Freshly Made Sketches 371

Hello! We've made it to Wednesday! That means it's Freshly Made Sketches day. Jen M is our hostess this week. I think Jen likes square cards, which are my nemesis, but I made one. :) She kindly sent me some stitched square dies at one point, so I figured it was a great sketch to use them! I had pulled some Valentine's kinda stamps this week to play around with, so I used this cute cow from Avery Elle for my card.

I'm still not back to stamping as much as I'd like. Weight Watchers takes time since we are cooking more and then I'm also trying to declutter on top of that. My poor kitchen!!!  Laila's still having a ton of issues at school (already got a note today), so I'm already researching homeschool curriculum. Just so much going on. One day things will calm down, right? Maybe? 

I'm off to shower and then call and see if I need to pick Laila up or if I can go to the dentist as planned. Fun options, huh? lol I'm not sure which one sounds better. 

Keep on keeping on...  repeat, repeat, repeat

FMS 324 Teacher Valentine

Happy Valentine's Day! or Ash Wednesday. Or both. :) I managed to stamp something this week for Laila's teacher. I hope she liked it. I used the new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches. It's a fun one! I am not sure if teachers get sick of apples or why we even associate teachers with apples. I think I need to be on the lookout for non-apple teacher sets. lol This set is from Simon Says Stamp.

My house and stamp room are a mess, so I need to work on cleaning this week. It's been one of those weeks where there seems to be some errand that must be done every day and takes way too long. WAY TOO LONG. I was hoping to go to IKEA for some stuff tomorrow, but I might put it off until Friday and just clean. 

This is what I get when I ask to take her picture. Stinker! She had a rough morning at school, but a good afternoon. She's back at her regular class, but the behavior program failed to send someone with her to help her transition back.  They are supposed to be fixing that and if someone isn't there by Friday I guess the not nice momma is going to school. I hate having to do that, but things are reverting back to before the program. What's the point of her going if you just let it go and don't support her? Ugh. She does have a person with her in class now, but not someone that's trained or even knows her really. So not helpful right now. So send good thoughts that it gets cleared up so that I don't have to go yell. 

Two Paper Divas Hearts

Have you started thinking about Valentine's Day yet?  lol   I loved this last release from Two Paper Divas and haven't had a chance to play with all the stamps yet.   I won't be on the team in 2016 as I needed a break to get my life in order, but I will still be sharing projects with their stamps.   I hope I might can sneak in as a guest designer every now and then as well.  Gayla and Melissa are wonderful ladies and I encourage you to check out the shop if you haven't already.

My favorite part of Valentine's Day is the candy of course.  The conversation hearts are such a tradition and I love that they released a stamp set of them. (Large Conversation Heart).  I used the big heart and two of the sayings for my card.  I added a simple watercolor in the background in pink of course.  This card took me forever to finally leave alone and then it wouldn't photograph well at all.  The rainy days didn't have enough light and then I don't know what happened.  lol  See?  I'm a mess!

The fireworks are starting up, so I think I'm going to go set up the bed so I can snuggle with Sadie and watch some Breaking Bad.   I hope you have a wonderful end to 2015!  I'll be back with a post tomorrow sharing all my favorites from 2015.   I planned to do that today, but I had cards I needed to share.

Happy New Year!

Monday Inspiration with Prickley Pear

It's Monday and time for a bit of inspiration with Prickley Pear!   I am a big fan of dandelions, so I love this heart stamp that resembles one.  I paired with a background made with distress ink and water and some black accents.  Don't you pink and black together?

Stamps:  GG0132 Heart Dandelion,  CLR013C Scalloped Circle & Oval 4 - Floral

Be sure to check out the blog for more inspiration.  Here's another more traditional valentine that I used it on as well.  I'm never sure about pink and red together, but this designer paper is fun. 

You & Me for Curtain Call

I finally have a little card to share.   I love the Kissing Booth challenge that Curtain Call has going on and wanted to play before it ended.  There's just something about black/white/red that I love!   This card is super simple, but I think it's a perfect guy card.  

 I am in a huge slump, so I haven't been stamping much and what I have been making is better filed in the circular file.  Hopefully I can ditch this crappy mood soon and get back to making things I enjoy.  I have been trying to mail off some cards and read until that happens.  I am finally on the last book of the Game of Thrones series, so I'm having to read it slowly since we don't know when the next one will be released.

She wanted me to take her picture.  I told her to smile.  lol

Stampin' Up! Countless Sayings 1

I thought I'd share our other project for my hostess club today.   It's actually a fun one and everyone will have some options to make theirs unique.   I made a few samples to show them, but they will get to decide the details like designer paper, which way their flags and embossing go, etc.   I can't wait to see how they all turn out.   I'll try to snap a few pictures and post them on Instagram tomorrow.  :)   

• Adorning Accents Textured Impressions Embossing Folders
• Brights Core'dinations Cardstock
• Coastal Cabana 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
• Countless Sayings 1 Photopolymer Stamp Set
• Fresh Prints Designer Series Paper Stack
• Stampin' Sanding Block
• Real Red 8-1/2X11 Card Stock
• Whisper White 8-1/2X11 Card Stock

Here's the $118 brushing of teeth in progress.  It's turning out to be an expensive week.  Please keep my fur baby Bandit in your thoughts as he is having an ultrasound this week to rule out cancer.  :(  He's my sidekick, so I've spent a lot of time crying and am super stressed.  He's really my first pet as an adult and I love him to pieces. 

Love for Freshly Made Sketches

Time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches!   One of our newest members, Cindy L. is showing off her first sketch this week.  Be sure to play along and leave her some love for this fun and challenging design!   For my card, I used My Digital Studio, my e-cutter, and regular supplies.

• Brights Designer Series Paper Stack
• Neutrals Candy Dots
• Red Glimmer Paper
• Basic Black 8-1/2X11 Card Stock
• Real Red 8-1/2X11 Card Stock
• Hearts Collection Framelits Dies
• e-cutter

I snapped a quick photo with my phone while we were at the cemetery yesterday and it turned out so amazing.   Laila knows Eli's name and ran up to his headstone saying his name.  It's sad, but I hope we do okay teaching her about him.   

Stampin' Up! Language of Love

Dude!  I don't know what is up with my horrible photography skills lately.  I hope you'll forgive me, but I tried to doctor it up and it just wasn't happening.  I'm such a mess lately.  Anyway... I am working on ideas for my stamp club.  I had planned out what I wanted to do and then I went to Leadership...   They gave us the new Language of Love set so I just had to use it.  I mean it IS a Valentine's kinda set and that's a month away.   I paired it with a Sale-a-Bration set that has a matching punch.  Super fun!  I love them already.  The punch will be going into the new annual catalog, so that's fabulous.  

• Banner Blast (SAB)
• Banner Punch (SAB)

• Bermuda Bay 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
• Itty Bitty Banners Clear-Mount Stamp Set
• Language Of Love [clear]
• Tag A Bag Accesory Kit
• Real Red 8-1/2X11 Card Stock
• Whisper White 8-1/2X11 Card Stock
• Full Heart Punch
• Petite Pennants Builder Punch
• Basic Rhinestones Jewel Accents
• Banners Framelits Dies
• Bitty Banners Framelits Die

Before I go, I wanted to share a new thing I decided to do.  If you are on Instagram, I have an account for my crafty stuff now.  Be sure to come follow me!   I think you can click on the camera?  Still learning...  lol

She woke up from her nap in the best mood today and had some crazy hair.  I swear she's growing by the minute and so is her hair!  She was a good girl today and I'm glad.  Tomorrow makes five years since sweet Eli passed away, so it's a rough week for us.  Having a grumpy toddler wouldn't help, so let's hope the good girl trend continues.

Stamp Review Crew Hearts a Flutter Edition

It's time for a new hop of the Stamp Review Crew!  This time we are featuring Hearts a Flutter.  Perfect timing with Valentine's Day coming up, huh?!  Remember if you get lost or confused you can always drop by the landing spot, the Stamp Review Crew blog.  If you are following the hop, you were just treated to an awesome project by Mary!

My first project is a card I made for Jason.  It's a busy month and with lots of other obligations, so I figured I could go ahead and make my Valentine's Day card for him.  Two birds, one stone, right?!  lol  Busy moms have to multitask even with crafts!  I have a huge board of sketches I've pinned on Pinterest, so I found this layout and it all fell into place pretty quickly!

Stamps:  Hearts a Flutter, Itty Bitty Banners

Ink:  Bermuda Bay, Basic Black

Paper:  Bermuda Bay, Basic Black, Whisper White, Bermuda Bay Corediations

Accessories:  Brights Designer buttons, Bermuda Bay baker's twine (from Tag a Bag Accessory Kit), Neutral Candy Dots

Tools:  Big Shot, Decorative Dots TIEF, Bitty Banner Framelits, Itty Bitty Punch Pack

I put together another fun little project with this set to show how you can use it to decorate your Valentine's treats!  I started with the Tag a Bag gift bags and decorated from there!   I am going to need an intervention soon for my Crumb Cake/Real Red obsession! 

Stamps:  Hearts a Flutter, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Ink:  Real Red

Paper:  Whisper White, Real Red

Accessories:  Vintage Faceted Designer Buttons, White Baker's Twine, Real Red 1/4 Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon, Basic Rhinestones

Tools:  Hearts a Flutter Framelit dies, Bitty Banner Framelit dies, Small Heart punch

Be sure to go on to the next hop to see a fabulous project from my dear friend Ann Schach! 

 

I hope you enjoy the hop!  

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Stampin' Up! Yippee Skippee

I thought I'd share one of the cards we are making at my stamp club on Sunday.  One of the members had asked to do the color blocking with cardstock technique, so I finally managed a design with it.  I know, what's up with the Valentine's Day, right?   I'm a bit over Christmas.  This time of year is stressful and after going through what we did with Eli in December and then losing him in January, I'd be happy to just fast forward from Thanksgiving to February.   So...I kinda did I guess.  I have to get busy soon to make Jason a birthday card.  Our birthdays are both next week!  I can't believe I'm turning 25...again.  Ha!  ;)   We won't say how many times I've turned that now.

Stamps:  Yippee Skippee
Ink:  Raspberry Ripple
Paper:  Raspberry Ripple, Primrose Petals, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White
Tools:  Big Shot, Hearts framelits, Stripes TIEF, Small Heart punch
Accessories:  Basic Rhinestones

One of my friends came over today with the puppies she's fostering.  Laila and I enjoyed playing with this little guy.  We are thinking about adding a dog to our family, so Sunday we go to meet Minnie.  We'll see how it goes.  I hope Laila likes her because I've fallen in love with her picture!  I've never had a dog as an adult, so it should be a learning experience.

Club Thank Yous

I try to make up a little thank you card or gift for my awesome club ladies. They are not just customers, but great friends as well.  Sometimes I run out of time and fail at that, but I tried really hard this month to stamp a card for them. Laila was a good girl and played in her Exersaucer so I could get them done.   They are simple, but cute.

I just love this sketch and have used it a few times in the past.   The Big Shot and punches to all the work which is great when you are running short on time!   Add in the awesome combination of red and black and you have a winner, right?!

Can you believe she's seven months old today?!  It is going by so, so fast.  I guess I should start thinking about some birthday ideas before too long.  I wanted to do some crafty stuff for it and I will need time to work on them!   I'm thinking owls, but I need to see what all is out there and what colors I want to work with. 

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

FMS68: Giving Starfruit a Chance

It's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches!  This week Jen Mitchell is our hostess and sketch designer.  We have had some great versatile sketches lately and this is another one that can do so many things.   

So I can't lie, this isn't my favorite card.  I promised myself I'd give new things a try in the new year, but Summer Starfruit and I will never be friends.  I thought I'd give it a chance and I did.   I just can't do it though.  It's not a color that looks good to my eye.  I know other people love it and I'll leave it for them.  :)  Now Gumball Green and Midnight Muse?  I love those guys!   They are awesome.  But anyway, this is a clean version of the quilted heart with lots of different embossing folders.   This one could almost be manly if it wasn't for the flowers on the one panel. 

Laila has been so great about sitting in her chair after eating so that we can eat or clean the kitchen.   Yesterday she was sitting there flipping the pages of her book like a big girl.  I try to read to her a lot in hopes of her loving books as much as I do.   

Club Time!

This week is my fun Friday night stamp club week!  I'm so excited to spend time with my super awesome ladies.   Today I've been working on some ideas of what we'll make, but I have a big problem! I have not been sleeping well, so my creativity is a bit off with the exhaustion.  I wanted to use my much neglected heart framelits and after seeing a similar idea on Pinterest over and over last year, I decided to make a card like Wendy featured here on her blog.

That picture is awful, but you get the idea!  The color is Calypso Coral and I used one of those snazzy clear buttons from the main catalog.   What do you think?   I wish I had a larger Valentine's Day sentiment, but that's all I had to work with.   Hopefully my ladies will like it and it will give them an idea of fun things you can do with the framelits and designer papers.

Here's a shot of Laila waiting on the nurse for her shots yesterday.  Poor thing.  She only cried during the shots and for a minute after.  I have to admit, I did too!   I am not good at seeing my baby girl upset like that.   She didn't have any other issues though. She napped a bit more than normal and then slept from 8pm to 6:30am this morning!   I downloaded a white noise app for the iPod Touch and left it on in her room all night.  I don't know if it was the shots, the noise, or the next serving of solids, but she slept great.   I needed that night of sleep too.  I still work up a few times worried about her, but it was a much better night than I've been having.  

We've been having to bundle up lately to go out!   It has actually been a bit cold here in Texas.

Royalty Queen Valentine

I actually started a third card yesterday but didn't get very far on it.  I finally found a minute to finish it up today!  I just loved the color combination at Stampin' Royalty this week.  They are absolutely perfect for a masculine card!  I combined it with the Queen for a Day challenge over on Splitcoast to CASE ourselves.  Royalty, Queen...they go together perfectly, right?!   I picked this card of mine to do because it is one of my favorites that I've made and I love the sketch! 

I told you I was going to make sure I used that embosslit!  It is getting a workout already and there's like 5 weeks or so left to make Valentines! I pulled out my pile of scraps to make the banners.  Maybe if I made 525,255,825 cards like this I could use up all my scraps!   ;)   Do you hoard them too??   I need an intervention!   I did a bit of sponging and spritzing on this one because manly cards always say distressing to me.   I guess I think men are dirty?  Ha!  

Laila is getting so long!!!   Her blanket is not going to work for floor time pretty soon.  Good thing we had a big quilt made for her.  :)   Tomorrow we go for her 6 month appointment and shots.  I dread it.  I hope she doesn't have a rough time with them and I REALLY hope she doesn't catch anything while we are there!   

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!

PPA150: Valentine Colors

I need to get serious about making those Valentine's, so I decided to work on a challenge card.  I never seem to find time to play along with many challenges these days and I do miss it.   I loved the colors at Pals Paper Arts this week so I combined those with a previous sketch from Mojo Monday. 

Hopefully it's not TOO dark. It started off that way but I tried adding in some Melon Mambo layers to get more pink in there.   I love that heart embosslit but I always forget to use it.   I definitely need to leave it on my desk so that it gets some use this Valentine's season.   Sounds like Miss Laila is up from her nap, so I'll keep it short today.   Have a great weekend!

FMS 67: Hearts!

Let's ring in the new year with a sketch from Freshly Made Sketches!  My super talented friend Jen Timko is our sketch designer and hostess this week.  This was a fun sketch and thankfully an easy one for me.  We had a rough New Year's Eve with almost no sleep thanks to some bad neighbors with what seemed like an endless supply of fireworks.  Add in teething baby and stamping was a bit of challenge yesterday!

I guess my take on the sketch is a bit weird. I didn't want to do a square card and had the idea for a portrait orientated one in my head when I sat down to work on it.   I think it's still close enough to count?  Thankfully Jen is a sweetheart so she won't be too upset if I mess up on her sketch.  :)  I used a few new products that will be available this week, the honeycomb embossing folder and the Real Red Core'dinations paper.  Fun stuff there!

Can you believe she turned six months old last week?!  Time is going by so fast and she's getting so big.