Just a card...

Not that I guess I really need to have any other excuse to post, right?

This is a card I made a few weeks ago. I was trying to use some colors I don't always use, in different combinations.

I don't use bright colors very well, so I wanted to try to use my Hibiscus Burst some more. I love layering these gorgeous flower silhouettes from Unity over a pattern, like this grid :) I think I would do it on every card I make if I could lol :) I decided to add the sentiment on the side just for fun. I think it was lost on Levi though, he was asking why I didn't leave room to put it properly heehee:) It's only peeking out, but I stamped the green base with Hero Arts' friend definition in versamark. All the other inks I used are Distress inks. I really do use them whenever I can. Definitely my current favorite inks. Oh, and the sentiment is from PTI's cupcake collection. All the cardstsock is from Papertrey. Sweet blush and spring moss are two of my favorite colors :)

 Are you ready for Monday? I never really am...but when it comes, things usually fall pretty much in place...albeit slowly :) Thanks for stopping by!!

Seriously!

Homeschooling has it's set of trials and frustrating days....So I try to take it a day at a time :)
Levi has days where things go so smoothly and peaceful.
Then of course there are the days where I just don't even know what to do....

Having one of those days, and having told Levi the same thing for the fourth time,
at a loss I said "Levi, seriously!"

And then Miss Emma, sitting right beside me, looked very sternly at Levi,
and said "Levi, see-a-us-ly! see-a-us-ly!"

 Yes, life is good :) I certainly wouldn't wan to have it any other way. Seriously :).

Right the first time...

Time for another Waltzing Mouse sketch. Actually I'm a little later joining than I had planned, but hey it's better than not at all :) Here is this week's sketch:

Now, I pretty much always interpret sketches very literally. That's just me~lol. But I couldn't with this one. Right off, I didn't have a anything to use for the star. So that kind of threw me since I couldn't exactly follow it. Maybe it was good for me?! Anyway....this is what I came up with:

                                                      

                  

So....is it too different from the sketch?! I decided to use a heart instead of the star. I embossed it with my swiss dots folder and inked it a little with Spun Sugar distress ink. I don't think you can see it very well, but I stamped some little circles from Nutcracker Sweet randomly on the kraft panel with some Antique linen ink before stitching it down. The "with love" is from Vintage Ornaments. I tried for a more shabby/vintage look for this card. I've tried it a couple of other times, but never really liked the results. It turned out better than my last attempt, but I think I was right the first time. I'll just stick with more CAS.....lol. But it's always good to stretch yourself, right? Oh, the pattern paper is some really old Prima Marketing paper I had in my stash.

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you have a super day :)

Just things...

Things are moving along normally here. Working out the kinks in our new school things. Tomio has been so busy at work. He's been leaving at or before 6 and not getting back till 10 or later(!) The kids barely get to see him. It's hard to imagine  now that that's how things were normally. For YEARS he never got back from work before 10, if not at 11. He only started getting home earlier when the economy went bad at the end of 2008. Things are doing better at Honda now, but I really don't want to go back to that again. At least today he got to leave at 7 :)

Now if you are wondering what these scrumptious looking bars are, they are Cinnamon chewy bars that Leah made :) They were super yummy. Leah had fun and looked so cute too :) She's wearing the apron and kerchief that my sister and and gave her for Christmas. She also made her her own cute recipe book and that's where Leah got the recipe.

They were thoroughly enjoyed by everyone. Leah likes  to make things for Tomio especially, which of course always makes him happy. She usually makes sweets, though, but she surprised him and made his favorite hamburger steaks for Valentine's day: :) I just guided her while she did it all herself. Tomio was SO happy :) 

Well, I hope your week is going well :) With the really nice warmer weather we've been having lately the kids have gotten to play outside more. And that pretty much makes for a happier everyone :)

Thanks for stopping by!!

snow time :)

We finally had some snow that stuck. The kids were sooo happy, so we spent all morning playing in it. It was actually Miss Emma's first time play in snow. She was really excited. She kept saying " 'nowing--outside!"

Leah even managed to make a little snowmand :) But it actually got so warm by early afternoon, that he melted away to a little snowball.

Here is Leah working on masterpiece.

Miss Emma enjoying the snow :)

And Levi having fun too. Levi and Emma got tired of being cold sooner than Rhys and Leah, so  I took them inside first. Rhys and Leah played out for quite awhile. It's been so much warmer these past couple days since it snowed that it's really weird lol. Glad that got play in it for at least a day though.

Thanks for popping in today. Hoping to get inky today heehee :)

another sketch~yay :)

Last week I joined in on the Waltzing Mouse sketch for the first time. I had so much fun and really enjoyed doing the sketch, so  I  wanted to be sure to participate again this week too. Here is the sketch:

I really like how there is not too much going on so I have to struggle to think of something. It really does serve as a nice jumping point. So here is what came up with:

I like making Christmas cards all year, so I do :) Plus, I got these fun ornament stamps after Christmas last year and hadn't gotten a chance to use them yet. Love them! Just so pretty . I decided to heat emboss it with white. It turned out a little "distressed" I thought, but I like the look, so I just went with it. The pretty pattern paper is from Basic Grey. And I added some machine stitching.

 And there you have it.  heehee :)
Thanks for popping in today. I hope your week is going well so far. Mine's not too far from what I was aiming for~yay!

too late.

I made this card for part of Papertrey Ink's Anniversary celebration. I chose Lisa Johnson's colors and made a card using them. But with the time difference, I misjudged and when I just went to post my card and add my link, it was already closed. I think I missed it by a couple of hours. :( But I liked it anyway, so I thought I would share it now.

The colors were Pure  Poppy, Kraft, Vintage Cream, and Spring Rain. I use kraft all the time, but this combination of colors I'm pretty sure I've never done before. I hadn't used my Background basics: Text Style in a while, so I thought I would get it out. It's still definitely one of my favorites. I don't know if you can tell very well in the photo, but I stamped a heart in versamark under the sentiment. I love having the dies to match the mugs in these sets! So glad I got them :) I added a little stitching too.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Are you glad the weekend is here? I am. We've been having some snow the past few days, but none of it seems to stick. The kids are all disappointed lol. The kids's new school books arrived today. I'm going to have to see if we'll start this week or next. Trying not to feel too overwhelmed....
Hope you get some rest before Monday comes again...I hope to :)

Sketch fun :)

I've been absolutely loving my Waltzing Mouse stamps! They are so pretty and easy to use. Since I've been loving them so much, I thought it might be fun to join in on the sketch challenge they have going on each week.
Here is this week's sketch:

 I really loved this sketch. I decided to follow it pretty literally. It worked really well for a CAS card :)

 Like I said,really simple :) But I like how it turned out.  I stamped the open roses in versamark on the pink panel. I colored the bud with my copics, and yeah, that's about it lol. Oh, and I finished off with a few gems.

I really like rustic cream for the base. Kind of like a kraft-y version of white :)

Thanks so much for stopping by! I'm so glad I got join in this time. I'm thinking I need to get some more sets so  I can even more choices for next time. Don't you think? I thought so :)

again...

I feel like I keep saying the same thing...."sorry time got away from me"...sigh... Since I homeschool my kids, we can of course basically start the new year whenever we want. The school year here in Japan starts in April, so I went with that when I first started homeschooling Leah 6 years ago in 2005. Back then I only had her and a 2 year old Rhys. Seems like things were a lot simpler then lol. But I do think I've learned a thing or two along the way so that as it gets more complicated, I at least know a little better how to deal with it. Even though the  school year officially started in April before, now I choose when to start depending on when they finish up this year's studies. It looks like we'll be starting in March I think. I want to take this time as a chance to set up some good plans and schedules not only for their school, but for me too. I want to be able to come on here and say "I did it. I got my things done and I got to make a card!" Is that too ambitious?That's my goal anyway. Scheduling and organizing do not come naturally to me. Up until not very long ago, I considered schedules as pretty much evil. I can't really comprehend it coming naturally to anyone, but apparently, it can. Amazing, I know. But anyway, I think it will help everything run more smoothly, so that's my plan...If you have any time scheduling or organizing tips for me, please help me out :)

Okay...enough of that. Time for a card. This was my Dad's birthday card. His birthday isn't actually until Valentine's Day, but he won't be here, so I gave it to him early :) I tried to go for a little more boy-ish colors than I normally do. I really like the Enjoy the Ride set. I should definitely get it out more often. And I have to admit that I have been kind of shying away  from my background building sets lately, kind of seemed like they were too much of a pain to get to work right. But I used polka dot basics 2 and text style basics on this card, and they both turned out pretty well :) I added some glossy accents to the taillights. I love how you can change out what the license plate says. So cute! I couldn't help adding some stitching, but I didn't think it made it look too girlie :)

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I'm going to go think about some schedules.... :)

Favorite Papertrey

I'm really excited about Papertrey's anniversary celebrations :) I'm looking forward to lots of inspiration and fun new products :) The challenge for today was to post your favorite Papertrey card from this past year....kind of hard to choose. Usually there's a little something I like about one card, and then something else I like about another. But this is definitely one of my faves for sure.  Kinds of different from what I usually make.

It uses two of my all time favorite sets too. Butterfly Dreams and  and Turning a New Leaf . I use these sets all the time :) I love how you can color in these butterflies and give them such a different look. I colored some of the pearls with copics too so they would match. I also stamped the sentiment directly on my card, which I am often too chicken to do lol.
Thanks so much for stopping by. Hope you are having a fun weekend. I am :)

big plans.

I think I mentioned it before---my birthday is this Saturday. I'll be 31(!) Fortunately, it doesn't seem much of big deal anymore now that I have already hit 30 lol. Tomio and I have been together since I was 14, and he hasn't missed any of my birthdays ever. Even when I was in college in Canada, he flew out to see me (and proposed :)) So he always takes off from work, and the couple of times he couldn't manage to take the whole day off, he still came home early. This year it's Saturday, so technically he doesn't need to take off from work, but he said he would take off Friday and we could celebrate for 2 days :) Sounds good to me. We'll probably go to Outback as a family during the day, and Tomio and I supposed to go out to a movie at night! Since our girls' Christmas shopping trip was the first time since Emma came along for me to actually get to go out without any kids, it's kind of big deal. I'm excited :)Tomio and I used to go to movies a lot while we were dating heehee :) Anyway, those are our big plans for the weekend.

I like making simple cards. I always end up liking those the best. Usually if I try to add too many layers or embellishments, I end up not liking it as much. So today's is simple again. Really enjoying my Unity stamps. I wasn't really sure if I would be able to "pull them off", but they really are just fun to use :) The music background is from Impression Obsession. It's a huge square cling stamp that can cover a full card horizontally or vertically. The Flourish tree and worn grid pattern are from Unity. Like I said, simple card. I just stamped the grid and then the tree. Then I inked the edges. I adhered it before stitching so I could stitch through both layers. And that's it :)

So glad you stopped by! Happy Thursday :)

February....

It's a new month, so I'm hoping it's a start of good things :) Better to be positive and ambitious, right? :) I decided to change up my blog too. I find a little change of scenery is usually inspiring. I *think* I like how it looks. It usually takes me a few days to work on it and to decide whether I like or not.
I love the way that kids look at things :) I don't have an alarm clock, so I just use my cell phone alarm. And so does Tomio. Usually we have them going off  every few minutes....mine--his--mine--his. Kind of annoying, but it does wake you up :) Levi, who climbed into my bed in the middle of the night, heard Tomio's going off and said "oh yeah...that's Daddy's. Yours is just normal, but Daddy's is more Rock'N'Roll." Heehee :) I think it's the vibration :) I like being able to get up with a smile.

So I have a card to share :) Yay :) Really been trying to make sure I have time to do some fun things that I like too. It makes for a much happier me :)

I used an embossing folder on this--I don't think I've used those on my cards in ages. Love how it turned out though. I almost never like to leave my cardstock just plain. I'll at least use versamark and do a tone on tone subtle pattern. But I struggle with that sometimes because it really doesn't show up very well on really light colors, like this yellow. Then I thought, ohhhhh TEXTURE lol :) And that's how I decided onthat. I definitely think I'll be pulling them out a lot more. It's just the right touch sometimes. I used my new Baby Boy Plaid background from Unity on the green base. Really glad I got that stamp. The pretty frame stamp on the label is from Papertrey's anniversary set. It's not for sale though :( To be honest, I haven't really used many of the other stamps from the set. But I do really like the frame that matches the mat stack die :) The butterfly die is the one that goes with the Butterfly Dreams set. I just opted to use it without the matching stamp this time. I like it when the dies can work well with the stamp or without. I decided to loop my ribbon just for fun lol :)
Finished off with a few pearls. Didn't think it needed a sentiment.

Thanks for popping by! I hope your week and month have started off well. I expected it to get colder, but it has actually been a little smidge warmer these past couple of days. Fine by me :)