12 Tags of 2016: May

What???  Yes! I'm alive! and no, I haven't lost my mind.  Well, maybe half of it...  Anyway, I am still struggling something awful so this weekend I decided to try something different.  I signed up for the Creative Chemistry 101 class on Online Card Classes and have been watching the master of distress, Tim Holtz, do his magic.  I have made quite a few backgrounds and one other completed tag!  I wanted to be brave, so I jumped in on the last day and made this tag for this 12 Tags of 2016 May challenge.  It was fun, but hard!  I had such a blast though and I think I'll go back and do the months I've missed.   So yay! I'm crafting again.  :)

Now I need to sell a kidney or something to buy all things distressed.  lol

I'm still exercising most days and am feeling some better.  The past few days have been the bad part of the month for me, so I've been weepy and quick to anger.  Being distracted and staying in my room distressing stuff happened at a great time.  I like hiding out.

I'll be back tomorrow with my second tag which I love so much!

Lots of Kindness

I'm a little late, but I have my card for Freshly Made Sketches today!   I love Cindy's sketch and I hope she's okay with my interpretation of it.  :)    I didn't realize my panel was so huge until I actually sat down to assemble my card.   Oops!   I still think it works and I love all the pops of red on the white!   I think these two stamps are two of my most favorite Stampin' Up! stamps of all time.

Of course it's also another Hope You Can Cling To card.   :)   The challenge was to T-R-A-S-H cancer by using something that started with at least 3 of the letters in trash.  I went with tulips, red, and a stitched die.  

Stamps:  Stampin' Up! Kindness Matters, Love is Kindness

Paper:  Stampin' Up! Real Red, Neenah Solar White

Ink:  Memento Black, Copics

Tools/Embellishments:  Lil' Inker  Stitched Rectangle dies, Wink of Stella clear

My tiny dancer is having a rough week this week.  :(   Grammy left today so I don't know if that's the issue or if it is something else.  I'm hoping things turn around and she can be a bit happier and calmer.  I'm also crossing all my fingers and toes that she's not getting sick or anything like that.   

Pinterest Inspired

If you are on Pinterest and you are like me, you keep pinning away but rarely do anything with the ideas that you pin.  I've decided to quit that and try to be inspired by them.  First, I made this card, a Stampin' Up! version of this one.

Now I already have some ideas how this one could be better (current designer paper, oval framelits), so you might see it again one day.  :)   I just used some things I pulled out of my stash to see how it would look.   I still love last year's Sale-a-bration paper used here, but this year's might be even better!  Have you seen it yet?   It's great and you NEED it!   Maybe I need to redo this card with it?  ;)

Next, for dinner tonight we made a recipe I'd recently pinned.  Now strangely enough, I don't think I'd ever tried chicken teriyaki before.  Huh?  It's true.  I've never been a fan of rice or any type of Asian food until I was pregnant with Laila.  PF Chang's orange chicken was my obsession then and I guess the love of it stuck around even after Laila was here.  Jason is happy as he loves it has missed it in the years we've been together.  I still can't figure out what made me decided I had to have orange chicken one day.  I'm sure it was something on Pinterest though!   Anyway, the recipe was a bit salty but after talking to Jason, he doubled the sauce ingredients when he shouldn't have.  We'll make it again CORRECTLY and it should be better.   Now I can add Japanese food to my list of things I'll eat.  

Laila still has a runny nose and a bit of a cough, but her fever is gone.  She's been throwing up after her bottles every now and then, but she doesn't seem affected by that too much.  We just clean up and start over.  The congestion and coughing seem to cause it, so I guess we'll be dealing with it until she's over this.  I am hoping we can avoid the doctor, but if things don't clear up soon I'll call and check in with the nurse.   I hate taking her in because a few times we've caught something that was worse than what we went in for!

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)

Dynamic Sketch!

Don't pass out because I've posted a few days in a row!   I might even have something else for you tomorrow too, so maybe you can fall over then.  Ha!   I wanted to share another card that I made yesterday morning.  Getting up at 4am really allows for some serious stamping time, especially when the husband has already informed you that he's sleeping in until 1pm!   I fell in love with the sketch at clean&simple this week and couldn't resist the colors at Dynamic Duos.

I had to pull out Fun Flowers for that sketch!  It was just too perfect, right?  I love making cards that have little to no stamping on them.  I find that it's pretty easy to do that with this die.   The sentiment is from Kindness Matters, but everything else is just paper, punches, dies or embossing folders.  I love all the layers and texture and seriously?  Those colors just rock when you put them together!   

Stamps:  Kindness Matters

Ink:  Basic Black

Paper:  Daffodil Delight, Basic Black, Whisper White, Brights DSP stack

Tools/Accessories:  Big Shot, Fun Flowers die, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, Boho Blossoms punch, Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch, Basics Glimmer Brads

So Shellie Challenge

Each month Shelli Gardner has a challenge on her blog that is open for everyone to enter.   Winners get a free stamp set, so it is definitely a challenge worth entering!  For the month of February, she asked everyone to submit projects using the awesome Sale-a-bration products from this year.   I thought my club card would be a perfect entry as it uses just about all goodies you can get for free!  I did redo it and take off the sentiment that was bugging me and I like it much better now.   I think the Everyday Enchantment designer paper is one of my favorite Stampin' Up! products of all time!  It is just amazingly beautiful don't you think?!

Stamps:  Kindness Matters
Ink: Calypso Coral, Pool Party
Paper:  Calypso Coral, Pool Party, Everyday Enchantment designer paper, Whisper White
Tools/Accessories:  Stamp-a-ma-jig, Paper Snips, Everyday Enchantment ribbon/brad bundle, basic pearls

March Stamp Club

My next round of stamp club starts next week and I thought I'd get ahead a bit and work on the projects for it  in advance.  :)   I've found it is much easier to create without the pressure of a looming deadline.  I wanted to use some of the beautiful Sale-a-Bration projects and thought this would be a good start.  I think I'll remake it and leave the sentiment off the bottom as it is annoying me.   

Stamps:  Kindness Matters (SAB), Teeny Tiny Wishes 

Ink: Calypso Coral, Pool Party, Poppy Parade

Paper:  Calypso Coral, Pool Party, Everyday Enchantment (SAB), Whisper White

Tools/Accessories:  Everyday Enchantment Ribbon and Brad pack (SAB), Basic Pearls, sponges, paper snips, Stamp-a-ma-jig

Just a few random things...  I'm not the only paper crafter in our house now!   Jason decided he liked origami, so I got him a kit to play around with.  This flower was one he made me for Valentine's Day.   Wasn't that sweet?  It came with a beautiful poem he wrote as well.   It was awesome to get something so special.  I got my real gift last month in the form of an iPhone 4s, so it was great to still get a little something on the actual day.  

Finally, here's another cute outfit that we bought for Laila on Monday.  I am totally IN LOVE with this one.  I think I even jumped up and down in Kohl's when we found it.   I'm not a big dress person, but I love little sailor dresses and wanted one small enough for her first professional pictures.  I'm not sure about that headband and bow, but we'll see.  :)