I'm still alive.....

but just barely!!! We've been so busy packing and getting our things moved to our new house, I haven't had any time for myself! We have everything but ourselves moved in. We are in the middle of laying laminate flooring, so we are staying with my husband's parents until we get that done. Hopefully it will only take a couple more days to get it done! I'm ready to be in my OWN house again!! Maybe by next week I'll actually be able to unpack my stamps!! I've missed stamping these past few weeks!! Stay tuned to see if I,or my kids survive the floor installation! Right now, my kids are all misbehaving and may not survive the DAY!!!!!!!

Trials are good for you....trials are good for you....really they are!

I'm trying to convince myself that trials are good for you. They make you stronger, right??? Sometimes I just wish I could just stay weak! Ok, I'm kidding!! Seriously though, we got a call from our landlords this past Saturday that one of their kids is in a tight spot and they need us to move out of our house so their kid can move in here!!!!! Can you believe it? My husband was so shocked when she called and told him all he could do was say OK!!! Then he called me in the room and told me we had to be out of here by September 1st......so I grabbed the phone from him and called her right back and not so nicely told her she was out of her mind!! We have FIVE kids and three of them are starting school next month so we have a ton of stuff to buy next month!!! To say the least, that alone was going to strap our budget! But I also have to say that we did some mighty ernest praying over the weekend and we've already found a new place to live and we are going to be buying it....and we get to move in on the 1st of August!!! This has all turned out to be a blessing in disguise! I was totally stressed out and cried for 2 days because I was so worried about how much was going to be going on in August.....you know shopping for school, getting the kids settled in school, having to house hunt and HOPE that we would be able to find somewhere to live in an area where there are next to NO places listed for rent right now!! We are in the area where Hurricane Rita came through, so there are not very many places to rent because there are still a lot of contractors in the area renting all the vacant homes! I'm afraid I won't be posting a whole lot in the next few weeks because I will be busy packing, moving, and then unpacking!! I dread moving, but I know in the end it will be the best for us!! I do have a couple of projects I made using the Crop-a-dile! That is THE best invention EVAH!!!!! I will try and get them posted one night this week! Sorry for all the personal stuff here....I really planned to keep all personal stuff off my blog because I didn't want people to have to wade through it to get to the nitty gritty of stamping, but I just needed to yell from the rooftops that I'm going to live....even if my blood pressure was nearly through the roof this weekend!! Obviously everything happens for a reason, and I really need to learn that "this too shall pass". Luckily it was seen fit to show me that is can pass pretty quickly! I'm not very good at being patient! Alrighty......I'll quit yacking now! Sorry for the long read!!

My First New Catalog Order

I thought I would let you know what is on my first new catty order!  I've been mulling it over for a while now, and have FINALLY decided on the first few stamp sets I want.

I am getting Bronc Buster, Starstruck, and the Bronco wheel....HELLO I am in TEXAS!!  Gotta have my cowboy stuff!!  I'll get Wanted and the Wild West Alpha in my next order!!

I also decided to get Fun and Fast Notes!  That little bird with the flower is so dang cute!  I think I may mount the images and put the sentiments on the sides of the blocks.  And last but not least, Pick a Petal.  I think it will make some really cute cards too.  Oh and I almost forgot, I'm getting Two Cute...those little flowers are TOO cute!  

My next order I want to get Wanted and Wild West Alpha like I already said, and I want to get All in the Family!!  Those little stick people are going to make some fun projects!!  My entire wishlist isn't extremely long....with stamp sets, I only have 39 sets listed.....as of right now!!  ::evil grin::   I'm sure the more I study the catalog and look at all the wonderful samples on SCS, the more I will have to have.

Now on to more pressing business.......I think I'm going to change the layout of my blog.  For some reason words are getting lost in the outer edges of my narrow little space.  So, I'm going to start trying out different layouts until I find one that let's all my words be seen.  I noticed today that the recipe I put on here is missing some important directions, that I know I typed!!  So stay tuned to see the changes!!

Oh Yeah!!!

I'll be busy cleaning out my craft room tomorrow!!!! How exciting huh?? My wonderful sister-in-law is going to keep all 5 of my kids so I can actually get something accomplished in there! I have some pictures of how messy it is in there....well, pictures of my desk anyway(but I'm not about to publish it)!!! I wouldn't let anyone see my room in all it's glory the way it looks right now!! My 2 year old dumped 2 things of glitter on the floor in there about a week ago and it's still there....except for what has stuck to the bottoms of my feet and I've tracked back out of there!! But the mess'll be cleaned up TOMORROW, betcha prima flowers that TOMORROW, I'll be done!! TOMORROW, TOMORROW, I love ya TOMORROW no kids to stop my progress!!!!!!! Sing it with me!! You know you want to!!!

Jumbo Paperclip Bookmark Project

This is a fun little project that is really easy and doesn't take too much time.....well, drying time takes a while, but overall hands on time is not long!  I've seen them made by others on Splitcoast stampers and I thought they were sooooo cute!!  Here's how you make them.....

Supplies:
Jumbo paperclip, chipboard, paper punch, industrial strength glue, Designer paper or stamped images, embellishments

Step 1:
Punch 2 shapes (I used a circle here) of chipboard and 2 of designer paper or
stamped images and glue an image to each piece of chipboard.
 
Step 2:
Tie ribbon in a loose knot

Step 3:
Put one punched chipboard with image down.  Glue ribbon and jumbo paperclip to chipboard using industrial strength glue.....
use a pretty big blob to make sure there is enough
to stick the top on. Put the other piece of chipboard with image
up on top to make a sandwich. Put something heavy on top while it dries to make
sure it doesn't pop apart.  Easy huh??
There are a ton of ways to make these and they make great inexpensive
gifts!
 

I should be ashamed of myself!!

I'm so sorry it has been so long since I've posted anything new!  My husband has been on vacation and we've been spending time with the kids, so, no time for the computer!!  I'm sure you want to hear all about our little day trip we took huh????  We took our kids to NASA Space Center in Houston, which is about 2 hours away from us.  It really was a lot of fun!  If you ever get a chance to go, you should!  My husband goes back to work tomorrow!!!  So I should be able to get back to posting!! ::sigh::  I hate for him to have to go back!!  It has been so nice having him home!!  Now I'm off to make him a special treat to break the blow of having to go back to work!  I'll share the recipe with you so you can try them!  And let me just say........you are going to LOVE these! If you don't like cream cheese, don't pre-judge because of that!  I hate cream cheese too, but these are to die for and you can't taste the cream cheese AT ALL!!  Now if you hate chocolate....first of all.....my condolences!!  And second, you won't like these, they are the most chocolatey goodness you will ever put in your mouth!!

White Trash Truffles
1 pack of Oreos
1 8 oz block Cream Cheese (room temp)
2 bags Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips

Crush Oreos in a ziploc bag until they are a fairly fine consistency.  Mix Oreos with Cream Cheese.  Shape into 1 inch balls.
Melt chocolate chips.  Dip balls into melted chocolate to completely
coat.
Set on waxed paper lined cookie sheet.  Put in fridge to set chocolate.  OH MY!!

Stay tuned......and when I come out of my chocolate coma, I will be sure to post something GREAT!!

And the winner is........

We used a super high tech random drawing!! Of course being in the big ole state of Texas we had to draw a name out of a cowboy hat!!!  This is my beautiful assistant, Madison, my 10 year old daughter!  As you can see, she is being totally fair by looking away as she draws a
name!!


And the winner of the ribbon blog candy is.........


DBullock!!  Would you please be so kind as to send your snail mail address to mellybethwelch@aol.com please???  I have some ribbon waiting for a new home!! ::grin:: Thanks to everyone for playing. This is Melanie Welch saying get your pet spayed or neutered....goodbye everybody! That sounds familiar!!::snort::

Smackin' Acetate

I guess I'm not going to be able to call my techniques Technique Tuesday anymore considering I haven't gotten one up on a Tuesday yet!  I suppose I'll just call it Technique Tutorials.  So on with the Technique Tutorial!
I decided to show you how to do smackin' acetate for the technique this week.  It is really easy and fun and you get a really great background!!  This is something anyone can do and get great results!!  It will look like you took time to make a nice watercolored background when if fact all you did is scribble a little!!!  And ANYONE can scribble!  So now on to the nitty gritty!!

Supplies:
Transparencies, stamp and write markers, water in a spray bottle, whisper white cardstock, stamps, embellishments

Step 1:
Scribble on the transparency with your markers......not much to that huh??

Step 2:
Mist your scribbles with water until the colors start to get runny.....Oooooo difficult!!

Step 3:
Press your white cardstock into the color and pull off

Step 4:
Finish your card!

Now is that not one of the easiest things ever??  And look at that background!  It looks like a sky huh???  I love, love, love it!!  Now.....you all go smack some acetate and let me know how it goes!  Stay tuned for a fun project later this week!

Why Me????

I don't know what the deal is! I had some uploading problems last week, so I finally downloaded Mozilla Firefox and that fixed the problem! Well, now it won't work! I pull up firefox and it takes all day to load one stinkin' page! I haven't even dared to try and get to the dashboard and write or upload pictures! I have a new tutorial all ready to go too! I guess I'll have to get firefox off my computer, then download it again! This really aggravates me! Hopefully I can get it to downloaded this evening sometime and then I will post that fun tutorial!!

Will Melanie break her computer??? Will she throw it out the window??? Will she have patience???? (not likely) Stay tuned to find out..........

Super easy project!!

I went to Target the other day and picked up some little notebooks that are so cute. I saw that Jenn Balcer had altered some you can look at her's here ---> Jenn Balcer » Target Lovin’....so I thought I would take a stab at it. They are kraft colored with different colored "bindings". I bought two of them to alter.....one with turquoise and one with black bindings. They also have an elastic that wraps around from the back to hold them closed. So here's a picture of the one I altered.
I absolutely love dark brown with turquoise! The ribbon I chose with the single stitch inspired me to put faux stitching on the monogram and on each layer of the mats for the monogram and flowers! I think it turned out pretty cute. It was pretty simple to put together. I put the ribbon on with some super duper sticky tape, stamped the letter M in turquoise with letterpress alpha, used my white signo gel pen to put some faux stitching on the M. Then I cut the mats for the letter and did faux stitching on them. I stamped the flower from shapes and shadows in turquoise and put a chocolate chip dot in the center of each. I matted the flowers on chocolate chip and then did faux stitching around them. I'm ready for my close-up!! (Don't look too closely.....my faux stitching isn't perfect!) The last thing I did was tie some ribbon on the elastic. This was a pretty fast and easy project! Stay tuned for another episode....and maybe I'll actually get a new technique up on Tuesday!

How about a little somethin' sweet??

In honor of my ribbon cutting 101 technique, I thought I would offer a little blog candy!

I have several different ribbons cut to about 1/2 yard each. Don't ya just love that sheer ribbon with the polka dots??? All you have to do is come visit often and leave a comment on my posts. You will get one entry per comment. I will also give 4 entries for an email subscription......see the left side bar. I will draw a winner next Thursday, June 28th. Good luck and be sure to check back to see if you've won so you can send me your info!

Ribbon Cutting 101

You can cut ribbon you say??? Well, this technique tutorial is about an easier way to make a "bow" and save some ribbon as you don't have to use a long length of ribbon to go all the way around the backside of the cardfront too!! It's not really a bow per se......well, you'll see....

Supplies:
Cardstock, ribbon, stamps glue dots, embellishments

Step 1:
Cut a piece of ribbon long enough to go the length of the card plus have some left for tying. Tie the ribbon around your finger......I tied my ribbon with one long side and one shorter side so that my knot would be off center on my finished card.

Step 2:
Cut loop of the ribbon on the bottom of the loop...the knot is on the top..... while it is still on your finger. Cut ribbon at an angle to help reduce fraying.

Step 3:
Glue long ends on back of cardfront. You will have to attach cardfront to standard card to hide the back of the cardfront. Finish your card!

Sorry My blog was locked!

They locked me out of my blog because it was suspected to be a spam blog by google's spam robots!! HA! So there was no getting in for anyone for a couple days. I couldn't change anything either, which was actually ok because I've had sick kids since Friday.....which is in my Father's Day post.....well last night my 7 year old son, Porter, started with the puking and Levi still wasn't over it as of 3 am this morning, we had to change the sheets in my bed at 3 am! He seems to be better today though! So stay tuned and I will try to get the technique up ASAP!!!

Happy Father's Day!

I made this card for my husband this morning for Father's Day. We have 2 sick little ones....Bowman, our almost 3 year old, has been running a fever and feeling cruddy for 2 days now and Levi, our 15 month old, woke up puking this morning!! Happy Father's Day, Huh??? Needless to say, we missed church this morning and I haven't had much time to get a card made this weekend, because Bowman has been very clingy! Lindey, our 13 year old, watched the little ones this morning , which was a feat in itself, because neither one wants to be put down, so I could at least get a card made.

Supplies:

Stamps: Canvas Background
Cardstock: White, Coral, Celery, Close to Cocoa
Ink: Versamark
Other: Various ribbons, silver brads, red line sticky tape

I stamped the coral, celery, and cocoa cardstocks with the canvas and versamark to give it a little bit of a fabric look. I evenly spaced 3 silver brads to look like hangers. I tied each piece of ribbon to look like a tie....I actually know how to tie a tie!! I stuck the ties down with super duper sticky tape....that's not the actual name....but it really is super duper sticky, so I like to call it that! The last thing I did was handwrite a sentiment inside.......Your love "ties" our family together! AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!! Ain't I sweet? Hope he likes it!!! To be continued.......Stay tuned!

Do you have any questions????

Are you perplexed? Need a hint? Just wanna know how to do something??? Email me and ask whatever your heart desires.....well as long as it has to do with crafting!! ::blush:: I will post the questions and answers in a post for all to see!! So bring em on!!! If I don't know the answer, I'll find out for you!!! Email me and then stayed tuned!!

A happy ending to the uploading saga!!

I finally figured out my problem of not being able to upload photos, or at least a solution to it. I was using Internet Explorer, so I downloaded Mozilla Firefox, and whaddaya know??? It works now!!! No more freezing up or anything. I'm so glad I finally found a solution, because I was so close to pulling all my hair out and I really don't think I'd look very nice bald. I even got it done while having 8 kids at my house yesterday!!! I had my 5 and my brother-in-law's 3. I'm surprised I'm still sane today! Now, if I can just finish cleaning and organizing my craft room, I'd be all set! I started cleaning and organizing this past Sunday, and I haven't gone back in to clean or organize since then. I'll work on that this weekend while my husband is home! He can watch kiddos while I lock myself away! I plan to work on a project today at some point to post too. I have such high hopes for my kids to behave themselves! I really need to get something made for my husband for Father's day too!! I don't even have an idea for him yet!! Nothing like the last minute to figure it out!! I'll post a photo of whatever I make for him too....that may be my project for today!!! Stay tuned for another exciting, fun-filled episode!

Drum Roll Please........

Alrighty then! The first technique for Technique Tuesday (even though it is Thursday) is masking. I thought I would start with the basics and work towards more difficult techniques. Masking is a fun way to add dimension to your stamped artwork.......YES ARTWORK......I don't want to hear any snickers and giggles out there and I don't want to hear.....well I'm not artistic! You can be!!! With a little rubber and ink....oh and paper!! I've also decided to keep my supply list pretty general, that way you can choose your own stamp sets and cardstock colors.

Supplies:
Cardstock, stamps, ink, post-it note, scissors

Step 1:
Stamp the image you want in the foreground onto the post-it note, making sure you get some of the image over the sticky so it will stay in place, then cut out as close to image as possible.


Step 2:
Stamp the image you want in the foreground onto your white cardstock. Then place your cut out image over it, making sure you line it up accurately.


Step 3:
Stamp the image you want in the background over the post it image.

Step 4:
Peel off post-it to reveal images. Color in images and finish card with your choice of embellishments.

Steam is coming from my ears!!!!

Can you hear the train whistle sound???? I have been trying to upload a picture for the past 2 hours now and IT WILL NOT WORK!!!!!! I'm furious! Every time I try to upload it goes to the little uploading photos screen and the little blue bar that shows the progress slowly.....painfully moves across to about half way then NOTHING....the little screen goes blank and it says done where the little bar used to be! So, I sit and wait to see if it will miraculously say images successfully uploaded....waiting, waiting, waiting........STILL WAITING ::LOUD SCREAMING:: (ok, not really loud screaming....my family is asleep) But I can feel my blood pressure rising!!! Oh, and I'm hearing that train whistle!!! I've even signed off the internet thinking that maybe my connection wasn't that great, nope, that wasn't it. So then I restarted my computer, nope that wasn't it either!! Train whistle again!! I'm about to commence banging my head on the desk if this doesn't work!!! I absolutely despise having dial up. We can't get high speed where we live, so I'm stuck with dial up!!!! I guess I will try again in the morning and see if it will work. So until then, you may want to get some cotton balls to stuff in you ears if you want to be able to sleep tonight as I will still be steaming for several more hours I'm sure!!! Stay tuned for another dramatic episode.......

ARGHHHHHHH!!

So this morning I went in my craft room to make a card for my technique tutorial, I set all my supplies up to take a picture and my camera died!!! So I am now charging the battery so I can take photos of the steps. I know, I have tons of anxious viewers out there on pins and needles because they can't wait to see what I'm going to come up with next!!!! So to all my MANY fans......I'm truly sorry that you will have to wait until later today to see my exquisite work!! ::snort:: Anyway, I just wanted to update so no one thinks I fell off the face of the earth!!

Busy busy busy

Yes I'm still alive!! I've just been busy this weekend. You know 5 kids can keep you from doing the things you WANT to do!!! My husband and I spent time with our kids Saturday morning and afternoon, then we went on a date that night......to Barnes and Noble. That is our favorite date, mostly because it is free, and it is really quiet!!! We just sat and looked through books and magazines for about 3 1/2 hours!!! At one point I looked up and said, you know we are sad! We aren't even talking to each other! He looked up and grinned, then I grinned......and we both went back to reading!!! ::giggle:: It was great just being together in the quiet!! Anyway, enough blah blah about that!! I've been busy cleaning out my craft room so that I can actually work in there!! I was really hoping to get it done on Sunday afternoon, but kids don't let me get much done, so I will work on it again in the morning, and hopefully get something more accomplished in there!!! I'm still really excited about getting this blog on a roll.....so just stick with me these first few days and let me get the kinks out and then I'll have some fun stuff!!!! Stay tuned for another exciting episode!