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IT’S GIVE AWAY TIME!!

-Please note that I have sticky noted this post to the top of my blog, you will need to scroll down for new posts.-

Hello friends!  It has been quite some time that I have had a little give away on my blog and since I’ve started up this new place, I have thought about it many times.  Since my birthday is tomorrow, I thought it would be a great idea to give someone else a fun present instead!  I have many things going on during the month of October and it will be hard to accomplish everything, so this is another way of saying thanks for stopping in and sharing your support with me!

Here’s what I’m giving away and I hope it’s something many of you would love to get:

Vicki-stampedsmiles.com-Giveaway-ends October29th!

I have added several of my favorite items that I enjoy using in this package.  Everything is brand new and unopened of course as I already have these items! 🙂  – I have also ordered two more Distress Oxide inks to include in this package (not shown above) that will also be included in this give away!  – Of course I will be throwing in a couple of other little fun surprises tucked inside of the parcel too!

Here’s a break down of what I have to give away:

  1.  My Favorite Things All Smiles stamp set (of course I’m all about that!)
  2. My Favorite Things Die-namics Joy die cut
  3. Lawn Fawn ( Simons Says Stamp STAMPtember exclusive SOLD OUT) -Nutty or Nice? stamp set – I bought an extra one for a lucky friend!
  4. Heidi Swapp Memorydex Oval Dividers Cutting Dies (2 dies in this pacakge for those of you that enjoy making those memorydex creations!
  5. Brutus Monroe Surface Sprays (1 bottle of Wagon and 1 bottle of Rouge – check out the store to see the unique properties on these!)
  6. FOUR Ranger Distress Oxide Inks! (you will receive an ink pad in EACH of the following colors:  Squeezed Lemonade, Mermaid Lagoon, Barn Door -not shown, Mowed Lawn – not shown)
  7. Lawn Fawn Mistletoe Single Cord 21 yards lawn trimmings package
  8. a package of approximately 30 count tags each measuring 3 1/4″L x 1 5/8″W

That’s a package well worth over $85.00!!!  Wow!  Yes, I know I’m crazy, but I’m crazy about all of you and being able to share the love of my crafting with you all is something enjoyable that I get to do every day!  I’m honored to have you join with me on this journey and that’s why I do it! 🙂

**EDITED TO ADD MORE GOODIES!!!***

Vicki-stampedsmiles.com Giveaway Extras-ends Oct29th

The Distress Oxide inks that I’ve described above came in! Yay!  PLUS, when another order came in, I realized that these other items are a few more “extras” that I don’t need, so I put those in there too!  Plus, there is another stamp set that I forgot to take a photo of even after this addition! LOL!  So I’m guessing this parcel will probably be well over $100.00 by the time I’m sending it out!! LOL!!

Best of luck my friends and thanks for joining me!!

*I will announce the winner right here on my blog on Tuesday, October 30th and I will also personally e-mail the winner using whatever e-mail address was provided to me in the InLinkz below.*

  1. So what do you need to do to win?!  You have choices to make!  The first choice is a really easy one to do.  All you have to do is enter your name along with your e-mail address (so I can contact the winner) through the InLinkz shown below.  No matter what, if you are at all interested in winning this prize, please enter that by October 29th! – This is open to anyone world wide
  2. IF you would like an EXTRA entry to win, then just share the photo above with a link to my blog post on how to enter!  If you do this, then please leave me a comment telling me that you’ve shared it….no need for a link….just tell me that you’ve shared it on your blog, on Facebook, on instagram, etc.  Please leave a SEPARATE comment for each time you share it!  You get another chance for each time! – I know there are some people that were wondering where I went from my last blog and were trying to find me…so I’m hoping that the people who were looking for me can find me here again to follow along if they choose to do so.
  3. Additional Optional EXTRA entry to win – I’m all about spreading smiles as far as I can with my handmade creations.  I would love it if in honor of my birthday you can find a special person or a special place/charity that takes your card donations and send a special smile to someone.  That would make my day! – If you do this, please leave me another comment about that!

Whatever way you choose to enter, I thank you for any and all of your support especially with the changes that have gone on through my blog and life!  I enjoy seeing your lovely creations, visiting your blogs and sharing my crafty life with you.  So glad that we are enjoying it together!

Animal Star Gazers

Good evening friends!  Just swinging by to share a card I made with some cute animal star gazers! 🙂  I thought evening would be an appropriate time to post it:

Vicki-LFUponaStar-Com

When this set first came out from Lawn Fawn called Upon a Star, I knew I had to get it as I fell in love with it.  I really hadn’t used it all that much, so it was great to get it out for a play as I needed to make a commissioned card.  I have created a scene for these critters using masks that I made with my circle die set and some ink blending with my distress inks.  For the stars, I took a brush and splattered some “Super Sparkle Lumiere Paint” watered down a bit while masking off the moon and hill.  The moon was created with some watered down distress inks and a brush.

I then stamped the critters sitting on top of the grassy hill where I wanted them and colored them in with my Copics.  I took a brush filled with clear water to “take out” the inks  on the critters before I did that.  I also took a gray Copic marker to create shadows on the animals as well as draw in my own shadows on the hill.  I took a white gel pen to add some highlights on the animals where I thought the moon would be shining on them.  I also put dots in the center of the bunny’s eyes to make it appear as if a star is reflected in them.

To cut out the image panel, I have used a rectangle frame die which was used to cut out some watercolor cardstock.  I then used the same die and cut out a piece of this gorgeous black glitter cardstock and popped the frame up with foam tape to go around the edges of the image panel design.  I mounted everything over a black A2 sized top folding card base.

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Here’s a closer look at the details.  Here you can better see the shimmer on the moon.  As always you have to get just the right angle for the photograph, but I covered the moon with a Spectrum Noir Glitter Brush Pen.

I took a couple of the tiny solid stars from the stamp set and heat embossed them with (a new favorite of mine!) Sparkle N Sprinkle Vanilla Ice EP [EP265].  Love the way it gives a bit of extra sparkle!  I think the stars really show up beautifully and it always looks better in person of course! 🙂

I do not have a sentiment on this as waiting for instruction on how to proceed with that if necessary.  I’m happy with the way this turned out and look forward to playing with more starry sky creations!

Thanks so much for stopping by this evening and I wish you a wonderful weekend my friends!

Challenges:

  1.  Lawn Fawnatics – Bling It Out!LawnFawnatics_BlogBadge-bling-e1539569130398
  2. AAA Cards – Moonlight #126
  3. Sunny Day Crafting – Animals
  4. The Creative Crafter – Anything Goes
  5. Simon Says Stamp Monday – Starry Night
  6. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Animal Antics

Food and Drink at Cute Card Thursday!

Hello friends!  It’s time for a new Cute Card Thursday challenge!  This one may have a tendancy to make you a little hungry as we are asking for your “Food and/or Drink” creations to add to the challenge gallery this week!  We really look forward to seeing what you come up with for it!

Here’s my take on the challenge:

Vicki-CCT552-NachoBday

LOL!  I can’t help but giggle at these silly puns and especially with the smiling faces on the food images too! 🙂  I just had to grab the Simon Says Stamp “I Chews You” card kit and I couldn’t wait to have a play with it!  (I think there are still some available if you’re interested in it!)  Everything that I’ve used on my card including the paper all come from this card kit.

There were some pre-scored card bases, so I used one of those for my card base, then I took a strip of the colored stripes paper and a thin strip of the gold glitter paper included in the kit and glued it on at the bottom with the glue included in the kit.

I then stamped the images and colored them with my Copic markers.  I put the “salsa bowl” at the bottom so it looks like it’s setting on top of the colored stripes.  I added the speech bubble with the punny sentiment inside of it too.  I then added the sequins from the kit and then filled the centers with some Nuvo Crystal Drops for the centers.

Vicki-CCT552-NachoBday1

Here you can see a closer look at the coloring of the images.  I’ve also added some shimmer with a Spectrum Noir Clear Glitter Brush Pen over the “salsa” images.  I know that it shows it as “guacamole”, but I’m more of a “salsa” person myself and decided to go for that instead.  Hubby is not a guac fan either, but we love to eat Mexican food! 🙂

So I hope that you will get out your “food and/or drink” craft supplies and join us for the challenge this week!  Be sure to check out the inspiration from the design team over on the blog!!  Thanks for joining me today!….What’s on your menu?!

Challenges:

  1.  Moving Along With the Times – For a Man
  2. Seize the Birthday – Anything GoesLinky badge
  3. CASology – MenuWeek 317 - Menu
  4. Addicted to Stamps and More – Clean and SimpleCAS badge
  5. Watercooler Wednesday (WWC192) – Marsha’s Masculine Anything GoesWWC192 - Marsha's Masculine Anything Goes Challenge

Top O Morning Snowman Wishes

Hello friends!  Well, it’s certainly not morning, but maybe it is where you’re from or it’s morning when you see this post! 🙂

I have a really fun Whimsy Stamps digital image to share with you today appropriately named to coincide with my post title:

Vicki-Oct16

This really sweet faced snowman is called Top O the Morning Snowman which is a digital image created by Crissy Armstrong for Whimsy Stamps.  I thought it was so cute with the little birdie joining him and his little heart buttons!  I had fun coloring him up!

I’ve colored him with Copics and cut it out using the Hand Stitched Nested Rectangles die and matted some black cardstock behind that panel.  I’ve also used the October Digital papers release called Christmas Red, Gold and Green and attached it to the front of an A2 sized white card base.  I then took the wavy die from the Pierced Border Trio dies and cut a piece of glitter cardstock to add at the bottom of the decorated digital paper panel.

I then added the snowman panel over top and then stamped the sentiment below the snowman with the Holiday Mini Sentiments stamp set.  I then added the twine bow and button as well as a few snowflake sequins and filled the centers with some Nuvo Crystal Drops to finish it off.

Here’s a closer view of the coloring:

Vicki-Oct16-close

I have used all Copic markers to color this image in the following colors:

  1.  Hat and Snowman body/snow:  C8, C5, C3, C1, C00
  2. Hat Band, buttons, bird hat/scarf:  R37, R35, R32
  3. Holly:  YG67, YG63, YG61, (hollies colored with pink glitter gel pen and covered with Nuvo Crystal Drops
  4. Snowman Scarf:  G24, G21, G20 + green glitter gel pen for lines and ends
  5. Snowman nose and cheeks:  R20, R00, R000, YR18, YR15, Y11
  6. Bird:  B34, B32, R00, E000, Y21, Y11

COPIC MARKERS FOUND HERE

I’ve also used a white gel pen for the cheeks on both the snowman and bird as well at the eyes on the snowman and to randomly add some dots for falling snow effect.  I also went around the outside of the image with a B000 marker for a bit of sky behind him.

I’ve also wanted to be sure to invite you to play along with the Whimsy Stamps Challenge over in their Facebook Group!  It just started up yesterday and we look forward to seeing your makes with a Whimsy Stamps image!  (You will need to use a Whimsy Stamps image to enter the challenge over there.)

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  Hope you’ve enjoyed my card!  See you soon!

Here are the Whimsy Stamps products used on my creation today:

COPIC MARKERS FOUND HERE

 

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christmas_red_gold_green_paper_cover_1024x1024

 

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Challenges:

  1.  CRAFT – Christmas
  2. QKR Stampede – Anything Goes #317
  3. Allsorts – Christmas
  4. The Merry Christmas Challenge – Anything Christmas Goes
  5. The Creative Crafters – Anything Goes

 

 

 

It’s Halloween On Cute Card Thursday

Hello friends!  Happy Thursday!  As this month creeps along and the weather slowly changes to cooler temps, the eerie feeling of Halloween comes to mind!  So get your “Halloween” on and come join us this week at Cute Card Thursday!

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Here’s the project that I’ve made for the challenge using this adorable image from this week’s sponsor All Dressed Up!  The image is called “Have a Magical Evening” and I have colored the entire image panel including the background with Copic markers.  I have also used gel pens to color in gold details on the stars, her dress and shoes.  Then I took the gold and white gel pens to add dots for the background sky.  I’ve used a gold ink pad and rubbed it around the edges of the panel and then  I mounted it over a gold foil cardstock base.

For this treat box, I’ve used the 2-5-7-10 box tutorial on Splitcoaststampers.com to create a similar version, but I cut off the flap part and made a handle for my version.  I covered the box with some fun “spooky” papers from my stash, added some gray with black stripes silk ribbon on the front panel along with making some bows with it for the sides of my box handle and glued them on.  The image panel was added over top of the ribbon strip and design paper.  It’s ready to add a nice treat inside for someone’s “magical evening”!

Vicki-CCT551-ADU-close

Here’s a closer look at the coloring of the image.  I have also added some shimmer to the cresent moon with a Spectrum Noir glitter brush pen which of course is hard to capture in the photo, but you can see the areas where I’ve used the gel pens.

The blue background was made using my Copic markers and I blended them out so that the lighter tones were towards the witch and the darker tones to the edges.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my treat box creation today and that you’ll join along in the Halloween fun challenge this week at Cute Card Thursday!

Thanks so much for stopping in today!

Challenges:

  1.  Craft Rocket – Autumn/Halloween
  2. Brown Sugar – (October) Spooky Halloween and/or Autumn
  3. Use Your Stuff – Autumn/Halloween (always great to use more paper from my stash!)
  4. Tuesday Throwdown – Anything Goes
  5. Words 2 Crafty By – “Listen!  The Wind is rising, and the air is wild with leaves.  We have had our Summer evenings, now for October’s eves.”
  6. Crafty Creations – Anything Goes
  7. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Anything BUT a card
  8. All Dressed Up – #85 Anything Goes + use ADU image
  9. Scor-Pal (Oct) – More than one score Fall/Harvest/Halloween (Scored at the marks, 2-5-7-10 inch marks)

 

The Feeling of Happy Mail

Hello friends!  Back with you again today to share another Whimsy Stamps digital “pretty”!  If you missed my Guest Design post for the Retro Rubber Challenge Blog, please click on the link or scroll down below this post. – thank you

You all know the feeling you get when you receive “happy mail” from the mailbox and I think this cute image on my card today really sums up that feeling:

Vicki-WS-Pretty Girl Happy Mail- Oct 9

I have used the brand new October digital stamp from Whimsy Stamps called “Pretty Girl Happy Mail” on my card today.  Oh those curly locks are adorable!

I have colored her in with my Copic markers in the following:

  1.  Coat/hat (darker tone) – R85, R83, R81 and for trimming – E11, E00, E000 (also coat fastners
  2. Coat/hat (fur) – W5, W3, W1 and highlighted with white gel pen flicks
  3. Hair – E47, E43, E42 (eyebrows too)
  4. Skin – E21, E11, E00, E000, R20, R00 (eyes BG49)
  5. Mail – B00, B000 (unsure of tiny bit of color on postage stamp or coat fastner centers and string)

I then took a retired Whimsy Stamps clear set called “Handmade From Me” which had a couple of tiny solid hearts in it and I took some pink colored ink to stamp a few hearts around the girl.  She really loves all her mail afterall! 🙂

I cut her out with a stitched circle die and then mounted her over a piece of silver foil cardstock cut with a scallop stitched circle die.  I have used the same stamp set that I’ve mentioned above to heat emboss the sentiment with silver EP and cut it out with a banner die cut.  This is the same colored cardstock I’ve used for the A2 sized top folding card base too.

The snowflake paper is from my stash and some I’ve been hoarding because I love it so much, but the snowflakes on it are silver metallic and have the texture on it as if it was heat embossed.  I placed this panel over my card base, attached the banner and then added the circle image panel over top of that including some craft foam to raise it up slightly over the design.

I was thinking that this image would work for either Christmas, winter or Valentine’s Day.  Yes, I know, I said the V word already!! Oops!

Vicki-WS-Pretty Girl Happy Mail-Oct 9-close

Here’s a closer view of the coloring that I’ve done on her as well as the heat embossing.  Had so much fun colorng her up.  I think she especially looks wonderful on such a simple style design!

Thanks so much for stopping in and sharing your thoughts with me!  I appreciate that so much!  See you soon!

*Don’t forget to enter for a chance to win my GIVE AWAY if you haven’t yet!*

Challenges:

  1.  Creative Fingers – Anything Goes
  2. QKR Stampede – Anything Goes #316
  3. Crafty Friends – Use more than 1 die (I’ve used 3)
  4. Stamp & Fun = Creativity – Die cuts
  5. Crafting From the Heart – Anything Goes

I’m Guest Designing for the Retro Rubber Challenge

Hello friends!  I’m super excited to have been asked to be a guest designer for one of the challenges over at the Retro Rubber Challenge blog!  Yay!  I really enjoy playing along in their challenges when I feel the need to break out some of my older stamps that have either been unused or neglected for a while.  If you have some stamps that are at least one year or older…or older yet as many of mine can be, then this is a great challenge to play along with!  Be sure to pop on over there and see what it’s all about, check out the inspiration from the design team and play along!

Here’s the card that I’ve created for the challenge, but be sure to check out the full details along with lots more photos below!

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For the current new challenge, they have come up with this fun “tic-tac-toe” board to play around with:

RRCB 97

For my card, I went with the bottom row of “animals, window and circles“:

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I have pulled out some stamps from my “penguin stash” as I like to call it!  LOL!  I have lots and lots of them and most of them are years and years old.  I’m actually not really sure how old this stamp set that I’ve used on my card today is, but it’s from Darcie’s Stamps and they haven’t been in the store for quite a while now I think.  (They still sell really darling stamp sets and there are a few on my list!) 🙂  I’m also not sure of the name as I don’t see it marked anywhere on the set.

For my card, I’ve taken a circle die and cut out my colored images.  I had to mask the hat so that it looked like the penguin was wearing it as well as mask that giggling penguin along with the hat so that I could stamp the mug so that it looked like the penguin was in front of the mug.  I also white heat embossed the sentiment and cut it out with a banner die at the top.  The sentiment also came with the stamp set.  I cut out a scallop circle and then cut the center out with the same size circle as the penguins to create the frame around the penguin scene.  I’ve used some older SU! papers from my stash to go along with my theme and then lastly added some red baker’s twine at the top along with some white enamel dots as well as a cute little wrapped up peppermint candy accent.

I have cut the center of the heart on the mug with my craft knife and now we are going to zoom in on the mug….

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Here you can see the glittery heart window with the penguin on the other side!  I have made a window by cutting out the heart on the mug and then on the other side, I’ve used some packing tape with the sticky side exposed through the window so that I could add some glitter to it.

Vicki-rrbc97-GDT-insidecard

And then of course when you open the card, you can see this cute little penguin trying to balance himself on these glittery rolling peppermint candies!  LOL!  This is why the penguin on the front was giggling.  I think they had too much sugar!

I colored in a penguin from the set, fussy cut him out and then layered him over this line of peppermint circles that I found from an older card kit I had in my stash.  It’s from a piece of patterned paper that I cut out.  I added some shimmer over them with a glitter brush pen.  At the top you can see the cut out heart I made.

Vicki-rrbc97-GDT-inside

This is just a closer veiw of the penguin on the inside.  There is plenty of room above him to write a message.  Wasn’t sure if I wanted to leave this blank or put a Christmas sentiment on the inside yet.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my card for today and I hope you will stop by the Retro Rubber Challenge to see the wonderful inspiration from the team and play along with us!  I can’t wait to see what you come up with!

Thanks for stopping in! – P.S.  don’t forget to enter my give away if you haven’t yet! (I took a photo and added more items to it!)  Check out the home page of my blog to see the post and enter!

Challenges:

  1.  Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Get Ready for Christmas
  2. 4 Crafty Chicks – (4CC423) Something Old is Something New (old stamps and paper)
  3. Crafting with An Attitude – Anything Goes
  4. Happy Little Stampers Christmas – Anything Goes with Optional Twist:  ribbonoctober 2018
  5. Crazy 4 Challenges (C4C455) – Make any card in honor of WCMD
  6. Crafting By Designs – Anything Goes

Happy World Card Making Day!

Hello friends!  Of course I can’t let this day go by without making a card for it, right?!

WCMDWhimsy

I love Halloween and when I received this image, I thought it would be so fun to create a card with it for the occassion!  Keep reading below to see how YOU can get this image for FREE today!!  🙂

Vicki-WCMD2018-Freebieimage on FB

This image is from the retired artist Kirsten Winkelbauer (for Whimsy Stamps) and she’s so cute and perfect for Halloween crafting!  I’ve colored her up with Copic markers and added a few details with my gel pens.  I’ve also put some loose glitter over the eyes and nose of the pumpkin on her hat.  I fussy cut her out and popped her up with foam squares over a  Kraft cardstock cut out stitched oval that was sponged with some black ink.  I’ve also cut around the sentiment (comes with the image) and sponged some more black ink around the edges and attached it to the oval panel.

For the card base, I used an A2 sized Kraft card base and then I took another piece of Kraft card stock and cut out a piece using the Whimsy Stamps Hand Stitched Nested dies that I’ve covered with a piece of Halloween paper from my stash and also sponged around the edges with some black ink.   I wrapped a piece of Halloween purple ribbon around it and attached it to the back and then adhered my card front to the card base.  I die cut a web twice with black card stock and glued it to the corners of the card front and then brushed over it with a clear glitter brush marker.

Vicki-WCMD2018-WSCloseup

Here’s a closer look at my coloring.  You can better see where I’ve added my gel pen dots and the glitter on my pumpkin.  Her green hair was so fun to color! 🙂

Now, if you would like to get this digital image set for FREE, then hop on over to the Whimsy Stamps Facebook Group and join to get yours including a blog hop and prizes to be won!!   You can also check out all the fun and details about today’s special event on the Whimsy Inspirations Blog too!  So be sure to stop by and join in the fun!  🙂

In addition to all of this, Whimsy Stamps is also celebrating the ENTIRE month for their 2nd annual “31 Nights of Halloween“!!  Be sure to catch all of those details by CLICKING HERE to enter for the grand prize give away along with other details for the rest of the month with lots of fun and inspiration! 🙂

Halloween 31 Nights blog banner 2018 whimsy stamps

Hope that you are taking the time to have fun and create a card today!  Thanks so much for stopping by!!  See you soon!

Challenges:

  1.  {Cupcake Inspirations} – CIC455 ‘Bump in the Night’CIC455LIttlemissmuffet
  2. Always Fun – Dies & Punches
  3. Creative With Stamps –  (CWS31) Halloween or LeavesCWS#31_HalloweenLeaves
  4. Artistic Inspirations – Anything Goes