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.  :)

FMS Celebrate with Leaves

It's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! Yay!   The oh-so-fabulous Amy is our hostess this week.  She always makes the most amazing cards, so be sure you're following her blog.  :)   I had a few ideas for the sketch this week but they didn't seem to turn out like the ones in my head.  I finally decided on some woodgrain as that usually makes me happy to work with.   I used a retired Stampin' Up! set called Wonderfall that I just love.   I think this is a perfect masculine card!

So many things you can do with this one.  I got oval stuck in my head for a bit, but remember you don't have to use one.  You can use whatever shape works for you.  In my case, it was some leaves.  :)

I had to laugh this morning.  This was one of my On This Day memories on Facebook.  I think I've come a long way in the past 5 years of stamping.   It's funny to look back and see some of your early cards.  I'm off to get ready to take Miss Laila to the doctor.  She woke up being difficult today, so it should be a super fun time.  Sigh. 

Freshly Made Butterfly

Happy Wednesday! I'm still trying to wake up as I stayed up WAY too late last night reading.  I just had to finish my book (The Girl on the Train).   Anyway... today is Freshly Made Sketches day and we have an awesome new sketch from Jen Brum.  I am still in a bit of shock that she used a circle as she hates those, but remember you can use any shape.   :)

I kept my card super simple and in a favorite color combo of black, gray, and yellow.   These butterfly thinlits really make a statement, so you don't need much to make them shine! 

LOL  She asked me to take her picture and then gave me this crazy look!  I'm a bit scared! 

W&W Happy Birthday

I made this card a while back and then totally forgot to post it!   Tonight is the last night to enter Winne & Walter's birthday bash challenges, so I'm lucky and can still link it up.  Yay!

Lea's challenge was based on this mood board.  I am not a good person, but I do love me some purple.  I hope I captured the mood of the board with my card.   I used some pretty tissue paper that I had hoarded stored away for a special occasion and I think the gold stars were perfect for this challenge. 

Laila came in today to work on organizing my stamp room while I made a card.  I guess my method of arranging them needed some improvement and she was very proud of herself for stacking them.  :)  lol   We had a nice family night tonight.  My mom sent her the Frozen movie so we had pizza and popcorn while we watched it.  It was her first movie and she did great!    She's already asked to watch it again, so I guess we have joined the Frozen madness.  

Always Here For You

I thought I'd share another card I made for the Winnie & Walter birthday celebration.  Vanessa's challenge was to use a gradient (or ombre) for your card.   I stamped my leaves in 3 different colors, Bermuda Bay, Coastal Cabana, and Pool Party.   I cut out and popped the middle one up to add a little dimension.

Stamps: Winnie & Walter A Tree for All Seasons
Ink:  Bermuda Bay, Coastal Cabana, Pool Party
Paper:  Bermuda Bay, Whisper White
Other:  Lil' Inker Stitched Rectangle dies, SU Doilies, misc sequins

We are off to Laila's checkup and I'm dreading it.  She's so scared of people, so we are anticipating a lot of freaking out and screaming.  We've tried prepping her and getting her excited about seeing Dr. Lloren, but we'll see how it goes.  Wish us luck!

Happy Birthday W&W

One of my favorite new companies, Winnie & Walter, are celebrating their first birthday.  How exciting right?   They have some fun challenges going on and I've been trying to play along as I get a chance.   The first one I did was Shay's One challenge to use one of something.  I used one stamp set and one color.    I got distress inks for Christmas and I was so excited to play around with them.   I added some water spots and splattered some diluted white acrylic paint on my background once I'd inked it up.  Fun stuff!   The background has some hearts stenciled on in embossing paste.  It's one of those "simple" cards with lots of steps (and drying time!).   :)

I also use the very awesome current sketch at Retro Sketches.  Love this one!

Be sure to come back tomorrow for two fun posts! 

Pictures were acceptable yesterday.  LOL  Toddlers!  

Santa 'Stache for FMS

It's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! Yay!   Karren is our hostess this week and she gave us a fun sketch with endless possibilities.  I feel like I say that every week, but we just have such a great team.   I love these girls so much.   (Smooches!)  

I was SO not going to get this set from the holiday catalog...  then Amy used it so awesomely (is that a word?) that I caved.   Laila loves looking at it too, so it will eventually make its way into her bin of stamps I'm sure.   We worked together on a card with it today for my parents in fact.  Anyway...  I used a stencil from Winnie & Walter with some embossing paste for my background and then colored the Santa with Copics.  

Have a great week and I'll be back tomorrow with a fun coffee card!  

Clearly Christmas

I feel like I haven't posted in ages! I have been stamping, but I have a pile on my desk that I need to share. I loved the current challenge at Curtain Call and combined it here with the Simon Says Stamp challenge on Flikr.

Isn't that a lovely inspiration picture?   I went back to my new favorite, the SSS November card kit for my card.  I added in some fun snow in the background using a creative screening from Winnie & Walter.   I think that thing is my new favorite item in my craft room.  It adds so much fun to Christmas cards!  

I just love this picture that I snapped of my two loves today.   :)  

FMS Warm Winter Wishes

Wednesday and time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches!   Jen B, is our hostess this week and she has a sketch that was super fun to work with!    She makes the most amazing cards that always wow me, so no surprise that her sketch did the same.  :)    I recently got an order from Winnie & Walter that included an awesome birch tree background and a stencil that reminded me of falling snow.  I paired those with the cute little deer from Avery Elle and a lovely sentiment from MFT.    I think they all work together beautifully!  :)

I can't believe it's the day before Thanksgiving!   Where has the year gone?!   Tomorrow we'll eat our wonderful food and then enjoy some time decorating the house and putting up the tree.  I'm not a big fan of Christmas, but I'm trying to get in the spirit for Laila.   She keeps asking for a Christmas tree, so we'll put hers up in her bedroom Thursday as well.  I think she will be super excited about it this year!  

Someone cleaned their plate at dinner last night!  She didn't eat very well on Monday, but she made up for it yesterday.  :) 

So Much Hope

Beware!  I'm behind on posting cards so there's a lot of my Hope You Can Cling To cards in this post.  :)   Enjoy the inspiration.

First is my stair step card for Kim's challenge.  I used my sweet little snowman from My Favorite Things.   I love this stamp so much!   I added in a pink scarf to honor the theme of the challenges.

Gail's challenge was all about keeping connected.   I didn't have any telephone stamps, but I went with the "girl time" idea of a coffee date.  I know when I'm struggling a nice coffee date with a friend really helps me recharge.  

I made this tag a while back but never found a way to use it on a card.  When I saw Barbara's challenge to use embossing paste I thought I could do a pretty background and add my tag.   It still seems a little plain, so I might add a few butterflies on the white layer before I put it in the mail.

Patricia's challenge was all about spraying ink to get lots of dots and/spots.   I don't love this one and will probably try to do a different card.  I tried a million things to get it to look better, but it is what it is.   We all make a dud sometimes, right?  lol

Stacy's challenge was "show me the love" and involved making a card showing love without putting love on the front.   I used my sweet little hedgies from Lawn Fawn.  

Robin's challenge was to use one of several resist techniques.   I went with a crayon rubbed resist technique.   I put my paper on the raised side of an embossing folder and rubbed my crayon over it.  It reminded me of my favorite childhood toy, Fashion Plates.  Once I did that, I inked up my brayer with Crumb Cake and ran it over the paper to make the resist show up.    It seemed too plain, so I did sponge some Early Espresso around it as well.   Fun technique!

Jeanne's challenge was all about pink balloons.  I have a strange fear of balloons, so I tend to not buy a lot of balloon stamps.  I did have this cute little chick that I hadn't inked up yet, so I added her to the big sentiment from Winnie & Walter.  

Whew!   That's all for now.  I am trying SOOOO hard to get all 35 challenges done, so you might see another long post from me soon.   

My mom went home today.  :(   We are sure going to miss her.   It has been so wonderful to see how much love she has to give to our little girl.   I wish we didn't live so far apart.

Winnie & Walter WCMD Challenge

Just sharing another project I made on Saturday.  This was a Winnie & Walter inspiration challenge and I used the colors for my card.  The colors are much closer in real life but look like bright pink and purple in my picture.  The weather is all weird today, so maybe that's why?   The balloons make it work for Rebecca's HYCCT challenge to use something that floats on your card.  Remember, you can see all the challenges here.  Even if you only have time to do a few, it is a fantastic feeling to make them up and mail them off to the hospital.  

I have several cards made up to post, so I'll probably share a couple of my HYCCT cards tomorrow.  Stay tuned!  

Stamps:   Winnie & Walter The Big, The Bold, and the Happy, Mama Elephant Up & Away

She was "shopping" the Sunday paper and seemed to get stuck on the new iPhone.  Poor dear.   She's going to be a bit disappointed that she'll have to pay for that in order to have one.   ;)   

Hello Friend

Just sharing another card I made for WCMD yesterday.   This one was for a Winnie & Walter challenge to use patterns.  I used polka dots on my tag and circles on my background.   I love how bright and cheery this turned out!  

Someone really likes ink pens.  Yikes!

Bring on the Fall

Happy Thursday!   I hope your week has been a good one and you are ready for the weekend. We are supposed to get a "cold front" here in Texas tomorrow, so it might acutally NOT be 90 this weekend.   Woo Hoo!   I think rain is in the forecast with it, but oh well.  I'll take the cooler temperatures.   I went and stamped a little after dinner tonight and this was my card. I made it for the Fall challenge at The Paper Players.   I tried to use the sketch from Mojo Monday but I was dealing with Laila trying to take my chair and I missed part of the sketch.    I used the new Winnie & Walter set that I won last week and I love it.  The sentiments are just so beautiful.

Stamps:  Winner & Walter A Tree for All Seasons
Ink:  Early Espresso, Crushed Curry, Cherry Cobbler, Always Artichoke
Paper: Early Espresso, Crushed Curry, Whisper White
Accessories:   SU Neutrals buttons, SU Regals Candy Dots, SU Crushed Curry Baker's Twine
Tools:  Big Shot, Tim Holtz embossing folder

I don't know how many of you read the Simon Says Stamp blog, but go check this out!  I was so excited today!

We got our Hope Calendar pictures this week and I love this one so, so much.   I can't wait to send off for prints so I can send it out to our family.   Today was an eventful day.  She's been crawling under the last gate we have up so we decided to go ahead and take it down.  Oh my!  She doesn't want to leave my craft room now and she insists that my chair is hers.  lol   I might be sitting in a folding chair stamping for a while.  ;-)   She also (out of nowhere) knows how to open doors.   I knew that would happen soon, but man!   We've been working to make sure any and all chemicals are put away in every room now because she can go anywhere really.   Crazy how fast they grow and learn new stuff.

Happy Bokeh

I've been wanting to try this cool technique I saw over on the wPlus9 blog for a while and finally took a bit of time to play yesterday.  It is so cool!!!!!  And easy too! Here's the link with the video of how to do it.  I used Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Wisteria Wonder, and Elegant Eggplant for my background and then Whisper White craft ink for the circles.   I made this to enter into the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.

She had so much fun at the little playground over near the ducks the other day.  She was very brave and climbed and was sliding so much better than before.  

10 Minute Card?

Here's my last card from the Winnie & Walter Share the Love challenges.   This one was for the 10 Minute Dash challenge to make a card in 10 minutes or less.  Wow!   I think I went a few seconds over trying to tie my baker's twine, but I was close!   I made this for a special friend who hoards this Chatterbox paper just like I do.    I hope she realizes how dear she is to me when she sees I cut up a piece of it to make a card for her.  :-P

Jason has been learning to play the guitar, so Laila likes to get her guitar and go play along with him.  It's so stinking cute to watch her jam along with him.  She loves music almost as much as she loves books, so I think we'll definitely be trying piano lessons once she's older.  She's awake now, so I'll jump off here and go get my hugs!  (and then coffee!)  Have a great week!

Hello Friend

Here's another card I made for the Winnie &Walter Share the Love challenges.  I also want to enter it at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.   I used the new Simon Says Stamp card kit because I can't get enough of those books!   Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla, and a bit of Crumb Cake and black seemed like a perfect color combination for a clean but vintage card.   :)   This one is already in the mail to a very dear friend that I miss a lot right now.

I loved this sketch and hope to use it again.   It's great if you have any large sentiments! 

I think I'm going to buy these.  Candy corn is my absolute favorite Halloween thing.  My mom is making Laila a dress with candy corn colors and I am hoping to make a candy corn banner to hang up.   The actual candy is pretty good too, especially with peanuts. :)