Royalty Queen Valentine

I actually started a third card yesterday but didn't get very far on it.  I finally found a minute to finish it up today!  I just loved the color combination at Stampin' Royalty this week.  They are absolutely perfect for a masculine card!  I combined it with the Queen for a Day challenge over on Splitcoast to CASE ourselves.  Royalty, Queen...they go together perfectly, right?!   I picked this card of mine to do because it is one of my favorites that I've made and I love the sketch! 

I told you I was going to make sure I used that embosslit!  It is getting a workout already and there's like 5 weeks or so left to make Valentines! I pulled out my pile of scraps to make the banners.  Maybe if I made 525,255,825 cards like this I could use up all my scraps!   ;)   Do you hoard them too??   I need an intervention!   I did a bit of sponging and spritzing on this one because manly cards always say distressing to me.   I guess I think men are dirty?  Ha!  

Laila is getting so long!!!   Her blanket is not going to work for floor time pretty soon.  Good thing we had a big quilt made for her.  :)   Tomorrow we go for her 6 month appointment and shots.  I dread it.  I hope she doesn't have a rough time with them and I REALLY hope she doesn't catch anything while we are there!   

colourQ with Fab Friday!

     

I stamped more today and actually completed two cards!  Maybe the Mayans were off a bit and today is actually the day the world will end?!   We'll see I guess...there's a few more hours left.  ;)   For my second card I combined these fun challenges from Fab Friday and colourQ.  

When I first sat down to work on this I almost didn't pick that set of colors from colourQ.  Is it just me or is Certainly Celery bright?!   I sure miss my Pear Pizzazz.  Blushing Bride too!  I need to pull those guys out and use them since I was determined I wouldn't quit just because they were retired.  If you haven't already noticed, I LOVE mixing embossing folders on my cards and I managed to get in 4 of them on this one.  I don't know what it is, but I always feel compelled to use a bunch of them.   Do you do that too?   It might end up being too much sometimes, but that doesn't seem to stop me!   

Look at her being a big girl and sitting up playing.  One day she couldn't do it and then bam! she was an old pro at it.   It's just so amazing, but so crazy how fast she keeps learning things and growing up!

PPA150: Valentine Colors

I need to get serious about making those Valentine's, so I decided to work on a challenge card.  I never seem to find time to play along with many challenges these days and I do miss it.   I loved the colors at Pals Paper Arts this week so I combined those with a previous sketch from Mojo Monday. 

Hopefully it's not TOO dark. It started off that way but I tried adding in some Melon Mambo layers to get more pink in there.   I love that heart embosslit but I always forget to use it.   I definitely need to leave it on my desk so that it gets some use this Valentine's season.   Sounds like Miss Laila is up from her nap, so I'll keep it short today.   Have a great weekend!

FMS 67: Hearts!

Let's ring in the new year with a sketch from Freshly Made Sketches!  My super talented friend Jen Timko is our sketch designer and hostess this week.  This was a fun sketch and thankfully an easy one for me.  We had a rough New Year's Eve with almost no sleep thanks to some bad neighbors with what seemed like an endless supply of fireworks.  Add in teething baby and stamping was a bit of challenge yesterday!

I guess my take on the sketch is a bit weird. I didn't want to do a square card and had the idea for a portrait orientated one in my head when I sat down to work on it.   I think it's still close enough to count?  Thankfully Jen is a sweetheart so she won't be too upset if I mess up on her sketch.  :)  I used a few new products that will be available this week, the honeycomb embossing folder and the Real Red Core'dinations paper.  Fun stuff there!

Can you believe she turned six months old last week?!  Time is going by so fast and she's getting so big. 

Year in Review Part Two

Back for the second part of my yearly wrap-up!  

For July my choices were a bit limited.   Laila was still so new and I was way too busy with her to stamp very much.  I did make a few cards that I liked though!   One of them even earned me a win at The Paper Players!  I had been dying to win there and had set it as a goal way back when I first started doing challenges.   It was so exciting when it finally happened!   Here's that card:

August was a rough month as we were dealing with a newborn and our sweet Eli's birthday.   It's also so sad to see another year come and go and him not be here with us to celebrate.  I didn't get a lot of stamping in and what I did make wasn't that great.   My favorite was probably this simple Christmas card that I designed. 

In September I rejoined my buddies at Freshly Made Sketches for our one year celebration.  I just love the card I made for it and it's one of my absolute favorites!   Even better is the fact that it went to a great home where it is/was appreciated.  :)  

October ended up being the month of my greatest stamping accomplishment to date.   I was able to complete all the cards for the Hope You Can Cling To challenges hosted over on Splitcoaststampers.   It was so much fun to make them all and send them to the MD Anderson Cancer Center which is located near me in Houston!   I hope they find their way into the hands of some special patients and/or their families.  I picked out a few favorites for this month since I made so many!

Okay...moving on!  That was a lot, sorry.  I just really loved all those.  :) For November, I loved my card that I made for my sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.  You just can't go wrong with the owl punch!

Finally for December, my favorite is a card I just made recently!   It's cold today, so a quilted Valentine seemed perfect again for me.    

Thanks to each and every one of your for making 2012 a great year for me.  I look forward to stamping and sharing with you in 2013!  Happy New Year!  

Yearly Favorites Part One

I love the yearly wrap-up of sharing our favorite cards from the year.  I'm a little behind posting my first half, but here goes:

January was a tough stamping month for me and looking back I see that my mojo has totally not working!  I did find one that I made towards the last of the month that I liked.  It was a CASE of my dear friend Kathy.

February was special for me because I entered this card in the So Shelli Creative Challenge and won a free stamp set of my choice!   The rest of the month looks pretty bleak though.  I guess I didn't realize how much pregnancy affected my creativity until I started looking back at my cards.  Yikes!

March was another lean month for good cards, but I did find one that I really liked.  I really LOVE this stamp set and now that I've added both a cloud and a grass die to my collection, I really need to pull it out and play!

It took me a bit to find a good one in April, but I LOVE this one.  I miss Fox & Friends so much.   It was really my favorite of all my sets.  I still have it, but now that it is retired I don't find myself using it as much.  The starburst technique is also a favorite of mine and I need to try my hand at it again soon!  It's a good way to use up some DSP!

Now May saw a good card month for me and it was a struggle to pick a favorite.   I finally decided on this one as it is one of my favorites that I've made in my stamping journey.  While I was not a fan of Peach Parfait, I just love this card!

June was a reflective month for me as the birth of my sweet Laila drew closer and finally happened on the 27th.  I hadn't went back and read this post, but as I did tonight it made me tear up a bit.  I really do love stamping. Anyway, I couldn't decide between two cards, so I'll share two favorites.   :)

I'll hope you'll join me again tomorrow to see the next 6 months of favorites!   

Quilted Valentine

Told you I'd be back with a card!  :)   I started this one last week and it just sat on my desk in pieces. I started to just put it away, but I really wanted to try to work on it and finish it.   It was for a sketch challenge at Retro Sketches (boy did I miss THAT deadline!).   Anyway, I was inspired by Erin's quilted heart and wanted to make one for Valentine's Day.

I just hope there's someone out there who might like a rustic, country Valentine.  :)  I need to get started making them to put in my display in our local shop.   I have two done and many more to go...

Someone loves their new pal Violet.   :)   She wasn't asleep in this one, but it looks like it.   That's a pretty cool toy when you take the time to program it.  It almost freaks me out when it says her name.

Christmas Recap!

I'm going to try and stamp today, so hopefully (fingers crossed) I'll be back later with a card to share!  I wanted to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who has sent emails, a card, or left a comment lately.   I am way behind in responding and will try my best to get caught up, but wanted to say that I do appreciate the kind words and thoughts.   Many times I've thought about doing away with my blog but I keep "meeting" so many sweet stampers that it just never happens.  I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas holiday.  We did and I'll share a few pictures below.  

Grandma and grandpa got Laila a wagon.  While it will be a while before she can really use it, we had to take a few pictures.  :)  

My Mom, Laila, and Me! 

I guess Santa didn't bring her what she wanted.  ;)   She still looks adorable even crying.  (and Liz, if you are reading this we LOVE this outfit and it was warm enough for her to wear it out this week.)

Paper is WAY more exciting (and tastier) than the present.

She did a pretty good job ripping off the paper.   We were surprised and enjoyed watching her so much. 

This is one of my favorite pictures from the many that I took.  That girl LOVES her daddy! 

Now before I go I wanted to ask if anyone might have an idea for a fundraiser.  It has been a while since we raised some money for SMA and my heart feels like it is time to do it again.   We did a cook book last time and I thought about that again or trying to do something with my cards.  Anyway, I'd love any feedback or ideas.