Today

I am working on a project for Magistical Memories. I am actually working on this challenge.

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The challenge for August is to use a border on any type of project, however this border must have bling! The project can be an altered item, a card, a mini album or a scrapbook page. At least one piece of chipboard and/or acrylic must be used on this project. Upload your projects into the August challenge gallery at www.magisticalmemories.com to get entered. The challenge will run through midnight, August 31 and the winner will receive a gift certificate for Magistical Memories products. What are you waiting for...get scrapping!!
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No I do not have anything to share yet but I thought it might be fun to see what everyone else comes up with for this challenge as well. So, in completing this challenge with me, you will not only receive a chance to win a Gift Certificate to Magistical Memories, I will give a RAK to one person. In order to have a chance to win my RAK all you need to do is post a link in this post to your project by August 31.
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Also, I wanted to let everyone know that I posted a mini album this morning on the Creative Charms blog. Here is a little peek! (If you happen to be my BIL or SIL you are NOT ALLOWED to click that link!) LOL

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Thanks for stopping by!

Flower Tutorial

Good Morning Everyone!!!
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I had a project I created for Emma's Paperie this last week that I wanted to share with you.
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It is amazing what you can do with a little bit of paper and Stickles. Oh how I love my Stickles! :) You can create one of these flowers too by following these steps. (Please forgive the bad lighting)

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1. Punch or cut three six petal flowers of the same size.
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2. Fold all three of the flowers in half three times. On the first
flower make a cut between two of the petals to the center. (as shown). On
the second flower cut out one petal. Cut two petals out of the third flower
keeping the two petals connected to form a heart. Do not discard the petals.

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3. Place a glue dot on the back of one petal adjacent to where you just
cut on each flower. Overlap the two petals to create the flower sections as
shown.

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4. Use a toothpick or skewer to curl back the petals on each flower
section.

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5. Cut the pointy ends off of the two smaller sections. (as shown)

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6. Place a glue dot in the center of the largest flower section. Place
the second largest section inside. Repeat with the smallest section.
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7. Using the heart shaped piece that was left from one of the flowers,
curl back each of the petals using the skewer or toothpick.

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8. Flatten one of the sections and then roll to create center of flower
as shown.

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9. Adhere to the center of the smallest flower section. Roll the
remaining petal as shown.

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10. Add glitter to the edges of the flower and cut leaves for the flower.

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You can find all the supplies for this project on the Emma's Paperie blog.

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Also don't forget to stop by Creative Charms this week. This is the last week to have a chance to get your hands on the August Deal of the Month!

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Have a fabulous Wednesday!

Back to School

Happy Monday everyone!
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The girls have actually been back to school three days now. Like every year, I drag the girls outside before school to get pictures of the first day. Sadly, although I took a fair amount of photos, I am not thrilled with most of them. This is one of the first pictures I took and definitely my favorite out of the bunch. Maybe there is a lesson there, huh? LOL don't tell my kids! :)
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School is going so great for the girls. I couldn't ask for a better start to the school year. K started 6th grade this year. She is still at the elementary school here but I love how they handle the 6th graders at her school. They get the whole lower level of the school and they change classes just like they would if they were in middle school. The 6th grade teachers do some really amazing projects with the kids too. She is thrilled to death. Although her best friend is not in any of her classes, she loves her teachers and is making new friends.

L started 4th grade. I asked her about her teacher after the first day and she said she was AWESOME!!! (seriously with that much enthusiasm too) Her best friend is also not in her class but she has started making new friends as well and still has lunch and plays at recess with best her friend. We have become good friends with her best friends parents and had them over last night so I am not worried about them having any problems staying friends.

Started walking again with my sweet friend Amanda. I have really missed this time with her. Summer just got so busy that even though she lives right down the road, we didn't get to talk nearly enough. It feels good to start my mornings off like this too. Hoping to shed a few of those pounds I put on this summer with too many vacation meals. :)
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I have a couple of cards to share with you this morning. I created the first card using one of my Tim Holtz embossing plates from Sizzix. Seriously love those things!


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Bare with all the baby crafts. My new, sweet baby niece has seriously affected my brain. LOL Besided the card below, I have another project that I am hoping to finish up today or tomorrow that I will share real soon. Anyway, I tried a fun, new technique on this card. I wanted to use pink letters on the card but loved the fuzzy feel of these Thickers by American Crafts. So I simply used my chalk and lightly covered the letters and they turned out perfectly soft looking.
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Thanks so much for stopping by. Have a wonderful week!

A sweet new blessing

We got a call last Wednesday night that my BIL and his wife were going to have their baby the following day. So the girls and I got early Thursday morning and made the 4 hour hike over there to be in Illinois in time to get to meet this sweet little peanut.
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Her big sister is quite proud of her new baby and wanted to hold her constantly.
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Both girls had there fair share of snuggles as well.
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They even let grandma have a chance. :)
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I am so happy that we were able to make that trip. We look forward to seeing her again real soon.

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We decided to rent a ski boat yesterday after church and take the girls tubing. K's best friend came along which of course turned into a sleep over. All the girls had a ball being bounced around on that tube. I am always amazed at how fast they want to go and how long they can hold on. Can't imagine why they fell asleep so well. LOL
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We are doing monograms over at the Emma's Paperie Blog this week. I decided this was the perfect opportunity to alter some school supplies. I made this notebook for my sweet K who loves to write. You can find a list of the supplies I used here.
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Only two more days of freedom for my girls. It will be nice to get back into a routine but I am going to miss their giggles around here. Have a fabulous Monday everyone!

Creative Charms Deal of the Month

Have you had a chance to get over to Creative Charms and snatch up their deal of the month yet?

You can get either this blue set or this pink set for only $6.99. Each set includes 133 pieces. That is a saving of 70%.

Summer Lovin'

Hi Everyone!
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Hope everyone had a great weekend. The past week was a mix of fun and sadness for us. I decided that since the girls were staying with DH's parents last week I would join him on a business trip to Chicago. We had a really nice time. We got to eat some great food, ride bikes along the lake shore and go to see a very funny comedian at one of the comedy clubs there.
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While we were in Chicago though we got news that the mother of a good friend of DH's had passed away. I am glad we were able to spend Friday and Saturday with his friend and his family. Please keep them in your prayers. I know that they are going to be facing some sad, lonely days ahead.
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The girls and I are spending the next couple of days trying to get into school mode. School starts a week from Wednesday. We got most of their school supplies yesterday so today we need to label them and make sure I didn't miss anything. We also got school shoes yesterday. K has gone from a size 4 last school year to a women's size 7!!! Good grief, I knew she was growing but 3 shoe sizes over the summer?
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Before I go, I want to share a layout I did for Emma's Paperie a little over a week ago. While I was looking at these pictures I got of the girls and their friends I had to giggle at the goofy faces they were making while running through the sprinkler. I knew that had to be the subject of the layout. You can find instructions and a supply list on the Emma's blog.

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Thanks for stopping by. Have a wonderful week!

Mammoth Adventures Final Installment

Happy Monday everyone!
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It is a quiet morning here in the Dorsey house. DH's parents came and picked up the girls yesterday for a week at Camp Grandma. They are extra excited this year because there is a chance my SIL will have her baby while they are there visiting. Please continue to keep my SIL in your prayers though. She has been on bedrest for several weeks already and although the girls would like to meet their new cousin this week, it would be best for the little peanut to stay in there for a bit longer. :)
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I have a few more pictures to share with you from our trip. Our last day in KY was spent at an awesome park called Kentucky Down Under. It was a great hands on park where the girls got to experience so many cool things. It wasn't a big park but we definitely kept busy for the 5 hours we were there.
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The girls got to pet an emu...

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pet kangaroos...

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feed sheep and milk a cow....

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and mine for precious gems :)

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Then we got to meet the birds. I have to say this was my favorite part. We started with the parakeets, which were really quite shy. I felt so lucky to get this picture of one of them eating from L's hand.

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That was before we met the Lories. They were quite friendly...

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and even spent some time hanging out on top of K and L's heads. LOL

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As promised I have my layout I did for July's challenge over at Magistical Memories. The challenge was to use the colors of your country's flag in a project. Here is my layout. You can click the layout to get a better view of the journaling.

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Make sure to pop over to the message board and check out this month's challenge and contest. You can win some seriously amazing chipboard.
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OH, speaking of good deals! I have got another amazing deal for you from Creative Charms. The August Deal of the month is up! Check this out! You can get either a blue kit or a pink kit that includes 133 pieces for only $6.99!!! That is 70% off. Check it out here.

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Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a fabulous week!!!