Happy Sunday, All! Today I decided to take a few minutes to crush one of my UFO's (UnFinished Objects), of which I have a lot lying around. I even had my monkey working on some fine-motor skills with the beads while we jammed out to Twenty-One Pilots. The girls party was at the end of July, so I thought I would start with the most recent UFO and work my way back until they are complete. My college classes start on the 28th, so I am hoping that I can get through a lot before I have to hit the books. However, I am still gonna keep my priorities straight--People before Projects! Pray for me, because this is not how I am hardwired. Anywho, these... Continue reading

Hey all! Wow! It has been over two years since I have posted! Like everyone else, those years have been full of joys and tears and all sorts of other interesting things. For one, I am going to college now. Can you believe it?? Me, and online student! Two of my kiddos have graduated and are pursuing their futures. It feels like a season of extreme stretching and preparation, and God has been with me the whole way. One thing God has really been driving home is instilling a sense of responsibility in the children. Being the self-proclaimed "fun" parent, it is definitely not fun to have to help a short person learn that responsibility is a good thing. So I have been praying about... Continue reading

This is a gift for a friend who travels to a tropical local every winter...here in MN we call them snowbirds! Anyhow, the paperbag thing is fun and quick...give it a shot and let me know how it goes! If you aren't crafty at all but would like something like this, let's chat! Please don't forget to LIKE, COMMENT & SUBSCRIBE! Lovies, SSD Continue reading

The Clarks, happy and hip! Here is another card asked for by a friend. She wanted something for her hubby and little more on the masculine side, maybe to use as an anniversary card. What do you think? I think it is a bit hipster with the bright colors and especially the plaid and polka dot combo! The jacket and dress designs are inspired by images found on pinterest…here are the links: For the jacket and shirts combo: http://addinkandstamp.blogspot.com/2012/11/a-manly-birthday-card.html I only had some little brads for the buttons. For the dress: http://www.gemscottage.com/wordpress/?p=889 for the dress I created, I pasted the image into Pages and sort of guessed at what would be the right size, then printed it and traced it backwards onto the polka dot... Continue reading

I have been overwhelmed. O.VER.WHEL.MED. The end of the school year always catches me off guard. Add to my already over-packed to do list all the little details that surround the fact that my baby was graduating, and it was just too much! I mean, I read my bible and do my best to have moments of worship during the day and abide as best I can in the vine. I have been trying new things and feeding the starved creative side of me (ravenous, insatiable hunger). I have been looking into the little ones eyes and seeing the hunger for just a moment of my attention (ravenous and insatiable in their own right) and trying to be intentional about living in each moment…did they... Continue reading

A gift for one of my daughter's friends. It is not quite complete! Stay tuned for more crafty goodness on this one! Please don't forget to LIKE, COMMENT & SUBSCRIBE! Lovies, SSD Continue reading

Rodney is on a mission to make you smile! He is an A-2 card, and all of the cardstock used is Recollections from Michaels. I used the Cricut Robotz cartridge and cut <Robot23> at 3”. I used my old creative memories cutting system oval to create the “planet” and the swish on the inside of the card is the negative of that cut. The starbursts were from an old CM punch, two of them are set up on foam dots. The embossing on the white card stock is the Steampunk folder from Darice. I love the way this one turned out! Enjoy! Lovies, SSD Continue reading

This is the album I created just for me! IKR? Selfish! Anyhow, first time trying scoring in this one...forgot to mention that in vid...so messed it up, and hope it holds together for a long time! Just love the way this turned out! Please don't forget to LIKE, COMMENT & SUBSCRIBE! Lovies, SSD Continue reading

Around Easter I became a bit obsessed with folding paper, in particular, origami dresses. I found a video on Pinterest and wanted to create cards that would do well as a Mother’s Day gift, but that would also serve as cards for female-to-female mentoring relationships. I also wanted to fundraise for my church’s kid’s camp scholarships because in years past we have had to rely on those and I wanted a chance to give back. So anyhow, Myrtle, Penny, June, Agnes, Marge, Flo, and Betty are the end result. They went over quite well, however Myrtle, Penny and June are still looking for someone to love on! Shoot me a message if you are interested! I did a mix of cardstocks this time! These cards... Continue reading

Here you are folks! Let’s see how you did! Continue reading

Hello all! I would like to congratulate, Lori, for winning the AMERICAN SNIPER Giveaway! Please contact me and we will coordinate getting your movie to you! Lovies, SSD Continue reading

You are gonna love the way this on turned out! I followed a tutorial from Kona Raven and made gifts for The Waters Church 2015 Refuge Winter Ball. Please don't forget to LIKE, COMMENT & SUBSCRIBE! Lovies, SSD Continue reading

So Billa was home sick, I think with seasonal allergies, and nothing says lovin’ to a seasonal allergy sufferer than some good old local honey. So we dropped the monkey at preschool and headed to the Good Earth Food Co-Op! If you bring your own container you can fill up with local honey for around $4.50+ a pound right now. Oh, so good! While we were there, they had just pulled raspberry chocolate chip scones from the oven and we just had to share! Oh my, so good! They also had sample of this: Now, usually I don’t like the energy drink/meal replacers because they are chalky and they turn my stomach. I have to muscle them down and then I get reminded of them... Continue reading

A friend of mine shared this link with me when she found out about the AMERICAN SNIPER Review and Giveaway. Apparently, a fellow by the name of Allen-Joi Chappell, is planning to ride across our great country (from Camp LeJeune, North Carolina to the end of the Oregon Trail on the West Coast)...sea to shining sea! Why is he doing this, you may ask? To support wounded veterans through the Wounded Warrior Project...to which I give a huge double thumbs and big toes up to! The plan is to start the journey on May 23, 2015 and finish by November 2015. Along the way they, "plan to ride with equine programs to raise funds and support the Wounded Warrior Project". Would you like to be... Continue reading

I thought I would try something new…for those of you with extra time on your hands. Ha! I was inspired by What Normal Looks Like over at Scary Mommy for this particular find! I took a little vow not to be worried about my mess anymore, so this is my therapy towards that goal today! I thought, let’s have some fun with this whole idea of #embracethemess and get you all in on it! So I did a seek-and-find for you! (It went together way easier and quicker than I thought it would!) So you have a whole week to find the 10 items on this find and the answers will be posted next friday with…maybe…another seek-and-find to follow. What do you get for your... Continue reading

Hello everyone! I am super excited to share with you about AMERICAN SNIPER from Warner Brothers, starring Bradley Cooper and Sienna Miller! When the wonderful folks at Grace Hill Media asked if I would like to do a review of the Blu-ray/DVD combo packs, I was only too happy to accept because I have been wanting to see the movie… (so yes, I did receive a copy for review, but I totally wanted to see the movie, and I am gonna give you my honest opinion…OK, OK, I actually received three copies! One for me to keep for review, one to give to a veteran of my choosing as a gift, and one for a giveaway to my readers! ) Here is a synopsis from... Continue reading

So, my son and I were in deep conversation about butter this snow covered morning on the way to school. You see, on snow covered streets with a rear wheel drive 12 passenger van, when no one else is around, of course, I like to drift around the curves. I could totally take that curve slow, but I like the feel of the back end (more about those in a minute) of my van drifting and then reigning it back into proper drive position. It is especially fun to drift in the empty church parking lot. Hopefully no one feels the need to call the police…because, yes, I am crazy, but I am just a common housewife having a moment of “stunt car ninja-ness”. Anyway,... Continue reading

Did you see what I did there? The wonderful folks at Grace Hill Media sent me a copy of the new veggie tales movie to review and we just can’t get enough of it! It was definitely the favorite for my daughter who was home recovering tonsillectomy last week and this weekend lots of, “Moooooooooom? Where’s the new veggie movie? Can we open the other one?” was going on. Bob and Larry are at it again with Dreamworks Animation in the new movie “Noah's Ark”! Wayne Brady plays the part of Shem, Noah’s son and puts a whole new spin on the story. The lesson is trusting God and His plan, and in true veggie fashion there are lots of great songs and punny goodness!... Continue reading

So I have been hard at work in the craft room, making flowers and leaves and trying my hand at hand lettering with one of my two copics… All of the flowers start out as just a plain old white sheet of cardstock, from Sam’s club. I used my cricut to cut the flowers (Walk in My Garden cartridge) and then a stylus and old mouse pad to curl the petals. Before I sculpted them, I did ink them using the same technique I used in my “Inks Pretty Paper” video. Some of the flowers needed a little more cutting than others to get my desired effect, I just used scissors for that. I glued them with hot glue…still learning that tool…hot glue is tricky.... Continue reading

Happy Tuesday, Everyone! It has been a while since I have written a blog post. Seems like in today’s world of Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube and Twitter that blogging is losing steam. I wonder how many blogs there will be in a couple of years or everything will switch to the social media outlets listed above or will there be some new time suck that we will all get lost in. But that is not the point of THIS post…not sure if there really is a point, but if there is, I will do my best to get to it! Anyhow, it is already February…FEBRUARY!!! I lost January in a flurry of crafty wonderfulness…craftiness is mostly what happened as we haven’t seen near our share... Continue reading

Hey all! I was playing in the craft room again and this is what I came up with! Enjoy! Lovies,DJ Continue reading

Well, I have been imagining it for a while, and I have finally done it...created a YouTube craft channel! SoSimplyDawn is the place to check all the projects I am creating...well at least the ones I take the time to document! Anyhow, I think it is exciting and thought you would too! Here are links to my first two videos (keep in mind, my mad technical skills can only improve): If you like them, let me know...I love your comments, and your thumbs up and subscribing! It is all so very exciting! Have a blessed day! Lovies,DJ Continue reading

The weekend before Christmas 2014, I was supposed to share a prophetic word (along with others; it was to be a word of edification) for 2015. I wasn’t able to share because I was ill, but I have felt that I still needed to share this word before the New Year begins. So here goes: Blessing for 2015 I bless you with a spirit of peace as you enter the year and pray that you keep that as your foundation throughout the year. PEACE PHILIPPIANS 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.... Continue reading

Test to see if auto posting to Facebook is resolved. Posted with Blogsy Continue reading

I got to watch an advance premier of Dogs of War and I loved it! I love the concept of pairing these rejected animals with our war torn vets to offer both a second chance. The series premier is tomorrow night, Veteran's Day, how appropriate! Here is some of the press: DOGS OF WAR spotlights combat veteran Jim Stanek, who returns home struggling with PTSD. He looks into getting a service dog to help him heal, only to discover how expensive they are, and how long the wait to be paired with one is. So he starts his own nonprofit to rescue dogs from kill shelters, train them as service dogs and partner them with struggling veterans at little or no cost. The show premieres... Continue reading