Hopes and Dreams

 We all have hopes and dreams. We sometimes need a reminder that hope isn't silent and there's no better time to go after your dreams than today. That's what these 2 cards are relaying the message of...

A craft FOR me, BY me

Hey y'all! Thanks for stopping by to check out more of my creations. I've been getting a LOT of visits lately, and I like that! You're also free to leave comments. 

For this craft, quite often I find that after making a card or something, I like it SO much that I don't want to give it to the person I made it for, so I end up making a duplicate for myself. LOL I've known plenty of crafters who do the same thing! 

Here's a sneak peek, Click below to see what I came up with!

Oh Happy Day!

Oh Happy Day! For someone?!

Aren't these just the cutest cards? I did some water coloring for all the butterflies. For the flag I stamped my sentiment on strips of white cardstock and then inked the edges. I folded over the the left side and secured it with a mini brad. I used my SU! Hexagon punch to make even flag tabs on the end and then I adhered them to the card with a glue dot on each end, puffing up the middle of each flag. Some pretty decorative edges along the bottom of each image and of course, they wouldn't be complete without some string!

Hope ya like these. Just goes to show how simple and elegant a card can be.
Come back soon to see more of my amazing creations!
~Melisa Marie

Flower Explosion! Card in a Box!

It's been quite a while since I've done a "Card in a Box". They seem so tedious and time consuming, but really they aren't! I should do these more often as they are really fun to do and always turn out SUPER CUTE!!!
Click below to see...

A 'mini' bit of Elegance!

Here is another set of cards that I made that never got posted. These are little 4" x 4" cards, good for including with a gift, or just a quick note to mail to a friend or family member. These cards were SO fun to make. :)
Click below to see the pics...

2 cards for 2 Great Friends!

Hey Y'all, what's goin' on?
Not much here, just been resting at home trying to get used to my new psych meds. It's given me lots of down time, so I have been able to get in some crafting time.

I've started about 10 different cards and am slowly getting them done...but trying not to start new ones in the meantime of working on the other ones. But, sometimes a great idea pops into my head and I just HAVE to start working on it.

Anyhow, here are 2 cards I made for 2 of my good friends. Sneak peek, so click below to see the rest of the pics.

So, I made a card late last year that had a similar layout to this one and I've gotta say, it's one of the few layouts that I LOVE out of all my creations. So, I thought I'd try it out again with some other embellishments.

My 2 friends live back on the East Coast, I wish hubby and I could have stayed there, we miss it SO much! the pace of life, the people, and of course, the WEATHER. Las Vegas weather SUCKS!! (and if I could say that any more stern that I did, I would! LOL)

Anyhow, here are the cards...
Card 1:

These cards have such great layers. The card base is Kraft card stock, and then on top of that is a shaped sheet from a K&Co. mat stack (don't know the name of it cause it was given to me with a few loose sheets in a box of swap stuff). I stacked some Pink Bazzil card stock on top of the mat sheet.

The dot card stock is just plain white ran through the Big Shot with the "Swiss Dots" embossing folder. I used the CTMH "Sweet Leaf" ink pad to color the raised portion of the sheet.

The little adorable ladybug medallion is from Miss Elizabeth's line, they are metal trimmed stickers. I got a whole pack at a yard sale for .25 cents!
**I chose the ladybug medallion for this card because this card is going to my friend who I always have called "Ladybug". She is super sweet, she loves everyone, she is so carefree and just goes where the wind takes her. :) perfectly fitting for her!
 

  I don't know what brand the mini border is (or the corner pieces), I also received that in the swap box (if you know who they are, please comment and let me know!!!)
The flowers are Prima flowers and the brad is a Recollections mini brad.

The sentiment is a Studio112  Dimensional Sticker with the butterfly. I attached it to card stock so that it gave it a stiff back in order for me to be able to mount it with foam squares.

 As you can see, the card has nice layers and it doesn't look completely flat. :)

 

On the inside I stamped the "thinking of you" sentiment from the K&Company Amy Butler "Lotus Greetings" set.

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This second card is pretty much the same, but just a couple of subtle differences

I used another deco paper piece from a K&Co. mat stack and the same pink Bazzil card stock. I used the last of my pink for this card, and I think it went to very cute use! 

The top is another piece I used the "Swiss Dots" embossing folder on. I used CTMH "Creme Brule" stamp pad to ink the raised dots.

the little medallion in the top corner is from the "hello luscious" line of Basicgrey epoxy stickers. it's held on with a glue dot for maximum hold because all know that those stickers that say "self adhesive" really aren't good stick ons once they go through the mail.

 The flower is a stack 2 Prima flowers on top of the Tye-Dye Recollections flower on the bottom. I used a tye-die flower because my friend who this is going to, loves tye-dye stuff! thankfully the colors matched perfectly to the butterfly and sentiment, as well as the border strip.
The sentiment is from the same line as the card above Studio112 "Thank You Dimensional Stickers"
they are great for finishing off awesome quick and easy cards.

  Here you can see how everything is popped up with the foam dementionals.

  and here is the sentiment at the bottom inside the card.

Well, those are my 2 cards for today. I hope you like them. Please come back to see me soon, I will have more to share.

Keep on Craftin'
~Melisa Marie

Lots of Butterflies... 2 cards

Here are 2 cards that I made about a month or so ago. I hope you enjoy. here is a sneak peek, click below to see the full pics...

Banners and Butterflies... Oh My!

Hey there, thanks for coming to visit me. I hope you've looked around a bit and seen what I've been working on lately! I told ya, I've been busy craftin' over the last few months.

So, I got these fuzzy butterflies from a friend in a bot of card making goodies that she sent me. the butterflies are really cute. I had to find just the perfect card to make with them. Something that wasn't too embellished to where it would take the focus off the butterflies, but something that had enough and didn't look plain.

Here's what I came up with... click below to see all the details and close up pics.

Just wanted to say... Here's 4 more cards!

Here are a couple more cards I made.
My mom found these stamps at walmart on clearance for .50 cents each and she was kind enough to buy one of each for me.
Here's a preview of one of the sets... click below to see more

2 CASE'd "thanks" cards...

So, we've all heard about "scraplifting" where you take someone else's scrapbook layout and change it around to make it your own... well I've recently become ADDICTED to Pinterest! (Check out my pinterest link on the left to follow me! I have several boards with THOUSANDS of pins! Lots of cards!!!!) In becoming addicted to pinterest, I have found TONS of cards that I love, love, love! Well I'm not one for stealing someone's work, but I do know it's ok to CASE (copy and slightly edit) a card as long as we give original creator credit.
Layouts for a card have always come naturally to me, but every now and then I see a layout that I REALLY like, and I think it's worth changing it up a bit. that's what I've done here with 2 cards!

there is a short (yes, very short) story behind the reason i made these 2 cards... I go to a state clinic for my mental health care. the clinic isn't always organized and the care isn't always the best. I will admit that I complain a LOT, because well, if I won't advocate for myself no one else will if I don't make the problems with the service know. I don't always treat the ladies at the front and back desk very well because I get extremely frustrated when things aren't done correctly or there are "hiccups" in the service there, and even though I don't think about it at the time, I always think about it later and end up feeling guilty. I've had attitude issues and freak outs on more than one occasion, and I know their jobs aren't easy, especially with all the changes that happen around there on a constant basis! So, I made the two gals cards, and I hope they like them! they need to know they are appreciated, and that all of their hard work and patience does not go unnoticed, and they need to know that it's always nice to have a smiling face there even if I'm not in the best of moods or I'm not exactly stable. sometimes, that smile can make all the difference in how the rest of my day plays out, when I walk out of there!

Here are the 2 cards I made... sneak peek, clickety click below to see the cards...

Birthday, Butterflies and Bubbles!

Howdy. :) It was recently BFF Leslie's daughters birthday. She turned 4. Kids are so great at that age! so imaginative and playful! I made her this adorable card! :)
It has butterflies and lots of gems, skittles and pearls, what I interpreted to be bubbles!

I hope you like, click the link below to expose more pics! :)

Birthday Card for Grandma!

Hey there friendly followers! I just thought I'd share a card I made last night. This is a birthday card for my grandma.

Card for a Challenge!

 First and foremost, I want to send a lot of good thoughts to all my friends on the far east coast. Where ever you are, I hope that you are in a safe place, or at least have somewhere safe to go! Be careful out there!

In a new Yahoo! Group I'm in, the members that chose to participate were sent a stamped image from the group owner. We had to create something with it, what, it didn't matter, as long as the image was the "star" of the card. My card came out AWEEEEESOME if I do say so myself!
 

A few little fun crafts.

Hey everyone! How are you all doing? I know it's been a while since my last post. Finally got our internet fixed by the cable company. it ended up taking them almost 2 weeks to fix it. once they finally got it fixed, we ended up in another predicament because when the squirrel chewed threw the line and the cable zapped our modem, it zapped my router as well and ended up burning it up. We didn't have the money to get a new one, but last month our friend Jenn came to visit us from Las Vegas. She comes to visit every year. She ended up buying us a wireless router, which was really nice of her! So, we had our net back for a little while now, but I've just been dealing with a lot of things related to my health as a result of the car accident. things are moving along at a snails pace, but I just haven't really felt all that great to craft.

BUT.... last month I did some ATC cards for an ATC card swap. I was VERY happy with my results, and since I haven't shared my ATC's with you that I made for the swap, I thought I'd post them today. What reminded me of this was I received the other ATC cards in the mail yesterday from the swap host. So many nice cards were made! very creative cards for sure. :) So, here they are...

Quick and Simple Mini Cards

Hey there my friendly followers! How is everyone doing? It's been a few days since I've done an update. This update will include a short medical review and some PICS of something new I made :)

I've "sorta" been busy with my crafts. I've been helping a friend with her homework, and I've had a lot of doctor's appointments and testing for the follow up from my car accident last month.
Pics coming up....