DeNami Design Back to School Blog Hop

hi there!  (if you're looking for the AWESOME news i had to share earlier this morning, please GO HERE.)

welcome to the DeNami Design Back to School Blog Hop--so glad you're here!  you should have come from Emily Keaton's blog.  if you got lost or want to start at the beginning, go HERE.

okay, so let me give you the low down...

When: The blog hop starts on September 9th at 6 AM, PST. However, you have until September 10, 2012, 11:59 pm PST, to leave comments on all the blogs (to be eligible for a prize). 

Why: To be inspired by fun DeNami Design creations and also the chance to win mini shopping sprees on the DeNami Design website! 

Prizes: We are giving away THREE $20 gift certificates to our website! We'll be giving away one gift certificate to a random participant (DT members not eligible) and then we'll also be giving away TWO gift certificates to TWO people who comment along the hop!

and let's get on with the fun--here's my project :D

i couldn't resist using this teacher chickie (i mean, hello, teacher here :D), and then i even did some other stamping (the apple and the rockin' guitar).  lots of green scraps from my drawers--yay for using it!

i constructed the front sentiment from a few different stamp sets.  the inside then echoes what the outside says...

no matter the teacher or the subject, gratitude is cherished in schools!

i'd love to hear what you think (plus you get entered for an awesome prize), so make sure to comment!  your next stop on the hop is the SUPER talented Wendy Elliot!  hooray! :D

so that's it... ski-daddle it outta here!  thanks for stopping by, xoxo

so thankful...

with Thanksgiving coming up, i thought i would share some of the people and things i'm thankful for... God has blessed me in so many ways, and i can't be thankful enough! so here goes a completely UN-COMPREHENSIVE list in no particular order:

• music! i really really love listening to music. i think it can change a mood right away. currently i'm totally digging Christmas music (and have been for at least a month), but the current favorite i just bought on iTunes is "Pennies from Heaven." hehe, so fun!
• my family--love them so much. my parents are awesome and supportive, and my brothers are super sweet and they never fail to make me smile. Peter and Joey still live close to me, and getting to see them brightens my day. AND! everyone will be together for this Christmas. Cecelia is coming from D.C., Lincoln will be jetting in from PA, and my grandma and my aunt are coming from NY. who knows when the next time me and my siblings will all be together like that again. it hasn't even happened yet, but i'm already thankful it's going to! :D
• Christmas! i love celebrating the birth of Jesus, and i love everything that it entails. i'm a fan of traditions, but i'm so totally excited to decorate in my own place in just my style. since i have a pink living room and bedroom, i'm thinking of going with a sweet and girly tree and decorations (aka pink and green!)--of course i'll be making some handmade decorations, and i'll have to share them with you :D
  

this one i found HERE was sooo pretty!

friends. this includes so many people. the ones that care about how i'm feeling and how it's been going, the ones who pray for me, the ones i get to meet up with and we don't skip a beat even though it's been ages since we got together, my sister, my daily best friend, my co-teacher, my crafty buddies... they help me in so many ways. i only hope that i'm half as reliable or steadfast as they are. i just seem SO lucky. actually, BLESSED.

sandwich grills. addicted and about ready to give them as Christmas gifts to everyone i know. they make grilled perfection every single time no matter what the contents! *LE SIGH*

scrapbook retreats--i counted up the actual 'completed pages' and even though not all of them are 12x12, i still had a record productive weekend: i completed 82 pages!!!! w00t w00t! :D

bursts of ingenuity when teaching or planning for school--it helps so much! i love doing something that makes students think!

coupons and sales. these make me so happy. good deals MUST be endorphin boosters, would you agree?

diet coke. helplessly addicted.

laughing--i am so thankful for laughter.

water polo with all its challenges and physical demands. i think what others say is 'insane' actually keeps me 'sane.' oh, the irony.

and YOU, my precious blog readers... you are a constant source of encouragement that i feed off of. i am blown away by your support. i love reading your comments!

oh, and you thought i wasn't going to share a card? hehe--nope, i've got one here:

i used tons of Sassafras papers that made me think 'vintage' so i de-hoarded a length of vintage lace trim and then inked up the edges, and finally i added a fun swirl stamp i picked up from Impress a year ago. i also added a few BG felt stickers--they're perfectly wonderful texture-wise on this acetate card. oh, and i used an EK border punch for the inside edges. fun stuff in sort of fall colors--what do you think?

so, what are you thankful for? i'd love to hear what has blessed you lately :D thanks for stopping by!

vintage one layer 'thank you'

so just a quick post today.

i'm so glad it's Friday, but i'm also really tired... it's been a long week for me telling stories at VBA and acting in the skits as well. it really wears me out, so it's a good thing i've been able to take naps every day.

here i wanted to show you some vintage one layer cards i made a while back. these are from the Impress Stamp Night.

i think that what makes these pretty (for me, at least) is the layering of the pinks, and then the cool script in the 'thank you' sentiment.

well, like i said, it's going to be a short one... i'm going to see Despicable Me tonight with some friends, so it's a great start to my weekend... hoping you have a great one too!

thanks for you comments and for stopping by :D

hello love.

woohoo! it's Monday!

hope that you really have a chance to enjoy your week, and that you can get into the groove quickly. this morning i spent some time at my church doing Vacation Bible Adventures. i get to be on the skit team and tell the stories, which i LOVE doing... it's really fun for me to volunteer doing something that i love and am good at.

well, today the cards i'm bringing you are *almost* one layer cards. which, if you've been following me, is NOT very normal for me. these feature only a few stamps, but i really love how they turned out :D

first off, the lined background stamp was inked up in two different shades of blue, and come from Impress Rubber Stamps. the floral stamp and the sentiments do as well. did you notice along the crease of the card the little bows i made? i bought some crochet thread from Walmart and used it to add a little extra touch to these soft cards :D

okay, these next 4 cards measure about 3"x3" and are SUPER easy to make. they use kraft paper as the base, Sassafras felt stickers, and a Heidi Grace sentiment.

don't they just make you smile? i just love them :D

okay, i'm off to the chiropractor and to take a nap, and to maybe hit up my craft studio later on. oh, and i might even make a trip to the library for some new summer reading and/ or a DVD or two :D

thanks for stopping by and leaving your sweet comments... i LOVE reading them!!

water polo 'thanks' + w00t!

tonight i have the last official meeting of the 2010 girls water polo season... it's the awards banquet tonight, and since i'm the head coach, i have a big role in the awards--i usually say something about every one of the girls, and it's nice to hear from the parents what they thought of the season, and how they thought their girls improved... generally a great time for all! tonight should be extra special seeing as this season was the first time since i've started coaching that we've made it to state, and we not only MADE it, but we placed FOURTH out of 8 teams when we'd started from the #8 slot! :D

so yeah, lots of fun to be had tonight.

anyway, here's a card i made (one of the 32 created at stamp night) for my assistant coach, Gordon. he's awesome. i've been blessed by his help and steadiness this season. also, as a fellow teacher, he really keeps me sane. i coached his daughter my first year of everything, and it was a good thing for everyone that we keep doing things together. i generally let him do the 'detail talking' like administrative paper-worky things, and i do the yelling, correcting, and teaching of the game :D basically, the fun part!

so every year i give him a little thank you gift just to remind him that it means a lot to have his help, and this is what i came up with to go along with the gift:

i made about 8 cards at stamp night that follow the same layout... i used a HUGE polka dot on some Bazzill textured solid paper, for this card, the paper was green, and i stamped the circle in white chalk ink. then i layered my sentiment over the top of the white, in this case, 'thanks.' then i punched out the whole thing with a 2" fiskars scalloped circle... it's pretty simple, but that's exactly what i needed for Gordon. after all, he's a guy. i might be pushing it a little on the 'masculine' card with the pom poms, but i figure that the October Afternoon Early Bird paper in blue/ green makes up for it, right? :D

anyway, i just wanted to show you another creation, and ALSO to share some fun news! remember the MFW Tuesday Trigger card i created over HERE the other day? well...

it was chosen as a MFW Tuesday Target along with some fabulous other creations!!!

(BIG smile!)

you can read about it here... i'm so excited! it's the first time i've been featured by Cath over there at the Moxie Fab World blog :D thanks Cath!

hope you have a wonderful mid-week, and be sure to pop by later for more prettiness! :)

flowery 'thanks'

okay, so i mentioned a few posts ago that i was splitting some Sassafras supplies with Amy, and i ended up getting to meet her in order to pass on the goodies--> that's what i call a win-win situation!

so when we were talking, Amy mentioned that she wanted to see something using these supplies (she's so good about pulling things out of her stash and then mixing in something new) on my blog. well, i finally got around to it a while ago, but it seems that my schedule for actual posting got in the way, and i'm finally getting it done NOW.

but it's better now than never.

i pulled out one of the double-sided papers with a softer color scheme. just so you're not confused, that's not my normal style... normally i'd do a diving leap over to the brightest colors of the bunch, but i thought a different attack might work better differently for a change... :D

anyway, i ended up looking through some of my supplies and found some great coordinating products... MM chipboard alphas, a doily, BoBunny flower, some DCWV stitch rub-ons, and a Sassafras button from Paulina.

this card didn't require any stamping, and it was amazing! i actually quite like the end result, which is always good when one is trying something new.

speaking of new, i have posted a *new* kind of feature for me... just some ramblings on my life. so if you're bored, interested, or both, head on over and check it out.

thanks for stopping by, and also for leaving your comments--it means a lot to me!