Camp Create Day 1

Happy Friday!  I feel like it's Saturday for some reason.  Do you ever do that?  It might be that I didn't get much sleep last night.  Little Lady was crazy and so was my brain.  I finally got up and have been creating a bit since way too early.  My Favorite Things has had their Camp Create this week and they have some great techniques (with videos).  For day one, we worked on Inlaid Die Cutting.  I didn't have any scenery dies like Barbara used, but I still wanted to play along.  I made a rainbow panel with distress inks and then cut it using the Snow Drifts Background.  I also cut a piece of white with the same die to use as a frame.  After I pieced in the colors, I cut out the friend and was very careful to keep all the little parts from the rainbow panel to put back in it.  Fun card and I hope it will brighten someone's day.

Yesterday I worked for hours cleaning and straightening my craft room.  I don't know that I got that far, but I'm trying to do a bit every day.  I need so much less stuff.  I think that's a common issue, yet I always want the new things I see.  I am thinking September will be a no buying anything except adhesive if needed month.  I'm going to a crafty retreat that month anyway, so there should be plenty of new techniques and fun to do with what I have. :) 

Off to get ready.  Laila has her first swim lesson at four.  Send good thoughts! I never know how it will go, but we have to try new things and hope for the best. She seems to love being in the water and I want her to be safe. 

This is me every morning around 6am.  She loves to come snuggle right on my face.  If I don't wake up to pet her she puts her paws on my face.  She's a nut.  She makes me laugh and she makes me happy with her snuggles. 

Mixing it Up with Avery and Ellen

Entering the Ellen Hutson Mix It Up challenge at the last minute.  I came in to organize my desk last night and ended up playing around and making the image panel.  I used the Essentials by Ellen Bold Blooms and Avery Elle Butterflies and Wonky Stitched dies.  It's a happy card I think.  I haven't been in the best mood this week, so it was helpful to create with cheerful colors.  :) Now fingers crossed I get randomly picked for the prize as they have a new gardener lady stamp set that I NEED so bad. Because I don't have enough stamps already, right?

Laila had her five year checkup today.  Now did that happen???  Her doctor was even surprised that she was that old already.  She had gotten a lot taller since her four year.  She had quite a spurt in a year.  She gets mistaken for an older kid all the time because she's so tall. That is part of the reason we decided not to hold her back another year. I hope we made the right decision.  We'll see in couple weeks I guess.  Meet the Teacher is in a week! Yikes! 

I'm off to figure out dinner (no clue!) and play animals with Laila.  She got some of those sponges in a capsule that you put in water and watch them grow today for being so good at the doctor.  Now we are going to make up a game with all the animals and food they turned into.  No idea about that either, but she wants to play, so...

Hope you are having a good week!

Stampin' Up! Dragonfly Dreams Inspiration

Splitcoast has weekly challenges, a different one every day.  I saw the Inspiration challenge on Saturday and thought I'd play along. I found this pillow and used it for my inspiration.  There's a lot of stamp sets going on here.  Stampin' Up! Best Thoughts, Dragonfly Dreams, and French Foliage, plus a Stampers Anonymous set called Papillon. It was fun to try to make and I think I need to remember to do that challenge every week if I can. :)

When we went shopping last week for school clothes Laila found one of her favorites, THE PIGEON!  She loves the Mo Willems books so much, so I had to get it for her. :) I can't believe how well she's reading. She read me a huge book of fairy tales yesterday.

And thank you guys who commented about keeping the blog going. I have a month or so before I have to pay Go Daddy again, so that gives me some time to see how things go once Laila starts school. My garden needs a lot of work after the summer heat, so that might keep me busy.  Plus I am determined to donate like half of our house.  The clutter is making my mental health issues much worse.  I can't wait to get stuff out of here and the rest organized.

And before I go, I thought I'd share a Gulf Fritillary butterfly.  We have so many caterpillars for this guy!  I only have a few in my enclosures because they make their chrysalises in places that make me have to move them and I'm afraid of hurting one.  We also have close to 20 Monarch caterpillars who are almost all in their chrysalis, plus about 5 Eastern Black Swallowtails who are still eating away. They are my favorite butterfly and I deal with the awful smell of dill on my hands to feed them. (I hate dill and all pickles!)  It's been a lot of work, but we love raising and releasing them.

I hope your Monday is going well.  Little Lady was on my shoulders kneading my arms to let me know she needed attention at 5:15 today.  I've had two coffees and am hanging in there.  Maybe I'll sleep well tonight after being up so early. :)

MFT Color Challenge 75

I loved the colors of the MFT Card Challenge 75, so I thought I'd try to make a card for my mom.  She's been so busy lately with my dad's illnesses and my brother's home buying and has been neglecting herself.  I keep telling her to slow down and take some time for herself as well.  She doesn't listen very well.  lol  If you've followed my blog, you know my mom loves quilting.  I have several quilt dies to make cards for her. This is the MFT Diagonal Quilt die and a set I picked up in their big sale, Let's Get Cozy.  They work so perfectly together! 

Before I end, I just wanted to say thank you for all who visit and leave comments.  I've fallen out of the blogging world since I've had Laila and haven't been that good at visiting and commenting on the blogs I used to follow.  I'm thinking that next month may be the end of blogging for me and I'll just go back to uploading cards to Splitcoast or on Flickr.  It seems silly and selfish to keep trying to do this when I don't have time to visit and participate with other bloggers.  

And finally, I'll share my photography helper.  :) 

Stampin' Up! Swallowtail

Hey! I'm back. :) Believe it or not, I managed to finish all 35 of the Dare to Get Dirty challenges.  I didn't think I would as I ran out of steam on Sunday, but I jumped back in on Monday and Tuesday and finished.  It was work, but yay! Now I have to send out all the birthday cards that I missed while I was stamping. Oops!

I love this giant Swallowtail stamp.  I didn't buy it when it was current in the catalog, but I think a nice friend might have gifted it to me.  I can't remember who though. I swear I struggle with memory, sometimes to the point that I almost make a doctor's appointment for it.  Anyway...  I used just the regular distress inks and painted them on with my fingers.  I added water to the paper, pressed the ink pads on my craft mat, spritzed those, and then painted away.  My fingers were only red for four days or so after. Ha! I did dry it at that point and then lay it on the leftover inks to give it more of the water splattery look.  Now I'm making up words...

Wednesday evening Laila went out to play and I noticed she was awfully quiet and not running in and out like she usually does.  I walked out and found her like this, sitting in the middle of mud.  She was having a blast.  I let her play until time for pajamas and then shooed her into the shower to wash that off.  I'm sure my washing machine is now full of sand from washing those clothes.  I debated about just throwing them away because they were gross! Today we went swimming with a friend.  She had so much fun! Jason ended up signing her up for weekly swim classes, so fingers crossed she cooperates and has fun. We start next Friday.

I'm off to finish listing some stuff on eBay and cleaning my room.  I'm hoping to have a giveaway on my blog soon, so stay tuned!

Freshly Made Sketches 300

Can you believe that we've now had 300 sketches at Freshly Made Sketches and been going for 6 years? Crazy!  I have struggled to remain a part of the team lately, but my amazing teammates keep me around anyway.  It's such a supportive group and I'm thankful that Lesley thought enough of me and my cards to ask me to be on the team.   I hope you'll come play along with us this week.  We will have the winners as usual, but one random participant will win all the cards made by the team.  I know I'd love to have them, so come play!

I love this big poinsettia stamp from Stampin' Up! and it seemed perfect for the sketch.  The sentiment is from another set that I know both Jen Timko and I love, Bright Hopes.  I hope my flower looks okay.  My lightest marker ran out and I had to try and finish with it barely working.  I need to get a refill quickly as it's one of my most used ones.  

I'm off to have coffee and wake up.  I hope to see you in the gallery!

...and more Dirty Cards

You guys!  I am still stamping, but I'm tired!  I keep telling myself I don't have to finish them all, but then I find myself making a list of what I need to work on.  lol  I have about six more left, so Jason swears I can do it.  We'll see. :)  This card was a fun one.  I made background with Distress Oxides that I didn't need, so I die cut this pretty Stampin' Up! butterfly from it.  I kept the background simple so it would be the focus.  The embossing paste adds interest without taking away from the pretty colors of the oxides.

It's a MONARCH!  lol I got a newsletter from Inspired by Stamping and they send out digital freebies on it.  One month is was this one and I was so excited.  I finally got it printed up and used it for a challenge.  We are still raising and releasing them.  We had a lull, but the mommas have been in the garden like crazy again lately.  Most of our releases have been female as well, so maybe they'll come back.  

I didn't love this one. I fussed over it, but I couldn't get it to turn out like I'd imagined.  The background is Distress Oxides and the arrows are from my Cameo.  

I figured it was a good time to start teacher cards.  Simple, but I like it. I need more stamps for teachers as these are the only two I have!

And finally, one of my favorites.  I made the background with shaving cream, reinkers, and a stencil.  So fun! If you haven't tried that technique. go to Splitcoast and check out the tutorial.

I'm hopping off to go get ready for Game of Thrones!

Dirty and Dirtier

Not going to lie, I'm about all stamped out.  I have eleven more challenges to go to finish them, but I just don't see it happening.  I guess I forgot how many there were in such a short time when I decided to attempt them all.  I have a few more ideas and some in progress, but it ends Wednesday and I am a slow creator.  Very slow.  lol  One good thing about the challenges is that I'm really using some of my stuff.  I've probably used my Cameo more this week than EVER!  I used it here for the mermaid.  I made her background using Brusho and the cling wrap technique.  So fun!  I think the cling wrap has found a new home.  I'll have to get a new one for the kitchen. :) 

I found this coffee die on clearance a while back and had to have it.  Had I used it? Of course not.  I got a new stencil and thought it might be fun to pair them up.  The background is just distress oxide in Vintage Photo with a wet stencil laid on top.  So easy with cool results! 

During this time around Eli's birthday I always go through weeks where my sleep sucks.  I have been up at 3 and 4am some nights.  Yesterday I got up around 5 and came in to create.  I made this background then and BEFORE coffee.  It turned out kinda cute, so I need to try again after I'm caffeinated and fully awake. It was fun! 

And finally...  the Cameo came in handy again. I had a galaxy background in my stash that needed using and thought it might be fun to cut the saying out of it.  I'll stash it away for Laila's backpack. :)

I'm off to find dinner and maybe work on sketching ideas for a couple more cards.  Eleven is intimidating, but I'm stubborn.  But also tired, so we shall see who wins out. My mojo might have the final say.

Thanks for looking!
Rita