Two Paper Divas Hearts

Have you started thinking about Valentine's Day yet?  lol   I loved this last release from Two Paper Divas and haven't had a chance to play with all the stamps yet.   I won't be on the team in 2016 as I needed a break to get my life in order, but I will still be sharing projects with their stamps.   I hope I might can sneak in as a guest designer every now and then as well.  Gayla and Melissa are wonderful ladies and I encourage you to check out the shop if you haven't already.

My favorite part of Valentine's Day is the candy of course.  The conversation hearts are such a tradition and I love that they released a stamp set of them. (Large Conversation Heart).  I used the big heart and two of the sayings for my card.  I added a simple watercolor in the background in pink of course.  This card took me forever to finally leave alone and then it wouldn't photograph well at all.  The rainy days didn't have enough light and then I don't know what happened.  lol  See?  I'm a mess!

The fireworks are starting up, so I think I'm going to go set up the bed so I can snuggle with Sadie and watch some Breaking Bad.   I hope you have a wonderful end to 2015!  I'll be back with a post tomorrow sharing all my favorites from 2015.   I planned to do that today, but I had cards I needed to share.

Happy New Year!

From The Heart Bear

I'm so behind!  I just can't seem to get good photos lately, but I'm going ahead and posting anyway.  This adorable image is December's Stamp of the Month challenge stamp at From The Heart Stamps.  I loved coloring it, so I wanted to be sure I got it posted before the month (and year!) ended.  I am loving digital stamps lately!

Laila loves to help cook and we try to let her as much as we can. It makes me a nervous wreck, but I just try to teach her to be careful and we talk about safety and all that.   She made her scrambled eggs the other day and had a blast.   :)  

Cool Day Bear

I thought I'd share the one card I was able to get a good picture of today.  I have several others that I just can't get photographed well, but the sun is finally coming out so maybe in a couple more hours!  That rain we've been having makes it tough to get a decent picture.   This card is for the MFT Card Challenges sketch challenge.  I am so in love the polar bears from Cool Day.  I am totally using them for cards all year so that I have some winter cards to mail out. I failed on getting Christmas cards mailed, so I'm going to switch to just making winter ones.  Surely I can get those sent since I have 3 months to do so. lol

I hope everyone had a good holiday.  Ours wasn't so great, but it is just normal for things to be that way lately.   Laila is having a lot of issues and it just makes things frustrating and difficult.  I am putting her in play therapy next month and we are doing an evaluation through the school to see if there's something there they can help with.   She is almost more than we can handle these days and we've found that it's not just us. The teachers at Mother's Day Out have a hard time as well.   We go and get her from there early now because it's too much for them to keep her all day.   I'm at a loss, so fingers crossed that the professionals can help.  Most people say she's just really really smart, but it's much more than that.   Sigh. 

Santa was still good to her and she got a train table.  She loves it and has played and played.  It keeps her busy and the tantrums/screaming aren't quite as frequent while she's playing.  I am hoping it will allow me to catch up on the house since I'm so behind and it's making me nuts.   I am ready for the tree and pine needles to go away!   I don't know if we'll do a real tree again or not.  lol  SO, MUCH. MESS.  

Okay, I'm off to finish up my bit of cleaning and figure out what we will be having for lunch.   I hope you are having a good Monday! 

Santa!!!!!!!

Sharing this card I made ages ago.  It was from my last class I held and my answer to their request for a Christmas gift card holder.  The inside has a little pocket at the bottom to hold one.  12 x 12 paper comes in handy sometimes for things like this!  :)  The card itself is just the Santa Suit die-namics from My Favorite Things.  I won it on World Card Making Day and it is so fun!!!   Easy too!    Who wouldn't want a card that looks like Santa?  

Laila's absolute favorite thing is trains.  In fact, she's getting a train table, Thomas engines, and Thomas rain boots and a raincoat for Christmas.   Last week we drove 3 hours each way to take her to ride the Polar Express to the North Pole.  She LOVED it.   She was so excited and watching her was so worth the cost and the drive.  It was the perfect year to go since she is so obsessed with trains.   I can't wait until Christmas morning when she sees her table!  She loves the one at Mother's Day Out so much.  

Share Joy with the Grumplings

I know I am!  lol  I love these Grumplings from Taylored Expressions so much.   This one and the sentiment are so me at the moment.  I feel like we just skipped weeks ahead and now I'm behind.   I haven't mailed out any cards, wrapped any gifts, or even hung the stockings!   Tomorrow is going to be a super busy day!   The layout for my card is from the sketch at the current TE Share Joy Challenge.  I just fudged a bit and made it into a rectangle since I have a mental block with square cards.

Hopefully I'll be back soon with my Two Paper Divas card and a couple of other miscellaneous cards I made a while back and haven't shared.  Until then...  

I thought I'd share my birthday gift before I left.  I turned forty (ugh) on Saturday and Jason gave me money to go shopping for the animal shelter as my gift. It's what I asked for and I'm so happy he listened.   It was great to fill the cart up and then drive it all down to the shelter.  I hope it helps the animals!  

Owl Birthday for FMS

Wednesday again?  It is going to be Christmas before we know it!   It's Freshly Made Sketches day!  This will be our last sketch of the year, so you have some extra time to play along!  It's always nice to have a little less stress over the holidays, right?  :) We will be back on January 6th for a brand next sketch in a brand new  year!  Linda is our last hostess of the year and her sketch is just awesome.  I made a birthday card for someone special for my card.  I'm also entering in MarkerPOP's challenge since it is anything goes.  :)  

I just love owls. Monday night I was watching some being released from a wildlife rescue here in Texas and I think that influenced what I used for my card.  The cute Winter Owl mini set from Lawn Fawn is just adorable!  The sentiment is from a flamingo set from Newton's Nook.   

I hope you have a great holiday!  I should be back with more cards before then, but you never know...  I have some crafty Christmas gifts making their way here to me, but who knows if I'll get time to play! 

I Chews You

Finally getting this poor card posted!  I made it last week and didn't like it so I kept looking at it and then finally pulled it apart and changed it up some yesterday.  I've had a migraine today and have barely felt like doing anything, so here it is the evening!   This is from a cute set from Two Paper Divas called I Chews You.  Is it not the cutest?!  I love gumball machines!   I couldn't get a good picture for some reason, but I think you can still see how adorable it is.

How cute are these two?   A rare moment of them being nice and not fighting!  I swear they are siblings!

Holiday Coffee Lovers

It's time for another Coffee Lovers Blog Hop!   This one is the winter/holiday edition, so I had to try to make an ombre red cup for Newton!  :)   I am so addicted to the Starbucks holiday drinks.  The Holiday Spice Flat White is so good that I might cry when it is gone!   Seriously!    I went with a gray/red theme and I hope that's holiday enough. All my kitties are gray, so I had to make this one gray as well.

Doggy Birthday

One of the sweet ladies I met at the animal shelter is having a birthday today so I made this card for her.  I did actually mail it a few days ago, so I am crossing my fingers it makes it today.  She is the nicest person and helped us get our Sadie girl.   I used the Avery Elle Furry Friends set again; she has a dog named Charlie who she just adores so I had to make a dog card!  :)

I want to learn to watercolor on my cards so bad, but it is HARD!  I think I need some better watercolors and maybe a class to help me.  I'm so not artsy so using real art supplies scares me!  lol

Happy Mail

Greetings!   Pardon any typos.  I'm typing with a puppy "helper" and it's not easy.  lol   Today is our new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.  It's a bit different, but I swear I wasn't drinking when I sent it in.  Ha!  For my card I made one using this cute new bear from Stamping Bella.   I needed a card to give our mailman with his cookies I got him so I thought a bear holding a letter might be cute for that.  He works hard delivering the Amazon Prime packages we get a lot, so why not be nice to him, right?  :)  He saves me any trips to the store for things by bringing them.

See?  Kinda crazy, but you can interpret it many ways so give it a shot!  :)  You can do it!  

I'm off to watch an episode of Private Practice before Jason gets home.  It's my new Hulu addiction.  I think I'm up to season three now.  

For my awesome vet

I've been trying to do some acts of kindness this month and while some are for random people, I also wanted to show some love to the people who help make my life better. Our vet clinic does an amazing job with our animals, even the grumpy ones, so I made a card and took them some cookies last week.   They laughed and asked if I was trying to bribe them because they had my extra grumpy kitty that day.  :) I used some distress inks and water for the background and Avery Elle's Furry Friends set for my critters.

I had one of my lowest days in a long time yesterday.  Things are always rough in December, but this one even more so.   Laila is having so many issues at Mother's Day Out and Sadie is in crazy puppy mode.  It's become more than I can handle.  Bandit must have sensed that I was that down because he came and snuggled with me.   He always did this after Eli died, but now he normally stays in the front room and not with me.   I don't know how he knew, but he helped save me yesterday.  It reminded me why I do love my vet so much; he's still here.  He's my kitty that we've almost lost many time but they make him better.  I need him. <3 nbsp="" p="">

Polar Bear Warmth

Who doesn't love a polar bear in a pink sweater?  :)   I loved the colors at colourQ this week and thought they'd be fun with the sketch at MFT's Card Challenges.   I love that I can make this into a Christmas card or a just because I like you card.  Those bears are great for lots of occasions!

   
I hope you have a great week!   Can you believe we are getting so close to the holidays?  It doesn't seem like it should be so late in the year!

Share Joy with the Grumplings

Did you take advantage of any of the Thanksgiving sales?   I finally got this adorable Holiday Grumplings set from Taylored Expressions.   I thought I'd use it this week for the Share Joy challenge.   Even grumpy cats can spread joy, right?  :)   I just love his little face!!   He reminds of my Bella.  lol

Part of the challenge is to send out your card to someone.  I have a special friend who is married to a man obsessed with Frozen, so I made this one for her.  She loves moose, so I found the cutest moose ornament to send along with it.   

Sadie got her Christmas present a bit early.  We found this awesome bed for her at Costco yesterday! 

Merry Little Christmas

Hello my blogging friends.  I hope you are all doing well.  I have been stamping and coloring, but haven't had a chance to actually do much in terms of photographing or blogging my cards.  I'm actually in a major coloring mood, but not so much a cardmaking mood.  I have put a few together, but I guess when that mojo returns I should have quite a few finished images to use!  This lovely clean-and-simple creation uses a large stamp from Two Paper Divas called Merry Little Christmas that is perfect if you need a lot of Christmas cards and fast!   It comes together quickly and has a nice polished look.

I hope your Christmas planning is going well and you are well on your way to being finished.  I'm not a big Christmas person, but I am almost done thank goodness.  I will be thankful when it is all over and we can move on to a new year.

Freshly Made Squirrel

It's Wednesday and time for a new sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.   Jen M. is our fabulous hostess this week and she has a sketch with one of my favorite things, a banner!  Woo Hoo!  I had several ideas for a card but ended up going with this squirrel card because I needed a card to send a friend who just loves squirrels.   I am not that happy with how it turned out, so I might put a few things apart or start it all over.  I don't know if it's the colors or what, but something feels off to me.  Maybe making it while Laila supervised made me nervous.  lol   I think it's actually because it is so dark and I've gotten used to mostly white space.   Going back to colored card stock is hard!

I hope you'll come play along and get your banner on with us!   Now I'm off to have a quick coffee, drop the cat off at the vet, and then go pick up a few groceries.  It's an early start to the day.  *yawn*

Deck the Halls Birdbrain

I am cutting it close to get my card posted for the From the Heart Stamp of the Month challenge. I made this last week but just haven't had a good chance to get a picture and edit it.  So... here it is!  Isn't that bird hilarious?!  He is loving those ornaments.   :)   I am enjoying this progressive challenge, so I can't wait to see next month's stamp!

Laila didn't quite get the 6-7 foot rule when picking a tree for the house.  lol  This one was her first choice!   She had a blast at the Christmas tree farm and loves our decorated tree.

Bloom Wildly

I am so behind on stamping and posting.   I have been so exhausted lately.  I think it's to the point that I need to go have some blood work done to make sure nothing is off.  I did manage to use this gorgeous watering can from the last Two Paper Divas release.  It is called Bloom Wildly and I think that's just a perfect name and a great motto for life. The sentiment is from Everyday Sentiments 3 and there are so many great ones in that set!

Laila got to ride in the car cart at the grocery store when we went to get all our Thanksgiving fixings earlier this week.  Can you tell how much she LOVED it?  lol  So silly.

Off to get a coffee so I can stay up until a reasonable hour.  I don't think 4pm is a time for bed even though I could easily go to sleep!

Freshly Made Polar Bear

Hello!  Sorry it's been a week between postings.  This time of year is my rough time with missing my Eli and hating the holidays.   I am just not a fan at all of October-January.  I did get Laila to play with a train set I put in my stamp room long enough for me to make this card today.   Sorry for the bad picture; I finished in the evening and the sun was mostly gone.   This is for our new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.   Jen T is our sketch maker this week and if the design team examples are any indication of the cards made from it, the gallery is going to rock this week!  (Doesn't it always though?)  

I used a set that had been neglected in my stash, Cool Day from My Favorite Things.  It's the most adorable polar bears and I just love it.  They are fun to color too even if it looks like a lot of it isn't colored.  ;) 

We had Santa pictures yesterday and Laila did so much better than last year.   This was a sneak peek that Debi posted and I knew I would love this shot when she snapped it.  Laila had to show Santa her Hello Kitty tattoo and I love their expressions!   He's such a great Santa.  I can't wait to see all our proofs and pick our Christmas card picture! 

Moon Cat for FMS

Happy Wednesday!   It's Freshly Made Sketches day and I'm sharing my card with the fabulous Amy's new sketch.   It's a great one again and I think you'll enjoy creating with it.   I know I did.  I had this adorable Penny Black stamp for a while now and decided to ink it up and color it for the challenge.  I love cat stamps almost as much as coffee stamps, so this one makes me happy!

There are many ways to interpret this one and the design team has some great ideas for you!  Be sure to check those out!   Happy Stamping!   

Blue Truck for TPD

Happy Sunday!  I hope you're having a good weekend.  We are a bit low-key here and that's good for me.  I colored a bit last night and made this card for Two Paper Divas.  The newest release had some great sentiments like this one from Everyday Sentiments 3 and this awesome old Truck.  It's a fun image to color with Copics or to paper piece if that's more your thing.  :)

We found this cute hat at Target this week.  She says she looks like Sadie.  lol   :)

Freshly Made Poinsettia

I'm still here.   lol  Finishing up Hope You Can Cling To must have broken my brain because I've had a headache most of the week and haven't been able to stamp.   It finally eased up a bit yesterday and I was able to go make my Freshly Made Sketches card...a bit late of course.   I really loved Narelle's sketch so I was happy I felt like playing.  Hopefully she's not disappointed in my lack of layers.  :o)   I did layer my poinsettia bit just for her.

Big thanks to my friend Mindy who sent me this set for my birthday last year.  It finally saw ink!  Yay!

Isn't that a great sketch?   The team did a great job showing how versatile it can be so be sure you go check out the rest of the cards.  I hope to see you in the gallery.  

Sadie thinks she and Laila are sisters.  lol She always like to bring a toy (or in this case, a leaf) and lay beside Laila and play.  It's very cute.  

...and DONE! Yay!!!

So happy!   I stayed up last night and managed to finish my last three cards!   I almost gave up around 9, but one last episode of Private Practice helped me stay and finish.  :)   I had to do fussy cutting, a new technique, and even managed to use an image I colored ages ago but hadn't used.   Whew!  Another year in the books!!

Yvette's challenge was to use construction related materials or stamps for a card.  I looked but we must not be very handy because I couldn't find anything.  I did have this awesome set from Two Paper Divas called You Are a Handy Guy that was perfect! I enjoy coloring these images a lot and cutting them out doesn't bother me at all because I love the look of them.  

This was my card for a try a tutorial from the SCS resource section.  I've been wanting to try the Iris Twist technique for ages, so I went with it!   It wasn't as difficult as I thought and I think the result is so neat!

And finally, Lydia asked us to cross the finish line.  We were to draw a line on our card and have something cross it.   I had colored this crazy bird back at the beginning of the challenges and hadn't had a chance to use her on anything.  I decided she was perfect for the finale.

Thanks for visiting and seeing all the cards from the past five weeks!  I hope they inspired you and I hope you will join in next year and make some of your own!