Lovin' My Handmade Journal!

Hello everyone!

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog.

I have a journal to share with you today.

This was our January challenge at the Scrapbooking with M.E. Boutique on FB.

This was the first time I ever used the Zutter Bind it All. I'm so behind! :)

This is a "from scratch" journal. The covers are covered chipboard.

I used the Echo Park, Love Story collection. It's an older collection but one of my favorites that EP has ever come out with. I'm hoarding my leftovers. :)

 There are 3 dividers inside with 10 sheets of white card stock pages in between. Here's the front and back of the first divider. Each divider has 2 pockets, on each side and a matching tab at the top.

 Here is the 2nd divider, front and back.

 and on to the 3rd divider, front and back and the back inside cover. The inside cover also has 2 pockets with lots of little tags tucked away in them :)

And lastly, the back cover.

I loved making this journal.

Please be sure to check out my YouTube video I made showing all the details.

You can find it here:

http://youtu.be/f0H5jph4YgM

I am also entering my journal at The Pink Elephant ~ Challenge #234

Until next time...

Blessings...

Melina

It's All About Love!

The Darlings are Dueling again! Yep! It's time to see us duel!

Sweet P is the Dazzlers hostess this round.

She and Judy (Divas hostess) came up with:

It's All About Love

for our theme. :)

Sweet P outdid herself with this cute kit.

Here's what I made:

I LOVE the papers Sweet P sent! Gorgeous colors!

They went perfect with my very vanilla card base and cherry cobbler card stock piece!

Here's the inside.

I made this card for the challenge of course, but I also made it for my hubby.

This is his Valentine's card. :)

He is a huge Crimson Tide (Alabama College football) fan so the color in this card, in the kit, fit him to a tee! Thanks Sweet P!

Be sure and check out the other Darlings creations. Their blog links are located in my left sidebar.

Thanks for stopping by!

Until next time...

Blessings...

Melina

Kit ingredients:

Designer Papers from My Mind’s Eye (Love Me) : 'Hearts' 

Pinecone Press (Be Mine) : 'Smoochie' and 'Checkmate'

Ribbon from Recollections (Michaels): red glitter; pink glitter; red and white satin

Divine Twine: pink, white and red twine floss

Heart Wood Clip: ' Celebrate It' (Michaels)

Pink bling hearts baubles (Michaels)

Prima flowers -from my stash-

Various heart brads -from my stash-

1/2" Epoxy Brads 'Sending Love' from SU

Buttons - from my stash-

Stamped images and sentiments, all from SU! : 'Summer by the Sea' ; Circle sentiment : 'Riveting'

A Valentine that Slipped through the Cracks! hahaha

Hello Ladies!

It's the first of the week again....let's make the best of it! :)

I was getting a new post ready today and I found this picture! Whoops! I missed getting it on my blog before Valentine's Day! Oh well, hope you are okay looking at another "Love" themed card :)

I used the SU! Love wheel. I don't use the wheels a lot b/c I can't run a straight line! LOL!

I hope you had a great "Sweetheart" day last week.

Until next time...

Blessings...

Melina

Sooooooo Much Love!

Hi friends!

Here's a card I made the other night. It's another one that we made at the Valentine's Class a couple weeks ago.

I just love that border punch by SU! I've been using it a lot! Remember the itty bitty buttons? There's one of them on the card. That thing was soooo hard to thread! giggle

Another punch I'm using a lot...the 3 heart punch. Such cuteness it adds to cards! Wow, now that I look at this card.....it's full of punched goodness! :)

I hope you enjoyed my post. Have a great day!

Challenges:

Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenge #125

I'm glad the Lord "loves me much"! :~)

Until next time...

Blessings...

Melina

Crafty Gals February Challenge!

Hi!

It's time again for the Crafty Gals (Blog Group) challenge.

Lela is our hostess this month. Here is her challenge:

February is the month of LOVE and what could be better than showing off our idea of a "ReCipE for A VaLEntiNE". Last year DH made me chocolate dipped strawberries. He found the recipe on-line and they were fabulous. It was wonderful but a surprise as usually he gets me roses. What makes the perfect VaLEntiNE surprise? Is it candy, flowers, love notes? Let's see your ReCipE for sharing LOVE. Don't forget to add a Heart or 2 on our project.

So, I drew from that....this card:

I remembered this little notebook stamp I had made by Verve. The "u" I cut with my Cricut. I haven't used fiber in a very long time. I like the look of it with this card. I hope you like my "recipe" :)

Please visit all my other Crafty Gals friends! Their blogs are listed in my left sidebar.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Until next time...

Blessings...

Melina

Gooshy, Mooshy, Love :-)

By the time the 14th comes, I'm gonna be tired of making Valentine's cards, LOL

That's how I felt at Christmas too. I make so many things way before the holiday comes that when it finally does get here....well.

Now, don't think for a moment that I don't enjoy the holidays. I just wish there was a way for me to get my cards for them done the night before them all so they would be nice and fresh events! hahahahaha (never gonna happen).

Here's a card for a sweetie on my list...

This is also a project I did with the ladies last Friday at my class. The bottom is rolled with a SU! wheel. Those things can be tricky. The sentiment is from the SU! set Petite Pairs.

Thanks for visiting today! Have a good one :)

Until next time...

Blessings...

Melina

{HEART} U

Hello everyone!

Happy first day of February! Are you in a "loving" mood yet? *giggle*

Maybe some of my "loving" creations will give you inspiration this month!

This is a 2, 4, 6, 8 box. I made these with some ladies the other night. They had never made a treat box. I do believe they enjoyed it. 

I decorated it very simply with scrap c/s. I used the 3 heart punch from SU! and then cut the "u" with the cricut. I filled them with jolly ranchers. They held quite a few...great for any little sweetie on your Valentine's list!
This little box also goes along with The Little Red Wagon Challenge "Valentine's Day or Love" 
...and the Tuesday Throwdown Challenge "Use Hearts"

Until next time...

Blessings...

Melina

Crafters of Faith Mini Challenge

Hi everyone! 

Are you having a great weekend so far? I hope so.

The Crafters of Faith (blog group over on SCS) are having a mini challenge. Our fearless leader Kelly, Hi sweetie, assigned each of us someone in the group. We were to give that someone a color challenge, at least 3 colors. Liz, over at Right Brain Madness, gave me the colors, Red, White and Black! She is wonderful b/c that is a favorite combo of mine! Here's what I came up with...

I love Nature stamps and Silhouette Sentiments (retired hostess set from SU) is a favorite meal of mine. I haven't inked it up in a while. I'm glad I went with it here.

My Moon turned out a lot better than I expected. I used a sponge dauber inked in black and a white gel pen for the details.

Until next time...

Blessings...

Melina

supplies:

Word Play and Silhouette Sentiments stamps

3 heart & circle punches

basic black and real red inks

white, basic black and real red c/s

real red satin ribbon and basic black grosgrain ribbon

We're Dueling Again!

That's right! The Dueling Darlings are at it again! We're going another round :)

April C. sent out this month's kit and wow, what a cute one it was. There were all kinds of Valentine"y" papers, black glittery c/s, mirror c/s, all kinds of ribbons and pearls and images and sentiments and, and, and......... You should have seen it all! I have plenty of leftovers to do 1 or 2 more cards! Thanks April :)

I went a little punchy crazy with this card...

After I used the mirror c/s as my base....I realized how hard it was going to be to photograph it. Oh well, I tried to stand off to the side, but you still can see my lime green shirt I had on while getting the pic! LOL! I loved the little pom-poms April sent. They were strung on wire so you could turn and line it any way you wanted. With the black glittery paper I used my 3 heart punch. With a couple of the Valentine papers I used my scalloped circle punch. I used the inkpad watercolor technique to color my cherub, ain't he cute?

I hope you get a chance to look at all the other Darlings blogs. They are listed in my left sidebar.

Thanks for visiting today.

Until next time...

Blessings...

Melina

My Quick Valentine

Hello!

Do you have snow where you are? If not, I'd be glad to send you some. We have plenty.....still! Today was the first day I've ventured out since Sunday. Our daughter's school had their first day of class since this storm came through. We don't park in a garage, so, I cleaned off what I could on the windshield. I felt like I was driving a big polar bear! The car was covered in the white stuff. And, of course I had been hearing about black ice all week so I kept looking out for that and driving like a grandma (no offense to all you wonderful grandmothers out there!). Needless to say, I was glad to get back home.

I had a chance to sit down and make a few Valentine cards for some friends today. Here's the simple little cards I came up with...


I love SU!'s Fifth Avenue Floral set. I don't think I'll ever get tired of it.

Supplies:
Paper ~ cherry cobbler, pretty in pink, white card stock
Stamp set ~ Fifth Avenue Floral
Ink ~ cherry cobbler
Accessories ~ pink seam binding, white crochet thread, white button

I do appreciate you stopping by my little blog today!

Until next time...
Blessings...

Melina