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:

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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…

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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:

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

Guest Rock Star for Repeat Impressions POTW!

Hello friends!  I’m hoping that you’ve had a wonderful weekend!

I’m very excited to be sharing my projects today as a guest “Rock Star” for Repeat Impressions!  I’ve been asked to share a special post for their “Project of the Week” segment on their blog today!  Yay!

If you’ve been following me for a while, then you know how much I love to ink blend!  It’s something that is fun to do, and I’m always amazed at the finished colors!  I want you to get the same satisfaction when you do it too, so I thought that would take a fun photo tutorial for my guest POTW post!

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There is just something about this scene that makes me feel happy and relaxed!  So of course, that sentiment goes just perfectly with it!  This sentiment/saying is one of my all-time favorites and I was thrilled to use it for this design!

I’ve used the “Canoeing” (2905-G) along with the “Mountain Vista” (629-I) From Repeat Impressions for the image stamping over the ink blended scene.

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Here’s a closer look at the details in this card with how I went about creating it.  You can see the different blended colors in both the water and sky.  The setting sun was colored in with a glitter gel pen which created some shimmer to it.  The white gel pen highlighted details in the water.

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Really had fun creating this scene with these stamps which were just perfect for an ink blended background!  I thought this would make for a wonderful retirement card!   If you want to create one of these types of cards yourself, please be sure to check out the step-by-step tutorial over at the Repeat Impressions Blog to see how I went about doing this!

I loved that sentiment stamp so much, that I just couldn’t help but create one more card using it again with another ink blended design:

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Really LOVE how this one turned out!

What’s fun about ink blending is all of the different color combinations you can play with and blend together for different looks!  This time, I’ve used different colors and started my ink blending in the center.  I’ve also used a die to cut out the center of the ink blended panel, heat emboss the sentiment over it, layer with a piece of black cardstock behind it, and pop it up over the rest of the ink blended background.  So even though it was cut out in the center, it’s a continuous ink blended design!

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On this ink blended panel, I’ve used some Shimmer Spray over it which gives it a really pretty shimmer with a bit of a “water droplet” effect as the Distress Oxide Inks react to water/liquids.  I think this turned out really cool as it gives it sort of a “Bokeh Effect”.

Before I cut out the center of the ink blended panel, I’ve used the “Flower Power Frame” (10202-Q) to stamp in black ink at the top and bottom of the panel. You can see that part of the stamped image was die cut on the sentiment panel.  I colored the centers of the flowers with a yellow glitter gel pen for added detail.

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To add to the look, I thought it needed some sparkling clear sequins to finish it off!

I hope you’ve enjoyed my creations today and please be sure to stop on over at the Repeat Impressions Blog to check out the full tutorial on ink blending!

Thank you so much to Wendy and the fellow Rock Star friends for having me along as a guest!  Really enjoyed creating these projects with these fabulous stamps!!

Also thank YOU for stopping in today!  I appreciate your support so much!  I’ll be seeing you again soon my friends!

Challenges I’d like to enter:

  1.  Addicted to Stamps &More – Anything Goes
  2. Cute Card Thursday – CAS
  3. Cardz 4 Galz– Black and Bling (second card only)
  4. Daring Cardmakers – Someone or Something You Love (ink blending, words/verse)
  5. Creatalicious – #181 Anything Goes with optional embossing
  6. The Creative Crafters – #25 Anything Goes

Cute Card Thursday – Anything Goes with Reindeer Farts

LOL!  Hey friends!  Did I grab your attention with my title today?!

Today starts a brand new challenge over at Cute Card Thursday and it’s an easy ‘ANYTHING GOES!’  Since it’s the first Thursday of the month, we are being sponsored by Whimsy Stamps!  Yay!  So please be sure to remember to add whatever creation you’re working on over in our gallery this week!

*News update:  This will be my last challenge as a design team member for Cute Card Thursday.  I have really loved being apart of the team and the wonderful ladies over there for over a year and a half. I wish them all well.  I’m sure I’ll be playing along in future challenges of course!*

Here’s the card I made with products from our sponsor:

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BWHAA!! HA! HA!  Yep, I’m most positive it’s probably been that cold out over my way!  LOL!  It’s supposed to get down to the teens next week! Brr!

This hilarious digital image is called Reindeer Farts by Dustin Pike from Whimsy Stamps.  It comes with the sentiment which I wouldn’t want it without that!  LOL!  This image was released back in October, but with all of the Halloween going on, it sort of didn’t get a good “spotlight” on it, so I thought now would be a good time to pull it out and perhaps send it out to my brother for Christmas…which he’ll get a kick out of!  🙂

I started out with a white cardstock panel cut with a stitched rectangle die with the printed out sentiment at the top of it.  I pulled out the Whimsy Stamps Snow Flurry clear stamp set and white heat embossed some snowflakes in the background.  I ink blended some  Distress Oxide Inks over top of them in the colors:  Salty Ocean, Wilted Violet, Mermaid Lagoon and Blueprint Sketch.  I spritzed some water over it, dapped it with a paper towel and once completely dry, I stamped out some more snowflakes in a few of the Distress Oxide Inks over that to give it a little depth.  The ink marks left over the white snowflakes were easily wiped away because the heat embossing resists the inks.  I covered this entire panel with a Shimmer Spray.  (You can see it in the photo below!)

I layered this piece onto a purple cardstock base and then layered it over a blue piece of cardstock cut from a stitched A2 sized rectangle die which was then mounted over a top folding A2 sized white card base.

I’ve used some White Glitterstock and cut a “snow hill” for the deer with a stitched hillside border die and glued that to cover the entire bottom of the card.  I also took another strip of that Glitterstock and used my MS goo border punch to create the small border above the sentiment, which generates a more “cold feeling” to the card.

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I’ve printed out the deer image with Copic Blending Card, colored it up with Copics and then fussy cut it out…including the “fart cloud” and popped it up over the snowy hill with some foam tape.

Before attaching it to the glittery snow hill, I took a couple of Copic markers to create a bit of shading for the deer standing on the snow.  I also took a white gel pen and added some dot markings on the back of the deer.

You can also see where I’ve added some glossy accents to his eyeballs and I even took some Star dust glitter and added it to the snowflake in the “fart cloud”.

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Well I hope you got a giggle from my card today! LOL!  This will be a fun one to send along!

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

Challenges:

  1.  Creatalicious – #176 Anything Goes with optional Winter
  2. Sparkles Christmas– Winter Wonderland
  3. A Bit More Time to Craft – Anything Goes
  4. Crafts Galore Encore – Anything Goes
  5. Cute As a Button – Anything Goes with optional twist:  Let it Snow!
  6. Cardz 4 Guyz – Christmas Critters
  7. Creative Inspirations – Festive Fun

Cards From My Heart

Hello friends!  With this not cooler, but COLDER weather we’ve been having, it looks like it may be a hard winter ahead and I’m already feeling it in my body unfortunately.  So with the heating pad and warm slippers,  I’m still crafting!

Today I’d like to share some cards that I have made for my hubby using some of the adorable stamps from Lawn Fawn …which I love:

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At the end of October hubby and I celebrated our 20-year anniversary, and I made this card for him to let him know how I feel about him after all these years.  This would be something that we would certainly do where we live!  We always enjoy looking at the night sky together.

I started with some watercolor paper and blended some distress inks for the background and spritzed it with water.  I then made sure it was completely dry before white heat embossing the stars that I colored in the centers with a gel pen.  I then took a white gel pen and added more “dots” in the sky.

I’ve used Upon a Star and the Winter Skies stamp sets for both the images and sentiment. I took the Little Town border die to add over top of the starry sky and layered it onto a navy card base that has some more die cut stars (from Upon a star coordinating dies) at the top sponged with white ink.

For the sentiment, I had to piece together a couple of words from different sets to get it to say what I wanted it to.  I cut it out with a long banner die from My Favorite Things.

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Here’s a closer view of the sky and the images.  For the fox couple, I black heat embossed it and then used my Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers to color them with and then popped them up over the corner of the scene with foam dots.

I actually used a color palette and sketch from a challenge blog, but missed the deadline to post it, but I think it turned out great and hubby enjoyed it.  He said, “Yes, this is something we would do!”  He also likes the color blue.

Here’s another card I made for hubby as his birthday was this last Friday:

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Although this one is a bit simple, it has a really fun interactive element to it!  If you’ve known me for a while, then you may know that my husband is an electrician, so this card was very fitting for him!

I have used the Lawn Fawn Turn Me On stamp set and coordinating dies along with the Life is Good stamp set for the sentiment and the Push Here stamp set to make this card.  I also have a large stash of Lawn Fawn papers that I’ve used for this which I don’t think are available any longer.

I used vellum for the light bulb that was heat embossed over it and then I colored it yellow on the backside of the vellum to place behind the die cut opening from the blue panel.  That was die cut with the coordinating dies.  I stamped and colored the light switch as well and also die cut it out over the blue panel.  I then white heat embossed the sentiment and cut it out with a sentiment banner die from MFT.  It was sponged with white ink and glued over the blue panel.

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The best part of this design is that when you push on the light switch, the light bulb turns on!  I’ve used the Chibitronics to create this feature.

You can see here what it looks like when you push on the light switch!

You can also check out this quick few second video to see it in action below:  (CLICK HERE if you want to see it on You Tube.)

Although this looks like a pretty simple card, mechanically it had its difficulties with the light up interior portion of it and it was met with some challenges and patience as I had to keep testing it to make sure it worked right!  At one point I had to tear it apart because the battery accidentally flipped over!  I also had to use like 4 layers of foam tape so that the light wouldn’t continuously be on all the time! LOL!

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It was all worth it though as it was for the love of my life, and he really did appreciate the efforts that went into making it as he even took it to work with him so that he could show it to his fellow co-workers!  LOL!  They seemed to be pretty impressed with it and even offered some advice on how much to charge for something like this!  LOL

The card was thick due to the amount of foam on it, so it didn’t fit into a regular envelope. Since it went to hubby, I just hand delivered it to him! 🙂

Hope you’ve enjoyed my share of creations today that I made for hubby!  I will be seeing you again soon!  Thanks for dropping in friends…I will be visiting soon!

Challenges:

  1.  Lawn Fawnatics – Cards for Guys
  2. Creatalicious – Anything Goes with optional:  For a Man
  3. Crafty Friends – Anything Goes
  4. Cardz 4 Guyz – All Wrapped Up (top card with scarves)
  5.  Get Creative – Anything Goes
  6. Through the Craft Room Door – Anything Goes
  7. Retro Rubber – Anything Goes + stamps older than 1 year (ALL listed are at least 1 year or older!)

Spots and Dots for Cute Card Thursday

Hello friends!  Hope you’re having a great week so far.  The month of October is flying right through and I know once Halloween gets here, it will be the end of the year before we know it!

Today starts a new challenge over at Cute Card Thursday this week!  We are looking for “Spots and Dots” on your creations this time!  We look forward to seeing your take on this one!

For my card, I decided to keep it rather simple:

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This card is using items from the Simon Says Stamp Sweet Birthday Limited Edition card kit which has since been sold out, but I know that you can still purchase a few of the items that were included in the kit.

I started out by taking the SSS Celebrate stencil from the kit and spread on some Deco Foil Transfer Gel over a white piece of cardstock from the kit and let it completely dry before moving on.  After it was dry, I took the Rainbow Shattered Glass transfer foil sheet and put it through my laminator.  It looks so pretty and shinny with a wow factor to it!  I cut this piece down and layered it over a black scallop square die cut panel.  I then layered these pieces over the green colored Tim Holtz Metallic paper from the kit.

For the square card, I used a black top folding 4.25″ black card base and then layered another piece of that green metallic paper over it.  I took a ‘dotted’ piece of paper from the Honey Bee Over the Rainbow papers (included in the kit) and layered it over top of the metallic green.  Then I added my foiled balloons panel over this.

Lastly, I took the sentiment from the Simon Says Stamp Sweet Birthday stamp set and white heat embossed it over a piece of black cardstock that I trimmed down to a banner and popped up over the card with some foam tape.

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I really didn’t want to add too much more to it as it was for a male and I think with all of that foil and shine, it really didn’t need much else!  I think it’s fun, simple and really cheery looking especially with that foiling done.

I know that I’m getting this fun kit out again very soon as I am in need of another birthday card to send to someone that needs a good birthday cheer!

Challenges:

  1.  Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – PIP1941 Anything Goes
  2. Crafty Cardmakers – Sparkle
  3. Through the Craft Room Door – Anything Goes
  4. A Bit More Time to Craft – Anything Goes
  5. Watercooler Wednesday – WWC243 Masculine Anything Goes

Thanks so much for stopping in and sharing a bit of myself with you!  Wishing you a beautiful day friends!

Brand New Images from Digi Doodle Studios + Video!

Hello friends!  Happy Friday!  I’m happy for the weekend to get here, how about you?!  The weather has started to cool down slightly and it’s so nice to have that air conditioning turned off for a change!

Today I’m super excited to share with you some really fun and adorable new image set that Digi Doodle Studios has come out with from the brand new “Pairables” Collection!  The set that I’m sharing today is adorable and so fun to mix and match images with!  Check out the two cards I made with it:

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I absolutely had so much fun creating a little scene with the images and then printing them out for coloring and making cards with!    All of the images that I’ve used here come from the new Digi Doodle Studios Charming Enchanters Wizard Pairables Digital Stamp Set and I believe that I’ve probably used most of the images from the set on these two cards.

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For this particular card, I’ve used my computer to arrange the stars from the wizard’s wand and the sentiment how I want them placed and then printed it out twice.  One I printed on Copic blending card and another image printed out on Neenah Solar White cardstock so that I can do the ink blended background on it.

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Here’s a closer view of the coloring details on the wizard.  You can see that he has a bit of a “glow” about him.  So after I colored him in with my Copic markers, I decided that I could use a yellow color pencil to add just a bit of glow to certain parts of the image.  I’ve then used gel pens to color in other detailed portions of the image and a white gel pen for the stars in the background as well.  I’ve tried to capture a little bit of that stunning shimmer for the background, but of course it doesn’t show up as great as it is in real life!

He was fussy cut out and placed over the ink blended background that I’ve made.

Since my last video on the ink blending, I’ve had a few more questions about it, so I thought I’d share a more in-depth look into it.  To see a video of how I’ve created the background on this “wizard” card, I’ve made a video to show in detail how I’ve done it with a few tips and tricks along the way.   So check it out below or watch it on You Tube by CLICKING HERE.

I hope that this helps a little more on explaining how I achieved the look for ink blending backgrounds.  I know that I’ve had people ask me to do a video on another background I’ve made on another card, so perhaps I will share another video on that later.

If you do have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment here or on You Tube or contact me and let me know!  If you have other suggestions, I’d always love to hear that too!

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Here’s the other card that I’ve made using the same Charming Enchanters Wizard Pairables Digital Stamp Set.  Again, I’ve arranged and sized the images how I wanted them on my computer, printed it out just the same as above and fussy cut out all of the colored images to place over my background.

I’ve mounted the image panel over a piece of purple cardstock and then placed it over a top folding 5″ square black card base.  I’ve used a piece of ribbon to run behind the layered image panel and then added some fun decorative metal corners on it.

For this card on the background, I didn’t distress it with water, I just left it ink blended.

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Here’s an up-close look at the coloring I’ve done on the image.  You can see again that I’ve used my gel pens to color in the tiny details like the stars on her hat, the bubbles from her cauldron, the bookmarker and the tiny nail on the wall.

To get the glow on the images, I’ve taken a green colored pencil and added it in the places that I thought her green magic potion would glow from.

Thanks so much for stopping in and hanging out with me today!  See you soon!

Challenges I’d like to enter:

  1. Get Creative – Anything Goes
  2. Through the Craft Room Door – Anything Goes
  3. Try it On Tuesday – Boys/Girls/Children
  4. Addicted to Stamps and More – Make Your Mark
  5. Crafting By Designs – September Anything Goes

Projects with Patterned Papers!

Hello friends!

I have sort of went a little “crazy” with the papers, but there are lots of fun tips, techniques and even a tutorial below to help you use those left over pieces you don’t want to throw away from your patterned papers!  I ALWAYS have left over pieces and I know you do too if you’re a hoarder like myself! LOL!

Here’s what I’ve been up to:

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I have used the same Patterned Paper Collection for each one of these designs and I love how they all turned out different too!  I’ve used a Bold Rainbow Paper Pad for all of these designs.  I’ve made a couple of cards with some fun techniques and I’ve also used the same papers to decorate my two Post-It Note Holders too.

Be sure to grab a beverage and stick with me for some paper crafting fun!

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Starting with this card, I thought it would be fun to take my left over strips and create a fun background for a card!  I also tend to hoard those tiny pieces of Glitter paper too!  So I’ve cut some very thin strips and placed those between the Rainbow paper pieces too.

How I’ve done this is simply by taking a piece of white Cardstock (you could even use copy paper to keep thickness down!) and attaching each strip down laying it right up next to each one as I go.  When I’ve covered the piece, I took a rectangle die cut and cut out the panel so that it all looks uniform even though all of the strips I used were uneven to begin with.

I’ve finished off my card by attaching my paper pieced panel to a top folding A2 sized black Cardstock base and then adding the fun sentiment that was heat embossed with white EP over a piece of black Cardstock.  I took some white ink and rubbed some over it and added some stitch marks along the edge with a white gel pen for a sort of chalkboard look.

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Here’s another card I made actually using more of the strips from the Bold Rainbow Paper Pad.  I took the strips once again and adhered them to a piece of thin paper this time and lined up two different patterns next to each other.  I then took a circle punch and punched them out and then attached these in a pattern over a black card front piece.  I took a rectangle die and cut it out for the background.

So to give it a bit of texture and sort of a “quilt” pattern look, I took a Vintage Tapestry embossing folder and embossed the background too.

Then for the sentiment, I took and heat set it with Gilded EP.  I also added a few of the tiny stars from the set with it and then cut the whole thing out with a stitched circle die.  I also took the Embossing Ink and rubbed it around the edges of the circle and then heat set it with the Gilded EP.  I attached the circle over the background panel and cut off the part hanging off the side with my Scissors.

You will also notice at the bottom of the card that I took a strip of cardstock and covered it with Embossing Ink and heat set that strip with the same Gilded EP.  I attached that to the bottom of a white A2 sized top folding card base.

I then added a gold ribbon around the paper pieced background and attached the bow.  Then I just added this background piece over the white card base.  I finished it with some gold sequins and added glitter in the center of each one.

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I still wasn’t finished after the cards, so I made a couple of Post-It Note Holders too!  You will notice the one with the flower on the right, I’ve also used some of these papers to create a dimensional flower with it too!

To create the flower, all I did was punch out three different sized scallop circles, then used my scissors to cut into each scallop and creating petals that I lifted up for dimension and then layered each one on top of each other and added a glittery brad in the center.  I also used some black Ink to sponge around them.

The papers were cut with a scalloped square die cut for both of them and then layered them over a piece of black Cardstock.  I die cut a piece of white Cardstock with a stitched circle die and then sponged around the edges with some orange ink.  I then die cut a piece of black cardstock with a stitched scallop circle die for layering.

For the sentiment on the left holder, I took the sentiment and heat set it with black Sparkle EP.

The base of the Post It Note Holders were made using some orange cardstock.

And if you’d like to learn how to make one of these Post It Note Holders, then check out the step-by-step photo tutorial below:  (measurements shared in photos)

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Well that’s all I have for now! 🙂

Thanks so much for stopping by today friends!  See you real soon!

Challenges I’d like to enter:

  1.  Cardz 4 Guyz – Celebrate
  2. Tuesday Throwdown – Stripes
  3. CCEE Stampers – CCEE1935 – Encouragment (sending to a friend)
  4. A Bit More Time to Craft – Anything Goes
  5. Papercraft – Handmade/Stamped flowers
  6. Love to Scrap – #125 Anything Goes
  7. Scor-Pal – Sept More Than One Fold “Back to School”

Bookmark for the 2 Crafty Critter Crazies September Challenge

Hello friends!  Welcome to September!  Can you believe that it is here already?!  I’m looking forward to all things Fall and seeing all the wonderful crafty inspiration from everywhere for sure!

It’s been a while since I’ve shared a post for the 2 Crafty Critter Crazies Challenge, but I’m so happy to be back with my design team friends for this month’s challenge!  The theme each month is always “Anything Goes + a critter“.  So if you make something with a critter on it, we want to see it!  We look forward to seeing your crafty critter creations this month!

Our sponsor for this month’s challenge is QKR Stampede and they’ve provided some fun images for the team to use in their creations.  Here’s my project:

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September is the time we know that the kids are back at school.  I remember telling my boys that it was time for them to start “hittin’ the books!”  They never seemed to care for that too much though!  LOL!  Thinking back at those old school days, I thought it would be nice to create a school themed bookmark with this adorable image from QKR Steampede called Reading Books.

Speaking of learning, I pulled out some Distress Oxide Sprays and played around with them on my tag to see what results I got.  I was surprised at how nicely the colors blended together.  I then took a Tim Holtz stencil and inked it up with embossing ink and heat embossed the letters with a Brutus Monroe Raven Sparkle EP.

Not quite finished with my background, I knew I wanted to use some black seam binding ribbon for the top of my tag, so I grabbed some silver alcohol ink and dabbled the ribbon with it.  What was left on my glass surface, I took a fan brush and splattered some of it over the tag background.  I also rubbed it along the edges of the tag.

To give the bear image a bit of a “ground” to sit on, I took a strip of Brutus Monroe Black Glitterstock and attached it at the bottom of the tag.  Then for the word strips at the top, they’re from a cardstock sticker panel I had from an old card kit.  (They got splattered along with the background.)  Lastly, I just added a button with some twine in the middle of my seam binding bow.

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And here’s a better look at this adorable bear image who’s studying really hard on his book!  I thought it would be funny to title the book for him.  So I took out my Copic liner pen and wrote in “Book of Honey” on the cover!  LOL!

I’ve colored up this image with Copics and fussy cut him out to attach to the bottom of the tag/bookmark.  I turned him over and rubbed a stylist over him to add some dimension to the image.  I popped him up with some foam dots over the black glitterstock strip.

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I hope you’ve enjoyed my bookmark/tag project today!  I had fun playing around with some media that I hadn’t had a chance to play with which was really fun!

Thanks for hanging out with me this weekend!  Hope you had fun or were inspired in some way!  I’ll be seeing you soon!

Challenges I’d like to enter:

  1. QKR Stampede – #361 Anything Goes
  2.  Simon Says Stamp Monday – ‘S’ is for…”Sprays, Stack of books, seam binding, school, study, stories, sit”
  3. TGIF Challenge – #TGIF227 Product Spotlight embossing powder

Never Fear, Super Penguin is Here!

Hello friends!  You ever have that certain someone in your life whenever you feel that things are falling apart, that there’s one individual that makes you feel everything is going to be alright?  It’s nice to know that you can always depend on that person to come when you call, right?  They deserve special recognition like a hand-made card that I’ve made today:

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Isn’t he adorable?!  This is the Penguin Superhero digital stamp released this month (previously released in red rubber) from Whimsy Stamps.  I have combined some older (retired) stamps from Whimsy Stamps along with some fun ink blending and coloring to come up with this design.

I’ve used some kraft colored ink to stamp the buildings on the panel behind penguin and then used some ink blending and distress inks for the little “sidewalk strip” the penguin is standing on along with the city scape sky.  I took a stencil to go over top of the the sky background.  I popped the  fussy cut penguin over top of that with some foam tape.  This was mounted over a black cardstock layer that was mounted over the card front base and popped up with foam tape.

To make the card front, I randomly stamped some images with white ink over a kraft colored card base that I matted onto a white layer which was then mounted over a black A2 sized top folding card base.  I took a strip of red cardstock and made my own banner with it using scissors.  I did the same for the sentiment banner in black cardstock that I white heat embossed over it.  Lastly, I took some silver stars and glued them on the design.

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Here’s a good close look at the coloring that I’ve done on this cutie.  Something different that I’ve done here is to color with both Copics and pencils on this one.  Basically the reasoning for doing this was because a couple of my Copic markers are running out of ink and it was hard to get the blend that I wanted…so I finished it off with Prisma colored pencils.  (I’m waiting for refills to arrive! LOL)  Here are the Copics that I used on my coloring:

  •  Penguin body – C8, C5, C3, C1, C0, R00, YR27, YR24, Y21
  • Cape, letters – R39, R37, R35, R32
  • Shirt – B39, B37, B34
  • Letter outline – Y38, Y35
  • blended with Prisma colored pencils on penguin body, cape and shirt

The penguin was fussy cut with scissors and popped up over the scene with foam tape.  I also gave the penguin’s shirt initials a bit of shimmer with the Wink of Stella Glitter Brush Pen.

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I hope you’ve enjoyed my card with this sweet Whimsy Stamps Penguin!

Thanks so much for stopping in and I’ll be posting again shortly…stay tuned!

Challenges I’d like to enter this card for:

  1.  Krafty Chicks –  #468 masculine
  2. The Creative Crafters – Anything Goes
  3. Sheepski Designs – Animal Madness
  4. QKR Stampede – #359 Anything Goes

Russell is Rustling in the Leaves!

Hello friends!  Can you believe that Fall is right around the corner already?!  I so look forward to this every single year! What’s your favorite Season? Fall is my favorite season and I just love everything Fall related!   I’m excited to share this really cute and fun Autumn style card with you today using some Whimsy Stamps products!

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I think he’s just having too much fun in the crisp cool Autumn air, don’t you?!  This is Russell from the Whimsy Stamps August digital release just in time to start your Autumn makes!  I can picture him colored up in all sorts of fun Autumn colors, right?!  I’ve colored him up with Copics over some X-Press It Blending Card.  (See photo below for Copic list details.)

After coloring him, I’ve cut him out using the Whimsy Stamps Notched Square dies and then cut another piece of brown cardstock to layer behind him.  I took some fun plaid papers for the background that was cut out with a rectangle stitched die.  Then I took another piece of the brown cardstock and white heat embossed a sentiment from my stash that was cut out with the Whimsy Stamps Quick Strips die set.

I took the plaid background and the brown layer behind Russell and attached them together.  Then I took a strip of score tape and wrapped it around both of these layers.  I sprinkled some pretty Autumn colored glitter over the tape and burnished it in.  Then I glued the leaves down and then popped up the image as well as the sentiment banner with foam tape.  To finish it off, I took some dimensional glue to create small “dots” randomly on the design and then I sprinkled some more of the same glitter I used for the strip over them and let it dry.  A little glitter never hurts!

Vicki-WSRussell-Aug6-close

Here’s a closer look at Russell and how I’ve got him colored up.  Here’s the Copic markers I’ve used to color him with below:

  • Leaves – R22, R24, V95, V01, YR14, YR12, Y23, E33, E31, E30, YG63, YG61
  • Grass – G24, G21, G20
  • Squirrel – E15, E13, E11, E53, E51
  • Russell’s outfit – YR18, YR15, YR12, E44, E42, E43, E41
  • Skin – E000, E00, E02, E11, E21, R20
  • Hair – Y21, Y32, E43
  • Shadows – BG10, BG000

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This was a really fun card to put together and color up!  Now I’m excited for all things Fall coming soon!  I hope you liked my card today and inspired you in some way!

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

I’d like to enter this card for the following challenges:

  1.  Creative with Stamps – Dad/masculine
  2. Crafting With an Attitude – Anything Goes
  3. Love to Craft – LTCCB37 Aug Anything Goes
  4. Brown Sugar – Anything Goes
  5. Simply Create Too – Anything Goes
  6. Send a Smile 4 Kids – Thank you for Kids or Anything Goes