Stampin' Up! Zoo Babies

I needed another baby card, so I decided to play around with the sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch and see if I could come up with a cute boy card.  I only have 2 colors of distress inks, so I went with green since it paired well with my alligator.  It's a super simple card, but I used my neglected stencil and Zoo Babies, a favorite set.  

This month has been a huge mental struggle for me and I can tell in my stamping.  I'm avoiding my room and not liking the cards I make when I do go in there.   I'm hoping June brings some fresh mojo and some uplifted spirits.   

One of my customers (who is now a good friend) came by yesterday and brought Laila a giant Elmo.  She loves it!   Maybe too much!   Jason rocked her and Elmo to sleep for her nap yesterday, so he had to go hide before bedtime came.  ;)   We already have 2 loveys and a sock monkey to rock, so any extras make it even more challenging! 

Freshly Made Dinosaur

Okay!  It's Wednesday and that means Freshly Made Sketches!   Monday really threw me off and I almost forgot to make my card on time.   Not good!    I did remember while Laila was napping and managed to complete it before she woke up.  Those naps are a lifesaver!   :-)   Anyway, I think you'll have a lot of fun with this sketch that our awesome Artisan Jen T. created.  

Now... in an attempt to chase off some of my cardmaking blues I'm starting a new strategy.  Instead of just making random cards, I'm going to try making them with a person in mind to send them to!   Or at least most of them.   I have two friends who are having babies soon, so I picked one of them to stamp for this time.   Brandi is my best friend from graduate school and is having a little girl after two boys.   She's like me and not super girly, so I went with a dinosaur.  I did make it pink, but I think that's fun.   I used Pirouette Pink for all the pinks, but they sure don't look the same in my picture.  Strange!  I do wish I'd used Pear Pizzazz instead of Wild Wasabi now that I look at it, but it's fine.    

Stamps:  Positively Chevron, Itty Bitty Banners, Lawn Fawn Critters of the Past
Ink:  Wild Wasabi, Pool Party
Paper:  Whisper White, Pink Pirouette, Wild Wasabi
Tools:  Bitty Banner framelits, The Cat's Pajamas grass die

We took flowers out to Eli and the rest of Jason's family on Monday.  Laila doesn't understand the cemetery of course, but she does recognize Eli's picture.  

Merry Monday Cocoa

It's Monday, so I have one more card to share for Merry Monday before my month with them is over.  (Sad face)   It's been fun getting to play in some Christmas challenges when it's super hot outside.  :)   This week Debbie challenged us to use food on our cards.  I couldn't find anything on my stamp shelf that would work, so I went back to my Cameo again.   I hope hot cocoa counts as a food. Maybe if we pretend there's marshmallows in it?  I know I love it around the holidays!  

Jason made a face at my card, so I know it's not quite my usual work.  I had a rough morning running out of adhesive and dealing with a hurting shoulder.  I thought life would be easier to let my Cameo do all the work.  Easier yes, but the results...   Cards definitely need stamping to be liked in our house I guess. 

I hope you'll join us this week and whip up a yummy card! 

Here's Laila cooking some yummy lunch this week. 

Sunflower Bloom

A night of firsts!  I finally opened my new Copics and tried to color something with them.  It is definitely going to take a lot of learning, but it was fun.  I can't wait for my class in two weeks!   It was also my first time coloring a digital stamp.   I loved the Inky Paws challenge that Newton's Nook has going and wanted to play along.  I used wood both on my background and my button is also wood.  :)

Just a simple card before I go crash for the night with some ice cream and The Good Wife.  I'm hoping to catch up and watch the season finale before it gets spoiled.  :)  I hope you had a great weekend!

LOL   Is Jason wrapped around her finger or what?!   He's such a good daddy.   

Stampin' Up! Endless Birthday Wishes

Did you see the new photopolymer set that SU released last week, Endless Birthday Wishes?  It is SOOO adorable!   I finally got mine in the other night (and yes, night! UPS came at 8:54pm!) and wanted to play with it.   I saw the cute colors over at Colour Me and decided to use those.  I didn't have the exact ones, but I picked ones that were close...I hope.

I don't know why I added that other happy at the top.  I was thinking that space was bothering me, but now that happy is...  I probably would have remade it and left that off, but I ran out of adhesive.  Can you even believe that?!  I guess I'll be making an emergency shopping run and order tomorrow.   Yikes!

Laila had fun in her pool today. She even talked her daddy into getting in with her.  lol   Talk about spoiled!

Stampin' Up! Perfect Blend

After a stressful week, I decided to try a bit of stamping tonight.   I wanted to play along with the new Wednesday sketch at MFT.  It looked a bit challenging, so I figured it would be a good mental exercise.   It's been a coffee kind of week, so I just continued that on my card.  I hope my card is close enough to the sketch.  I took a bit of liberty to get it to work.

I am really loving the Epic Day DSP these days.  It will retire soon, so it's good that I'm starting to use it up.   I was almost tempted to buy another pack when I saw it was on sale today, but I need to chill out on the paper.  I have more than enough to last a lifetime already!

Laila has never really taken to anything that is made to help with teething, but ice seems to make her happy right now as her molars come in.   I think I need to treat her to some ice from Sonic this weekend.   That's the good stuff!

Freshly Made Hello for a Friend

It's Wednesday, so time for a new Freshly Made Sketch!   Jen Mitchell is our hostess this week and she has a most challenging sketch for everyone.   I totally didn't do it justice, but I know there are a ton of ideas that would look fabulous!  You can check out the other design team cards and see that.   Someone has to be the caboose, right?!  lol   I did make this in about 20 minutes after a horrible day with my girl, so I'm cutting myself some slack this week.  

I actually meant to flip it and make some banners and something else, but in all the chaos of yesterday my idea flew right out of my head.   I still don't remember what it was but maybe it will come back to me?  Yeah right! ;)  

This was my little diva yesterday.   She woke up and was difficult from the very first minute.   She didn't want to wear anything I tried to put on her, wouldn't eat anything I made her, and was just downright a pain in the butt all day!   I called Jason crying at one point because I was just so overwhelmed.   We had a great day on Monday, so I don't know what was up.   Anyway, this was her picking out her pajamas.  If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself I guess.  lol   Here's hoping for a better day today.  Jason is working an extra day this week, so I hope I don't lose my mind.  Toddlers!  Sigh.  

Merry Monday Flourished Poinsettia

Merry Monday!!!!!   I know, I know.  Mondays are usually blah, but starting the week off with a festive Christmas card can be a good pick-me-up.   The Merry Monday Challenge is perfect for that.  Bonnie has a great challenge this week to use flowers on your holiday project.   It was a bit of a challenge for me in that I don't really have any stamps that would work.   Thankfully my Cameo came to the rescue and I managed to whip up a card.  (It's design #36525 at the Silhouette Online Store in case you need that info.)   I went super simple and let the flourishes of the flower and sentiment shine.

Gorgeous inspiration photo, right?!    I hope you'll be inspired to play along this week! 

We recently started buying produce from a local farm and I think Laila really likes it.  :)