Should I start blogging again?

I've been asking myself this question for a couple of months now.

Anthony returned from overseas in February and we made the big move to Oklahoma City.  We are finally feeling settled in and now that summer vacation has started I might have time to create stuff again.  I have been creating subway art or my version of subway art anyways.  I've created several of them in the last year.  My most recent creation was to try a large version.  24"X36"!  My previous largest size was a 16"X20". 

Here's a comparison of the two sizes.  Its a large difference!

If you'd like to see more of my subway art you can find it on Facebook HERE

I guess we'll see if I can make a blog comeback!

Melissa

Subway art I {heart} you!

Welcome on this rainy Friday here in Ohio!  On a happier note my house smells like cupcakes!

Today I have a wonderful new obsession of mine....SUBWAY ART!!  I'm in love and I've done several but this was my first and largest so farv (I have many more planned).  It is a 16x20" canvas and it looks fabulous on my wall.  I found different fonts that I like and cut them on my Cricut using the Make The Cut software.  I used all of our names, states that we've lived in, important dates, and words and phrases that describe our family.  Some of the paint seeped on the left side but I still love it so much I often just stare at it...lol.

I'm working on perfecting the 11x14" size right now before I do another large one.  I'll show you those next week.

Don't for get to stop by the Roberts Arts and Crafts blog to enter the Roberts Crafts Freebie Friday Giveaway!  They are giving away three cricut cartridges today!

I have a little request.  I don't usually do this but I'm asking for those of you who pray to keep my home town and the surrounding area in your prayers.  I'm from Knox City, Texas, a little town barely a dot on the map.  There is a huge wildfire heading towards them from Stonewall country Texas.  The last I was updated Thursday night it had already burned more than 50,000 acres and had not been contained.  Please help me by praying for rain that they so desperately need and for the winds to die down.  Pray for the firefighters who've been fighting this fire and others like it all across the state.

Have a fabulous Friday!!

Melissa

The last of the thank you's

Good morning to you!!  We had a wonderful time at Grandma's and Grandpa's this week but I was glad to get back to my own bed last night.  We have a couple more days to live up spring break and then it will be back to the grindstone...lol. The weather is so pretty but have a chane of rain today.  I was going to take the girls to the zoo but it might have to wait until the next long weekend.  I'd hate to be at the zoo when it started raining and thundering.  So we are going to hang out with Rach and her kiddos (I might just snuggle into her wonderful couch and not move!)

I have the last two card that I made for my friend.  I think I'll be using a number of my scraps to make thank you cards with this layout.  Its super simple and looks great.  I may have to invest in some fancy buttons, I used the only one I had on the bottom card and I think it looks great.

Go by Craftaholics Anonymous to enter into a giveaways for an Epic Letterpress and Die Cut Machine!!


have a fabulous day!!
Melissa

Don't you just love Mondays!!

Good morning to you from Spring Break Monday and Grandma's house!  We've already enjoyed pizza and Grandma's cupcakes last night.  I hope no one will judge me for having one of  Grammie's fabulous cupcakes for breakfast.  While my morning started off waaaaayyyy earlier than I wanted or expected it is a glorious warm morning.  I'm so ready for constant warm weather.

Well on to my cards  this morning.  This is another set that I made for my friend. 

I love the paper on the top one and I can't even remember where it came from.  Its double sided so I'm guessing it came from a K & Company stack.  I believe the sentiment came from PTI's Scattered Showers set.  Its a simple layout but I love it.

I hope that everyone has a fantastic day and a fabulous week!!

Melissa

Cupcakes part duex

I'm about ready to throw my laptop out the window!! 

But on a brighter note Spring Break starts today at 2:10 PM in our house.  No homework, or spelling words, or early mornings for a whole week.  I'm not going to do more than a couple of loads of laundry (we have to have cloths to take to Grandma's) the whole week.  There is going to be lots of reading, movie watching and lots and lots of Barbie playing.  I'm hoping to be able to write up some post this weekend and have them scheduled for next week since internet connection at Grandma's isn't the best.  However if you don't hear anything from me next week it will be because I started slacking the moment I finished this post..LOL!!

Two more cards like yesterday's in different colors.  On the two yesterday I colored the icing part with Triart marker but the two today I paper pieced the icing.

Have a wonderful Friday and a fabulous weekend!!

Melissa

Cupcakes everywhere.

Welcome back!  I have to say I'm a little peeved at Mother Nature right now.  Yesterday it snowed....SNOWED!!!!  Its almost April, next week is SPRING Break. I'm having a hard time dealing with this weather.  I need a tropical vacation or something.

I have another couple of card to show you that I made for my friend.  Personally I love this cupcake stamp by Stampendous, its one of my favorites.  The little sentiment is from PTI's Scattered Showers set.  All the paper is again from my scrap drawer.  There is still a lot to use in my little drawer but I'm making a small dent at least.

Have a fabulous day!

Melissa

Showers of Blessings

Well happy Monday morning to you.  The last one before Spring Break for us and I'm sure glad.  I don't mind getting up and getting the girls ready for the day but I sure do dread the after school homework.  We all need a break from our day to day here.  So once Spring Break rolls around we'll be heading to Grandma's so Mom can relax and the girls can get spoiled rotten.

I've been working on some cards for a friend of mine.  The organization she belongs to has a banquet where they have donated prizes and such so I offered to make card sets for her.  Here are two of the cards.  I used my PTI Scattered Showers set for the umbrellas and sentiment.  I used Stampin' Ups Tempting Turquiose and Pink Passion ink.  The papers are all from my scrap drawer. 

Have a fabulous day!! 

Melissa

Tangled and Spidy Banner

This post is picute heavy!!

So as I mention in my previous posts how I adore the twins that live next door to me so I had to offer my services when their Mom, Shana, made a comment on a banner for a previous party.  I wanted to share a photo of Sarah and Savannah on their birthday.  Aren't they just too cute?  BTW if you think that the bows and skirts the girls are wearing are cute you can check out more of Shana's creations on her facebook page Bows and More By Shana

I thought I would have trouble blending the Tangled and Spiderman colors to make a banner but I think it turned out wonderful.  These are not great picutures since I had to wait until Shana put them up to take them.  I didn't have anyone to help put them up here for picture taking. 

I used the same colors that I did on their cards since they matched each theme so well.  Most of the cardstock was from The Paper Studio and DCWV.  The letters were cut from DCWV silver glitter paper (love it!).

I used my Cricut to cut everything for the banner.  The triangles are from the Mother's Day 2010 cart, I hide the wholes and used my Crop-a-dile to make smaller ones because I wanted to attached the triangles together with brads.

The scalloped circle is actually a flower from the Paisley cart and the circles were cut from Plantin SchoolBook.  The letters were cut from A Child's Year.  I did lay it out in the Cricut Design Studio (previous to getting my Gypsy) but if you like mesurements I'd be happy to pass them along.  If you would like to help me figure out how to send a CDS file I'd be happy to do that as well.

I did have a brainstorm after cutting all the pices.  I put together the two triangles and then used my cuttlebug and embossed them.  I used a spiderweb fiskers plate on Savannah's part of the banner.  You can see a hint of it in this really bad picture.

I used cuttlebug Bloom Dots folder for Sarah's.  You can see the embossing better in this one.

I hope that everyone has a fabulous Friday and a wonderful weekend!!

Melissa

Spiderman birthday

My last post showed you the birthday card for one of the twins whos half of the birthday party was Tangled.  Savannah however goes her own direction and chose Spiderman as her half of the party theme.  I have to tell you that I love this card.  Just because Spiderman is a superhero doesn't mean he doesn't need a little bling.  I drew a little spider web in the corner and added irock crystals to it.  I printed Spiderman from a free coloring page that I found online.

Have a fabulous Thursday. 

Oh and Happy Birthday to my friends Shana, Jenny and Kevin who all have birthdays this week.

A Tangled Birthday

I want to start out by saying that I live in an older section of our military housing.  We don't sit on the road,  there are 18 houses that make a horse shoe around a common area or courtyard.  This is the best little community that I could ever hope to be a part of.  One of the families that live in our little courtyard are blessed with having twin girls who just recently turned 4.  My girls love playing with them and I just adore them so of course for their birthday I had to make the perfect cards.  Sarah's part of the party was Tangled so I googled coloring pictures and finally found one that I could color (all that hair.)  All of the paper is from my scrap drawer, I free handed the irock crystal curl and added some Kaiser flowers

Only two more Mondays until Spring Break!!  I hope that everyone has a fantastic start to the week!

Melissa

Finally Friday!

Thank goodness its Friday!  No homework to help with tonight, no spelling words to go over, and a blissful extra hour of sleep tomorrow morning.  Only two more Friday before that wonderful week they call spring break.  A whole week with no alarm clock, ah heaven.  And to make today even better the girls and I got to Skyp with Anthony this morning.  We were able to see his handsome face while we talked to him.  The last couple of weeks we haven't been able to use the video because the we-fi where he was wasn't that strong.  Goodness I miss that man!  I forget, in the in-between times when he's home with us, what its like to miss him.  To see and hear him but not be able to touch him.  Okay I'm going off topic here....back on track. 

I have a cute birthday card for you today.  This is for one of the sweet girls in my neighborhood.  I wanted to do something quick and easy to have on her actual birthday.  So I pulled out some stickers that I've been saving from Martha Stewart, a scrap from My Minds Eye Love Nest stack and a couple of pieces of scrap cardstock.  I love the birthday cake sticker with the banner and bakers twine.

I hope that you have a fabulous Friday and an amazing weekend!  Tomorrow is my Thirty-One party and i'm so excited.  I still have a couple of things to finish up then I'll be ready to start preping all the food I can make in advance.  I have I ever told you how much I love having parties!!!

Melissa

Simple love you.

Here it Thursday and tons of stuff to do before Saturday and I'm playing on the computer.  I need to make a quick trip to the gorcery store, vacuum and mop, clean off my dining room table and finish hanging pictures on my living room walls.  Not to mention three birthday cards to make and three presents to buy.

 

I'm hoping that my replacement Gypsy will be here soon.  If and when I finially get it in my hands I'll have to give you the whole ugly story behind why I need a replacment.

I've got a cute, quick little card for you today.  I used a peice of my K&Co valentine stack and added some stickles to the flowers.  Strung some buttons on cute bakers twine and tied that into a horrible bow (something I need to work on.)  Added a "I love you" sentiment by Technique Tueday onto a pre-cut tag by Martha Stewart which I rolled a little to give it some height.  I think this one might be heading to Korea in a care package for my Guy.  I don't tend to give him flowery, girly cards but sometimes I run out of ideas for masculine love cards.

Have a fabulous Thursday, I'd better get busy with my To-Do list.

Melissa

Pamper yourself

I really wanted to get back in the swing of things and use my DCWV Black Currant Stack.  I love this stack and I'm now on the hunt for another.  Since I haven't colored or stamped much in the last couple of month I thought I'd ease my way back by using Me Time Anya since she doesn't require to much detail or colors.  She happens to be one of my Favorite TGF stamps and I should pull her out more often.  I used more i-rock crystals on this card, I hoped to make them look like bubbles.  Not sure if  I pulled it off or not but I like the way it looks anyways.  I added some stickles to the bubbles and called it done.

I hope that you all have a fantastic Monday.  I hope to be back on Wednesday with another post.  This week is a busy one for our house since I'll be getting ready for my Thirty-One home party on Saturday.  I've never actually had a home party before, I've attended tons.  I love have people over and I'm in love with everything Thirty-One has so I'm excited.  If you've never heard of Thirty-One you can view their catalog HERE.  And if you'd like to help me have a fabulous party and get all the things on my wish list you can shop from my party HERE even if you can't be there in person.  Their customer special this month is spend $31 and you can get any purse 1/2 off! 

Have a great day!!

Melissa

We've made it...

through our first month without Anthony.  The first and last month are always the hardest for me, they both feel as if they will never end.  I miss him so much that its hard to focus on anything else but we are easing into a new routine.  The girls are adjusting well and I'm starting to sleep more than a couple hours each night.

I have some fabulous friend and some happen to be my neighbors and they were a major reason I was able to traverse the month without more drama than the Anthony's TV going to TV heaven.  They opened their homes to us when we just need to be any where but in our house, they've offered to watch my girls for a couple of hours just so I could have a moment to myself or go to the grocery store by myself., made me laugh and let me know if I needed anything they would be there for me.  So from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU!!  Oh, and Rach....
I love ya!!!!

Now that thats out of the way on to the craftyness.......

I made a couple welcome cards when a couple of families moved into our little courtyard.  The patterend paper is from My Minds Eye lovenest stack the rest is various pieces of cardstock I had in my scrap drawer that i punched with the Martha Stewart Cornice border punch.  I had wrote the sentiment (nothing I had fit where I wanted it.)  I free handed the irock crystals and used my handy dandy setter to attach them.

Melissa

Valentine Cards

I've put off blogging a little longer than I had origanally planned. Anthony ended up getting to stay two days longer with us because of the ice storm that hit us last week. He did finally make it safe and sound in Korea after several flights and long layovers. So we are on day 5 without our guy and I have to say that it is going way smoother than I had imagined. I have some fabulous friends and neighbors who are determined not to let me get bored and broody. Skype has to be the most wonderful invention ever with Yahoo Messanger for Android running a close second.

So on to my reason for the post Rhalynn's class Valentines.  I used one (of many) new Valentine stacks that I've bought this year.   This one is from Kand Company.  I did make 5 sets of these valentines with a couple in another color combo, I'll try to to get a picture of those tomorrow.  The images are from Pink cat studio, I bought them at my LSS after Valentines Day a couple of years ago.  I'll be linking this to Simon Says Stamp's Love is in the Air challenge this week,

I wanted to end this post with a picture I took this morning.  They are constantly fighting for space on this cushion, Joey (dog) usually wins.  I think its so cute because they are both sound asleep and snoring.

Have a happy day!!

Melissa

I thought some of you might get a laugh out of my Hubby's antics on his new blog, Tony In Korea.  Be prepared for a potty mouth, heavy sarcasm, unfinished thoughts and lots of rambling.

Happy New Year from the Sayers!!

I just wanted to wish each and everyone of you that read my blog a wonderfully Happy New Year!!  We enjoyed a wonderful New Year's Eve with some of our neighbors and rang the new year in with champagne, laughter and that all important New Year's kiss.

This was the first year we let the girls stay up to ring in the new year. It was important for me to try to bring it in with us all together.

I love this guy!! 11 years ago he proposed to me, six months later we were married and I can't imagine my life could be any better than we've made it. He's my best friend, a fantastic Daddy, my own personal stand-up comic, my sounding board, the best hugger ever and my hero. The next year hold new challenges for our family, and while I know that we can do this, I'm worried. Worried that I haven't prepared the girls enough, or that the washer is going to break the day after he leaves or that I won't be able to handle things with out him here. 

So for the rest of the month post here will be few and far between as I try to spend as much time with Anthony as I can. 

The good Lord was creating a model for military wives and was into his sixth day of overtime when an angel appeared. She said, "Lord, you seem to be having a lot of trouble with this one. What's wrong with the standard model?"

 

The Lord replied, "Have you seen the specs on this order? She has to be completely independent, possess the qualities of both father and mother. Be a perfect hostess to four to 40 with an hour's notice, run on black coffee, handle every emergency imaginable without a manual, be able to carry on cheerfully, even if she is pregnant and has the flu, and she must be willing to move to a new location 10 times in 17 years. And oh, yes, she must have six pairs of hands."

The angel shook her head. "Six pairs of hands? No way. "

The Lord continued, "Don't worry, we will make the other military wives to help her. And we will give her an unusually strong heart so it can swell with pride in her husband's achievements, sustain the pain of separations, beat soundly when it is overworked and tired, and be large enough to say, "I understand," when she doesn't, and say, "I love you' regardless."

"Lord," said the angel, touching his arm gently, "Go to bed and get some rest. You can finish this tomorrow.

"I can't stop now," the Lord said. "I am so close to creating something unique." Already this model heals herself when sick, can put up with six unexpected guests for the weekend, wave good-bye to her husband from a pier, a runway or depot, and understand why it's important that he leave."

The angel circled the model of the military wife, looked closely and sighed, "It looks fine, but it's too soft."

She might look soft," replied the Lord. "But she has the strength of a lion. You would not believe what she can endure."

Finally, the angel bent over and ran her finger across the cheek of the Lord's creation. "There's a leak," she announced. "Something is wrong with the construction. I am not surprised that it has cracked. You are trying to put too much into this."

The Lord replied. "It's for joy, sadness, pain, disappointment, loneliness, pride and a dedication to all the values that she and her husband hold dear."

"You are a genius!" exclaimed the angel.

The Lord looked puzzled and replied, "I didn't put it there."

Melissa

Merry Chirstmas Eve!

I know in my last post I said something about showing you the ornaments that I made this year, however I don't have any pictures yet of any of them so I'll have to wait. 

I wanted to make sure to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!  I hope that you are surrounded by love and laughter during this beautiful holiday season.  I'll be soaking up as much holiday cheer as I can handle the next couple of days to get me through the New Year. 

I'll be back next week!

Melissa

The last Christmas card

I have one last card to show you.  I love this Santa.  I used him several times last year too!

I'm officailly done with all my Christmas shopping, wrapping and preperation.  We'll be heading to Anthony's brothers house in Columbus for Christmas eve.  Then to Grammie and Grandpa's where Grammie will have excellent cookies to set out for Santa (I won't be able to stop myself from eating several).  I'll spend the next few days listening to Christmas music and praying for time to slow down.  I'm not ready for the end of the year, nor am I ready to face the fact that February is just around a short corner.

I'll be back on Friday to show you all the ornaments that I made this year

Have a beautiful wednesday!

Melissa

Friday is here!!

I've been working away getting ready for my party tomorrow.  The food is bought the house is decorated and I'm in the process of cleaning every square in of it.  I'm pretty sure have 2 and 1/2 baths is really over kill.  I'm pretty sure we could survive with just the one upstairs and the 1/2 downstairs.  3 toliets are a awful lot to have to scrub!  Thankfully I'm almost done, I'm down to finishing the laundry and scrubbing my floors.

Today I wanted to show you some of the ways I decorated our house this year. 

I've always wanted to have a fireplace, not to have a fire but for the mantel.  I think that stocking just don't look as nice if you don't have a mantel.  Usually we use our bookshelf and hang our stocking from that.  However this year I saw a fabulous wall hanging that you could hang your stockings from.  I would have bought it but I need 5 hangers and it only had four.  I know, I know you are think "but there are only four of you," which is true but we have a stocking that says 'The Sayers.'  My MIL made it for us along with the girls stockings and I love to have it out but we each need a stocking because thats one of my favorite parts of Christmas morning.  Everyone gets something in their stocking!

So this is what I came up with this year.  I cut all the words with the Cricut Winter Woodlands cart twice, once on white vinyl and once on patterned paper.  I glued the paper to the vinyl and then stuck it on my wall.

This is the corner of my dinning room.  The tree is for the ornament exchange at our party tomorrow.  I cut all the ornaments on my Cricut with the Christmas solutions cart.  I cute the bases on red and blue vinyl and the tops on shiny silver paper, glued them together, stuck them on the wall and added shiny ribbon to make them look like they are hanging.  I love this corner so much I might not ever take it down.  Seriously, Anthony won't be here to say anything about it and the girls won't mind one bit.

Close-ups of the ornaments.  I'm not sure what size I cut these at since they are all different sizes but they all did fit on on 12x12 sheet.

I'll be entering my creations into the Fantabulous Cricut "Deck the Halls Crawl" Challange.

I hope that you all have a wonderful Friday and a fab weekend!

melissa

Oh Wednesday how I love you!

Wednesday means only a couple more days that I have to get up and bundle the kids up for our short walk to school before the Christmas break!!  Wednesday means we are on the down hill slide to our wonderful Christmas party this weekend.  Yay yay I'm excited!!

Isn't this card just the cutest!  I love this patterened paper from Me and My Big Ideas and these cute little reindeer from Smirk stamps.  I love the little ornaments on his antlers. 

Happy Hump day everyone!!

melissa