In the name of love..

With Valentine's Day around the corner - I couldn't resist creating some Valentine cards - just for the fun of it. For this card, I used die cut images from My Mind's Eye "Love Me Do", some Adornit Mini-alpha's and my hearts embossing folder.








I used the MME "Love Me Do" Die cut heart for the focal, and the papers and sticker is from Little Yellow Bicycle's "Sweet Love" Decorative Edged Tablet, which included stickers and cardstock. It's made to go with a coordinating album, but it's perfect for cards.






I'm sorry the colors are a bit dark. Finicky cloudy sky. It's really my favorite in real life. Again, I used the Little Yellow Bicycle's Decorative Edged Tablet "Sweet Love". The border punch is from Stampin' Up.






Last one. Simple and sweet using the Little Yellow Bicycle "Sweet Love" collection. Again - bad coloring in the photos (sorry...hate that when it happens).

I don't know about you, but I'm ready for all the new CHA releases from so many of my favorite companies. I'm really trying to "use up" what I have now to make room for new inspiration. Have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping by!

~melanie~

Birds of A Feather

I've been stalking the Cosmo Cricket blog, drooling over the new releases. I'm pretty convinced I have to have every bit of it. Anyway, they been posting some sketch challenges over there, so I created this page with the latest sketch.



Here's my take on the sketch. I used some of my many photos from my high school reunion this past summer.







The papers are from Cosmo Cricket's Earth Love and Nutmeg collection. The felt flowers are from Stampin' Up.

Guess what, me and hubby finally went to see Avatar this past weekend. All I can say is WOW! Well, that's all from me for now. 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~

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge No 21

So here she goes again with another "new" thing. This time I created something for Dawn McVey's color challenge. Doing color challenges all around is "new" to me, but I have to say - I really think I like doing this!



The colors (as you can see) were aqua, soft yellow, cream and chocolate. I stepped out of my patterned paper box, and went with cardstock only. I embossed the focal cardstock for some texture. I envisioned using more aqua, but this seemed to be the direction I went, so I went with it.




The stamps are Blooming Button Bits from Papertrey Ink. I'm really lovin' this set.

Thanks for stopping by!!

~melanie~

monday monday again

It's Monday (again!). How come it always seems to come so quick? ;)

I just have one card today. I made it for the Hero Arts blog January Contest they have going on this month.





Papers are from Basic Grey Bittersweet (6x6 pad) and stamps are Hero Arts. I used chalk to color my images.

I also have some sad news. Many of you fellow papercrafters know Sonda Tadlock. We just got word that her beautiful daughter, Baylee, passed away Saturday. If you haven't already, stop by Sonda's Blog and leave a message for her and Duane. Most of all, please lift them up in your prayers during this difficult time for them.

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~

Tuesday Trigger Inspiration

Just trying to stay warm on this cold day in the south. Brrrrrrr!!!!

I've been trying to stretch myself in 2010. One area is to try more challenges and get out of the box. I decided to create something with this week's Tuesday Trigger from the Moxie Fab World blog. The challenge for me (who likes color and lots of it) was to pull from the color scheme and create something I'm happy with. I really enjoyed doing this and, even tho it took me a bit longer than normal because I had to find just the right elements.... I love the outcome.

Here is the trigger:


And here is my creation:



I used Basic Grey's Wassail paper "Sleigh Ride". (it's not just for Christmas!), Butterfly stamp from My Mind's Eye, Sentiment from Stampin Up, flowers, trim and other vintage finds to finish it.

It's not too late to play. Hop on over to the Moxie Fab World blog and stretch!


~melanie~

Valentine Cards

I played around in my craft room making some Valentine things during my long New Year's weekend. I challenged myself to make some things with collections that aren't necessarily Valentine theme in nature. It's always fun to think out of the box.

I envisioned this first card while waiting to drift off to sleep one night. You know you are a bit craft-crazy when you plan cards instead of counting sheep. I used Dream Street papers "Nature's Poetry" collection. The papers are soft and romantic and includes chipboard. I used one of the chipboard elements for the center.






I used my Cricut to cut the series of hearts from various patterned papers. I placed them across the white cardstock, then stitched them in place. Next I ran the hearts and cardstock through the Cuttlebug and embossed them all together.

On this next card, I used Dream Street's Merry and Bright collection - yes, a Christmas collection. I thought the foilage with the touch of red would work great. The felt alpha's are from American Crafts, and the ribbon is from Stampin' Up.





For this tag, I used Dream Street's "Say It" Paper from Sam Collection, and the Just My Type Chipboard. I used white core cardstock and sanded it to reveal the white. The flower is American Crafts and the mini-alpha's are from Making Memories.





And the final project is a card using Just My Type Chipboard elements from Dream Street, chipboard flowers from Melissa Frances. I embossed the paper, then sanded the hearts to reveal the white.

I'm still brainstorming on what to make the kiddo's in my daughter's class at school. We had a blast making white chocolate lollipops last year, so I may do that again. If you have any goodie ideas, I'd love to see them. Post here and let me know.

Have a wonderful Wednesday and thanks for stopping by.

~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~

Favorites of the Year

I usually do a photo "year in review" post, but until then, here are a look at some of my favorite scrapbook pages of the year. Believe me, there wasn't much to choose from - I have had a busy year outside of my crafting. I guess I have alot of catching up to do soon!




This is my great-nephew. The scrapbook paper looks like a frame.



Another year older for Miss Priss.



Goofing off at the mall.



She just loves the spotlight.




Finding one of my long lost girlfriends while planning our high school reunion.




A day in the country.

Boy - I didn't realize how many LESS pages I had this year until I went back and compared from the previous year. I guess if I were going to resolve to do something in 2010, it would be to create more scrapbook pages. What about you?

Thanks for dropping by!

~melanie~

Just An Old Fashioned Christmas

We didn't take our standard family portrait in front of the Christmas tree this year. Instead, we went downtown to the antique mall shopping area for our family portrait. These are my favorite from the shoot.





I enjoyed having some scrappy time during the holidays, and I couldn't wait to use the new Collage Press Joy Ride collection. (Thank you, Collage Press, for the giveaway!) I chose to use our Christmas portrait. The old timey look of being downtown seemed to tie in with our low key family oriented festivities.







Supplies: Collage Press Joy Ride Collection, Chipboard tree (Cosmo Cricket Jolly by Golly), Buttons, Rick Rack and Martha Stewart Crystal glitter.

My scraproom is a mess and our tree is still up, but I'm going to enjoy the last two days of the holiday as long as I can! Thanks for stopping by.


~melanie~

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! Just a short post today. This card was in the October issue of Cards Magazine. I thought it appropriate for today. Have a wonderful 2010!

Melanie

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~