Shark!!!!

 Hi friends! We made it to Thursday. Sorry I didn't blog my card yesterday. I felt a bit under the weather and barely got it made. Since it is Shark Week, I wanted to use my shark stamps. I thought they paired well with the Summer Fun challenge at The Paper Funday since one of our favorite parts of summer is watching all the shark shows. :) I don't like hot weather, so inside watching shows is the best place for me to be. lol 

Now if I do venture outside, it's to watch the butterflies in my butterfly garden. Here's a beautiful Giant Swallowtail that visited us yesterday. So pretty!

Have a great Friday tomorrow!

Rita 

Mixed Media Leaves

 Well, today I decided to try some mixed media. Yikes. It is wayyyyyyy out of my comfort zone. lol  I saw the blog challenge Creative Artiste Mixed Media and got inspired to try it. I used distress oxides, distress paint, fibers, dye ink, some die cuts and various stamps. I don't know what to think about it, but hey, I stamped and made a card today. :)

Do you like mixed media? It can be fun and messy to change things up and try it every now and then! It's been a long day, so I'm off to find my pajamas, quilt, and a book. See you tomorrow. 

Rita

Distressed Fall Leaf

 

Tuesday! Whew. Today has been a long day. It feels like it should be Thursday by now. lol I wanted to share the first card I made this month. It uses an older set from Concord & 9th that I just love. I used distress oxides, embossing powder, and some distressing tools. It's always fun to do a clean and simple card with distress products. :)

I'm tired, so it's a quick post and run from me today. I am ready for pajamas and my book!  I hope you are having a great week!!!  

Rita 

Fall Leaves

Back again! Don't faint. lol Thank you to those who have reached out. It's always nice to know someone is still following along with me. :) Do you have a favorite season? I LOVE autumn, but we don't really have one here in Texas. My husband ordered and planted a red maple in our backyard this month so that I could maybe have a little bit of the colors in the years to come. I thought that was so sweet. For now though, I enjoy the colors in my crafting. This card was done using a technique from the Falliday Fest challenges. You can find the directions here. 

The leaves are Lawn Fawn dies and I used a few colors of Distress Oxides. I don't have all of those, just one of each color really. It works though. 

My sweet girl. I sure do miss her a bunch. I thought they returned her to me so thoughtfully. I keep touching her urn every time I walk by. I've lived in Texas for 18 years and she was with me for all but 6 months of that. I just love cats and she was a special one. We have two others, but they aren't "my" cats if that makes sense. 

Starry Potter?

Hey all! I was hoping to get more cards posted as I've been trying to stamp every day, but we've been running around and busy so I'm running out of time every day. I did want to take a minute and share one today. I saw the challenge at Cardz 4 Guyz and thought this image was perfect since Harry is wrapped in his scarf. I also wanted to enter at Pammie's Inky Pinkies.  I found a background in my box of unused things and it worked perfectly. This was a stamp set I got a while back and then my long hiatus began. I am trying to do every day this month and then just stamp regularly once I've gotten my creativity going again. Now I just need to mail them. lol

Now I'm off to make a card and then get Laila to bed. It's cold here, so I'm ready to snuggle up in my pajamas and read.

Take care.
Rita

Warm Wishes Hedgehog

Happy New Year! I'm so sorry it's been so long. I struggled to make it through December and the holidays, but I'm working on getting it together now that we've survived those. I started Weight Watchers and am back on medicine for my depression. That whole I can make it without them phase was NOT a good one. Yikes! I hope the new me can get back into my card making and I started with this one. I used the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches and would also like to enter the As You Like It and Cute Card Thursday challenges.

We had a nice holiday in Kentucky with my parents. It felt rushed to get ready to go up there and the 18 hour drive was SOOOO LONNNGGGG, but I'm glad we went. My dad's health isn't the best and while he did finally make it onto the liver transplant list, we aren't sure what the future holds. He gets a little better, then a lot worse, then better... it's exhausting for my poor momma. Laila was so sweet with him and I loved watching her with him. 

I'm off to clean the kitchen and do another load of laundry. The guaranteed parts of life, right? They'll always be there for you. lol 

Guacamole Day?

Happy Wednesday. We've made it through half the week. Kinda. lol I hope yours is going better than mine. I did take time to play with this cute new set from Kindred Stamps. They have a Wacky Holiday of the Month club you can join and this is September's set. September 16th is Guacamole Day, so that's this month's wacky holiday. Funny, right? lol I can't wait to mail out some cards for it. I used the current sketch, flipped, from Sketch Saturday and played along with Simon Says Stamp Stamp It challenge for STAMPtember.

I'm off to shower and get ready for my first library volunteer shift. I am now regretting signing up since Laila's back to having issues at school, but I'll deal with my embarrassment and go I guess. She decided to hide her medicine last week instead of taking it, so I think that might be the issue. We talked about it and she took it today, so fingers crossed. It's one that can take weeks to work, so I'm sure we are starting over. This child!

MFT Card Challenge 388

Tuesday! That means we survived Monday, right? Man yesterday seemed like a long day. We have some plans with friends for today, so hopefully that will help. It's so dang hot that it's hard to go out and do too much. I managed to make a card and I might even get it uploaded before the challenge ends. Woo hoo!!  It's for the MFT Card Challenges sketch this week and uses their You Gnome Me set.

Now I'm off to move the clothes to the dryer so that I have something to wear to our lunch date and to grab a second coffee! Important stuff there. lol Laila has summer school two days a week for two hours a day, so I get a little quiet break tomorrow. Maybe I won't have to think about sharks for a few hours. She's obsessed this week! We've made paper sharks and checked out a ton of shark books from the library. Whew!

Stamping Bella Bess the Butterfly

Hello! It's been almost a month. How did that happen???  It's been a crazy busy month, so I haven't been stamping much. I started a new medication to try and get my depression/PMDD under control and it was wiping me out. I don't know why they told me to take it in the mornings, but now that I'm taking it at night it's okay. Whew! Our school issues with Laila continue and that's been rough. We have a second ARD review on Wednesday, so send good thoughts. I think we are going to end up having to homeschool, but Jason isn't ready to pull the trigger on that yet. Add in the death of a cat, a cat catching our resident cardinal, and my dad being sick and it's been a month. A very long month.  Now we just need to get Laila through her ear infection and get a plan for school and cross our fingers for a better May.

I hope you are having a better time. Our butterfly season is off to a small start, so I'm excited about that. We've been helping the school with their butterfly garden as well. That has motivated me to color up some of these adorable Stamping Bella stamps. I love them and I kinda want the other two in the series. lol

 Have a great Monday! I'm off to try and clean off my desk and get ready to try and stamp some tomorrow before I volunteer at the book fair for a bit. Laila's class gets to shop tomorrow, so I am going to go shop with her as well. She only wants every book in the flyer except for one. Ha!! 

Bear Hugs

I'm still creating!  I made this background yesterday and finished up a card today.  Maybe my mind block has taken a hike and I can get back to regularly making things without forcing it. This was for the current Pin Sights Challenge from Ellen Hutson. I used my distress oxide inks to make the background. It had been a while since I played with those.

Isn't that a happy color scheme? I love how bright and fun it is. We actually own those popsicle makers. :)

Just a couple Christmas things. Laila brought a gift home for us and it was this cute ornament that they made at school. I appreciate that her teacher took time to do that for the parents. I also wanted to share her picture with Santa. I thought the PTO did an amazing job with the setup for those. I love it!

Now I'm off to make dinner. I've been fighting a headache all day, which I'm guessing is weather related? It is going to be cold in Texas soon. I don't know the last time we were in the 20's here. Brr!

Well Behaved Woman

Hey! Can you believe it's the last day of November? Are you ready for Christmas? We have almost finished up our shopping thank goodness. I can't deal with crowds, so I did all my stocking stuffer shopping yesterday before the stores are super crazy. Amazon is our favorite this time of year. :)

A few weeks ago I won this really cool set from Kindred Stamps that has a lot of our favorite villains. I decided to try a little coloring and tried to make my images into a card. I'm still struggling creatively, so it was nice to color and complete something. 

Laila and I have both been sick. She missed two days of school this week, but is back now. The doctor said bronchitis, so we were thankful it wasn't the flu or strep throat. Her troubles at school are continuing, so we are working on that. More meetings next week. She did get a wonderful surprise last week from a friend that I met over the summer. She sent us this book all about Monarchs. It was written by a high school classmate of hers, so she had her autograph one for Laila. Wasn't that the sweetest?

Jason and Laila just got home, so I'm headed off to see her. :)

OCC: Merry Making

One more witch and I swear I'll give you a break. :) I signed up to take a new class at Online Card Classes this week and it's all about holiday cards. I am just not in the Christmas mood because it is still 90 degrees! So, I'm improvising. :) This is my day one homework. I'm a bit behind of course. lol
Story of my life these days. 

Laila and I went to a little class at the library after school and made slime! Ours didn't work so well, but we brought it home and I managed to fix it. She had such a blast. She's had two good days at school, so that was nice to hear tonight. Her teacher has been great about keeping in touch with me.  Next week we will have her 504 meetings to work on ideas to make her more successful. I have a lot of research to do before then.

Now I'm off to bed with Doctor Sleep. I have felt yucky mentally today, so a book and my quilt sound perfect for tonight. Anyone else a Stephen King fan? This one is all about the little boy from The Shining and his life as an adult. I can read it at night, but I can't say that about the first one. *shudder*

By the Numbers Halloween Style

Happy World Card Making Day!  I hope you found some time to get inky today.  I managed three cards and am debating another before bed.  MFT has some fun challenges, so I've been working on those.  This one is for the By the Numbers challenge. I hope you can see my numbers. I didn't really have number stamps or dies, so I used my Cameo to cut out numbers.  Kinda fun to play around with different ideas. :)

It's been a very low-key day here.  We needed one! I hope you are having a great weekend.  Enjoy your Sunday! Here's Little Lady having a stressful Saturday. 

Pin-Sights All Dressed Up

I'm here! I stamped today, but got behind and didn't get to do my picture/post until tonight.  I got this cute new bear from Ellen Hutson yesterday and thought I'd use him for the current Pin-Sights challenge. It's he cute??  I love that the dies cut his hands so he can hold stuff.  Such a cool idea! I made this one for Laila, but I also have a cool accessories set for him that works for the holidays! I can't wait to play with that!

Now I have to run and work on some laundry. I'm so behind these days. I thought I'd have so much time to do things once school started, but it sure doesn't feel that way.  I am having some issues with my depression again, so that might be part of the issue. That's one reason why I wanted to make a card or project every day this month. That helps sometimes.  I need to get back to walking every day as well. Depression sucks because you know what helps, but finding the motivation to do it is a whole other issue. Just keep swimming though, right?

MFT Card Challenges 351

Happy Monday? Okay, maybe not? lol It's been okay here so far today.  I am still figuring out all this "free" time with Laila being in school. Today I had some real fun with dishes, scrubbing the bathrooms, and laundry. Woo Hoo!  I did decide to give myself a little break to create, so I made a card for the sketch from MFT Card Challenges blog.  Coloring is always fun and relaxing, especially when watching Netflix.

I love the distress oxide inks so much, so I used them for my background. I actually won a set at a retreat I went to this month. One of my friends whisked me away and we learned some new techniques and made a lot of new friends. It was awesome. It's always nice when your husband and friends work together to get you a break to refresh. 

Did I mention that Laila is taking swimming lessons? She LOVES it. It has been so wonderful to see her smile and have fun when she goes.  I think it will be something we keep doing for a while. She is doing great and hasn't had any upsets so far. She had a great day of school on Friday. I think her teacher is getting her a bit more and realizing how to head off meltdowns and defiance a bit better.  I know she has her hands full, but we keep in constant communication and try to keep things consistent between home and school.  We sent in the paperwork to have her tested for the gifted and talented program and also for small groups with the school counselor for anxiety/social issues.  I want her to be successful and I feel like this school will be help us get her there. 

I'm off for more coffee and maybe playing with the Gel Press we got at the retreat! 

MFT Card Challenges 342

Laila is already talking about Halloween, so I thought I'd get ahead of the game and make her a card.  I hope to sneak it in her backpack or lunchbox. :) I used the new sketch at MFT Card Challenges and a cute MFT Pure Innocence girl.  I got brave and used my neglected Cameo for the web and bats.  The background is Distress Oxide inks in Wild Honey, Spiced Marmalade, and Wilted Violet.

For the past two weeks, Laila has been with a new counselor at her social skills group.  She has been awesome and so helpful with suggestions to try at home.  It seems to be working pretty good, so I'm happy for that.  It's still far from perfect, but we'll take any improvement.  They do a lot of practice like transitions, standing in line, sitting and going work at a table, sharing...all good things that will help her transition to school.  I can't believe it is only five weeks until she'll be a kindergartner. 

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

Simon Says Stamp Distress It 2

I don't know about where you are, but Texas has been miserable this week.  So hot and humid that nobody wants to go outside.  Today we added the run of thunderstorms. I went to hide away in my stamp room a bit and play with a couple new Distress Oxide inks I got and my new leaves background from Hero Arts.  I love the background, but the card didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped.  I guess I'll have to get messy and make another background and try again. :) Entering it into the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.  I guess I'm in a Distress It! mood.

I am ready for Fall! :)  I think I might switch over to making cards for Halloween and Thanksgiving for a while.  It's crazy that we don't really have any holidays before then.

Have a great rest of the weekend!

Stampin' Up! Dragonfly Dreams

Me again!  I forgot about this card!  I made it for a sweet friend for her birthday and had put it under some heavy stuff to flatten it.  Her birthday is today, so oops!  She'll still like it I'm sure.  I used the new Distress Oxide inks for the background and then the Stampin' Up! Dragonfly Dreams bundle for the rest.  The dragonfly has Wink of Stella and Crystal Accents on it, so it's shiny!  I cut a set of wings in vellum to put behind it too.  I love how it turned out!

Is it Friday yet?  This week has been so long!  I joined Weight Watchers this week so I've been trying to be more active.  Today, not so much.  I did do a bit of gardening and walking around plant shopping, so there was that at least.

I added a few plants inside as well.  We haven't had plants in like 14 years because of the cats.  I researched some that are safe for cats, so now we have some!  I love it.

I'm off to read a bit before I crash.  Another long day ahead tomorrow!

Spring Coffee Lovers Blog Hop

Hey strangers! It's been a bit. I've decided to take up gardening I guess, so I've been digging and planting.  We extended our butterfly garden and I've been potting plants that feed and attract them as well.  Fun, but work!  I did want to join in with the blog hop as I LOVE coffee.  I'm not even sure I'd survive the day without it.  

Have you tried the new Distress Oxide inks?  Oh man are they awesome.  I had a blast making my background.  They are so fun, so I'd recommend trying them out.  I thought these colors would be fun for spring.  I had to include a butterfly as well.  :)

Here's our garden. It's waiting on the plants to grown and bloom and the butterflies to come visit.  I have more seeds started, so we'll see if I can get more milkweed for my Monarchs.  

Have a happy week.