Another So Sketchy Sunday Challenge!

Hi all,

Just under the wire before the new SSS is up, but thought I wanted to keep my streak going!!

I don't know if I'm real pleased with this one. The original by Mary Vogel at On Life And Creating is so beautiful, it would be hard to do better, but since Breast Cancer Hope is one of my card mainstays, I think this one I can use and it was pretty simple...

Here were the instructions for this week:

1. Your card front should be a single, matted layer....not lots of layers, keep it clean and simple

2. Your card should include an image on the front and a sentiment on the front

3. Your card should include only one embellishment

4. Your card should include some "white space"

Here's what I came up with:

Ian was in his first Soccer tournament today. Unfortunately they didn't make it into Day 2, but the kids had a great time and did really well. They won two of their three games, but didn't have the necessary goals scored to "rack" up the extra points needed to get into Day 2. Also, they were in the toughest bracket, so we hope next year to make it all the way!

Here are some fun pics of the team and our "Young Champion"

Paying It Forward!!

Looky what I got!
Thank you so very much to Rachel from Wonderful Whimsy for these cute, creative magnets! I saw these cute flowers she created on a card on her blog and even had them bookmarked to try and create some on my own and low and behold I was lucky enough to be one of the first five to comment on her "Pay it Forward" give away, so now I have some of my very own to ooh and aww over. Thank you so much Rachel. Here is a picture of her handywork!


Now it is my turn to "Pay it Forward" Read below for the details on how you can receive a gift especially made by me as I keep the momentum going:

The 1st five get a goodie
I was fortunate enough to be one of the first five commenter's on Rachel's goodies giveaway. Now, it's my turn to pay it forward. The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you! This offer does have a few "rules of play":
1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make --- but I hope you do!
2- What I create will be just for you --- one of a kind!
3- It'll be done sometime this year (most likely it will be in the next month or two).
4- You have no clue what it's going to be. Well, a pretty good bet it will be made of paper!
5-The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog!

The first 5 people to leave a comment win a handmade card or gift (or both!) by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture on your blog of what you win when you get it! So....who will be the first 5 people? Even if you aren't in my first five, why not start this on your blog, too? Spread more love FASTER! Ready, set.....who will the first five be??
Terrie

Getting into a Groove...

Well, once a week is better than I was doing.....Thanks to Mary Vogel over on her blog "On life and Creating" for giving me the incentive to participate in her "So Sketchy Sunday."

Here is the sketch for last Sunday:

And here is my version:

I used my CTMH Fancy Cut Botanicals for the flower and vine. I also dry embossed around a smaller one to get the background on the Sorbet cardstock. I used Petal brads, CS and ink. The sentiment is from the March Word Puzzle stamp set. Pretty simple, but fun.

I'm fighting a nasty cold and I'm not winning as of yet! I signed up for a spot at our church garage sale tomorrow, but had to bow out. I did take some things out there and got in on the Lenten fish fry...YUMMMM! (You would think my appetite would leave me when I'm sick, but alas, I seek out the comfort food)

My friend Peggy is planning to come over this weekend and help me prep for a HUGE scrapbooking and crafting garage sale coming up for National Scrapbooking Day....Stay tuned for more details!

Later,

Terrie

Another "So Sketchy Sunday"

Well, I'm managing to get this done a little earlier this week....
Here is the sketch for this week:


And here is my version:



I was killing two birds with one stone with this card, I am going to a baby shower for a girl at work and thought I would try and come up with something using the sketch.
I used CTMH's Sweet Pea paper, My Stickease, Sassy Strands and Rub On's. A very quick and easy card.

I am working on my calendar for April and May, so that should be hitting your mailboxes soon, be on the look out for it!
Terrie

New So Sketchy Sunday Card

Hi again,

At least I am posting my "So Sketchy Sunday" Card before the next one gets posted! Sorry so slow, it is taking me longer than anticipated to get back to it after Regionals last weekend...


Here is this weeks Sketch..







And here is my version...



I used CTMH's Emporium paper pack, Chocolate and Twilight CS, Colored Pencils, Prisma Glitter, Wonderful Charms SS and Love Story Rub On's.
Hope you enjoy, now I'm off too get going on this week's sketch...Come join us here.
Till later this week...Have a good one,
Terrie

I LOVE CTMH!

Edit: Thanks to Mary Vogel for helping me figure out that the image on my card below is "Lilly" from the Cat's Pajamas. Love her and need to get to their site and check out their other images...you should too!

Hi all,

Just back from the Phoenix Regional Celebration and WOW is all I can say. I love this company! We spent the last several days learning and creating with the wonderful staff and the inspirational leader of Close to My Heart, Jeanette Lynton. Here are a few things we worked on and some of the creations that we saw....

This is one of the 8 two page spreads we did using several paper packs and the WOTG format demonstrating what a versatile program it is.

This is the top of our "My Creations Memory Keeper" we did with "Emporium", so cute!

I got to meet the founder and CEO of our company, Jeanette Lynton. She is as genuine and caring as I have always heard. She also is an astute business woman who is running a totally debt free company which continues to grow and prosper.

I was very lucky to get to spend the last couple of days with some new "best friends". Thanks Erin, Ashleigh and Gina for a great weekend! I hope we can keep in touch and attend another event sometime real soon!

One last thing before I close for tonight:

I did do Mary Vogel's "So Sketchy Sunday" challenge again this week, so fun...

Here is the sketch:

And here is my version:

I have to say that I got the image from a free download that I got from someone's blog, and forgive me, I did not save the name when I downloaded it. I just loved it and have had it around for awhile just waiting for me to get around to using it with CTMH's "Daydream" paper pack. Isn't she cute?

Well, that's all for now, but I hope to be back soon to show you some more inspiration from Regional's.

Terrie

Hi again!

I'm participating in a new sketch challenge, "So Sketchy Sunday's" so am posting those cards here as well as some layouts I did at a recent retreat! Enjoy

Here is the sketch I tried....my first ever! Thanks to Mary Vogel for the challenge. Here is the sketch:



Now here are my two tries at it:



What do you think?

Now here is a direct "lift" from Sheila Wilkerson. I don't lift very often, so let's just say I LOVED your original enough to recreate it.




This next one if from CTMH's "Reflections" book. It is Bottom Border-Footnotes on page 37. I used the new "Stardust" papers from the spring catalog.


I hope to be back soon with another sketch challenge....I really enjoyed it!
Terrie

Some Creating...

Hi again,


No apology this time for my absence...I have actually gotten a lot done over the last few weeks, so I am proud of myself.


I had Lisa P. and Peggy L. over on Saturday to create and got a fun layout started for my 3-Day album, I will post that as soon as I have it all embellished up like I want it. I created this calendar after scraplifing the idea from the "Inspirational Tips, Techniques and Tutorials" blog. There are some great ideas on there, go check it out here.



I'm off to bed as I have to head back to work tomorrow after another long weekend.
Oh, by the way....CONGRATULATIONS to the Arizona Cardinals and we'll see you at the Super Bowl in two weeks!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Again it has been awhile since I've posted, but that is one of several resoulutions I have made for the new year:

1. Continue to try and "simplify" my life. This has helped me slow down and realize what is really important in my life...

2. Pay off our debt...we really need to start this hard process. Budgeting will start us off and getting rid of some our "wants" will help a lot...

3. Work on a huge scrapbooking project. "My life 365" Keep looking as I will be posting every so often to show off how this project will work.

4. Healthier Living.....this will have to happen to help us lose weight and avoid any health issues as we move towards "middle age" this year....YIKES!

Here are some pics of our holiday....Enjoy

Thanksgiving Dinner: We are very grateful for all we have!

Ian and I at his holiday party at school...

Happy Siblings on Christmas morning...

A little creating over the holiday...I made this for my sister-in-law Norma...

Using a dollar spot monthly planner and "blinging it up" with some "Stylin'" paper from Close to my Heart.

I will update you on my newest project tomorrow on Day 1!

Have a safe and happy New Year's Eve!

Terrie

5.2 Million!!!!

Hi all,

Long time, no blog, but I have 5.2 million reasons why......

The 3-Day is over and we raised 5.2 million dollars to fight Breast Cancer!!

Yep, blisters and sore muscles and all, I'm quite proud!

Here are a couple of pics from the weekend...

Day One at Freestone Park in Gilbert at Opening Ceremonies...

Home Sweet Home at Benedict Park in Tempe G-90.....

In Old Town Scottsdale on Day 3 only 1/4 mile from the holding area....

The whole gang at the Holding Area after we crossed the finish line!

It was such an honor and so much fun to be able to do this with Kaye this time!

Daniel asked us what we talked about all those miles and we just smiled and said sometimes you don't even need to talk, it is just good to BE together....

Kaye was a rock throughout the 3-Days. She had trained much better than me and was so encouraging even when I was hurting soooo bad! She is all ready to plan her next 3-Day and although I don't know if I would walk it again, I know that my family and I will definately so our part to keep fighting for the cure!!

I wished I could have spent more time with Kaye's kids Allison and Daniel as they have grown up into such nice young people. I hope our families will be able to spend some time together again soon.

Kaye treated me to a "Hot Stone" massage on Monday after the walk and I'll tell you there isn't anything much better than those warm stones on your sore muscles! Thank you soooooo much Kaye.

I hope to be back in the next few days with some holiday creations coming out of the studio....I haven't been in there much in the last few weeks and I miss it!

All for now,

Terrie D

Oh My....Time got away from me AGAIN!!

I'm so sorry...I don't know if anyone is even reading this, but if you are, I apologize cause I can't seem to keep up. I was going to have Bryan upload pics from our vacation and of course with school starting for the kids and now his students are back, I didn't have the heart to bug him about it. I'm off tomorrow, so I will try like crazy to get something put on here....

My Close to my Heart Open House is this Saturday and of course in my usual style, I decided to make some changes to the studio, so it is a MESS right now, so I have to do that too tomorrow, but I promise I will get those pics on and some new ones by the end of the week....
Wish me luck!

I have gotten some training done for the 3-Day, so that is a good thing...
3 miles on Tuesday last week a couple on Thursday and we hiked for over 2 hours yesterday, probably not too many miles, but definately some training!

Talk to you soon,
Terrie

I'm trying to test out having a link. If you want to see what I am linking to click here.

MIA?

Oh my, how time flies when you are driving around in a car!


Sorry for the almost month delay, but it has taken me this long to get back in the swing of things.





We had a great time on vacation....


The kid's trip from Tulsa to Iowa was highlighted by riding on this....


Then we headed on down to Galveston to get on the ship the Carnival "Ecstacy" to celbrate Bill's 70th birthday. Here is a pic the three of them, Bill, Robyne and Bryan had taken on formal night....

We had a great time and really enjoyed spending time with Bryan's family. We went on two excursions while in our ports of Progresso and Cozumel. Here are some pictures of the ruins in Dzibuzal. It was hot, but the trip was fascinating.

In Cozumel we went into town to do some geo-caching and shopping and then rushed back to change and go to snorkel with the stingrays. Here are some of our pics from that....

Because we got back 3 hours later than anticipated to Galveston, we took Robyne, Bob, Bill and two others back to the Houston Airport to catch their flights back home and then we headed back to Marion.

The kids had been having all sorts of fun with Quentin and Dylan who are the grandchildren of Jane, Mom and Dad's neighbor. They also had spent some time with Nick and Brian, my cousin Mary's kids. Leah was especially excited to get a number of hand-me-downs from Madeline....she called to tell me she had done all of her back to school clothes shopping in a whopping 3 minutes!

We enjoyed a few more days in Marion and several evenings with Joe, John and Norma. We also got to have a fun evening with Uncle Frank, Aunt Pauline, Mary, Lee, Nick, Brian and Ted. The kids all played Blongo Ball and fished in the pond. So much fun!!!

I'm going to post now, but Bryan still has to download some more pics for me and then I will update with pictures to my blog. Please be patient with me....Bryan leaves for another trip next Thursday and work is crazy busy. Talk to you hopefully tomorrow!
Terrie

Only 3 days till we head out on VACATION!

The crunch is on now, only 3 days to get the laundry done, pack and get the kids ready to head to Iowa and us to head out on our cruise....Whew, it seemed like I had so much time and now I'm wondering how it snuck up on me so fast? Oh well, I've done it before, I can do it again...

How about an update from this week?

We didn't hear from Leah till Thursday afternoon, but she did really well on her first time away to Girl Scout camp. She arrived home at 6:15 on Friday evening and all of the Girl Scout troop met her and Madelyn so we could go directly to the Girl Scout/Phoenix Mercury Lock In. Both girls were dirty and tired, but we forged ahead....and we were not disappointed! The event was exciting (the Mercury won in OT) and fun (lots of events planned for the girls) Here are some pics to show you some of the action...

The girls were really excited when they got to see themselves on the "Jumbotron" Leah said it was a night of firsts...her first time going to a pro basketball game and her first time on TV! I think the cameraman zeroed in on them as they were all waving their "Rally flags" and screaming at the top of their lungs!

After the game, the Hip Hop squad performed, they had a Q & A session with one of the players, there was Pizza for everyone, they rotated to some really great sessions including games on the Suns and Mercury practice court, an hour in "The Jungle" a really cool game and climbing arcade and finally sleeping in some of the suites overlooking the court. It was a long night (ended at about 4am) but very fun.

When we got home, Bryan let me catch about 4 hours of sleep and Leah layed down for a quick "nap" and woke up 8 hours later to take a long shower to get the weeks worth of dirt off of her and finally sit down and just relax.

I hope to update you all before we leave for Tulsa on Wednesday....but if not, I plan on updating the blog while on vacation since we upload our pics along the way...Till then,

WALK ON,

WALK STRONG,

Terrie

Whew....What a Weekend!

Well, we made it through recital week and everything actually went really well!

Remember I told you I was nervous about Leah getting ready for dress rehearsal by herself? Well this is how her hair and makeup turned out (without my help!) I think she did a great job!

We attended the performance on Thursday night and we only got a few pictures that turned out.

Here is one where amazingly enough, she is right in the middle of the frame and totally in focus! I thought that was kind of cool that it turned out like that...

After the performance, Ian presented his sis with a dozen roses.....I made Bryan capture the moment!

Since we didn't get real good shots at the performance, I took a few at her last perfomance last night. I was the "dressing room mom," so these are candids, but fun none the less and at least you can see her up close!

She made some really good friends this year at dance...

Here she is with two of them!

Ok, as soon as we got home, we headed to bed as we had to have Leah down in Central Phoenix to catch the bus to Girl Scout Camp at Shadow Rim Ranch. She is attending the "Hike and Bike" session with her friend from school Madelyn. She put on a good front, but I think she was a little nervous? I'm sure she will have a great time and not miss us at all, but I must admit it is just not the same without her here tonight : (

Here are some shots from the drop off....

And not to forget what a special day it is, here is a picture of Bryan wearing one of his gifts!

Actually he is wearing two, one (the shirt) that Leah made and gave to him when she was two (he wears it every year on Father's Day) and the second is the paper tie that Ian made for him in school before they got out. I think it makes him look rather sophisticated....don't you?

Hope your weekend was restful!

WALK ON,

WALK STRONG,

Terrie

Recital Week Starts at the Dodd Household!

Well, it is that time of year again, and recital week kicked off with a bang today at 1:00 with our tech rehearsal for the Green cast....

I will include pictures as the week goes on, but tonight we are all packed for dress rehearsal tomorrow (which I cannot attend as I have to work) Bryan will take Leah and sell concessions in the lobby during the dress rehearsal. Leah's hair is in curlers tonight and she will do her make-up (by herself) for the first time tomorrow. I gave her a few pointers like "less is more" and "use the eye-liner pencil instead of the liquid to avoid unfixable mistakes." I hope she listens... I will have Bryan take some pictures if he remembers.

Gotta go now, but will plan on checking in tomorrow..

Terrie

Busy Saturday!

Hi again, we had a very busy day today....

I went to the dance studio and did my first volunteer stint for recital week, selling tickets. Most everybody must already have theirs as business wasn't too brisk.

We have wanted to get rid of our lone Queen palm in our front yard for a long time and we decided today was the day.....

Here's a pic of Ian by our palm that was only about 6 foot tall when we moved in November of 1995...

We headed out to Moon Valley Nursery and came home with a Chilean Mesquite tree. We wanted some shade and decided with this quick growing tree we would save a lot of money to buy a small tree and then watch it grow the 6-8 feet a year instead of pay $350 to have a bigger tree planted right away.

OK, so we have a new tree...we need to get rid of the palm. Bryan digs around the root ball to loosen it up and then we call Bryan's Uncle Larry to bring over his truck and we proceed to very easily pull out the 15 foot tree.

Here is a pic of the kids by our newly planted Mesquite! We figured if we put them in the picture, we could watch the tree grow along with the kids!

Training for the three day is moving along well. I haven't been real good about getting my walks in early as I'm really enjoying sleeping in for now, but with the cruise coming up, I'm hoping some of our ports will allow Bryan and I time to get out and geocache which should offer some good mileage. I hope to post from my Mom and Dad's after the cruise so you can all see what we got to do on vacation.

Well, I'm tired and am off to bed now,

Walk On,

Walk Strong...

Terrie

I'm Baaaacccckkkk!

Hi again!

Well our Girl Scout trip to Disneyland is in the books and we all made it back safe and sound and tired.

Here are some quick photo's to show you what a good time we had........

Here are the girls right before going to the "It's A Bug's Life" show...

Here is Madison with one of the local's from "Pirate's Lair" formerly know as Tom Sawyer's Island.

And last but not least, one of the most famous residents of Disneyland poses with Leah!

I'm trying to get back on track now that the kids are out of school... Ian had a tooth filled this morning under anesthesia and then we had to run to the Girl Scout store to get the badges the girls earned this year plus some fun patches to remember all of our activities.

I also wanted to include a picture of the awesome rosaries our women's group at St. Gabriels makes for the newly baptized babies. I have been part of this ministry for several years and really think these rosaries are special!

My 3-Day training went extremely well while I was at Disney...probably about 5 miles trekked each day for 3 days!

Well that's all for tonight...The Mayo School of Health Sciences will have a ceremony to award certificates tomorrow, so I will probably have some pics from that. Till then......

Walk on,

Walk strong,

Terrie

Whoops!

It amazes me when I realize that I haven't updated in a few days....then I try to wonder what I have been doing that is so important that I can't spend two minutes to update this blog?? Well, here is a little run-down and what has been keeping me so busy....

We had recital pictures last Saturday....Leah is in 3 dances this year, tap, jazz and hip-hop, so it was an all day affair. I will post pictures of her during recital week. Her costumes are really cute this year!

Last Sunday, we went to my friend, Lori Wynn's twins baptism as St. Gabes. Izzy and Gabby are some of the cutest babies ever and we were honored to welcome them to our church family. Here are a couple of pics from the day.

Monday morning I attended a breakfast for volunteers at the school and then stayed to watch Ian receive his "Attitude is Everything" award. He was so proud!

I was supposed to have "Play Group" on Tuesday, but I'm glad some of the girls cancelled at the last minute as Leah had forgotten to let me know she had "honors assembly" that day. Here is her pic...

The last day of school was Thursday and a half day, so like usual, I head out to get a few last minute gifts for the bus driver, front office people etc....it never ends! Bryan came home from work early to spend some time with the kids, so we head out geo-caching again. (We found two more caches real close to home) and then on Friday, Bryan spent his first day being Mr. Mom as the kids are officially out of school...it went OK, we'll see how that goes this summer!



Today we headed up to Crown King today to look for some caches and spend some quality time with the kiddo's. Ended up cold and rainy, so for part of the time they stayed in the car and watched movies while we searched! We will probably head back up there to camp after we get back from Iowa. Here are some pics from today!

We are really enjoying the cool weather after the 111 degrees we hit last week. It hailed yesterday and was about 50 degrees, so pretty cold for us but we're not complaining!

I'll check back next week, Have a wonderful Memorial Day!

Walk on, Walk strong,

Terrie