This week's BBTB challenge was to use the elephant from Zooballoo. This was fun because that elephant is so cute! I used ribbon to frame the design on cardstock. Pearl brads in the corners and letter stickers. I had the post-its from Target. Check out the other designers concepts, they are great!
Miles of Smiles,
I'd like to share with you a new blog for card sketches. A fellow designer of Bitten By The Bug, Kazan, and her friend Laura started a blog for card sketches, and contests and lots of fun I'm sure. Take a gander at 2 Sketches 4 You, and check back often to see what the latest sketch is! I'm sure you won't be disappointed!Miles of Smiles,
This week's challenge was to use the owl cut. Since I did not have the cartridge to cut the owl myself, Jen was nice enough to send me a few. I gave them "sleepy" eyes, and the tiny flowers are punched from DCWV glitter stack. "Friends" is chipboard and I added a few punched flowers to that too. The corner is punched from a Cuttlebug die. I like the facial expression I drew on the peeking owl. Not at all good at freehand drawing, but turned out OK. You have GOT TO see the other girl's designs at BBTB. They are sooooo cute! Lots of variety!Miles of Smiles,
Here is the princess card I made for my cousin's daughter's first birthday. I embossed the castle and inked it. I cut out the princess and gave her some "royal" clothes too.Miles of Smiles,
I'm such a dolt. I forgot to take pics of the last 3 cards I made. Another one for Mother's Day, MIL's birthday, and uncle's birthday. I'm so annoyed at myself. Anyhoo, I did manage to scan this project for the BBTB site. We had to use the wreath, and so what I did was cut out the wreaths and then cut them in half to form a scalloped border. The image is from Crafty Secrets and it is printed on fabric. Then I just added silk flowers with brads, some buttons and some Stickles (of course!)Miles of Smiles,
So here is a Mother's Day card I made for my mom. She drinks tea all the time so I figured this was perfect for her. I still need to make a card for my MIL. I used my new Martha Stewart border punch for the lacey eyelet scallop. I love that effect! Cosmo Cricket flower paper and DCWV cardstock for the cup.Miles of Smiles,
So here is this week's Bitten By The Bug Challenge. We had to use the mug any way we like. I made this wall hanging. It looks great in our cafe style kitchen. It is made of a heavy cardboard, covered with a striped paper. The "sun" is K&Co. paper with foil print. The mugs are cut from Cosmo Cricket paper (I think). I stamped the phrase around the sun, and cut out the title adding some shadow accents to it. Of course I had to use Stickles somewhere...and it's in the steam swirls.Miles of Smiles,
On April 24th, 2008 at 3:35 AM, we said goodbye to our dear sweet Poe Meow. He was not feeling well for about a week. At 16 years old, he was still very active. His last day, he seemed very weak. I sensed that it was time, so I held him and made him as comfortable as possible. He took his last breath in my arms. It seemed only right, as mine was the first face he ever saw, and so it should be the last. He wasn't just a pet, he was family, and as such we feel an enormous sense of loss in our home. He has been at my side for almost half my life. I can't even remember not having him in my life. Those who knew him were truly blessed because he was just full of love, willing to give it to everyone. He always wanted to be near us, or cuddle with us. Always within eyesight. He wasn't shy, or skittish, or nervous. And he wasn't scared of anything either, even big ol' dogs. He touched our hearts and made everyone smile. He was The Best Cat In The World, truly! Ben and Poe would actually carry on conversations. He was very special and will be greatly missed, and forever loved. Even though he had a long full life, no matter how long he was with us would never be long enough....16 years, 20 years, 40 years.....it would never be enough time to spend with such a wonderful companion.
Yes, it's true. My hub and I have decided to move to Florida. We did a lot of soul searching over the past few months. It wasn't an easy decision to make since we would be moving far away from both of our families. But most everyone has been very supportive of it. We are already expecting many house guests, and we haven't even got there yet! It will be a little crazy, and probably a lot stressful to get things packed up, sell our house here in MD and find a house that we like in Florida. But we think it will all be worth it in the end. We are very excited about it, and we can't wait to get there! We can use all the good wishes and prayers that we can get! We already appreciate the wonderful support we have received. As we look at it, it is just another adventure for us! A whole new chapter of our lives. Look out Florida, here we come!!!Miles of Smiles,Melissa
Here is the latest project for Bitten By The Bug. I created this entirely from scraps of paper! Go Green, right? As a paper crafter I always have a stash of scraps, which usually end up in the trash anyway. With this project I was able to use some of that stash to make a handy fire starter for when we go camping. I embossed the box with swirls and added a raffia handle. The camping images are cut out and colored with small stamps and inks. Inside is a used dryer sheet with bits of dryer lint and paper scraps twisted to make a "pack". The whole thing gets used to start a camp fire. I've used the dryer sheet concoction before, but this is much prettier, more fun, and a great way to keep the dryer sheets and lint out of the landfills, while keeping my scraps from getting trashed too!Miles of Smiles,Melissa
For this BBTB design, we were to use one of the signs from the George cartridge. I chose the sign with the flower cut out. I cut it out on white shrink plastic and bent the lower part of the sign back while it was still hot to form a loop. Before shrinking, I stamped flowers on it in black ink and lightly colored them with pencils. After it was cool, I placed a beaded paper behind the cut out flower, and added Diamond Stickles to the whole "charm". On green silk cord I strung a silver eyelet (didn't have a lot of beads to use!), a flower bead, eyelet, "flower charm", eyelet, another flower bead and one last eyelet. I then knotted each end to hold it all in place.Miles of Smiles,Melissa
This is from last weeks Bitten By The Bug design challenge. We were to use the party hat, so I made a shaped birthday card. I inked it, stamped it, added buttons and stickles and fibers to the chipboard. Colorful and cheerful!Miles of Smiles,Melissa
Yeah, I know. Easter is over. I am finally getting around to uploading this pic of some of the other cards I made. I made a whole slew of these cuz they were quick, fun, and really cute. They are about 4 1/8" square. I used DCWV as the card bases, and the Glitter Mat Stack for the background bunnies. I cut out the bunnies border on my Cricut but used the negative space on top, embossed with the Swiss Dots in Cuttlebug. Added some prima flowers and glittered their centers.Miles of Smiles,Melissa
Here is a card I made for Easter. I first made the accordian card out of lilac cardstock,cut out 2 sizes of Easter eggs on various patterned papers, and cut out the bunnies in white. Happy Easter is computer generated since I didn't have a rubber stamp.
Miles of Smiles,
Melissa
Hello again! I know it's been a little while since I've posted. We went on a trip to Florida again. We got to see our friends and visit the area a little more. Oh it was soooo nice there. The weather was just fabulous! We really didn't want to leave. Beautiful blue skies, green grass and tropical plants, palm trees, warm breezes....{sigh}. Unfortunately, I didn't get any scrapbooking done, like I had planned, but oh well. When we landed back here at home it was only in the 30's, and everything is still so brown and dreary. Blah. The daffydills are blooming, and actually some of the trees and shrubs are getting flowers too, so maybe spring really isn't that far away. I am a warm weather girl, so I just can't wait for it. While we were in Florida, we saw the Space Shuttle lift off. It was a night launch so it was so friggin' sweeeet. I got an awesome pic of it, but will have to post that later since the hub took my camera to work. I LOVE travelling. I so enjoy seeing new things and experiencing new places. Are there any jobs that pay me to travel? Have you ever seen that show on the Travel Channel with Samantha Brown? She has got THE BEST job! She just travels around and shows you the hotels and the cool places of wherever she is. Cool! My hub and I always say that should be me. I could soooo do her job. heehee Miles of Smiles,Melissa
This one was made for an Oriental Challenge. It's a tall card. I stamped and embossed the birds in gold, then cut out and attached with foam dots. Cut a few squares of that Asian paper that I cannot seem to remember the name of and matted it to purple. Punched out some pinwheel flowers from Chinese text paper. I also chalked the edges and some of the birds. I like the gold in the Asian paper. That paper almost feels like fabric. It's so lovely.Miles of Smiles,Melissa
So I know it's been a while since my last post. We had a very nice anniversary. 11 years. Wow! We both can't believe it's been that long. But yet we still remember our first date so clearly. I've been busy with making cards, but it seems like most of the time I'm just straightening up from my previous project. I can't create when there's a mess in my space. So here is the latest challenge for the Bitten By the Bug site. The challenge was to use the photo corner cut. I cut 4 each of two different sizes and punched the corners. I embossed the green background and border punched (Martha Stewart) the purple patterned paper. I like the flower image created in the middle when the four punched corners were joined together. I added a tiny rhinestone to that, plus rhinestones in the corners and inside the flowers. Go check out the other ladies' creations at BBTB.Miles of Smiles,Melissa
Happy Valentine's Day!!! Aren't those two little kissy kids cute? A day for love, and hugs, and kisses and sweet romance.....and maybe a little naughtiness on the side....teeheeheee. My hub and I don't really celebrate this day because our anniversary is a week later. And besides, we are mushy and romantic every day anyway. We don't need a holiday! lol But I hope for all those not as "utterly disgusting" as we are that you find a special moment to say "I love you" and share a smile....or at least get your chocolate on! Miles of Smiles,Melissa
I made this one to send to a friend. I used my new stash of Cosmo Cricket papers. I sanded the edges of the card, inked the torn paper, stickled some of the dots and added vintage pearl buttons to the medallions. I also trimmed around the medallions to insert the Thank You playing card beneath. I stickled the phrase in bronze too.Miles of Smiles,Melissa
Valentine's Day is just around the corner. I like to send Valentines to my friends and family. Here are 2 that I recently made. The first one I used one of my Martha Stewart border punches, bird rubber stamp, rub-ons, silk flowers and a heart brad/stud. The second one uses another border punch, Cuttlebug corners, and swirl cut from the Cricut using the Joys of the Seasons cartridge. Also a Crafty Secrets image that I rounded the corners. I also embossed matching scarlet cardstock with hearts and cut out several and positioned them on the card so it looks like there is just a little bit of embossing here and there in the background. Miles of Smiles,Melissa
Let's face it. I am not a pro at making cards for guys. What can I say? I like the "pretty" cards, and cards with texture and cute elements. We are going away for the weekend with friends of ours to celebrate his birthday (the guy of this couple). Does that make sense? Anyhoo, he has a hog, and he rides it as much as he can, so I decided a Harley card would be just right. I printed out the eagle image 6 times, cut it and layered it 3D. I guess you can't really tell that it is dimensional in the pic, but it looks really cool in person. My hub really liked it, so I guess that means it is acceptable. :) I'm glad I had the steel plating background paper, cuz that adds to the "manliness" of it. lol The "Happy Birthday" is just a sticker that I chalked in blue and backed with black cardstock. I really enjoy making 3D images. Miles of Smiles,Melissa
The latest Bitten By The Bug Challenge was to make a shape card from the New Arrival cartridge. It was hard to decide what shape to choose, since there are sooo many cute ones on that cartridge. I seem to always be drawn to this bathtub. I think it is so cute and girlie. I Stickled the front patterned cardstock and added the Crafty Secrets "Oh La La" sticker. I happened to have some small paper flowers on stems, which worked perfectly "sprouting" from the tub. A little bit o' ribbon on the shower head, and all done! The inside is gray. The card actually hinges right below the flowers, where there is a small cut where the flowers are inserted. Go check out the other girls' designs at BBTB, and do yourself a favor and check out their personal sites as well. These girls rock with creativity! Miles of Smiles,Melissa
It is my Aunt's/Godmother's birthday on Saturday, and her name is Rose so I usually make here a card with some sort of rose on it. I used a Crafty Secrets image sticker that I Stickled and attached to black cardstock, then layered over some K&Co paper. Punched the corners, used some silver happy birthday stickers, and added the fibers and voila! Notice at the top how I made sure to use the part of the paper that had the meaning of the rose. That's no coincidence, bay-bee. lolMiles of Smiles,Melissa
This card I made to send to my hub's business partner, who is from Spain but working in China right now! (yeah, follow that!) It's a blue card with periwinkle cardstock that I punched a border edge on. Topped that with a striped paper that I embossed with Swiss Dots, and chalked the edge. The onesie I cut out from Cricut's New Arrival with shadow. Stickled the stars on it and added tiny star buttons. I cut out the scalloped squares and the rounded squares from Cricut, chalked the edges, and added white rub-on letters and more tiny star buttons. I attached these with pop-dots. I then finished it off by adding larger star buttons and accenting the edges and letters with my white Sharpie and some more Stickles.
