Valentine's Day in July

Okay, so I know Valentine's Day isn't for another 7 months, but, as soon as I saw this paper in my random paper pack I knew I had to make a love / Valentine's Day themed card. So while all of you are celebrating Christmas in July, I'm celebrating Valentine's Day in July! (I'll admit that yours has a better ring to it. :)

This is the card that I made, both the pink paper and heart paper are from my random paper pack. I'm glad I got to use two random pieces instead of just one like I normally do. Here's what I used for this card:

- White cardstock (inside of the card)

- Red cardstock 

- Pink Linen paper by The Paper Studio

- Red, Pink & White Hearts by The Paper Studio

- White chipboard letters

- Mini heart wood shapes

- White brads

- White acrylic paint

- Red glitter

- Decorative scissors

- Elmer's glue pen

I have a bunch of spare wood shapes (circles, stars, hearts, etc) and want to start incorporating them onto my cards so that I use them up. For this card, I painted three wood hearts white and added some red glitter to make them more fun. They were perfect embellishments! I would've loved to have added some ribbon to the card, but unfortunately I didn't have any that matched. (Unfortunately, my ribbon collection is very, very minimal). Here are a couple other pictures of the card: 

Thanks for stopping by!

Ashley

Overdue Blog Awards!

Within the past two weeks I have received three blog awards and have yet to pass them on.. I feel terrible. Things have been crazy and I've been focusing on creating cards and finishing up my huge thank you note project that I just haven't had the time to pass on all the awards, so I'm going to do it all in one large post.


The first award I received was The Irresistibly Sweet Blog Award, given to me by Angela at Binge Crafter.  

I originally posted about receiving my first award but did not pass it on within that post. I'm supposed to pass it on to seven other bloggers and say seven things about myself.

1.) I just started college and plan on majoring in Elementary Education with a Spanish endorsement so that I can teach elementary school, something I have wanted to do my entire life.

2.) I work at the local public library and could not ask for a better job, seeing that I love to read and I work with some truly amazing people.

3.) I love to learn and take pride in my academic achievements.

4.) I am really indecisive and have a hard time choosing favorites or picking what to do. 

5.) I'm scared of frogs.

6.) One thing I want to do before I die is go to Alaska and see the Northern Lights. 

7.) I love the rain.

Here are seven great bloggers not in any particular order that you should check out:

Arlene @ Water Dots, her cards are so adorable and she just made an awesome gift card set!

Channa @ Crafts & Pieces, her layouts and cards are so beautiful

Abbey @ 2nd Hand Stamps, all of her cards are so lovely

Becky @ Scrappin Becky B, an amazing photographer and crafter

Sheena @ Sheena's Scrap Corner, check out her super cute and adorable layouts

Karen @ Crafted With Love By Karen, her cards are so cute and detailed

Kristy @Craftin' On My Door, her layouts are absolutely gorgeous

The second award that I one was the Stinkin' Cute Blog Award, given to me by Amy at Red Headed Crafter.

Here are three fantastic bloggers that I am giving this award to:

Larelyn @ Handmade From The Heart, an amazing crafter who always has stunning creations

Cathy @ Cathy Can't Help Herself, her layouts are so gorgeous and elegant

Katie @ Crafting With Katie, check out her super adorable felt card

And the most recent award I've received is the Best Friend Blogger Award given to me by Pam at Crafty Cards 4 U 2.

Here are five creative bloggers that I am passing this award on to:

Tracey @ Garden of Grace, she is an amazing crafter and was so supportive as my first follower

Rexann @ I Be Circled, has wonderful creations and links to many great giveaways

Georgiana @ Carson's Creations, check out her super cute 'I Love Summer' card

Sonia @ Cards, Crafts and Kids Projects, she is so encouraging and makes beautiful creations

Deneen @ A Path of Paper, her cards are so unique and inspirational

Thank you so much to those who have given me these awards as well as to all of you who have supported and encouraged me as a new blogger and crafter. Made Especially For You now has 100 followers, woo hoo! :)

Ashley

Graduation Thank You Cards!

The graduation thank you cards I keep mentioning are finally here! I started off making 16 of them, but then realized I'll need to make a few more, so there are 16 in the pictures below but all together I will have made about 20 of them. 

Because I knew I was going to have to make a lot of these, I didn't want to create anything too elaborate. I went as simple as I could and came up with this basic design. The only materials I used were black, white and gold cardstock, decorative scissors, a 1 inch circle punch, alphabet stamps, and black ink. I basically created an "assembly line" while making these cards. While it was fun at first, it got boring and tiring after a while having to do the same thing over and over again. It was well worth it, though, because it's not every day you get a handmade thank you card from a teenager in the mail. :)

On a side note, I've decided to hold off on the Cricut purchase. Even though I'm taking some of my graduation money and putting it towards purchasing new and fun crafting materials, I figured it would be best to perfect my handmade cards and make sure I stick with card making before buying a Cricut, although I want one so badly! :)

Hope you all are having a great day, I'll be back later in the week with another of my paper challenge cards! 

Ashley  

Smile!

I made quick greeting card after purchasing my 1 inch circle punch (something I have wanted for a while, even though it's nothing extravagant). I immediately thought of this idea while thinking of ways I can use the punch in my cards. It was also a great way to use my variety of colored cardstock. 

I was going to put something on the inside, such as "It's contagious!" but the chipboard letters were too big and at the time I had run out of black ink for my stamps, so for now the card remains blank. I was also really happy with how the lighting turned out in these pictures, they were taken on the white comforter on my bed that is right next to the window. I have to agree with those that have told me natural lighting works best, thanks for the tip! :) 

This was just a quick post as I have a few minutes before getting back to preparing for my graduation party tomorrow, I will post my thank you cards on Sunday once I take pictures after knowing exactly how many more I need to make. 

I hope you all have a great weekend, thanks for stopping by, your support and feedback is always greatly appreciated!


Ashley

Gratitude Is the Fairest Blossom That Springs From the Soul

This card is actually part of my paper challenge that I started a little over a week ago, although it's only the second card to be made using my random paper pack. The paper I used is very basic, titled "Turquoise - Texture" and is the background of this card. 

Here are the rest of the materials that were used:

- Brown cardstock

- Transparent gold cardstock

- Elmer's glue pen

- 3/8 in. adhesive dots

- Glitter flower embellishments

- 1 inch circle punch

- Transparent shipping label

- Decorative scissors

I created the circle card with the turquoise paper (the inside is brown cardstock) and used the 1 inch circle punch to create the border of gold and brown circles. I actually purchased the flower embellishments from Hobby Lobby last week for only $1.07 (32 came in the package, gotta love clearance!) and the colors of the flowers is where the inspiration for this card came from. I used the Elmer's glue pen to apply the flowers around the border. As for the quote in the middle, I typed it on the computer in brown font and printed it on a transparent shipping label, which I then applied to the transparent paper and cut the border using decorative scissors, and then applied it to the card. 

Here are some other views and close-ups of the card:

The card is rather unique, this is the first circle card I have ever made and I just went along with my ideas as they came. I must admit I've been feeling sort of ashamed of my card making lately, after all the blog viewing I do I feel like my cards are nowhere near as beautiful as all of yours are, mostly due to the fact that I don't own a Cricut and everything I create is strictly by hand. I've been considering saving up to purchase a Cuttlebug but I'm still undecided because I know that once I buy it I'm just going to want more and more cartridges, which aren't very cheap. Any advice?

Ashley

Graduation Board!

Good morning bloggers! I apologize for my lack of posting, I meant to post yesterday and realized my sister had my camera so I couldn't upload pictures, and then I was busy the rest of the day.

For my graduation party this weekend, I created a display board that showcases my academic achievements such as report cards, scholarship award letters, etc. Also, there are some super adorable thank you cards that I included in the board that are from students in a fourth grade class that I assisted with throughout the school year as part of a teacher's assistant program. (I'm going to be majoring in elementary education, and it was definitely a good experience!)

I used a black tri-fold poster board, and hand created the letters by tracing stencils onto gold cardstock paper and then cutting them out, gluing them to the board, and adding some gold glitter. My school colors were black and gold, in case you couldn't tell. ;)

Here are some up close pictures of just the letters before the board was finished, keep in mind that these pictures were taken before I went back and added glitter to spots needed or removed glitter in areas where there was too much, think of this as the "rough draft" :)

This is the middle section of the board.

This is the left side of the board.

This is the right side of the board.

Now, for the actual board itself:

 

This is the board standing up, please excuse my garbage can in the background. :) I apologize for the blurriness of thep pictures, still working on the lighting! 

This is the board lying flat on the ground. I apologize for these terrible pictures,  I'll try and get some good ones while it's up at the party and post them this weekend. :)

The nice thing about my crazy life this past week is that surprisingly I've actually had time to think of card ideas. After a few more graduation-related posts (thank you cards and possibly labels for all of the food, if time permits) I have many creations in mind and one of them is actually being created in the midst of doing all this graduation stuff. I'll try and post the thank you cards tomorrow or Friday, it depends on how much cooking and cleaning my mom is going to make me do!

I hope you all had a great Fourth of July and are enjoying your week!

Ashley

First Blog Award!

This is a few days overdue, but, I won my first blog award! :) I was listed as one of seven blogs to check out on Binge Crafter's blog as part of an award that she was given. Made Especially For You was recognized for its ribbon background and great projects for a beginning blogger. I am so excited! Many thanks to Angela at Binge Crafter for the award. :)


This is the link to the blog award post, you should also check out Binge Crafter's creations, they're amazing!


http://bingecrafter.blogspot.com/2011/06/new-blog-award.html



I apologize for my lack of blogging this week, between working 30 hours, keeping up with assignments for three classes, trying to maintain a social life and getting ready for my graduation party next weekend, things have been pretty hectic. When I have no time to craft I try to at least promote my blog and stop by all of yours to see your awesome creations. :) I have a few graduation party-related posts planned for this upcoming week though, so I'll start posting regularly again very soon!


Thank you all for your support and inspiration these past few weeks, I wouldn't be here without you!


Ashley