The Mystery is Solved! I was Thinking of You!

Hello everybody!

I have my card from the latest Mystery swap to post today.

I am loving the image Linda sent us to create with.

Here's what I came up with:

Isn't that SU! Koala the cutest thing you've ever seen?!!!

I love small, simple images and Linda really made me HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY with this one!

Thank you for stopping by today!

Please visit the other Mystery gals. There blogs are listed in my right sidebar.

 

Until next time...

Blessings...

 

 

Mysterious Dinos!

Hi!

I'm back with a card I made for the Mystery bunch!

We are a group of card makers on SplitCoastStampers. Each round has a new host that send us Mysterious images that we color and make cards with.

Kate was our hostess this round and she sent the most adorable little dinosaur image from Stampin Up!

Here's what I made:

I used all SU! papers and card stocks, cut the image (colored it with Spectrum markers) out with my large scallop circle punch (SU) and then some layering circles with my Spellbinders dies. The sentiment is from an AmyR set "Sweet Sentiments". I punched that out with my SU scalloped oval punch. I finished the card with a star brad from my stash.

Simple, simple, simple. :)

The orange circle is popped up on foam dots.

This little image just said "boy's birthday" to me so that's what I went with.

I'm excited to see what everyone creates with this image and what cards I get back from the swap!

Thanks for visiting me!

Until next time...

Blessings...

Melina

Cool Creations

It's Dueling time again!

Yep, the Dueling Darling teams (Divas and Dazzlers) are at it again. This time the theme is Cool Creations. Debbie sent the Dazzler team one cute kit. I love all the yellows and pinks in there....and that image! Just too cute. 

Here's what I made:

Okay, so I hope you can tell what I did at first glance of my card but if it's not evident.....I cut the image smaller than usual and put the neat little straw accent behind it at an angle and then placed the flower embellishments on the corner of the image to make it look like the glass, with the straw and flower on the edge of the glass?.....get it......no.....oh well, I tried. :)

I loved working with this kit Debbie!

I wanted to do a strip of the dp at an angle (like I've been seeing all the popular girls do *giggle*). I liked that so much that I added a piece of the ribbon she sent on the bottom edge of the panel too.

I colored my image with Spectrum markers. I do believe the wood was weathered all in the same place on the front of that cute lemonade stand. (duh......I'm so blond when it comes to shading).

Debbie asked us to name our favorite summer time treat along with our post today. Mine would have to be watermelon. My daughter and myself are the only ones that eat it in our house (the boys gag.....they can't stand it) so when we get one....we eat on it all week! :) Yummmmmm!

Thanks for stopping by today. Please check out the other Dueling Darling creations for this "cool" theme. Their blogs are listed in my left sidebar.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Supplies in kit:

DP & Ribbon:  Ice Cream Parlor by Stampin' Up!

Image:  Good Ol' Summertime by Stampin' Up!

Paper Straw: A Muse

Buttons & Flowers: SU! and Michael's or Joanns

Craftworkcards Candi – pink dots

Until next time...

Blessings...

Melina

Dueling Darlings Challenge, Leader Appreciation!

Hello all!

It's Dueling time again. This month I'm the hostess for both the Dazzlers and the Divas! Wow! How about that? :) I decided to do something a little different for our Darlings. I knew that trying to get a kit together for each member would be a huge task, you know, getting all the same embellishments and papers and so on. Not to mention the postage. Yikes!

So, I gave each team a challenge. 

**The Divas challenge was to create a card with an animal somewhere on it and buttons.

**The Dazzlers challenge was to create a card with a tree somewhere on it and patterned paper.

Our team leaders Kelly and Jeanette...(hi girls ;)....had no idea I had another little something up my sleeve. hahahaha

You see, we love these two ladies. They keep up "in line" and are great with keeping up with schedules and deadlines. So, I wanted to make this month's challenge in honor of them as a "thank you".

Kelly loves animals and as you can see on her blog, on many of her gorgeous creations, loves buttons as an embellishment.

Jeanette is "the Forest Ranger" on SCS and loves Nature and displaying all her Christmas trees (you should see the pictures!!!) during the Holiday season and if you've seen any of the many fun creations on her blog, you know that she loves using patterned paper.

Well, I'm a Dazzler so I created with Jeanette in mind...

I used papers from the My Mind's Eye Lime Twist line.

The large flower image is from SU and the sentiment and butterfly are MFT.

Jeanette, I hope you like it! This card will be flying out to you soon girl! ;)

Thanks for all you do!

I can't wait to see what all the Darlings made in tribute to our leaders.

Their blogs can be found in my left sidebar.

Until next time...

Blessings...

Melina

Happy Mother's Day!

Hello!

Happy Mother's Day to you.

...and Happy Mother's Day to my Mama. I love YOU! :)

I am sharing with you today a project I wanted to "take on". I'm not a big "altered item" crafter. Cards and Scrapbooking are mostly it. But, there was an idea that popped in my mind for our "Church Mamas". Many of you know my husband is a Minister. We Pastor a small church in a neighboring town. We are a very close knit bunch of folks. Last Mother's Day I got each of our Church Mama's a small jar candle. This year though, I wanted to give them something, by me. I am working even harder than usual this year at the old saying "Better to give......". I want to be a blessing. A song popped into my head as I thought about this...."If you want less lonely and a lot more fun, need satisfaction when the day is done, throw your heart wide open and GIVE IT AWAY" (Gaither Vocal Band, Southern Gospel).

So, I went to work. Here's what I came up with. Mind you it is small, but it is made by me for the wonderful ladies that do so much for me and my family.....

 I got mini composition books and decorated them using a couple different packs of Stampin Up! designer series paper, some white satin ribbon and a stamped image (lucky limeade ink) punched with oval punches.

Then, they had to have a pen to go along with the notebook so I used matching designer series paper to fill the pen and attached a sheer blue polka dot ribbon to the top.

 I had enough of the paper left (I got my measurements down to a science to keep from wasting any of it.....I'm a paper hoarder! :) to make chipboard flower magnets to go with the notebooks and pens. I used my Bigz L Fun Flowers Stampin Up! die to cut the chipboard and the paper (ran through the Big Shot). I used 2 circle punches for the middles and added a flat back pearl to each. I sanded the edges of the chipboard with a sanding block and then inked all the edges with Soft Suede ink and my sponge dauber. On the back of each magnet I wrote "Happy Mother's Day 2012".

Then, I added all three (1 magnet per baggie) to a goody bag filled with life savers and a small box of assorted chocolates. Yummmmm

I tied the bags up simply with white baker's twine.

I hope the Church Mamas like them!

I'm not original, I know. These have been done before and you've seen them LOTS better :)
But, it's my way of showing our church family how much they mean to us.
I learned that even though it was a size-able task, as far as the amount of things to cut and assemble....it was all worth it.

Thanks for stopping by!

Have a great day!

Until next time...

Blessings...

Melina

Let's Get Twisty with a Sketch!

Hello!

I hope your week is getting off to a great start!

It's Twisty Tuesday! We hope to see you there for a new challenge this week.

It's a sketch.....I love sketches....do you?

 I drew out a sketch (I stink at drawing) and Patty Gorka came to my rescue! She made this computer generated sketch from my drawing. Thank you Patty!!!! :)

The Twist this week......You have to use Pearls on your sketchy creation.

Here's mine:

I used a stamp by studio g. I used rich razzleberry, lucky limeade and memento black inks and added my pearls to the butterflies on the popped up panel.

Let's see what you create for our challenge this week! Head on over to Twisted Tuesday Challenges

Until next time...

Blessings...

Melina

Scraps of Masculinity with Flowers!

Hello!

I recently mailed my cards for the CAS Flowers and CAS Masculine swap over on SCS hosted by Patty (LaLatty).

I love the CAS style so when I saw her swap....I had to join!

Here's my card for the Flower group:

I am so proud of my Spellbinders Deckle set. I found it at Hobby Lobby on the clearance aisle! I love a good bargain. My flower image is from a muse studio, Beautiful Botanicals 2 set. The sentiment is from SU! Fundamental Phrases set.

Now, here's the warning for the this masculine card. I am NO GOOD at masculine. Why I make this a big deal I don't know. I heard someone say, we fret over the cards of which have the least critics! :) That's so true.

Here's my Scraps of Masculinity:

With the name, you can guess that I used all scraps on this card. The brown paper...well, I've been hoarding that 6" square piece for a long while. It was given to me so I don't know the vendor. It looks like Bazzil. It has lots of texture and looks like leather. I thought it would be a great addition to this masculine creation. The sentiment is from SU! Thank You Kindly set. Now, I couldn't resist adding some pearls. I thought since they were brown....it wouldn't hurt! :)

Thank you Patty for a great swap! I can't wait to see the cards I get back!

Thank you for stopping by today!

Until next time...

Blessings...

Melina

Lots of Cards with Punchy Goodness......(it never ends)!!!!

Hello everyone!

Here's another post with lots of punched goodness. I just get my punches out and can't stop! I wonder what new punches will be in the SU! catalog coming out in June? I can't wait! :)

My husband can hear his wallet shrinking right now. hahaha

 This first little darling was made for Sweet P's punchy swap....hi girl!

The butterfly is made with 2 different square punches. Then two corners of each punchie is punched with the corner rounder punch.

 This little party card came from and idea I'm sure I saw somewhere, just can't remember where. I used the SU! pennant punch to make the party hat!

 This cheery card was made for a challenge in Sweet P's punchy swap. We were to use our punches "negatively". :) Meaning use the paper you punched to get the punched piece and use papers behind that piece to make a design.

And lastly....this one also was made for a challenge in her punchy swap. I wanted the girls to use 3 punched pieces in a row and emboss them. 

I thank you so much for stopping by!

Have a great day!

Until next time...

Blessings...

Melina

Dueling Darlings ~ Who's The Man?

Hello! Thank you for visiting.

It's time once again to get into a Duel with some Darling friends.

The Dueling Darlings are a group of ladies on SCS. This month our hostesses are  LJ for the Divas and Terry for the Dazzlers.

I am a Dazzler (GO TEAM). Terry sent us a great masculine kit. I love this SU! image...I don't have this set, so it gives me a few extra to play with too!

Stamp set: SU! On the Fly

Metal Accent: Paper Studio

Shiny Dots: Colorbok

She sent the black and white patterned papers. Also, some things she sent I didn't have a chance to use: Ribbon and mini brads from Michael's.

I added a strip of black card stock and some Marina Mist card stock. The green thread, I just bought yesterday and thought it went well to bring out the green in the trees. (thread made my Peaches and Cream) I decided to use the rectangle accent like a lure. Ummm, well, that was my intentions. Looks, of course, like a charm....but a manly charm! LOL! My sentiment is from SU! Fundamental Phrases...stamped in Marina Mist ink.

I colored my image with Copics and Watercolor pencils.

The clouds and sky are made with a sponge dauber, bashful blue ink and a white gel pen.

The sun is masked with crumb cake and so saffron inks.

I added some birds flying around the trees and remembered this time to make the trees reflections in the water! Yay me :)

I hope you like my creation. I will be giving this to my son for his birthday coming up in June. Terry and LJ wanted us to say a little something about "our man". Well, of course my great husband is my man but there is a little man I would like to honor in this post, our son, Aaron. As most of you know, Aaron is Autistic and struggles with a language disorder. He is almost 12, as tall as I am! and loves everybody! He is making great strides in school, but of course can't wait until Summer so he can "Ride the Scooter" everyday (his words....he loves that thing!).

Just recently my husband took Aaron fishing with a family friend. They went out on his boat and oh my goodness, Aaron had a ball. It was the first time he had ever been on a boat. He knows how to swim so he wasn't frightened. He loved wearing the life jacket and his new sunglasses. Here's a pic of our "little man" from that day.

You know, since he's as tall as I am, I guess we could take the "little" off the front. Nope! He'll always be my little guy. :) I love you AARON!

Thank you for stopping by. Please go check out the other Darlings creations. Their blog links are located in my left sidebar.

Until next time...

Blessings...

Melina

Gettin' Twisty!

Hi everybody!

It's that time again....time to get Twisty!

This week we want to see your cards, pages, 3D projects, etc., with some pretty flowers

WAIT!!!! The Twist is....your creation can't have roses or rosettes on them

Look what I did....

I used the Flowers, Daises #2 die from SU! I cut the medium sized one (cut 2 of them) in half. Then I punched a small circle for each and run them through the Big Shot with the dots embossing folder. I didn't like how that looked so I found some chocolate pearls and added to the daisy centers. The stems are very simple. Just start at the top with the brush end of your SU! marker, drawing down very lightly then the closer to the bottom you get, the harder you bare down to get a gradual line.

My "grass" is some scrap I had (it's from a retired SU! Christmas pack). I cut each blade and then inked the piece with crumb cake using a sponge dauber. The twine is from Wal-Mart and the button is one from SU! I inked the edges of the white card stock with So Saffron ink...it looks darker than that.

I didn't add a sentiment this time. Yep, that's rare for me. I just didn't want to add it to the white space.

Thank you so much for stopping by! Please check out what the other Team members created at Twisted Tuesdays!

Come on....you know you wanna....

Come play with us!

***The Pink Elephant Sweeties are also in a flowery mood! Find their challenge here:
TPE143 ~ Flowers

Until next time...

Blessings...

Melina

I Was Buzzing By......

.....and wanted to know if you had any cake? :)

Hi!

I hope you're having a great day.

I have a card here I made for a few challenges....

I went by this sketch at the Clean and Simple Stamping blog found here:

Challenge #183

This week's Little Red Wagon Challenge is to make a Clean and Simple card.

Challenge #125

and last but certainly not least, the CAS-ual Fridays blog is going Bold and Beautiful this week. They want to see your pastel colors with black.

Challenge #45

Now, for my card details...

The base is crumb cake but it has a green hue to it. I guess it's the Wild Wasabi against it that makes it look that way.

I used my Big Shot, SU! dies and Spellbinders a lot with this layout.

The little bee image is from the SU! Love Bug stamp set and the sentiment is from the SU! Afterthoughts set. The image is stamped on pretty in pink c/s with memento black ink.

The large white circle is stamped in Wild Wasabi ink with the SU! Sanded b/g stamp.

The little pink balls are pom poms I bought months ago and have just now used. I love em! :)

Thank you so much for stopping by!

Until next time...

Blessings...

Melina

He is Risen!

Hi! Here I am again.

I love having time to craft! Yay!

I have a couple of challenges I wanted to enter this card in....

Today's Crazy 4 Challenges blog wants us to be inspired by Spring. The flowers, Easter, baby animals, etc. You can find the challenge here ~ C4C127

Also, the CAS-usal Friday Challenge is to make a card with your sentiment as the focal point. Their challenge is found here ~ CFC43

Now, I know black is not the first thing you think of when you think of Spring. But, I loved these colors together and just went with it. :)

This is the first time this SU! stamp has seen ink. I love it, so simple and beautiful!

Thanks for stopping by!

Until next time...
Blessings...

Melina 

Flying High Birthday

This is my second post today! Scroll down to see the caterpillar :)

I got a card done for the retro sketches challenge! It's a brand new challenge blog.

Here's my card:

and here's their sketch:

 You can check out their first challenge here:

retrosketches1

I'm so excited! I love sketches.

Anywho, about my card....

I used a little stamp I picked up from the dollar basket at Michael's. It's made my studio g. I paper pieced the kites with SU! brights dsp. The sentiment is from SU! petite pairs set. The little black dots are sticky bubbles....I forget the maker's name.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Until next time...

Blessings...

Melina

Two For One, Wishing You Well

Hello bloggy friends!

I can't believe February is almost over! Where in the world does the time go?!

Today you get a 2 "fur".....

 I'm sending you Best Wishes for a new week.

...and if you're sick, Get Well Soon!

I love you all! Have a great week!

Until next time...

Blessings...

Melina

Four Little Framelits

Hi! Finally.........the weekend is upon us! Yay!

It has been very nice weather wise around here.

I was able to go outside to my "picture spot" in my flower bed by the sand stones and monkey grass to take a picture of this card...

I have been playing a lot with my SU! labels collection framelits. They are almost the same as Spellbinder dies, only they're silver.

I made this card for the 1st round of the CAS design team search over on SCS. I made it to the semi finals! Now on to the inspiration challenge for the semi finalists! I'm nervous, but am taking this in stride as I have tried out for this design team...ummm...I think this makes the 5th time. :shock: I know, I'm a gluten for punishment. :~)

But, I love the Clean  and Simple style of stamping and enjoy any challenge I can find. So, if I don't make it, it's okay, I LOVE making CAS cards :)

The stamps I used on this card come form the Beautiful Botanicals 2 set from a muse studio. The fiber at the bottom came from my stash. I've had that stuff since I first started crafting!!! LOL I thought it looked pretty with the elegant eggplant ink I used with the images.

I'm so glad you stopped by. HUGS!

Until next time...

Blessings...

Melina

A Sooooo Girly Birthday!

I have been in a real crafty mood! I have lots to post and no time to do it! hahaha

This card was made with the Featured Stamper challenge over on SCS (congrats Kim! (Luv Flowers) in mind and then I found 2 more challenges it "qualified" for....

This is such a girly card, I thought it went well with the Crazy4Challenges ~ A Child's Birthday

and also....

I never, ever get to play over at my friend Melanie's site, The Critter Challenge Blog. She is coming up on her 100th challenge! Wow! Way to go girl! Their 99th challenge is to use 3 embellishments. On this card I used 3 pearls on the sentiment piece. 3 embellishments on the embossed piece and I used 3 different pieces of ribbon!

Thanks for stopping by my blog today! I appreciate you!!

Until next time...

Blessings...

Melina

supplies:

delicate doilies and afterthoughts stamp sets

pretty in pink, real red and white c/s

dots embossing folder

pretty in pink and real red ink

circle and scallop circle nesties

pearls

real red satin ribbon and pretty in pink taffeta ribbon

Crafty Gals January Challenge

Hello!
I'm finally back! Sorry it took me so long. I had to recover from the holidays and all the daily posts I did. giggle That took a lot but I'm glad I did it. But, now January is a new month and I need to get on the ball.
Today is the 5th and is the day for a great challenge. I started a blog group over on SCS. These ladies are spectacular! We are from all walks of life but with one common interest...crafting. We have monthly challenges that will be posted to our blogs the 5th of each month. This month our hostess is Heather. Here's her blog. She has a great style. She is also expecting her first child and so her challenge to us went somewhat along with her blessing. :)
Theme: Newness
Create with something new to you. Also, try a new technique, something you've never done before.

So, with my card I used a new stamp set that I haven't had a chance to ink up yet! The vendor is Inkadinkado. This set has the most precious tea/coffee cups ever. I love it. The new to me technique is 2 fold. 1 ~ I don't recall making a "window" on my card (nesties) or 2 ~ I don't remember putting a full layer on my card with pop dots (I may have done the second one some time, I just don't remember doing it).
For my "coffee" I colored the image with a pencil and added the stem.
The ribbon is tempting turquoise along with the ink color.
For my sentiment I cut a punched piece of card stock in half (SU! curly label punch) and the stamp is from SU! Petite Pairs.
I hope you enjoyed visiting my blog today. Be sure and check out all the other Crafty Gals blogs in my right sidebar to see what they created with Heather's great challenge!

Until next time...
Blessings...

Melina

Sunday Challenge and 25 Days of Christmas Creations Day 19

Hello! Can you believe it is only 1 week until Christmas?! Are you ready?! :0
Today is the 19th day of my 25 days of Christmas Event. It is also a Sunday Challenge over on SCS with my blog group, The Paper Princesses. AnnMarie challenged us to make a center step card. Now, I'm no good at different fold cards. I mess them up every time. I messed this one up too, but I just covered it up. Maybe you won't see!............

I used the Jolly Holiday dsp on the River Rock base. I made the wreath with the delicate doily's stamp set stamped in Garden Green ink then I layered a couple circles on top with the sentiment from Petite Pairs.
I added a white scallop border and more garden green c/s on bottom. Then, I used some beautiful ribbon I got at Hobby Lobby a couple weeks ago. It was 50% off! I also got a roll of white just like it. The glittery accents are so pretty in real life. The pic doesn't do it justice.

Here's what a done to the inside.

...and here's the wreath up close and a little closer on the ribbon too. Be sure and check out the other Paper Princesses Blogs'. They are listed in my left side bar.
I do hope you have blessed Sunday!
Until next time...
Blessings...

Melina

25 Days of Christmas Creations Day 18

Howdy! Welcome to Day 18 of my 25 Days of Christmas Creations event. (Nov. 30th post will let you know what all the hoop la is about) I'm so glad you stopped by. Have you got all your shopping done? How about about your baking? To tell you the truth, I've been baking since the 5th....trying new things and seeing what I want to give to neighbors, teachers and church folks.
Maybe some of these tags will be part of the packaging for my baked goods this year.

Now, I must say, this reindeer is tooooo cute! I got the layout for him from AnnMarie! Hiya! Thanks girl! She had a small oval for his muzzle and that looked a lot better but I don't have a small oval punch.
I also added his little tongue and mouth.

Supplies: Owl punch, 3/4" circle punch, circle punch from Itty Bitty punch pack, snowflake punch and white gel pen (oh an tag cut with Cricut)

...and here's my goofy looking Santa! He reminds me of the "Charlie" in the box on the Rudolf special "Island of Misfit Toys".

His "go tee" is made with the bits off the stocking punch. His hat and long part of his beard is made with the oval punch. The brim of his hat is also made with the stocking top (cut in half) off the stocking punch. The pom pom is the end of a q-tip.

Have a great day!
Until next time...
Blessings...

Melina

25 Days of Christmas Creations Day 16

Welcome to Day 16 of my 25 Days of Christmas Creations here at the Crafty Scrapper! Thanks so much for visiting, I appreciate it! (check out my post from Nov. 30th to see what all the hoop la is all about)
Okay, there is a warning for this card before you see it up close. You will be chilled. *giggle*

This card was made for a challenge over on SCS. The theme was "Baby, it's cold outside". The tree is by Verve. The sky is bashful blue with some craft white clouds (made with a q-tip) and some white gel pen winds. The snow drifts are glistened with dazzling details.
I love all the white space on this card and the middle panel having all the pizzazz. :)
Have a good one!
Until next time...
Blessings...

Melina