Freshly Made Sketches 270

Back with our new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches for the week.  Our sketch this week comes from the fabulous Kim. It took me a bit to figure out what I wanted to do with it, but this set seems to have worked out great.  I had so much fun coloring her.  I am trying to use some colors that are a bit tricky for me to get blended, so the pinks were a challenge.  I love it with the gray and black though.  Just ignore her hair.  I'm sure I'll never be able to color hair.

  

I can't wait to see what you create.  I hope you'll come join us.  Challenges are such a great way to get in practice and up your skills.  I know I always improve when I set a goal to do them often.  :)

It was a beautiful day in Texas yesterday, so we found a new park to explore.  Laila did great!  She interacted so well with the other kids and no meltdown when we left.  Her testing/evaluation is a week away, so keep your fingers crossed that we get some answers soon and can all learn to cope better with whatever it is.  

Penny Black with Sketch Saturday

I've had so much fun coloring lately.  I love this hedgehog stamp and it looked like a fun one to practice on.  I love how the basket turned out.  It's my favorite attempt at it so far.  :)   Penny Black has a monthly challenge called the Penny Black Saturday Challenge and I wanted to enter that.  I also used the sketch from Sketch Saturday., just flipped on to its side.  I'm finding a lot of new challenges to try this year and it's inspiring me to stamp more.  Are you doing anything new for the year?  I'd love to hear if so.

Laila and I had a spa day yesterday.  She loves "soaking her feet" so much.  :)  She asked to do it again this morning, so she's relaxing while I ran in to finish my blog post.  

Fab Friday 103

My friend Mindy hosts a fun challenge blog called Fab Friday.  I don't get to play along as much as I'd like, but they always have some great sketches and color combinations.  I saw they were back from break this week and decided to play along.  I pulled out this single stamp from Stampin' Up! called Vivid Vases and picked one of my favorite color combinations (who doesn't love gray and yellow?) and went to work.  I even managed to use Washi tape which is another supply I struggle to use.

It's 22 degrees in Texas this morning so I'm wrapping myself in my blanket and hiding out in my warm stamp room.  It is one of the warmest rooms in the house thank goodnesss.  

Ellen Hutson Mix It Up Challenge

Is there a technique that is common that you tend to avoid?  For me it is heat embossing.  I end up with powder everywhere and my project looks like a hot mess.  I'm challenge myself to try it more this month and see if I get any better with practice.  I started with a fun challenge from the Ellen Hutson Classroom.  They are mixing it up with Avery Elle and I just happen to have gotten a new Avery Elle Butterflies set this week.  Perfect timing, huh?  It paired well with the Essentials by Ellen Bold Blooms set.  Do you see all that embossing??  I managed to not muck it up!  Clear powder might be my friend.  Black and white?  Not so much, but we'll see.  lol

Laila and I have been taking a walk after dinner this week.  It has been so nice and we've walked close to 2 miles each night.  We have been treated to some beautiful sunsets.  Look at those colors!  Gorgeous!

Tuesday Morning Sketch 384

I've just been creating up storm.  I don't know when it will stop, but I'll keep going.  Fingers crossed I can keep it up.  :)   Yesterday I worked on a card for the Tuesday Morning Sketch Challenge and had a rough time.  I scrapped my first effort and started over.  I'm so glad I did because I love this one.  I grabbed an older Stampin' Up! set called Papillon Potpourri and a Simon Says Stamp set, Hand Lettered Winter Wishes.  I went with an orange and black theme and hoped it didn't get too Halloweenish.  It's always rolling the dice when you use just those two colors.

I've been invaded by a cute little girl, so I have to exit the room before she knocks anything else off my desk.  Oops! 

Freshly Made Sketches 269

I managed to get a card made to play along with my amazing friends at Freshly Made Sketches.  I have totally failed as a DT member lately, but they've kept me around.  Linda had a simple sketch this week that was so fun to work with.  Simple ones really allow your creativity to flow!  I failed at getting Christmas cards out this year, so I decided to work on some winter cards to send out.  This cute set from Honey Bee Stamps was a little gift I gave myself for Christmas.  :)   It's adorable!!!   I love bears.  He was so fun to color too.

Be sure to check the FMS blog to see all the lovely creations from the team.  There's a nice variety that show how versatile the sketch truly is!  

Mojo Monday 478

I took a break from the online Copics class I'm working on to play around with some Brusho and the new sketch at Mojo Monday.  Doing challenges used to be a great way to get back into the groove of stamping and a way to improve my cards as well.  Today I wanted to do a card in the style of Julee Tillman, who is the owner of Verve Stamps.  She has a fun shabby chic style that is way outside my comfort zone, so it was fun to play around and get messy.  :)

I hope you had a fun time ringing in the new year.  I'm old now so I'm usually asleep before midnight, but do wake up when the fireworks go crazy.  Things are different with kids.  Laila is up at 7am every day.  It doesn't matter if she was awake half the night or not, she's up.  ..and so are we.  lol 

Happy New Year! 

Stampin' Up! Cheerful Critters

I pulled this adorable set off my Stampin' Up! shelf yesterday and had to ink it up.   It makes me happy just to look at those critters.  I used a fun color combo of Island Indigo/Gumball Green and I am loving those together.  I know the perfect person to send this one to and I can't wait for her to get it.  :) 

Mom leaves tomorrow so I don't know how much stamping I'll be doing again for a while.  I might start coming in at night and working on some projects after Laila is in bed.  Before we moved my desk this week it was right in front of my window.  I'm a weirdo who is scared of windows, so I didn't like stamping after dark.  Now I can hide away from it and color.  :) 

I hope everyone has a nice time ringing in the new year tomorrow!