Purple Day Blog Hop For Epilepsy Awareness

Hello my friends! Today starts the annual “Purple Day” blog hop and I have joined with my friend Fiki to help bring awareness about epilepsy. I hope you will join along with us for information, to help spread awareness, view inspiration and be in for a chance to win a prize from some fabulous sponsors!

purple day blog hop

Please take a moment and read important information about this special day:

Purple Day is a global grassroots event formed with the intention to increase worldwide awareness of epilepsy, and to dispel common myths and fears of this neurological disorder. Further intentions of this movement are to reduce the social stigmas commonly endured by many individuals afflicted with the condition; to provide assurance and advocacy to those living with epilepsy that they are not alone in their ongoing endurance; and to initiate individuals living with the condition to take action in their communities to achieve these aims.

The day occurs annually on March 26. To read more about epilepsy or how you can help in the U.S., check out the Epilepsy Foundation’s website.

Blog Hop information:

It would be nice if you follow each person along the blog hop, but it is not necessary to be included in the draw for winning.

You will have from Thrusday, March 26th – Tuesday March 31st to hop around!

Here’s the list of blogs to follow: (Be sure to check out EACH blog as some will have their own blog candy to give away…including myself below!)

Ike

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Vicki<<<<<<<<<<<<<< YOU ARE HERE!!!!

Our sponsors:

We have some really fantastic sponsors giving away images of choice to a winner:

These companies are also giving out images:

You can pop over to join their their Facebook pages here:

Digi Doodle Studios (FB fan group)

Kinda Cute by Patricia Alvarez (FB fan group)

Knitty Kitty Designs (FB fan group)

Ike’s Art (FB fan Group)

Thank you so much to these wonderful sponsors!

So what must you do to be in draw for the prize? It’s simple.

You must comment on each blog stop. (list linked above)

Leave a comment telling us what you’ve learned about epilepsy.

(To be eligible for MY blog candy…please enter with InLinkz below!)

I hope that this was helpful information and a way for others to become aware of the seriousness of this condition. I’ve learned even more about epilepsy this year and I hope you will be able to do the same by checking out the information above!

My card inspiration:

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Isn’t she just the sweetest little girl with her big heart?! So delighted, of course, to have been provided this darling image from Digi Doodle Studios which is one of the sponsors for our blog hop today! This image is called Sweet Carlina and I’ve got her colored up in purples and pinks. She has a little white heart tucked in her jacket pocket to go with the white hearts on my design. 😁

I found some pretty purplish decorative papers from a recent card kit I had and then I just followed along with a sketch to complete my design. (See challenges below.) After coloring her out, I’ve cut her out with a MFT Wonky Stitch rectangle die and then layered with a purple cardstock layer cut out with a MFT Scallop Stitch rectangle die. I popped it up with craft foam over strips of lace, twine and accents I’ve created with the papers. I’ve used a LF scallop border die to cut accents to go with my heart paper strips. Extra hearts left over were used in the top corner. I also added a purple flower button with twine to finish it off.

Here’s a closer view of the coloring I’ve done on her with my Copic markers. I’ve used white gel pen to dot her checks and color the heart in her pocket. You can barely see the shimmer that I’ve done over the heart she’s holding with a glitter brush pen.

You’ll also notice that I’ve printed out this image twice, fussy cut out just the portion of the heart she’s holding along with her hands and popped it out over the colored image to give it some depth.

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I hope you’ve enjoyed my inspiration for the blog hop! I sure enjoyed creating it and helping to give support to my friend along with creating awareness for epilepsy!

I also want to thank each and every one of you for helping to support this blog hop and leaving comments along the way!

Please be sure to visit each link above along with visiting the kind sponors that are providing prizes for the winners!

Challenges:

Time Out – Purple (helping to support epilepsy awareness with us!)
Sketch Saturday – sketch #602
Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – PIP2012 Anything Goes
Arty Divas – #18 Anything Goes
Through the Craft Room Door – Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Anything Goes
The House That Stamps Built – M2520

If you are interested in entering for another prize, this is the blog candy that I’m giving away personally from myself and would be happy to ship it anywhere in the world to a randomly chosen winner…

Purple Day Blog Candy - stampedsmiles.com

Here’s a list of what’s included in this blog candy:

pkg. of rainbow shattered glass Decofoil transfer sheets (5 sheets 6″ x 6″)
Darice embossing folder
My Favorite Things “You Have the Biggest Heart” clear stamp
Watercolor Pencils (set of 8 colors)
Tombow Water Brushes (set of 3 different sizes)
Package of sentiment cards
Package of Puffy Stickers (40 stickers)
Purple Glitter Sheets (2 pieces cut at 5.5″ x 4.25″)
Purple Ribbon with pink saddle stitch
Brutus Monroe Mixed Media Tags (2 approx 4″ x 8″)

If this sounds like something you’d like a chance to win, then be sure to leave me a comment below that you are interested in the prize to qualify. (This way I know who’s interested in the blog candy or who’s just wanting to leave a comment.)

YOU WILL HAVE UNTIL WEDNESDAY APRIL 1st BY 12:00 AM CST TO ENTER!!! I WILL ANNOUNCE THE WINNER OF MY BLOG CANDY ON THIS BLOG BY THURSDAY APRIL 2nd. IF THE WINNER DOESN’T CONTACT ME WITHIN 3 DAYS, ANOTHER WINNER WILL BE CHOSEN. Good luck!🤞

Sorry about the problem with the InLinkz tool……..
I have the following people listed to enter the give away: (I will update it as people enter)

Kitty
Janis
Sandie
Ike
Meghan
Olga
Chandhini
Subhashini S
sharti

Please just leave me a comment below that you are interested in the give away!!
So terribly sorry about this as InLinkz really just didn’t like my blog at all!!🙄

Birthday Card For a Painter!

Hello friends! Hoping amid this strange time you’re finding peace and sanity among your crafty time and online community of friendly crafters as well to help uplift your spirits and keep you thinking happy thoughts! 🙂 If you’re looking for smiles, please know that this is the main purpose of why I do what I do here! Helping to spread smiles is something that is near to my heart along with crafting. If you’re enjoying a smile with me, that’s all I care about! Thanks for hanging out!

Today, I have a special birthday card that I’ve made for my mom who’s a crafty tole painter and I wanted it to be a bright and cheerful design since I couldn’t celebrate with her face to face due to the current circumstances:

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So I’ve been having fun pulling out my past card kits as they’ve not been used as often as I would like to use them. For my card here, I’ve used the Simon Says Stamp painter’s palette die that came from a past SSS card kit along with the stamp set called Sweet Birthday. I have been hoarding some special paper made from real wood to die cut the main palette die from and then I’ve cut it out several times using some different colored specialty mirror colored cardstock from the kit for the different colors of paint.

I popped up the entire paint palette with some foam tape over a piece of watercolor paper that I took a brush and some watercolor to make the strokes for a fun and colorful background. I then cut it out using my Lawn Fawn Cross-Stitch rectangle die which I mounted over a piece of black cardstock and mounted over a white A2 sized top folding card base.

Also for the background, I decided I wanted to include some sort of paint brush, so I dug out an old stamp I had and paper pieced some of that red mirror cardstock for the paint on the end of the brush. (Red is my mom’s favorite color.) I used Copics to finish coloring the brush and a glitter gel pen for an accent on the brush. I then stamped the sentiment in black ink over the background and added some red sequins from the kit.

Here’s a closer view of the palette and the real wood texture of the paper I had die cut it with. You can see the shimmery colors of the cardstock I’ve used from the kit. The only color that wasn’t included in the kit was the yellow, so I dug through my stash and found a piece of gold that I used for the yellow color…you can see it has a bit of texture on it, but I was fine with it.

I thought that the background was so fun and simple to create.

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I hope you’ve enjoyed my colorful birthday card today! Do you know someone that would love to receive a happy and colorful card? I encourage you to get out some pretty colors and make a background and send it out to someone! Not only will they enjoy receiving a handmade smile from you, but you will be smiling while having fun too!

I was able to talk to my mom on the phone and she told me how much she enjoyed this card and how she was planning to display it somewhere which was very nice to hear!

Hope you’ve enjoyed my card today and maybe we’ll be seeing some rainbows in our future very soon friends! 🙂 I’ll be seeing you soon!

**Please be sure to join here this Thursday for a very special blog hop and prizes!**

Challenges:

Shopping Our Stash – Happy Birthday
Creative Knockouts – #342 Bingo (second line across, I’ve used paper piecing, image and die-cuts/punches)
Penny’s Paper-Crafty – #467 Anything Goes
Creative Fingers – #182 Anything Goes
QKR Stampede – #390 Anything Goes
Creative Moments – #187 Anything Goes

Showered Love Engagement

Hello friends! I hope that you and your loved ones are healthy. I also hope that you are having some inspirational crafty fun during this time. Crafting is a great way to create and send some smiles to someone as well! Let’s keep those smiles going!!

Today I have another card that I made for the same son that had his birthday from my last post. He was also recently engaged and I’m so happy for them both! Here’s the card that I sent to them:

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I had seen this image came out from Lilly of the Valley last month and just fell in love with it! I knew it would be perfect to use for this occasion! It’s called Showered With Love and I’ve printed it out, colored with Copic markers and then cut it out using the Whimsy Stamps Zig Zag Stitched Rectangles Die set and then layered it over some light blue card stock.

I popped up this image panel with craft foam over a piece of white cardstock that was die cut from a Lawn Fawn Fancy Scalloped Rectangle die and then layered over a piece of dark brown card stock. I then attached these layers over another piece of light blue cardstock with the same Whimsy Stamps Zig Zag Stitched Rectangles Die set.

Before attaching the image layer onto the light blue panel, I took a sentiment from the Simon Says Stamp Tiny Words and white heat embossed it over a dark brown strip. I also added some ribbon and lace around the light blue card front panel before attaching the popped up image panel. Lastly, I’ve added some Nuvo rhinestone water dropplets.

Here’s a closer look at the coloring I’ve done on this couple. I’ve tried to keep the hair color likeness to the real life individuals. Hard to see in the photo of course, but I’ve covered the hearts with a glitter pen for shimmer and the trim on the umbrella as well as the center of the heart on the umbrella and part of the handle were colored in with a clear glitter pen which also gives a bit more shimmer to it.

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For the inside of the card, I’ve added a computer generated sentiment that said “Congratulations! Wishing you a love together that can outlast any type of weather.” and also created a pocket that held a gift card inside.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my card today and have been inspired in some way! Thanks so much for dropping in today! I appeciate you being here with me! See you soon!

Challenges:

QKR Stampede – #389 Anything Goes
A Bit More Time to Craft – #112 Anything Goes
The Creative Crafters – #26 Anything Goes
Createful Heart Design Challenge Blog – #18 Anything Goes
Creatalicious – #183 Anything Goes with optional: Layer it up
Lil’ Patch of Crafty Friends – #128 Anything Goes
Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – PIP2011 Anything Goes
Arty Divas – #17 Anything Goes

Hot Dog! It’s Birthday Time!

Hello friends! As you know, I’ve been TRYING to get my MOJO flowing and I REALLY appreciate the feedback that I’ve gotten from you and others about things I can try including non-craft related things! (Honestly, right now in this world with what is going on, it is hard to concentrate along with worrying about my own family in different ways…so that doesn’t help either!) But I’ve been trying to find things to keep my mind focused and try new things that are interesting to me…so I will just keep going along and see what happens!! I would like to continue with as many “stamped smiles” as I possibly can right now….we all need that at this time! 🙂

Today’s card was made for my son’s birthday that was this past Saturday. I wanted to make sure he recieved it before I posted it:

Vicki-SSSSoPunFriends

I pulled out an older Simon Says Stamp card kit and used the So Pun Friends and the I Chews You stamp sets along with the coordinating dies. I’ve used the cardstock and cute Doodlebug So Much Pun Papers that came with the card kit as well. The tag was cut using the My Favorite Things Stitched Tag dies. I created the hole at the top of the tag with circle punches and the twine is from left over packaging.

I cut the tag shape out again with more of the papers from the kit and then popped up the image tag with foam tape and added some white enamel dots.

On the inside I stamped a birthday greeting and made a pocket to hold a gift card for him. We usually take him out to dinner for his birthday, but since he’s moved away I had to send him a gift card instead. Bummer…

Here’s a closer look at the cute smile face images that I colored up with my Copic markers. I cut out the food images with the So Pun Friends coordinating dies. For the sentiment, I stamped the speech bubble from the I Chews You stamp set over a piece of the Doodlebug papers and then added the sentiment from the So Pun Friends stamp set in the center of the speech bubble. I then die cut it out with the I Chews You coordinating dies.

I used some blue distress ink to blend some color over the center of the white area on the tag and then popped up the speech bubble with some foam tape over that area. The hotdog at the bottom was also popped up with foam tape as well.

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I actually had some fun pulling out this older card kit to play with and who could resist a hotdog smiling at you?! LOL!

Thanks so much for stopping in and for your continued support! It’s very much appreciated and I hope that I helped bring a smile or inspiration to you today!

I actually have a couple more birthdays coming up that I need to make cards for, so I’m sure you’ll be seeing more of those in the near future too!

Challenges:

Not Just Cards – March Anything Goes
Little Red Wagon – Etc, etc, etc (3 enamel dots and 3 food images with smiles)
Cute Card Thursday – Celebrate!
TIME OUT – Birthday with optional twist: die cutting or fussy cutting
Seize the Birthday – #185 Touch of Green or Anything Goes

Peyton is Painting Eggs for Easter!

Hello there friends! Where have I been? Well, I went off looking for my “MOJO” and he’s doing some disappearing acts on me for sure! I’m having such a hard time getting motivated and feel that my creative juices have completely dried out! Do you ever feel this way too? What are some things you have done to help you? I will keep trying for now! LOL! So sorry for being MIA lately!

Today I must share with you a card I came up with using this really adorable image from Digi Doodle Studios just in time for Easter!

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Isn’t he adorable?! This digital image is called Peyton’s Painted Eggs from DDS and he’s busy at work painting up eggs to get them done in time for Easter! I’d say he looks like myself getting messy and into the job! LOL!

After coloring him up, I used a MFT die to cut him out and create the layered frame around him with some purple glitterstock along with some black and white cardstock. I white heat embossed a sentiment (from Simon Says Stamp) and cut it out with a banner die to go over the image panel.

I took some white ribbon and wrapped it around the corners and attached a bow on the top corner with a flower embellishment in the center…found in my stash.

Also “found in my stash” was the fence and grass dies that I used to attach to the bottom of the card front panel. Some of the “grass” was placed behind the image panel and some in front of it. I also attached in the center a strip of the purple glitterstock Lawn Fawn Spring Plaid paper for the front of the card and this was layered over another piece of black cardstock which was mounted over a top folding 5″ square white card base.

Here you can see how I’ve got him all colored up with Copic markers. He was actually really fun to color up. My first notion was to make him a white bunny, but I thought he would really stand out if he was brown in color instead. I added some blades of grass around him with my markers.

I left the egg he was in the process of painting white along with the plain one on the ground…after all, he IS in the process of working on them! LOL!

I’ve only used the white gel pen for his cheeks and I’ve used a clear metallic gel pen on the paint brush. The “shinny” areas you see on the “fresh paint” colors are the places that I’ve covered with glossy accents. The light is naturally highlighting them!

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I hope that you’ve enjoyed my Easter bunny card today and it’s helped get you in the mood thinking warm Spring thoughts! I know I’m really looking forward to warmer weather and being outdoors for sure! Easter is just around the corner now!

Please be sure to join us over in the Digi Doodle Studios Facebook Fan Group for inspiration, fun and challenges! There is also a DDS Challenge Blog to share your creations for a chance to win a prize as well! So go check things out!

Here’s the Digi Doodle Studios product I’ve used on my card today: (Click photo to view/purchase image from the store.)

Challenges:

Crafty Animals – Anything Goes + animal
A Bit More Time to Craft – Anything Goes
Crafts Galore Encore – #73 Anything Goes
Love to Craft – LTCCB44 Anything Goes
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends – #127 Anything Goes
Creative with Stamps – #48 Egg
Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – PIP2010 Anything Goes
Crafty Creations – #407 Anything Goes
Creative Fingers – #181 Anything Goes
Sweet Stampers – #42 Easter or Spring
The Sisterhood of Crafters – Easter

Believe in Yourself For 2 Crafty Critter Crazies

Hello friends! Welcome to the month of March! Yay! I am so excited about getting to this month as that means wamer weather and pretty flowers are soon to follow along with those birds chirping and signs of wild life sprouting outdoors!

Speaking of which, we’re starting up a brand new challenge for the first of March over at the 2 Crafty Critter Crazies Challenge Blog! So stop on over and play along with us this month! We are always “Anything Goes + a critter” on your project! Our sponsor this time is our lovely critter loving friend Donna and she has created/given a wonderful digital set not only for our team to use in our projects, but it’s the prize for a lucky winner too! Yay! (Click on her name to see a creation with this image in her own version!)

Here’s what I’ve created using her stunning “The Great Horned Owl” set:

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Isn’t that owl amazing?! My husband said the eyes on him are so piercing! I said that’s because he’s a very wise owl that’s trying to tell you something important and wants to make sure you got the message! LOL!

I really like the sentiments that were included with this owl image too! For my image, I’ve reversed it on my computer and then added a couple of the leaf sprigs that were included with this set so that my branch the owl is perched on has some leaves with it.

I thought I was going to use my regular old stand by of Copics, but decided that I was going to do some watercolor on him instead, so I pulled out my Clean Color Real Brush watercolor markers. I’ve sponged around the oval cut out image, the sentiment banner as well as the card base with Rusty Hinge distress ink.

I die cut some leaves and added the stamped leaf panel (image from the Simon Says Stamps Kind Flowers stamp set.) to the side of the image and mounted it over top of the woodgrain embossed background. I wrapped some twine around these layers and added a bow with button and finished it with a couple of water drop accents.

P.S. I’ve noticed that I’ve been using owls and twine in my creations lately…what’s up with that?! LOL!

Here’s a closer view of the owl image and how I’ve colored him up. I used some soft blue color to blend in behind him, but when I sponged around the edges of the oval panel, the watercolor edges showed up more. I sort of liked how that looked, so I went with it.

It may be hard to see, but I just barely dotted those piercing eyes with glossy accents.

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Thank you again to our amazing friend Donna for sharing this stunning digital set with us and for someone who plays along in the challenge to win it! I sure hope that I did justice to your beautiful owl here sweet lady! 🙂

Please be sure to hop on over to the 2 Crafty Critter Crazies Challenge Blog and check out what my fellow teamies have done with Donna’s image and play along with us this month! We’d love to see your critter inspired creations too!

Thanks so much for dropping in today friends and I’ll be seeing you soon!

Challenges:

Crafty Cardmakers – embossing (embossing folder)
The House That Stamps Built – F2620 Anything Goes
QKR Stampede – $387 Anything Goes
Crafty Friends – #130 Animals/Birds

Owl-rageous Thanks

Hello friends! We’re finally on the last Friday of February! Yay!

Although we’ve had snow in our forecast recently, I’m feeling Spring will be in the air soon and I really look forward to it along with all of the pretty flowers and green grass! So today, I’m sharing a card I’ve made using this adorable Pairables set from Digi Doodle Studios:

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Isn’t this little owl the cutest?! I love how he has his little wings out for a hug! I’ve used several of the images from the “Owl-rageous” Pairables set to create the scene on my card. (Be sure to check out the bottom of this post to see all the images included in the set!) I have used Word.doc on my computer to arrange and size the different images where I wanted them for my scene and printed it out to color. I’ve also printed out the flower image from the set along with the sentiment separately to cut out for my design.

As you can see, I’ve taken the flower image and sized it differently and arranged it around the stump for the scene. I’ve also used it to cut it out separately to attach to the twine next to the sentiment as well as the twine bow at the bottom.

I’ve printed out the sentiment, cut it out and then cut the fish tails on each end and ink blended with brown ink around it. I’ve matted it with the same brown cardstock that I’ve layered the image panel on and it’s also the base of my top folding A2 sized card.

I’ve pulled out some textured woodgrain cardstock as well as the Spring Plaid papers from my Lawn Fawn stash. I thought the woodgrain and Spring-like colors worked well for this cute owl. I’ve finished it off with some clear sequins.

Here’s a closer look at the coloring I’ve done on this cutie! I’ve used the W tones to color him in and then the E20s to color the stump. I also end up going for the G24, G21 and G20 for coloring my grass. I love the bright Spring green it gives I think. I highlighted his cheeks and eyes with a white gel pen.

You can also see a subtle cloud line behind him. I’ve used the MFT Cloud Stencil with my ink blending tool and Tumled Glass distress ink to create the background.

You can see that I’ve wrapped some twine around the center of the card where the two different papers meet as well as wrapped around each corner of the image panel. This is where I decided to add the cut out flowers on each end.

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I feel like this owl with my arms open and ready to take in all of Spring when it comes and thank Mother Nature for bringing it around! LOL! How about you?

I hope you’ve enjoyed my card today and that you’ll take a look at this darling Pairables set as it can be used in so many different ways! I had so much fun creating with it! You can check it out below and click on the photo to purchase/view in the store:

If you create a project using a Digi Doodle Studios image, please be sure to share it with us over in the Digi Doodle Studios Facebook Group as we would love to see it! There is also a challenge you can enter for a chance to win a prize as well! Don’t forget about the Digi Doodle Studios Challenge Blog and play along each month over there too!

Thanks so much for stopping in today my friends! I’ll be seeing you soon! 🙂

Challenges: