Well, I think you know what time it is! Sketch time! OK this is a LITTLE early……….but Im sure you won’t mind, right?

I’m marking off what is non-stamp related for those who don’t want to read the random ramblings. I went off deep into thought. I do ask for some advice in the paragraph so if you are a teacher or parent (especially of an older child with special needs=please read) Stamp related is after scored areas 😀

thanks

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I have so much stuff to share its crazy! Both craft and family related. The next few weeks here are going to be filled with some amazing things-I swear!

I want so much to share the fun things we did with the kids this week, but will do that tomorrow. We have been to Canobie lake, apple picking, and the to Fair. I have some great photos.  Tomorrow is also Alexa’s birthday party! I cannot even believe my baby is going to be 9- officially on Monday! Seems like yesterday I was pregnant with her, so unsure of what her future would hold. Worrying about so many unforeseen things, and soon learning there is a reason we aren’t meant to see the future, and to take life ONE DAY AT A TIME. Enjoy today and be thankful for it, because who knows what is to come tomorrow.

While its been a rollercoaster (to say the least) I wouldn’t have it any other way. Alexa is truly an amazing person. Her 9 years so far in my life have changed me internally, forever, in ways I think everyone should experience. Ways that can’t be taught, just lived. To see the world through her can be amazing, refreshing, and insanely heartbreaking all in the same breath. You see the good people in the world, and the ugly, all in the same day. You see how simple things can be for others, is the biggest of achievements for her. I wish I did see some of it beforehand. She has done so well. She continues to overcome things that hold her back. She is ever-changing, and always striving to improve. Alexa is amazing.

I was going through the store thinking-what so you buy a 9 year old! Its a hard age. Shes getting older so I don’t want to buy her “baby” things, yet too young to buy older things.

I did find this AWESOME cupcake maker!! “I” am excited over this thing. Not sure if I bought it for HER or ME! LOL! Seriously cool. I hope to get her using it, and get some fun photos. I even got her the apron and chef hat, with lots of cupcake refills/frosting. The cool thing is these cupcakes cook in the microwave in 30 seconds! Then it has this awesome frosting “machine”. Oh yippy skippy, I truly can’t wait. I also bought her this TAG reader pen. I want to encourage her to expand her reading skills.

On another note MATH is KILLING us here. She is having a very hard time with it. Im not sure if people with Down Syndrome have a different technique to learning this skill, but this is proving to be a very tough subject for her to grasp. You have to remember Alexa is my first child. What I like to call the practice kid! LOL! The first one always gets everything the worst. You have NO IDEA what you are doing, and I think you expect more fo them. I tend to be stricter, and had much more will-power for the “no” stuff with the first. Plus they get your undivided attention for X years, till the next one comes along. The bad part is everything she does-is “normal” to me. I often don’t realize some things until I see other kids her age, or one of her siblings can do things she cannot yet master (this is generally the physical stuff, but some is cognitive-like safety awareness). That is also hard to see sometimes too. Something people don’t think you notice, but you do. She didn’t walk till she was 3! That was so hard. I’d see little 7 month old babies starting to pull up. She just didn’t have the stregnth to do that, and was happy as a clam to sit quietly and play. She had no desire to walk, afterall she could get where she needed to go by crawling, or later cruising.

So, to the present-she can count and all that, and is good with learning money and whatnot, but the majority of the math is becoming very hard for her. I don’t ever like making “excuses” for her, but I think this is a true obstacle. That being said, anyone out there (teachers or other parents) if you know a great learning program or have tips PLEASE contact me. I really need Alexa to get this and be able to grasp the addition and subtraction. This is a vital LIFE skill, in order to promote her independence. We are now cutting out parts of the math program that aren’t vital for her to know so she can grasp onto this concept. We aren’t sure how to help teach her this as she truly looks blankly at us, and doesn’t seem to understand exactly what we want when we are asking her to add 3 + 9 etc. So anything helpful and FUN is a plus. Alexa is a visual person and needs LOTS of repetition and anything hands on is a PLUS!! Thanks in adnvance-even if you can’t help, but because you “listened”

OK that went WAY off base! You can tell where my mind is-jeeze! Sorry about that.

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I have to say I was inspired by my own card last week. Not just the sketch, but the colors and stamp set. So I wasn’t going to limit my creativity just because I was inspired by a previous creation, so I went with it!

Besides, circles are HOT!

Keyword -mytimess07 if you decide to upload to a gallery anywhere.

Send us a link if you decide to give the sketch a try. I do my very best to visit each persons creation done with the sketch. Which is great because it gets me hopping around blog to blog, gallery to gallery, which I otherwise don’t get to do much of-sadly. AND there are SOOOOOO many blogs! WOW! Its hard to keep up. By doing this I am able to find new talent, I never knew about. You are all quite amazing 😀

Now for my sample

Remembering to thank you-

I need to make like a 100 of those! I have a huge list I still need to send out. HUGE! The sentiment is one of my favorites too.

These colors are the same as last week- Vintage Cream, Kraft,  spring moss, and dark chocolate and used the inks to match .  If you haven’t noticed, Remember is one of my favorite sets! I think I used it for like 4 Saturday Sketches! That doesn’t include random stuff.

As you can see my “circles” weren’t literal. I just used my flowers as my circles. Use the sketch in a way that YOU see it. Don’t limit yourself!

 I love the overlapping look. I also LOVE my main focal point. This was one of those cards that I just adored when done. I used my circle nestabilties for this, as well as the tag nestabilities. Some of my favorite things. I think nestabilities are the best thing they have ever invented for stampers-next to the ATG Gun, Scor-Pal, and my Copic Makers!

Well that is it for today. I cannot wait to see what YOU do with it. In the meantime why don’t you check and see what my sketch team has envisioned using the sketch : (note their posts won’t go live till Satuday)

Till tomorrow!

Welcome to the FIRST Bella Blog hop, skip & a jump!

Some of you *may* know that Shannan is the very first guest designer for Stamping Bella 😀 Lucky girl. Well she asked some girls to play along with her for a Holiday themed Bella Blog Hop! I am very excited! Thanks for thinking of me girl 😀 I own way more Bella’s than I care to admit in public. Yet, I NEED  want more.

 The goal was to create a winter/holiday gift using our Bella’s.

Now the PROBLEM with the challenge was I didn’t PAY ATTENTION. I have a thing with reading directions. It usually doesn’t happen. SO what did I do? Instead of creating a winter GIFT, I made a winter CARD. At least I got the WINTER part right.

THEN when I got my lil reminder I realized my error, and only had like 10 minutes to make something. NOT COOL! When you are stamping with these great girls, its not good to only have 10 minutes. That included photo time people! Yes, I know-crazy. But we are busy with soccer and we are off (weather permitting) to the Deerfield Fair all day.

 The ONLY good thing  about my error is you can see that you can whip up something in 10 minutes, if you HAD to.

Here is WHO is playing along :

Amy Rysavy
Carole Burrage
Debbie Olson
Jen del Muro
Lauren Meader
Michele Boyer
Shannan Teubner
Taylor Van Bruggen

The Bella Blog
Nicky Manel

Now I will first share my card-since that was my original thought for the challenge.

Snowflakes

For this I used my most loved Christmas/Winter color combo 😀 Lav. lace, sweet blush, and Caribbean. I used the Glideabellafor this card. I think she is so cute, and has gone uninked for a YEAR! YIKES! How could she be so un-loved? A shame. But winter is coming so they will all get loved again. She was done with my copic markers. I used liquid applique on her jacket cuffs and collar.

I thought that Rustic Snowflakes would be the perfect addition for this! I added bling stickers to the snowflake squares-which were colored with markers for the trio of color, and I used the Glue Pad and Martha glitter for my vellum snowflake border layer. Nice and wintery! I find that adding layers in vellum cardstock as a nice soft layer.

Now for my under 10 gift

Snowbunnybella

Gotta love Pepperidge Farm cookies! These fit PERFECTLY into the Papertrey 4 oz round tins-4 per tin, no problem! Makes you feel less guilty eatting 4 as well. Another great thing to whip up for all the people on your list that you want to do a little something for but not anything over the top.

I used my Core-din-ations cardstock and ran it through my snowflakes folder, then sanded. Super fast and easy, and gives a nice look I think. I wrapped the lid with some ribbon from SEI I believe. I then tied around the tin with my Polka Dot ribbon from Papertrey Ink

In that “mass producing” mind set, I kept my tag SIMPLE (OK honestly I didn’t have the time to get all fancy schmancy-but it works!). I used my snowflakes TABLE CONFETTI (cook huh?) as my accents for my tag, adhering them with glue dots.

So that is it! My quick under 10 gift idea! LOL!

Sorry girls for my lack of reading.

Make sure you all hop around to see what everyone has come up with!

Tomorrow are more release peeks and my Saturday Sketch!

Later