Congratulations

So, I have not had much time for crafting lately...I am back to school for my Bachelors degree evenings while working during the day and having a large family....so, my card sending has been sporatic at best (so if you had a big event and I missed it, I am sorry).

A friend of mine did get a new job recently after having not worked outside of her home since the birth of her children. I felt this was a big event, so I wanted to make her a card. Of course for a congratulations card I thought of my Bella stamps from StampnigBella.com and went with Winobella! She is always willing to toast!

I also knew I wanted to use this new filagree die from Papertrey ink. I found this purple paper from stampin' up and chose to go with yellow and purple, I love these two colors together. I used my copic markers to color my bella and her wine and then used pale blue to sponge around the frame of the main image. I used stitching for texture on the card front and attached the filagree to the left side. Finally I added a piece of white card stock that I cut by hand in a wavy pattern and Wrote the word congratulations. I usually like to stamp the sentiment because I don't always like my writing on cards, but I could not find a good Congratulations stamps so I went with it and was happy with the results.

I hope she liked the card and just want to remind everyone that sending a card is a nice gesture, doesn't cost a lot and can make someone smile! Why not send a card today?

Have a great weekend~

~melanie :)

Sew Cute!

Okay this week I made the cutest thing! I saw it first on this blog: Crafti Staci and I knew I had to make one!

Isn't this sew cute? I think so.

It is a coffee sleeve/coffee cozy! It is reversible, washable and insulated with the same material inside pot holders to keep you from burning your fingers on your coffee cup!

I love it!

Below you can see the two fabrics I used:

This is what it looks like when it is not on a cup:

This is the brown side of the sleeve:

And finally the colorful side again:

This could easily be folded up and tucked into your purse or your glove compartment.

Wouldn't this make a great gift to go with a gift card to your friend's favorite coffee shop?

I am planning on making these and posting them in my online store:

www.etsy.com/shop/melalleee

I can't wait to make other colors! I hope you enjoyed my new project today, it's supposed to be a cold and snowy weekend her in Mass. Perfect for crafting because who wants to venture out in the cold? Hopefully it won't be two months before I post again! lol

Have a great weekend!

~melanie :)

Craft Fair today

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!

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

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!

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

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

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 :)

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

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