Stampin' Up! Perfect Blend

After a stressful week, I decided to try a bit of stamping tonight.   I wanted to play along with the new Wednesday sketch at MFT.  It looked a bit challenging, so I figured it would be a good mental exercise.   It's been a coffee kind of week, so I just continued that on my card.  I hope my card is close enough to the sketch.  I took a bit of liberty to get it to work.

I am really loving the Epic Day DSP these days.  It will retire soon, so it's good that I'm starting to use it up.   I was almost tempted to buy another pack when I saw it was on sale today, but I need to chill out on the paper.  I have more than enough to last a lifetime already!

Laila has never really taken to anything that is made to help with teething, but ice seems to make her happy right now as her molars come in.   I think I need to treat her to some ice from Sonic this weekend.   That's the good stuff!

Stamp Review Crew: Perfect Blend Edition

It's the 3rd Monday of the month, so that means a new hop for the Stamp Review Crew!  This time we are featuring a favorite set of mine, Perfect Blend.  I'm totally addicted to both coffee and coffee stamps, so of course I had to have this one.  It's such a fun set!   You should totally get it if you have any coffee lovers on your card list.   

If you came here from Kerry Willard Bray's blog, I'm sure you were treated to a special project.  Be sure you've went through the entire hop!  I'm the caboose of the group, but you can start all over with Heidi Baks and her amazing blog.  

Yeah, yeah... Starbucks red cup addiction.  I have it in both drink and craft form.  :)   I just couldn't resist!  I love the red, green, kraft combination too.  Another current addiction I guess.  lol    Isn't it so fun and festive?!  You could totally add a gift card and make it a gift for that coffee lover on your list...or me.  I'd take it for sure!  

Stamps: Perfect Blend

Ink:  Early Espresso

Paper:  Crumb Cake, Real Red, Old Olive, Brights Designer Series Paper stack, Polka Dot Parade DSP

Tools:  Big Shot, Elegant Stripes TIEF, Merry Minis punch pack, Dotted Scallop Ribbon border punch

Accessories: Real Red 1/4 stitched grograin ribbon, Brights Designer buttons, White baker's twine

My second project shows that you can use it for a lot of holidays!  :)   I love coffee, so this card would be well received by me!   Maybe I should give it to Jason to give to me.  Ha!  Crumb Cake and Real Red...like I said, I love them...even without the green!

Stamps:  Perfect Blend, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Ink:  Real Red, Early Espresso

Paper:  Crumb Cake, Real Red, Whisper White, Brights Designer Series paper stack, Fresh Prints designer paper stack (Occasions catalog sneak peek!)

Accessories:  Whisper White 1/4 stitched grosgrain ribbon, Basic Pearls

Tools:  Modern Label,Word Window, and Small Heart punches

We are off to the airport today to pick up my mom!  Laila will get two whole weeks of grandma time!  I hope that means I'll get some stamping time.  :)

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!  

Stampin' Up! Perfect Blend for the Holidays

Okay, here's my sharing of my addiction. We all have bad habits that we waste money on and mine is coffee...and stamps of course.  I love Starbucks sooooooooooooo much.  This time of year always makes me happy because a peppermint mocha in a red cup is just pure heaven.   I try to be good because it ain't a cheap addiction, but man!  Thankfully Santa always brings me a gift card or two and my friends also get me gift cards for my birthday.   :)    So anyway, all that inspired this project we are making for club!  I used the Perfect Blend stamp set to make cute red cups for the holidays!   This is a cool gift card holder that I learned to make by watching the amazing Jackie Topa's video.  That envelope punch board does some cool stuff, right?!

Here's the inside:

All it needs is a gift card in that little holder.   I hope my club ladies like it!

Stamps:  Perfect Blend, Tags 4 You, Sweet Essentials
Ink:  Real Red, Early Espresso
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Real Red, Old Olive, Whisper White, Brights DSP stack
Accessories:  Season of Style Washi tape
Tools:  Big Shot, Tasteful Trim die, Stylish Stripes EF, Merry Minis punch pack, Bracket Label punch, Simply Scored

I've been working on a swatchbook in My Digital Studio for Laila's first year and it's so crazy to look back at how small she was just a year ago.  This picture was from November of last year.  Crazy!  She's just growing too fast.

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! Perfect Blend

This week I worked on some cards for my next event, an open stamping day.   I design the cards, send a picture and supply list to customers, and then they bring their consumables and make them using my stamps/inks/tools.  I always provide sketches with the measurements for them so that they can use them again for other ideas at home.  I love that they have the experience of cutting and making everything all by themselves.  :)  I used the awesome sketch at Retrosketches this week for this card we'll be making.

Stamps:  Gorgeous Grunge, Perfect Blend, Happy Hour
Ink:  Versamark, Early Espresso
Paper:  Early Espresso, Sahara Sand, Pear Pizzazz, Gingham Garden DSP
Tools:   Small Heart Punch

My little kitchen helper.  :)  She loves her whisk.  Today has been a better day.  We went to the program at the library and then to the craft stores to look around.   It was nice to get out of the house for a bit.  It was over 100 degrees again today, but we had a nice storm come through this evening and it's cooler now.   Thank goodness for that!

More Dirty Cards!

I managed to stamp a bit over the past few days, but not as much as I would have liked.  This is a card I made on Thursday and finished up yesterday.  All that I'm sharing are for the Dare to Get Dirty challenges.  The deadline for them is Monday, so I am not going to get many more finished.  I will try to use one with my Sunday scrap challenge tomorrow for sure though!   This one is kinda fun and uses some contraband that I recently fell in love with.  I make cards for a local shop and needed some easy teacher ideas I could whip up in a hurry!  This fits the bill!

Stamps:  PTI Wonderful Words: Teacher, Perfectly Preserved
Ink:  Real Red, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip
Paper:  PTI White, Real Red Core'dinations
Tools:  Big Shot, Sizzix Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic EF, Cannery Framelits, PTI Wonderful Words Teacher die

A simple one, but I think it's kinda cute.  I used Pool Party with Crumb Cake and I really like that combination!  

Stamps:  Perfect Blend

Ink:  Pool Party, Early Espresso

Paper: Crumb Cake, Pool Party, In Color DSP stack (retired), Whisper White

Accessories:  Crumb Cake seam binding, SAB buttons (retired), Pool Party Baker's Twine (retired)

Tools: Heidi Swapp stencil

I don't really like this one, but I thought I'd share it anyway.  It uses ribbon scraps and some old DSP.  I struggled a lot today with my stamping. My mind is just a bit cluttered with all that's going on this week.   I guess I stamped more for the therapy aspect than the "I'm going to wow people with this cards" one.   

Stamps:  Happy Day
Ink:  Old Olive
Paper:  Old Olive, Subtles DSP stack (retired), Whisper White
Accessories:  Brights buttons (retired) White Baker's Twine, Basic Rhinestones, ribbon scraps
Tools:  Big Shot, Heart framelits

After bath picture. :)  She's getting so big!  Today was a bit better than yesterday as she slept all night and then napped okay.  Jason looked and thinks she might have TWO molars coming in.  I'd be totally grumpy too!!!!   We gave her some Advil last night before bed and again tonight, so I hope that helps her sleep.   I think it might work better than the Tylenol that we tried earlier today.  I'm feeling even more clueless than normal lately with all her new independence and tantrums.  Kids really should come with a manual! 

Scrap Card Sunday #3 Perfect Blend

Wow! I've actually stuck with this for 3 weeks.  lol  I'm not the best at doing that lately, so we'll see how long I can keep it going.  Plans never work out with a little one in the house!   For this card I decided to go with an old standby for scraps, but tried to put a different spin on it.  I wanted a grunge look, not the comfy quilt look that I normally like.   I grabbed my brown and green scrap bags and only let myself use the pieces I found in there for that part. I think I'd have liked it better if I had let myself cheat a little and used some different strips, but I like how it turned out for the most part.   I had a friend in mind to send it to, so that helped with the design idea and stamp choices.  :)   I also used some retired ribbon and a retired button to try to clear out those as well! 

Stamps:  Perfect Blend, Dictionary, Gorgeous Grunge

Ink:  Early Espresso, Crumb Cake

Paper:  Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, scraps

Accessories:  Early Espresso Taffeta ribbon, Regals Designer Buttons

Tools:  Big Shot, Top Note Die, Stylish Stripes embossing folder 

I think someone's new name is going to be She Who Throws Tantrums.  Oh boy was I unprepared for this stage!  If you tell her no or don't let her have something she wants you'd better cover your ears.   The toddler years are going to be tough ones for me I can see.   I have a list of wines to try out now thanks to my fellow moms on Facebook.  Ha! 

Stampin' Up! Perfect Blend for FMS

Time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.   This week's sketch from the fabulously talented Narelle.  That girl can layer, fussy cut, and make bows like nobody else!    Now I have to confess, I almost made NEXT week's card instead of one.  I just happened to realize it before I finished and posted it.  lol   Starting over on a day when the whole house is grumpy and the girl won't nap wasn't fun, but I managed to get a card made.   

Stamps:  Perfect Blend, Like It a Latte, TCP Thanks a Latte
Ink:  Early Espresso, Garden Green
Paper:  Early Espresso, Garden Green, Crumb Cake, Whisper White
Accessories:  Neutrals buttons (retired), Early Espresso Baker's Twine
Tools:  Big Shot, Chevron EF, Stripes EF

Laila really likes the cats.  They aren't quite as happy to see her as she is them though.  Bandit -+********************- (that's Laila helping me type my post) has been patient with her so far.  Here she is "petting" him last night.  You have to concentrate REALLY hard to pet cats you know!