Make a Wish Kitty

Another card.  It's probably the last one for the week as Laila is sick and I'm exhausted from not enough sleep!   lol   I loved the sketch at Sketch Saturday and decided to combine it with the Penny Black Saturday Challenge.  I love this cute image and used it with a favorite color combination, yellow and gray!  

Now it's time to fix everyone lunch and then hopefully catch a nap.   I am doing great remembering to take my iron supplements and have my second vitamin D pill to take today, so I keep hoping that my energy will return soon!   The lack of rest isn't helping, but what can you do?   Keep on keeping on!

Crazy Bird Birthday

I found a little energy over the past few days to visit my poor stamp room.   I thought I'd work on my stash of birthday cards so I grabbed these crazy birds to use.  Simon Says Stamps Wednesday challenge was all about ombre, so I used my distress inks to make an ombre background.   I found another new challenge at 7 Kids College Fund, so I also want to join in there.

Sweet Kitties

It's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.  The sweet and funny Cindy H. is our hostess this week and I love the twist she put on what I initially thought was a simple sketch.  I almost forgot it and had to get creative.  I hope my bow is acceptable.  :)   My colors were inspired by the challenge at Cupcake Inspirations.  It's a new challenge I just found and I'm excited to join in!   The image is the Stamp of the Month from From the Heart Stamps.  

I'm a bit sad that I seem to only be getting one card a week made and posted.  I did go to the doctor last week and my iron and vitamin D are both low, so I started supplements this week to help with that.  I am guessing that's a HUGE reason why I've had no energy.   I hope the supplements help.  

Now if you don't see me post any after today, I'll be enjoying my Powerball win and hiding out!  lol

Freshly Made Sketches 218

Hello everyone!  It's time for Freshly Made Sketches to start back up for the year!  Our first sketch comes from the talented enabler who has me buying Taylored Expressions products now, Kim!   Her sketch is so interesting and it will be great to see how everyone interprets it!  I wasn't sure what I wanted to do at first, but as I flipped through my stamps I saw this set and the idea came to me!  Thank goodness for cloud embossing folders and dies!  :)

The design team made some fabulous samples to inspire you, so make sure you go over and check them out!   

Stamps:  Mama Elephant Up & Away

Can you believe how big Sadie is now?  She's a small horse!   She's still all legs and can maneuver herself through the tiny cat door in our gate.  She's CRAZYsauce and super smart, so pretty much a canine version of Laila.  lol  

Birthday Sunflower

It's my first card for 2016! Yay!   A special person is having a birthday this week so I wanted to make a special card for her.  I love bright, happy sunflowers and I hope it will bring some cheer to her day.   I didn't have room for a sentiment, but I added some little tags so that it wasn't totally naked.  :)

Stamps:  Stampendous Sunflower Ladybug, Stampin' Up! Tiny Tags
Paper:  Stampin' Up! Crushed Curry, Stampin' Up! Early Espresso, Neenah Solar White, Stampin' Up! Moonlight DSP
Other:  Stampin' Up! Jewelry Tag punch, Stampin' Up! Brights buttons, Early Espresso Baker's Twine, Early Espresso Stitched Ribbon

Favorites of 2015 Part 2

Continuing with yesterday's post, here are the second half of my favorites from last year.  :)  

July:

I don't like swimming or boating, but I love nautical stamps for some reason.   I think it's because they work so well with red and blue   Those are two of my favorite colors and I enjoy working with them.   This was made with one of the Simon Says Stamp card kits that I was getting for a while.  I keep thinking about subscribing again, but I have so much to use up as it is.

August:

Two from August.   I made this pretty sewing card for my mom of course.  I love the designer paper; it's from a pack that Jason got me for Christmas in 2014.   I paired with blacks of the cards with a favorite color, Coastal Cabana!

Play with distress inks again here.  I love the look of the space backgrounds and this was my first attempt at one.  I love  how it turned out!   I need more star themed stamps so I can make them more often.  :)

September:

This is one of those "embracing the white space" cards for sure.  :)   Again, Coastal Cabana and black accompany the white.   I just love those two colors together!

October:

October is my big stamping month, so I have three cards that were favorites.   The first is this gorgeous card that took me days and days to make.  I still can't believe in all those circles!   The result was totally worth it though.

Sunshine stamps are a favorite thing of mine and I love using them for my HYCCT cards.   I love this card and several others did as well.   It just makes me happy to look at and was one of my favorite cards from the challenges.

I discovered a new digital stamp company during HYCCT and this sweet little snowgirl is from them.  I think this is one of my most favorite cards that I've ever made.   I love the way the coloring turned out and the design just makes the image pop!  

November:

 More white space!  I was gifted this lovely poinsettia set from a friend last year and this was my first time using it.  It was fun to color and I love the result of the extra stamping/layering.  

Stencils are always fun to use and I love the background my hexagon stencil helped me make on this card.   It's such a fun backdrop for the beehive.   

December:

And finally, December.  I had two favorites even though I didn't get a lot of stamping in.   The sweet owl card I made for Jason just makes me happy.   

I love polar bears, so this card just had to make the favorites.   The fact that it uses Coastal Cabana helped a bit in making it a favorite too.  lol 

I hope you enjoyed a look back and I look forward to sharing another year of creativity and inspiration with you.  

Favorites of 2015 Part 1

I thought I'd start the new year by sharing some of my favorite cards from last year.  It's always nice to look back and see changes in style and (hopefully) improvement in coloring ability.  I have been enjoying my Copics so much and white space is finally my friend.   This year I hope to learn some new techniques, improve even more with my coloring, but most importantly, get cards in the mail!   I am also planning to sell more of them, so I need to figure out a way to do that.   Do you have crafty goals this year?

January:

I finally got some distress inks and started learning a bit on how to blend them.   I just LOVE them and hope to add more to my collection this year!

February:

I love all things retro, so these cute canisters from Two Paper Divas along with some retro colors just makes me happy!

March:

I love this beautiful stamp from Stampin' Up! and enjoy coloring it so much.  It is one I will be keeping in my stash for a very long time!  

April:

I couldn't decide on just one for April, so here's three.   This card just makes me happy.   I love the bright yellow and the sweet flower.   The tilted panels make me a bit anxious, but I'm still working on embracing them.  lol

 Another favorite stamp set.   I just love how super she is!   I love coloring her and love how this one turned out!

These little Lawn Fawn monsters are so dang cute!   I love using them and this combination of colors is a favorite of mine!  

May:

I am NOT a sewing person, but my mom is and I love making cards for her.   I love the fun, bright colors of this one and I hope she did as well.  

June:

 Two cards for this month caught my eye.  It must be the cute rainbow colors.  :)   This little unicorn from Paper Smooches is the most adorable thing and I just LOVE it.  I need to get it out again and color it!  

I am not a watercolor person, but I had fun with this one.   I love the origami map stamp from Neat & Tangled.  

I'll be back tomorrow with the rest of the months!

Happy New Year!