Card Inspiration

I thought I'd share a card that I created recently for a guest designer spot at Let's Capture These Sketches.  My card was chosen as the winner in a sketch challenge recently and I, in turn, was asked to be the guest designer!  The sketch was beautiful and I tried to do justice to it by creating a card that was equally as nice!

Here is the sketch

Here is my card

     I had this paper from Kaisercraft's Lush collection and I thought would be perfect for the look that I was going for.  I also decided that it was time to try out the Print & Cut feature on my Silhouette.  The little girl on the front was done using that feature.  I am so amazed at how many features the Silhouette has, most of which I have yet to use!  I also cut the flowers using the Silhouette.  I was very happy with how it turned out and had fun putting it all together.  My guest spot was posted here if you'd like to look at it or play along in future weeks.  They have card and layout sketches to choose from.  

     Thanks for stopping by today!  Let me know what you think by leaving a comment!  

Scrap Happy~Melissa

Panda Love

     Have you ever had pictures just sitting and waiting to be scrapped?  I know I have!  With this layout I was finally able to scrap these pictures of my son.  For almost a year now, he has been extremely interested in anything that has to do with China.  The language, the culture, the wildlife, the currency...he wants to know all that he can about it.
     For his birthday in October, we got him a Panda Zoobie Pet.  (If you are not familiar with Zoobie's, check them out, they are so fun!)  From the moment he opened his gift, he loved his panda.  He named it Ming-Ming and has slept with it ever since.  I wanted to capture the panda love and he happily posed with his little friend!
     When it came time to scrap the pictures, there was never a layout that seemed to work for me.  Until today!  Erin Madsen is having a fun giveaway/sketch challenge on her blog and I thought I'd play along!  This is the sketch that she used from Sketch Savvy...

And here is my take on the sketch...

     The DCWV Stacks that I used were The Glitter Stack and Dots, Stripes and Plaids.  I actually used some argyle printed glitter paper from The Glitter Stack and cut it to make the little banner type triangles under the title piece.  I do love my stacks!  Here are some close-ups as well.

Thanks for stopping by to look today!  I hope that if you celebrate Easter, that it was a wonderful one for you!  Please stop by again.

Scrap Happy~Melissa

My Core'dinations Creative Frenzy

Although I am fairly new to the discovery of Core'dinations ColorCore Cardstock, I had so much fun discovering ways to use it in my layouts and cards.  I am a fan for life after my little design frenzy!  It is so much fun to get creative with.  The thing that I love most is that when you sand the paper, another color appears.  It is just a fun, creative inducing product that I am now officially stocked up on!  Here are three projects that I designed recently using the product.

Project #1: Many Thanks Card

I love the simplicity of this card.  The ColorCore Cardstock was just sanded down with a little sandpaper which brought out the dots.  I followed that up with the polka-dot ribbon, scalloped-dotted border and a round brad in the center of the flower to complete the "circle" inspiration.  This flower was SO easy to make and so much fun to see come together.  My new hot glue gun make it very easy to assemble as well. 

Project #2: First Day

This may just be one of my favorite layouts ever!  Combining ColorCore Cardstock along the We R Memory Keepers Show & Tell collection was such a perfect mix.  I love how the cursive writing gives it that school-y feel!  I hand stitched the black above the journaling to give it a homey feel along with the hint of a spiral notebook.  Another thing that I discovered about this cardstock is that it is really easy to score to make the little accordion embellishment on the bottom right.  Here is close-up of the embellished bottom right:

Project #3: Whoo loves u?

I loved using the woodgrain cardstock for this layout.  It worked perfectly with my sweet little owl from My Mind's Eye Alphabet Soup collection.  For the branch, I cut it out on my Silhouette and there were actually three versions of it!  This one was my favorite.  I actually used pens to give it a deeper color and then I used a darker color pen to trace into the woodgrain grooves that were there.  I like the deep, rich, textured feeling of this one!  

So, there you have it!  My fun with Core'dinations!  Hope you enjoyed seeing my projects.  Please leave a comment if you have time to provide me with some feedback!  I love reading your comments!  If you have any questions, I can answer those too!  Thanks for stopping by.

Scrap Happy~ Melissa

Birthday Wishes

Hello!  I will start by saying that I don't think that my sister is an active follower of my blog.  A good thing since the birthday card that I made for her is the project for today!  So, to my older sister...if you are reading, stop now!  I was recently led to a fun blog that has both sketch and card challenges that I thought I would try out.  It is called Sassy Lil' Sketches and they just came out with new sketches on April 7th.  Since I have several cards to make this month, I thought I'd give it a try.  Here is the sketch:

And here is my design:

Materials Used:

• My Little Shoebox "City by the Bay" papers.  I won this collection on MLS design team member Nicole's blog recently and I think I could seriously scrap my entire photo stash with it.  I love this collection.  Full disclosure...I pretty much love anything that MLS makes!
• American Crafts rub-ons on the green banner
• Tim Holtz ink
• Helmar Adhesive 
• The rest of the materials are from my supplies.

Thanks for taking a look!  Stop back soon, I am hoping to post more in the next day or two!

Scrap Happy~ Melissa

Lovin' a Good Scraplift

     Have you ever seen a layout and said to yourself, "Yes!  That is what I want my page to look like!"?  I was paging through a Scrapbooks Etc. magazine recently and came across a layout by Gillian Nelson that I loved (pg. 61 of the April issue, if you are wondering : )  She had an idea in there about how to scrapbook yourself along with an amazing layout.  I decided to use her idea and scraplift her layout to complete a page about myself.  I had fun using some of my My Mind's Eye "Love Me Do" collection which I actually have two of.  (More on that later...)  It was a little challenging to think of things about me as opposed to pages about others but I was happy with the end result!  I just really like the simplicity of it, not a lot of flowers and fru-fru, rather clean yet with a feminine feel.  

The double layout

Page one

Page 2

I'd love to get some more ideas of pages about you, the scrapbooker!  I think so many times we are behind the lens as well as the creative force behind the layout that we don't get  ourselves into as many layouts as we should.  After all, we do scrapbook for the future generations, right?  Make sure that they know who you were/are too!

     Now, about that paper...I am continually amazed at the sheer amount of paper that I have.  However, being a paper crafter I guess that is a necessity, lol!  I really need to figure out some good storage solutions.  Right now, I have everything arranged by manufacturer and I tend to keep my collections all together.  Thank goodness for the Paper Packer that I got on www.scrapbooksteals.com a long time ago.  It keeps my single sheets of paper organized in Roy G. Biv style in a nice efficient way.  I am wondering if any of you have tips on how you keep your stash organized.  Perhaps a clean, well organized scrap room will be my summer project!  

     Lastly, my wonderfully creative friend Heather has a bit of scrappy goodness of her own that she is giving away on her blog!  Stop by and enter to win!  Here is her link and the prize: 

http://goldiecar.blogspot.com/2011/04/lets-celebrate-w-blog-candy.html

Thank you for stopping by today! I am tossing around the idea of some sort of giveaway myself.  Any thoughts as to what kinds of things you like to win?  Let me know!  

Scrap Happpy~ melissa

Basket Case

Have I mentioned lately how much I love my Silhouette?  It is so much fun to make fun little creations out of paper and use them to decorate the house.  This cute, little basket was no exception.  The sun was shining for my photo session today (hence the shadows) but at least it was a little brighter!  I used my Sew Easy on the handle of the basket to add a little something to it.  Even though it is cold outside, this brings in a little bit of spring!  

I am currently working on three different projects in my craft room.  Although I kind of redid my room last summer, I am really feeling crunched for space.  My sweet hubby suggested getting custom made cabinetry and tearing out a wall to make a bigger craft space.  I love the idea but I don't think I could fit that into my scrapbook budget!  Someday...right?

On another note, I had a birthday yesterday.  One more on the march toward the big 4-0!  Admittedly, I love my birthday.  I have never dreaded a birthday in my life.  I am just always so grateful to have another year on this earth with the people I love.  My life is sweet and I want to enjoy every moment God gives me.  I had a great birthday!  My hubby brought me to a local B&B on Friday.  Relaxing and peaceful without the kiddos.  I also got a new Keurig Elite Coffee Maker!  Does anyone have one of these?  If so, any coffee suggestions?  I am really excited to try it out.  I will feel like a real barista with that small appliance in my kitchen.  It even makes iced coffee so I am ready for warmer weather anytime now!

I will post my new projects as I finish them.  Hopefully soon!  Thank you for stopping by today!

Scrap Happy~melissa

Need Inspiration?

I found a new blog called "Once Upon a Sketch Blog" that not only encourages scrapbooking but also encourages journaling (a necessity for every scrapbook page in my opinion)!  Here is an excerpt from their blog...

"The main aim here is to get people journalling...telling their story. It seems as though people are not journalling on their pages as much as they used to. I have to say I am guilty of that too...A lot of us these days tend to go for more pretty or artistic pages and forget the journalling, which is probably the reason we all started scrapbooking." 

They have a great giveaway going as well. Check out all of this scrappy goodness!

Here is their badge too...

I'm looking forward to being a follower and seeing what fun they have in store!  

Scrap Happy~melissa