Teacher Gifts:

So it is that time of year. Tomorrow is my children's last day of school before the Holiday break. So of course I just finished the teacher/secretary gifts tonight hehe. I do really love making special things for the teachers and I hope they enjoy them. For the secretaries and Seth's class room helper I stamped up these little die cut treat boxes and filled them with Hershey kisses (cherry cordial and mint chocolate flavor) YUM. I used this great little CTMH stamp set called "So Sweet Seasons" LOVE it. (If you wanna get one email Peggy - peggyg@ptd.net) you can't see it in the pick but the blue box has "brrrr" stamped all over it in a slightly darker shade of blue.


For SarahAnn's Teacher SHE made this cute felt tissue packet holder with her teacher's initial. And I picked up 2 large size refill packs of tissues (2nd graders go through alot)


And for Timothy's Teacher I made these note cards. I sorta um wanna keep them for me :D
they are creased at the top of the card rather than the side. I totally stole the idea from a book called "Vintage Paper Crafts" by Anna Corba - awesome book and I will do a post just about it ;) But I got to play with all my yummy vintagy looking paper supplies and I used 5 different stamps sets.


For Seth's Teacher ( Kindergarten ) I made a plastic grocery bag holder. She is always in need of them and has them under her sink in the class right now and I thought she could use one of these simple organizing tools. I stuffed it full of sacks and wrapped it but forgot to take a pic so if you go to this link you can see a similar one but mine is made in cute retro kitty print. Maybe I can snap a pic of it in the class room if she uses it ;) Ok so there you go all my handy work for this week.

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let It Snow!

If you know me you know that I anxiously await the arrival of the first snow. I get mad at the weather casters when they say I will get snow and I don't! (that happened earlier this week) But finally yesterday and last night we got SNOW. This is a photo from my front porch this morning. Isn't it pretty? Snowy days just make me feel happy inside , so silly I am just a big kid. But I have needed this pick me up. Been a bit sad and homesick and just blah. I am grateful for this beauty and serenity. I know God did not send this snow just for me, but I know He knows it warms my heart and brings smiles to my face. So with that I am off to do my daily chores with a lighter step. I hope that today you have something that brings a smile to your soul!

HEAVEN do you hear me this is a taste of heaven and for only 30 calories and 3 grams of fat - sooo worth it! I discoverd the coffee Mate new line of creamers last month. I began with the pumpkin spice and this stuff is so yummy, It is the very best in Bengal Spice Tea - thats one yummy, warm, spice filled cup of joy for you! and try putting a dash in your cream of wheat- pumpkin goodness! Then I bought the Peppermint Mocha and I had not opened it till this morning. Ok can we say Merry Christmas! Even in my Folgers instant coffee we have a OMGoodness this stuff Rocks Moment! I think I am in love. Now to get the Gingerbread and Eggnog flavors! So now you wanna get some too? Well go HERE and snag some coupons! Drink and Enjoy the Holiday Season!

Addicted to Digital Crop!

Just wanted to let you all know about the crop Friday and this is the freebie for coming! and don't forget about the contest either - you still have time!

Seth is Stylin in the jeans Mom made for him! I made these form a pair of Tims old Jeans. I cut off the legs and used them to create these. i also used the pockets, a belt loop and the LEVI tag from the original pair. Love how cute they turned out!
Sewing makes me pretty happy. It is fun to create cute unique things for my kids. My Mom use to to do the same for me :D

Ok this post is all about some fun things happening over at TreasurestoScrap
First there is a month long game for Big Prizes!

Then we have 2 contest - one for paper and one for digi scrappers



And last and least hehe I have posted my Monthly Word Art Challenge.

TRICK or Treat !!!
The kids and I made this cute little house based on an ad from doodlebug designs - check it out here - I backed the windows with colored transparency and put battery operated candles inside. If you want to make one we used Capri Sun boxes for the houses and chimeny and foam core board to make the roofs. We had lots of fun choosing fun funky papers and stickers and buttons to add on.

Ok how cute am I? Hehe i picked up my glasses today. Yes I am old (34) and my eyesight is going going going. And of course I had to make myself a funky, cool, groovy beaded chain for it. Tim (my 12 yr old) says the chain makes me look like a grandma! bwahaha. I think it is quirky and fun so :P on Tim. So you know when you get new glasses you realize just how blind you really were! geesh! you people were not safe with me on the road (slight exaggeration there).

Sorta kind tagged LOL

Kimberley sorta challenged her readers to do her tag

5 Weird things:

1.Ok I am a total prude. LOL, but I really love My humps by TBEP and London Bridge by Fergie (shhh)
2. When my friend and I walk down the street and we bump each other we say "blub" (sometimes we do it on purpose)
3. Mushy bread is really gross (biscuits w/gravy, pancakes with too much syrup, sandwiches with to much mayo etc etc)
4.If something has pumpkin in or on it I will pretty much buy it. (eyeing the pumpkin fuzzy slippers at the grocery store now)
5. I listen to Christmas music ALL year , It makes me happy!

So I just tagged all my blog friends a few days ago - they might kill me if I do it again, so if you read this then do it yourself if ya wanna!

I have bee tagged!


So if I tagged you here is what you do

"List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether or not they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your LiveJournal/blog along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they’re listening to.


So this is my 7 songs:

1. My Humps by the black eyed peas.
2. Cherry lips by Garbage
3.simple gifts by Yo-Yo Ma
4.Slumber my Darling by Yo-Yo Ma and others
5.What a wonderful world by Louie Armstrong
6.I control the sun by Lisa Loeb
7.Breathe your name by Sixpence none the richer

Here is who I tagged

1. Sass
2. Diana
3. Holly
4. Peggy
5. Casii
6. Jessica
7. Abby

Have you seen the Remixed Almost Autumn kit
by Jessica Bolton?
----------->
Man I am soo in love with it.
of course I loved the original and made the layout below using it! and I can not wait to play with the new one too! I hope tomorrow maybe.
Anywho - if you love it as much as I do run over to her blog and grab it cause it will only be there for a limited time for only $2 bucks!

A freebie for you! I was inspired to make a new desktop image for Sept. from a thread at DST. And while I was at it I made a layered template from my design. I hope some of you find it useful. I included a txt file with instructions (I hope they are not too confusing, hehe) the files are layered psd - I don't know how to save them as layered PNG's if one of you can you are welcome to then if you don't mind email them to me at dawnmcd@gmail.com I will post a link to download it. I used Jessica Boltons Unamused Boys kit at eclecticscraps to make my desktop with pics of my oldest 3 on their first day of school. I miss them alot when they are gone so this is to help with the mommy blues. hehe. Please leave me some love if you download them and link me your desktop if you create one! I would love to see! (let me know if the link expires and I will renew)
Get It Here
Updated link 11/1/06

This is me Down 16lbs! Dwight and I have been using the resources at www.sparkpeople.com to live healthier and lose weight. On Friday it was 6 weeks since we began. This photo was taken yesterday. I already see great changes. Mostly in my face so far but also some in my torso. I am so happy to have found something that works for us both and is very doable. We look forward to weighing in each Friday and enjoy the community and encouragement provided at Sparkpeople. As a reward for losing 15 lbs I got the butterfly kneclace I am wearing here (and in my new profile photo)

Today we had Seth's birthday Party for his friends I will find a cute photo and post about it hopefully tomorrow.

One of the New CT's I am on is having a Sale! Run over and check it out!

Fun things first! I created these flowers doodles a few months back as a challenge prize and thought I would share them with you all. They are kinda funky but I think they are really fun. If you download them a little comment would make me all giddy! :D

You can grab them here:
Flower Doodles

Ok yes it has been forever since I posted. But it is the 2nd of a new month and their are new happenings in my scrapbook world.

At the scrapbookjungle.com we are building up our digi section and getting ready to put out a call for more digi DT members. Come and check us out and watch for the call. Be sure and click on the Stampin up blinkie on the right to see product from this months paper sponsor at the jungle. To see all the fun projects the DT are doing check out the Sponsor Gallery.

Over at Treasurestoscrap.com the new kits are up for August you can click on a link below to go right to them or on the preview blinkie on the right. these are such an awesome value and so wonderful to boot! You can also get examples of the kit in use HERE.

TTS Kits Aug1A this is the hang ten bowling kit from Basic Grey

TTS Kits Aug 2A this is the skate shoppe boys rule kit from Basic Grey

TTS Kits Aug 3A this is the mod summer splash kit

TTS Kits Aug 4A this is the Arctic Frog summer kit

TTS Kits Aug 5A this is the Reminisce Birthday Boy kit

TTS Kits Aug 6A this is the All My Memories defined kit

TTS Kits Aug 7A this is the Crate Paper family kit

TTs Kits Aug 8A this is the Basic Grey fusion kit

Be sure and click on the sponsor links to the right for TTS as well. This month PM designs and Magic Mesh are the paper sponsors and Kim Hill from CG essentials is the Digi sponsor. be sure to visit the paper sponsor gallery and the digi sponsor gallery for ideas!

I will do a update on family life this week too - so keep watching.

So I have been tagged by Di (Spot-On)

7 people that I admire
- my Husband
- my mother
- Carol Barker
- Tracy
- Trish
- Faye Morrow Bell - she just inspirs me
- Mother Teresa

7 things I say often
- What?
- I'm sorry could you say that again, Jo was screaming - hehe
- Love you
- that is soo Yummy - not referring to food
- because I told you to
- Ya know
- hola chica

7 things I cannot do
- have good handwritting
- type well
- Algebra
- Alter recipes
- eat watermelon
- watch jerry springer
-whistle

7 things you might not know about me
- I was on debate team in highschool
- I only planned on having 2 children
- I hate to do houswork
- I love to read Historical fiction (not the smutty romance novels )
- I get easily embarrased and actually blush.
- I fast forward through parts of movies and tv shows when I am embarrased for the characters
- I love fried tofu

7 movies I enjoyed
- SHAG
- Gidget
- the matchmaker
- Emma
- Beauty and the Beast
- Pollyanna
- Hildalgo

7 things I wish I could change in my life
- my weight
- how to deal with being overwhelmed
- my tendency to enable
- my tendency to talk to much
- where I live
- my money managment skills
- more patience

7 books I have read and would read again
- gone with the wind
-Jane Eyre
- Memoirs of a Geisha
- Janette Oke books
- The Bible
- Scrapbooking with Faye Morrow Bell
- the Giving Tree

7 people who should do this!
- Trish
- Abby
-Becky
-Rachel
-Jessica
- Tracy
-Diana

Today the kids and I made cute little charms out of Shrink plastic. We stamped the images on the plastic colored them in , punched a hole and shrunk them. Then we strung them on vunyl cord with beads. How cute are they? It was a really fun activity to do.

This is a long weekend for our family! Dwight got Monday and Tuesday off for the 4th of July holiday. Monday evening we are going to the local park for a fun community celebration, we will watch a movie outside on the big screen and then watch fireworks as well. Then Tuesday we will go to the city parade. I love holidays and community celebrations. It just makes me all excited and giddy. I will always be a kid at heart (at least I hope so)

Hey check out my new feature -------------------------------------------->>
I will try and post the challenges I have going on at the sights I am a DT at. Right now I have a fun Wordart challenge up at TreasurestoScrap.com. Click on the image to go right to the challenge.

Ok thats all I got for now. hope everyone is enjoying their summer!

June is the Birthday month for one of the scrapbook sites I am on the Design Team for. Don't forget to pop on over to www.treasurestoscrap.com June 15th-17th for fun games, prizes, make and takes and a free digi kit (hint- the banner above is a sneak peak of the kit by Peggy Gottschau and myself)
We will have lots of fun and are all very friendly to paper and digi scrappers alike as well as those who do other paper crafts.

Summer Girly Dresses!


That's what the girls and I did on Thursday. We Sewed summer dresses from pre gathered fabirc. Just a few seams and hems and they have these darling dresses. Josephine sat on my lap and helped me sew the seams. SarahAnn I let sit at the machine and sew. I helped her guide the fabric some but she did really well. I was proud of her.

at TTS we where challenged to post 10 things about us. So here are 10 things about sewing and me.

1. I learned to sew from my Mom at 4 when she gave me scraps and a needle and thread while she sews.

2. I won runner up in the adult category on a summer dress I sewed all by myself at 8 yrs old :D

3. I love the smell of fresh fabric being ironed.

4. I did a fashion show in highschool with my nieces wearing dresses I made them as gifts.

5. I sewed my niece a rag doll and wardrobe my senior year of highschool

6. I have 2 tubs of fabric waiting to be made into something

7. I helped my son sew a doll quilt for his little sister when he was 8

8. It makes me feel connected with the past when I teach my kids to sew.

9. Timothy is making bean bags this summer - hand sewing.

10. Sewing is relaxing and makes me feel peacful.

So I love to do crafts with my kids and honestly have been a bad bad crafting mommy this year. So I have a summer of fun crafting planned. 13 projects for the 13 weeks my older 2 are off school. Some will seem a little dorky to the oldest boy, but we have had a talk about doing it and having fun with his brothers and sister because it is important. So he has agreed :D Anyway here is our list - if you want more info on any of them leave a comment with your email addy and I will answer you.

June:
1-Painting wood cutouts from the craft store.
2-making "chirping" crickets from TP rolls and popsicle sticks.
3. necklaces with charms made from shrink plastic. (check out the treasurestoscrap.com June newsletter for an article I did about making these)

July:
1. some 4th of july craft yet to be chosen
2. turtle racers- basically paper plates decorated like turtles and attached to strings to race along.
3. sea glass jewelry - fishtank sea glass pieces wrapped in wire and hung from a leather strap.
4. going to the park and painting with watercolors.

August:
1. rock painting - making friendly buggy friends for our garden area.
2. butterfly mobile
3. treasure boxes
4. mini scrapbooks of our summer activities.

One of my favorite online scrapbook communities is having a Birthday Party June 15th-17th. Be sure to come and play at www.treasurestoscrap.com with me and my buddies. These ladies are really fun and kind. Tracy and Wendi , the owners, have lots of prizes in store and the grand opening of the online store too!! So whatcha waiting for come say hi!!

It has been just over one year (May 19th) since my Beautiful Mother had brain surgery. She had a aneurysm that they caught early and wanted to fix before it burst. The surgery went perfectly but then her brain began to hemorrage and we did not know if she would ever wake. They did a second surgery to relieve the pressure and she woke up!!! We had no idea if she would be able to talk, if she would be able to move her right side, If she would even know who we where. I have to say I was just greatful we had her but was soo terrified that she would not know who I was. My Momma is my best friend. That would have crushed me. But of course she knew me and she is a MIRACLE. She in one year has recovered almost back to where she started, Their are a few things that will never be the same, but they are things she will be able to learn to accept and incorporate in her life. But that one week took me from being my Momma's little girl to being a grown woman who worries about losing My Best Friend. It's not fun , I know I will grow and the fear will reside but I will forever be changed. I am soo proud of her! I love her! Thank you God for giving her to me!.

Ok so it seems like every time I post I have gone shopping which makes it seem like I am always shopping right? But no if you look at the dates of my posts it's just that I rarely do anything other than normal MOM stuff, so when I get to shop it's a big deal!!! And this time I got to shop for ME. I got the darling Tank and Skirt being modeled by the lovely digital me to the right. She of course looks nicer in them than me, but still dang cute stuff.

So in my scrappin life - I created a digi kit with Peggy from the jungle and it turned out really nice. That was alot of work, but so much fun too. We are thinking of doing smaller ones every month. There is a new LSS (local scrapbook store) near by and I am desiging some display pages for them - and I even get paid! I also submitted a paper layout and several digital layouts to various places. not holding my breathe there.

Summer break is coming for the kiddos in just 2 1/2 weeks- 3 months of time with them. I hate traditional schedule and MISS my kiddos, I can't wait! I have 13 crafts all planned out (one for each week) just need to shop for supplies!! Ok thats about all. maybe I will update sooner next time! ----- avatar Sweetez by Hunibuni,doodle and paper from Cherryblossoms kit from thedigichick.com, clothing from oldnavy.com

I am one sick lady! I woke up saturday with a sore throat and cough and it has just gotten worse. I think it may be getting a little better today but am not really sure. So while I have been busy dying - ok not really dying but you know what I mean, I made this cute little story board of Easter pics It is 8 X 10. I have printed it up and am putting them in frames for the Grandparents (Surprise to them if they are reading this :) ) I love how the girl's dresses turned out. I love sewing for them. The boys where just as handsome in their blue and yellow.

We had a quiet Easter at home with yummy food and a fun time. My Dear Heart bought me some wonderful perfume and shimmer lotion in Japanese Cherry Blossom. It has this wonderful earthy but light floral scent with a hint of vanilla. He went and picked it out all by himself and that meant so much to me. I am so blessed to have him. Smooches to you Dwight.

I have been tagged by Abby but I have to figure out what that means and I will post!

Ok os I decided for some reason that Jo needed bangs. well I know why- she has been chewing on her hair and the front is getting a bit ragged. But here is the thing. I am not sure I like her with bangs. She has never had them before so it may just be I need time to ge use to them. SHe loves them. I am thinking she looks more tomboy or something with them. What do you think? the first pic is from February and then the 2nd form this morning after the bang cutting. Anyway that is my dilema for this morning. (accents on photo by Alison Folendore)

Shopping part 2

Remember a few weeks ago I got all the yummy Gymbo clothes for SarahAnn at a great deal and got $25 in gynbucks? well it was gymbuck redeeming time. I got her these basics for summer. LOVEING the strawberry shirt! I will be making her some capris and skirts to match these as well. so between this set and the last (scroll down to see) she will be one stylin chica! I wanted to add some of the darling hair accesories but just could not make myself spend that much on things she loses often. So we will be hitting the dollar store for some hair tie deals. Love the Dollar store!

Ugh I feel so blah right now. Really just very tired. It could have something to do with the crazy barley 20 year old neighbors and their firworks (yes fireworks) at midnight and LOUD partying untill well past 2 am! Hello you do know your patio is right below and to the right of our window!! and that your bedroom where you ALL seem to hang out is right on the other side of the wall from OUR bedroom? Dwight and I had fun thinking of ways we could be noisy this morning - we are so evil. but then we decided not to do it cause we did not want to disturb other neighbors who they had kept up all night as well.


I have been reading a serious of books called "the summer of the traveling pants" they are really aimed at a younger age group (teen) but are pretty good. I have finished almost all 3 of them this weekend- just a couple chapters to go. But I am thinking NAP sounds good - as soon as I replinish all the Furbie batteries. Don't you wish you had my glamorous life? you know your jealous!

Well I went online shopping today. I got some clothes for my hubby for work - blah no fun,

but I also got some darling deals on Spring/Summer clothes for my oldest daughter from Gymboree. I hardly ever get to buy Gymboree clothes so It was cool to get these deals. I also got some Gymbucks to use in a few weeks! Are these not too cute? (there is another tshirt in Yellow)