Merry Mini Christmas

I'm a bit over Christmas cards since I've been making them since July, but my club ladies and I are doing a swap and cookie exchange at our December meeting and I need to work on some ideas for that.  Since my Merry Minis stamps were still on my shelf uninked, I figured it was about time to change that.   I bought them after seeing this cute card in our monthly demonstrator magazine's July edition.   I don't normally CASE cards, but it was just so adorable that I wanted to try to make one.   I'm not sure it will be my swap, but it's a cute card I can send out to someone if not.  :)

Now on to something even more cute...

Here's the picture we picked from Laila's Santa picture proofs! I LOVE it so so much!   There were several poses that were great, but I just fell in love with this one.   I already made and ordered some Christmas cards today using it.  :)  

Paper Players in Orange

It has been way too long since I had time to play along with my buddies over at The Paper Players.  I loved Jaydee's sketch this week and thought I could make it work for a young girl type card.   I was in the mood for some Pumpkin Pie (not the dessert as I think that's gross) so I used that and white for my card.  It's rare to just use one color and a neutral, but it happens every now and then.  :)

I really like how this one turned out.  I love the mix of patterns, the bit of bling, and the ORANGE.  Finally a bit of my retired DSP got used too.  I am running out of room, so I am trying to make myself use up some of it and NOT allowing myself to buy any more until I clear out some.  

The Christmas tree was just too bright for her.  :)

FMS 63: Owl Birthday

Wednesday!  Time for a new Freshly Made Sketch and this time it is from me!   I made a card similar to this a few months ago and thought it would make a fun challenge.  There's so much you can do with how many layers you want, what shape you want, and you can use up scraps for the banners.  Winner winner chicken dinner, right?!   So here's my card:

I'm still working on some cards for the younger folks, so I went with some serious pink and an owl.   I love the layers and the fun circles.   It's a bit too much pink for me, but I think a little girl will like it.  :)   

I'm keeping this short as my Pinterest recipe dinner wasn't so good and I'm still hungry.   I'm going to have more cranberry salsa (which IS good) instead.  

It's crazy that she's five months old already.   Eli was only here with us for 5 1/2 months, so we are a bit stressed out and checking on her way too much lately.   We know she doesn't have SMA, but there's nothing rational about the worry that comes after losing a child.   If you haven't already, please take a minute to go over to Facebook and vote for the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation.  They are a wonderful SMA charity and hope to win the money to buy iPads for those affected by SMA.  That type of technology is so valuable as a means of communication and freedom.   http://VoteForGSF.com/

Favor and a card!

Before I get to the card and Laila, I have a HUGE favor to ask.   If you've been following my blog for a while you know that we lost our precious Eli almost four years ago to a disease called spinal muscular atrophy (SMA).   It is classified as a "rare" genetic disorder so most families aren't aware of it until the day that they are told their child will die from it.   Because the community of those affected by it is somewhat small, research  and support dollars to help find a cure are not always easy to come by.   Thanks to social media, we've managed to win some contests over the last few years and work together to help with that.  Right now one of our organizations, The Gwendolyn Strong Foundation, has a chance to win $1 million dollars through Chase American Giving Awards on Facebook. They will be using the money to help buy iPads for those affected by SMA.  This could allow them to finally have a means of communicating and open up a whole new world of interacting and learning!  If you have an account over there, PLEASE consider voting. It would mean so much to the families affected by this disease.  You can only vote once, so it's just a few minutes of your time.   Here's the link to make that happen: 

http://VoteForGSF.com/

Now back to our regularly scheduled program....

I missed the chance to play along with this fun sketch at Try Stampin' On Tuesday, but I pinned it for a later date and that just happened to be yesterday.  :)   I am trying to work on some teacher thank you cards and birthday cards for kids so I'm relying on my pinned sketches for inspiration.   My card isn't exactly the sketch, but it's close.  

Hopefully there's a sweet teacher out there who will one day love this card.  I thought the colors were so pretty together.  It's a combination from the Color Coach and I love it, but struggle sometimes to make it work.  It came together so easily on this one!  It really just depends on the stamps and type of card you are making with those color combos.  Sometimes it works out and sometimes not.   

Yesterday we had our picture with Santa day.   She's not looking too happy here, but I think the photographer captured some good shots.   I'll post the one we decide on once we get the proofs and pick one.  I didn't realize how bit that bow was until we got there.   I thought she needed one since the jammies were not super girly, but dang it's big!  

Sweet Apple Thank You

Isn't this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch AWESOME?!  I love it and will be using it a lot in the future!  I needed some teacher thank you cards and this worked perfectly for some really cute ones!   

See?  Cute!!!  I just love the apples in the Perfectly Preserved set.  I'm pretty sure that's the second thing that made me get that set; the jar was the first of course. :)   Real Red, Lucky Limeade, and Crumb Cake work great together.  I hope Old Olive isn't missing me too much.  I just love Lucky Limeade so much better!   I'm not sure what I'm going to do when that set of in-colors leaves.  They are the best ever!  What will life be like with no Pool Party, Island Indigo, or Lucky Limeade?   Oh, and Wisteria Wonder too!   (Sorry, Calypso Coral...not a fan.)   

We did a dress rehearsal for Monday's picture with Santa and it didn't go so well.   She kept trying to eat the top layer of tulle.   Both she and the chair are still pretty sparkly!   I'm thinking we'll be seeing Santa in Christmas pajamas instead. :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone has enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving Day.   We have so much to be thankful for this year, so our day was great.   Our food all turned out delicious and we spent some time with family before cleaning up and putting up the tree!  

Laila loved the tree.  I hope she enjoys the smaller one in her room just as much.  :)  Now I just need to get serious about shopping.  

Freshly Made Happy Drink

It feels like ages since my last post!  I got hit with another round of the stomach virus last Friday and it just wiped me out. I'm back though, and today is Freshly Made Sketches day.  Jen M. created this sketch for us to work with this week and I really like it.   It took me a bit to figure out how I wanted to do my layers, but it finally came together.   Jason and Laila were playing in my room while I stamped so I think that was part of that issue.  She's so cute that it's hard NOT to watch her.  :)

No Christmas here.  I need some fun birthday cards for my shop display so I'm trying to focus on those for this week.  I haven't used my Happy Hour set in ages!  What's wrong with me?!  I bought it in wood and I keep forgetting about it when I look through my stamps. :/  I combined it with a favorite color combination of mine, Tempting Turquoise and Real Red.  I also added in a bit of scoring and more white space than I'm comfortable with.  :)   

My girl isn't so little now.  I can't believe all the changes that happen almost overnight!   Saturday night I decided to try putting her to sleep without swaddling and wow!   She slept great and has every night since.   Not only that, but she's been going to sleep on her own!   I bought a butterfly that projects stars on the wall and plays music and we turn it on and she watches it (and sings along) until she falls asleep.  It's amazing!   She's starting to roll over on to her side while laying on her back, so I think she'll get all the way over soon.  Not sure how that will go since she hates being on her tummy!  She has rolled from tummy to back, but doesn't do it consistently just yet.   My mom isn't going to know what to think when she arrives in a month.  She hasn't seen her since she was a few weeks old.   It is going to be an amazing Christmas for sure.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who will be celebrating it this week. We are extra thankful this year for sure.  :)  

MDS Monday!

It has been a while since I got to sit down and work on a digital scrapbook page, but the new challenge blog MDS Monday motivated me to change that!   I will probably regret not going to bed sooner, but hey, you gotta have fun sometimes!   :)    Remind me of that tomorrow when there's a ton to do get ready for Thanksgiving and I'm exhausted. lol   Anyway, here's my page:  

I love playing with the vintage overlays and I just got the chevron download so I had to use that one too!   :) Now I'm off to bed so that I'm not grumpy when my girl wakes up later tonight.  

Remember that My Digital Studio and the MDS Upgrade are both 50% off this week!   Get it while it's such a great deal.   I promise you'll love it!