About Me

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Charlotte, North Carolina, United States
I am a single mother of an adult son and a teenage daughter who are my world! I love life and try to make ech day better than the one before. I love to create beautiful things and spend time with my loved ones! I am "designing to make life beautiful"!

Saturday, October 30, 2010

New Cozy Designs

I guess you have all seen my candle cozies by now.  I love dressing my jar candles up for the seasons and different occasions!  I just couldn't stop there!  I have also designed a cozy for votive candle cups and mason canning jars.  The mason jars are designed for crafting and make great storage containers for things such as cotton balls, q-tips, pencils, crochet hooks, candy, etc.  The jar cozies come with a mason jar upon purchase, and the votive cozies come with the glass votive cup!  I just can't wait to create cozies with different colors and embelishments!!  I hope you like them!




Saturday, October 23, 2010

My New Snowflake Candle Cozy Design

I love candles! I love the delightful fragrances that fill my house and the warm glow they add to a room! I love the peaceful, calm mood that they set.  I love to sit down in the evening to watch TV...light all the candles and turn down all the lights. Somehow it just helps the stresses of the day melt away!!

Sometimes I have wished that my jar candles were just a little prettier or that they matched my decor a little more. Since I am an avid crocheter, I decided to design a cozy that I could use to accomplish my wish. Little did I realize that the cozy would also create a nice accent in the evening when the candle light is shining through! 

My candle cozies are hand crocheted from thread to create a nice hug for your standard size jar candle. This cozy has a crochet snowflake attached to add some winter/holiday cheer. Cozy can be stored and reused...and changed for the season.  I guarantee they will be noticed by all who enter your home!
I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend!!



Monday, October 18, 2010

My Beautiful Daughter's Homecoming Dance!!


This past weekend was my daughter's homecoming dance!! The football team (which is undefeated...YAY!) won the homecoming game Friday night!!  Stephanie was so excited!  She really gets into football!!  Then Saturday, she spent the day painting her nails, doing her hair, getting a beauty nap, and finally dressing for the homecoming dance!  And I must say...she was stunning!!  She danced the night away and had a blast with all her friends.  What a great high school experience!!  This is her sophmore year, so there will be many more dances to come!  Here are a few more pictures.  I hope you enjoy them! : )







Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Spirit Week

It is spirit week at my daughter's high school...complete with homecoming this weekend.  Today was Wacky Tacky day...where all the kids have a chance to dress crazy and get away with it.  Here is my daughter on her way out the door to school this morning (and our boxer, Rock, trying to get into the picture).  Check out the socks!  I presonally think she looks beautiful as always, but she will be feeling pretty wacky today!! haha 

Tonight is her powder puff football game.  I will be taking pictures, so be prepaired for another post tomorrow!! : )  Have a great day!

Melissa ~ SimplyMelissa Designs
Desinging to Make Life Beautiful!!

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

I won! I won! I won!

I feel like a kid at Christmas!!! LOL  I just won this beautiful pair of earings for being the 300th fan over at "Wares Tracey" - facebook busines page:  http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/WARES-TRACEY/137023776324461
I can't wait to get them and put them on my lobes!! : )  They will be beautiful with my fall outfits that I will soon be able to pull back out of the closet!!  Stop by Tracey's page and check out all her beautiful handmade jewelry.  She is very talented!

Monday, October 11, 2010

My first time featured in an Etsy Treasury!!

I am excited and honored to find out that I have been chosen to be in a treasury on Etsy!  My little candy corn hat is part of "Orange you glad it's October"!!!  What wonderful fall colors and beautiful items.  I'm so happy to be included with such talented artisans!!  Here is the link to the treasury:

This comes on a day when I was looking for motivation, and I am so grateful! I have created several new candle cozies today and a few dozen snowflakes...all of which need to be beaded tomorrow (which is really cool since I LOVE to bead).  While working on these items, my mind was racing around thinking of new things I want to include in my shop.  So many creations...so few hours in a day!  Here is a small wish list of things I want to get around to doing:  Beaded embroidery, crochet wrist warmers, leg warmers and scarves (and matching hats), some hand stamped holiday cards (for Thanksgiving, Christmas and the New Year), beaded crochet items (perhaps crochet beaded jewelry), and more crochet Christmas items.  Whew!  I also made a new fall candle cozy cozy today with fall leaf buttons. 


I hope you all find some time in your day to get those creative juices flowing!! It's a wonderful thing to create something beautiful!

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Tobacco Twine Designs

Hello, everyone!  I hope you are all having a wonderful, relaxing weekend.  Happy Thanksgiving to my Canada friends!!!  I have had a very productive day today.  I have completed, photographed and listed 5 new candle cozies and a set of 12 thread snowflakes.  All of these items are made from tobacco twine.  Tobacco twine was once used in the harvesting process of tobacco.  It is a 100% cotton twine just a little thicker than the beadspread weight crochet thread you find in craft stores.  Tobacco twine is a little difficult to find now and is quite often used for crocheting, tying garden plants with, etc.  My mama gets our tobacco twine from Delmus Hardware in Goldsboro, NC.  My mama and I use tobacco twine to make beautiful beadspreads (as did my great grandmother).  I look forward to designing more items from tobacco twine.  Check out all my candle cozies and snowflakes in my etsy store:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/simplymelissa  

I am also excited to be working on some hats, scarves, wrist warmers and leg warmers using baby alpaca.  Pictures will come as I complete them. 

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Thursday, October 7, 2010

New snowflake hats in celebration of cooler weather!!


It looks like the hottest part of summer here in North Carolina is finally over.  I have to admit that summer is normally my favorite season...flip flops, running out the door without adding additional layers of clothing, soaking in the sun, hearing the children play outside until dark...these are all things that I love.  Having spent this summer without air conditioning in my van, I am glad to see the cooler temperatures!  Fall would probably be my favorite season if winter didn't follow so closely behind!  Regardless of what I like, winter will be here soon...and the holidays (which I DO love).  I also enjoy making soft, cozy winter hats.  Here are two that I made this week in celebration of cooler weather.  I hope you enjoy them! 

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Shout out to Designs of the Heart

I just have to share this with everyone!  I was catching up on some blogs that I follow and was delighted, and surprised, and honored, and excited (lol) to discover that I have been featured on Designs of the Heart's blog!!  I am very new to blogging and facebook fan pages and twitter and am just beginning to get my SimplyMelissa Designs business off the ground.  So being featured on an awesome crafter and artisan's blog is the ultimate compliment to me.  I'd like to give her a shout out and thank her!  Visit her blog and check out her other pages as well. 

I hope you all have a wonderful day!  I will be posting some new pictures and projects very soon!