Freshly Made Leaf

I'm back! I have missed being part of a team for a while, so I asked my Freshly Made Sketches ladies if I could try to join back in. I am hoping to keep up this time now that Laila can be a bit more independent. We shall see how it goes. :)  This week's sketch is from the awesome Linda and I had fun playing around with it. I used some old Stampin' Up! supplies that you might recognize. I believe that the leaves set actually came from Linda, so it was perfect.

Have a wonderful Wednesday and be sure to check out the inspiration from the other stampers and come play along! 

Stampin' Up! Fall Leaf

I think I got stuck in Fall mode. lol I won a prize in the Coffee Lovers Hop from The Heart Desires and I got this awesome plaid stencil and Spiced Marmalade Distress Oxide ink.  I played around with a fun water stamping technique I saw on Jennifer McGuire's blog and man is it fun!  I am so excited for cooler weather.  SO READY for it. I'm about to have to pull a lot of struggling plants from my garden because they hate this weather.  As do I.

Come back tomorrow for a new Freshly Made Sketches sketch AND another new to me technique that was also super awesome to do!

Stamps: Stampin' Up! Truly Grateful, SU Wonderfall
Ink: Distress Oxides Spiced Marmalade, Fossilized Amber, Vintage Photo and Ground Espresso Distress Ink, Stampin' Up! Chocolate Chip
Stencil: Carta Bella Plaid #1

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. 

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.

Stampin' Up! Wonderfall

It's Freshly Made Sketches Day! :)   Our sketch this week comes from one of the sweetest ladies, Amy.   She is super talented too, so be sure you check out her blog if you aren't already stalking following her. For my card I went back to Fall again because I seem to love it for our sketches lately.   I also love this paper and this stamp set.

Laila and I did a bit more decorating for Halloween in the house yesterday and in one of our bags I found this Halloween bucket that I had bought on clearance last year.  She LOVES it and carried it around all evening.  It was too cute.   She seems to be a big Hello Kitty fan these days! 

Stampin' Up! Wonderfall

I seem to pull out this Wonderfall set a lot lately, but it just seemed so perfect for this week's sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.  Cindy L. created such a fantastic sketch and I enjoyed creating with it so much.  I dusted off some old designer paper that I bought way back in my first year as a demonstrator.  Do you remember it?  I LOVE it.  It's heavier than normal patterned paper and so nice.   I tend to hoard it, but man!  I have SO MUCH paper.   It is time to show it off! Do you have a favorite paper that you can't seem to cut into?  Try it with our sketch this week and let me know that you did.  I'd love to see it!

I miss Fall so much.   Growing up in a state where you get the lovely colors makes it hard to now live in one where you don't.  We need to plan a trip up to see my family so I can show Laila all the pretty leaves and enjoy some real Fall weather.   Maybe next year...   

Pardon the messy hair.  She will not leave a bow in and it gets out of control.    She found this bag while we were in my stamp room yesterday and she just had to have it.   She cracks me up because anytime she puts on a purse, she keeps her arm up so that it doesn't fall off.  It's so adorable.  

Stampin' Up! Wonderfall

I got to stamp a bit more last night while Jason did bedtime.   I managed to even finish a card, which was nice.  :)   I played along with my buddies over at Fab Friday.  I love the sketch they have going right now!   I couldn't resist using Wonderfall again and grabbed some of my favorite paper to go with it.  Pool Party and Early Espresso are two of my favorite colors, so I love pairing them together for Fall projects.

We had the best little family outing this morning and I am tired!   We went to a subdivision that has some lakes and ducks and walked around for two hours.  It was so fun (and hot).   Laila loved it and we came home with some pine cones, duck feathers, and cool leaves to study.   

Stampin' Up! Wonderfall

It's still hot here, but I decided to turn on the cooler weather in my cardmaking this week.  It's Wednesday, which of couse means Freshly Made Sketches!   We are all excited because we have a new full-time member as Kim is staying. Yay. Cindy gave us a fabulous sketch and I got this retired set from my fabulous friend Linda, so I was all set to go.   I love these leaves and have kicked myself for not getting them.   I was so excited to finally ink them up.   I don't remember what the designer paper is, but I have like a million sheets of it.  I think I got it at Tuesday morning and didn't realize that the entire pack was the same design.   Luckily it is two-sided, so the yellow is one side, the stripes the other. It matches SU colors pretty well, so maybe I can use up a few more sheets this Fall.  

I'll be deliverying this card to a super awesome lady next week.   I don't think I've posted about it, but I finally took the plunge and went to see a counselor.  She has been fabulous about helping me with some unresolved grief and lots of other stuff as well.  I feel much more together lately.   The house is looking great after I made a cleaning schedule, parenting is going better most days, and I convinced Jason he needed a hobby.  He's learning to play the guitar and Laila loves playing her little guitar along with him.   :)   It took a lot to finally go, but I am happy I did.   If you have considered it, do it.   It could change your life or even save it.  That's my PSA for this week I guess.  ;-)

Tuesday is playroom cleaning day, so here's my littler helper enjoying the clean room.   She unloaded all the non-glass items from the dishwasher and helped me vacuum.    :o)   That and her saying she loved me big bunches totally made my day yesterday.