School's Out! School's Out! Teacher's Let the Monkeys Out!

     Having taught for many years, I always try to give a gift that I know I would have enjoyed getting. So, it takes some thought when I give teacher gifts. The teacher that my daughter had this year also happens to be a friend of mine. I was beyond happy when Emma got assigned to her room, as I knew they'd be a good match. I truly did not realize quite how amazing of a match they were though. Talk about giving her wings so she could fly... 

     I wanted to give her a gift that suited her personality along with things that I knew she'd like. She is a Diet Mountain Dew fanatic. So, I refurbished this little coffee cup carrier into a Dew carrier! The bottles were a little narrow so I added some tissue which actually bulked up the carrier a little bit too. One thing my daughter loved is how easily her teacher laughed this year, so the wire "laugh" word was an appropriate choice when choosing a sentiment. And, of course, who can resist a good play on words (truly one of my favorite things) with a "Thanks for all you DEW". This sweet little carrier along with a gift card for her hair salon and we were good to go. 

     I wanted to make a special card for her as well to send a heart felt thank you note for all that she did to make this year so incredible for my girl. This card is a sketch from Kristy over at Scrapbooksteals and I used some old Pebbles paper that I had along with some Melodee Ross cards that I found on clearance recently. As I said before, she really gave her wings so she could fly. I just hope that my sentiment inside did how I felt justice.  

      I saw this idea on Pinterest and saw it done by my friend Cyndee. My youngest's teacher always had a glass of water on her desk in a cup similar to this one. I filled this cup up with a bunch of goodies and attached the little banner and it was good to go! I always love it when my kids are so proud to carry in their gifts for their teachers and I had one happy boy that morning.

     The last thing I wanted to share was a quick little thank you that I made for several people. I tagged along on a conference in Texas with my husband recently. It was several days of rest and relaxation. I can't tell you how incredible that felt! We were treated to some true Texas fun with a rodeo, mechanical bull riding, sitting on a real bull, eating Texas BBQ, line dancing, lassoing and gun shooting (okay, they were blanks but still...)! None of that fun could have been had without the people at home who helped take care of our kiddos! We bought salsa for everyone that helped us out and I attached these tags to them along with a note on the back. 

     I am so glad that you stopped by today. As always, thanks for looking and please feel free to comment : )

Scrap Happy~Melissa

  

Creating for Scrapbook Steals: Authentique Free Bird Cardmakers Dream Bundle

     Good morning! Thank you for stopping by on this Memorial Day (in the USA, anyway :) weekend! I am so pleased to be able to show you what I was able to create for Scrapbook Steals today. It was so much fun to see what kind of cards I could come up with using the Free Bird Dream Bundle. The scrapbooking supplies provided in this bundle are so abundant! There was so much paper and so many embellishments, pretty much anything I thought of, I could make happen. Not only that, but each of the cards you see below has a twin. I made a total of 12 cards. And that was using only 1/7th of the actual kit! These scrapbook supplies are PLENTIFUL to say the least.  Scrapbook Steals Design Team member Cyndee, came up with a fun sketch for us to work with and here are some of my designs!

This one used that adorable little typewriter embellishment! I have a bunch left too so I can use them on more cards. Pop dots make the embellishments stand out so well too!

I really liked the simplicity of this one. I love that paper at the top too! 

We have many graduation parties coming up next month. I used some of the kit to make a few cards for the graduates. The phrases on the Authentique embellishments lend themselves well to cards like these!

I was able to satisfy my love affair with clouds with this one! Again, those embellishments are just perfect. 

 

There is no sentiment on this one for a reason :) The card is versatile enough that I thought I'd wait and see what kind of event I needed it for and add the sentiment later. 

I had fun making this one. I embossed the Free Bird papers and then sanded them to get the look I wanted. The texture and weight of the papers make it easy to emboss and play with them. 

Here is a photo of all of the cards that I made. Again, I only had 1/7 of the entire kit! Can you believe it? This bundle is LOADED! 

I am so glad that you stopped by to take a look today. If you are new reader...welcome! I'd love it if you would become a follower! Please feel free to leave a comment below. I read them all! Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Scrap Happy~Melissa

A "Challenging" Weekend

     Well it wasn't a challenging weekend in the real sense of the word but I did get several scrapbooking challenges completed! Saturday was National Scrapbook Day. When I woke up, I was really expecting breakfast in bed or some sort of celebration to mark this momentous day. Shockingly, no one even wished me a Happy National Scrapbook Day. What a let down. Then...I went online. To say that the scrapbook community celebrated this event to its fullest is an understatement. There were contests, giveaways, sketches and so much inspiration! It was a fun day, though hard to keep up with all of the excitement. Fortunately, I did find time to complete all four challenges for Scrapbook Steals and one for Imaginisce too !

     For the first layout for Scrapbook Steals, we were asked to create a layout with a "Sassy Springtime" theme. It had to include flowers, pink, etc. Fortunately, this challenge also worked perfectly with the challenge over at Imaginisce that I was planning on doing which required flowers, pink & bling! So it is also my submission for the Imaginisce May Monthly Challenge.  I used the "Enchanted" collection for this layout of my twin nieces on their first birthday. It couldn't have been more perfect! 

     The other three challenge projects for Scrapbook Steals are below. I've also posted them on their Facebook page so I won't go into a lot of detail here. My exception is the first one below. I used a My Little Shoebox sketch for the layout. The Scrapbook Steals challenge was to use a photo of yourself as child. I found this beauty of myself as a 9th grader. It was quite interesting to recall what I was thinking about then and what mattered to me compared to what I feel now. I probably could have journaled on the whole 12x12 sheet about that one! I liked the idea of using travel themed paper because it has really been a journey to get to where I am now. And, I am so happy to be here! 

A challenge to use stitching and an inspiration piece. 

A layout based on the sketch by the fabulously crafty and lovely Misty Buck. My first of many Disney layouts that will be showing up around here! Her sketch was so fun. I loved it! 

Thank you so much for taking a look today. Have a wonderful day! 

Scrap Happy~Melissa

Ten For Ten!

     I am happy to report that I have participated in creating all ten layouts that were sketched by Kristy Lee over at scrapbooksteals.com! Wednesdays have never been brighter with a new sketch to look forward to each week. Here are all ten of my layouts. The first is the layout for this week's sketch and the rest you've seen if you've been here before! 

     This weeks layout was just slightly off season but I have been wanting to use my American Crafts Night Fall collection for a while and decided to break it open. For the title, I used my heat embossing gun to create the word "spooky" in the color and texture that I was hoping for. Painting around the edges gave the layout just a bit of that ethereal look. Halloween in April is always fun! Now if only I could get my hands on some of those snack size Butterfinger...

Here is the sketch that I based the layout on from Kristy.

The remainder of the Mid-Week Mojo's for the Amethyst Collection (in no particular order):

(Why can't this one play nice and line up with the others?!?^^) 

     Thank you so much for stopping by today. I am off to mark even more things for the neighborhood rummage sale. How I can loathe and love the next week is beyond me. I hate the clutter, the time, the weather challenges, etc. But seriously, that "paycheck" at the end makes it worth it. I consider it my "job" for spring. If you have any rummage sale tips, post them...PLEASE! I need all the help I can get! Until next time...

Scrap Happy~Melissa

Banners, Pennants & October Afternoon

     I wanted to share a layout that I made recently which showcased a photo of me as a little girl. I don't often scrap those "vintage" photos but love looking at them. I decided that rather than look at it, I was going to scrap it! This particular photo of my Uncle and I makes me smile every time! I am laughing so hard in the picture and just look so happy. 

     October Afternoon is such a great company to scrapbook these childhood photos with. Many collections just have that vintage vibe. I used Sidewalks and Fly a Kite papers and embellishments on this layout. Banner and pennants are all the rage right now so I thought I'd made a bunch of them on this layout. It turned out just how I was hoping it would. Fun, carefree and cheerful! 

     On a side note, can you see those cute little red Mary Jane shoes that I am wearing? I love those shoes. I'd like a grown up version of them for myself right now! I've been looking for the perfect red shoes for years (I am not exaggerating either)! I don't know exactly what I am looking for but I will know them when I see them. 

  One of my favorite things about this layout is that when I showed it to my youngest, he examined it carefully and asked what I was doing outside of Granny & Papa's house when I was a little girl. (The photo is taken outside of my Grandparent's house.) I love the fact that not only do I have childhood memories of my Grandparents and their home, but he does too! What a blessing! 

     Feel free to share a childhood memory in the comments! About shoes, grandparents...anything! I love to read your comments! Oh, and if you know of red shoes that you think I'd love, let me know that too : ) Thanks for stopping by!

Scrap Happy~Melissa

Card-a-licious Part II & Mid-Week Mojo

***IF YOU ARE A FAMILY MEMBER PLEASE STOP READING NOW : )***

Okay, now that I have that taken care of, I am happy to share with you a few more cards that I have made recently. Most of which are for family members, hence the warning at the top! 

Anniversary card for my grandparents 64th anniversary. That is a long time! I can only hope for that longevity and the ability to still live in my own home with the one I love! 

Supplies used: Echo Park's Summertime 6x6 papers, My Little Shoebox Mini Alphas, & Twinery Twine.

Birthday card for my Aunt's birthday (I won't share her number with you)! I absolutely love the happy & cheerful tone that this card has. Love this layout as well. This is my second card made with this layout and it really works well. The banners needed a little something more so I embossed them and I really liked how they complimented the shape of the flower.

Supplies used: Jillibean Blossom 6x6 pad, Basic Grey ribbon, American Crafts brad & rub-on, random pink & white cardstock 

Anniversary card for my sister and BIL. Those little man and woman icons have been showing up in many of my projects lately. I just love them! This is the Authentique paper collection that I have been coveting and found at a really great price! So excited to create with it. This was also the Monday Card Madness sketch from Scrapbook Steals a couple of weeks ago.

Supplies used: Authentique Celebrate 6x6 pad, Twinery Twine, Silhouette machine, Stamp from Joann's (I can't recall the brand), Colorbox ink 

A happy and sweet Mother's Day card. I've used this card layout before and I love the use of the doily with this one. Supplies used: Jillibean Blossom Soup 6x6 pad, Wilton doily, AC ribbon, MLS Mini Alphas, Martha Stewart ink

Mid-Week Mojo Layout #A9

And last, but not least, here is my weekly layout that uses the fantastic sketches that Kristy Lee comes up with over at Scrapbooksteals.com. I got away from the original sketch but was inspired to use many photos on one page rather than make it into a two-pager. Blurred out some faces since I didn't ask permission to put them on my blog...your eye sight is fine : ) Here is the sketch...

Thank you for stopping by today! I hope you have a great weekend!

Scrap Happy~Melissa

Two Birds, One Stone

I got lucky this month when Scrapbook Steals decided to team up with Authentique and feature their sketch for the Mid-Week Mojo. Since I typically scrap both sketches, I was able to create one sketch for both places! I have had this hexagon punch forever from Creative Memories and hexagons are huge right now in the scrapbook world so it was nice to get a chance to use it.

Not only that, but I found these sweet photos of my now fourteen year old when he was about 18 months. Time flies. For any of my readers that have young children or babies, I know you hear it all the time but truly...enjoy those moments. There is definitely more fun to be had but sometimes I'd love to go back and let him sit on my lap and snuggle just one more time...and fit! Authentique's Journey was the collection I used for this layout along with WRMK sew easy thread.

On a different note, I have started a new house cleaning regimen along with a new perspective. I put myself on a Facebook vacation for a while and it turns out that I get more done that I realized when I am not logging on to check Facebook. I am loving all of the "stuff" I am getting done but the biggest downside is I miss my friends. Texting just doesn't cut it sometimes. On the flip side, all laundry is done, everything is picked up around the house and the main rooms are vacuumed. I guess there is always a trade off. Not sure how long my "vacation" will last but tomorrow is bathroom day so it may end sooner than I think: ) 

Thank you for stopping by today! Have a great one!

Scrap Happy~Melissa