Magical/Mythical/Fairytale

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:

Art Journal Journey – Anything Goes Art Journal
Creative Artiste – Anything Goes Mixed Media
Challenge Up Your Life – Monochrome
Beyond the Blue – Green
Ally’s Angels – Anything Goes
A Place to Start – Anything Goes
Through the Purple Haze – Anything Goes

March 25, 2023March 24, 2023

*Vicki*28 Comments

Stretching Out Inky Stamper Products

Hello friends! I hope that you’re having a wonderful week so far! We have experienced our very first snow accumulation this year and it was very pretty on the inside where it’s warm! LOL It wasn’t necessary to shovel as it melted when it hit the pavement/streets, which makes it nice too! I’m excited to be sharing some more Inky Stamper products with you today as I continue on with my Guest DT for this month. This time it’s all about stretching out those products you purchase to get even more out of them which I’m sure we all need during this time of the year!

Isn’t this little mouse gnome the cutest?! I don’t think I’ve seen a mouse gnome before, but this is another brand new stamp set from Inky Stamper called Gnome, of course! (Click on the link(s) to see everything in the store)

I’m not only using this same stamp set for both of my projects today, but I wanted to point out that this one above is not a card, but it’s a gift card envelope that I’ve created using the Inky Stamper Mini Envie Die. I love this die for quickly creating the perfect sized envelope to fit your gift card inside, but Chelsea also comes up with fun mini cards in alot of her kits that work great for tucking inside this envelope too! (There’s a brand new kit in the store that has just came out using one of the brand new stamp sets making a mini card in her class.) I also wanted to point out that this die can be cut from one of the 6×6 Doodlebug paper packs sold in the store too!

For the front of my envelope here: I thought it would be fun to create a little scene for my mouse gnome to hang up his stockings! I took a strip from the Doodlebug Buffalo Check/Wood Grain paper pack to place along the bottom and stenciled some bricks for the background. I stamped, colored and cut out the gnome with the coordinating die and I punched a small hole on each side of him where his hands are for the string. I then took some of the “stockings” from the Picket Fence Fireplace Stockings sequins and attached them to the string that wraps around the back of the scene panel. I added a sentiment from the same stamp set, popped up the gnome and attached to a piece of green glitter cardstock and then attached it to the envelope front.

Here you can see the other side of the envelope that I’ve white heat embossed the deer from this gnome stamp set and sponged some white ink around the edges. Now to keep the envelope flap closed, you could wrap some twine or ribbon around it, but I love using the Inky Stamper Papercrafting Velcro because it’s the perfect size for this closure and it’s such a great price! You can see how easily a gift card can fit right inside too!

And here’s another scene I’ve created using this adorable Gnome stamp set, but on a regular A2 sized card this time.

So as I was using the Inky Stamper Mini Envie Die for my gift card envelope above, I was looking at the other die pieces that come with this set and thought that the stitched triangle die would make for some great pine trees for my little mouse gnome scene. I pulled out some Doodlebug Gingham/Linen as well as the Doodlebug Swiss Dot paper packs to cut out the triangles and design my scene with the “ground” and “snowy sky” too. I placed the “sky” paper down first, added a curved “ground” and tucked in my formed triangle pines. I also tucked in the wooden sign from the stamp set and stamped the greeting over it. This gnome stamp set also has a tiny pipe that you can die cut out which is just the right size for the gnome. You can see that I’ve tucked that in behind the gnome’s hand on the right and I added some “smoke” with a marker on the background too.

I thought that the Picket Fence Woodlands sequins would be perfect with our gnome, so I’ve attached a few over the “ground” area. I also added some Picket Fence Icicles sequins to the “sky” area for the appearance of snowfall in the background. I also added another white “snowflake” to the center of my gold cord bow at the top. This is a great way to stretch your sequins by making it apart of your main scene.

For the glittery “snow”, I’ve covered the pines, sign, the gnome, the mushrooms and “ground” with some white Nuvo Crystal Drops and then covered those areas with some loose glitter while it was still wet. The reason for that is because if you just use glitter, it will dry clear and I wanted some white to show.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my mouse gnome projects today and have been inspired to see something different with the products that you have in your stash too! Thanks so much for dropping in! Be sure to check out the Inky Stamper Store as well as LIKE the Facebook page to see a live video on Tuesday nights. There is also a fun InkyStamper Inkspiration Facebook Group to join for more inspiration and fun challenges each month too!

Challenges:

Merry Little Christmas – Anything Goes
Jingle Belles – Funny Ho, Ho (punny gnome sentiments)
Crafty Friends – Christmas
Creative Inspirations – Sparkle, Sparkle, Sparkle
Craft Rocket – Christmas/Winter
Crafty Calendar – Anything Goes
Stamping Sensations – Christmas Celebrations
We Love Stamping – Christmas
Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – Anything Goes

November 16, 2022November 15, 2022

*Vicki*27 Comments

October AJ Page-Believe in Fairytales

Hello friends! It’s almost Halloween, can you believe?! Today is actually hubby & my 23rd wedding anniversary that we are out celebrating and hanging out having fun right now. So the theme of my page was designed to fit with this in mind today.

Hard to believe that the end of the month is here and also time for a monthly Art Journal page and collaboration with my crafty friend, Carol (from Crafty-Stamper), so please check out her blog for more inspiration too! We’re trying to get creative by using up our never-ending stash piles! So here’s my Art Journal inspiration with the “SMASH OUR STASH” October prompt of “UNUSED MEDIA from stash” :

As I was thinking of this month’s prompt, I was checking through my media to see if there was something that I had NOT used at all yet, but for the most part, I have. So then my thoughts turned to what I haven’t used in quite a while. So after going through bottles and bottles of liquid watercolor…and throwing several away that were no good…I used some colors to create the background on my page using a 6″x9″ sheet of Bristol Smooth Watercolor paper with pre-punched holes. I added drops of the watercolor on my glass mat, sprayed with water and “smooshed” the paper to create the look I wanted and let dry. I wanted the smooth texture because I knew I was going to stamp over top.

Another media I haven’t used in a while is the Faber Castel Gelatos, which was used to create the moon. I took a circle scrap, traced around it and then scribbled on a white and shimmer white gelato with my finger and rubbed into the areas I wanted. I also pulled out several of the Lavina Stamps which were all used to create the scene over my watercolor background. I had these stamps for quite some time, but have never used any of these images. So I stamped stars at the top, the moon, the castle, the stage coach and the tall grasses. BEFORE all the stamping, I did use some gold paint to create splatters at the top.

After stamping the images, I took some torn scrap paper and sponged in the “ground” areas for my images.

For the quote, I printed out the “in fairytales” on my computer, added a die cut “Believe” sentiment cut from some gold glitter cardstock and attached it above the computer generated wording. I tore around this sentiment and sponged in some dark blue around it. I finished off the page with some gold Stickles around the edges and drops randomly over the star areas. I also took a glitter brush pen to add some sparkly highlights to the castle, ground areas and stage coach.

Hope you’ve enjoyed my AJ page today & been inspired in some way. Please check out Carol’s page for more inspiring fun! Thanks so much for dropping in!

Challenges:

Art Journal Journey – Fairytales, Folklore and Fables (Mine is based on the Fairytale Cinderella)

October 29, 2022October 21, 2022

*Vicki*18 Comments

August AJ Page-Childhood Imagination

**IF YOU’RE INTERESTED IN MY GIVE AWAY OR LOOKING FOR IT, CHECK OUT MY POST BELOW OR CLICK HERE. ENDS SEPT 22nd**

Happy Saturday friends! I hope you’re enjoying your weekend and maybe doing something crafty too! I actually can’t believe that next weekend we’ll be into September already! Fall is coming which means hubby and I can enjoy some football game time!

Hard to believe that it’s time for a monthly Art Journal page and collaboration with my crafty friend, Carol (from Crafty-Stamper), so please check out her blog for more inspiration too!🥰 We’re trying to get creative by using up our never-ending stash piles! So here’s my Art Journal inspiration with the “SMASH OUR STASH” August prompt of “liquid drops/enamel dots/brads/eyelets” :

Yes, it’s the never-ending supply of those enamel things, brads and eyelets! I didn’t even use any eyelets on my page today, but at least I pulled out a few brads, enamel dots and even some liquid enamel drops too!

So I could take you down that “rabbit hole”😁 of how this page came about from seeing a couple of mushrooms out in our backyard that just weirdly keeps popping out randomly the last few months, but needless to say, I ended up with this page. As a child I have always loved Alice in Wonderland and imagined myself secretly finding these amazing new worlds and having conversations with odd characters. I do enjoy getting lost in a good book!

The background page was printed out with adding the Cheshire Cat image over top. (The wording was also printed out with the cat.) I stamped some other wording over the printed background, splattered some paint and took an empty plastic roll dipped in gold paint and randomly stamped that all over it too. I used my finger to also add some gold paint along the edges. The mushroom image is from Power Poppy which I’ve printed, colored with Copics and fussy cut them out with the one in the front popped up with foam tape. I die cut a grass border at the bottom and tucked one of the cut out mushrooms behind the grass blades and then cut off all the excess. I’ve attached this entire page to a heavy weight 140# cardstock that was ink blended with chocolate ink around the edges. I took a strip of Graphics 45 Alice in Wonderland decorative paper and attached it to the right side of the page. I was then able to punch out the holes at the top for my AJ book.

So when you look at the bottom of the page, you can see the mushrooms and how I’ve added some white Nuvo Liquid Drops to the red tops. I think this really makes them pop and give dimension! With the same Graphic 45 decorative papers, I’ve cut out the “tea set playing card” image, blended around the edges and added a blue brad in each corner of it. I also added a bit of sparkle to the flying horse. This cut out playing card was attached below sentiment over the background mushroom and grassy border.

You will also notice the “Eat Me bottle” at the top of the mushroom which was printed out separately from the background page, Copic colored and fussy cut out. I attached it over top of the large mushroom and added a ribbon enamel at the top of it. I also took my glitter brush pen and added something rising from the bottle…mysterious?!

Here’s a closer view of the enamel bow at the top of the bottle along with the mysterious glitter coming from it. I’ve also added some of the glitter brush pen to the Cheshire Cat’s eyes too. I thought I had room to add another three sparkly gold enamel dots to the top right and call this one done.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my AJ page today or have been inspired in some way! Thanks so much for dropping in and I’ll be seeing you soon!

Challenges:

Art Journal Journey – When we were Young
Creative Artiste – Anything Mixed Media
Mixed Media Lovers – Anything Mixed Media
Colour Crazy Craft – Anything Goes + coloring (mushrooms)
Creative Fingers – Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Mondays – Mixed Media

August 27, 2022August 26, 2022

*Vicki*26 Comments

Challenge Up Your Life-Fun in the Sun

Happy June 1st friends! This month will bring us into the Summer months which means it’s time for all of those fun outdoor activities! I’m also getting ready for lots of things going on this month including my son’s wedding! So I know I’ll be busy! How about you?

This is my last time to be joining the “Challenge Up Your Life” challenge blog as a guest designer. I’ve had a great time with them as a guest for the past three challenges and appreciate being asked! Today their new monthly challenge for June is “Fun in the Sun“. Hope you can share your lovely creations with us this month! (Check out the challenge blog for details and inspiration!) And here’s my take on this theme:

What could be more fun than a cute little fairy sipping a drink floating on a lily pad?! Love those shades too!

There happened to be a good sale on a few digital stamps from LOTV recently and so I snatched a few and this was one of them that I fell in love with. This one is called Water Lily, of course. (The sentiment also came from the same company.) She looked like she was having some “fun in the sun” for sure, so I colored her up with my Copic markers and die cut the panel out with a stitched rectangle die. I’ve also used a scalloped stitched die to cut out a piece of pink cardstock to go with some of the colors in the image.

For the background papers, I’ve found some great *yellow rainbow paper from Lawn Fawn and then I used a *sun die from My Favorite Things and cut out with some yellow glitter cardstock. (*These items have retired) I took a wave die from Lawn Fawn and cut out a strip from vellum and used my blue marker to add some color towards the top of the waves. To attach the strip, I wrapped it around the layers and glued it from behind. I then added the ribbon with the bow and attached these layers to an A2 top folding white card base.

Here’s a closer look at the image with the coloring I’ve done. I’ve used a gold gel pen to color in her head band and then a silver one to color in the little “dots” on the ends of her glasses. I used a glitter brush pen over her sunglass lenses as well as her wings.

I finished the card off with a few colorful sequins.

So does that look like something you’d be having some “Fun in the Sun” with?! I know I sure would!😎

I sure hope to see you playing along with us this month with your creations! I also hope that you’ve enjoyed my inspiration as guest designer for these challenges the last few months. Thanks for your support friends!

Challenges:

Creative Knockouts – For the Kids
Colour Crazy Craft – Anything Goes with coloring
Crafty Catz – Anything Goes optional “All About the Girls”
Creative Fingers – Anything Goes
Allsorts – Anything BUT birthdays
Everybody Art – Glitter and/or Pearls
Creatalicious – Anything Goes optional: lots of bling/glitter
Creative Moments – Summer is Here

June 1, 2022June 1, 2022

*Vicki*25 Comments

Cheerful Sketches Guest Designer “Gnomie”

Hello friends! I think we’re getting closer and closer to Spring! I sure am ready for it, how about you? Let’s welcome the warmer weather and pretty flowers to come!

Herschaalde kopie van RON ILONKA

I had previously made a winner/top 3 for a challenge I had entered which was exciting to have also won a place to be a future guest designer for one of the challenges too.

So this month, I’m very excited to be joining my friends over at the Cheerful Sketches challenge blog as a guest and they always have a beautiful sketch along with lots of inspiration for it each month! So please be sure to check them out and play along if you can! Here’s the lovely sketch they’ve provided for me to work with this month:

This is a very nice sketch and open to lots of different interpretations as well, so I had fun playing with it along with an image that was provided to me from a current sponsor for the challenge and here’s what I came up with:

Everyone loves the gnomes and this one is too cute riding his snail friend! I’m using the “Grumblebonce Rides Again” from Dr. Digi’s House of Stamps for my card today. I’ve colored him up with Copic markers, added details with gel pens, glitter under the snail and glossy accents on the snail’s eyeballs. I die cut the image with a stitched circle die and ink blended around the edges before attached to another loopy circle die cut from brown cardstock.

I found some fun papers fitting for the image with red plaids and a strip of mushrooms that I’ve attached over another loopy die cut strip I’ve had in my stash forever. I wrapped some gold ribbon around it and attached to the red plaid papers that are attached to a 5″ square top folding brown card base. Before attaching the red plaid papers, I used a distress tool to rough up the edges. I’ve popped up the image with foam tape and added 3 gold enamel dots in the upper right corner.

With the card now laying flat, you can better see some of the shine from the sentiment at the bottom. I found these fun gnome style sentiments that can be foiled. So I used some gold foil and ran the strip through my Minc Machine. I sponged some blue and brown inks over it and then added some die cut mushrooms behind it and layered a piece of brown cardstock to layer behind it.

I placed the mushroom sentiment at the bottom with a portion of it with foam tape and the other parts just glued to the circle sentiment panel. I think it turned out pretty cute and I had fun coloring it up!

So please be sure to check out the challenge and come play along!

Thanks so much for dropping in and I’ll see you soon!

March 7, 2022March 3, 2022

*Vicki*21 Comments

February AJ Page-Explore

Hello friends! Hope that you are doing well and staying warm and safe out there. It’s been a few minutes since my last post, but that’s because I’ve been working very hard making wedding invites! They’re coming together and almost done! At some point I will share those, but today I have an AJ page to share with you! It was nice to be able to take a break from creating invites to turning my mind on making a page.

**My crafty friend Carol is joining along with me each month to help inspire us both as well as others and I’m so thrilled to be doing this with her, so please click on her name and check out her page too! We’re coming together as I think we both have an issue with “too much stash”…who doesn’t?!🙄 So I’ve come up with some ‘AJ prompts’ to help us both “Smash Our Stash” to start using it up for our own creative outlets and have some FUN! The month of February gives us the prompt: ribbon/fibers/twine/thread

If you do any Art Journaling, then you know that sometimes when you have something in mind to do, it doesn’t always turn out like you think it will in your head! This is the case with this one! I like how it turned out and really enjoyed the process of it along with feeling good about using up some ribbon and twine overflowing in my stash!

I’m continuing on with making my own AJ book, so I’ve got the holes ready at the top of my 6″ x 9″ 140# watercolor page. I like to use something really thick as I think it helps to hold all of the wet media/paint without it warping too badly.

I’ve started by using a Tonic Studios “Falling Diamonds” stencil with embossing paste towards the bottom and not going all the way up to the top of the page. I then used Salvaged Patina and Mermaid Lagoon Distress Oxide Sprays over top letting colors mix and run. Once dried, I added some sponged white paint over a Tim Holtz stencil. I then took some Ranger Ground Espresso paint and added some paint splatters over it, set aside to dry. Then came my first introduction of the prompt onto my page. I took some left over pieces of lace (in fact this was the last of this piece from my stash…why I kept it? Who knows!!!) and glued it randomly onto the background. Once dried, I added some water-downed Ground Espresso paint over those areas, sprayed with water and let run. I also took the same paint and sponged around the edges to darken them up. After it dried, I took some Art Alchemy “Old Silver” wax and rubbed over the raised areas of the paste and lace with my fingers until it showed up as I wanted it to.

I decided at this point, that I wasn’t going to do what I had planned in my head as I thought the background was going to turn out much lighter and brighter. It turned out more antique/grunge, but I was still happy with it and just changed the plan a bit. I don’t know what these are called, but I named them “Twine Twirls“. I took a double-sided adhesive sheet and covered a piece of cardstock with one side, die cut a couple of different sized circles, took the backing off the other side of the adhesive and used some twine in my stash to continue to swirl around the center of the adhesive circle until reaching the edges. (Do you ever get twine wrapped around one of your craft orders and save it? That’s what all of this twine is from…can you believe I saved them and got plenty more to use?!!) I then took a piece of VERY old ribbon from my stash and attached to the back of each “Twine Twirl”. I laid these over the page where I wanted it and added an adhesive strip at the top of the page right below the holes to secure them as well as glued the back of the circles. You can also see that I’ve attached some bows above 3 of the “Twine Twirls” too. I used some Stickles glitter glue and brushed over top of each “Twine Twirl” and set aside to dry.

I also fussy cut out one of the Tim Holtz paper dolls to glue over one of the “Twine Twirls” and then used some foam tape to pop him up over the page as needed once the glitter had dried.

For the top of the page where I’ve added the “Twine Twirl” ribbons, I took another piece of lace that matched that ribbon and covered it over top of the ends. Since it’s lace, you can see through it, so I layered on another piece of brown taupe ribbon in the center of that. (I’ve used scissors to cut the ends off the page.)

For the lettering, I used some of the items I used for the background page onto a piece of blank cardstock and then cut the letters out using the Taylored Expressions Cap It Off Alpha taking off the frame around the letters. I glued the letters over top of the ribbon and then covered each letter with glossy accents.

The phrases come from a Tim Holtz “Clippings” sticker book and then I took a brown pen to outline around it. I finished the page by adding some of the Tim Holtz stars adornments in random areas.

I really hope you’ve enjoyed our AJ pages today or have been inspired in some way! Be sure to join us next month too! Thank you so much for dropping in and I’ll see you soon!

Challenges:

Art Journal Journey – What’s Your Style? (I love using stencils most of the time, but enjoy “exploring” different medias too! Not sure about a specific style…I like them ALL!)
Simon Says Stamp Monday – Art Journal
Try It On Tuesday – Add Some Texture
Creative Artiste – #79 Anything Mixed Media Goes
Mixed Media Lovers – #10 Anything Mixed Media
Arty Divas – Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Anything Goes

February 26, 2022February 25, 2022

*Vicki*29 Comments

Vintage Anniversary and Commissioned Ones Too!

Hello friends and happy February! I feel like we just started a new year and it’s already into the second month! I will need to get going on a couple of Valentine cards really soon! Today, I wanted to share a card I had made for my parent’s 57th wedding anniversary along with a few other anniversary cards I was commissioned to make that I had forgotten to share until I made my parent’s card! LOL!

I really like how this one turned out for my parent’s anniversary card! If this looks familiar to you, then you may recognize it from a past Simon Says Stamp card kit. (This one came from a Valentine 2020 kit.) I thought that the papers in the kit looked “Vintage” and I really liked that, so I thought I’d try to go for that style in my card.

I used the heart rose stamp image from the kit and colored it with Copics and fussy cut it out. I also copper heat embossed the leaves from the stamp set included in the kit over some green cardstock and fussy cut those out as well. The sentiment was also from the same set as the leaves and I copper heat embossed that for the bottom right corner of the card. It’s hard to see from the shine, but it says: “Happily ever together” and was fussy cut as well.

I started with the Vintage looking papers and cut a piece down to size and inked up along the edges with Vintage Photo distress ink and layered it over a side folding A2 white card base. I pulled out a piece of shimmer vellum that I ran through a Sizzix 3D heart embossing folder and layered it over top of the background. I also took some of the ephemera from the kit and added those to parts of the background after sponging the edges of that too. (see the “ticket” in the top left.)

Finally, I arranged the heat embossed leaves along with the heart shaped rose over top. I glued the leaves and then popped up the rose with foam tape along with the heat embossed sentiment. I added some shimmer to the leaves with a shimmer brush pen and then took some sequins from the kit to attach over the card and filled with Stickles glitter.

I think this would be a special Valentine card as well for someone!😉

At the end of last year, I was also commissioned to make a 50th wedding anniversary card for someone. I was just given the detail that the wedding photos were shown with the colors black and white…so I based my card using that idea.

I always think that wedding/anniversary style cards look especially elegant with die cuts and embossing, so I dig through my die cut and embossing folder stash. I’m sure you can imagine me sitting on the floor with things everywhere! LOL!! Do you do this too when you’re not sure what you want to do and/or what all you have?

So I found this really pretty Memory Box die cut with the heart in the center that I wanted to use and thought some glitter paper behind it would be so pretty. This is why my card is a square shaped design. Since it was celebrating 50 years, I thought it would be appropriate to add some gold in there too and die cut the numbers for the center of the heart as well at the border pieces on the top and bottom of the heart. (Not sure where that die came from as it’s old. The number dies are really old too!)

I layered this onto the glitter paper and gold foil paper. I stamped a sentiment (Taylored Expressions-The Inside Scoop Anniversary used both inside and out of card.) and die cut it out with a banner die and popped it up under the heart with foam tape. I layered this onto a white 3D embossed background that was layered over a black top folding square card base. I attached a gold ribbon bow over top.

I stamped a sentiment for the inside of the card and you can see that I’ve decorated the inside of the card using the same die cut border with gold foil cardstock. The papers I’ve used for the borders on the inside were also used to create a custom envelope for this card. Sometimes if I don’t have the envelope on hand, I make my own envelope. Sometimes I prefer to do this for special cards anyway.

And this is another card that I had been commissioned to do for someone that wanted a card for an anniversary on Christmas Eve. I was given the detail about them spending time at Disney World and seem to be a fan of Disney along with it being their 25th anniversary…so my card was based on those details.

I have no Disney character type stamps/products at all. My thought was to create something with a “winter/Fairytale” theme which is why I turned to my Cricut machine for help. I was lucky enough to find the carriage and horse image that I cut out using brushed metallic silver and silver glitter cardstock for the different pieces. I also found a castle image that I cut from the brushed metallic silver as well. I used black cardstock for the base and insides of the cut out images. After I cut out the castle, I ran it through a brick embossing folder to give it that brick castle look. I also die cut the numbers from Taylored Expressions Cap It Off Numbers dies. I attached the numbers in the center of the castle and attached a silver ribbon bow over top of the numbers.

Since I had my main cut out images for my card, I was able to create my scene and size based on those. My finished card measures approx. 7″ x 5″ which is not a regular size for me, but I thought it was fitting given the type of card it was along with the cut out images. I started with a piece of blue cardstock and generously sprayed it with some Pearlescent Cosmic Shimmer previously received from a class I took. It gives a really stunning look and the shimmer doesn’t show very well from the photo either. Once dried, I die cut both the snowflakes and snow border at the bottom from some white glitter cardstock. Both dies used for them come from Lawn Fawn. The trees behind the bottom snow border were cut from some pearl white paper with an older Stampin’ Up! die set in my stash.

I attached the sprayed blue background over a piece of silver metallic cardstock after wrapping a silver ribbon around the center. I then attached the trees and added the snow border at the bottom. I added the castle and snowflakes next being careful that everything was showing the way I wanted and then I popped up the carriage with foam tape.

This whole scene was placed over a white 7 x 5 top folding card base. I also took some silver glitter to add to the little flag ends on the castle. I thought with all of the glitter and shimmer it didn’t need any more embellishment! I was happy with how it turned out because I wasn’t quite sure it would!

There was a custom envelope that was also made for this card using some pretty silver pattern paper from my stash.

Everyone seemed to be pretty pleased with how the cards turned out for them and I was very happy to have had the privilege of being apart of someone’s special day too!

Speaking of wedding anniversaries, I’ve been given the honor to create wedding invites for my son’s wedding coming up this Summer and I know I’ll be getting really busy putting those together as well! So that will be coming up really fast and I hope I can keep up with things! LOL

Thanks so much for stopping in today! I hope that you’ve enjoyed my creations or been inspired in some way! See you soon!

Challenges (TOP CARD ONLY)

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Anything Goes
Krafty Chicks – All Occasions
Crafty Catz – Anything Goes with optional add flowers
Colour Crazy Craft – Anything Goes with coloring (Copics used for heart rose image)
Creatalicious – Anything Goes with optional love
Simon Says Stamp Monday – Use embossing folder (3D heart folder over vellum piece)

February 1, 2022January 31, 2022

*Vicki*24 Comments

Winter is Shaping Up With Interaction!

So after getting my calendars ready to start the year off, which is easy to sit and craft during the cold snowy winter where I live, my mind turned to winter when creating! Sometimes it’s nice to create with a “snowflake/winter” theme because I think they can be used interchangeable for Christmas or just a “warm winter greeting” for someone! (Or… because you might be late sending one out or for those friends overseas that won’t arrive one time!)

Today I’m sharing a card that I’ve made for this month’s Inky Stamper challenge on FB with the theme: “Shaped Cards”

Vicki-InkyStamper-Janchallenge-shapedcard

Isn’t she cute?! I was trying to come up with a different shape besides a regular circle, etc. So I looked up “coloring pages for kids” free online and found this one that I resized to what I wanted and printed it out over some light purple cardstock. I used another printed one as a template so that I could cut another one out over a folded cardstock piece to create a shaped folded card design. (You can partly see the back piece in the photo.) The sparkly “ball” at the top was just die cut out from a scallop circle die with sparkly silver cardstock.

For the card front, I used the Inky Stamper Snow Angel stamp set to stamp the snowflakes in the background with some purple ink. I white heat embossed the sentiment over and wanted it to stand out a bit more, so I sponged some more light purple ink over top of it. I colored “Rosie” over Copic blending card and used the die to cut her out with. I’ve die cut a couple of the large snowflakes from Lawn Fawn with white cardstock and layered them over the beanie hat. You can see that “Rosie” is popped out a bit over that snowflake, which is where I’ve added a “wobbler” to her…check it out in the video below:

The wobbling action doesn’t move around in the video as it does in person. I think my camera slows down the action or something. (weird) And of course I finished the card with some sparkly Icicles sequins mix from Inky Stamper too. I filled the centers of them with some Silver Stickles.

Because of the “ball” on top and the length of the “beanie band”, it needs to be in a 5.5″ square envelope to mail. You could also make your own envelope which I do all the time anyway. But the 5.5″ size fits perfectly.

*Speaking of Inky Stamper things, this past prior weekend there was an OOAK event (on FB) that Inky Stamper was apart of, so of course I wanted to get the kit and play along too! (I think that these have recently been sold out.) But the stamp set used for the kit was this fun Penguin stamp set you can still get in the store. Here’s my results:

The top card is an interactive “Theater Fold” design. (All of the pieces were included with the kit along with an instructional video/class.) I participated in the OOAK FB event to play along. She usually always includes a mini bonus card which measures about an ATC size. (3.5″ x 2.5″) She used the “icicles” from the stamp set, but I decided to stamp and cut out another snowflake for the front of mine. I added a pretty gem to the center of it.

And of course that’s not the ONLY fun I had during the OOAK event! I decided to play along with the always cute and funny Riley and Co. as well! Here’s the set of cards created from that class:

I just thought these were so cute with the cow images and their little outfits along with the “Funny Bone” sentiments! The instructions came with the kit which were really easy to follow along with. I basically looked at the photos and put together the pieces from the kit. For the clouds, I decided to pull out some sparkly white flock to cover them with. They have a nice soft feel to them! They just make me chuckle and I think it will be fun to send along to someone who needs a smile!😉

*If you are visiting my website, then you can check out each one of these cards in the gallery below by clicking on the photos to enlarge them: (I’ve found some coordinating envelopes from my stash for each card.)

I sure hope that you’ve enjoyed my post today and have been inspired in some way! Really appreciate you stopping in and I’ll be seeing you soon!🥰 Stay warm!

Challenges (For Winter Beanie Hat Shaped card ONLY):

Challenge Up Your Life – Winter Fun
Papercraft – Winter Wonderland
Creatalicious – Anything Goes with optional winter
Make My Monday – Winter-Wherever You Are (snowy and cold!)
Make the Cards – Encouragement (You’re unique sentiment)
Aud Sentiments – Anything Goes + sentiment

January 18, 2022January 17, 2022

*Vicki*34 Comments

It’s a Spooky Kind of Love

Happy Friday friends! We’re now upon Halloween weekend!🎃 Are you ready?! Lots of candy on hand to give out and some to enjoy for yourself…check. Scary movies at the ready…check. Ready for lots of fun before the weekend ends!

Not really sure exactly where my love for Halloween comes from, but I love it so much that even my wedding anniversary comes real close too! So today is our 22nd year anniversary and I couldn’t have made it in this crazy life without my “Boo”! I’ve made a card to let him know how I feel:

And yes, this is probably something we would certainly be doing under that moon as we’ve done before including watching bats fly around in the sky! We do weird and wonderful things which is just ONE of the gazillion reasons why I love him so! I’ve made a card with a bit of a “love/Halloween” theme. I’m not sure I’ve ever really made a Halloween style card for him before, but I know this will make total sense for him and he’ll get a kick out it.

Started with the background using some Oxide ink blending keeping careful with leaving the “moon” area clean. I sprayed water over top of the purplish/black background for that texture and then took a Taylored Expressions heart stencil over the background and introduced another color of oxide ink. I ink blended the edges and bottom with black. I have a Tim Holtz “Moon Mask” to create the moon with…which makes it super easy! I stamped the fence at the bottom right and the bats with black ink. The couple on the bench (TE “Love Story” die) was die cut from black cardstock and glued in the center of the large heart. Lastly, I white heat embossed the sentiment over another piece of black cardstock and cut it out with a sentiment banner attached to the top left edge.

It’s really a simple card, but I loved creating the background with a “spooky love” feel that I know he’ll like too!

Here’s a collection of just a few snippets of some current moments we’ve had:

Enjoying Fall time picking apples from a local Orchid we love to visit each year. He’s my “Picking apple punk boy”!

And since we’re going “all batty” here, I thought I’d share my creation that I’ve made for this months’ Inky Stamper challenge (over on the FB InkyStamper Inkspiration Group) using a recycled item! I thought this might be a good opportunity to create a fun treat! I took an empty paper towel holder to cut a 2″ tall container with a handle and covered it with some Doodlebug papers. I layered some trim and ribbon around it and added a punched out circle for the bottom.

I’ve used the Inky Stamper Bat stamp set for the bat that I’ve stamped, colored and die cut for the front of my treat holder. I’ve cut out a stamped sentiment banner to tie onto the handle. Really easy and fun to create! You could get about 5 containers per empty roll which I thought was a lot!

I sure hope you’ve enjoyed my “BATTY” makes today and I wish you a very frightfully FUN weekend!