March AJ Page-FLY

Hello friends!  Officially Spring has sprung, but I’m seeing some possible snow still in the forecast!  BLAH!  I sure how as we finish up this month, that April will be a little kinder to us over here.  With all of this weird weather in all different directions, I do hope that you’re staying safe and enjoying some craft time!

Speaking of craft time- If you’re not familiar, I post an AJ page each month along with my crafty friend, Carol (from Crafty-Stamper), as we get creative trying to use up our never-ending stash piles!  We use a prompt each month and post them.  I know she will have wonderful inspiration to share, so please check out her blog for an AJ page too! Here’s my AJ page for this month with the “SMASH OUR STASH” March prompt of “Find something/anything GREEN to use on your page” :

Thinking that I was REALLY in the mood to start seeing some green, I started digging through my stash and found SO MANY green things!  I didn’t realize that all you really need is a color to have so many different items to pull from!  I’m happy with all of the green items I found as I used several of them for my layout here.  I’ve got green paint, texture paste, metallic spray, flowers, lace, button, butterfly ephemera and green glitter Stickles!  I’m thinking I don’t use green enough, so I went with a monochromatic page.

For the background:  I started with some printed vellum attached with collage medium and went over top with a soft green layer.  I used an old stencil and went over the two corners with green paste. I then sprayed some green metallic over those two colors and moved it around with water until dry.  I splattered some white ink over top and set to dry.

Vicki-AJpageMar-Flybottom

I added green lace on the right bottom along with my scallop chipboard square that I painted white and added some papers behind it.  I used those same papers to die cut a tag at the top and glued the fairy along with butterfly wings behind her over it.  I added the sentiment sticker that was lined out with a black marker and button over it and attached a string to the hole.  This was popped up with foam tape as well as the “FLY” die cut letters inside the white frame.  The ripped sentiment was computer generated and sponged with grey ink and tucked behind the white frame.  I added some green Stickles glitter to each scallop and tucked some green flowers with gold enamel dots in the center.  I also tucked more of those behind the fairy too.

Vicki-AJpageMar-Flytop

I covered the butterfly wings with a glitter brush pen and then splattered some grey ink over top of the wings before attaching them to the page with glue and foam tape… and before attaching the butterflies to the page, I covered up the fairy with a piece of scrap paper and used some gold paint to splatter over the page…and I called it done!

I enjoyed making this page with all of those GREEN things from my stash!  I hope you’ve enjoyed it too!  Thanks so much for dropping in and have a great weekend!

Challenges:

  1. Art Journal Journey – Anything Goes Art Journal
  2. Creative Artiste – Anything Goes Mixed Media
  3. Challenge Up Your Life – Monochrome
  4. Beyond the Blue – Green
  5. Ally’s Angels – Anything Goes
  6. A Place to Start – Anything Goes
  7. Through the Purple Haze – Anything Goes

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles25 Comments

Playing with Roulette and Colors

Hello friends!  Hope your week is getting off to a great start.  I can’t believe that January is over and we’re starting a new winter month already, but at the same time I’m already feeling like this cold weather can move along faster to Spring!

Today I have a couple of creations that I’ve made using those Inky Stamper products and playing a little “Craft Roulette” too!  Chelsea was on Craft Roulette and if you’ve never seen it play out in action, take a look at the You Tube channel to see what it’s about!  She was on episode #146 and here’s my card that I’ve made with her perimeters:

I had so much fun with this and I’ve never made a tag shaped accordion card before, but it was stuck in my head to give it a try and pull out the Inky Stamper Craft Room set to create it.  The “Roulette Wheel” spun on: Double Tags, shelf/shelves, 2 shades of green and something in the background.

The two shades of green were easy with using the Doodlebug Paper Packs and adding in a few other greens to the coloring.  I’ve also made two tags and placed them inside the pocket area in the middle of the accordion design.  I used a stencil in the background of the other two panels and of course I added some crafty goodies to the shelves in Rosie’s craft room!  The accordion card was easier than I had anticipated and just made a mini slim line size design by cutting off the edges to create the tag shape.  The hole and reinforcers were made using punches and dies.  You can see that I’ve colored up, cut out “Rosie” in her craft room where she is cutting her design going through her creative head!

When it’s all folded up and closed, this is what the card looks like.  I could always add a sentiment on the back, but I thought this would be fun to send to a fellow crafter for sure!  I just wish my shelves looked this organized!  And I always try to use another thing from my stash as I pulled out lots of twine that gets thrown in a bin, so it was nice to use for the tops of each tag area. (Maybe on the back of the card, the crafter can add items to use up on their next project and display it! LOL)

And here’s another card that I’ve done for the January challenge on the Inky Stamper Inkspiration FB Group which was to use: Black, white plus one other color:

I decided to pull out the Grasshopper set and make everything in the background black and white, but just color the grasshopper in green.  All of the elements including the sentiment came from the same stamp set.  I splattered some black paint over the background and the images were colored with some cool gray Copic markers.  I white heat embossed the sentiment over black and cut it out with a banner die.

Behind the white panel, I took a piece of the black floral paper from the Doodlebug Floral & Graph Paper Pad and attached that to a white top folding A2 card base.  It was a fun and easy card to put together!

Thanks so much for “hopping” over here today!  Hope you’ve been inspired or smiled!😊

Challenges:

  1. Cardz 4 Galz – Shaped Card (top card-tag shaped)
  2. Creative Fingers – Anything Goes
  3. Passion for Markers – use die cuts (both cards use dies and are colored with Copics)
  4. Creatalicious – Anything Goes optional love &/or hearts (top card has hearts)
  5. Papercraft – Anything Goes
  6. Sparkles Monthly – Friendship (both cards evoke friendship to me!)

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles26 Comments

Inky Stamper Fun

Hello friends!  Lots of fun crafty things happen during the month of October with the start of World Card Making Day to kick us off, then there’s the changing seasons with Fall, then Halloween with the treats which then turns into the Holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas!  I have taken the time to participate in some fun challenges and classes this month with some Inky Stamper inspiration for today’s post.

Although it says “EEK” next to the spider, I think he’s a cute one and not one to run away from!  This cute spider comes from the Inky Stamper Spider stamp set that I’ve used on the tag for my Hershey Nugget treat holder. (I made this for the October challenge in the Inky Stamper Inkspiration FB Group with the theme of “Treat Holder”.)  I’ve stamped and colored the spider with Copic markers, used the coordinating die to cut him out and pop him over the green oval tag with the spider web and EEK stamped over it.  I’ve used the green colored markers to his eyes to match my project.

For the treat package, I’ve used the Inky Stamper Scallop Candy Wrappers die cut out from some black Doodlebug Gingham/Linen paper to wrap around the candies.  I made a “holder” for the nuggets with regular black cardstock and scored each side 1/4″ for a container to hold the nuggets in place.  I used some stickers from my stash to add the “B-O-O” letters and then slid the container into an Inky Stamper Hershey Bag that was gathered and tied up at the top with a piece of Doodlebug Limeade Twine.  I punched a hole in my spider tag/gift card and threaded the twine through it to wrap around the treat and then took a piece of black ribbon to tie a bow around it all.  These were so fun and easy to make!

Another thing I did was participate in the World Card Making Day Challenge in the Inky Stamper Inkspiration Group. The challenge was to create a card using a sketch that was given and turn in by a certain time frame.  This was my take on the sketch using the Inky Stamper Cow stamp set.

I used the “cow pattern” image from the stamp to create my background, white heat embossed the sentiment strip over black cardstock and sponged white around the edges of the banner.  I popped it up with foam tape, stamped, colored and popped up the cow image over the banner as well.  I also used the Inky Stamper Bunny set for the balloon image and the Inky Stamper Goat set for the party hat over the cow’s head.  The balloon string was attached behind the cow and then I made a bow for around the cow’s neck with the Doodlebug Beetle Black Twine.  To make my card fit with the sketch, I added some silver glitter cardstock strips behind the oval layers.  I also added some silver Stickles glitter over the party hat to bring in the silver as well.  So glad I ended up playing as I was picked to win a gift certificate!

I also participated in a “game night” class making these fun projects all made with the Inky Stamper Bug Catcher set.  This class was was a kit and all of the pre-cut items were included.  I already had the stamp set so I didn’t need to purchase that with it.  Even the candy spiders and magnifier came with it all!  I had fun putting it all together and I really liked the versatility of the projects we did.

  • If you’re on my website, just click on the photos below to take a closer look at each project
When you pull the slider tab the mouse moves over to catch the butterfly!
The magnifier is attached with Velcro dots from card! It works!
Mini card and treat box with candy spiders inside!

Hope you’ve enjoyed the projects that I’ve made and been inspired in some way!  Thanks so much for stopping in!

Challenges:

  1. Two Old Bats – Anything Goes Halloween (spider treat)
  2. Creative Fingers – Anything Goes
  3. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – Anything Goes
  4. Make My Monday – Birthday Wishes (COW CARD)
  5. Happy Little Stamper Birthday – Anything Goes Bday (COW CARD)
  6. Penny’s Paper-Crafty – Anything Goes using paper
  7. CRAFT – Gift Bag or Box (spider treat)
  8. This is Halloween – Gothic and/or Halloween (spider treat)

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles29 Comments

Lawn Fawn Fever!

Hello friends!  I have LOTS to catch up on with all of the blogging of projects that I’ve been working on over the last few months, so I will probably share several projects within one post until I can get caught up!

I know that Christmas in July is going on everywhere right now, so I thought I’d share that along with a few other projects I had going on during my “Lawn Fawn Fever” episode!  I have loved their cute little critters for so long and hope you enjoy what I’ve made:

It’s been a while since I even played along with a Lawn Fawnatics challenge, so I decided to join this one which is asking to see your Lawn Fawn “Fun with Food” challenge projects.  What could be more fun than sharing Christmas cookies?!  I’m not sure I’d share any with mice…but these guys are too cute and add some more fun to the scene.  They’re a bit older and I know I’ve had the set for several years as it was one of the STAMPtember sets called “Merry Christmouse“.

I used some older Lawn Fawn papers from my stash to create the table and backdrop setting and then cut it out with the Lawn Fawn Outside In Rectangle dies.  I used the following sets which include the one mentioned above for my scene: How You Bean?, How You Bean? Christmas Cookie Add On, and Thanks a latte.  I Copic colored them and even added a few stamped images over the cookies including some Chunky Glitter. 

For the mouse hanging over the hot cocoa cup, I cut around his arms to fit over the cup.  I popped up the candy cane as well at the mouse next to the jar for depth on the scene.  I added some touches of glitter and then on the mouse Santa hat, I took some liquid applique and heated it up until it was puffy.  The sentiment was white heat embossed over the dark chocolate cardstock and then I just used my scissors to cut it out and attach at the top.  Really fun scene to create!

I also took part on Friday with the “Hive Five Kit” class they did using the adorable new Hive Five card kit they came out with recently.  I think everything is sold out now, but they mentioned that they might come out with some of the items in the future.  You can check out the video HERE if you’re interested in seeing what we did.  I changed mine up a bit, but pretty similar to what was shown for us.

The first card, I made my sentiment too high so I had to “arrange it” how it worked for me and I wanted it to be a birthday card instead.  The other project was just the hexagon tag.  I changed mine into a shaker and then added to a card.  I also added the speech bubble on this one.

The products included with the card kit were really fun and I’m glad I got it!

The majority of this card came from a fun little kit that my sweet blog friend Shirley gifted me included with a SWAP that I was in with her. (Details of that are below.)  Really love that she included the backdrop for the sky which worked out perfectly!  I actually already purchased this awesome Lawn Fawn Platform Pop-Up die along with the Platform Pop-Up Add-on and the Upon a Star stamp set and dies, but she was so very kind to have all of these pieces already stamped and cut out for me!  I just colored in the critters and the stars, added a few more here and there along with some glitter, white heat embossed the sentiment over the navy cardstock and put it together.

I hadn’t even broken out my Platform die at the time, so this was my first time putting one together!  It looks a little more intimidating than what it really is, so I had lots of fun with it!  Thanks so much for sharing the fun with me my friend!  I can’t wait to attempt another one soon! (Thanks for helping me with my addiction!😁)

 

And as I had mentioned above, I was asked if I’d be interested in joining this “Summer Sampler SWAP” with my wonderful blog friends Patti, Shirley and Donna along with a few other ladies to take part with!  When it was described to me, I quickly realized that I had seen these 12″ x 12″ sized papercraft stamped samplers all over Pinterest.  Of course, I had thought to myself that would be fun to create and never did.

Each square is 3-1/4″ and we each were to use the same color for the back layer so it was all similar for the finished project to coordinate well.  So 9 of us created 9 squares, kept one for ourselves and then mailed out the others to each person in the swap.  Really fun to see everyone’s idea here with the theme of “SUMMER” too!  I love them all and thought how fun that each one is so different from the others!

This is my finished 12″ x 12″ shadow box framed piece with everyone’s squares that I’ve attached to a wood panel background paper.  I have it hanging on the wall.  I think this would be so fun for each season or even gifts!  Hope we can do another one!😉

And here’s the square that I did for the swap.  I zoomed in to take the photo and it’s behind the glass, so it’s not a real great look at it, but as you see, I’ve used Lawn Fawn again! LOL

I had some fun 4th of July papers and thought it would be neat to make somewhat of a shaker element with confetti stars.  I’ve used the Lawn Fawn Dandy Day Flip Flop set along with a mouse from the Bubbles of Joy set for the front of my square.  I was trying to give the impression that the mouse had a sparkler and the sparks were flying while the other mouse was enjoying the show. I used glitter and die cut a star from silver glitter cardstock for the center of the dandelion.  I added a red bow at the top.  I thought with using a shadow box frame that the dimension wouldn’t be an issue and it wasn’t.  

There’s always something fun to keep me hopping, so I know you’ll see more soon including the wedding & painting class projects!  I promise I’ll get there!  Thanks for dropping by!!

 

Challenges:

  1. Lawn Fawnatics – Fun with Food (first card)
  2. Crafty Gals Corner – Christmas in July (first card)
  3. Krafty Chicks – Christmas (first card)
  4. CRAFT – Christmas (first card)
  5. Jingle Belles – BLING on the Holidays! (first card)
  6. Double Trouble – Christmas in July Thing 1, Thing 2 & Thing 3 (I’ve used old stamp sets, papers and added some fun bling on my cookies -plus added to the partner challenge in first card!)
  7. Alphabet – ‘H’ is for Holidays (first card)
  8. My Time to Craft – Christmas in July (first card)
  9. Papercraft – Christmas in July

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles29 Comments

Pray Until Something Happens With Inky Stamper

Hello friends!  How is your Summer going?  It seems like it is really flying by for me!  After getting back from the wedding, I have a PILE of things to get finished up, literally!  I signed up for classes knowing that I couldn’t participate during the class time, but figured I would finish them up on my own, so along with doing that I’ve decided to also throw in a current challenge project as well and share that today:

So this cute little fella came from Inky Stamper called Praying Mantis, of course.  The challenge for the month of July in the Inky Stamper Inkspiration FB Group calls for “watercolor” of any kind and so I pulled out my Zig CC Real Brush markers to color him with, cut him out with the coordinating die and even added a bit of the Liquid Pixie Dust on his wing.

For the watercolor on the background, I’ve used an Inky Stamper Watercolor Panel and ran a few different colored Distress Oxide ink pads over it without touching the colors.  I then spritzed it with water to saturate and let the colors run together over it.  I picked up any extras on my glass mat to completely cover the panel and then I took the Picket Fence Geo Squares Stencil and laid it over top while it was wet, pressed it in and let it just sit until it was dry. I picked up the stencil that had dried ink on it, spritzed it with water and turned the stencil the other way with the ink on it and pressed it onto the panel again and let it dry.  This is how the darker ink color showed up on the lighter end.  I took some green and black watercolor to spritz over top.  Really fun background to play with!

I then white heat embossed a sentiment over a black strip and attached it to the bottom portion of the background and then die cut the panel with a double-stitched rectangle die.  I used foam squares to pop up the bug and wrapped some Doodlebug Limeade Twine under the sentiment.  This panel was layered over a black piece which was attached to a top folding A2 white card base.  I finished it with some Doodlebug rhinestones.

And continuing on with my “Inky Stamper projects”, There was an OOAK event a few days before I left.  I didn’t have time to do my projects during the time, but finished them up when I returned.  We made this fun and unique fold design with a gorgeous butterfly and then of course the mini card to go along with it.  Not sure if the kits will be available at a latter date, but you can check it out in the Inky Stamper Store HERE.

For mine, I colored the butterfly with Copics, popped up the wings with foam tape and added some of that Liquid Pixie Dust which is hard to see in the photo.  Then for the mini card, I used some watercolor to color the hydrangea with.  The sentiment was white heat embossed.

Super fun projects as always! (I usually make my “mini card” into TWO ATCs, I just did the one so far here.)

And for my last set of “Inky Stamper projects”, this was for a special class Chelsea held during the time that I was gone.  Even though I wasn’t able to attend the fun and games with them live, I went ahead and purchased the kit anyway so I could watch the video at a later date to make all of these fun projects centered around this ADORABLE Sloth!  If you are interested in this kit, check it out in the store here – Inky Stamper SLOTHsome Class Kit

I pretty much followed along with the way the class projects were made.  I added some gold thread on the card in the back with the clocks so that it could hang from the sloth’s claw.  I added a glittery heart for the treat container for the sloth to hold as well.  The candy inside the container are slo pokes!! 😂   Super cute and fun projects to make!  I sort of treated myself to the candy while I was creating!

I also think that there were a few days where I could relate to the sloth too, but glad to get things done!

Really hope you’ve enjoyed my projects that I’ve shared today and are inspired in some way too!  Thanks so much for stopping in today…I’ll be sharing more soon!😉

Challenges: (For top card only)

  1. Happy Little Stamper Watercolour – Anything Goes + watercolor
  2. Happy Little Stamper Stencil – Anything Goes + stencil
  3. Aud Sentiments – Anything Goes + sentiment
  4. As You Like It – Favorite warm/cool colors and why? (Always been attracted to the cool tones even as a child!)
  5. Krafty Chicks – Week 1: Stamp Act
  6. Crafty Catz – #603 Anything Goes
  7. Creative Fingers – #235 Anything Goes
  8. Colour Crazy Craft – Week 27: Anything Goes + coloring
  9. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – PIP2228 Anything Goes

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles23 Comments