Christmas Gifts

Looking for a great gift to give?  Look no further!

Order online 24/7 @ melissamay.ctmh.com.  You can even send your gift directly to your recipient!                                                              

The page numbers are for the catalog.  HG is for the Holiday Catalog.

The DIY Décor Lover:                                                                      

            Designed Décor Frame Kit                                         $35.95             p.73

                        Everything you need to design your                                      

                        own chicken wire frame                                             

The Jewelry Lover:                                                                

            Fabric Necklace Kit                                        $14.95             p.77

                        Everything you need to make a                                             

                        beautiful trendy necklace.                                          

The Digital Scrapbooker:                                                                   

            Studio J 5-pack                                               $39.95             p.143

                        5 complete 2-page layouts that                                              

                        are printed and mailed to your                                               

                        home.  JPEGs included!                                            

The "I-Don't-Have-Time-To-Scrapbook"-er:                                                             

            My Crush Books                                             $12.95             p.64/66

                        My Crush Assortments                                   $4.95   p.65/67

                        Beautiful books that only require                                          

                        your photos!  Add the Assortments                                      

                        packs to add some more fun and                                           

                        dimension.                                          

            Hip PicsAlbum Kit                                        $12.95             p.21(HG)

                        Everything you need to make a                                             

                        quick photo album- just slide in                                             

                        your photos and embellish!                                        

The Card Maker:                                                                    

            Laughing Lola Cardmaking Kit                                              $24.95             p.68

                        Paper, cards/envelopes, stamps,                                             

                        and embellishments all included                                            

                        in this fun kit.                                     

The Cricut Lover:                                                                   

            Artbooking Collection                                                $99      p.59

                        My personal favorite- this cartridge                                       

                        makes scrapbook pages so EASY                                          

                        with just the push of a button! Includes

                        3 stamp sets and 3 chipboard shapes sets                                              

The Classic Scrapbooker:                                                                   

            Workshop OnThe Go Kits                                         $29.95             p.23/29/35

                        Paper, stamps, embellishments,                                               41/47/53

                        and a guide to make scrapbook                                             

                        pages- different types to fit any                                            

                        personality!                                        

            My LegacyFaux Leather Album                                            $24.95             p.135

The Tween/Teen:                                                                    

            My CrushBooks                                             $12.95             p.64/66

                        My Crush Assortments                                   $4.95   p.65/67

                        Beautiful books that only require                                          

                        your photos!  Add the Assortments                                      

                        packs to add some more fun and                                           

                        dimension.                                          

            Hip PicsAlbum Kit                                        $12.95             p.21(HG)

                        Everything you need to make a                                             

                        quick photo album- just slide in                                             

                        your photos and embellish!                                        

            DIY Wearables                                                           p.75-77

                        Base and Bling Headband                              $4.95  

                        Jewels                          $5.95  

                        Adhesive                                 $4.95  

                        Textiles                                    $8.95  

                                                total=   $24.80            

The Messy Crafter:                                                                

            Medium Organizer                                          $16.95             p.137

                        My best seller!  This is the perfect                                         

                        size to hold stamp pads, markers,                                          

                        cards, embellishments, and so much                                      

                        more! Perfect for Project Life fans to 

                        hold the cards.                                    

            ExclusiveInks Organizer                                            $69.95             p.137

                        This is the mother of all ink pad                                            

                        organizers!  It holds 60 pads and                                           

                        76 markers and is on a convenient                                         

                        swivel base.                                        

The Handmade Lover:                                                                       

            Sign up for one of my workshops!    

Good luck!                                                  

Buzz and Bumble Cards

I love the new Buzz and Bumble paper- my name means honey bee so I love anything with cute little honey makers on it!  

Here's my new workshop coming in April (which is perfect timing for Mother's Day):

It's a cute little gift set: 6 cards with a coordinating gift box!

The workshop will be held April 20th 9am-12pm and the cost is $12.  

Let me know if you're interested!

Easy Gift: Frame

Christmas is just around the corner!  Here is a quick and easy gift that is sure to wow whomever is lucky enough to receive it!

This is just a cheap frame from IKEA- all you do is add some flowers cut out from the Cricut Artiste cartridge.  I rolled them, glued them with some liquid glass, and then added some liquid glass to some of the petals and added prisma glitter.  I also added some pearls to the centers of the flowers.  Then you glue the flowers on with the liquid glass.  

I added some pearl flouishes (which I also glued with liquid glass) and then tied some ribbon on the bottom. This was so fun to make and pretty easy too!

Summer Gift

For my son's preschool teacher, I decided to give a "summer bucket".  This was a lot of fun and can be used for anyone- birthdays, thank yous, or just for fun!

I used an empty laffy taffy box and poked holes in the side to tie ribbon through.  Then I used my Dotty For You paper pack from CTMH to make a border around the bucket.  I used several layers of paper and cloth flowers with a jeweled brad for the center. 

Then for the most important part- the gifts!  I added flip-flops, sunscreen chapstick, bubbles in the shape of a Popsicle, paddle ball game, nail polish, kool-aid packets, chalk, and cazoos.  She has kids so I thought this would be fun for everyone.  And then I edited this lady's fish saying to say, "Congratulations!  It's o"fish"ally summer!" and stapled it to a sweedish fish bag and added that to the bucket.

Hopefully she has a great summer! 

Thanks Teacher!

It is now the last week of school and time to show your teachers just how grateful you are to them for all they do!  Here's a gift I came up with after realizing Monday that school is ending Friday- yikes!

I used Florentine paper pack to make a cute border around this little paint can I picked up from Lowes.  I cut out a square to put in the middle since the paper doesn't go completely around the can- there is a gap between the ends.  Then I used the Thanks stamp set for the middle.  I used the color ready seam binding ribbon to make a pleated ribbon all the way around the can.  [Do you know how to pleat ribbon?  Hmmm.. how to explain.  You glue dot the end of the ribbon down, then you add another glue dot about 1" away and glue the ribbon down there.  Put a glue dot ON TOP of the ribbon in the same spot you just glued the ribbon down then fold the excess ribbon down onto the glue dot making a pleat.  Add a glue dot 1" away and glue down the ribbon then put the glue dot ON TOP of the ribbon and fold over- repeat as many times as you need.  Needs pictures huh?  If I find a good tutorial online I'll post a link.]

For the lid of the can I cut a 3" circle of the Florentine paper then added a bow using the seam binding ribbon.  I added a really cute charm and then filled the can with some chocolately goodness.

After I was done I realized the can was too shiny for the paper so I sponged some brown staz on ink to the can to distress (if I were you I would do it before hand).  You have to use the staz on because the can is metal and normal stamp pads ink will only work on paper.

I hope she likes this tin!  I am so thankful for the teachers in my kids life because without them I'd have to learn a lot more patience ;) No really they're great!

Take Out Favor Box Workshop

What's for dinner?  How about some take out?

But a take out box wouldn't be complete without...

Fortune cookies!!

Join me Tuesday, June 19th for this workshop (only $2!) where we will use the Dotty For You paper pack *my favorite!* and the Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge to make this adorable take out box and 5 fortune cookies!  So much fun to make and so much fun to give!  

Insert exclamations of gratitude into the fortune cookies while we're making them and you have a gift for that special friend who has been there for you through thick and thin.

Contact me to sign up!  See the workshops tab for more info on this and other workshops.

Want to know how I made the fortune cookies?  It's a little tricky, but this website has really good instructions (I tried using other websites' instructions but couldn't get them to work).  Click THIS link to get step by step instructions.  I used 3" circles cut out with the cricut- size really didn't seem to matter.

Graduation Card

Graduation parties are coming and going, and what do grads want?  MONEY of course!  Here's a clever way of giving them the dough...

I stamped the dot background from the Diverse Backgrounds stamp set with Black ink and then stamped the sentiment from the Bravo stamp set using Holiday Red ink pad on paper, inked them, and cut them out.  I glued the background to the card and attached the sentiment with 3D Foam Tape.  I glued some retired black pleated ribbon to the side with Liquid Glass.  I tied a few rolled bills with Tulip ribbon, adding a small strip of scratch cardstock to the back of the roll (so that the glue dot doesn't ruin the money) before tying.  Then I attached the money roll to the card with extra heavy duty glue dots.  

Wha-la!  Perfect card for the new grad. 

Graduation Time!

The end of the school year is coming up and what better way to remember this past school year than with Close to my Heart?

Isn't this a cute card?  This is from this blog (she's the founder of CTMH).  This is made by printing 2 pictures: one in color and one in black and white.  You cut the color one to make your subject pop! and tape to cardstock.  I love how they used Foundry Binder Clips and Grey Bakers Twine to add a cute "school" touch to the card.  What creative people there are out there!  I am so glad there are so many creative people for me to steal their ideas from so everyone thinks I'm super. 

Speaking of end of the year: my grad can/ teacher appreciation can workshop is coming up!  Let me know if you are interested in making one for yourself!

Sweet and Simple

So for our end-of-the-year gift for my oldest's teacher we made cute lollipop bouquets.  Super easy!!!  All we did is punch holes in die cut paper flowers and put them on the lollipop sticks.  Then I taped those to empty fake flower stems and bunched them together, wrapped it with tissue paper and cellophane, and walla! you have a sweet (literally) gift for teacher.

If you don't want the lollipop wrapper to show you can just cover them with some tissue paper.

I found that taping the end of the wrapper to the stick helped make it easier for my son to put the paper flowers on the stick.  And of course you can always make the flowers and lollipops coordinate better than I did.

So there you have it!  And I also will accept these for mother's day (hint hint kids)