Simon Says Stamp Distress It 2

I don't know about where you are, but Texas has been miserable this week.  So hot and humid that nobody wants to go outside.  Today we added the run of thunderstorms. I went to hide away in my stamp room a bit and play with a couple new Distress Oxide inks I got and my new leaves background from Hero Arts.  I love the background, but the card didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped.  I guess I'll have to get messy and make another background and try again. :) Entering it into the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.  I guess I'm in a Distress It! mood.

I am ready for Fall! :)  I think I might switch over to making cards for Halloween and Thanksgiving for a while.  It's crazy that we don't really have any holidays before then.

Have a great rest of the weekend!

Simon Says Distress It

The kitten woke me up at 3am.  I swear it's like having a newborn! lol I couldn't go back to sleep so I decided to come stamp.  One of my best friends from high school is having a lot of health issues, so I wanted to make a new card for her. I've been trying to send encouragement to her as much as I can and I thought these sticker words from Tim Holtz would be perfect.  I used a bunch of techniques from the Creative Chemistry class.  If you love Tim's products, I'd totally recommend them.  I distressed the heck out of it and am entering it in the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.

We had a lot of rain earlier in the week, so Laila got to go do her most favorite thing in the world besides eat chocolate.  This girl LOVES jumping in puddles.  We even met a neighbor because she had the best puddle in the neighborhood. She was happy to share. :) Overall it's been a good week.  I got some great feedback from her social skills class and we are trying some new stuff to help us all. I'm not sure what today will hold, but I know it will include a lot of coffee for me!

Stampin' Up! Branch Out

Playing along with the weekly color challenge over at Splitcoast. It was olive, suede, and gold, but I had to substitute because I don't have gold.  I feel like a one person anti-gold club.  lol I love silver, but I've never purchased gold paper that I can remember.  I don't know if I even have gold embossing powder.  It's probably gross by now if I do.

This card was a bit of a blast from the past for me. It's more the original style I started out as. And it's only Stampin' Up! products too.  I've been trying to declutter my room and figure out what I want to keep and what to donate/sell, so I thought I'd play around with some stuff before I decided on them. I'd never get rid of Branch Out EVER, but some inks and paper might have to go.  I have so much.  I may hang on to it for a while and see if I need it when I volunteer with the PTO this fall. Or maybe not. lol SO MUCH STUFF.

We haven't had any pictures of Laila done in ages because she just won't cooperate. Last month we went home to Kentucky to visit with family and I had my cousin try to do some.  She didn't cooperate of course, but he did manage to get a few good shots. Not posed studio ones, but ones that reflect her I feel.

Now I'm off to bed. It's been a long week and I'm pooped. Laila has play therapy at 8am, so we'll be getting up early.  Yawn

Freshly Made Sketches 296

Back with a new card for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.  I don't usually make square cards, but I tried this time. I love yellow and black (or gray) together so much.  It's just so elegant and really makes a statement. I used two Simon Says Stamp sets from past card kits.

I hope you'll join us! Have a great rest of the week. 

MFT Card Challenges 340

Titling this one The Card That Took All Day.  I swear every time I sat down to work on it someone needed help with something.  Anyway... this is my entry for the MFT Card Challenges sketch this week.  I was a bit stumped at first, but I finally got an idea and went with it.  I don't have a lot of outdoorsy friends, so I added the dogs. I have lots of dog loving friends.  :)  I like that you can easily mix little elements of the Pure Innocence sets.

I think I got close enough.  I couldn't figure out how to make it work any other way since I didn't have that circle shape.  It looked awful when I tried to just cut off the bottom.  

Now I'm off to clean my desk back up.  It is a tad bit messy.  

Freshly Made Sketches 295

On a roll!  Scary, huh?  :)  I had some free time since Jason was off for the holiday, so I thought I'd try to play with my pals at Freshly Made Sketches.  I loved Narelle's sketch and it paired perfectly with Unity's Be Inspired challenge on Facebook which was hearts and polka dots.  I got this little stamp to use for Laila, so this will be for her.  She's already asked for it of course. :)

I hope all my American friends had a nice holiday.  We didn't do much, but sometimes that's nice.  Any day that includes a s'more is a good day in my book.  Now come on over and play along with us! 

MFT Card Challenges Sketch 339

What?  Square??  Yep.  I don't make a lot of square cards due to mailing cost, but I loved the sketch at MFT Card Challenges this week so I thought I'd play along.  I wanted to make a quilt card for my mom anyway, so perfect timing!  I love the Diagonal Quilt die from MFT.  So pretty! I cut out some papers I thought would look pretty and assembled. It was fairly easy and I have lots of leftovers for future cards! Win, win!

I was so ready to go play in my garden when we got back from our recent trip.  I didn't realize how much I love being out there.  It's so hot and humid now, but I do a little on and off each day.  We currently have a lot of black swallowtail caterpillars to raise and our first Gulf Fritillary ones as well. 

 This was our first Easter Black Swallowtail that we released.  He traveled to Kentucky with us as a chrysalis and was released there. 

My passion vine has taken off and we get flowers daily now.  It's the host (food) plant for the Gulf Fritillary caterpillars, so it needs to grow so we can raise them. :)  Look at how funky the caterpillars are.  We aren't sure about touching them.  lol 

Alrighty.  Happy Independence Day!  I'm off to get dressed to visit with a friend.  

SSS FLICKR Ice Cream

Trying to keep up a bit of stamping.  I've been feeling a bit down again lately, so I wanted to add some creative time in with my gardening.  If you see me not posting much, send me a kick in the butt email. :)   I saw the Simon Says Stamp flickr challenge was to use stencils, so I grabbed on and this was the end result.  Kinda fun for summer, huh?  I love this ice cream set. I also used a new for me Copic combo.  Fun!!

Laila loved her Pokemon birthday party.  She must be excited because she keeps telling EVERYONE that she's five.  lol  I just hope she's as excited about school since it starts in less than 2 months! Yikes!

Have a great week!
Rita