It's getting close to Mother's Day...

Since Mother's Day is coming up soon, I figured I would go ahead and get my mom's card made. That is a huge accomplishment because ususally I'm the world's biggest procrastinator! Here's the finished card:

I had so much fun making this card! Card making is something I love to do, but I often find myself stumped when trying to come up with layout and design ideas. This one came together just the way I had pictured in my mind.

The solid purple border was shaped using a Martha Stewart scalloped lace border punch. I used the Art Philosophy cartridge for the rest of the die cuts. Here's a list of all the AP cuts that I made:
The frame at the top of the card is <shape2> and decorative layer from page 36 cut at 1.5".
The green vine is the font layer of <tab2> on page 58 cut at 3.5".
The large flower is <flower8> from page 50 cut at 1", .75", and .5", layered together and secured with a brad. The two smaller flowers are also <flower8> cut at .5" and a tiny pearl (Martha Stewart) was added to the center of each flower.
The butterfly is <butterfly1> and layer from page 41 cut at 1". I added Cotton Candy Stickles to the pink layer of the butterfly and used tiny pink MS pearls on the butterfly's body. This card is a great one to make to use up some of those scraps! All of the AP cuts were made from scraps.
I used a Happy Mother's Day rub on from 3 Birds on the frame and added a Martha Stewart gingham bow for an accent then attached it to the card with pop dots. Here's a close up:

I'm entering this card in several challenges:
*April card making challenge in Crafty Cricut Swaps Facebook group: Use purple, a Cricut cut, &
  ribbon
*Craft-e Corner's Mother's Day contest to win a Mother's Day Bouquet cartridge
*Hiding In My Craft Room #93 Super Scraps Saturday

I hope you like this project! Have a great crafting day!
~Melissa~

Birthday Card

Here's a quick birthday card I made for my aunt...

I used a A2 notecard base from The Paper Studio, DCWV  "Happy Birthday" patterned paper, white and pink cardstock, ribbon, pop dots, and a birthday cake rub on from 3 Birds.

I trimmed up some pink cardstock to make a mat for the patterned paper then adhered the Happy Birthday paper to the mat, added a sheer pink ribbon to the bottom, and adhered to the A2 card base. I used the Art Philosophy cartridge to cut <square3> in white and the layer in pink at 2.25". I added the birthday cake rub on to the white square and then glued the pink layer on. I attached the finished square to the front of the card using pop dots to give a little extra dimension. That's it! This project took about 15 minutes to complete. Easy peasy!

Have a great crafting day!
~Melissa~

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope all my crafty friends are having a great Valentine's Day! Today I made a quick and easy gift box to put my hubby's gift in. I waited until today to make it...eeekkkk! I'm such a procrastinator-but I got it finished just in time. :-) I love how this turned out. And the best part? This cute little box was made using mostly scraps from my paper stash! Everyone has piles and piles of paper scraps, right? I can't be the only one! lol

Not sure why my photo does not show the entire thing...on my camera, you can see the whole box. Sigh...technical difficulties... The pillow-box was cut from Art Philosophy (page 28, Font Layer + Shift). I used a red sheet of 8.5x11 cardstock and used the fit to page option. I can't remember how large it cut at...I should have written that down! I trimmed up an odd shaped scrap of the True Love printed paper (by Studio G) to fit the front of the box. Then I cut several banners from page 29 of the AP cartridge (<Banner2> in assorted sizes ranging from 1.5" up to 2.5") using scraps I had left from my Valentine's mailbox project (click here to see that project). Finally, I cut  the hearts from Create a Critter 2 on page 30, Accessory (scalloped heart) and Accessory+Shift (hearts) at 3.25". I also cut an additional scalloped heart in dark pink at 3.5" to make a shadow. I assembled the heart, and glued the banners in staggered layers to the front of the box. I used some Doodlebug Designs Valentine twine (say that 3 times fast! lol) to wrap around the box, then used pop dots to adhere the heart to the box. Super easy!

And you may be wondering what was the gift inside...well, my husband plays guitar so I thought it would be a great idea to get him a unique guitar pick. I found a wonderful shop on Etsy called Carrie's Custom Designs that sells hand stamped jewelry and other gifts. She stamps all kinds of cool stuff - including guitar picks. Here's is my custom created guitar pick that Carrie made. It's awesome!

My hubby loved his new guitar pick! If you need a unique gift, go check out Carrie's Etsy shop!

I'm linking my gift box project up on the following blogs:
Hiding In My Craft Room: #84 Super Scraps Saturday
Exploring Cricut: Be My Valentine
Fantabulous Cricut: #148 Be My Valentine

Have a great evening, friends!
~Melissa~

Valentine's Day Mailbox

Here's a Valentine's mailbox I made for my daughter to use at her school Valentine exchange. I used the Lovestruck cartridge for this project.

I used the fit to page option on a 12x12 piece of cardstock. The image cut at 11.5". After assembled, the mailbox is 3" tall and 4.75" long. Just big enough to fit Valentine cards! I used a solid pink piece of cardstock to cut the mailbox and flag, then after I assembled the mailbox, I cut pieces of patterned paper to fit all the sides of the mailbox. I attached the flag with a brad so the flag will raise and lower. Finally, I stamped my daughter's name on a heart shaped die cut and adhered it to the mailbox door.

I'm linking up at Exploring Cricut's Be My Valentine challenge. I hope you have enjoyed this project!

Have a great crafting day!
~Melissa~

Christmas Treat Bags

Tomorrow is my daughter's Christmas party at school, so I thought it would be fun if I sent some treat bags for her classmates. I was in a hurry (because I'm a HUGE procrastinator, and waited until today to make them...lol!) so I didn't embellish them as much as I would have liked, but they still are cute!

This was a super easy project to make, which is good because I needed a lot of them! I started with some 4x6 treat bags that I picked up at Michael's and filled them with 5 Hershey Kisses and 2 mini candy canes (plenty of sugar for a 4 year old!). While I was filling the bags, I had my Cricut cutting the toppers and oval labels. Both cuts are from Art Philosophy. The topper is <Square4> cut at 4 inches. I love the paper I used...it is an 8.5x11" stack from Hobby Lobby called Christmas Basics - such pretty patterns! I could get 4 topper cuts on each sheet, so I used several designs from the stack. I scored each topper in the center to make them easier to fold over and get them straight. The ovals are <Oval1> cut at 1.5 inches. I stamped "Merry Christmas" with a Studio G stamp I found in the dollar bin at Wal-Mart. Then all that was left was the assembly. I folded the tops of the treat bags over (these were the twist tie kind, not the ziplocks) and then folded a topper over that and stapled it on. I used my atg to attach the ovals so it would cover up the staples. Easy peasy!

I hope you liked today's project! I'm linking this up on Exploring Cricut's "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" Challenge.

Happy Crafting!
~Melissa~

Baby, It's Cold Outside Card

Happy Friday! Today I have a super cute card using one of my favorite cartridges...Doodlecharms! Isn't the snowman adorable?!?!

I absolutely *love* how this card turned out! I decided to experiment with some non-traditional Christmas card colors because I bought a 6x6 stack of fun Christmas paper that had this sheet of brown with multi color snowflakes on it. I thought it was cute but I had no idea what I could use it for, so I challenged myself to use it on a card. I started with a blank brown card, then layered a ice blue cardstock and then the brown snowflake paper with a white ribbon wrapped around both layers. I cut the snowman and shadow from the Doodlecharms cartridge at 3.25" and assembled all the layers. I added some blue rhinestone bling for his buttons and put him on an action wobble. I hand cut the 'flag' piece and stamped 'baby it's cold outside' (from Pink by Design Christmas Wishes set) in chocolate brown ink. I also inked the edges then added some faux stitching with a white gel pen on the blue layer and on the flag. The flag piece is attached with pop dots to give some dimension.

I hope you like today's card! I'm linking this up on Exploring Cricut's Christmas Card Challenge. Have a good weekend everybody!
~Melissa~

JOY Christmas Cards

I had a dear friend ask me to make her some simple Christmas cards with snowflakes on them, so here's what I came up with:

These cards give the illusion of a lot of detail work with all those snowflakes in the background (so says my hubby), but they are very easy! I used blue cardstock with white core and embossed it with a snowflake folder in my Cuttlebug. I could have left it like it was, but I decided to raid my hubby's workshop to "borrow" one of his sanding blocks. I like the sanded look so much that he may not get his sanding block back now! Then I tied some pretty silver shimmery ribbon to the front and attached this to a plain white card base (from those jumbo packs at Hobby Lobby...buy them when they have The Paper Studio items half price, and stock up!!!). I cut the J and the Y from the Once Upon a Princess cartridge at 3.5" and the snowflake O is from Create a Critter 2 cut at 3.5". I glued all the letters on and placed a blue jewel in the center of the snowflake for a finishing touch. I stamped the inside with a Pink By Design stamp from the Christmas Wishes set that says, "Wishing you sparkle, Wishing you cheer, For a bright Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year".  My friend liked the sample, so I made her 24 more. :-)

I'm linking this project up on Hiding In My Craft Room's Blue Christmas Challenge and on Exploring Cricut's Christmas Card Challenge.

Another Christmas card project with be posted tomorrow, be sure to stop by and check it out!
~Melissa~