Some Summer Session Sets

Happy August friends!  This Summer has really flown right by me this year, how about you?  Before you know it we’ll be getting ready for all things Fall…which is my favorite time of the year!🍂  I haven’t been feeling well for the last several days and haven’t done much crafting, but I do have some sets of cards that I’ve made sometime during these Summer months, but haven’t posted, so I’d like to share them with you today.

Taylored Expression had released an adorable collection of fish themed products this Summer that I thought would be so fun for several different occasions, and not just for those that like to fish, but for anyone for any occasion too!

The first white background card on the left was created with the TE Hook, Line & Sinker Stamp & Stencil Combo.  The stencil is really nice to create different effects in an easy way without lots of coloring. I like that the TE Hook, Line & Sinker Dies cut out some of the mass produced stenciled fish background too!  (I saved one for the other card as well and still had a few more left over for another project.)  After I created a couple of the stenciled fish backgrounds, I cut out a panel with a wonky stitched rectangle die and placed it over a Kraft A2 card base.  I added some TE Drip Drops for the “bubbles” on the extra fish and you can see that I’ve covered the body of this fish with a glitter brush pen.

The second card on the right was created with the TE Just Keep Swimming Stencil with Toffee Ink color for a watermark look.  I splattered some white and black paint over the background.  The fishing pool as well as the sentiments for both cards came from the TE Reely Great Stamp & Die Combo.  (It includes the fishing pool die cut with it.)  You will also noticed the tiny little sparkly fish on both of the cards which were cut from the TE Little Bits-Fish die with some blue and turquoise glitter cardstock.  The ‘frame’ around the sentiment on the first card as well as the green frame for the second card were extra pieces in my stash previously cut out with the TE A2 Thin Frame Cutting Plate. (I save the extras to use for other projects.)  

Of course I didn’t “invent the wheel” on these as it was simple by following along with the TE “Hugs & Fishes Craft-a-Long Class” which I got for free with my stamp/combo purchase when it came out. I tweaked it slightly, but sometimes it’s nice to just create and follow along without having to think about what to do with it.😁 

This next set of cards was actually pretty fun and easy to put together:

Continuing on with more Taylored Expressions products, I’ve used the TE Create-in-Quads Hexagon Layering Stencil Set.  Taylor had recently come with this series sometime last year I believe and they seem to go over pretty well.  (I think I had previously made Christmas cards and some Mother’s Day type of cards earlier this Spring with other “Create-in-Quads” sets.)  It seems like a lot, but when you see how easy it is to knock out four cards at once…which I did with Christmas last year…it’s such a time saver with wonderful results!

All of these cards were finished off with the TE Oh No You Didn’t stamp set & dies (love this set)! A couple of the cards use the TE Simple Strips-Snarky stamp set that were white heat embossed and cut out.  The other cards have sentiments that were foiled from the TE Simple Strips In Reverse-Everyday Occasions and die cut.  And of course I didn’t want to waste too much of the foiled panels, so I again took my TE A2 Thin Frame Cutting Plate to cut a couple of the frames with it.  I also stamped out a couple of extra stars here and there from another TE stamp set, but I can’t remember which one I used. (I think it was from a previous card kit I have that’s no longer available…but any star will do!)

And again, no need to reinvent the wheel as I believe this was another class I received for free from a purchase.  You can check out the Create-in-Quads Hexagon Craft-a-Long Class if you’re interested in it.  I think I changed up the colors and details a bit for mine, but very similar in style.

**👀  Be on the look-out for another TE project set from me using another Create-in-Quads I recently got and can’t wait to use!  I’m also going to have some things to give away too!  STAY TUNED!!!

I had also attended a class from Riley and Company sometime this Summer as well:

I have loved that little Riley moose character for years, but Tanya (owner) does several of these on-line class events and she comes out with some really cute class kits.  This kit had everything you need to make the projects and this one also included the sentiment die as well as a full 6×6 packet of papers in the coordinating theme.

I looked in the store, but I don’t see any of these kits available currently, but if you’re interested in seeing what kits she offers, check out – “Cool Kits”

For my projects, the giraffe was the only pre-cut image to color.  All of the other bee images came from the papers that were included with the kit that you were to fussy cut from.  Since the sentiment die was also included, I die cut all of those pieces for my card too.  I decided to step-up my cards with some glitter cardstock along the edge of the giraffe card and then I die cut the “gold glitter honey drip” on that card from the Riley and Company Corner Goo Die.  I also added little details like the “flying trail” of the bee with a marker and using a glitter brush pen on the bee wings.  If you’re interested in the sentiment die that came with this kit, check it out HERE.

Hope you’ve enjoyed my Summer Session Sets today and have been inspired or brought a smile!  Thank you so kindly for your time to stop in and have a look!  I really appreciate it!

Challenges:

  1. Pearly Sparkles – Anything Goes
  2. Moving Along With the Times – Anything Goes
  3. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – Anything Goes
  4. Addicted to Stamps & More – Die Cuts and/or Stencils (I’ve used both!)ATSM die cut stencils
  5. Happy Little Stampers – Anything Goes With Dies challengeimage
  6. Crafty Calendar – Anything Goes
  7. Creative Inspirations – Anything Goes

*Vicki*27 Comments

Lawn Fawn Fever!

Hello friends!  I have LOTS to catch up on with all of the blogging of projects that I’ve been working on over the last few months, so I will probably share several projects within one post until I can get caught up!

I know that Christmas in July is going on everywhere right now, so I thought I’d share that along with a few other projects I had going on during my “Lawn Fawn Fever” episode!  I have loved their cute little critters for so long and hope you enjoy what I’ve made:

It’s been a while since I even played along with a Lawn Fawnatics challenge, so I decided to join this one which is asking to see your Lawn Fawn “Fun with Food” challenge projects.  What could be more fun than sharing Christmas cookies?!  I’m not sure I’d share any with mice…but these guys are too cute and add some more fun to the scene.  They’re a bit older and I know I’ve had the set for several years as it was one of the STAMPtember sets called “Merry Christmouse“.

I used some older Lawn Fawn papers from my stash to create the table and backdrop setting and then cut it out with the Lawn Fawn Outside In Rectangle dies.  I used the following sets which include the one mentioned above for my scene: How You Bean?, How You Bean? Christmas Cookie Add On, and Thanks a latte.  I Copic colored them and even added a few stamped images over the cookies including some Chunky Glitter. 

For the mouse hanging over the hot cocoa cup, I cut around his arms to fit over the cup.  I popped up the candy cane as well at the mouse next to the jar for depth on the scene.  I added some touches of glitter and then on the mouse Santa hat, I took some liquid applique and heated it up until it was puffy.  The sentiment was white heat embossed over the dark chocolate cardstock and then I just used my scissors to cut it out and attach at the top.  Really fun scene to create!

I also took part on Friday with the “Hive Five Kit” class they did using the adorable new Hive Five card kit they came out with recently.  I think everything is sold out now, but they mentioned that they might come out with some of the items in the future.  You can check out the video HERE if you’re interested in seeing what we did.  I changed mine up a bit, but pretty similar to what was shown for us.

The first card, I made my sentiment too high so I had to “arrange it” how it worked for me and I wanted it to be a birthday card instead.  The other project was just the hexagon tag.  I changed mine into a shaker and then added to a card.  I also added the speech bubble on this one.

The products included with the card kit were really fun and I’m glad I got it!

The majority of this card came from a fun little kit that my sweet blog friend Shirley gifted me included with a SWAP that I was in with her. (Details of that are below.)  Really love that she included the backdrop for the sky which worked out perfectly!  I actually already purchased this awesome Lawn Fawn Platform Pop-Up die along with the Platform Pop-Up Add-on and the Upon a Star stamp set and dies, but she was so very kind to have all of these pieces already stamped and cut out for me!  I just colored in the critters and the stars, added a few more here and there along with some glitter, white heat embossed the sentiment over the navy cardstock and put it together.

I hadn’t even broken out my Platform die at the time, so this was my first time putting one together!  It looks a little more intimidating than what it really is, so I had lots of fun with it!  Thanks so much for sharing the fun with me my friend!  I can’t wait to attempt another one soon! (Thanks for helping me with my addiction!😁)

 

And as I had mentioned above, I was asked if I’d be interested in joining this “Summer Sampler SWAP” with my wonderful blog friends Patti, Shirley and Donna along with a few other ladies to take part with!  When it was described to me, I quickly realized that I had seen these 12″ x 12″ sized papercraft stamped samplers all over Pinterest.  Of course, I had thought to myself that would be fun to create and never did.

Each square is 3-1/4″ and we each were to use the same color for the back layer so it was all similar for the finished project to coordinate well.  So 9 of us created 9 squares, kept one for ourselves and then mailed out the others to each person in the swap.  Really fun to see everyone’s idea here with the theme of “SUMMER” too!  I love them all and thought how fun that each one is so different from the others!

This is my finished 12″ x 12″ shadow box framed piece with everyone’s squares that I’ve attached to a wood panel background paper.  I have it hanging on the wall.  I think this would be so fun for each season or even gifts!  Hope we can do another one!😉

And here’s the square that I did for the swap.  I zoomed in to take the photo and it’s behind the glass, so it’s not a real great look at it, but as you see, I’ve used Lawn Fawn again! LOL

I had some fun 4th of July papers and thought it would be neat to make somewhat of a shaker element with confetti stars.  I’ve used the Lawn Fawn Dandy Day Flip Flop set along with a mouse from the Bubbles of Joy set for the front of my square.  I was trying to give the impression that the mouse had a sparkler and the sparks were flying while the other mouse was enjoying the show. I used glitter and die cut a star from silver glitter cardstock for the center of the dandelion.  I added a red bow at the top.  I thought with using a shadow box frame that the dimension wouldn’t be an issue and it wasn’t.  

There’s always something fun to keep me hopping, so I know you’ll see more soon including the wedding & painting class projects!  I promise I’ll get there!  Thanks for dropping by!!

 

Challenges:

  1. Lawn Fawnatics – Fun with Food (first card)
  2. Crafty Gals Corner – Christmas in July (first card)
  3. Krafty Chicks – Christmas (first card)
  4. CRAFT – Christmas (first card)
  5. Jingle Belles – BLING on the Holidays! (first card)
  6. Double Trouble – Christmas in July Thing 1, Thing 2 & Thing 3 (I’ve used old stamp sets, papers and added some fun bling on my cookies -plus added to the partner challenge in first card!)
  7. Alphabet – ‘H’ is for Holidays (first card)
  8. My Time to Craft – Christmas in July (first card)
  9. Papercraft – Christmas in July

*Vicki*29 Comments

Creative Artiste July Guest Designer with Mixed Media Birdhouse

Hello friends!  I hope that you’ve had a wonderful week so far and looking forward to the up-coming July 4th weekend for those of us celebrating in the U.S.!  Just came back a few days ago from my son’s wedding which was really beautiful and a remarkable time celebrating with all the family!  (I will share on that in the future here.)

7 July 2022

Today I’m very excited to share my mixed media project as the July guest designer over at the Creative Artiste Challenge Blog!  So if you enjoy creating with mixed media, please check out the blog and have some fun playing along with us this month!

I wasn’t required to create anything specific for this challenge as it’s always an “Anything Goes Mixed Media” theme.  So I thought this would be a great time to share the project that I made and taught recently for a crafty friends retreat.  (I will share more on my completed projects in the future here too!)😉

Vicki-MixedMediaBirdhouse

I have made a mixed media birdhouse with a “stand” that is approximately 14″ tall with a width of about 6″ across the birdhouse roof edges.

I purchased a paper mache birdhouse that came without the square layer underneath it or the “perch”.  I added those using my own chipboard and craft stick from my stash.  The “tree stand” was constructed from an old stairway post from my house that had been stored in our shed out back.  We had no use for it, so I had my husband cut down the length that I wanted for the birdhouse, attached the square chipboard piece to it and glued the birdhouse on top of that.  The very bottom was created with my husband’s saw and pieces of left over wood he had which was then screwed to the stairway post.  Here’s what the items looked like unassembled…

For the “tree bark” look on my post, I covered the entire post with some crackle paste and let it dry along with all of the glue and white gesso to prime everything.  For the “roof” of the birdhouse, I took a couple of pieces of regular cardboard that you would throw away from a box.  I cut it to size for the roof, ripped off the layer to expose the corrugated texture underneath and glued it to the roof.  This was primed with black gesso.

Vicki-MixedMediaBirdhouse-rightside-close

Here’s a closer view of the roof.  To get that “rusty” texture look, I used the Finnebair Rust Affect Pastes.  Not only does it give that look, it also gives the texture too.  The class seemed to enjoy that part.  I’ve also added some more textures with the art stones, wax and moss.  You will also notice that I’ve used this same method with the “perch” too.

Vicki-MixedMediaBirdhouse-leftside-close

The other side of the roof also has added texture with art stones as well as a tin mechanical butterfly that was painted up with some Sparks sparkle paints.

For the “tree post” I added some paint(s) mixed with touches of water to make the texture stand out to get that “tree” look to it.  It was wrapped with a vine ribbon and flowers that were painted to coordinate with the project and then attached to the vine.  The centers of the flowers were made with beads, painted and waxed over them.

And here’s a closer view of not only the post and flowers, but the fence which was also painted with watered down paint as well as painted mushrooms that were actually a bright red color.  I wanted to customize it to coordinate with the project.  I’ve attached some decorative rock and a little crystal ball at the bottom of the platform along with the green moss which covered up the rest of the areas.

As for the birdhouse areas, I ripped up pieces of printed vellum and randomly attached those pieces as desired.  I also took some texture paste and a brick stencil to go over areas of the birdhouse being careful where I wanted to place my different clay molds.  I made all of the clay molds shown and enough for everyone in class too. This is where all of the art stones were attached too.  At this point is where the clear gesso comes in because of the printed vellum that you don’t want to get covered up with the white.  Once attached glue pieces and paint dried, this is where I painted with watered down blue Pasto Paint so that the vellum is still visible through it.  I also painted a very light washing of white paint to go over the brick areas for highlights.

And lastly, to create the “runny rust” colors around the clay and textured areas, I used a couple of different paints that were sprayed with water to let them drip down over the areas.  This gives shadows to the texture and the illusion of your rusty roof affecting the sides of the birdhouse.

All of the textures were lastly highlighted with silver wax paste and the rest was just adding the green moss and the Spanish moss in the hole of the birdhouse.  I have a photo of the class finished pieces that I will share in an up-coming post along with other projects I made for my classes during the retreat.

**Really hope you’ve enjoyed my mixed media birdhouse project and given you some inspiration in some way!  Please be sure to stop in at the Creative Artiste Mixed Media Challenge for more inspiration by the team…hope you can join in the fun with us this month!**

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

Challenges:

  1. Love to Scrap – #156 Anything Goes
  2. Love to Craft – #69 Anything Goes
  3. Arty Divas – Anything Goes

*Vicki*25 Comments

Your Own Sparkle AJ Page

*This is a scheduled post as I’m away for my son’s wedding and don’t have access to Internet at this time*

Hello friends!  Here we are towards the end of June already and in full Summer mode now!  Time has went by so fast!  I do hope you’re all doing well, staying safe and enjoying your time however you’re spending it.

The end of the month also brings the monthly AJ page collaboration with my crafty friend, Carol (from Crafty-Stamper), so please check out her blog for more inspiration too!  We’re trying to get creative by using up our never-ending stash piles!  So here’s my Art Journal inspiration with the “SMASH OUR STASH” June prompt of: “buttons/sequins/gems.“

So who doesn’t have oodles of sequins in their stash?  (I probably had enough to cover the entire page, but left it strictly for the fish scales and “bubbles”.😄)  I was inspired by the Art Journal Journey challenge prompt this month of “FISH” and with the stash prompt in mind, it had me thinking of a book I had gotten for the kids years ago, perhaps you’re familiar with “The Rainbow Fish” by Marcus Pfister? 

In the book, the fish’s scales were very shimmery and it made me think to add the sequins to a fish, so I actually found a fun and free “coloring page” fish image to print out and color for my page!  I used Copic markers to color that fish and the sequins are a glittery silver sequin that were topped with some silver Stickles as well as the “lines” on his fins.  I also added some clear iridescent sequins for the “bubbles” above him.

For my background – Since the goal is to use my stash, I pulled out my set of gelatos that I’ve had for a few years to create my background.  I found it fun to blend them and smudge them with my finger. I also used a piece of punchella trim for stenciling with them too.  Of course, since they’re water soluble, I needed to cover it with some matte medium using a spatula rather than a brush.  Once the matte medium dried, I added some printed vellum pieces ripped up over it and then used some white and silver paint for splatters and stamping an empty roll circle.  I also went around the edges a bit with the silver paint for shimmer.  For a little bit more texture, I took some Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel (UTEE) and heated up a few “piles” of the crystals and melted them…I haven’t used that in a long time either!  I needed to be VERY careful with my heat gun because of the matte medium…it started to smoke a bit!😮

For the background fish – I had a few extra cut out fish pieces from a previous project I made using the Taylored Expressions Hook, Line & Sinker Stamp & Stencil Combo with dies and adding them to the scene.  I also added some sparkly fish that was die cut from the TE Little Bits-Fish dies. (I haven’t posted this project yet, but I will later on!)  I took a micron pen to add a fishing line coming down from the top with a hook. 

Here’s a closer view of the fish as well as some of the details in the background.

For the sentiment – it was printed out along with the fish and then I just ripped around it and then using the same ink colors as the background fish, I blended over this piece.  I also used the same UTEE on it as the background.  I took a white Big Brush marker to highlight the letters and underline.  I also used it for highlights on the fish. I used different colors of the Big Brush markers to add some shading details around the fish.

All of the sequins and silver Stickles were added very last to the page.

Challenges:

  1. Art Journal Journey – Fish (will have to link later when I get back!)

*Vicki*22 Comments

Challenge Up Your Life-Fun in the Sun

Happy June 1st friends!  This month will bring us into the Summer months which means it’s time for all of those fun outdoor activities!  I’m also getting ready for lots of things going on this month including my son’s wedding!  So I know I’ll be busy!  How about you?

This is my last time to be joining the “Challenge Up Your Life” challenge blog as a guest designer.  I’ve had a great time with them as a guest for the past three challenges and appreciate being asked!  Today their new monthly challenge for June is “Fun in the Sun“.  Hope you can share your lovely creations with us this month!  (Check out the challenge blog for details and inspiration!)  And here’s my take on this theme:

What could be more fun than a cute little fairy sipping a drink floating on a lily pad?!  Love those shades too!

There happened to be a good sale on a few digital stamps from LOTV recently and so I snatched a few and this was one of them that I fell in love with.  This one is called Water Lily, of course.  (The sentiment also came from the same company.)  She looked like she was having some “fun in the sun” for sure, so I colored her up with my Copic markers and die cut the panel out with a stitched rectangle die.  I’ve also used a scalloped stitched die to cut out a piece of pink cardstock to go with some of the colors in the image.

For the background papers, I’ve found some great *yellow rainbow paper from Lawn Fawn and then I used a *sun die from My Favorite Things and cut out with some yellow glitter cardstock. (*These items have retired)  I took a wave die from Lawn Fawn and cut out a strip from vellum and used my blue marker to add some color towards the top of the waves.  To attach the strip, I wrapped it around the layers and glued it from behind.  I then added the ribbon with the bow and attached these layers to an A2 top folding white card base.

Here’s a closer look at the image with the coloring I’ve done.  I’ve used a gold gel pen to color in her head band and then a silver one to color in the little “dots” on the ends of her glasses.  I used a glitter brush pen over her sunglass lenses as well as her wings.

I finished the card off with a few colorful sequins.

So does that look like something you’d be having some “Fun in the Sun” with?!  I know I sure would!😎

I sure hope to see you playing along with us this month with your creations!  I also hope that you’ve enjoyed my inspiration as guest designer for these challenges the last few months.  Thanks for your support friends!

Challenges:

  1. Creative Knockouts – For the Kids
  2. Colour Crazy Craft – Anything Goes with coloring
  3. Crafty Catz – Anything Goes optional “All About the Girls”
  4. Creative Fingers – Anything Goes
  5. Allsorts – Anything BUT birthdays
  6. Everybody Art – Glitter and/or Pearls
  7. Creatalicious – Anything Goes optional: lots of bling/glitter
  8. Creative Moments – Summer is Here

*Vicki*25 Comments

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

____________________________________________________________________________________

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

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

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

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

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

*Vicki*23 Comments

What’s Up With Washi and Camping Fun!

Hello friends!  Hope you’re having a great week so far!  Today, I have some cards I made for my GDT month at Inky Stamper using washi tape!  I have loads of washi tape because I have a “squirrel moment” when I see it and think how pretty…and it’s not that expensive and easy to craft with and whatever excuse I can come up with!😁  Then it sits around unused!  

This is why I’m glad that the “Washi Tape Challenge” came up for this month in the InkyStamper Inkspiration FB Group!  You just need to use at least 1 Inky Stamper product and your washi tape…any you have!  I decided to go for 2 cards:

For both I cards, I took a scrap piece about 4.25″ x 5.5″ of black cardstock and covered it diagonally with 3 different types of washi tape.  One was from the Inky Stamper Doodlebug Lily White Swiss Dot washi tape, another from some metallic shinny silver washi tape and another from some clear sparkly washi tape in my stash.  The white turned up almost grayish over the black and the clear sparkle turned up differently as compared to it on the crab card in the background over white cardstock.  I thought it was cool the different looks I got with it.

I then decided to use some dies to cut it out with and then cut the remainder in different sized strips for my cards as well so I wouldn’t have to waste the rest of it…

Vicki-InkyStamperGDT-Washi Challenge-cat

For this card, I took a “hello” die from my stash and cut it out of the washi tape piece I created on the black cardstock piece.  I then cut out the “negative” sentiment with a rounded corners rectangle die and layered another piece of black cardstock behind it that was cut out slightly larger and popped up over an A2 card base that I’ve also layered with more of the washi tape strips I cut out from the left over.  I added this cute kitty from the Inky Stamper Cat stamp set along with the sentiment at the bottom.  I thought it would be fun to add a couple of paw prints at the bottom in white ink from the Inky Stamper Dog stamp set.  Lastly, I thought it needed some Doodlebug Twine too!

Vicki-InkyStamperGDT-WashiChallenge-crab

And for this card, you see that I’ve taken the die cut “hello” sentiment from above and added it to the crab’s claws to hold up in the air…so fun!  I still had a couple more left over strips from above and added that to the top and bottom of the scene I’ve created on this card. 

So for the scene, I’ve used the cute Inky Stamper Crab stamp set along with the sentiment at the bottom.  The sparkly looking “sea” in the background comes from a couple of different glitter washi tapes I had in my stash.  I then used a border die cut to cut it out to go across the card front.  Die cut some waves for the sand and tucked in all of the stamped and colored elements over a stenciled cloud background.  I added this card front scene to an A2 sized black card base.

How about you?!  Do you hoard your washi tapes?  I sure had fun playing around with it making these cards and I think it’ll be fun to sit and play some more with it as I have so much of it!  I think it was fun to die cut too!  If you’d like to washi tape around too, please join the challenge with us in the InkyStamper Inkspiration FB Group!

Just wanted to share some projects with you I’ve made this past weekend from a Craft Camp that I went to with Inky Stamper.  We made lots of fun projects: (click on photos to enlarge!)

First photo shows a fun keychain made with a special knot technique that was new to me! The flamingo accent is from a shrinky Dink! The wood slice is stamped and sponged with ink. I put a magnet on the back of mine. The second set of cards was made from a stamp set received in the camp kit from Anthony’s Paper Craft (new to me store) and the last set of cards is a brand new Inky Stamper Flamingo stamp set with an interactive card and mini card! Had lots of fun!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  Really hope you’ve enjoyed my washi tape cards and you can come join in the challenge with us this month!  Have an amazing crafty day!

Challenges:

  1. Aud Sentiments – Anything Goes + sentiment
  2. Allsorts – Add some sparkle 
  3. Sweet Stampin’ – Feature an animal
  4. Lil Patch of Crafty Friends – Anything Goes
  5. Crafty Sentiments – Anything goes

*Vicki*22 Comments

Say NO to Pot!

Hello there friends and happy Wednesday!  Hope you’re all doing well and having a great week so far!  It’s so hot over our way with a heat advisory in triple digits, so it’s a good time to stay in and craft, right?!

Stopping by today with another project I’ve made for Inky Stamper!  This one sort of cracks me up a bit as you can see by the title of my post! 😂

Vicki-InkyStamperGDT-Crab-circle easel

So the sentiments from this Inky Stamper Crab stamp set are hilarious and I know many of the stamp sets come with funny sentiments like this too!  It’s always great to have different options for sentiments to go with an image!  Now, I don’t think that I’ve ever been to a crab boil, but I do love me some crab legs!🦀  How about you?!

I’ve used some of the Doodlebug Paper Pads (also in the Inky Stamper store) and made that for the base of my background for the large “pot” image to sit over.  The sentiment was stamped directly onto the “pot” image before I colored it with Copics.  For the “flames” behind the pot, I’ve used the Inky Stamper Bear stamp set.  I’ve found so many different uses for that set.  I think it’s one of my faves from this store!

As you can see, the “crab” is inside the pot.  So for this, I used a craft knife to cut a slit for the “crab”, but when you use the coordinating die to cut out the “crab”, he will not exactly fit…so I dismantled the “crab”…like you would for cooking…and placed the cut up parts so his hands were in the air and his eyeballs are sticking out.😆  I taped him on the back of the pot so he would stay put through the slit in the pot and popped it up with foam tape over the flames.  I took the other images from the Crab stamp set and die cut the salt and pepper shakers and fussy cut the sea shells to add to my easel card.

For the easel style card, I’ve used some circle dies for the easel as well as to create the frame for the “port hole” around the cooked crab scene.  I’ve used some brads and rubbed some mixed media silver paste around it.  I’ve also added a piece of rope/twine that I randomly tied a knot on for an accent.  I’ve also added some gems from the Picket Fence – Sand collection (also sold at Inky Stamper) above the crab…for seasoning of course!  The seashell on the inside grouping of the card has foam tape to secure the card front in place for the easel design.  This card will fit perfectly inside an A2 envelope so I can give someone a chuckle of course!

I’m getting ready for a fun “Craft Camping” event starting this weekend with Inky Stamper and I know it will be lots of fun!  So if you’re interested in seeing some more inspiration, come join us over the InkyStamper Inkspiration Facebook Group and say hello!  There is a monthly challenge if you use their product too!

Hope you’ve enjoyed my easel card today and had a chuckle!  Thanks for dropping by!

Challenges I’d like to enter:

  1.  Addicted to Stamps and More – Make Your Mark (all images colored with Copics)
  2. Crafty Sentiments – Anything Goes
  3. Penny’s Paper-Crafty – Anything Goes using paper
  4. The Crafter’s Cafe – August Anything Goes
  5. Crafty Creations – Aug Anything Goes
  6. Pearly Sparkles – Aug Anything Goes
  7. Creative Knockouts – Anything Goes

*Vicki*19 Comments

August GDT for Inky Stamper!

Hello friends!  Wanted to thank you for your kind comments!  Like I previously mentioned in my last post, I’ve still been crafting and following on FB by joining some classes, challenges, etc.  So although I haven’t been active on my blog, I’ve been crafting and sharing over there once in a while.  Just having some fun while using more of my crafty stash is all!  However, while playing around on FB, this happened:

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A couple of weeks ago I was invited to join as a guest designer for Inky Stamper this month! Yay!  If you haven’t heard of this company, check out the stamps…they’re too cute and the owner, Chelsea, is so fun too!  She has such an infectious excitement about her that you can see if you happen to catch her on one of her weekly FB lives every Tuesday at 7:30 pm CST. (On the Company FB Page)  Hop on over there and say hello! 😉 

So I will be sharing my creations using Inky Stamper products every Wednesday this month and I hope that I will be able to INKspire you with something fun!  I’m starting this Wednesday with some products that just recently released:

The first thing that Summer reminds me of is flip flops!  There is a cute little image of flip flops in this Splash stamp set which inspired me to create this shaped card and birthday tag!  That’s also where that cute little mouse you see is from as well!  But the sun and chair come from the Chaise Lounge stamp set, which I’ve combined both sets to use on my creations here.  I think these two sets go hand in hand with each other and it’s probably best to just get them both!  If you choose to get the dies with these sets, it cuts out the mouse and frog separately from the floaties they’re already on so you can pop them up!  So they work on the floaties as well as the chairs..so cute!

For my flip flop card, I’ve taken a very old template that I had found in my stash while cleaning up my craft room and thought this would be perfect to make a shaped card with!  I started by tracing the pattern for the base of my card and cutting two shapes so that I can make a card that opens from the side as you see in the photo.  The card measures approx. 7″ x 3.5″.  It’s a bit taller than a mini slimline card, but I can easily make my own custom envelopes with my envelope punch board.  This is another fabulous way to use up those hoarded papers too!

I took the smaller template and used the fun Doodlebug Floral & Graph paper pad (Available in the Inky Stamper store too!) to cut the inner flip flop pattern with. (I had to angle the template to make it fit onto the 6×6 sized paper.)  I added a couple of flowers from my stash along with the matching ribbon for the flip flop straps before attaching to the card base.  Colored the images, cut them out and added the sentiment strip at the bottom and cut it to measure with the inner flip flop edge.  I added some texture by sanding the edges of the paper too.

  • Here’s a little tip if you’re cutting out the stamped mouse image from the floatie:  When you use the die to cut it out, the edges around it will have some stamped lines on it where the white border is.  All I did was take a white gel pen to cover up those lines to that it looks like a perfect white line around the image!  P.S.  This is also a great way to cover any coloring mistakes made! 😉  This also works for fussy cutting an image as well!

I popped up “Rosie” (the mouse), as she is called, with foam tape over the chair.  I’ve also added some Doodlebug gems to the center of the flower on Rosie and for the flower at the top of the flip flop card.

I thought this would be a nice Summer birthday card so I wanted to make a matching tag to go with it.  I’ve pulled out the Inky Stamper Mini Envie Die and used it for this tag design.  Again, I pulled out the Doodlebug Floral & Graph paper pad and used this die to cut my tag with making sure that the center of the envelope die would be cut out.  This is what I’ve used for the base of my tag.  I like using these papers because they’re double sided. That way the back still has a nice color/pattern to it too.

  • I used this particular die for my tag because of the size.  Putting another strip of paper on the back side of this tag will create a pocket for you to tuck a gift card inside if you want to use it for that!  See below:

Vicki-InkyStamperGDT-flipflop-tagbackpocket

Since there are score marks to make the envelope, I ignored those lines and used my paper trimmer to cut out the center which is where the orange base of my tag came from.  I cut off the top two corners diagonally and punched a hole at the top which created my tag. I also die cut the envelope tag again with the Doodlebug Swiss Dot Paper Pad this time being sure that I had a good portion of the scallop edging cut from it.  I used that piece for a design element on the tag.

I stamped the sentiment and flip flops from the Splash stamp set as well as the sun from the Chaise Lounge stamp set, colored them, fussy cut/die cut them out to add to the tag.  I used a black pen for stitch lines along the edges.  I added my own hole reinforcer circle punched out and then added some Doodlebug Bumblebee Twine to the top. Finished it off with a couple of clear sequins from the Fishy Wishes sequins mix and filled the centers with Nuvo Glitter drops.  I also covered the sun with a Sparkle Glitter Pen.

I hope that I’ve INKspired you today with my Summer flip flop theme!  Thanks so much for dropping in here.  If you’d like to see more from this company, be sure to join the Inkystamper Inkspiration FB group!  Hope to see you there!  Have a great day!

Challenges I’d like to enter:

  1. Just Us Girls – Anything but a card (tag only)Screen Shot 2021-04-29 at 9.10.28 AM
  2. Daring Cardmakers – Gift Tags Galore (tag only)
  3. Moving Along With the Times – Summer Fun and/or Colors (orange/yellow)
  4. NBUS #29 – Aug “Never Before Used Schtuff” (never used new stamps!)
  5. Aud Sentiments – Anything Goes + sentiment
  6. Sparkles Monthly – Outdoor Fun
  7. 2 Crafty Critter Crazies – ATG + critter

*Vicki*23 Comments