Merry Monday Star Shaker

It's Monday and time for a new challenge at Merry Monday!    We really hit the hot, humid days in Texas this week, so I had to go for a nice clean-and-simple card.   Lori is the hostess this week and asked us to use stars.  I think I got that covered!  :)  There's a ton of different ways to use them and I can't wait to see the gallery this week.  I love stars!

Doesn't this picture make you want to create some of those 3-D stars?!  I don't have a clue how, but now I'm in the mood in to make them!  :)

One of my dear friends brought by a tricycle (or as Laila says, a motorcycle) and helmet last week.  She likes it, but she isn't so good at pedaling just yet.   After two major meltdowns, the motorcycle is put up for safe keeping.  I hope we are finally in the last stages of teething as her molars are coming in right now.  Oh my.  She's grumpy and so are we!  lol   I did have a great Mother's Day though and got lots of love and snuggles.  (and a set of Copics!)

Stampin Up Bloomin' Beautiful and Blendabilities

Just another bit of fun stamping. I made this for the Wednesday challenge at Simon Says Stamp.  I wanted to try out the new Blendabilities markers, but I didn't really have any current stamps that I wanted to color.  I went through the box of stamps I had marked to sell and found this old set.  I think it was one of, if not THE, first set I ever bought.  I always sucked at coloring, so it was also pretty neglected.  I'm thinking maybe I'll put it back on my shelf and practice more with it.  I did keep the rest of the card clean as I'm in a simple mood lately.  

My two sweeties.  I hope you have a wonderful Mother's Day!   

Just a fun card!

Finally a card that I DIDN'T have to make!  Yay!   I have really been in the dumps for the past few weeks and haven't wanted to stamp at all.  I decided to try to make something last night and this was my end result.  I made a ton of mistakes and have a trashcan full of messed up paper, but I finally got something I was happy with on attempt #123,255.  ;-)     I used the Wednesday sketch at MFT and their Bokeh Builder set.  

I feel like I'm in a weird place with my hobby.  I am branching out into some "contraband", but I still love Stampin' Up! and all my demo friends.  You'll probably see a mix of products on my blog for a while as I figure out what my future holds.  I think there's a happy medium that includes the best of all worlds, so that's where I hope to be. 

We actually used our recently purchased zoo membership again yesterday!   It seems like a good place for Laila to enjoy, so we are trying to go before the temperatures get too crazy.  It was still pretty warm yesterday and humid.  Sigh.   I hate Texas summers!   Anyway....  Laila LOVES the carousel and had a bit of a meltdown when we couldn't ride it a million times in a row.   We distracted her by going to feed the giraffes (that's MY favorite part!).   I have a love/hate relationship with zoos, but I love seeing the animals. 

Freshly Made Hello

It's Wednesday and time for a new sketch from Freshly Made Sketches! Narelle is our sketch designer this week, so I hope I used enough layers!  I have been having a pretty down month, so I decided to go to my happy place and use a favorite combo of yellow and black.   I just got some new stamps and dies from Avery Elle and decided to put those to use.   Fun stuff!

Isn't that a fun sketch?!  It isn't anything close to one I've done before so I really enjoyed it.  I love the tag topper punches and am so glad I took the plunge and got one!  Totally recommend those! 

I found this old rocking horse back when I was pregnant with Eli and just had to get it.  I never did get rid of it after he passed away, so it has been in Laila's room just waiting for her.  She is finally big enough to hop on it and rock.   She has a blast!    

Just a note, I know I owe a few of you guys some thank you cards for recent orders.  I'm way behind.  Things have been so crazy since we got back from our trip and I can't seem to catch up.   I hope to get those out this week, so forgive me.  My motto for May is Just Keep Swimming!  

Merry Monday Peaceful Season

I have the great pleasure of being the Featured Designer at Merry Monday this month!  We just started hitting ninety degree temperatures, so it feels a bit strange to be making Christmas cards.  :-)   For the first challenge, Katie has created a fun sketch:

I pulled out an old favorite set of mine that I just love.  My former upline gifted it to me a while back and I was oh so thankful.   I love the sentiments so much.   I love blue and silver for Christmas, so here I used Midnight Muse and Smokey Slate.  

Laila has been having a great time outside.  It seems to keep her from fussing too much.  Her 2 year molars are starting to come in and oh boy!   She's not been very pleasant to be around sometimes.  I treasure the sweet snuggles and reading time because she's so sweet and calm then.  :-)

Stamp Review Crew By the Tide Edition

Welcome to a new hop of the Stamp Review Crew!   This hop we are featuring the awesome set By the Tide!   I don't own this set (yet), but I did borrow it from a friend to see what I could do with it.  I didn't have as much time as I'd hoped to stamp, but I managed to get one card made that uses my favorite technique lately, watercoloring!  :-)   Remember if you get turned around on the hop or need to take a break from all the fabulous cards you can go to the main page.

I think Coastal Cabana is my favorite new color.  I seem to use it a lot lately for some reason.  I loved the Wednesday sketch at MFT, so I used it for my layout.

Freshly Made Stars

It's Freshly Made Sketches day!   Karren is our hostess and sketch creator this week and I love the sketch she challenged us with.   I seem to have lost a stamp set in my super messy room, so I didn't get to make the card I originally wanted to do.   I did need more teacher cards for my vendor event this weekend, so I decided to change it up and go that route instead.   I'm not sure I love the result, but after the day I had yesterday, I'm happy to have made one at all.  

Isn't that a fabulous sketch?  Maybe I'll find my missing set soon and complete my original idea.  It's half done now and taking up space on my desk.  

Laila got to dye an egg at my mom's for Easter.  Well, kinda.  She managed to put one egg in before she dumped the cup out everywhere.  She had blue legs for a while.  :)  My little Smurf.  Hopefully we have better luck next year.  

Stampin' Up! Spiral Flower Die

My techniques class is tomorrow and I'm still working on getting ready for it.  That trip out of town really threw a wrench in my plans and I'm a bit behind.   We've been working on catching up the lawn and getting Laila set up with a sandbox, but I finally found some stamping time last night.   I pulled out my gesso and here's what I came up with.  The Naturals Composition DSP (sadly, retiring) is perfect to use with gesso as it resists it and you get this awesome look with little effort!  I finally ordered the Spiral Flower die and I LOVE it!  You can't really mail this card easily, but it's perfect to add in a gift bag with a gift!

We don't have a home phone anymore, but Laila had fun with an old one at my parents during our visit.  :)   She's so funny.