Wednesday, November 13, 2013

A Creative Journey with Melissa: Naughty or Nice Stamp Release

I am so pleased and honored to be able to show you an amazing stamp set designed and released by A Creative Journey with Melissa. To have Melissa ask me to be on her design team floored me! I am, what I like to describe, a simple scrapbooker. I do not have a million design elements on a page. I like clean simple lines. So opposite of the trend right now. What is great is that her design team is so different than many I have seen. All of our styles are so different. So I ask that you please check out all of their pages!

Marie Ross-           http://www.justwhistlewhileyouscrap.com/
Karen Bahit -         http://justdoingwhatilikebest.blogspot.com/
Sandy Bauman -    http://creationsbysandyb.blogspot.com
Monica Edwards -  http://scraps2treasure.blogspot.com/
Brandie Partello -   http://justapieceofmebrans.blogspot.com/
Rhoda Sorensen -  http://rockpaperscissorsandscrap.blogspot.com/ 


Well here is the AWESOME stamp set I was assigned! It is Naughty or Nice. Seriously I love this set since it is not the usual Christmas set. It has a little kick to it!. In one week alone I created two different cards and a layout. I have not been inspired like that in a very long time.
 
 
Project #1 Mr. Elf:
So my first card I decided to use the elf bottom :) Now let me point out that there are lots of different uses for that same image...Think Mardi Gras, Wicked Witch Shoes etc etc etc. Whatever inspires you...not just an elf. I did do the literal and designed an elf card which will be my main card for Christmas to mail out.



So with this card I used a bunch of the stamps. I used the smaller buttons, the phrases "So have you been" as well as "Naughty or nice?" and of course Mr. Elf! The paper was from Close To My Heart Believe X7145B. The colors used to color in the red was Holiday Red as well as for "So have you been". The green buttons and "Naughty or nice?" was Sweet Leaf. The blue buttons and stockings were colored in Sky. All being Close To My Heart. The Mr. Elf shoes were colored with Sweet Leaf as well but Zig Wink GL Clear 999 was added over for sparkle!

Here are some close ups:




Project #2 Santa Baby!

I told you I love this stamp set! I ended up doing a double layout of Christmas morning of my kids. My 15 year old (at the time) was mortified that I did the layout for first thing in the morning. LOL! She said "Mom can't you do a later in the day layout when I look cute?". Ummm no I think she looks adorable here. Agree? The kids for years have been asking for their own mini trees. We did not tell them that we got them for them. It was left by Santa of course with their stockings. My oldest (brunette) is Kortney and she just loves pink. So she had a pink tree of course. The middle one (red head) is Julia and a purple fan so duh. LOL! Youngest is Lil Larry and he likes blue. Hard to get a blue tree so he got a bright green with blue ornaments. The layout was from CTMH Reflections Book.



I again used Believe paper pack from CTMH. The red on the Santa stamp is Spectrum Noir due to my child took my red that day and I could not wait for her to get home due to I was too excited! The black is CTMH for the belt. The gold on the buckle is the Zig pens. Buttons are all colored in by CTMH with Zig over. The green outline on the left page is Zig as well.

Here are the closeups with a more detailed description:
I made this faux ribbon by 1/4" x 12" white paper stamped in Holiday Red of "Merry Christmas" and then the stamp of the buttons! :)

Here is a close up with the awesome bling, and cut out buttons from the stamp set.

 
I cut our the Santa after stamping it and coloring it in. The Christmas trees are cut from Artiste Cricut Cartridge


Project #3 Chevron Christmas:


Bo Bunny has an awesome line of papers. This Chevron paper really spoke to me. So I went ahead and trimmed it to 4" x 5 1/2". Then I trimmed the white on the bottom to give the green Chevron as the bottom.



I then used Artiste Cricut Cartridge exclusive to CTMH and cut the CTMH White Daisy cardstock  1.50 and the Core'dinations green cardstock 2.0. I stamped "Someone is comin' to town" and "Are you ready?" with Topiary.
 
Cut 1" strips and folded it accordion style.

Glued under the left corner

Attached them both to a beautiful accordion folded white satin ribbon



 

A Creative Journey with Melissa-Sign Language Alphabet

Melissa, from A Creative Journey with Melissa, is so creative and you need to go get this set because the first time I heard about it I said "Oh my gosh this set I had to have"!!!! You can do soooo much with it! First I wanted to make a Valentine card but thought that was expected. Instead I decided to make a baby shower card and just went with it!!!!





Then I decided to go with the spirit of the season and made two Christmas cards!


Please check out the other design team members creations! They are ubber talented!
Marie Ross-           http://www.justwhistlewhileyouscrap.com/
Karen Bahit -         http://justdoingwhatilikebest.blogspot.com/
Sandy Bauman -    http://creationsbysandyb.blogspot.com
Monica Edwards -  http://scraps2treasure.blogspot.com/
Brandie Partello -   http://justapieceofmebrans.blogspot.com/
Rhoda Sorensen -  http://rockpaperscissorsandscrap.blogspot.com/ 

Thursday, October 17, 2013

FOR A VERY WORTHY CAUSE

Tristen with my two girls



I am very blessed to be the auntie of so many nieces and nephews. My eldest nephew Tristen has Cystic Fibrosis. He was diagnosed at 6 months old. We thank God everyday that he is turning 17 this Saturday. For 10 years my mother in law Terri Skupen has been walking in the CF walks. During that time CFF has been able to isolate the CF gene, improve treatments and getting so close to finding a cure! Many children with CF die before they turn 5 and when he was diagnosed it was almost a death sentence before he would be 10. Now he is turning 17! He skateboards and surfs. He also has 2 afterschool jobs and helps take care of his younger brothers. He is an amazing young man. If you would like to donate to my mother in laws walk this Saturday please click here. Donations can also be made via your Paypal account. Please help my family find a cure and end this horrible disease!

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Hanukkah & Celebrations

Many of you know I have been asked to be on an amazing design team for A Creative Journey with Melissa. I love her quality of stamps as well as the creativity it draws out of me. I am Jewish but we celebrate both holidays (Christmas and Hanukkah) as I did when I was a child as well. I only have to make about 10 Hanukkah cards a year and usually get stumped because there is usually barely anything out for Hanukkah or it all looks like what I already have! When I found out about Melissa's dream to create her own stamp line I said "Please do Hanukkah"! She advised me she was already on it! She asked me to let her know what I was looking for in Hanukkah and Jewish stamp set in general. Ohhh the juices were flowing! Here is the stamp set she came up with!



I love that I can combine Melissa's stamps with Close To My Heart. I knew when I saw the new CTMH catalog what paper I wanted to use for these stamps. There was no doubt there. I chose X7175B Frosted Paper Pack for $9.95. It is so soft and beautiful yet very fashion forward with awesome prints such as the chevron print. My card inspirations came from 9042 Make It from Your Heart Volume 2 $7.95.


My first card is what I like to call "Mazel". Have to thank Andy Cohen from Bravo for making one of my favorite words popular! I used pattern 21 on page 43. The cut out design of the patterned paper is 1 1/4 x 1 1/4" squares. I used the CTMH Z1912 Corner Rounder $7.95. This is probably one of my favorite corner rounders. It is easy to use and has a little catcher below to hold the cut pieces! No little pieces everywhere! The twine is random and of a chocolate color. I stamped Mazel from A Creative Journey with Melissa's stamp set in Z2160 Twilight $5.25. I distressed all of the papers for a more aged look with Z2118 Desert Sand $5.25 using the sponge from Z1298 Texture Tools $9.95 and distressed them by sanding it with Z1294 Sanding Kit $3.50.


My second and third cards are also from the same paper pack. You are going to be like 2nd and 3rd they look the same. They are except one is a Bar Mitzvah card and the other is Bat Mitzvah!!! You never see Bat Mitzvah!!!! Again I went with that lovely patterned paper. I love the chevron print! The words are in Twilight and the Jewish Star is in Z2162 Honey $5.25. The bling is the Z1754 Sparkles Black and Grey Assortment $2.95. They come with 108 pieces of bling for less than $3!!!! I again distressed all the papers with Desert Sand and the Textured Tools Sponge. The design was #28 from Make it From Your Heart Vol 2 page 46.

 

My last card was the Hanukkah card. I just adore this card. It was inspired by pattern #20 on page 42. Ink for the Menorah was Desert Sand. The flames were Honey and the word was from Twilight. I used the corner rounder on the light brown snow flake pattern. The paper that the twine is wrapped around is bumped up with Z1151 3-D Foam Tape $3.95 and you get 2 rolls and 75" per roll in two sizes! NICE! It is not available anymore but if you catch it online or find any in the store it will work. I used the 1772 Glue Dots $7.50 to adhere the word "Hanukkah" to the string paper. All papers were also distressed with Desert Sand and the sand paper.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Here is the other stamp set being released today as well! Isn't it adorable??? I just love the pig and it's tail!!!! I can just see the turkey holding a sign that says "Eat Veggies" on a card for Thanksgiving or Christmas! So go on over to A Creative Journey with Melissa to get "Give Thanks"!


Check out the other Design Team Members Blogs:

Marie Ross-           http://www.justwhistlewhileyouscrap.com/
Karen Bahit -         http://justdoingwhatilikebest.blogspot.com/
Sandy Bauman -    http://creationsbysandyb.blogspot.com
Monica Edwards -  http://scraps2treasure.blogspot.com/
Brandie Partello -   http://justapieceofmebrans.blogspot.com/
Rhoda Sorensen -  http://rockpaperscissorsandscrap.blogspot.com/ 


Hope you all enjoyed my cards from Close To My Heart and A Creative Journey with Melissa.

Monday, October 14, 2013

BIG NEWS TOMORROW!

I have some big news tomorrow. You can see some of the projects I have been doing but have not been able to share yet!

Thursday, October 3, 2013

BLOG GIVEAWAY!!!!

Check out A Creative Journey with Melissa's Blog. There is an amazing May Arts giveaway! You can not miss out on this giveaway. Really easy...only 3 things to do for a chance to win. You have until 9 am today. Sorry about my earlier post of 9 pm. Soon as she has another give away I will make sure to post right away with accurate information!


Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Ohhh So EXCITED

I am so excited! Melissa has released some more Ghoulish stamp sets! You can check them out at  http://acreativejourneywithmelissa.com/shop/. Each set is $14.95 and the quality is A-MAZ-ING!



Batty & Boo

I just love the characters! They are too cute!
Witch Way
Think of the broom also for housewarming page. The shoe for Wizard of Oz and the sign for anything like camping!




 
Pumpkin Patch People
These faces are no where else! I will use them for more than the pumpkins. Totally use for characters etc!

Some of my favorite artwork for them both are from my fellow design team members

http://scraps2treasure.blogspot.com/



http://www.justwhistlewhileyouscrap.com/


http://rockpaperscissorsandscrap.blogspot.com/


http://scraps2treasure.blogspot.com/


http://rockpaperscissorsandscrap.blogspot.com/


http://www.justwhistlewhileyouscrap.com/
http://rockpaperscissorsandscrap.blogspot.com/

The design teams blogs:
Marie Ross-           http://www.justwhistlewhileyouscrap.com/
Karen Bahit -         http://justdoingwhatilikebest.blogspot.com/
Sandy Bauman -    http://creationsbysandyb.blogspot.com
Monica Edwards -  http://scraps2treasure.blogspot.com/
Brandie Partello -   http://justapieceofmebrans.blogspot.com/
Rhoda Sorensen -  http://rockpaperscissorsandscrap.blogspot.com/ 

So Please Please Please check out all the talent on this post by clicking the link below their artwork and go to Melissa's store and order before they are gone! TY!