August kits are ready!!!!!

August, Scrap for a Cure kits are ready to be purchased! You can shop here! Here's a couple peeks of the kits, but you must go to the site to get the entire view and see the talented DT girls work!

Here's the main, Whimsical Wisteria:
and the mini, Morning Glory:
Here are a couple projects I completed this month. I worked with the mini kit and incorporated some the main into a couple pieces of my work this month.

This is a gift box using the paper, ribbon and tiny tags. I sprayed the top with some leftover glimmer mist from a past project (which is still available in the kit shop). I really makes it soft looking.

Here's a card I made, which I also sent to Patti. Poor thing isn't feeling the best and we miss her. Hope she likes the card! (hope it gets there in 1 piece, sending bulky brads and ribbon through the mail isn't always the best thing) But, Patti, this is for you and we miss you.
This month we followed a sketch. I would love for you to follow it and show us what you did with it. Here's the sketch, it's from the website 52 weeks, sketch #22.

and here's my take on it, almost an exact copy but a super easy sketch to work with. I think this is one of the fastest layouts I did in a long time.

This month I highlighted a technique. For more info on watercolor pencils/crayons, please visit the Scrap for a Cure blog. This is the layout I created by playing with the watercolor pencils.

Miss You, is a layout I made using pieces of both main and mini kit this month. They work so well with each other and the colors are fabulous! This is my great granny (aka Granny) and myself. When I see the purple colors, I knew exactly what photo I wanted to enhance. Granny's favorite color was purple. I really miss Granny.

In the main kit there's a bunch of tiny beads. I used mine in the flower center. I dabbed a bit of glossy accents in the middle, added a bunch of beads. Let them dry overnight and in the morning dabbed some glue on them and added a touch of purple glitter. They are very pretty and you would never know there were beads. It adds a ton of texture! And look at the beautiful gold butterfly. Perfect finishing piece!

That about does it for August's work for Scrap for a Cure. Please stop by the message board and join us! We love meeting new friends, don't forget to stop by the blog and catch up on techniques, challenges and chit-chat. and what the heck, stop at the gallery too! There's lots of eye candy. I even stopped there tonight and the members are filling it up beautifully!

Have a great weekend everyone!

more blog hopping...

At Scrap for a Cure we like to blog hop around the end of the month and look at each others eye candy, we invite you to do the same!!! Here are a couple more peeks for the August kit, these are using the mini kit and just bits and pieces of the main. They work well with each other, so pick up both!

this isn't a layout, I made a little simple project...


Hope you are having a great day! Stop here to link up with the rest of the DT and get the peeks

My Little Shoebox at CHA

Check out this video from the girlies from My Little Shoebox. They are at CHA in Florida. Here's the video link I want to be there, I should be there, but where am I....in Wisconsin, far-far away :(

I seen my work in a quick blur, it's so unreal.

Leave them a comment and tell them we want more video since Melanie couldn't go! hehehehe!

We are blog hopping....

...at Scrap for a Cure! Here are a couple little peeks using the August kit. I'm gonna link you up to the message board so you can see the rest of the design team! Oh, and guess what we have 2 new members and let me tell you they ROCK! You have to check them out, they are the very talented Leslie Ashe and Deanna Kroll!!!!

Make sure you stop here (and say hi!): Message Board



ta-ta for now!

Recently I had been Scraplifted...

...by an awesome group of women from France. You would would think the language barrier would have been difficult to chat with each other, but it's not so bad. I joined their forum...in French of course! But they can get enough English across so I can understand and we'll for me---I don't understand any French so I put everything into a google translator program. And, well what I don't understand, I can get from the smilies they post to know if it is something funny and just laugh along with them.

When I asked if I could post their work on my blog, they were very excited! Thank you girls, this was fun getting to know you, chat with you and see your creativeness.

Here's mine once again to show you, this from a July kit from Scrap for a Cure:
and here are the wonderful ladies from France...

DooD:

Julienzoé:

Chrystelle:

Mère Lolo:

Alexou:

Scrapamou:

Nathalie:


thank you for picking me to scraplift and get to know you all!

Would YOU like to win some My LIttle Shoebox?????

Come one, come all...

My Little Shoebox is having a contest. They are giving away a set of one of their NEW lines!!!

All you have to do is tell them what your favorite line is. Pretty Simple, uh?!?!?! (remember---I win this once and got my very first full line from them, they are very generous!)

Include your name and state and you may be the lucky one to get a package at the door with some new goodies!!!

Make sure you go to their blog at My Little Shoebox
and leave a comment---make sure you tell them Melanie sent you to WIN!

Entries must be in by this Saturday, midnight. Good luck my friends!

Sunday is Flea Market day!

I'm really starting to like this flea market thing. This is my third I have been to. I think going with a purpose helps a bit. My goal....Scrapbooking items! This is certainly fun for the entire family. For instance my daughter Khila found a necklace, Brandon found tons of football cards-even found some good deals, Kaden maybe the smallest in family at 5 years old but he can sure spot a tractor or truck a mile away. He even bought up 2 trucks this time. Nothing for Dad this time...sorry Scott.

Here are my finds for the day...

A bunch of old tags for $2 (they are even more than this but they were all duplicates so I didn't photo them)

These are old post cards, a wooden nickle and train tickets

This is one thing I had to have. This reminded me of Tim Holtz and his creative stuff he uses. I see I took the picture up side down but you get the idea. I talked the seller down to $3. It's about 6 inches tall. Great for an altered project or a mini album. I can't wait to use it.



I found all these pearls for $3. Score! I had planned on picking up a bag at the craft store this week for my handmade flower centers. Certainly can't pick that many up and a container for $3.

This is a huge pile of stuff. The lady had all these grab bags for .25 each. Well I bought 1, she said take another. Ok, I did. They as I'm leaving she hands me a plastic bags and tells me to fill it up for a $1.00. So all this cost $1.50. Actually, there's a lot more you can't see in the photo because I'm gonna junk that stuff. This is the pile I'm keeping.

here are a couple close-ups:

These are wooden. Not sure what they are since there is only 1 hole. Do they make 1 hole buttons? I got a baggie full of these.

lots of old stuff in here.


little baby clothes pins


That's it for my finds. At this rate I could keep shopping and open my own Etsy store. It's so fun to see all the stuff and dig through each vendors junk...or treasures! Just tons of stuff, I easily could have bought more. Maybe something to think about in the future.

Thanks for stopping by!

More A Kiss on the Chic layouts

Here's a couple layouts that I made using the A Kiss on the Chic July kits. This was a smaller kit this month so I just made 2 layouts in addition to clock (which is a post or 2 below this one). I'm gonna make-up a couple cards with the rest of the supplies. The kits are still for sale, it is just that Laura took them down while she's on vacation since she can't send them out. Don't worry though, she'll be back soon enough and you can purchase one then.



Here a photo of the kit again. I also used one of the new Making Memories vintage kits you can get at Michael's, so there's pieces of that on both layouts mixed in.

Have a great day!

Once upon a time....

...a fairy kissed you with some sparkly fairy dust. This is no ordinary clock! Each time to you look at this you'll be taking back to daydream land where all is calm and peaceful.

Using a Kaiser Craft Clock and a July A Kiss on the Chic kit along with a couple other scrapbook products I made a beautiful clock. The fairies are cute little decoupage pieces I purchase from Michael's. I added some lovely liquid pearls and sparkly mica flake glitter for the beautiful fairy dust look. The papers are Webster's Pages, they are perfect for my project.

Here's a couple different views and close-ups.

Notice how I took the liquid pearls and out lined the flower and sprinkled the mica flakes on them.
here I outlined the rose and again added some mica flakes for lots of yummy texture.

the letters are kissed with fairy dust

some more texture on the wings of the beautiful fairies and the Prima tree branch

One more look at the finished project.

I can't wait to hang this on my scrapbook room wall. It just so pretty!

The Bird House Instructions

Remember the birdhouse I made a couple months back, it was the one on the Prima Blog. Well adding the instructions to my blog slipped my mind. But, I promised a sweet lady I would get it done this weekend. If you have any questions please feel free to email me.

This was the finished piece

Here's the raw birdhouse from Michael's craft store.

For the first layer I used a cheap brand of paint in a Raw Umber color (which is a dark brown) and painted the entire birdhouse. Let this coat dry a good 4-6 hours or overnight.
I applied a second coat to get it really dark. Again let dry thoroughly.


Next apply a layer of Crackle Medium. This is found at Michael's (or any other craft store) for about $2.00 a bottle. (this is awesome stuff-go ahead and use it for all the chipboard pieces you have laying around to give them a new look)


Apply a nice thick layer to the birdhouse. Again let this dry according the directions on the crackle product. I let mine dry overnight. See how shiny it gets. Make sure it is evenly covered.

Next apply your top layer of paint. I used a cheap .50 bottle of Vanilla Creme. The more paint you apply the better the crackle will look, so go ahead and use a thick coat. This will need to dry overnight.


Soon it will start to crackle and look like this.

After I let it dry, I sanded certain area to make it look aged and weathered. Go specially around the edges and corners. Think about where the weather would age the most if it were left outside.

Next I went 1 step further and used an Antiquing Medium. Again, you can find this at a craft store around $3 a bottle. A little goes a long way with this stuff. I used a cloth and rubbed it in where I sanded it to really make the aged spots appear worn and weathered. I wipe and then removed until I got the desired finish I was looking for.

At this is the end result of the long process of the painting techniques. Remember if you don't like the end result, it's just paint-Sand it smooth and start over.

To decorate my piece, I hot glued some moss to the bottom of the birdhouse and half way up the sides. I used 2 Prima vine flowers (love those by the way!) and attached them by stapling and hot gluing them into place, just bend them around and hide the staples with the leaves. I also used some leftover floral pieces I had at home and just stuck them into place. For the birds nest, I used an already made nest, set it into place and topped it off with a bird. To further embellish the house, I added a Tim Holtz key plate/key and topped it off with a Prima butterfly.

I hope this inspires you create one! Remember I can help you with the painting techniques, just email me or leave a comment on this post. The key to the paint, is let each layer dry thoroughly. Don't try to hurry and skip on the drying time because when you start sanding each layer will lift if it's not properly dried. Give yourself a couple days before you expect a finished result. It's not as time consuming as it seems. The painting will only take 15 min or less at a time.

You can also spray a sealer to the finished project (do that before you add any embellishments).

Good Luck!

Melanie