Tag Archive for: Giveaway

TIS THE SEASON TO GIVEAWAY STUFF

TIS THE SEASON TO GIVEAWAY STUFF. I think that says it all!

I am very fortunate and want to share the love today and give away four items. There will be four winners.  You just have to answer one question..

What one goal you have for 2019?

My goal is that I want to get back to scrapbooking. It seems like in two seconds, my kids have grown RIGHT BEFORE MY EYES. My oldest son just turned 21 and my youngest is 18 1/2.

I want to get the awesome stories that go WITH the pictures down so that they can share them for years to come. THAT is my goal.

I am not putting a number on it or pressuring myself completely. I just want to add more to their books next year. Anything has to be better than nothing, right? Now for the GOOD STUFF!

We will not have any tutorials or posts until January 7th so have a wonderful holiday and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

For the TIS THE SEASON TO GIVEAWAY STUFF giveaway,  we are giving away three dies and one stamp set. Here are the dies we are giving away above.

The first die I am giving away for the TIS THE SEASON TO GIVEAWAY STUFF giveaway is this beautiful cross.

 There are so many uses for this beautiful cross. You could use it for a Christening, Wedding, Sympathy, Easter, Confirmation, and the list is really endless. I love the detail!

This adorable die set is so cute with the candy cane, leaves and berries. I can’t wait to play with it and use different colors of paper!

This is a great holiday die set but also is a great masculine die set.

I create the card above using this die and I really liked it for a masculine card. What do you think?

Last but certainly not least, we are giving away the Coffee is my Liquid Therapy stamp set. It is one of our best sellers and I know you will be able to create some amazing things with it! I will have four winners for this giveaway. Please be sure that you  send me a message letting me know which post you won on and your contact info and I can get your prize out to you!

For last weeks prize, we will be giving away a $15.00 store credit! That way you can decide exactly what you want!

The winner is JUNE B!

Winner, please send me an message HERE and I will get your prize out to you!

For all of our giveaways including this one, in order for you to qualify for an entry to win, you would need to be a follower on YouTube, subscribe to our mailing list/blog posts (found on our blog page) and you may also comment on this blog post for an additional entry to win! When you subscribe, you will receive an e-mail on Mondays with our latest blog post. BE SURE TO READ IT to check to see if you are a winner EVERY WEEK. If you do not contact me within two weeks of the announcement of winning, you will forfeit your prize. NO EXCEPTIONS. Thank you for your understanding.

NOTE: If you are subscribed with two different names and I am unable to match you with your subscription to the blog and the YouTube Channel, you will be ineligible to win as I can’t decipher if you are a matching subscriber to both. Thank you for your understanding.

We hope you will subscribe to our YouTube Channel, Blog/Newsletter updates and check out our website!

As always, we appreciate your visit and we hope you enjoyed going on A Creative Journey with Melissa. Have a wonderful holiday!

melissa-written-signature

 

HSN Kelly Creates Hand Lettering Bundle Reveal

Carpe Diem Planner Goodies Giveaway

Sentiments for all Occasions Card

Sentiments for all Occasions Card is what we have for you today along with a multi use die cut set.

What better way to maximize and utilize your supplies with multi use items!

I like to buy things that can be used for numerous things. For me, it allows me to explain the purchase better if they have multiple uses… at least in my mind! LOL

Don’t forget you can save 25% your order with the above coupon code. It expires today, Monday 12/18/17 so be sure to use it today. This is the last sale of the year.

This is the Sentiments for all Occasions Card Project we are going to create….. let’s get creative!

Supplies Needed for the Sentiments for all Occasions Card Project 

A Creative Journey with Melissa Sentiments for All Occasion Stamp Set

Acrylic Stamp Block

Spellbinders Aristocrat Die Cut set

Card Base

Patterned Background Paper

Paper for Deer

Sentiment and emblem paper

Paper for foliage

3-D Foam adhesive

Adhesive

Brown Ink

Spellbinders Tool or needle

Here are the dies that are in the die cut set. They aren’t super large but are perfect for any card, scrapbook or creation.

To begin your Sentiments for all Occasions Card Project, take out your cream colored paper along with the dies shown. Run your through the die cut machine forward and backward to ensure cut.

Separate the die from the die cut and set them both aside.

Take out the deer and the craft paper. Run your die through the die cut machine both ways ensuring the proper cut.

Separate the die cut from the die. This is what it will look like. Set both aside.

Take out the foliage die. This is a close up of what it looks like.

Run your die through the die cut machine both ways ensuring the proper cut.

Notice the holes in the back of the die? These will allow you to poke through the intricate dies that you may have trouble getting the paper out of.

Take out your Spellbinders Tool or needle.

Carefully remove your die cut from the die.

Take out your A Creative Journey with Melissa Sentiments for All Occasion Stamp Set.

Notice how a few of my stamps are stained. This was caused by me using a staining ink and also I sometimes don’t clean my stamps right away. Even with this coloring on the stamps, this will not hurt the integrity of the image at all.

Apply the sentiment to your stamp block. Ink your sentiment on your paper.

This is a close up of the stamped sentiment.

Take out your card base and your decorative paper. Add adhesive to the back of your patterned paper for your Sentiments for all Occasions Card Project.

Apply the patterned paper to your card base.

Add adhesive to the decorative piece and apply to card base.

Apply adhesive to both die cuts of foliage.

Place the foliage to the card base.

Apply 3-D foam adhesive to the sentiment and apply to the card base.

Place your 3-D foam adhesive on the back of your deer die cut. Apply to your card base.

Here are the cards done both vertically and horizontally. Your Sentiments for all Occasions Card Project is complete!

For this weeks giveaways we are giving away the A Creative Journey with Melissa Sentiments for All Occasion Stamp Set

and the Spellbinders Aristocrat Die Cut set. These will be announced next week.

 To qualify to win, you must be BOTH:

A public follower on YouTube, subscribe to our mailing list/blog posts and you may also comment on this blog post for an additional entry to win! Winners will be announced next week on our Mondays with Melissa blog post!

BE SURE TO check to see if you are a winner EVERY WEEK. If you do not contact me within two weeks of the announcement of winning, you will forfeit your prize. Thank you for your understanding.

Subscribe to BOTH with MATCHING NAMES to be eligible. If I am unable to match you with your subscription to both the email list and the YouTube Channel, you will miss your chance to win a prize. If I can’t decipher if you are a matching subscriber (if your profile doesn’t show publicly who you subscribe to) and I can’t confirm you have subscribed to both, you will not be eligible.

Now we have a BUNCH of giveaways to announce from last week and the 2017 Coffee Lovers Blog Hop! YAHOO!!

Now for last weeks GIVEAWAY, we are giving away the above A Creative Journey with Melissa Snowflake Beauty Stamp Set.

The winner is Creations with Kathryn.

For the 2017 Winter Coffee Lovers Blog Hop Winners we were giving away two stamp sets.

The first stamp set is the A Creative Journey with Melissa Coffee, Tea and Wine – OH MY! Stamp Set  and the winner is Tracy Zahm

 A Creative Journey with Melissa You’re Snow Wonderful Stamp Set and the winner is Julie Prince.

Winners, please send me your contact information via contact page on our website, which post you are a winner from and I will get your prize out to you! Thank you so much for being a YouTube follower and subscribing to our mailing list/blog posts!

Thank you for joining us for the Sentiments for all Occasions Card. I hope I have inspired you to create thinking outside of the box!

Have a wonderful week and thank you for going on A Creative Journey with Melissa.

 

2017 Winter Coffee Lovers Blog Hop

Welcome to the 2017 Winter Coffee Lovers Blog Hop!

If you happened to come by here by chance, WE ARE SO HONORED and thrilled that you did!! We are taking part in the AWESOME 2017 Winter Coffee Lovers Blog Hop! The hashtag is #winter2017clh and we are showcasing our love for Winter & COFFEE!! I LOVE Winter, the holidays and of course the cool crisp air.

I know this may sound crazy but I REALLY MISS SNOW AND COLD WEATHER. SERIOUSLY!

Being from Chicago I miss the REAL winter weather but now I live in California where I am still wearing shorts in December. Unfortunately, we were within a few miles of the #RyeFire you may have seen on TV which is very close to Magic Mountain. We are very fortunate that we are doing OK. Unfortunately, the winds are horrible until possibly as late as Saturday. Crossing fingers we stay OK. Now, are you ready for some cool stuff and giveaways? Let’s go!

Whether your drink of choice is hot chocolate, coffee, tea, or even a blended drink (which is what I ALWAYS prefer); you are going to really enjoy the 2017 Winter Coffee Lovers Blog Hop!

There are a number of companies participating and we are really honored and excited to be one of the SUPER SPONSORS & FLASH PRIZE SPONSOR for this amazing blog hop! We also have our own giveaways right here on our blog! Be sure to read the WHOLE POST for the details!

To start at the beginning of the 2017 Winter Coffee Lovers Blog Hop please click HERE.

The 2017 Winter Coffee Lovers Blog Hop runs Friday, December 8th starting at 6:00 AM Pacific Time thru Friday, December 15th. This allows you PLENTY of time to participate by hopping, creating or BOTH!

Winners for the entire hop will be announced on Sunday, December 17, 2017 HERE.

If you aren’t familiar with the Coffee Loving Papercrafters Group and would like to learn more, be sure to join their Facebook Group HERE to ensure you get the latest info on all of their blog hops! The group is SUPER fun with awesome creativity and inspiration throughout the year and of course.. GREAT SEASONAL HOPS with WONDERFUL COFFEE inspiration! We would hate for you to miss out om the inspiration and possibilities!!

Now, onto the projects we have for you today! The theme is Winter and of course… COFFEE! 

I’m not sure why but I have REALLY been getting into creating gift card holders. I have a number of them to give as gifts this year for the holidays and I thought I would share what I have created and various ways I do it.  We have a weekly YouTube video and Blog Post on Mondays. Ironic it is called #MondayswithMelissa.. maybe a bit too obvious? LOL At any rate, you will find a whole bunch of cool stuff, giveaways, tutorials and even recipes once a week so make sure you subscribe to both!

For my first creation and giveaway I used the A Creative Journey with Melissa You’re Snow Wonderful Stamp Set  and

For my second creation and giveaway we have the

A Creative Journey with Melissa Coffee, Tea and Wine – OH MY! Stamp Set.

If you aren’t familiar with my style it is pretty simple…. clean and SIMPLE – CAS. I like to have things that look nice but I personally am not one for a bunch of different layers and designs.

For me it is too chaotic for my ADHD so I tend to design and gravitate to clean and simple.

This creation can easily be made with scraps of your favorite holiday paper as it is not a card it is made with a paper base and holder for the gift card. Simple, clean and bright! MY FAVORITE! Can you tell what kind of gift card is in this?

For this creation, I created another gift card holder. The first creation I wanted to show you was the plainer creation of the two.

It is really amazing how just two changes and one extra step can make that much of a difference in a creation.

I used a little bit of trim, read decorative paper, cream paper for the lid, craft paper card folded and corner rounded, coffee cup, lid and sleeve die, decorative paper and the sentiments are from the A Creative Journey with Melissa You’re Snow Wonderful Stamp Set. I love how versatile the stamp set is and how cute the images are as well! You can create an entire Snow Family including Mom, Dad, birds, dogs, cats and of course KIDS!

Here is the SAME EXACT CARD. The only three differences are the green decorative paper, the smaller coffee cup die and I embossed the card base with a coffee bean embossing folder. THAT IS IT! Now for you to really see the difference.. I want to show them to you side by side…

   

Again, clean and simple with a little pop, right? Cute, Clean and SIMPLE!

Now for the fun stuff.. We have some giveaways for this blog hop and EVERY MONDAY we give something away!!

For all of our giveaways including this one, in order for you to qualify for an entry to win, you would need to be a follower on YouTube, subscribe to our mailing list/blog posts (found on our blog page) and you may also comment on this blog post for an additional entry to win! When you subscribe, you will receive an e-mail on Mondays with our latest blog post and BE SURE TO READ IT to check to see if you are a winner EVERY WEEK. If you do not contact me within two weeks of the announcement of winning, you will forfeit your prize. NO EXCEPTIONS. Thank you for your understanding.

NOTE: If you are subscribed with two different names and I am unable to match you with your subscription to both the blog and the YouTube Channel, unfortunately you will be ineligible to win as I can’t decipher if you are a matching subscriber to both. Thank you for your understanding.

Our blog winners for this blog hop will be announced on our blog post on Monday Dec 18, 2017. This is open to everyone, not only the US! 

We are honored you have come to visit today. Don’t forget to use the

coupon code 2017WCLBHop to save 25% on your purchase!

We hope you will subscribe to our YouTube Channel, Blog/Newsletter updates and check out our website!

Happy Hopping and we hope you enjoyed going on A Creative Journey with Melissa.

melissa-written-signature

Six Giveaways Chase My Blues Away

Six Giveaways Chase My Blues Away is what we have today. No tutorial today just giveaways… Sounds good right? You know when you get kind of in a funk and on top of it have a lot of stuff going on? It can get overwhelming, right? Yes! For me too! What better way for me to cheer myself up than cheer up someone else?! You got it!

We have 6 giveaways today! Be sure you check back to claim your prize otherwise it will go back into the prize bin for another giveaway.

Some of the prizes for the Six Giveaways Chase My Blues Away are prizes that haven’t been claimed. I have giveaways every week so be sure to check back next week to see if you are a winner!

Our first giveaway is the A Creative Journey with Melissa Sign Language Sentiments 2 Stamp Set.

For my second giveaway for the Six Giveaways Chase My Blues Away is the A Creative Journey with Melissa Sign Language Sentiments Stamp Set

The third giveaway for the Six Giveaways Chase My Blues Away is this awesome textured embossing folder by Tim Holtz. Definitely one of my go to embossing folders!

This giveaway is for the planners. You are going to LOVE this set! It is not only filled with goodies, it is quite lovely too!

This awesome embossing folder is so much fun to work with! You can ink, stain, paint, sand and water color the paper before or after giving your paper an awesome and beautiful look! You can even use it plain with paper and it looks very elegant.


The sixth and last giveaway for the Six Giveaways Chase My Blues Away is this lovely wood grain embossing folder. This folder would work great for a masculine background, behind a bird image, an outdoor scene and really just about anything! Seriously the possibilities are endless!

 Now for this weeks GIVEAWAY we are giving away all of the AWESOME products above. There will be SIX WINNERS!

To qualify to win, you must be BOTH:

A public follower on YouTube, subscribe to our mailing list/blog posts and you may also comment on this blog post for an additional entry to win! Winners will be announced next week on our Mondays with Melissa blog post!

If you do not contact me within two weeks of the announcement of winning, you will forfeit your prize. Thank you for your understanding.

Subscribe to BOTH with MATCHING NAMES to be eligible. If I am unable to match you with your subscription to both the email list and the YouTube Channel, you will miss your chance to win a prize. If I can’t decipher if you are a matching subscriber (if your profile doesn’t show publicly who you subscribe to) and I can’t confirm you have subscribed to both, I won’t be able to enter you in for the prize. **DO NOT COMMENT WITH YOUR ENTIRE EMAIL ADDY. Only give me the first 6 NOT INCLUDING YOUR HOST. Just enough for me to match your name will work perfectly.

Now for last weeks GIVEAWAY we are giving away the amazingly versatile A Creative Journey with Melissa Outside and In Stamp Set!

The winner is Lisa Maxner!

Lisa,  please send me your contact information via contact page on our website, which post you are a winner from and I will get your prize out to you! Thank you so much for being a YouTube follower and subscribing to our mailing list/blog posts!

Thank you for joining us for the Six Giveaways Chase My Blues Away. I already am cheered up and am thrilled there will be six winners next week! I hope I cheered you up too!

Have a wonderful week and thank you for going on A Creative Journey with Melissa.

Breast Cancer Awareness Stamp Set and Card

Breast Cancer Awareness Stamp Set and Card is what we have for you today.

Did you know that approximately 1 out of 8 women in the United States will develop invasive breast cancer in their lifetime? This is approximately 12% of women in the US.

I don’t know anyone that doesn’t have someone they know or a loved one that has Breast Cancer or Cancer in one way or another. Both my Paternal and Maternal Grandmothers had breast cancer and sadly numerous people effected with other cancers as well. PLEASE get your yearly mammograms and go to your doctor regularly for your yearly check ups.

It really makes a difference.

OK, now I am off of my soap box… onto the creativity.. Are you ready? Let’s get started!

Supplies Needed for the Breast Cancer Awareness Card

A Creative Journey with Melissa Awareness Ribbon Set #3 – Ready for a Fight Stamp Set

Stamp Block

Manual Die Cut Machine

Doily Die By Kaiser Craft

Rectangle Stitched Die by Kaiser Craft

Black Ink

Scissors

Corner Rounder

Adhesive

3-D Adhesive

3 in 1 Tool by Spellbinders

White Twine

Chameleon Pen PK3

Pink Paper for Doily

White Card Base

White Paper for Sentiment and Gloves

I use this precision platform to help me with the intricate dies.

Previously I had thought it was magnetic, it is not. The magnet I used to test it was though.. Yeah.. I am serious. It has been a fun couple weeks.

Anyhow, this platform has helped with the detailed dies but I am still having to run it through a few times to be sure it has cut. I do seem to have better luck with my magnetic platforms.

First, we are going to use our Sizzix manual die cut machine and die cut with our two dies. Place your standard platform on your machine and then place your precision platform on top of it.

Put the paper you are going to use for your Breast Cancer Awareness Card and place your die cut down on top of the precision platform.

Place your die on top of the paper.

Put your clear platform on top of your die.

Run your die through your machine.

Run it back through your machine just to ensure proper cutting.

This is what the doily die looks like once it has been cut and removed from the machine.


Here is a close up of the amazing detail of this die. LOVE IT! This will be perfect for your Breast Cancer Awareness Card

Take out your rectangle die with stitching.

Place your paper under your die, making sure it is centered. Put it on top of your base platform and precision platform on your machine.

 

Place your clear platform on top of your die.

I love the stitched look. The detail is so cool and perfect for your Breast Cancer Awareness stamped images!

Take out your doily die and your 3 in 1 tool by Spellbinders. use the brush side and clean out the pieces from the die.

I was able to get most of the pieces out.

Using the poker part of the 3 in 1 tool, poke out any of the extra pieces you weren’t able to get.

 

Take out your stitched die cut paper, the gloves and sentiment from your A Creative Journey with Melissa Awareness Ribbon Set #3 – Ready for a Fight Stamp Set

Place your stamps on your stamp block

Ink your stamp and stamp your images and sentiment on your paper.

Take out your Chameleon PK3 Pen.

  

Take off the lid to the nib side of your pen and place your blending solution cartridge on so the nibs are touchign as shown.

Hold the pen so the blending solution cartridge is on top. Wait 5-10 seconds.

Color the lightest part or light source area of your image first.

Fill in the rest of your image. Color over the lines to highlight the shadowing.

Take out your twine and tie a bow.

Trim off the edges and cut so you can place on the stamped paper.

Add adhesive to the bottom of the glove where you are going to place your twine.

Add the twine to the colored image.

Here is a close up of it after it has been added.

Take out your card base. Using the corner rounder, round all four sides of your card base.

This is what it looks like once it has been done.

Take out your detailed doily die cut.

Add adhesive to the back of the doily die cut.

Place your doily die cut in the middle of your card base as shown.

Place your 3-D foam squares on the back of your stamped and colored image.

Remove the paper on the back of the foam squares and adhere your image to the middle of your doily on your card base.

Your creation is complete!  Your Breast Cancer Awareness Card using the  A Creative Journey with Melissa Awareness Ribbon Set #3 – Ready for a Fight Stamp Set!

Now for this weeks GIVEAWAY!

A Creative Journey with Melissa Awareness Ribbon Set #3 – Ready for a Fight Stamp Set is what we are giving away this week!!

 To qualify to win, you must be BOTH:

A public follower on YouTube, subscribe to our mailing list/blog posts and you may also comment on this blog post for an additional entry to win! Winners will be announced next week on our Mondays with Melissa blog post!

If you do not contact me within two weeks of the announcement of winning, you will forfeit your prize. Thank you for your understanding.

NOTE: Be sure you are subscribed to BOTH with MATCHING NAMES. If I am unable to match you with your subscription to both the email list and the YouTube Channel, you will miss your chance to win a prize. If I can’t decipher if you are a matching subscriber (if your profile doesn’t show publicly who you subscribe to) and I can’t confirm you have subscribed to both, I won’t be able to enter you in for the prize. **DO NOT COMMENT WITH YOUR ENTIRE EMAIL ADDY. Only give me the first 6 NOT INCLUDING YOUR HOST. Just enough for me to match your name will work perfectly.

Now, for the GIVEAWAY from last weeks post. I am giving away the Spellbinders Tool ‘N One tool!!

The winner is Kim Miller !

 Kim,  please send me your contact information via contact page on our website, which post you are a winner from and I will get your prize out to you! Thank you so much for being a YouTube follower and subscribing to our mailing list/blog posts!

 We hope you enjoyed our Breast Cancer Awareness Stamp Set and Card video!

If you watched the video, you probably heard me mention we might have just had an EARTHQUAKE.  WE DID! It was a 3.5 and we are fine. Please be sure to keep Texas in your thoughts and prayers with the horrific damage they have had due to the hurricane.

Have a wonderful week and thank you for going on A Creative Journey with Melissa.  

Die Cutting Intricate Dies

Die Cutting Intricate Dies is what we have for you today.

**NOTE** The Precision platform IS NOT MAGNETIC. THIS was an ERROR on my part. I had used a magnet to check it and it worked but the platform was not magnetic, the magnet was. How embarrassing! My apologies for the confusion.

Do you worry about die cutting intricate dies and trying to get those little pieces out? Will you avoid those dies because they can be quite a pain? Well, we aren’t doing a project tutorial but we are giving a few tips on cutting intricate dies. I am also showing you one of my favorite tools and we have a giveaway too!

Above on the left you can see the intricacy of the die. The details are amazing but what a pain to try to get out all of those little pieces.

Well the purple tool above is AMAZING and IT is going to be a lifesaver!

Here is a close up of the die and the cut of the die.

This is a close up of the second die and a close up of the die cut.

This is the amazing Spellbinders Tool ‘N One. It has so many uses but we will show you that in a bit.

First, I wanted to let you know that there is another option other than the magnetic platform. You can get the precision base plate and use it as you would a clear platform. Use it with the standard platform and voila! It works with the thinner dies!

NOTE: The Precision platform IS NOT MAGNETIC. THIS was an ERROR on my part. I had used a magnet to check it and it worked but the platform was not magnetic, the magnet was. How embarrassing! My apologies for the confusion.

First, we are going to die cut one of the dies. Place your platform, precision platform and paper down.

Take your die and make sure that you place the edge side up so that it cuts the paper.

Place your clear platform on top of your die.

Run your die through the die cut machine fully twice. One pass each way.

This is what happens when you don’t do it thoroughly. Yep, I know. Frustrating but it happens.

This is what it looks like when it IS done correctly. The detail is AMAZING!

This is where the awesome tool comes in. You use the brush side and get to brush out all of the pieces from the die itself

as well as the die cut!

The detail is amazing and this is a close up of the die after it was just cut and the die cut.  Die Cutting Intricate Dies can really happen without too much effort. Especially with the Spellbinders tool.

The Tool ‘N One tool is awesome and there is so much it can do!

It has two other parts! They are easily removable as well! You simply pull down on the neck of the tool

and you can adjust or even remove the head of the tool.

Replace one side with the spatula or scraper tool.

Notice the notches?

 That gives you plenty of room to adjust how long you need the tool.

If you unscrew the tool in the middle you can store the other two pieces inside! Not only do you have a scraper tool but you also have a poker tool too! How cool is that? JUST in case your brush doesn’t get all of those tiny little pieces of paper out.

Both your poker and your spatula fit inside the middle of the tool. At the same time!

Screw your tool back together and you have exactly what you need for any crop or creative station!

Now for this weeks GIVEAWAY!

The Spellbinders Tool ‘N One tool is what we are giving away this week!!

 To qualify to win, you must be BOTH:

A public follower on YouTube, subscribe to our mailing list/blog posts and you may also comment on this blog post for an additional entry to win! Winners will be announced next week on our Mondays with Melissa blog post!

If you do not contact me within two weeks of the announcement of winning, you will forfeit your prize. Thank you for your understanding.

NOTE: Be sure you are subscribed to BOTH with MATCHING NAMES. If I am unable to match you with your subscription to both the email list and the YouTube Channel, you will miss your chance to win a prize. If I can’t decipher if you are a matching subscriber (if your profile doesn’t show publicly who you subscribe to) and I can’t confirm you have subscribed to both, I won’t be able to enter you in for the prize. **DO NOT COMMENT WITH YOUR ENTIRE EMAIL ADDY. Only give me the first 6 NOT INCLUDING YOUR HOST. Just enough for me to match your name will work perfectly.

Now, for the GIVEAWAY from last weeks post. I am giving away the

 A Creative Journey with Melissa Wedding and Celebrations Stamp Set!!

The winner is Nikki C!

Nikki C,  please send me your contact information via contact page on our website, which post you are a winner from and I will get your prize out to you! Thank you so much for being a YouTube follower and subscribing to our mailing list/blog posts!

 We hope you enjoyed our Die Cutting Intricate Dies video!

Have a wonderful week and thank you for going on A Creative Journey with Melissa.  

 

Scrapbook Expo Shaker Card Kits

Scrapbook Expo Shaker Card Kits is what we have for you today.

This is not a tutorial but a product review we are sharing.

Shaker cards and embellishments have been around for years but this is a new way to create a shaker embellishment or card that will save you some time! I really enjoyed the Queen & Company products I saw in their booth at the Scrapbook Expo and I can’t wait to show them to you!

For the first Scrapbook Expo Shaker Card Kits we have the Shaped Shaker Kit for Birthdays from Queen and Company. I really thought it was cool that it not only included the versatile die but the pre-cut foam for the shakers you will create!

What an added treat to get a nice page to keep in a binder so you can keep all of your kit items in place. LOVE IT!

Here is a close up of what is included in the kit as well as the amazing possibilities!

Scrapbook Expo Shaker Card Kits from Queen and Company come with their own page! You can keep them in a binder so all of your kit needs are at your fingertips!

 

Here is a ruler next to the package of dies so you can see how tall the dies are that come with this set.

This will help you see how wide the dies are with the ruler measurements.

Here are the dies and the foam piece that will be used for a shaker card. I love how the kit came with the pre-cut shapes of foam for your shaker creation from the Scrapbook Expo Shaker Card Kits.

This is the Shaped Shaker Kit Say Cheese. It’s adorable and perfect for those creations that you want to add a little color, dimension or a photo in a creation too! Isn’t the view master reel die cut adorable? Yes I had to look it up to figure out the name of it! LOL

 Here is a close up of what is included in the Say Cheese kit. It also comes with a page for a book that holds all of the kit items as the previous one did.

One of the main reasons why I bought this kit was because of this adorable mini Polaroid die cut! SO CUTE!

When I saw this larger Polaroid die cut that is an A2 size, it was a MUST. I had to have it to go with the Say Cheese kit. I can’t wait to create with it!

Now, for the GIVEAWAY!

This week for our Giveaway, we are giving away the Birthday Wishes A Creative Journey with Melissa Stamp Set!

To qualify to win, you must be BOTH:

A follower on YouTube, subscribe to our mailing list/blog posts and you may also comment on this blog post for an additional entry to win!

You must contact me within two weeks of the announcement of winning. You will unfortunately, forfeit your prize and it will be placed back in the giveaway stash for a future giveaway if you do not. Thank you for your understanding.

NOTE: Be sure you are not subscribed with two different names. If I am unable to match you with your subscription to both the blog and the YouTube Channel, you will miss your chance to win a prize. If I can’t decipher if you are a matching subscriber (if your profile doesn’t show publicly who you subscribe to) and I can’t confirm you have subscribed to both, I won’t be able to enter you in for the prize. **DO NOT COMMENT WITH YOUR ENTIRE EMAIL ADDY. Only give me the first 6 NOT INCLUDING YOUR HOST. Just enough for me to match your name will work perfectly.

For last weeks giveaway of the

the Sentiments for All Occasions A Creative Journey with Melissa Stamp Set:

 Kay M is the winner!

Kay M, please send me your contact information via contact page on our website, which post you are a winner from and I will get your certificate prize out to you! Thank you so much for being a YouTube follower and subscribing to our mailing list/blog posts!

We hope you enjoyed our Scrapbook Expo Shaker Card Kits product review! Have a wonderful week and thank you for going on A Creative Journey with Melissa.  

Birthday Gift Thank You Cards

Birthday Gift Thank you Cards is what we have for you today. My son (MY BABY!) Austin just had his 17th birthday. My how time flies! He was fortunate enough to get some birthday gifts so you know that what means… Thank you notes!

I have always taught my kids if someone is kind enough to send you a gift, you can at least thank them with a card or a call.. or even both!

Well, today I have Birthday Gift Thank you Cards that are not only easy to make, they are super duper cute too! Are you ready to get CREATIVE? Let’s get started!

Supplies Needed for the Birthday Gift Thank You Cards

A Creative Journey with Melissa Sentiments for all Occasions Stamp Set

Stamp Block

Ink

1 1/4″ square punch

1 3/8″ square punch

Adhesive

3-D Foam Dots or Squares

Card Base

Paper to Stamp Sentiment On

Decorative Paper

Solid Color Paper for Mat for Sentiment

Solid Color Paper for Card Base

Scissors

Embossing Folder

Manual Die Cut Machine (Sizzix)

Twine

*Corner Rounder Optional

First you will need your manual die cut machine. I am using my Sizzix machine. I have the main platform on tab 1.

Take out your embossing folder.

Add your solid color paper to the inside of your embossing folder.

Close the embossing folder.


Place your clear platform on top of the tab 1 on the main platform. Place your embossing folder on top of the clear platform.

Take your second clear platform and place it on top of the embossing folder.

Using the handle, turn it so the embossing folder is run through the die cut machine.

Take out your embossing folder from under the clear platform.

This is what your paper will look  like once it has been embossed. Cool, right?

The sample Birthday Gift Thank You Cards that I have done opens horizontally which is the most common type of card from my experience.

For this Birthday Gift Thank You Cards tutorial I am going to do the same card only with the card opening up vertically like shown above.

Using the adhesive, put adhesive on the back of the solid colored embossed mat.

Adhere the paper to the card base.

Apply adhesive to the back of the decorative paper.

NOTE: I had a scrap left over that happened to have the corners rounded. If you like the look, be sure you round your corners as well.

Apply decorative paper to the top of the solid colored paper as shown above.

Here are my very loved and USED stamps.

Later in this post I will show you how I used the stained stamps and how the stain doesn’t effect the integrity of the stamp or image. You can use your stamps over and over again even if they are stained. I use memento ink and sometimes forget to clean them.

I do not, however, recommend STAZON ink for our photopolymer stamps. It is not recommended for clear stamps as it can over time effect the integrity of the stamp as can the cleaner to keep it from staining.

I have pulled out the Thanks for being so generous stamps off of my stamp sheet. I have found an easy way to place my stamps so that it is almost fool proof! If you didn’t see my video last week showing you how, check it out here! I also do it below in this tutorial but not as detailed.

Place your stamp block on top of your sentiment and then lift up.

Here is a close up shot. You are ready to ink!

Ink your sentiment.

Stamp your sentiment on your paper.

Here is a close up shot of the stamped sentiment.

I have been asked if the stamps will work if they have stains on them. People have told me they don’t like it which is understandable and others thought they would mess up the image.

I wanted to show you how I will stamp with the stamps that have stains on them. This way you can see for yourself how the sentiment comes out.

I took off the Happy Birthday Sentiments from my stamp sheet. As you can see they are clearly stained.

Place your stamp block on top of the sentiment pushing down.

Here is a close up so you can the stained. You are ready to ink your stamp!

Apply ink to your sentiment.

Stamp your sentiment.

Here is a close up shot of both the unstained (on the left) and the stained stamps (on the right) As you can see, there is no difference in the image or the integrity of the stamp. YAHOO!  So mystery solved LOL!

Now to continue the Birthday Gift Thank You Cards tutorial, take out your 1 1/4″ square punch and punch out your sentiment.

Take out your 1 3/8″ square punch and punch out your solid color mat for your sentiment.


Adhere your sentiment to your punched out mat.

Place the 3-D foam dots on the back of the matted sentiment.

Place your sentiment on the front of your card.

Take out your circle punch (I believe it is 1/8″) and punch a circle on the left top of the card as shown.

NOTE: Card is upside down when punching so it shows on the right side bottom.

 This is what it will look like once you have punched the hole at the top.

Take out your twine. Going up through the middle of the card, push your twine up leaving some to tie at the end. Then you will wrap the twine around the card and go up through the card again. You will repeat this twice.

I found that if I held the extra twine on the back of the card, it didn’t get in the way of me trying to pull the other twine through the middle of the card.

Once you have wrapped twine around twice, you will pull it around to the front and then cut off any excess twine.

You will then cross the two ends together as shown.

Make a bow making sure it is tight.

Trim off any excess twine.

I really didn’t like where the bow was at so I wanted to move it up.

Here is a simple trick to do this. Gently bend your card. This will allow you more room to move your twine to adjust it.

Gently using your finger, move the twine where you want it to be. YOU GOT IT!

Now you can see the card on the left opens horizontally.

The card on the right opens vertically.

You did it!

Now, for the GIVEAWAY!

This week for our Giveaway, we are giving away the Sentiments for All Occasions A Creative Journey with Melissa Stamp Set again by popular request!

To qualify to win, you must be BOTH:

A follower on YouTube, subscribe to our mailing list/blog posts and you may also comment on this blog post for an additional entry to win!

If you do not contact me within two weeks of the announcement of winning, you will unfortunately, forfeit your prize and it will be placed back in the giveaway stash for a future giveaway. Thank you for your understanding.

NOTE: Be sure you are not subscribed with two different names. If I am unable to match you with your subscription to both the blog and the YouTube Channel, you will miss your chance to win a prize. If I can’t decipher if you are a matching subscriber (if your profile doesn’t show publicly who you subscribe to) and I can’t confirm you have subscribed to both, I won’t be able to enter you in for the prize. **DO NOT COMMENT WITH YOUR ENTIRE EMAIL ADDY. Only give me the first 6 NOT INCLUDING YOUR HOST. Just enough for me to match your name will work perfectly.  Your understanding is appreciated.

For last weeks giveaway of the

the Sentiments for All Occasions A Creative Journey with Melissa Stamp Set:

 Vanessa B is the winner!

Vanessa B, please send me your contact information via contact page on our website, which post you are a winner from and I will get your certificate prize out to you! Thank you so much for being a YouTube follower and subscribing to our mailing list/blog posts!

We hope you enjoyed our Birthday Gift Thank You Cards Tutorial! Have a wonderful week and thank you for going on A Creative Journey with Melissa.