Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Rockstars!






























We will, we will ROCK YOU! Teagan and Auntie Dawn had a blast playing Rock Band- Teagan was the drummer and I was the guitar player. After ever song Teagan would shout- "Way to go guitar player..." We had a great time playing rock band, making Christmas crafts
and a "&@** gingerbread house. Lets just say that if Mimi ever buys one of those again, Teagan can can put it together at her house.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

*i am ready for Christmas Vacation!
*i want to find my Fairytale.... (I am beginning to wonder)
*i have a a wonderful family.
*i miss Granny
*i fear being alone.
*i hear Sarah typing on her computer in our office.
*i search for things to make my family smile.
*i wonder what Maggie will be when she grows up.
*i regret making STUPID choices
*i love my family, my friends,
*i forgive myself for letting people walk all over me.
*i ache deep in my heart for loved ones that are no longer with us.
*i always want to be right.
*i try to be the best person that I can be.
*i seem to always doubt myself.
*i know that eventually things will be ok
*i feel anxious when I am excited about something
*i dance when I have had too much to drink.
*i dream of being sucessful one day.
*i give to the American Cancer Society- Through Relay for Life- and tons of time to my school
*i listen to rock music- very loud
*i sing in the car to make Maggie mad!
*i laugh when Teagan says funny things
*i can't believe that my daughter is 17 already
*i write in my journal- somtimes the things I write turn into picture books
*i cry when I know someone is mad or upset with me.
*i sleep whenever I can
*i am excited about Christmas Vacation.
*i see the glass as half empty- not very positive- I know!
*i need to spend more time with my family
*i should try not to worry so much, but it's in my blood. Amen!!!

Ok, Amber I did it- It was kind of hard-
I guess we will see who reads my Blog to find out who wants to be tagged next!
Dawn :)

Monday, November 24, 2008

Beautiful Butterflies


I was visiting a blog that I watch regularly and noticed that he was making beautiful butterflies, when I looked closer I realized that the butterflies were more than art they were representing all of the children that died during the Holocaust. So being me- I wanted to help and I want to ask anyone else who reads my blog to help- I will be making butterflies and you can too. I am including the link to Dan's blog- http://dan99.blogspot.com/2008/11/butterfly-project-freebie.html on here you can read about The Butterfly Project, download butterfly patterns and see some completed butterflies. I hope that some of you out there will join me. Remember that they will be representing children, so of course children can participate as well. The only regulations are they can't be bigger that 8x10, and they cant have glitter on them. I look forward to hearing about your beautiful butterflies. Here is the link to the company that is collecting them, http://www.hmh.org/minisite/butterfly/index.html. You can visit for more info.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

LOVED IT!!!!


I went to see Twilight today and it was soo much better than I expected- you know when you are reading and you visualize certain parts of a book, well the movie is so much better than what I visualized. I cant wait to see it again. Maybe the girls can go over Thanksgiving break!!!

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Soooo Sad.......

Well here I am at home, lonely, on the computer, all by myself, depressed, blue, sad, and why do you ask???? Because my ROTTEN daughter left me at home so that she can go to the midnight premire of Twilight- with her friends- traded for 16 year old girls how awful is that. Now not only is she going to see the movie before me, she is going to rub it in my face. I cant wait till tomorrow afternoon, I am going to leave her at home and go and see it by myself, wearing my Twilight t-shirt. Yes I bought a movie t-shirt, I know how stupid is that for a 38 year old professional to buy a movie shirt-, but I just couldnt resist. The books are sooo good, and I am totally lost in all of it. I hope you guys have read the books too, and if not get out and buy them, the are fab!

Monday, November 10, 2008

Stories in Hand

Ok, I stumbled across this on-line class a couple of weeks ago. It is being offered by Jessica Sprague, and it deals with journaling and writing your memoirs. Now most of you who know me, know that I enjoy writing, but when I am scrapping i find myself always saying the same thing over and over again on each page. So I thought this class would help me to add more voice and expand my writing. Tonight was the first class and we had to create our book that will house all of our writings and journal prompts. It was fun creating the book, tomorrow we will begin with the writing part. If you are interested, I dont think its too late to sign up. I think there were 6,000 enrolled in the class. Click here for the link to register for the class. Here is my journal that I created tonight. I cant wait to fill it with wonderful stories.



I hope to see some of you in class with me tomorrow. Happy crafting! Dawn :)

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Roadtrip and the world's best Scrapbook Store

I had to make a trip to Savannah today and while I was there I just had to visit Linda at my FAVORITE Scrapbook store. Linda has it all decorated for Christmas. It is so pretty with the white tree, and all of the newest Christmas papers and embellishments all around the front. Thanks Linda for believing in me and my craft. Dawn :)
If you are in or around the Savannah, GA area make sure that you stop and check out A Scrapbook Boutique, when you are there tell Linda hi for me.
Happy Crafting.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Root Canals Stink

And that is all I have to say about that....

I hope to never as long as I live have to have another root canal.

Dawn :(

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Making Tags and Staying Busy

I made some tags to display and promote the AC Moore scrap night on the 16th, and here they are. Please let me know what you think of them. Peggy from AC Moore said that we would be making Autumn/Thanksgiving/Christmas/Winter tags at the event. I hope you enjoy!


These are the autumn tags. I used regular paper tags and embossed them with the Cuttlebug. The new autumn folders are awesome (thanks Melanie). After embossing I inked with distress ink- Vintage Photo and Spiced Marmalade. Gratitude and Fall is in the air, are stamped and raised with pop dots. Additional embellishments are buttons, brads, stickers and ribbon.

This tag was also embossed with a new Cuttlebug folder-Ornaments- It was also inked with distress ink- Fired Brick and Vintage Photo- The ornament stickers are coated with a film of Ranger's Glossy Accents to make them look like epoxy. Other embellishments include Stickles, 3-d stars, Gelly roll glitter pen and ribbon.

Brr! It's Cold Outside! These snow tags were embossed as well- (Can you tell I had a great time playing with Melanie's embossing folders). The Paisley tag is pretty simple, it has white buttons, a snowflake brad, sticker letters, and a raised paisley winter embellishment.

The snowman tag, was inked with Vibrance baby blue ink, the snowman was stamped with Versamark ink and then double embossed with clear embossing powder, after the clear powder was set, I re inked the outline with a Versamark pen and embossed the image again with Ranger cobalt blue embossing powder. I then attached him to the tag using pop dots. Other embellishments include, ribbon, ribbon slider jeweled brads, snowflake brad, ribbon, stamped image Brr! and stamped snowflake on a separate tag.

The Santa tag was created using a rounded tag cut with the Cricut. I then attached the sleigh, presents, Santa sticker and Santa label. Around the bottom of the sleigh I added Stickles glitter glue to look like snow. The entire tag was inked with Vibrance- Christmas Tree Green Ink.

The snowflake tag was a white core blue paper tag, that I embossed and then sanded to reveal the white core. Additional embellishments include silver sparkle ribbon, 2 snowflake brads, large snowflake glitter sticker, and a snow sticker that was placed on a round metal tag, that was attached with pop dots.

And last but not least- I told you I was staying busy :)- I made the tree tag and the gingerbread boy tag. These were probably the funniest to make because they are inked, distresses, wrinkled and worn. The images were stamped and then stamped again and attached with pop dots. They were also colored using Prisma colored pencils and Gamsol. After coloring I used Candy Cane Stickles to embellish the tree ornaments and the holly berries on the gingerbread boy. The tags themselves were inked with: Shabby Shutters and Vintage Photo for the Tree tag, and Walnut Stain and Vintage Photo for the Gingerbread boy- He looks much more worn because after inking the first time I wet the tag with a mini mister and re inked. Additional embellishments include, ribbon pieces, star stickers coated with Glossy Accents, chipboard and "real" buttons sewn on with thread, Gelly roll glitter pen for accent, Merry Christmas stickers outlined with Candy Cane Stickles, and red and brown ribbon for ties.

I hope you enjoy the tags. Thanks for stopping by and taking a look. Like I said please let me know what you think!

Happy Crafting and Love to all, Dawn

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Sunday Night Scrap Event

Went to AC Moore yesterday and saw the crafts lady Peggy, She was so excited, said they were planning another Sunday night scrap event . She told me that several people have commented about the Scrap Pink Event and the tags that we made, and guess what she asked me to do it again!!! Yeah!!! So now I am making Thanksgiving and Christmas tags to display in the store for the event. So if you love to scrap please plan on joining us on Sunday November 16th from 6-10pm. The cost is $10, and an unwrapped toy that will be given to "Toys for Tots" for Christmas. I'll see you there.

Friday, October 31, 2008

Happy Halloween

Maggie and Teagan had a great time Trick-or-Treating. It takes a lot of work to become a beautiful mermaid. We started by putting on the dress and then spray painting the hair.

Here is Auntie Dawn and Teagan spray painting the Mermaid hair.

The finished red headed mermaid.

Then we moved inside for makeup and nails.
The beautiful Mermaid!Then it was Maggie's turn-

Maggie decided she was going to be a Hippie Chick complete with a Fro'

Here she is before the Fro'
And here she is after the Fro'- Lookin' Good Maggie!


Strike a pose-

We had a great time , Teagan was a little slow at first , but once she got the hang of it, she was running to the doors shouting "Trick-or-Treat"!
Next year we are going to have to find a neighborhood that has lots of houses with their lights on! Happy Halloween to all!
Love, Dawn



Thursday, October 30, 2008

I'm a Winner!!!!

Happy Birthday to me!


Well I guess that this is my lucky birth month. I am the winner of a great owl punch. I have never had any punches like this one so I am very excited to have won. Thank you Missy!!!
Please hop on over to Missy's blog, she has some great ideas and beautiful paper piecing's.
Thanks again Missy!

Monday, October 27, 2008



Whooooo Is The Winner?
Whoo ... Whooo ....Whoooooooo is the winner of the Martha Stewart Owl Punch???Congratulations to DAWN you are the proud new owner!Please email me (mgmh@aol.com) with your full name and mailing address and I will get your Martha Stewart Owl Punch mailed to you!Thank you to everyone that played along!

http://missymadeit.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Hangin' Out With Carter

I spent the night with the Rankin's on Sunday. Carter was very excited to see his Auntie Dawn!
Carter and I spent sometime together, playing on the computer, hanging out in his room playing toys and reading books. Here are some of the pictures that I took playing in his room. Just laying around on the Jungle mat.
He really loves his chewy toys.
Thanks Amber, Scott and Carter for letting me spend the night. I had a great time. And a big thanks to you Amber for my delicious, birthday cake. It was YUMMY!~

Friday, October 24, 2008

Autumn Tag


I decided while I was adding posts I would add 1 more. This is a tag that I created for a group that I belong too. The backgound tag is photo paper, that I colored with Alcohol inks and distress inks. The embleshiments are: grunge board scroll that was inked with vintage photo distress ink, a cloth house that is outlined with a glitter pen, an epoxy title "Home", an inked leaf ribbon, a stamped leaf image that is distressed, inked and outlined with a glitter pen, and a ceramic title "Autumn". I think the alcohol inked background adds a lot of autumn colors that makes the tag look warm and cozy.

Happy Crafting!

Dawn :)

New Layouts- More Halloween :)



Well I guess that I am still in the mood to scrap Halloween, I think that I have almost finished Maggie's Halloween pages. In this LO Maggie was in the 4th grade (you think I'm just a little behind???)It looks really neat, I went to moms last night and got my granny's sewing machine. I have read about sewing on pages and I finally tried it. I added a zigzag stitch on the title border. It just adds a little bit of Oomph. As you can see I haven't done a lot yet, but it's a start.


This layout, for some reason did not scan well at all. But nevertheless its Teagan at the Pumpkin Patch last October. She loved going and picking out her own pumpkin and then carving it at Auntie Dawn's. I think this year she has 7 or 8 pumpkins. Oh well I guess I have been traded in for a new pumpkin picker. :)

Happy Halloween and Happy Crafting! Love to all, Dawn

JessicaSprague.com. Grow Your Skills.

This looks and sounds like a lot of fun. I hope that some of you will join me :) Love, Dawn

Alright, the day we've been waiting for is here!
Here are the instructions to register for the FREE Stories in Hand class!
Log in to your jessicasprague.com account. You must have an account and be logged in to continue to the next step.
Go to the Access Codes page here at JessicaSprague.com
Enter the Access Code: SIHFreeNov2008
After you enter the access code, click on the My Classes link to make sure that Stories in Hand is listed in your Class list.
Make sure to visit the Stories in Hand class after you register to check out the supply list and what to expect from the class! (oh, and a fun surprise!)
Registration will stay open until November 8!
Class size is unlimited.
You do NOT need to be a scrapbooker, just a person with stories to tell. :D
Spread the word! If you're looking for the backstory for this class, check out my blog entry from

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Tagged!

Ok I have been tagged by my little sister Amber, so here goes...

8 Things About Me.....

8 Favorite TV shows: In no particular order- Not really a tv fan but here goes...
1. Deadliest Catch
2. QVC
3. Jon and Kate plus 8
4.Americas Top Model
5. VH1's shows like top 100 80's moments etc.
6. Miami Ink
7.????
8.?????

8 Favorite Restaurants:
1.Outback
2.Chick-fil-a
3.Bojangles
4.The Stadium Club
5. Starbucks- does this count as a resturant???? (Coffee is a food group you know)
6.Max and Erma's
7. McDonalds
8. Creek Ratz

8 things that happened yesterday:
1. Went to school
2.Taught a lesson in kindergarten :)
3.Had pumpkin Spice Coffee
4. Picked up my favorite neice and best friend Teagan at school- Sorry Auntie Amber she is MY BFF
5.Went to Granny's house and held the baby kittens
6.Went to CFHS and watched Maggie play PowderPuff Football- Go Juniors!
7. Took Teagan on the bouncy things at the football game.
8.Read a magazine before falling asleep

8 things to look forward to:
1. THE WEEKEND!
2.Finding out in 2 weeks if we are having a new neice or a nephew.
3.Enjoying Halloween with Teagan and Maggie
4.Mine and Mom's Birthday- only 12 more days
5.Seeing Carter in 11 days
6.Becoming an Assistant Principal
7.Watching Maggie everyday
8.Enjoying lifes small moments, as well as the big ones.

8 things I love about fall:
1.Mine and Mom's Birthday :)
2. Halloween
3.Cool nights and warm days
4.Warm colors
5.Apple Cider
6. The holidays- spending time with family
7.The festivals that are around every weekend
8.Pumpkins

8 Things on My Wish List:
1.A happy healthy future
2.Healthy parents
3.Maggie to be sucessful at whatever she chooses to do
4.Healthy new baby
5.A wonderful future full of love and happiness for Maggie, Teagan and Carter
6.To be able to scrapbook fulltime
7.To own a scrap/stamp store
8.????

8 people I am tagging...
I have no clue??????
1.Sarah
2.Maggie


5

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Scrap Pink Night


We had a great time at AC Moore tonight at the Scrap Pink Event. I demonstrated tag making, embossing, inking and distressing. It was soo much fun. The ladies that attended had a great time and I think that by the end of the night at least 3 of the ladies bought embossing guns and all of the equipment. I guess I am going to have to get a job at AC Moore, I think it would be a blast. They are already planning another event in November and after Christmas. We had a great time and raised some money for breast cancer research, so it was a good night for all. The only thing I hate is that I took my camera and forgot to take pictures. Oh Well.

Happy Crafting to all!

Dawn

Monday, September 15, 2008

Halloween Highlights



I know, you guys are sick of looking at Halloween pages, but I am having so much FUN, reliving those Trick or Treat days. I miss Maggie being this little. It seems like it was yesterday. Anyway, this LO is Maggie in kindergarten dressed as a CHS cheerleader and the other picture is Maggie, Hannah and Susannah. The big girls were in the 2nd grade and Susannah was 6 months old. Of course I added a tag, and then I made an envelope and added some journaling in the pocket, with a ribbon pull tab. Happy Halloween everyone!

I also promised my sweet, nephew Carter that I would make him a bookmark. Actually, I promised his Mommy. She said that some of his books were long, and they needed a bookmark. So I have made Carter 2 bookmarks, so he won't loose his place while reading. I imagine he is the only 3 1/2 month old with their very own handmade bookmarks. Your bookmarks are in the mail Carter- look for a letter from Auntie Dawn. I love you!

Love to all, Dawn

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Imagine Tag- Bandana Technique

All over the web people have really taken off creating the "Bandana Technique". When one of the groups that I am in posted it as a challenge/technique, I decided to give it a try. It was fun because you got to really play with inks. Mine did not turn out great, but it looks kinda neat. I have no ideas why it looks like water was on my scanner?????

Friday, September 12, 2008

Halloween Punkin' Page and a Fall one too!




I had such a great time making the Halloween tags for my demo, that I wanted to keep going so I dragged out every Halloween picture that I could find and I started scrappin' them. The Halloween page is made with the Coordniations paper. The outside is black and the core is a different color. You can sand it, tear it, distress it, etc. and it all looks great. I had a great time tearing and inking.

The second LO is a Fall Fest layout. Nothing fancy, I used pop dots to make the letters really stand out, and I tried to distress emboss a stamped leaf- not real crafty with the embossing gun yet, but I am getting the hang of it.


Saturday, September 6, 2008

Spoooky Tags

I have been busy making tags for my demo during our Scrap Pink event. These tags are Halloween and Fall. Halloween is my most favoritest holiday, (perhaps my birthday 3 days before has something to do with it). Anyway, I love creating Halloween goodies, here are a few tags that I wanted to share. Happy crafting!
This is a spooky tag created by wetting the cardstock, and then crinkling. I did that twice and then inked it with Distress Black Soot ink. The letters are Daisy D's rub ons, and the stamped image is raised with a pop dot to make the skeleton head pop off of the tag.

This scary Haunted House tag is created on a manila tag, that I inked. The Haunted House is an acrylic stamped image that I colored in with Gamsol and prisma colored pencils. I love the way that the Gamsol gives the appearance of watercolors. Also attached to the tag are Halloween spangles and the foam word "Boo" and a foam ghost.

I love this Fall tag. I painted a large white cardstock tag with brown acrylic paint. I used a pattern to piece together the pumpkins and the vine. After creating the pumpkins I used clear embossing powder to enhace the outside lines of the pumpkins, the vines and the sticker letters. I think the embossing gives it that little extra "ooomph".



Love to all,

Dawn

Scrap Pink




I was browsing around AC MOORE the other day and the scrapbooking dept. lady approached me about the Scrap Pink event, she asked me if I would like to have a demo at the event for a make and take. Of course I told her yes very calmy, (while I was screaming YEAH!!! inside). she asked me what I wanted to do, well since I am sort of in the tag mood, I am going to be demoing (is that a word??) tags. If you are in MB on Sunday Sept. 28th please come to AC Moore from 6-10 pm for their Scrap Pink event. I will be there with tags on.... Here are a few I made to demo.

Love to all,

Dawn :)

Friday, September 5, 2008

Waiting for Hanna

We are stuck at home waiting for Tropical Storm Hanna- I hope everyone is safe.
Love to all,
Dawn

I am working on some new pieces. I will post them soon :)

Monday, September 1, 2008

Weekend making "Stuff"

I have been busy making tags and cards this weekend. Unfourtnately my computer crashed last week and I have a loaner from school that is OLD,OLD, OLD and I cant get my printer/scanner to load so I will add the pictures of stuff next week. I hope everyone has a great holiday!
Love to all,
Dawn

Monday, August 25, 2008

Ok... New Work Take 2

I love this LO, the statement "Little Things" and the star, heart and arrow are cut from patterned paper and stuck with pop dots. I think it gives it such a pop. I love, love, love the Ranger whit inkessentials pen, it is the smoothest writing white pen i have ever had.


This LO is a letter written to my nephew the day before he was born. I used the Bazzil stitching paper, I have never tried it before, but I love the look. I also "inked" around the edges with acrylic paint.

I came home Friday night after open house at school and began working on a few layouts, I had such a good time that I stayed in my PJ's all weekend (i did take a shower and put clean ones on everyday). I was so tired from being back at work. Today was our first day and it went great. I hope this means we are going to have a good year. I hope you enjoy the layouts.

Love to all,


Dawn

Finally New Work!

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Sorry :(


Haven't had time to create or post. School starts in a few days and I am frantically trying to get my teachers ready. So I have been working on powerpoint presentations, attending staff development sessions, and planning lessons. Hopefully things will calm down and I can begin creating again really soon. I hope everyone is enjoying their lazy summer days.

Love to all,

Dawn :)

Friday, August 1, 2008

Layouts using the "Masking" technique.

Maggie's Layout
Sorry Jamie, I had to copy painting on the paper with acyrlics and masking, so that is 2 techniques that I tried, do I get extra credit????

This is Teagan's Layout. (I had to make one for each of them)


Ok, I rarely ever copy or "scraplift" a layout, but this one looked so cute and fun, that I had to try it. It was demonstrated by Jamie Danford on her blog,http://savannahscrapbooking.typepad.com/savannah_scrapbooking/ . She has a great feature called "Try it Tuesday", where she is trying new techniques. After watching her video and laughing hysterically, I had to "Try It!" So here are the finished products. Thanks Jamie, I had a great time! Make sure that you check out Jamie's blog, she is soooo smart and funny, it's hard to believe that a person can be both at the same time! :)

Have a great weekend, and Happy Scrappin'

Dawn :)