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.