A Vintage Love

Hello friends!  I hope you’re having a great week!  I must be really wishing for flowers as this seems to be my theme this week!…along with watercolor and heat embossing! LOL!

Today I wanted to share a card I’ve made for an anniversary:

Vicki-SSSBeMyValentine-Anniversary

As you can see from the card itself, my parents have been married for 55 years.  So when I saw this Simon Says Stamp LE Valentine 2020 card kit, I knew that this would be a great way to start using the kit immediately!

I actually really didn’t know what direction I was going to go with this anniversary card and I just started pulling things out and switching different items to see what I wanted to do.  I sampled the stencil with the metallic paste from the kit and really liked it, but when I pulled out my copper metallic mirror cardstock, I decided to heat emboss over the stencil with the same copper EP that I used on the sentiment for this card.

I’ve also cut out the numbers with the copper metallic mirror cardstock along with the layer behind some of the papers from the card kit.  I’ve added another heart strip of the papers from the kit at the top and used one of the butterflies from the kit to go over the piece of lace I’ve added from my stash.  The layers were all attached over an A2 sized top folding card base.  Lastly, I added some white hearts that were actually from a different card kit.  LOL!

Vicki-SSSBeMyValentine-Anniversary-close

I wanted to share a closer look at the flower.  The stamp set in that card kit is so stunning!  I’ve white heat embossed the flower and leaves over some watercolor paper and then used my Clean Color Real Brush markers to color it with.  I’ve used some foam tape to pop up the flower over the stenciled heat embossed piece that was cut out with a circle die and attached to the card front.

You can see the shimmer over the butterfly wings that I’ve covered with a glitter brush pen.  I only glued the center of the butterfly so that I could pop out the wings a bit.

Vicki-SSSBeMyValentine-Anniversary-flat

Although this card looks a bit simple, there were a few steps to the stenciling and heat embossing some of the elements.

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

Challenges:

  1.  Simon Says Stamp Wednsday – Anything Goes
  2. QKR Stampede – #382 Anything Goes
  3. Allsorts – Take Flight
  4. Creative Fingers – #178 Anything Goes
  5. Watercooler Wednesday – WWC256 All About Occasions
  6. Lil Patch of Crafty Friends Anything Goes

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:

Vicki-LF-Anniversary

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.

Vicki-LF-Anniversary-close

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:

Vicki-LF-LightUpCard

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.

Vicki-LF-LightUpCard-alight

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!

Vicki-LF-LightUpCard-flat

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!)

Bee Happy for Whimsy Stamps June Release!

Hello friends!  There is so much to “bee” happy about for sure!  It’s been sunny out lately; it’s the weekend and I have some fun creations to share with you for the Whimsy Stamps June digital release today! 🙂

Vicki-BeHappy-June1-Trio

Check out these ADORABLE bees!!  I have made 3 different cards because I just couldn’t stand not being able to color each one of these which are all included in this set!  I have used Crissy Armstrong’s “Bee Happy” digital stamp set.  This is a set that was previously released as a stamp set, but now available in digital format starting this month!  Good news that you can now choose between either format you prefer!

I’ve sized each of these bees in the format to fit onto a 4″ square card design.  I’ve cut them out with a hexagon die cut and layered another black piece of cardstock behind each one.

For the background, I’ve taken a yellow piece of cardstock slight smaller than the 4″ square top folding white card base and embossed it with a fun hexagon embossing folder.  Before attaching them to the card base, I’ve added some black ribbon at an angle over it.  I then attached the image panels and added the ribbon bow which I then placed a bee wooden accent to the center of each one.

The story with the black splatters actually came about from an accident I had!  I opened up a black shimmer pen over top one of the cards and it had a leak in it!  When I popped open the cap, it spilled all over my card!!  OH NO!!!  Obviously, I had all of my cards done at this point and I loved the way I had colored them….so I just decided to “go with it” and added some more splatters to each one.  I actually like the way it looked after I completed it!  They look like “busy bee’s” now! TEE HEE!

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Here’s a closer look at the “couple bees” image.  For each one of the hexagon image panels, I’ve taken a black marker along the edges to make the stitch lines.  I went around the edges of the image panel with some Tumbled Glass Distress Ink and ink foam blending tool for each card.  Also, for the sentiments on each card, I found an old “bee” style stamp set and used it to go with them.  I believe that the “Bee Happy” rubber stamp set comes with sentiments that go perfectly with these cuties!

Here’s how all of the bees were colored up with the Copic colors:

  • Wings/around bees – B00, B000
  • black stripes/nose/feet and hands – W9, W7, W5
  • Yellow stripes – Y17, Y15, Y13, Y11, R20 (cheeks)
  • The tiny heart from the sentiment was colored with Y15 and then I’ve added some Nuvo Glitter Drops over it.
  • All the wings for each card were covered with the Wink of Stella Glitter Pen.

Vicki-BeHappy2-BirthdayBee

This little dude was so fun to color up with his party accents! 🙂  Here are the Copic colors I’ve used for the accessories:

  • bag – E87, E84, E81
  • hat balloon, party hat, tissue from bag – V12, V15, YG11, YG13, YG25, YR04
  • I’ve covered the purple on his hat with the Nuvo Glitter Drops
  • The wings and balloon were covered with the Wink of Stella Glitter Pen

Vicki-BeHappy3-BzzzFriend

I just love how he’s trying to hand out a flower to you! 🙂  Here’s the following Copic colors that I’ve used for the flower:

  • flower stem – YG61, YG63
  • flower middle – Y15 (I covered it with the Nuvo Glitter Drops again)
  • flower petals – R32, R35, R37
  • His wings were covered with the Wink of Stella

I hope you’ve enjoyed my bee creation today!  Please be sure to BUZZZZ on over to the Whimsy Stamps store!

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

Challenges I’d like to enter:

  1.  Through the Craft Room Door – Anything Goes
  2. TGIF – #TGIFC214 Create a Set!
  3. Aud Sentiments – Nature + a sentiment (hoping bees are apart of nature)
  4. Creative Knockouts – Embossing Delight (embossing folder on each card)

Sweet Anniversary Wishes

Hello friends!  Hope you’re having a great week so far!  It is really cold in our area right now as we are experiencing a “Polar vortex” with a high of -11 degrees F and low of -23 degrees F without wind chill for tomorrow.  Brr!  Many schools in the area as well as city workers are taking the day off due to the severe cold weather.   Please stay warm and safe wherever you are!

Not sure if you saw that Whimsy Stamps has started carrying this new adorable line of digital stamps from CC Designs in their store.  Here’s the card I’ve made today using one of those images:

vicki-pcaimeevalentino-jan29

I’ve used this super cute image called Aimee & Valentino for a special anniversary card.

I decided to print it out twice so that I could cut out the balloons and pop them up over the image.  I have used the following Copic markers to color it in:

  1.  reds on outfits, boots, hair clip and balloon – R37, R35, R32
  2. Pink on outfit and balloon – R85, R83, R81 (girl stripes on dress – E53, E51, E50)
  3. Boy’s outfit, boots and hair – C8, C5, C3, C1, C0, C00 (stripes on shirt – BG000)
  4. Girl’s hair – E27, E25, E23, E21
  5. Skin tones – E21, E11, E00, E000 (cheeks – R20)
  6. Grass/shadows – G24, G21, G20, E0000 (around image – BG000)
  7. I used metallic gel pens to color in the middle of hair clip, buttons and cheeks

I cut this image out with a stitched square die cut and then used a cloud stencil with Tumbled Glass distress ink and ink foam blending tool to add clouds behind the couple.

As mentioned above, I cut out the heart balloons on the second print out of the image and heat embossed the stamped numbers on them.  I used a stylist tool on the back of them to curve them in a bit and popped them up over the image with some foam dimensional dots.  I then added some shimmer over top of them with a Wink of Stella glitter brush pen.

vicki-pcaimeevalentino-jan29-upclose

Here’s a closer look at the coloring on the image.  You can see a bit of the shimmer over the balloons and where I’ve added some metallic color on the heart hair clip.  I took this image panel and layered it over a piece of gold mirror cardstock.

vicki-pcaimeevalentino-jan29-flat

I thought that the January released Hearts a Flutter digital papers were the perfect backdrop for this cute couple, so I printed the pink with white hearts one out and cut a piece out using the Whimsy Stamps Hand Stitched Nested Rectangle dies for that.  I found some coordinating card stock and gold heat embossed the sentiment from the WS Everyday Mini Sentiments clear stamp set and cut it out with a banner strip die.  I also placed it where I wanted it to go and used the Hand Stitched rectangle die again to create the stitch marks over it.

I took some gold ribbon and wrapped it around the heart design paper card front, placed the image panel over top and then layered on the sentiment banner with foam tape.  This was mounted over an A2 top folding white card base.  Lastly I added a gold bow and some gold sequins filled with some Stickles Tinsel glitter glue.

I hope that you’ve enjoyed my card! 🙂  Thanks so much for dropping by today!  See you soon!

Here’s some challenges I’d like to enter this card for:

  1.  CCEE Stampers – CCEE1904 Gold
  2. Aud Sentiments – Anything Goes + sentiment
  3. CRAFT – Love/Valentines (it fits with this theme as it’s about love!)
  4. Crafty Catz – Anything Goes with optional twist:  ribbon/lace
  5. My Time to Craft – All You Need is Love

It’s a Monochromatic Cute Card Thursday

Hello friends!  Trying to work hard on projects and getting things ready for next month.   So please excuse me if I seem a bit sporadic in my presence!

Stopping in to share a new challenge with you over at Cute Card Thursday!  This week the theme is “monochromatic” or some people say “monochrome” which simply means that your project mainly consists of one color or tone.   Stop by the challenge blog and be sure to check out the rest of the inspiration from the design team while you’re there!  Here’s my project for the challenge:

Vicki-CCT548-monochrome

I absolutely fell in love with this flower image from the My Favorite Things card kit that they came out with!  And I can’t say that I came up with this idea all on my own either, as it is very similar to one of the samples on the project sheet that comes with the kit.

It’s very simple to do, just white heat embossed the floral image and color areas in with a Copic marker and then I used a sentiment from Lawn Fawn to white heat emboss over vellum and the card stock again and then die cut the word out and attach over the vellum strip.  I had been requested to make up some wedding cards and so I’m trying to make up a few of them as this is something that I’ve completely missed in my card creating.  Taking mental notes for myself!

Thanks for stopping by friends!  See you soon!

challenges:

  1.  QKR Stampede –  #313 Anything Goes
  2. The Flower Challenge – Anything Goes + flower(s)
  3. The Creative Crafters – Anything Goes