Freshly Made Flower

Happy Wednesday! Half the week is now over. Yay!!  I wanted to join my friends at Freshly Made Sketches again this week. I love the sketch Kim created for us. I was going through my box of things I needed to use and found this little tag and the embossed background. I was like hmm....seems perfect. It was a quick card to put together, but I love it!!  Cards with lots of white space are just so, well, FRESH!  Ha!! 

It is so cold here, much colder than we are used to this time of year. It seems like we didn't get a lot of time between super hot and "winter" to go do some outdoor things. I'm hoping it warms back up a bit! I hope you are staying warm if your weather is like ours. Laila closely monitors the temperatures and any chance of snow, so she's jealous of those who already have some. :) 

Have a great rest of the week. 

Starry Potter?

Hey all! I was hoping to get more cards posted as I've been trying to stamp every day, but we've been running around and busy so I'm running out of time every day. I did want to take a minute and share one today. I saw the challenge at Cardz 4 Guyz and thought this image was perfect since Harry is wrapped in his scarf. I also wanted to enter at Pammie's Inky Pinkies.  I found a background in my box of unused things and it worked perfectly. This was a stamp set I got a while back and then my long hiatus began. I am trying to do every day this month and then just stamp regularly once I've gotten my creativity going again. Now I just need to mail them. lol

Now I'm off to make a card and then get Laila to bed. It's cold here, so I'm ready to snuggle up in my pajamas and read.

Take care.
Rita

Freshly Made Leaf

I'm back! I have missed being part of a team for a while, so I asked my Freshly Made Sketches ladies if I could try to join back in. I am hoping to keep up this time now that Laila can be a bit more independent. We shall see how it goes. :)  This week's sketch is from the awesome Linda and I had fun playing around with it. I used some old Stampin' Up! supplies that you might recognize. I believe that the leaves set actually came from Linda, so it was perfect.

Have a wonderful Wednesday and be sure to check out the inspiration from the other stampers and come play along! 

Pumpkin Spice Coffee

Good morning. It felt appropriate to do my post for the Coffee Lovers Blog Hop as I sip my first cup of the day. :) I'm having some maple pecan coffee first, but pumpkin spice is up next. I love this cute image from Simon Says Stamp and The Greeting Farm. Her hair can be a bit hard for me, but I keep trying. I used the colors from an Echo Park paper pack which coordinates perfectly.

I hope you had a end to October and a fabulous start to November. It seems crazy that it's already so late in the year. We've actually had some cold weather already here in Texas. Laila had to bundle up for Halloween. We usually sweat and get hot while we're out walking. lol She's been doing great at school too. We are on a big Harry Potter kick in our house, so of course her costume reflects that. :)

I'm off to finish my coffee and get ready to start our school day! Have a wonderful Tuesday.

Harry Potter Card

Testing...1...2...3...

I took the custom domain off my blog since I kinda need to save money for homeschool supplies. Not sure how that will affect things, but I hope this makes it way to you. 

Hello!!  How are you? I'm actually still alive. Not stamping much, but I'm here. Homeschooling is taking up a lot of time and I'm slowly trying to work back in my hobby. We are currently doing a unit study on the first Harry Potter book, so I figured I'd color up this image and make a card. :) 

Things are going a bit better here, but of course there are still rough days. We do weekly therapy, weekly OT, and are seeing a psychiatrist for her anxiety/ADHD. I'm thankful for the progress. I'll share a few pictures below of some of our school and outings. 

First, here's one of our Cope's gray tree frogs. We raised tadpoles and now we have four pet frogs. I love them! It's so fun to watch them hunt down crickets. We took the opportunity to learn a lot about frogs as part of school. 

Here's Laila working on her cursive. Handwriting has been a huge issue, which is why we are doing OT. She has both fine and gross motor delays that need addressed. Cursive seems to be much easier than print and we are taking it super slow. 

This is Bellatrix, Laila's new pet. She's a Madagascar hissing cockroach. Laila loves her and she joins us a lot for our reading. She's pretty chill and not as freaky as I would have thought. Laila spent her own money to buy her at a reptile show. 

A couple weekends ago we traveled up to Fort Worth to see Dav Pilkey. Laila loves Dogman and Captain Underpants, so it was a great time. She did so well even though it was crowded and a bit chaotic. I was so proud of her. 

So that's where we are. I hope you all are doing well. Hope to be back with another card soon. 

Easter Peeps

More Easter!! I pulled up some challenges to work on and it seemed like TGIF Challenges! and Cut It Up just worked out perfectly for my Peeps! I need to get a few more Easter cards made and get them mailed. I haven't mailed anything in ages and I feel awful about that. :( Hopefully I can send out some belated birthday and Easter cards soon.

I hope you've had a wonderful weekend. We had a thunderstorm blow through earlier, but its nice out now other than the wet grass. The temperature went down and I'm always up for cooler weather. Good wishes for a great upcoming week!

Rainbow Easter

Hey!  Believe it or not, I'm still alive. lol Feeling a bit like a zombie, but I think I'm still a human...for now. :) I haven't had much time to create lately. I've been in a weird mental place where I haven't been creating or reading much. I think homeschooling just takes up all my energy. I did make this one a few weeks back and thought I'd check in and share it. My goal for the new few days is to actually make a card, so maybe I'll have something else to share.

Homeschooling is going well I think. It's not perfect, but it's less stressful than dealing with school. She's finding confidence again in doing her math. At first she would cry and tell me math made her stomach hurt. So much anxiety from school. It's sad. I'll share a few pictures of some of our learning below. Hope to be back soon!

Rita

Here's how I plan out our day. She can rearrange the magnetic labels into the order she would like to do the tasks. It works out great and allows her to have some say in our days.

Our hummingbird art. That was fun! We learned a lot about them during our week studying the United States.

Last week on our nature walk we found this friend enjoying the sun. Yikes!

Yesterday I surprised her with some muffins and books. She usually gets up and has breakfast before she comes in to wake me up, so she enjoyed it. I added some weird holidays to my calendar to do this occasionally. Dandelions will be coming up next. It will be books and an art project. :)

I'm off to go work in my garden before the rain comes and then maybe I can come color up something. Enjoy the rest of your week.

Panda Smiles

I actually made a card over the weekend, so I thought I'd share. I keep hoping to find time to stamp, but I think I need to work on cleaning out my room some. Just too much stuff!!  Laila's things seem to drift in here as well, so it just has a cluttered feel that doesn't lead to creativity. I've been wanting to paint it and rearrange it, so it might be the perfect time for all that. :) This set uses some masking and a little coloring. Pandas are easy for coloring. lol

For our fun activities at school today we did a science experiment with yeast and hydrogen peroxide and dissected an owl pellet. Super fun!! Little Lady was very intrigued by the smell of the fur from the pellet, so she kept trying to assist. Messy activities, but fun! We did a little math and worked on compound words as well. It was rainy, so we just did a trip to the library to get some new books.

I'm exhausted, so I'm off to finish up the kitchen and talk Laila into some quiet reading time. I love that she reads chapter books now by herself so that we can both read our own books. :)

Live Long and Stamp

Last card for the Kindred Wacky Holidays gingerbread set. I haven't watched this show, so this was a challenging stamp to use. I hope it fits with the character well enough. lol I'm a nerd, but I don't do much sci fi. :)

I am hoping to get in a routine where I can find time to stamp a bit more. I keep trying while Jason's home, but still get interrupted a lot. I think I need to put a lock on my door!

I wanted to get Laila a little something as we finished up our Russia study, so I found these nesting dolls on eBay. Below is our little mailboxes and letter writing station. I want Laila to work on writing, but I have to kinda trick her. lol

Magical Gingerbread

Hey! Still alive here. It's been a crazy month...  First I wanted to share a card with you from the end of last year. I did make a new card today, I wanted to go ahead and share a couple of older ones this week just so that I don't forget. This one uses another image from the Kindred Stamps Wacky Holiday set for National Gingerbread Day. Isn't he cute?? 

Now the big news...

We are now homeschoolers. Yikes, right???  Laila was still having a lot of issues with school and had started asking every night and morning not to go. We decided to try this for a while and see how it goes. We had a nice first week and now I think I have a plan going that we will use. I just have to get all my materials ready and wait on a few more supplies to arrive. We've been doing okay so far though. Our first week we did two science experiments, finished our study of Russia, had two poetry tea times, did a few outings, and just enjoyed ourselves.

Wish us luck!!  :) I hope we find a good routine soon. I'm working on a visual schedule to help with that. She liked having one at home before and I think it will work out great.

Freshly Made Sketches 371

Hello! We've made it to Wednesday! That means it's Freshly Made Sketches day. Jen M is our hostess this week. I think Jen likes square cards, which are my nemesis, but I made one. :) She kindly sent me some stitched square dies at one point, so I figured it was a great sketch to use them! I had pulled some Valentine's kinda stamps this week to play around with, so I used this cute cow from Avery Elle for my card.

I'm still not back to stamping as much as I'd like. Weight Watchers takes time since we are cooking more and then I'm also trying to declutter on top of that. My poor kitchen!!!  Laila's still having a ton of issues at school (already got a note today), so I'm already researching homeschool curriculum. Just so much going on. One day things will calm down, right? Maybe? 

I'm off to shower and then call and see if I need to pick Laila up or if I can go to the dentist as planned. Fun options, huh? lol I'm not sure which one sounds better. 

Keep on keeping on...  repeat, repeat, repeat

Freshly Popped Sketches?

You guys! I am a mess. I have been trying to join in with the ladies at Freshly Made Sketches again to see if maybe I could get myself together enough to be back on the team. Yeah well.. I made my card on time, but did I get my blog post done? NOPE! lol Laila was home sick on Tuesday and then yesterday I had a root canal, so here we are...  Better late than never though, right??? Even better, this is the Kindred Stamps Wacky Holiday set for this month celebrating National Popcorn Day. Since it isn't until January 19th, I might can crank out a few cards to send! Maybe..  Jen T made our sketch this week and I think you should be like me and try to play along!

Now I'm off to find a snack. I started Weight Watchers and it's been fun figuring out foods. I did lose 5 pounds my first week, so at least I know I can do it! The anniversary of Eli's passing is coming up on the 14th, so I'm trying to be gentle with myself since I am a total emotional eater. At the same time, this is important for my health, so I'm also trying to stick to good choices with a few treats here and there. I mean Santa DID leave me some chocolate...  :)

Kindred Chewy Gingerbread

I totally forgot to post the cards I did make in December. I got a cute set for National Gingerbread Day from Kindred Stamps and it has the most adorable images. I'll share Chewy with you first. He's hard to color!!  I didn't do him justice, but had fun. Now I'm ahead on my cards for that holiday for this year. lol Those funky scissors from Stampin' Up! came in handy!

Laila loves my brother so much. He doesn't have kids, but he's so good with her. We went to visit him at work one day when we were in Kentucky and she just plopped herself down ready to learn what all about what he was doing. She couldn't wait for him to get off work so that he could come by mom's and visit before he went home. I love them together. She cried so much when they had to say goodbye. I wish he lived closer.

I'm off to set up our new board game. I just finished my daily walk not long ago and got my dishes washed up. Tomorrow is a big day of cleaning out kitchen cabinets and drawers! Declutter and organize 2019!

Warm Wishes Hedgehog

Happy New Year! I'm so sorry it's been so long. I struggled to make it through December and the holidays, but I'm working on getting it together now that we've survived those. I started Weight Watchers and am back on medicine for my depression. That whole I can make it without them phase was NOT a good one. Yikes! I hope the new me can get back into my card making and I started with this one. I used the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches and would also like to enter the As You Like It and Cute Card Thursday challenges.

We had a nice holiday in Kentucky with my parents. It felt rushed to get ready to go up there and the 18 hour drive was SOOOO LONNNGGGG, but I'm glad we went. My dad's health isn't the best and while he did finally make it onto the liver transplant list, we aren't sure what the future holds. He gets a little better, then a lot worse, then better... it's exhausting for my poor momma. Laila was so sweet with him and I loved watching her with him. 

I'm off to clean the kitchen and do another load of laundry. The guaranteed parts of life, right? They'll always be there for you. lol