Happy Birthday to my Aunt Renee - my 2nd mom! :)

Well Sunday is my 2nd mom's birthday, Happy Birthday Aunt Renee! 

She means the world to me and has taught me so much in life.  I love her very much.  I know that she loves the beach so I decided to make her a beached themed birthday card.  Even though I knew she loved Hello Kitty (haha, seriously she does!), I knew that my cousin (her daughter Rhonda - my "sister") was making her a card and matching bags for her gifts with the Hello Kitty Cricut cartridges!  :)  So I chose the beach!  :)

For this card, I used the Create A Critter and the Paper Doll Dress Up cartridges.  I had some seashell stickers from Paper House Productions I used with pop dots because I had adhered all the cut images with pop dots as well.  This card had a lot of dimension!  For the sentiment on the cloud, I used the Sweet Sentiments #2 stamps from My Craft Spot.

On the inside, I used some random birthday stamps that I had in my collection (sorry I don't know what brand they are).  I added some rhinestones and pearls to my little treasure chest as well that I also cut from the PDDU cartridge.  I thought it turned out sooo cute!

We definitely had a good time this evening when we all got together to eat pizza and had yummy chocolate cupcakes from my friend Cassie at Cake Monkey.  Mmmm-Mmmm, they were so good!

Well, Happy Birthday Renee and I love you very much!

Your niece,

                  Shelley :)

**Entered at Paper Cutz Challenge #102 and the Craft Junkie Too - T.G.I.F Linky Party

                                                                 

Bows, Bows, and more Bows!

Happy Weekend to everyone!  Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!  I spent this evening working on a project that I've had in mind to make for awhile and finally got the fabric from my mom to make it!  Yay! 

See, when me and my mom did my daughter's room before she was born, my mom kept all the scraps of fabric that was left over (from the bedding, curtains, pillows, tablecloths, etc.) so I was needing some fabric to cover these 12x16 canvases that I had bought.  Well.......she didn't have a piece big enough!  So.......I just used 3 pieces instead!  I made it work!  :)

I made a Bow Board for all of Carley's hair bows because her collection of hair bows have grown since she was born!  Of course, a friend of the family graciously had made and gave her a bunch of hair bows at one of my baby showers and had them on this cute bow holder!

But like I said, the collection of bows has grown so we needed to make another holder to keep some of them as well as the current Princess bow holder!  Now since her room is done in Wizard of Oz and we had some fabric scraps leftover.......this is what I created!  :)

Gotta love spray adhesive, ribbons, and some hot glue!  :)

This board is already almost full!  But there's still plenty of room on the other holder so we've got room to grow!  ;)

Shelley

**Entered at the Craft Junkie Too - T.G.I.F Linky Party

and at You Had Me At Craft - Made It Myself Mondays

CJToo Project Day - "Bright & Fun"...and Cricut-less Too - and of course, Happy Birthday to two dear friends!

Welcome to CJToo's Crafty Designer's Team Project Day! 

http://www.craftjunkietoo.com/2011/07/cjtoo-crafty-designers-design-team-day_27.html

Each designer was given the challenge to create something "Bright & Fun" no matter the materials or colors as long as it was just "Bright & Fun"!  No problem!  Above at the top, is a close-up of part of my project.....below are the other pics of my "Bright & Fun" projects that I created. 

I have two dear friends that have birthdays this week and how much fun is that?? :)  Birthdays are always fun!  So just throw in some bright colors and Viola!

Happy Birthday to Wendy and Jordan!! I love you both!

And notice I put this message especially in Carolina Blue for the both of you! ;)  Now that's love!  :)

Now onto my"Bright & Fun" project for today......

"Bright & Fun" Monogrammed Birthday cards!

I am so gonna make more of these for other friends because they were so fun to make! Now if you noticed the title.....yes, I managed NOT to use my Cricut! It was definitely a challenge for me, (which was NOT part of the Design Team's challenge at all) but it was something I just wanted to see if I could do.....and that is, to create something without using my Cricut and I thought they turned out beautifully! :) I love flowers, ribbon, and buttons so these cards got them all! :)

First off, this card is for Jordan who is one of the teens that went with me on the youth trip last week. She means so much to me and is the sweetest girl! She inspired me for the contents of her card.....the girly lace, the cute flowers, and the sparkle of her initial! She is all of these....girly, cute, and sparkly! :) Below is the inside of her card with matching papers and birthday sentiments.

This second card I created for my beautiful friend Wendy! She too is beautiful, bright, and fun! She is a very creative person and is super sweet! She is the one that created the super cute cupcake nursery for her baby girl (which I made a layout for her room - one of my first Cricut projects)!  Her name is Lanie.  Below is the inside of Wendy's card with bright matching papers and birthday sentiments as well.

I hope that both ladies enjoy their cards and certainly do not see this post before I give their cards to them! Haha! We'll see how that goes.....LOL

OK, so be sure to check out the rest of the design team's "Bright & Fun" projects by starting at Tracy's site, Craft Junkie Too! 

I hope you enjoy them all and are inspired as I was!  Have a great Wednesday!

Shelley

Welcome Baby Shane!

Some friends' of mine welcomed their first child, Shane a couple of weeks ago and I'm so very happy for them!  For his room, I made him a banner with his name and all sorts of boy stuff on it!  They loved it!  I made a card too for them that turned out super boy cute!  I also helped with a few decorations for the baby shower we gave them at church.  Below are all the pics!

The banner

Close-ups of each pennant

Boys love 4-Wheelin', right?  :)

....and Fishin'....

Then there are of course the "Boy's Toys"!  :)

Dinosaurs.....

and Robots!  :)

Front of the card

Close-up of the card (Isn't the wormy soooo cute?)  :)

Inside of card

Then for the shower, I cut, inked, and stamped 25 tags!

Then attached them with ribbon and mini blue pacifiers to candies wrapped in tulle circles for the shower favors.  I thought they turned out soooo cute!

Then I made this "It's a Boy" ribbon to hang at the shower and as well in his room!

Ribbon hanging on the corner of the table at the shower.

Banner I made hanging on a window at the shower.

I hope you enjoyed these crafts as I enjoyed making them for Andy & DeDee and their new addition, baby Shane! I pray that God blesses their new little family!  :)

Shelley

**(Entered at Made It Myself Mondays and My Craft Spot - Monday Challenge - Emboss It.)

                              

Some cards I made........SOLD!

Wow, it's been awhile since I posted hasn't it.........with VBS at church two weeks ago (as well as my enrollment for fall semester at college - whoo hoo!) and then I was gone for a week on a church youth trip (which was such a blessing by the way!).  But I'm back home now and back to crafting too! 

I had been toying around with the idea of selling custom cards, pages, and banners, but just hadn't had any requests yet until about 3 weeks ago.  So before we had VBS two weeks ago, I was asked to create some custom cards for a friend, Cassie who wanted something special for friends' who were welcoming new baby girls as well as a Miss You card for her mom who had moved away.  I was pleased at how the cards turned out!  Super cute and fun to make!  Below are the cards:

 "It's a Girl" baby card

Inside of card

  2nd Baby Girl card

(I was so proud of myself for getting out the needle and thread to make that crinkled ribbon accent!)  :)

Inside of 2nd card 

Miss You card (close-up)

Front of Miss You card

Inside of Miss You card

Cassie let me know that the recipients of these cards were pleased which makes me happy!  :D 

By the way, check out Cassie's own creations on her website......www.cake-monkey.com and Like her on Facebook!

And also be sure to check out my Creativity for Sale! page as well. 

Thanks and have a great day!

Shelley

**(Entered at Made It Myself Mondays.)

A card for my Mom's birthday!

Happy Birthday to my Mom!  I love her so very much! 

(Picture from my wedding day....yes, she made my cake!  She is awesome!)

OK, so like I've said before, I'm terrible about posting things that I keep or just gave to a close relative apparently....yep, forgot to post my mom's birthday card from APRIL 30th!!  Geeez!  Anyway, my mom loves hummingbirds so of course I had to make her a hummingbird card!

I used the Pagoda cartridge for the hummingbird (and of course I can't remember what size images I cut back in April!  ha!) as well as the Kanji Word block.  However, I didn't use the back layer with the word "mother" on it like in the book, but instead cut two tags, one a little smaller than the other from my Creative Memories Stork's Delivery cartridge.  Then I just wrote "MOM" on the tags for the front of the card.  I added some rhinestones to the center of some of the flowers, then used my Martha Stewart doily punch for the bottom of the inside of the card.  I trimmed the front of the card a little so this would show on the back.  I also used my Creative Memories butterfly punch to add a small butterfly in the bottom right corner.

On the inside, I added some light green paper, some ribbon, and another hummingbird & a flower (with rhinestone) also cut from the Pagoda cartridge.

My mom of course LOVED her card!

Hope everyone has a great week!  We've got Vacation Bible School this week starting tomorrow night so I'm not sure how much crafting I'll get done at home that is......but lots of crafts each of night at church for sure!  I'll be sure to post what we make!  I used my Cricut for a couple crafts and lots of paint and hot glue too!  :)

Shelley 



A "Sweet" Award!

So I received this very 'sweet' award from two very 'sweet' blogger friends!  Cindy P. over at
CardCrazeeMe53 and Anna over at Memories by Anna Dawn both left me this wonderful award on their sites.  How cool is this?  Thank you ladies so very much!!  You both are too, too sweet!  ;)  Don't these strawberries make you hungry??  :)   Be sure to check out Cindy and Anna's blogs for crafty creations!

The rules for the award are the following:

1) Send a thank you to the person who nominated you and include their link.
2) To accept this award, answer 7 random facts about yourself.
3) Pass the award on to at least 8 other awesome blog buddies.

7 Random facts about me:

1.  I am gloriously saved!

2.  Some people think I'm crazy for putting so much detail into my projects, but it makes me so happy when I see the recipients' faces and how crazy they are over my projects!  :)

3.  I have 6 dogs, 1 cat, and a beta fish!

4.  I'm addicted to the scrapbooking aisle at Mighty Dollar!  haha!

5.  I am going back to college this fall at age 37 to finish my 2 yr degree finally!  Geeez! 

6.  I was once kissed on the forehead by Dale Earnhardt Jr! (That's for you Nascar fans! Ha!) :)

7.  I would LOVE to start my own crafting business or a business painting nurseries/murals but don't really know how to go about it! :(

Ok so now I am passing this "SWEET" award onto these amazing crafty people!  Check out their blogs and see if you are as inspired as I am!  :)

1.  Amber at http://my3escrapbooking.blogspot.com/

2.  Elizabeth at http://www.217creations.com/

3.  Karen at http://thebusybug.blogspot.com/

4.  Cindy at http://cindybcreations.blogspot.com/

5.  Court at http://courtscrafts.blogspot.com/

6.  Diana at http://dianamlarson.blogspot.com/

7.  Alex at http://www.youhadmeatcraft.com/

8.  Kristal at http://www.gettingcricky.com/

 Thanks again Cindy and Anna for this "sweet" award!  It means a lot to me!

Shelley





Sweet Baby Kowen!

One of my friends, Katie, was blessed with her sweet baby Kowen James on June 3rd which was 9 weeks before his due date!  He was only 3lbs and 5oz when he entered this world so soon but is doing great now and is up to 5lbs.  Hopefully he will be coming home with his mommy and daddy next week!  I sure pray so! :)

Katie works at Carley's daycare and they had a shower for her today.  In addition to the always needed diapers, I made her a banner for his room and a card as well of course!  His room is decorated in teddy bears and sports stuff!  She was so excited that I made this banner and loved it when she opened her gifts today!  I'm so glad she liked it!  She hung it on his bedroom door which it looked great!  :)  Yay!

Here's a pic of the banner hung on his bedroom door!

Below are the pics right after I made it!  I cut the chipboard pennants for this banner at 7.5" from the Country Life cartridge (pg. 76).  The letters were cut as lowercase from the Cindy Lou cartridge at 3.5".  I cut 4 of each letter from a light blue cardstock and glued them together so they would be thick like the chipboard.  Then I adhered them to the pennants with pop dots.  I picked up the teddy bears and sports embellishments made by Jolee.  They worked perfectly for his room decor.

I used square silver eyelets for the holes and threaded through some ribbon and jute together to hang it with.  I also sanded and inked the edges of the chipboard to give it a distressed look.  I really liked how this banner turned out!  Now for the card....

I used matching paper on the card that I had used on the banner! :)  The Creative Memories Stork's Delivery cartridge has some really cute images on it.  I loved this "frogs & snails and puppy dog tails" sentiment!  (I forgot what size I cut this image at....sorry.)  I used a Creative Memories punch as well on the side of the card to make the little froggie cut-outs!

I used the Sweet Sentiments stamp set from My Craft Spot as well as the Vintage Blue Bakers Twine.  And to finish off the card, I used some wavy scissors to cut some matching green paper for the edge on the inside of the card.

So I continue to pray for Kowen and his mommy and daddy that his health progresses every day and he grows to be a healthy boy! I know this family has been very blessed with this little baby boy as he is blessed as well to have such a loving family and friends!

Shelley