okay.   I hope she can sleep well tonight and kick whatever it is that's causing her to be sick.  We'll be giving her medicine all night again, so it will be another long night for us.   I'd rather do that than take a chance of another seizure though.   I was told they usually stop being at risk for febrile seizures around age five, so I'll be happy when we get there.   Here's her in her dance clothes on Monday.  So cute!  :)

You're Spectacular

I'm a bit late with my Freshly Made Sketches post, but I did make a card!  :)  Jen T. made a fabulous sketch that I had to find time to play along with.  Thankfully my card came together quickly and easily.  I love this fun stamp set and coordinating dies from My Favorite Things.  So much fun, especially for folks like me who wear glasses.

I had a bit of fun with my glasses.  I covered them in Crystal Effects and then sprinkled black glitter on top.  They are sparkly and so cool in person!   I love using black and white sometimes for a card, so I stuck with those and only added a couple rhinestones for some bling.  

Yesterday was one heck of a day.   Laila had Mother's Day Out and I was super excited to have some time alone.   I did for a few hours, but then the school called to tell me she had a seizure and I needed to come quickly.   I got there in time to ride with the ambulance to the ER.  It was a febrile seizure and after testing, we still have no idea what caused her to spike a fever so fast.   The doctor said it was probably viral like the last one she had a couple years ago.   We were up and down all night making sure she was okay and she's her usual self today.   It's funny how fast kids bounce back..and how slow adults are to feel like it's all okay again.   

Two Paper Divas Sassy Trees

Happy Monday.   (if there is such a thing!)  Today I wanted to share a card using a new release from Two Paper Divas.  I love whimsical stamps and I think these Sassy Trees are just adorable.  The sentiment is from the Holiday Sentiments set.

I've been out of commission with some allergy/cold/something-or-other and haven't felt like doing much of anything.  I swear you get one issue somewhat fixed and something else shows up!    I did go to a walk-in clinic over the weekend to make sure it wasn't strep or a sinus infection and thankfully it wasn't.  It's still no fun though and doesn't seem to want to go away.   Crazy!   We did have some nice weather over the weekend and I tried to enjoy it as much as I could.  We had the windows open most of the day yesterday and that was awesome (and rare!).  

Laila had her first day of Mother's Day Out on Thursday and she loved it.  She cried when it was time to leave!  lol   She is so excited about going back tomorrow and I am so excited to have a few hours alone!   ALONE!!!!!!!!   I'm hoping that Tuesdays will be my day to catch up on my stamping.  I'm always so behind now and feel like I'm failing both my design team and my challenge team.   They have both been great at supporting me through my breakdowns and life craziness.   Thank heavens for understanding folks, right?!

I'm off to shower and put together some stamped images and markers.  Laila has dance class today and I want to get a little coloring in while she's there.   :)  

Freshly Made Sketches Flower

It's Wednesday and I finally got my act together to play along with my Freshly Made Sketches team.  They've been so patient with me and my crazy life and I love them for that.   I know I've said it before, but they really are the best team and more like friends, maybe even sisters.   Jen M. designed our sketch this week and I LOVE it.   I have been in a huge creative funk so I was happy that an idea came to me pretty quickly.  I finally got my hands on this beautiful flower set from Create a Smile stamps and I just had to color it with my Copics. Because it is new and never used, I want to also enter it in the NBUS challenge.  If you have old or new stuff that hasn't had any love, you should totally use it and enter too!  It worked perfectly for the sketch.   I added a little sentiment from Altenew, some sequins, and a simple embossed background.   Easy peasy!  :)

I hope to get back on a better stamping schedule soon.   Sadie is still not feeling well and I'm working on adjusting to my new medicine, but I think we are both on our way to better days.   :o)  She went back to the vet today and we are doing another round of antibiotics.  She still has a cough and a runny nose, but her lungs sounded clear.   The vet thinks it is just an upper respiratory infection now, but still won't rule out distemper completely.   Keep sending good thoughts her way.  

My cats aren't sure about having a dog in the house, but they aren't being too awful about it.   It's an adjustment, but they are doing great so far.   Much better than I thought they would actually.   :)  

My other sweet girl.  Her eyes just kill me!  

Two Paper Divas Encouragement

I've become a big fan of Instagram and have made some nice crafty friends over there.   One of them has been going through some issues similar to mine, so I wanted to make a little card to send her.  I used a few sets from Two Paper Divas:  Wanna Hang Out, Large Cupcake Accessories, Mason Jar Accessories #4.   I love putting images from multiple sets together to make a card.   :)  

Things have been going okay here so far this weekend.   I am feeling some better, just a little worried about some family members who are struggling/sick.   Laila has a stuffy nose and didn't sleep the best on Friday night, so we are all a little tired.  I'm thankful that tomorrow is a holiday and that Jason is off work.  I'm hoping we can all rest tonight.  

Two Paper Divas Cupcake

Howdy strangers!   Believe it or not, I'm back!   I finally stamped something again last night.  It's been a while, but I wanted to play with this cute cupcake from Two Paper Divas again.   I really love coloring that big cupcake for some reason.  It's fun to add some shading and bright colors!  :)   It's from the Large Cupcake set and the sentiment is from the Large Cupcake Accessories set.  I thought it would be fun to make a shaker card and I think it turned out pretty cute.

So an update on why I've been out of stamping and blogging...

Last week things got really REALLY tough for me.   I don't know if you guys know much about PMDD, but it's a horrible awful thing that I developed after having Laila.  It has been a tough journey to get it under control and last week my medicine just seemed to not be helping at all.  I feel like I almost had a complete mental breakdown.   Thankfully I was able to get a quick appointment with a new doctor and have a new medicine now.   I am crossing my fingers and toes that it helps because I do not want to feel like I did last week again.  

In addition to that, Sadie got sick.  So sick in fact, that the vet thought she had distemper and offered me the option of having her put down on Friday.   Not a chance, so we tried some different medicine for her and an experimental treatment.  This week she's been like a new dog.  She's finally acting like the puppy she is!   She still has some congestion and a runny, but let's hope she's on the mend.

This week has been a busy one so far.  Laila started dance class.  We also went to meet her teachers for Mother's Day Out yesterday and explore her classroom.  I am still a little nervous about her going, but she loved it.  In fact, she had to be carried out crying because she didn't want to leave!  She keeps asking to go back too.  I think it will be a great experience for her and a break for me.  Her first full day is next Thursday.