first post!

Of the new year :) Sorry it has been so long. We had 14 people at our house for last 10 days. It was definitely crazy :) The kids had such a blast playing with their cousins all during the holidays. I actually just got my Christmas decorations taken down last night. I think that is the first time I have left them up past the new year.

Anyway, it's a new year. Hoping to accomplish a few things.

I didn't make one thing over the holiday, but I have this card from before. I love this butterfly and use it often. It is from Clear Dollar stamps. Unfortunately, I think they are only making digital stamps now :(

Thanks for stopping by today!! I'm hoping to slowly get back into the swing of everyday things :)

poor, neglected...

 blog :( I feel bad, because I actually really do enjoy posting on my blog. That's why I started in the  first place. But with our up coming move, I really just haven't had the time or even the "umph" I needed to get posting. So, for those sweet followers of mine, I am sorry. I hope to post more, but in all honesty, it will most likely be a little slower for the next month or so.

I do have great news for me though :) I got my Japanese driver's license today!! It was a big ordeal and I had to work hard, but it paid off :) Now I can drive the super cute Nissan Cube that Tomio got me for our anniversary. Once we move to Kyushu, I will pretty much *have* to be able to drive, so that is why I did it. So happy about it :)

Not a new card, but another pub from Paper Crafts. It was in the same magazine as the last one I shared.

I really liked this one too, so I was just thrilled when they chose this one and the other one.

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

Beautiful Friend

I always like to find more butterfly stamps--especially with matching dies. But even if they don't have dies, I often end up cutting them out. I like how it adds some dimention.

That's what I did with these really pretty ones from Clear Dollar stamps and Gina K. The biggest one is from Gina K. I heat embossed the smaller one in white so I could stamp it on the Melonberry cardstock. The leaves are from Papertrey Ink's Turning a new leaf. I kind of like the melonberry-gray combo.

Tomio and Leah are off at her golf tournament today. I'm hoping to catch up on a little housework and some stamping :) Thanks for stopping by today!! Hope you have a lovely weekend!

camp.

It's that time of year here--summer camp for my kiddos.  Levi is still too little to go, but both Leah and Rhys will go. Rhys's is this week and Leah's is next week. They are beyond excited and have a wonderful time :) I, on the other hand, am not nearly as excited :( Since I homeschool, I see them all day, everyday. Now of course, that does mean that, yes, every now and then I *do* need a break. But, when they are gone, goodness, I miss them!! So do their brothers and sisters too. I guess it's not a bad thing for them to realize how much they actually like each other though :)

Okay---on to today's card. This one I just sort of started stamping and playing and then it just slowly came together. I just kept trying out some of my faves. I haven't used the chevron stripes a lot yet, but I can tell already that I like them :) I love finding new stamps to make pretty backgrounds with. The butterflies are from Clear Dollar stamps. Oh, and the chevrons are from Papertrey. I debated where to get some, since so many companies have them now. In the end, I went with the Papertrey one because I thought it would be most versatile since I could switch around the patterns of different strips. Also makes it easy to add just a border, like I did in this card.

And that's it :) I stayed up way too late last night, and I am off to bed. Thank you SO much for stopping by!!

I did it :)

Yay!  I actually am participating in a CR8T4FN challenge twice in a row. I loved this week's colors even more than last time's.

See, so pretty! But for some reason I actually had a harder time coming up with what I wanted to make.
In the end this is what I came up with:

I think I like it lol. I surprised myself and only used a tiny bit of the lavender, even though it was my favorite color out of the three.

The pretty butterfly is from Clear Dollar stamps--I love the matching dies. The sentiment is from Papertrey's Gracious Vases. Oh, and the background text is from Hero Arts ( use it entirely way too much lol).

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I'm off to check out all the other lovely creations submitted for the challenge this time :) And then I'm going to enjoy this great weather we have here today and take my peeps out for a walk.

how about a square

card? A little one. I made this one a little while ago...

A little bit different. Added lots of hand-stitching. I added one of the pretty butterflies from Cleardollar stamps. I embossed only the top half of the cardstock. I didn't like the line that was in between, so I added some twine on top.

Thanks for stopping by today! I'm off to play some Yahtzee with my peeps :)

another vintage-y card

at least a little bit. Definitely more than the cards I normally make.

I really like how the background turned out.I stamped the polka dots in versamark. Then I stamped the text on the edges, and last I added the flourishes. The sentiment and the butterfly are from Clear Dollar stamps. The ribbon is from Etsy.

Ok--that's it for me today. All of my peeps are under the weather today, and we are headed to the doctor. What did it have snow today? No one's up to playing in it :(

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you are staying warm!!

I found...

some more butterflies I like :) as if I needed anymore, right? heehee :) I always need more butterfly stamps, especially if they have matching dies. I got these at Clear Dollar stamps for 50% off during their Black Friday sale.

Just a simple card, but I liked the butterfly so much I kind of wanted it to take center stage. I also diecut and stamped the the butterfly 3 times and layered it for some extra dimension. I made the pretty texture with my favorite texture plate from Sizzix. Finished off with a couple of gems.

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you are having a great week!!