I’m Still Crafting!!🎨

Birthday, Card Kits, Food and/or Drink items, Ocassions, Shaped/Interactive Cards

Hello there friends!! 😀

I’m doing well and healthy as is my family!  I sure hope that all of my fellow blog friends and readers are staying healthy as well!  Thank you from the bottom of my heart for reaching out to me and asking about my well being!  I really miss you guys!

I haven’t posted since I’ve not been on any design teams and I sort of just “took a personal break” from posting anything on my blog or social media.  The first reason being was that I had lost some “MOJO” and was really struggling with getting inspired and wasn’t really “happy” about what I was creating.  As I had mentioned before, it really does happen to us and sometimes it’s harder to “get over it” at times.  With all that is going on in the world right now, I also had other concerns on my mind as I’m sure many of us have.  So my blog break became even more extended.  Now that I’ve “been away”, I’m stuggling with what exactly I want to do.  I miss my blog friends very much and really enjoyed having this way of communitcating with you all…after all…we love crafting together and we have that in common and it’s something to be happy about to come together for!  So I’m sharing my heart to heart update with you!

WHAT HAVE I BEEN DOING??????🤔

Yes!  I’ve been crafting, but I just haven’t really taken the time to create a post about it.  As you know with blogging, you know that you not only need to take a photo of it, but you have to edit it, watermark it, create/type up the blog post, link all the things and then share it to all of these other social media platforms..so, with that, I just didn’t take the time! LOL!  And….I’m still trying to decide if blogging is something I should continue.  PLEASE, share with me your thoughts.

While I’ve not been posting, I sure have been crafting!  I signed up to take several different classes!   I had planned on going to a couple of retreats that were obviously canceled, so I decided that the online type classes were a way to go and to try to boost up some of that lost MOJO!  While not posting about it, I actually think that may have helped!  I was able to freely create with no time restraints and I didn’t have to worry about typing up a post for social media and “judgment”.  It just turned out to be whatever it was!  So MAYBE posting about whatever comes up for my crafting is a little more “freeing” and it can be whatever it turns out to be?  I don’t know, I guess I will find out!

____________________________________________________________________________________________

I will try and start with about where I left off from the beginning of April and just go forward from there!  Lots of things have been going on “behind the scenes”!  LOL!

Vicki-BMicecreamBday

This is a card I had actually made back in March for a birthday card for someone and just never posted it.  I had pulled out an older birthday card kit and used the stamp set along with the papers from the kit.

I also used the circle shaker pouch as well as some dies from My Favorite Things to create the shaker panel.  the confetti and sequins all came from the card kit I used.

Vicki-BMicecreamBday-close

I used Copic markers to color in the ice cream cone and then I also die cut a heart from the Glitterstock that was included with the birthday card kit and glued it on top.  I took some white twine as I felt a bow on the cone would help tie everything together nicely.  I white heat embossed the sentiment over a strip and swiped some white ink along the edges of it.  It was glued over top of the polka dotted paper and die cut out with a stitched rectangle die.

Vicki-BMicecreamBday-flat

As you can see, I even took an additional image from the stamp set and stamped the envelope to match. (something I’ve been trying to work on when making cards)

I didn’t photograph it, but I also used a gift card pocket die on the inside of the card to tuck a gift card in.  Those little pocket dies come in handy for when you want to mail a gift card!

So please let me know that you’re here and what you think!

Thank you for your continued support during my crafty journey!!  I have more things to post that I’ve been working on, so I’ll be seeing you soon!!

Challenges:

  1.  Crafty Cardmakers – #256 Celebrations
  2. A Bit More Time to Craft – #115 Anything Goes
  3. Creative Fingers – #185 Anything Goes
  4. Stamp & Fun = Creativity – #367 Eat & Drink
  5. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – PIP2018 Anything Goes

Published by *Vicki*

I'm so happy you found me! I love to share smiles with my handmade cards! I also enjoy papercrafts through art journaling, scrapooking and mixed media projects too! Thanks for stopping by!

Published

48 thoughts on “I’m Still Crafting!!🎨”

  1. glad you & yours are well. i hear ya on MOJO. i think mine took off with yours LOL. absolutely LOVE your creation – as always. as for blogging….. i still have mine and rarely use it, but find it necessary if i want to play in challenges. soooooooo, i keep it.
    be well, stay well.
    hugs

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Stef, I didn’t realize you kept your blog! I thought you were just posting on FB. So of course I will see you there! So glad you are reading my blog still! 🙂 HUGS

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  2. It’s so good to see what you’ve been up to and know you’re well. I think all of us lost our mojo to a secret trip to the islands! LOL This card is just spectacular and I love the shaker elements – they look like little buttons! It’s so cute and I got mesmerized by the video for the gift card holder! This is a great birthday card, and hopefully when all this is behind us, our mojo’s return home ready to get to work again soon! Take care in the meantime, and thanks for letting us know you’re OK. Enjoy your week!! Hugz

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  3. So happy to see a post from you this morning Vicki, it is starting my day off nice! I’m glad to hear you have not stopped crafting. You card is beautiful, as always, like the triple cone, beautifully colored, the shaker and the bow does the it all together! Take care dear friend.

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  5. Your face in my inbox just made my whole day! It’s great to know you are well, and still being creative. Your card is darling! Great work, as always. You are so creative! As for blogging, I do hope you will continue. Many of us don’t play well with instagram, etc., but know how to keep up with our blogs. Yes, they are a lot of work, and I get so tired of posting, linking, pre-scheduling, then having to remember to go back on the days posts are live, and post to Facebook, Splitcoast, Pinterest, etc. But, the upside is that I love my blogging friends! Some I’ve known for many years, others I’m just learning about, but papercrafters are good people, and I love sharing blog posts together! Hope you will continue! Hugs!

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    1. Awe!! Patti, we’ve been around haven’t we? LOL!! THIS is the very reason I wanted to try and come back….I miss all of my blog friends SO MUCH!! Thank you for your kind words!! HUGS

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  6. Hello Vicki, you can’t stop sharing your cards with us. I miss them, I love observing the details of your cards, they are always so amazing and give me so much inspiration. Please stay blogging. I understand that sometimes we need a break to miss blogging, but don’t give it up. Please! Keep calm and stay safe BożenA

    wt., 5 maj 2020 o 13:00 Stamped Smiles napisał(a):

    > *Vicki* posted: “Hello there friends!! [image: 😀] I’m doing well and > healthy as is my family! I sure hope that all of my fellow blog friends > and readers are staying healthy as well! Thank you from the bottom of my > heart for reaching out to me and asking about my well being! I ” >

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Hello my friend!! Thank you so much for kind and inspiring words here! I have missed my blog friends and hope to work this out! 🙂 HUGS P.S. Thank you for everything with your messages!!

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  8. So happy to see your post Vicki. I love shaker card designs and your is delightful. I know how you feel last year I stopped posting for 9 months I just didn’t feel inspired anymore. I wasn’t sure I ever would make cards again.

    Hugs Diane

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Glad to see you back, my dear friend. I have missed you, your fab cards and kind comments.
    I do understand that you needed some time for yourself. Blogging is a lovely hobby but it is very time-consuming.
    The card you show us is a gorgeous one. You even have taken time to make a nice envelope!
    Here we are all safe and healthy too.
    Hope to see and hear you soon.
    xxx Margreet

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank you so much Margreet!! I have been blog friends with you for such a long time and this is the reason I missed you guys!! 🙂 From the bottom of my heart!

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  10. Yeah, I get you regarding the blog. I get so few comments I ask myself is it worth it. That said, I see lots of blogs and never comment either but I DO LIKE GETTING THEM. Yes, that includes your’s. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Yay Vicki!! I’m so humbled to see a comment from you on my blog! I adore your creations and have known you for quite a while! Thank you so much!! I guess you never know who is reading/following your blog…or whom you might be inspiring!? Thank you so much!!

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  11. What a lovely surprise too see you pop up in my e mail Vicki and with a fabulous cute shaker card, love the shaker sequins adn candy bits, they look awesome..blogging, well, yes I still blog as I can add so many more photos and details, BUT, Facebook gives me more exposure, like family and close friends who have no inclination to go blog hopping to find me..lol..but I will continue to do both, and see how it all pans out, so glad to see you Vicki..

    Luv CHRISSYxx

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Chrissy, we’ve been blog friends for quite a while!! You’ve always inspired me in so many ways my friends!! Thank you for being around!! HUGS

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  12. Great to see your cards again please keep blogging I know FB and other platforms are easier but this is so much more personal I have allso had a gap from blog commenting but have decided to make time and pic’ it up again take care love and hugs Carole x

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Carole, thank you so much for your sweet comment and being here!! I’ve known you as a blog friend for quite a while as well! Always inspiring to see your makes my dear! Thanks for being here!!

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  13. So glad you have let us know you are keeping well and safe. Always good to take a break too x. What a darling of a card and fun to make the shaker element x. There are other ways to communicate in the crafting world and maybe blogging can tkae a back seat for now x. Sending hugs x.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Yes, sometimes a break can refresh things in a new way! Thank you so much for your kindness and just being around! It’s very appreciated!! HUGS

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  14. I miss you, Vicky. But I’m so tickled to see you posting something! Love the spring colors and the great dimension of the ice cream cone. I love it when you make shaker cards and I always check to see what you used for the shaking bits because you are so inventive about it. These are wonderful and perfect for the color combo. 😀

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Oh my dear NC!!!! We’ve been around the blog block haven’t we my friend?!! LOL! Thank you for your kind comment and for being here!! HUGS

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  19. Hi my friend! I SO hear you! Although I do love to blog (gives me a place to write and gab, lol) it is HARD- deciding where to add my cards on social media and blogging and the galleries, it’s very time consuming and at the end of the day, its hours. I love what you post and think if it’s not something that gives mostly joy, maybe it’s time to restructure – that’s my motto! It’s easy to post on IG, for example, and get in and out while blogging takes a lot more – do what makes your heart happy! Either way, we will admire your cards when you post them ♥ Hugs!

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  20. This card is as sweet and fun as summer itself!

    I think it’s crucial that we take – and ideally do not feel guilty or otherwise negative – about blogging/SM/the internet point-blank breaks and breathers, if not regularity, then at least periodically. Blogging can be so many amazing things, but if one starts to dread (or otherwise strongly feel negative about) it for an extended period or repeatedly over and over again (not saying that you, of course, just a general point), it may be time to either go on an indefinite blogging hiatus or to hang up one’s blogging hat (at least for now).

    That said – and I speak from personal experience here – it is usually wise to give this decision a lot of thought. Sometimes it is not (or not just) blogging (or SM, etc) that is getting us down, but other factors in our life which we may transfer our feelings of onto our blogs and/or other areas of our lives.

    I know that we haven’t known one another for long, but I just want to say that I support and understand whatever you opt to do. I’ve run various blogs and website since 2004, the longest two being for 8 and about 10 years, respectively (both are long retired now), and I know how extraordinarily difficult it can be to even just lightly contemplate the idea of retiring/closing a site that you’ve poured your heart, energy, time, soul, and joy into for years.

    Sending immense hugs your way,
    Autumn Zenith 🎃 Witchcrafted Life

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  21. It does my heart such good to know that you are doing well and continuing to craft! So many of us casual crafters learn so much from talented ladies such as yourself, Vicki! I am a visual learner so I often will just sit in amazement and study your remarkable creations. I am so inspired by what I see and learn.

    I certainly understand what you are saying about blogging and commitment. I think that is probably the reason I seldom stray from what I love. I may be a one-trick pony, but it’s my trick and I do it well! LOL!! Your posts are always so informative with lots of details. I, on the other hand, tend to slap up the picture and move on! My motto, do what feels right and works for you. If it destroys my love for crafting, I don’t do it!

    Loving this awesome shaker ice cream design!! Fabulous work, as always!

    Hugs and best wishes as you do what you love!

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  22. Hey Vicki, I’ve been putting off commenting on your card due to the question you asked.
    First of all I DO love your card! So cute and fun and you just can’t beat a shaker card of course.
    As far as to blog or not to blog……um…..guess that just has to depend on what YOU want to do! I”m probably the wrong one to answer your question because I’m so burnt out it hurts right now. I’ve been doing this a long time (or at least I think I have) and really believe on most days I’m ready to hang it up. I feel like everything I do looks exactly the same (and it really does), and my heart just isn’t in it like it used to be. I don’t think I’d ever quit making cards though – way too many supplies here – because I love making them, but………….. Just follow your heart and whatever decision you make will be the right one for you.

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    1. Oh my goodness dear lady!!! LOL

      We’ve talked about this MANY times before, haven’t we?! Here’s the deal, we get burned out I think because there are SO many different social media platforms to worry about now. Remember back in the day when it was “just a blog”? LOL! I guess I was thinking sharing to all the different platforms and doing all the things was something that others were doing and I was trying to keep up with them. I started thinking that not everyone does the blog and they like to do Instagram or follow in groups on FB. I had someone say to me in a group they look forward to what I post next in there…I’m thinking, what?! I don’t even remember what group I posted what in! And then of course it’s not only keeping up with myself, it’s trying to keep up with what everyone is posting and trying to figure out what platform they’re on! LOL! I spend most of my time on the computer trying to keep up with it all and that’s why I ended up dropping all of my design teams with the dead lines and commitments because it got so overwhelming for me. Now, I don’t know if I’m just getting older, but I don’t remember it being THAT tight to deal with a few years back or so! LOL! This is why I’m happy to just have my plain ole blog friends like you! It’s more inspiring to me to come to your blog because I “know” you and look forward to your postings and what you say if that makes sense? I get inspiration from many of my blog friends and want to reciprocate, I just don’t know how to keep up with it all at a “happy medium”. I spend so much time on the computer trying to keep up and feel guilty if I don’t take the time to respond to someone in a certain way or feel that I’ve left someone out as I’ve been told about how people enjoy my comments too! LOL! Then I start to feel resentment because I’ve spent so much time on the computer that I don’t have time to do my crafty thing! It became such a huge cycle that I got into a rut, then everything I made looked exactly the same and I started feeling “not good enough” comparing myself to others and how in the hell can they keep up with all the things for Pete’s sake! I just had to step back! I was wore out!

      But you see, I love my blog friends. I really do! I get inspired by all of you guys! All the time! I WANT to take the time to visit my friends. I LOVE to craft. I just don’t know how to create a “happy medium” for myself any more and I don’t know why it’s become so damn hard recently! I guess within the next several months’ time will tell and I’ll see what happens with it all. Outside other factors can play a role in things as well, so I’m going to REALLY start paying attention to what’s going on around me to try and figure it out. I’ve just been doing this for so long as you know and sometimes I guess it helps to put something out in the open and maybe some people have some advice…and so far I’ve gotten quite a bit and really appreciate it!

      Thank you for always being around! I appreciate your kind words!!

      Hope you are well! Always think of you and Rambo! 😊

      Hugs,

      Vicki

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    2. Well said!!!! It’s almost feeling like I’m a machine or something. My butt’s grown to the chair where the computer is and that’s not a good feeling……..and I STILL can’t keep up. Plus I feel like my work is just getting worse and worse – or the same and same! LOL! I’ll be stepping back from it all really soon too.

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  24. Love your card. Ice cream is always a favorite. Clever to make a shaker card next to your image. Makes me feel like there are sprinkles to put on the ice cream cone. Wonderful card.

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  25. Great to see you back Vicki and yes you have been missed!My mojo went into self isioation at beginning of lockdown but luckily I had quite a few DT cards made -but I started watching Tracy Evans live demos on FB and her inspiration kickstarted my love of stamping again so been playing when DT stuff out of the way—oops nearly forgot I love your beautiful shaker card and that delicious looking ise-cream cone
    Carol x

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  26. Hi!!! You’re back! First, LOVE the card and especially that color combo. I haven’t used brown in forever and forgot how well it looks combined with other colors. And I always like the interactive cards – especially since I rarely make time to do one. And wow, I feel much like you on occasion. I’ve actually been able to create this past week, but actually posting to my blog seems like a chore. So I have no wise words for you on that – but I will tell you, when you “disappeared” a while back, I went looking for your old blog because your work truly does inspire me. This time around, I just waited patiently 🙂 I do completely understand though, especially since your posts are so thorough, meaning more time than just “look what I made.” So whatever you decide, it will be the right decision for you and that is all that is important. But I hope you know, really know, that you inspire others.

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  27. Dropping by to say- so glad to see you back. I will have to find you on FB or something as I really miss you when you are gone and pray you are OK!!! My MoJo has been missing for the most part lately as well. I know blogging is so much work and DT work becomes a chore at times- gotta find a fun DT with stamps you LOVE making cards with. I have many unused cards….. Your cards are always so beautiful IMO, you have some great coloring skills and an eye for putting DP’s together as well. I love looking, but spend so much time answering emails and getting on FB and IG too! While we are quarenteened, my 2 daughters have joined us at home, which has been delightful, they are working (one is a teacher, one working on her Phd, so doing research). They will return to their homes, one back to school in Virginia soon, so I want to spend as much time with her as possible!
    I hope your decision is not hard for you- let it come from your heart : )

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  31. Why am I so far behind – I guess I thought with all this time on my hands I thought I was ahead. The ice cream cone looks delicious – and how many layers do we have – I do good to eat one but each layer looks great.

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