Short and Sweet

Hi stampers!  I have a short and sweet post and a simple card to share.  I had parts of this sitting on my desk for weeks.  I struggled with it for a long time and then wham, it just came together one night.  Hooray!  Maybe I'm getting my brain cells back!

Don't look too close at the gold feather.  It may have gotten it's top lopped off by accident further frustrating me and causing me to run from my room saying bad words ;-)  But in the end I think it worked out ;-)  

Stampin' Supplies:
Stamps: Four feathers, snuggles and smooches
Paper:  Whisper white, night of navy, gold glimmer
Ink:  Hello honey, marina mist, night of navy
Accessories:  Baker's twine, feather framelits

I think I've learned that I can't force it and when things aren't working I just need to walk away!  And there's my favorite sentiment of all times, the old MPP stamp!  I love that thing!  

Happy stamping!

Hey There Friends!

Hi stampers!  It's been a while, I know!  I accidentally had to peeve out of the last Fab Friday challenge.  I kind of forgot about it.  I mean, I went to stamp two nights…and actually made a few things I liked…which made me get all excited to keep stamping although it made me forget what I went to stamp in the first place…the Fab Friday challenge, lol!!!  And then I was at my mom's last week taking Ian and I's first solo trip there so I didn't have any of my stamp stuff.  But I'm happy that I made some things I liked.  I'm hopeful the trend will continue now that I'm back home.

Here's one of the simple cards that got me going.  I had the washi tape down on paper for a while just sitting on my desk.  Seems I'm making parts of cards here and there these days and waiting for them to inspire me :-)  I also pulled out my very favorite Paper Pumpkin stamp for the sentiment as I couldn't find anything I was liking.  I LOVE this stamp and will use it for-ev-er!!!!  Sorry if you get sick of it :-)

This is a take on one of my all time favorite layouts.  I'm just going to try to rely on things I've found to be tried and true while I work through my feelings of less than creative-ness :-)  I think this could also make a cute baby card.

Happy stamping!

Fab Friday 59

Hi stampers and happy Friday!  I know, I've failed at posting more again.  I'm not sure what else I'm doing all day since it's frigid and we're stir crazy!!!! Oh well.  One of these days. At least it's time for a new challenge over at Fab Friday!  How about some pretty spring colors even if it feels like it's never going to warm up!?!?

This card didn't turn out quite like I planned and I may re-vamp it.  It's supposed to be for Ian's future wife for her first birthday :-)  The Backes men like older women, hehe!  I wanted to include a "1st Birthday" sentiment but it didn't work out quite like I'd planned so I may have to try again!

Make sure to head on over to the Fab Friday site and check out the other inspiration and play along!

Happy stamping!

Fab Friday 58

Hi stampers!  I've been doing a lousy job at stamping and posting as usual, ha!  But since it's Friday I do have a card for the Fab Friday challenge!  And I did make some Valentine's, I just haven't posted them.  Maybe later.  For now, here's the current sketch:

My mom is here for the week so I thought I'd have all this time to stamp! LOL!  Not really as by the time we make it to the gym with the little guy (which takes forever and has to be carefully coordinated with feedings and naps…and that doesn't always work out well lol) half our day is gone.  Then we usually go shopping or run errands or just hang out together so the stamping hasn't happened except for my card here which I hastily threw together.

I was going in a different direction entirely until I noticed I'd left this saw stamped and cut out on my desk.  The idea in my head looked better than what we have here but at least you get the idea :-)  I could use a larger wood disc I think and I should have layered the background more too but oh well.  I think I'll give this one to my hubby since we make a pretty good team with the baby!  For instance, at bath time we have both kind of settled into different jobs and it works out so well.  Daddy was gone for work recently and it's funny how much longer that task takes when we can't divide and conquer! :-)

And these products make it so easy to make manly cards….and we all know I don't do that well :-)

Make sure to play along with us!

Happy stamping!

Fab Friday 57

Hi stampers!  Happy Fab Friday New Year :-)  We're back and we hope you're ready to play along!  We have an awesome new team member too so make sure to head on over to the main site and check her out!

We have a festive color challenge for you.  While it makes great Valentine's we'd love to see whatever else you can come up with for it too!

Thanks to Ian finally going to bed pretty easily now I was able to have some time to stamp in the evening and get this card done!  :-)  He's 6 months now as of yesterday by the way!  WOW!  Anyway, here's my card and I actually like it, hooray!

I used the DSP stack which was perfect and then some random ribbons one of which is retired…shhhhh!  I lack in real red current ribbons it seems :-)

Now head on over to Fab Friday and play along!

Happy stamping!

Shake it off

Hi stampers!  I must be a bit loopy today as the title of my post makes me laugh.  A friend of mine from my old job and I couldn't STAND any Taylor Swift songs (which with about one radio station we could get at work her songs played WAY too much so even if we had liked them we were always sick of ALL the songs they played, ha).  See, loopy, I tell ya!  Anyway, the title fits because I need to shake it off that I haven't blogged or stamped as much as I'd liked.  But, because we were back home over the weekend for TWO baby showers (FUN) and many of our shows are back on in the evening, I'm ok with it.

And then I'm sharing a shaker card!  I don't THINK I've shared this one and I've had it filed away for-ev-er!  It's a total CASE from my friend Jen Timko and it really helped me feel creative when I was struggling a while ago.  Heck, it may have even been made before Ian, I can't really remember.

Anyway, here it is!

Thanks for the inspiration as always Jen!

I love the colors!  I want to make more shakers but in the move I lost my window sheets…which if I'm being honest were actually transparencies that I bought in college for a presentation.  Do kids today even know what those are/were???  Ha!  I need to buy some of our window sheets but I'd been using these since I had a bunch of them and man, were those things expensive!  I wonder where they are?  You always seem to lose something when you move, right? Oh, and how did I make it if I didn't have anything you ask?  I used a cello bag, lol!  It was NOT easy but it worked I suppose ;-)  I also love that star stencil but MAN, I need a sink in the basement to clean it off!  :-)

Oh well, off to look at what else I need since it's SAB and a great time to order anything you need or stock up on things you use a lot!  Remember, you get a free item for every $50 you spend!

Happy stamping!

Look at me go!

Hi stampers!  I'm on a roll I guess!  I've been to the gym twice (am planning to go today…please pray Ian's nap cooperates with a class I want to try, ha), I have lunch plans with a new friend, I'm blogging and I FINALLY got a watermark in my photo software!  I have been trying to do that since I got my Mac years ago!  So, hopefully editing will go faster now since I won't have to type it out every single time!

Although, for all that accomplishment I STILL haven't made a dent in the mountain of laundry I let pile up or taken the Christmas tree down (the ornaments are off though, lol).  There's always later, right?

Here's a card I made a few weeks ago using a sketch I had pinned.  I made a few Christmas cards with this although I'm not sure I shared all (or any?) of them.  They turned out better than this one but at least I tried!

I'll try to list my supplies soon.  I used to have the catalogs practically memorized so it was easy.  Now, not so much.  I have lost brain capacity and can't for the life of me remember the names of things :-)  Maybe I can study during a nap.  And of course every time I need my catalog it's not where I am!

Happy stamping!