Tuesday, July 31, 2012

New from Doodle Pantry

It's August 1st, can you believe it? But the first of every month is very special because I have the privilege of helping the Doodle Pantry team introduce all the new stamps sets for the month. And this month there are some very cool sets to show you. I chose to introduce the new set called Crescent Moon Ants. And guess what? This is the free set that you can get just by going to the Doodle Pantry blog and checking out the August challenge. You can download it free between noon today and August 15th. After that you can find it at the link above. Here's what I made with this set.

Isn't this adorable? I made the basket from a tutorial that I won. I added some lace around the top and ribbon around the outside of the basket, and then made a matching card. The stripe down the right side of the card matches the stripe on the basket handle.
Be sure to check out the Doodle Pantry blog for all the new sets and the DT samples of all the new sets. I have no doubt they they've rocked these new sets! Laurie also has a grab bag special from August 1st - 10th. She is offering school stuff for 30% off. Don't forget to check that out too.
I'm entering these challenges:
Thanks for stopping by to check out the new release. I have lots more planned to show you from this release so stay tuned! Happy August!

Donna

CAS Birthday

One last card to share for the month of July. Where did the time go? I needed a quick card for my nephew's birthday so I decided on a CAS card and funny it took me longer to think about this card than make it. I had never tried to make my own sun before. I actually went to Hobby Lobby to looks for something and forgot after I got there. LOL! Yet another senior moment.


So I made my own sun as an embellishment from yarn. I was hoping to have some baker's twine but I didn't have that either. The image and sentiment are from a stamp set by Gina K called Enjoy the Sunshine. I'm entering this card into these challenges:
That's it for today. I'll post bright and early tomorrow for the new release of Doodle Pantry. Can't wait to show you all the spectacular new stamps Laurie has this month. And stay tuned for more lovely Christmas kits. I am always blown away by the wonderful talent she has! So stop back tomorrow for a very special project.

Donna

Monday, July 30, 2012

More Recycling Ideas

Happy Monday! Thanks for the fun comments on my ribbon organization idea. I hope it helps some of you get organized. So my tip today is a way to use up some scraps that you might have laying around.Check out the background of this new card.

There are times that I want to take something with me to do but I can't drag all my paper crafting "stuff" with me. So I have a Ziploc bag of scraps that I've cut into various size strips and I glue them to a backing to make some fun backgrounds for cards. Sometimes I do them by color or theme (like animal prints) or sometimes it's just a mixture of fun patterns. So this is just one of those fun background patterns. I colored the digital image with Bic markers. I'm sorry, I don't remember where I got this image so if you know please let me know so I can give proper credit. I used Eucalyptus Stickles to accent the scalloped circle and if you look carefully there are three dots of Stickles on the bottom left corner under my signature. I love making these backgrounds and I have tons of scraps to use up. I'm entering this card into these challenges:
I hope you've had a great start to your week. Thanks for popping by and have a wonderful Tuesday. Hope you will try a background like this. If you do drop me a comment so I can see too.

Donna

Friday, July 27, 2012

Recycled Christmas

Several times in my earlier posts this week I talked about reorganizing my ribbon and I promised pictures of what I did, so today's the day! This is an unusual daytime Friday post. I am normally at work but Tom had some comp time coming so I took the day off to be with him. We spent last night at Baby Creek but came home after lunch because we needed to shuttle Tricia to and from work today. Back to my ribbon. I saw an idea somewhere where someone had taken index cards and used them to wrap their ribbon and store them in boxes. I sometimes get free envelopes from people that I know. One set of envelopes was already glued shut, probably because of humidity but I hated to throw them away. I thought about making corner bookmarks with them but then I thought, why not use the envelopes instead of the index cards for the ribbon. So I folded and stapled two envelopes together and then wrapped ribbon around by color. Earlier this year I had sorted my ribbon into baggies by color and my organization looked something like this:
While the bag system was better than what I previously had I wasn't using my ribbon very often because I had to sort through a bagful or miscellaneous jumbled spools and pieces. And I had two large boxes with numerous bags of ribbon. It took up lots of space in my closet. So after I wrapped the ribbons on the envelopes, it now looks like this:
Pardon my box. I need a new one or at the very least a decorated box. But I went from two boxes to one box with space enough for more ribbon. And what I LOVE about this is that I can see every ribbon I have and choose something very quickly that matches my project or theme. And also know that I am running low on a certain color. Here's a picture of one of the envelopes with the wrapped ribbon:
I stapled the first end to the card and then wrapped the ribbon and secured it with a paper clip or sometimes a straight pin if there was a lot of one kind of ribbon. I could get from 3-5 ribbons on each set of envelopes depending on how wide the ribbons were. Did I tell you how much I LOVE this system?

So what does this have to do with a recycled Christmas? Glad you asked! Since I unwound all those ribbon spools I had a bunch of thoem and I wondered what to do with them. I took one side of the ribbon spool off and printed some Doodle Pantry Winter Wishes pre-colored digital images. I sanded the edges of the spool and colored some of the edges with Copic markers. The outside and inside edge of the spools are covered with ribbon. I don't think I got a really good picture of that. I embedded the image inside the spool, added a hanger ribbon to the back of the spool and then covered the back with Christmas paper scraps. So here they are, my recycled Christmas ornament tags!

I hung these in one of the trees out in our yard. I had a very tough time taking the pictures because every time I thought I'd take it the wind would blow and turn the ornament. It took a lot of tries to get these to hang straight. LOL! I intend to use these as tags on packages and add the "to" and "from" to the back. Two presents in one! Hope you like them. And I have a ton more spools to use for more of these beauties. So don't throw those ribbon spools away. Make something gorgeous with them!
I'm entering the ornaments in the these challenges;
Thanks for stopping by today and checking out all that I have going on. I am off to start creating for the new Doodle Pantry release due out on August 1st. You won't want to miss this one! It's huge and lots of fun! Have a wonderful weekend!

Donna


Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Snow Poke Christmas

Happy Wednesday. It's been a busy week at work and home. Makes the days go quickly though so I don't mind that too much. Lots of heat here today. At 9pm we still were sitting at 100 degrees. Hotter than a firecracker around here. We have a chance of some much needed rain tomorrow. I am depending on the weather person to be right and I didn't water my garden so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Trying to stay cool with some Christmas cards tonight. I had a chance to play with Doodle Pantry's Snow Poke Digi Christmas kit. I only finished 4 of the 8 cards you can make with this kit but I thought I'd show them to you half at a time.

Here are the four cards I've finished so far. And here they are a little closer.





Now wouldn't you love to have a rootin' tootin' Christmas? I just love these Christmas sets. And hold onto your hats ladies and gents because there are some new ones coming in the next release at Doodle Pantry. I can't decide which one I like the best. Most everything you see here comes with the kits. On one of the cards I added ribbon and a button. But all the paper, sentiments, images and embellishments come with the kit. Very cool! You can have your Christmas cards finished in no time at all.
I'm entering my Christmas cards into a couple of challenges:
Thanks for stopping by today. I hope your week is going well and we're on the down side now. I'm taking Friday off of work and I hope to get some crafting time. Have a wonderful Thursday!

Donna

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Life is Good

Despite the HOT weather, life is good. We spent last night out at Baby Creek and of course I forgot a bunch of my crafting supplies that I needed. It got pretty warm out there this afternoon so we came back home before dinner time. So I was able to get a card completed. We have friends that we play bridge with usually every weekend. But we haven't seen them in a few weeks because our schedules haven't matched. They have a big all-black dog that we love to play with when we visit. So I made a card today to send to them to let them know we are thinking about them.

I found this background paper and thought it was very trendy with the chevrons and the hexagons. Lots of layers since I backed each one with black cardstock to make them stand out. I added the rhinestones to the dog's tag and the edging at the top of the card. The sentiment is also popped up from the card. I'm entering these challenges:
Hope you had a wonderful weekend and wishing you a great start to the week ahead. Hope it's cooler where you are. I did get my ribbon reorganized this weekend and I'll post a picture soon what I did. It takes up tons less space. Thanks for stopping by!

Donna

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Cool Winter Wishes

As it heats back up here in the Midwest we are trying anything to cool down. We are supposed to be back to the triple digits this week. I think only one day were we less then 90 degrees. We did get a little rain this week so you can once again hear the hum of lawn mowers. We haven't heard that in months. So my card today is one of those that's an attempt to keep myself cool .

This is a 6x6 inch card. Lots of room to work with. I used a bunch of Spellbinders dies: the Fleur de lis, square, circle and scalloped circle. The image and sentiment are from Doodle Pantry's Snowball Ants. I love the antics of those ants. I've been cleaning out my ribbon and organizing it. It's making it's easier for me to find matching ribbon these days. I'll take a picture and share it as soon as I am finished with the organization. I added a button embellishment on the bow and self-adhesive rhinestones. I'm entering the Outlawz Wednesday Sketch challenge with this card!

Thanks for stopping by today! Hope your weekend is going well and you have some relaxing time. Stay cool!

Donna

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Musical Note

Happy Wednesday! Hope your week is going well as we slide into the end of the week. I am so looking forward to the weekend. Saturday is already booked because I have to drive to Indianapolis for a Girl Scout trainers meeting. So Saturday is pretty well shot. But it isn't working so that's okay. I have a meeting with my boss tomorrow so we'll see what she has to say. She gave me a 2.8% raise with the start of our new fiscal year, July 1, so I feel blessed. The average raise was 2.2%. Tom got 3% so we both did very well.
My card tonight is one that I made for a swap. The theme had to be musical. I bought this stamp a while ago and haven't used it very much but I think it goes great with this paper.

I embossed and tore the background paper and added the stamped sentiment to the base of the card. The embossing is the Victoria golder by Cuttlebug. I added a heart outlined with Stickles. A CAS card but I like it a lot.

I entering this card into these challenges:
Thanks so much for stopping by today. I hope the rest of your week is fabulous. Stay cool and pray for rain!

Donna

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Cool Birthday

This is my second post for today. If you want to see the very cool Doodle Pantry Christmas set please scroll down or go to this link to see the Christmas set.

I need a few birthday cards this month so I started to make one today. This one reminds me of a 1950's billboard. I'm not sure of it's the colors or layout or what. Do you think this looks like a billboard?


It's been hot here for a long time now. So making "cool" cards help. I thought this image and sentiment went well together. Both are from Create with TLC. I used several scraps for the background papers. I scalloped the bottom edge and then used my Sew Easy on the top edge. The ice cream sandwich is twice popped up so it really has some height off the card.
I'm entering this card in a few challenges:
Thanks for stopping by. Hope you have a great start to your week. Take care! Stay cool!

Donna

Christmas in July

Christmas seems to be the theme popping up all over and I've already started thinking about Christmas and what kinds of things I can make ahead. Earlier this week, Laurie Wilson from Doodle Pantry contacted the design team to see if we wanted to try out a new idea she had. She came up with these Christmas card kits that are such fun! She has two new kits (scroll to the bottom of the page) with more to come. I am so excited to show you what I made yesterday. I finished 8 cards and three tags with one printing of the Bethlehem Digi Card Kit.






There are even cute embellishments with the kit: buttons and bows and other colored dots. Everything is color coordinated. I was away from home when I did these cards and only took with me what the directions called for. I didn't have any of my regular embellishments or ribbon. So anything you see comes with the kit. Now anyone who knows me, knows that my downfall is not doing the inside of the cards when I do the front. Then when I need a card in a hurry I still have to do the inside. I kick myself all the time for that. But all of these cards have decorated insides to match the fronts. I am so proud of myself. LOL!
You have to check these kits out. And they are so reasonably priced. Here's the link to the kits: Bethlehem Digi Card Kit and Snow Poke Digi Card Kit. I can't wait to check out the Snow Poke Kit. Maybe I'll get to that next weekend. This week I have to concentrate on birthday cards. I have a bunch that I need to do.

Have a wonderful Sunday and thanks for stopping by today. Get lots of rest and relaxation and rejuvenate for the week ahead. Happy crafting!

Donna

Thursday, July 12, 2012

These are a Few of my Favorite (Doodle Pantry) Things

Happy Thursday! Hope you day was great! We were back up in the 90s, hot and sticky. It looked a little like rain as I drove home from work this afternoon but we weren't forecasted to get any rain. After I got home I heard something pounding on the roof and when I looked out there were big fat drops coming down. Jumping for joy at the prospect of any rain I did a happy dance. But then the wind started and sheets of rain started coming down. It got a bit scary as the tree behind our house started losing branches. In 15 minutes we got about an inch and a half of rain. We are forcasted for more rain tomorrow. I hope this time it is light rain so it can soak in better.
My project tonight is one I've been working on for a while. I actually did this project for the Girl Scout day camp but realized that even the older girls couldn't finish this project in the 40 minute time limit we have for each activity. So this project got scrapped for this year. I made this out of 4 CD cases. You can find the tutorial for this project at Paper Jewels blog. There are lots of pictures and the photos of the CD cases aren't perfect, but I used my absolute favorite stamps from Doodle Pantry, those crazy ants. Take a peek!






Isn't this great! A perfect photo cube of ant antics! I just love it. Those ants are up to more than this. Check them out at Doodle Pantry. And while you are there check out the new Card Kits that Laurie added just today. You can make 6-8 cards from each kit. The two kits added are Snow Poke and Bethlehem. You won't believe how affordable these are and how quickly and easily you can have your Christmas cards made. Stay tuned. I plan on making a set this weekend. Thanks for stopping by and checking out my project. Have a wonderful Friday and an even better weekend!

Donna

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Oh, Christmas Tree

Just a short post tonight with my first Christmas card this year (I think!) Over at the Outlawz the Monday challenge was to make a shaped Christmas card with a sentiment. So here is my very CAS card.


The word image is from DZ Doodles. I printed it off and folded the card in half, cut it in the shape of a tree and added the trunk and some self-adhesive rhinestones for the O's in the words. Not terribly inventive but... Can you tell I'm not thrilled with this one?
Well, that's all there is today. Hope your Tuesday went well. Stop back again soon!

Donna

Monday, July 9, 2012

Dino-Mite

Happy Monday! We got some rain yesterday, thank you, Lord! And today we are down in the 90s instead of triple digits so we are getting better weather-wise. Although we haven't turned off the air conditioning you can at least walk outside and feel like you can breathe. LOL! I do like that!

My card tonight is for my DH's nephew. His birthday is coming up mid-July. I wanted to make him something special. So I used this new set by Doodle Pantry. And you can get this set for free.

Just go to the Doodle Pantry blog and check out Challenge #25. You can download this set, use it and enter the challenge. Here's the card that I made with this adorable set!

I used the background paper from the set and the sketch from Sketches by Carly to make this card. I used the already colored image and added some cork punched circles that I had left over from another project. I added some Fruit Punch Stickles to the toe nails and horns of the triceratops. And then I completed the inside.

Please ignore the shadow of my arm taking the picture. LOL! I used a palm tree from another set and the sentiment is from the free set, die cut with trio tags from Spellbinders.

I am entering these challenges:
Now hop on over to Doodle Pantry blog and download the free stamp set and make something very cool to enter into the challenge. More free goodies from Doodle Pantry may be waiting for you. The set is free until July 15th and then it will be available in Laurie's store.

Thanks for stopping by tonight. Hope you have a wonderful week!

Donna

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Happy Anniversary, Baby!

Got you on my mind. Okay sing with me once again. Still hearing songs in my head. Maybe that means I;ve been working too long. No, it really means that's the card I made.

I used an image from Beccy's Place and colored it with Bic Markers, Cut it out with Spellbinders and backed it with scalloped oval. The edges were made with a Martha Stewart punch and I added the red, white, and blue plaid ribbon both on the Spellbinders label and inside the easel card. And then embellished with tiny self-adhesive pearls.
I am entering this card into these challenges:
 I hope your week is heading for the home stretch. We reached 106 today with more heat for tomorrow. No relief until next Monday. We are making a quick trip into Cincinnati tomorrow night to visit with Tom;s parents and I hope to have some crafting time on Sunday but we'll see how that goes. I hope the weather is cooler wherever you are. Thanks for stopping by. Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think. Have a wonderful weekend!

Donna

Monday, July 2, 2012

Star Spangled Birthday

Happy Monday! My first day at my new job was very like my old job; probably because we are still in the same office and everyone is on vacation but me. So probably it will remain the same until we finally do move to our new office. I had a chance to play a little after dinner and came up with a card that I really like. I am still on a red, white and blue kick but I didn't need any more 4th of July cards so I made this one a birthday card for some lucky July birthday guy or gal this month.

My lighting wasn't quite right. For some reason the inside photographed much better than the outside as you will see in a minute. I used the Stars embossing folder and cut the star shape out of the front of the card. I added some score lines and inked them. I stamped the sentiment and added my banners.
Here's the inside:

I added a starred paper piece and the tag that reads "Have a Star Spangled Birthday." I'm really pleased with this card!
So here are the challenges that I am entering:
The heat wave continues. We didn't quite make it to 100 today but it was hot just the same. I thought we might get some ran tonight but the showers seemed to break up before getting to us. We are down about 12 inches of rain on the year so any rainfall is much welcomed.  Well, that's about it for today. I hope you are having a star spangeld week so far. Take care!

Donna

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Rocket Ants Take 2 and Missing You

Back again on Sunday! Hope your day was good! We reached 102 today down 2 degrees from yesterday but we had a storm overnight. That's the first rain we've had in about a month. So it was a much needed inch of rain. Not everyone got that much in the area but our gauge read an inch. I am very grateful and so is my garden. I picked green beans this morning and counted 9 zucchini growing. Nothing like fresh veggies!

So this morning's post was about the Rocket Ants. I've finished all 9 treat boxes now so I thought I'd give you a peek at all of them. So here they are.


And

So I hope my co-workers like their treat boxes all ready to go with a baggie of M&Ms in there.

I was also able to do a quick card tonight. This card was done for the 2000 Member Party at Outlawz.

The challenge was to show us your country. Lots of their challenges involved the country so I took it a bit more specific and I'm showing my state. I have two sons that live away from home so I thought I'd make a card just to share with them. So I live in Indiana and they live in Utah and North Carolina. I miss them both. I used the Victoria embossing folder.

Thanks for stopping. Hope you have a fabulous start to your week and you aren't sweltering or freezing.

Donna

Rocket Ants from Doodle Pantry

Where did June go to? Happy July! And that means a new release from Doodle Pantry. I got the pleasure of working with the new Rocket Ants just in time to celebrate the 4th of July! So here's my projects.

These are actually treat boxes and you'll be able to see that better in these pictures.

I'm  entering the 4th of July box with the tag in Joan's Garden challenge: make a celebration project, use red, white and blue, and use a tag and stripes. 

So here's the story behind the boxes. Friday was my last day working at the Registrar's Office and Monday I will start my new job at the Assessment and; Research Office. So when I saw this image and the sentiment that comes with the set "Blast off to new adventures" it reminded me of my work situation so I decided to make enough of the treat boxes to give each of my new co-workers a treat and wish them good luck with our new department. A celebration of the new office! These first two I made using the 4th of July theme but then I branched out a bit and used my scraps. I'm still finishing some of them but here are two more that I completed this evening. The Rocket Ants can be used for more than just 4th of July!

I'll share the rest when I finish them.

I'm also entering these into some other challenges:

Don't forget to check the Doodle Pantry blog at noon for the new challenge. You can pick up a few digital stamp set to use in the challenge so don't forget to stop by. Don't forget to check out the patriotic special Laurie is running from July 1st-5th. And you can get the Quirky Snowmen set for free with purchase. You don't want to miss that!
Hope you have a wonderful Sunday. Thanks for stopping by today. I hope to be back with some other projects this week. Take care!

Donna
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