Starting again.

It's the start of another week. I'm sure I'm not ready. I guess I'll fake it :) At least it is sunny here. I don't know about everyone else, but sunny days cheer me up.

And how about a sunny card? heehee. I honestly didn't even plan my sunny comment to go with my card. Pure coincidence :)

All stamps are from Wplus9. The inks are from Papetrey Ink. I love how cheerful this card turned out. Definitely should brighten up someone's day.

Thanks for stopping by today!! I hope your week starts off great :)

It's party time.

 well, not really. But how about a party layout.

This layout is of Leah. My goodness, they all look SO little!! It's hard to believe how much they have changed in 3 years(!) *sniff,sniff* Lots of Fancy Pants stuff on this layout. And some stamps,  I love using stamps on my layouts when I can.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!! I'm really looking forward to taking it easy today :) stamping, scrapping and maybe some online shopping. fun :)

Smiles.

We went to the dentist today. I say "we", but Miss Emma was the one with an appointment. She had a nasty cavity :(, but she really did a great job. The dentist said most kids her age are too hysterical upset once they get a Novocaine shot that they can't even finish... Miss Emma did shed some tears, but she sat still and let the dentist finish.

So here is a picture of my little trouper :) I love that  impish little smile, it is so "Emma" lol.

I do have a card too :)

I really like how this one turned out. I *love* this stamp set--Larger than Life from Papertrey Ink. One of my absolute all time faves. The sentiment is from Wplus9.

Thanks so much for stopping by!! Has your week started off well? Mine is actually going better than expected :)

last day.

 Today was the last day of "summer break". Of course we are taking time off next week for our 13th wedding anniversary :) We will all go to Disneyland. It's kind of a tradition. But to be honest, I am looking forward to school starting again. I like teaching my kiddos :) And with our current curriculum, they actually love school too :)

Ok... here's today's card.

 I really like these colors. The pretty label die and stamp are from Wplus9. Yes, those are my favorite butterflies from Hero Arts again :)

Thanks for stopping by today!! I hope you have a wonderful day!!

out to breakfast.

Since Tomio is finally on break now, we are all heading out to breakfast this morning :) And probably a little shopping afterwards~fun :)

And a quick card before we head out. Trying for a little more manly type of card. I love how stamping the pocket in blue really makes it look like jeans. Definitely stamp the stitching lines first, though. It makes it a lot easier to line up. I love these pocket stamps from Wplus9! And the matching dies :)

Okay--that's it for me today. Thanks so much stopping by!! I hope you have a super day!!

thinking of you.

A simpler card today. compared to the others I have been posting lately.

I love wood grain backgrounds. They make me happy :) After deciding on that, I just chose some flower stamps and some colors, and it was finished pretty quickly. I like adding the pearls to these flowers, I think it add just the right amount of "pop". Oh, this wood grain stamp is from Wplus9, btw :)

Thanks SO much stopping by! I hope you have a super day. After we get our studies done here today, I plan to tackle our walk-in closet again. I'm actually seeing progress :)

not quite enough...

I don't know about you, but the weekend was just not quite long enough this week... Somehow I did seem to manage to get the "musts" done though. And strangely enough, while I could use a little more time to get stuff done, I don't mind getting started with a new week...

Anyway, enough rambling lol. Here is  very simple card for today:

I used on of my favorite texture plates from Sizzix and some pretty stamps froim Wplus9. I used PTI's Rustic cream and Gina K's dark chocolate cardstock.

Thanks for stopping by today!! I'm off to get caught up on my sleep. 5:30 is just too early to get up....lol
Hope you had a wonderful weekend!!

sunshine :)

We had a very chilly day here yesterday! Goodness, but now it seems to be back to sunny skies and warm weather today :) Spring is my favorite season, so I like to enjoy lots of "warm" days before it gets actually "hot" for summer.

Here's a sunshine-y card I made. (sorry for the awful lighting...) I thought it was cute to have the pearls be the sunshine. It took me awhile to decide where exactly to place the sentiments and to get it curved right. (that can be a little trickier than it seems...lol). Ended up with minimal stamping on this one.

Well, that's it for me today. I've got to work on the kids' school. Thanks SO much for stopping by!! Hope you have a very sunshine-y day!!

a little sunshine...

Not here, though. We've been having thunder storms off and on all day. I don't mind since I'm inside, and I managed to get my laundry in off the line in time too :)

But it's always fun to get a little sunshine in the mail, right?  I really like this sun image from Wplus9.  The sentiment is actually a combination of ones from the pocket set the sun came with, and a sunflower set from Papertrey. The frame stamp is from Waltzing mouse. I've had it for awhile, but this one of the first cards I made with it that I actually liked.

I don't know how well you can see it, but I impressed it with the linen/canvas plate from Papertrey.

Thanks for stopping by today!! I hope you are enjoying your weekend!!

Bright.

Today's card is definitely bright and cheery :)

Not really a color combo I usually use, but I think it's kind of fun. I really like this sun image from Wplus9. So cheery in a nice yellow. And the oversized sentiment is fun too(it's from Papertrey).

Okay--extra short today. The kids had a fun day at the park today and now it's time to tuck them all into bed. Thank you SO much for stopping by today!! Hope you an amazing day!!

Another butterfly :)

I really liked this butterfly from Gina K. Designs :) And I have already established that one can never have too many butterflies.

I used the "rock and roll" technique on this card. I will admit that this is my first time to ever use this technique(!) But I like how it turned out :) And it was pretty easy too. The wood grain background is from Wplus9. It has a little bit different look than the woodgrain from PTI that I usually use.

A pretty simple card, but I had fun making it and liked the results :)

Thanks for stopping by today!! Hope your week is starting off great :)

Heat Embossing.

Wow--it's already April?!? At least for us here in Japan :) Leah is off at a golf tournament today. So glad the weather is SO nice for her. The boys are planning some kind of super hero games for today, and I am, yes, hoping to get some crafty time in :) But I will try to get my housework done first. Really.

Really CAS card with some heat embossing today.

One of my favorite Wplus9 sets. I also really like the rustic cream cardstock for the base. It goes so well with the kraft. To be honest, the reason I choose the cream base as opposed to white is because my "white" embossing powder is really more of an off-white. But it seems to go really well with the cream cardstock :) I'm also pretty sure I'm going to put in an order for some actual white embossing powder, and hopefully some clear "detail" powder.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!! I hope you have a wonderful day :)

Going back.

to my go-to color combo :) Today's card I made with one of my favorite color combos-kraft, chocolate brown, and just a pop of white :)

I have bigger stocks of all three of these colors of cardstock than any of my other colors lol. The pretty stamps are from Wplus9. I almost didn't get this set, but I'm so glad I did. Really easy to use.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Leah starts her spring break golf camp today, and I've got a bunch of things I'm supposed to get done...I hope you have a wonderful day!!!!

a little blue

Light blue is (and has been for years) one of my very favorite colors :) But, for some reason, I seem to have a harder time crafting with it. Not sure if I don't know to use it as much, or it's just that I forget to pull it out lol. Anyway, today I have a card using light blue.

I really liked this cake from Wplus9. I used some swirlies from another Wplus9 set to make the stand. I like how it made it look a little more elegant. I also like the little pops of black. I've been using these black rhinestones a lot lately.

I impressed it with Papertrey's linen/canvas impression plate, after I finished stamping it.

Thanks for stopping by today!! Rhys's 9th birthday party is on Saturday, so I have some presents to wrap and cakes to make :)

a quick share.

It's pretty late, and I probably *should* be getting ready for bed....but, Tomio is up late with work anyway. I figured I might as well do a quick post :)

Another card with Wplus9 stamps. See, I told you they were fun :) I really like adding a little texture with impression plates on cards like this where the stamping is basically one layer.

Still pretty simple.
Thanks for popping in today! I hope your week is starting off well. Mine has been good so far :)

sorry...

for the lack of posts this week :( no real reason other than I kind of thought  I posted more. I never have tried scheduling my posts ahead of time, but I wonder if it would help me be more organized?! (as anyone who knows me can attest, that is definitely *not* my forte)

Anyway :) I have a Wplus9 card for today. I really do love all their sets that I have.

I used Mehndi Medallion for this one. Pretty simple. I used Papertrey's Smoky shadow for the base. I'm really liking using gray lately. I've yet to find a medium gray that I like though, one to match the ink I used on this card.

Well, that's it for me today. I have 3 little peeps to put to bed. (Leah is out at golf with her Daddy). Thanks so much for stopping by!! Hope you had a great weekend :)

we had

 a very full busy day today. The cousins came over, which means everyone had way too much fun and was way too wild :) Even Miss Emma was excited about Olivia coming over. Having a girl-cousin only four months younger than you must be pretty awesome :)  Us mamas managed to get some chatting, hair-dying, more chatting, baking done. and we even looked at some stamping stuff heehee :)

So this card *isn't* one from today. Just a simple card I made with lots of stamps and coordinating die cuts. Nothing too fancy, just a fun little card. Stamps are from Wplus9 and Papetrey Ink.

okay--that's it for me today.  Need some rest I think :) Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you have a super day!!

purple.

I realized I don' use a lot of purple in my cards. I use *plenty* of lavender, but not much "purple". But since I got a pack of purple cardstock, I thought I would sort of challenge myself to make some cards with i.

So far, I've made this 1. heehee. But I do think I like how it turned out :) It's a very deep purple, isn't? The houndstooth background is from Unity.

And the frame and sentiment are from Wplus9, the sprig is from Verve, and the flower is from Papertrey.hee. A lot of different stamp companies for this one.

Okay--I'm off to straighten up the house before Tomio and Leah get back from playing a round of golf today. Way too cold for me, but I guess they enjoy it... : ) Thanks so much for stopping by!!

not quite ready.

I'm not quite ready for Monday. I'm pretty sure I need at least another day and a half...But I did have a good weekend :) I got some "happy mail" from 2 different magazines:) yay :)

Anyway, here is a card I made right after I got my new Wplus9 stamps. I used just a single damask image to make the background, and it was surprisingly easy. Then  I stamped over it with Hero Arts Friendship definition background stamp. I get *a lot* of use out of that stamp :)

Then I just finished off with a couple of buttons and as sentiment from Wplus9 too.

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you are a little more ready for Monday than I am...

I've been

to the doctor so much this year that they have totally gotten to to know me and my kids. The nurse asked me, "oh, so it's just Emma today?" I guess it's a good thing. I actually really like our pediatrician and dermatologist. Oh, and the dentist too. When I called to make my last appointment, the receptionist was like "it's your birthday this week, isn't it?" heehee :)
Anyway...

I really like how this card turned out. Especially considering it's not a "CAS" card. Lots of different stamps one this one-- some Verve, some Wplus9, Impression Obsession for the background.

I really like how Impression Obsession has huge background stamps that cover the whole background. I also really like Verve's dies, like I used for the sprigs. I wish they had even more :)

Thanks for stopping by today! I haven't stamped in a couple days, so I'm really hoping to today.