Rainbow Bridge

Hello friends!  Welcome to March!  Although it’s still cold and even some snow coming in our forecast, I know that warmer weather is coming soon along with those pretty flowers!  I have a full weekend of crafting coming, so I’m prepared to get through this cold snap!

So I have unfortunately had to make and send a couple of pet sympathy cards as I didn’t have any on hand.  I decided that I needed to pull out a card kit from My Favorite Things called “Rainbow Bridge“, I think.  It’s no longer available, but I know they have a few things in pet sympathy.  I wanted to make sure that I still had some of these on hand when needed because I feel like these can be hard to make.

This card was made and sent out in January for someone who lost their precious fur friend.  I thought the silhouette looked a similar shape to the photos I saw.  I’ve used the stencil and dies that came with the kit along with some of the papers included in the kit with the paw prints.  I’ve also used the same papers as a liner for the inside of the envelope that you can see in the photo.

I’ve ink blended some rainbow colors and then used the die set in the kit to make the rainbow bridge and added some hearts around the silhouette pup which was popped up over the rainbow bridge.

I also needed to make a kitty one and then just decided that I was going to use this card kit to make several of these different pet sympathy cards so that I had some on hand when needed.  I thought that was a clever card kit and knew it would be very useful to create lots of pet sympathy cards with.

  • These are all in the gallery below, so if you’re on my website, just click on each photo to enlarge the size so you can see the details:

Sometimes it’s just good to sit down and craft to have some cards on hand that you know you’ll probably need at some point, but don’t want to hurry to try and put something together because you need it.

Hope you’ve gotten some inspiration in my post today or found some inspiration with it.  Thanks so much for stopping in today!  

Challenges:

  1. Allsorts – Anything Goes optional 4-legged Friends
  2. Crafty Animals – Anything Goes + animal
  3. Critter Crazy – Anything Goes + Featured Creature
  4. Pearly Sparkles – Include Sentiment/Verse
  5. The Diva’s That Cut Paper – Anything Goes
  6. Penny’s Paper-Crafty – Anything Goes Using Paper
  7. Love to Craft – Anything Goes
  8. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – Anything Goes

*Vicki*25 Comments

Friendly SWAPs

Hello friends!  The weather has been really nice over my way so I’ve been taking advantage of it by enjoying the outdoors before it starts changing into more chilly temperatures.  All of the prize winners have contacted me and the packages have all been sent out.  I have received notice that the U.S. winners have gotten their packages and hopefully the overseas will be arriving soon.  My thoughts are also with those that were affected from Storm Ian and hope for healing and recovery as soon as possible.

Although it’s been a while since I last posted, I have been working on some things for SWAPs and a few other cards that I had created as well to share with you.

  • please click on the photos below to see them close-up

Within a FB Group that I’m in, we could choose to join an ATC SWAP with the theme of “Friendship” and these are the cards that I had created.  I swapped with two others and then kept one set of three for myself.  I was excited because this is the first ATCs I’ve sent overseas and really enjoyed making the collection.  I thought the butterfly theme with similar colors would work keeping the “Friendship” in mind… 

And then below are the set of ATCs I’ve received from my SWAP partners in return.  The first lady sent her ATCs from Australia and the other lady was from the UK I believe.  Love them and was excited to receive them to add to my book.

I was also involved in another “Stamped Sampler SWAP” making those squares like I had done with my Summer one if you remember that with my friends Patti, Shirley and Donna.  This time our squares were the theme of Autumn/Fall using the Stampin’ Up! colors Pumpkin Pie and Mossy Meadow.  It’s so fun to see them come in and then put it all together in the frame!  Here’s how mine finished out:

For my Sampler frame, I used some different colored woodgrain pattern paper to attach the squares to and this frame is a bit different than my Summer Sampler (Check it out in THIS POST if you want to see that one.)  It can stand on a table surface or you can hang it up.  I also decided to add a burlap bow at the top of the frame using a hot glue gun.

This is the Sampler Square that I had made using the adorable fox from the Taylored Expressions Woodland Squad Die & Clear Stamp Combo set.  The background was stamped with the TE Four Seasons Stamp & Stencil Combo set using ONLY the background stamp in one color.  I then using some gold acrylic paint to splatter over it.  I also added a twine bow to the fox.  I believe we’re going to be doing another one for Winter too…stay tuned!

My friend Patti had also sent me an extra card kit from one of her classes along with her SWAP square, which I thought was so nice…so I had some fun putting it together as I don’t have this set which I believe is a Stampin’ Up! one.

The card kit had all of the pieces in it along with the stamped birds cut out, the stamped branches and sentiments (even on the included envelope) along with cut glitter clouds and flowers!  There was a sheet with photo and instructions so I just followed along except I die cut some leaves for the branches from a piece of scrap green paper I had.  Now I have a cute little birthday card ready to send out, so thank you for the fun Patti!😉

And speaking of birds and Stampin’ Up!, I had to make a sympathy card for someone that lost their pet bird.  I was looking through my stash and found an older Stampin’ Up! set with a bird silhouette which I thought would be good for a sympathy card like this.  I was inspired to pull out more of my older Stampin’ Up! stash to use so I used some old punches, ribbon and paper for my card as well.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the inspiration today and I thank you so much for stopping in!  If you have any questions about my post, please let me know.  Have a great day and see you soon!

Challenges:

  1. Lil’ Patch of Crafty Friends – Anything Goes (Bird sympathy card)
  2. The Corrosive – Anything Goes (Butterfly ATCs)
  3. Crafty Animals – Anything Goes + animal (Fox Square and/or Bird sympathy card)
  4. Fab ‘N’ Funky – Embossing wet/dry (Bird sympathy card)
  5. Creative Knockouts – Anything Goes (Butterfly ATCs)
  6. Sweet Stampin’ – Anything Goes EXCEPT birthday (Bird sympathy card)
  7. Ally’s Angels – Anything Goes (Butterfly ATCs)

*Vicki*19 Comments

Massive Mass Producing!

Hello friends!  I hope that you are having a great week so far!  After the little “heat wave” hit us, I’ve been enjoying some ‘nicer’ outdoor temperatures, finally.  As you may have read in a previous post, I had been working on my son’s wedding invites as well as some thank you cards for them to send out afterwards.  I will be sharing that later on, but today I have some other “mass production” that I’ve been working on in addition to those:

First up, I’d like to share a set of cards I’ve made for the Taylored Expressions Fans FB Group challenge for May which calls for “4-8 mass-produced cards. (similar or identical)” & the colors “Poblano Pepper with Confetti Cake“.  I do not own the Poblano Pepper, but I do have a small cube of Confetti Cake ink.

I’ve been wanting to create several sympathy cards so that I had them on hand instead of making at the last minute for one, so I was happy to get these made.  I decided it was just easier to make them identical so that I didn’t have to decide how to arrange or cut my papers, etc.  I’ve used the Taylored Expressions Diamond Botanicals with dies as well as the TE Diamonds Masking Stencils for the main image.  The background uses the TE Pierced Lattice Cutting Plate over a piece of Toffee cardstock.

Here’s a close-up look at one of the cards.  I stamped the floral image in black ink as well as the sentiment from the stamp set and then took one of the Diamonds masking stencil with some Confetti Cake Ink to softly blend around the edges of the sentiment area with it.  I also used a blender brush to blend around the edges of the cut Toffee layer too.

Since I only had the Confetti Cake ink color, I matched up the coordinating colors with my Copic markers and colored in the image using only those color tones.  I think it worked out great for sympathy cards.  After I colored up the images, I used the coordinating die cut and popped it up over the Toffee cut panels with foam tape squares and then layered it over a side folding white A2 card base.  I finished each one with some of those coordinating TE Pastel Tiny Diamonds.  (Although the suggested listed coordinating colors on the website don’t have the Poblano Pepper or Confetti Cake, I thought it matched up rather nicely to this anyway.)  I think these cards work out great for mailing too.

And speaking of sympathy cards and Taylored Expressions, I thought it would be great to create a nice gift set too:

If you remember one of my previous posts, you may remember where I created a greeting card gift set (CLICK HERE).  I’ve went along with the same idea here and made them all sympathy related cards using my own acetate box and some Taylored Expressions products.  These were all quick and easy to pull together using the Taylored Expressions Done for You Alcohol Ink Background Panels along with a previously released card kit stamp set/dies.

I decided to heat emboss several of the fern images with white, gold and silver over a few of the panels, some over white and vellum and then cut out.  I placed them along with the heat embossed sentiments cut out and arranged them over the panels.  I matched up the cardstock that I had from my stash with the panels to create the completed cards.

Here’s a gallery of a few of the cards up close along with the finished gift box tied with a ribbon: (Just click on each photo from my website to see them enlarged.)

I think this will make a nice gift for someone as I always hear people saying they never have a sympathy card on hand when they need one or for those people that don’t make their own cards too.

And lastly, I’ve made a couple sets of mini slimline style cards using the Taylored Expressions In the Garden-Triple Slim Layering Stencil:

I quickly fell in love with these quad type of stencils especially with these gorgeous florals!  I love the way these floral panels are different from one another and you can stencil them all up with the same color in one pass!  I needed a couple of Mother’s Day cards, so making all of these at once sure came in handy for bonuses too!

Using the “craft-along” video from Taylor and Heather, I used the same, or similar colors that was used, added my black splatters and then used the TE On Occasion with dies as well as the TE Get The Word Out-Mother’s Day with dies for the sentiments where I white heat embossed over black cardstock and cut out.  I just glued to the panels and attached each panel to a white mini slimline card base.

And then here’s another set of mini slimline cards using the same products as above except I used Toffee instead of the white cardstock for these.  I also stamped the sentiment with dark brown ink over white cardstock and then cut them out to place over the stenciled panels. 

I also used both dark brown and white paint to make the splatters over these.  I also used the TE mini slimline stitched and scallop die cuts for these cards and then layered them over top of a Toffee mini slimline card base.  I’ve also added a few TE white rhinestones for a bit of sparkle too.

I also think that these would make great greeting card gift sets as well!  So then it’s just a matter of which ones to keep and which ones to give away as a gift!?🤔

Hope you’ve enjoyed my mass production post today or have been inspired in some way.  Thank you so much for taking the time to drop in and say hi as I enjoy hearing from you!

Challenges:

  1. Creative Friday – No patterned paper (top set of cards only)
  2. Colour Crazy Craft – Anything Goes with coloring (top set of cards only)
  3. Creative Fingers – Anything Goes
  4. Sparkles Monthly – Floral Frenzy
  5. Lil Patch of Crafty Friends – Anything Goes
  6. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – Anything Goes
  7. Stamping Sensations – Anything Goes optional: Flowers/Fauna

*Vicki*34 Comments

ATCs, Greeting Card Gift Set, Pet Sympathy and Class Results too!

Hello friends!  It seems that I have went MIA on you, but I promise I’m still here!  I’ve been really busy “Behind the Scenes” as they say and have many things going on at once that I’m trying to juggle, but I do have TONS of things to share that I’ve been doing and hope you enjoy seeing them!  (LOTS of photos!)

First up I have a couple of fun Summer themed ATC sized cards using some Inky Stamper sets called “Splash” and “Chaise Lounge“.  (Still not wanting to warm up much for Spring…so I’m wishing for HOT summer now!😁) I made them for this month’s theme of “ATC sized or mini cards” challenge in their FB group.  I started out with a sunray stencil and used some yellow glaze paste and once dried I added some watercolor over it which was resisted by the glaze which gave me this look for the background.  I splattered it and then added some strips of blue dotted paper cut from a wave border and then I ripped a piece of gold at the bottom.  I cut cut with a scallop die and layered over a black 2.5″x3.5″ piece of black cardstock folded in half and went around the edges with a gold ink pad.

I white heat embossed the sentiments from each stamp set and then cut portions of them out with my scissors to attach over the backgrounds.  The images were colored with Copics, fussy cut out and popped up with foam tape over top.

Next, I wanted to share a “Greeting Card Gift Set” that I have made and gave as a gift for someone.  I used this wonderful product idea from Taylored Expressions called “Stamp & Give Card Kit 1” and it’s something that I had wanted to put together for a very long time on my own, but this product came along recently which pushed me into gear with no excuse of gathering things together on my own as this was already together for me.  All I had to do was do the stamping and stenciling.  I coordinated the colors with what was in the set.  I like the fact that the recipient of this give set can choose which greeting they want to use for each card and the package of greetings are ready with a foam strip on the back of each one.  For my designs, I’ve used the TE “Floral Flurry” Background stamp and stencils which I received from the “Stamp Joy Virtual Event” that I had attended. (not in store as it was exclusive for the event…photos at the bottom of post for that!)  I’ve added 3 gems randomly to the fronts of each card.

With the kit, it comes with all of the envelopes, card bases, glassine bag to hold all of the sentiment strips, the card fronts and even the acetate box to put them all in.  I just added some ribbon once I put all the cards inside.  I certainly plan on doing some more of these greeting card gift sets soon!  I think it’s always nice to have a set of themed cards all together and ready to go when you need to grab one quickly!

Unfortunately, next up I needed a pet sympathy card and I thought you could never go wrong with paw prints and hearts.  I’ve kept this simple and pulled out some favorite Whimsy Stamps “Fill My Heart” and “Furever In Our Hearts” stamp sets for the paw prints and the sentiment. I’ve also used the My Favorite Things “Paw Prints Die-Namics” to die cut a couple of paw prints over the heart that I’ve punched out from red cardstock along with some smaller hearts above it.

I’ve used a glitter brush pen to make the hearts sparkly looking.  This was all done over a kraft colored card front that was cut with a double-stitched rectangle die and placed over an A2 sized white card base.

I really need to get a set of pet sympathy going so that I already have them on hand as needed because it seems like I’ve sent many out and don’t have anymore…and I need another one already.  I actually need to make sure I have several sympathy cards in general on hand, so I know I’ll be replenishing that soon too.

____________________________________________________________________________________

And lastly, I thought you might want to see all of the projects that I made during my classes and make-n-takes that I’ve done during the Taylored Expressions “Stamp Joy Spring Virtual Event” from last month…gosh, It’s been that long already and I’m just now posting them!🙄

The first four cards were from the classes on the first day (using the same product/style line), and the others are from the second day with all of the Make-n-Takes.  If you’re visiting directly on my website, just click on each photo below and it will enlarge so you can see it better along with the typed details about it!  

This is the first card in the TE Stamp Joy class series using the “Floral Flurry” products that I also used in the greeting card gift set above in the post. We used some markers on this for details and did some foiling. This is a “special” card….see next photo for the inside.
This is a “view finder” style of card, but lays flat for mailing. It’s a mini slim sized card.
Second card done with same floral products with some white and silver embossing details.
The sentiment on the acetate panel was pre-printed for us and we laminated it along with the background floral panel with gold foil. We turned it into a shaker card.
Last card for the classes was done over Toffee cardstock with some splattering details. I’ve used paint for mine.
Card one of Make-n-Takes with ink blending and using pixie spray to foil…pretty shimmer!
Make-n-Take 2 with a cool secret “ghosting effect” for a mini slim sized card!!
Make-n-Take 3 was this set of four cards using a fun “Mod” Create-in-Quads Layering Stencil” and coordinating stamp set for sentiments and accents!
Make-n-Take 4 was this cut mini slim sized card with highlight details using a white gel pen.
Make-n-Take 5 with ink blended stencil background and adding details with colored pencils. I splattered with white paint.
Make-n-Take 6 was one of my faves with the sparkly embossed strips in the middle and the black glossy die cut elements!
Make-n-Take 7 was fun with the ink blending and adding glitter paste through stencil. The critter is too cute!

I’m really far behind in catching up with whatever the challenges currently are as well as seeing what’s going on with my fellow blogging friends, so I will get going as soon as I can!

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

*Vicki*23 Comments

Making Condolence and Get Well Cards

Hello friends!  I hope that you’re having a great start to your week and are staying safe and warm in your world.

Today I’m sharing a collection of creations that I never seem to have in my stash because it’s never really something that I think about when creating…and I always seem to be making them as needed rather than having a few on hand.  Even though, a couple of these were needed, I decided to make duplicates to have on hand this time around.

As you can see, this is a pet sympathy card I created and one was needed to send to a friend that had recently lost her special companion.  For anyone that has lost a pet knows how this feels and I wanted to be sure to send something special her way.  It’s always great to have one on hand when needed.

I’ve used this wonderful stamp set from Whimsy Stamps called Furever in Our Hearts.  I started by ink blending the background with distress inks in Candied Apple, Carved Pumpkin, Squeezed Lemonade, Mowed Lawn and Blueprint Sketch on a piece of Neenah Solar White.  I sprayed the panel with water and used a towel to blot up the water droplets.  I then took some white shimmer paint mixed with water and splattered it over top with a paint brush.

I cut out the panel with a Lawn Fawn Cross-stitched die.  I used my Brilliance Black pigment ink to stamp the paw prints and sentiment over top of it so that it would show up over the background.  I die cut a couple of clouds out (MFT I think) and lightly sponged the bottom of them and placed them over the areas I wanted with popping up the one cloud using foam tape at the top of the paw prints.  I layered this panel onto a piece of black cardstock and then layered them both over a white A2 sized top folding card base.  I finished it off with a few sparkling clear sequins.

Another card that I needed was for someone that had recently been through a surgery and I actually didn’t have any more “get well” in my stash… again, so I decided to create a duplicate of this one too.  This set of cards along with the set of cards below actually were the results from the previous OOAK event (Craft Fancy class) I had attended and these were part of a class I had taken.  So this class actually came in handy!

All of the papers including that beautiful die (from Memory Box-Verdant Leaf Collage), Get Well Soon die, and dewdrop water droplets came with the kit.  I subtly changed up the design given for the class by adding black paint splatters and changing up the die cut lettering and the layering of the papers.   I really liked doing more of that ink blending and then having it fade to the white for a soft look.  The outside woodgrain frame was popped up with foam tape.

And here’s the second set of cards created within the same class using the same Memory Box die and ink blended colors.  I changed up the layout with these as well by making the card base black (instead of white like shown in class) and instead of the sentiments used in class, I created my own version with the Whimsy Stamps Deepest Sympathy clear stamps and the WS Sympathy Heartfelt and Condolences die set.  I also added the black paint splatters to the ink blended panels like on the set above.

I thought these sets made for some really nice cards to have on hand when needed.  I’m not sure that I would’ve actually sat down to make up these type of cards in production if I hadn’t have taken the class, so I’m glad I did.

Thanks so much for stopping in today!  Hope I have inspired your crafty inspiration in some way!  I’ll be seeing you soon!

Challenges:

  1. Crafty Calendar – Anything Goes
  2. Happy Little Stampers – Anything Goes with Diesimage
  3. Lil’ Patch of Crafty Friends – Anything Goes 
  4. Stamping Sensations – Anything Stamped with optional add a die
  5. Addicted to Stamps and More – Make Your Markimage (1)
  6. Watercooler Wednesday – All About OccasionsChallenge WWC333 - Dawn's Challenge All About Occasions
  7. Penny’s Paper-Crafty – Anything Goes using paper 

*Vicki*29 Comments

Amazing Autumn🍂

Hello friends! Happy October! I hope that you’re having a great week so far and looking forward to doing something crafty this weekend for World Card Making Day!!🌍😀  I have decided to post something a bit early as I know there will be tons and tons of special posts planned by many, so I thought it best to post today instead!

IN THE MEANTIME, I DO HAVE A FUN GIVEWAY LOCATED ON MY POST BELOW OR CLICK HERE TO SEE IT!!  YOU HAVE UNTIL OCTOBER 10th TO ENTER…JUST LEAVE ME A COMMENT THAT YOU’RE INTERESTED!!

There are SO MANY things going on this time of the year and maybe that’s why I love Autumn so much. (WCD, Halloween, birthday, Cooler temps, warm clothes, Harvest, yummy foods, pretty colors, changing leaves, Halloween…oops already said that…but you know!)  I am thankful for all of it!  I have a couple of cards from a TE kit I recently got (yes, I know…another one to pile on!), but I fell in love with it so much & I am using it right away!😁

There is some copper EP that comes in the kit, so I heat embossed both the sunflower and wheat images together so that I could color them both at the same time with some watercolor.  I then cut them both out with the coordinating dies and set aside to work on my background.

The background was so fun!  I’ve used a Bristol Smooth watercolor panel and pulled out some Mica Stains and other sprays from my stash with a spray bottle filled with water and just played.  Some of it I splattered to make “dots”.  I used the “Burlap” background stamp in the kit and randomly stamped the background as well as heat embossed an element and sentiment from the stamp set.  I cut this panel with a die and wrapped some twine around it before attaching to a chocolate truffle card base.  I used some foam strips to pop up the flower and added a twine bow to it.  Finished it off with some Iridescent Rhinestones.

And this is the second card I’ve made using the wheat image that I previously colored with the sunflower image above.  What’s nice about this card is that the background was done using one of the foilable panels from the kit.  I found some copper foil and ran it through my laminator.  I lined up the cut out wheat image with the background and glued it over top cutting off the bottom portion that stuck out.  I also heat embossed a sentiment from the TE clear set in my stash and then punched it out with a circle punch.  I used my blender brush to very lightly add some Sea Salt ink at the top of the foiled panel as well as around the sentiment circle.

Lastly, I attached both the image and sentiment panels onto a piece of copper foil cardstock and then mounted it onto a side folding A2 white card base.  It was simple, but I like the shine it gives.

I had been discussing with someone recently how I really need to make more sympathy cards to have on hand…so here’s a start to getting a pile going hopefully.

Speaking of needing cards, all of the birthday cards from my last post have been spoken for!  Everyone seems to really need birthday cards and like having them on hand.  I can totally relate to that!  I think I need to get some “sorry I forgot” ones thrown in there too! 😂  

I still have some projects that I’ve been working on in the background from some classes I took over the Summer but still haven’t shared yet, so I thought I’d start a little bit at a time and I think these “Autumn themed” cards work with my post today:  (If you’re seeing this post on my website, just click on the photos below in the gallery to see them up close.)

  • These projects were from a class taught by Daniel West for Hero Arts and we received a large woodgrain background stamp for the class. It was fun to make the backgrounds!
  • This is an image from Impression Obsession that was more of a “Spring like” image, but changing up the colors for Fall gave it a different look. I sponged around the image and panel and added some splatters.
  • This was a Simon Says Stamp class using an older stamp set. We used some sprays and also colored with them for the images.

I have taken SO MANY classes, so I still have many more projects to share as I go here!  Hope that you enjoy seeing what I’ve been up to!  It’s just fun to play around and in the process…no matter how little a piece I use…I am using my stash somehow and I’m very happy about that!  At least I’m still crafting anyway! LOL

Thanks for dropping in and have a great crafty weekend!

Challenges to enter for the first two cards only:

  1. Sketch Saturday – Sketch #679 (my second card turned)
  2. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – Anything Goes
  3. Make My Monday – Embossing (heat on both cards)
  4. Penny’s Paper Crafty – Anything Goes using Paper
  5. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Anything Goes
  6. Happy Little Stampers – Watercolor (used on both images)
  7. Creative Knockouts – Fall is in the Air

*Vicki*24 Comments

Hello! Anyone still with me?

Hello there friends!  I know that I had posted that I’m stepping away , but this blog is still “active” for now and I have been crafting anyway…   so after stepping away from it, I still follow along with different companies and inspiration on FB. But because I have SO much product and I wanted to be able to actually USE the things that I have instead of letting it just “sit around”, I was taking photos and posting (in FB groups) anyway, so I thought why not just BLOG IT?!  Not just the crafty aspect of it all, but blogging itself is a bit of a release too.  It gives me a “record” of my crafty experience, what and why I might have done something…so I decided for my own personal reasons, to come back to this “old dinosaur” method to enhance my crafty journey.  It may not be exactly like it had been before, but that’s how crafty journeys evolve.

It’s been fun and busy with hubby being retired and home, but after getting use to it and traveling a bit, I was and still am taking a few classes here and there and just having fun.  Because of the pandemic, so many companies have turned to “online” classes, conventions, challenges, etc so I thought it was a great opportunity to try some of that out without the expense of traveling for it!  I’ve done several actually, but just mainly posted within the groups they were made for.  Then I started thinking once again about all of the “stuff” I have and still ARE accumulating…so my mission is to actually use the product I have. I will try NOT to keep purchasing in the future!  (Let’s see how THAT goes! LOL!)  The blogging might help keep me motivated in doing that too…I hope!

So if you are still following…Wow!  Thanks for being here!!  Not really sure how often I will be posting, but this will be mainly where I will be sharing anything “crafty” that I’m doing.  Maybe I can inspire someone to use their own crafty stash?  Hope you can join the fun with me here too! 🙂  

I’m starting with a couple of Summer classes that I just recently completed with Taylored Expressions.  She did a class earlier this month with a set of 4 completed cards using similar style products for each class.  The first one was called the “Gifted” class:

The top left card was used with a watercolor wash for the background.  There’s a cover plate die that cuts out all those presents which I used on the card below that one to arrange over the sponged square area.  The cards on the right side were both ink blended with the bottom right card using a stencil.  I’ve also added some sparkle with a glitter brush pen and some glossy accents to the die cut “YAY!” lettering.  Envelopes with seals were also included with this class set which you can see on the far right of the photo.  I always need birthday cards, so these will work out great!

This next set is also from Taylored Expressions that I just finished up this weekend.  Really enjoyed this class with some things that I forget about doing with my cards:

This class was called the “Diamond Botanical” class with another set of 4 cards.  The top left card was fun with a more mixed media style using paint for the background and splatters.  The only thing that I changed up was the background stamp.  I didn’t have the stamp from Taylored Expressions that they used in the class, so I used a Stampin’ Up! Birch background stamp I found in my stash. (So yay that I’ve already started with using my existing stash with the new!)

The top right card is a shaker card and the bottom left card is a gate fold card with the sentiment panel helping to hold it in place.  Again, with this class we were given envelopes with the matching seals off to the right.  These were fun little classes to take and get some cards completed with!

Hope you enjoyed these sets too and were inspired!  Are you taking any virtual or in-person classes or events this Summer?  Has your crafting experience changed for you recently and what things have you changed about it?

I know I’ll be back again with more creations I’ve been working on. Thanks for dropping in and I hope you’re all doing really well!  Have a great day! 🙂

*Vicki*34 Comments

MFT Summer School: Rule of 3 Sympathy

Hello there friends!  Hope you’re having a great week.

It seems, unfortunately, that every time I make another sympathy card, I run out and need to make another…it almost makes me hesitant to create another one to build my stash for the fear of it.  But as a card maker, I create with my heart and it’s important for me to share that with others and especially in times like this.  I know that those people that  know me, understand this.

(This post is dedicated to a family friend that has been around since I can ever remember him.  RIP Bill)

Vicki-MFTbutterflysympathy

Upon knowing that I needed to create a sympathy card, I had seen that the My Favorite Things Summer School had started and their first lesson was about “The Rule of 3” and so with that in my mind, I went to my MFT stash to create this card.

I first started with a piece of Whip Cream cardstock that was cut out with the A2 Stitched Rectangle Stax die and then stamped the large leafy image from the Dandelion Greenery stamp set with Grout Gray ink 3 times.  I also stamped the smaller leaf image 3 times over it as well.  I took the sentiment from the Deepest Sympathy stamp set and stamped it with the MFT Extreme Black ink.  I layered this panel over a top folding A2 sized Grout Gray cardstock base.

The butterflies were cut out with a die set no longer available…but I love them and can’t part with them!  I’ve used the Whip Cream cardstock for the outline of the butterflies, black for the middle sections and then I used:  Lemon Chiffon, Tickled Pink and Berrylicious cardstocks for the layers behind the butterflies.  I glued the centers only down so that the wings would pop out a bit.

Vicki-MFTbutterflysympathy-close

Here’s a closer look at the butterflies and you can see on the colored portion of each of the butterflies that there is a bit of a shimmer on the wings.  I took my glitter brush pen to go inside each section of them.  I’ve also added 3 Ice Sparkle Crystals to the design for a bit more sparkle.

Vicki-MFTbutterflysympathy-flat

So as you’ve noticed, I took the “rule of 3” quite literally with my design here!  It actually helped me to focus on that particular lesson to finish up my card.  Sometimes, I’ve noticed it really helps to “challenge myself” with a project so that I have something to focus on when I need to complete a task that would otherwise be difficult if I was just staring at a blank piece of cardstock.  Don’t back down from a challenge or anything in particular that helps keep you focused…especially during times like these right now, as it is something that may be of help for you in more ways than you realize!  It sure is for me anyway, and I really need it!

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope that I’ve helped inspire in some way!  Be well and happy friends.  I’ll see you again soon!

Challenges:

  1.  MFT Summer School – Lesson 1 “Visual Triangle”
  2. Dragonfly Dreams – Anything Goes
  3. Lil Patch of Crafty Friends – #139 Anything Goes
  4. Pearly Sparkles – #54 Anything Goes
  5. A Perfect Time to Craft – #8 Anything Goes
  6. A Bit More Time to Craft – #120 Anything Goes
  7. Love to Craft – LTCCB49 Anything Goes
  8. Double D – Butterflies

*Vicki*31 Comments

Crafty Chefs Group and Sympathy

Hello friends!  I know I’ve said this before, but it seems that I don’t ever have a sympathy card on hand when one is needed, so this time as I was making one because I needed it, I’ve also created an additional to have in my stash.

I have also just joined with some fellow crafty friends who started a sort of “challenge group” and I think we dubbed ourselves the “Crafty Chefs” simply because our challenges consist of “recipes” to follow of “MUST DO” and another list of “CAN DO” items to follow when making our projects and we each take turns being the “top head chef” in charge of making the recipes or lists.  It’s just something non-pressure and just for fun which I think is fabulous as it helps me to use up my expansive crafty stash and join my fellow friends in paper crafting which we all have in common and love to do!😀

Vicki-PaintchipSympathy

Here’s the sympathy card that I’ve come up with for our July’s Crafty Chefs Group Challenge!  The July challenge is as follows:

MUST DO:

  1.  monochromatic
  2. sentiment as focal point
  3. paint chips
  4. decorative papers

CAN DO: (items that are optional to add)

  1.  die cut
  2. favorite color
  3. summer fruits

When I saw the paint chips on the list, it immediately made me think of this technique with the wavy die cut along the edge of the design over a card and I think I had done it before, but it had been a long time ago.  So with the decorative papers in mind, I went through my stash to find different ones in similar monochromatic color and the most I had was the yellow color.  I love yellow, but if you know me, then you know purple is my favorite color…so I didn’t do that one or the summer fruits from the list..but the MUST DO are all included!

Vicki-PaintchipSympathy-close

I die cut the word for the focal point of my design with some of the pattern papers that I’ve used and cut several to stack on each other. I also die cut a butterfly to add as an accent along with the stitched wave border die to cut my edge with.  I also took the small word stamped with yellow ink over white and die cut it with a banner die to place over the design and then the panel was mounted over a yellow A2 sized top folding card base and finished with clear sequins that were filled with glitter glue.

Vicki-PaintchipSympathy-flat

I‘m really happy how it turned out and sort of challenged myself to make it a sympathy card.  It had it’s twists and turns to complete each thing on my list, but worth the thought process to figure out!  I’m glad I had this challenge!  Hope you enjoyed it as well! 

Vicki-SUsympathy

Here’s the sympathy card that I had made and actually hand delivered in person so I know they’ve already received it.

My thought on this one was the card was for females and I based my design on the flowers that I also gave to the recipient which had pinks in the mix along with the base of the lantern being white with the candle.

Vicki-SUsympathy-close

I went through my stash of floral stamps and have always loved this one from Stampin’ Up! which was stamped in black ink over white.  I used some watercolor to just color in one of the flowers within the image.  I used a piece of vellum to silver heat emboss the sentiment which was wrapped around the panel.  I also took some silver shimmer paint that was watered down and splattered over top.

Vicki-SUsympathy-flat

I die cut the panel, layered it over a piece of silver foil cardstock and then another piece of pink cardstock that was mounted onto an A2 sized white top folding card base.  Lastly, I’ve added some silver sequins to finish it off.

Thanks so much for stopping in today my friends!  I hope you’ve gotten some inspiration from my projects and I’ll be seeing you again soon!!

Challenges: 

  1.  Dragonfly Dreams – No Pattern Paper (second card only)
  2. 613 Avenue Create – #235 Anything Goes optional: Sentiment as Focal (first card only)
  3. Daisy Chain – #43 No Design Paper (second card only)
  4. The Corrosive– #7 Anything Goes
  5. Crafting Happiness – #56 Anything Goes optional: things that fly (first card only)
  6. Pammies Inky Pinkies – PIP2027 Anything Goes
  7. Creative Craft Cottage – #131 Add a Flower(s) (second card only)
  8. Creative Moments – #194 Anything Goes
  9. Little Red Wagon – #557 embossing (second card only heat embossing)

*Vicki*30 Comments

Pink Floral Sympathy

Hello friends! Welcome to June! We’ve certainly started off our June with hot temps! Trying to stay cool in the air condition and have some crafty time! How about you?

Unfortunately, it was time again that I needed another sympathy card and I don’t have any in my stash, so I’ve come up with one to send to the family of my GREAT aunt! She was always so great about sending me cards on my birthday even as she got older and it always made me smile!

So this is my final tribute to Aunt Rosella…RIP sweet lady.

I saw a couple of challenges going on and they actually inspired me to pull out an older stamp set that I’ve had and hadn’t used it but a couple of times and I think it’s really pretty. I’ve used the Beautiful Blossoms stamp set from Newton’s Nook for my card here.

I’ve used a sketch challenge to help me with the placement of the images and how I was going to layout the design. I’ve used a vanilla top folding A2 sized card base, die cut a scallop rectangle and then layered over another vanilla piece that was cut with a stitched rectangle die. I took a strip of pink cardstock and stamped the floral images over it with VersaMark ink and attached that along with the two square panels layered with some scalloped die cut square in black. Those vanilla panels were sponged along the edges with pink ink.

I took the floral images, stamped them over another piece of vanilla cardstock with some alcohol marker friendly ink and colored them in with my Copics. They were cut out with the coordinating die cut set. I used some foam tape to pop them up over the squares.

Upon closer view, you can see how I’ve done the sentiment here by heat embossing it over a piece of vellum with some Raven Sparkle EP and then fussy cutting it out. I used my Xyron matchine to make a sticker out of it and then I took the “sympathy” stamp from the Newton’s Nook “Super Sentimental” (No longer available) and inked it with the black ink under the vellum sentiment.

Of course it’s hard to see the shimmer over the flowers, but I’ve covered them some Spectrum Noir glitter brush pen and then lastly, I’ve added some clear sparkling sequins.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my sympathy card today and a reminder to all of us card makers to remember to build a small stash of these type of cards to have on hand. It’s something that I really need to do and always forget about doing it ahead of time.

I have more things that I’ve been working on coming soon, so I hope you’ll stop by again! Have a great day!😊

Challenges I’d like to enter this card for:

  1. Newton’s Nook Inky Paws Challenge – Flowers

2. {Cupcake Inspirations} – CIC494 Color Challenge: Pink, Black and Cream

3. Sunday Stamps – SSC232 Sketch “Getting Squared”

4. The Paper Players – PP493 Tic-Tac-Toe challenge: I used flowers, die cut and embossing

*Vicki*33 Comments