Stampin' Up! Starburst Sayings

Pacific Point?!  I know!  I haven't used it in FOREVER, but I won this ribbon at Leadership and figured I should use it.  It actually turned out kinda cool, so I think we'll make it at stamp club this weekend!  Isn't that Hardwood background amazing?!  I love it.  I think this is a good masculine card even with the ribbon. 

She loves playing outside.  I am NOT an outside person, so maybe she's not mine?  Ha!  My mom bought her a bag of these balls for Christmas and it's fun to fill her pool with them so she can play.  It works for when it's not warm enough for water.   :)   We had a much better day yesterday with only a bit of meltdowns and a lot of making a mess.  Toddlers could really be hired out for demolition crews.

Stampin' Up! Just Sayin'

Well, I thought I'd scheduled my Freshly Made Sketches post for today.  Apparently I dreamed that?  lol  Anyway, Jen B has this awesome sketch this week.  I almost didn't get a card made with all the toddler drama going on this week, but I finally found a bit of stamping time yesterday.  Talk about last minute!   I tried a few ideas, but most of the other ladies had already used all the cool shapes.   I decided to try the word bubbles.  I stamped them first but it looked too crowded.  I then tried this and well, Laila woke up from her nap so this it was!  It's pretty plain, but I at least made something I guess.  Be sure to check out the cards from my fellow design team members; they are amazing this week!

See?  Pretty cool sketch!   I can't wait to see the gallery this week!

This was our pants meltdown yesterday.  She wanted different pants, two pairs of pants...who knows really?   She ended up with two pairs for awhile.  lol  Toddlers!

Stampin' Up! Starburst Sayings

Tonight I took some time off and went to stamp just for fun.  Nothing I HAD to make, just fun.  I left the dishes and laundry and will worry about them tomorrow.  It's been a pretty tough week for me mentally and I just needed the break.  I used the sketch over at the Sweet Sunday Sketch challenge as my guide and some of the new in colors as my colors.  

Isn't that a great sketch?!  I really love it and plan to use it in the future.

This mom thing is really kicking my butt lately and I have been going to bed almost every night feeling like I've failed yet again.  I don't know if I'm going to make it as a stay-at-home mom to a toddler.  The poor house is a wreck, the toddler is crazy, the cats are well, cats, and this mom is exhausted.  I'm hoping that once Jason is back to working 40 hours and not 50+ it will better.  March can't get here soon enough!

Stampin' Up! Delicate Doilies

My sweet cousin in Kentucky recently signed up to be a demonstrator and is working on ideas for her open house.  I tried to help her by coming up with a card design for her.  She emailed her list of stamps and current colors and here's what I came up with.   In case she decides to use the idea, I tried to keep it pretty simple so new stampers weren't overwhelmed with their first stamping experience.   Tessa's amazing card was a great inspiration for mine.

Stamps:  Perfectly Penned, Delicate Doilies, Gorgeous Grunge
Ink:  Crumb Cake, Calypso Coral, Crisp Cantaloupe
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Calypso Coral, Crisp Cantaloupe, Whisper White
Accessories:  Basic Pearls, Linen Thread

She looks much too old for me in this one.  Lately when I look at her I find myself starting to cry.  It's going by entirely too fast.  It feels like she should still be a little baby swinging in the swing and needed to be fed and burped.   Her teething necklace is probably going to have to come off soon and we'll shop for a longer one, she's almost in 2T clothes, and I've been looking for ideas for her second birthday party.  Just crazy! Whoever said the days were long, but the years are short really nailed that one!

Before I go, someone asked about the Stenciled class.  You can find it here:  http://www.onlinecardclasses.com/  Hope that helps.  :)

Stampin' Up! Vivid Vases

Vivid Vases was one of the sets we received at Leadership, so I thought we'd use it at my hostess club this month.  I really loved the make-and-take we did, so I recreated it with what I had on hand.  :)   It's nice to have the design work done for you sometimes.  I had fun watercoloring the vases and flowers with my Aquapainter.   Do you like to color?  I usually don't but this set seems fun for that.  

Laila seems to have hit the stage where she wants to pick out her own clothes.  Yikes.  Yesterday she brought me a shirt she wanted on and I had to change her.  Today she picked out this outfit when Jason was getting her dressed.   It should be interesting to see how this progresses.  I hope it doesn't add to the million things she already has meltdowns over, but I'm sure it will.  Sigh.   It's been a long, long week.  

Bandit's biopsy came back that he doesn't have cancer.  So happy for that, but they still have no idea what's wrong.   The next thing is an endoscopy/colonoscopy or exploratory surgery.   Or just waiting to see if he improves.   It is very frustrating that we've hit over $1,000 and have no real answers.  We are going to wait a bit since he seems better.  If it gets any worse, I think a second opinion will be needed to see if someone else can figure out things.  We aren't going to have anything left for treatment at this rate.   

It looks like Laila wants to go shopping, so I guess we are heading out for a bit.  Have a great weekend!

Stampin' Up! Starburst Sayings

It's Wednesday and time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! Cindy H. is our hostess and sketch designer this week.  I LOVE this sketch; it has a bazillion (that's an approximate number) possibilities!  I won the Starburst Sayings stamp set at Leadership and finally got the framelits in yesterday.   I just had to use them on my card.  I'm still on the Real Red and Coastal Cabana kick and probably will be for a while.  I have TWO packs of the Fresh Prints (of Bel-Air) DSP to use up!

See, fabulous sketch!!   It works great with different patterned papers and just about any type of shape! 

Yesterday we had to take Bandit for his test.  Hopefully we get the lab results soon so we can figure out what's going on with him.  Laila had to go with me to pick him up and had a TOTAL meltdown on the way home.  It continued in the house for a while.  She finally calmed down once we sat down to eat a bit.  Hangry girl!  

Stamp Review Crew Hello, Lovely Edition

Welcome to another hop of the Stamp Review Crew!   You probably came here from Paula's blog and have now hit the last stop on the hop, but no worries if you haven't went through them all.  You can start at the beginning with Heidi.  :)    This hop we are featuring Hello, Lovely.  Now I personally find this set difficult to use and tend to not use it that much.  I am thankful that Tanya had us pull it out because I see some new possibilities and have found even more with all the great ideas of my fellow hoppers!

I went to bed thinking about my project one night and woke up with the image of license plates in my head.  I tried to replicate a license plate wall on my background.  (We went to breakfast at Cracker Barrel recently and that's probably where this came from.)  I think it turned out pretty cool. I wasn't trying to stamp it perfectly, so don't look too closely.  ;)  It's supposed to be a bit shabby and imperfect. I used the colors from the Fab Friday challenge because they are so awesome together.  

For my second project, I made a little pizza box and some note cards for it.   It's a simple project, but a cute gift for a hostess.  

Here's the little box.  It makes me happy. :)    I love the colors in the Fresh Prints DSP stack, so I used those yet again.  Here are the cards that go in it:

Simple, but cute, right?!

Be sure to go through the hop and see all the other wonderful projects!   There's sure to be a fun mix of paper and digital projects from this great crew! 

                              

Stampin' Up! Geometrical

I wanted to finish up a final card for my online class and finally found a minute to do it today.  I had sponged the stencil earlier in the week and it was just hanging out on my desk.  You know what happens to things that do that, right?  They end up with ink or something smudged on them.  Thankfully I got this one all stamped and put away before that happened.  :)   Other things haven't been so lucky.  Yikes!   This is a simple one, but I like how cheery it is.   It would cheer me up!   And man...I need a major sequin intervention.  I have so many now and I just want to stick them on every card!   

She must have been channeling her daddy's former football days in this one.   Are you watching the Super Bowl tomorrow?   I'm excited!  Go Broncos.  :)