November GDT for Inky Stamper – It’s OWLright!🦉

Hello friends and happy November!  Really excited to share that I’ve been asked to a be guest designer this month for one of my favorite companies which is Inky Stamper!  Yay!🎉   If you follow along with me, then you’ve probably already seen some of my creations using their products.  Please be sure to click the badge below to be taken to the store! (The characters are so cute!)  I will be adding this badge to the sidebar of my blog here so you can find it if you want to come back to it later.

IS GDT Badge 2022

For my first project this month, I actually pulled out an older stamp set which I think is perfect for this time of year especially when you want to give “thanks” to those special people in your life.

Isn’t this guy with his quirky face adorable?!  I’ve used this fun Inky Stamper Owl stamp set with dies for this card. The punny sentiments that are always with these stamp sets make perfect options!

Have you seen the “Torn Window Card” technique around social media?  I think you could probably find it just about anywhere and not sure where exactly it originated from, but I wanted to try it and give it my own spin by creating a torn hole with a slightly pulled around opening.  Which I thought was a perfect “tree hole” for my quirky owl to pop out of!  What’s fun is that you don’t need any special tools or die to do this…just rip it!

For my papers, I’ve used the Doodlebug Buffalo Check & Woodgrain 6×6 paper pad from Inky Stamper with the brown color for the outside “tree trunk” portion that I ripped the hole in the center for and then another piece of the woodgrain in black for behind the hole which makes it look like the inside of the “tree trunk”.  Plus, I think it makes the owl stand out more.  To rip the hole, I just cut through it with scissors and gauged what size to rip based on my owl image.  I used some brown ink to sponge around the edges including around the “hole”.  I then distressed the edges of the paper as well as lifted/curled the torn edges of the “hole” area.  When I did that, it exposed the buffalo check pattern on the other side of the paper, so then I took my VersaMark ink pad to rub around the edges and gold heat embossed all the distressed edging.  I also gold heat embossed the sentiment from the stamp set over some of the black woodgrain for the banner at the bottom.

Here’s a closer look at the owl all colored up with Copic markers. I added a few white gel pen marks to his beak and feet.  I also colored up several of the leaves with this set and die cut all the pieces to attach to the card.  I glued the leaves around the owl and then for the owl, I glued the bottom of him over the leaves and then popped up his head with foam tape.  I also used foam tape for the leaf to the left of the owl.

For a little extra sparkle, I painted on (using a brush) some Liquid Pixie Dust for the leaves and the owl’s eye whites. To finish it off, I added some Picket Fence Sands of Time-Gems. (These are a couple of my personal favorite extras!)

I hope you’ve enjoyed my ripped hole owl card today and have been inspired to doing some ripping of your own!

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

Challenges:

*Vicki*24 Comments

Apple Picking Fun

Autumn is always a favorite time of the year with the changing of the Season: cooler temps, pretty colors and being able to go out enjoy all of nature with it’s bounty and beauty.  There’s also nothing better than freshly picked apples from the orchid too!  It’s something that I love to do with my husband every year at our local orchid.  

So when Lawn Fawn came out with this adorable set along with a free craft-a-long class, I knew I wanted to participate!

This is the first card we created using the LF Apple-solutely Awesome stamp set and dies.  For the class, we actually stamped, colored and cut out all of the images that we would be using for both of these cards.  I think the fun thing about this set is arranging the images to figure out where you want to place them for your scene.  Since it was a class and I didn’t have to think too much, I decided to just follow along with what I had and just enjoy the process.

I didn’t have the stencil set that they used for the class, so I had this Pink & Main Leafy Stencil that I thought would work out fine and I just blended different colors with some Oxide inks.  The white panel was cut with the LF Small Stitched Rectangle dies, popped up over the stenciled leaf panel and the sentiment was stamped at the bottom before attaching the images.

  • I’ve already sent this card to someone that gifted us some homemade applesauce…YUM!  (Already gone!)

And here’s the second card we created for the class using the same stamp set and stitched rectangle dies.  I had fun with that “cider jug” and adding a bit of sparkle to the contents inside with my glitter brush pen.

For the sentiment, I die cut it out with some LF Woodgrain Cardstock and ink blended some brown Oxide ink at the bottom of the die cut.  I used some foam strips to pop it up over the panel.  The white panel was done the same as the above card.  I used the same stencil as the above card as well but only kept the yellow tones for this one as it seemed too busy with all that was going on with the card.

So although this was a class that I mainly followed along with except for a few minor changes, I had fun making these while getting into the Fall spirit!  I hope you’ve enjoyed them as well!  Thanks for stopping in!

Challenges:

  1. Four Seasons – Anything Goes Fall
  2. Crafty Friends – Use More Than One Die
  3. Happy Little Stampers Stencils – Anything Goes + stencil
  4. Stamping Sensations – All Things Autumn
  5. We Love Stamping – Autumn Colors
  6. Addicted to Stamps & More – Die Cuts & Stencils

*Vicki*25 Comments

A Beautiful June Wedding!

Hello friends!  I hope you’re having a great week!  We got a tiny break from the hot weather, so I had to spend the last few days enjoying it and was happy to get away from being indoors!  Now as the temps climb back up, it’s time to get busy and craft some more!😃

As promised, I’m catching up with my postings to share the wedding invites, thank you cards and special wedding card I made from my son’s June wedding.  I made them a few months back, obviously, but I thought it would be nice to condense it altogether here in one posting.

The couple had asked for me to make their invites for them and of course it was a great honor to be able to do that for them.  I was given a photo of an image and was educated about the “Tree of Life” to incorporate that into a design as well as a sample of some color shades.  Making a total of 50, here’s what I came up with:

I was able to find some similar Stampin’ Up! colors that closely resembled the samples given and come up with Bermuda Bay and Mint Macaron for the design.  I wanted both the ink and cardstock colors and worked it out from there.

For the base of the design, I’ve used the darker Bermuda Bay and on the front panel, I used a piece of Mint Macaron with a stenciled “tree of life” over top of it with Bermuda Bay ink.  I actually found a fairly inexpensive stencil on Amazon and thought it looked very similar to the image I was given and thought it would be perfect for the front with a partial side off the edge.  I never inked up 50 panels before, but this stencil certainly got a work out!  I was thinking it needed a bit more to it than just the stenciling, but I didn’t want to do too much with having 50 to make!  I took the Taylored Expressions Diagonal Stitched Rectangle die to impress a design around the edge, wrapped silver ribbon around the front with the knot and layered it over the front of the invite.

So being happy with that, the hardest task was to figure out the inside details….

I wanted to make the inside a portfolio style with a pocket containing the wedding details as well as the RSVP/envelope inside and then the actual “announcement” on the other side.  As I was piecing it together, I thought a decorative flap with some vellum would be pretty over the announcement too.

I’ve used the Stampin’ Up! Basic Borders die set to die cut the pocket front as well as the vellum flap on the left side.  I had to adhere two Bermuda Bay card panels together and cut out the areas I didn’t need.  (I ended up using the left over pieces to punch out a circle layer.  To add a bit more of a decorative detail, I cut strips of silver cardstock as well as silver heat emboss the “tree of life” circle stamp.  (I was happy to also find this really inexpensive rubber stamp image for a couple of dollars to use for this too!)  For the image on the pocket area, it was stamped with Bermuda Bay over the Mint Macaron cardstock, layered with that left over Bermuda Bay circle punched pieces and popped up with foam squares over the silver strip.  I was happy with how the portfolio design was working.

And now once you open up the vellum flap on the left side, you will see the announcement portion.  The silver strips were strategically placed to cover up where all of the layers are glued/attached together, but still looks like it “belongs” there.  The image that was given to me via digital photo was used at the “back drop” behind the wording.  It was a very bright image that I altered on my computer and muted it down so that it was faded in the background, but yet still clearly visible on the design.  I thought it worked out nicely and still coordinated with the stenciled area on the front.

Because this invite was so thick in nature, I didn’t want to add more layers of cardstock, so I used a thinner parchment style copy paper as everything was printed out from the computer anyway.  The parchment made it feel a bit more professional I thought.  I die cut ALL of the printed parchment pieces with a Lawn Fawn RETIRED Small Dotted Rectangle dies. (I thought the “small dots” went with the SU! edges I used on the flaps.) I placed the announcement over a piece of Mint Macaron and then layered it inside the card.  I layered the RSVP card over a piece of Mint Macaron and the “wedding details” card was left on it’s own.

Finally, you can see that on the silver envelope flaps, I silver heat embossed the image. This was also done for the larger silver envelopes for the whole invite to fit in as well.  I even used the “Tree of Life” computer generated image to create some address sticker labels for them and give them extras ones to use.

Of course after the wedding, you need to send out the thank you cards, so I also made 50 of those….

I really didn’t want to event a new wheel with it, so I had plenty of cardstock colors and just repeated the same design on the front as I did with the invites except for this one, I used the Taylored Expressions On Occasion stamps.  I stamped them out with the Bermuda Bay over the Mint Macaron cardstock, cut it out with the coordinating dies and popped it up with foam tape over the silver ribbon.  Stenciling another 50 panels with this same stencil gave it another work out yet! 

So for the actual day of their wedding, this is the card I made FOR the couple.  I was able to get a little more “intense” with this one as it was only ONE card!

I was so excited when I saw this stunning card kit come out from Taylored Expressions called “Modern Eucalyptus” (no longer available) and I thought it was the perfect colors to create something with for their wedding.  The white panel was silver foiled and then I stenciled the colors of the wreath pieces, stenciled some silver paste, die cut them out and popped them up over the foiled wreath.  I stamped the sentiment in the center, added some TE Tiny Diamonds to some areas and cut a strip of silver glitter cardstock to go across the bottom.

Around the edge of the panel, I used a free gift that I got with purchasing items and tried it out and on my panel without realizing that it cut the center.  I went ahead and attached it down anyway as I liked the decorative look to it.  I had a matching envelope and off we went to the wedding!!!!!

The couple was married in Hocking Hills (Ohio State Park area) and it was absolutely beautiful over there!  The venue they used only had a certain capacity limit and so this is why there were only 50 invitations that went out.  It was a very nice private wedding with everything done and organized for them.  I do not have any professional photos of the wedding as of yet, but I had to rely on my husband for taking a few photos on his phone and then handing the phone to someone for photos as well…my dress didn’t allow me for handy phone carrying.  LOL  But here a just a few photos (not professional) of the wedding

As being a first time “mom of the groom”, it is quite an experience and very emotional especially when my son picks out a song for our dance with a song I used to sing to him as a baby in my belly!  We both had tears!! LOL  It was such a joyous occasion and I’m thrilled to welcome our new family into our lives for years to come!  May they always feel the joy and love together for ever after!

Hope you’ve enjoyed my wedding post today and have been inspired in some way to brighten your day.  I thank you so much for taking the time to stop in and say hello!  It means so much to me!  See you soon!

Challenges:

  1. Crafty Friends – Embossing Wet/Dry (heat embossed on invites)
  2. Crafty Calendar – Add a ribbon (on invites and thank you)
  3. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – Anything Goes
  4. Fab ‘N’ Funky – Anything Goes
  5. Penny’s Paper Crafty – Anything Goes using paper
  6. Creative Fingers – Anything Goes

*Vicki*23 Comments

Lawn Fawn Thanks+Painting Divas Class Projects!

Happy weekend!  It’s very hot here today as we are under a heat advisory!  So thought it was best to stay indoors and keep working on my “catch-up” posts!  This one is a bit different than my usual papercrafting posts, but it’s my finished projects from the crafting retreat I had with friends right before the wedding and why I was so busy!  But first, I’d like to share a fun “thank you” card I made for my friend that hosted it all:

And as you know from my last post, I was on a Lawn Fawn fever mode, so this was also made for my friend that hosted the fun “Painting Divas” retreat for us!  This ADORABLE set called Just Add Glitter was a perfect set to use to create a card for the theme as well as those products to accompany it with the Art Supplies dies, Canvas and Easel as well as the Paint Splatter Background Stencil too!

For the background, I created a scene with a brick stencil from my stash that I’ve had for years which was blended on with some grey ink.  The bottom solid grey portion of the scene I used that paint splatter stencil and some Distress Oxide colors and blended in over it.  By using the oxide inks, the colors showed up better over the grey.

I used these same colors of Oxide inks to sponge over the die cut pieces from the Art Supplies dies as well as the “master piece” splatter on the “canvas” and the brick wall splatters.  I’ve used some LF Woodgrain paper to cut out portions of the “wooden” pieces and the rest of the pieces were cut from white cardstock and then just colored with Copic markers. I arranged the scene to make it fit the way I wanted and then attached it down with some of the pieces being popped up with foam tape.  (The sentiment on the rainbow canvas blob was from a freebie stamp the company is famous for adding to your order.)  I had fun making this one and I chuckle at the “I arted” sentiment!😅

Painting Diva Vicki 2022

For the “Painting Divas” Retreat, we had projects with different teachers and of course you probably recall the Mixed Media birdhouse I did from my past blog post.  CLICK HERE TO VIEW POST  The theme was on that cute little sign as we arrived…”Gnomes & Fairies & Unicorns & Glitter”…how fun is that?!!  We were to created a decorated gift bag to bring with us using the theme and enter for a contest…but totally forgot to bring mine back home for a photo to show! LOL  (I am hoping that we get together to share some photos as I wish I had taken more than what I did!)

I took a quick photo with birdhouses everyone finished for my class and it was so fun to see everyone’s interpretation of how they made their own.  I enjoyed seeing what everyone did! (I think two of these are missing in this photo.) 

Now, I am not an avid decorative painter and don’t spend a whole lot of time doing it, but my mom along with a couple of girls at this retreat are, and have been doing it for many years! (even longer than I have been a paper crafter…which is a LONG time! LOL)  So I have had the privilege of learning a bit about it, through them and mainly my mom.  I’m glad to have this time to share something together and doing when we can.  I appreciate it more than I think it is realized and the memories that are made.🥰

Below is my gallery of projects that I did for each class.  I did this in order of when each class was taught.  If you’re directly on my website, just click on each photo to enlarge it and also see the description of what the dimensions and types of surfaces that were used.  All were hand painted by me using acrylic paints.

Taught by my mom over a canvas board measuring 8″ x 10″ with addition of 3 stars, buttons and knob for nose. You could make a face or paint a gnome, so of course I painted a gnome for mine. I went on my own and added twine to the star…not sure I like it.
Taught by Linda over a 6″ x 14″ thin wood board. I love Halloween so this was a fun one. It came prepped base coated with the blue background. Stars were stenciled with dry brushing. I added some glitter paint on some of the candies after I sealed it.
I zoomed in for a closer look at the pumpkin and some of the candy as it’s hard to see from a distance.
Taught by the host of the event painted over a stretch canvas in 10″ x10″ size pre base coated with black paint. The snowflakes were stenciled with dry brushing and glitter paint was added over the green and red areas. Gold Drip Drops were added to elf and Rhinestones to a few of the larger snowflakes. There was also some splattering done over entire piece.
Taught by Kathy was this cute “photo holder tag” from an 8″ x 5″ thin wood board. I painted over white and then washed with some black for a shiplap look. Wrapped around burlap ribbon plus other ribbons/twine. I added my own decoration at the bottom and popped in a photo.

I have one last project to share which is something I recently finished up before this painting retreat, but it had been sitting around the last few years as an un-finished box not being used.

A few years back, I had gone to a paint convention with my mom and purchased this brush box that was hand-made by an older gentleman and vendor at this place.  My mom also purchased one as well.  I started it quite a while back and had been left at my mom’s place.  I brought it home and finished up the top portion of the box doing some ombre painting and added the wooden lettering on the front.  I added some glitter paint to the lettering after it was sealed.

And here’s what the inside of the box looks like with all of my brushes stored in it.  (Well most of them anyway! LOL)  What I like is that there are separate compartments so that I can organize the different types/styles of brushes in each.  The brushes are protected and dust-free.  The dimensions of this brush box are 11″ x 7″ x 4″ deep all made with wood.  The hardware was removed and then replaced after painting and sealing.

Like I mentioned, I don’t always do decorative painting like this, but since it’s already part of my life and I have accumulated things related to it, I will probably do some things here and there.  It’s like a mixed media thing for me as I don’t always do that, but sometimes I enjoy getting things out for something different.  I like many different crafts which makes this all so fun for me.  It’s nice to have a variety of interests to keep enthusiasm going!

How about you?  Do you have interests in other things besides paper crafts?

Stay COOL and safe out there today friends…how do you like to keep cool?  

Thanks so much for joining me today and I hope you were inspired in some way on your visit!

Challenges:

  1. Crafty Animals – Anything with an animal (card)
  2. Dragonfly Dreams – Indoor Hobbies (card)
  3. Happy Little Stampers – Anything Goes with Dies (card)
  4. Happy Little Stampers – Anything Goes with Stencils (card)
  5. Addicted to Stamps & More – Any Occasion (card)
  6. Cardz 4 Galz – Get Inky (card)
  7. Creative Moments – Anything Goes optional: CUTE (card)
  8. Lil’ Patch of Crafty Friends – Anything Goes (card)

*Vicki*21 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!

*Vicki*21 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

Choose to be Grateful for Crafty Chefs

Hello friends!  I hope that you’re having a wonderful week so far!  The weekend is here, but it sure has been a beautiful couple of days this week with sunny and warm days so hubby and I were able to go out to walk around a bit before the snow starts hitting us!

Something that is great to go out in nature to see are the critters with the birds and the silly squirrels…we have them EVERYWHERE!  They’re busy gathering and burying their food for winter time around here.  My thoughts turned to the Simon Says Stamp “Big Thanks Autumn” November card kit (sold out, but not papers) as I love all things Fall/Autumn and this card kit with those beautiful papers spoke to me and I wanted to create with it to make my project for this month’s Crafty Chef’s Group recipe from our lovely friend Meg’s recipe:

There were some blue colored A2 card bases already cut and scored inside the kit, so I used one for my side folding card base here and then layered a dark brown cardstock piece from the kit as well as a piece of copper mirrored cardstock which was then layered over a piece of the decorative papers (I mentioned above) in the kit, which is also where the critter, mushrooms and leaves images came from on this card.

The leafy background paper was cut from a MFT Wonky Stitched Rectangle Die and then I took a strip of the copper mirrored cardstock across the bottom third of the layered pieces and also added some twine wrapped around the bottom of the layers before popping them up with craft foam over the card base.  I die cut a branch from a die in my stash and then fussy cut the images out from the papers included in the kit which were glued or popped up with foam squares over the panel.  I sponged some Tea Stain Distress Ink around the edges of these pieces before attaching.

Lastly, I’ve taken one of the sentiments from the sentiment strips sheet included in the kit and ran it through my laminator with a piece of copper Deco Foil.  (I think that is a cool way to add a little extra something to those sentiments.)  I made a banner out of it, sponged it with some of the ink I used for the images and popped it up over the leafy background piece with foam tape.  

Here’s a closer look at the critters I’ve cut out and how I’ve arranged and popped some of them up to create my scene.  There was also a very pretty SSS Autumn Sequins Mix included in the kit and I took some of those and added it to the layout and then filled the centers with some Gold Stickles glue.

For the Crafty Chef’s recipe that was given, here’s what I MUST use:

  1. Mirror cardstock
  2. 3 layers or more
  3. ribbon (I hope my twine counts!)
  4. image of garden visitors (birds, hedgehogs, etc)

CAN do items:

  1. Sparkle/Glitter (I used sequins and Stickles)
  2. pearls/gems (I did not use) *passed onto next chef
  3. dry embossing (I did not use)

If you’re interested in joining this pressure free and just for fun crafty group, just CLICK HERE to join the Facebook Group and you can even take turns coming up with the recipe if you’re interested.  There is a new recipe given for each month and no pressure to follow along or even when you want to follow along and play…which is great and I’m happy to be able to use up some of the goodies from my stash (NEW AND OLD) and just have fun with it.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my creation today as well and I will be seeing you all again soon!  Thanks so much for stopping in today friend, as I’m very grateful for you!

Challenges:

  1. 2 Crafty Critter Crazies – Anything Goes + animal(s)
  2. Crafty Animals – Anything Goes + animal(s)
  3. Creatalicious – #199 Anything Goes optional Autumn/Thanksgiving
  4. The Paper Girls – #212 Thankful/Grateful
  5. The Divas That Cut Paper – Thanks or Thanksgiving
  6. A Bit More Time to Craft – #128 Anything Goes
  7. Lil Patch of Crafty Friends – #146 Anything Goes
  8. QKR Stampede – #408 Anything Goes

*Vicki*33 Comments

A {Cupcake Inspirations} Color Combo Reminder with a Slimline

Hello there friends!  I hope that you’ve had a wonderful weekend!  It’s slowly getting cooler as we go along with this month and even some snow in the forecast.  I love the Autumn Season and will try to hold onto it for as long as I can!  So with that, I’d like to remind you about the halfway point of our challenge:

There are still a few days left to enter your project for the Yellow, Orange and Red color combo challenge over at {Cupcake Inspirations} so I hope that you can join along with us!

123967487_10221552730039449_8746739481814888156_n

  **Also, there is currently a design team call going on right now if you’re interested in being on the “Cupcake Sweeties” team.  CLICK HERE for more details**

Today, I have a fun Autumn style slimline card to share with you today using the beautiful color combo:

So I’ve been wanting to pull out my Aqua Pigments to have some watercolor play time!  I pulled out a piece of Bristol Smooth watercolor panel that I cut down to a slimline size approximately 3.25″ x 8.25″ because I knew that I would be layering it over top of a Raven top folding 3.5″ x 8.5″ slimline card base.

The Aqua Pigments that I’ve used on this background have a gorgeous sparkle in them and I’ve tried to capture that in the photo, but it’s so sparkly and pretty in person!  I’ve used Sparkle Yellow, Heirloom Carrot (subscription only) and Firecracker (subscription only) Aqua Pigments that I’ve dripped randomly over my glass mat, sprayed with some water for more movement and “smooshed” the panel over it and let them run and drip together.  Once dried, I’ve splattered over it with gold and black paints.

A while back, I got me the beautiful Leafy Slimline Die from Pink and Main that I cut out with some brushed gold cardstock from my stash I’ve had for quite a while.  I also used the Blessings Slimline Dies to cut the sentiment including the shadow underneath with vellum and the words with Raven cardstock glued down over the leaves.

I’ve added the leaves frame die cut over the watercolor background and mounted it to the card base.  Lastly, I’ve added some sequins and crystals from an Autumn mix embellishment pack.  I filled the centers of the red sequins with some Nuvo Red Berry Crystal Drops.

Hope you’ve been inspired today with my slimline design!  Thanks so much for dropping in and please be sure to stop by and check out more inspiration using the color combo over on the {Cupcake Inspirations} Challenge blog to see more!  I’ll be seeing you soon!

Challenges:

  1. Make My Monday – #135 Elegant Fall/Autumn
  2. Not Just Cards – Anything Goes November
  3. Crafty Gals Corner – #213 Thankful
  4. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Thanks/Thanksgiving
  5. Creative Fingers – #197 Anything Goes

*Vicki*24 Comments

Making Masculine

Hey there friends!  I know that Father’s Day is well past us, but I wanted to share some cards I made with a masculine style that don’t necessarily have to be for Father’s Day, but for birthdays, significant other, thank you, etc.

I have lots of males in my family that I need to have cards on hand for, so these will come in handy when I do need to grab one in the future for sure:

Vicki-MFTToolAround

This is one that I made which can be suited for basically my hubby at some point! LOL!  The fun dies, and sentiment including the pattern paper all came from My Favorite Things.  I popped up the background over my brown card base, cut out the different tool pieces in wood paper, black paper and silver metallic paper.  (I later noticed that one of my metal peg pieces look “off” with the tool…and I’m sure my guy recipient will notice! LOL!)

I silver heat embossed the sentiment over the brown cardstock and cut out my own design with my scissors with it and then went over the edges with some silver ink.  I finished this off with some wooden dots I’ve had in my stash for a while.

Vicki-GrillMaster

My next card was for my hubby and it was made for him for Father’s Day which is has already received.  He thought the added flames on the grill were pretty cool.  LOL!

I sponged some clouds in the background of my card panel here and added some grey “smoke” clouds around the grill.  The flames were also the “negative” portion from my other card that was used to attach between the grill on this one.

I added details to the grill with a little bit of ink sponging along the edges as well as color portions of it with a glitter gel pen.  I die cut a border for the grass and added shadows with Copic markers.  I had stamped my original sentiment crooked, so I ended up white heat embossing it over the cardstock, cutting it out and placing it over my boo-boo!  I added some hearts around it as well.

Vicki-TE-plaidshirt

For my last card, I was wanting to try out the plaid stencil set that I got from Taylored Expressions and made a “shirt card” with it.  Really love that stencil BTW!  Very easy to create some fun and unique plaid designs with it!  I sponged mine over kraft cardstock.

I wasn’t sure what to do for the pocket because I don’t have any “pocket” type dies, so looking through my dies, I thought that this Labels Stacklets 10 would work for a pocket which was die cut from a plaid piece and then I folded the top portion over and just glued it along the edges so that I could actually use the pocket for something like sticking in some cash.

Lastly, I white heat embossed the sentiment from the Mini Strips-Life Saver and cut it out with the coordinating die to go over the pocket flap.  I cut an additional strip from the plaid to go along the edge and added a “collar” at the top.  Finished it off with drawing stitch lines and adding buttons.

These are all so different, but I sure had fun playing with different items in my stash and now have some masculine style cards ready to go as well!  I hope you’ve enjoyed them to or has given you some inspiration in some way!

Thanks for dropping in!  I have a post coming up with some really fun news so stay tuned in!!  I’ll be seeing you soon!

Challenges:

  1.  Sweet Stampin – Create Your Own Background (card #2 stenciled clouds card #3 stenciled plaid)
  2. Crafty Cardmakers – Create Your Own Background (same as above)
  3. Arty Divas – Anything Goes
  4. Double D – Stitches (faux, real or dies) top 2 card dies, last card faux
  5. A Perfect Time to Craft – Anything Goes
  6. Craft Rocket – For the Men/Boys

*Vicki*26 Comments

Turtley Adorable!🐢

Hello friends!  I hope you’re having a great week so far!  Really hate it when technology doesn’t cooporate and I have to figure it out, but hopefully I can soon!  Sometimes it just needs to be done!🤔

Anyway, I was wanting to post some masculine cards I made for Father’s Day earlier this week, but I’ll have to post another time as this card was already done and is needed to enter a challenge that is ending soon:

Vicki-BRMturtle

I love that wee little baby turtle riding on the back with his tongue out!  The stamp was colored up with Copic markers, cut out with a circle die, along with another circle layer of Cabbage cardstock that I’ve also used for the A2 top folding card base, and another circle layer of vellum.

I was super excited to try out the brand new Ranger Distress line color “Speckled Egg”  products!  I’ve used the Distress Oxide ink to sponge over the image onto a piece of Sidewalk cardstock that was cut out with a stitched rectangle die.  I also took the Circle Tone stencil and added some Opal Chroma Glaze over it.  You can see how pretty the shimmer is on those dots!

For the banner along the side, I took another piece of sidewalk cardstock and cut my own banner with scissors.  I took my embossing ink pad and covered the banner piece with it and then heat embossed the Speckled Egg Distress Glaze EP over it…turned out so pretty!  I heat embossed the sentiment from the same turtle stamp set over a piece of vellum and wrapped it around the banner before attaching it to the card.

Lastly, I’ve added some metallic shimmer ribbon from my stash and some pretty sparkling sequins that remind me of bubbles.  The card was designed based upon a sketch, see details below post.

Vicki-BRMturtle-close

Here’s a better view of the cute image and coloring I’ve done.  I’ve added some dots with a white gel pen for their cheeks as well as their eyes and noses.  I’ve also used it for highlights on their shell.

You can also see a better view of that pretty shimmer from the Metallic Chroma Glaze that I used over a stencil.  Thought it was great for the circle theme going on.

Vicki-BRMturtle-flat

I hope you’ve enjoyed my card today and have been inspired in some way or has brought you a smile!  Thanks so much for dropping in and I’ll be seeing you again soon!

Challenges I’d like to enter this card for:

  1. Colour Crazy Craft – Anything Goes + coloring
  2. The Divas That Cut…Paper! – Summer Fun + dies
  3. Crafting Happiness – #154 Anything Goes optional: Under the Sea
  4. Lil Patch of Crafty Friends – Anything Goes
  5. Make My Monday – #125 Use Stencils
  6. The Sisterhood of Crafters – Stenciling

*Vicki*33 Comments