Moon Cat for FMS

Happy Wednesday!   It's Freshly Made Sketches day and I'm sharing my card with the fabulous Amy's new sketch.   It's a great one again and I think you'll enjoy creating with it.   I know I did.  I had this adorable Penny Black stamp for a while now and decided to ink it up and color it for the challenge.  I love cat stamps almost as much as coffee stamps, so this one makes me happy!

There are many ways to interpret this one and the design team has some great ideas for you!  Be sure to check those out!   Happy Stamping!   

Stampin' Up! Sweet Essentials

I wanted to do a bit of fun stamping today, so I looked over the current challenges and fell in love with the sketch at Create with Connie and Mary.  They always have great challenges over there and I love when I get time to actually play along! I felt like using my elegant color combo of black, red, and vanilla.   I love adding the Fun Flowers die in with them too.   Pretty simple card, but fun to make and I like how it turned out. :)

Now on to important things...  Laila!  lol  I didn't realize that my picture didn't add to my post yesterday until I saw a few comments that people had missed Laila.  Sorry guys!   

We've been playing a lot outside lately.  She says shoes on, outside.  She definitely knows what she wants these days!  We had a run in with some fire ants the other day which wasn't so good, but I did a quick online search and dabbed apple cider vinegar on them.  It seems to have helped because she didn't complain much about the bites.  She had quite a few on her hand/arm and leg/foot.   Poor dear.  I'm just glad she was able to come tell me that something was bothering her before it was worse than it was.  We had a great day today.  Bed time was a bit rough, but Jason made it home in time to help out.  It's always nice when that happens. 

Freshly Made Feathers

It's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches!  Karren created this awesome one for us this week.  I think you can interpret it a few different ways and I'm hoping she doesn't mind what I did with it.  lol  Every time I see a project with feathers I think "Feathers?  Really?   I could never use feathers on a card."  Sounds like a challenge, huh?   When I saw the sketch I totally went right to the idea.  I had a file for my Cameo that I hadn't used yet and it totally worked for what I needed.   Yay!

Island Indigo and Pool Party is one of my most favorite color combinations of all time.  I love it.   I am such a blue girl when it comes to making cards.  My sentiment looked so, so wrong in the top corner (ask me how I know...made this card twice!) so I did move it to the bottom.   It just had to happen.

This is how I know she's mine.  Nosy.  lol  We've had a rough week again already.   I really struggle with her and it seems to be getting worse.  I think part of it is my mental state and part of is the insanity that is toddlers.  I am hoping my doctors have some ideas for the depression/anxiety that's going on.  Too bad I couldn't get appointments with either of them until April.   Not good, but what can you do?  

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.

This card brought to you by....

...CODEINE! Allisa, who I think is awesomesauce, created this fabulous sketch for us at Freshly Made Sketches this week.   I have been feeling like death since late last week, so I haven't stamped at all.  I wasn't sure I'd even try to participate this week.  After taking my cough syrup last night, the idea for this card came to me.  I figured I'd go give it a shot and see if it turned out.   

One of my favorite contraband (or non-SU) items is my set of star framelits.  I love how easy the framelits are to use.  I really need to get the magnetic platform soon to make them even easier!  The Night of Navy designer paper was from the Clearance Rack.  I needed more DSP so bad!  (Seriously, I am going to be on Hoarders soon!)

Stamps:  Sweet Essentials

Ink: Night of Navy

Paper: Night of Navy, Silver, Whisper White, Regals DSP stack (retired)

Tools:  Star framelits (Sizzix), Merry Minis punch pack

Accessories:  Basic Rhinestones

The owl obsession continues... She was actually sick for a few days last week and still has a bit of a cough at night.  I seem to have got the worst of it though and can't seem to feel any better, even after five days of it.  Jason has been taking good care of us both.  I hope I can manage okay when he goes back to work Thursday.   I barely made it through Saturday; thankfully we had some new toys in the closet that kept her occupied.   

Scrap Card Sunday Butterflies

I spent a lot of the day stamping, but most of it was for my open stamping event that's happening in a couple of weeks.  I thought it was NEXT Sunday and I was totally freaking out!  Once I figured out that it was actually TWO weeks away, I took a break to do my scrap card.  :)   This one uses an old Deconstructed Sketch.  It's pretty simple, but kinda different for me.

Stamps:  Sweet Essentials
Ink:  Wild Wasabi
Paper: Pool Party, Wild Wasabi, Daffodil Delight, Crushed Curry, Whisper White
Accessories:  Basic Pearls
Tools:  Small Butterfly punch, 1 3/8 square punch, Big Shot, Beautiful Wings embosslit

Laila loves to help out in the kitchen and pull all her "dishes" out of her cabinet over and over all day long.  She does not love when she can't reach the bottle of bay leaves that fell between the counter and the refrigerator.  In fact, a meltdown of sorts was needed.  

Seize The Sketch #1

The amazing Lesley has created another fun challenge blog!   This one is called Seize the Sketch and this week is their first sketch.   I had to go play along of course.  :)   I used some of my new contraband but also some of my fun SU stuff too!

Stamps:  Sweet Essentials

Ink:  Old Olive

Paper:  Whisper White, Melon Mambo, PTI White, scraps

Accessories:  SU Washi Tapes, Brights buttons, WRMK baker's twine

Tools:  Big Shot, Sizzix Star framelits, Merry Minis punch pack

Someone was trying really hard to get my coffee this morning!  :)  

Double the Dirty!

Still doing a few of the Dare to Get Dirty challenges on Splitcoast.  They have some really fun ones so far!   I know I won't get to do them all, but it's fun to see how many I can get done.   I'm trying to use some of my retired stuff as I really have so much.  I keep thinking I want to order some new stuff but seriously?!  I could stamp for the rest of my life and only need cardstock and maybe some ink refills.   Hello addiction!

For this card I used a favorite set, Perfectly Preserved.  I still can't believe it retired!  It's like the cutest set ever!  :-(  

Stamps:  Perfectly Preserved, Banner Greetings
Ink:  More Mustard, Lucky Limeade, Early Espresso
Paper:  More Mustard, Lucky Limeade, Very Vanilla. Orchard Harvest DSP
Accessories:  More Mustard 1/4 grosgrain ribbon (retired)
Tools:  Big Shot, Cannery Framelits (retired)

Stamps:  Wild About You (retired), Sweet Essentials, Positively Chevron
Ink:  Pool Party, Crushed Curry
Paper:  Pool Party, Crushed Curry, Brights DSP stack, Whisper White, Pool Party Coredinations
Accessories:   Buttons (retired), White Baker's Twine
Tools:  Big Shot, Chevron EF, Sanding Block, 2 1/2 circle punch

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! 

FMS87: Coral Fun Flowers

Yikes!  How has it been a week since my last post?   It's good that Freshly Made Sketches keeps me posting at least once a week, right?!   ;)   Our sketch this week comes from Jennifer Timko, a lovely lady who has been a bit costly to me.  She's always forcing me to buy stamp sets by making awesome cards with them!   I won't start a list, but I'm sure half my collection are her fault.  

My card is pretty simple this week.  I haven't used much of my Tea for Two DSP and thought it might be time to do that since it retires soon.  I paired the Calypso Coral with some Early Espresso and Very Vanilla. Easy Peasy!    

We finally received our display stamper supplies last week, so I have a lot of stamping to do in the next two-and-a-half weeks.  My lack of posts are due to me working on those cards.  I'll be taking pictures of my projects to share with you after Convention is over, so don't worry!  

We've also had a crazy few days with no water.   That's been hard, but we finally got it fixed today.   Our home warranty company was a joke and we are a bit upset with how they handled (or didn't handle) our issue.   We'll not be renewing that this year!  I was so thankful to finally get a shower today.  

Button Wedding

I stamped a bit last night and this morning and here's what I came up with to show off Button Buddies.  I really am going to miss this set.   Well, miss using it in classes.  It's staying on my shelf for sure.   Those piggies are just too cute.  This card was inspired by the current catalog and a sample I saw in there.   I'ts a great place for inspiration!    Be sure you order this set before it's gone for good.  It's a great one!

Stamps:  Button Buddies, Sweet Essentials

Ink:  Basic Gray, Pretty in Pink

Paper:  Basic Gray, Pretty in Pink, Subtles DSP stack

Accessories:  Subtles and Neutrals buttons, Basic Pearls

Tools:  Big Shot, 3-inch circle die, Scallop Circles #2 die, Itty Bitty punch Pack, Fancy Fan embossing folder

Laila doing her supermodel pose!  Work it girl!  ;)   

Lacy and BRIGHT!

        

I finally found a little time to stamp last night and today.  Laila has been taking some decent naps so I've had a bit of free time.  I'm sure I could have been folding laundry, but that just didn't seem as fun.  ;)   I combined two challenges for this project, the inspiration photo at Stampin' Celebration and the sketch from the Paper Players.  I finished it too late to link with the sketch challenge, but I wanted to note that I used it anyway.

Kinda bright there, huh?  I hope I didn't hurt your eyes.  I needed some cheery colors this week, so that's why the inspiration picture was so perfect for me.   The Brights collection is my favorite by far; they are just so happy.   I made this for a special friend in Maryland who I haven't talked to nearly enough lately.   She's been going through a lot of tough times, so I'm hoping it will cheer her up.   My card was very inspired by a sample in the upcoming annual catalog.  ;)   There's some fun new stuff in there but also some great samples to make the carried over products fresh and fun.  

I want to thank all of you who emailed about my mom.  I don't think they've even thought about going to the post office yet, but I can't wait to hear from her when your cards begin arriving.   This month will be so hard for her as Granny's birthday is the day after Mother's Day. I have been talking with her every day to make sure she's hanging in there and we already booked a flight for her to come down next month to see Laila.  I don't really know what else I can do from 18 hours away, but I'm trying...  Granny will surely be missed.  My mom is one of sixteen kids, so there's a lot of family out there missing her.  

Jason's co-worker got this cute outfit for Laila so I had to snap some pictures of her in it this week so he could show her off wearing it.  

Fab Friday Flowers

I started a card sometime this week, maybe Friday, but I didn't get time to finish it until today.  I woke up around three this morning and couldn't go back to sleep, so...   It uses the sketch from this week's Fab Friday challenge and the color challenge at Splitcoast.  

The colors were some that will be retiring soon, River Rock, Baja Breeze, and Not Quite Navy.   I also used an embossing folder from the Holiday catalog that is still available, but will not be carried over.   And finally, there are some accents on the tag from French Foliage, another retiring product.  Thankfully Summer Silhouettes and Sweet Essentials will be staying around.  :)

Stamps:  French Foliage, Summer Silhouettes, Sweet Essentials

Ink:  River Rock, Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy

Paper:  Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze, River Rock, Very Vanilla, Neutrals DSP stack

Accessories:  Basic Pearls, Baja Breeze and Very Vanilla seam binding, linen thread

Tools:  Big Shot, Lacy Brocade embossing folder, Little Leaves sizzlit, Finishing Touches edgelits, 3/8 circle punch

10 months yesterday!  Time is just flying by!

Display Stamper Tryout

When I saw that Stampin' Up! was looking for display stampers, I decided to go for it!   To try out, we were to make 3 card fronts, 2 3-D items, and a scrapbook page.   I hope you'll enjoying seeing all my work and will keep your fingers crossed for me!  :)

Don't you just love this?  I adore how it turned out and I've been dying to post it!   I had so much fun coloring the poppies and even got to do it an extra time on my butterfly.  A sponge dauber and an ink pad transformed my white paper doily into an Island Indigo one that looks perfect nestled on my embossed Pool Party panel.  Love, love, love!

Stamps:  Pleasant Poppies, Fabulous Florets
Ink:  Island Indigo, Pool Party, Jet Black Stazon
Paper:  Island Indigo, Pool Party, Whisper White card stock
Accessories:  Basic Pearls, Tea Lace Paper Doilies
Tools:  Big Shot, Lacy Brocade TIEF, Beautiful Butterflies Bigz die, Beautiful Wings Embosslit die, 3-inch circle die, Paper Snips

I changed up a little for this one and went vintage and distressed.   I like to break out of my "clean" comfort zone sometimes and do a bit of sponging and distressing.    I always find distressing to be good for "de"stressing.  ;)  I know, I'm a dork.  Anyway, I just love how cute this turned out.  Neutrals are fun to work with and can look amazing together.

Stamps:  Patterned Occasions (SAB)
Ink:  Soft Suede (marker and ink pad)
Paper:  Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Very Vanilla card stocks, Neutrals Designer Series Paper Patterns stack
Accessories:  Very Vanilla seam binding, Neutrals Designer Buttons, Early Espresso Baker's Twine
Tools:  Big Shot, Lots of Tags sizzlits, Extra Large Oval punch, Scallop Edge border punch, Stampin' Distress Tool, Stampin' Sponges, Color Spritzer Tool, Paper Snips

And now back to a more clean-and-simple card...   I love banners and pinwheels, so I combined them into this very fun birthday card.  The Color Coach helped me pick out a great masculine color combination and I let my tools do all the work! 

Stamps:  Itty Bitty Banners

Ink:  Midnight Muse

Paper:  Midnight Muse, Marina Mist, Gumball Green, Whisper White card stock, Print Poetry Designer Paper

Accessories:  Neutrals Glimmer Brads

Tools:  Big Shot, Bitty Banners Framelit dies, Pinwheel Sizzlit, Essentials Paper Piercing Pack, Paper Piercing Tool

I loved working with those colors so much from that last card that I decided to use them for one of my 3-D items.   I thought about using my dies to make a cute box, but my Simply Scored was feeling a bit lonely so I decided to go a bit old-school and whip up a 2-4-6-8 box.  I stayed with the flag idea from the card and added a ton of them to my sticks.   I punched the day away making my Quint-essential flower with lots of layers and bling.  

Stamps:  Itty Bitty Banners
Ink:  Gumball Green, Midnight Muse, Marina Mist
Paper: Gumball Green, Marina Mist, Midnight Muse, Whisper White card stock, Perfect Polka Dots and Print Poetry designer papers
Accessories:  Basic Rhinestones, Dimensionals
Tools:  Big Shot, Bitty Banners framelit dies, Hearts a Flutter framelit dies, 2 3/8 and 1 3/4 scallop circle punches, 1, 3/4, 1/2 circle punches

(sorry for the big picture; it was the only way you could see it really well)

My second 3-D item is my other favorite.  It was a labor of love and I hope my little girl will enjoy it hanging in her room for a while.  It was hard to take pictures of it, but I tried.  :)    I love all the shimmer and sparkle and of course the colors.  Below is a close-up so you can see more of the details. 

Stamps:  Broadsheet Alphabet, Papillion Potpourri
Ink:  Basic Gray, Daffodil Delight, Versamark
Paper:  Basic Gray, Basic Black, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White card stock, Brights  and Neutrals Designer Serious Paper Patterns stacks
Accessories:  Basic Rhinestones, Iridescent Ice embossing powder, Basic Gray/Basic Black 1 1/4 Two-Tone Ribbon
Tools:  Big Shot, Perfect Pennants die, Beautiful Butterflies die, Beautiful Wings embosslit, Circles #2 die, 1 3/4 circle punch

And finally, my scrapbook page (which didn't seem to want to photograph well).  I wanted to share one of the most special days of my life so I picked this photo that my anesthesiologist took of our little family on Laila's birthday.   I hope you can see the pure joy on our faces as we were so happy to have our little girl here.  So was most definitely "Worth the Wait".  

Stamps:  Word Play, Sweet Essentials, Hearts a Flutter
Ink:  Island Indigo, Pool Party
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Pool Party, Island Indigo card stock, Neutrals and 2011-2013 In Colors Designer Series Paper Patterns stack
Accessories:  Artisan Embellishments Kit, Basic Pearls, Pool Party Baker's Twine, Tea Lace Paper Doilies
Tools:  Big Shot, Tasteful Trim die, Hearts a Flutter Framelit dies, Paper Snips

And because I always end my posts with a peek of my sweetie, here's one of her recent Easter pictures.

Thanks for looking over all my projects.   

FMS73: Hello Doily

It's time for a new Freshly Made Sketch.  Jen B is our hostess with the mostest this week and she created this fun sketch for us.   When I saw it, I immediately thought of the new paper doilies in the Spring Catalog.   Then I saw that Jen T. and Linda S. had already used doilies, so I had to regroup and put my thinking cap on.  I remembered this card I'd made last year and decided to try something similar to that.  

I added in some Rich Razzleberry with the Pumpkin Pie because I needed a non-monochromatic card.  I love those two colors together!   Emboss resist is one of my favorite techniques and I always forget to use it. Well, I won't say forget really.  It involves turning off the ceiling fan and sometimes I don't want to get up.  Lazy I know!  Maybe I need a remote-controlled fan?  ;)

Jason decided to let Laila play with some carrots today.   I guess that's what happens when I sleep in.  LOL  She seemed to like holding them and trying to chew on them, so hopefully she can learn to pick up foods soon.  She loves purees for now, so we'll keep feeding those and offering opportunities to learn like this. 

Retro Butterfly

It's a rainy day here in Texas, so Laila and I spent some time in my stamp room today while Jason went off to work an extra shift.   I started a card for Retro Sketches yesterday but it never came together and I left it on my desk to work on today.   I finally changed out some things and made it presentable.   :)  

I am proud to say that I also addressed and put this one in the mail for my granny!   She loves my cards and I've been a bit behind in getting them out to her.  I haven't had time to go to the post office to mail a stack of cards to a few blogging friends and some family, but I found a lost stamp to at least send this one to her.  She hasn't been feeling that well and I thought she might need a pick-me-up!  

I know it's been a while since I last posted and that's because Laila started feeling worse.   We were up with her most of the night on Thursday and Friday.   She developed a cough that's still lingering on.   We went to the doctor on Friday and her lungs were clear, but she did have an ear infection in her right ear.   She doesn't have a fever and seems fine other than the occasional coughing while she's sleeping.  Hopefully that goes away soon.   I'm so thankful that we are all getting some rest as those nights last week were rough!   I was a total zombie on Saturday.   She had fun rolling around on her mat and quilt while I stamped this morning.  :)  Now it's about lunch time for us!