It’s Critters at Cute Card Thursday!

Hello friends and happy Thursday! We are getting ready to start the weekend and I’m ready to have some time to catch up on a few things! How about you? Do you have any plans for the weekend?

Today starts a new challenge over at Cute Card Thursday! Yay! The challenge for this week is probably a favorite of mine which is “critters“! Looking forward to seeing all those critters in the gallery this week! 🙂

My project for today is another one of those that I had actually wanted to start last year, but of course it gets pushed aside for another day, so here’s the day I start! When I went to a stamp convention this last Summer, I really enjoyed the vendor booth for Taylored Expressions and just fell in love with these grumpy critters:

LOL! I plan on making myself this fun little calendar for my stamp room. I also thought about making a couple more of them for some gifts too! So here’s my start with them. Really simple and fun little calendar cards to make up! I have a die coming that will help to display all of the months which I will share later on. So stayed tuned for up-coming Calendar months made with the Taylored Expressions Calendar Grumplings stamp set!

So is this how we all feel when January rolls around? LOL!

When I went to the stamp convention, I picked up this package of the 2019 3×4 calendar cards that were pre-printed with a special little rectangle on top with a decorative background print on it. This is where I’m using the spot to create my “calendar scenes”. There are dies that you can get that fit these to help you create your designs.

So I took the unhappy/surprised kitty and colored him in with Copics and cut him out with the coordinating die. I took the frame from the calendar scene die set to cut out a frame with black cardstock and then placed some ribbon behind it to make it appear like curtains. and then I had a speech bubble punch which I punched from white cardstock and stamped the sentiment over it and sponged around the edges with some gray ink. I took some foam tape and popped the speech bubble up over the scene. I mounted this card onto some coordinating colored cardstock. I wanted to keep these smaller, but I could see this work for some really cute cards too!

And here’s the February Calendar Critter with the grumpy love pig!! LOL!

I stamped, colored him in with Copics and a red gel pen for accents and cut him out with the coordinating die set. I also took the frame die from the calendar scene die set and cut it out from some red glitter cardstock and attached it over the pink heart background.

I then popped him up with foam tape and stamped the sentiment right next to him. I took the heart sequins and glued them around the pig. I used a gel pen to draw a heart around Valentine’s Day. Lastly, I layered this calendar onto a piece of coordinating pink cardstock.

Hope you’ve enjoyed my “Grumpy Calendar Critters” today and please be sure to stay tuned in for more months in the future! Thanks so much for stopping in!

Challenges:

Use Your Stuff – numbers (hope a calendar counts!)
Crafty Creations – Anything Goes
Crafting By Designs – Layer it Up

Mixed Media Wall Hanging

Hello friends! I’m back again to share a mixed media wall plaque that I’ve made:

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It’s been a while since I’ve made any mixed media projects, so it was nice to be able to “get messy” and use some media products that I don’t pull out often enough!

So I started out the image panel thinking I was going to make a card with it, but then it felt like it was too large, so I decided I was going to make a Vintage style wall plaque with it instead! I had this plaque hanging around my room for about a year knowing that at some point I wanted to do something with it, so this felt like the opportunity I needed to get a project going.

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I’ve used a January release stamp set from Bugaboo called Vase of Flowers stamp set. I colored it with Copic markers except for the pink flowers and butterflies. I covered the flowers with the Pink Fizz glitter and the butterflies with the Canary flocking. I cut out the image panel with the Tonic Loopy Lace Oval Die and added it to a piece of cardstock that was covered with the Super Adhesive Sheets. I then covered the entire panel with the same Pink Fizz glitter and burnished into the background.

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Shown at a different angle, you can see all of the dimension and detail of the design.

I have also covered the flowers using some Brushable Glue and brushed it over top in certain areas over the flowers and then I sprinkled some Diamond Dust glitter over top of them.

I hope that you were inspired by my mixed media project today and I thank you so much for stopping in as I’m always happy to hear what you think!

Here’s the challenges I’d like to enter:

Not Just Cards – Anything Goes
Crafty Gals Corner – Make it Sparkle
Stamping Sensations – Fabulously Feminine (Stamped Vase of Flowers rubber stamp and colored it in.)
Creative Moments – Anything Goes
Crafty Calendar – Make it Flowery

We’re Recycling at Cute Card Thursday!

Hello friends! I’m back to share our new challenge for Cute Card Thursday this week! I have to say that I enjoyed this challenge, and I can’t wait to see what you come up with for this one. We would like to see some “Recycling” on your projects this week! There are so many different ways you could go…do you have a box full of “trash treasures” waiting to be used? Now is the time to pull it out! 🙂

Here’s what I’ve come up with for the challenge:

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I haven’t made these for a couple of years, but I like to save those Crystal Light plastic containers and decorate them and use them as “gift holders” or like I have here for some “polar bear/snowman soup” containers!

I try and keep the decorating somewhat simple, but I enjoy adding ribbon, glitter, etc. just for the fun of it! I’ve used an oldie but a goodie and my fave set from My Favorite Things called “Cool Day“. I’ve used both of the polar bear images and colored them in, fussy cut them out and attached to the containers. I’ve also white heat embossed the sentiments from the set and cut them out with a banner die for them to stand on. I found some matching ribbon that I’ve wrapped around the top of the container and then added the bow. Although I didn’t take a photo of the top of the lid, I’ve also cut out some matching pattern paper to decorate the top of the lid. I’ve used some liquid glue to add some faux snow at the bottom of the containers and then some glitter under the polar bears feet.

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This is actually the first time that I’ve done polar bears for these. I usually use a snowman with the snowman soup poem, but since these were polar bears, I sort of changed out the wording to make it work with my design. LOL. I’ve just printed it up on the computer and added a coordinating mat behind it and attached it to the back of the containers. It slightly sticks out on each side, but I could always trim it down more if I wanted it to fit, but I was fine with it.

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I just wanted to share a photo of the original packaging of these containers. I have my family save these up for me and I will create with them each year. I have about 10 of them saved up for now. As a crafter, we always keep our eyes peeled for something we can save and create with! 🙂

And here’s a closer look at the details of the polar bears. I used my Copics to color them. For the green one, I used the pointillism technique to create the look on the sweater. I also made the elbow pads and the circles on the mug. I covered the mug with some glossy accents. I added some glitter to the top of the hat on the red one.

Thanks for stopping in today! See you soon!

Challenges I’d like to enter:

Always Fun – Anything Goes
Christmas with the Cuties – Anything but a Card
Use Your Stuff – Mood board (inspired by the sweet treats, mugs and red/white colors!)
Double Trouble – Thing 1: My sweet treat is inside the containers! Thing 2: I used the mood board above from “Use Your Stuff” challenge! Thing 3: I used lots of “sprinkles” with faux snow and glitter!
Crafty Card Makers – Anything but a Card
Artistic Inspiration – Just for Fun Challenge – Anything Goes

A Beary Sweet Christmas Tag for 2 Crafty Critter Crazies

Hello friends! I’m back with another new challenge for you today!

It’s the first of the month, so that means it’s time for a new monthly challenge over at 2 Crafty Critter Crazies! As always, the challenge will last for 1 whole month and all you need to remember is to add a critter to your creation! We look forward to seeing your critter makes this month!

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I have used this darling digital stamp set called A Peppermint Christmas. I used a Word doc. to design it before printing it out. Once printed out, I cut it down to size for my black tag and rounded the corners with a corner chomper.

I’ve been trying to develop my skills a bit with colored pencils and invested in a large set of them recently. So, this is what I have used to color in the images of my tag. After coloring it all in, I took out my Quicky Glue Pen and then sprinkled some Glitter (Semi-Transparent) over the snowflakes and dark gold star bursts. For the stars, I’ve sprinkled the Lemonade Ultrafine Glitter (Semi-Transparent) over it for a bit brighter sparkle! I’ve also covered the peppermint candies with the Nuvo Aqua Shimmer Glitter Gloss Pen for some shimmer. AND… if that wasn’t enough, I took the Quickly Glue Pen again and went along the edges of the white image panel and added the Waterscape Glitter to the edges.

For the assembly of my tag, I’ve used a pre-made tag from Graphic 45 and sponged around the edges of it with white ink. I took some green colored glitter paper from my stash and added a strip of it across the center of the black tag. I then added some pink silk ribbon strips on each side of the glitter paper. I then used some craft foam to pop up the image panel and placed it on the tag.

I finished it off with a pink silk ribbon bow and added some more of it to the tag hole for a hanging element and tied that together with a piece of white twine. Decided for a finishing touch to add a sparkly snowflake gem in the center of the bow.

I hope that you have enjoyed my critter project! Thanks for hanging in there with me!

Challenges:

QKR Stampede – Anything Goes (319)
Sunny Day Crafting – Animal
The Holly and Ivy Christmas Challenge – Anything Christmas Goes
The Merry Christmas Challenge – Anything Christmas Goes

Gingerbread Christmas Tag

Hello friends! It seems like it’s been a while since my last post! I have been feeling a little under the weather for a few days and I’m trying to get myself back on track…so hopefully I’m getting there! Thank you to all who’ve left comments and a big welcome to my new followers! So happy to have you here and hope you enjoy the postings!

I have a cute Christmas tag to share with you today using an oldie but a goodie Whimsy Stamps digital image:

Vicki-Oct24-Gingerbreadman Tag

This sweet little Gingerbread Man was so much fun to color and “bling up” a bit with some accents! I have him colored up with Copic markers in the following:

Body: E39, E37, E35, E15, E13 (Cheeks 0blender, R20 and frosting BG000 in certain areas.)
Candy Cane and circle candy: R39, R37, R35, R32, C3, C1, C0
Nose and arm accents: G16, G09
Outer Edge of image: BG10, BG000

I used a manila tag and got out a zig zag image from an older Whimsy Stamps clear set called Basic Backgrounds & Borders (retired) and stamped it on the tag with Rusty Hinge Oxide Ink. I also used that color along with Tea Stain and Vintage Photo Oxide inks to sponge around the edges of the tag. I used a water spritzer to add some drops and then blotted it with a towel to get the watermark look.

The gingerbread man panel was cut to fit the tag and I used some Tumbled Glass Oxide ink to stamp a few snowflakes around the gingerbread man from the Whimsy Stamps Snow Flurry stamp set and then sponged around the edges of this panel with the same brown oxide inks listed above. I also stamped a sentiment at the bottom of the tag from the Whimsy Stamps Penguins Winter Adventure stamp set with Archival Jet Black ink. I then added a strip of black washi tape from Tim Holtz Ideaology Christmas collection and then added some “faux snow” flakes at the bottom of the gingerbread man panel with some liquid glue.

For the ribbon, I used some seam binding ribbon and sprayed it with distress ink sprays in the same brown colors as inks that I’ve used, crinkled up and let it dry. I added that to the top of the tag along with some tinsel ribbon. I thought it went well with the snow!

A closer view of the gingerbread man and you can see the added extra details that I’ve added to him. For the candy cane and circle candy on his head, I covered them with a Spectrum Noir Glitter Brush Pen. I’ve added some Nuvo White Blizzard Glitter Drops to the green dots and then some Nuvo Clear Crystal Drops to the frosting lines. (You can see how it shines in the photo!)

Thank so much for stopping in today! Hope you’ve enjoyed my tag and I’ll be seeing you very soon!! 🙂

Challenges:

The Holly & Ivy Christmas Challenge – Anything Christmas Goes
QKR Stampede – Anything Goes #318
Sweet Stampin’ – Chevrons or Stripes
Crafting From the Heart – Anything Goes
Little Red Wagon – distressing (Distress Oxide inks)

It’s Halloween On Cute Card Thursday

Hello friends! Happy Thursday! As this month creeps along and the weather slowly changes to cooler temps, the eerie feeling of Halloween comes to mind! So get your “Halloween” on and come join us this week at Cute Card Thursday!

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Here’s the project that I’ve made for the challenge using this adorable image from this week’s sponsor All Dressed Up! The image is called “Have a Magical Evening” and I have colored the entire image panel including the background with Copic markers. I have also used gel pens to color in gold details on the stars, her dress and shoes. Then I took the gold and white gel pens to add dots for the background sky. I’ve used a gold ink pad and rubbed it around the edges of the panel and then I mounted it over a gold foil cardstock base.

For this treat box, I’ve used the 2-5-7-10 box tutorial on Splitcoaststampers.com to create a similar version, but I cut off the flap part and made a handle for my version. I covered the box with some fun “spooky” papers from my stash, added some gray with black stripes silk ribbon on the front panel along with making some bows with it for the sides of my box handle and glued them on. The image panel was added over top of the ribbon strip and design paper. It’s ready to add a nice treat inside for someone’s “magical evening”!

Here’s a closer look at the coloring of the image. I have also added some shimmer to the crescent moon with a Spectrum Noir glitter brush pen which of course is hard to capture in the photo, but you can see the areas where I’ve used the gel pens.

The blue background was made using my Copic markers and I blended them out so that the lighter tones were towards the witch and the darker tones to the edges.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my treat box creation and thanks so much for stopping in today!

Challenges:

Craft Rocket – Autumn/Halloween
Brown Sugar – (October) Spooky Halloween and/or Autumn
Use Your Stuff – Autumn/Halloween (always great to use more paper from my stash!)
Tuesday Throwdown – Anything Goes
Words 2 Crafty By – “Listen! The Wind is rising, and the air is wild with leaves. We have had our Summer evenings, now for October’s eves.”
Crafty Creations – Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Anything BUT a card
All Dressed Up – #85 Anything Goes + use ADU image
Scor-Pal (Oct) – More than one score Fall/Harvest/Halloween (Scored at the marks, 2-5-7-10 inch marks)

Lawn Fawn Friday

Hello friends! Yay, it’s Friday! I have lots of fun Lawn Fawn “goodies” to share with you today and although it’s still a bit warm over my way, I am in the mood for Fall, how about you? There’s nothing better in the Fall, for me, than a warm apple cider donut that we get every year from an apple orchid we like to visit each Fall! It had me thinking of the current challenge going on…

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It may be a bit of an oldie, but a goodie to me and I really enjoy using it! I have pulled out my LF Love You a Latte stamp set to base my card for today.

I started with a white A2 sized top folding card base and added a piece of (now retired) “Perfectly Plaid Fall” mini paper stack that I’ve cut with the LF Stitched Rectangle die along with the pieces used on my image panel also cut with the same die set. I layered that onto a white piece of cardstock that was cut from the LF “Scalloped Rectangle die” (Looks to be retired too!) I have taken a strip of the plaid papers and used the LF Valentine Borders die to cut the edging on it. I then wrapped some twine around it and added the LF Stitched Leaves that were cut from kraft cardstock and colored on the edges with distress ink and a foam blending tool. I then tied a bow with the twine and placed it over the leaves.

I colored my images, fussy cut them out and placed them over my layered paper panels and then popped it up over the plaid card base with some craft foam.

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Upon a closer view of the image, you can see that I white heat embossed the sentiment from the stamp set. I also added some glitter to the marshmallows in the cup and covered the donut with some glossy accents. I added a LF Small Stitched Leaves that I made similar to the others to tuck inside with my treats! 🙂 All the leaves were covered with a glitter brush pen.

*Be sure to scroll down below for more Lawn Fawn goodies!!*

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

Lawn Fawnatics – Coffee, Tea and Treats
Retro Rubber (RRCB94) – Anything Goes + Older Stamp(s) Mine is circa 2015
Watercooler Wednesday (WWC185) – Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Anything Goes

I thought this was a good place to stick in this project I made and had entered into my local county fair last month. This particular item did not place, but the category was “Hand Stamped Item Other Than a Card”…so I created this using a Lawn Fawn stamp:

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I found a bag of these really cute wood slices when I was out shopping with my mom earlier this Summer at Hobby Lobby. They seemed like a perfect size to do this with!

I stamped this adorable skunk from the Lawn Fawn Stinkin’ Cute stamp set and then colored him in with my Prismacolor pencils. Of course, the woodgrain gives it some slight imperfections, but I didn’t mind and thought it gave it more character! (See the wood knot under his chin!) I’ve added some green “Flower Soft” for the grass portion to give him something to stand on. I also added some glitter to the hearts above his head. Hubby drilled a hole in it for me so that I could add some twine for it to hang.

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Here I’ve turned it at a bit of an angle so that you can see the thickness of the slice and the fun texture of the bark on it. I thought this would be so cute on a gift bag or something. I have it hanging in my room because he’s just too stinkin’ cute anyway! 🙂

Thanks for stopping in today and I wish you all a fabulous weekend!

P.S. Sunday I will be sharing a post with a brand-new release…so be sure to check that out too! Bye!

Follow Your Dreams and More Christmas Fair Project Entries

Hello friends! I have usually posted on Fridays to share some updates on my crafty projects and such, but had some other things to take care of and hubby has been working different hours here and there, so I thought I’d pop on here for Saturday instead!

I made a card for a FB Group yesterday, but thought I’d share it here as well:

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The background papers were included with the kit, and I have cut a portion of a piece to put on the top section of my card front. For the cactus silhouettes, I have taken the Nuvo Dazzling Blue Glitter drops from the kit and used a brush to push it around. (You can see a closer view of all of the glitter in the photo below.) I took a piece of black card stock from my stash to mount this piece and then I heat embossed the sentiment (from the kit) with white EP. I then took some 1/4″ Tear-iffic Tape to go across the bottom portion of the background piece. I then took the gilding flakes from the kit and attached it to the tape. I then took that entire black piece and mounted it onto a piece of craft foam. I then attached it to a top folding white A2 sized card base which also came from my stash and not the kit.

Here’s a closer look at the image and all of the glittery fun texture on this design! (You can see here how the cactus in the background really shimmer and have a unique texture by applying it!

If you take a look at that circle behind this image, I have cut out a white piece of card stock with a stitched circle die and then covered the entire piece with the Orange Marmalade embossing powder…it is so stunning how this EP looks IRL! There are some very fine gold mica powders in it that make it really amazing looking! Not what I expected the first time I used this, in a good way! 🙂 I then took the feather that came in the kit and added some Nuvo Liquid Glue to the ends of it and then sprinkled on some Ultrafine Sassy Silver Glitter and attached it behind the image with foam tape.

For the image itself, it came in the kit already pre-colored and sized to fit on the card. I have fussy cut the image and put some foam tape on the back with the feather and embossed circle. I have used the rest of the Nuvo Crystal Drops from the kit and used these to color in the image with a small brush to push the glitter around.

I sure had fun with this card and will be pulling out my kit again to make more, I’m sure! I like to “mix” things up a bit with them instead of making them all uniformly the same.

I also have some more projects that I haven’t finished sharing with you from what I’ve entered into my local County Fair this year, so here’s some more Christmas projects that I’ve made and had entered:

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The category for this one was “handmade ornaments – set of 3” (They were all supposed to be similar in nature as well), so of course being the paper crafter that I am, I made 3 ornaments using paper crafting items from my stash! 🙂

A while back I had bought a large supply of bamboo embroidery hoops because I wanted to have a try at making these ADORABLE ornaments that I found a tutorial for last year on Splitcoaststampers.com – CLICK HERE to check out the tutorial and make one for yourself! (That tutorial called for a 3″ hoop, but mine are a bit larger at 4″ here.)

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So for my ornament here, I used a stitched circle die to cut those lovely plaid papers from Lawn Fawn (looks like it retired!) and then I also cut another stitched circle from some gray colored papers to match. On the Gray circle, I white heat embossed the Tim Holtz Mini Weathered Winter Snowflake and then took a sponge dauber to add a bit of white ink in some places. I placed a wood veneer snowflake over top the center of the heat embossed snowflake and then added a dot of silver Nuvo Crystal Drops in the center.

For the outside of the hoop, I’ve had this silver tinsel in my stash for a few years (looks like the package says it is for a mini tree decoration. LOL…IDK!) I glued it around the edge of it, attached a silver bow at the top and then ran some silver cord around the top for hanging on the tree. They are simple, quick and easy to make, but I had lots of fun with it for sure! So, it was nice to have placed third as a bonus!

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This is one of my entries for “Hand-Stamped item Other Than a Card”. (I will share my other two entries for this category on another post coming later on!) If you had followed along with my other blog or “know me” on Splitcoaststampers.com, then you may have seen the tutorial that I made for them called “Shaker Money Holder” (Click name to view tutorial or click the photo for it on the sidebar of my blog here.) I basically took the same concept for it and adapted the measurements to make it a gift card holder instead.

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I have been wanted to play with this really fun stamp set from Pink and Main called Christmas Mugs which I’m sure I’ll be using again this year! Yum! 🙂 It was the perfect complement for gifting a Starbucks gift card! (This was one of the “many” purchases I had made when I went to the Collinsville, IL stamp convention earlier this Summer! So happy that Pink and Main had a booth there!)

For this shaker gift card holder, I stamped the candy cane from the same stamp set with some red Staz On ink before adding the shaker contents to it. I had fun coloring the mug image with Copics and glitter gel pens. I’ve also added some shimmer to the liquid in the cup with a Shimmer glitter pen. I then fussy cut it out and used my Xyron machine to make a “sticker” with it to attach to the plastic. I white heat embossed the sentiment from the same stamp set over red card stock, die cut it with a banner die and attached it in the same way I did the mug. If you follow along with my tutorial, i was finished off in a very similar manner.

Now looking at this photo, I’m thinking it would have been cute to add one of those snowflake accents to the center of the bow or around the red banner! LOL!! It was fun and easy to make regardless and will be nice to have on hand for Christmas! It was also very nice to see that it got placed 3rd too!

Hope you have enjoyed my post today and seeing the things I have been so busy with creating this, Summer! I always look forward to Fall and the end of the year projects so I know things will start getting really busy soon!

Thanks so much for dropping in!

*With the exception of the above card, I won’t enter the Christmas projects in any challenges due to the fact that I had made these in July. *

Challenges for card ONLY:

Use Your Stuff – Summer Fun (What could be more fun than laying in a suncatcher? LOL!)
Papercraft Challenges – Summer
The Creative Crafters – Anything Goes
Aud Sentiments – Anything Goes + a sentiment.
Creative Knockouts – Sparkle and Shine

Christmas Non-Card Creations and Final ICAD Week 9 Results!

Hello friends and TGIF!! Hope you have some happy plans laid out for the weekend! I will be doing various things including helping my son move!

If you remember my post from last Friday, I shared some hand-made cards that I had entered into my local County Fair. There are a few other items that I’ve entered besides cards for certain categories and I thought you’d enjoy seeing a few other things that I’ve created just for the fair:

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My first project was entered into the “Christmas Centerpiece” category, and I was excited to see that I had won first place with this! Can you tell what I’ve used to create the “snowman hat” design?

Let’s take a closer look…

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I asked hubby to save me one of his empty coffee cans and I’ve spray painted it in black. I’ve also bought a $1.00 charger plate from Hobby Lobby in black and then attached them together to form the snowman hat. Then I took some white paint and splattered the entire thing for a fun “snow fall effect”. I then began to decorate it by attaching some ribbon, pine tree sprigs and pinecones.

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I bought a really pretty snowflake ornament with lots of sparkle to use as a center piece for the front of the snowman hat. The ribbon bow was attached below that and then the pinecone and sprigs were placed and attached in the center of the bow. (Even the plaid ribbon has some pretty sparkle in it!)

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For the pinecones and the “snow” over the top of the hat, I have used some embossing paste mixed with some texture stones to give it a thick snow appearance. While it was still wet, I’ve added some glitter to all of it. Love the way this turned out! It will be a great center piece at Christmas time! 🙂

And since I was in a Christmas mood, I also made another item for the Fair:

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This poinsettia basket was entered into the “handmade basket” category, and I was happy to see that I had won first place for this entry as well! For the fair entry, you can have a basket made of anything as long as it was handmade…so of course I made a paper one! 🙂

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I remember a while back this awesome basket with a tutorial that someone had made from Heartfelt Creations, and I knew I wanted to give it a try. It is such a sturdy basket too as I’ve used some pretty heavy-duty paper to compile it together.

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The papers that I’ve used are actually some pretty old ones from a past Stampin’ Up! collection. They’re double-sided and you can see the pretty poinsettia pattern on the other side from inside the basket walls. The poinsettia die was a purchase I had made from a sale item in a booth at that Stamp Convention I went to earlier this Summer. I love the embossing details it made with the poinsettia flower. I also took some white ink to pop them out a bit so they’re more noticeable. There is one on each side of the basket and a smaller one at the top of the handle.

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I’ve used some gold foil paper for the center of the flowers and then added some gold enamel dots on random spots for the centers. I took some thin and narrow gold ribbon to the edges of the handle and then tied a triple bow with it and placed the poinsettia in the center. I just filled the basket with pinecones that I had on hand, but I could see so many things that this basket would work for! Maybe I need to make one for another Holiday too?!

Well although I made these for the fair, they will be nice to use for my own home and of course the photos do not do justice to what they look like in person! I had so much fun with these projects too! (I may still have another project or two to share with you from the fair entries…so keep watching!)

Lastly, I’m also very excited that I have fully completed my ICAD challenge for 2018!! Yay!! I cannot believe that I kept up with it the entire time and did a card for every single day the last 61 days in June and July!! I know that I’ve posted every week what I’ve done, and this is my final set for week 9:

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These were so much fun! Some days were really hard and others I zoomed right through it! I learned many things not only from other ICADians, but also about myself with art and how it affects me physically, mentally and emotionally. I am very surprised in more ways than one. Just when you think you don’t have it in you…you can surprise your own self! Have you ever done something like this? I urge you to try as it is such a learning experience.

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There is just NO WAY I would have enough room to get every single one of these cards in a photo shot! I had a huge ring binder that I kept them all on and they actually just barely fit on it! LOL! Such a fun thing to see all of these together at once and it will be great to go back and look at later too! Glad I wrote on the back of what each one was.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my post today and have been inspired in some way! There are SO many crafty things I enjoy doing…. there are just never enough hours in the day sometimes! LOL!! We crafters can understand that! 🙂

Thanks so much for dropping in, I really appreciate your kind thoughts and read each and every one! See you soon!

Turn! Turn! Turn! – A Remembrance of My Sweet Mocca (Bean)

I can’t tell you how very hard it is for me to type up this post, but I knew it was going to come and it is just something I must do to help with my grieving process.

If you have followed along with me on my other blog, then you may have seen a few posts or photos or mentions of my beloved miniature red-haired dachshund named Mocca. (Pronounced like the word spelled mocha) You may have also seen along the side of this blog a photo of her and dedication of her life. I would like to say thank you for those of you that have asked about her and sent thoughts of sympathy my way. It is appreciated so so much! I thought of her as a very special family member and was with her until the very end. She was a fantastic companion and ALWAYS there for me and by my side day in and day out. Every single one of my family members just LOVED her so much. It has been hard on me, but I know for a fact that she has impacted the lives of everyone around her…she was loved that much. This post is for all of us.

Vicki-Mocca Canvas

It was very hard to go through her photos to pick out just the right ones that I wanted to do these various things with, but I’m very glad I did. I will begin with this photo that I took while she was looking up at me in the very spot I am typing up this post. I grabbed my phone and took it. I took the photo to my local Walgreens and had them make an 8×10 canvas printing and it is hanging on the wall right above my computer, so I can always see her. It’s a very awesome canvas printing and the photo wraps around the edges.

Newborn Mocca: (I received this photo after she was born)

Vicki-Mocca-newborn pup

Part of the reason for my last absence from blogging was the caretaking of her. She had developed some problems as most older dogs do, but she had arthritis, pancreatitis and lastly, she was diagnosed with a rare disease called Mega-esophagus or “floppy esophagus”. What that means is that her throat didn’t allow her to swallow, and she would choke or “regurgitate” anything that was caught in there. I had to specially make her food in meatball form and make enough to feed her small meals 4 times a day. They needed to be spread out so that there was less of a chance of anything being caught. Dogs that develop this disease can regurgitate and then accidentally ingest some of it causing them to die from aspiration pneumonia. Not only this, when she did eat, she had to be in an upright position so that the food went down her throat by force of gravity. And to make sure her meatballs got down to her stomach, I had to keep her sitting upright for at least 15-20 minutes after each feeding or any time I gave her something. After Christmas time, she had gotten worse and was slowly deteriorating to the point she couldn’t take water without choking. I was in a special group on Facebook that had the support of others going through the same thing with their pets and some helpful advice was given many times with her. I started giving her “Knox blocks” to help with hydration. She was older and with her other problems, she was still dehydrated, and I think she gave up because she refused to eat at the end. Of course, I wanted to keep going and hubby knew this…so he made me take her in where the vet had to spell out to me how sick she was. She was 12 and half years old on Groundhog’s Day of February this year when we had to let her go. I’m pretty sure I yelled NO! at the office. You may remember photos from her 12th birthday in her special chair:

Mocca turns twelve

I was hoping to be able to celebrate her 13th birthday with her which would’ve been today. Unfortunately, we did not make it, so I thought this would be a good day to remember her. Rest in peace my little beenie weenie…. I will see you some day at the rainbow bridge.

Vicki-Mocca Shadow Box Memorial

Something else that was very important for me to get done was her Shadow Box Memorial. Hubby and I picked out one of our favorite photos of her. She really enjoyed being out in the sunshine and grass. She was very healthy in that photo. The footprints came from the vet and I had heard that sometimes they fall apart, so I wanted her footprints to stand out a bit, so I took some glitter paint to go over them and then covered the entire piece of clay with some sealer. I put it back into the plastic case I was given and then glued them onto the shadow box background.

Vicki-Mocca shadow box1

On the other side of the paw print case that the vet gave me was this Rainbow Bridge Poem. So I matted it with black card stock and attached it to the box. (I apologize for the glare on the glass…hard to capture it.) I still cannot read the entire thing without tears.

Vicki-Mocca shadow box2

For the lettering of her name, I took some wood veneer letters and painted them along with the pink heart in the center of the ‘O’ and glued them on the back of the shadow box.

The other items are sentimental from her like the collar. I cut the end of her collar because it was so curled up and part of it was all cracked from use. The heart is a piece of fabric from her favorite “bone blanket” she got for Christmas one year. I cut out a heart shape and then stitched around the edge with some black thread. The tiny jar above her footprints is her red Doxie hair. I had some from her comb in her little “beauty box” as we called it.

This month was also our local County Fair, and I decided that I was going to enter a simple scrapbook layout that I would be able to put in her scrapbook that I’m working on. I ended up getting third place prize with it:

Vicki-MoccaMothersDay2017-layout

The photos were taken on Mother’s Day of last year. She was snuggling with me on our front porch and fell asleep, so my hubby took photos of the process. This is a 2-page 12×12 layout.

Vicki-MoccaMothersDay2017-layout1

I remember now that this was about the time, I started growing my hair out…so it’s really gotten long since then! LOL! I had some “cloud” pattern paper which I thought was perfect for this. I added a sentiment sticker backed with black card stock along with stamping the birds and die cutting the swirl underneath the sentiment.

Vicki-MothersDay2017-layout2

I had taken the other piece of “cloud” pattern paper to place on the opposite page, but I die cut the paw prints (From My Favorite Things) so that the black would show through. The journaling says:

Mother’s Day 2017

It was a beautiful day to be outside and Mocca was enjoying the weather with me as we relaxed on the porch. She finally fell asleep in my arms. really miss snuggling with you sweetie.

The paw prints underneath the journaling were stamped in white ink from the MFT Critter Condolences stamp set.

She had even shared time with me by scratching up a spot on the carpet in weird places on the floor in my craft room 🙂 What a precious crafty friend!

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Thank you for sharing this remembrance with me. If any of you have ever lost a special friend like this, I know you understand. I wish you all LOVE & PEACE

Vicki-Pooh-goodbye