Merry Christmas 2021

Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope everyone had a great time celebrating the holiday with family, friends, or even a few strangers!  So many things have changed in my life in 2021, and I'm looking forward to ringing in the new year soon and making even more great memories! 

A few weeks ago we went to look at Christmas lights and celebrate the holidays.  Lucky for us Santa was there to chat with the kiddos (big and small) and take some pictures!  Even luckier for me, my latest scrapbook kit from Tres Jolie had some great papers and "stuffs" to go right along with the picture!

Voila! Our "silly" photo with Santa and the LO surrounding it!

I started by doing something I normally do, using a stencil and spray stains to make all kinds of texture on the bottom layer so I can cover up all my texture work with with other papers, flowers and the like!  😂  Either way, you can still see some of the texture work!

Below is one of my flower clusters and a cute Christmas butterfly from Renea Bouquets shop. The scrapbook kit from Tres Jolie came with some great papers, but also a great ephemera pack and some rub-ons and stickers that let me make all kinds of great layers on this LO!

Below is another flower cluster, I loved how sparkly all the flowers were!  (I kind of love glitter more than a grown woman should!) The paper pack also came with two sheets of ephemera and if you look under the flower cluster you can see some of the holly berry ephemera that came in the paper pack! 

I loved the stars on the bottom layer of paper I used, but the blue colors, the flowers, and the holly from another paper really pulled me in, so I ripped some corners of the paper off the blue paper and inked the edges in red for a little festive fun!

Speaking of stars...I used the rub-ons page to rub a few blue stars on the LO.  The background paper had the same star pattern, and the contrast between the subdued stars and the bright stars really made a pop!

The flower above is a rub-on from the kit as well.  I topped the LO off with plenty of paint splatter.  I hope everyone had as great of time celebrating as I did making this LO!  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

xoxo,

Mel

 

The Best Gals a Girl Could Ask For...

I truly have some of the best girlfriends anyone could ever want!  We've all served in the military together and through thick and thin, good and bad, we've always persevered to maintain our friendships.  I can't believe I only took three pictures of this project, so the post may be a little short, but I can totally supplement with sentiment and heartfelt words!  💓

So the photo was taken about a little over a year ago...Bettye (the pretty girl second from right) had just come back to Arkansas from a five year stint with the Army in Washington, D.C. and we celebrated her return with a brunch hosted by yours truly.  (For what it's worth, I put on a heck of a brunch spread...but that's a whole 'nother blog post!)

So we gathered the ladies, including a little one (a.k.a. future awesome girlfriend to her girlfriends) and had a great time celebrating Bettye.  We've since met up at least once a month just to have some girl time and make memories! (You must know that I have a whole scrapbook dedicated to this...)

Here is the LO:

I really loved all the blues in this kit.  This was (I think) a several years ago scrapbook kit from Tres Jolie Kit Club, but I'm having trouble finding the exact kit on the internet.  What that ACTUALLY means is that it's probably several kits that I married up into one amazing LO!

Below you can see some flower work and some painting/inking/distressing I did on a piece of chipboard.  I added the filmstrip piece on a whim because I love all the amazing photos we take of each other when we all get together.

Below is another shot of some flowers as well as some texture paste and stencil work.  I also used a ton of beads from the Renea Bouquets shop.  I love her Beautiful Beads and the colors of these worked perfectly with the colors in the papers and flowers.  I tucked some lace in behind the flowers because even though we're all military women, we're also pretty feminine too!!!  💓💓💓 

And there you have it!  Another project in the books, posted, and another memory captured forever!

xoxo,

Mel

 

An Oldie But a Goodie!

As I continue to go through the process of moving my into my new craft room (pics to come soon!) and going through all my stuff (including the files I've uploaded and forgotten to blog about!) I keep coming across little gems like this:

This is my sweet cousin's even sweeter baby (he's a lot bigger now! 😂)  I made this a few years back and I absolutely love the way I feel challenged when doing masculine LOs.  I love sweet, soft, and shabby chic...but there's something super fun about making a masculine LO especially when it's time to add the flowers!  

I had to look back on my notes from when I made this...so here goes using notes AND memories to talk about this LO! 😂😂😂

Below you can see some of the layering and spraying/misting I did (plus a few flowers in the flower cluster).  I absolutely LOVE using corrugated cardboard on LOs, especially masculine ones because it just adds an extra type of texture and the grooves are fun to tuck things in...like the copper microbeads I used all over this LO!  I also inked around the edge of one of the flowers and stuck some extra microbeads on there too!

Below you can see a closeup of one of the other flower clusters and even a "masculine" butterfly (😆💓) complete with some more microbeads.  

And...MORE flowers (in case you missed it I answered "YES" in a Tres Jolie Kit Club poll question the other day about whether or not flowers have a place on masculine LOs!)

And finally, some stencil layering and misting coupled with the microbeads.  Even though the picture in the LO had nothing to do with the beach, the shot below makes me think of the ocean in the early morning.  

And there you have it!  Just another LO that I've come across and can FINALLY get around to posting about!  I can't wait to show off my new craft space!  Thanks for looking around!

xoxo,

Mel

 

A Very Over the Top Birthday Card

Anyone who knows me knows I would never can sometimes go a little overboard with my card designs...especially for those I love! 💗 And anyone who knows my good friend Lesley knows that she loves to garden (and loves, loves, loves flowers!)  So it should come as no surprise that this birthday card I made for her is aptly titled "Very Over the Top"...

VOILA!!!

The bicycle was really just to look whimsical...not sure that Lesley has ridden in a bike since 2006...but that's another story for another day! 

Below you can see the inside of the card.  I used some Ranger Distress Crackle paint (that might have been approximately 82 years old...and I don't think is even sold any more!) with a brick stencil and also used some old Blue Fern Studio brick chipboard throughout the card for a vintage, nostalgic look.  

Flowers galore!  Plus a few trinkets along the way!!!

Below you can see a close up of some of the flowers and "bricks", along with a beautiful butterfly from Renea Bouquets shop! 

More flowers, a metal butterfly, and some distressed edges with inking.

Below you can see some of the chipboard painted with Tim Holtz paint and "weathered" with some white paint as well.

Below is yet another Renea Bouquets butterfly tucked in behind flowers on the front of the card.

And finally, a sentiment that has rung true for our more than 20 years of friendship...She is everything a gal could hope for in a friend! 💗💗💗

Thanks for looking around!  And if you're wondering...I still have PLENTY of flowers for the next card that will more than likely be equally over the top!

xoxo,

Mel

 

Shadow Box Frame Birthday Cards!

Hey, everyone!  I'm doing some "stuff" for the Air Force right now, and I really meant to be posting more of these blog posts while I was here, but believe it or not, I got totally busy and I'm just now getting around to post some pictures of a few things I finished up over the spring and early summer. 

I bought a really cute die from Spellbinders that now lets me create these cute little Shadow Box Fame Cards.  I love the die and if you're anywhere in my circle, or if you regularly receive a birthday card from me, you'll probably be seeing one of these cards in the near future.  

Without any further ado...

VOILA...

What's really interesting is that this is the first one I made, and rather than making it square so all my die cut strips for the frame would be even, I decided to make a rectangle!  Y'all know if there is a hard way to do it, I'll give it a shot.  Also, there is a different size of this die cut that only requires you to cut strips of paper that are 3" wide for the frame sides...the die I own is a different size and requires the strips of paper to be cut into 2.15" strips.  I strongly recommend starting with this Spellbinder Shadow Box Frame die while you get your bearings underneath you.

Below you can see a close up of some of the details I put in this card.  I loved the beautiful, whimsical paper so I went with a heavy shabby chic influence here.  Several of the items used (including the paper, I believe) came from a few Tres Jolie Kit Club kits over the early months of this year.  I think the pink and cream colored beads are from a kit that is about a year old (I remember using the beads for an Easter project last year.)

Below you can see some more details including a ReneaBouquet flower and RB Dragonfly!  I also added plenty of paper pieces and some more of the beads.

Better closeup of the Dragonfly and some of the other details!

Thanks for checking in!  I'm here for a few more weeks and I'll try to share a few more of these cards.  Right after I made this first card, I had about 4 birthdays to celebrate, so look for several more of these in the upcoming weeks!  

xoxo,

Mel

 

My First Teacup

Hey, everyone!  Today I'm sharing a post about a paper teacup I made for a co-worker to "celebrate" us all making it through 2020 and COVID-19 response without losing our minds completely!  The teacups are a ReneaBouquets product, and you can find them here and here!

I used a TON of Renea's products on this and I will do the best I can to provide links to most of them as I go along in this post!  💓💓

Here is the teacup:

Below you can see a closer view of the things I put inside the teacup.  This was the first one I ever made and I was pleasantly surprised with the ease in which it came together! Some of the ReneaBouquets products in the cup are the angel, the beads, and the broach.  Some of the flowers and the pink dragonfly are from the ReneaBouquets store as well!

I started by using tons of cheesecloth to build a base for all my "things" and I think I'll continue to do that in the future just to keep everything placed in the teacup visible.  I realized pretty early on that if I tried to fill the entire teacup, there would be treasures unseen at the bottom of the cup.  However, that's always a fun way to share a secret surprise!  😍

Below is a different angle on the cup, showing the handle, some more cheesecloth (thank God that stuff is cheap! 😂😂😂),  and another butterfly from the RB shop.

And the other "side" of the base (do circles even have sides?) featuring a spoon from the RB store. 

So there you have it!  Lots of stuff from Renea's store (the stuff there is SOOOOO pretty), but you could fill these cute little teacups with just about anything you wanted (I don't think it's recommended to actually drink tea from them though...)

Thanks for looking and have a happy (and very SAFE) 4th of July weekend!

😘😘😘

xoxo,

Mel

 

Tough But Sweet

I'm still working on getting all my artwork moved into a digital folder so I can post them here, and I know I promise all the time to post more frequently...but I'm going to promise to try again as well.  This is another LO that I made last year while surviving (and often thriving) my way through 2020.  The blue paint swirls were my attempt at re-living the late 80s/early 90s paint dribbles I used to make on t shirts before using a hair dryer (especially on the puff paint) to finish off my awesome one of a kind attire! 😉

Here's the finished product:

One of the papers in the kit had the words "Tough But Sweet" on it in several places so I cut those words out and used them all around the page!

Below you can see a close up of a flower cluster and an amazing butterfly from Renea's Bouquets!

Below some of my great paint swirls (the paint is even a little metallic which added to my happy mood!) and a few of the "Tough But Sweet" cutouts.

Another small flower cluster and an equally awesome dragonfly from Renea's shop.

Finally, one last paint swirl.  For these swirls I just turned the tube of paint upside down and gently squeezed.  I was a little worried at first that I'd end up with a mess, but it turned out really nicely!  I was very pleased with the final result.

I can't remember where I was going the day I took this selfie, but I can remember that I was pretty pumped because my hair looked GREAT! 😍 Good hair days are good days, indeed!  Thanks for looking and I promise I'll try to post here a little more often!  

xoxoxo,

Melody