Balloons for Baby

Another little baby card using the cute Mama Elephant set.   I have one more little monkey colored and ready for a card, so I promise I'll move on a to different set soon.  :)   I wanted to enter this one in the Wednesday Simon Says Stamp challenge since it's anything goes this week.

That face!   Now she keeps asking to go talk to Santa and go see him, but we aren't up for another round this year.   She loves the idea of him and is so into Christmas!

Stampin' Up! Papillon Potpourri

Here's the second Pinterest-inspired card we'll be making tomorrow.   I loved this card and was lucky enough to have the same embossing folder.  It was a bit dusty and I'm not sure I'd even used it before.   It makes for a very pretty background, so I need to remember that I have it more often.  :)  I used a couple Stampin' Up! sets, Papillon Potpourri and Petite Pairs.  I colored the butterflies with Blendabilities markers.

I had a nice mommy break yesterday.   Lunch alone and then my volunteer time with the kitties.  It was a little time away and just enough to recharge.  I keep getting horrible headaches this week, so I ended up with another one once I got home.  I think they are sinus/allergy related, but I'm not sure because they are getting close to migraine level.   We seem to be getting a lot of weather changes, so maybe they will go away after Fall truly settles in.  Laila had a sweet day yesterday with lots of hugs and kisses for us, so yay for that. :)   Oh, if you like to try new recipes, let me recommend this one that we had last night!  Baked Pumpkin French Toast was a Pinterest WIN!

Stampin' Up! Floral Fusion

Time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches!  Cindy H at Pretty Impact is our hostess this week and has a great sketch for everyone.  I had a few ideas, but chose this one to use the Floral Fusion die that I finally remembered to order.  When it is on the retirement list, you can thank me.   lol   I probably should have used a different idea because I messed this one up three times before I finally got something together.  I had to do the 3rd attempt at the kitchen table while Laila colored. Nap time only lasted long enough to screw it up twice. ;)  

Isn't that a great sketch?  For my second attempt I had it flipped horizontally, but decided to go back to vertical.   I think I need to try the horizontal one again when I get a chance.  I love sketches that you can easily flip around.  I also used the colors at colourQ for my card.  

I don't have Cool Caribbean, so I substituted Coastal Cabana.   I wasn't sure if it or Pool Party was the closest, so I just picked the one that I came to in the scrap bin first.  

Laila and I went shopping yesterday and she found some super cool glasses.   We just had to buy them and now she doesn't want to take them off!  In other news, she peed in the potty again yesterday.  It's only the third time in probably a month, but she's asking to go.  I think she just likes to read Martha Stewart Living, but hey, it's a start!  Ha! 

Stampin' Up! Ornament Keepsakes

I'm sure you weren't expecting me back so soon.  :)   Jason was wonderful about giving me a break the past few days to just go in my room and attempt to stamp.  I think we both know that stamping is my therapy and that avoiding it has not been good.   Thankfully October is here so I have a great reason to go stamp.  The Hope You Can Cling To challenges have started on Splitcoast!  Last year doing all the challenges and mailing my cards off brought so much joy to my life that I thought I'd do it again.  So, here's the first one!  

Lydia was the hostess and here's a link to her challenge.  It reads like this:

My challenge to you is to make a card with inner strength - meaning that a dimensional image on the inside of your card can be seen through an opening in the front of your card. 

Dimensional ideas include:

-Popping an image or element up on a dimensional
-Stamping an image on the inside of the card with heat embossing for dimension
-Adding a rhinestone or glitter to the inside image

I used the Ornament Keepsakes bundle I bought last year and have rarely used.  It seemed perfect for her challenge.  I kept the colors traditional and the rest of the card pretty simple.  What do you think?  

Here's the inside: 

Stamps:  Ornament Keepsakes, Petite Pairs

Ink:  Real Red, Old Olive

Paper:  Real Red, Old Olive, Whisper White

Accessories:  Real Red satin ribbon (retired), Ginormous and Basic Rhinestones

Tools:  Big Shot, Ornament framelits

One thing that really had me down this week as a trip to the cemetery.  I don't know what it is lately, maybe because we keep learning more and more what we missed out on with Eli, but I'm struggling to go out there.  It's an hour drive each way and the dread going and sadness coming back are rough.   We went on Monday though and here's what we found:

Instead of mowing and trimming, they are now mowing and then spraying Roundup around the headstones.  We didn't know that and honestly, we are not finding that acceptable at all.  The cemetery is a small one owned by the 100 year old church that sits next door, so I'm not sure how to go about getting this fixed.  The maintenance is done by volunteers from what I can gather from the lady I talked to.  I hope we can figure out something or else I'm going going to have to move my boy.  Jason went back out with his sister Monday evening and fought the rain and mosquitoes to try and fix things.

Much better.  He added rocks and then mulch to try and kill any weeds that would be sprayed.  I hope we can keep the harmful chemicals away so that Laila can actually get down.  I sure don't want her walking around in them, nor do I want my baby's burial place looking like that.  :-/    My heart is still hurting from seeing things like that.   Jason's parents are also buried there and theirs was even worse looking.  So, so sad.

Stampin' Up! Wildflower Meadow

When I found the email telling me I was chosen to be a display stamper, I was so excited!!!!   However (there's always a but, right?!), I crossed everything and hoped that I didn't end up with the Gingham Garden suite.  Well...you can see what happened, right?  I cried when I opened the box and saw it.   After a bit I got over and decided it would just be the biggest stamping challenge I would probably ever take on.  

This was the first card I made with it and I think I managed to tame it into something that resembled my style.  I used colors that I love and a fairly simple design.  It's a stamp that looks wonderful on watercolor paper, so be sure to try that out if you haven't already!

Stamps:  Wildflower Meadow, Petite Pairs
Ink:  Pear Pizzazz, Island Indigo markers
Paper:  Island Indigo, Pear Pizzazz, Watercolor paper, Gingham Garden DSP
Accessories:  Basic Pearls, Simply Pressed Clay
Tools:  Buttons and Blossoms Simply Pressed Clay Molds, circle punches, piercing tool and template

Laila...the supermodel.  :)

VSN: Too Kind

Laila took a nap this morning that was actually a good one, no waking up crying, so I got to stamp a bit.   Splitcoast has a Virtual Stamp Weekend going on so I thought I'd try to play with some of those challenges.   The first one I did was to CASE a card of Lee's.   I chose this one and this is what I came up with.  I am really enjoying this stamp set!  It's so pretty and easy to do.   I'm so thankful that I bought it in wood mount!

Stamps:  Petite Pairs, Too Kind

Ink:  Marina Mist, Early Espresso, Wild Wasabi

Paper:  Marina Mist, Early Espresso, Wild Wasabi

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

Laila loves this zebra!   She will put it in her mouth and crawl around with it.  lol 

FMS78: Purple Silhouettes

This might be a short post; I forgot about it and now that it's bed time here I am! Yikes.  Anyway, as you know Wednesdays always bring a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches!   This one is from Jen M and has so many possibilities!   I even made a scrapbook page with it, but you'll have to wait to see that.  It's part of a super secret group of projects I've been working on for the past week.   I hope to post them this weekend or early next week, so stay tuned!  

This was not what I had in mind when I sat down to stamp, but it's what I ended up with.  You can't really go wrong with purple and green together and I combined those with two of my favorite stamp sets.  

Stamps:  Summer Silhouettes, Petite Pairs

Ink:  Lucky Limeade, Wisteria Wonder, Elegant Eggplant

Paper: Lucky Limeade, Wisteria Wonder, Elegant Eggplant, Whisper White, In Color DSP stack

Tools/Accessories:  Big Shot, Perfect Pennants die, 2 1/2 circle punch, Scallop Border punch, Lucky Limeade ribbon

Well, last Friday she finally mastered crawling!   She also started saying dada, drank out of my cup, and started working on standing up.  I guess it was just a day to do everything!   It's been so fun to watch her moving all around exploring.  Our cats are confused to say the least.  :)  

colourQ with Fab Friday!

     

I stamped more today and actually completed two cards!  Maybe the Mayans were off a bit and today is actually the day the world will end?!   We'll see I guess...there's a few more hours left.  ;)   For my second card I combined these fun challenges from Fab Friday and colourQ.  

When I first sat down to work on this I almost didn't pick that set of colors from colourQ.  Is it just me or is Certainly Celery bright?!   I sure miss my Pear Pizzazz.  Blushing Bride too!  I need to pull those guys out and use them since I was determined I wouldn't quit just because they were retired.  If you haven't already noticed, I LOVE mixing embossing folders on my cards and I managed to get in 4 of them on this one.  I don't know what it is, but I always feel compelled to use a bunch of them.   Do you do that too?   It might end up being too much sometimes, but that doesn't seem to stop me!   

Look at her being a big girl and sitting up playing.  One day she couldn't do it and then bam! she was an old pro at it.   It's just so amazing, but so crazy how fast she keeps learning things and growing up!

Serenity Now!

I'm still trying to catch up on my Hope You Can Cling To cards.  Making a card a day is tough for me, but I'm trying my best!    I am glad we have the first week in November to play catch-up.  I can already see that I'm going to need it.  Today's card is a challenge by Jennifer, a breast cancer survivor.  Here's her description:  So my challenge for you is to create a card that evokes peace, calm, and serenity with a touch (or splash!) of pink. no pressures, no requirements other than to just enjoy, embrace, and have fun while you are making it! Don't forget you can play along too!   A discussion with all the challenges can be found here.

I started off in a different direction, but it didn't work out and I decided to try again with the clear block background.  My first one looked amazing and then I dropped an inked stamp on it.  I figure that goes along with the rest of my day where I went grocery shopping with no purse, somehow double loaded my Starbucks card, and left the grocery store without buying any meat for our dinners this week.   It's definitely one of THOSE days.  Yuck.   Anyway, I I like how this turned out once I finally got it together.   I think it evokes serenity.  It does to me after my day.  :)

Stamps:  Just Believe, Petite Pairs

Ink:  Pink Pirouette, Early Espresso

Paper:  Pink Pirouette, Early Espresso, Whisper White

Tools/Accessories:  Big Shot, Beautiful Wings embosslit, clear block, Early Espresso stitched ribbon, Basic Pearls

Just playing a little dress-up for our trip to Target last week.  :)

FMS56: Summer Silhouettes

Time for a new Freshly Made Sketch!  I'm the hostess this week, so this sketch was my design.  It seems a bit boring compared to some of the ones we have had recently, but hopefully you'll find it fun anyway.  I always seem to do cards with squares or rectangles; I think I have an aversion to circles or something?  I can use them on my cards just fine, but I don't tend to create sketches with them.  Anyway, rectangles it is!  :)

I used a new favorite color combination for this one, Crumb Cake, Island Indigo, and Lucky Limeade.  They work so wonderfully together!   I usually go for an embossed panel on my background, but I tried something different here and used Versamark to stamp some of the flower images from the set on there.  I like how it turned out I think and will have to try it again.   The designer paper is from Festival of Prints that is in the holiday catalog; it is so useful for more than just Christmas cards!  

Stamps:  Summer Silhouettes, Petite Pairs

Ink:  Versamark, Island Indigo, Lucky Limeade

Paper:  Crumb Cake, Island Indigo, Lucky Limeade, Whisper White, Fesitval of Prints DSP stack

Tools/Accessories:  Whisper White stitched grosgrain ribbon

Have I mentioned how much I love this girl?  After losing Eli, I never thought we'd be truly happy again.  She has brought so much joy and happiness back into our lives and I'm so glad that we never gave up hope of being parents again.  It's a bit sad right now as this time of year is time that we actually did get to spend with Eli.  Hopefully Laila will help us remember the good parts of that time and not dwell on that which we cannot change.  I sure do miss my little pumpkin though.  

Vintage Purple Flower

Still working on those Dare to Get Dirty challenges!   Laila was up a little after four and I wasn't able to go back to sleep after that.  I decided to just get up and stamp while the house was nice and quiet.  I'm not sure if I do my best work so early in the morning, but it was fun anyway!  I do struggle a bit with vintage, but I decided to try it...with purples!   :)   

I used a new product, the Stampin' Spritzers!  I combined alcohol, Frost White Shimmer Paint, and some Wisteria Wonder reinker and sprayed both the flower and the embossed panel.  It has a nice shimmery look to it that you can't really see in the picture.  I added in lots of distressing and sponging too.  

Stamps:  En Francais, Petite Pairs

Ink:  Elegant Eggplant, Crumb Cake

Paper:  Elegant Eggplant, Wisteria Wonder, Very Vanilla, First Edition DSP

Tools/Accessories:  Big Shot, Fun Flowers die, Top Note die, Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, circle punches, Stampin' Spritzer, Antique Brads, Elegant Eggplant grosgrain ribbon (retired), Cutter Kit (retired), sponges, Color Spritzer

I call this one her Glamour Shot photo.  :)  What she was doing while this one was snapped was most definitely NOT glamorous.  

Christmas in August Class

So yeah, I missed the Christmas in July thing.  It just wasn't happening with a new baby.   I still wanted to get an early start though, so next month I'm offering a class where we will be making 12 Christmas cards to get the holidays started!   It will be held on August 17th at 6:30pm at my home. We'll be making 3 each of 4 different designs.   If you are interested in attending or would like to purchase a finished set, please email me or see my demonstrator website for more details and to RSVP.

This card features a fun new stamp set from the upcoming Holiday Seasonal Catalog, Scentsational Season.   It's adorable and has matching framelits!   Love it!  

Stamps:  Scentsational Season, Tiny Tags

Ink: Gumball Green, Cherry Cobbler

Paper:  Gumball Green, Whisper White, Daffodil Delight

Tools/Accessories:  Big Shot, Northern Flurry embossing folder, Holiday Collection framelits,  Jewelry Tag punch, Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine, Basic Rhinestones, Dazzling Diamonds

Snow Much Fun is my favorite set for the holidays as I just LOVE snowmen.   Living in Texas means we don't see very much snow and I sure miss it!    This simple card features some of my favorite colors too.  I was inspired by this lovely creation by Ann.  

Stamps:  Snow Much Fun, Petite Pairs

Ink:  Island Indigo, Pool Party, Basic Gray

Paper:  Crumb Cake, Pool Party, Whisper White, 2011-2012 In Colors DSP stack

Tools/Accessories:  Blender Pens, Dazzling Details

Can you believe she's a month old already?  The time is just flying by!   I finally made a new family blog to share her and our life in Texas with family and friends.  I figure that's a great way to journal things until I find the time to scrapbook!  :)  She's currently sick with some serious congestion and sneezing, so I'm a bit sad as there's not much I can do to help her.   Hopefully she starts feeling better soon.  

Celebrating Grandmothers

I'm so thrilled to have had time to participate in this blog hop for my sweet friend Linda!    I am so excited for her and her grandbaby-to-be.   I met Linda almost a year ago at the Stampin' Up! Convention in Utah and I feel like we've been buddies ever since.   Being on the Freshly Made Sketches design team together has been awesome and I hope we both survive these new babies to stamp together again this fall.  :)

The inspiration for our hop is the beautiful quote above along with our relationship with our own grandmother.   I admit that this was a difficult card for me to make.  My paternal grandmother passed away on my birthday last year and being pregnant and sick, I was not able to travel home to say goodbye.    She was truly an amazing woman who was more like a second mom to me and I hope this card honors both her memory and celebrates my happiness for Linda.    

There's so much inspiration from my grandmother (or Mamaw as we called her) in this card.   She passed on her love of quilts to me, so I chose to make a Top-Note quilt card.   One of my cherished possessions is a handmade quilt that she and my Papaw were given for their 50th wedding anniversary.   I am thankful that she gave it to me while I was still able to say thank you.    Another element is the flower stamp; growing up she always had a beautiful flower garden that we "helped" with each year.   She grew Marigolds and we would help her dry the flowers and save the seeds for next year's planting.   Finally, the button...    Mamaw always had this tin of buttons in her cabinet and as a child, they were my favorite thing to play with.   A few Christmases ago I was gifted a jar of buttons from that tin.   The button featured on here is one of them.  There's such a variety in my jar, so I hope to use them on special cards like this now and then.   

So that's my card and my inspiration.   I hope Linda will like this card...and I hope I can find time to put it in the mail!  She inspired a piece on it, the "turkey platter".   One of her posts called the embossed oval a turkey platter and it makes me laugh each time I use it!    I just had to put it on my card. :)    Congratulations, Linda!  I'm so excited for you and your family.   

Be sure to hop on over to the other blogs if you haven't been there already!   Also stop by Linda's blog and offer up some congratulations and any grandmotherly advice you might have to share!   

Lesley Croghan

Mary Fish

Cindy Hall

Anne Marie Hile

Jaydee

Nance Leedy

Jen Mitchell

Tui Nathan

LeAnne Pugliese

Ann Schach

Jennifer Timko

Rita Wright (you are here!)

PP99 with Card Patterns 169

  
I found a bit of time to stamp today.  Honestly, it's too hot to do much else!   I broke a sweat just adding a bit of sponging to my card.    I saw this really cool sketch over at Card Patterns and decided to combine it with Lesley's awesome color challenge at The Paper Players.

I'm still not sure about this one.   This stamp set is most definitely a challenge for me!    I'm not a two-step stamping kind of girl.    Now why I keep buying some of those I don't know.   Silly me!   I love the colors and love the sketch, so maybe I'll try them again with one of my favorite stamp sets.  :)

Stamps:   Reason to Smile (July Promotional set), Petite Pairs
Ink:  Basic Gray, Lucky Limeade, Melon Mambo
Paper:  Basic Gray, Lucky Limeade, Melon Mambo, Whisper White, Neutrals DSP stack, Cheerful Treat DSP (retired)
Tools/Accessories:  Big Shot, Scallop Circle #2 die (retired), 3-inch circle die, Lucky Limeade Baker's Twine, In Color Designer Printed Brads, Neutrals buttons, sponges

HSSCC121: Yellow Flowers

The challenge at Hand Stamped Sentiments this week is totally Laila's colors so I just had to play along!   I needed to get some thank you cards made for all the lovely gifts my friends have been sending and this was the perfect challenge for that.   :)  

For this one I used more new goodies from my last order.    The flower images are from a stamp set called Reason to Smile and will be a great promotion for July!   Be sure to check back in July for the details on that; it will definitely make you smile.  :)    I also used the new Finishing Touches Edgelits for the cute little border on the Daffodil Delight layer.   I just love these colors together!   

Stamps:  Reason to Smile, Petite Pairs

Ink:  Basic Gray, Daffodil Delight, Going Gray

Paper:  Basic Gray, Daffodil Delight, Going Gray, Whisper White, Neutrals DSP stack

Tools/Accessories:  Big Shot, Finishing Touches Edgelits, Basic Gray 3/8 taffeta ribbon (retired), Stamp-a-ma-jig

Before I go, I thought I'd share a couple of pictures from the nursery.  Last club meeting we were discussing the letters that I had bought and what to do with them.   A couple of the ladies had the idea to cover them in fabric and my sweet friend Shannon took on the task!   Didn't she do an amazing job?!   I love them!   Below is a Pinterest inspired project.   I needed some inexpensive decor and thought the fabric covered embroidery hoops were perfect!  They are fun and made one of the short plain walls a bit more festive.  :)

FMS35: Vintage Butterflies

It is Wednesday and time for another sketch from Freshly Made Sketches!   Jen T. is our hostess this week and has this fun three-panel sketch to challenge everyone.   It took me a bit to figure out what I wanted to do with my card, but with the help of my friend Marla I finally settled on some embossed panels.   What do you think?

I had to use the adorable Butterfly Prints set.  I haven't had it very long and it will be retiring at the end of this month. :(  Of course I'll keep it because I tend to use retired stuff if it strikes my fancy.  I love having lots of options!   

Stamps:  Petite Pairs, Butterfly Prints

Ink:  Rich Razzleberry, Island Indigo

Paper:  Baja Breeze, Rich Razzleberry, Island Indigo, Brights DSP stack

Tools/Accessories:  Big Shot, Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, Beautiful Wings embosslit, Butterfly punch, scallop oval punch, oval punch, Island Indigo Baker's Twine, In Color Dotted brads, Basic Pearls

On a personal note, this pregnancy is winding down and so am I.   This week I've been really sick with a sore throat and aching ears, so I'm on antibiotics and finally starting to feel a little better.   Unfortunately my blood pressure has been up, so I have to get labs done today to test for pre-eclampsia.   Cross your fingers that all goes well with that.  I heard my doctor throw out bed rest when we were talking about it and I would be so unhappy for that to happen.   I already told Jason he'd have to buy me a mattress for my stamp room floor!  :)

Come play along with us this week!  Be sure to stop in and say hi to the other design team members and our awesome guest designers!

Linda Callahan

Lesley Croghan

Cindy Hall

Jen Mitchell

Tui Nathan

Jennifer Timko

Erna Logtenberg
Tara Murphy Bourgoin

FM53: Tic Tac Toe

So here is the "Mashup" Challenge :

1. Make a project using " a Special Fold".
2. Or Make a project using the " Tic Tac Toe Board".
3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a " Special Fold card using Tic Tac Toe".

Here are some links to get your started Criss Cross Card, Double Z Fold, Joy Fold Card,Six Fold Card. You can find more Special Folds in the Resource section atSplitcoaststampers.com.

I know exactly what you're thinking!   How fun is this challenge?!   I hope you didn't trip as you were running to your craft room to get started on your project.   :)  So many possibilities for a card that it's hard to pick which squares you want to pick for the "win".    Be sure to check out all the fabulous cards from the design team at The Friday Mashup.  

So I went straight down the middle and used the baby theme, ribbon, and bright colors.   I'm a bit obsessed with giraffes right now, so pardon the retired set.  :)    I also wanted to use up some soon-to-retire products, so I pulled out the Cheerful Treat designer paper and the Concord Crush ribbon!   I think it all works together pretty well, huh?   It makes me smile at least.   I didn't even attempt the mashup this week.  I have a bad case of the baby brain and that was just too much thinking for me.  

I hope you'll join us for this awesome challenge! 

FMS meets HSS

Time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches!  The super funny Linda Callahan is our hostess and sketch designer this week.  She definitely challenged me with this one.  I made two cards and am still not loving either one of them.   I think the allergy/sinus headaches I've been battling have really done a number on my stampin' mojo.   I stocked up on some new medicines today, so fingers crossed that they work.   I've learned that headaches and pregnancy are not friends; the best (aka helpful) medicines are all off-limits!

Here's the card that I squeaked out tonight using the colors from this week's Hand Stamped Sentiments challenge:

PSE always does funky things with Soft Suede for some reason, but it doesn't look so green in person.  It isn't what I envisioned in my head, but I didn't feel like going back and redoing it tonight.   A hot shower and a decaf chai tea latte are calling my name instead.  Such dedication, huh?  :)

Stamps:  Button Buddies, Petite Pairs

Ink:  Real Red

Paper:  Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, Real Red, Daffodil Delight, Very Vanilla, Neutral DSP stack

Tools/Accessories:  Big Shot, Perfect Polka dots and Stripes embossing folders, circle punches, scallop circle punch, Itty Bitty punch pack, Crumb Cake taffeta ribbon, Brights buttons, White Baker's Twine, basic pearls

I'll share the first card I made with the sketch on Thursday.  :)