Shawn's First Post

Hi DoodleBLOG readers – Shawn here with my FIRST POST as part of the Doodlebug Design team.

OK…..real talk….TRIGGER WARNING – **Mom stress and moments of weakness**

Sometimes life doesn’t go my way. Yesterday I was certainly having one of those days. I’m super angry with my 19 year old college student. She was supposed to clean her room before the start of the school year.  I found out last week she didn’t and let me tell you it was a disgusting PIT of EPIC proportions. So, she is home this weekend and I’m making her clean it. Not me – her.  last night my other kid lost one of his favorite possessions (Nintendo Switch) and I got REALLY annoyed helping him look for it for well over an hour. Add to that I have the following things on my plate:

⦁ Some copy I need to write this week at work that I’m trying to come up with ideas for.
⦁ I need to get some pages to the store for display
⦁ I’m still not done with my friends baby album (kid was born in Feb)
⦁ I haven’t even started the calendars I make as Christmas gifts
⦁ I have a craft show on 12/7 I’m trying to make some stuff for
⦁ I need to get stuff cleaned out of my house so I can get my floors fixed
⦁ I need to be cleaning closets/etc to make more room
⦁ I’m trying to plan a big event next summer
⦁ OH YEAH – and I have a blog post due in 4 days.

For those of you who don’t know me, or don’t know me well, I usually do fine under pressure. I usually do really well with handling stress and getting everything done I need to do, even if I myself am not quite sure how I make it all happen sometimes. USUALLY. Not last night. I should mention that I’m also having just a bit of “scrapper’s block” at the moment, so I just don’t feel inspired or like anything I make looks halfway decent. So I forced myself through making one page, had a glass of wine, cried and went to bed listening to Scarlett O’Hara in my head (yep, she lives there). I slept in, woke up this morning and knew EXACTLY what to do for my blog post. I’m going to make a video about some of my favorite things I have bought recently in an attempt to “UP” my card-making game – which is WEAK. SO I:

⦁ Make coffee
⦁ Get out the products I want to talk about and put them on my desk
⦁ Let the dog out
⦁ Made breakfast (Pumpkin spice French toast with sliced bananas and cinnamon sugar)
⦁ Actually get dressed so I can even do an on camera greeting
⦁ Put my hair up so you don’t notice my excessive Sunday morning “bed head”
⦁ Light all my amazing fall candles and turn on my scent warmer so I get ALL the amazing pumpkin smells
⦁ (By now I am feeling pretty good about myself)
⦁ Set up my tripod and accidentally knock down one of the dried funeral roses from my peg board. (Uh oh)
⦁ Dig out the box of cards I keep on hand to talk about it
⦁ Double check that I have out all the supplies I want to talk about
⦁ Go to grab the camera to start filming…

AND THAT’S WHERE IT ALL FALLS APART!!!

No camera. No clue where it is. So now you get a story. But I’ll still show you the products I wanted you to see. And I put RumChata in the coffee, took down the pony tail and put on one of my favorite sweatshirts that is like 4 sizes too big.


Favorite “crafting tool” #1 – sloth slippers – because crafting is really hard if your feet hurt, or are cold

#2 – Card Box – I like to always keep a “stash” of ready-made cards on hand. (This isn’t a new purchase, but something important to my card giving game)

#3 – Stamping platform – like the one by Tim Holtz, but I know those are gone now.  The MISTI is also AMAZING for those that don't have a platform yet, and they come in THREE sizes.   I am a TERRIBLE STAMPER and this way, I can restamp any areas I miss – or make easy duplicates.

#4 – As for the newer stuff – I am LOVING the Catherine Pooler Midnight ink pad for stamping!  These pads are so juicy and they stamp so well, and the ink stays a nice beautiful black.

And lastly - #5 – Taylored Expressions Simple Strips dies and Stamps.

Ladies, these have TRULY changed my cardmaking! I have the basic set and the friendship set.  You just stamp these out, line up the little boxes with the squares on the die – run them through your die cut machine and BAM!  The perfect sentiments.  I just stamp and cut a few sets of these and keep them in the front of my card box.  Instead of making “themed” cards, I just make them really simple and then I can add a sentiment as I need the card.  So instead of having 20 wedding cards and needing one for a birthday – I just have more basic cards that can be for anything I want.

So – what am I missing, what are your favorite finds lately that have upped your crafting game?  I’d love to hear them!  Comment below and share with a friend.

Til next time

-Shawn