Eeek! It's nearly the end of September!

And I must catch up on my Christmas cards. Well, I'm 4 out of 6 of the way there, with two of these tonight:

How cute is that stamp! It's a Unity stamp of the week one. I didn't really like the box around the accompanying sentiment so I raided my stash for this instead. Masking wasn't quite right here but oh well. Another card that if you receive, I must really like you!

Also made this for Zhenya (for her to send):

It's a rehash of one I made in May? June? but Zhenya needed a sympathy card, not a get well card. So I remade it for her in blues, as per request. We've arranged a trade, one pack of SU! 12x12 divided page protectors (I am ONE short on my Disney album - which is well underway - I hope to share with you guys soon!) for this card, and the grungy baby card. I love trading stuff. It's just friendlier somehow than paying people. Plus, it saves me placing a teeny-tiny order.

Right! That's that for this evening. Leo had shots today and has been VERY grumpy (well, for Leo, anyway, it's probably every other baby's normal); so I'm slightly tired. Completely recovered from tummy rot, thankfully.

From the chaos!

By the end of last night's creating, I had to work leaning on an ArtBin, on my lap. That was how bad my desk was! I only made two cards too, but struggled with them both so that's why I made such a mess!

These are both for Kristina Werner's photo inspiration challenge on the Simon Says Stamps blog. She has an adorable cat called Mannie who pops up occasionally in her videos. The photo she chose really showcased Mannie's eyes, the shape of which inspired this...

See how the leaves are kind of cat's eye shapes? I wasn't actually that pleased with this as I messed up the masking on the right hand side by throwing my usual background stamp technique out of the window and just stamping. Error! I also wasn't thrilled with the colours somehow. So... I made this:

That stapler is getting some love! Another reason I made another card was because the challenge suggested using Basic Grey things. Well, neither of my two BG things quite fit the colour brief, so I decided to stretch it a bit and think about my gorgeous cat who lives with my parents in Lancaster, UK. Gobo is 19 years old (human years!) and we didn't think he'd survive the flight over here. I miss him - a cat makes a house into a home in my opinion. Jacob asks me about twice a week for a cat too... but our lease doesn't permit pets as the previous tenant adopted loads of cats and let them loose in the HVAC system. It didn't end well. Anyway! Gobo is a white cat with splodges like Mannie, except that Gobo's patches are tabby. The brown bits of the tabby splodges are made up of individual furs which are stripy! So that was why I included the plaid part of the paper - the yellowy-gold part reminded me on Gobo's stripy fur. The green was Mannie's eyes, and the sunburst was an attempt to give the illusion of how the fur of a cat all seems to flow from the nose! There was a disaster with this card too, see if you can spot it.... This is BG Oxford by the way.

Feeling a lot better this week. Haven't made it to the gym but I have left the house etc. So there is progress! I also managed to make cookies today, and I got my hair cut. If you know me personally, you'll know I absolutely HATE going to the hairdresser so that was a major achievement!

I just booked Disney tickets for our Floridian odyssey! Yay! Apart from I think my bank card might have melted. They are seriously pricey!

Finally - and this is FANTASTIC news - I toughened up today and put Leo in his cot for nap AND at Jacob's bed time. Usually he locks me to the sofa by lying along side me and snuggling my leg, which is lovely, but a little frustrating and unproductive. So he cried it out at lunchtime and then this evening it only took two cycles of "popping in". Brill! I think having things a bit more routiney will help me get jobs done and make plans with people. Getting out of the house is key! 

Super Wednesday!

Well, somehow I managed to get Leo, AKA Velcro Baby, to sleep for 3 hours solid this afternoon without being glued to me. I kept thinking I'd never get the next project finished, but I kept managing it. So I made 5 cards! Wooo! And in fact, I'd done two others earlier in the week so I am about to update you on 7 cards....

First up: 100.11 was a repeat of 100.10 (the Christmas mittens). So you don't need to see that.

100.12 was another Christmas card:

All I can say is BLEURGH!!! Don't like this at all. I think it's the button. These wooden buttons will be available from SU! from June 1st, I got them in the pre-order (one of the many perks of being a demo!). I am actually not a big fan of them though coz I can't figure out how to use them, and they are a bit plasticky looking somehow. Everything else SU! makes is awesome though! :D

Supplies: Certainly Celery and Very Vanilla cardstock, Jolly Holiday DSP, Linen thread, Wooden button, Chock-full of Cheer stamp set.

Onto 100.13:

This was for a colour challenge on Splitcoast: Blushing Bride, Certainly Celery, Soft Suede. I cheated and used Rose Red too as I couldn't find any ribbon in the given colours. I also did a bit of paper piecing with the leaves to give them a bit of dimension by curling them at the edges. And I cut into the bird's wings, again for a bit of dimension.

Supplies: Rose Red seam binding ribbon, Basics Jewels: Pearls, Whisper White, Certainly Celery and Blushing Bride cardstock, Soft Suede, Certainly Celery, Blushing Bride and Rose Red ink, Betsy's Blossoms and Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp sets.

100.14 was a repeat of the 100.4 hummingbird card.

Getting worried I'll lose my post so I'll upload this, then do another!

100 Lions Roaring!

Well I have so much news...

Here is baby Leo, one of the projects I've been working on in the last few months!

And one with a very proud Big Bro Jacob:

I am so smitten with my boys!

On the stamping/Etsy front I have just reopened my shop, and caved and bought a proper light tent. So I will be updating with new shots soon, and I also have a few new cards to post.

In other stamping news, a very smart lady called Mindykid on Splitcoast Stampers has started up a 100 Cards/Projects in 100 Days challenge. Well I am on day 3 and so far 3 cards have been made. So I am hoping to post all of those on here too. I am also trying to incorporate some more regular blogging too, so any encouragement or prodding will be MOST welcome!

 Card 1 - SUO using Sweets for the Sweet and the sentiment comes from Best Dad Ever. It's actually my favourite "Happy Birthday" stamp.

 Card 2 - SUO using Fabulous Florets and my underused watercolour pencils. Entered this for the CAS Summer 2012 DT search but was gently reminded that CAS cards are usually white/neutral in base. So Daffodil Delight wasn't really cutting it!

Card 3 - SUO using Betsy's Blossoms and the sentiment from Fabulous Florets. Betsy's Blossoms is available from June 1 and I have to say, it's fabulous. This one is my actual entry to the CAS DT search, the deadline is 12 noon today so hopefully I will make it to the next round!