Welcome Back!

Good morning! So, I'm a little behind the eight ball in creating for back to school but when your son is 13, going into 8th grade, and has two male teachers...well, that just doesn't create they same sense of excitement as, frankly, having a female teacher.

I thought it would be fun to make something for the principal's door for the first day of school so...I found a pattern from My Scrap Chick (I think it was a freebie or $1 pattern) and played with the colored School Sheep image in Photoshop (I added the a,b,c, 1,2,3, and welcome back to the chalk board) and eventually decided it would all work. I cut the door knob hanger first, then printed and cut the sheep image with my nesties. I thought it was cute right there but just not enough so I opened up the outlines background paper that comes in the School Sheep set and printed that onto the green cardstock (both front and back due to the way the hanger folds up). I then added some color to a select few apples. I also was going to glitter up the apples but grabbed my glaze pen instead...a good mistake because I like the way the apples look glazed. The leaves are sparkled though and so is the apple on the desk. Just a little bit of twine under the image tied (pun intended ) this all together.

Now I think I'm going to make one of these for each of the female teachers, the school secretary and the principal...being that it is a small school, though, it will only be 8 of them and one is done! What is going to go in the pocket you may ask? I think I'll put a dark chocolate Girardelli square and a packet of the Starbucks Via coffee...a good start to just about anyone's morning right?

In John 14:18 Jesus says, "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you" (KJV). That's a strong, assertive statement spoken with the authority of God. Believe me, my stressed out Sisters, and ask for it each time gray clouds start rolling in over your lake. From: It's No Secret, Rachel Olsen Like many of you I have had many storms roll over my lake and I gotta tell ya...Jesus can calm them in a second if you just call on him. If you'd like to know more about my faith please let me know!

Doodle Pantry Release!

Good morning friends! Finally, I get to post something crafty and it is new release time from Doodle Pantry! As in previous months there are so many super cute sets being released. Go check them all out HERE! First up....
The pictures above and below are the outside and inside of my card made with Quirky Crab and one of its sentiments. I so adore this fun summer image and colors. *This is the pre-colored image.* The patterned papers are from Echo Park's Splash paper pad. I also used Carly's sketch for this card!
Below you see a card made with the Peppermint set. While I went with somewhat of a Christmas color combination I chose a more neutral sentiment thinking it would be refreshing to send out at anytime. The patterned papers you see on this card come with the Minty Paper Pack. Fun stuff I'm tellin' ya!
Now for the cool stuff...the sale! All school themed images are 40% off and the Digi Grab Bag is 50% off! PLUS, don't forget about the free with purchase set! One more thing...check out the blog HERE to see the newest challenge and win yourself some free Doodle Pantry images!

Alright y'all...enjoy the release, have a wonderful weekend, and see ya Monday! Oh, and thank you so much for your kind comments for healing on my ankle. It is not as locally swollen today but my entire foot and ankle is still swollen and now very black and blue. I can, however, walk fairly well on it as long as I don't over extend up or down or side to side. Just some limitations for now. I'm trying to enjoy the time of slow down that the Lord has given me...he orders my steps for sure!

Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails. Proverbs 19:21

Big thanks!

Good morning friends! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! I sure did...my boys are home, well the two that could come home! Yay!

Today, I have a quick clean & simple card for you using one of Doodle Pantry's cute images (but they are allllll cute!) called Beaver Hello. Today's card is exactly why I like digital images so much. You just place them on the paper where you want them, print them off and you are set to go! So easy! I used one of the patterned papers that comes with this set along with some ballet blue and wild wasabi (I think) cardstock.

This card is off to a friend who gave Kyler a ride home from camp on Saturday but not just any ride. This friend's dad is a pilot and he gave Kyler (and a couple of other kids) a ride home in his personal airplane. 45 minutes instead of 3 1/2 hours! Yay! Super cool, huh?

Alright...I'm off to get my day started! I hope you all have a wonderful Monday! See ya tomorrow!

Read. Learn. Achieve!

Good Monday morning all! I hope you had an amazing weekend! Mine was pretty status quo but Kyler did leave for camp yesterday so the house is pretty quiet right now.

Just a quick little post for you today. I've been playing around with some SVG's and doing a couple of challenges from a couple of company's that sell SVG and this is one of those challenges. The challenge from Little Scraps of Heaven Designs was to use one of their ice cream files (yesterday was national ice cream day) to make a tag. Well, I morphed my tag more into a bookmark. Since I was making this for Kyler to use I made the background green like he likes and the ice cream is all chocolate. The fabulous sentiment is from Doodle Pantry's Book Worm set (isn't it nice how sometimes the sentiment makes the project?). I just added some doodling around the tag, white gel pen and clear star gelly roll to the ice cream and then sponged around the vanilla cardstock so it wasn't so bright and called it done. I think he will like it especially when I attach an actual value to it. I'm going to tell him if he gets a certain amount done in his workbook (yes, he still has to work through a workbook in the summer) then I'll take him for ice cream/frozen yogurt. I think he'll do it anyway but this is a nice addition.

Alright, there it is. Tomorrow I have a super cute Rhubarb card to show ya! Have a wonderful Monday!

Critter Tops

So...how was your Monday? Did you get lots accomplished or did ya just wish it wasn't Monday? Well...today is Tuesday and a brand new day! Enjoy it for all that it is worth!

Today's card is a clean and simple card that I made with the FTL from this week. I have days that I just want to make something that is cute but not so much work and yesterday was one of those days for sure. After working one two more time consuming projects (you'll see one tomorrow) I decided to go easy with my Doodle Pantry card for this week. While I was going through my DP stamps I saw the cute Critter Tops set. Since I haven't worked with those yet I thought why not? I'll make this into a boy card using the Turtle Top and the newly released Primary Patterns Digi Paper Pack. I was a little intimidated by the Turtle Top but I chose the size I wanted my circle first then sized it to fit that. I think it worked so slick! The sentiment is from the Super Birdie set (one of my all time favorite DP sets!).

Don't forget to stop by the Doodle Pantry store and check out the Digi Grab Bag. Each great set in the Grab Bag is only $1! Laurie has lots of freebies throughout her store too!

Alright...I'll see you tomorrow with another super fun card!

Peacock Birdie

Good morning my crafty friends! I hope you had a wonderful 4th of July! We had a fun time with friends at a bbq and then enjoyed the fireworks later in the evening. Fun!

Today is New Release Day at Doodle Pantry so I'm here to share with you a super cute new release called Peacock Birdie. I, once again, chose to use the pre-colored birdie and used all three of the patterned papers that come in this set to make my card. There are three sentiments in this set and I used the 'Strut your stuff' sentiment as I made this card for a friend who has been working hard at loosing weight and is almost to her goal. She will definitely need to strut her stuff!

All of today's NEW RELEASES are just amazing so make sure that you head on over to the store to see them all! Don't forget to check out what my design team sisters made with their sets. Just click on their names in my side bar!

Doodle Pantry has their challenge for today up and all you need to do is use a Doodle Pantry image to enter. Just for participating you will receive the outline version of the set I used and you'll also be in the running to receive a $15 gift certificate from Doodle Pantry! The store has several freebies so why not play along?

Well, I hope your day is wonderful! See ya soon!

All The Cool Kids

Good morning! It looks like we are actually going to have a summer day for the first day of summer...86 degrees and sunny! Yay!

Okay, so to the title of the post. I have seen lots of my Doodle Pantry DT sisters making the sweetest cards with this Plush Panda set and I just had to be one of the cool kids (plus he is SO cute!) and make a card too. This didn't end up looking how I thought it would but I still like it. All the patterned paper on this card is from the Plush Panda set, which by the way the entire set is only $3.50!

The layout for this card is Carly's most recent sketch at Sketches by Carly. You have two more days to play in this particular sketch challenge if you want to!

Don't forget to play in our Stock the Pantry challenge this week. All you have to do is use one Doodle Pantry image on your card to qualify. Check out the specifics HERE and then get creating!

Well, I hope you have a wonderful first day of summer! See ya tomorrow!

Star Favor Box

Good Monday morning everyone! Did you have a wonderful weekend? You all know I did! (And if you don't just scroll down to Saturday's post. :)

Today I want to show you a neat Star Favor Box & Card SVG file that Doodle Pantry released on the 5th this month. First, have I mentioned that I love SVG files? They are so fun and versatile and they help me think that I didn't waste my money on a Cricut! You do need to know, though, that you need either Sure Cuts A Lot or Make The Cut to use SVG files with your Cricut or other hardware. (And actually they don't sell the software to work with Cricut's any longer but I won't get into that.) Anyway, all you have to do is import the SVG file into your software, put your desired paper on the mat, and cut...it makes it easy to make things such as this cute star favor! While this one is pretty tiny (maybe a Hershey nugget size) you can scale the files to make them as big or small as you'd like! I'll be making some of these for Scott's graduation party in a couple of weeks. I'm also planning on making a big one for a table centerpiece. I'm not sure I'll actually fill it with anything but it will look great sitting on the table!

Do you want this template but don't have the hardware/software I talked about above? Well, the good news is that when you purchase this template it comes as a PDF as well so you can cut it out by hand! Yay!

Alright, I need to get a move on it this morning. My exercise DVD is calling my name! Have a wonderful day!

Our freedom was not free...

Morning friends. While not a lot better today is a better day with my sinuses than yesterday was (I've only been up for a 1/2 hour though) so I thought I'd get this posted while I felt okay.

Some of you have heard me say that my boys are little pieces of my heart walking around outside my body. I imagine that to be true for most moms. (I said most...I know some relationships are difficult) When I heard of the deaths of some of the soldiers in the brigade that Jon belongs to I decided that I would make sympathy cards for each soldier's family. It has been more difficult than I thought and easy to put to the side and say 'I don't have enough time today'. Frankly, thinking about what those families are going through hurts me and is not a place I like to go BUT I want to follow through. There are now four families that I must send cards too. I used Doodle Pantry's Patriotic Eagle image along with a sentiment from the set that Laurie (owner of Doodle Pantry) so graciously re-worked for me so I could make a banner.

Inside I typed up my favorite sympathy sentiment (that sounds strange doesn't it?). In this case I think the sentiment on the front enhances the sentiment inside. (Noticed the typo just before I was to seal and send out a couple of the cards...why did no one tell me?)

I really wanted this card to be simple and clean for both the fact that I want the sentiment to be the thing that really stands out and for duplication purposes. The layout is from CPS this week. I've also entered this into the Paper Sundaes challenge which is to use a sentiment.

Alright, I'm off to go to Kyler's school for a little while. Have a wonderful day, hug the ones you love, and thank a soldier!

Doodle Pantry Berry Pie

Hello bloggy friends! Sorry for the delay in posting! My DH and I were gone this weekend when I realized I wanted to post this fun little card for ya and now I have a lovely (NOT!) sinus "thing" going on so it is hard to concentrate on too much.

The card I have to share with you today is using an image from one of the FREE sets you can receive from Doodle Pantry when you make a purchase of any amount! The set is called Berry Pie and has both blueberry and huckleberry colored pies as well as several digi papers (which I've used on my card) AND the black outlines so that you can make any type of pie you'd like. Pretty fun, huh?

I thought I'd share with you a picture of the view we had at lunch on Saturday. We went on a wine hike through our favorite winery and ended up on this gorgeous hilltop for lunch. Click on the photo to see a larger picture if you'd like.

Anyway, hop on over to Doodle Pantry to see all the new sets and also head on over to the Doodle Pantry BLOG to see the challenges that are going on right now!

Have a wonderful rest of your day!

Doodle Pantry Blog Parade

Good morning all! Welcome to the Doodle Pantry Blog Parade! If you are following along with the Blog Parade you should have arrived here from Sarah's blog. If you didn't come here from Sarah's blog please head to the Doodle Pantry blog for all the details (there are 5 prizes up for grabs!). You must comment on all blogs and link up at the end of the blog hop in order to qualify for the prizes.

I'm very excited to show you the set Patriotic Turtle used in a non-card form. Each Memorial Day we have a BBQ for our friends...we enjoy time together, good food, and salute the soldiers that have died in combat. This year I wanted to put up a little spot where people could write my son Jon a little note (he is serving in Afghanistan) to be included in a future box. I thought this Patriotic Turtle image and the 'God bless our troops' sentiment would be perfect so I made up this fun sign! See? You don't have to make just cards with these fun images!

Well, I hope you like my little sign and are enjoying the Blog Parade so far! Click HERE to go to the next stop, Karen's blog!

Memorial Day 2011

Memorial Day comes each year with good and bad. The good...we get an extra day off work to shop, BBQ, spend time with friends and family. The bad...many military men and women won't get that opportunity today as they gave up their lives so that not only can we enjoy our freedom but to try and bring some sense of peace and saneness into another country/persons life.

Memorial Day 2011

Remember our brothers and sisters who fell
so we could have freedom, they all went through hell
our cookouts and sales are all very nice
but many in uniform paid a great price

defending our country takes more than big talk
you honored us all by taking the walk
our forefathers founded this country we love
and included God both within and above

Our children have fallen all over the earth
because we believed that in all men there’s worth
we’ve come to the aid of the downtrodden man
because independence and choice must and can

be for all people; a God given right
it’s said in our song that our flag was in sight
it stood through the day and the night as we fought
to keep ourselves free; we will never be bought

John Breska 05/2011
44th Scout Dog Platoon
Viet Nam 69-70

Reel 'em In

Yay! We are finally almost to Friday! This has been a super slow week. It isn't that I really have anything planned this weekend but I do get my Thirty One Gifts order tomorrow which will be fun!

Today I am sharing a card that I made for my brother's birthday. He happens to be a big fly fisherman so when I saw the pattern for this super cute card I knew I had to make one for him. The outside is pretty self explanatory. The cardstock is chocolate chip and kraft. I added a little "stitching" on the pockets and lots of chocolate chip sponged on the card to make it look worn. I also just used my finger nail to rough up the edges a bit too. The ties are from a local shop (and may I just add that they are quite ugly!) here in town. Inside I printed the reel from the Doodle Pantry set Reel 'em In on kraft paper leaving room to write my birthday sentiment.

This card went off in the mail yesterday. His birthday is Tuesday so I hope that it makes it to him in time with the holiday on Monday so we'll see!

Thursday's are my busy day with Care Net and then Kids in Christ this evening so I'm off to get started! Have a wonderful day and I'll "see" ya tomorrow!

SURPRISE!

Happy Friday! Here we are at the end of a busy week once again but today I have something fun to share with you...a special New Release from Doodle Pantry!

The owner of Doodle Pantry, Laurie, decided she would release this super cute set called Quirky Dog just for you all today! How much do you love this super cute bulldog (I think)? You just know that I had to use his red, white, and blue self to make a card with for Jon right? And the 'ruff day?' sentiment...who doesn't have ruff days in Afghanistan so I thought would work perfectly! AND, the entire set of line images, colored images, and digital patterned papers (can I just say that I'm growing to LOVE digi papers?!?) are only $3! Can you believe it? Only $3! I love that!

Today is the Stock the Pantry challenge over at the Doodle Pantry blog too so make sure you hop on over there to see what that is all about!

You know what? I love this set so much that I'm going to give away a set to one of my readers! All you have to do is leave a comment on this post about what our troops mean to you. If you do not comment on what the troops mean to you then you are not in the drawing! I do not allow anonymous comments anymore so if you need to comment anonymously just send me an e-mail instead and I'll put you in the drawing! You will have until Sunday night at 5 p.m. PST to comment. While there is only one entry per person I would appreciate it if you'd tell your friends about this drawing so send 'em right over!

So...go, comment on this post, tell your friends about it and then have a wonderful Friday!

Floral Hat

Good morning everyone! It is Wednesday so we are halfway to Friday...woohoo! How is your week coming along?

Today I thought I'd show you one more Mother's Day card that I made. I thought I was done making cards but decided that one of the cards I was going to use just wouldn't do so I made a new one. That is one of the great things about crafting your own cards, huh?

Anyway, this card is made with Doodle Pantry's Floral Hats set. I just inserted the hat (pre-colored) into word and then the sentiment spaced them out about how I thought they would work for this layout and printed it out. SO easy! The papers are from last months Taylored Expressions key ingredient kit. I truly love those kits!

Anyway, just a short post today as I need to get out the door to Kyler's school for a little while this morning.

Have a super day everyone!

Grad Hats

Good morning! Let's get right into the new release from Doodle Pantry...shall we?

This month Doodle Pantry is releases NINE new sets, one SVG file, and one digital paper pack! I adore DP's new releases as they always have so much fun stuff!

I get to show you a card from the Grad Hats set. Now this set is made specifically for the hats to go onto some of the fun images that Laurie has in her store like the birds, worms, etc but I decided to use just a hat and make my son's graduation card.

If you know me at all you may be asking which of my kiddos is graduating, right? Well, my oldest is graduating from CWU with a double major in History and Political Science. I gotta tell ya I'm a pretty proud mama! Anyway, I texted my son and asked him the school colors just to confirm it...crimson and black. While the photo doesn't look Crimson I think it will actually be a pretty close match. A little bit of embossing, a few little pearls and tahdah...his graduation card. I used the Critter Sketch Challenge this week for my card.

Alright, since I'm fighting a pretty bad sore throat this morning I'm going to link you up to the store and have to be on my way. HERE is the new release page. Scroll down on THIS page to see what the entire DT has made with the new images. And finally go check out the incredible savings Laurie has HERE. Remember the Noah's Ark Favor Box I mentioned above? Well, it is 25% off! Only $3.74 for the SVG, PDF's, and digital papers...what a great deal!

Now, go forth and shop!

You're My Hero

Good Wednesday morning everyone! Are you all happy that it is the middle of the week?

Today I am so excited to show you the card I made with one of the brand new releases from Doodle Pantry called Super Birdie. When I saw that one of the sentiments was 'you're my hero' I had to make this card with a patriotic theme and send it to Jon as his deployment card. I'm sure you agree that all members of the military are heroes but this one is just for my son.

The patterned papers that you see on this card are all from the Super Birdie set, too. I LOVE that Laurie will give us papers to match...it makes it SO easy to create with. The little stars on the blue strip are from the punched out border and although he is a boy I used some bling stars in the corners of my card.

The sketch for this card is from Carly's Sketch Challenge blog and while the sketch challenge has expired you need to hop on over there to see what the new sketch is as she always has great ones!

Alright there you have my card! Now hurry on over to the store (linked above and in my side board) to purchase your favorites and to see what my other DT sisters have made!