Good Morning! Another Wednesday is upon us – this one bearing the distinction of being the last day of August (wow – another month has flown by) as well as my last day as a guest DT for Doodle Pantry – Laurie has some amazing images and I’ve been fortunate to create with them.

When Laurie released her Treat Dish Card template, I knew I “had” to play with it!  I thought it would be perfect for a Back To School gift – even more so when combine with Laurie’s School Sheep stamp set and School Time digi-papers. Laurie included line art and pre-colored options as part of the School Sheep set, so I opted to use her pre-colored collage for my projects.  I love how versatile the template is!!! For the Welcome Back project, I used the scalloped edge version of the template opened in Make The Cut at 72 DPI. I cut the accent pieces from one of the School Time papers printed on white cardstock using my printer’s borderless 8.5×11 setting. The apple sparkles courtesy of a Spica glitter pen and the Welcome Back “pops” after a coating of Clear Glaze pen.  I used an EK Success edge punch on the main image to coordinate with the scalloped edges of the card/dish.  Two strands of adhesive pearls and hemp twine completed the look. I didn’t open up the A+ Teacher dish as I wanted to show the “card” look as well – easily packaged in a standard A2 envelope for quick giving or posting. I opted for the “pinked” edge this time around and a different sentiment on the blackboard.   As before, the papers are printed from the School Time set and cut out using MTC. Once again, an EK Success edge punch made matching the edges of my image and card/dish base a breeze. I added Spica sparkle to the blackboard message and the apple before using by IRock tool to adhere Swarovski gems to the top. I tied the front panels together with a bit of hemp twine as a final touch.

Nadya was very excited with the end result and will be carting these off to preschool this week. It’s amazing what a difference time can make – last year she was shy and a bit uncertain and we both suffered separation anxiety – this year, not a tear! I’m so very proud of my sweet girl!

In the way of challenges, I’m playing along with these:

• All Sorts – Back To School
• Creative Inspiration Paints – Lots of Layers

If you’d like to “score” yourself some of Laurie’s fabulous images, Doodle Pantry is sponsoring both the current Paper Playtime and Digital Tuesday challenges. Don’t forget, the next Doodle Pantry release is Sept. 5 – which will mean a whole new challenge as well!

Have a great Wednesday!

Happy Sunday!  I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!  We’ve been busy here, but that’s not an unusual condition at our house.  The primary event for Nadya and I involved a birthday party for one of her friends – Nadya wanted the gift packaging to be “special”… so of course, I attempted to meet her request.  We opted to combine the card and package – much easier for a preschooler to carry on her own!  Nadya chose one of the precious Birthday Birdie images from Doodle Pantry and wanted a pink theme – so I went to “work” in Photoshop using various  SuperBladePro filters combined with pattern files and my favorite Chalkies styles to color the birdie body, birthday hat, and cupcake liner. After printing, I added shadows and additional coloring with my Copic and Bic markers, then finished off with glitter glue for dimension and sparkle. I created the box in Make The Cut then cut the top from DCWV Glitter CS and the bottom from Echo Park’s Little Girl line – I wanted a double-sided CS so that when the package was opened I didn’t need a separate liner.  If you want the box files (MTC and SVG) you can download them here. Please don’t share my files – send your friends to visit me instead.

Since I haven’t “played” in awhile, I’m entering this challenge:

• Catered Crop – Recipe (I used stickles, digital stamps, copics and pinks)

On a personal note – the party was held at one of the local gymnastics studios – which meant Nadya had a blast!!!  I had this fabulous new storyboard template (complete with sharpening and resizing Photoshop action) from Paint the Moon; I couldn’t resist sharing a few of the snapshots. Check her Facebook Page for a special freebie.Coach Rick is great with the kids and we’ve always known our little one was part Monkey!

Have a fabulous day!

Happy Monday! I have another Doodle Pantry creation to share with you today – a simple birthday card featuring the Mini Rose Pot digital stamp set.

My husband requested a birthday card and prefers the clean and simple look, so I printed the roses and sentiment and then colored them with my Copic markers with a bit of sparkle sponged on using Pebbles shimmer chalks. The card base is from DCWV and inspired the purple throughout. For added interest I diecut both the image and the card with my nesties. 

Doodle Pantry is sponsoring the current Stamptacular Sunday Challenge – the theme is fancy folds.  Laurie put together a darling and oh-so-creative card/gift container for the occasion – check it out on the Doodle Pantry blog. While we’re on the subject of challenges, there’s still time to join us for DPDC15 – deadline is August 18th. We’d love to have you come join us for either of these challenges.

We start preschool tomorrow – but this year Nadya is attending in the afternoons – we thought that might be easier with the baby coming. We’ll see how it goes.

Have a fabulous week!