Sharing some cards

I know - I know - I've been a bad blogger! My "it's-almost-fall" resolution is to at least blog once a week! I do have an excuse, tho (besides being a stay at home mom during summer when school is out) is that I have an art show coming up on a little over a month and I still have several new paintings to complete (from start to finish). If you are local and you want to know more about the art show - send me a message and I'll give you details! Oh - and one more fun thing - I found out earlier this week that the Rougarou Gallery in New Orleans just sold one of my funky New Orleans themed paintings.

So - on to crafty things...

I recently had the wonderful experience of working with Paper Crafts Magazine's "Card Style" special publication. It's all about finding your style - from cute and fun, clean and graphic, classy and elegant and shabby and vintage.



Here are a couple of cards I made for the publication. There are under the "Shabby and Vintage" section.



Most of the papers on this card are from October Afternoon, as is the Candy Cane die cut.



Papers on this card are a mixture of Cosmo Cricket and October Afternoon. The stamp is from Stampin' Up!

Thanks for stopping by today! Check back in the next 7-8 weeks because I'm sure I'll have some news on the art show.

~melanie~

Paper Crafts Card Creations 8

The Paper Crafts Connection blog is celebrating the release of Card Creations Volume 8. There are great tips and prizes, so be sure to hop on over there.

I just have one card to share today - my Friendship card published in Card Creations 8.



Papers are Cosmo Cricket. Stamp and ink are from Stampin' Up!

Check out Paper Crafts Magazine for more inspiration.

Have a great week and thanks for stopping by.

~melanie~

Cards with Cosmo Cricket Material Girl

The more I play with Cosmo Cricket's Material Girl, the more I realize how versatile this collection is.

This vintage design on the green paper can be so versatile. I used it on a card here that can be a friendship card, a birthday card, or just a hello card.





And I drew out the blues in this friendship card. I love the blue and cream floral paper. Gonna have to make an all blue cream card soon.





The stamp is from Stampin' Up! and the border punch is Fiskars.

It's been a busy month here. I hope to have more things to share soon. Have a great day!


~melanie~

Spring Snow

We woke up yesterday to snow. Yes. Snow.
Snow in the south.
Snow in the south the 2nd day of Spring.
hmmmmmm.
It snowed for at least 3 hours. Temps not low enough for accumulation. But it was pretty to see. I spend a few hours working on a painting and looking up and watching the flurries. All the while going "Snow??? really???"

And in case you did or didn't catch that - yes, I'm painting again. More on that in another post.

Here's a little something for today.





Background papers and ribbon are from Jillibean Soup. Label and "pea" papers are from Cosmo Cricket.

Oh - and guess what I've heard??? I don't know if I'm supposed to say anything so ssshhh.... but I hear that CupCardsToGo Card Kit Club will be re-opened soon!!! Again...ssshhhhhh!!!

And, I know so many people say things like, where did time go? March already? Etc... Etc... But seriously - March is almost over?? I'm still getting over the fact that February came and went so fast.

Have a great day!!
~melanie~

Stitching on Cards and Lime Green Paint

Did today's blog title get your attention? It pretty much sums it up, tho. I'm posting these today because I feel like I'll have a busy week and don't know if I'll post again for several day. And guess what?? Our sweet weather man - you know, the one that told us it would snow nine days ago and he was right - said that it might snow again Tuesday or Wednesday. Okay, so don't shoot me but I have to say this: the Saints MUST have won the Super Bowl with all this snow in Louisiana.

So on to the projects. I'm crawling out of my box. I just didn't know my box was so big and I have so far to go. But progress is progress. Dear Sweet Cath over at the Moxie Fab World Blog issued a challenge to create some things with embroidery floss. That is something I have quite a bit of. Years ago I was a cross-stitcher (is that a word?) and have a case of embroidery floss that I retrieved from storage when I started paper crafting. I couldn't resist the challenge and I absolutely love the examples that Kim Hughes created. Here's my little creation.



I hand drew the bird, poked holes, erased the lines and stitched. The stamp is from the "Tag You're It" Kim Hughes Collection from Cornish Heritage Farms. Paper, ink and cardstock is from Stampin Up!.

And now for the lime green paint.

I've been enjoying the sketches at Cosmo Cricket's blog, and this week they issued a challenge. We were to take our fear - whatever it was - and overcome it by creating something with it. So, after thinking about it, I realized one of my fears was using something permanent on my layout. I am comfortable with being able to lay something down, look at it, pick it up, move it around - but permanent? So, to make it even more challenging - I decided to go with something outrageous - and that would be lime green paint. Yep, that's right. So I took my cardstock and started overcoming. It's only cardstock, right?

The only problem with the lime green paint was that, well, none of my Cosmo Stash included the color lime green - so that presented yet something else to overcome. Rather than back out, get another paint color and start all over again - I forged forward. I subdued the paint with some good old reliable brown chalk ink, and proceeded until I was finished. Without further boring details - Meet Miss Chatty:







I used papers and chipboard from Cosmo's Material Girl, Paul Bunyan alphas and tiny blue type alphas.

So - lime green is the new neutral, right? I can't wait to see everyone's creations for this challenge. Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

~melanie~

Snow in the South!

Well, most of you are probably so sick of snow, but after eight long years - we finally had snow again in Louisiana - and lots of it. (well, at least enough to play for one day before it melted!)

Here are a few pics





This little lady was spotted in the neighborhood. Isn't she stylish?


And this looks almost like cotton!

I just have one project for today. It's a layout based on this current Cosmo Cricket sketch No. 5.



I used Cosmo's Nutmeg collection for this page.







Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

~melanie~

Christmas Page and Cosmo Sketch

I survived a weekend of party after party. My little one had a slumber party Friday and Saturday was recovery day. Sunday was the Super Bowl party (even if it was a small one) and then Monday was my little one's actual birthday. I don't think I want to see cake for a long time. (and I love cake!)

I've been loving the extra push I've gotten to get pages done by participating in Cosmo Cricket's sketches. Here's the most recent one.



And here's my take. A couple of Christmas's ago (yes, I'm behind on my scrapping my holiday pics!) my son and daughter decorated Christmas plates. This one shows her plate and the cookies she set out for Santa. I used Cosmo Cricket's "Jolly By Golly" collection on this page.







We have two more celebrations this week! Our anniversary is Friday (22 years!) and then Sunday is Valentine's Day. Again - no more cake, please! If my blog isn't updated until next week, you will know why. Enjoy the rest of your week and thanks for stopping by.


~melanie~

Happy Friday, Ya'll!!

Well, it's officially the last Friday of the first month of 2010. I'm just not ready to turn the calendar page yet!!!! **sigh**

Moxie Fab World is having a Tainter Style Card challenge... so here's my Tainter-style card - which gives me a wonderful idea for Friday night dinner plans. ;)



Papers are from October Afternoon and My Minds Eye. Die Cut flowers are also MME. The vintage image and label is from Crafty Secrets.

I spent yesterday in a nearby small town with 3 other girlfriends from high school. One of the girls had a birthday and it's not very often we are all available to travel out of town for the afternoon for lunch. It was a fun time that went by way too fast.

Anyhooo - here are a couple of "happy" cards to celebrate it being Friday.





Papers are Cosmo Cricket, chipboard bird is from Stampin Up! with Glimmer Mist sprayed on it, the cloud is a die cut from My Mind's Eye "Love Me Do".





This one also uses Cosmo Cricket. I used my Cuttlebug for the butterflies and embossing. I'm really in love with butterflies right now so they will be fluttering through my blog.

Have a wonderful Friday! I'm looking forward to the weekend. It's been a BUSY week.


~melanie~

Another Cosmo Cricket Sketch Challenge

I've really been loving doing online challenges and sketches and such. They keep me focused and motivated. Not to mention - it's fun.

I created another layout based on a sketch on the Cosmo Cricket Blog this week. Here's the layout.



I wanted to do a Valentine-ish layout maybe it's the little hearts in the sketch that planted the thought in my head, so I printed some photos of me and my hubby. And I thought of a song that I like and realized it would be the perfect title for a layout. After I got into the layout and to the journaling, I realized our anniversary was only 22 days away. (We got married on Valentine's weekend). Anyway - it was pretty cool once I got the page going - and yes - I did veer from the sketch a bit. But, the sketch is a starting point, right?



The other plus to working on this page was that I dove even deeper into my "things I love" stash. (Translation - things I hoard because it's beautiful) I confessed on my last blog post that I have a hoarding problem. So, I used Cosmo Cricket papers from Chemistry, Honey Pie and Girl Friday. Isn't it nice when different collections work together so well? The other supplies are Prima Crystals, Jenni Bowlin Bingo Card and ticket, Adornit Mini-Alphas and Creative Imaginations Alphas. I cut some of the butterflies from felt with my Cuttlebug. (I'm really loving butterflies again right now - you may be seeing them more.) The chipboard strip is from Making Memories.





So, enjoy your Friday! We're hitting a birthday party tonight, and then I'm cooking a big pot of gumbo for the Saints game Sunday. Enjoy your weekend and thanks for stopping by.

~melanie~

More Cosmo Cricket Projects

The sun may be shining, but baby, it's STILL cold outside! And there's nothing like cold weather keeping you indoors to intice you to create something with your Cosmo Cricket stash.

The gals at Pursuit of Craftyness were recently sponsored by Cosmo Cricket. We all worked with the complete Jolly by Golly collection. Here are more of my projects created with this line. It's sooo fun and not just for Christmas!



This little gift set was super easy to make. I used a pre-made gift box, covered it with paper and added the cute chipboard mittins.





I hand stitched around the cardstock with pink embroidery thread. (thought it would give the feel of warmth, like hand-knit mittens). If you know anything about Louisiana, you know we really don't get alot of snow down here. Notice the short sleeve shirt my daughter is wearing the photos? Well, it was actually about 80 degrees in December and one of the local churches created a "winter wonderland" complete with a snow machine. Yes, a snow machine. And yes, it was melting and the snow was so hard they could barely pick it up - but hey - when you are 4 years old...and have never seen "real" snow - you are happy, right?


Here are some cards I made with this collection.





Be sure to check out the Pursuit of Craftyness blog to see all of the design team's projects. That's all I have for today. Thanks for stopping by.

~melanie~

Trying new things

I had some extra time this week and tried some new things. One was a new Paula Deen recipe for stuffed canneloni. The verdict - good but alot of work (the stuffing part). The family loved it and I can now cross that off my list of unchartered territory in the cooking arena.

The other new thing I tried was the Color Challenge at the Moxie Fab World blog. The challenge was to use equivalent colors of Bazzill Basics Paper: Grape Delight, Mystique, Festive, and Pomegranate... and to ONLY use those colors. Here's what I came up with:





I used Papertrey Ink's new Blooming Button Bits stamp set, Worldwin Castata cardstock (Grey), Prism Papers Orange Cardstock, Patterned Paper from My Minds' eye, Bazzill Buttons and ink from Stampin Up!

I had so much fun using this stamp set, I made another quick card. On the topic of new things...this is also the first time for me to use Papertrey Ink's Stamper's Select White Cardstock. It's awesome! It's 110lb weight and I'll be back for more.



Supplies: Stamps and Cardstock from Papertrey Ink, Paper from Cosmo Cricket Early Bird, Ink from Stampin' Up! and buttons from my stash.

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you've been inspired to try something new this week!

~melanie~

Oh What Fun! With Cosmo Cricket

The team at Pursuit of Craftyness has been having a blast playing with Cosmo Cricket's Jolly by Golly collection. Cosmo Cricket sent us complete collections and I've had so much fun playing with it the past few weeks.

Here is one of the layouts I created with the collection. My daughter was Emily Elizabeth (Clifford the Big Red Dog's owner) in our church's version of The Grinch. There was a toy parade in the production, which included Clifford, Batman, Star Wars and Toy Story characters (to name a few). I'll have to do another scrapbook page because I couldn't get all the photos on the page. The toy parade was a big hit. Kids got so excited when their favorite character came out. What am I saying - I got excited when they came out, too!







Hop on over to the Pursuit of Craftyness blog (link at the top) for more inspiration with this collection. Have a wonderful day!


~melanie~

Well, I guess I can now say..

That it's not a secret anymore. You can see the announcement at The Zest Blog, and the list of designers here!

I'm excited to be working with these wonderful Lime Tart kits and all these great designers.

Nothing much going on here. Here are a couple of cards I did last month.



This card uses "Bird Lovers" Clear Art Stamps from Crafy Secrets. The paper is from Crate Paper.


This "Be Happy" card uses paper from My Minds Eye.

And this love card uses Cosmo Cricket papers. I used the Cricut Wedding Essentials cartridge for the "love" postage stamp. That's all for now. Have a great weekend!