BACK TO SCHOOL BLOG HOP DAY #4 and VERSATILE BLOGGER AWARD!!!!!

If you are coming here to check out the winners or accept your 

VERSATILE BLOGGER AWARD please click HERE

If you are here for the BACK TO SCHOOL BLOG HOP please click

HERE for the BACK TO SCHOOL BLOG HOP DAY #1

HERE for the BACK TO SCHOOL BLOG HOP DAY #2

HERE for the BACK TO SCHOOL BLOG HOP DAY #3

BE SURE TO follow ALL of the directions for EACH DAY and COMMENT ON EACH DAY IN ORDER TO WIN THE BLOG CANDY... I would HATE to not have to send it to anyone and I KNOW the USPS REALLY wants the business! LOL The question for today is, do you have any questions for me? I have received a few from you throughout the blog hop and I will post the answers this week depending on when my boys are feeling better and figured I would open it up if anyone else had some:) If you don't, that's OK TOO :P

I had originally planned on finishing a canvas scrapbook or wall art for my last and final project-I got a little carried away the last few days with extra projects and figured today would be a great day to make my last but not least project.. Well, as it turns out, I had to meet with a client today, I have one sick one and one REALLY sick one with a fever and time just got away from me. I figured I ended up putting out more projects than I was asked to so far anyway so I hope you FORGIVE ME :) I asked my youngest what should I do because I needed to create something but my oldest wanted to snuggle with me and when your 13 year wants to snuggle.. YOU STOP AND DO IT because before long... he may not want to. Soooooo, my awesome 11 year old said what about a clip? So this is what I came up with... Another REALLY great gift that would go great with the previous project of the composition books... and SUPER DUPER easy AND FAST.. which is EXACTLY what the doctor ordered..lol

So for the larger one, I took one of the pre-made sayings from the Bo Bunny paper and cut it out, matted it twice and then took the same paper that was used as the bottom mat and put it on the other side of the clip so the clip is sandwiched in between the triple matted set of papers and the one paper. I used Beacon 3 in 1 glue and pop dots to be sure it was secure and let it dry over night. Beacon glue dries quickly but it isn't worth the chance that it MAY be wet and ruin the project. The clip I used is a large paperclip (approximate 3"-4") that you can purchase from an office supply store or if you are me, you go in your stash :)

As if that wasn't easy enough this is even EASIER! It's also a great project for kids to make for Grandparent gifts for holidays and you can even use a picture in the middle of the clip instead of a decorative paper and it makes it even all that much more personal :) Just remember it doesn't matter what shape you use-flower, heart, circle, square, label, etc. it all works!


So, I took two circle punches (1 1/4" & 1 3/8" and you could use any size really) punched out two of each size (one set for the front & for the back.)  I put the one circle and matted it to the larger circle and repeated for the second set. I took pop dots, placed them in a u shape to surround the paper clip, used beacon glue to secure the clip and let dry over night. That's it... and what a wonderful gift for a new reader!!!


It has been a wonderful blog hop & I really appreciate each & every comment that you have left! A SUPER DUPER THANK YOU 2 REBEKAH & all of her hard work getting this blog hop rolling-U ROCK!

Have a wonderful day and thanks for taking the time to visit me!

And as always, make today and every day

A CREATIVE JOURNEY :)

With Love & Creativity,

Melissa

BACK TO SCHOOL BLOG HOP DAY #3

Welcome to the BACK TO SCHOOL BLOG HOP, DAY #3 


This Blog Hop is FOUR DAYS long with a new project for EACH DAY! Please be sure to check back each day because I know the ladies have worked really hard to create something awesome to share with you! There will be a bunch great projects and FUN with the possibility of winning prizes along the way!! All of the blog hop ladies are new crafty friends and I just know this is going to be an AWESOME HOP! 
A HUGE THANK YOU to Rebekah for organizing this!  
If you have come from Amanda - you are in the right place! If you happened to stop by today and would like to start at the beginning of the blog hop, please start  at our fantastic hostess' Rebekah's blog so that you can join in on ALL OF THE FUN and CREATIVITY! 


Now I KNOW I LOVE TO WIN PRIZES and if you have followed my blog, you already know I have done really well in the past 6 weeks (WINNING FIVE TIMES!) so of course I LOVE GIVING AWAY BLOG CANDY TOO!!  One lucky blog candy winner will receive some really cool stuff! Now to win on my blog, you will need to be a follower of my blog, 
comment on ALL FOUR DAYS OF THE  BLOG HOP and answer the questions for the day- so far there has been two questions and it looks like I may be stuck with this AMAZING BLOG CANDY!!! So today's question is what is your FAVORITE school supply to use when you are creating? I have three that I CAN'T CREATE WITHOUT! Punches.. all kinds, staples, all sizes and colors and clips.. I just love all kinds of paper clips, clasps and stuff that adds a little dimension and pizzaz to the page!

For an EXTRA chance to win, place my button on your blog and


comment that you did so! It's just that simple :)

The blog candy winner for my blog will be announced on Monday, August 15th by noon PT. EVERYONE is eligible to win-I have been VERY fortunate to win blog candy from two different countries and they were generous enough to allow me to win even though I am in the US- I CERTAINLY want to pay it forward :)  Here is a pic of the blog candy one lucky winner will receive which includes a Cuttlebug embossing folder, two Tim Holtz embossing die folders and two sheets of mini alpha stickers. To save on shipping, I will be taking the Tim Holtz embossing folders out of their packaging.

Now onto APRIL'S AMAZING BLOG so see what great project she has in store for you!


In case you get lost, here is the line up 
Rebekah - http://colorkraft.blogspot.com/

Doreen - http://scrapbookertink.blogspot.com/

Joyce - http://www.beyondscrapin.blogspot.com/

Amanda - http://aremus.blogspot.com/ YOU CAME FROM HERE**

Melissa - http://acreativejourneywithmelissa.blogspot.com/ YOU ARE HERE**

 April - http://aprilmariecole.blogspot.com NEXT STOP**Gina - http://canoncreativegirl.blogspot.com/Be sure to come back every day to check out the amazing projects!

Now for my project.. I am going to start by apologizing because this project, albeit small.. it is quite mighty and I had to take A BUNCH OF PICTURES to show you the inside pages so... I AM VERY SORRY! LOL  I used a ton of different items including, Tim Holtz stamps, stampin up, Technique Tuesday, some I am not sure who made them. I used paper from Becky Higgins, Bazzill, Karen Foster , my stash & DCWV. Various fibers from Michael's, Joanns, my stash, jillibean soup, and string from my stash.  I used a real label maker and the labels from my stash.. I LOVE THAT THING! I used numerous embossing folders by sizzix, quick Kuts and Tim Holtz. I am sure there is more stuff and  I apologize if I am forgetting anything or anyone. It is not for any reason other than I didn't have the packaging to be able to give credit where credit is due.  I apologize that the pics are sideways in some cases but I downloaded them 5 times and no matter what I did, that is how they came out so I am tired and it's time for me to go to bed (it's almost 4 am) so this will have to do until tomorrow if I figure out how to fix it! LOL


Now for the pictures... I am just going to post them.. I did as much as I could without making it too personalized for fear that the person that wants it may not want it themed directly for a certain grade.. besides,  I think the pages are pretty self explanatory :)

 

 

Have a wonderful day and thanks for taking the time to visit me!

And as always, make today and every day

A CREATIVE JOURNEY :) 

With Love & Creativity,

Melissa

BACK TO SCHOOL BLOG HOP DAY #1

Welcome to the BACK TO SCHOOL BLOG HOP, DAY #1
This Blog Hop is FOUR DAYS long with a new project for EACH DAY! Please be sure to check back each day because I know the ladies have worked really hard to create something awesome to share with you! There will be a bunch great projects and FUN with the possibility of winning prizes along the way!! All of the blog hop ladies are new crafty friends and I just know this is going to be an AWESOME HOP! 
A HUGE THANK YOU to Rebekah for organizing this!  
If you have come from Amanda - you are in the right place! If you happened to stop by today and would like to start at the beginning of the blog hop, please start  at our fantastic hostess' Rebekah's blog so that you can join in on ALL OF THE FUN and CREATIVITY! 


Now, onto my projects :) I am sharing three for today-I had things I needed to work on and decided to include them in on the blog hop. The projects I had originally planned on posting today I will be added to another day's line up which means MORE PROJECTS FOR YOU TO SEE =) The projects for today are not complicated or time consuming projects but AMAZING gifts if you want to create something for someone in a relatively inexpensive way-and I am all for inexpensive in cost but not in looks :) A GREAT IDEA for teachers for a welcome back to school gift!!


The first project was a journal I made that I was planning on selling. I love the colors of the Bo Bunny paper line I used and as I was creating it, my youngest son informed me that HE WANTED IT for school... I WAS SO HONORED THAT HE WOULD WANT IT!  I was so excited, I asked him what he wanted me to add to it (of course because I wanted to "create it up a bit") and he said it was perfect the way it was.... Well, it's a bit plain for what I normally do but he is right. For him, it will be perfect and usable...  The letters were cut from my gypsy and I then used crystal effects to add some dimension to the letters. I  pop dotted them added a little string and there you have it! I thought it came out cute but not too labor intensive and it was totally cost effective too!

This is a  card I created for a friend of mine that went from the elementary school my son just graduated from to another local school. It was also made with my gypsy. Not too complicated at all but cute and fun :) This is matted on yellow, black, lined paper from the Bo Bunny line I used, then the card was cut in red with yellow and 

black accents placed on a 4.25 x 5.5 card. 

This is another journal I created to sell. I love the color scheme to this paper. I had some velvet ribbon and decided to add a rose, pearl flourishes and a ribbon accent to this. Once again, this is NOT complicated at all but definitely looks elegant and would make a great gift for a welcome back to school teacher gift or a birthday gift for a friend as well!

Now I KNOW I LOVE TO WIN PRIZES and if you have followed my blog, you already know I have done really well in the past 6 weeks (FIVE TIMES!) so of course I LOVE GIVING AWAY BLOG CANDY TOO!!  One lucky blog candy winner will receive some really cool stuff! Now to win on my blog, you will need to be a follower of my blog, 
comment on ALL FOUR DAYS OF THE  BLOG HOP and answer this question-What is your favorite memory of school and why? My favorite memory of school was my 3rd grade teacher Miss Lind. I just remember her being so wonderful and kind-EXACTLY what one would imagine a teacher SHOULD BE! Fortunately, thanks to Facebook, I have gotten back in contact with her and am so blessed to have her in my life once again.  Just as sweet and kind as she was 30+ years ago! 

For an EXTRA chance to win, place my button on your blog and comment that you did so! It's just that simple :)

The blog candy winner for my blog will be announced on Monday, August 15th by noon PT. EVERYONE is eligible to win-I have been VERY fortunate to win blog candy from two different countries and they were generous enough to allow me to win even though I am in the US- I CERTAINLY want to pay it forward :)  Here is a pic of the blog candy one lucky winner will receive which includes a Cuttlebug embossing folder, two Tim Holtz embossing die folders and two sheets of mini alpha stickers. To save on shipping, I will be taking the Tim Holtz embossing folders out of their packaging.



Now onto APRIL'S AMAZING BLOG so see what great project she has in store for you!
In case you get lost, here is the line up 

Rebekah - http://colorkraft.blogspot.com/

Doreen - http://scrapbookertink.blogspot.com/

Joyce - http://www.beyondscrapin.blogspot.com/

Amanda - http://aremus.blogspot.com/ YOU CAME FROM HERE**

Melissa - http://acreativejourneywithmelissa.blogspot.com/ YOU ARE HERE**

 April - http://aprilmariecole.blogspot.com NEXT STOP**Gina - http://canoncreativegirl.blogspot.com/Be sure to come back every day to check out the amazing projects!
Have a wonderful day and thanks for taking the time to visit me!

And as always, make today and every day

A CREATIVE JOURNEY :) 

With Love & Creativity,

Melissa