She loves to Create

The beginning of a new tradition

Oh my gosh. What a totally fun evening last night. Wyatt had a hockey game last night and so the Pick family and the Morgan family got together beforehand for dinner and then had enough time to bowl a game at Valley lanes before Wyatt's game at Valley ice. SO MUCH FUN! There was so much trash talk it wasn't even funny! The picks had shirts made up that said "Team Bring It" on the back and their nicknames on the front. Ian spilled the beans on that one on accident on Saturday night, so I quickly made us our own super CHEESY, super CHEAP shirts before we met up. Our team name? "Team Brought It!"  Too bad we didn't ! :) The pick family outscored us by over a hundred pins. Whatever! We'll get them next time. We then went to Wyatt's game. Such a big deal for him that the Pick family comes to watch him. It's an even bigger deal for him that Ian and Kopi (along with the temp back-up goalie, Ross) were there to cheer him on. He almost had two goals last night. So close! It was awesome. Angel and I took several photos of our bowling game. Here are a few.

Such a dramatic family! :)

Wyatt had already ran off to the rink when we finished and took family photos. Darnit! Next time for sure we'll get him in the photo!

The "Mama's"

Kelsey and her Daddy

kelsey and Riles.

Wyatt and Magurt. Wyatt wasn't so happy cause he wasn't doing so well at the bowling thing.

Ross, Kopi and Mac. Part of Wyatt's cheering section!

Oops. Somebody got a penalty! 2:00 in the box for high sticking!

Evening has come to an end. Happy Mama's that we put together a fun evening for the fam's. Till next time!

Halloween photos for Mama

I am posting pics of my kiddo's and Makayla for my Mama. The kids had a fabulous time tonight out trick or treating. Wyatt was MIA as he went to Austin's hockey game and then to hang out with friends. Kelsey talked me into letting her trick or treat at the last minute. This is for sure going to be her LAST year. The darned girl is 5' 5"! People were asking her how old she was! She looks a lot older than 12 years old! So Mama, these photos are for you!

my scary "evil clown" also known as Riley

My "good" and "bad" fairies, also known as Makayla and Kelsey

The three candy collecting little stinkers! 

So fun! As much as I'm not a huge fan of Halloween, I LOVE how much they love it! They had a great time. Now starts the countdown to Thanksgiving! THAT'S MY KIND OF HOLIDAY! 

dawnmarie designs llc

This is the name of my new business. As far as employment goes, I have decided to take the creative route. One that I enjoy and cherish. I have been scrapbooking for years and love it. I have helped many a friends with their calendar gifts through out the years. I love making cards and most recently, jewelry. So, I have decided to take all the things I love to do and open an Etsy Store. This is the news I have been talking about. I am currently working on my production. It is slow going. I really need to get my creative space in order so I can really focus on my stuff. I will be doing pre made mini albums, cards, calendar kits, jewelry and more. So excited! Here are a few samples of some of my pieces of hand stamped jewelry.

This is a necklace I made for a girlfriend and fellow hockey mom. She has one child of her own and two billets with her for the Winterhawks season. The skinny solid sterling charm says Bio*Billet*Hockey*Mom. This is her nickname that I gave her. The swarovsky crystals are the colors of both the Winterhawks and the Portland Jr. Hawks which her son plays for. 

This piece is mine. I stamped my kids' names in a solid sterling silver washer, "dented" it with my jewelry hammer to give it the hammered look I like and then dangled swarovsky crystals in their birthstone colors in the center. I love the way it turned. out. Of course, these are just the beginning of my work and I'm sure I'll get much better at placement of the letters, but I like how it is not perfect. Truly a handmade item!

I have been working on my december daily album. I had to scratch using the white stampin' up album as it was not going to hold all of the pages. I cut an 8.5 x 11 piece of chipboard in half and will decorate that for the front and back. I'll put it all together with rings and ribbon when it is finished! Here are some progress photos.

I love the numbers set I am using for this album. I bought it from Shabby Chic Crafts online. Love all her tags and stuff. So fun. 

I am such a last minute Mom that I just took Riley out shopping for his costume today. He is going to be an Evil Clown. I gotta admit, he looks pretty darned scary. He always loves those costumes with the hard look to them. Kelsey and I went out tonight and they didn't have what she wanted left, so we are throwing together her outfit. Bought her some fishnets, long black gloves a leotard and huge black wings at Party city and then we went to target and found a black skirt on clearance and some really cool earrings. We are gonna paint her nails black and she is going to go as a Dark Fairy. Wyatt really has no desire to do anything for Halloween and in fact wants to spend it in Eugene with our friends watching one of the younger boys play hockey. I myself bought candy this year in hopes we get a few kids back here. Ya never know. Usually I spend it in the old culdesac, but that is not in the plans this year. 

So, I off to bed. Jeff is sick and I really don't want to pick any of that up from him. Trying to get enough sleep and drink lots of fluids so I don't come down with anything again!

December Daily

This is what I am getting ready to start on. I love putting together the december daily mini album. Idea curtesy of Ali E. So much fun to put this together ahead of time and focus putting the memories in during the month of December. I love Christmas and love putting all of our month long fun into this album. I am going to work on this tomorrow. I'll post pics when I am done!

Recovering Nicely

It has been a LONG week and a half of being sick. I am finally feeling on the mend. Thank goodness. I HATE being sick. Lot's going on and I do not have time to be laying on the couch. 

Today, I went in to see my hairdresser/magician. LOVE Sue! She rocks. Got my hair cut shorter than it's been since the first year of Jeff's and my marriage. That's a LONG time ago! Here's my new do:

and a little side view:

So fun. Sue can work wonders. Jeff is probably not gonna be as happy as I am, but until he starts washing, blow drying and straightening my hair, he has no claim to how it is cut. 

I have produced a couple of pages lately. Nothing too exciting, but happy to scrapbook. I don't get to do enough of that for myself!

And, a little peek into my upcoming news. 

Bad picture!

A little better. 

So, that is it for now. I'm super tired and need to at least get a load of clothes done before bed. 

Sick

Oh man! I have not been this sick in a very long time. So many symptoms. Sore throat, itchy/achy ears, congestion, body aches, cough and just overall blah. What in the world did I do to deserve this? No clue. All I know is that I feel awful and I have too much to do to feel this way. Such a bummer. This will definitely call for a Doctor appointment today. Somethings just need a little help moving along. This just may be one of those times. Bring on the antibiotics? I hope so!

So much going on

I have been SO busy lately. No time on my hands for blogging, but will be making it more of a priority in the future with an upcoming announcement. Yep! I have some exciting news on the horizon. Stay tuned. 

With the starting of a new school year, our schedules are out of control. Wyatt is in HIGH SCHOOL! Unbelievable to me! Kelsey is in her second year of middle school and Riley is in fourth! Crazy! 

We are full swing into cheer. We have cheered at three games this season so far with a minimum of five more. We'll see how the teams do and if they get to playoffs. My girls are doing amazing and I couldn't be more proud of them. They are doing a great job of stunting!

 

Super cute girls, super cute uniforms this year! Love it!

Riley has started his hockey season. Practices have been going for a while now and they had their first games this weekend. I was only able to attend one game on Sunday morning and it was so early I forgot my camera! :( I'll get photos for sure next time.

Wyatt does not start hockey for another few weeks. He should be finding out more in the next few days. He has decided against playing for PJH again and is moving onto high school hockey. Can't blame him. That program has been very discriminatory to him. Last season was awful. He may be small, but he IS mighty darn it! 

I am going to end this post with pics of my kids from the first day of school. So much to do and get back to!

Lincoln City 09

Man we had an awesome time again this year. It was our second annual Labor Day trip to Lincoln City. Love that beach. It was just the kids and I this year as Jeff had to go to a "board of directors meeting" in Las Vegas(I'm sure they are accomplishing a ton, wink, wink)! The kids and I however were having the best time. We played on the beach where by some miracle it didn't really rain at all during the day, just at night. We did their school clothes shopping at the outlet mall, ate at Mo's, played putt, putt golf, batting cages, saw the stupidest movie ever made at the Lincoln City 6 theater, at at the 60's cafe, played football on the beach, took tons of pictures, swam at the hotel pool and just had an all out blast together. This annual beach trip is the perfect ending to our summer each year. 

I really did take a lot of photos and here are a few to share:

Tomorrow is the first day of the new school year! Thank goodness. I'm ready for a more structured day! 

CE recap

So I wanted to post a few pics from Creative Escape. I took photos with all my teachers and some from the last night. Such an exciting event. Here they are...

Heidi Swapp and I

Debby Schuh. She made the incredible album that was my favorite

Paula Cheney

Heather Bailey

Tim Holtz

There were several other teachers. These were just a few.

A little "piece" of the hotel

Our gift that was left in our room Friday night.

The items in the gift

All the raffle prizes for the last night.

All the lamps made by teachers for the luekemia/lymphoma foundation.

Heidi and her lamp that sold at live auction for $8200!

Tim and his lamp that sold for $29,000! Tim and Heidi were both crying!

The water canal that went in between the hotel/golf course and the casino. 

Creative Escape!

This has been an amazing trip! Creative Escape is a wonderful weekend of crafty events, goodness, wonderful people, talent, surprises, good food, AMAZING classes, zebra print :), shopping and did I say good food? So fun!

I had some amazing classes. My two fav's: Debby Schuh's CE book and Tim Holtz's mini album in a mini suitcase. I can see myself filling both of them right away and not letting them sit in my craft room unfinished. Debby's album is a perfect home for all the memorabilia from the weekend. A place for our cute CE room key, our name badge, lunch tickets, raffle tickets(which I won NOTHING) :), photos, goodie basket tag, ribbons, pictures from the live auction of Heidi and Tim's lamps. They raised a combined $37,200.00 for the Leukemia foundation! So AWESOME! 

I will be heading home tomorrow evening. Bittersweet. I miss my family but at the same time I have had a wonderful time and it has been so peaceful having a hotel room all to myself with no fighting kids or someone kicking me in the middle of the night. Truly, heavenly. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful supportive husband who understands my passion for my craft and how much trips like this mean to me. Thank you Jeff!

So, I will post pics of my projects when I get home and a few other photos as well. 

Be back soon!