Are you the WINNER????

WINNER????

 

 

Now… Onto the WINNERS!!!

We hope you had a great time too and are thrilled to announce the winners or our giveaways!

Speech Bubbles Mini Stamp Set: Jaratzed

Speech Bubbles Large Stamp Set: Laura (L J Dogsmom)

Sign Language Sentiments Stamp Set: Krista

$10 gift certificate for Joann’s: Janis

$10 gift certificate for Joann’s: Shaunda

Please be sure to contact Melissa within 2 days or your prize will be forfeited!

 

Thank you for coming to our blog hop! Hope you enjoy the next one!

 

 

 



So Excited For This Release!

I am so excited for this release!

Hi! My name is Brandie and I am sure you know that I am a Creative Crew Team member for A Creative Journey with Melissa. You should have just come here from Alena.  If you didn’t and you would like to start at the beginning of the hop here with Melissa, you could win one of five prizes!

I am so excited to be able to share these creations with you today. I am highlighting Speech Bubbles Large Stamp Set & Weather Related Stamp Set for this blog. Please be sure to hop along to each participant and follow the directions that they have posted for this hop. If you do, you will be entered to win one of five prizes. All directions must be followed to be eligible to win.

Giveaways
Speech Bubbles Mini Stamp Set
Speech Bubbles Large Stamp Set
Sign Language Sentiments Stamp Set
$10 gift certificate for Joann’s- 2 AVAILABLE!!!!


Thank you for visiting and please be sure to hop along to all of our other amazingly talented Creative Crew Team Members and comment on each blog following their directions correctly. Contest ends Friday at 8 PM. Winners will be announced on Saturday here http://ACreativeJourneywithMelissa.com/and-the-winners-are/ This post will not be live until Saturday.

**Please comment on what is your favorite season below and then hope on to Rhoda!**

Here are my projects & stamp sets! I hope they inspire you as well!

 

Here is Speech Bubbles Large

 

 



I thought this stamp set would only be good for layouts. Boy was I wrong it is great for cards and tags too! Take a peak!

 

This birthday card I was inspired by a You Tube video from Melissa. Check it out HERE!

 

The circles are stamped from this set as well as the rectangle speech bubble.

Close up of the circles. Can you see the star embossing?

Close up of the speech bubble and another view of the circle and star embossing.

 

 It is a really easy card and you can change it up to make it yours for sure! Also all of these pieces is from my scraps!

***

 

My next project was a really cute gift tag worthy for any Super Hero!

 

This speech bubble adds dimension with its shape. I feel it adds a touch of movement too.

 

I just love this paper from Close To My Heart. I think the bear from the Cricut Teddy Bears on Parade worked great with this! The Speech Bubble is really cute and I think goes well with the Super Hero theme. The "#1" is also from A Creative Journey with Melissa. It is Everyday Alphabet Outline Symbols & Numbers.

***

 

My last project for this stamp set is featuring one of my nephews Ryder. I love this little guy. These pictures are a few years old 2009. His dad outfitted his Power Wheels!

 

 

 

The "P" "O" "W" is stamped from Everyday Alphabet Outline Upper & Lower Case which is a great set and really universal. It is one of my go to sets.

***

 

 

My next stamp set has already been released. It is Weather Related. Some of my projects have already been released but not on my Blog.

 

 

 

My first project, that was not featured yet, was my niece (Ryder's sister) Izzy. She was about 2 at the time and we had her for the weekend. She loved playing on our trampoline.

 

 

Isn't it adorable that close up of her face? I colored in the sun with my Wink pen as well as her letters for her name. Again I used the Everyday Alphabet Outline Upper & Lower Case. Told you I love this set.

 

My next project is using my paper I bought from HSN & I am sure you can tell it is by Teresa Collins! Seriously her paper is so yummy!

 

The umbrella and the raindrops are both from the stamp set. The raindrops are with CTMH Midnight ink and the Umbrella was colored in with Chameleon pen blue. All that color is from one pen! 

 

The umbrella, rain drops & "Under the weather?" is all from the stamp set. I colored in the umbrella using my Chameleon Pens. I only used two of the colors the grey and the blue!

***

 

My next project is a cute Sunshine card!

 

 

This paper is from Kaisercraft. Isn't it just yummy???? The black and yellow cardstock is just from my scrap pile. I stamped the sun on two different sheets of paper...the yellow cardstock and the grey and white. I then cut the center out of the grey and white and put it in the center of the cut out yellow sun.

***

Here is the blog hop order:

Melissa

Alena

**Brandie**You are here

**Rhoda**NEXT

Haidee

 

 

So here are my 2 stamp set projects. Take a real good look at A Creative Journey with Melissa web site. It is a great site for inspiration and projects. Also all her stamps are designed by her and made in the USA! The stamps are easy to use and no "seasoning" them. Just stamp! Nice, clear and beautiful!

 

 

Always,

 

Brans

Winner is...

Winner is...

Winner of this amazing stamp set, Photo Booth Fun, by A Creative Journey with Melissa is....




TRACY BUTLER!!!!!

Photo Booth Fun

 

 

Please click on Melissa's link above and give her your info so she can send you your stamp set!

Contest!!!!

Scroll down to "Love This Release". Read it and comment your answer under it. You have until tomorrow night. You will win this stamp set Photo Booth Fun:

If you go to A Creative Journey with Melissa by tomorrow you can use this coupon code for 10% off...INCLUDING the NEW product!

Also by going to A Creative Journey with Melissa you can have the blog links to all the other designers and see all of their work. I know we all hope to inspire one person!


Always,

Brans

Technical Difficulties works for you!!!!

There was an error with A Creative Journey with Melissa today. Guess what? It pays for you!!! Get 10% off for your troubles with this coupon code: OOPS !!!!

https://www.facebook.com/146653672077197/photos/a.417352515007310.92912.146653672077197/784214354987789/?type=1&fref=nf

Sneak Peak Release and How To!

Such a simple and creative way to use your left over scraps! Pull out those punches ladies!!!! Also if you watch you will see a sneak peak of Melissa's release on Wednesday with A Creative Journey with Melissa as well as you can see a block with the etching in it!

http://acreativejourneywithmelissa.com/use-your-paper-scraps-favorite-embossing-folder-make-quick-and-easy-cards/


Remember that the new release is THIS Wednesday!


Always,

Brans

Love This Release!!!

How can I say that Melissa has done it again and still feel excited???? Well she has!!! Seriously these new stamps are amazing from A Creative Journey with Melissa! You need to check out her new website as well. Easy to use. Lots of new products including blocks with grids at a price that will beat any Big Store coupons! I was blessed enough to be able to work with Photo Booth Fun and Hello Spring! Want to see how you can win Photo Booth Fun? No blog hopping. Just read this blog and you will find out how!

They are both clearly different stamp sets and are so versatile! Here is Photo Booth Fun

Yeah a PHOTO BOOTH STAMP SET!!!!!!! Seriously almost every kid party, wedding, and mall has photo booths or set up area like a photo booth! There are lots of props to create some fun memories and this stamp captures it all! So I made three projects with it! One was a photo booth from a wedding we went to for my husband's cousins Jacque and Franco. It was the first wedding we had gone to with a photo booth. They had lots of hats, glasses, ties etc! My husband who HATES having his picture taken actually did it with me! So did his sister Jenny! We loved it. I hope you like the layout!

With this layout I used ink from Close To My Heart: Black, Flaxen (goldish color), Glacier (blueish color), and Grey Wool. The gold ribbon came from my ribbon stash..just random. The gold splatter was from Lindys Stamp Gang Glitz Spray: Cactus Gold. Isn't it beautiful???? I took a close up of the words from an old dictionary. It has definitions for wedding and wedding ring etc!  Isn't that cute???

My next project was a fun fun one from another Photo Booth at the New York New York Hotel in Las Vegas. We are not those peeps that take the kids to Vegas, but the last two years my daughter's high school has made the Jamz Nationals. This year they placed 5th. We were so proud of our small school and their big team especially since they had a last minute injury that took out one of their key squad members. Here is a picture of the team:

Mine is middle row and far right. She is the co-captain
 

We also took our 12 year old son with us. He has never been to Las Vegas and was in awe of everything. His ADHD was in overload. While in NYNY we saw a photo booth! I knew I had this stamp set and so wanted to make a page a photo booth from our trip. Hope you like it too!

I used random solid paper and the star paper is from DCWV Rock in Roll that I received the whole set a few years ago from my friend Sandy (who is a design team member too)! I think it was perfect. I love all the words and phrases that I was able to use from this set as well as the swirls that came with it too!

Ok I need help with my exclamation marks today!

To win this stamp set...describe a layout, card, PL, altered art etc that you would use this stamp set. Contest ends Saturday March 14th 12:01 am

Here is my fun and really easy stamped card that I think is so cute! I used the same ink colors as the Photo Booth Fun layout.

Isn't it so cute???? Mustaches are still so in and I think if you do it in a creative way you can make it really sophisticated too.

The next set is Hello Spring! I really loved this set cause it let me try out a new toy. I bought the new alcohol pens Chameleon Pens. They are so cool cause you only need one pen to get a zillion shades. Here is a how to video made by them that can be found on my Pintrest page. Here is the stamp set!

So to play I stamped a bunch of the same images and colored colored and colored! I love the shading differences. All you have to do is figure out where you want your light to be. I think you can see it more in my carrots and bunny. The rest is mainly colored solid.

Here is my first project. Everyone needs a cute Easter card!

My second project is a fun little treat bag!

The paper I used for these layouts are from Echo Park line Happy Easter. This was two sided paper Easter Words and used both sides. Do you like the "Hello" "Chickadee"? Isn't that cute????

My next two projects are done on a little canvas. I thought it would be fun to make something I can either put out or hang up.

Here is the first one:

What do you think??? Well here is the second one. Please realize that I stamped on canvas that has no structure behind it. So it is not as clear of a stamped image as I always get with A Creative Journey with Melissa stamps. All other images of words stamped here was 1st time stamped. No "seasoning" required with Melissa's stamps. I always suggest you stamp on a nice solid surface with all stamps for nice clear images. If you are on one of those plastic tables that have give to them...use a mouse pad underneath. It will help! Now that I gave you a warning here is the second project on canvas:

Isn't it cute???? I had painted the branches and just straight colored in the bird, nest and eggs. No light or shading in on them.

Now for a few more releases!!!!



Spring and Summer Holiday Celebrations

 





Weather Related

 



 

 

They are so cute! I can not wait to hopefully create with these as well!

 

Always,

Brans

New Website! New Release! MORE FUN!

I am so excited!!! Melissa has revamped her website A Creative Journey with Melissa! You will love the new look! You will find tutorials being added, easier shopping and great ideas for your products to get those creative juices a flowing! Check it out now for some awesome specials and check it out Wednesday for the new product release! I just turned in 6 projects that were so easy to do! So also check out this Blog on Wednesday for those designs as well as my Facebook Page Brans Crafts ! I created a few projects with my brand new Chameleon Pens! So glad you could stop by!

Cant change it up Thursday

I'm sorry to post that I have been sick this week. Today I am not going to yoga cause I felt horrible after last week and could barely participate. So I hope you all take your vitamins and use your hand sanitizer!

Change It Up Thursday

Sorry I am so late posting today! Today was jammed packed! I took my kiddo to school and my friends kiddo cause she is sick. Hey I try to help when I can! So I did go to my yoga today but did not go Saturday. My daughter's fundraiser really needed me there. Then Tuesday my yoga instructor was sick with the flu. So I was lucky that she felt better today! So I finally was able to get to do yoga! It was a wonderful stretch and really pushed me. I rushed home after and took a quick shower and then work and then basketball practice for our son. My Thursdays are packed!!!!! So for change it up I wanted to point out that I am still caffeine free and soda free!

So my change it up??? Instead of a sandwich or fast food for lunch and dinner I have had salads this week. I add chicken, spinach salad and frozen corn with balsamic vinegar dressing :-)

So what have you done this week????

I really need to scrapbook. Maybe Sunday????


Always,
Brans

OUCH!

So today I am in sooooooo much pain! I guess it is to be expected but I had no pain after Tuesdays class but now after Thursday. UGH! I can not stop though. I will be going to GASP two yoga classes on Saturday! I will be taking beginning yoga and gentle yoga at One Core in Rosamond, CA. Saturday classes are taught by someone else. So I have a bit of anxiety. I hate new things! Anyone else?

Have you tried any new things lately? It could be anything from trying a new technique with scrapbooking? New dish you cooked?

So I am still no soda and caffeine and only drank water yesterday! Lots and lots and lots of water. Someone recommended to try at night to get a large container of water with mint, lemon and cucumber. Might need to try that ASAP! I will take a picture and post!

1st CIUT

Change It Up Thursday (CIUT)

 

 

So I have made some life choices in the last two months to better myself and take better choices of my body. I believe on Thursdays I will let you know how my change for my life and body are going. I don't like to weigh myself. I like to go off of how my clothes are fitting. Makes us girls feel much better than a number! Well let me give you a little backstory. I used to be really skinny. I mean too skinny. At 19 I was 5'8" and 105 lbs. I was healthy and could eat anything.

 

After my two girls I kept 10 lbs each. It looked good on me. Then the boy came. Darn those boys! LOL! I kept 20 lbs from him. Also after baby #2 I ended up have horrible Endometriosis and already suffering from Fibromyalgia but undiagnosed. So 6 months after baby #3 was born I chose to have a full hysterectomy. A great decision but not for my weight.

 

 

My body hated me after my surgery. I am now at 170 lbs. To boot I have a short torso so it is all in my gut. UGH! My husband is amazing and loves me for me and doesn't care about my size. THANK GOD!

 

A few weeks before Christmas I got the dreaded flu. YUCK! Due to the flu I stopped caffeine. I was not a huge caffeine person. A cup of coffee a day and a coke a day. Figured I already hit the withdraw might as well leave it behind. It was not hard. So I was still drinking sprite until about 1 week before Christmas and stopped that as well. Figured I would be less tempted to have coke if I stopped it all. It was easy! Now my problem. I hate water. I will get back to that in a minute.

 

I asked for a gym membership at a new class oriented gym in my local town for Christmas. I got it! Due to my job and family plans I was not able to go until this past Tuesday. All I want to take is Yoga. Something that is easy on my joints and helps my core. So I took the beginning yoga class. I LOVED LOVED LOVED IT! The instructor was so sweet and cute. She asked if we had any medical issues and I told her I had fibromyalgia. She had it as well and that is why she took up yoga! Kindred spirits! WOO HOO!

 

 

It was a great class. So today I am heading out to it at 10:30 am. Saturday I want to go to the Beginning Yoga and the Gentle Yoga but my daughter has a rummage sale at school during that time. I might still go. She is 17 and I can be there in the morning.

 

 

So water...I seriously can not stand to drink water. It is boring and has no taste. Give me some iced tea and I would be happy. Well I brought a water bottle to my Tuesday class and totally drank the whole thing and then another 2 bottles throughout the day. I knew I should drink lots of water for my muscles so they do not get stiff. Well yesterday I drank another 3 bottles! So I am so happy to keep going with it. Crystal Geyser will be my best friend! No iced tea yesterday at all. I did though have a Starbucks Vanilla Frappe though. LOL. Hey we can't change overnight without a slip here or there.

 

 

Let me stress this is not a New Years Resolution. I started this before New Years. I do not believe that life changes occur overnight. So I am not living my life one day on 12/31 and a different way on 1/1. So if you want to make some changes on your way of life...start today. Do it slowly. You will more likely have success from what I have read. Comment. I want to follow you and your journey as well. Inspire each other!

 

 

Always,

Brans

Loving CHA 2015 Mega Show

So I was ecstatic to be able to go to my second year of CHA Craft and Hobby Association 2015 Mega Show in Orange County CA. Luckily for me I am pretty local. I am about 3 hours away.

Well I started my morning at 3 am. I wanted to look pretty. LOL! Curled my hair, put on makeup and dressed comfy cute...you know the cute jeans with brown boots and an adorable light shimmer light brown shirt. Got in the car and prayed I would not get in another car crash (that was my last year going to CHA). I was so luckily to drive and meet Melissa from A Creative Journey with Melissa. That was an hour of pure HECK driving. Ugh...welcome to California traffic. Once Melissa and I  met up she treated me to some awesome coffee (I am caffeine free for 2 months and soda free for 1 month) and these awesome blueberry soda cakes! So after an hour of me driving...Melissa took over in her car and drove for 2 hours!

We got to the show 1 hour before our classes started. I ended up taking three classes before the floor opened at 11 am and then took a floor class at 3:45 pm. To read about my morning classes please click here.

Once I walked onto the floor I immediately walked to the Teresa Collins booth and the Teresa Collins ScrapBox booth right next door. I am inspired that Teresa is bringing back acetate and vellum but making it new and fresh. This is not your 2002 acetate trust me! Expect her signature gold in her lines. You will not be disappointed. Now for my dream!!!! The ScrapBox designed by Teresa! It is stunning! It has a decorative topper, beautiful clean white, interchangeable front glass to put your own material or paper or photos in, and her gold touches! Just LOOK LOOK LOOK:

I then saw the most beautiful wings created by tabs from Scrapbook Adhesive. They are truly stunning!

Next I was drawn to CN Crafts AKA Chickaniddy. I am obsessed with their Yippee line. Some of my favorite papers is Picnic Party and Walking on Sunshine. Their enamel shapes with this line is so adorable! They are very price friendly!

While at CHA it is inevitable that you run into someone that you know. Usually that someone is due to the industry. Well I was apart of an amazing scrapbook group for over 2 years about 10 years ago. We met once a week and cropped, drank wine, and did swaps to create kits. We shared kids birthdays and created life long friendships. Since I moved 1 1/2 hours away out of Los Angeles I don't get to see them very much. I was so surprised to see Lea Oliver! She is as beautiful as ever and retirement looks good on her!

I soon stumbled upon a stunning display. If you watched Maleficent you knew you needed to look at this display and booth. The display was by Cousin and I was drawn into the only jewelry booth at the whole show.

So the group I spoke of above gave me a bit of a nick name. They called me the "Ribbon Wh*re"! Seriously they did! So when I say the May Arts Ribbon I almost fainted!!!! They had this one line that I was drawn to. It looked like a patterned dyed stretched burlap. Then I touched it. It was soft and moldable. Came in about 8 colors but someone else was obsessing about them too so I don't have all the colors in this picture.

So the booth with the Dear Lizzy line just made me happy! It was packed inside...DUH so I was going to go back later and did not get a chance. So sad :-(

The next booth I ran into was the one that contained the Imaginise Milk Paint. Doesn't it look beautiful? My creative juices were so flowing seeing these paint powders!

Next came one of my favorite booths...I am officially obsessed with Crate Paper and their Craft Market line. The designer Maggie Holmes is beautiful inside and out. The sales staff was so personable and truly inspired me with all of the coordinating products. Craft Market had some stunning papers. My favorite is some of their specialty paper such as the Gold Glitter Pattern. Their muslin bags would be so cute to decorate with their products for gift tags etc. Hope to touch this line soon on my scrapbook table!

So next booth is one of the most colorful booths at CHA and always is. Love Love Love the Doodle Bug Booth. They had three sets of paper lines that I was inspired to use. Especially since they are Spring and Summer style and it has been in the teens at night in my home!

Another beautiful and color filled booth is Echo Park. I normally ask before I take a picture. I think this is their designs and artwork and hate when someone thinks it is ok to "steal" that. So I forgot and took a picture. Their rep said excuse me mam no pictures. I started apologizing and she started laughing. She was messing with me and I loved it! She read me so well! LOL! Their Happy Easter by Laura Passage & Nicole Seitler as well as Soak Up The Sun by Alisha Gordon made me want to scrapbook that exact moment!

So while waiting in line for food...BTW I had a great healthy sandwich LOL...we realized that Joy MacDonall was behind us! She was the host of the PBS show Crafting at the Spotted Canary! She is so beautiful and flipping funny! The person you saw on TV is the person you get while waiting in line for food!

One of the last booths I spent time in was the G45 Booth. One thing about the G45 booth is you always get an experience. They even have their reps dress up!

A few other booths that I did not take pictures of but adored and had great conversations at:

I loved the Modge Podge booth. Those two are hysterical and so creative! I made a cute jar that I am going to finish and give to my daughter Julia. It will look beautiful in her old world inspired Paris room.

The next one was Pink Paislee. I loved their paper and cute embossing folders with Citrus Bliss. Only thing I wish is that they did an embossing folder of the flamingo!

The Deco Art booth was inspiring and I was able to play with the Metallic Lustre. It was great! You can use stiff brushes with it or even you GASP fingers! You can put it on thick to cover an ugly paper or light to enhance a beautiful paper! I just love it!

Paper Wizard was so great. I just love their theme kits. I especially love that they have Cheer stuff! What is great is that it is a family run company. You do not see that often anymore.

The Sizzix booth is awesome of course! They had a great MC with lots of Scrapbook stars!

Scrapbook Customs was awesome too. I have actually received product from them recently with my daughter's high school for papers!

Last but not least is the Martha Stewart booth. It was lots of fun. I made a cute mini book decorated cover with her stencils and paint. I have never seen a better stencil than hers.

My last class was one on the floor at the end of our day. It was with Chameleon Pens. Oh wow I love love love these pens. Each pen does about 10 hues. So each pen is about $6 and the big set with 20 pens is $99. With other pens each pen is a hue so that would be $8 a pen (minimum) x 10 hues than x 20 pens! That would be a minimum of $800 for the same effect with a lot of training. These are so easy! I did a leaf with finding my light in 1 minute! BTW she did that hair in 1 minute! Here are a few pictures.

So I hope I was able to get you excited for the new products coming out in your local family owned scrapbook stores.

Always,

Brans