PSC #21: Round Robin Die Cut Week

We have an out-of-the-ordinary challenge this week for you at The Perfect Sentiment! It's a fifth Wednesday, which means the challenge is not one we regularly adhere to since there aren't many fifth Wednesdays during the year.

This week's challenge is to create a card using die cuts! The sentiment is your choice and and must be on the front of the card. 

For this challenge, the design team did a round robin with die cuts. My wonderful die cut donator sent me some lovely spring images that I couldn't wait to play with. :) The three flowers on the bottom of my card were the cuts I chose to use. 

The Perfect Sentiments team is sponsoring this week's die cut challenge with a $5 Amazon gift card! One randomly chosen winner will be the lucky recipient of this generous gift and 'The Perfect 3' chosen by the design team will receive a badge to display on their blogs.

Check out the other design team members' cards for some more inspiration!

Jan

Abby

Theresa

Jessica

Maggie

Sam

Have a lovely rest of your week!

Ashley

MEFY Stitching Challenge!

Happy Monday! It's technique week here at Made Especially For You - probably one of my favorite challenges of the month. I love trying out new techniques that I don't normally use on my cards.

This week's challenge is to create a card using the technique of stitching. It can be faux or real, whatever you feel comfortable with!

Our awesome sponsor this week, The Cutting Cafe, asked the design team to use some of their St. Patrick's Day digis on our cards. For my card, I actually incorporated two of them, one being the clover flower pot, and the second being the sentiment on the flower pot itself. 

 This is probably one of the quickest cards I've ever made, and also probably the closest card I've ever made that resembles a greeting card you would purchase at a store, just because it's so basic. and un-embellished. The image was colored with your everyday colored pencils. 

Close-up of the faux stitching and the sentiment. Sorry it's so hard to read! It says 'Happy St. Patrick's Day,' and then 'Just for you...' underneath the shamrock. 

The Cutting Cafe will allow the winner to choose three sets of digital images from their store! To enter the challenge, all you have to do is create a card using the technique of stitching (faux or real) and submit it to the linky gadget on the 'Weekly Challenge' page here on my blog. You also have a chance of being in the 'Top 3' and receiving a special badge to display on your blog. :) We'd love for you to play along with us!

March is a HUGE month for Made Especially For You. Not only are the weekly challenges continuing, but there will also be a Cricut cartridge giveaway, a joint design team blog hop, AND two new features - Thursday Craft 'n Chat and Do You Speak Cricut Saturdays. It all begins on March 1st! Make sure to check back then for more information about the exciting things happening at Made Especially For You!

Have a fabulous day!

Ashley

Gettin' Crafty With Cricut Cuts Blog Hop - Day 2

• Welcome to Gettin' Crafty with Cricut Blog hop. This blog hop is dedicated to making a project using your cricut and the cuts you can make from a cartridge. This should be a lot of fun! :)

  

  
  

  With so many talented ladies and such a selection of Cricut cartridges, there will be a wide range of projects for you to enjoy. There were no rules, stipulations, or no holds barred to create and create we did!

  
  

  If you just happened to be visiting my blog today, I greatly appreciate that but would love for you to start at the beginning of our hop so, that you don't miss a single project with Lisa. If you have arrived from Lori's blog, then you are on the right cut of the path!

  
  

  For my project today, I have created a Halloween card using the Mini Monsters cartridge. I know, I know, Halloween is over six months away. But, I haven't really had a chance to play with this cart since I got it for Christmas and thought this would be the perfect opportunity to see what it has to offer. :)
  

  

  
  

  

  Your next stop along the cutting path is Carol. Thanks for joining us in our two-day hop!
  
  

  If you get lost along the way, here is the entire hop so that you won't miss a single project:

  
  

  Lisa - http://handmadewithlove-lisa.blogspot.com/ 

  Michele - http://chelescrafts.blogspot.com/

  Lucy - http://love2createitall.blogspot.com/

  Anita - http://anitaandbugs.blogspot.com/

  Evila - http://frenchconnectiondesigns.blogspot.com/

  Lori - http://scrappinmystressaway.blogspot.com/

  Ashley - http://especiallymade.blogspot.com/ <---- You Are Here

  Carol H. - http://huffandpuffscrap.blogspot.com/

  Lynne - http://slasewcraftiness.blogspot.com/

  
  

Gettin' Crafty with Cricut Cuts Blog Hop - Day 1

• Welcome to Gettin' Crafty with Cricut Blog hop. This blog hop is dedicated to making a project using your cricut and the cuts you can make from a cartridge. This should be a lot of fun! :)

  

  
  

  With so many talented ladies and such a selection of Cricut cartridges, there will be a wide range of projects for you to enjoy. There were no rules, stipulations, or no holds barred to create and create we did!

  
  

  If you just happened to be visiting my blog today, I greatly appreciate that but would love for you to start at the beginning of our hop so, that you don't miss a single project with Lisa. If you have arrived from Lori's blog, then you are on the right cut of the path!

  
  

  For my project today, I have created a simple birthday card using the Stretch Your Imagination cartridge. A coworker of mine has a birthday coming up, and just recently we were talking about spring story time ideas (I work at a library) and she mentioned how much she loves doing story times about baby chicks. As soon as I saw this adorable singing chick on the Stretch Your Imagination card, I knew it would be the perfect cut to use!
  

  

  
  

  

  Your next stop along the cutting path is Carol. Remember, this is a two day hop so be sure to stop back tomorrow for more creativity!

  
  

  If you get lost along the way, here is the entire hop so that you won't miss a single project:

  
  

  Lisa - http://handmadewithlove-lisa.blogspot.com/ 

  Michele - http://chelescrafts.blogspot.com/

  Lucy - http://love2createitall.blogspot.com/

  Anita - http://anitaandbugs.blogspot.com/

  Evila - http://frenchconnectiondesigns.blogspot.com/

  Lori - http://scrappinmystressaway.blogspot.com/

  Ashley - http://especiallymade.blogspot.com/ <---- You Are Here

  Carol H. - http://huffandpuffscrap.blogspot.com/

  Lynne - http://slasewcraftiness.blogspot.com/

PSC #20: Get Well Sketch

It's Wednesday, which means... time for another weekly challenge over at The Perfect Sentiment! 

The Challenge: Create a sentiment with a sentiment of "get well." Sentiment must be on the front of the card.

The Twist: Use the provided sketch as inspiration.

And here's my take on this lovely sketch:

The sentiment is handwritten (I felt this added a more personal touch since it is a 'get well' card) and I paper-pierced the blue cardstock to make for a nice accent. After last week's paper-piercing challenge, I knew it was a technique I wanted to start using more often! :)

The randomly chosen winner of this week's challenge at The Perfect Sentiment will receive one free digi from Pattie's Creations. Don't forget, there's also a chance to be in 'The Perfect 3,' as well! 

Now head on over to the other DT members' blogs to see some inspiration so you can enter the challenge! :)

Sami

Jan

Abby

Theresa

Jessica

Maggie

Sam

And don't forget to check out the weekly challenge here at Made Especially For You! Create a card featuring three papers for a chance to win a 2 piece bundle of ribbon from 3 Girl Jam.

Have a great day!

Ashley

MEFY Challenge: Three Papers

It's 'especially three' week here at Made Especially For You. This week's challenge is to create a card featuring three papers.  No more, no less! :) Stop by the 'Weekly Challenge' page to submit your three paper card and also get some inspiration from the design team. :)

It seems I've lost my creative mojo lately. :( I just can't seem to make anything that I'm really pleased with. I felt I was on a roll there for a while and now its come to a halt. I'm not sure if it's because I have a lot on my plate and cardmaking sometimes seems like another thing on my to-do list, or if I'm just going through one of those dry spells. Anyways, here's my card for this week's challenge:

Our sponsor this week is 3 Girl Jam, and as you may noticed many of the DT members and I used some of their awesome crinkle ribbon on our cards. I tried to do something a little different than mine other than just making an ordinary bow, so I used it as a border instead. I really liked it at first, and now, not so much. I used black cardstock, white cardstock, and the patterned paper for my three papers.

3 Girl Jam will be giving the winner of this week's challenge a 2 piece bundle of crinkle ribbon! To enter the challenge, all you have to do is create a card featuring three papers and submit it to the linky gadget on the 'Weekly Challenge' page here on my blog. You also have a chance of being in the 'Top 3' and receiving a special badge to display on your blog. :) We'd love for you to play along with us!

I also have some exciting news to share with you! Starting in March, two new features will be added to Made Especially For You:

- Every Thursday will be 'Thursday Craft 'n Chat,' where a member of the design team will share a different crafty tip and/or technique. Ultimately, I would also like to open the Craft 'n Chat to other bloggers as well, so they can share their crafty tips with everyone.

- Every Saturday will be 'Do You Speak Cricut Saturday,' where a member of the design team will share a Cricut cartridge review and a project created with that cartridge. The goal of this is to help prospective Cartridge-buyers take a closer look at cartridges before purchasing them to see if it's something they are going to use often and enjoy using. There aren't many thorough cartridge reviews out there, and I know it's something I'd love to look into before purchasing a cartridge.


Also, stay tuned for more information about my March Cricut cartridge giveaway!

Thanks for reading!

Ashley

PSC #19: Paper-Pierced Holidays & Seasons

Happy Wednesday, everyone! I'm back with another card for the weekly challenge over at The Perfect Sentiment. This week's challenge is a fun one! :)

The Challenge: Create a card with a sentiment appropriate for any season or holiday (the sentiment must be on the front of the card.

The Twist: Use the technique of paper-piercing on your card.

I had never used the technique of paper-piercing before this challenge, so I was a little nervous at first. Once I found a really cute and simple template, I realized how easy it was! AND I was able to use household items (a push pin and the back of a mousepad) instead of having to go out and buy a paper-piercing tool, so that made me a very happy girl. :) 

Since our sponsor this week is Bugaboo Digi Stamps, the other design team ladies and I all used one of their images on each of our cards. I chose this super adorable St. Patrick's Day turtle - I couldn't pass him up! :)

The sentiment is computer-generated (I have yet to purchase any St. Patrick's Day stamps), and the paper is from Recollections. As soon as I saw it I knew it would make a great St. Patty's Day card! I added the pearls in the corners for an added touch. The digital stamp is colored with just your basic colored pencils. 

Bugaboo Digi Stamps will be giving away seven free digis (or the equivalent of $21) to the randomly chosen winner of this week's challenge. All challenge participants also have the potential to be in the 'Perfect 3,' chosen by the design team.

Check out the creations of the other design team members for more inspiration for this week's challenge:

Sami

Jan

Abby

Theresa

Jessica

Maggie

Sam

Have a great rest of your week! :)

Ashley

Made Especially For You Sketch Challenge

It's sketch week here at Made Especially For You! Thanks to our awesome sketch designer, Beckie, for designing the sketches each month. :)

Here's this week's simple sketch:

And here's my take on it (using an image from our sponsor, Pattie's Creations)

It's hard to tell in the picture, but the ribbon in the stamp is actually covered in silver glitter to match the glitter from the paper. Sorry my camera didn't capture it!

To enter the sketch challenge, all you have to do is create a card inspired by the sketch. The sketch should be visible in the layout of your card. Then, post the card on your blog and link it up to the challenge using the linky gadget at the bottom of the 'Weekly Challenge' page. It's that easy! :)

The winner will receive their choice of three images from our wonderful sponsor, Pattie's Creations.

Every challenge submission is also eligible to be in the 'Top 3,' chosen by the design team. The Top 3 submissions will receive a badge to display on their blog. :) The challenge runs through the evening of Sunday February 19th, we would love for you to play along with us! :)

Ashley

Dying to become a 'Pinner?' Here's a Pinterest Tutorial!

Hi everybody! Today I'd like to share with you one of my new favorite things to do - 'pinning.' For those of you who don't know what Pinterest is, here's the definition from their website:

"Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes.

Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests."

Basically, once you set up an account you create Boards to which you later post pictures/links to, or re-pin a picture of someone else's that you like. People post pictures from all over the web (or upload their own) onto the appropriate boards. These posts are called 'pins.' You can also re-pin something that another person has pinned, whether you follow them or not. 

Every board is given a category, chosen by the user when the board is first created. All of my boards are categorized as DIY & Crafts. Up at the top of the page there is a drop down menu for all the categories you can view. Click on 'Everything' and you'll see this:

If for instance, if you clicked on the DIY & Crafts page, all the pins that are labeled on boards categorized as DIY & Crafts will appear, with the newest pins being shown first. If you see an idea you like, for example, a craft you might want to make, you can re-pin it onto one of your boards.

 If you hover your mouse cursor over the pin, you can see you have the option to Re-pin, Like, or Comment. If you select 'Repin' you will have the option to Pin it to any of your boards and write a comment about it. 

I have chosen to re-pin this picture to my 'Other Craft Ideas' board. 

If you view the pin on your actual board, you'll see something that looks like this. Up in the top right-hand corner is the link to where this picture came from (craftgawker.com). A lot of times someone will pin a picture of a craft, but to see the actual tutorial of how to make it, you'll have to view the pin on your board so you can go to the original link. 

As for following other Pinterest pages, you can choose to follow the entire person's Pinterest account (all of their boards) or if you just like one or two of their boards, you can choose to only follow those. For example, I have 65 people following my entire Pinterest, but then I have 83 people only following my 'Color Combos' board. 

So, do you want to become a 'Pinner?' Unfortunately, since Pinterest is still in it's beginning phases, you can't just set up an account, you'll be put on a wait list instead. Fortunately, I have a Pinterest and can invite friends! 

If you would like create a Pinterest account, send me an email at especiallymadeblog@gmail.com and I'll send you an invite!

To get started after your account has been set up, take a look at the top right-hand corner of your screen. 

If you click on 'Add' you can add a pin, upload a pin, or create a board. If you click on 'About' you can add a 'Pin It' button for your bookmark bar on your Internet browser and also view the general 'Help' page. Clicking on your name will give you the options to Find People, Invite Friends, and view your Boards, Pins, and Likes. 

I hope this tutorial was helpful, I tried to explain everything as best as I could. If you have any questions about anything I didn't cover in the tutorial, please don't hesitate to ask! Once you play around with it for a little bit, it's really easy to figure everything out. It becomes VERY addicting!

If you already have a Pinterest and would like to follow me, click on the 'Follow Me on Pinterest' button on the top left-hand side of my sidebar. I'll follow you back! :)

Stay tuned for another post about all of my crafty boards on Pinterest! Thanks for reading! :)

Ashley

PSC #18: Inspired with Love

It's photo inspiration week over at The Perfect Sentiment! This challenge is by far one of my favorites. I love looking at the provided photo and seeing what jumps out first for what I should include on the card. It's so fun to see everyone else's takes on the photo, too! :)

The Challenge: Create a card with a sentiment that lets someone know you "love them." The sentiment must be on the front of the card, and this does not have to be for Valentine's Day.

The Twist: Use the following photo as inspiration for the design of your card. Be sure to include in your blog post where you found inspiration. 

There are so many aspects of this picture to be inspired by! The colors, the plants, the tablecloth, the items on the table... I didn't know where to begin! One thing I did know was I wanted to use the pink/blue/green color combo - I had the perfect paper to use. 

As you can tell, I pulled as much of the colors from the photo as I could. The pink flower represents the flowers up in the corner of the picture and the embossed accent on the side of the card was supposed to represent the other plants in the picture. The sentiment is handwritten.

Shelly's Images will be giving away one image of the winner's choice, and don't forget, there's always the opportunity to be in the 'Perfect Three!'

And don't forget to stop by the blogs of the other Perfect Sentiment DT members for some more inspiration!

Jennipher

Sami

Jan

Sassy

Abby

Theresa

Jessica

Maggie

Sam

Thanks for reading, have a great rest of your day! :)

Ashley

Valentine's Card with A Tag

Made Especially For You is back with its theme of the month challenge! This month's theme is none other than the lovely Valentine's Day. The challenge:

Create a Valentine's Day card featuring a tag.

Here's what I came up with:

You can click here to enter the challenge as well as receive some inspiration from the design team. Our sponsor this week is the wonderful Liz from Decade of Scrap, and she will be giving away up to three sets of digital Valentine's Day sentiments to the winner!

By submitting a card to the challenge, you are not only eligible to be randomly chosen as the winner of the sponsor's prize, but you also have the opportunity to be in the 'top three' as well. We would love to have you play along with us! :)

Ashley

PSC #17: Missing A Button

Hi everyone! I'm so excited to announce today that I am now a member of The Perfect Sentiment design team! :) I was a guest designer for the month of January and couldn't of been more thrilled when I was given the option to stay on as a regular member. I love their challenges!

The Challenge: Create a card with a sentiment of "missing you"

The Twist: Use a button/buttons on your card

Buttons have become one of my favorite embellishments to use, so I was really excited about making a card for this challenge. Here's what I came up with:

The paper is from the 'All Dressed Up' stack by DCWV and the layout of the card is based off an old Mojo Monday sketch, which you can view here. 

We're just playing for fun this week - check out the fabulous creations by the other designers for some more inspiration:

Jennipher

Sarah

Jan

Sassy

Abby

Theresa

Jessica

Maggie

Sam

Thanks for stopping by! Check back each Wednesday for another Perfect Sentiment challenge creation.

Ashley