A Quick Pitch

Hey, all! I'm participating in the 2012 American Cancer Society Relay for Life! I'm so excited about it - not just because we've got a great team and it's such an amazing cause, but because it gives me an opportunity to fight back against a disease that has had such a huge impact on my life. I was only 7 when my dad died from lung cancer, and since then I've also lost an aunt, a cousin, a great-uncle, and far too many friends and loved ones - and watched as many more have bravely battled and won. I'm ready to fight back!

I'm working hard to reach my fundraising goals, and one way I'm doing that is by selling digital art. Below are links to just a few examples of some of the projects I've done in the past. Family dates, maybe a favorite saying or song lyric, or a line from a movie...inspiration can come from anywhere - and it's for a great cause! If you see something you like, and would like me to create something similar for you, just give me a shout! You can e-mail me at sonotdonnareed@yahoo.com


http://sonotdonnareed.blogspot.com/2012/01/different.html
http://sonotdonnareed.blogspot.com/2011/12/gift-of-date-night.html
http://sonotdonnareed.blogspot.com/2011/12/christmas-cheer_05.html
http://sonotdonnareed.blogspot.com/2011/08/more-than-words.html
http://sonotdonnareed.blogspot.com/2011/08/days-to-remember.html
http://sonotdonnareed.blogspot.com/2011/07/happily-ever-after.html

Or, if you'd like to help out with a good old-fashioned donation, you can follow this link to donate directly to my team! THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!!!

Gone to the Dogs

Those of you who have pets will likely agree that, while we do know that our pets are animals, they are still considered to be members of our {family}. Our family includes 2 dogs ~ Molly, an 11 1/2-year-old chocolate lab who is a stubborn, and incredibly affectionate, trouble-maker...and Sam, a 6-year-old yellow lab (we got him from a rescue group when he was 2) who is my protective shadow, and tolerant of tiny people who like to do things to him...like make him wear hats.

As with the other members of our family, I like having photos of our dogs (including Belle, our first yellow lab) displayed in our home ~ but it had never occurred to me to do anything other than photos until I stumbled upon this link on Pinterest.

I knew I wanted to make my own version, and this is what I ended up with...






There are, sadly, no pictures of the paw-printing part of the process. I'm pretty sure you can figure out why... 2 dogs, 1 human, a windy-ish day....yeah. I'll give the best description I can!
To get this....





You will need:
A paper plate
A paint brush
Paint
Paper Towel or a Junk Towel
Cardstock
A dog! ;)

Step 1 - Get your dog/s & all of your supplies set up outside. Unless you're desperate for an excuse to get new flooring.

Step 2 - Pour a little bit of paint onto your paper plate and use the paint brush to spread it around. Make sure you've got enough paint spread on the plate to cover your dog's whole paw.

Step 3 - Put the plate on the ground and guide his/her foot into the paint. Press gently on your dog's paw to make sure you're getting paint on all of the pads.

Step 4 - Lift your dog's paw, slide the plate out, and slide the paper into place. Make sure you position the paper so that the paw print will be where you want it to be. Gently press your dog's paw onto the cardstock. You may find that there is too much paint on his/her paw, making the print come out messier than you want. If that's the case, go ahead and try again on a fresh piece of cardstock. Sometimes, the second print comes out better than the first. Keeping this in mind, you may want to use a paper towel to blot some of the paint off of your dog's paw before putting it onto the paper.

Step 5 - Using an icky towel or a paper towel, gently wipe off your dog's paw to remove any left-over paint. (I also filled a shallow dish with warm water and dipped their paws in, just to make sure they were clean before they came into the house.)

Next, I used some $3 frames from Meijer. They came with plain white mats, but I wanted something with a bit more personality. Not wanting to make a bunch of stops at different stores, I decided to hit the gift-wrap aisle and see what I could find. After a lot of debate (I wanted coordinating colors, but not matching, and nothing printed b/c it would be too busy, and it had to be CHEAP) I settled on a pack of multi-colored tissue paper.

I laid the mat down on the paper and cut around the outside. Then I taped the paper down onto the back of the mat, like I would if I were wrapping a gift.





Next, I poked a hole in the center of the tissue paper, and cut slits all the way to each of the corners.





I wrapped those around, too, trimming off any excess. This is what the back of the mat looked like when I was finished.





Next, I trimmed the cardstock down so that the paw would be placed where I wanted it to be in the frame. When I was happy with that, I busted out a Sharpie (so high tech) and wrote the dogs' names underneath their paw prints. I would know which one belonged to which dog, but I wanted other people to know, too.





Finally, I popped them into their frames, knocked a couple of nails into the wall, and hung them! :) So bright, cheerful, and happy. And now that I'm seeing them on the gallery wall in my craft room, I'm debating about doing something fun to some of the other mats, too.





I have to say, I absolutely adore the end result. Are there random black paw prints on my driveway? Yes....yes, there are. But I'm okay with that. And I can tell you, I'll be doing this project with every dog we have from here on out. I hope you will be, too!

Unwanted "Follower"???

If it's happened to me, I'm sure it's happened to others. You log onto your blog to see if there are any new comments, etc. and you see that you have a new follower! YIPPPEEEE!!! But wait. You then look at the picture of that new follower and you see something completely inppropriate. I mean, I'm sorry...but I don't need to see a photograph or your body parts (or, more likely, a photo you've stolen of someone else's body parts) among the smiling faces of my {real} followers, thankyouverymuch.

If you find yourself in this situation, here is a link to a site that will walk you through the quick & easy process of getting rid of these....people. ;) I hope it helps someone!

Top O' the Mornin'

It's March...which brings along so many things that I love. Baseball pre-season games start playing on the car radio, March Madness basketball begins, and I get to celebrate the teeny tiny part of my genetic make-up that hails from Ireland. ;)

Last year I whipped up a quick little St. Patrick's Day printable, which you can find here...

This year I decided to throw together a quick & easy little project.

As you can see, it's mostly orange. You might be wondering why I went that route. Well, the Irish flag is green, white & orange - and traditionally, the green is symbolic of Catholicism, and the orange is symbolic of Protestantism. I'm a Protestant (Lutheran), so I like the orange!

I started out with this lovely little $2 wooden plaque...

I gave it a couple of coats of white craft paint...

I had picked out some pretty orange cardstock, which I cut to fit inside the plaque. I used some Mod Podge to adhere it to the wood...

I picked up some pretty green and white scrapbooking paper, which I cut into a shamrock using my Silhouette. And, again with the Mod Podge. ;)

It's a happy little St. Patrick's Day greeting, right inside our front door...

Another quick & easy project...which seems to be all I have time for these days! I've got more up my sleeve that should be coming soon. Stay tuned!!!

Mmmmm....bacon...

I don't know about you all, but whenever we're invited to any kind of "bring a dish to pass" gathering, I'm at a loss. Sweet? Savory? A dip of some kind? I never know what to do. We had such an event last weekend, and I struggled for well over a week trying to figure out what to bring. Finally, I did what any logical person would do...I turned to Pinterest, and picked something from my food board. Oh, come on...you know you'd do the same thing! ;)

In the end, I decided to make what is known to many as "Crack Bread". It doesn't disappoint...


(Photo from Plain Chicken blog)

You can find the recipe at the Plain Chicken blog by following this link... http://www.plainchicken.com/2011/07/cheddar-bacon-ranch-pulls.html

Since our party took place on the first Friday of Lent, and our hostess is a vegetarian, I made one loaf with bacon & one without. Both turned out ah-mazing. If you haven't pinned this one yet, PIN IT...and then be sure you follow through. Totally worth it!