Stampin' Up! Zoo Babies & Dictionary

While Mom and Jason assembled playroom furniture last night, I ran off to my craft room to stamp.  It feels like it had been ages since I made anything and I needed the break!   I decided to combine Dynamic Duos and Retro Sketches and here's the result.  I think it's kinda cute.  :)

Stamps:  Zoo Babies, Dictionary

Ink:  Daffodil Delight, Basic Gray, Smoky Slate

Paper:  Basic Gray, Smoky Slate, Daffodil Delight

Accessories:  White Baker's Twine, Neutrals buttons (retired)

Tools:  Big Shot, Alphabet Press TIEF, 2 1/2 inch circle punch

     

Laila's party went great.  It was a lot of work, but she seemed to have fun.   Now we are doing some serious work on getting her a playroom set up.   My favorite "decoration" was a timeline of photos from birth to 12 months.  I saw one on Rochelle's blog a while back and immediately pinned it.  Mine didn't turn out as cute as hers, but it was so great to look at her development.  ;)  

Tape It and Washi tape for Club

I'm meeting with my club ladies tomorrow night so I thought I'd share the projects we are making.  I decided to focus on Washi tape and the new Tape It set.   This first card is a CASE of a card found in our demonstrator magazine.  It has some great ideas for this set and this was one of them.  I was excited to finally find the time to open My Paper Pumpkin that had been sitting on my desk for months for it.  :)

Stamps:  Tape It, My Paper Pumpkin starter kit stamps

Ink:  Pool Party, Daffodil Delight, Pear Pizzazz, Crumb Cake

Paper:  Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla

Accessories:  Linen Thread, Basic Rhinestones

Tools:  XL Oval punch, Decorative Label punch

This second card is the same layout as the top one, just flipped horizontal.  I used the Epic Day Washi Tape and DSP to make this one.  It has a very different look than the first one doesn't it? 

Stamps:  Blue Ribbon, Gorgeous Grunge

Ink:  Basic Gray, Smoky Slate, Calypso Coral

Paper:  Basic Gray, Calypso Coral, Whisper White, Epic Day DSP

Accessories:  Epic Day Washi tape, Basic Rhinestones

Tools:  Scallop circle and circle punches

 

Laila is officially ONE!   Her party isn't until Sunday, but we tried to make today special for her.   Daddy made her special pancakes for breakfast and then we went to the Houston Children's Museum to play for a bit.  She had lunch out and then presents and a cupcake after dinner.   I hope it was a good day for her.  She was sure worn out!  

FMS92: Send Me Soaring in In Colors

It's Wednesday and time for a new Freshly Made Sketches sketch!  This one comes Jen B and boy did she throw us a curve this week!  (ha ha, I know!)  My stamping struggles are still continuing, so my card this week is pretty blah.  I decided to use this sentiment and maybe I can send it to myself.  ;)

Stamps:  Send Me Soaring (retired)

Ink: Crisp Cantaloupe

Paper:  Pistachio Pudding, Whisper White, Crisp Cantaloupe, In Colors DSP stack

Tools:  Big Shot, Cloudy Day embossing folder, circle punches

Accessories:  Pistachio Pudding Ruffled Stretch Trim, White Baker's Twine

My mom arrived today and she'll be staying two weeks with us!  I'm so excited.  She's already been laughing and having a great time with Miss Laila.   I still can't believe that she'll be one tomorrow.  Where has the past year gone?  

Catalog Inspired Too Kind

Still hanging in there and trying to stamp.   Today I pulled out some old catalogs and browsed the card layouts a bit.  I found one using Upsy Daisy that I thought would also work with Too Kind, so I tried it.  I think it turned out okay!  I am trying to use up some of my retired DSP, so I used the First Edition paper like the original card had and some of last year's patterns of the Brights stack that were in my scrap bin.   If you wanted to make it with current products only, it would be easy to stamp the Dictionary stamp for the words background and use the new patterns of the colors families.  

Stamps:  Too Kind, Happy Day

Ink:  Old Olive, Real Red, Crumb Cake

Paper:  Marina Mist, Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, First Edition (R), Brights DSP stack (R)

Accessories:  Linen Thread

Tools:  Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border Punch

This is what our house looks like on a regular basis now days.  Laila LOVES books and can't just have one open at a time.  It takes me a while to pick up once she's in bed.  ;)   

Blooming with Kindness and Too Kind

I know... YUCK!  I am struggling you guys!  Majorly struggling.  I sat down today with my bottle of gesso that I hadn't used and tried to do something with it.  It didn't go so well as you can see.   I probably shouldn't even post this, but I think we need to share our good and bad.   I can already see a million things I could do differently, so maybe when my heart is back into stamping I can try again.  

With the leftover piece and some scraps from around my room, I did put together this 4.25 inch square cards and I like it a bit better.  It's super simple and kinda cute I guess.  I just wish I'd stamped the sentiment AFTER I put it together as it looks crooked and is driving me nuts now.  

I hope you are having a better crafty weekend!

Another picture from Laila's mall photo shoot.  I'm pretty sure she was crawling away yet again when they snapped it. lol

Stampin' Up! Zoo Babies for HSS

I have been having a rough week emotionally, so I tried to find some time to stamp today.   I loved the sketch at Hand Stamped Sentiments, so I used it to get me started.  I'm not sure where the Pumpkin Pie and Daffodil Delight combination came from, but it looks happy to me.

Stamps:  Zoo Babies, Tape It, Happiest Birthday Wishes (retired)

Ink:  Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight

Paper:  Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight Coredinations, Whisper White

Tools:  Big Shot, Alphabet Press embossing folder, Piercing Tool, Mat Pack, and Mat

Laila got her own little box of goodies today!   We tried out a monthly subscription thing for her and it came today.   We probably won't keep it, but it was fun to get one and let her open it.  The sun hat will definitely come in handy next week as her grandma is coming down and wants to take her for some rides in her wagon! 

FMS91: Sweet Essentials Butterflies

Cindy has a fantastic sketch for everyone this week at Freshly Made Sketches!   I decided to make a clean-and-simple card for mine, but added a bit of a twist by using black instead of the more traditional white.  I wanted to play along with Dynamic Duos, so the color choice came straight from there.  There's not much too it, but I kinda like it.  :)

Stamps:  Sweet Essentials

Ink:  Basic Black

Paper:  Basic Black, Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White, Gingham Garden DSP

Accessories:  Basic Rhinestones

Tools:  Big Shot, Stripes embossing folder, butterfly punches, scallop border punch

    

Laila had her birthday pictures yesterday and I'm curious to see how they will turn out.  She was making some weird faces and kept crawling away every time we tried to get her to pose.  I snapped this one with my phone as she was digging into her smash cake.   It's the first time she's really had any sugar, so she was sucking the icing off her fingers.  Thankfully she didn't get too much! 

Stampin' Up! Happy Day for CASE Study

I decided I need to do better about doing challenges so today I tried a new one called CASE Study!  It's awesome too and I will definitely be playing again.  I used some retied products and scraps for this one as I'm really trying to use up some DSP.   I know a lot of people don't like using retired things on their blogs but I have way too much stuff in my craft room that I love NOT to use it.   

Stamps:  Happy Day 

Ink:  Basic Gray

Paper:  Basic Gray, Melon Mambo, Old Olive, various retired DSP

Accessories:  Basic Pearls

Tools: Big Shot, Beautiful Wings embosslit, Beautiful Butterflies die, Tasteful Trim die, Little Leaves die

For Father's Day, I had some pictures taken and framed one for Jason.  I also made him a card with her footprint.  It was a simple gift, but we are pretty simple folks.  :)  We also went out for breakfast this morning so that was nice.  Laila did great and even found her a little boyfriend sitting behind her.  She just adores other kids.