Simon Says Stamp To Thine Own Shelf

How's your weekend going?  Ours is not really going at all.  We had plans to go to the science museum yesterday and then a birthday party today and of course Laila woke up with a fever yesterday.  We've been resting and not doing much at all, which is fine.  I don't mind some down days sometimes.  I managed to sneak in my room this morning and make a card.  I've been working on cards to send to some of our senators just to say thanks and that's what this one is for.  The person it is going to is an author, so I thought the To Thine Own Shelf set from Simon Says Stamp might be fun to use.  I wanted to enter it into the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge this week.

When she does this, we know she's not feeling well.  She is usually going full force from 7am to 7pm.  She took a couple naps yesterday.  We've been keeping a close watch on her fever since she has had two febrile seizures in the past.  I keep us stocking in Tylenol and Motrin for that very reason.  I think Jason is picking up dinner tonight and we are just going to continue resting. I've had awful sinus headaches all week from the high tree pollen, so the rest has been nice for me too.  I just hate when she's sick.  :(

MFT You're Super

Whew!  It's been a long week.  I haven't stamped much at all.  I did finish up this card, but that was about it.  I love this girl so much as I'm sure you can tell.  :)   She's my favorite image to practice my Copic people coloring on.  Here I used her to make a card to send some thanks and cheer to a person I admire very much.  I need to go find some rainbow paper as I'm a bit obsessed with rainbows lately.  Maybe because they are a bit of happiness in dreay days?  

How cute is this litle guy?  I've been trying to teach Laila about kindness and doing good deeds, so he was a part of that.  A Texas resuce asked if someone could pick him up from the animal shelter and drive him to their vet. He was turned in by his owner and those are the animals that are always in the most danger since they don't get a stray hold.  We went and got him and man he was a sweetie. He was scared to death, but he finally relaxed a bit during the drive.  He's now in a foster home and ready to find a new family.  That was a nice way to spend a Monday.  :)  

CAS(E) this Sketch 205

I had pulled Branch Out to use this week and I found the perfect sketch for it at CAS(E) this Sketch!  I wanted to do a very clean card that made me think of the starkness of winter.  We've been having a lot of cardinals at our feeder this week, so I had to add him to my tree for a little splash of color.  This set is so elegant and beautiful.  It works for simple cards, but there are lots more stamps you can use to add leaves, butterflies, etc.  It's one of my absolute favorites and I'll always be thankful to Pat for gifting it to me.  It is loved.

I'm off to open the bag I brought home from Michael's today.  It has some fun new goodies in there, so I'm excited to find a place for them in my room.  :)

Have a great weekend!

Rita

Tuesday Morning Sketches #386

I colored this adorable dragon a while back and found him on my desk again today.  I thought it would be fun to use on a card and he seemed perfect for the sketch at Tuesday Morning Sketch challenge.  Their sponsor for the challenge is Bugaboo Stamps and that is who makes this cute draong digital stamp.  :)

I'm not sure what stamping I'll get in today, but I'm hoping to use another of my favorite sets to share with you tomorrow. 

Laila and I did a little science experiment yesterday with Borax and we found our amazing results this morning.  If you need an easy experiment that will amaze your little ones, check it out here.  :)  She did great at her evaluation, so we got that over with and now have a month to wait for the report. 

Freshly Made Sketches 271

Wednesday!  We've made it to the halfway point of the week.  Yeah!  It also means a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.  The sweetest lady, Cindy, is our hostess this week and I love her sketch.  It's always nice when an idea comes to you quickly when you peek at the sketch.  I knew immediately I wanted to use Washi tape and everything fell into place after that.  This cute unicorn is from a set from The Greeting Farm called Magical Friends.  It's adorable! They have an Anything Goes challenge for their Farm Fresh Challenge this month, so I want to enter this cutie in that.  :)

Don't you love that?  The simple sketches we've been having lately are so good for really getting creative.  I didn't go "outside the box" on this one, but I love my card.  :)

Be sure you stop by and check out the rest of the cards.  I hope you'll play along!  Now I'm off to make coffee.  We are having storms this morning and they woke me up early.  I've folded laundry, got a load gathered to wash, typed out this, and now, coffee!  :) Have a wonderful day!

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge

It got a bit warm here in Texas again, so I'm hiding out and pretending it's winter in my craft room.  I saw the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge was Winter Birthday, so that seemed like the perfect challenge.  I used this cute bear and some of my new distress inks.  I had trouble getting the design down, but I'm happy with what I finally settled on.

Is it snowing or cold where you are?  It's 80 degrees here again today, so we are waiting for the rain in the comfort of the air conditioning.  :)

Jason braided her hair over the weekend to see if keeping it that way would help with the tangles.  He's working today, so I will get to try my hand at braiding before bed tonight.  Yikes!  Tomorrow is finally the day when we go to get her testing/evaluation done, so keep us in your thoughts.  I hope we are finally able to get some answers.

Stampin' Up! Love is Kindness

Happy Saturday.  Anyone watching football?  Our Texans play the late game today, so that's the plan once Laila goes to bed. :)  This week got away from me and I haven't been making much.  My goal was to work with my favorite stamps from my collection this week and I did use a few of them, the Penny Black hedgehogs and the MFT You're Super set.  This stamp from Stampin' Up! is one of my two favorites from them.  I love this stamp and it never strays far from my desk.  I have to confess, part of why I love it is because it's a wood stamp.  I have switched to clear and cling mount now, but I still prefer wood.  I think I'm an oddball that way, but it's what I learned to stamp with and I love the feel of them.  Storage gets to the the issue of course, so I'm trying to weed out some and only keep the ones I truly love.

Laila had her first haircut this week.  Her hair had been getting a lot of tangles, so I took her in for a trim to get some of the dead ends cut off.  She wasn't too sure about it, but did great.  My stylist barely took any off, but it does have a nice shape now.

Freshly Made Sketches 270

Back with our new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches for the week.  Our sketch this week comes from the fabulous Kim. It took me a bit to figure out what I wanted to do with it, but this set seems to have worked out great.  I had so much fun coloring her.  I am trying to use some colors that are a bit tricky for me to get blended, so the pinks were a challenge.  I love it with the gray and black though.  Just ignore her hair.  I'm sure I'll never be able to color hair.

  

I can't wait to see what you create.  I hope you'll come join us.  Challenges are such a great way to get in practice and up your skills.  I know I always improve when I set a goal to do them often.  :)

It was a beautiful day in Texas yesterday, so we found a new park to explore.  Laila did great!  She interacted so well with the other kids and no meltdown when we left.  Her testing/evaluation is a week away, so keep your fingers crossed that we get some answers soon and can all learn to cope better with whatever it is.  

Penny Black with Sketch Saturday

I've had so much fun coloring lately.  I love this hedgehog stamp and it looked like a fun one to practice on.  I love how the basket turned out.  It's my favorite attempt at it so far.  :)   Penny Black has a monthly challenge called the Penny Black Saturday Challenge and I wanted to enter that.  I also used the sketch from Sketch Saturday., just flipped on to its side.  I'm finding a lot of new challenges to try this year and it's inspiring me to stamp more.  Are you doing anything new for the year?  I'd love to hear if so.

Laila and I had a spa day yesterday.  She loves "soaking her feet" so much.  :)  She asked to do it again this morning, so she's relaxing while I ran in to finish my blog post.  

Fab Friday 103

My friend Mindy hosts a fun challenge blog called Fab Friday.  I don't get to play along as much as I'd like, but they always have some great sketches and color combinations.  I saw they were back from break this week and decided to play along.  I pulled out this single stamp from Stampin' Up! called Vivid Vases and picked one of my favorite color combinations (who doesn't love gray and yellow?) and went to work.  I even managed to use Washi tape which is another supply I struggle to use.

It's 22 degrees in Texas this morning so I'm wrapping myself in my blanket and hiding out in my warm stamp room.  It is one of the warmest rooms in the house thank goodnesss.  

Ellen Hutson Mix It Up Challenge

Is there a technique that is common that you tend to avoid?  For me it is heat embossing.  I end up with powder everywhere and my project looks like a hot mess.  I'm challenge myself to try it more this month and see if I get any better with practice.  I started with a fun challenge from the Ellen Hutson Classroom.  They are mixing it up with Avery Elle and I just happen to have gotten a new Avery Elle Butterflies set this week.  Perfect timing, huh?  It paired well with the Essentials by Ellen Bold Blooms set.  Do you see all that embossing??  I managed to not muck it up!  Clear powder might be my friend.  Black and white?  Not so much, but we'll see.  lol

Laila and I have been taking a walk after dinner this week.  It has been so nice and we've walked close to 2 miles each night.  We have been treated to some beautiful sunsets.  Look at those colors!  Gorgeous!

Tuesday Morning Sketch 384

I've just been creating up storm.  I don't know when it will stop, but I'll keep going.  Fingers crossed I can keep it up.  :)   Yesterday I worked on a card for the Tuesday Morning Sketch Challenge and had a rough time.  I scrapped my first effort and started over.  I'm so glad I did because I love this one.  I grabbed an older Stampin' Up! set called Papillon Potpourri and a Simon Says Stamp set, Hand Lettered Winter Wishes.  I went with an orange and black theme and hoped it didn't get too Halloweenish.  It's always rolling the dice when you use just those two colors.

I've been invaded by a cute little girl, so I have to exit the room before she knocks anything else off my desk.  Oops! 

Freshly Made Sketches 269

I managed to get a card made to play along with my amazing friends at Freshly Made Sketches.  I have totally failed as a DT member lately, but they've kept me around.  Linda had a simple sketch this week that was so fun to work with.  Simple ones really allow your creativity to flow!  I failed at getting Christmas cards out this year, so I decided to work on some winter cards to send out.  This cute set from Honey Bee Stamps was a little gift I gave myself for Christmas.  :)   It's adorable!!!   I love bears.  He was so fun to color too.

Be sure to check the FMS blog to see all the lovely creations from the team.  There's a nice variety that show how versatile the sketch truly is!  

Mojo Monday 478

I took a break from the online Copics class I'm working on to play around with some Brusho and the new sketch at Mojo Monday.  Doing challenges used to be a great way to get back into the groove of stamping and a way to improve my cards as well.  Today I wanted to do a card in the style of Julee Tillman, who is the owner of Verve Stamps.  She has a fun shabby chic style that is way outside my comfort zone, so it was fun to play around and get messy.  :)

I hope you had a fun time ringing in the new year.  I'm old now so I'm usually asleep before midnight, but do wake up when the fireworks go crazy.  Things are different with kids.  Laila is up at 7am every day.  It doesn't matter if she was awake half the night or not, she's up.  ..and so are we.  lol 

Happy New Year!