Whew! I don't know about you crafty folks, but 2018 was quite literally like living in the last season of a long running soap opera where the writers don't care anymore so they will literally throw anything at you. Good? Bad? Who cares - lets' throw it all in and see what happens! I lost two of my close family members. We moved from a house to an apartment so our landlord could re-rent the house he broke our lease to sell within weeks of our moving. We road tripped to Las Vegas and back in our ancient minivan...in the summer. We bought a house to combine households with my sweet in-laws. The previous owners would not leave, and it took a month of remodel work to turn it into a livable space. I decided to cap off the year with another 2 week road trip in the minivan, because once you start losing family members, it becomes so important to not just stay home.
2019 Came and I thought all right! We are FINALLY moving into the new place for reals...and then my hubby fell down the stairs of our apartment and broke his leg..and his ankle. I finished the move and unpacking while nursing the broken husband, tending the freaked out kids, and inhaling coffee as fast as I could. My in-laws moved in (yay!) on the same day I hosted a Launch event for CTMH. I have a TEENAGE boy living in my house now, people. I haven't made hardly a thing EXCEPT for card kits or
Craft with Heart Layouts because I could barely find glue. And while I do not in any way regret spending so much time and energy on FAMILY FIRST...I miss my inky paws and crafting therapy.
I was having brunch yesterday with a dear friend and I said again, for the umpteenth time, I'm sure I can start crafting again in May. Like next month will suddenly mean I'm completely unpacked and the boys are calmly, amazingly getting along, and the yard will be tidy, and am I serious? I went home and I thought no more waiting. Crafting is my therapy, peeps, and I am in serious need. So I sat down to look at all the things I've missed - almost two entire Seasonal Expressions, and this absolutely adorable
Stamp of the Month. Ugh - two days left on this one and it practically has my NAME written all over it. (sob) So today I went into my tidy and unused new stamp space and I MADE SOME THINGS. Like this card - using
I Heart Us (which I bought extra of, even though its gone in two days because it is stinkin' fabulous!!) and that pretty
April SOTM. I used a sketch from
Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge, because my tired brain needs to be given a direction, lol. It didn't take all day, and I've still managed to prep potatoes for the rest of the week, make a big pot of spaghetti sauce, and clear 1300 photos off my phone.
I used the
Mint and
Black shimmer brushes to flick speckles onto my stamped images. Do you HEART that arrow zip strip from I Heart Us? I know I do! I can't promise to post every day (yet), but I am making a promise to myself that I will make time for the things that fill my cup in addition to all the stuff that HAS to get done. So if you missed me, I'm back. If you need to refill your cup, pop over to
Atlantic Hearts and try on this sketch. Make time to do what you love, because you are so worth it, Stampin' Friends! ❤
