Edgar Nevermore

Hi!!  Remember me? lol I took a bit of a break. I've been stamping a little here and there, but not very much if I'm being honest. My shoulder hurt for so long that I got out of the habit. Jason did get me a Vagabond for Mother's Day, so now I have an electric die cutter to help. I think it's starting to feel some better, but after doing some die cutting at the library yesterday, I could definitely feel it last night.  I did have an MRI and cortisone shots, so I'm way better than I was 7 months ago. Anyway, enough about my dumb shoulder. lol

I got some of the Stamping Bella Oddballs and I love their weirdness. I used the Edgar stamp to play along with the Crafty Gals Corner. Their current challenge is One for the Boys. I made this card for my fellow book nerd cousin. He turns 31 tomorrow. I hope he likes it and doesn't mind that it will be late. Oops. 

So this happened on Sunday. My baby girl is 9!!  She is Garfield obsessed, so we got her this cute cake. :) She loved it!! 

Happy Bear Mail

Well, we've almost survived Tuesday. Whew. It felt like a long day today for some reason. I hurt my foot and can't do much, so that's probably why. I did get my hair cut and colored. It's very festive. lol She put a lot of purple in it this time. :)  I'm trying to work on adding more just because or blank cards to my stash, so this is one for that. I saw a cute design in the new SU holiday catalog, so my card was inspired by that. I wanted to enter another new challenge, Pammie's Inky Pinkies and also 2 Crafty Critter Crazies.  (and if you haven't checked out Paper Playful or Challenges for Days, you should! Lots of challenges listed.) I love finding new ones to enter.

I was so excited today. My absolute favorite butterfly, the Common Buckeye, finally came by to visit. It was here about this same time last year as well, so it looks like that's the time to pass through. I LOVE them and I was almost late to my appointment because I was out chasing it trying to get a picture. lol I hope more come to visit this week if we can keep the rain away.

Cupcake Inspired Bella

Hello!! I managed to make a card this weekend and wanted to post it before I forget. I loved the challenge at Cupcake Inspiration and wanted to play. I thought it would be fun to use one of the Stamping Bella butterfly girls with it. I think it turned out kinda cute. I just got the new Stampin' Up! catalog and LOVED one of the samples on page 97. I used the layout as a bit of inspiration. :) I also bought some retired sets this week, so I want to ink those up soon too.

How's your Father's Day going? It's been rainy here, but we've had a decent day. I've been trying to do some cleaning and we've spoiled Jason with some cookies, breakfast, dinner, and some little gifts. He seems a bit down today. These holidays are hard when you've not only lost a child, but also your dad. My dad is pretty sick lately, so it's been a bit of an emotional day for me. I'm going to see him soon and I'm scared. Keep him and my mom in your thoughts. He's back of the hospital today, so we're happy for some improvement.

Stamping Bella Bess the Butterfly

Hello! It's been almost a month. How did that happen???  It's been a crazy busy month, so I haven't been stamping much. I started a new medication to try and get my depression/PMDD under control and it was wiping me out. I don't know why they told me to take it in the mornings, but now that I'm taking it at night it's okay. Whew! Our school issues with Laila continue and that's been rough. We have a second ARD review on Wednesday, so send good thoughts. I think we are going to end up having to homeschool, but Jason isn't ready to pull the trigger on that yet. Add in the death of a cat, a cat catching our resident cardinal, and my dad being sick and it's been a month. A very long month.  Now we just need to get Laila through her ear infection and get a plan for school and cross our fingers for a better May.

I hope you are having a better time. Our butterfly season is off to a small start, so I'm excited about that. We've been helping the school with their butterfly garden as well. That has motivated me to color up some of these adorable Stamping Bella stamps. I love them and I kinda want the other two in the series. lol

 Have a great Monday! I'm off to try and clean off my desk and get ready to try and stamp some tomorrow before I volunteer at the book fair for a bit. Laila's class gets to shop tomorrow, so I am going to go shop with her as well. She only wants every book in the flyer except for one. Ha!! 

Tiny Townie Butterfly Girl Blanche

Happy Easter Eve as Laila's been saying. She was determined we needed to go out and have dinner to celebrate. lol Stinker!!  Stamping Bella recently had a new release and there were four awesome butterfly stamps. When I saw Stephen's card I was sold. You guys know how much we love our Monarchs. It's funny that I got this stamp this week as we just saw our first Monarch of the year!

I wish you all a Happy Easter. Hugs!

Fab Friday 105

Hey!  Did everyone survive that Super Bowl game?  :)  Sorry it's been a bit since I've posted.  Laila got sick, passed it on to Jason, and I've been trying to hide from their germs for a week.  I did stamp a bit last week, but I mailed them off before I took pictures.  I made an effort to send as many cards as I could last week.  I think I got around 20 out, so that's pretty good.   This card should be cute to send soon for Valentine's Day.  I used the new sketch at Fab Friday and this cute little bear from Stamping Bella.  The arrow and stamp are from the Sent with Love set that Stampin' Up! put out a few years back.  It's cute to decorate envelopes, but the elements can be used on cards too.

Now I'm headed to bed to read for a bit.  Part of the lack of stamping is due to reading.  It seems like I get on a kick of one or the other.  I have a huge list of books on my to-read list, so I need to try and fit it in more.  Have you read anything good lately?  My current book is Hillbilly Elegy and I'm speeding through it.  I grew up not far from the area in Kentucky that he discusses, so I understand his family and their struggles. 

This was my poor pumpkin last week.  She was just worn out.  One night we ended up just getting up at 2:30 because she couldn't stop coughing.  I am way too old for that, so we went to the doctor the next day to make sure it wasn't more than a cold.  He gave her some better medicine to help the cough at night, so it's been some better.  I think she managed to sleep until after 5 this morning before she woke us up and then went back to bed once she had water, a full humidifier, and more meds. 

Happy Mail

Greetings!   Pardon any typos.  I'm typing with a puppy "helper" and it's not easy.  lol   Today is our new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.  It's a bit different, but I swear I wasn't drinking when I sent it in.  Ha!  For my card I made one using this cute new bear from Stamping Bella.   I needed a card to give our mailman with his cookies I got him so I thought a bear holding a letter might be cute for that.  He works hard delivering the Amazon Prime packages we get a lot, so why not be nice to him, right?  :)  He saves me any trips to the store for things by bringing them.

See?  Kinda crazy, but you can interpret it many ways so give it a shot!  :)  You can do it!  

I'm off to watch an episode of Private Practice before Jason gets home.  It's my new Hulu addiction.  I think I'm up to season three now.