Last Hope

Another huge round of cards for Hope You Can Cling To!  This will be my last post about them as I finally FINISHED!  Yay. I love being able to do all 35 cards, but it seemed extra challenging to finish them all this year.  I am happy that my mom and Jason both encouraged and supported me to make it happen.  Now on to the cards (and then on to cleaning the house! Yikes):

This one using the MFT Bokeh Builder set for Kelli's bokeh challenge.  Pretty easy choice of stamps for this one.  lol     I used one Tim Holtz Distress Ink pad for all the pink and just stamped off to get the different shades.  

Kathy's challenge was all about the book The Fault in Our Stars and asked for a romantic card to give to a significant other.   I think this image is so sweet and it was sitting on my shelf brand new and needing love.   Jason is sweet and cuts up apples for me all the time, so I thought it was pretty fitting for the love of my life.

Lydia's final challenge for this year was to make a card based on our favorite children's book.   I love books and always have, so it was hard to pick just one.  I do remember being super obsessed with a book called Spooky Tricks and decided to do a magic card.  I actually won a The Cat's Pajamas gift certificate one year from the HYCCT challenges and got this stamp with it.  :)   Perfect, right?!

This sweet little bunny from Mama Elephant just had to make another appearance on my cards.   Tabbatha's challenge was to use two different mediums on your creation.  I used distress inks, craft ink, and alcohol markers for mine.    The clouds are another HYCCT prize that I picked with a gift certificate from Your Next Stamp!   I love being able to use previous prizes on these cards.  

Here's an almost all Stampin' Up! card for you purists.  :)  Teresa's challenge was about cheering and we spelled out BOOBS. ha!   Blue, circle element, round embellishment, and black.    

Angie's card was about tilted layers.   I was almost asleep the other night and the idea for this one popped in my head.  I started telling Jason all about it and I think he was confused as to why I was thinking about stamping when I was supposed to be going to sleep.   Men are just so different from women!  I do my best thinking right before I fall asleep.  He got me this fun Texas stamp last year for a stocking stuffer and I thought it was time I inked it up.   I kept the card clean like the Texas flag.  

This is the last one.  I actually plan to go back and add some Crumb Cake seam binding to it because I'm not happy with the end result.  The challenge was Susie's to make our own background, no designer paper.   I love my background, but not the rest of the card.  Hopefully I can get it apart and fix it before I mail it off.   The SU World Map stamp is so fun with watercolor paper and distress inks! 

My little picture helper this morning.  She's telling me all about the Texas she found on this card.  lol 

Lots of Hope

I have several HYCCT cards to share with you today.   This first one is for my friend Jen Timko's challenge. Her theme is "Hope Soars" inspired by this quote: “When everything seem to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it ….” ― Henry Ford Isn't that fabulous? She's a pilot, so no surprise that we are using airplanes. :)

Sabrina's challenge was to NOT use traditional adhesive.   Yikes!   I can't sew on cards, but I tried.   I did have to beat some serious dust off the machine that Mom got me several years back.   I'm hoping that maybe I can work on it and figure out how to do it so that it doesn't look so crazy.   I did try though!   I had to sew the button on by hand.   That I can handle!  

Julie's challenge was to smash ink or paint onto your paper.  I didn't have any acetate or glossy cardstock, so I put some Island Indigo reinker on my craft mat, added a bit of water, and smashed my paper into that.   Once it dried, I painted over it with some gesso to soften the colors.  I think it makes the perfect background for this cute little guy. I did a bit of paper piecing on his clothes to match up the colors as well.  

And finally, Natalie's challenge was soft and cozy.  You could use a soft material or images that conveyed that feeling.  I still had some of the fabric that matches my favorite Spice Cake paper, so I decided to use that.   

Whew!  That's enough for one day, huh?!

Someone is getting way too spoiled with their Grammy here.   I think Jason and I will be in for it once she leaves.  There might be a whole day of time-outs at this rate!   They are really enjoying their time together. 

Robots and Blackberry Bliss

Still working away at the Dare to Get Dirty challenges!   I am enjoying them and finding myself very motivated to stamp.  That's a good thing!    This one was super fun to make.  It uses a lot of stuff!  Stampin' Up! paper in Pacific Point and Basic Black, Lawn Fawn stamps, and some cuts from my Silhouette Cameo.  

Also for the challenges.  I LOVE this one.  I admit that I am not a fan of gold, but I am loving how it looks with Blackberry Bliss.   I totally recommend that you try that combination and soon.  :)  

With this new email program I have, I get notifications of when people subscribe and unsubscribe to my blog.  It seems to more of the latter lately and I feel bad.  I hope you guys aren't getting tired of Laila or my projects.  I am guessing it is partly because I've decided to branch out a bit and use a wide range of products instead of only Stampin' Up!   I'm still a demo and will be for a while, but I am now buying and stamping with what I like.   If it's SU, that's great...if it's not, that's great too.   This is really just a hobby for me and I'm just having fun.   I hope you'll continue to find inspiration in my work and remember, you can always be inspired and make it your own with whatever products YOU love.  :) 

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day!   :)   I'm not sure how many dads read my blog (my guess is ZERO), but I don't want to leave anyone out.  lol   I thought I'd share the card I made for Jason.   It uses the My Paper Pumpkin stamp again along with Gorgeous Grunge and And Many More.   Fun sets for sure!

I found out that my email feed was messed up for a bit, so sorry about that.  I am not so great at that part of things, so I guess I changed something that made it go all funky.   I hope it's fixed now, but if not let me know.

I used the Wednesday sketch from MFT for my card.  I think it still counts even though I used a circle.  I love circles lately for some reason.   I actually did the sketch twice, so come back tomorrow for a girly version!   

As I was taking a picture of my card, I got a little helper on the other side of the table who also needed their picture taken.  She's been something else this weekend.  Whew!  She wouldn't nap yesterday and was a holy terror by dinner.   She was sound asleep by 6:45 too.   I hope today brings a nap and a break for the parents.  I still can't believe she'll be 2 in just twelve more days.  Crazy!

Stampin' Up! Blue Ribbon

I needed the mental break of stamping last night, so I started this card.  It wasn't working out so great, but I finally gave up today and put it together.  It might be a good guy card because I don't think they really pay attention to them anyway!  Ha!  I used a color combination from the awesome Color Coach, Bermuda Bay, Basic Black, and Smoky Slate.

I received an email this morning that my blog posts weren't working for those of you who subscribe by email.  I had no idea, but I did try to fix that.  I hope you'll let me know if the new subscription service is working.  I apologize for that.  I knew some bloggers were having issues with Feedburner, but I didn't really think I had anyone subscribing.  Oops!

Love this girl.  She seems to have grown up over the past few weeks.  She understands so much more lately and is becoming a bit more helpful by throwing things away and picking up *some* of her things.  I can't believe she'll be 2 next month.  Time is just flying by too fast.

Stamp Review Crew: Gorgeous Grunge Edition

It's a new hop of the Stamp Review Crew!   This time we are featuring Gorgeous Grunge.   I'm not sure gorgeous and grunge are two words that go together, but hey, it works!  If at any time you get lost or disorientated from all the amazing samples, we do have a main landing page for you to recoup and recover on.  

This was my first project  I saw the colors at Hand Stamped Sentiments and decided to give them a go with this set.  Believe it or not, this is the first time I've ever used Rose Red!  I don't own the stamp pad, but I did have the marker and one sheet of card stock.  I managed to get my new grid background stamp in there too.  ;)

For my second card I wanted to do a faux watercolor effect.  I inked up the stamps, spritzed them with water, then stamped.  I know it's a splatter stamp to begin with, but I think it still looks kinda cool with some water mixed in.  It's fun that card is so bright and cheery while the other is more masculine and dark.   I love stamp sets that can do both!   

Stampin' Up! Delicate Doilies

My sweet cousin in Kentucky recently signed up to be a demonstrator and is working on ideas for her open house.  I tried to help her by coming up with a card design for her.  She emailed her list of stamps and current colors and here's what I came up with.   In case she decides to use the idea, I tried to keep it pretty simple so new stampers weren't overwhelmed with their first stamping experience.   Tessa's amazing card was a great inspiration for mine.

Stamps:  Perfectly Penned, Delicate Doilies, Gorgeous Grunge
Ink:  Crumb Cake, Calypso Coral, Crisp Cantaloupe
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Calypso Coral, Crisp Cantaloupe, Whisper White
Accessories:  Basic Pearls, Linen Thread

She looks much too old for me in this one.  Lately when I look at her I find myself starting to cry.  It's going by entirely too fast.  It feels like she should still be a little baby swinging in the swing and needed to be fed and burped.   Her teething necklace is probably going to have to come off soon and we'll shop for a longer one, she's almost in 2T clothes, and I've been looking for ideas for her second birthday party.  Just crazy! Whoever said the days were long, but the years are short really nailed that one!

Before I go, someone asked about the Stenciled class.  You can find it here:  http://www.onlinecardclasses.com/  Hope that helps.  :)

Quick & Easy Christmas

Yesterday I held a "Oh crap I haven't made my Christmas cards" class.  Ha!   We used the notecards and envelopes to stamp up some simple and easy ones that we could hurry and mail.  I thought I'd share two of them with you.  I love kraft and red and of course blue and red for the holidays (or anytime really), so we used those for these.   Simple, but I love them! 

I seriously love the Endless Wishes set. It doesn't surprise me a bit that it sold out.   I hope you were able to get one before they were gone! Those eBay prices are already CRAZY!

Here's Laila's other picture with Santa.  :)

Don't forget an awesome clearance rack blitz starts tomorrow!

Stampin' Up! Perfect Blend for Mojo Monday

I'm still alive!   It's been a long week for sure.  I took the week off from Freshly Made Sketches after losing my creativity this week.  We took Eli's tree out to the cemetery on Tuesday and that, along with a very unhappy toddler, just didn't make for a desire to stamp.  I've had a better few days and decided to stamp yesterday. I wanted to play along with Mojo Monday's new sketch.  I haven't used much of my Epic Day DSP so I started with that and here's what I ended up with.  :)

I made a shabby bow to start and couldn't decide between it and this bow.  I got tired of pulling them off and looking at them, so I just left this one.  :)  

Here's one of Laila's pictures with Santa.  I still can't get over how much she loved him!  

..and more cards!

Believe it or not, I finally finished all the HYCCT challenges today!  I'm just so happy to have met my goal.   It seems impossible with two club meetings, a design team, and a toddler but I did it.  I'll be posting the last one tomorrow for Freshly Made Sketches, but here are the others that I've finished over the past few days.

Sheri's challenge was to make/cover a notebook or note pad. As a former nurse she knows how important it is to write things down, so these notebooks are perfect for that.  I kept mine simple, but it's pink and ready to go! 

Edna's challenge was to make a card that could be from or to a group.  I struggled with this one, but I thought my group of birds saying thank you could be from a group.  They all have their hearts out in thanks, right?!  ;)   I need a stamp of a bunch of bananas!  

The final challenge was from Lydia and it was to make a black and white card with a splash of color.  I cheated I guess with my mat, but hopefully she'll forgive me.  I had been wanting to use the Fight like a Girl sentiment but hadn't been able to make it work before.  It seemed perfect for this splattered card!

Laila didn't get candy for Halloween, but she did get an owl to add to her collection.  :)

Stampin' Up! Camo?

Well it's pink, so you know it's another HYCCT card.  :)   This one is for Lee's challenge:

Yes! We can fight cancer and we can WIN! And we can show our strength in PINK CAMO !!!! Pink is not only my favorite color...but the color of October...and a camo version is inspirational to fight, fight, fight!! I'm inspired by so many who I know are currently battling breast cancer as well as other types....and THEY ARE MY HEROES!!! So let's show them that we'll be fighting with them side by side!!! 

You can use pink camo ribbon, patterned paper, digital paper....or you can even make your own camo paper!!! I made my own background paper by stamping a solid image repetitively in many shades of pink ink!! It's that simple! You can also use a pink and black re-inker and swirl it on white ribbon or white flowers and make your own pink camo design!! 

I didn't have anything that even resembled camo, so I tried to use Gorgeous Grunge to make a camo background.  I hope it is passable.  I added my favorite, a Fun Flowers die flower! 

Stamps:  Too Kind, Gorgeous Grunge

Ink:  Pretty in Pink, Pink Pirouette, Blushing Bride

Paper:  Basic Black, Melon Mambo, Whisper White, Old Olive

Tools:  Big Shot, Fun Flowers die, Boho Blossoms punch, Oval punch

Accessories: Brights Glimmer Brads

Laila hasn't been napping long in her crib, but she'll go back to sleep just fine in our arms.  I don't know what's going on with that, but I make sure my Nook is handy so I can snuggle with her and read.   She crashed on me today after sleeping about 35 minutes in her crib.  I wish she'd sleep in it so I could stamp.  lol  Mommy needs downtime! 

HYCCT Fails

Another of my Hope You Can Cling To cards.  I don't think I like this one and sadly, it's the second attempt at this challenge!   I think I have some sort of mental block going on because I can't get this challenge completed and I've been stuck and not stamping for a couple days now.  I'm a few behind, which is NOT good if I hope to do them all. Hopefully I get a burst of creativity soon so I can stamp out some cards!

This was Beate's challenge:
Create a card Clean and Simple card. One or two layers....no bulky layers or embellishments. Keep it flat.

It shouldn't be THAT hard of a challenge, so I don't know what my problem is.  :-/   Here's my first attempt:

I tried the masking tape technique with some tape I crinkled up before inking and it didn't work out like I wanted.  I used the lightest current green, Pear Pizzazz, and it was still too dark.  Ugh.  Maybe I'll go back revive Certainly Celery and try again.

So that's my day of not stamping... How's yours?! 

Laila LOVES my purse.  Too much in fact.  She got a little mad that I zipped it up and she couldn't pull all my credit cards out.   Last time she did I lost a Visa and my Target card, so no more of that! 

Stampin' Up! So Many Thanks

Another card for both Hope You Can Cling To and from my recent class.  I made it during my "not feeling inspired" phase and it is a total CASE of a card I found on Pinterest.   I LOVED it and wanted to make it using Stampin' Up! products.  I think it turned out alright, just not quite as good as the original.  Nothing ever is though, right?  :)  Here's Kathy's HYCCT challenge description:

It's so fun to design cards with our punches and die cuts to help us. Use either or both of them to design a card to encourage these patients and lift their spirits. That's it! Any sketch, any colors, just be sure to include a 'punch'. Let's hope we can truly 'punch out' breast cancer in our lifetime. In the meantime, the cards you make and send to them now provide so much support as they fight the fight. Thanks to all who can participate with us this month. 

Stamps:  So Many Thanks, Gorgeous Grunge, Positively Chevron

Ink:  Crumb Cake, Baked Brown Sugar, Soft Suede

Paper:  Crumb Cake, Baked Brown Sugar, Coastal Cabana, Brights DSP stack

Accessories:  In Color Boutique Details, Linen Thread

Tools:  Big Shot, Square framelits, Beautiful Wings embosslit, Beautiful Butterflies die

I found Laila an owl costume for Halloween, but when we tried on the hood and cape, she quickly jerked it off.  We'll see how long she wears it.  lol  Hopefully long enough to maybe get a picture!  :)

Stampin' Up! Perfect Blend

Watch out world!  I made two cards today! 

So I think I mentioned earlier this week that I wasn't sure about Baked Brown Sugar.  Now I can't say I dislike it as much as Summer Starfruit since I actually OWN it, but I'm struggling to use it.  I saw the new color challenge at Pals Paper Arts and decided I'd try to use it again and see how it went.  I think my card turned out okay and there might be some acceptance of the color after this card.  ;)   I loved last week's Mojo Monday sketch, so I used it for this card since I didn't have time to play last week.  

Stamps:  Perfect Blend, Gorgeous Grunge

Ink:  Baked Brown Sugar

Paper:  Baked Brown Sugar, Calypso Coral, Very Vanilla, Epic Day DSP, In Colors DSP stack

Accessories:  Neutrals buttons (retired), Calypso Coral Baker's Twine, Basic Pearls

Tools:  Itty Bitty Punch Pack, Distressing Tool, sponges

Peekaboo obsessed!! 

Stampin' Up! The Open Sea

Not much time to stamp this week.  :-/  I'm hoping tomorrow brings some craft room time for me as I need it!  Here's another card we made at my recent open stamping event.  I always like to offer a masculine option and this seems to be my go-to set for that.  It pairs perfectly with the World Map stamp too.  

Stamps:  The Open Sea, World Map, Teeny Tiny Wishes, Gorgeous Grunge

Ink:  Night of Navy, Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake

Paper: Night of Navy, Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla

Accessories:  Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine, Naturals buttons

Tools:  Big Shot, Window Collection framelits, 2 1/2 circle punch, Distressing Tool, sponges

Moms make the best beds sometimes. :)  She and "bu bu" napped  and cuddled with me for a while the other day.   I don't get much done on those days, but I know as she grows up I won't get this.  I'm enjoying it while it happens.    She's officially walking now and it's so crazy to look up and see her just moving all through the house.   We'll be heading to Stride Rite soon for some real shoes!  

Stampin' Up! Truly Grateful and Gently Falling

I managed to stamp something today!  It's a miracle!  It has been quite a week to say the least.  I needed a bit of a break, so I skipped lunch today and stamped instead.  When you know you only have an hour, you do what you gotta do to get inky.  ;)   I played along with the colors at Create with Connie and Mary and the sketch at Sketch Frenzy Friday.  

   

I used an set from the annual catalog, Gently Falling, with a great new set, Truly Grateful.  They pair well together I think.  I wish I had some of the Sweater Weather DSP but I haven't purchased it.  I am out of room for anymore paper.  Isn't that sad?   Not sure if it's sad because I can't buy any or sad because I've bought too much.  lol

I don't know what's going on with Laila, but after throwing up on Tuesday morning, she was fine.  We left out to go to Target yesterday morning and it started again.  That was "fun".  It was my first experience having to take the car seat apart and figure out if I could clean it up enough to save it.  It needed a bath and so did both of us.  I sure missed Jason being here to help, but we made it through it all and I managed to wash everything and everyone.  Laundry is never ending this week! Anyway, look how tall she is! Crazy how fast they grow.