Sympathy

I made this sympathy card for my aunt, who just lost someone very dear to her. It's a very simple card, but I think sympathy cards should be understated.

Miles of Smiles,

Dad Birthday Card

This card I made for my dad's birthday. He enjoys fishing, and my brothers and my hub took him deep sea fishing over the weekend. It didn't turn out how I envisioned, but oh well.

Miles of Smiles,

New Sketch Blog to Check Out

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,

BBTB Owl

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,

Princess Card

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,

Disney Princess Bench

Here are pics of the bench I painted and decorated for my cousins little girl who turned one. It was a Disney Princess theme party, so I thought she would like this. I also used Princess stickers, chipboard flowers, and embroidered embellishments on the back.

Miles of Smiles,

BBTB Challenge: Wreath

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,

Mother's Day Card

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,

New BBTB Challenge

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,

Farewell Poe Meow

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.

We Are Moving To FLORIDA!!!!!

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

Recycle For Camping

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

Another Design

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

BBTB Designs

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

More Easter

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

Easter Accordian

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

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

Oriental Card

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

BBTB Corners Challenge

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!

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