Penny Black inside

The challenge at the Penny Black Blog this week is to create a card with a inside. Usually I leave them blank to hand write my note, but really there is a whole area begging to be stamped! I think this flower stamp from PB is one of my favorite images to color right now. I used copics in YR15, 17 and 18 and YG03,05 & 07 for the leaves. The little creature ( I think its a bunny?) is colored with Y12, 15 & 17. The inside of the flower has flower soft in earth.Now for the inside:

I stamped and colored with the same copics as above and add the sentiment. This little guy is so cute, I can think of some other cute saying like "hang in there", "or thanks for stopping by". I find that I have tons of sentiments, mostly in clear stamps, but can never find the one I am looking for until after I have the card done. I so need a good organizational system to find my stuff. I have been keeping my desk cleaner, and less cluttered. So I guess one step at a time right?

I have been struggling with nursing my almost 8 month old baby girl. It is so discouraging since although I had issues with the boys they were with me not the baby. I have been concerned that she has not been gaining weight and when I took her back to the Dr. Monday she actually lost an ounce. So she has weighed the same at almost 5 months that she does at 8 months. She is growing slightly on her length and head circumference. The odd thing is she appears hydrated, with enough wet diapers, happy, meeting her milestone, already crawling, sitting up, etc. The only time she fusses is during nursing, I am starting to suspect I may not have enough supply, so today I am off to find the herbs I read about online. I am so frustrated and driving my DH crazy with my worry and neurotic behavior. I have always been determined to nurse the babies and believe absolutely it is the best thing I can do for them. So before I give up, I have to exhaust all my option. Thanks for listening : ) Hope you have a great day!

Summer Camp butterflies



I was so excited to win a spot at Summer Camp 2011 from Mariana Grigsby's Blog! This week we are working with the above colors. I love seeing what everyone creates using these colors but find when I have more than three colors I freeze up. I decided to just see what I came up with. I stared watching Jennifer's video that had white embossed flowers which gave me a starting point. I white embossed the butterfly panel, by Magenta and then colored with Memento markers. Next I embossed the butterflies with clear powder then I used tumbled glass distressed ink over the panel. The background was stamped with Hero Arts chalk ink in Poppy, and the PP is from my stash. I still find it difficult to take photo's when there is embossed images. Have a great Tuesday!

Keep it krafty

This is my card for the Outlines Keep it Krafty Challenge. I love kraft paper, you can use it to create many different looks. I stamped the blossom on the kraft and then on Bo Bunny dot paper and cut out the pieces to attach to the panel. The background is part of a bits and pieces set, that has lots of different designs that help fill in a background. All stamps are Outlines, be sure to check out the blog, as a $25 gift certificate is up for grabs! Have a great Saturday!

Pin-striped flower

I am entering this card for the Penny Black Triangle challenge. This is not the most creative use of triangles, but I thought the triangle shaped PP fit the card well. The PP is from Basic Grey, one of the many packs that I have accumulated. The card is colored with copics, using the better blending technique I have learned recently. I have been blending way too much on my images, and now I finally think I have figured it out!

Now my oldest Owen has caught the bug the two little ones had, I must say a entire week of playing nurse is getting old. I want everyone to be healthy, I so hope that DH or I don't catch it as well, ugh! On good news: we finally got rain!!!! After 3 or so wicked storms passing thru in the last week or so only to spit on us, yesterday we got two nice rains. So I can finally take a break watering for today! Happy Weekend to everyone!

Copic coloring

This summer with 3 little ones home all day, I am finding less time to be creative! No surprise right? However I really miss taking classes and decided to look online to see what I could find. I found this site by Suzanne Dean and thought I would try a class. I am starting with the Level 2 copic class, since I took the certification I figured I didn't need all the review. I have only watched a few videos, but I am already learning a lot. Shading and highlighting is something I really want to master, and she presents everything in a very easy to understand format. I am looking forward to having more time to sit and practice. The card above is one I am entering into the Lily pads" Lucy's lovely lines" challenge. The flower stamp is from Penny black, and the stem is also, sentiment is PTI. Copics used are B21, 24, 26 & 28.

On the home front, Wyatt is better, Lainey was sick Tues, & Wed. but now much better. We are just all sleep deprived as sick babies need a lot of TLC. This weekend is my DH birthday, so we are hopefully going to enjoy a fun day at the pool, and a nice dinner on the grill! Thanks for stopping by!

Color blocking

It's funny how long CAS cards take me! This is my card for the CAS-ual Fridays challenge which is color blocking. The stamps are from PTI, and the ink colors are Memento in various blues. I think I stamped this 4 time before I had a "clean" card! LOL! I had ink everywhere, even though I kept trying to be neat. Anyway hoping to have a more productive week. Although yesterday poor Wyatt came down with a fever and is not feeling well. So this week is not starting out so productive thus far. Thanks for stopping by.

Tiffany's doodles

I love this image from Tiffany's Doodles, there are so many cute images, and I love that you can use them as soon as you download them! They are so easy to resize and and they color wonderfully with my copics. I printed the image, and colored with copics YG23 & 25, and R24, &27. The background was made with distrssed inks, and then overstamped with a hero arts background stamp. If I can find my energy soon I will be posting some pictures of our vacation to Boone last weekend. Not sleeping has really caught up with me the last few days! Thanks for stopping by!

Outlines Challenge # 3

This card is my entry for the Outlines Blog, they have a weekly challenges and this week is Aqua, brown and white. I love those colors together so pretty. The present was stamped with memento chocolate ink, and  colored with copics, and glossy accents were applied to the center of the flowers. The PP is Bo bunny, all stamps are Outlines. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Teacher's Gifts

I can't believe I got these done with even a few days to spare. The other day I saw a tweet regarding these cards by Kelly, they are so cute and I knew they would be perfect for teachers gifts. I definitely wanted to give credit to her, as I used her design minus the twine and buttons. Since these were going to be in a set I wanted them to be as flat as possible. I love these silhouette images, but sometimes I totally over think the design. I love the simplicity of just using one color and distressing the image. I used two different images, and made two sets of 8 cards for his teacher and the assistant. I stamped a variety of sentiments to give them options when sending them.

This was Owen's teacher's first year teaching, and she was awesome. She was energetic, sweet, and full of excitement, and Owen just loved her. How I wish every teacher was like her! He has been so lucky the past 3 years to be blessed with wonderful Teacher's. Owen is a sensitive, sweet, caring child and I am so pleased with the care and attention he has received at his current school. Next year he is to attend a different school as the current one is only K-2nd grade. We went to orientation a month or so ago, and I was so disheartened by what I heard. I want by children to grow into a confident, educated, happy person, and I worry about the atmosphere and education they are receiving. My husband and I have always talked about homeschooling our children, but Owen and I butt heads and I worry about how well it would work. This summer thought, we plan on trying a trial run so if we do choose to pull him out of school I will be confident that we will be successful. I do not take this decision lightly, I always try to do the right thing and I so want to give my children the best opportunities.

Inspiration challenge

This is my entry for the Lily pads Inspirations Challenge #2, I am inspired by the way Kathy uses her white pen to add details to her images. I love how she creates a totally different look with the white pen. I don't think I quite achieved the same look, but I plan on using it more often. I had a few different brands, and found that either they were dried up, or just did not run smoothly on the images. Do any of you have any favorite brands? I think I need to get a new one! The floral image is from Magenta, the dotted background is from Hero Arts, and the image is colored with copic markers.  Hope you had a great Monday!

Distressed frame

This is another card for the frame Challenge at the Penny Black blog. I used the negative of the spellbinder die and stamped the Hero Arts woodgrain stamp then I rubbed distressed ink over the cardstock. The Flower is colored with copics and cut out attached to a panel stamped with a old club scrap stamp and the Hero Arts envelope pattern. The twine is Hero arts, and the button is from PTI. I also distressed the edges of the frame inside and out to give it a more rustic feel.

We are in need up rain here very badly, last I heard we were 7 inches below what is the norm. It is so hot and dry that I am watering the gardens twice a day and they are still not looking great. Yesterday, DH left me some extra hoses and a sprinkler( Of which I did not see at first) to help with my vegetable gardens. Thinking I needed to use the old sprinkler I attached everything only to find it did not work of course! After a long struggle, both Wyatt and I were soaked, he was crying, and I still could not get the old sprinkler to come off. It was hot and I was beat, frustrated and soaked, I made do by manually turning it for awhile, but then just gave up. I am so hoping my DH remember to use his big muscles to take it apart for me, or this morning is not going start off well! So for now I am praying for some rain, to help me! Hope you have a stress free weekend!

framed coneflower

I have been thinking of having someone come in and help me with organizing/cleaning our house. We live in a 1400 sq. foot house and with 3 kids, all their stuff and all our stuff it is getting  quite crowded! Honestly there are days that I know I pick up/put away the same toy 10 times! It can drive someone mad! I know I probably will never have someone really come in and help, but it sure would be nice! Knowing me, I would drive myself mad cleaning and putting things up so the person did not think "My god these people are pigs", then there would be nothing left for her to do! LOL! Really I think I need someone to help me train my boys to pick up and put stuff away, that sounds like it would end up being much more useful in the end!

The card today is for the Penny Black Blog challenge using a frame. The floral image is a favorite of mine, is colored with the big brush markers from Faber-Castell. The Thank you background stamp was stamped over the flower and then I distressed the panel with antique linen. The frame was cut out using a spellbinder die. Thanks for stopping by!