Shadow's a Daddy!

Shadow, our beagle, is the proud papa of SEVEN puppies!!! Here's the beautiful (& tired) mama, Maggie, with her litter.

Our friend "Chunkygal" has two gorgeous female beagles and thought that our male was a suitable suitor.

I got the phone call yesterday afternoon that Maggie had delivered three puppies, and while I was on the phone with her "aunt," another puppy was born. Several phone calls later, we got the final tally of SEVEN bundles of joy. We can't wait to go see them today and get to watch them grow over the next few weeks! Does this make me a grandma?

Watch Her Go

She did it!

(I had to wait until I had pictures to post the good news.)

Macey was determined to learn to ride her bike without training wheels this summer. She practiced diligently but wasn't quite getting the hang of it. Daddy even had to put the training wheels back on, though they were bent so far up they really didn't work. I think that was all she needed for her confidence!

Last Thursday (the day before school started), Aunt Amy kept the girls and asked them to bring their bikes. She has the perfect flat place to ride, and all it took was a little practice. She did it! Now there's no stopping her!

Okay, don't flame me for no helmet- we all survived, didn't we? And besides, look how grassy it is.

I Get by with a Little Help from my Friends!

As you know, we've already started back to school. I am so blessed to work with a great group of fifth grade teachers! They are all dedicated to their students and work so hard. They truly go the extra mile, and I can really count on them. (I'm grade chair this year so I need their help a lot!)

As a little welcome-back-to-school gift, I made each of them a key chain. (Gotta love the Target dollar spot!) We all have these lovely identical black computer bags for our laptops, so if they don't want to use them as a key chain, they will make a cute bag tag. (Or at least I think they're cute! ;) They seemed to appreciate them too.)

So, Peg, Kelly, Addlyn, Jeanne, Tammy, Traci, Judy, Calley, and Gwen, thank you from the bottom of my heart. (I tried to personalize each one for each teacher.) I love you, gals!

I stamped "Blessings" on the back of each key chain as a reminder to remember our blessings and because each of them are a blessing to me and their students.

All materials Close To My Heart (various paper packs, alphabet stamps, and ribbon) except for the purple and black ribbon- source unknown.

Blog Candy!

Steph over at Where'd All My Money Go? has an incredibly generous "blog candy" post going on right now through 8/28. She is giving away a $150 gift card or gift certificate to the place of your choice!!! Go enter her contest! No, wait, don't go enter so that I have a better chance of winning! LOL Check out her artwork while you're there too. It's no wonder she doesn't have any $$ left.

So if you could have a $150 gift card to anywhere, where would it be? Leave me a comment and let us know your favorite shopping spot. I am still trying to decide...

Another August Stamp of the Month Card

One of my downline ("Chunkygal") made this fun card using the August stamp of the month (It's Your Day) and the Whoops-a-Daisy paper pack. She used her Pazzle to cut out the cool card shape. Don't you just love it?

More August Stamp of the Month Art

Each month, a talented group of CTMH consultants and I participate in a "virtual" swap. It is similar to the blog hops you've been seeing, only we compile all the artwork together. This month we used the Tinkerin' paper pack/palette (Clover Meadow, Twilight, Sunflower, and Sunny Yellow- with a pop of Holiday Red) for our creations. Doesn't the August stamp of the month, It's Your Day, make you want to have a birthday party? Or you can be like the Mad Hatter and have a very merry un-birthday!

Here is Katy's cool creation. She cut apart the birthday image (after stamping it) to create the letter tiles and cut out the circle on the front to make a window to "party" on the back.

(Editor's note: I forgot to add that she made the present by stamping one of the cake slices several times in a row and on top of each other, then cutting out a square piece. The ribbon hides the seams where the cake slices meet.)

Latisha made a darling 3"x3" card. I LOVE those little cards to include w/gifts!

Misty is so creative! She used the present image as a cake.



I love Laura's "party" background!

Last but not least for this post is Debra's cheery card.

Thanks for looking!

First Day of School Recap

Photos from when we were leaving for the first day of school today...

I am happy to report that two of us had a great first day. Middle school was not "all that" (especially since she went to the wrong Connections class- band- instead of PE today). At her age, that was the end of the world! She'll learn, all the way around. It wasn't a bad day, just not as great as she was hoping.

First Day of School!

Tomorrow is the first day of school! I can't believe it's here. Tonight's open house went well, and 21 of our 26 students and their families came. Not bad. (I say "our" because I am blessed to work with my dear friend and co-teacher Traci all day long. Those who know us can't believe that they don't separate us! LOL We have an inclusion classroom meaning that we have students with special needs in our room and that they have two teachers to help meet their needs.)

The girls were excited to get to meet their teachers. Ansley is pumped up to start middle school (6th grade) and band (clarinet like me), and Macey is excited to begin 3rd. I don't know if any of us will sleep well tonight! I never sleep well the night before school starts!

Kinda scary to think that this will be my 32nd first day of school... That doesn't shock me as much as realizing that this is my 17th start as the teacher. When did I get so old?!? Hopefully I won't have to grow up anytime soon...

Wish us luck tomorrow! Thanks!

Tuesday Tutorial: Pick & Omit

From time to time, I will post a Tuesday tutorial to teach you a technique. (Now that's a mouthful! Before too long, my 5th graders will be able to tell you that the sentence uses the alliteration, but that's another story. Back to craft class!)


For this project, I wanted to stamp "online" but didn't have that word. Instead, I inked up letters from some of the stamps to create the word "online."

The "favorites:" stamp was from the stamp set. All of these images come from my Noteworthy stamp set.

You can use the pick & omit technique on any stamp to use just part of an image. I'd love to see what you do with this technique, so leave me a comment with a link to your creation (new or old). Thanks and happy stamping!

It's a Thanks-a-bration!

First, I have to thank everyone who has stopped by my blog! I am truly humbled and grateful. I am hoping that my excitement about the entire Operation Smile auction will carry me through today, my first day of the new school year. Yep, that's right! School starts today for faculty and staff, with students starting Friday. I have a lot to do to be ready for Open House Thursday night and for the start of school. (I teach 5th grade full time.) Though I hate that we're being mandated three furlough days, I'm thankful that our school system is not making us take them now (like the Governor wanted) when there is so, so much to do. (We're losing an inservice before Thanksgiving and 2 more days- snow days if we have them/postplanning if we do not.)



On another thankful note, Close To My Heart is offering a special thank you to customers from Aug. 3-17 on all orders of $100 or more! If you click on the photo, you should be able to read the text. If you can't, LMK and I'll be happy to tell you all about it. You can also find out more at my CTMH website.

Top Secret Mission: Revealed

[Insert Mission Impossible theme music here.]

You cannot even begin to imagine my surprise when I received a phone call several weeks ago from a Close To My Heart Executive Director. Her first question after introducing herself was if I could I be sworn to secrecy. Okay!!!

Close To My Heart has just held its Leadership weekend in sunny California, and though I had decided not to attend this year, would I create and donate something for a silent auction to benefit Operation Smile? It had to be something a bit over-the-top since other Close To My Heart consultants would be bidding on items in the silent auction, and all proceeds would go to Operation Smile. She didn't have to ask me twice!!!


If you are not yet familiar with Operation Smile, I encourage you to go check out their website. They are committed to "changing lives one smile at a time," and they do this by repairing cleft lips and cleft palettes of children around the world. Can you believe that only $240 can completely change a child's life and repair his or her beautiful smile? Close To My Heart has partnered with Operation Smile, and I am happy to take donations to help this worthy organization. You can see why it was easy to say YES and stay quiet about this "top secret" project!

Since I was challenged to create something for other consultants, I settled on something I want for myself (and still haven't made!): a desk set. Here is the complete set. I used too many materials to list here, but I stuck with the Emporium paper pack. (Feel free to ask about any particular item. I'll be happy to share more info.)

I'm not sure how well Blogger will let me line up my text w/my photos, but I'll try.

binder clip to hold a photo


binder clip to hold your "to do" list










pencil cup (altered Crystal Light container) ~ I love making these things!!!

Love that button stamp set!!!

The actual pencils
(Thank you, Karen Pederson, for the "lollipop roses" tutorial! That's how I made the flower on the center pencil.)

Round coaster wall hanging ~ my favorite item in this collection (and the last minute final piece because I didn't think that I had enough "stuff" in the set! It's probably my favorite because I haven't made anything like it before, and I love how it turned out. You can't see in the photo, but there's a window charm on the clock face. It really looks like a clock, and if you know me, you know I have a thing for clocks and watches!)

5"x7" Seasons art
(I won first place in the consultant art contest in Dec. '08 w/this concept, and I figured that's why I even got the phone call in the first place to participate. I was smart this time and have made myself one too!)

Acrylic notepad holder (2" post-it notes; altered 3"x5" frame on its side instead of standing up)

Here's how the post-it holder looks sitting on your desk.

Mini notebook to record fave websites & blogs
(I stamped the inside top right corners w/the letters of the alphabet to make it easier to record the info and find it again. Hey! I should have put my info in there! LOL)

Another fave project: altered composition notebook
(I have a notebook similar to this- though not quite as "fancy"- that I keep my CTMH notes in. It's great to have a spot for my info that I can easily find!)

Now for the biggest news of all: My upline emailed me yesterday to say that with an hour left in the auction, the bid was was higher than I would have ever dreamed!!!!!!!!!! I can't wait to find out the total and the generous consultant who will be making such a difference in a child's life. I am still tearing up as I think about it! I feel so honored to have been asked to participate and to help make a difference, one smile at a time.

P.S. I just found out that the auction raised about $5000 for Operation Smile! Woohoo!!! :)

August Close To My Heart Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

It's time for another Close To My Heart Stamp of the Month Blog Hop!
The August stamp of the month, It's Your Day, features 26 stamps to celebrate your special day. From here, hop on over to Nona's blog, or go to Jena's to start at the beginning and work your way through. Don't worry if you don't have time to hit them all this weekend; they'll be permanently linked here.

If you'd like to learn more about stamping or would like to purchase this stamp set and don't already have a CTMH consultant, just let me know! Also, if you're in the area, I'm teaching a "birthday party" card and gift bag class on 8/23 using this fun birthday set. (You can read more about it here.)

My first "stample" uses the Tinkerin' paper pack and follows the Wishes sketch, "Just Right." The original sketch is designed for a 4.5"x4.5" card, but mine is a 4" sidefold square. The colors are Clover Meadow, Twilight, Sunny Yellow, and Sunflower.

The next card also follows a Wishes sketch ("Noteworthy"). I love this 4-3/4"x3" card size! I was trying for a more masculine look by using the presents and the Moon Doggie paper pack. The crocheted ribbon is maybe too girly but I like it. To make the faux stitching, I just used one of the invitation stamps but left off the word "For." For the Cranberry present, I cut off the edge of the stamped image to make a narrower package. (The Garden Green present is the actual entire stamped image.) I also cut those two out of scrap paper and glued them on the focal image to add a little dimension.

If you've followed my blog for a while then you've already seen my last card. I made it for my DD's birthday in June. It too follows a Wishes sketch called "On the Edge." Have I told you how much I love this book of

sketches?!? This standard-size card uses the Boom-di-Ada paper pack in Hollyhock, Sweet Leaf, Autumn Terracotta, and Barn Red. I would have never come up w/this combo on my own, but I love how it looks. DD was pretty pleased too! Do the two candles look like an 11 to you?

As always, thanks for stopping by! I'll be posting more artwork featuring the August stamp of the month (from my virtual swappers group), so swing back by.