FMS75: Wheel of Shame

Sorry it's been so long since my last post!   It's finally Freshly Made Sketches time again, so I had to post today.   :)   Tui has this terrific sketch for us this week.  I'm sad because this is her last sketch with us, but I'm also happy for her because she's leaving to do some amazing things!  Be sure to stop by her blog and leave her some love this week!

Now on to the card...  I had lots of ideas, but they disappeared when I sat down to stamp.  Does that happen to you?  Frustrating, huh?!  Anyway, here's my not-so-fabulous creation:

This is so NOT what I had in mind when I sat down to make my card.  I don't know what happened to my original idea but it didn't come back.   This reminds me of the couch my parents had back in the 80's.   It had wagon wheels, but Ferris wheels, wagon wheels...it's all round, right?  What's so bad is that that couch had blue flowers and what color did I add?  BLUE!!!!!!!  Hopeless mess.   Hopefully somebody out there likes 80's wagon wheel couch cards...this one is totally for them!  Now I'm off to tease my hair and listen to some hair metal bands.  Ha!  

My sweet girl is 8 months old today.   It's crazy how fast time is flying by.   She's grown so much this past week that we are going to be moving up to 12 months clothes soon.   The 9 months are just too short now!   That happened overnight.   Crazy, crazy.  

SCS424: Chocolate Bunny

I found a little stamping time yesterday, so I thought I'd play along with the new sketch challenge on Splitcoast.  I thought it was a fun one and immediately had an idea!  

I LOVE the Chocolate Bunny stamp.  I didn't buy it when it was current, but was able to purchase it from my friend Ann when she was ready to send it to a new home.  It's one of my favorite stamps and will always be in my collection for sure!  I used some of the gorgeous Sycamore Street DSP that you can get for FREE, yes, I said FREE, during Sale-a-bration!   A bit of embossing, a banner, and a button finish off this simple beauty!  

Jason and I have been kind of bad about taking Laila out to restaurants because we weren't sure if she'd be okay or if she'd get upset and we'd have to try to pack up things and scramble out of the building.   We were brave on Tuesday and went to Chipotle and she did great!   She sat in the highchair like a big girl and looked around the whole time.  It was great!  

We also rearranged my stamp room this week to make Laila a spot.  Well, now she occupies MOST of my room, but I can still stamp and not worry about her being in everything or possibly getting hurt.   Win, win I hope!  

FMS Latte Oops!

I had to laugh as I put up the picture of our new sketch from Freshly Made Sketches tonight.  I totally didn't make my card right!!!!!   I forgot to chop off the side of my doilies before I stuck them down and I couldn't get them back off my paper.  I hope Allisa doesn't kill me for totally mangling her sketch.  Everyone else on the design team did a great job, so be sure you go check out those cards and ignore my goof up!   (No more watching TV and stamping my design teams cards!)

My two loves (after Jason and Laila) are stamping and coffee.  I LOVE coffee.   I can't even think about starting the day without a cup.  I keep this fun retired set called Like It a Latte for days when I feel like coffee on my stamping. I always like using colors that remind me of Starbucks on these cards as that and Target are two of my favorite places to go.   

...and speaking of Target, here's us being silly there today!  :)  

Birthday Bash 2013

Don't you hate it when you need a birthday card at the last minute and can't find one in your card stash?   In this class we'll be making a variety of birthday cards so that you'll have some on hand.   If you have plenty of birthday cards already, some of the designs can also be made into thank you cards.   Just be sure to let me know you'd like some different sentiments and I'll put out some stamp sets for you to choose from.

This class is a bit different than my previous ones in that you can make as many or as few of each card as you want.   There is a minimum of 10 cards to attend the event, but you are welcome to make more if you'd like.   Please email me by noon on Friday which cards you'd like to make and how many of each so that I can get your packet ready for you.  

Cost is $20 for the first 10 cards, $2 for each additional card.  

Here are the choices:

Card #1:  Birthday Circles

Card #2: Birthday Leaves

Card #3:  Birthday Butterflies

Card #4:  Shabby Birthday

 Card #5:  Birthday Cheers

Masculine Phone Booth

I wanted to use the Sale-a-bration set, Feeling Sentimental, for one of the masculine choices at my upcoming class.   I think it is such a fun set!   When I first saw this stamp I immediately thought of Dr. Who and the Tardis, but have since learned that this is a phone booth while the Tardis is a police box.   So....it's red.  :)  

Here's another picture from Valentine's Day.   She's just too cute.   We've been up since about 5:00 this morning.  Yikes.   She's in her room playing with daddy and I just love hearing the giggles and happiness coming out of that room.   It's amazing how much joy and laughter she's brought back to our home.

Classy Butterflies

I thought I'd share the other card I made on Valentine's Day.  This is another choice for my upcoming birthday card class.  I have two more designs to do and I'll be all set to advertise and get ready!    I'll share the one I completed today with you tomorrow.

For this one, I combined two of my elegant embossing folders, some lovely spring colors, and butterflies!  I think it's the perfect spring birthday card!   I had to add a little bling to make the butterflies sparkle.  :)   The design is based on a sketch from Retro Sketches from last week or the week before.

Well, as of yesterday she can get up on her hands and knees and rock.   Needless to say, we will be spending tomorrow baby proofing to get ready!   Crawling is soon to come.  Yikes!  I'm going to need to buy lots of coffee to keep up with this girl; she's already wearing me out just rolling!   I do have to figure out how to rearrange my stamp room so that we can share it while Jason's working.   She definitely needs more space (and a gated off area) to play in while I try to work.  

Finally, I am SO excited today because she finally signed "milk".  We've been working on it since right before Christmas and I hope that means she's starting to catch on.  

Happy Hour Cheers

Laila was great today and let me make 2 cards!  This is actually the second one I made.  I know it's not a valentine, but it's cute, right?  :)   I'm working on ideas for a birthday class and this will be one we make I think. I just love purple and green together!   I'm already missing Wisteria Wonder and Lucky Limeade and they aren't even gone yet.   The set of in colors that are leaving this year are so amazing and I'm pretty sure I'll need counseling when they are gone.   (insert hysterical crying)

Jason worked all day (and is still there actually), so Laila had to be my valentine today.  We went out on the town (to the library) and then shopping (Target).   To thank Jason for his hard work and to show our love, we made his favorite dessert, Black Forest Mini Cheesecakes.   They are so good and I wish he'd get home so we could have one!   He surprised me with a dozen roses.   We always say we aren't going to do anything but we both do every time.  

I'm off to relax and watch a bit of Top Chef that's on the DVR.  I hope everyone had a great day today and was able to spend time with someone they love.  Happy Valentine's Day!

FMS73: Hello Doily

It's time for a new Freshly Made Sketch.  Jen B is our hostess with the mostest this week and she created this fun sketch for us.   When I saw it, I immediately thought of the new paper doilies in the Spring Catalog.   Then I saw that Jen T. and Linda S. had already used doilies, so I had to regroup and put my thinking cap on.  I remembered this card I'd made last year and decided to try something similar to that.  

I added in some Rich Razzleberry with the Pumpkin Pie because I needed a non-monochromatic card.  I love those two colors together!   Emboss resist is one of my favorite techniques and I always forget to use it. Well, I won't say forget really.  It involves turning off the ceiling fan and sometimes I don't want to get up.  Lazy I know!  Maybe I need a remote-controlled fan?  ;)

Jason decided to let Laila play with some carrots today.   I guess that's what happens when I sleep in.  LOL  She seemed to like holding them and trying to chew on them, so hopefully she can learn to pick up foods soon.  She loves purees for now, so we'll keep feeding those and offering opportunities to learn like this.