Hang in There

Happy Friday!  I managed a little crafty time today and my poor card looks a lot like our current weather. We need rain, so I can't really complain too much. My garden will be happy.  :)  I used the colors from the Calling All Sistahs challenge. I need to hunt out all my encouragement stamps so I can make up more of those type of cards. There's always people who need a lift!

I've been tired today, so now that I've managed to upload my card I am off to bed to read. Or maybe watch a show. I found the Stephen King Mr. Mercedes show to watch and I'm curious to see if it's as good as the book. I'm assuming no because they never are, but I will give it a go!

Have a wonderful weekend. 

Coffee Mouse

Hello. Happy August. :) We are so close to the start of school! I know some places have started already, but Texas always seem to be later. Laila's first day will be the 20th. We did get to meet her new teacher and have coffee with her last week. I LOVE her. She has a completely different outlook than her kindergarten teacher and I think she'll be great for Laila. She got her gifted and talented certification this summer and is a second year teacher who is still excited about her job. So, fingers crossed!! 

On to the card. I found another set that I don't think I've ever inked up. Oops! I won it a long time ago and since it's coffee I had to put it in my stash. It's cute, right??  Perfect for the 2 Crafty Critter Crazies challenge too. :) I love the little mouse.

Her teacher knew she was into Star Wars, so she brought her a little Yoda and a Star Wars coloring book when we had coffee. :) So sweet, right???

Alley Way Breakfast Club

Happy Sunday! It looks like another hot day here in Texas, so I may get to stamp a bit. It's awful to go outside lately, so we just stay in where it's nice and cool. :)  I decided I need to downsize my craft room a bit, but it's hard to decide what to purge. To help myself, I am going to try and work my way through my stamps and see if I can actually create something I like with them. If not, bye! :) I am hoping to also put them in Evernote as I go through them, so I can easily search when I have a need for something specific. Now we'll see how this plan goes. I have struggled to organize lately.

On to the card... The first set in my clear stamp bin was Breakfast Club from Alley Way Stamps. I believe the company is no longer in business, but it's a coffee set, so it has to stay. I loved coloring and arranging the mugs. Set one is a keeper!  :)  I think the Copics I used match Island Indigo pretty well, so I need to make a note of that!

Now I'm off to have a second cup of coffee before I try to do anything creative. I attempted to stamp a sentiment earlier and messed up my project, so I need to wake up more and try it again. Have a wonderful day!

Rita

Dog Explosion

Ever make one of those cards that you just can't wait to send??  We made a new friend during our trip to Kentucky and she had the three cutest dogs. I wanted to send her a little care package, so I had to include a card of course. :) I tried my best to color the dogs to look like hers. Yorkies are beyond my capability, but I tried. lol The dogs are from Lawn Fawn.

The inside has explosion stamped all over it. When we spent the night with her, Laila didn't get to see the dogs until the next morning. They pretty much exploded out of the bedroom all crazy and she was laughing saying it was like a dog explosion. We had fun laughing about that the whole trip. That was a pretty accurate description.  lol

Can I ask a huge favor from those of you who have Facebook?  Laila took some pictures this week with my DSLR and got this shot. She's entering it in a gardening photo contest to try and win a gift card. She's currently in second place, which is still a winner, but she's only like 11 likes out of first place. That's the difference of $100!!  If you have time to like it, you can find it here. Thank you!! We also have another junior photographer contest to enter at one of our favorite nurseries, so I need to print it and get a mat for it. I'm so proud of her. :)

Are you ready for Shark Week?

Art Teacher Thanks

I never have finished showing you guys the cards I made for Laila's teachers. This was the card I did for her art teacher. I'm not sure how much love the specials teachers get, so I tried to at least do Christmas and end of the year cards with a little gift. She had a lot of trouble in specials, so I figured it would be nice to thank them for their patience. lol

I love this set from Kindred Stamps. Every time I see it on my desk I want to turn on the show and watch him paint some happy trees. :)

She loves her birthday gift from Grammy and Papaw. :)  She's been outside so much since it came! It's so hot, so we have to make sure she's drinking her water.

I'm off to try out this Distress Resist Spray I just got in!  Fun!!!

Fab Cute Critters

Happy Sunday! It's a rainy one here, so we are inside trying to find things to occupy us. lol Laila just got a new bike, so she's bummed about not being able to ride it. She did get to some this morning at least. I colored a little this weekend and enjoyed this cute new to me set. I played along with a few challenges, the sketch at Fab Friday, Cute Card Thursday, and 2 Crafty Critter Crazies. Who doesn't love critter cards? :)

I think that's all from me. We are having chicken tacos and guacamole for dinner, so I need to go get the Instant Pot going! This recipe is delicious. :)

Patriotic Encouragement

Hey!!!  I hope everyone had a great 4th of July. It was pretty low key here as we are still recovering from our trip to visit my parents. I did make this card, but of course I'm late posting. I played along with the sketch at Die Cuttin Divas and the colors from the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge. I haven't used brads in ages, so it was fun to get those out. :)  Oh, and my corner rounder! Do you like pulling out those neglected tools and supplies sometimes? I do, but I need the motivation like this sketch to do it. My die cut is the star that was featured in one of the kits from Simon Says Stamps. I cut it out three times and pieced it together.

We had a nice visit to Kentucky. My dad was still in the hospital when we got there, but he was released the next day. He had been dealing with hospitalization at least once a week for a while, but he managed to stay healthy our whole trip. I'm thinking it was due to Laila's excellent nursing skills. She was so good with him. We weren't sure how she would handle him being so sick, but she was amazing. 

She had a great birthday. We had cupcakes on her actual birthday along with some gifts. The next day we took her to the Ripley's Aquarium in the Smoky Mountains. Then on Saturday she had her party at the local swimming pool. She loved being around all my family and getting all that attention.  It was hard for her to leave. :(  We are slowly trying to get back to our routine, but so far we've had a roof leak that we have to get fixed and soooo much rain!!  

Cupcake Inspired Bella

Hello!! I managed to make a card this weekend and wanted to post it before I forget. I loved the challenge at Cupcake Inspiration and wanted to play. I thought it would be fun to use one of the Stamping Bella butterfly girls with it. I think it turned out kinda cute. I just got the new Stampin' Up! catalog and LOVED one of the samples on page 97. I used the layout as a bit of inspiration. :) I also bought some retired sets this week, so I want to ink those up soon too.

How's your Father's Day going? It's been rainy here, but we've had a decent day. I've been trying to do some cleaning and we've spoiled Jason with some cookies, breakfast, dinner, and some little gifts. He seems a bit down today. These holidays are hard when you've not only lost a child, but also your dad. My dad is pretty sick lately, so it's been a bit of an emotional day for me. I'm going to see him soon and I'm scared. Keep him and my mom in your thoughts. He's back of the hospital today, so we're happy for some improvement.