It’s Never Too Latte For a Friend

Hello friends!  Hope that your week has been going great so far and you’re getting ready for Thanksgiving Day for my friends in the U.S. that celebrate.  So since Christmas is coming up quickly, I thought it would be fun to share a couple of little gifts for a friend you might like to share coffee/cocoa with:

Aren’t these little mini coffee cups with the gift card holder so fun?!  I had fun making and gifting them!  Of course I love coffee, but if your friend would rather do a cocoa, that will work for this too!  I’ve used this adorable Inky Stamper Latte stamp set to create my project here with that adorable “Rosie” character popping out of the cup.  I colored and cut her out with the coordinating die.  For the “candy cane” image on the front of Rosie’s cup, as well as the “coffee ring stain” image on the coffee cup sleeve, I used the Inky Stamper Warm Beverages stamp set to accompany my design.  (There are some great cocoa images in there to trade off for the coffee too!)

These little mini coffee to go cups were found on Amazon (4 oz cups pack of 50 with lids) and there are tons of videos on You Tube on how to construct the holder for these. (Check out several from search here)  I sort of tweaked mine from a die set that I’ve had for years, but there’s no reason to buy a die if you can create without an additional purchase.  I’ve added an additional backing with a pocket and thumb opening to hold a Starbucks gift card in.

And then when you open the coffee cup, there is a great place to add some extra treats inside!  I chose to add some Bailey’s chocolate truffle candy inside of these cups.  You can also see how I decorated the cups with papers that has peppermint candies on them as well as the top of the lid, the cup sleeves with stamping and the red twine wrapped around the lid as well.  The little peppermints that I’ve added on the top of the lid as well as on Rosie’s head came from the Inky Stamper Christmas Candy Mix…love that container!  The Doodlebug red Gingham/Linen papers come from the Inky Stamper store as well.

And since the lid on the cup was not as secure as I would’ve liked it to be, I decided to wrap the entire thing inside of a gusseted cello bag and tie it up with some more of the red twine, which also made it look like a gift wrapped present too!

I hope you’ve enjoyed my project(s) today and have been inspired to create a fun gift for Christmas too!  Thanks so much for stopping in and have yourself a very grateful Thanksgiving Day!🦃

Challenges:

  1. Double D – Hot Beverages
  2. Sparkles Monthly – Dies and/or Punches (both used!)
  3. Creative Knockouts – Anything Goes
  4. Colour Crazy Craft – Anything Goes + coloring
  5. Crafty Catz – Anything Goes optional Christmas
  6. Creative Fingers – Anything Goes

*Vicki*20 Comments

Inky Stamper *NEW* Stamps Inspiration!

Hello friends!  I’m really excited to be sharing some more inspiration today as a guest designer this month using some brand new Inky Stamper stamp sets that were just released!  Stop by the store and check them out…they’re so cute!

First, I have a couple of shaped interactive cards for those warm drinks as the temperatures start to cool down.  I made one for Autumn and shared it in the Inky Stamper FB Group and was asked how it I made it, so I thought I’d share that one along with another Christmas style version that I made too:

Aren’t these so cute with that little raccoon from the Inky Stamper Warm Beverages stamp set?!  The one on the right is the one I made with Fall colors covering the front of the cup with the Doodlebug Gingham/Linen paper pad.  I also used the Doodlebug Bon Bon Twine around the cup sleeve.

The cup on the left is more Christmas themed and I’ve used pretty much the same products, but just changed up the colors a little bit.  This cup is slightly different because it’s about 1/4″ shorter so that it would properly fit inside an A2 envelope.  The Autumn card was a bit snug, so I tweaked the size a bit more on the Christmas to make it fit nicely.

When you pull the lid off the top of the coffee cup, there is an insert with a greeting and/or a place where you can add a gift certificate.  These were so fun to create and easy to do!  Mass production could be possible for sure!

All that is needed are some measurements and a few tips along the way to get you started.  I thought it would be easier to understand with a video, so check that out below or watch on You Tube HERE.

I also had a birthday card that I needed to make for someone, so I thought I’d pull out the new Inky Stamper Hippo stamp set and have some fun with it!

Aren’t these party animals so cute?!  I thought this one would be fun to turn into a polaroid style, so I pulled out a square die to create my own polaroid frame with it!  I also cut another one in black cardstock so that I had a bit of dimension with it.  I stamped the sentiment from the set at the bottom of the frame.

The background behind the Hippo was created by white heat embossing the music note image from the stamp set over some Inky Stamper Watercolor Panels and then using some watercolors for an emboss resist background.  I colored up the Hippo, bird and party hat and cut them out to arrange over the background.  I added a couple of pieces of the Doodlebug Grey Swiss Dot Washi Tape over top of the Doodlebug Gingham/Linen Paper that was cut out with a wonky stitched die and attached to a white top folding A2 card base.  I found a couple of sequins from the Picket Fence Rubber Duckies mix and then filling the centers of them with yellow Stickles.

So many different things going on in this post, but I hope that you’ve enjoyed it and have been inspired to create something too!  Thank you so much for stopping in today!

Challenges:

  1. Love to Scrap – Anything Goes 
  2. Love to Craft – Anything Goes
  3. Krafty Chicks – Stamp Act
  4. My Time to Craft – Critters
  5. Colour Crazy Craft – Anything Goes + coloring
  6. Lil Patch of Crafty Friends – Anything Goes
  7. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – Anything Goes
  8. The Corrosive – Anything Goes

*Vicki*19 Comments

Inky Stamper Fun

Hello friends!  Lots of fun crafty things happen during the month of October with the start of World Card Making Day to kick us off, then there’s the changing seasons with Fall, then Halloween with the treats which then turns into the Holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas!  I have taken the time to participate in some fun challenges and classes this month with some Inky Stamper inspiration for today’s post.

Although it says “EEK” next to the spider, I think he’s a cute one and not one to run away from!  This cute spider comes from the Inky Stamper Spider stamp set that I’ve used on the tag for my Hershey Nugget treat holder. (I made this for the October challenge in the Inky Stamper Inkspiration FB Group with the theme of “Treat Holder”.)  I’ve stamped and colored the spider with Copic markers, used the coordinating die to cut him out and pop him over the green oval tag with the spider web and EEK stamped over it.  I’ve used the green colored markers to his eyes to match my project.

For the treat package, I’ve used the Inky Stamper Scallop Candy Wrappers die cut out from some black Doodlebug Gingham/Linen paper to wrap around the candies.  I made a “holder” for the nuggets with regular black cardstock and scored each side 1/4″ for a container to hold the nuggets in place.  I used some stickers from my stash to add the “B-O-O” letters and then slid the container into an Inky Stamper Hershey Bag that was gathered and tied up at the top with a piece of Doodlebug Limeade Twine.  I punched a hole in my spider tag/gift card and threaded the twine through it to wrap around the treat and then took a piece of black ribbon to tie a bow around it all.  These were so fun and easy to make!

Another thing I did was participate in the World Card Making Day Challenge in the Inky Stamper Inkspiration Group. The challenge was to create a card using a sketch that was given and turn in by a certain time frame.  This was my take on the sketch using the Inky Stamper Cow stamp set.

I used the “cow pattern” image from the stamp to create my background, white heat embossed the sentiment strip over black cardstock and sponged white around the edges of the banner.  I popped it up with foam tape, stamped, colored and popped up the cow image over the banner as well.  I also used the Inky Stamper Bunny set for the balloon image and the Inky Stamper Goat set for the party hat over the cow’s head.  The balloon string was attached behind the cow and then I made a bow for around the cow’s neck with the Doodlebug Beetle Black Twine.  To make my card fit with the sketch, I added some silver glitter cardstock strips behind the oval layers.  I also added some silver Stickles glitter over the party hat to bring in the silver as well.  So glad I ended up playing as I was picked to win a gift certificate!

I also participated in a “game night” class making these fun projects all made with the Inky Stamper Bug Catcher set.  This class was was a kit and all of the pre-cut items were included.  I already had the stamp set so I didn’t need to purchase that with it.  Even the candy spiders and magnifier came with it all!  I had fun putting it all together and I really liked the versatility of the projects we did.

  • If you’re on my website, just click on the photos below to take a closer look at each project
When you pull the slider tab the mouse moves over to catch the butterfly!
The magnifier is attached with Velcro dots from card! It works!
Mini card and treat box with candy spiders inside!

Hope you’ve enjoyed the projects that I’ve made and been inspired in some way!  Thanks so much for stopping in!

Challenges:

  1. Two Old Bats – Anything Goes Halloween (spider treat)
  2. Creative Fingers – Anything Goes
  3. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – Anything Goes
  4. Make My Monday – Birthday Wishes (COW CARD)
  5. Happy Little Stamper Birthday – Anything Goes Bday (COW CARD)
  6. Penny’s Paper-Crafty – Anything Goes using paper
  7. CRAFT – Gift Bag or Box (spider treat)
  8. This is Halloween – Gothic and/or Halloween (spider treat)

*Vicki*29 Comments

Magnificent Scene, Birthday Crap and Craft Storage

**IF YOU’RE INTERESTED IN MY GIVE AWAY OR LOOKING FOR IT, CHECK OUT MY POST BELOW OR CLICK HERE.  ENDS SEPT 22nd**

Hello friends!  Welcome to September!  Really hope that you’ve had a wonderful Labor Day weekend and have had a great start to the month so far!  I’m still trying to get my MOJO in gear as I really love this time of the year with all of the wonderful Autumn things happening both outside AND in the crafty world too!  Really love when it starts up, but as it gets closer to the end of the year…I’m ready to skip right over it! LOL!

Today I have a fun post to share with some projects I made with several Inky Stamper products!  They have a FB challenge to participate in every month and so I thought I’d share what I came up with.  (Check it out and play along if you have any Inky Stamper stamps!) *Check out the store as well because there is a brand new release that just came out!

This was a fun little scene to create on a mini slimline card!  So the Inky Stamper Inkspiration FB Group challenge THIS month (Sept) is to use more than just one Inky Stamper stamp set on one design. I really liked this challenge because it got me thinking of what to use and pull out several different images and actually use them!  Looking forward to see what other people come up with too!  So for my scene, I’ve actually pulled out EIGHT different stamp sets!!!😮

To start with the background, I pulled out the *Housefly set with the squares image to clear heat emboss the background and then ink blend over top for an “emboss resist” technique. I took the *Rainy Day set and stamped the rainbow/cloud image and fussy cut the clouds to add on the background sky.  For the “flying birds” and the “pattern” at the bottom over the green strip, I’ve used the *Pelican set.  Of course the main characters are different sets from *Rosie Solo and *Ralph Solo.  For Rosie’s “hair”, I stamped the butterfly from the *Bug Catcher set to color and fussy cut it out which was then popped up over the flower she originally has. I also used this same set to white heat emboss the sentiment.  For Ralph, I pulled out the *Snail set to stamp and color a heart which he is holding.  I just made a slit around Ralph’s “hand” to help him hold the heart.  And lastly, I pulled out the *Bee set to stamp, color and fussy cut the flower image.  I cut off the stem and just attached the flowers with one of them popped up with foam tape. Lastly, I’ve added some sparkle to the butterfly on Rosie and the heart with Ralph using my glitter brush pen.  I then added some sequins from the Fall Flowers sequins mix and filled the centers with some Stickles.

So did I do it?  Did you count out the eight different sets?  I think this mouse couple is too cute…and no…they aren’t the “real” mice, these are the good ones to have!😁

Ralph is showing up again!  I needed to make a humorous birthday card for my son and I’m sure he’ll get a kick out it!😂  This is actually the first card I made for this month’s Inky Stamper Inkspiration FB Group challenge, but I didn’t use eight different sets like I did on the one above, I only used four different sets.  However; I used REAL TP!

The background was created using some of the Doodlebug Gingham/Linen paper which the “bricks” image was stamped over with grey ink from the *Goat set.  I also used this same set to stamp the “grass” border towards the bottom with another strip of green from the same Doodlebug paper pack.  I just fussy cut the top of the grass strip to attach over the grey brick background.  Of course the Ralph inside the TP roll came from the *TP set along with the “pile of poo”💩 and the “Oh Crap!!!” sentiment that was white heat embossed over a black banner and popped up with foam tape.  The balloon image came from the *Bunny set.  I decided to attach a piece of the white Doodlebug twine and pop up the balloon with foam tape.  I attached the other end to Ralph’s “hand”.  Lastly, the forth set I used was the sentiment at the bottom from the *Iguana set.  (For that sentiment, I only used a portion of it from the stamp.)  So that makes FOUR sets used!

The images on this card were colored using my CC Real Brush markers, I stamped the Ralph image again over the TP…yep, stamped directly onto the TP and fussy cut it out to paper piece over the image.  Gives it the REAL look and feel of TP!😉 I have die cut a black scallop frame to go around the scene and lastly I’ve added some sparkle to the balloon and the tiny flies around the “poo” with a glitter brush pen.  I didn’t want to add too much as this is a masculine style birthday card.

And then I have one last project to share that I actually made for last month’s challenge that I “squeaked” in just in time too!  (See what I did there?!😂) Ralph is just so popular today!  I had a plastic bag sitting around on my table that I kept moving out of my way and it was frustrating me, so I made this “container” to hold some crafty things to sit on my table!  It’s actually a REALLY old tutorial from Splitcoast Stampers using chipboard coasters!  I have SO MANY of those coasters and I was happy to use some up.  CHECK OUT THE TUTORIAL HERE (P.S. The tutorial is actually done up by Taylor from Taylored Expressions, before her store years!  That’s how old it is!)

The challenge last month was to use primary colors on your project which are the red, blue and yellow colors.  Not realizing what the challenge would be for THIS month, it would actually fit in with that too!  I used THREE different sets for this project. Again, I’ve used the *Ralph Solo set that was colored up and fussy cut out as this was done before the new die came out for him! (see top card)  I took out several of the different Doodlebug papers to cover my chipboard coaster panels being mindful of the Primary Color challenge.  Rather than leave the papers as is, I decided to pull out the *Inky Greetings set to stamp the splatter image in the coordinating colors with the papers.  I also decided Ralph needed to be holding a pencil, so I pulled out the *Owl set and stamped, colored and fussy cut the pencil image which was added to Ralph’s “hand” by making a small slit for him to hold it.

I was happy to pull out some of my old punches to create the backdrop for “pencil holding Ralph” as well as using up those old coasters and some more papers and ribbon from my stash! (I’m really hoping to be doing more of this often!)

I know this was a long worded post, but hope you enjoyed the projects and got some smiles too!  Thanks for catching up with me today!  See you soon!

Challenges:

  1. Crafty Animals – Anything Goes + animal
  2. QKR Stampede – Anything Goes
  3. Love to Scrap – Anything Goes
  4. Happy Little Stampers Birthday – Anything Goes Birthday (2nd card)
  5. Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers – ‘B’ is for Birthday
  6. We Love Stamping – Anything Goes with stamping (all are stamped!)
  7. Crafting Happiness – NOT A CARD: Anything Goes (3rd project)
  8. The Corrosive – Anything Goes
  9. Try It On Tuesdays – Animals -real or imagined

*Vicki*29 Comments

Donut You Want a Sweet Birthday!?🍩

Hello friends and happy Friday!  Wishing you a wonderful weekend ahead as we head into Valentine’s Day on Monday!  With this holiday, I’m always reminded by the sweet treats and memories of my children passing out their Valentines, making special boxes to hold them in and classroom parties with lots of goodies!  I thought it would be fun to incorporate those thoughts into a fun birthday set and a small treat with NO ‘REAL’ SUGAR ADDED!

I can never turn down a good donut, how about you?  I had so much fun creating this set with the Taylored Expressions Donut Days Cling & Clear Combo and decorating them!  This was created with the February #TEMakerChallenge color combo and theme in mind when putting the set together.  I’ve used both the TE Spearmint & Peaches ‘N Cream ink and cardstock for these.  I’ve added some Chocolate Truffle, Toffee and White EP as well.

To create the “donut box” on the card, I’ve stamped the TE Argyle stamp only without using the stencils and then I’ve cut it out with the TE Box Top Stacklets die to give the frame look for the donuts to be placed in!  (Note the small treat container was decorated on the front with the left over middle piece from the frame…so save everything!)  I then took the stamped frame and ran the TE Pierced Lattice Cutting Plate over it for an added design.  To assemble the box of donuts, I took a piece of tissue paper, crumpled it up and glued the decorated donuts together over it.  The back of the frame with foam tape was then centered over the donuts so it was popped up.  I ripped the excess tissue paper and attached the card together.  I used some of the TE Peaches ‘N Cream cardstock and white heat embossed the TE Mini Strips Donut Worry and cut them out with the TE Mini Strips die.

FOR THE TREAT HOLDER – 

I found this really fun video tutorial for a Hand Sanitizer PocketBac box container using my envelope punch board.  (CLICK NAME FOR THE TUTORIAL!)  I always love finding new ways to use a tool I have especially in a totally different way than what it was intended for!   I didn’t wrap decorative paper around mine like she did, but like I mentioned above, I saved the center of the cut out frame and cut it down to size to decorate the front.  I took one of the sentiments and donuts left over from the card, wrapped some twine around it and tied it so the bow is centered inside the donut hole.

I do love me a good pun…so please feel free to pun away my friends!!😅  Maybe you can come up with a “hole in one”! 

I hope you’ve enjoyed my birthday sweet treats today and thanks so much for stopping in! 

Challenges:

  1. Penny’s Paper Crafty – Anything Goes using paper
  2. Watercooler Wednesday – Helen’s “All About Occasions” 
  3. Creative Fingers – Anything Goes
  4. River of Creativity – Anything Goes
  5. Crafty Calendar – Anything Goes
  6. Lil Patch of Crafty Friends – Anything Goes

Thank you to all of the wonderful challenge blogs and keeping them going!

*Vicki*24 Comments

It’s a Spooky Kind of Love

Happy Friday friends!  We’re now upon Halloween weekend!🎃  Are you ready?!  Lots of candy on hand to give out and some to enjoy for yourself…check.  Scary movies at the ready…check.  Ready for lots of fun before the weekend ends!

Not really sure exactly where my love for Halloween comes from, but I love it so much that even my wedding anniversary comes real close too!  So today is our 22nd year anniversary and I couldn’t have made it in this crazy life without my “Boo”!  I’ve made a card to let him know how I feel:

And yes, this is probably something we would certainly be doing under that moon as we’ve done before including watching bats fly around in the sky!  We do weird and wonderful things which is just ONE of the gazillion reasons why I love him so!  I’ve made a card with a bit of a “love/Halloween” theme.  I’m not sure I’ve ever really made a Halloween style card for him before, but I know this will make total sense for him and he’ll get a kick out it.

Started with the background using some Oxide ink blending keeping careful with leaving the “moon” area clean.  I sprayed water over top of the purplish/black background for that texture and then took a Taylored Expressions heart stencil over the background and introduced another color of oxide ink.  I ink blended the edges and bottom with black.  I have a Tim Holtz “Moon Mask” to create the moon with…which makes it super easy!  I stamped the fence at the bottom right and the bats with black ink.  The couple on the bench (TE “Love Story” die) was die cut from black cardstock and glued in the center of the large heart.  Lastly, I white heat embossed the sentiment over another piece of black cardstock and cut it out with a sentiment banner attached to the top left edge.

It’s really a simple card, but I loved creating the background with a “spooky love” feel that I know he’ll like too!

Here’s a collection of just a few snippets of some current moments we’ve had:

  • Enjoying Fall time picking apples from a local Orchid we love to visit each year. He’s my “Picking apple punk boy”!
  • Oh no! Those darn bats! Our visit to a literally COOL cave from a Minnesota trip.
  • A morning “Cabin Coffee” time together
  • He’s always giving me a hard time for making “goofy faces” in photos…so he “allows” it as long as I get a “nice” one in!😂 This is what I call a little “Hocking Hills Humor” visiting the state park.
  • Awesome beach and lighthouse history at Lake Erie
  • Recent trip to Niagara Falls with our rain gear on. I’m not wearing my glasses because I drenched myself under the Falls and he thought it was funny!
  • Cruising a carousel ride at Silver Beach on our trip to Lake Michigan
  • It’s a Halloween photo booth at Silver Beach…so of course! Watch out for those bats and spider webs!
  • Indeed❤

And since we’re going “all batty” here, I thought I’d share my creation that I’ve made for this months’ Inky Stamper challenge (over on the FB InkyStamper Inkspiration Group) using a recycled item!  I thought this might be a good opportunity to create a fun treat!  I took an empty paper towel holder to cut a 2″ tall container with a handle and covered it with some Doodlebug papers.  I layered some trim and ribbon around it and added a punched out circle for the bottom.

I’ve used the Inky Stamper Bat stamp set for the bat that I’ve stamped, colored and die cut for the front of my treat holder.  I’ve cut out a stamped sentiment banner to tie onto the handle.  Really easy and fun to create!  You could get about 5 containers per empty roll which I thought was a lot!

I sure hope you’ve enjoyed my “BATTY” makes today and I wish you a very frightfully FUN weekend!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!

Challenges:

  1. Creative Knockouts – Anything Goes
  2. Alphabet – ‘O’ is for Outdoors
  3. Sweet Stampin’ – All Hallows Eve
  4. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – Anything Goes
  5. Make My Monday – (E)scape it (scene)
  6. Little Red Wagon – Outside (outdoors)
  7. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Anything Goes
  8. CCEE Stampers – Create a Scene
  9. Stamping Sensations – Animals, Birds & Bugs

*Vicki*27 Comments

Christmas Cards, Projects and Cookies…ready for Santa!🎅

Hello friends!  We’re here!  We made it to Christmas Eve!😀  My cards have been sent out, my cookies are done and delivered as well as my other little gifts.  This is quite a long post, so grab your hot cocoa or whatever your favorite beverage is and a Christmas cookie or treat and let’s see what I’ve been doing this past week:

So starting with my Christmas cards, I usually make around 40ish cards each year give-or-take and I only like to make a handful of them at a time for not only boredom of the same design, but for product depletion as well.

So back in July, I purchased this really adorable card kit from Taylored Expressions (included was the Frosty Background Cling and Clear Combo set + more.) that came with coordinated colored envelopes as well as the seals.  So I made a set of four different colored designs in two of each one.  The snowmen were popped up with foam squares over the backgrounds and I added some fun Snowflake bits that were included with the kit as well.

Next up is another set of cards I made using some more gorgeous products from Taylored Expressions.  I’ve used the Seasonal Sprig stamp and die combo along with the stencil to color them in with.  Some of these I ink blended the backgrounds, so I just used cardstock with a watermark effect and a white heat embossed sentiment.  I used the die to cut an extra frame behind the stamped one for added stability.  I made 4 of each design shown here for a total of 16.

I then made another set of four using the same products, but for these I gold heat embossed the image and sentiment and then used some watercolor for coloring it in with.  I also got some of these coordinating envelope seals to use on about 10 of the 16 cards.  (No longer available in store.)  I’ve also partially ink blended the background behind the frame on these as well.

Here are some cards that I’ve actually made a total of 8 similar designs using the large wording background dies from My Favorite Things.  I’ve used the “Sending Christmas Joy” and “I Really Miss You” dies for all eight of these, but only after I stamped the backgrounds.  I used the MFT Knitted Sweater BG stamp and the Alley Cat BG stamp for a couple of backgrounds before I die cut them.  Then I used the die cut letters to place into the other backgrounds on the cards to get that look.  So it was like creating 2 cards with one cut and filling it all in.  (For the Alley Cat background stamp, I ink blended the background and stamped it as a watermark effect over it and then took the “left over” ink from that to stamp it again to create an additional BG.) I then cut out each of the panels with the MFT Wonky Stitched Rectangle die and placed over a white A2 sized side folding card base.  The penguin image is from the MFT Holiday Penguins set and the bird on the other one is from the MFT “Tweet Holidays” (Not found in store.)

And then of course you don’t want to waste any backgrounds you’ve made, so you make more cards!  I’ve used a couple more images to personalize the design for people too.  I combined the sets Newton’s Nook Whispering Pines and the Lawn Fawn Winter Skies.  I think I took a set from them to create a sentiment to fit my cards as well. (not sure from which set.)

For the other card, I took this cute image from the Whimsy Stamps Gnome for Christmas stamp set, colored him up with my copics and cut him out with the coordinating die to pop him up over my card.

And then for these set of 4 cards, I’ve just die cut a snowflake from some glitter paper and glued in the center of the “O” on each design and popped up a sentiment over that with foam tape stamped and die cut from the Taylored Expressions Mini Strips – Holiday and Mini Strips die.

And as you remember in a previous post those “recycled Crystal Light containers” that I make, I made another set of three of them here.  This time, I’ve used this snowman stamp.  I just used my scissors to fussy cut those cute snowmen out as they were pretty simple to do and then I popped them up over an ink blended tag using the stencil over them.  I used coordinating cardstock and silver heat embossed the sentiment strip at the bottom and of course added my “snowman soup” poem on the back of the containers.  I’ve also added a layer of silver mirror cardstock behind the tags.

And I made a couple of these darling ornaments from a fairly “new to me” company that I was actually introduced to with product during my time as a {Cupcake Inspirations} sweetie DT when they sponsored a challenge a while back.  P.S.  There are a few more days left to enter their current challenge of “SNOWFLAKES” if you want to pop on over to join us too!!

But I was so taken with this darling image and kit from Inky Stampers from this Snow Much Fun Kit.  You get the snowflake ornament (with string), the stamp set and die, papers, wobbler, along with glitter to complete it too!  Well I wanted to make more than one, so I grabbed another set of Snowflake Ornaments from the store and just added my own papers and glitter from my stash to make it.  

And of course, last, but certainly not least, here’s all of the Christmas treats that I’ve made to give out to family and of course for hubby to eat up as we went along too!😋  I have made from top left on down:  Homemade caramel corn, white chocolate covered pretzels, peanut butter fudge, molasses cookies, chocolate covered caramel pecan clusters, scottish peanut butter cereal cookies, chocolate fudge, snickerdoodles and chocolate crinkles.  Of course each family member has a favorite they like me to make and there are a couple of old recipes passed down from grandparents/parents that I like to add in as well.  They’re all delicious and I enjoyed making them.

Whew!  I’m ready for that “Looong winter’s nap” now!!🥱  I hope you’ve enjoyed my post today and it has brought you some inspiration and/or a smile somehow!  I have received some beautiful Christmas cards and I so appreciate them and have them all displayed by being pinned around my garland in our pass-through in the living room/dining area.  I think after a bit of rest, I need to finish up my projects for the “Bugaboo Christmas Chaos” that I haulted in the middle for to finish up Christmas projects….so I’ll be back soon with that.

In the meantime, I wish a MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!!🎅

*Vicki*22 Comments

“tis the Season for Holiday Chaos and Update on Christmas Cards for Danny🎅

Hello friends!  This is my second post for today, so please scroll down to see it or CLICK HERE for the {Cupcake Inspirations} Reminder post.

I have several creations to share with you today because while I’m working on trying to get some last minute Christmas projects finished, I thought that I would join in the fun week long “Holiday Chaos” challenges over at the Catch the Bug Blog for Bugaboo Stamps.  I’ve caught up with all of the challenges up to today and then hopefully later this week I’ll be able to post the remainder of them:

This card is for the Day 1 challenge of “Reindeer Games”, so I had this really cute Bugaboo image called Little Penguin Reindeer and colored him up for my card.  I had these fun reindeer papers in my stash to pair with him and then found this fun sentiment strip to add with it as well.😂

I’ve used some gold glitter paper and added some gold glitter enamel dots in the corner.  The bells on the penguin’s waist was covered with a gold glitter pen and then I added some faux snowflakes along the circle image border too.

This next card was created for Day 2 Challenge of a sketch.  I’ve colored up this adorable Bugaboo image called Christmas Teddy 2 Ornaments all in blue colors!  Hard to tell in the photo, but I’ve used glitter gel pens to color in the stripe of the ornament and the silver tops.

I have been itching to pull out my Martha Stewart papers that have been lurking in my stash and I really love the colors in them along with the silver foil!  I white heat embossed the sentiment from the Brutus Monroe “Holiday Essentials” stamp set and cut it out as a banner with my scissors and popped it up over the card with foam tape.  I finished the design with some Drip Drops from Taylored Expressions.

And of course here’s my project for today’s challenge Day 3 ABC/Anything But a Card.  I make these little “snowman soup” containers every year for my family and sometimes sneek in an extra “surprise” or 2 inside!  You may have recalled these on my blog before, but they’re just recyled Crystal Light containers and they fit the hot cocoa, candy cane, marshmallows and a few chocolate kisses all in there perfectly together.  I’ve decorated them in many different ways.  CLICK HERE to see a previous post that shows another way I’ve made them in the past.  This time, I just made tags to attach around the containers.  I have made another set of 3 of these containers (different images) that I will show in a future post too!

I’ve used these adorable snowmen from Bugaboo Stamps called “Snowman Snowflakes” (right) and “Snowman Snowballs” (left).  I colored them up with Copics and added a sentiment that was stamped at the bottom from Whimsy Stamps Holiday Mini Sentiments stamp set.

I’ve had this “snowman soup” poem for years and years and just printed it out on my computer and attached it to the back of the containers.  The top of the lids are also covered with pattern papers.  P.S.  If you haven’t tried the “Hot Cocoa Hershey Kisses”…oh my goodness they’re so good!😋

UPDATE:

I also wanted to share an update on the “Christmas Cards for Danny” post you may remember that I posted about a few weeks back.  I’ve actually seen an update in my own hometown newspaper about all the cards he’s received and as of December 10th, he’s received 2,544 Christmas cards from ALL OVER THE WORLD! How cool is that?!  Please CLICK HERE to read the newspaper article about the overwhelming support and heartfelt Christmas wishes people have sent him!  This really touches my heart and uplifts me about the kindess in the human spirit.  Thank you to those that took the time to send a Christmas card his way!  It’s really what Christmas is all about.

Challenges:

  1. Catch the Bug – Holiday Chaos Day 1: Reindeer Games (card 1)
  2. Catch the Bug – Holiday Chaos Day 2: Sketch (card 2)
  3. Catch the Bug – Holiday Chaos Day 3: ABC Anything But a Card (snowmen soup)
  4. Christmas Crafts All Year ‘Round – December Gifts/Containers (snowmen soup)
  5. 2 Crafty Critter Crazies – #45 Anything Goes + critter (card 2)
  6. Crafty Animals – #45 Anything Goes + animal (card 2)
  7. Daring Cardmakers – Animal Antics at Christmas (card 1)
  8. The Sisterhood of Crafters – Anything Christmas/Winter (snowmen soup)
  9. Crazy 4 Challenges – C4C565 past sketch from 2020 (I used sketch C4C553 for card 1)

*Vicki*33 Comments

Bright Birthday and More Whimsy Retreat Projects!💡

Hello friends!  Hope that you’re having a great week so far!  Hubby and I are trying to figure out how this “retirement thing” goes together! LOL!  I think we’ll be having so much fun and we’re just really excited about the future and what we’ll be doing.

Speaking of which, this past Sunday he also celebrated a birthday and of course I had to make him a card that was suited for an electrician.  I had to add a bit of humor about his age on the inside, but this is what I came up with:

I’ve had this Stampin’ Up! Sunburst die and stamp set and haven’t used it that much since I bought it. (quite a while ago! Not quite sure how old.. LOL)  I thought it would make a great light beam for my VERY old Simon Says Stamp ‘Watts Up’ stamp set that was from a past card kit. (circa 2014/2015)…yep, all old!

I die cut the sunburst from some yellow and gold glitterstock that I glued together slightly off-set and then attached it over a side folding A2 sized black card base.  I stamped the sentiments over a couple of the yellow strips with black ink taking care to make room for the circle panel.

I then stamped the lightbulb over a white piece of cardstock and colored the base with Copics and used a marker draw a line above it for the string.  I took a solid heart from the stamp set and heat embossed it with some Gold Metallic Gilded EP and then sponged some yellow ink over the bulb for some glow.  I die cut it out with a circle die and then layered over another die cut circle black piece and popped it up over the sunburst layers with foam tape.

I tied a bow with some black twine and glued it to the light bulb base.  I also stamped the bulb in a lighter gray ink over the envelope and added a string to that as well with a gray marker. (The inside of the card said:  “Old is the new black.” 😆)

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And I also wanted to share that I’m still plugging away on the several kits that I received from the Whimsy Stamps Virtual Retreat last month!  These are really amazing projects and I’m having lots of fun putting them together still! (Christmas will be coming next..so stay tuned for those!):

This is a fun interactive card with a pull tab at the top where this cut little dragon slides upwards towards the sky! This kit 9 came with an A2 sized envelope, but I had to make my own envelope slightly larger to accommodate for the pull tab sticking above the card. I’ve added doodle lines around the edges and shadow stamped a sentiment at the bottom for my own added details.
This set was from kit 14. The hexagon shaped box was super fun and even came with the candy! There was also an extra stamped and cut out bee, so I used it to make another card… shaker style! I used the left over honeycomb die cut piece as a stencil on the card as well. I used the envelope that was provided in the kit above and decorated it for this A2 sized card instead. (I know someone that loves these candies…so they might get a surprise at some point! 😉)
And lastly, this was from kit 15 and TOTALLY different than what was photographed in the booklet! First of all, I received a plant image with a die cut speech bubble sentiments and thought it might be cool for a Halloween card on another project, so I saved those to use later. I received an EXTRA stamped sunflower image from kit 22 that I had posted earlier and decided to use it for this card here. I colored it similar to that one and cut it out, but cut off a portion of it on this design. I also changed up the background ink blended colors and splattered some gold paint on this one. Love how it turned out. This will be for an Autumn anniversary card for someone coming soon.

Hope you’ve enjoyed all of my projects today!  Thanks so much for stopping by and I’ll be seeing you soon!

Challenges (For the Birthday Lightbulb card ONLY):

  1.  Retro Rubber – Anything Goes + stamps older than one year
  2. Cardz 4 Guys – Birthday for adult male
  3. Creative Moments – Anything Goes
  4. Crafty Calendar – Anything Goes
  5. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – Anything Goes
  6. Shopping Our Stash – Tic Tac Toe (I used middle across: String/twine, 5 year old stamp, bright colors)
  7. Watercooler Wednesday – All About Occasions (birthday)

*Vicki*31 Comments

Boo!👻 It’s Halloween!!!🎃

Hello my crafty friends!!  Today is Halloween and I thought it would be a great time to share several Halloween themed creations that I had made during the Whimsy Stamps Virtual Retreat!  I’m actually STILL working on the project kits because there were SO MANY of them and I’m such a slow crafter there was no way that I could’ve done them within that weekend time frame!  It sure was so much fun and so many treats along with it!  So happy that I decided to join the virtual event!  I encourage everyone to join the next!!

So what I decided to do was to go through all of my 23 kits and pick out the Halloween themed ones to get them finished up before Halloween so that I would have them to share and give out!  Enjoy the spooky creative fun:

Kit 1 – spooky green behind the eyes! Slimline design
Kit 2 – Slimline design with a spooky graveyard! The cockroach bugs were a nice little “surprise gift” from our lovely instructor for the first two kits! LOL
Kit 5 – All Copic coloring and something brand new to me was coloring a scene freehand! So scary!! But I made it!
Kit 7 – a slimline die used two different ways…LOVED the ink blending!
Kit 10 – Cutest little treat box! Added crystal eyeballs to my skull and sparkled it up with sparkly clear EP. I’ve rubbed white ink around the black edges.
Kit 11 – The ink blending on this was awesome too! I have so many new combos now! The black sparkly die cut is my fave!
Kit 16 – Last but not least, this really adorable card made me giggle the whole time! I’ve added some glossy accents to the eyeballs.

So there are still SO many more kits left to do and I look forward to crafting them and sharing more with you as I go too!  Obviously these kits were created and put together by the talented group of people for Whimsy Stamps, so they’re the ones that get the credit for the creativity on these, and therefore, I won’t enter these into any challenges.

Hope you’ve enjoyed my share from the retreat and I’ll be sharing more soon!

I also have finished one more treat bag that I’ve made with the special Halloween Creative Kit from Brutus Monroe:

I used the stencil from the kit to ink over the stencil from the kit and then added the fun stamped and colored elements over the pattern paper from the kit.  I used the spooky graveyard stamp and heat embossed it over the pattern paper with Raven Sparkle EP including the moon image at the top left.

I even used the ribbon and sequins from the kit to decorate with and then added a tag from my stash to tie on the bow.

This is the little poem that I’ve attached to the back of the bag that was a fun little print out from Brutus Monroe as well as the colorful strips that I’ve used on the top and bottom portions of the image panel on the front of the treat bag.  I thought they were fun little elements to add and give out to my goblins this year! LOL!

Hope you’ve enjoyed my Halloween projects and thanks so much for dropping in!

**Please don’t forget to add your “Monsters/Ghouls” projects to the {Cupcake Inspirations} challenge too!

Want to wish all a very happy, spooky and SAFE Halloween!🎃💀👻

*Vicki*19 Comments