Stampin' Up! Geometrical Love

I've had this poor card on my desk for a while now and finally finished it up before I climbed in bed tonight.  We always hop in bed early to watch a show or two once Laila's in bed, so I never seem to get any stamping done after the middle of the day.  This card using the fun sketch at Try Stampin' on Tuesday with the colors from colourQ.   I didn't have Poppy Parade, so I subbed in Calypso Coral.  It looks like everyone else went with Real Red for a current color, so oops!  Hopefully mine still counts.  Sorry, guys! 

  

• Arrows Textured Impressions Embossing Folder
• Calypso Coral Baker's Twine
• Designer Buttons - Neutrals Collection(retired)
• Geometrical [wood]
• This And That Epic Day Designer Series Paper
• Basic Gray 8-1/2X11 Card Stock
• Island Indigo 8-1/2 X 11 Card Stock
• Pool Party 8-1/2 X 11 Card Stock
• Whisper White 8-1/2X11 Card Stock
• Small Heart Punch

She is so silly.   We had our first trip to the dentist today.   Taking an 18 month old is such a waste.  $118 and all they did was brush her teeth and look at them for like a minute!   We won't be going back for a while.  That's just crazy!   She did great though, so maybe taking her will make her not be afraid like I am.  

Blooming with Thanks

  

Believe it or not, I stamped AGAIN!   I'm trying to work on challenges and having fun again.   It seems to be working too.  Yay!  I appreciate those of you who have taken the time to leave encouraging comments or sent emails.  I appreciate it so, so much.   I also have some news to share! :)  I was chosen as a display stamper for Convention 2013.  I got the email yesterday evening and am so excited...and nervous.  I won't get to go to Convention to see them in person, but my friends are under strict orders to take lots of pictures.

Now on to the card... I combined the fun new sketch at Try Stampin' on Tuesday with the awesome colors at Dynamic Duos.  

I actually like this one.  :)   I don't normally say that, but I think the flower from Blooming with Kindness just makes me happy.  It's just so pretty!   I added a cute little butterfly from Papillion Potpourri and a sentiment from Fabulous Phrases.   Three great sets are bound to make a lovely card aren't they?  

Stamps: Fabulous Phrases, Blooming with Kindness, Papillion Potpourri

Ink: Bashful Blue, Pumpkin Pie

Paper:  Bashful Blue, Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie, Brights DSP stack, misc. retired Bashful Blue DSP

Accessories:  Bashful Blue 3/8 Taffeta ribbon, Basic Pearls

Tools: Big Shot, Scallop Circles #2 die, 3 inch circle die, Scallop Border punch, Petite Butterfly punch

Someone has outgrown their mat.  lol  I don't know why she wanted to get on it yesterday, but it was cute.  We've had a much better day today thank goodness.  She was up crying for over an hour at 3am last night though.  I took her to the doctor today just to make sure nothing was wrong.   She's fine, so no clue what's causing her to be so fussy.  Hopefully it goes away and soon!!!! We are now on week two of cloth diapers and still learning by trial and error about those.  A few more kinks to work out and I'll be 100% in love.  I'm at about 93% now.  ;)

Be sure to come back tomorrow for a new card for Freshly Made Sketches! 

Fabulous Stampin' on Friday!

  

I managed to fit in a little stamping time today and wanted to do a couple challenges that I had on my list.   I don't seem to find as much time to do them lately and I really do miss that.   I decided to try and combine the colors from Fab Friday with the sketch at Try Stampin' on Tuesday.   I should have snapped a picture of my desk after this attempt so you could see how many times I cut different paper for the base and layers.  I struggled to say the least!

I used the fun SAB set, Patterned Occasions, again for this one.   It's such a cute set and definitely one I'd recommend getting! I stamped it three times and kinda cut and pieced the colors I wanted together.   For some reason when I stamp a cupcake I want to put a flower on it, so I did...again.  :)   I think it ended up turning out kinda cute, but it was definitely a challenging card for me.   

Laila is up from her nap, so I'm going to cut this one short!  

I finally felt like I could handle seeing her in her Little Sister onesie today.  

Perfectly Penned for Club

Wow you guys!!!!!!   I see that I went over the 200,000 views mark this week.   That's crazy!!   I appreciate you all visiting and seeing what's going on in my little corner of the internet.  I have a few cards that I'd love to send out to a few of you, so leave me a comment and I'll pick a couple random folks to send one out to!  

Are you like me and have a favorite sketch that you go to a lot?   This one from Try Stampin' on Tuesday is quickly becoming my favorite. I was working on some ideas for club cards and wanted to do one where people could pick their sentiment.  I like having a choice because some folks might need a birthday card while others need a thank you.   Perfectly Penned will work for either of those AND this layout.   Win, win!  Thanks to Glenda for her gorgeous inspiration.  

Santa was going to put these cute leg warmers in Laila's stocking but he sorta dropped them off a bit early.  :)   She's really discovered her toes now so she LOVES grabbing them.

Favor and a card!

Before I get to the card and Laila, I have a HUGE favor to ask.   If you've been following my blog for a while you know that we lost our precious Eli almost four years ago to a disease called spinal muscular atrophy (SMA).   It is classified as a "rare" genetic disorder so most families aren't aware of it until the day that they are told their child will die from it.   Because the community of those affected by it is somewhat small, research  and support dollars to help find a cure are not always easy to come by.   Thanks to social media, we've managed to win some contests over the last few years and work together to help with that.  Right now one of our organizations, The Gwendolyn Strong Foundation, has a chance to win $1 million dollars through Chase American Giving Awards on Facebook. They will be using the money to help buy iPads for those affected by SMA.  This could allow them to finally have a means of communicating and open up a whole new world of interacting and learning!  If you have an account over there, PLEASE consider voting. It would mean so much to the families affected by this disease.  You can only vote once, so it's just a few minutes of your time.   Here's the link to make that happen: 

http://VoteForGSF.com/

Now back to our regularly scheduled program....

I missed the chance to play along with this fun sketch at Try Stampin' On Tuesday, but I pinned it for a later date and that just happened to be yesterday.  :)   I am trying to work on some teacher thank you cards and birthday cards for kids so I'm relying on my pinned sketches for inspiration.   My card isn't exactly the sketch, but it's close.  

Hopefully there's a sweet teacher out there who will one day love this card.  I thought the colors were so pretty together.  It's a combination from the Color Coach and I love it, but struggle sometimes to make it work.  It came together so easily on this one!  It really just depends on the stamps and type of card you are making with those color combos.  Sometimes it works out and sometimes not.   

Yesterday we had our picture with Santa day.   She's not looking too happy here, but I think the photographer captured some good shots.   I'll post the one we decide on once we get the proofs and pick one.  I didn't realize how bit that bow was until we got there.   I thought she needed one since the jammies were not super girly, but dang it's big!  

ColourQ with a Sketch

    
I actually found some stamping time today!   Laila took a nice nap in the middle of the day and I took the opportunity to sneak in my craft room while she was snoozing away.  :)   I combined a couple of challenges, the bright, fun colors of colourQ with the fun sketch from Try Stampin' on Tuesday.

This was my first time playing with the jar stamp from Perfectly Preserved.  It is such a cute set and I have been wanting to ink it up ever since I got it last week.   I'm not sure that I love my design, but I did have fun playing.   I am really struggling with creativity lately, but I keep hoping for it to return.  Jason keeps telling me it's the lack of sleep causing it.  :)  

Stamps: Perfectly Preserved, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink:  Lucky Limeade, Island Indigo, Poppy Parade
Paper:  Daffodil Delight, Whisper White, Lucky Limeade, Perfect Polka Dots DSP
Tools/Accessories:  Big Shot, Labels Collection framelits, Cannery framelits, Festive Paper Piercing Pack, Word Window Punch, Whisper White 3/8 taffeta ribbon, Island Indigo baker's twine, In Color Polka Dot brads

Playing on her mat yesterday.   The Zantac seems to be helping with her fussiness, so I'm so thankful that I trusted myself and made the trip to the doctor.   :)

Tuesday Sketchy Cat

Man...I'm having one of those days!   I've been congested and dealing with a sore throat, so sleep is all I've wanted.   I'm sure you know how impossible that is with a little one, right?   lol  Jason has been great about letting me sleep as much as I can, so I feel some better tonight.   I needed a mental pick-me-up, so I decided to go stamp while Laila was sleeping. (Much more fun than dishes, right?)   I wanted to play along with the new sketch at Try Stampin' on Tuesday.    I can't believe I actually made a card for it ON Tuesday!  I'm usually a few days behind.  :)

I used my favorite stamp from the new holiday catalog!   Seriously, you NEED this cute kitty.  It's such a fun, fun stamp!   I don't make a lot of Halloween stuff, but I might this year just to use it.  :)   I paired it with some of last year's Halloween paper.   I can't believe how much designer paper I have in my room.   I never seem to finish up a pack no matter how much I try to use it!  Anyone else have that problem?  I really need to find someone to split packs of it with I think.  Anyway, I also used up some retired accessories like the black rhinestones and glimmer brads.   

Stamps:  Frightening Feline, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Ink:  Basic Gray

Paper:  Basic Black, Very Vanilla, Peach Parfait (retired), Pick Your Poison DSP (retired)

Tools/Accessories:  Scallop Edge border punch, Modern Label punch, Ticket Corner punch (retired?), Cutter Kit (retired), In Color Glimmer Brads (retired), Black Rhinestones (retired), Basic Gray 3/8 taffeta ribbon (retired)

Love this girl!  :)

More Dirty Cards

I'm still trying to play along with the Dare to Get Dirty challenges over on Splitcoaststampers.   There are some really fun ones, so if you have a Fan Club membership be sure to check them out!   

This was my first card of the morning and I think it would rock if I'd had one more cup of coffee before I started it.  I wish I'd moved that top flower up just a bit so that they didn't overlap so much.  Oh well...it's still pretty and I'm sure my grandma will appreciate it anyway.  :)

Stamps:  Reason to Smile, Watercolor Trio
Ink:  Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy, Crumb Cake (marker), Versamark
Paper:  Crumb Cake
Tools/Accessories:  White Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, ruler, sponges

Isn't this berry sweet?   Ha!   I just got the pennant die and I love that fun circle shape.   I have a wonderful friend in mind for this one and I hope she likes it.  She's sweet indeed!   This uses that awesome sketch from Try Stampin' on Tuesday again too!

Stamps:  Tart & Tangy, Fabulous Phrases

Ink:  Real Red, Old Olive

Paper:  Real Red, Old Olive, Brights DSP stack, misc Old Olive paper, Whisper White

Tools/Accessories:  Big Shot, Perfect Pennant Die, Finishing Touches edgelits, Circles #2 cie, Jewelry Tag punch, Old Olive 1/4 Grosgrain ribbon

This is a cute card that I created while playing around with the new Holiday Framelits.  I wanted to see if I could use them without the stamp set.  It turned out okay I think, but it's not really what I think of as a "me card."

Stamps:  Teeny Tiny Wishes

Ink:  Real Red

Paper:  Real Red, Bashful Blue, Whisper White, assorted green cardstock

Tools/Accessories:  Big Shot, Tasteful Trim die, Holiday Framelits, Fancy Fan embossing folder, Framed Tulips embossing folder, Petals a Plenty embossing folder, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, Basic Pearls

It's so tough being a baby.   :) 

Tuesday Stampin' on Friday

Isn't this a cool sketch?  When I saw it pop up on the Try Stampin' on Tuesday website I just knew I had to play along!   I can see myself using this one a lot as it has so many possibilities!  My idea didn't totally work out, but I still had a fun time with it.  You might see another card with it as I try to get the idea in my head to come to life!   (This is another of my Dare to Get Dirty cards for the Splitcoast challenges as well.)

Purple with green is a favorite color combination of mine.  I would really have liked to do an all purple card, but I didn't have the Wisteria ribbon that I'd need to do it.  :(   Don't you hate when that happens?  I went with the green but I'm not totally sold on it.   I am glad that I did a bit more stamping today though.  It's been a bad week emotionally and I needed my therapy!  

Stamps:  Inspired by Nature

Ink:  Versamark

Paper:  Elegant Eggplant, Wisteria Wonder, Lucky Limeade, 2011-2013 In Color DSP stack

Tools/Accessories:  Big Shot, Finishing Touches Edgelits, Beautiful Wings embosslit, Lucky Limeade ribbon, Basic Pearls

We took the beautiful quilt that my Mom's friend made to Laila's photo shoot.  I think Jason did a great job picking out the fabric and pattern for it!  It's GORGEOUS!

Happy Tuesday!

    
Since I'm still being a lazy pregnant lady, I used my leisure time to stamp again today.  :)    I did manage to fit a bit of laundry in there too, so at least I feel a bit productive.   Growing a baby is hard work though, right?!   I decided to combine two fun challenges today, the awesome sketch at Try Stampin' on Tuesday with the awesome colors from colourQ.   While I did order a few more new stamp sets, right now I'm enjoying the two I do have.  So...it's Happy Hour again today!

Don't you just love this stamp set?   It's just so fun and perfect for summer cards!  I added a few more new goodies to this card too, the Finishing Touches Edgelits and the Chevron embossing folder.   I think it turned out great considering I struggled a bit with all the layers.  Cheers!

Stamps:  Happy Hour

Ink:  Bashful Blue, Night of Navy, Marina Mist, Lucky Limeade

Paper:  Marina Mist, Lucky Limeade, Bashful Blue, Whisper White, Night of Navy DSP (misc. retired), 2011-2013 In Color DSP stack

Tools/Accessories:  Big Shot, Finishing Touches Edgelits, Chevron Embossing Folder, Basic Rhinestones, Regals buttons, Lucky Limeade Baker's Twine

Sketchy Circles

Jenn created this super fun sketch for Try Stampin' on Tuesday this week and I just had to find time to play along.   It just screamed Circle Circus to me and I am a bit in love with that set lately.  :)

Hopefully it was okay to take a few liberties with the sketch.  My computer was off in my stamp room and I was too impatient to wait on it to boot up.  (It's seriously a dinosaur!)  I knew I wanted to flip it, but I didn't do it with all the elements in the right spot.   I still think it turned out pretty fun.   I'm trying my best to use up some of those soon to retire in colors!  :)

On another note, look what I got my baby girl today!  I love it!  

Valentine Hearts

Tonight I decided to play along with the stampers over at Try Stampin' On Tuesday.   I figured since I WAS trying to stamp on Tuesday, it was the perfect challenge!  I love their sketch this week.  So many possibilities!

In an effort to use up some of my retired things, I've been making some Valentine's Day cards with it.   If there is ever a time to use up red and pink, it is this month, right? :o)   This paper comes from an old Simply Scrappin' Kit that I LOVE.  I'm a bit sad to use it, but I have SO MUCH STUFF and it really needs to get used.   I did  use some of my new heart punches, so it's not all old stuff AND I managed to sneak a few pearls on there too! 

Try Stampin' On Tuesday #37

I hope you enjoyed the posts from the weekend.  We took a trip to Florida so I was away and didn't stamp for a whole 4 days!   I was ready to get back in my room and create today, especially since I got some new goodies yesterday!   I decided to try a new challenge today, the Try Stampin' On Tuesday challenge!   It was a very fun sketch to work with and I loved how my card turned out.    Bright Hopes is such an awesome set!  Do you have it yet?  :o)

The beaches of Florida were amazing, so I thought I should share a picture.  :)   Our friends got married on the beach at Navarre and it was just gorgeous there.    This picture was taken in Pensacola; we decided to stay there at a neat little bed-and-breakfast.   It was a nice trip and we stayed busy for the few days we were there.   I would love to go back someday and do a bit more exploring of the area.

Stamps:  Bright Hopes, Woodgrain background
Ink:  Garden Green, Real Red, Crumb Cake
Paper:  Garden Green, Real Red, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Neutrals DSP stack
Tools/Accessories:  Big Shot, Vintage Wallpaper and Stripes embossing folders, basic pearls, white baker's twine, Brights buttons, sponges, paper snips, Dotted Scallop Ribbon border punch