Bear Hugs

I'm still creating!  I made this background yesterday and finished up a card today.  Maybe my mind block has taken a hike and I can get back to regularly making things without forcing it. This was for the current Pin Sights Challenge from Ellen Hutson. I used my distress oxide inks to make the background. It had been a while since I played with those.

Isn't that a happy color scheme? I love how bright and fun it is. We actually own those popsicle makers. :)

Just a couple Christmas things. Laila brought a gift home for us and it was this cute ornament that they made at school. I appreciate that her teacher took time to do that for the parents. I also wanted to share her picture with Santa. I thought the PTO did an amazing job with the setup for those. I love it!

Now I'm off to make dinner. I've been fighting a headache all day, which I'm guessing is weather related? It is going to be cold in Texas soon. I don't know the last time we were in the 20's here. Brr!

MFT Creative Construction with Blueprints

Hi again!  I figured I'd go ahead and play along with another challenge since I had the products on my desk that would work for it. The MFT Creative Blueprints challenge was about using stars.  I used Blueprints 18 for yesterday's card and it has a star. Perfect, right?  I used a sheet of cute Stampin' Up! birthday paper that a friend sent me along with a SU button and twine. It's so nice to have those things nearby. They actually are getting used!  Yay!!

Are you guys working on your resolutions for next year? I don't know why I keep making them, but I do. And then I fail. I'm adding a journal in this year to try and help keep me on track.  Nobody wants to disappoint their journal, right? :)

My goals:
Get rid of things we don't use and simplify our house
Make more of our food/cut out processed food
Create more, do more challenges, mail out cards

I've been making a lot more of our food already, at least the bread. I might share a recipe on some of my posts just in case anyone is interested.

Jason eats breakfast sandwiches before he leaves for work and we usually buy those Jimmy Dean frozen ones. Blah. I decided to tackle making them. Costco had uncured Canadian bacon, so that worked out perfectly. (and reminds me that I forgot to buy more of that today. Oops)

Here's the recipe for those. I think they turned out quite nice. They don't have all the nooks and crannies, but I know what's in them!

Off to figure out dinner tonight. I know one thing, NO LEFTOVER HAM. I feel like we ate that for every meal yesterday. lol

Color Challenge with Gnomes

Did everyone survive the holiday??  We made it, but man we are tired. Poor Jason had to go back to work today and he sure didn't want to. I took a little bit of time to play around with some stamps and dies from My Favorite Things. Their current color challenge looked fun, so I pulled out some stamps and markers and gave it a shot. :) It's been a while since I tried masking, so I even did a bit of that.


I love these little gnomes so much. I colored and added a second one inside, so there's double the fun in this card. Jason got me an awesome new desk for my birthday and I was able to move a lot of my stuff to the drawers and within reach. I decided to use a button and some twine since they were handy. :) I really really really need to start using up some stuff! lol

Laila had some money from my parents left to spend, so she found this giant Pikachu pillow at Target last week. That girl loves Pikachu. He's good for reading. She keeps trying to sleep on him at night, but that doesn't work so great. lol

I'm off to turn on a podcast and hopefully fall asleep early. I've been battling some crazy sleep issues this month and I stay so tired. Maybe I can get in a few hours before my brain needs to think and think for a while.

Take care.

FMS318: Blah Bunny

Hey strangers. I finally got myself together enough to make a card. I loved the sketch that Linda had for Freshly Made Sketches this week so I played along. Yesterday was nuts, so I missed getting it on the blog and ready to go. This card pretty much sums up my December, especially this week!  My mom always sends me money for Christmas, so this hilarious set from Honey Bee Stamps was part of her present to me. :)

Now I'm off to clean and do more baking. Brownies and blueberry muffins today. Wishing you all peace and calm as we head into the final stretch of the holidays. 

All Inside the Challenge

I got this set a few months ago and I just love it. The bear is so cute and I love that the die cuts his arms so he can hold stuff.  I saw the current challenge at Ellen Hutson and thought it would be fun to play along.  I know we are past the fall season, but I just went with the inspiration. :)

Isn't that a pretty inspiration board to work with? I thought it was. There's so many things you could do with the colors and textures. 

The school had a holiday craft market yesterday and one of the fundraisers for the PTO was pictures with Santa. I can't wait to see how hers turned out. After the event the school opened up the cafeteria/gym and showed The Polar Express. I got to help serve the hot chocolate for that.  She had a blast and was so well behaved. I was proud of her. :)

Well Behaved Woman

Hey! Can you believe it's the last day of November? Are you ready for Christmas? We have almost finished up our shopping thank goodness. I can't deal with crowds, so I did all my stocking stuffer shopping yesterday before the stores are super crazy. Amazon is our favorite this time of year. :)

A few weeks ago I won this really cool set from Kindred Stamps that has a lot of our favorite villains. I decided to try a little coloring and tried to make my images into a card. I'm still struggling creatively, so it was nice to color and complete something. 

Laila and I have both been sick. She missed two days of school this week, but is back now. The doctor said bronchitis, so we were thankful it wasn't the flu or strep throat. Her troubles at school are continuing, so we are working on that. More meetings next week. She did get a wonderful surprise last week from a friend that I met over the summer. She sent us this book all about Monarchs. It was written by a high school classmate of hers, so she had her autograph one for Laila. Wasn't that the sweetest?

Jason and Laila just got home, so I'm headed off to see her. :)

FMS 314: Santa

Oops! I managed to make a card (an awful one, but oh well) for Freshly Made Sketches and forgot to post it! I love this old Naughty or Nice set from Stampin' Up!  The Santa is so cute. I need to go back and add the naughty or nice sentiment to it somewhere I think.  Narelle's sketch is awesome, so try to come play along after your Thanksgiving nap!

Have a wonderful day! F

MFT Card Challenges 359

I stamped something! Yay! I finally took a little break and came in to my room to try and make something over the weekend. I am having a rough time with it, but I did a little coloring and made this card. It's for the current sketch at MFT Card Challenges.  I love these cute little bee and butterflies from the set.

I've still been reading a lot. I joined Book of the Month and got my first two books in, one being the Sleeping Beauties from Stephen and Owen King. I'm hooked, but it's a long one! Laila isn't feeling that great, so we'll see how much reading I get to do while she's off this week. She has a little bit of a fever tonight, so I don't know what we are in for.  She was feeling a little better earlier today, so we went to a local nursery to look for some plants for the school garden. The gardening club is starting next week and we are going to try it. Fingers crossed! 

One of the sweet ladies I met at Lydia's retreat sent us this book. It came today, so we were able to curl up and read it. It's so neat! One of the ladies she went to high school with wrote it, so we got our very own autographed copy. I thought that was just the sweetest thing. I'm sure we will read it a bunch since that's our hobby. :) 

I'm off to figure out what medicine to give her before bed. I hope you are having a good start to the Thanksgiving week. 

Hugs

Thankful for You

Hello!  I can't believe it's almost the middle of November! It's going to be 2018 before we know it!  I hope you all are doing well.  I apologize for not posting for a while. To be honest, I've been struggling and stamping hasn't been something that I've wanted to do.  Or blog either I guess since I made this card back in October. Oops! I have been reading a lot and trying to keep myself together. This morning I got up early and have been cleaning and organizing my craft room. I'd love to start out the new year with it cleaner and more appealing to work in. Anyway, this card uses the Simon Says Stamp/The Greeting Farm collaboration from STAMPtember. I can't resist a coffee stamp even if it includes a girl with hair that is SO HARD TO COLOR! lol

Laila  had a great Halloween. She was so excited about it this year. We did get rained out, but she got plenty of candy before the heavier rain came. She loved her Monarch costume and I loved how happy she was about the whole holiday. :)

This week her school dismissed at noon on Wednesday, so we had more time together. She was so good and helped me with a lot of chores. I'm hoping to keep that up. :) She was excited to help. I guess laundry is fun if you only have to do it occasionally? 

Other than that, we are still working on things. Her days at school are up and down. Wednesday was an awful day, so I'm sure her teacher was glad it was a half day. Thursday she had an amazing day. Yesterday was a little rough in the morning, but great in the afternoon. I got to volunteer at the school three days this week which was nice. I love being able to help out. Today they are having a color run to raise money for the Rebuilding Warriors Foundation.  I'll have to go get everyone up and ready soon so that we aren't late!

I hope you have a great weekend.

Witch Way is the Candy

Happy Saturday!  I hope everyone is having a great weekend. I've been having a bit of a low key one. Laila seems to be getting sick again, so I don't want to take her out too much. I worked a bit on more of the Falliday Fest challenges from Splitcoast Stampers. This one was a new to me technique called dendritic printing. It was an interesting one for sure. If you haven't tried it, it's a great way to use up some acrylic paint! Here's the link to the YouTube video.

Sorry for the witch again! I had an extra one colored and wanted to use it! I need to put away the Halloween stamps soon and work on some Thanksgiving cards. I also need to mail the tons of Halloween cards I keep making. That's on my to-do list for Monday.

We did do a couple of fun things today. Laila and Jason made the Halloween House.  I struggle in doing those because I'm too much of a perfectionist and would take 6 days to complete it. I am not the mom who enjoys crafts with their kid. I try, but I'm biting my tongue the whole time.  It was nice to let him handle that one. lol  Then we went to a cool program at the library where kids can come and read to some of the therapy dogs in our area. Not much reading happened, but we enjoyed the dogs so much. Most of them are so sweet and calm.

Laila's still struggling at school. Thursday we ended up picking her up around noon. She had decided to be totally defiant and non-compliant. The staff seem to spend a lot of time sitting in the hallway with her. It makes me sad and I wish we knew how to make things easier for her and the teacher. We had the initial 504 meeting yesterday and they agreed to do a functional behavior assessment and work on a behavior intervention plan. It looks like most of her first year will be trying to figure out what works. It's really getting me down to continue to hear so much negative. She has a great principal, teacher, and counselor, so there's at least that. She's just so different than any kid most people have worked with that it's hard for people to know what to do with her. It makes me feel better to know it's not just her clueless parents who struggle. Keep sending good thoughts and let's hope we can keep improving each week.

Now I'm off to finish up Mindhunter on Netflix. I think I have 1.5 episodes left. :) It's been my binge show the past few days. Have a great Sunday!

FMS309 Thankful Leaves

Time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches. I had a difficult time with this one. I wasn't have a good day mentally yesterday and that really impacted my creativity. I did finally get something that wasn't totally awful, so I decided to go ahead and post it. I'm trying to get better about playing along again and they won't all always be masterpieces, right? lol  Linda is the sketch designer and I am absolutely in LOVE with what she did with the sketch. Be sure you jump over to the FMS page and check it and all the other DT cards out.

My card is also for Ceal's challenge over at the Splitcoast Falliday Fest challenges. She asked everyone to use an acrylic block on their background. I used the Stampin' Up! D block and distress inks for mine. I did mess up my original background, so I die cut the area and moved it to a new front. 

Laila had an awful day at school yesterday that included kicking her teacher. They did a reflection discussion at school over it and she did apologize. We talked about it more at home and decided to do something nice for the teacher. We decorated a bag and added snacks and then also made her a card. I was hoping our success on Monday would keep going, but it was the total opposite yesterday.  She did do good in specials at the end of the day, so that was a plus. That's been one of her biggest problem areas, so that was good to see. We'll keep working and seeing how things go.  We've always been told that it gets worse before it gets better, so... 

Falliday Monarchs

I thought I'd share another card that I made using a technique from the Online Card Classes Merry Making class. Again, not a holiday card. lol I just can't get in the mood. I have struggled with all the October, November, and December holidays since we lost Eli and Christmas is the worst of those. I dread it, so I'm just using what we are learning to make things that make me happy. I will eventually use the techniques from some winter cards, but I'm just not there yet. I also made this for one of the Splitcoast Falliday Fest challenges. We were asked to make a general or kind card and mail it to a random person that we don't know.  You know I love my Monarchs, so I thought I might try to find the address for a random person in one of my Monarch groups. :) I think they'd appreciate receiving it. The stamp and sentiment are from Inspired by Stamping.

This cutie had an awesome day at school today! I read an article on Friday that really spoke to me, so I messaged her teacher this weekend and we agreed to try out some ideas from it. She had her best day so far!  I am hoping that maybe what we put in place will help, so keep your fingers, toes, and eyes crossed for us. Maybe even your arms and legs. We need good days!  She was so happy and proud and so was I.

Now I'm off to bed. Little Lady is on a mission to destroy my stamp room and I'm tired of fighting with her.  Have a great Tuesday!

Falliday French Foliage

Hey guys! Happy Monday! I've been stamping, but I haven't had time to do posts or upload. I moved my room around and had to set back up my light tent and computer. Jason helped me and I'm finally back up and running! This card is one for the Falliday Fest challenges on Splitcoast. We were asked to use a technique that starts with the same letter as our first name. I haven't done rock and roll in a while, so I decided to grab French Foliage and try it! I need to practice! lol

A pretty Gulf Fritillary from this weekend. I think my butterfly raising is about over. We have a few eggs in the garden, but I need a break. I have one Giant Swallowtail left to feed, but after that it's just waiting on the others to come out and then clean up all my equipment.  I need the break. It's been fun, but it is seriously a lot of work!

For those who asked about the moon background on my MFT Witch Way is the Candy card, it's just a background made on watercolor paper with Brusho crystals. I made it when I first got them and was trying to figure them out. I had put the results in my to-use bin and finally found a way to use them!

OCC: Merry Making

One more witch and I swear I'll give you a break. :) I signed up to take a new class at Online Card Classes this week and it's all about holiday cards. I am just not in the Christmas mood because it is still 90 degrees! So, I'm improvising. :) This is my day one homework. I'm a bit behind of course. lol
Story of my life these days. 

Laila and I went to a little class at the library after school and made slime! Ours didn't work so well, but we brought it home and I managed to fix it. She had such a blast. She's had two good days at school, so that was nice to hear tonight. Her teacher has been great about keeping in touch with me.  Next week we will have her 504 meetings to work on ideas to make her more successful. I have a lot of research to do before then.

Now I'm off to bed with Doctor Sleep. I have felt yucky mentally today, so a book and my quilt sound perfect for tonight. Anyone else a Stephen King fan? This one is all about the little boy from The Shining and his life as an adult. I can read it at night, but I can't say that about the first one. *shudder*

FMS 308: Witch Way is the Candy

Hey! Checking in with a new challenge at Freshly Made Sketches today! I got to design the sketch for this week's challenge and I think it's a fun one. :)  I love making cards with the focus on a Polaroid-like piece. I bought a die last year that cut one, but it got mixed up in a friend's things and spent the past year hanging out in Minnesota. She recently visited again and now it's back in Texas. So... I thought I'd base my sketch around it.

I think I am now obsessed with this witch stamp set. I can't stop coloring her! Sandy Allnock has an awesome tutorial on the MFT blog, so I spent time this weekend coloring along with the video. This was my first attempt at following her.  The shadows are much better than I do, so it's been fun to learn about how to color more realistically. Not that green skin and purple hair are realistic, but you know what I mean... ;)

I hope you'll come play along with us this week! 

By the Numbers Halloween Style

Happy World Card Making Day!  I hope you found some time to get inky today.  I managed three cards and am debating another before bed.  MFT has some fun challenges, so I've been working on those.  This one is for the By the Numbers challenge. I hope you can see my numbers. I didn't really have number stamps or dies, so I used my Cameo to cut out numbers.  Kinda fun to play around with different ideas. :)

It's been a very low-key day here.  We needed one! I hope you are having a great weekend.  Enjoy your Sunday! Here's Little Lady having a stressful Saturday. 

MFT Card Challenges 353

Greetings! Can you believe it's October? Like really???  I have all these fun Halloween and fall stamps, but how many will I have time to use???  I fell in love with this cute Witch Way is the Candy set from My Favorite Things and had to get her this time around. It was so awesome of them to bring her back because so many people wanted one!  I used it for this week's sketch challenge at MFT Card Challenges.



It's been an interesting week since I last posted. Laila had early release on Wednesday, so I picked her up at noon. Yesterday was just a stressful day of messages and calls from school. Jason handled much of that thank goodness. I can't do the whole week of negative feedback. But, today seemed some better and we are now on track to get her some accommodations to try and make her days better. I don't know how many times the counselor told us she was a VERY strong-willed child. Like yeah, we know that. Oh boy do we know that!  I think she sat in the hallway for over two hours yesterday because she wouldn't apologize her to teacher for something. (and yeah, that's an issue we'll bring up in her 504 meeting as it's too long of a time out of class). I am connecting our behavior specialist that we worked with this year with the counselor in hopes that she can pass along some things that she found to help. So, keep us in your thoughts please. It's going to be an interesting  year. I'm already struggling myself because the constant negative feedback just destroys me.

We went to Target after early release on Wednesday and looked at Halloween stuff. She's already got her costume, but she loves all the skeletons and pumpkins. :)

She's going to be a Monarch butterfly. :) We have to find tights and she should be ready to go! I love that she picked that one. 

Pin-Sights All Dressed Up

I'm here! I stamped today, but got behind and didn't get to do my picture/post until tonight.  I got this cute new bear from Ellen Hutson yesterday and thought I'd use him for the current Pin-Sights challenge. It's he cute??  I love that the dies cut his hands so he can hold stuff.  Such a cool idea! I made this one for Laila, but I also have a cool accessories set for him that works for the holidays! I can't wait to play with that!

Now I have to run and work on some laundry. I'm so behind these days. I thought I'd have so much time to do things once school started, but it sure doesn't feel that way.  I am having some issues with my depression again, so that might be part of the issue. That's one reason why I wanted to make a card or project every day this month. That helps sometimes.  I need to get back to walking every day as well. Depression sucks because you know what helps, but finding the motivation to do it is a whole other issue. Just keep swimming though, right?

Simon Says Pumpkin Spice

Monday.  It was a sad morning to wake up to, so I needed to come color to take my mind off things for a while. I had a rough time leaving Laila at school and had to have a distraction when I got home. I decided to play with this new set I got from Simon Say Stamp's STAMPtember release. I love fall and coffee, so I had to have it. It will be a challenging set for me as the hair is HARD, but it will be good practice. I entered it into their flickr challenge and in the Wednesday Anything Goes challenge as well.

I also got to release some happiness into the world in the form of butterflies today. The season is almost over, but we have a few left to send off into the world.

Lots of hugs today to you all.