Another Purse Picture

A few posts back I showed you the purse that my Aunt Patty and I made. Here is a picture of her purse.

We used the new fabric from the 2010 Holiday Mini Catalog. She liked the green fabric and I liked the red. I am still working on the flowers. The thread that I used for my flower really didn't look right so I had to go to plan B.

Here is a picture of mine again so you can see the difference. Her inside is what my outside looks like minus the ruffles. She did add pockets of course. The next purses we make will be with the new fabric from the 2011 Occasions Mini! Can't wait to get that in my hands!!

Some Family Pics

I don't usually share pictures of my family but I did have some cute ones that I will be making some My Digital Studio projects with and wanted to share. I will share the projects when they are finished.

This is my son Joshua. He is 6 and LOVES to "help" in the kitchen. Since I have all boys I will take all the help that I can get!

This is me with my son Joshua (in blue) and Owen (in red). My oldest is taking the picture and hubby is probably still eating. Every Christmas we visit this wonderful little restaurant for breakfast with Santa. They always have great antique decorations and yummy food. We have come to this same restaurant since I was Joshua's age so it has been a really long time and I have wonderful memories of all my family members here. That is really one of the reasons that I love Christmas so much. The family traditions and celebrations of our Lord and Savior Jesus' birth.

I am truly blessed to have wonderful family, friends and customers. You have all been gifts to me each and every day of the year!

Happy Stampin'
Melissa

Gingerbread Goodies!

I know I have been gone for a wile, but I have been busy making cards, cookies and more! Here is a project that I made for a Club Member for Christmas. I am going to be changing them up for Valentine's Day and maybe adding some tea bags for Mother's Day.

I have seen these floating around the blogs. I did change mine up a little because I couldn't find the 16 ounce cups. I could only find 12 oz. cups so I made the boxes a little smaller. I will share the tutorial in my next few posts.

I used Real Red CS with Chocolate Chip and Early Expresso Ink. I also made a blue version of this with snow flakes but gave it away before I could take a picture of it. I hope that my friends liked them!

Happy Stampin,

Melissa

Merry Christmas!

Hello Stampers,

I know it has been a while since my last post and I am sorry for that. After battling sickness after sickness and dealing with Birthday Parties, a visit from my Mom and her husband and all that life has for me, I am still alive!

I just want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! I hope you are truly blessed with people who love you, good health and more!

As we visit with family and friends I hope that you take time to Thank God for the precious gift of Salvation that He has given us through His son Jesus! He is the reason for the season after all.

Check back soon...I have been busy!
Melissa

My new purse!

I love, love, love the fabric from the Holiday Mini catalog! I am working on several projects using it and I can't wait to show you. Today I am going to share with you a purse that my Aunt and I created using the Deck the Halls fabric. I cannot sew well, but my Aunt can so I cut and she sews. A win/win for us. We created the pattern just by copying some purses that we already owned. We added the ruffles by using the Scallop Circle die and sewing them together. I do not own the table setting die yet so we improvised. I saw a purse very close to this on the Stampin Up! demonstrator website so we made our own version. I am working on a felt flower to go on the straps. That will be posted shortly. I would love to know what you think!

We added a zipper because I need a zipper or everything falls out. My Aunt tied a little scrap of fabric on the zipper pull. Too cute!

We added 3 pockets on the inside along with another piece of the Deck the Halls fabric. It is sort of quilted a la Vera Bradley, but better because we made it ourselves! ")

Here is a close up of the ruffles. If you look closely at the ruffles you can see green ribbon. We used Always Artichoke 1/4 inch grosgrain ribbon to finish the ruffles. You can't really see the ribbon when you are carrying the purse, just at this angle. Of course we used the Chantilly Lace to finish the top.

I cannot wait to use the new fabric in the 2011 Occasions Mini! Sooooo many possibilities!!!!!

I would love to know what you think and answer any questions that you might have.

Happy Stampin and Sewin!
Melissa

More Great Gifts for Giving!

Hello Stampers!

I hope you enjoyed yesterdays projects from my Great Gifts for Giving Class. Today I am going to share 2 more projects. If you haven't already signed up, now is the time to do it!

These little wooden block are great. I am already imagining a ton of other uses for them. These feature our Jolly Holiday DSP. I LOVE this paper! So versatile and not just for Christmas. I am planning on putting my sons' picture in them and giving them to family. I think this is something that is not just for Christmas. Don't we all need a little J O Y in our lives all year round, not just a Christmas?

This is my favorite gift of all. I love snowmen. He is just too cute! I can't take credit for him though. He was created by another wonderful Melissa (") The Stamp Doc. You can check out her blog here. She has a great tutorial. I think she is wonderful and she is so generous to share her creations and tutorials! I LOVE THAT!!

Join me tomorrow for some more Great Gifts for Giving! It is not too late to sign up for my class. You can check out the details here!

Happy Stampin'
Melissa

Great Gifts for Giving Class

Hello Stampers,

This Friday and Saturday I am having my Great Gifts for Giving class. Last year it was a success so I decided to continue it. We will be making 8 Great Gifts for Giving (or keeping). It is not too late to sign up. Just email me to let me know what time you will be coming. Classes are help 9-11 and 6-8pm. Hope you can be there!

One of the 8 projects we are making is this cute little brag book! I made one of these last year for my Mom for Mother's Day and she loved it. She will be getting another one this year for Christmas!

I used Baja Breeze card stock as the base. Whisper White and Blushing Bride to coordinate with the Candy Cane Christmas DSP. I won the new Northern Frost die from my Upline so I had to use them to coordinate with the paper and a little Rhinestone bling to make it shimmery.

Our next project that we will be making are these great coasters. I love the Dasher stamp and had to use him this year. These are very easy to make and I love the simplicity of them.

These were stamped with Chocolate Chip craft ink.

Check back tomorrow for some more projects from my class and don't forget to register today!!

Happy Stampin'
Melissa

Keep It Simple Silly!

Hello Stampers!

I know we can all relate to the saying, "Simplify". I see that word all the time on cute little signs. I, myself wanted to put that on my walls to remind myself to just keep it simple. I find that as a Stampin' Up! demonstrator that I cannot just keep it simple. I have to add something, just one embellishment at least. Well ladies, today I DID IT! I just kept it simple, real simple. One layer card and no embellishments or bling of any kind. I really liked the results. What do you think?

Just a simple Thank You card using the Day of Gratitude stamp set. I just used Old Olive ink and stamped on Very Vanilla card stock. Simple!

I liked these so much that I made a box and some more cards and gave them to my hostess on Thursday night. I hope she liked them! Tell me what you think Debbie!

The box was very simple and just used a regular sheet of card stock. I added the bow and sentiment to give it a little extra something (it was for a gift after all!) and I really liked the way it turned out. Simple.

I made more of these cards in different colors to send out to customers. I used Cherry Cobbler (my new favorite red) and Rich Razzleberry. I love them! Simple!

To order supplies to make these cards, please click here.

Happy Stampin!
Melissa

P.S. Check back on Monday for the projects that we will be making for my Great Gifts for Giving Class this weekend.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween Everyone! Today I thought I would share a few things that we made at Club night last week. I am not a big Halloweeny person, but I thought these were cute and when I saw them I had to run out and get some little Hand Sanitizers and make some for friends. Of course I made some with a Twilight twist for my fellow Twilight Moms, but I forgot to take pictures so I will make another one for me and share later on! You can find a tutorial and some other ideas here.

Here is a cute card I found while blog hoping. I was so excited about it that I forgot to write down who created it. If it was you please let me know. I just love the Owl and the Ghosts! Too cute!

And what is Halloween without pumpkins? They are even better because they have candy in them! These will be given out to my family for Thanksgiving, but we made these for club. The tutorial for this can be found here.

And last but not least the last little goodie. I found this one here. I thought it was a great way to give a little treat and use up some scrap paper. It just uses a 3x6 piece of paper. Easy peasy!

Supplies:

Stamp Set: Batty For You, All Holidays

Paper: Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black, So Safron,

Wicked Fun Designer Series Paper

Accessories: Scallop Circle Punch, 2 step Owl Punch, 2 step Bird punch, 1 1/4 circle punch, 1 3/8 circle punch, 1 3/4 circle punch, Boho Blossom Punch, Large Oval

Ink: Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie, Rich Razzleberry.

Can you believe that I didn't use my Big Shot? I almost did on the card for some swirly texture but we got to talking and forgot! I still can't believe it!

Have a Happy Halloween. I am ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas!!!

Happy Stampin'

Melissa



I know! I know!

I have not fallen off the face of the earth! I am still alive! Things got crazy busy after the wedding with school and playing catch from the wedding. I have been busy stampin too! I went to Regionals in Baltimore which was AWESOME! I got some great swaps and learned some great techniques that I have been practicing. I also signed up to be a Tastefully Simple Consultant. I love their products and thought that it would be a great way to earn some extra money to support my Stampin Up! business and pay some bills! We all need that, right? If you want to check out what Tastefully Simple is all about, visit my website here. I also will be starting a Tastefully Simple Blog that will have recipes and tips for using your products. That is currently under construction, but I am working on it! I promise!

Here is a card that we made at Regionals. I just love the simplicity of this card. Easy peasy! You can stamp a bunch of these at a time and have Thank You cards on hand and ready to go!

Supplies: Days of Gratitude Stamp Set (I used Clear Mount as usual!)

Card Stock: Old Olive and Whisper White

Ink: Old Olive

Punches: Decorative Label Punch (2010 Holiday Mini)

Ribbon: Old Olive 5/8 Grosgrain

If you would like to order any of the products to make this card, please click here!

Happy Stampin'

Melissa

A cake or a box?

Or a cake box? Actually this is a box that looks like a cake that can hold cards. A card cake box. I feel a Dr. Seuss moment coming on. I must stop now! I have not posted for a while because I have been knee deep in wedding stuff. Favors, Rehearsals, Programs and Card boxes (Oh my!)

My lovely sister Sarah blessed our family with Jason. He is the coolest Uncle ever according to my 3 boys who totally ADORE him! Plus I finally have a little brother to tease! he-he! Anyway...I am rambling. The wedding was wonderful. Everything came together and the night (and day) was perfect. So my baby sister is a married woman now. sniff, sniff!

We needed to come up with a box to hold cards and I had not clue how to make one so we ordered the cake box from Oriental Trading Company. If I had more time I would have painted it Ivory because that was the color of my sisters dress, but I had less than a day to rock out this cake box.

The cake box was already "decorated" according to Oriental Trading company but I ripped off all the ribbons and crappy cheap flowers and started with a bare box. I wanted to add the yummy Rich Razzleberry Ribbon from Stampin Up! but I didn't have enough and I couldn't use Very Vanilla because the cake box was still white so I came up with using Rich Razzleberry Card Stock and punch using the Eyelet Lace border punch. I actually used the scalloped edge punch but my sister liked the eyelet lace punch and since she was queen of the day, she got what she wanted. I used Tombo Mono Adhesive to glue everything down and it worked like a charm.

The paper roses were a cinch to make and I made these up ahead of time to make the process move quicker. I did make A LOT of these but it looked a little busy so we paired it down. I found a great, easy tutorial here. I ran a strip of Old Olive card stock through the crimper and cut out leaf shapes and just added them in as I went along.

For the top of the box I put 4 of the roses around a little styrofoam ball and then added a bigger rose on top. Again I just stuck the leaves in where I thought they should go.

I was really happy with how everything came out. I have never done anything like this before and I only had a few hours to really make it come together. I did receive a lot of compliments from the staff at the reception so I am going to play around with some other paper flowers and designs and make more of these to sell if requested.

I would love to know what you think! Please leave me comments (and please be kind!) I am new to this!

Toodles,
Melissa

My dear and wonderful friend!

This is another Gate Fold Card. We made this at Stamp Club in August. I like this card much better. I think the colored brads make the flowers pop. It really brings out the pumpkin pie in the Greenhouse Gala DSP.

Supplies:

Stamp Set: All Holidays

Card Stock: Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Marina Mist and Pear Pizzazz

Ink: Chocolate Chip

Misc: Greenhouse Gala DSP, Brights Brads, Boho Blossoms Punch

I would love to hear what you think! Please post a comment!

Happy Stampin'

Melissa

Thank You Card for the month!

Hello Stampers,

I have made a goal for myself to make Thank You cards for each of my customers. You would think that a person who sells stampin supplies and makes cards would have tons of cards on hand. I don't! I give them away. Which is good so I have made up bunches of Thank You cards to have on hand to send out. If you make a purchase with me this month you will get one of these cards!

Supplies:

Stamp Set: Simply Said

Ink: Black Staz-on, Melon Mambo and Pumpkin Pie Stampin' Write Markers

Card Stock: Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White

Misc. Pumpkin Pie 1/4 grosgrain ribbon, Island Oasis DSP

I would love to know what you think!

If you would like to place an order click here!

Happy Stampin'

Melissa

School is back in session!!!! Hooray!

Did you hear the happy sighs of all the mom's this week? I think in PA at least there were happy Mom's all over the place last Wednesday. Hip Hip Hooray! Now I will actually have 2 hours of uninterrupted stamping time! Can you believe it? Now I have no excuse to blog!

Here are some pictures of my happy campers!

All boys, all the time. At least my doggies are girls!

Happy Stampin'

Melissa

Clearance Rack Items have been added! Check them out!

Lots of new products have been added to the Clearance Rack including several colors of cardstock! Some really FABULOUS prices - you can't beat Stampin' Up! products for up to 60% off! Please check out my website to see the available great retired products at amazing prices! Be sure to shop soon as they are available while supplies last and many of the items sold out quickly last time. More Designer Series Paper for under $4, more Rub-ons, more ribbons, etc.!

To shop, Click HERE and then click "Shop Now" on the lower right and then "Clearance Rack" on the left menu of the pop-up window. Remember to enter THROUGH my direct website rather than choosing me at the end. That way, you are eligible for lower minimum shipping cost and FREE Stampin' Rewards (free stamp set and $15 free merchandise with orders of $150 or more). To view pictures larger in this post, just click on them.

You will not want to waste any time in ordering. These things will not be here for very much longer!

Happy Stampin'

Melissa

Birthday Card for Crystal!

Happy Birthday Crystal! I had such a good time at your workshop, I hope you did too! I had to share your card with everyone. I added an extra layer to her card so that everyone could sign it and wish her a Happy Birthday!

Supplies:

Cardstock: Pear Pizzazz, Rose Red and Very Vanilla

Inks: Certainly Celery, Old Olive Stampin' Write marker, Melon Mambo Stampin' Write Marker and Pretty in Pink Stampin' Write Marker

Accessories: Certainly Celery Satin Ribbon

Big Shot (Do you have one of these yet?) and the new Vintage Wall Paper Embossing Folder

The colors don't show up well in this picture. I think my sons play with my camera and mess with the settings. Either that, or I am just camera challenged. It is probably the latter!

Happy Stampin'

Melissa

Card Organizer for Crystal

Hello Stampers! I have been busy this week. I created an awesome card organizer for my friend and Hostess. This was her Hostess gift for hosting a workshop for me this past week. She was so excited to see it! She loves Rich Razzleberry and Old Olive together so of course I used them for her gift. I also used the beautiful but retired Cottage Wall DSP. I love this paper too! Stampin' Up! does offer the same pattern in the new colors called Sunny Garden. I really like this paper! It is item #119831 on page 174 of the new 2010 IB&C.

I found a tutorial for this here. I actually made 4 boxes and used Sticky Strip to put them all together. I wrapped the DSP around the base and used some retired ribbon to cover the seams. The new Island Floral die was used to create the large flower, Boho Blossoms punch was used to create the smaller flower. I used the 2 step bird punch for the leaves. I love that punch, it is so versatile!

Please let me know what you think! I would love to hear your comments!

Happy Stampin'

Melissa

It's all in the bag!

I am so excited!! I was able to get my Greenhouse Gala bag!! This bag was offered to Stampin' Up! Convention go-ers this year. I was not able to go (didn't sell enough stamps!) but I will be going to Regionals in Baltimore this year, whoo hoo! Stampin' Up! was so thoughtful and was 2 steps ahead of the game for us non-convention go-ers and made this tote available to us! Hooray! Of course I ordered one! I LOVE this bag! It fits all of my goodies and it is gorgeous to boot. It matches the wonderful new Greenhouse Gala Designer Series Paper (#117167 pg. 173 IB&C).

Here is the front. It has so many cool pockets that fit our accessories perfectly!

Here is the back. It has a large zippered pouch that can hold up to 7 stamp pads! Of course I broke the zipper or it was broken already, not sure. However, Stampin' Up! is such a wonderful company that they are sending me a new one soon! Hooray for Stampin' Up!

No cards today. You can get a sneak peek at one of my scrapbook pages in my new bag above!

Happy Stampin!

Melissa

Hooray!!!

Hooray! I just found out that my card earned me a prize from my up-up-upline Janet Wakeland. She offers team challenges to create cards and this card won! I was so surprised and blessed to have won. It makes me happy just being able to share what I love. It is icing (chocolate buttercream) on the cake to win a prize for it!

Thanks Janet!!!

Have a Blessed Day!

Melissa

Full Armor of God

Here are some nugget type boxes that I made for our church's kids camp. These were for the boys. I didn't get a picture of the girls' prize. All the girls got a little purse that had a crown on it. They were very pretty and girly. The boys got a box that held a What Would Jesus Do bracelet. The Designer paper is not from Stampin' Up! but it matched the Always Artichoke pretty close.

Here is a close up of the shield.

I hope that they boys were blessed to get them. I know it was fun for me to make them!

Have a great day!

Melissa

Joyful Joy Fold Card

Hello Stampers,

I saw a beautiful card while I was blog hopping and knew that I had to make one. It is called a Joy Fold card. Very easy to make and what a WOW! card it is. I found a tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers. I am using the wonderfully delicious new Greenhouse Gala Designer Series Paper from Stampin' Up!

Sorry the picture is not very good. My son likes to experiment with camera settings and poor old Mom doesn't know how to fix them.

Supplies:

Stamp Set: All Holidays

Card Stock: Early Expresso, Marina Mist and Pear Pizzazz

DSP: Greenhouse Gala

Misc. Boho Blossom punch, Silver Brads and Stampin' Dimensionals.

Here is another card that I made using a Joy Fold card. This was for my sister and her fiance' Jason. They are getting married on September 25th! I am so excited for them. The card was for her shower.

Supplies:

Stamp Set: Blissful Bride

Card Stock: Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive and Whisper White

DSP: Cottage Wall

Ink: Black Staz-On, Rich Razzleberry Stampin' Write marker

Misc.: Boho Blossom punch, Silver Brads, Stampin' Dimensionals and Dazzling Diamonds

I hope these cards inspire you to create some of your own. I would love to see your creations! Please email me your pics and I will post them on my blog!

Happy Stampin'

Melissa

Something old is something NEW!

I knew that once I made one card using the Watercolor Trio set from our Summer Mini catalog that I would make so many more. Not one to try and re-invent the wheel I changed up the colors of this card and wow! I love it! This set is so versatile! Simple color changes make a big difference.

Supplies used:

Stamp Set: Watercolor Trio

Card stock: Whisper White, Old Olive and Melon Mambo

Ink: Old Olive and Melon Mambo

Ribbon: Melon Mambo grosgrain polka dot

Misc. Big Shot (you need one of these!), square lattice embossing folder, scallop oval punch and oval punch, stampin dimensionals

Here is another card I made with the same set. This card was cased from a card that my wonderful upline shared at a swap.

The picture is not the best but the card is beautiful!

Supplies Used:

Stamp Set: Watercolor Trio

Card Stock: Old Olive, So Safron and Pretty in Pink

Ink: Old Olive, Old Olive and Pretty in Pink Stampin' Write markers

Misc.: Old Olive Satin Ribbon, Scallop Oval punch, oval punch, Dazzling Diamonds

I would love to know what you think! Please leave me a comment.

Happy Stampin'

Melissa

July Stamp Camp is Tart and Tangy!

Here is a sneak peak at the projects that we will be making at my July Stamp Camp. There is still room available so please RSVP to reserve your spot. I am saving a special card for Camp. It will be so fun!

We will be using the Tart and Tangy stamp set. This is an awesome little set. It is so fun and cheery! We will be making the projects you see here plus one surprise card! To sign up for the July Stamp Camp please email me or leave a comment on this post.

For more information about my Stamp Camps please click here.

Happy Stampin!

Melissa