Custom Journal - Follow Your Heart

Another custom journal ordered as a Christmas gift.  Again, the cover and wire are by Zutter and the interior pages are plain printer paper.  All cover items, except for the flower are by My Little Yellow Bicycle and the flower is by American Crafts.

I really like how this one turned out, happy and cheerful!

Custom Journal - Life is Good

This is another journal from the custom order for 6 journals.  I, once again, used the Zutter Bind-It-All bracket cover in white with white binding wires.  The paper inside is plain printer paper cut to size.  Cover paper is Bo Bunny, "Life is Good" is from Me and My Big Ideas, I think.  Clear frame around "Life is Good" and the dotted flower are from Making Memories.  Ribbon is by American Crafts.  Jewels by Kaiser Craft.  I used Pearl Glimmer Mist by Tattered Angels on the white flower.  All other items are big unknowns as to the manufacturers.

Custom Journal: Flower Power

This is a custom journal I made as a gift to a college student.  I used Zutter Bind-It-All bracket covers and wire in silver.  The paper on the inside is plain printer paper cut to size.  The patterned paper and ribbon are  We R Memory Keepers.  Unsure of the flowers and buttons.  The white flower is decorated with Stickles.

This picture does a better representation of the colors and sparkle.

Our 2009 Christmas Card

I made 80 of the card below for our family Christmas card this year.  I got my inspiration from the JOY card on this post at Christmas with the Cricut.  It turned out much different then the original, and I actually think it looks great and joyful!

Supplies Used:  BoBunny patterned papers, Archivers blue cardstock, Bazzill Bling cardstock, Fiskars Threading Water Punch, Cricut with the Storybook cartridge.

Custom Favor Boxes

I got this idea from the Spellbinders make and take at ScrapFest this year.  Instead of using their tree Nestability, I used the Paper Dolls Dress Up cartridge and set it up in Design Studio so I could just attach the paper to the cutting mat and it would cut in the right place every time.  I bought thicker ribbon then I had wanted to, but the bows turned out nice.  This isn't the best angle to see it, but the bows were nice and plump on top of the boxes.  I covered the tree with acetate and filled the box with plain M&Ms.

The first person that ordered them loved how they turned out and I'm doing the other delivery tonight.  I hope she likes them too!

I can see these being used for other holidays and events too.  You could to a wedding bell, a cupcake, an Easter bunny or basket or any other number of shapes.  I'm actually giving myself ideas for my own holidays.

If you are interested in ordering a custom item, feel free to contact me via email or by leaving a comment on my blog.  I will always try to accomodate orders!

Stay tuned for some custom journals I made for someone to give as Christmas gifts and later this week I'll post a picture of the Christmas card I mailed out for our family this year.

Black Friday on Etsy

I have decided to participate in the Black Friday promotion on etsy.com and am extending my sale through Monday, November 30th.

My featured promotions:
- All items will be on sale.  I will be reducing the prices so they will be listed at the reduced price, not the original.

- All custom orders will receive free shipping.  Some custom items I offer include: perpetual calendars, annual calendars, Christmas cards, invitations, thank you cards, favor boxes, gift bags and etched glassware. (My favorite idea for etched glassware is a casserole dish with the last name etched into the backside of it.  You can read the name properly through the glass and it's a great personalized gift....I'm thinking wedding presents!)  Have a different idea?  Ask!  I will work with you to try to make it work.

Feel free to contact me with any questions.  I would love to help in any way I can!

I hope you enjoy your Thanksgiving and the long weekend!

Changes!

I am going to be making some changes to this blog in the coming months.  I have started an etsy store called Handcrafted by Melissa Kaye and will be switching over this blog to coordinate with that.  I am hoping to post images of the items I'm selling on this blog and hopefully some custom projects I have had ordered.

Cutting Above Gypsy Giveaway!

Cutting Above is THE new place for industry news, review information, tutorials, videos and just about anything else related to scrapbooking and die cut machines!! They are doing a GIVEAWAY to help them celebrate their arrival onto the scrapbooking scene and it is a GYPSY! WA-HOO!

Follow this link to find out more information or click on the blinkie on the right hand side of the page. GOOD LUCK!

More Giveaways!

Seriously. There are some great giveaways going on right now. It's amazing how generous people are.

The following blogs are doing AMAZING giveaways. It follows right along with their work. Even if you don't enter the contests, you will be inspired when you leave these blogs!

Creating From the Heart

Butterfly Kisses

Pamela has a Giveaway!

Pamela over at Pamela's World of Scrap is giving away the August Scarlet Lime kit. YUM-O! Everyone raves about these kits and she has a chance to win one for free!

The August kit is sold out, so you can't even buy it any more. To check out the Scarlet Lime website and see what you could win, click here.

Good luck!

The Cuttlebug Spot $1000 Giveaway!

The Cuttlebug Spot is doing a $1000 Giftcard Giveaway to Custom Crops! AWESOME! They are trying to reach 1000 followers by the end of July and when they reach that number will be giving away that awesome gift card! Check it out! I'm already dreaming of what I could get with that $1000.....

Here's what you need to do to enter:

Anyone can join, here's what you need to do to enter:

1) Become a follower of The Cuttlebug Spot. (If you are already a follower you met the first step).

2) Post a link to this contest on your blog. If you don't have a blog you can start one at blogspot.com.

3) Leave a comment to this post with a link back to your blog post.

An SEI Giveaway

The SEI blog is having a giveaway for their 100th post. SEI has been a favorite company of mine FOREVER! Last year at Christmas I bought at least 3 sheets of their entire Christmas line. I love it!

Check out the post here: SEI 100th Post Giveaway!

The itop from Imaginisce

Imaginisce is releasing a really cool new product this summer called the itop. You can make your own customized brads with it. I'm SO excited to check it out. Right now they are running a contest on their blog where they are giving away 2 itops every week for the next 4 weeks.

Check it out: Imaginesce blog.

A Spending Challenge

I am challenging myself to not spend any money on scrapbooking supplies until the weekend of September 18th. I can only buy adhesives, order pictures and sign up for ScrapFest (which starts September 18th).

Lately I have been doing a lot of buying and not much scrapping. So my goal between now and September 18th is to create 50 layouts out of the supplies I currently have. This may have to be adjusted if I have to have hip surgery, but I REALLY want to get back into my scrap area and do more creating.

This last weekend I made 20 layouts. It felt SO good. Now if I can continue to find time to create more layouts. I do have a cross stitch that is high priority right now, but sometimes you need a break. :)

ScrapFest 2009

I L-O-V-E ScrapFest at the Mall of America. This year's website is up here: ScrapFest. I go every year with my mom and we have SO much fun.

A Simple Anniversary Card

This is another card I made for my uncle for Christmas. I made it to be an anniversary card, but it could be used for other things.

Supplies: White cardstock by Archivers, all other paper SEI, markers are American Crafts. Can't remember the stamp set and I am currently unable to get into my scrap area, so I'll update that when I can check into it.

Finally...

I have been WAY out of commission over the last couple of months. At first it was complications for my daughter and her surgery and since then I've been having major issues with my hip and pelvis. Hopefully I'll get to update more frequently, because I HAVE been scrapping. Here is a monogrammed card I made for my uncle as part of a package of cards that I gave him for Christmas.

I used a packet of paper left over from a Scrap Mania at Archiver's and a plain chipboard letter painted red with Making Memorie's paints.

I hope you are having a FABULOUS National Scrapbooking Day and I hope to add more things as I'm able to. Have to take pictures first. :)

The Final Calendar Installment

More illness, means a long time between posts again. Oh well. I finally get to post the last three pages of the calendar. I won't be posting September because it has naked babies in it. So this is a quick post with the last three months.

October: Papers by K&Company, Bat by K&Company, Ribbon, Crow and button by Making Memories, Chipboard with window and bat by SEI


November: Paper by Archivers, photo corners by We R Memory Keepers, all others unknown.


December: Papers by KI Memories, Ribbon and Believe title by We R Memory Keepers, Bell Stickers by Mrs. Grossman and Present by Soft Spoken.

Finally, more of that Calendar

Our household has been fighting a neverending battle with illness. Someone in our house has been sick since December 16th, and it was my turn from the 26th through yesterday. Now it's the hubby's turn again. So today has been the first day in a while that I have had the energy to do a new post. So finally, some more little calendar cuties!

June: All papers and embellishments by KI Memories.


July: All papers by American Crafts, So Happy Together embellishment by K&Company

August: All papers by K&Company, flower and button by Making Memories, SWEET letter stickers by American Crafts and transparency slide and little Ones stickers unknown.

Scrappy goals and More Calendar Cuties

I have three more calendar pages to share with you all, but first I want to get my scrappy goals for 2009 out there. Maybe if I post them in cyber space, they'll be more motivating for me. So here is what I hope to do in 2009:

1. Spend one nap time a week scrapbooking.

2. Get caught up with printing off my pictures. (I've been working on this for awhile. 50 free prints a month from artscow.com helps, but I still plan on using half of my scrapbooking budget a month to getting pictures printed off. I have A LOT of pictures to print off...I haven't printed off any for my youngest and I'm caught up through June of 2008 with the older two. I don't even want to think about family or vacation pictures.)

3. Finish through January 1, 2009, of all three of my kids' albums. (I have through June 2007 done for my son and December of 2007 for my middle daughter, nothing for the youngest. This is a lofty goal, but luckily I am usually a speedy scrapper and I will have a couple of opportunities this year to spend 2 to 3 days just scrapping, which means lots of pages done. I know a lot of people don't do chronological and almost kind of frown upon it, but I can't scrap any other way, I want to have all my pages for a certain time period done and then set it aside to admire.)

4. Send cards for all birthdays and anniversaries in 2009.

5. Finish my scrap room set up and organization. (This involves figuring out a configuration for and putting up wall shelves in the corner of my space. I'm hoping to get this done in March.)

6. Get all my layouts into scrapbooks. (This is a daunting task, just because I don't like doing this. I would rather spend my scrapping money on supplies to make more layouts and my scrapping time actually scrapping. I probably have over 100 layouts not in scrapbooks right now....hey at least some of them are in page protectors!)

7. Do one crop a month, either here at home or out with my mom or sister-in-law.

8. Do more daily journaling about things that the kids say or do and who they are. (I need to get out a notebook and just write down those things that the kids say or do that crack me up, warm my heart or make me roll my eyes. I really want to remember their quirks and sweet moments in my scrapbooks.)

Now on to the calendar!

March: cardstock by Archivers, patterned paper by American Crafts, can't remember anything else. :)

April: cardstock by Archiver's, chipboard letters by Heidi Grace, flowers by Making Memories, butterfly by DCWV and I can't remember who makes the rain drops.

May: paper, word stickers, chipboard word by K&Company, felt flourish by Fancy Pants, flowers, buttons and bracket by Making Memories.

2009 Calendar

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and are ready to get back into crafting. I've been working on a cross stitch birth record for a nephew that is due in April and I spent a large part of yesterday in my scrap space creating 10 layouts for my middle daughter's scrapbook. I'll try to post those eventually....I still have a lot from the holiday gift giving to share.

I made my parents a calendar of pictures of the kiddos for Christmas this year. I did it for them two years ago too, when it was just my oldest. I'll post the calendar in parts and September will not be posted because it features naked baby butts.

Cover page: All papers KI Memories, numbers are American Crafts Thickers

January: White Cardstock is Archiver's, Blue patterned paper is American Crafts.

February: Pink Cardstock is Archiver's, patterned paper is American Crafts, Large Flower is Bo Bunny, Green chipboard embellishment is K&Company Amy Butler and buttons are Making Memories and Stampin' Up.