Camp Create Day 1

Hey!  Nice to see you again.  There's been so much going on this month, but I finally took a break to play along with the MFT Camp Create.  It took me a lot of attempts since I'm feeling out of practice, but I was finally able to finish a card.  Yay!  The first day's challenge was to use watercolors.  I did try to do the cool rainbow galaxy background in the example, but after 4 or 5 disasters I gave up.  i did make a galaxy one, but it's not quite that cool.  I thought it would be a good background for my favorite super hero.

So what have I been up to?  Well, more butterflies, but we did hit a snag there.  Our neighbor decided to "rescue" a cat that climbed into his car motor.  To him this meant allowing her to live outside and roam.  Well, of course there are now kittens.  Four of them. They showed up on my porch one day and I noticed that something was wrong with one of them.  I trapped her and took her to my vet.  She had a bad hernia that needed repair very soon.  Being the suckers we are, we scheduled it and now we have a cat.  When I went to ask to take her, they just said they didn't even know where the kittens were and seemed uninterested, so I knew they weren't going to spend $300-400 helping her.  Thankfully my friends and family all pitched in and we were able to do it.  She's been inside for a week now and is just precious. Laila named her Little Lady.

 She loves to snuggle and purrs so loud!  It was not good timing and I sure didn't want a cat, but it looks like she's ours.

Because all the kittens and momma were just covered in fleas and full of worms, we treated all of them to help with that.  Unfortunately the flea meds and caterpillars are a bad mix.  :(  We lost quite a few and I've just left them in the garden for now and will try raising them inside once I feel like we've cleared that off our hands.  That was pretty devastating.  I thought having Jason administer them and washing my hands often would be enough, but now I know.  Those little things are super sensitive. I was able to use gloves and mail some Monarch eggs to a lady in south Texas, so I'll count that as helping to save some even when we can't.

Shining Watercolor

Still alive!  lol  The weather has continued to be amazing, so I've been outside instead of stamping.  I'm also in a bit of a slump creativity wise, so gardening has been my choice of hobbies for April.  I have so many books and seed catalogs now.  I feel like I'm back in school with all this learning and studying.  Anyway, I did decided to try and make something. I have a board on Pinterest with card ideas that I like and browsed that to get some ideas.  I loved this card by Penny, so it became my inspiration.  I want to learn to watercolor so bad, but man it's hard!  I did try though. :)

We are caterpillar crazy at this point.  We have 11 chrysalides and a lot of caterpillars. We are going to need a lot of milkweed this spring!  lol  I just had more seeds germinate, so hopefully we can grow more instead of running to the nursery in a panic to have enough to feed them.  I can't wait to release our first butterflies this week.  This beautiful lady below left us quite a few eggs last week and we apparently had another visitor this week as I've found more eggs in the garden.  It's been a good project for us this spring.  Who doesn't love helping the Monarchs?

That's about it.  Gardening and Weight Watchers... maybe I can fit a bit more stamping in there.  :)  (Down 9 pounds so far by the way!)

I'm off to check the garden and go for a walk.  Have a wonderful Sunday!

Papertrey Ink Mum's the Word

I managed to make another card for the Papertrey Ink Celebrating the Past, Present, and Future challenges.  This card was inspired by the 2013 look back and a card made by Wanda.  I didn't have the stamps featured this time, but I used the colors of Wanda's card with a set I did have.  I added some vellum over my large panel to play on the vellum leaves of her card.  I have another panel I tried first and got a little too water happy, but I think I can use it with the vellum like this one.  It hides a bit.  :)

Hopefully you can see the inspiration.  

Now I have to go clean my desk AGAIN.  I'm the messiest crafter! 

Double the Dirty

So today starts a week of fun Dare to get Dirty challenges at Splitcoast Stampers.  I usually try to do a few, but with my current stamping slump, I thought maybe I should try to do most of them.  We shall see how that goes!  Up first is Lydia's challenge.  Now I can't share the details of the challenge with you as that's a secret for Fan Club members, but they've all been fun so far today.  I think it's well worth joining the site.  :)

I love these crazy birds so much.  I thought pairing this guy with the sentiment and some yellow watercoloring might be funny.

Another fun challenge, more watercolors!  I figured I'd use them a bit while they are on my desk, so it might be the theme of the day.  This one is for Teresa's challenge.  I love the pretty color of the paint I used on this one.  Those Gansai Tambi colors are amazing!

You'll be seeing more frequent blog posts from me this next week or so, so I hope that's not annoying.  I want to get them uploaded as I do them and as I get a chance.

DTGD Seeing Stars

So I think at some point I've shared my stamping loves, the type of stamps I am usually drawn to?  If not, I'll share again.  I love all things coffee, sunflowers, cute animals, and STARS!   I have other stuff of course, but if you want to get my excitement  going, hand me those stamps!  :)  When I saw the new kit from Simon Says Stamp, I knew it was coming to live at my house.

I was inspired to finally ink it up after I saw the challenge on Splitcoast to pull out a new crafty product and use it  You get the chance to win a membership and since mine is almost up, that would be good.

Stamps:  Simon Says Stamp Seeing Stars
Ink:  Versamark
Paper:  Watercolor paper, black card stock
Other:  Gansai Tambi watercolors, white embossing powder, Studio Calico Wood Veneers

We let Laila play a little Pokemon Go and oh my goodness!  She was so happy and so excited when she caught her first one.  It was adorable!   Jason and I are playing as well and she loves to celebrate our catches with us.

Freshly Made Roses

Well, I'm pretty late with my Freshly Made Sketches card, but I was inspired by the sketch and wanted to put one together.  I played around with my new Brusho watercolor crystals last week and had a bunch of backgrounds made up.  I used a new Stampers Anonymous stencil that was gifted to me by a sweet crafty friend I met on Instagram. The sentiment is from Altenew.  

Here's Narelle's awesome sketch:

I didn't quite get it right I see now, but I tried.  I have been so tired the past few days and it's a miracle I made anything.  Whew.   I do have two more cards using stencils that I'll post over the coming days and then I'm moving on to a new week.  I might try a week of inking stamps that are still in the package.  ;) 

We had a zoo day on Thursday and Laila got to do her most favorite thing, ride the carousel.  Three times.  lol 

Spring Coffee Lovers Blog Hop

I'm a bit behind on playing along with the Coffee Lovers for the Spring blog hop, but I'm sneaking in on the last day!   I had a little stamping time with a friend  yesterday and I took my new watercolors and some Copics over and made this card.  I am not really a pastel kind of gal, but they totally say Spring to me, so I used them.  :)   I added a little sequin flower embellishment to my cup because hey, what else says Spring like flowers?!

It's been quite a week.  We had some awful storms come through on Wednesday night and man!  They woke us up at 5am and made for a very long Thursday.  I think I could take the longest nap ever.  Today I need to clean a bit and go shopping for Easter dinner.  It's just the three of us, but we still like to make ham and all that goes with it.  It makes for a lot of leftovers, so less cooking for a few days.   I hope to color eggs with Laila today and start putting Easter baskets together.  I have no idea what I've bought at this point and I hope I can find all the stuff I hid around the house for them.  lol  If not, Christmas stocking stuffers they will be! Ha!

The Greeting Farm Ponies

Laila has been into My Little Ponies a bit so I just had to get the cute Magical Friends set from The Greeting Farm.  I got lucky and they are having an animal challenge as their March Farm Fresh challenge, so I am totally entering!  Aren't they the cutest?!   I added in a little rainbow and clouds from Paper Smooches.  The background is lightly watercolored with some purple.  

I'm still working on feeling more human.  I got some new Vitamin D and iron to try and my doctor referred me to get an endoscopy to make sure I don't have any bleeding that could be causing anemia.  That sounds a bit scary.  :/   Laila and I have gotten off track with our homeschool stuff, but we are doing it as we can and I feel like it.  

She loved this scorpion spinner game.  lol   And below is her angry camel that she made this morning.

Sea of Blues

Whew.  I have six more HYCCT cards to go!  This is the last one I made and it uses salt and watercolors for the background.  You can't really see the shimmer and sparkle that is on the background, but it is a pretty neat effect.  I am starting to enjoy working with my watercolors more and wish I had a different set of them.   Maybe that can go on my Santa list?  ;)   The stamps are from a Simon Says Stamp set that came in one of their card kits this year.  

I'm crossing my fingers that I can get at least three of my remaining six cards done today, maybe even four!   I want to finish and it means a lot to me to get them all done.  

Have a great Thursday!

Watercolored Leaves

Did you get any stamping done on World Cardmaking Day?   I started a few cards and it took me days to actually get back to them!  I wanted to play along with Winnie & Walter's challenges and the first one was watercoloring.   I'm so clueless about watercolors, but I tried to do a background with my Koi Watercolors.   I added a sentiment to split it up and work for a Hope You Can Cling To challenge and used autumn colors for the Simon Says Stamp Autumn Monday challenge.

Stamps:  Winnie & Walter A Tree for All Seasons
Ink:  Early Espresso, Sakura XNCW-24N 24-Piece Koi Assorted Water Colors Field Sketch Set with Brush
Paper:  Stampin' Up! Crumb Cake, Stampin' Up! Early Espresso, Stampin' Up! Whisper White, Master's Touch Watercolor Paper
Embellishments:  Stampin' Up! Neutrals buttons, Stampin' Up! Crushed Curry Baker's Twine

My mom brought Jason and I an awesome gift.  She made us a double wedding ring quilt!   I absolutely LOVE it!  It was her first one of that pattern and I'm so proud of her for attempting it.  She did such a great job too.  :)

Butterflies on Watercolor

I wanted to share one more Dare to Get Dirty card before the deadline tonight.   This is the last card I managed to make for it and it's probably the most special.  The first card I made to send to the Strong family just didn't feel right so I didn't send it.  I found this stamp on a recent shopping trip and it was so perfect.   If you'd like to take a minute to read this post, you can see where I was inspired.

I'm off to get my girl to bed and then relax a bit.  My anxiety has been so out of control for a while now and this morning really did me in.

Someone is obsessed with our car.  :)

Simon Says Sparkle

Sharing another card made with an image and watercolor panel that's been hanging out on my desk for a while.  I finally combined them and made this fun card.   I added a bit of bling with some sequins and silver embossing paste.  I would like to enter it in the Simon Wednesday Challenge as it is Sparkle and Shine this week.   :)  I think I only have one more image that needs a home on a card, so I hope to make that happen soon!



This is a bit of a different card for me, but I like it!  

Stamps:  MFT Super Girl
Paper:  Neenah Solar White, Canson Watercolor Paper, SU Riding Hood Red
Ink:  SU Real Red, Copics, Koi Watercolors
Dies:  Lil' Inker Stitched Rectangles, MFT Blueprints

Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop

My second post is for the Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop that's going on today!  I love the awesome group of crafters who also love coffee and coffee stamps!   I used a fun new set from Create a Smile and a sentiment from My Favorite Things.   I used my distress inks and a stencil to make another watercolor background.  I thought it might be a fun backdrop  for my little cup.  

Now I'm off to work on projects for a class I'm holding this weekend.   So much stamping, so little time!  lol  

My girl had her first lollipop today and if you can't tell, she loved it!   I found some dye-free ones at the grocery store so now she can have an occasional treat.  :)   

Watercolor Blog Hop

One of two posts this evening!  There are two fun blog hops going on today and you don't want to miss those!  I made this one for the Watercolor Blog Hop hosted by Pretty Pink Posh.   I am not the best at watercoloring, but I had fun making my background with some distress inks and a stencil.   I kept the rest simple with a sentiment from Altenew and some sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.  :)



There are lots of great sponsors and amazing examples, so be sure to go check it out!

Watercolored Origami Map

Have you guys been joining Kathy in her second round of The Daily Marker 30 Day Coloring Challenge?   This is what I made with my first day of coloring.   I think it's fabulous that she's encouraging everyone to take a bit of time, even 5 minutes, to sit down and color something each day this month.  It is so relaxing and good for the mind!  It's never too late to join in, so go check out her blog.  She has a lot of great video tutorials and cards too!

I decided to ink up one of those stamp sets that I HAD TO HAVE OR I WOULD DIE that was sitting unused.   It's Origami Map from Neat & Tangled.  I love it!   It's super fun and you can use it with a lot of techniques.

This is my child and my cat fighting over an empty box.   So crazy! Why do I even buy toys????

Two Paper Divas Inspiration

A bit of a late post today, but it's been one of those weeks where I haven't stamped much and needed to do a bit tonight.  I wanted to show off this great new set from Two Paper Divas.   It is called Let Freedom Ring and it is a fabulous patriotic set.  You can't really go wrong with stars and pennants!  :)   I did a watercolor background in blue and then used the stamps to make a banner.  It's a fairly heavy card with all those layers, but I wanted to add more of the red, white, and blue in so I just kept adding more and more mats! 

It's storming here again tonight, so it might be a rough one.  Laila seems scared of thunder lately and wakes up if it's too loud.   We've discussed that thunder means rain and rain means the flowers grow, but that only works to calm her fears part of the time.   I can't say much since I'm scared of storms too.  She gets that honestly.  

My little sleeping beauty.   She rarely naps now, but she did today and was then up late and full of energy.  It was cracking us up!  She was just going and going!   She's been working on using the potty for a while now and keeps getting better and better about asking to go when she needs to.  We are super excited about that!

Two Paper Divas Inspiration

I really love sentiment stamps and making cards that showcase larger ones.   I now have several from the awesome ladies at Two Paper Divas and I wanted to show you another one today.   Isn't it awesome?!   I paired it with a new product I recently added to my stash, Sakura Koi Water Colors.   This was my first attempt with them and I just love the colors. I can't wait to use them a bit more and learn more about them.  :)

Stamps:  Life is About Crayons
Ink: StazOn Jet Black
Paper:  Stampin' Up! Whisper White, Ranger Distress Watercolor Cardstock
Other:  Misc sequins, baker's twine, Sakura 24-Piece Koi Assorted Water Colors Field Sketch Set with Brush, Heidi Swapp Color Shine Mustard, Lil' Inker Stitched Rectangles dies

She is really loving this snowman "pack pack".  lol  We had to put money in it, so she's carrying around her first dollar.  She already told Grammy that she needs shopping money.  Ha!