Happy Valentine's Day!

It's so hard to believe we're already nearly a month and a half into the new year! Valentine's Day has come so quickly, it feels like just last week I was getting ready for Christmas!
Today I am excited to be sharing with you my final guest designer project for Craftin' Desert Divas! Thank you so much again, Tara, for asking me to design for you! 
While I'm not someone who makes a HUGE deal about Valentine's Day, I do enjoy a day of feeling a little extra loved. :) The nice part about being a teacher is that you always have a surplus of valentines, no matter if you're single or taken!
Currently I'm student teaching in an awesome fifth grade classroom. At this particular school, there are three fifth grade classes, and three days a week, the students rotate between each teacher's room for Language Arts instruction to help prepare them for middle school. I had originally planned on making treats just for my class, but since Valentine's Day lands on a day where we have groups, I couldn't just leave the other two classes out! So, I created a little something for them as well with the help of Craftin' Desert Diva's.

These are inspired by an idea I found on Pinterest, and I think they're just adorable! Both practical and tasty. :) I bought some Valentine's Day-themed pencils from the dollar store and adhered heart die cuts (cut with my Cameo) to each end. I then bought Hershey's chocolate hearts for the tips of the arrows and adhered them to the hearts using some double-sided tape. 
The hearts on the top are stamped with a sentiment from Craftin Desert Diva's new "Sending Love" stamp set. It was a perfect fit for this project!

For my class, I made individual goodie bags with a tiny 3x3 valentine for each, along with a pencil and a couple pieces of candy. I'm so excited to see how they like them!
Have you made any Valentine's Day treats for students? For the students in your child's class? I'd love to see! :) 

Craftin' Desert Divas January Release Blog Hop!

Hello and welcome to Day 2 of the Craftin' Desert Divas January Release Blog Hop!

We're so happy to be back with our January Release! We have 3 new stamp sets that are being released today.  All stamps are in the CDD Shop and available for purchase.

Without further ado, here are the January stamps and their free coordinating SVG files:

"Short and Sweet Tags"

K

"Celebration Wordart"

"Sending Love"

All stamps have an SVG outline that is free to you. This makes it so easy. You just cut out the image with your machine and then stamp on it.  The SVG file will be in the CDD Gallery under the file tab and available for you to download.

Here are the release specials for you:

1. Use code: Jan to receive 20% off your entire order. Sale ends 2/1 at 10pm MST.

2. With a minimum $30 purchase (before tax & shipping), the 2x3 freebie will be added to your order automatically. Offer ends 2/1.

Here is the January freebie and it's coordinating SVG pattern:

And here's today's hop freebie pattern!

Today I have created a couple of goodie bags to give to my two closest friends for Valentine's Day! We typically don't give each other large gifts for birthdays and whatnot, but I always like to give small, handmade gifts when I can. 

Inside the gift bags are nail polish and some candy (they both have a thing for candy hearts) and I plan on tossing some chocolate in there as well. I used stamps from the "Sending Love" stamp set to create the tags and the stamps on the bottom of the chocolate candies. Papers are from Echo Park and the Kraft tags are from my stash. I used Memento Ink in Tuxedo Black (my favorite!) I purchased some crinkle paper from the dollar store to fill the bags with, can you believe my local Target and Walmart didn't have any?! Anyways, these were tons of fun to make and I can't wait to give them to my friends in a couple of weeks! :)

Giveaway!!!

1. Craftin Desert Divas- 1 stamp each day.

2. Too Cute by Jessica - $25. gift card for regularly-priced patterns.

You must follow and comment on each blog to be eligible for the prizes. Winners will be announced on Tuesday.

Your next stop on the hop is Too Cute by Jessica!

Here's today's line up:

CDD- http://www.craftindesertdivas.com/

Kathy- http://3spoileddogs.blogspot.com/

Michelle- http://mumoftwoblog.blogspot.com/

Kate- http://smallbitsofpaper.blogspot.com/

Nicole- http://teachdanz.blogspot.com/

Leah- http://leahschaeffer.blogspot.com/

Nanne- http://nannes-creations.blogspot.com/

Lori- http://got2bcrafting.blogspot.com/

Ashley - http://especiallymade.blogspot.com/

Karen-  http://craftedwithlovebykaren.blogspot.com/

TCBJ- https://www.facebook.com/pages/Too-Cute-by-Jessica/196421370434846

Long Time, No See...

My poor, dusty blog...
My oh my has it been quite some time since I've last posted! I promise I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, nor have I stopped crafting. Between school (now student teaching), work, spending time with my great boyfriend, and having a social life, I don't have anywhere near as much time to craft as I used to. And when I do, I typically don't take post-worthy pictures of my creations. ;) 
When I do craft, I do feel a bit sad that my hobby has had to be placed on the back burner. But I know that right now my focus has to be mainly on student teaching, and that's not in any way a bad thing. I do still check in with my crafty Facebook quite often and have some big creative plans in the works, it's just a matter of time and patience. :)
Anyways! The reason I am posting today is because I was kindly asked by Tara from Craftin' Desert Divas to be a guest designer! Having not served on (or managed) any design teams in quite some time now, I was thrilled at the opportunity and of course said yes!
I will be sharing a sneak peek for the January stamp release at Craftin' Desert Divas!

Today is Day 2 of the sneak peeks for the January stamp release Craftin Desert Divas. There are 3 new stamps in this release.
These images and sentiments will come with a SVG outline that is FREE to you. They are in the CDD Gallery on Facebook under the files tab. 
Here are the release specials for you: 1. Use Code: Jan to receive 20% off your entire order. Sale ends 2/1 10pm MST
2. 2x3 Freebie is for a $30 minimum purchase (before tax & shipping) in the CDD Shop. Freebie offer ends February 1st.
Each day, there will be a new FREE SVG pattern. You can email craftindesertdivas@gmail.com or send a message to the CDD Facebook page to request it. You must comment and follow each blog in order to get the free file. Join us this Friday & Saturday for our hop and for more free files!
Today we are showcasing the "Sending Love" stamp set. 
Here's my project I've created...

I created a card using a couple of stamps from the new set! Inspired by this card on Pinterest, I used the coordinating SVG file to cut out the shape for the envelopes, and then stamped the envelope multiple times on different patterned paper by My Minds Eye.

To accent the envelopes, I used enamel dots and a small heart punch. The sentiment is stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink and I colored in the tiny heart within the sentiment using a Copic marker. I love the layered look of this card! 

Here's today free pattern:

How cute is this baby Cupid?!

Be sure to comment and follow each blog in order to get the freebie pattern!
CDD stamps are... 4x6 stamps Made in the USA Stamps will be available to order on Friday.
We hope you will stop by the Craftin Desert Divas shop and Craftin Desert Divas Gallery Facebook group. We would love for you to join us and share your creations with us using Caftin Desert Divas' stamps. In this group, we show previews first, have giveaways, and much more!
Thank you so much for joining us today! I hope you will visit the CDD blog tomorrow for more sneak peeks.