All is calm...all is bright...

Just stopping in to wish everyone reading this a Merry, Merry Christmas! I just got my box of Collage Press goodies and made this little card last night and wanted to share. I just baked a yummy dessert and some dip and am ready for party number two. Looking forward to spending Christmas Day in PJ's!!! Thanks for stopping by... fa la la la la...

A Merry Little Christmas Card

This is my creation for the Moxie Fab Challenge "All Creatures Great and Small". I have had these stamps for a couple of months and still haven't used them! I needed the push.



Papers are Basic Grey. Stamps are Stampin Up!. I cut the tree using the Cricut. A little frosting on the rick rack and star, and finished up with some buttons.

Scroll on down to see my daughter's entry.

Thanks for stopping by!!
~melanie~

Twas the Friday before Christmas

and all through the house...the smell of freshly made fudge was watering my mouth...

Okay - that is ALL the rhyming I'm going to attempt. Tomorrow starts the series of "busys" for at least 3 days in a row. This may be my last time to post.

First of all - it was a happy Friday! I got word that I was one of the prize winners at Collage Press's blog! Yeah! I can't wait to play with their holiday paper line! Fa la la la la.

I was browsing my google reader blogs and I saw where one of my fellow scrapbook friends had some local publicity! Her local newspaper did an article on her. It's a great article. Here is Miki's blog. Be sure to check it out AND her etsy store. Congratulations, Miki!!

And last but not least, here are a couple of Christmas cards I made using some of my older stash. I'm such a HOARDER of papers and things I love. I know...I know...I had better use it while it's fresh.. even though hoarding it for "later" doesn't hurt. LOL. Enjoy your last weekend before Christmas!!





Both of these cards use Basic Grey, Melissa Frances and My Mind's Eye. The stamps on the first card are from Stampin Up! I used Martha Stewart crystal glitter on the larger poinsettia's. Thanks for stopping by!

May Your Days be Merry & Bright

Just getting ready for Christmas around here. Party on Saturday, Christmas production on Saturday and Sunday night. THEN I can breathe.......

Here's a few creations made with Dream Street Paper's "Merry & Bright" Christmas collection.








I take a photo of the two little "misses" together at Christmas. I haven't taken one this year yet, so I used one from a previous year. (reminder - take the little misses' photo soon!)





Off to play practice. No school tomorrow so I think we'll stay in PJ's... at least until noon. Thanks for stopping by!!

This blog post belongs to....

This blog post is for my daughter. She loves to create things. Gee wonder where she gets that from. She loves stamps. She boldly walked into my scrap pile (room) Friday night and said she wanted to make her pastor a Christmas card. I said "Okay!" and asked what she would like to put on it. With her eye quickly looking around and spying some vintage Christmas stamps, she started naming things she saw. I said - "Oh, so you don't want to use the penguins, reindeer and Christmas tree stamps"? "Oh... well... I didn't know you had those kind of stamps". and when she saw them her eyes got big. So, instead of a one card night, it was a three-card night. And since I knew that Cath at the Moxie Fab blog had a challenge for "creatures", I asked her permission if I could take a photo of her cards. Oh, and in case you are wondering... the Penguin card isn't shown because it went straight to her children's pastor a few hours after making it.
So.... presenting Miss Arielle's Moxie Fab challenge Christmas cards, featuring "all creatures great and small".











Stamps are "Penguin Holiday" and "Beauty of the Season" from Hampton Art. And a little disclaimer here - my daughter did all the stamping, stamp placement and marker coloring. I DID, however, let her use my "good" markers for the coloring. I also tied the ribbon and sewed on the button. She's only in 2nd grade. Maybe I'll teach her to sew next year.(wink)

Thanks for stopping by!
~melanie~

So...I created this card last night and...

So, I created this card last night in my attempt to try to participate in Hero Arts Blog contest...only to realize I missed the deadline. Insert waa-waa sound effect here. Nevertheless, I was inspired to create, and rose to the challenge.

Since I can't upload it to their site since I missed the deadline, remember... I thought I'd load it here. I actually made two. Why not, after all I had all the supplies all over my table. Just posting here so they will get some luvin'. (wink)




I used the "Happy Hello" clear snap set, Clearsnap "Vivid" ink, cardstock and patterned paper from Stampin Up!

Here's the 2nd card.




I used the same stamps as above with pink, white and kraft cardstock. The ink is Whisper White craft ink from Stampin up! stamped on the kraft cardstock.

That's all I have for now. Sooo many things to do this time of December, as we all know! Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!
~melanie~

Merry Christmas Tags

I HAVE been creating. Most of it is for calls and they have to remain 'unseen', but tonight I finally broke through and made some stuff "just because". When I saw Linda Beeson's blog here, I just HAD to make some tags. So I gathered what I needed and piled it in my living room sofa table... because...well - that's where the roaring fire was AND I wanted to watch Christmas movies while I played. You know, for inspiration.

So here it is after midnight and I'm staying up late enough to upload these, just because my blog has been that inactive. Here they are:




Paper is from Basic Grey, the stamp, ink and 1.5" striped red ribbon from Stampin Up! and the border punch is Martha Stewart.


Paper from Melissa Frances, stamp and ink from Stampin Up!. Everything else from my scrap pile.




Papers from Basic Grey, My Mind's Eye and Pink Paislee. Striped Ribbon from Stampin UP!



Papers from Pink Paislee. I just love this tree. I trimmed it and mounted it with 3D foam tape.

That's it for now. It's going to be a busy, busy week. Both of my children will be in a musical production this week (it is a twist of the Grinch) and they are going to be "toys" in the toy parade. Miss Priss is the lady Fantastic Four - my teenager - not sure yet. I'm just glad he agreed to do it. (smile)

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful, WONDERFUL week!! Fa la la la la...

~melanie~

It's December!

Yeah! It's December! And guess what? Baby, It's COLD outside!!!! Brrrrr. That's not always the case here in sunny Louisiana. When I got home from work, my daughter asked for a fire. Or wait - maybe it was me. Anyway - hubby said to wait until Friday when it REALLY gets cold. So.... to satisfy the urge, I pulled out my new Kenny Chesney's Christmas DVD. I wasn't sure if I'd like it, being that I accidentally picked up the DVD instead of the CD. BUT - the DVD came with snowy scenes and - you betcha- fireplace scenes. Can you say AWESOME! Oh, and I really liked the music. A different twist on Christmas, being that he's singing about the Caribbean and getting a tan on the title song. We danced around the Christmas tree and had a good little time celebrating the first day of December.

I don't have much to share, but I at least want to TRY to post something every day until Christmas... but I can't promise.

I made this card and gift box using Piggy Tales papers and Stamping Up! Christmas stamps.







So - this is my way of welcoming in most wonderful month of the year. Have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping by!

Cards for the holiday

Cooler weather (finally), turkey and dressing, fall leaves... it's officially the start of the holiday season. I think we'll be putting our tree up tomorrow - for the first time EVER before Thanksgiving. Gasp! And I can't wait.

Here are a couple of fall and Thanksgiving cards I made with Dream Street Paper's "Sam" collection.








I hope each and every one of you have a blessed Thanksgiving week. Thanks for stopping by.

ET the movie flashback

Does this photo remind you of a scene in the movie E.T. the Extraterrestrial?



In case you missed it, there is a little dachshund hiding among the Littlest Pet Shop plus cow, penguin, pig, squirrel, and even a brown dachshund. Aha - you see her now, don't you. Her most favorite place to be (next to being outside of course) is right in the middle of a pile of warm laundry. I couldn't resist this pic.

Well, I actually took a break from life this weekend and played in my craft room! Nothing special - just having fun. Here are a few.




This card uses Sassafrass Paper and Jenni Bowlin alpha stickers.




I tend to hold onto papers I treasure, so I made myself cut into some of my not-so-new Webster's Pages paper. I just love this stuff! The rub on is from SEI.






Most of the papers in this kit are from one of the JulyCupCardsToGo kit that I had leftover (papers from Cosmo Cricket, Making Memories). The red flower die cut is from My Mind's Eye, the label is from Making Memories.

Well, time to pay the piper for all the playing I've done. My house is a wreck and I need to get things in order for next week's Thanksgiving dinner. I'm already in the mood to watch "Christmas Vacation" while I clean. Maybe tomorrow when I get home from work. Anyhooo.....Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

One more for the week!

Okay - I have to keep up the momentum before Friday, huh? Here's a page I did using some of my high school reunion "girls nite out" photos. I TOLD you I have alot of reunion photos to scrap and I LOVE them all!







I used Piggy Tales "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" collection (paper, chipboard, epoxy).

Have a great weekend!!!

Just some recent concert photos...

It seems like I've been to more concerts in the past 2 years than in the previous 10!!! Probably because it's true. Have I been that deprived?? As posted a few posts back in September, me and my little girl went to see Taylor Swift. Just a few weeks after that, I was listening to one of my favorite radio stations and they were giving away Chicago Concert tickets (the old band Chicago - you know - the one that's been around since the 70's - (yes, before some of you were born). So.... I decided I'd try to win. On Monday, I totally missed the que to call. So Tuesday, which just happened to be my dear hubby's birthday, I heard the que and, yes - I WON! I phoned hubby and calmly mentioned "Hey, hubby. Chicago is playing in Shreveport..."...pause... "When?" he asks. "In two days", I replied... then I asked "Do you want to go hear them?"... he said "Sure" and that's when I said "Good, because I just won two free tickets!"

Now, let me say that I was soooo thankful for free tickets... even if they were in the back section of the venue... which was a large meeting room inside a casino. Even if you were against the farthest wall, it was better than being waaayyy in the back inside a huge arena. BUT, we stepped outside right when it started to place a "good-nite" call to the kids, and a man...let's call him a high-roller - said "Hey, you want our tickets? They are really good seats". Since he'd rather play in the casino instead of hear the band, we said SURE and off we went to the front section of seats. Here are a few of my pics.








Then just 3 weeks later, our local civic center had Miranda Lambert and Jack Ingram. Since I'm a-little-bit-country and a-little-bit-rock-n-roll, I jumped at the chance to support our local concerts (believe me, we don't get that many BIG names locally). Our seats were awesome - again!











Whew! Got all that posted. Now to kick back and welcome in November!!! Have a wonderful week!