Freshly Made Leaves

Wednesday means a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! Karren is the designer this week and has a fun one!  I messed it up (as always), but I love my card anyway.   I just got some beautiful new dies from Concord & 9th and I had to use them!  Aren't they pretty?  Great way to use up some scrap pieces too.  :)

Stamps:  Wplus9 Grateful Greetings
Ink:  Stampin' Up! Early Espresso
Paper:  SU Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, and SU DSP scrap
Tools:  Lawn Fawn Stitched Hillside Borders, Concord & 9th Layering Leaf dies
Other: Linen Thread, SU Regals Candy Dots, SU burlap ribbon

Isn't that fun?  I love the "any shapes" option because the possibilities are endless!  I look forward to seeing you in the gallery!  Below is my first attempt with the sketch the same products.  I like the second on so much better!

Freshly Made Poinsettia

Hello! It's back to school week here, so I'm a little behind on making and posting.  I am so excited to be back playing with my friends at Freshly Made Sketches this week.  I took a small break to try and gather myself back together.  I started playing around with the sketch this week to see if I could do it and this is what I got.  I love the sketch and was feeling a bit festive too I guess.  :)  Cindy is the hostess and she always has the best projects.  Be sure to go check out hers and the rest of the teams'.

I still don't own anything oval, so circle it was.  :) 

Stamps:  Stampin' Up! Joyful Christmas, Stampin' Up! Contempo Christmas

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Up! Cherry Cobbler

Paper:  Stampin' Up! Thick Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler, Neenah Solar White

Dies:  Lil' Inker Stitched Rectangles, My Favorite Things Stitched Mini Scallop Circles

Copics:  R35, R35, R39, YG11, YG13, YG17

Laila had her first day of school yesterday and it went great!  She didn't want to leave.  lol  Today she was so excited to go back and asked to leave early even!  Wow! Here's us waiting in the car line for the teachers to come out!  Today was our first time ever doing that and it was easy peasy!  I hope we have found the right fit for her.  Three days a week will do us all good!  :) 

Blueprint Poison

What?  Halloween???  I know!  I treated myself to a stamp set I found on sale last week and it is Halloween/Fall Tim Holtz blueprints.  I wanted to try some liquid masking using a technique I learned in the Mask-erade Online Card Classes class. I put a ton of time and effort into this card.  So many techniques and drying time!  It is still drying now because there's Crystal Effects on the bottle.  lol  It might be ready to mail by Halloween. ...maybe!

Stamps:  Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Halloween Blueprint 2, Stampin' Up! And Many More
Ink:  Ranger Archival Jet Black, Distress inks: Dusty Concord, Spiced Marmalade, Hickory Smoke, Black Soot, Tea Dye, Brushed Corduroy
Paper:  Canson 140lb watercolor paper, My Favorite Things Black Licorace, Recollections Midnight Magic Halloween
Dies:  Lil' Inker Stitched Rectangles

That's all from me.  We are getting ready to go on a little family drive.  Jason has to pick up something about an hour away and there's a Whole Foods near where he's going.  I love going there to look around, so Laila and I might be finding some new fruits/veggies to try later!  :)

Have a great weekend!
Rita

Purrfect Purple Cat

I'm still working on August birthday cards.  Today I focused on a sweet friend who loves cats. She's super girly, but I just can't do pink so I went with a good girl color, PURPLE!   I used the new sketch at MFT Card Challenges along with a cute MFT Pure Innocence stamp.  :)

Stamps: MFT Purrfect
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Ranger Dusty Concord distress ink
Paper:  (not sure of the purple, but it's retired Stampin' Up!), Neenah Solar White
Dies:  My Favorite Things Blueprints 27 and 22, Lil' Inker Stitched Rectangles
Copics:  E000, E00, E11, R20, E31, E33, E36, E37, V12, V15, V17, W0, W1, W3, W5, W7

So update on life chaos:  Bandit seems to be feeling better minus some weird breathing. I'm calling tomorrow to follow up on that since he will be finishing up his antibiotics.  We found out today that Laila was accepted at the montessori school we applied to and will start next week!  So yay!  Tomorrow we have another assessment with the public school system and go meet her teacher again at the montessori school.  Send good thoughts! :)

Maskerade of Animals

August is apparently the month for birthdays!  What happened 9 months ago?  lol   I have so many friends with birthdays this month so I'm trying to crank out some cards for them.  I saw that Online Card Classes was having a sale this week (ends today by the way!) on classes so I took a peek.  I saw the Maskerade class that I never really finished because I didn't have the supplies and thought hmm...  So this card is the results of the first lesson.  :)   I still might go sign up for a new class, but I have several that I can revisit and do again with supplies that I have now.  It will feel all new in a way!  If you've never tried a class, go look and give one a chance! I love every single one I've taken.

And this card has too many random sequins.  We won't talk about the smudges they are hiding.  Oops!

Stamps:  Avery Elle Furry Friends, Mama Elephant Carnival Toppers, Avery Elle Party Animal
Paper:  Neenah Solar white 80/110 lb
Ink:  Mememto Tuxedo Black
Dies: MFT Blueprints 20
Copics: E31, E33, E35, E42, E43, E44, W1, W3, W4, R20, BG01, BG02 BG05, V12, V15, V17
Other: Inkadinkado Masking Paper, Sequins

Happy Monday!  Enjoy your week!

Pet Sympathy in Browns

I am so behind on getting cards made and mailed out.  A dear friend from my high school days lost two family pets back in June and I'm just now making and sending a card.  I feel so awful that it's so late, but my mind just couldn't work on sympathy cards with all the sadness in my heart this time of year.  Eli's birthday seems to get me from July until September and I struggle.  But today I decided to try and work through things enough to get this card out.  It was important to me and I wanted to do it. It's a simple one, but I hope he and his family like it.

I used some critters again, so I want to enter the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge again.

Stamps:  Avery Elle Furry Friends, Simon Says Stamp Pawprints on Our Hearts
Ink:  Versamark, Stampin' Up! Real Red, SU Early Espresso, Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper:  Stampin' Up! Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Neenah Solar White
Dies:  My Favorite Things Stitched Mini Scallop Circles dies, MFT Blueprints 22
Copics:  R35, R37, R39, R20, E41, E42, E43, E44, E47

Things are still rough here.  Laila is feeling better, but she's been difficult for days now.  Screaming. Oh my the screaming.  Some days I wonder how we make it through.  I had no clue that having a child would be like this.  So so hard.  Bandit seems to be coming out more, so I'm hoping he's on the mend.  His breathing is still not as it should be, but he's eating and allowing me to pet him again.  I'll take any improvement because I'm not ready to lose him yet.  So that's our weekend.  Jason is working an extra day tomorrow, so I will be solo parenting for four days in a row this week.  I am glad I have an appointment with my counselor on Thursday because I know I'll need it by then!  I had quit going for a while, but I'm in a bad place again.  I hope she can get me back on track before I totally fall apart.

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend.  I'm appreciating the rain we are getting because it is bringing cooler temperatures.  Plus our grass needs it so bad!

MFT Penguins in Paradise

Hello!  How in the world is it Thursday already?   It's been a week here, but I'll get into that at the bottom.  For now I'll start by sharing the one thing I've managed to create.  It's one of those that I did a piece here and there and finally managed to glue it all together today.  lol The Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge was "to go wild" and one option was to use a critter.  I had these cute MFT penguins in my stash and hadn't used them, so perfect!

I made the background using Brusho watercolor crystals and man are those fun to use!  The images are colored with Copics.

Stamps: My Favorite Things Penguins in Paradise
Ink:  Memento Black
Paper:  Canson 140lb Colc Press watercolor paper, Neenah 110lb White, Neenal 80lb solar white
Copics:  YR12, YR15, YR18, Y36, Y38, YG11, YG13, YG17, E33, E35, E37, T4, T6, T8
Brusho Crystals Yellow, Orange, and Scarlet
Dies: Sizzix Tim Holtz tag framelits, MFT Blueprints 27

Do you guys like the supply list?  I am trying to remember to leave the stuff on my desk and then blog before I clean up.  I know I get questions sometimes on what I used and I am not usually helpful because I don't remember.  :)

 Monday started off with a trip to the vet.  My oldest sweetie isn't doing so well.  His blookwork only showed an elevated white blood cell count, so he's on antibiotics now.  I think it's something serious though and I'm not sure how long he'll be with us.  His breathing is labored at times and he is not being very social.  He's staying in his cat carrier resting most of the day.   I'm just heartbroken, but he's 14 so I know we've given him a good life, a better one than the dumpster where he started out.

On Tuesday, Laila had a fever and we've been battling since then.  She says her stomach hurts some too, so I don't know what we have going on.  I've just tried to keep her resting and hydrated.  Since she's had two febrile seizures in the past, I'm a nervous wreck about viruses and fevers.  Between checking on her and Bandit, I'im just worn out.  Jason is home now, so I'm sneaking out tonight for dinner and a movie with a friend.

Thank you to everyone who has emailed about sending Laila postcadrs.  I got behind on replying with all the sickness this week, but I'll try to catch up this weekend.  I am going to go shopping for a scrapbook to hold them so she can look at them.  I'm hoping to find some Project Life type pages so she can see both sides!

I'm off to shower and try to wake up.  Sorry for any typos; I don't have my glasses and I'm squinting and typing.  lol Have a great rest of the week!
Rita

DTGD 2016 Two More

Ice cream!  It's so hot in Texas so ice cream sounds great to me.  I went a bit more grown up with my icy treat today and a frappuccino with an added espresso shot.  You'd think it would have me a bit more awake after that!  lol   Anyway, this is another card for the Dare to Get Dirty challenges.  I love this cute ice cream set from Simon Says Stamp.   I was feeling orange today, so I went monochromatic and did some shades of orange.  I like it!

Stamps:  Simon Says Stamp Ice Cream Dream, Stampin' Up! Happiest Birthday Wishes
Ink:  Memento black, Stampin' Up! Chocolate Chip
Paper:  Neenah Solar White, Stampin' Up! Pumpkin Pie
Dies/Etc:  MFT Stitched Mini Scallop Circle dies, Wink of Stella
Copics:  YR01, YR01, YR04, YR07, YR09, E33, E35, E37

And my second project is using a favorite set, Neat & Tangled Origami Map!  I love the fun geometrics of it and it's even more fun to use now that I have the matching die.  If you get this set, grab that at the same time.  You won't regret that.  I used my distress inks again to make some fun backgrounds.  I stamped and cut out the map after I made the green background.  It was way easier that way!

Stamps:  Neat & Tangled Origami Map
Paper:  Canson 140lb Cold Press watercolor paper, Neenah Solar White
Ink:  Distress inks:  Twisted Citron, Cracked Pistachio, Peacock Feathers, Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Mermaid Lagoon, Ranger Archival
Dies:  MFT Blueprints 22

Laila has been having a blast learning geography with her USA puzzle and our new globe.  I recently asked my FB and Instagrm friends if they might be willing to send her a postcard from their state/country so we can make a little scrapbook to go along with our learning.  If any of my blog readers would also like to send one, just email me at kyann22 at yahoo dot com and I'll send you our address!  I can't wait for them to start to arrive.  She loves mail and is always sad when none of it is for her.  Poor dear.

DTGD Day I'm So Behind

Okay, honesty here.  I haven't made a card in a very long time that I truly loved and was proud of.  I have been in a major slump and not enjoying stamping that much because I didn't like what I was making.  Now this card?  This card makes me HAPPY!  It's nothing special, but it just makes me happy.  So yay!  This was another DTGD challenge from Splitcoast.  I just got my first set of Verve stamps in today and the sentiment was so perfect.  Isn't that gorgeous?!   LOVE!

This one isn't as fancy as that one, but it also makes me happy.  Why?  It was a technique that was totally out of my comfort zone.  I struggled with it, but I went back and tried again and I did it. That makes me proud of myself.  For those of you who also struggle with depression, you know how failure can feel and how it's hard to get your head back in the game sometimes.  So again, proud of myself for doing it. The stamps in this one are Altenew (flowers) and the Verve set again for the sentiment.

I'm off to clean my desk and see if I have the energy to make another card. I had planned to try to do all the DTGD challenges but that just isn't going to happen.  I hit two rough days and well, that's tough to catch up from!  But at least I did some!  :)

 Enjoy your Friday tomorrow and Happy Almost Weekend!

DTGD 2016 Day 3

Back for more cards.  Laila went to school today so I spent the morning stamping!  It was nice and relaxing.  :)   You knew I'd have to pull out the coffee stuff soon and here it is.  :)  I tried Copic no-line coloring which is HARD peole.  H-A-R-D!   I used a set of 5 E40 somethings to get some different, yet cooridanting shades of brown. 

Last week I watched an awesome technique video from Kay Miller and I just had to try it out.  It was so fun! I even made two cards because I had so much fun with it.  I used regular Stampin' Up! inks for the ink, so no special inks required.  The stamps are Hero Arts that I got after the holidays on clearance at Michael's.  I'm glad I picked up those up now!  

And lastly, a bit more fun with distress inks!  So fun.  I loved the idea of a stormy day, so I added some grays to my rainy way.  I have a friend who has been having a tough time, so I made this one with her in mind.  The stamps are from WPlus9. 

And that's all for today.  I don't know how much I'll get done tomorrow.  It is Eli's birthday and I never know how I'll wake up and feel about it.   I can't believe he'd be 8 tomorrow.