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!

Stampin' Up! Dragonfly Dreams Inspiration

Splitcoast has weekly challenges, a different one every day.  I saw the Inspiration challenge on Saturday and thought I'd play along. I found this pillow and used it for my inspiration.  There's a lot of stamp sets going on here.  Stampin' Up! Best Thoughts, Dragonfly Dreams, and French Foliage, plus a Stampers Anonymous set called Papillon. It was fun to try to make and I think I need to remember to do that challenge every week if I can. :)

When we went shopping last week for school clothes Laila found one of her favorites, THE PIGEON!  She loves the Mo Willems books so much, so I had to get it for her. :) I can't believe how well she's reading. She read me a huge book of fairy tales yesterday.

And thank you guys who commented about keeping the blog going. I have a month or so before I have to pay Go Daddy again, so that gives me some time to see how things go once Laila starts school. My garden needs a lot of work after the summer heat, so that might keep me busy.  Plus I am determined to donate like half of our house.  The clutter is making my mental health issues much worse.  I can't wait to get stuff out of here and the rest organized.

And before I go, I thought I'd share a Gulf Fritillary butterfly.  We have so many caterpillars for this guy!  I only have a few in my enclosures because they make their chrysalises in places that make me have to move them and I'm afraid of hurting one.  We also have close to 20 Monarch caterpillars who are almost all in their chrysalis, plus about 5 Eastern Black Swallowtails who are still eating away. They are my favorite butterfly and I deal with the awful smell of dill on my hands to feed them. (I hate dill and all pickles!)  It's been a lot of work, but we love raising and releasing them.

I hope your Monday is going well.  Little Lady was on my shoulders kneading my arms to let me know she needed attention at 5:15 today.  I've had two coffees and am hanging in there.  Maybe I'll sleep well tonight after being up so early. :)

Fall Colors

Hey!  How is everyone on this fine Friday?   I can't believe I haven't posted since Monday.  Well, I can, but that's breaking my recent streak of doing better.  lol  Jason worked overtime this week and I was solo parenting for most of it.  He was home yesterday and I totally took off for brunch with a friend.   I wanted to share a couple more challenge cards with you.  I have a lot of cards made up for Fall now, so I need to start sending those out soon.   This one uses my most favorite Stampin' Up! set, French Foliage along with a sentiment from Truly Grateful.  I stamped on the Kraft paper that was sold back in my demo days.  Do they still have that?  I love it!

And this card...  Lori challenged us to use wheat and I think this counts, right?  lol I pulled out the distress inks for this one.  The wheat is from Concord & 9th and the sentiment from wPlus9.

Laila started going to a cooperative play groun this week and it's from 4:30 to 5:30, so we have to stop for dinner on our way home.  She picked Panera this week.  She seems to enjoy the class so far, so I hope it will benefit her.  With this description, it seems to cover much of what she needs help on. The Cooperative Play group addresses social skills, communication, and emotional regulation skills.  They work on things such as taking turns, expressively identifying how they feel, flexibility with non-preferred activities, keeping their body in the group, thinking with their eyes, cooperative play and communicating with peers during play, along with other skills.  If I could list her issues, it would be most of those. Thank goodness we can at least work on them while we are waiting on an evaluation/diagnosis.

I'm off to clean up my desk.  It's a wreck as is my floor.  Creativity is messy!

Double the Hope

It's been a few days, huh?  I haven't been stamping because Jason's been working and Laila doesn't like to nap longer than thirty minutes.  sigh   I did finish up this one I'd started last week for Lori's HYCCT challenge to use leaves.   I wanted to still use pink somehow and thought it might work with some black and gray.   I STILL miss French Foliage, so I dusted it off.  It's probably my favorite SU set I've bought.

Stamps:  French Foliage, A Muse Stamp Out Breast Cancer
Ink:  Smoky Slate, Basic Gray, Basic Black, Melon Mambo
Paper:  Basic Black, Whisper White, Melon Mambo
Accessories:  Neutrals buttons (retired), White Baker's Twine

This second card is for Rebecca's HYCCT challenge to use metal.   Aluminum foil counted, so I embossed some with the Houndstooth embossing folder and paired it with a the Motorcycle stamp I printed from My Digital Studio.  

Stamps:  My Digital Studio, CTMH It's Your Day
Ink:  Basic Black, Melon Mambo
Paper:  Basic Black, Melon Mambo, Whisper White, Aluminum foil
Accessories:  Basic Black chevron ribbon
Tools: Houndstooth EF, Color Spritzer (retired)

Laila had a play date at the park on Friday.   As you can see, she was more into the mulch and pine cones.

FMS: The Open Sea

Uh oh!  I got so busy last night trying to find a photographer for Laila's one year pictures that I forgot to do my blog post.   Better late than never, right?   I swear the other ladies at Freshly Made Sketches are saints for putting up with my constant forgetfulness and failure to do things.   Now this week IS Amy's sketch; I was just a week ahead last week.   ;) 

Are you thinking "didn't she make a card like that already"?  If so, you are right!  I seem to be fixated on using this color combination with this stamp set.  They look so good together!   So forgive me.   

Stamps:  The Open Sea, Something to Celebrate, French Foliage

Ink:  Midnight Muse, Bashful Blue

Paper:  Midnight Muse, Bashful Blue, Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White, Print Poetry stack

Accessories: Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine

Laila went to her first birthday party last weekend and here she is in her little cupcake outfit.  I had originally bought it for her birthday pictures, but I'm not sure it will fit by then!  :)  

Fab Friday Flowers

I started a card sometime this week, maybe Friday, but I didn't get time to finish it until today.  I woke up around three this morning and couldn't go back to sleep, so...   It uses the sketch from this week's Fab Friday challenge and the color challenge at Splitcoast.  

The colors were some that will be retiring soon, River Rock, Baja Breeze, and Not Quite Navy.   I also used an embossing folder from the Holiday catalog that is still available, but will not be carried over.   And finally, there are some accents on the tag from French Foliage, another retiring product.  Thankfully Summer Silhouettes and Sweet Essentials will be staying around.  :)

Stamps:  French Foliage, Summer Silhouettes, Sweet Essentials

Ink:  River Rock, Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy

Paper:  Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze, River Rock, Very Vanilla, Neutrals DSP stack

Accessories:  Basic Pearls, Baja Breeze and Very Vanilla seam binding, linen thread

Tools:  Big Shot, Lacy Brocade embossing folder, Little Leaves sizzlit, Finishing Touches edgelits, 3/8 circle punch

10 months yesterday!  Time is just flying by!

FMS81: Open Seas

Believe it or not, I finally stamped!   Cindy gave us this fun sketch for Freshly Made Sketches this week and it got me out of my slump for a minute.  Well, more than a minute I guess.  Who can make a card in a minute?  

I have really been struggling with stamping lately.  I don't want to stamp, I don't enjoy stamping.  It's a very strange place for me.   I have been avoiding it unless I have to do it.   When I sat down to make this card, I had no idea where to start.  I finally pulled out my Color Coach and picked a combination.   After that I made most of the card and then looked for a stamp set that would work with it.   Not the most traditional way of doing it, but it ended up working out.  I like how it turned out and that's a nice change for me. :)  

Stamps:  The Open Sea, French Foliage, Something to Celebrate

Ink: Midnight Muse, Bashful Blue

Paper:  Midnight Muse, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla, Print Poetry DSP, Tea for Two DSP

Tools:  Big Shot, Scallop Circles #2 die, 3-inch circle die, Scallop Border punch, paper snips

Accessories: Midnight Muse ribbon

Someone has discovered that they LOVE mom's iPhone.  Uh oh!  I'm sure it won't be long before she knows how to use it better than I do.  :)

Like all Texas kids, Laila had to have her picture made in the bluebonnets.  Her poor eye was really bugging her after our trip.   Our doctor gave us a referral if we wanted to get it checked out, but let us know that it can take up to she's a year old for the tear duct to open all the way.   We are going to wait for now and try to massage it as much as we can.  That's quite a task considering how active she is now!

Birthday Bash 2013

Don't you hate it when you need a birthday card at the last minute and can't find one in your card stash?   In this class we'll be making a variety of birthday cards so that you'll have some on hand.   If you have plenty of birthday cards already, some of the designs can also be made into thank you cards.   Just be sure to let me know you'd like some different sentiments and I'll put out some stamp sets for you to choose from.

This class is a bit different than my previous ones in that you can make as many or as few of each card as you want.   There is a minimum of 10 cards to attend the event, but you are welcome to make more if you'd like.   Please email me by noon on Friday which cards you'd like to make and how many of each so that I can get your packet ready for you.  

Cost is $20 for the first 10 cards, $2 for each additional card.  

Here are the choices:

Card #1:  Birthday Circles

Card #2: Birthday Leaves

Card #3:  Birthday Butterflies

Card #4:  Shabby Birthday

 Card #5:  Birthday Cheers

Thank You Leaves

So here is the "Mashup" Challenge:

1. Make a project with "Leaves".
2. Or Make a project saying "Thank You".
3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a "Thank You project with Leaves".

I'm the hostess this week at The Friday Mashup!  I'm sad to say that this is my last week as part of the team.  Life is just getting too busy and I can't keep up with everything I have on my plate.  I have so little stamping time these days and I need to devote it to my business as much as I can.   I've had such a wonderful time with this group of ladies and I'll definitely try to play along with some of the challenges if I get a chance.   

So on to the card, right?!   This is a NON-clean version of this week's sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.  :) I loved it so much that I wanted to make another card but add in some sponging and distressing. 

I have had a few questions for my club cards from last month, so I wanted to do a similar card and answer a few questions.  The background is the new Core'dinations cardstock that has been embossed and sanded.  Easy!   The leaves use the oldest stamping technique that we've all been doing for years, rock n'roll!  I just LOVE French Foliage as it works so great with that technique!  

My little purple girl.   We needed a break from all the pink today! 

Vintage bird for HYCCT

Laila went to bed at seven last night, so I had some time to stamp and watch a little TV before bed.  I wasn't sure how the night would go with her crashing so early, but she was only up at three to eat and then back down until eight this morning!  She woke up smiling and happy too!   Anyway, I worked on another HYCCT challenge from Bridget.  We were to be inspired by this this verse from Emily Dickinson:  

Hope is the thing with feathers 

that perches in the soul
and sings the tune without the words
and never stops at all.

Thing with feathers = bird, sings the tune = music paper.  That works, right?  :)

Stamps:  Nature Walk, French Foliage

Ink:  Early Espresso, Soft Suede

Paper:  Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Natural Composition DSP

Tools/Accessories:  Big Shot, Framed Tulips embossing folder, sponges, Very Vanilla seam binding, Neutrals buttons

This was my first time making a "shabby bow" based on my friend LeAnne's tutorial.   I just needed a small one, but it still worked!  Yay!

What are these things? 

HYCCT Green Foliage

After a rough few days, Jason was finally off today and I got a break to go stamp.   Laila was sure a challenge for me for the three days he was working, so I'm glad to have him here for a few days.  It's much easier when we can trade off parenting.  :)    I'm trying to catch up with the Hope You Can Cling To challenges so that I can mail off a package of cards to the MD Anderson Cancer Center this week.   The challenge I worked on today was from Dina and here's her description:  Make a card inspired by a show tune!  Any song (title or lyrics) from any musical or movie will do – just let us know what song inspired you!  For my card I picked a song from Little Shop of Horrors called Somewhere That's Green and made this monochromatic card.   I hope that will work!  :)

Stamps:  French Foliage, Just Believe

Ink: Wild Wasabi, Garden Green

Paper:  Garden Green, Wild Wasabi, Very Vanilla, scraps

Tools/Accessories:  Big Shot, Woodgrain embossing folder, Scallop Oval punch, Medium Oval punch, Regals buttons, Linen Thread

It's still been pretty warm down here in Texas, so I've been trying to get her in the rest of her summer clothes before it's too cold for them.  This girl sure did get a lot of clothes!   

October Stamp Club

Last night was my monthly stamp club with my totally amazing group of ladies.  There's always so much fun and laughter and I love that they enjoy our meetings so much!   I thought I'd share our cards and a few other pictures today.  

This first one we did using my favorite set, French Foliage, and the new Core'dinations card stock from the Holiday Catalog.  I just LOVE that background!

For our second project we used the Naturals Composition paper from the main catalog.  I just love the look of it brayered with color.  We did change up the card a little and add more leaves to the image panel.  I did two panels to show a few choices and they all liked the other option better.  Of course that's the one I forgot to snap a picture of.   Looks like I was in a More Mustard and Early Espresso mood, huh?  :)

 Here's everyone with their beautiful masterpieces!  (Notice my Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze, Cherry Cobbler kitchen in the background.)

Last night was our last meeting of this round of club so I wanted to make them up a special gift.  I found this fun idea on Pinterest and made them this gift-in-a-jar.  Jason was a huge help with these or I think it would have taken me forever!  

LOL  Is this not THE best "caption this" photo ever?!  I love it!    

Purple Fun Flowers of Hope

Here's the second card I started yesterday for the HYCCT challenges.  This one was presented by Giovana and here is what she asked us to do:  My challenge to you is to make a project that uses 3 or more dies/punches or an electronic cutting machine and a sentiment.You can use stamp images, but let your dies and sentiment be the Star!!   I love making cards with little to no stamping, so this was a great challenge for me.  I did do a little more with stamps than I normally do on a challenge like this because I felt like the white background was too stark without a little something.  Plus a distressed card needs some splatters, right?!  And did you notice, no pink?!  I needed a break!

The cool thing about this card is the sentiment.  Did you know that Stampin' Up! is now offering single stamps?   It's a trial for now to see how it goes, but you can get individual sentiments from three different sets right now!   This is one of them from Word Play.   To see the list, visit my online store and see if there's one that catches your eye.  

Stamps:  Word Play, French Foliage

Ink:  Concord Crush, Wisteria Wonder

Paper:  Concord Crush, Wisteria Wonder, Whisper White, 2011-2013 In Color DSP stack

Tool/Accessories:  Big Shot, Fun Flowers die, Boho Blossoms punch, Itty Bitty punch pack, Cutter Kit (retired), Basic Pearls, sponges

Check out those eyes!   I am so hoping that they stay that color as they are GORGEOUS!

FM78: Gently Falling Leaves

So here is the "Mashup" Challenge:

1. Make a "Fall Leaves" themed project.
2. Or Make a project with "Twine".
3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a "Fall Leaves Themed project using Twine". 

Isn't this an awesome challenge?   I LOVE Fall and am so happy that it's here.   Well, not really in Texas but I can pretend, right? :)   Lisa, who likes to tease me about their MUCH cooler weather, has presented this fun fall challenge at The Friday Mashup to use fall leaves and/or twine on our cards.   Awesome, right?!  They are two of my favorite things to use on cards so I just loved this challenge!

What do you think?   I have to say, I sort of love it.   The Natural Composition DSP sponged with Early Espresso is my favorite part of the card for sure.  (and just FYI, if you sponge this particular sheet with Cajun Craze, it looks like bacon.   I'll try to post a picture of that fun mistake for you on a another post)  I love the leaves and the button tied with twine too.  Just a fun card and one I really enjoyed making.  I think Gently Falling is one of the best Stampin' Up! sets ever.   

Stamps:  Gently Falling, Day of Gratitude, French Foliage

Ink: Early Espresso, More Mustard, Cajun Craze, Crumb Cake

Paper:  Early Espresso, More Mustard, Cajun Craze, Very Vanilla, Natural Composition DSP, Autumn Spice DSP (retired)

Tools/Accessories:  Corner Rounder punch, Regals buttons, Early Espresso Baker's Twine, paper snips, sponges

And speaking of Fall, you know what that means...

Halloween costumes!  This was one of Laila's pictures from her 3 month photo shoot.  Can you believe she turned  3 months yesterday???  Time is just flying by....

Color Coached!

I think I must have used up all my mojo for the month over the past few weeks!  :(  This week has been a total bust, but today I decided I needed to try to stamp something.   I didn't see a current challenge that spoke to me, so I grabbed the Color Coach, picked a set of colors, and then grabbed a stamp set.   I didn't have anything in mind to make, but after playing around a little, here's what I came up with.

I had planned to use more of my new goodies, but French Foliage was looking a bit sad on my shelf.  I decided to show it some love today.   It is one of my favorite sets but it's more of a fall set...normally.   :)   We'll just pretend that there are blue leaves somewhere, okay?    I did manage to get one new product on here, the Finishing Touches edgelits.   I thought this one would look perfect with the Netting background.   So yay me, I stamped!

Only 4 more days until we meet our little girl!    Needless to say we Jason has a lot to do to get ready.   I am pretty miserable and uncomfortable at this point, so even sitting or walking hurts.  I'm useless and so thankful that I have a husband who is amazing at getting things done.  He's done way more nesting that I have this time.  Hopefully we'll be home by this time next week and I'll be able to share some pictures!  I appreciate all the comments and support you all have shared over this journey!  (HUGS)

Stamps:  French Foliage, Netting background

Ink:  Midnight Muse, Bashful Blue, Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake

Paper: Midnight Muse, Bashful Blue, Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White, First Edition DSP

Tools/Accessories:  Big Shot, Finishing Touches Edgelits, Chery Cobbler baker's twine, Neutrals buttons, Color Spritzing tool, Cutter Kit (retired), sponges

Watercolor Attempt #1

One of my customers has expressed interest in the Aquapainters, Blender Pens, and Watercolor Crayons.  Those are not my strong points, so I've decided I need to practice a bit over the new few weeks before club night!   I really want to demo the different coloring techniques and the only way to get better at it is DOING it, right?    So...here's my first attempt.  I used the gorgeous butterflies from Kindness Matters.   I used the crayons and aquapainter for the large one int the middle and the ink pads with a blender pen for the smaller ones.  They are okay, but I definitely need to work on my skills!  :)  If anyone has any tips, I'd love to hear them!

Stamps:  Kindness Matters, French Foliage
Ink:  Regal Rose, Crumb Cake, Staz On
Paper:  Early Espresso, Regal Rose, Watercolor Paper, Brights DSP stack, First Edition DSP
Tools/Accessories:  Big Shot, Fancy Favor die, Aquapainter, Watercolor Crayons, Blender Pen, Homemade Shimmer Mist (using Shimmer Paint)

Just Add Kathy!

I hope you don't pass out when you see this post!   I actually did a challenge that I'm NOT on the design team for!   It feels like forever since I've done that.   I just had to play along with this one though.   The challenge this week at Just Add Ink is to CASE my awesome friend Kathy!   So, I did!  :)

Here's the card of Kathy's that I picked to do:

Gorgeous, huh? I thought so.  In fact, I got bought the square punch just to make similar cards!   I just hadn't found the time to do one yet, so this challenge was perfect!  I wanted to do a birthday card for mine, and here is what I ended up with:

My pictures never turn out that great anymore, but I promise this is just stunning in person.   I combined some of my favorite sets, both current and retired, along with one of my favorite colors, Early Espresso.    I didn't have the Neutrals brads, so I used some of the much-neglected Vintage Trinkets instead.   I think it turned out wonderfully and now I'm thinking up other stamp sets that would work with this design.   Thanks so much Kathy for the inspiration! 

Stamps:  Gently Falling (R), All Holidays (R), French Foliage

Ink:  Early Espresso

Paper:  Early Espresso, Naturals White

Tools/Accessories:  Big Shot, Framed Tulips embossing folder, sponges, 1 3/8 square punch, Vintage Trinkets

FMS12: Gentle Spice

It is Wednesday and time for a new sketch from Freshly Made Sketches!   Jen created this gorgeous sketch for us to work with this week; isn't it awesome?!   I hope you can take a break from the turkey and bargain shopping to stamp along with us this week!

Here's what I came up with for this week.   Now to be honest, I don't love it.   I think I should have used MUCH LESS Soft Suede or something.  I do love parts of it, like the Spice Cake designer paper and the leaf from Gently Falling.   I just wish I could have showcased them a bit better.  I'm just starting to experiment with circles on my card, so hopefully my next attempt will work out a bit better!  

Be sure to stop by and see what the rest of the design team has created to inspire you this week.   I promise they did a much better job than my poor card!   :)

For all my American friends, have a safe and happy Thanksgiving!   We already started preparing some of our goodies today and I'm so excited!