Freshly Made Sketches 302

Jumping in and playing along with Freshly Made Sketches this week.  I saw the sketch and had an idea, so I tried to find time to see if that idea translated well to paper.  I am happy with how it turned out.  I had the watercolor background in my stash waiting to be used, so yay for one less thing being stored. :) I've been trying to use more vellum lately too as it's been sitting unused for a while too. I hope you like it!

Before I run off and get ready for playgroup, I thought I'd share pictures of Laila's school.  

 This is the library.  It is amazing. I wanted to just move in!

 I took this when we were walking in.  It's neat because all the grades have their own hallway.

 Her classroom.  They are still waiting on tables for the room.

She made herself at home.  She was pretty overwhelmed, but she did hug her teacher by the end of our visit.  I hope she's excited to go on Monday.  I'm a bit nervous about figuring out drop off and all that, but Jason took off all next week.  I'm happy to have backup! 

MFT Camp Create Delightful Die Cutting

I thought I'd sneak in my card for the last day of Camp Create so that I don't forget to upload it.  This one is for the Delightful Die Cutting.  I wasn't sure I could do this one, but I saw these glasses and thought they might work?  It was fun to make because I LOVE distress inks.  This was Mermaid Lagoon. Love that color!

That makes all five days for me, so yay!  There is a bonus day with an ombre theme, but I'm not sure I'll get to that one. My room is torn apart right now.  I am not even sure what to work on at this point, but I need to pick a starting point and get going again.  

Laila and I made this fancy pinhole camera to watch the eclipse yesterday.  I was skeptical, but it worked great.  One of my neighbors who had the glasses did walk over and let me borrow them for a minute to look.  So cool, huh? 

Off to clean a bit more and then shower and get ready for meet the teacher tonight.  I can't believe it's that time already.  I'm a nervous wreck.  I'm sure that's part of why I can't sleep.  I hope she does okay, but if not, I hope there's a plan to help her.  Getting kicked out of the last school type place we tried has made this so stressful.  We have one more social skills class tomorrow and play therapy on Thursday. I am sad about the social skills class as they do such much that I feel helps. 

MFT Camp Create Background Bonanza

Did you survive Monday and the eclipse?  I did, but man am I tired.  Laila and I made the viewer using a cereal box and I think she enjoyed it. :)  I wanted to share another card for the MFT Camp Create.  This one is for the Background Bonanza.  I love using stencils and this is a newer one in my stash.  I used three colors of distress inks, Candy Apple, Spiced Marmalade, and Mustard Seed.

We had three more butterflies to release today.  Laila loves them and she's always wanting to keep one.  This one stayed with her for a while today. 

I'm off to get some rest.  I have been so tired and fighting a headache all day, so early bedtime it is. I hope you have a terrific Tuesday. 

Camp Create Monochromatic Magic

Day four of Camp Create was about making a monochromatic background.  I didn't have three inks to do a background like Laurie's, so I did distress inks.  I put it on heavy at the bottom and used a lighter hand as I went up. After I had the ink on, I spritzed the background stamp with water and stamped it.  it gives some nice interest to the background I think. The rest is pretty simple.  I cut out friend from the finished panel and then again from black and then white cardstock.  I layered them up, white in the space left by the first cut, then black, then the distressed ink one.  It was a super fun card to make.

Have a fantastic week!  

Camp Create Magnificent Masking

Hello!  I hope you've had a great weekend.  We haven't done much today and that's been nice.  :)  I've been in my stamp room again working on purging and organizing. I know it has to get worse before it gets better, but man.  It's a hot mess.  I did take some time last night to do a bit of stamping.  I did another of the MFT Camp Create challenges, this time masking. I struggle with masking, but I love the look.  I had trouble because I had to use regular sticky notes because my Post-It tape was hiding.  I think the end result is okay though.  I even decided to make a shaker card to use up some of the 4 billion sequins I "needed" at some point.

Sorry for the bad picture.  I'm trying to move my light tent and lights and I'm guessing the new place needs some tweaking.

Today we had one butterfly eclose, a male. Usually the males take off as soon as we get them out, but this guy stayed around for a while.  I think he liked getting his picture taken. :)  I'm sad because I have to take a break raising my guys.  Little Lady can't seem to shake her flea/worm issue, so I have to treat her for the third time.  The flea meds are toxic to caterpillars, so I have to avoid being near them for a while.  With school starting soon, it's probably a good time for a break anyway.  The current guys have devoured most of my plants anyway!

MFT Card Challenges Sketch 346

Happy Saturday!  How's your weekend going?  Things have been pretty good here.  My sister-in-law came over today and took Laila shopping for  her birthday.  Her step-daughter, who is about 6 months younger than Laila, was with her so they got to play some.  I made this card for Miss Laila.  I need to get a photo box to put the ones I make for her in so I can quickly grab them on school days. :) This card uses products from My Favorite Things and is for their Card Challenges sketch challenge.

So Laila LOVED her swimming lesson yesterday.  She didn't have any upsets, but was probably a bit too excited.  lol  Hopefully the newness wears off and she can focus better next week.  She did great on what they practiced and is ready to go back! We had to go shopping afterwards to see if we could find her a new bathing suit. She's grown so much this summer that hers are about too small.  Thankfully Kohl's had some in the clearance that would work. 

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!