Take a Quote, Leave a Quote

Just don't give up trying to do what you really love to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don't think you can go wrong.

~Ella Fitzgerald

Don't! give! up!!

:)

OWH Blog Candy Winner!

I wanted to share a design you can use for soldiers to send back home thrugh Operation Write Home, with the simple "love you" greeting stamped into the heart this could be used any time of year! This camo print DP is from The Paper Studio, found it at Hobby Lobby. Simply cut some wavy rectangles with a straight edge on one end for the sleeve opening to make the fatigues! Then use scissors or a craft blade to crop the far ends on the sides of the card. Cardstock is Gina K Pure Luxury White, Red Hot and In the Navy. Layers are Cuttlebugged with Stars and Heart Blocks and sponged with Antique Linen and Vintage Photo Distressing Inks.

Thanks so much to everyone who left comments for the "Where Your Heart Is" set, your card making stories and hero experiences were so inspiring, I really appreciate you sharing! The most exciting thing about reading them was how many people crafters found out about the Operation Write Home or the set through those posts and plan to start sending cards for the troops! :) The winner is:

pennyd said...
As I wrote on the OWH blog, I am a disabled veteran and have deployed in the past, leaving my four children behind. It was very important to them to hear from mom and now, making cards for OWH, I can help other military folks keep in touch with their loved ones.

It is a beautiful set, thank you!

January 8, 2011 11:51 PM

Congrats, Penny please send me your snail address within 48 hurs to claim your prize so I can send you your set! Be sure to check out the "Stars and Stamps" blog, too for the other winner! Thank you again Gina for donating the sets!

Do you have questions about Operation Write Home and want to get some cards in the mail to them? Be sure to check out this page on how to get involved, as well as the mailroom page on some info about shipping cards!

Sketch Spotlight Challenge

Happy Monday! Time for another Sketch Spotlight with Gina K! Sketch below! On today's sample I took a few small liberties with the sketch, swapping out this much fancier Label 14 for the oval, (still oblong so I'm going with it!) I already had it cut and embossed from that Grand Calibur post, so it was just waiting for me! :)
I used some scraps of Basic Grey Curio DP I had leftover from yesterday's card I shared to make some simple sleeves for the "Where Your Heart Is" hands (these scraps already had this black border on the edge, hee!). TIP: Use straight rectangles for fuller sleeves that would hang or cut them to taper to make a more fitted sleeve. I made this for one of the mentoring mom's in my small group ("Thank you for your prayers"), she prays for me every week and I know God has been answering so many of those prayers! Kraft mat is Cuttlebugged and sponged with Vintage Photo ink, I also used Pure Luxury White, Black Onyx and Cranberry Tart.

Be sure to use the tag STVSKSP8 when you upload your creation with this sketch to STV, I hope you play and win some free stamps! :)

Winners of the "Where Your Heart Is" blog candy sets tonight! Be sure to check back!

Here's what I'd like to do...

Here is a card I shared at the release party, a fun vintage look complete with an adhesive pearl bracelet (hee!) and some Basic Grey Curio Paper, sponged with Vivid Coffee Bean on the top and right side to match the dark printed border on the other edges. I used the little label and greeting from the Free with Three "Smile" set, I like how the Label Eight shaped image looks on just one side of the Labels One Die cut. I hope this cards give you lots of ideas for different ways the hands can be cropped other than just the rectangle to incorporate into your different layouts!

Well, my heart is just full to overflowing after reading all your comments on this blog and "Stars and Stamps" yesterday! Wow! You can be sure I will create more sets for special causes that are so dear to so many. :)

It makes me want to do more and I've discussed with Sandy, president of Operation Write Home, what OWH needs MOST right now (since they also need money to ship the cards), but she immediately replied their greatest need is CARDS, they estimate they need DOUBLE the amount they did last year to meet their current needs. So I would like to personally send them ONE card for every "Where Your Heart Is" set that sells this month! I think I can do it, I have a ton of cards around here (and as you know, am always making more!) Reading about their great need, and how much it means to these people, I can't think of a better thing to do with them. And if YOU buy the set, I'm wondering, if you might be interested in also sending a card to OWH? (Or maybe a couple to make up for those who can't.) The OWH site has lots of helpful info about how to prepare your cards, and who to send them to, plus a very informative and fun video showign you how they process them, check it out!
http://operationwritehome.org/index.html

(And, umm, if we sell a BAZILLION sets and I really can't meet that all on my own, I may have to come ask YOU for some help!! Are you with me??) :)

Tomorrow we have a sketch spotlight challenge and later in the day we'll be announcing the winners of the blog candy on my blog and "Stars and Stripes", don't forget to leave your comment if you haven't already here:

http://melaniemuenchinger.blogspot.com/2011/01/operation-write-home.html

or here! http://www.owhstarsandstamps.org/2011/01/inspiration-from-ginak-designs.html

See you soon, thanks for visiting!
(Sorry still can't add my links!)

Operation Write Home

This blog candy is now closed.

I am absolutely thrilled to receive the support of Operation Write Home http://operationwritehome.org/

for my new set from Gina K Designs "Where Your Heart Is", a set of stamps for cards for heroes and from heroes!! This set is going to see a lot of love from me in making cards for my heroes at home and overseas, and I know from our Gina K fans' comments this past week it will from you, too! The set is getting attention in other places as well, more exciting news about that soon!

Thank you Sandy Allnock for sharing the set today on Operation Write Home's "Stars and Stamps" blog,

http://www.owhstarsandstamps.org/

be sure to go check out her post, Gina K has donated two "Where Your Heart Is" sets! :)

I will be posting my tip sheet for the set shortly which will be an awesome resource for sentiment combinations, and of course lots of new samples with the set, more designs and tutorials specific to OWH for your inspiration, and more, so please stop back! if you are not currently subscribed or a follower, I would love for you to do so, see the sidebar on the right for options.

TWO WAYS TO WIN THE STAMPS: we are giving away ONE of the sets here and ONE on Sandy's Stars and Stamps" blog. Leave a comment telling us why you make cards for heroes! (You could also tell me in the same comment about a hero you know) We'll draw one winner from each blog announce the winner on Monday and I'll have some new samples to share! :)

Have a terrific weekend, on my to do list is to dig through my stash and find some cards to send! :)

PS I am SO sorry I am having problems adding my links, these web addys are correct, so copy and paste into your browser!! Again the other blog to go to is

http://www.owhstarsandstamps.org/

Thank you!!

Color Challenge and New Stamps are now Available!

Good morning! New stamps are available, check them out here! Tip sheet for "Where Your Heart Is" coming soon, today I have short tutorial using the set.



Time for another Color Spotlight Challenge! Be sure to upload you creation to STV with the tag STVCS7 for a chance to win free stamps!

Here is a sample I made for my little boy, he draws pictures for me all the time, so I made him a simple card to show him how special his creations are to me! Of course, this "pictures" sentiment could also be talking about photos, that was intentional, so family members can convey their appreciation for things given or mailed. The way the sentiment is arranged, you can also add "letters" or "prayers" in place of pictures. TIP: Stamp the sentence first, then add the single word on a grid line block, lining up the line under your stamp with the your on your already stamped greeting and then stamp.

The turquoise base is sponged at the bottom with coordinating ink and the Sweet Mango is sponged as well to give them a little glow. I sponged tumbled glass distressing ink below the hands and wild honey ink above, then stamped the hands again so I could color and cut them out to go over the sponging. With the orange ink on top, it looks like the light is coming from above, so here is a simple tutorial to show you how to color the hands when your "light source" in on top. I'm not bothering to stay in the lines today, since I'm cutting them out, keep that in mind! :)

First color, the bottom of the hands, underside of fingers at top and thumbs with the lightest flesh tone you will be using, I used E00, as my hands are pretty pale!! Leave the very top sides white.

Now go in and color the underside of the hands, thumbs with a darker flesh tone, here E21. Also lightly trace, the creases on the insides and undersides of fingers. Stop here for a more dramatic look. Go to the next step for a more blended look.

To blend the darker shadows, go back over these areas with E00 again to soften the edges of the darker marker. That's it! You can do this! :)

I will do more tutorials to show how to give the hands more dimension, how to have the light source coming from different areas and show other colors to use for the hands. I will be making cards for Operation Write Home with this set and they will need hands of all colors. Check back tomorrow for a special post about Operation Write Home! :)

Have a great weekend, thanks for joining us at the party last night if you missed it, the thread is still up you can go check out what you missed!

Sneak Peek Day 4: "Gleefully Yours" and "Smile"

Welcome back to our last day of Gina K Designs Sneak Peeks! First up we have the "Free with Three" set "Smile", so fun! (have you picked out your three sets yet?) ;) You get this cute dotted label that fits the Labels 8 Nestabilities and cute senitments and images to go with. I stamped it in Vivid Coffee Bean and then colored the rim of the oval with a YG03. Dp is Basic Grey Marjolaine, this pattern is so fun with the dotted label and dotty tree border!

I nked up the greetings with blue and brown markers before stamping to highlight "brighten" and punhced out this cute little flower with the Marvy flower punch and added a button to the center. I trimmed out some simple leaves from Pure Luxury Creme De Menthe and scored them in middle folding and curling them with my fingers to add dimension before adhering them under the popped up flower. I cut the scalloped border using some decorative scissors.

Don't forget to decorate the inisde! Card base is Chocolate Brown. Hope this card made you smile! :)

Next we have Nina Brackett's new set "Gleefully Yours", filled with musical images and sentiments. The first thing I thought of when I saw this set was spotlighting the microphone, by stamping it on a rectangle of white CS, then covering the middle with a mask, leaving a diagonal space open at each corner to sponge in some black ink, sponging heavier at the corners and with a lighter touch toward the mask. Doesn't this look illuminated and take center stage now? The B&W color scheme and clean lines mixed with the fancy details make for a nice art deco look.

I matted it onto Black Onyx and stamped the wavy staff behind it in Memento Tuxedo Black on White Pure Luxury. For just a hint of bling I added a silver metal adhesive dot to the microphone.

Check out the rest of our Gina K Designs team for more inspiration with these two sets and leave comments for chances to win the sets free! I hope we will see you tonight at the party on StampTV at 7 PM CST!

• Carolina Buchting







• Carolyn King







• Cathy Tidwell







• Colleen Schaan







• Deb Felts







• Emily Giovanni







• Gina K







• Giovana Smith







• Janice Whiting







• Jennie Harper







• Lee Murphy







• Melanie Muenchinger





• Michelle Woerner





• Nina Brackett (illustrator of Gleefully Yours)





• Theresa Momber





• Tina Gilliland





• Vicki Dutcher





• Latisha Yoast - Guest Designer

See you tonight at the party!!!

Sneak Peek Day 3: "Sent with Love" StampTV Kit

Welcome to Day 3 or our Gina K sneak peeks! Are you ready for a new STV kit? You are sure to fall head over for heals for Gina's new "Sent with Love"! In addition to lots of yummy supplies like Pure Luxury Cardstock in an assortment of love-ly colors, you are gonna flip for all these cute images and sentiments! Usually, I am immediately drawn to one image in a set that I want to make my sample with but here I didn't even know where to start, they are all so adorable! I *might* have been craving some sugar though, so I started with candy! :) I thought this curvy machine would be perfect framed in a Labels 14 die cut and colored with classic Valentine colors!
The machine is R37 and R59, with a bit of BG000 on the glass bowl. Candies are colored with R37, R83, and RV19.

I also covered each heart with a little Sakura Glaze pen. I popped up two cut candy hearts for the bottom, see how nicely they balance out the greeting and how beautifully the offset greeting fits into the Nestabilitie? The bottom of the Lipstick Red mat is embossed with a Cuttlebug flourish border. Base is Pure Luxury White.

Check out more StampTV kit samples from the Gina K designs team and leave comments for more chances to win this new kit!

• AJ Otto





• Asela Hopkins





• Carolina Buchting





• Carolyn King





• Cathy Tidwell





• Colleen Schaan





• Deb Felts





• Emily Giovanni





• Gina K





• Giovana Smith





• Janice Whiting





• Jennie Harper





• Lee Murphy





• Melanie Muenchinger





• Michelle Woerner

• Tami Mayberry





• Theresa Momber





• Tina Gilliland





• Valerie Stangle





• Latisha Yoast - Guest Designer

See you tomorrow for our last day of peeks and the party later that evening, 7 PM CST!

Sneak Peek Day 2: "Dino-mite" and "Hopeful Hearts"

Welcome back to our peeks!! Theresa Momber has created a "Dino-mite" set this month, full of fun loving creatures and sentiments! She was very clever in her choices of greetings, even if you don't have young kids or little boys, your best girl friend will get a kick out of a birthday card "from one old fossil to another!" hee! I found this fun paper in the Basic Grey Marjolaine pack, looks so festive and a great match with the Triceratops spots, and it made choosing Pure Luxury CS to go with a snap: Little Boy Blue , Chocolate Brown and Fresh Asparagus.

The little party hat is separate from the dino image so I thought two would be twice as fun to go on the horns, now THAT'S partyin'!! To color his skin, I used only ONE green: Copic YG93, love this pretty pear shade. Color the whole dino with one coat, then go back and lay down a second and third coat for your shadows just by tracing his undersides. Horns, nails, spikes and spots are Y35 and YR23, eyes and hats are B12 and B95, shadow is W-3.

I did some piercing and framed my image and one sentiment in circles to match the print, these wonky mats for the other greetings give the card a lot of energy, like you're shoutin' them out, woo hoooo!

Next we have "Hopeful Hearts" by Tami Mayberry. This set contains another pretty square block image you can cut out with your Nestabilities, here I used Labels 15, with a "two step" heart to go in the middle. I stamped mine in Vivid Brick and then added some little rhinestones to the flourish before cutting it out and popping it up over the frame.

The Red Hot mat is Cuttlebugged with Victoria and then sponged with cranberry ink for a deeper look. I stamped one of the small hearts onto Silver Lining CS in Stazon Jet Black and then cut it out to make the little charm hanging from the blinged up 5/8" gingham. Punched flourish and base are Black Onyx.

The sentiments in this set are really beautiful and I have to say go "hand in hand" with my new set "Where the Heart is"! Looking forward to showing you how the hearts and greetings in these two sets will work SO beautifully together in samples at out release party and beyond! :)

Here is more inspiration for both sets from our Gina K Designs team! Don't forget to leave some comments for chances to win these two new sets!

• AJ Otto





• Asela Hopkins





• Carolina Buchting




• Cathy Tidwell





• Colleen Schaan




• Deb Felts




• Donna Baker





• Emily Giovanni




• Gina K




• Giovana Smith





• Janice Whiting




• Jennie Harper





• Lee Murphy





• Melanie Muenchinger (you are here, thanks for visiting and commenting!)





• Michelle Woerner





• Tami Mayberry





• Theresa Momber





• Tina Gilliland





• Vicki Dutcher





• Latisha Yoast - Guest Designer

See you tomorrow for Day 3!

Sneak Peek: "Where Your Heart Is" and "Ready, Set, Snow!"

Welcome to our first day of Gina K Designs January Sneak Peeks! First up we have my newest set, "Where Your Heart Is", which began with an idea over two years ago and has evolved over time. Stamping has really broadened my horizons in so many ways; beyond crafting, I've met people with common interests but very different life experiences, many who are wives of men serving in the military, like Beate Johns, Emily Giovanni, and Carolyn King. It made the sacrifices that everyone makes in a family where a spouse is away SO real for me, I started thinking about doing a special set to honor people like them and that family members can send to each other.

Then shortly after Gina released her Kindred Spirits Moms, a comment someone left on Gina's blog really spoke to me and took this idea even further: from a woman who was a mom, and a stamper, but it was SHE who was the one away serving in Iraq and missing her kids, saying she wished she was able to be at home with her children like those Kindred Spirits. WOW. I realized the need for something that expressed the love between friends and families who are apart, whether that is months at a time, or just a few days or overnight because they are serving others, in any kind of occupation, was REALLY needed. Nurses. Clergy. The list goes on and on. Factor in all the people around us in our communities who make our lives better, schools better, churches better, through their volunteering, time and servant hearts and the thanks they deserve, I knew the perfect last few sentiments and the perfect image that would make the set complete. The framed hands (which fit the various rectangle Nestabilites sets) forming a heart is so universal that anyone would recognize its meanings, regardless of age or language: My heart goes out to you, I keep you in my heart, I love you, I'm grateful beyond words....

Hands are shaded with E00 and E21 (I will share a tutorial after our peeks are over, very easy to do), I colored the heart in between the hands with R37 and R59 and then sponged Antique Linen Distressing ink around the outside. A very simple way to show your love for someone, even my little boys know what this means! On the card below I used the same focal point but changed up the layout slightly to add a greeting. I could make a card every day with this set for all the people I owe thanks for making my life and the world a better place and those who are in need of prayers, and I still wouldn't be finished, but I'm glad to have sentiments that makes it so easy to express what I'm feeling. And finally one to a friend whose father is very ill. Paper is Pure Luxury Black Onyx, Kraft and Basic Grey Curio, hands are pieced on top with White Pure Luxury and colored with the same Copics listed above.
Perhaps more than any other past set I am so anxious for you to see all the greetings you'll be able to create from the sentiments provided, this set is very near and dear to my heart, but this peek is only a *tiny* peek of what you can say to show your support!

Next up we have Rupa's "Ready, Set, Snow!" It's finally getting chilly in Texas, so it's fun to pull this out now even post Christmas, but, of course still, no snow here!) I asked my kids to pick which image I should use and I knew they would both pick this one! They've only been sledding a few times but those are favorite memories of snow. I cut the white Pure Luxury layers with a rotary blade to make easy curves fro sliding and popped out the colored and cut penguins.

DP is exclusive to Gina K Designs and base is Lipstick Red. TIP: use shades of blue instead of black on the penguin to add some whimsy and make a better, "cooler" match for your snowy background. I used B66 and B37 for the penguins, BG000 for the shadows, Y35 and E07 on the feet and beak, R37 and R59 on the sleds.

The rhinestones flourishes are fun to add both bling and energy to the card!

Thanks for joining us for our first day of peeks! Have fun hopping to the other blogs from our fabulous design team!

See you tomorrow!

• AJ Otto




• Carolina Buchting




• Cathy Tidwell




• Deb Felts

• Donna Baker




• Emily Giovanni




• Gina K




• Giovana Smith




• Janice Whiting




• Jennie Harper




• Lee Murphy




• Melanie Muenchinger (Illustrator of "Where Your Heart is", you are here! thanks for visiting!)




• Theresa Momber




• Tina Gilliland

• Latisha Yoast

Happy New Year!!

Happy new year! We have been out of town for days, which explains the lack of posts, after all our sneak peeks the next days I will enjoy spending lots of time catching up with you, I missed my blogaversary and all sorts of news I want to share, and I see I pretty much feel off the stamping map not posting for awhile, but it was a well earned break for my family!

Gotta go finish up my preview for tomorrow, but I have some very inspirational "Mugs and Kisses" card to show, both were created by the talented Cheri Weston! Thanks Cheri for playing with my so MANY of my stamps here, I know my readers will enjoy them!

Here are Cheri's descriptions along with the cards, I love these stories behind the creations!

"When I first saw this set, I "saw" this card. It's a personal depiction of my daily time with God, praying, devotion and meditating. I sit in front of my window, with my morning coffee, and I offer prayer and praise to begin my day. The combination of several of Melanie's stamp sets ("Hip to Be Square" for the window, "Wild at Heart" for the verse, and "A Year of Borders" for the border and cup!) worked so perfectly for this scene.

Cheri, I couldn't think a better way to start off each day or a better card to start off this new year! :) Loving this dainty flowery mug, I believe that little vine silhouette is from Theresa's "Hope Grows"..

"For the "Happiness Is" card, this also was a personal depiction. My grandmother used to operate a tiny luncheonette in our small town in the 50's and 60's. She made the best homemade donuts in the world and people used to line up for them. If she was still around, she could put Dunkin Donuts out of business. LOL Her coffee was equally renowned and there was nothing like a hot cup of Myrtle's coffee with one of her donuts. So, this card was made with nostalgia of the time and sense of those days in my grandmother's luncheonette."

Totally feeling the inspiration here! What fun theme and sketch for these different beverages, any one will do! ;) be sure to visit Cheri's blog, she always has something lovely to say and show!

Gotta go make like a stamper now, one more card to finish and then a post to write, see you tomorrow at 8 AM CST for our first peek!

A Grand Calibur Christmas!

Hope Santa brought you some fun things this Christmas! Here I am with one of my prezzies, the Spellbinders Grand Calibur, wooooo hoooooooooooo!

Although I use my Nestabilities on almost every creation, when I FIRST saw this new die cutter, I thought "For GINORMOUS dies. Maybe I don't *need* it..." and maybe you're thinking that, too, if you mainly do card making and aren't sure how much you'd use the larger dies...well, you NEED it!! Even if you never buy any of the Grand dies (but you will, and so will I!!) it is so, SO worth being able to run an 8" x 11" sheet of cardstock through and cut as many of the regular sized Nestabilities dies as you can fit on the sheet in ONE pass, then flipping them over and embossing them ALL at once on the second pass! Let me show you!

Here I placed 6 of some of my favorite large Spellbinders labels (One, Eight, Fourteen, Fifteen) and new beaded circles and beaded ovals (just got these beaded dies so you haven't sen me use them on a project yet, but oh my word! They are so gorgeous, love the detail!) on one sheet of White Pure Luxury cardstock. (I could have actually placed them more closely and gotten some fancy tag dies on there too, did later, but didn't take pics of that)

Now put your cutting plate down on top over the dies and hold the end as you run it through to keep the dies on the far end from sliding around. Here they are all cut below from that one smooth, rolling pass! It goes through so easily, lately I've been feeling like I need to go to the gym and work out a little more to get the plates cranked through my 'bug! ;)

Flip your stack over after cutting and transfer the cut dies to the base plate, facing up, and add the tan mat and embossing plate. Roll through the Grand Calibur once.

Remove the plate and dies, and ta da! Now you have ALL these beautiful embossed dies in about a minute or two! This would have taken forEVER with my little 'bug, I'd still be cranking! And I LOVE not having to crop down the paper to fit on a smaller plate as well as not having to make so many additional passes! It really is going to save so much time and energy and I am excited to have all these embossed die cuts ready to go when I sit down to stamp! So for the dedicated crafter, I think this machine is worth its weight in gold! Highly recommended (looks super cute on my desk too in raspberry!) and of course now I have to get back to you soon with a review of the Grand Dies, Labels One and Four are first on my wishlist!! :)

Did you see the Gina K snippets have started? I'll be back soon with a few cards my kids made for me, more Christmas pics, stories, and handmade cards from friends, plus some some more "Mugs and Kisses" samples before our previews start next Monday!

Heads Up, Free Coffee on Saturday, Merry Christmas!

Here's another simple "Mugs and Kisses" card I made with the Basic Grey Jovial pack and a rhinestone flourish. TIP: When putting the label on the cup, trim off the edge before stamping your greeting, this way it will look like the oval is slightly turned away from the viewer.

So remember that beautiful honey nut latte from Thunderbird I showed you a week or so ago? Well, you can get one free (or any other coffee drink) on Christmas day, just had to share the news, this is copied and pasted from their email:

"FREE coffee all day?!

That's right: On Christmas day, we're giving away FREE coffee, lattes, mochas, cappuccinos, macchiatos, and any other coffee drink from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at BOTH locations! (1401 Koenig Lane or 2200 Manor Road) No catch, no tricks, no fine print. It's our way of saying "Dude, you're freakin' awesome!"

Really, THANK YOU for a great 2010, and we hope to see more of YOU and your posse at Thunderbird in the new year. Now come sip on some free coffee! "

Does that jingle bell rock, or what?? I know this might not sound totally convenient to go out for coffee on Christmas day, but we're lucky in that we live about 4 blocks from one of these locations, so it would be a nice little walking adventure after opening the presents! Maybe I'll see you there! ;)

Friends don't let friends miss fancy, free coffee!

Mugs and kisses,

Melanie

Happy Christmas Mail!

Had to come post a few beautiful cards I've received from friends, I'll be back to share more as I get them photographed and uploaded!

This first is from Kary Lim using Gina's "Blessed is the Season". She has a suck a knack for mixing prints and I love how she'll crop corners of paper with a scallops or a punch onto another pattern to make a collagey looking print, love those pearls, too! (and the inside was as pretty as the outside!)
The next is from Carla Suto, who used "Festive Frame" I love the glitter in the centers and the applique on the pine cones, it really makes the card! (Hee hee, I commented on this one in the STV gallery a few weeks ago, so she knew I liked it!)
The last is from Selma Stevenson, also using "Festive Frame", I love how differently they each interpreted the set to made the designs their own!

The glitter and embossing and way everything reflects the light on this card is just stunning, but also makes it hard to capture its true beauty in a photo. here's a closeup so you can see a bit of the shimmer (but still read the greeting!) She painstakingly layered up the poinsettias looks terrific, and isn't the purple, gold and white just regal?

Thank you so much for these cards!!! :)

I hope every one's mailboxes are overflowing with some handmade love (in addition to all those wonderful family photo cards that are also a joy to receive!) I sent out a lot of my own this year, but couldn't send them to every single person who has touched my life this year, unfortunately! I hope you know that most of the cards you see here, I really do create with YOU in mind, not because I always need something specific for a person or occasion, but in hopes that I can pass along some special tips or inspiration that can enrich your crafting and give you more mileage with your supplies. Although they might not physically end up in your snail mailbox, virtually every card I post is for YOU!

Hugs,

Melanie

Chai Love You Forever...

Good morning! Today I have some special "Mugs and Kisses" samples to share from one of my past guest designers Melissa Shultz! Melissa gets a "repeat" spot because she loooooooooooooooves coffeee, but ALSO because ages ago she wrote to me asking if I would pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease come out with a mug set! Well, I thought that was a fabulous idea because... I had already started one! :) (still loved hearing from her, I always know when I get requests for something I am already planing it's sure to be a big hit!) So anyway, here is the first card she did, made with Melissa's favorite new set. ;)
Chai love U! hee! A punny girl after my own heart (and I think the main reason she wanted big mug stamps so she could add her little jokes!); ) She snuck in a couple of my other sets on this card: The U is from "Just So Sporty" (there is also one in "Little Tees" if you're loking!) and the "Sugar" is from "Have a Cookie". That's' a fun way to add sugar without the cube, I love this!

The next card uses the girlier cup and boy (hee!) is it girly! Tiara and sentiment are both from "Little Tees". Aren't those sassy print and glitter fun?! Such a fun birthday card! That's how I like to start my birthdays, with a big cuppa that declares I am Queen for the Day!! *

Thank you Melissa for sharing some mugs that tickle the funny bone (I know that's what my favorite mugs do), chai love you! Let's go see some more "Mugs and Kisses" inspiration on Melissa's blog! (okay, I just checked it and make sure you aren't drinking while reading the post, spew alert for sure in the her frst sample's cute comic appeal! eek, I love it) :)

PS I haven't really had time with all the holiday preparations to make anything with the "Mug and Kisses" set beyond my "pretty" Christmas cards, but once January rolls around, bring on the funny!!! (Have a hippy, er, happy mug I stamped up and cut out a couple weeks ago, but can't find it on my messy desk to finish the card!)

* preferably FREE coffee, there are several places that do that on your birthday, you just have to do a little research! ;) (research worth doing, he heh!)