Cards by Melanie

Craft Fair today

2011-12-15T20:43:00.004-05:00

Is it really a week until Christmas? My how time flies...I have been so busy, just finished an online class as well as working and taking care of kids and trying to prepare for a craft fair. I only did one craft fair this year. I have only had craft fairs at 2 places, my work and my sisters. This year my work did not have the fair, so that left me with the one, a little less pressure. Next year my goal is to prepare in advance and to try some other fairs...out in public! lol

So, the fair today went well, not too busy, but got good feedback and reviews. Here are some pics of my table.

I was afraid I wouldn't have enough stuff and my table was packed! I did a wide variety, a lot of note pads and journals and then this year I added magnets. A big hit were the magnetic 2012 calendars with the 2 matching bottlecap magnets. Super cute.

Another big seller was the chapstick purses. Those I had seen online and then changed them up a little, they are too adorable!

Well, I had fun at the fair, and even more fun making the crafts.
I hope you all are having a great holiday season and if you need any stocking stuffers or other gifts (don't forget teachers and co-workers) let me know what you are looking for...I have some left. Hope to get it posted to my etsy store, but to avoid fees and shipping costs, let me know and I can get it to you.

Merry Christmas!
Melanie :)

Caramel Apples!

2011-10-15T14:43:00.004-04:00

Fall is here!

My sisters and I took the kids apple picking the other day and then I came home motivated to play with my new Pure Innocence stamp set from MFT Stamps isn't she adorable?

Actually I have a pie in the oven right now, and it's starting to smell good in here!

But anyway, I made 2 cards that I would like to share with you today.

Both of the images were stamped on whisper white SU cardstock and then colored with my copic markers. Above I decorated the card with buttons, and I used a few rows of scalloped designer paper to add texture.

Below I decided to use my finger to smudge ink around the edge of the white rectangle. Just wanted to try something fun!

Well, I do agree "Fall days ARE fun Days"! And now I'm going to eat some apple pie!

Thanks for stopping by today!

~melanie :)

Personalized Birthday Cards

2011-09-16T08:11:00.003-04:00

A friend of mine asked me to make some personalized birthday cards for her daughter to give to her friends. I came up with a few ideas I thought were cute. Her daughter is 11 and so she wanted something a little glitzy, but not too childish. So I thought rhinestones in different colors would work well.

First thing I did was to print directly on my cardstock with my home computer the birthday sentiment in different font designs and sizes.

For the first card, I had this great printed paper that had summery fruit and designs over it with sparkles in the paper. I knew I wanted to use this. I used this great green Stampin' Up cardstock and a My Favorite Things die to create the open scalloped background circle. Then I used my Stampin Up "Enjoy" stamp in this bright pink ink and cut it out with my scallop punch. popped up with a little dimensionals. A few rhinestones under the sentiment.

Next, I had these great stiff stickers from Stampin Up in flower and circle shapes in different colors. I randomly placed them on the card front and added rhinestone centers to the flowers. I also had a scalloped border at the bottem. Love the way this card turned out.

The last card I made, may be my favorite. I used this cute cherry paper background square because I wanted to use my stamp inside that says "happy birthday with a cherry on top"

For the cupcake I used my Stampin Up cupcake punch. For the frosting I used some more of that great glittery paper. For the wrapper on the bottem, I ran some brown cardstock through my crimper and cut it out with the punch. I love the texture of the paper. I mimicked the crimp on the green cardstock running down the side of the card. It's amazing what a simple thing like texture adds to a card. I finished the card of with a red cherry topper, a red button and a green ribbon attached only on the left behind the button. The ribbon is stiff enough to hold its shape out to the right, but I did not want to adhere it there as well.

I was pleased with the cards, as was my friend (and hopefully her daughter)!

She used one this past weekend and now I have a job to create more for one of her friends daughters too! I think it is a great idea that she came up with...I plan on making more!

Thanks for stopping by today, the weather has turned cool here and I am LOVING it!

I hope your day is wonderful and I will be back here soon!

Thanks,
Melanie :)

P is for Paola!

2011-09-11T16:53:00.002-04:00

This card was inspired by this post on Procrastination Station. I saw these adorable note cards she made and decided I had to make some too.

One of my friend's daughter just returned from a month in Puerto Rico where she was visiting relatives so I thought I would make a card set for her. Paola's favorite color is (or was recently) purple so I knew I wanted to use purple, and I love purple and yellow together, so I chose yellow as well.

I cut the yellow card stock with my Papertrey ink die. Then I used my cricut to cut the fancy letter P. For the background purple, I ran my paper through my crimper. I put it all together and wanted to add a little bling, so I used these cute flower shapes with rhinestone centers that I got at Michael's.

I made a set of 10 with envelopes, so I hope Paola writes lots of letters and everyone enjoys receiving them!

Thanks for stopping by today!

~Melanie :)

masculine cards

2011-09-06T11:42:00.003-04:00

I do not like to make masculine specific cards. Maybe I try too much to make them guy-like. Feminine cards are easy, flowers, sparkles, pretty colors like pink <3! So a friend of mine wants some birthday cards for men....I have some attempts....

All men like beer right? (stereotype #1)

All men like vehicles! (stereotype #2)

And who wouldn't like a motorcycle?

I don't know, I guess they are okay, but I don't love them....I need to make something girlie now! LOL

Have a great day!

~melanie

Nameste

2011-08-14T09:32:00.002-04:00

As I promised (just a day later) more yoga cards! I am having so much fun with this set.

The card below was originally intended for a challenge over at PTI. It was to use a stamp to create a background image. The green fancy design is actually a cross stamp I had bought at Michael's. I took the stamp and turned it upside down between each stamping. Then I could not figure what to do and put the card stock aside. So, when I started working with this yoga image from MFT, I decided it would go with this card. For the purple strip at the bottom of the card, I used the lotus flower image from the stamp set and did the same process of turning the stamp up side down between stamping. I love the end results of this card.
On the next card I have to share, i used a paper piecing technique. The body image of the "headless woman" is the perfect image for paper piecing, it is not intricate and has clean borders. So I used the same designer paper (from SU) to re stamp the image and cut out the shirt and then glue it on to my original colored in image! So fun :)
See that pretty pink strip behind the flower? That is my fun new SU punch :)

I have been having a lot of fun with this stamp set. I even made 2 more cards last night, but maybe next time I will show you something different.

Well, off to Canobie Lake today! My work gave all employees tickets to take the family for a "Fun Family Day" :) Kind of overcast out there, but I am glad it is not 100 degrees! Just hope the rain holds out for most of the day!

Have a great day!

~melanie

more yoga :)

2011-08-12T21:39:00.005-04:00

I know my last photo posted was a yoga card, but I like to play with a new set when I get it, so I have a few more yoga cards. This card is the first square card I have made! Can you believe I have not made any square cards before?

So, again, I wanted to color with copics. I stamped this image 3 times and colored it with different colors. But, I realized again, that all of my copics are bright colors, and at first I had a hard time figuring how I would make this card. I mounted the 3 pics on a hot pink strip of paper, then I searched my stash and found the other pink polka dot paper, dug through my prima flowers and found this polka dot flower and it just all kind of fell together from there. I like the old olive cardstock and leaves, it kind of grounds the bright colors of the card, don't you think?

Well, I went from looking at those bright colored images for a few days before I came out with this card and in the end I really love it. I hope you enjoyed peeking today, I will show the other 2 cards I made so far with this set tomorrow.

~melanie :)

Human Error

2011-08-12T06:48:00.002-04:00

So, a couple of days ago, I was sitting at my computer desk drinking my coffee and browsing my favorite blogs, when.....human error! I spilled my coffee all over my keyboard. I dumped the keyboard off, dried with towel and continued. Then later that day realized that half of my keys were no longer working :( so, I need to get a new keyboard! (Now, I am on my daughter's laptop...and would love to share some work with you, but have no pics on this computer).
So, my goal for Friday after work is to get a new keyboard and then come back and share something new with you!

The weather is beautiful here in Massachusetts, I hope you are having a great day where you are.

TTYL :)

melanie

Flexible Friends

2011-08-02T12:04:00.003-04:00

I saw this super cute stamp set at MFT (My Favorite Things) and knew I had to have it, and knew who I would make my first card with this set for. My friend, Gail, who is my yoga instructor.

I wanted to color the image with my copics, but am new to them and have limited colors, so I went with pink, brown and purple. So I chose pink and brown for my background colors. I like purple, but don't usually like how my cards come out when I use purple paper...(a new challenge I suppose). I also knew that I wanted to sew with this card, this is a new technique that I have been doing and is super fun for me!

The sentiment was stamped on white paper which I cut and mounted to look like ribbon. Finished it off with a big pink button and brown embroidery floss.

Then I popped this beauty in the snail mail. What a nice surprise at the mailbox, huh?

Well, thanks for popping in, have a peaceful day!

~melanie

Boys and Bots

2011-07-29T10:47:00.002-04:00

I love this little robot image from Pink Cat Studios. He is so cute.

I was shopping at Joann Fabrics the other day and saw this cute mat stack of paper from DCWV, and I don't remember the name but it was something boy stack. So I saw these robots and light bulbs and thought I would make a little robot card! And of course I have these adorable screw brads that have to go too. :)

Well, it is Friday, the last workday of my vacation week. I am planning a mild weekend, not much going on :) I do have a baby shower to go to tomorrow. I plan on making cupcakes and some adorable toppers tonight...stay tuned for a peak.

I hope you all have a great weekend.

Thanks for popping in...

Melanie :)

Pink Floral Birthday

2011-07-26T11:34:00.003-04:00

I love this card! It is so simple and elegant. I made this birthday card when a friend of mine asked me to make a card for her sister in laws 65th birthday.

I used a SU stamp in Basic Grey for the sentiment.

I used papertrey inks die to cut the pink and grey swatches and then I had a pink flower that I used in substitute of the other pink swatch.

I love how it came out and the girls at work all said they loved it too. Maybe I should do some more like this. Although, rarely do I ever make 2 cards exactly alike, unless I am doing a card set. I prefer my cards to be originals. I usually will change the color or sentiment or an image.

Well, I hope you are having a great day today, I plan to!

Thanks for stopping by,

Melanie :)

Wild 1st Birthday

2011-07-24T11:48:00.003-04:00

Today we have a first birthday party to go to. And, I wanted to make a great card because the family of the birthday girl is very crafty, so I need something good. I love this card:

AND, I actually can tell you what supplies I used!

Recipe:

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink, Pure Poppy; SU!, Whisper White, Pool Party

Designer Paper: from DCWV Animal Crackers Matt Stack

Stamps: SU!, Wild About You; Papertrey Ink, Tiny Treats Birthday

Dies: Open Scallop Doily Duo Die-namics Die, Cricut Machine to cut 1, SU! 2 1/2 inch circle punch

Ink: SU! Blushing Bride and Real Red

I used supplies from 4 different companies! I think they came together wonderfully?

I hope you enjoyed looking today, now I need to go and get my kiddos ready for the party!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day,

Melanie :)

more contest cards

2011-07-23T22:07:00.003-04:00

Okay, I decided to post the 2 other cards I made, although they are not really my favorites. These are for the challenge at Papertrey ink today. Check out Nichole Heady's blog for more info!

Below is challenge # Punch a window from you card cover and tie ribbon or twine from the window to the side of your card. I started fooling around with this idea and then saw a big yellow flower I had cut with my cricut machine. So I thought I would use the window as the center of my flower. Then my ribbon would be the seem and petals of my flower. It seemed a little plain, so I chose some lavender paper and used my SU scallop punch in the center of the flower and again punched my center. So I used the lavender ink to stamp my Papertrey ink sentiment of Happy Birthday. Kind of a cute card...

My last card for today is a sympathy card. I needed one to send out this week, so I figured that I would make my card while doing one of the challenges. Below is for challenge # 5 to take a solid shape and create a custom "faux" border! I saw a heart stamp laying on my desk and decided to use it on the bottom of the card. I stamped it multiple times across the bottom of the card and then decided I should trim the edge a little, and I think I trimmed off too much! oops. The stamp for this card is SU, and the sentiment is MFT, a new set I just got.

Well, not bad, I have 4 cards on my first day of vacation. I have a few more cards on my list that I need to make, so hopefully I can steal away to my basement craft room some more over the next few days!

Contest Play

2011-07-23T18:18:00.003-04:00

So today I decided to play along with some contests over at papertrey ink. It seems every hour there is a new contest challenge. I have made a few cards to go along with the challenges. Some I like, and some that I hated! May not share those ones. That's the way it goes sometimes, things just don't come out the way you invision!

I have a limited supply of papertrey ink products, so I did try to use what I had, but some of the products are stampin up also.

Above is the first card I made. It is challenge #2. to use razzberry fizz and charcoal grey

The stamps are papertrey, the die that I cut the white paper is papertrey and my cardstock is papertrey. Ribbon is from Michaels and the buttons from SU!.

Next, I did challenge #6 to use punches to make notches in the side of the card to wrap baker's twine around. This card is so simple, but I like it. The sentiment is SU, and the flowers are using Papertrey dies. I used 2 of them and then mounted them with a blue brad.

I must admit, I am notorious for not knowing the names of the colors, supplies, etc. Sorry!

Hop over to papertrey and have some fun.

Melanie

Summer!

2011-07-21T21:52:00.006-04:00

Boy is it hot here in Massachusetts today! Upper 90's! A real scorcher!

One more day of work for me and I will be on vacation!

No plans to go away though, but hoping to get some good day trips in with my kids while they are on summer vacation (4o days until school starts! lol, but who's counting?)

Speaking of school, I thought I would show a couple of photos of my oldest daughter, my stepdaughter, Emily. She graduated high school this year and is planning on attending UMass Lowell in the Spring Semester of next year! Congrats Em! We are very proud!

This is my husband, Bill, and myself with Emily after the graduation ceremony:

Next this is Emily on her prom night. Doesn't she look beautiful?

What I find as so funny is that I would never think of a patterned dress for a prom, but it was all the rage this year. (does anyone even say that?) But, it did look very nice on her. I think satin and long, but hey I graduated a few years ago. So, let me show you my prom picture and see if you can guess the year:

Well, either the dresses or the hair styles should give you a clue.

Also, I offered to let Emily wear my dress (that's me far left with the awesome black ruffle and hot pink sequin dress) and she turned me down! Can you believe it? LOL.

(I do still have that dress in a closet at my parent's house though!)

Well, I hope you are all enjoying summer wherever you are, and I hope I get to be creative some next week too.

Thanks for stopping by today,

Melanie :)

Summertime!

2011-07-07T11:03:00.004-04:00

Is it July already? and is the first week of it already gone? It is....and I have been absent from here, but very busy with my family. So today, I was browsing some blogs and decided I needed to create and I was going to need some inspiration. I found it in 2 places: I used a card sketch and a color challenge. First I went to ColourQ and loved the color combo....

Immediately I thought of summer and the adorable SU stamp set that was one of my first purchases, but I have not used in a couple of years! Next I was at Jodi Collins' blog Stamping a Latte and saw this MFT sketch challenge and decided that this was it!

So this is what I came up with:

What do you think? I love it, makes me feel like splashing in the pool.

I also remembered these cute little fish brads I had bought at Michaels a long time ago because I loved them and had never used them. I figured pools and kids = fish, right? My kids are certainly turning into little fish this summer!

Well, I am glad I had time to create and share today...I hope you enjoyed the card and are having a great summer!

Thanks for stopping by,

Melanie :)

2011-05-28T12:51:00.002-04:00

Okay, last night my 3 year old daughter told me that her nose hurt because there was something up there. She said she didn't know what or how it got there and wouldn't admit to putting anything in there, also she didn't seem too upset. So, I forget and we go to bed (yes i will win mother of the year award). This morning she says it again, but says it is a little football from a shoe. Then I remember that my son's crocs had little ball decorations on them. We get a light and a pair of tweezers and sure enough, I can see it and I pull out a penny size rubber baseball! And I wonder why?

By the way, my oldest twice put a Flintstones vitamin up her nose and my son when 3 had to have a pretzel removed by the ENT doctor! What do they think when they do this?

Anyway, I hope to get crafting this weekend....long holiday weekend...hooray!

The weather should be nice and my 2 older girls are marching in the Memorial Day parade on Monday with their Girl Scout troop! My oldest, went to the prom last night! So much going on this month....graduation is next weekend!

Well, Happy Memorial Day!

~Melanie :)

Baby Shower!

2011-05-11T08:47:00.006-04:00

My friend's sister is having a baby girl soon. And she asked me to make the invites for her baby shower. I gave her 3 different ideas and this is the one she chose. My other Friends liked this one best too. So, for the last week, I have been assembling 40 of these! They are done and delivered and I hope that she loves them!

I love the pocket card. Below is what it looks like when the invite is put inside.

The baby is a girl, so I had to go with pink. I know a bit predictable, but I love pink. Then I thought the swiss dots in white just reminded me of cute baby clothes. And of course ribbons and a frilly border punched. It was fun to design baby cards. The best part of doing the invites was delivering them because I got to see my friend's 10 day old baby. He was so cute and cuddly! He seemed so small, although he was over 8 pounds, so a good size baby. Well, my baby is 3 years old, so 8 pounds is tiny to me. I tried to take his picture, but he cried, here he is anyway!

Isn't he cute? I get to see him again on Saturday! :)

Well, I hope you all have a great day! I am off work, but my day is full of appts, so I must get moving now!

Thanks for stopping by today,

Melanie :)

Blue Birthday

2011-05-06T06:42:00.002-04:00

So, it has been a while since I have posted a project. This is a birthday card that I made with felt. I have been having a lot of fun using my Big Shot and felt. With the dies, it is so easy to perfectly cut and it is fun to layer. This is a quick card that I made with faux pearl accents and a happy birthday sentiment.

I have been very busy this week making invites for a baby shower. I hope to finish these today. I hope to post them soon. The sun will be shining and the temperatures in the 60's today so it makes me motivated to get moving....plus my new i phone is coming today! I am so excited. So, have a great day! I hope to post again soon!

~melanie :)

Made Me Nuclear

2011-04-30T07:34:00.002-04:00

Okay, I know that most of you know I am a nurse. I don't know if many of you know that I am an oncology nurse. I work in an outpatient clinic of a local hospital's Cancer Center. This week was ONS Congress, which happens to be a national, actually international, conference for oncology nurses. And, we were lucky enough to have it be held in Boston, MA this year. This is the first year that I had the opportunity to go. In order to make it fair to the girls in our clinic, we were allowed to go one day during the week...because it was so close we wanted to make it available to as many people as possible. So anyway, I went on Thursday, which turned out to be a great day because it was opening ceremony day and which is always very moving and inspirational.

This year the key note speaker was a cancer survivor named Charlie Lustman. He is a musician who is a cancer survivor, and he wrote a whole pop album on being a patient. He began with the phone call from the doctor to tests, and treatment, to being "cleared" to return to "normal life". It is a fun, upbeat album. As a speaker/performer he was fun and inspiring....and I urge everyone to check out his website MadeMeNuclear.com and his facebook page.

Easter Basket

2011-04-21T06:59:00.002-04:00

Just a quick stop by this morning. I have been off of work for a few days because of school vacation, but I go back today. It was hard to get up this morning! The kids and I had been sleeping until 8 every day! Back to reality.

This card was made using all Stampin' Up supplies. I decided to use some yellow accents to coordinate with my bird. I wasn't sure how hot pink and yellow would go, but I love the results. I think this card would make a cute Easter card. I hope the person who receives this card enjoys it.

Well, back to work for me....The sun is shining....Have a great day!

~Melanie

Fun Hair Clips

2011-04-20T08:03:00.003-04:00

I haven't made a card in days. I have been off of work and haven't made any cards. What have I been doing, besides spending time with my kids? I have been making hair clips. I bought some clips a while back and have been thinking about it, then this week, I was suddenly inspired to start....and couldn't stop. My daughter, Lily, called my sister on the phone yesterday and said "Auntie Chrissy, my mom has been making hair clips since yesterday morning! She hasn't stopped!" LOL I guess I was having too much fun. What do you think?

These were the first ones I made, there are LOTS more! It really is so fun, and Sophia is so excited to be getting so many new hair accessories! I also added some to my etsy store since I have been going crazy and making tons.

Well, these flowers make me think of spring and sun, none of which we will be seeing today, actually we may get some thunder storms this afternoon. Tomorrow I am back to work, so this is my last day of my mini vacation with the kids. We have 3 Dr appts today, so I guess it can rain if it wants to, we are doing nothing fun anyway!

Well, I hope you all have a good day. Thanks for stopping by today.

~Melanie

Etsy

2011-04-17T23:02:00.003-04:00

I am so excited today! I had my first sale on my etsy shop! Hooray!

I have had this account for over a year, but just in the last couple of weeks, I decided that I wanted to do more business. I started adding my goods to my account, and am so happy that someone liked my stuff enough to buy!

Funny thing is that earlier today I was online shopping (browsing actually) and I thought to myself...I cannot buy any more supplies until I start selling some of the things I have made and use up some of the supplies I have. Then this evening...I sell something! Do you think I should start shopping now? ;)

So, this week is school vacation week for my kiddos. I took a couple of days off of work to spend with my kids, now am just trying to figure what to do. Guess it all depends on the weather and the kids behavior! I DO want to do some spring cleaning, not what the kids have in mind I am sure, but if I am only working 2 days this week, I need to get some other stuff done too. And of course some time for crafting. I have been having so much fun today making hair clips. I made a few as gifts, and some for my daughter's hair and am looking forward to making s

o much more! FUN

But what do I have to share with you today? Well, this card is a cute card that I made with the help of my 3 year old, Sophia. She loves to come in my craft room, as all the kids do, and touch EVERYTHING while I am working. So she helped with this card, she punched out the flowers with me and added the rhinestone centers and placed the flower on the card with dimensionals. I think she will be doing this on her own soon!

Thanks for stopping by today!

~Melanie :)

Birthday Butterflies....

2011-04-13T23:00:00.004-04:00

are flying by! I have been using a lot of butterflies lately, I know. But, it's Spring! :)

Did not really feel like it today though, a little rainy and cool and raw. But April Showers bring May Flowers right? I told my daughter, lets just think of this as a nice drink for the trees and plants. She agreed. But now they need a little sun! (me too)

About my card today:

So, I used my scallop border punch on the bottom of the blue card stock. Then I used purple polka dotted designer paper behind. I wanted to do some nice yellow butterflies and did a little purple for contrast. The butterflies are made with my SU embossing/die cutter. So cute and full of texture. I used my SU faux pearls to be the "bodies" of my butterflies and to accent my Birthday wishes sentiment.

Inside the card sentiment "there's something fabulous about your birthday (must be you)" sentiment is from SU, actually all supplies for this card are SU, except the one punch I used on the corner of my yellow paper, which is CM.

Inside the card, I mimicked the scallop and purple polka dot design from the front of the card and added a few butterfly accents as well.

Well, let's hope that tomorrow brings us some nice Spring sunshine!
Have a great day!

~Melanie :)

I uncovered my sewing machine!

2011-04-11T15:03:00.002-04:00

But not to sew fabric, I have sewn on my first card!

It was fun! I made this cute card, which is perfect for a new baby or a girl's birthday. The image is a digi stamp from Pink Cat Studio. I colored with my new copic markers, I have been having fun with them as well, although I do realize that I need some more colors!

All of the paper for the card is from Stampin Up! And why pink, well, honestly....I still had pink thread in my sewing machine from the last time I used it (years ago!) so I figured, do something pink! I zig zag stitched on the outside and the inside of the card. I think this was fun and I think I will be doing it more soon....maybe in different colors if I get over my laziness and change the thread! LOL :)

Thanks for popping in today, now it is so nice outside - almost 70 degrees, that I need to get out there! Have a great day.

~Melanie

Doily Birthday

2011-04-08T07:27:00.004-04:00

I love this card! I have been seeing cards with doily designs all over lately! So, I actually bought paper doilies at the grocery store and decided to make a card with it! I love it.

I love the colors pink and grey together, I found this designer paper from SU in my stash and thought that I would bring out a little of the yellow color as well.

The sentiment was stamped on white card stock and using multiple punches I created a background for the image. I used designer label punch, oval scallop and circle scallop punches all from SU. Then I used my big shot to cut out the grey leaves. It has all been accented with these cute faux pearls.

Inside the card I used my SU punch to create the bottom border and on top I used one of my CM corner punches to do the corners.

Wouldn't this be a great birthday card to receive?

Thanks for stopping by today!

~Melanie :)

Lowell General Hospital TeamWalk "Firework" (Katy Perry)

2011-04-05T15:57:00.001-04:00

Everyone has to watch this video! This is my work, but I was off the day of the filming :(

The video was made to promote TeamWalk for Lowell General Cancer center. The money raised from teamwalk is used to help our patients who may need rides, tube feedings, etc.

Check it out!
:)

Thanks,
Melanie :)

Tea Party

2011-04-03T09:52:00.006-04:00

Recently my daughter Allison turned 8! How can that be? I remember driving to the hospital for her to be born and now she is 8? Time flies.....Anyway....to celebrate her birthday she invited all the girls in her class over for a tea party. Above is the invitation we made for the party. We stamped the SU image and punched with the circle cutter, Allison colored the tea pots with SU markers. Then we matted it on Tempting Turquoise scallop circles. The ribbon I bought at Michaels craft store and we used the SU swiss dot embossing folder and my Big Shot to texture the white cardstock. Came out cute huh?

Above is the "Tea Table" I borrowed the table cloth and these adorable tea pots and cute little tea cups and saucers. We had all kinds of goodies including cucumber sandwiches, scallop shaped mini cheese sandwiches and those adorable strawberry sandwiches which were so easy and cute! I used vanilla wafers and whipped cream cheese spread then topped each with a half of a strawberry! Kind of like a mini cheesecake. The girls used tea cups and either had decaf tea or juice. So fancy.

Each girl came in her tea party dresses. We did manage to get one nice picture of them together, although Allison does have her eyes closed (second from left bottom).

Below is what we gave the girls for party favors. Mini composition notebooks, RSVP pens and bookmarks. I used pinks and greens, and the back does have some purple colored paper.

I had made similar goodie bag gifts for a friend of mine for her daughter's birthday party and loved the idea so I repeated. We wrapped them in cellophane bags with little princess crowns.

The after noon was a success, although the girls did get bored after a while and went outside to jump on the trampoline! So funny, the ground was littered with dress shoes and all the girls were bouncing on the trampoline in party dresses!

Well, Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day!

~melanie :)

Thinking Spring!

2011-03-25T22:18:00.003-04:00

I am thinking spring! Are you? It certainly doesn't feel like it though. The weather woman says the typical high for this time of year in Massachusetts is 50 degrees. We have been lucky to hit 4o lately! I am happy that the sun was shining bright today though...I am ready for the sunshine and all finished with the snow for this year....let's hope Mother Nature agrees with me. This card below reminds me of spring...

I really wanted to do something with craft color. So I cut this circle image and paper pierced around the edge. I used this pale green card stock for the base and stamped my "all my thanks to you" image in basic brown ink and punched out using the tag punch. I used this craft designer paper for the background. I also loved this daisy ribbon. So when I saw this adorable flower pot button that I adhered with a glue dot. Then for my own daisy, I used a yellow button and a smaller brown button in the center. I thought it came out very cute! I felt it tied the whole card together.

Well, we are going to start week 2 of spring soon, so lets hope for some of that spring like warmth!

Have a great weekend! :) Enjoy your family, friends and life!

~melanie

Rub ons!

2011-03-23T20:32:00.003-04:00

Today I just wanted to share with you a couple of cards that I did not even use stamps on, but rub-ons! Stampin' Up! has these really cute coordinated rub on sheets in different colors and designs.

First I used this cute little owl image rubbed onto So Saffon card stock and then trimmed with scissors. I used Sahara Sand printed designer paper bordered in Tempting Turquoise and mounted on a base of So Saffron. I rubbed on the hello sentiment and the leaves/tree like images. Finally a knot of tempting turquoise gross grain ribbon. Super Fun.

Next, I used a base of Old Olive Cardstock and rubbed on the funky flower image. I knotted a Real Red designer button knotted with a piece of twine mounted on the flower with mini glue dots. Then I did stamp! The Birthday wishes sentiment is stamped in chocolate chip ink. Finally I rounded the corners at the bottem of this card.

Both of these cards were made using the Play Date rub-ons set. I love it, it is very cute and funky!

Have a great day! Thanks for stopping by!

~Melanie :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2011-03-17T06:43:00.003-04:00

Have you ever seen a leprechon? Well my daughter Lily is hoping to catch one!
This is the trap that she and my husband made for her to bring to school. Isn't it so fun?

She painted the shoebox and my husband cut the hole for the little bowl. Then Lily used my big shot to die cut leaves that we taped inside the cup to look like a tree.

There is a string colored brown coming down the tree for the Leprechon to climb. ...and when he does....boom....the cup falls on top of him and traps him! Why would he want to climb the tree? for gold coins of course! Bill had the idea to put one in the tree for him and Lily had the idea to put a trail to "lure him in"! I love this!

Thanks for stopping by today! Don't drink too much green beer (it's only Thursday! LOL)

~Melanie :)

Birthday Bits!

2011-03-16T07:28:00.005-04:00

I have been making a lot of birthday cards lately. I realize that is the kind of card that is probably sent or given the most. We all look forward to getting birthday cards don't we?I had a lot of fun making this card. I used lots of layers on the front. Many shapes of punches to layer under my sentiment. I think this card is my favorite. I have been seeing a lot of cards lately with text backgrounds so this is my first time using this paper. I love it. And the butterfly with the pearl body is so whimsy. Below is a glimpse of the inside of the card. Many times I leave the inside of the card blank for personalization, but for birthday cards, I do like to decorate inside as well as out.

Another one of my new favorite cards is below. I love the pretty flowers. I stamped them in yellow but used 2 different yellows to add dimension. Again I worked with layers for the sentiment. I am loving layers.

Inside the card is stamped the same image just a lighter version. I stamped off the stamp first and then stamped it inside. Make a wish... is the perfect birthday sentiment. Funny, these flowers also remind me of dandelions and when they are all white and puffy you can make a wish and blow off all the seeds!

Both of these cards are available for purchase in my oniline etsy store. I am really trying to amp up my mini business. I appreciate everyone who has had me make cards or gifts for them! I am available to do custom cards as well, so if there is a certain card you are looking for but don't see, drop me a note!

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my work today. I hope you enjoyed!

Have a great day!

~ Melanie :)

Sew Cute!

2011-03-12T10:42:00.002-05:00

I love these new SU! Sets. They are called Sew Suite and Pattern Pieces (available in the mini catalog through April 30th)

I had to have them and I am so glad I got them! Fun to work with. I used to sew a lot too, so I think that pulled me in. I accessorised the set with the paper and buttons from the sale-a-bration catalog - free with a $50 purchase. Pretty cool huh?
The dress forms are so cute, and so in right now. I punched them 3 times and then I punched a 3rd time on the back of the paper I wanted to use and cut it out and paper pieced on top of the middle form.

I had a lot of fun making these and a lot of other cards lately.

If you like these and want to see others and purchase, check out my Etsy store link to the right of my blog. I plan to update my store with lots of new merchandise this weekend. How fun is it to receive a card in the mail, for a birthday or just to say hello? And how special for that card to be handmade? Says I love you or I'm thinking of you! Prices are comparable to store bought cards, but so much more special!

Thanks for stopping by today and have a great weekend! :)

~Melanie

Happy Birthday Spinner Card

2011-03-06T11:18:00.004-05:00

This card I gave to my friend Lisa for her birthday. It was the first card I made with the spinner set from SU! The spinner uses a brad in the center and the little arrow. You can point it to whatever you want it to say. The set has 4 stamps, 2 square and 2 circle with different holidays/reasons to celebrate. It is fun. I used my markers to color the stamp because I wanted a multi colored stamp. I used this coral paper which I love! (too bad it is discontinued) and I paired it with So Saffron Yellow and pink. I versa stamped the cupcake wheel onto the coral paper and then used the scallop border punch along the top edge. The button is from Paper Trey Ink and the thread is embroidery thread, which I bought a whole bunch of in different colors to use with my buttons.Inside the card I stamped a make a wish sentiment that I bought in the dollar bin at Michaels and I used my new cupcake punch from SU! to make this die cut cupcake! How cute!My daughter Lily was in my craft room with me that day and she wanted to make a card too. This image is from Michael's $1 stamp bin. It is a great stamp with a big holder on top, perfect for kids to grip. She then colored with markers, used my 2" SU! circle punch to punch out the image and layered it on real red card stock.

My friend Lisa is in FLA right now, she was supposed to be enjoying a vacation with her family, but her Grams ended up in the hospital and is very sick, so if you could just say a prayer for Lisa and her 2 little girls, that would be great.

Thanks for stopping by today, have a nice Sunday!

~Melanie

Red, Pink and White...

2011-03-03T06:30:00.002-05:00

but not another Valentine's Day card! I did make this the same time as I made some of my Valentine's day cards though, hence the red and white colors. When I have my paper out, I tend to just keep going with it. The idea for this card was CASED over at splitcoaststampers.com. Unfortunately, I do not remember who posted the original. I really liked the buttons over the flower look, so I punched out 9 Real Red flowers and used a variety of pink and white buttons to layer. I found a cute little white heart button that I used for the center. (I did say it was near Valentine's Day!)

So I decided to make this a birthday card and stamped the bday image. I made a pretty lacey bottom to the white layer and mounted a pink background at the top. Finally I used my Real Red grosgrain ribbon and made a knot. I really love Real Red, I love the bright crispness of the red color!

Well, it will be about 10 degrees today here in Massachusetts, so much for my hopes of spring coming early! My friend is swimming in FLA right now, 80 degrees! She is wearing a bathing suit and I will be wearing long johns! Well, next week she better bring back some of that sunshine and warm weather!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a nice day! :)

~melanie

More Valentine's Day

2011-03-01T13:12:00.005-05:00

I know, it is March 1st!, but I have finally downloaded my Valentine's day pictures. I wanted to share them. Every year for Valentine's Day my sisters and our kids get together for lunch and to exchange Valentine's day cards. These cute little buggers I made for my nieces and nephews this year.These adorable robots are from Pink Cat Studio. they are digital images that I downloaded, printed on my home printer and colored in with my Stampin' Up! markers.

The card stock is from Stampin' Up also and I hand wrote my sentiments. I think they are just adorable! Well, I did say we get together for valentine's day lunch, so below is the lunch we prepared. Macaroni and cheese because that is always a big hit and then these adorable hot dogs that my sister found on familyfun.com website. It is all edible! The arrow is made of a piece of uncooked spaghetti and cheese for the tip and end! How adorable is that? It was a very big hit.

Well, thanks for stopping by today! March 1st huh? Let's hope for some warm weather to melt all this white (brown now) stuff! I am ready for some warmer air and sunshine!

~melanie :)

Sharing in Your Sorrow

2011-02-21T07:37:00.001-05:00

Today I am sharing a sympathy card that I made at the request of my friend. I decided to make it with teal and pink and make it elegant and simple. I like simple for sympathy cards. And for some reason, sympathy cards always seem to contain some type of plant life, trees, flowers, etc.

I used my SU! markers to color my stamp and then stamped it on whisper white card stock, this was matted on taken with teal and then placed on a craft card base. For the sentiment, I stamped on whisper white and punched it with my label punch. Then I punched a second label punch in taken with teal and cut out the middle section so i could use the edges of the stamp to shadow the main label punch. A tiny pink flower button, to mimic the flowers in the main stamped image is held in place with a glue dot. Finally I used this sheer pink ribbon from Michael's (I know that I have shown you this ribbon many times before- I love using it!)

I have had a great holiday weekend so far. I have been escaping to my craft room frequently and have been pretty busy. I hope to share some of my projects with you this week. Keep posted!

Have a great day!

~Melanie

My Pretty Valentine!

2011-02-11T07:39:00.003-05:00

Valentine's Day is right around the corner...have you thought of yours yet?

I actually do not know who I will give this card to...yet. I love the image from SU! and I wanted to use it in a soft way, so i stamped it first and then used colored pencils to color it in. The paper colors look brighter in the photo, but are actually more muted. All of the paper is also SU! I chose to use the yellow and purple combo. I love these two colors together especially when they are soft and not vibrant.

I used a pair of deco scissors to cut the purple paper out around the yellow floral image. Also used one of my SU punches to get my purple strip that runs towards the bottom of the card. (i suppose I should know the names of all my tools, but I don't! lol)

I then used a really cute red button as an accent.

Well, thanks for stopping by...and don't forget your valentine!

~melanie

2011-02-11T05:19:00.002-05:00

This card is a snow tubing invite I made for a friend. I smudged out the personal details.

I used my computer and my Stampin' Up! Digital Studio to make the words and snowflakes for the background. Then I punched cut the paper to fit on a 5x7 card.

The girls favorite color I thought was purple so I paper punched the sledding girl with purple colors. I used a variety of my SU! punches. I used the window punch to make the slider. I followed this tutorial http://www.frenchiestamps.com/2010/1...nner-card.html After I had finished making all the little sledders, she changed her mind to orange being her favorite color, so I mounted the white paper onto orange for stability. I found that this actually helped the girl roll a little easier.

The little girl on her sled rolls up and down the side of the card! Super fun to make and super fun to play with!

It was alot of fun to make the invites and she totally loved them. I even managed to find orange envelopes for them!

Thanks for stopping by today,

~Melanie

Thank you Fairy Much!

2011-02-06T10:52:00.002-05:00

This adorable card was made for a friend to send a thank you to a lucky little girl. The image is from Pink Cat Studio. The sentiment inside says "thank you fairy much". My paper for this card is all Stampin' Up! Probably alot of retired paper because I am a paper hoarder! I have LOTS of paper but it is all so beautiful! My friends think I am crazy because I get excited for buttons and ribbon, but as fellow cardmakers/crafters/artists/etc. I know you understand me!

The image is colored with SU markers. The beautiful ribbon is from Michael's, I don't even know which brand, but I know I love to use it on cards...it is so soft and pretty. And the buttons are randoms from Walmart. I love to shop around for supplies. Of course I love Stampin' Up! (or else I wouldn't be a demo). I love the cardstock and how every color coordinates between ribbon, paper, buttons, designer paper etc. I also love to shop for supplies anywhere I can find a good deal. I spend the bulk of my money on SU!s great stamps and accessories, but if I can find a bargain, I will! LOL

Well I hope you enjoyed this beautiful card...it is one of many I have made recently...I am on a crafting roll. I plan to try and post daily or every other day, so I hope you check back frequently and if you see something you like or have a suggestion or idea, please post a comment. I look forward to your feedback!

Have a Happy Day!

~melanie :)

I love Papertrey Ink!

2011-02-05T21:28:00.004-05:00

I have been following Dawn McVey's blog for quite some time now. I really love her stuff. I kept thinking I need to try some of those Papertrey Ink stamps, and I have "window shopped" on their site many times. Finally last month I decided I actually needed to order! I used my Christmas cash and ordered a couple of stamp sets, some coordinating dies, ribbon, buttons and a package of paper. How exciting, and quite a good deal for my cash! I couldn't wait to get busy with it.

These 2 cards are my first two projects with my PTI stamps and paper. I made 2 birthday cards for some girls at work.

This first card uses a set from last July called Just the Ticket. I love the coordinating ticket die cut. It is really neat to be able to design your own tickets. For the above card I chose to do a Happy Birthday ticket and I used lemon tart and lavender moon paper. The patterned paper is from Stampin' Up! I used my More Mustard SU marker to color my stamps and stamped the sentiment , border and stars onto my ticket. Then I used some Lavender Moon Satin Ribbon and a button from the Spring Mix Collection.

The second card is a bright cheery card. I used Berry Sorbet paper for a card base and used a versa ink pad to stamp the squiggly image from the Little Bitty Bird Set. I stamped the tree onto white cardstock and I used Lemon tart paper again to use the bird dies to cut these cute little guys which I then stamped with my little birdie image. I again used the spring mix buttons and some Lemon Tart Saddle Stitch Ribbon.

So these are my favorite cards from my PTI cards because these are my first cards! But I love the products and I know there will be many more!

Thanks for looking, I hope you enjoyed them and I really hope my friends from work enjoyed receiving them!

~melanie :)

Winter Wonderland!

2011-01-24T08:33:00.002-05:00

That is what we have been living in around here!

A quick post today, as I am probably late for work! This is a cute card I made and actually sold at my last craft fair, so hopefully it was sent and enjoyed by someone! :)

I used the brick red and craft theme for this card as well as whisper white (SNOW!) The snowflake is made of felt and a cute little button center. The only portion of this card that is not stampin up is the twine tied to the button, other than that it is Stampin Up all the way baby!

Well it is zero degrees here in Mass today with a windchill in the negative twenties so everyone BUNDLE UP! and if you are in a warm climate - feel lucky! :)

Have a great day!

~melanie :)

Happy New Year!

2011-01-10T11:16:00.004-05:00

Is it 2011 already? What happened to 2010? Well it went by very fast, to say the least, especially the last month. From Thanksgiving to New Years was a complete whirlwind! We survived the holidays in my house with only 2 cases of strep throat and one child with an ear infection! Let's hope to a healthier new year!

So, my goals for the new year? Besides the usual, be healthier, lose w

eight and exercise more? My crafting goals are to rearrange my craft space, which is a "room" in my basement. It has one plywood wall, one framed in wall with a door and a window to my children's playroom and 2 cinder block walls painted a hideous yellow. Oh, yeah and also a water pump that pumps the water up from the well through the basement to the house above. It kicks on whenever anyone does dishes, laundry or even flushes the toilet! Not a very relaxing environment! So, I am saving my pennies for a makeover...put up some real walls that can be painted a beautiful color, clean out the junk and hopefully move the water pump to the other side of the basement....that may not become reality, I do not know how much work that involves! But for now I am resigned to reorganizing my supplies and changing the tables around and layout of the room. Hopefully I get to that soon...

I have done no crafting this year :( but I will share some older cards

with you!

This first card was a bday card I made for a girl at work. I paper pieced the bird from the SU designer paper onto whisper white card stock. I used the same DSP for the background. I chose the purple color for the base and used a deeper purple punched with the large oval punch. I used a piece of DSP punched and folded to make a faux ribbon and place it behind my felt buttons.

This one was not too long ago. My friend asked me to make a birthday card for her mom who likes the color yellow. I decided to use this pretty SU! paper for the background (I never can remember the names off hand and my book is downstairs - in the basement!) I then used my border punch to make the yellow square for behind the paper. It was some figuring to get the corners to come out right, I probably should have written down the size for future use, but did not :) I used the designer label punch in turquoise and then the large oval punch in yellow and stamped the Birthday wishes sentiment. I tied a piece of 3/8 inch turquoise grosgrain ribbon in the corner and mounted a yellow flower with a green sparkle-y brad. I used my corner rounder on the bottom 2 corners.

Well I hope you enjoyed these 2 cards and I hope to create more soon!

~melanie

Thanksgivings!

2010-12-01T20:24:00.003-05:00

I had to share this awesome card my daughter Allison made. She is becoming quite the creative card maker!

For Thanksgiving this year my husbands new company gave the employees a turkey and a bag full of all the fixings...potatoes, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, butternut squash and even pumpkin pie! It was so awesome of them and tasted so delicious. My husband suggested that we make a card to thank his boss's family (it is a small company that is run by a family). So Allison was super excited to do so and came up with this all on her own.

She used my SU First day of School set to stamp the bookworm image. She colored it in and then cut the worm out from behind the book and placed him on either side of her telephone pole. The thing that makes this so cute is that my husband works for a fiber optics company and they hang the wire on the poles to run the fiber optics. So she knowing this came up with the idea to make a telephone pole and put this little guy up there. I love how he peeks around the pole. Inside she wrote a wonderful not about how great the basket was and how delicious it tasted! She is so cute and creative...hmmm takes after someone...!

Well thanks for stopping by and looking! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are planning for a Happy Christmas season too!

~melanie :)

And now onto Christmas!!!!

2010-11-28T12:20:00.004-05:00

Okay now that Thanksgiving is over, I can focus on Christmas! It seems everyone gets started earlier and earilier, the radio had 24 hour Christmas music last week! Will we be decorating while wearing our bathing suits next year? LOL

That said, I LOVE Christmas! So I am ready to share some of my Christmas cards with you!

Below is the front of the card side by side with the center of the card.

The reindeer image was stamped with white craft ink and covered with clear embossing powder and heat embossed on Night of Navy card stock and mounted on Whisper White cardstock. The satin ribbon is Night of Navy. The background paper is from a paper stack I bought at the store last year. Finally I mounted a rhinestone on top of a felt snowflake.

The card is 4x4 square, so it will fit in a regular A2 size envelope, which makes room on the side for the ribbon!

I hope you enjoyed this Christmas Card..I will be posting more later :)

~melanie

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T10:40:00.003-05:00

Today I am posting cards made by my wonderful daughters Ally and Lily. The card on the right was made by Allison in school with the help of her awesome Classroom Parent Mrs Jennings. Check her out at www.sentimentsinstock.com. I thought it was so neat that I used her idea to assist Lillian with making a card as well. Each card is for the aunts that we are going to visit today to thank them for having us over for dinner and dessert!

I am thankful for my wonderful family! I hope you all have something to be thankful for today as well.

Happy Thanksgiving!

~melanie

Ruffled Birthday

2010-10-25T09:50:00.004-04:00

I spend a lot of time surfing the web and browsing blogs and I often CASE (Copy and Share Everything). I must admit, I am very bad about remembering where I saw the original card to give proper credit. This happens partly because I take notes while sitting at my computer, I have sheets of paper all over my house with ideas and layouts sketched on them. Then, I take the paper down to my craft room and create a card. At some point I photograph the card and then eventually some of those photos get posted. So, by that time, I have long lost my little paper! I could be more organized, but then that wouldn't be me!

This card was made during the summer. The bright colors are a key to that, I am affected by the seasons and the feel of the weather as to what colors I use in a card.

I used my SU! scallop border punch and cut strips of SU! cardstock and punched the edges. then, I lined them up, glued them together and trimmed the edges to make them even.

The sentiment is from Stampin' Up's Well Scripted Set.

Ribbon came from Michaels craft store.

I hope you enjoyed this card, I am off of work today and have a few projects to work on: Birthday card, Thank you cards, Cancer Survivor Card and an Anniversary card for my hubby!

Thanks for looking, have a great day!

~melanie :)

Coffee Junky!

2010-10-19T11:11:00.004-04:00

For those who know me...you know that I LOVE coffee! I live off the stuff. Sometimes I have to say to myself "stop drinking so much coffee and drink water". I have weaned myself down a few times, but I love a nice hot mug. Look at the steam coming of that mug...just what we need on these cold fall New England days...of course hot chocolate works too! Chocolate...yum!

I feel that lately I need a lot of coffee just to function. I just finished prepping for a craft fair at my work. (didn't go that well, not nearly as much traffic as last year. Then another girl and I realized that alot of the office staff were moved to different branches this summer. Oh, well!)

I am also studying for my Oncology Certification exam and am feeling stressed about that. Then, trying to get my daughter to her cheerleading competition and finish the season...I signed up to be team parent having no idea what was involved...lots of emails and asking for things from other parents! Just a couple more weeks. I am really looking forward to the cold, calm winter!

I do have one more craft show coming up. I will go to my sister's work for her annual craft fair. I figure I can try and sell all the stuff I have left from my craft fair and I am working on a few other things as well. So between all of this and my family and my full time job, I really love coffee (and sleep)!

I also plan on updating my etsy shop soon, so keep your eyes out for that. (link to right)

I really love this card. Why wouldn't I it has coffee and it is pink! I hope you enjoy this card and I hope right now you are enjoying a warm mug full of something good :)

Supplies All Stampin' Up!

cardstock: pink pirouette, riding hood red, whisper white

designer paper: SU retired

punches: corner rounder, Dotted Scallop Ribbon border, scallop trim border

accessories: pink button from designer buttons subtles collection, hemp twine

Thanks for looking today!

~melanie

Pretty Purses

2010-09-17T08:29:00.004-04:00

Okay, are these not the cutest little purses you ever did see?

While I was blog hopping I came across this post Curtain Call over at It's a Stamp Thing and I had to CASE it!

Finally put ink to this Things I love stamp set by SU!

I made a couple of purses so then I had to make a couple of cards! I hope you enjoy these cute little cards as much as I do! But, I have a very busy day and must get off of my computer! Have a great one :)

~melanie

Circle circus

2010-09-13T06:07:00.005-04:00

I had so much fun making this card. I made my own designer paper.

I used the Circle Circus stamp set and stamped 2 of the circles in a random pattern over whisper white paper. I used Real Red and Brilliant Blue ink. I also stamped the red circle on the edge of the cardstock inside the card.

I used a stamp from the Everything Nice set and used my Stampin' Write markers to color the stamp to get the alternating colors on the sentiment. Then I stamped happy birthday inside the card.

A corner rounder, a circle punch, some real red ribbon and my card was beautiful!

Well, ready to start another week. I am able to post this AM because I have been up since 3:30 and not able to sleep! Finally after laying there for 45 minutes, I decided to just get up and be productive. I was able to design a Christmas card last night, so I am hoping to finish the set and photograph for you later tonight!

Have a great day!

~melanie :)

Punched Owl

2010-09-08T20:55:00.004-04:00

I love the new 2 step punch from Stampin' Up! This one is like the 2 step bird, but is an owl! How adorable is this guy?

One punch has all the pieces to make this cutie. Just punch multiple times for whichever colors or DSP paper you want then glue it all together.

On this little guy, I used crystal effects on his eyes to help hold on his little pupils and to make his eyes shine! Isn't this just adorable?

Well, got to get to bed. This back to school week has worn me out! Getting myself to work and the kids to bed is exhausting!

Thanks for looking today!

~melanie

Splitcoast Sketch Challenge

2010-09-06T18:02:00.002-04:00

These 2 cards I made using SSCC296 over at splitcoaststampers.com

Both are made using a retired SU set that I had bought at a yardsale during the summer. I forget the name right now (the problem of having a craft room in the basement and a computer in the living room and no laptop! Do you feel sorry for me? Just Kidding)

Both cards were made using all SU products: paper, DSP, stamps, ink and accessories. Much of it is retired,but I have lots of stuff to use up! I admit it when it comes to craft supplies, I am a hoarder!

Well, thanks for looking today, I hope you are having a super Labor Day Weekend!

~melanie :)

Back to school week!

2010-09-01T15:21:00.003-04:00

Well, it is that time of year again! I love that commercial on TV where the kids and dad are back to school shopping for supplies and the dad is cruising on the cart and the kids look horrified and the music is playing "It's the most wonderful time of the year...."

I am so glad that fall is coming. I like summer, but I love the cool weather of fall. Also, we really need some structure in our house right now. It has been so chaotic during the summer, staying up later, no routines. I am so looking forward to routine!

Above are my gorgeous daughters Allison and Lillian ready to go to the bus stop for the first day! Ally is in 2nd grade and Lily is entering Transition. Full days for both of them! :)

So, do you think I have gotten any stamping done this week? Of course not. I have spent the last 2 days doing errands and dragging along my 2 little ones. My husband thinks the house should be clean I bet, but it looks worse now than it did yesterday morning! I went to the grocery store this am and realized how tired I was, so I put half of the food away and left the non perishables all over and took a nap with the kids! That felt good! Now, waiting for the girls to get off the bus and then heading for a swim to my mom's...it's 95 degrees out today!

The house will get clean later :)

And, hopefully some stamping!

Thanks for stopping by, ~ melanie

More Christmas

2010-08-29T18:44:00.005-04:00

I made more Christmas cards! This one was so easy and so pretty!

I used Bashful Blue card stock, cut in half 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 and folded to make a standard 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 size. I ran my folded card stock in my Elegant Lines embossing folder (page 216) through my Big Shot (page 206) so only the front would be embossed.

Then I used Basic Pearls (page190-a great product, self adhesive) in a couple different sizes to add a little bling! I also used smooch spritz in Vanilla Shimmer (page 197) to add a lotta bling and sparkle to the entire card front.

Finally I used my 5/8" Organza Ribbon in Whisper White to tie a knot along the left side.

I really love how this card came out. And even though my description sounds long, it was pretty simple to make.

I have also made another one with Rhinestones and Silver cord and stamped in Happy Birthday! A quick and easy card that can be changed for any occasion.

I hope you enjoyed this card. I will probably try and make some non Christmas cards in the next few days. :)

Thanks for looking!

~melanie

Christmas!

2010-08-25T21:23:00.003-04:00

What Christmas? It's not even Labor Day! Well, I need to start thinking Christmas.

I made a few sets of Christmas cards this week. Here is the first:

The layout for these cards was from Taylored Expressions TESC125

I thought the layout was so cute, then I saw my new Christmas DSP from Stampin' Up! and I thought the cirlces in the sketch reminded me Christmas ornaments.

I added pearls and then used my new smooch spritz to shine up the cards (you can see from my picture that I am not good at photographing glossy items, but you can imagine the effect!)

Well, it certainly got me in the mood for Christmas card making and I will be making more soon!

Happy End of Summer!

~melanie

Always

2010-08-21T07:33:00.002-04:00

Well, I have been having fun this week in my craft room! This is the first card I made for the colourq challenge. But then I decided to use my second card. Usually, when I start to play with certain colors or papers, I make a few cards with them at once.

This stamp set is Always Elegant (page 67 of Idea Book and Catalog)

I stamped the image in Wild Wasabi multiple times across the Vanilla Card stock, then flipped my stamp and stamped in the opposite direction to fill in the blanks...I made my own DSP!

I then used Cherry cobbler to stamp the Always sentiment and to border the Vanilla Paper. The main card stock is Baja Breeze.

The ribbon is taffeta Daffodil Delight and a cute button.

Super Simple, but Always Elegant!

Today we are getting ready for my daughter's Cheerleading Jamboree! She is 7 and so excited to cheer for a game! So, I gotta get my butt in gear and get myself and her ready!

Thanks for checking out my card today, have a great weekend!

~melanie

Tea Time

2010-08-20T08:15:00.004-04:00

I am really loving all these cute cards with tea and coffee themes. This card was made using SU! Morning Cup set. This card is all Stampin Up!

So, I mentioned that I love to do sketch challenges right? Well this time I decided to do a color challenge. See ColourQ challenges at http://colourq.blogspot.com/

I did improvise a little because my ribbon is actually Marina Mist, but it blended in nicely!

So, we all make mistakes right? Well check out the image below. This is my card before I had to fix my error. Do you notice it? I stamped my sentiment crooked! Why did this happen? Because I was being too lazy to use my super easy Stamp-a-ma-jig tool which would ensure that my image would be placed exactly as I liked it to be.

So, I had to fix this by getting a new piece of vanilla card stock and then restamping my image and mounting it on cherry cobbler card stock after rounding both top edges. Actually, I like the new card better. I guess good can come from mistakes.

I hope you enjoyed this card and remember....it can always be fixed!

~melanie

Aviary

2010-08-18T15:51:00.003-04:00

I just love this new Stampin' Up! set called Aviary. 4 little birds and 4 different cages as well as one stand post. You can mix and match the images to create different designs!

So, how do I get my ideas for card layouts? Well, some I think up on my own or just make as I go, but what I really like to do is scour blogs for challenges. This layout (which I really adore) came from Taylored Expressions TESC 117. Sketch from Taylored Expressions, but all supplies from Stampin' Up!

recipe:

stamp set: Aviary

cardstock: Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie, Soft Suede

DSP: Greenhouse Gala

accessories: Daffodil Delight taffeta ribbon, Scallop trim border, corner rounder punch

Well, I hope you like my little bird card.

Hope to share more soon.

~melanie

Hoppy Birthday

2010-08-14T08:21:00.002-04:00

Sorry for the fuzzy photo, it was taken with my phone. This card was made for my nephew who turned 5 in July.

Recipe:

Stamps: I love the fun image from Pink Cat Studio it is so adorable.

Ink: I colored the image with my Stampin' Up! markers. I didn't want my boy to "float" so I drew a line and colored the grass with Garden Green and used some Old Olive to add specks of grass to eliminate the plain-ness of one color. For the sky I used bashful blue and my sponge to sponge a light color over the white. My little frog is also Garden Green. The boy is colored with Soft Suede, Blush Blossom, Not Quite Navy and Cherry Cobbler. I roughed up the edges of the main image with my fingernail and then sponged the edges of the card to make it look rougher because this card is for a rough and tough boy!

Paper: Stampin' Up! Whisper White, Not Quite Navy, Cherry Cobbler and Barely Banana.

Accessories: Certainly Celery button, Linen thread

I know that I used alot of different colors from a lot of different color families for this card, but I find that many of the colors blend well together and even though I am using different shades, there are the same basic colors: i.e. olive green blends well with certainly celery. So don't be afraid to mix and match.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this card. I am now getting ready to spend the day at the lake with my family and 2 of my sisters and their families. So have a great day and I hope you pop by again soon.

Hoppy Stampin'!

~melanie :)

Love You Much

2010-08-11T23:50:00.002-04:00

Okay, can you tell that I love pink and green together? This was a quick card I made using many of the same card colors from the other day's card.

For inspiration I was flipping through some of my old Stampin' Up! Idea book and catalogs (they are great for references you know, so don't toss them after their year is up!) I saw a card with this layout. I thought, how cute! I could do that easily. So......

I used a pink cardstock base, punched a few shades of pink and green with various sized circle punches and a few with designer paper. A little ribbon, a pink sentiment in a circle and voila! I have created a super cute and easy card.

Think of the possibilities! Flowers! Stars! or even butterflies! What a quick and easy layout! Think outside the box (or circle) LOL

I hope you enjoy this card, thanks for looking!

~melanie :)

Birdy Birthday

2010-08-05T10:40:00.002-04:00

This is a birthday card I made the other day. I was using my SU! bird punch and thought I would first run my paper through the swiss dots embossing folder for dimension. How cute?

I really love this color paper and am sad it retired, but there are lots of new colors that I am growing to love.

recipe:

All materials Stampin' Up!

Cardstock: Cameo Coral, Certainly Celery, Garden Green, Barely Banana

DSP: Kaleidascope

Accessories: So Saffron Ribbon, Circle Designer Brads

Punches: Extra Large Two-Step Bird, Scallop Trim Border

Stamp: Well Scripted

Hope you like it! Thanks for looking!

~melanie :)

2010-07-30T16:16:00.003-04:00

I made this card for this weeks Layout Challenge over at Splitcoast Stampers. This is the first time I have done this. I always look, but decided to get off my butt and start making more!

I hope you like it.

Supplies: All Stampin' Up. The stamp is from a retired set I found at a yard sale last week and the paper is various colors and designs that I believe many of to be retired. I am trying to use up my stash!

The card was quick and easy and got my creative juices flowing so I am totally in card making mode! I made 7 cards in the last 2 days, I hope to post more soon.

Thanks for looking!

~melanie

Simple Birthday Card

2010-07-27T10:10:00.002-04:00

I love this card and it was so easy to make with clean simple design. Sometimes I remind myself it doesn't need to be complicated! The layout was simple and it probably took me about 5 minutes to make this card! Great if you need a last minute birthday card!

All Supplies Stampin' Up!:

Cardstock - Brilliant Blue, Yo Yo Yellow, Whisper White

Ink- Brilliant Blue, Real Red, Yo Yo Yellow, Green Galore and Tempting Turquoise

Accessories - 5/8" grosgrain ribbon in so saffron

Stamps - Party Hearty

I know that some of these colors are retired, but I admit this is not a new card! Last weekend I spent 5 hours in my craft room (located in my basement) using new stamps and using new colors. I went back down a few days later and found a puddle on my craft table with my cards directly in the middle! We could not locate the source at the time, but there are pipes running across the roof of my room and we are guessing there was condensation due to the warm weather. That really stinks! I wanted to cry at the time. So hopefully since I am on vacation from work this week I will be able to get ALOT of crafting done!

Hope to share more soon!

~melanie :)

2010-07-24T11:37:00.002-04:00

Oh, my poor neglected blog! I have been so bad to you.

Well, did you know that for the last year I have not had a camera? It makes it awfully hard to share my projects! Finally, last weekend I decided I NEEDED to get one! Summer is here, we had our family reunion coming up and my vacation from work. So I am happy to announce that I will now be able to stop neglecting my blog and post more! Yay!

Well, right now I am getting ready for my kids party. It is a playdate that I have had planned for a while and I invited all the kids from my 2 girls classes at school. I have not had many replies (I realize that it is a Saturday in the middle of the summer, so I am not too surprised) but we plan to have a good time. The sun i starting to come out and the girls are getting excited.

I PROMISE, my blog, not to ignore you anymore. I will be back later today to share on you.

I hope everyone is having a great summer and I will be back later :)

~ melanie :)

Happy Mother's Day!

2010-05-09T11:26:00.001-04:00

Happy Mother's Day!
I want to wish a wonderful day to all of the mother's out there. This is your day to be appreciated and I hope you are! My family is great to me. I had breakfast made by my hubby and kids...yummy veggie omelet with bacon! my fav.
Also had great homemade gifts from my kids and LOTS of hugs and kisses! My family is the best.
Getting ready to go to my sister's house where my wonderful mom and my 3 great sisters are going to order lunch and have a relaxing afternoon. Doesn't that sound great?

I did have a card to share with you, but am having trouble uploading it...so maybe later!
Have a great day!
~melanie :)

Wonderful Mother

2010-05-01T08:31:00.002-04:00

Well that time of year is almost here....Mother's Day! All wonderful mother's deserve a beautiful card. I love this one and it was pretty simple to make.

Cardstock base is Real Red, branch is Old Olive, Bird is tempting turquoise. The DSP is from the Pink Flamingo paper pack. This is my favorite DSP paper pack. I love the colors, I never would have put Real Red and Tempting Turquoise paper together on my own, but when I saw these colors on the paper I was in love. It is a new fav combo of mine.
Image is from the Well Scripted set, stamped in tempting turquoise.
The adorable bird and branch was made with the Extra Large 2 step Bird Punch. How simple is that?

Look forward to more Mother's Day cards this week. Don't forget you only have one week left until Mother's Day!

~melanie

Friends

2010-04-11T09:28:00.002-04:00

I love the colors on this card! Everything is from Stampin' Up! Olive green which has quickly become a favorite of mine, Rich Razzleberry and pink pirouette. The stamp set Vague Vintage was not a set I immediately thought I wanted. Then I started to see cards with it and liked it, bought it and now love it!

The really neat part of this card is the flower. My friend told me about the technique and I could not wait to try it. It really is quite simple, but looks dramatic. I used my flower punch and punched out 3 Rich Razzleberry Flowers and one in Old Olive. I took the Razzleberry flowers and crumpled them up really good. Then I carefully pulled apart the 2 layers of paper. The inside is suede - like. I turned rough side up and put the old olive on the bottem, used a cute pink brad in the center and fanned out the razzleberry paper. If the flower flattens out, all you need to do is rough it up a little. So cute and so easy!

For the rest of the card, I used the vine image in the set to make a design on the old olive card base. And on my white cardstock, I sponged the sides with old olive to make it more antique looking and less "in your face" white. I really enjoy playing with this set and look forward to making more cards for my friends.

Have a great Sunday!
~Melanie

Margaritaville

2010-04-10T10:05:00.002-04:00

I decided to post this card today because last night I had a Pampered Chef show and served Margarita's to my guests! I love margaritas and I have not had one in months. They were so yummy. I had several!

All materials for this card are Stampin' Up! The layout was from Taylored Expressions.
I stamped the image and sentiment with Tempting Turquoise and colored the image with my stampin write markers. Then I used crystal effects on my "glassware" to give it shine. Thainking about it now, it would have been really cute to "pop up" the umbrella by cutting out a second one and placing it on a piece of a dimensional. Oh, well. Next time. I always come up with new ideas from cards that I have made previously.

Well we are aiming to have a beautiful sunny weekend here in Massachusetts and I am hoping to enjoy it as well as get some crafting done. Hope you all enjoy your weekend too.

~Melanie

April????

2010-04-02T09:29:00.006-04:00

Can it really be April already? This year is flying by. I have been so busy with work and family that I have not been doing much stamping. I did however participate in LGH's spring craft fair. Of course I crammed for 2 weeks to get ready. It wasn't as busy as the fall fair, but was a good day. And since my little Lily had no school that day, she came and helped me out. It gave me a chance to make some spring time cards, use brighter colors and new stamps! :)

I am sooooo happy to see the sun today after all the rain we have had. I am hoping the ground dries up some so the kids can Easter hunt outside. I am really hoping that it dries alot for those unfortunate people in southern New England whose homes flooded! Thankfully we only got a few inches in our basement and I only lost a small amount of my craft supplies, mostly old paper.

Well, have a Happy Easter and enjoy the warm and sun!

~melanie

Sesame Street

2010-01-16T13:22:00.002-05:00

I LOVE this card. It was made for my friends son, Alex, for his second birthday (he love sesame street and Elmo in particular)
I kept seeing these characters all over the web. I was at splitcoaststampers.com checking out all the really cute cards for ideas. I used my SU! scallop circle punch and my other SU! punches. Instead of using paper for the eyes, I used googly eyes popped up on stampin' dimensionals.

I was so pleased with the card and I am sure he loved it too.

Thanks for looking!

~ melanie

No Stamping involved!

2009-11-04T09:17:00.002-05:00

Can you believe this card has no stamping? All the images and words in this card are SU! rub-ons! How cool is that? It was super easy. I used the popsicle stick applicator to rub on the image, matted it in similar color. I then rubbed the sentiment on my designer paper and used my designer hardware to frame my sentiment. Ribbon and a decorative rub on and voila! my card was completed. Took me about 5 minutes! Very cute and super simple and who wouldn't love to get this cute card?

Well today is my day off from work so I am hoping to get some card time in. I guess that depends on my 2 little ones home. I also am started to cough and my back is achy! I better not be getting sick!

So, I will post later after I get something accomplished!

Thanks for looking!
~melanie :)

Fall in New England!

2009-10-17T09:47:00.006-04:00

I LOVE fall in New England! It is so beautiful. Not to mention the fresh, brisk air. I am sad this year though, because it seems half of the leaves have already fallen from the trees.

This card thought is my new favorite card. I made it using all of the "fall" colors. It is all SU! products also. The card Base is Chocolate Chip cardstock ( Love it! ) For the front base I used Dusty Durango and my versa stamp to randomly stamp the leaf image. I colored my tree stamp (Forest Friends stamp set) with my SU markers and stamped it on whisper white paper. Using sponge daubers and my ink pads in Dusty Durango and Crushed Curry I sponged a border around the tree. Matted the image on Crushed Curry and then used 5/8" grossgrain ribbon in Chocolate Chip!

I used my Modern Label Punch to punch out my sentiment.

I am so excited about the inside of my card. I often leave the inside of the card without sentiments, but try to put some design inside. I again used sponge daubers on whisper white paper to make the left edge and then again stamped my leaf stamp, but this time with my Dusty Durango ink pad.

I hope you like this card. I had so much fun making it with my sponge daubers. It makes me want to go outside and play in the leaves. It is sunny here today, so maybe I will get the kids and do just that.

Thanks for looking!

~melanie

Wedding Anniversary

2009-10-09T20:46:00.003-04:00

This is a card that I made for a friend of mine at work celebrating her 40th wedding anniversary. The image was stamped and colored with stampin' up! markers. I used the blender pen to pick up color from the marker and place it on the flowers and leaves to create a softer look than coloring directly on the image. The sentiment was colored my coloring the stamp with my marker and stamping on the card.
I love this color paper and ribbon. It is Rich Razzleberry and one of the current SU! "In colors". I LOVE it!
I also used my decorative edge punch to create the pretty boder on the paper.
I was very happy with how this card turned out. It was to her and her hubby from all of us at work, so I hope she and everyone else like it!
Thanks for looking!
~melanie :)

Where has the time gone?

2009-10-06T19:23:00.008-04:00

Can you believe it is October already? I have been so busy. I just did my first craft fair today and it was great! I had so much fun and I sold lots of my stuff and it was really great for my self esteem! Everyone was so generous with their positive comments, thank you all!

So, I am posting today pictures of me and my table at my craft fair. It was at Lowell General where I work FT as a nurse. Stamping is my hobby although my husband might say obsession!

Here are some closer looks at my table:

Well, now that the fair is over I am sure my house will be cleaner! I won't have to spend so much time in my craft room locked away! I do have quite a few orders to fill though, so I will still be busy. Christmas time is coming soon! Now that I am doing more, I plan to be updating my blog more often so check back for more projects.

Thanks for looking!

Happy Stampin'

~melanie

It's been a long time...

2009-09-20T07:56:00.001-04:00

since I posted any of my projects. I have been making them. In fact I have been very busy getting ready for a craft fair. Unfortunately, my camera broke! I do have a scanner, but the images do not come out very well. I plan on snagging my daughter's camera soon to take pictures though, so keep looking.
Thanks, Will be writing and posting soon!
~melanie :)

Do you really love Blog Candy?

2009-08-14T18:45:00.004-04:00

Another amazing stamper/blogger is celebrating Blog accomplishments. Bev Rochester is giving away major blog candy...check out Bev's blog for her amazing prize give away and all of her cool projects.

Do you love Blog Candy?

2009-08-14T18:06:00.003-04:00

Who doesn't? If you do...you need to check out Steph's blog. She has an amazing blog candy prize to celebrate her blog milestones. Way to go Steph! While you are there check out her amazing creations.

Pink Cat Studios

2009-08-02T22:14:00.001-04:00

I know earlier I told you that I really love Pink Cat Studio stamps. Well, they are introducing a new stamp set on Thursday August 6th. Make sure you stop by to check it out! I can't wait to see it....

Birthday Hero

2009-08-02T10:37:00.003-04:00

I know it has been well over a week since I have posted, but I have not had much chance to do any cards or scrap booking lately. Sad I know. And, my digital camera has broken, so the cards that I have made, I had to scan and it does not do them justice. Anyway, this card was made a couple of months ago for my friends son. I just love this card.

This card was for a 3 year old boy. It was a Buzz Lightyear party, so I thought this little super hero was perfect. This card was really very easy to make. I chose Gable Green and Tempting Turquoise because it reminded me of Buzz. And Connor has red hair, so I colored the hero's hair red. This adorable image is from Pink Cat Studio. They really have adorable images. You know I love Lily and Billy stamps! Then I used lots of punches. My CM star punch and circle punch and my SU! Scallop circle punch.

This card was simple to make, came together quickly and I totally love it. Hope you do too. Thanks for looking!

Upsy Daisy

2009-07-13T19:38:00.003-04:00

I love this SU! Image Upsy Daisy! It is one of the few solid stamps that I have, because usually I love to color. What I did though is color my stamp. I used my SU! Markers to create multiple colors on one stamp and then breathed some (of my) hot air on the image to make sure it is moist and stamp....voila, multi colored image!

Ingredients:

cardstock: SU! Bashful Blue, Chocolate Chip and Certainly Celery
ink: SU! Markers Chocolate Chip, Bashful Blue, Ballet Blue and Garden Green
accessories: oval punch, scallop oval punch and certainly celery ribbon

This card is very simple, but I love the way it came out...one of my favorites!

Thanks for looking!

girly bot

2009-07-10T09:22:00.004-04:00

As promised...I have my girly version of a robot card. Again using Lots of Bots set from SU! and new in colors.

Ingredients:

stamps: SU Lots of Bots
cardstock: white, SU! basic grey and melon mambo
DSP: SU! razzleberry
markers: SU! rich razzleberry, melon mambo, garden green, going grey
accessories: misc. small flower punch & brad, SU! black 1/4 grosgrain ribbon, SU! scallop border punch, dimensionals

In this set this image actually comes with an I'm sorry message, but when I mounted my stamps, I cut off the sentiments and mounted them on the side of my blocks. I decided not to make an I'm sorry card, but used the get well sentiment from one of the other bots.

I think I did okay with my "girly" design, I proved to my daughter robots are not for boys only!

Thanks for looking. Have a great day!

Happy Birthday Human!

2009-07-09T15:13:00.005-04:00

As promised I am sharing a card I made with my new goodies! I stole away from the family this morning and was able to make this cute card.

I made it for a boy birthday, so I wanted to keep it fairly simple. This cute set is Lots of Bots (page 82 of catty) I used new "in color" SU! cardstock... crushed curry and dusty durango on top of a base of basic grey which I used a versa stamp to create the screw and nut background image. This year SU! also has coordinating "in color" markers to match the cardstock and stamp pads, so I used them to color the bot in...crushed curry, dusty durango and bermuda bay!

I could not find my metal gromets that I wanted to use, so I used metal brads for accents. The bot is cut and popped up on dimensionals.

Well, I hope you like. Tomorrow I will have a card that is a "girly robot" as my daughter told me that robots were "boy" things!

Thanks for looking!

Happy Stampin'!

Birthday Bella!

2009-07-08T10:34:00.004-04:00

My sister Kim's birthday is July 4th. This year I decided to NOT make her a red, white and blue card...I bet she has had enough of those!

I love bella stamps, this one is cakeabella and she is so cute!

I ALWAYS use Stampin' Up! cardstock, it is so nice and thick and comes in so many colors, this one is Ruby Red. The DSP is also from SU, it is textured and the cherries shine. Unfortunately this DSP is retired, but there are so many new choices in the new catalog!
The sentiment is from SU! set Heard from the Heart (page 142 of new catty)

I then used my SU markers to color the image, I did use 2 markers for her hair and 2 for her apron, I did not like my original color choices so I had to color over them to make a new color. I like the results.

To accessorise this bella, I used a SU! Playground Designer button (pg 181 of catty) and some hemp twine. Popped up on a glue dot and all set!

I really liked the final card! Before I could give it to my sister, the kids knocked it off of the desk, ran it over with the computer chair and then the baby tried to eat off the button! I think Kim loved it anyways!

Thanks for looking!

Another Mother's Day card

2009-07-06T18:22:00.002-04:00

This card was made for my mother in law for Mother's Day. I realize that mothers day was like a month and a half ago, but I just downloaded my camera!
I used the same cardstock as for my last card, but I used flowers and brads on this one. I really love the tempting turquoise color, it is becoming one of my favorites. I never would have thought to pair it with red, but I pulled the colors from the designer paper because I loved it. Turqoise and red are one of my new fav combos.
Thanks for looking!
Happy Stampin'
~melanie

Lovely Birds

2009-07-04T09:06:00.002-04:00

This is the card I made my mother for Mother's Day. I love these little birds. They are from SU! Cheep Talk stamp set. The paterned paper is from SU! Pink Flamingo set. I decided to pull some colors from the paper to make the card. Cardstock is Pretty in Pink and Tempting Turquoise. Accessories include Real Red Grosgrain 5/8" ribbon and Eyelet border punch. Everything on this card is Stampin' Up!

To add some dimension I stamped the blue bird a second time on white cardstock and then cut it out and popped it up on dimensionals.

I love the final card, and I think my mom did too!

Thanks for looking!

Happy Stampin'

~melanie

2009-07-01T22:55:00.002-04:00

NEW CATALOG!!!!!

Stampin' Up! has decided to go back to yearly catalogs. So today is the first day of the new catalog The 2009-2010 Idea Book and Catalog . I am still waiting to get mine in person, it should be here any day :) , but I have been perusing the catalog online and am so excited. I love the new stamp sets and accessories. I have some on the way to me now, so keep posted for new projects showcasing new products!

Have fun browsing and as always, Happy Stampin'!

~melanie

From All of Us

2009-06-30T22:04:00.003-04:00

Last week was my Dad's birthday and I made him this adorable card from my family. I used the fun All in the Family stamp set from SU! and the All in the Family Sentiments. I had a little trouble matching up the arms and heads to the bodies at first, but then I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig and it was so easy! I think that this is our first "family portrait" since the baby was born! I made the card long enough to fit into a legal size envelope, I had some colored envies that I had bought and I figured I would need to make the card long to fit all 7 of us and our cat! I think it is fun to make this size card, it is different and unexpected.

I used my SU! scallop punch and circle punches for mounting the sentiment. The solid cardstock is SU! and the patterned paper is from Pink Cat Studio.

Hope you enjoyed, thanks for looking!

~melanie

Make A Wish!!!!

2009-06-25T18:10:00.003-04:00

Everybody knows that I love Pink Cat Studio stamps. Well here is an opportunity to get one of their digital stamps and benefit a great cause. Please click to see these great stamps !
These adorable cowboy/cowgirl stamps will benefit the Make A Wish foundation, a great cause.

Thankyou everyone for looking.
Happy Stampin'

~melanie :)

Happy Father's Day!

2009-06-21T17:02:00.002-04:00

Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's out there!

This is a card I made for my husband. He is a big kid at heart.
I used this really cute "Billy" image from Pink Cat Studio (fitting too because his name is Bill)
I then colored the image with my SU! markers and drew on grass. The frog has crystal effects to add shine and dimension. The words are from a SU! simply scrappin kit, stickers that I cut up and placed crooked. My husband said it reminded him of a ransom note! Not quite what I intended :)
All in all I like the card, but if I made it again, I would have chosen different patterned paper, the paper itself is kind of boring to go with this lively image.

Thanks for looking and Hoppy Father's Day!

~melanie

With Sympathy

2009-06-14T10:34:00.002-04:00

Has it really been a month since I have blogged? Time flies by!

I always find it difficult to make sympathy cards. I need to get some better sentiments. This is the best I could find at the time. It is from an old SU set. The image is from SU! Forest Friends stamp set. I was browsing websites online and I noticed that I liked the cards that used deco paper as a background for the stamped image. This is something that I had never considered before. I really like the results.

I hope the person who recieved this card felt the love that I put into it and gets some comfort.

Thanks for looking.

See you sooner that a month!

~melanie

New Baby

2009-05-09T17:56:00.003-04:00

This is the second card that I made with my new Pink Cat Studio stamps. They are so cute and fun. This is the card for my friend who had the baby making her 1st daughter the big sister who is getting the other card...(sounds like a mouthful)

I used paper piecing to make this card, on the shirt. The images are colored with SU markers. I also used my new favorites: oval punch and scallop oval punch for the sentiment. Then I used a pale pink button, also from SU to put next to the sentiment. I had a lot of fun making this card, I hope you like it.

Thanks for looking.

Happy stampin'!

~melanie

Big Sister

2009-05-04T22:11:00.003-04:00

I got my new Pink Cat Studio stamps and was so excited to use them. I love this Lily image (I also think it is kind of cute my daughter's name is Lily), so I really wanted to use her. I stamped her with stazon ink and colored her in with SU! markers. I used design paper and cardstock from SU! as well as ribbon. The flowers were punched using my cuttlebug machine. Then I used my new twinkles from Taylored Expressions. They are so cute and little sparkling rhinestones in various colors. I use my SU! crystal effects to adhere the twinkles as the purse handle, center of the flower on her belt, and earrings. I also used it to add dimension to her purse and ponytail holders.

As I was making this card, I decided that I was going to send it to my friends 2 year old daughter because she is a big sister now. I really like it and I hope she does too.

thanks for looking!

~melanie

Scrapbook pages

2009-04-30T19:47:00.008-04:00

Okay as I promised I have pictures of my scrapbooking accomplishments. 5 pages this weekend! may not sound like a lot, but it IS definitely!

I really love Stampin Up! Simply Scrappin kits. I used Hoppy Memories (19.95)

They come with cardstock, design paper, and nice thick stickers to work with, all color coordinated.

I did 3 pages from the zoo:

The first page uses only the cardstock and then a few coordinating stickers. On the upper right corner sticker, I journaled a little.

The kids had fun at the zoo, and I took a few animal pics, so I decided to place the animals and the kids eating ice cream on the same page (my sis has the same pic and she used a sticker next to it that was a sign that said "don't feed the animals") Here is close up of the kids:

The next 2 pages show the kids playing on the zoo playground. the word play is actually stickers, the design paper is from the packet. Then I STAMPED on my Scrapbook Pages. This is the first time I have ever done that. I used the lion from the Wild About You set and a monkey from another set that I cannot remember the name of right now. It was fun.

and 2 pages from decorating Easter eggs:

Again, the design paper is from the Hoppy Memories scrappin kit. Then I used Gable Green cardstock for the background, and I used my CM circle cutter to cut Apricot Appeal and Tempting Turquoise cardstock. I again stamped on my pages in Tempting Turquoise ink with the bunny an older SU set. Then I used my CM oval to draw a turquoise oval and line it for journalling. Lastly, I added Prima flowers with SU button centers. Again, I have never used embellishments like this on a scrapbook page, so this was new for me.

Well, thanks for looking! Hope you liked!
~melanie

Dahlia Fold Flower

2009-04-25T08:28:00.002-04:00

This card made by my sister Chrissy last time we got together uses the Dahlia Fold technique found here http://www.cardsandcrafts.freeservers.com/dahlia.html It looks really impressive and difficult, but is very easy, just a little time consuming. It works best with double sided designer series paper, here she used paper from SU's Bella Rose collection. She also coordinated cardstock by using Pink Pirouette, Chocolate Chip and Riding Hood Red. She stamped the image in chocolate chip ink. The pearl used in the middle was actually a bead from a dress or a purse that one of my daughters had that had broken!

I love this card. I am posting it today because 2 of my sisters are coming over tonight for Scrapbook night! I love getting together sharing ideas and sharing creativity. I'll post some of tonight's work this week.

~thanks for looking

~melanie

Thank you!

2009-04-22T20:24:00.004-04:00

Allison finally finished her thank you cards for her birthday party from ... gasp..a month ago..!I know we are very late, but they are done and in the mail!

They came out really cute. We used the big cupcake from stampin' up! Simple Birthday Thanks ($17.95) Allison then filled out the names, gifts and signed them herself. I cut out each cupcake and she colored them with her markers. After she used rhinestone stickers to decorate the frosting. I cut out DSP in 4 x 5 1/2 and we glued them on!

This thank you cupcake is so great because the kids can fill in the blanks themselves and do the coloring. We could have gotten more involved with the design, like paper piercing the frosting or crystal effects on the cherry, but it already took us a month to do!

I am pleased and I know all of our family and friends will be too.

thanks for looking

~ melanie and allison :)

Kid's birthday

2009-04-14T19:27:00.002-04:00

I have had so many birthdays in the last 2 months. Lots of kids born in March and April!

This card was so easy to make and came out cute...it was for my nephew Jeff who turned 7! this month.
The monkey image is from an old SU hostess set. I stamped it in brown on white cardstock and then again on designer paper (from a pack at Michael's) and again on yellow cardstock. I cut out the parachute from the patterned paper, the suit from the yellow paper and paper pieced them onto the original image. I used a pale green and blue paper from my Creative Memories stash to punch stars with my SU! Large Star Punch. I also used SU ticket corner punch to do the corners of the monkey image.

I just quickly threw this card together and was pleased with the results. Hope you like it too.

thanks for looking!
~melanie

Another birthday card

2009-04-12T09:37:00.003-04:00

Again I used the Taylored Expressions challenge TECC62 for my layout.
All of my accessories are stamping up. The card is 41/4 x 4 1/4 in Only Orange and the cupcake image is stamped in this color as well. The image is from the hostess level 1 Darling Dots set. It is circle punched mounted on another circle and the circle scallop punch. The designer paper is from the Rainbow Sherbert paper pack and matted on a square of tempting turqouise cardstock. I used 2 strands of 1/4 inch gross grain ribbon in tempting turqoise and then stamped the sentiment in a Family Phrases stamp.
I really love the bright vibrant colors of this card. I think it would be great for any kid's birthday!
Well thanks for looking!
happy stampin!
~melanie

Hello Again!

2009-04-11T20:51:00.006-04:00

Hi, I am back. I have not posted in 3 months, have been super busy!

This last week I have decided to get back into things. I think it is spring and that motivates people to get moving, it certainly has me. I have been doing work on my basement craft room and have made 4 new cards this week for no reason other than wanting to!

I chose to work on birthday cards because I can always use those and sometimes at the last minute I realize I have no cards!

I love Taylored Expressions website http://tayloredexpressions.blogspot.com/ and I really was inspired by her layout challenge TECC62

this is one of the cards I made with it....

This card is made with all Stampin' Up! products:

*I started with a 6 x 12 piece of Riding Hood Red cardstock folded to make a 6X6 card.

*I really wanted to use the polka dot paper from the Rockabilly Specialty paper pack. So I cut it 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 and then cut 2 squares of the red dotted paper from the same pack.

*I stamped the ladybug from the Hostess level 1 set Darling Dots one whisper white cardstock and punched it out in a circle, layered on a circle of black dotted paper and finally layered on a scallop punched riding hood red paper. the center is mounted using dimensionals.

*I really love paper punches and you can see I used alot on this card. I used the horizontal slot punch on the upper left of the card and thread my white 1/4" gross grain ribbon, which I tied in a knot, added a second white knot and a black one.

*The sentiment is stamped from the Happy Everything set. The happy was done with white craft stamp pad, and the everything was done in riding hood red on whisper white paper and punched out with the Word Window punch and adhered to the card with my snail adhesive.

*Inside the card I mounted a piece of 5x5 whisper white paper so I could write inside when I am ready to deliver the card. I stamped another ladybug in the lower right hand corner of the card inside.

I really like this card and I know just who I am going to give it to!

Thanks for looking!

Happy Stampin! and Happy Easter to all!

~melanie

Congratulations

2009-01-25T14:21:00.002-05:00

I just found out one of my friends became engaged to be married over Christmastime. I was so excited and I knew I needed to make her a card!
The image is from Stamping Bella. I stamped it in SU! basic black and colored with markers Real Red and Cameo Coral. I used crystal effects to color the entire glass and stem as well as the top of the stirrer. In real life it is very shiny. Paper is Cameo Coral, Real Red, Whisper WHite and Pink Pirouette. The patterned paper is DS paper in real red.
I used the tag corner punch on the white cardstock and the stamped saying is from the set level 3 hostess set Goody Goody Gumdrops.
I had fun making this card, hope you like it!

New Year

2009-01-12T06:06:00.004-05:00

It is a new year (well, a week and a half in) and I finally have a little creative motivation.

December was a busy month, with Christmas and Ice storms that left us powerless and with water in our basements (and craft rooms!). But it is 2009 and a new year, all is cleaned up and working on reorganizing.

This weekend was cold and snowy and perfect for staying in. My 5 and 4 year old daughters spent some alone time with mommy and made cards. They came out great. They each chose who to make a card for and one is a birthday card for thier aunt and the other is for another aunt just because they love her.

They did really great and had a lot of fun!