Halloween? Oh Yeah!

My last workshop order came in this week and I had ordered myself a little treat, the square framelits.  I love the Polaroid look that I've been seeing and wanted to try my hand at it!   I thought the sketch at Fab Friday was just perfect for that.   The colors at colourQ caught my eye right before I went in my room to work, so I ended up combining the two for my card.   I know I've seen a few comments about my mojo appearing to be intact, but if you'd been here to see the level of frustration and upset that comes with most of my cards lately, you'd get it.  This one wasn't like that, so maybe I've crossed a hurdle!  It came together easily and I ENJOYED making it.  Nice change for sure.  

     

Stamps:  Toxic Treats (R), Wicked Cool (R)

Ink:  Basic Black, Tangerine Tango, Gumball Green

Paper:  Basic Black, Gumball Green, Daffodil Delight, Brights DSP stack (R), Modern Medley DSP, Very Vanilla

Accessories:  Halloween Baker's Twine 

Tools:  Big Shot, Spider Web embossing folder (R), Little Leaves sizzlit, square framelits, Scallop Trim border punch

We were very sad to say goodbye to Mom today.  I'm sure you can tell she was just as sad to be leaving her grandbaby.   I hope to see her and my dad later this year.  Thank goodness we have Skype to keep us in contact until then.  

If you are looking for my Freshly Made Sketches post for today, scroll down or click here.

FMS94: Rainbow of Happiness

Time for a new Freshly Made Sketch!    Linda S. is our sketch creator this week and she gave us this great sketch to work with. When I looked at the sketch before bed the other night my brain somehow got the idea for a rainbow.   I'm all about trying out ideas that come to me like that because you never know if they will make amazing cards or you'll be like "brain, what were you thinking?".   This one actually turned out okay and I kinda like it even though it's pretty simple.   I am still in the mood to use up scraps and this one used a few random 1/2 strips I had in my bags.   

Stamps:  Fabulous Phrases

Ink:  Real Red

Paper:  Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Old Olive, Pacific Point, Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White

Tools:  YNS cloud die

Laila got a lot of cute clothes for her birthday.  Here she is modeling the cute outfit that Jason's coworker got for her.   I'm hoping the rest of our week goes okay as her gums are pretty swollen and she appears to be teething.  We say goodbye to grandma today so I'll be back to my three days alone starting tomorrow.   I keep thinking these are the weeks that I wish I liked wine.  lol   Not really, but it does get a bit challenging at times.  ;)

Stampin' Up! Sunshine

When I saw the sketch at Create with Connie & Mary, I immediately had the idea for this card.  I have been struggling with my mojo so to even had an idea for a card was a HUGE plus.  I have spent the past few days just reorganizing my scraps and looking around my room in hopes of recapturing my creativity.  It's not totally back, but I made a card at least!  

Stamps:  Sunshine (single)

Ink:  Tempting Turquoise, Daffodil Delight

Paper:  Tempting Turquoise, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White, Brights DSP stacks (current and retired), Brights Coredinations 

Tools:  Big Shot, Cloudy Day EF, Sanding Block

Speaking of sunshine, my little sunshine is enjoying her birthday presents!   Well, she is when there's not a cat enjoying them.  :)

Stampin' Up! Too Kind for FMS

Allisa is our hostess at Freshly Made Sketches this week and she has a very versatile sketch that I just love.   Now my vacationing mojo is apparently on a month long cruise or something!  I can't say that I love my card, but I do love this stamp set and shabby bows.  Hopefully together they are okay.  ;)  

Stamps:  Too Kind, Fabulous Phrases

Ink:  Wild Wasabi, Calypso Coral

Paper:  Chocolate Chip. Calypso Coral, Wild Wasabi, Very Vanilla, Neutrals DSP stack (retired)

Accessories:  Very Vanilla seam binding, Calypso Coral baker's twine, Basic Pearls, Neutrals buttons (retired)

Laila had a fun time at her party.  Here she was checking out what was going on in the party room.  :)   That room is now her playroom in progress.  We are working hard on it and it's coming together pretty well.  It needs some artwork now.  I have ideas, but I need some inexpensive white frames.  

Stampin' Up! Zoo Babies & Dictionary

While Mom and Jason assembled playroom furniture last night, I ran off to my craft room to stamp.  It feels like it had been ages since I made anything and I needed the break!   I decided to combine Dynamic Duos and Retro Sketches and here's the result.  I think it's kinda cute.  :)

Stamps:  Zoo Babies, Dictionary

Ink:  Daffodil Delight, Basic Gray, Smoky Slate

Paper:  Basic Gray, Smoky Slate, Daffodil Delight

Accessories:  White Baker's Twine, Neutrals buttons (retired)

Tools:  Big Shot, Alphabet Press TIEF, 2 1/2 inch circle punch

     

Laila's party went great.  It was a lot of work, but she seemed to have fun.   Now we are doing some serious work on getting her a playroom set up.   My favorite "decoration" was a timeline of photos from birth to 12 months.  I saw one on Rochelle's blog a while back and immediately pinned it.  Mine didn't turn out as cute as hers, but it was so great to look at her development.  ;)  

Tape It and Washi tape for Club

I'm meeting with my club ladies tomorrow night so I thought I'd share the projects we are making.  I decided to focus on Washi tape and the new Tape It set.   This first card is a CASE of a card found in our demonstrator magazine.  It has some great ideas for this set and this was one of them.  I was excited to finally find the time to open My Paper Pumpkin that had been sitting on my desk for months for it.  :)

Stamps:  Tape It, My Paper Pumpkin starter kit stamps

Ink:  Pool Party, Daffodil Delight, Pear Pizzazz, Crumb Cake

Paper:  Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla

Accessories:  Linen Thread, Basic Rhinestones

Tools:  XL Oval punch, Decorative Label punch

This second card is the same layout as the top one, just flipped horizontal.  I used the Epic Day Washi Tape and DSP to make this one.  It has a very different look than the first one doesn't it? 

Stamps:  Blue Ribbon, Gorgeous Grunge

Ink:  Basic Gray, Smoky Slate, Calypso Coral

Paper:  Basic Gray, Calypso Coral, Whisper White, Epic Day DSP

Accessories:  Epic Day Washi tape, Basic Rhinestones

Tools:  Scallop circle and circle punches

 

Laila is officially ONE!   Her party isn't until Sunday, but we tried to make today special for her.   Daddy made her special pancakes for breakfast and then we went to the Houston Children's Museum to play for a bit.  She had lunch out and then presents and a cupcake after dinner.   I hope it was a good day for her.  She was sure worn out!  

FMS92: Send Me Soaring in In Colors

It's Wednesday and time for a new Freshly Made Sketches sketch!  This one comes Jen B and boy did she throw us a curve this week!  (ha ha, I know!)  My stamping struggles are still continuing, so my card this week is pretty blah.  I decided to use this sentiment and maybe I can send it to myself.  ;)

Stamps:  Send Me Soaring (retired)

Ink: Crisp Cantaloupe

Paper:  Pistachio Pudding, Whisper White, Crisp Cantaloupe, In Colors DSP stack

Tools:  Big Shot, Cloudy Day embossing folder, circle punches

Accessories:  Pistachio Pudding Ruffled Stretch Trim, White Baker's Twine

My mom arrived today and she'll be staying two weeks with us!  I'm so excited.  She's already been laughing and having a great time with Miss Laila.   I still can't believe that she'll be one tomorrow.  Where has the past year gone?  

Catalog Inspired Too Kind

Still hanging in there and trying to stamp.   Today I pulled out some old catalogs and browsed the card layouts a bit.  I found one using Upsy Daisy that I thought would also work with Too Kind, so I tried it.  I think it turned out okay!  I am trying to use up some of my retired DSP, so I used the First Edition paper like the original card had and some of last year's patterns of the Brights stack that were in my scrap bin.   If you wanted to make it with current products only, it would be easy to stamp the Dictionary stamp for the words background and use the new patterns of the colors families.  

Stamps:  Too Kind, Happy Day

Ink:  Old Olive, Real Red, Crumb Cake

Paper:  Marina Mist, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, First Edition (R), Brights DSP stack (R)

Accessories:  Linen Thread

Tools:  Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border Punch

This is what our house looks like on a regular basis now days.  Laila LOVES books and can't just have one open at a time.  It takes me a while to pick up once she's in bed.  ;)   

Blooming with Kindness and Too Kind

I know... YUCK!  I am struggling you guys!  Majorly struggling.  I sat down today with my bottle of gesso that I hadn't used and tried to do something with it.  It didn't go so well as you can see.   I probably shouldn't even post this, but I think we need to share our good and bad.   I can already see a million things I could do differently, so maybe when my heart is back into stamping I can try again.  

With the leftover piece and some scraps from around my room, I did put together this 4.25 inch square cards and I like it a bit better.  It's super simple and kinda cute I guess.  I just wish I'd stamped the sentiment AFTER I put it together as it looks crooked and is driving me nuts now.  

I hope you are having a better crafty weekend!

Another picture from Laila's mall photo shoot.  I'm pretty sure she was crawling away yet again when they snapped it. lol

Stampin' Up! Zoo Babies for HSS

I have been having a rough week emotionally, so I tried to find some time to stamp today.   I loved the sketch at Hand Stamped Sentiments, so I used it to get me started.  I'm not sure where the Pumpkin Pie and Daffodil Delight combination came from, but it looks happy to me.

Stamps:  Zoo Babies, Tape It, Happiest Birthday Wishes (retired)

Ink:  Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight

Paper:  Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight Coredinations, Whisper White

Tools:  Big Shot, Alphabet Press embossing folder, Piercing Tool, Mat Pack, and Mat

Laila got her own little box of goodies today!   We tried out a monthly subscription thing for her and it came today.   We probably won't keep it, but it was fun to get one and let her open it.  The sun hat will definitely come in handy next week as her grandma is coming down and wants to take her for some rides in her wagon! 

FMS91: Sweet Essentials Butterflies

Cindy has a fantastic sketch for everyone this week at Freshly Made Sketches!   I decided to make a clean-and-simple card for mine, but added a bit of a twist by using black instead of the more traditional white.  I wanted to play along with Dynamic Duos, so the color choice came straight from there.  There's not much too it, but I kinda like it.  :)

Stamps:  Sweet Essentials

Ink:  Basic Black

Paper:  Basic Black, Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White, Gingham Garden DSP

Accessories:  Basic Rhinestones

Tools:  Big Shot, Stripes embossing folder, butterfly punches, scallop border punch

    

Laila had her birthday pictures yesterday and I'm curious to see how they will turn out.  She was making some weird faces and kept crawling away every time we tried to get her to pose.  I snapped this one with my phone as she was digging into her smash cake.   It's the first time she's really had any sugar, so she was sucking the icing off her fingers.  Thankfully she didn't get too much! 

Stampin' Up! Happy Day for CASE Study

I decided I need to do better about doing challenges so today I tried a new one called CASE Study!  It's awesome too and I will definitely be playing again.  I used some retied products and scraps for this one as I'm really trying to use up some DSP.   I know a lot of people don't like using retired things on their blogs but I have way too much stuff in my craft room that I love NOT to use it.   

Stamps:  Happy Day 

Ink:  Basic Gray

Paper:  Basic Gray, Melon Mambo, Old Olive, various retired DSP

Accessories:  Basic Pearls

Tools: Big Shot, Beautiful Wings embosslit, Beautiful Butterflies die, Tasteful Trim die, Little Leaves die

For Father's Day, I had some pictures taken and framed one for Jason.  I also made him a card with her footprint.  It was a simple gift, but we are pretty simple folks.  :)  We also went out for breakfast this morning so that was nice.  Laila did great and even found her a little boyfriend sitting behind her.  She just adores other kids. 

Beach Birthday Invitations!

Whew!  I finally finished Laila's birthday invitations!   We decided to keep the party small, so I didn't have to make too many thank goodness!   She's having a beach themed party, so my sweet friend Mindy was kind enough to send me this retired set to use for her invitations.  Thank goodness for our demo sisters, right?!   I mixed up a bunch of bright colors and I'm not totally sure it worked, but they are done and I managed to use up some retired stuff. 

Now if I can figure out all the stuff I need to get ready for her birthday pictures on Tuesday and then finish up her party decorations all will be good!

I took her to the mall yesterday to get some quick pictures in this cute dress.  I just loved it and knew I wanted some pictures before she outgrew it.  She looked so, so cute!  I just can't believe how big she's getting.  It's crazy how fast the time goes by...   Now today, it's been long, but you know what I mean.  ;)

FMS90: Too Kind

It's time for a new sketch at the fabulous Freshly Made Sketches!  Linda C. is our hostess this week and she gave us this gorgeous sketch to work with:

For my card I used my favorite new set and favorite new color combination.   Too Kind is really awesome.  If you don't have it on your wishlist, I totally recommend that you add it!  It's lovely and so easy too!   The new Color Coach has the combination of Smokey Slate, Pear Pizzazz, and Pool Party listed and I am a bit addicted to those.  Aren't they great together?!  Man do I love my Color Coach! 

Stamps:  Too Kind

Ink:  Pear Pizzazz, Pool Party, Smoky Slate

Paper: Smoky Slate, Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White, Gingham Garden DSP

Accessories:  Neutrals buttons (retired), Pool Party Baker's Twine (retired)

Laila LOVES books.  There's always 5 or 6 spread out around the living room and she is constantly flipping through them.  I love it!   I try to read a few to her every night and she cries and throws a fit when we finish lately.  That's good and bad I guess.  :)