balloons – Stamped Smiles

Reminder for the Blues at {Cupcake Inspirations}

Hello friends! Hope that you’ve had a nice weekend as your days are growing closer to Christmas.

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Today I have a reminder for you about the “Shades of Blue” challenge over at the {Cupcake Inspirations} Challenge Blog and that you still have a few days left to enter your blue shaded projects! Hope you’ll join us! Although thoughts of winter, Christmas and snowflakes come to mind with these colors, I’ve decided to take the colors in a different direction for this week:

Blues made me think of a masculine birthday which is something that I needed for a birthday card for my dad this last week, so my thoughts turned to him when making this card. He’s been having some medical issues recently and I wanted to send him a happy card along with some real balloons to help try and cheer him up a bit. My heart is heavily with him right now as he deals with many physical issues.

For my card, I first started with a piece of Bristol Smooth watercolor paper and ink blended some blue oxide inks over the panel with Chipped Saphire, Blueprint Sketch and Salty Ocean Oxide Inks. I die cut the large sentiment die and balloon dies from this piece and then attached the sentiment to a die cut vellum shadow behind it.

I stamped some images with the same blue inks I blended with over a white panel along with doing a very light ink blending in the center of it before attaching the die cut sentiment over top. I then attached that panel to a blue die cut panel and again over a white die cut panel and finally attaching it to an A2 sized side folding blue card base. Lastly, I popped up and glued the die cut balloons along with the silver strings also die cut around the sentiment panel keeping in mind the placement of the strings. I added a few blue sequins to finish it off.

In this close-up photo, you can see the details of the background more clearly along with the shimmer over the balloons which I went over with a glitter brush pen.

So I hope that you’ve enjoyed my birthday card today and were inspired to pull out your blue shaded stash and have a play with them! Really look forward to seeing what you come up with for the challenge! Be sure to check out the {Cupcake Inspirations} Blog and see what the Cupcake Sweeties have to inspire you with this week as well!

Thanks so much for joining with me today and I’ll be seeing you soon!

Challenges:

The Divas That Cut Paper – Dec Anything Goes + die cut machine
Lil’ Patch of Crafty Friends – #147 Anything Goes
The Corrosive Challenge – #12 December Anything Goes
AAA Birthday – #20 Twinkle
Creative Moments – #204 Anything Goes
Watercooler Wednesday – WWC301 Occasions
Cute Card Thursday – Anything Goes

December 13, 2020December 12, 2020

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles28 Comments

It’s a HAPPY Birthday!

Hello friends! I hope you’ve had a lovely weekend!

After starting this year, I tend to “look back” on my stash items and take a good “inventory” of what I have and the things that hardly EVER get used, if have gotten used at all! And of course I try to tell myself…”no more!” LOL! I honestly just let all of my card kits just sit and don’t dive into them and use them! I get so excited about them when they come out, oooh and aaahhh over every single item in the kit and then it just sits…then before you know it, another kit comes out! It’s an endless cycle that I’d like to stop! Does anybody else have this problem?!

**This year, I hope to not only just open the boxes with content, but also make some creations with them! If I’m already suscribed and getting boxes, then why am I not using them?! You saw in a previous post the Snowflake set of creations, so I plan on doing more of that this year…so stay tuned! 🙂

I actually have made a card from a fun special edition “Sweet Birthday” card kit from Simon Says Stamp last year that I was super excited about, but only dug in enough of it to make this one card: (Hanging head…..)

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At least I made ONE with it, right?! LOL! I just thought this was such a happy, colorful and fun card kit that it was just perfect to send a birthday smile for someone that really needed some “happy” sent their way. My schedule was crazy and then I forgot to get it posted! LOL!

The stamp set used in creating this one from the SSS card kit was called Sweet Birthday and I was excited to be able to get the coordinating dies to go with it too. It’s very simple with the cardstock and pattern papers from the kit for the layout design. I used an additional piece of black cardstock to white heat emboss the sentiment from the stamp set, cut it out with my scissors and pop it up along with the party hat cloud and balloons with the black “strings” underneath them.

I used a white gel pen to add “dots” to the blue balloon and then added some sequins from the card kit over the design.

Here’s a closer look at the images and how I’ve colored them up with my Copic markers.

At this point I don’t remember if I’ve added a glitter brush pen over anything, but more than likely I probably did because I like using it! LOL!

I’ve also used a sanding block around the edges of the pattern paper as I like to distress my papers sometimes too.

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I didn’t know who this person was that received this card, but a request came from a crafty friend who asked to send smiles to someone for a loved one’s birthday and of course I was happy to get creating and hope that this helped in some way to lift spirits.

And I hope that this has helped put a smile on your face too!

Thanks so much for popping over here today and I truly enjoy seeing your comments! Please let me know what you think of YOUR stash? Is it “out of control” like mine? LOL! Would you like to see me making posts using more of my card kits? Share your thoughts below! 🙂

I’ll see you again soon my friends!

Challenges:

Love to Craft – LTCCB42 Jan. Anything Goes
Love to Scrap – LTSCB129 Jan. Anything Goes
Seize the Birthday – Anything Goes + Toppings: Layer It!
Use Your Stuff– Anything Goes
Try it On Tuesday – What a Cutie/Make Someone Smile

January 14, 2020January 13, 2020

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles27 Comments

Spots and Dots for Cute Card Thursday

Hello friends! Hope you’re having a great week so far. The month of October is flying right through and I know once Halloween gets here, it will be the end of the year before we know it!

Today starts a new challenge over at Cute Card Thursday this week! We are looking for “Spots and Dots” on your creations this time! We look forward to seeing your take on this one!

For my card, I decided to keep it rather simple as I needed a card for my brother’s birthday this past weekend, so I didn’t want to add too much to it:

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This card is using items from the Simon Says Stamp Sweet Birthday Limited Edition card kit which has since been sold out, but I know that you can still purchase a few of the items that were included in the kit.

I started out by taking the SSS Celebrate stencil from the kit and spread on some Deco Foil Transfer Gel over a white piece of cardstock from the kit and let it completely dry before moving on. After it was dry, I took the Rainbow Shattered Glass transfer foil sheet and put it through my laminator. It looks so pretty and shinny with a wow factor to it! I cut this piece down and layered it over a black scallop square die cut panel. I then layered these pieces over the green colored Tim Holtz Metallic paper from the kit.

For the square card, I used a black top folding 4.25″ black card base and then layered another piece of that green metallic paper over it. I took a ‘dotted’ piece of paper from the Honey Bee Over the Rainbow papers (included in the kit) and layered it over top of the metallic green. Then I added my foiled balloons panel over this.

Lastly, I took the sentiment from the Simon Says Stamp Sweet Birthday stamp set and white heat embossed it over a piece of black cardstock that I trimmed down to a banner and popped up over the card with some foam tape.

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I really didn’t want to add too much more to it as it was for a male and I think with all of that foil and shine, it really didn’t need much else! I think it’s fun, simple and really cheery looking especially with that foiling done.

I was able to pop this in his door before we left for the weekend and he let me know that it brightened up his day, so that was great to hear!

I know that I’m getting this fun kit out again very soon as I am in need of another birthday card to send to someone that needs a good birthday cheer and I’m happy to do it! Besides, this kit looks to be so much to play with for sure! 🙂

Be sure to join us over the Cute Card Thursday Challenge this week! Thanks so much for stopping in and I’ll see you soon!

**Please scroll down if you care to see some personal photos of our recent trips!**

Challenges:

Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – PIP1941 Anything Goes
Crafty Cardmakers – Sparkle
Through the Craft Room Door – Anything Goes
A Bit More Time to Craft – Anything Goes
Watercooler Wednesday – WWC243 Masculine Anything Goes

**Below are some photos and details of our recent trips if you’re interested!**

Now I wanted to be sure to share some photos with you as promised from hubby and my last two weekends out and about with our shenanigans! LOL

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The first weekend in October we visited Hannibal, MO and visited the Mark Twain museum and even went for a tour in the Mark Twain Cave! It was very interesting! You couldn’t be claustraphobic as there were a few tight areas in there! I didn’t get any photos of the cave, but it’s so amazing in person!

This photo above shows us after we came back down from seeing the Mark Twain Memorial Lighthouse. As you can see there are several steps to get up there, but what you don’t see is how many steps we took just to get to the point of where we are in the photo too! Whew!

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My husband finally decided to take me on that cruise…along the Mississippi River that is! LOL! They had a Mark Twain Riverboat tour that we took and it was a fun boat to check out along the river while listening to the stories from the captain.

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So while listening to the stories from the Captain on the riverboat cruise, we heard about the story of “Lover’s Leap” and so we decided to investigate it before we left. In the background you can see a view of the Mississippi River. It was pretty up there and a long way down!

So we came back home for some “downtime” and to unwind before going out this last weekend for another trip near the Starved Rock Park area:

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We decided to get going in the morning but it had really cooled down over night and we knew starting out we would need our heavy coats.

And all I can say is that the photos do not do justice to what it was actually like over here. It is absolutely gorgeous! The photo above is our “lowest level starting point” during our ‘hike’ and that is the Illinois River behind us.

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We came through the Visitor’s Center and briefly went through the small museum and started going through some of the trails. They seemed to wind all over the place with many different areas to go to!

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The main trail going straight was a slow incline and then several stairs to go upwards to where the top of Starved Rock was. Here we are at the top along with tons of other people. That is the Illinois River behind us again. This was later in the day as you see the sun shining on us and getting warmer.

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And here we are with this gorgeous feature behind us among the trees where shelves of rock walls lay and water running down. It had warmed up enough for me to take my heavy coat off while walking around. I think we look more serious as we were trying to capture the pretty view behind us. LOL! Nothing like seeing it in person of course! (I just wish I was able to do more than what we did, but was still excited about what we did accomplish!)

We wanted to get up the next day and try to walk around a small town festival going on along with catching a tour to the Reddick Mansion later that day before we left, but we weren’t able to get there and had to get back home. (I will try again another day.)

This was fun to just get out and enjoy nature especially this time of the year. I look forward to many more fun little trips in the future…especially with the love of my life!

Thanks so much for stopping in and sharing a bit of myself with you! Wishing you a beautiful day friends!

October 17, 2019October 16, 2019

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles26 Comments

Sweet Anniversary Wishes with Whimsy Stamps January Release!

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

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

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I’ve used this super cute image called Aimee & Valentino for a special card that I’ve made for my parent’s 54th wedding anniversary.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I hope that you’ve enjoyed my card and I hope the recepients enjoy as well! 🙂 Thanks so much for dropping by today! See you soon!

Here’s a photo list with links for the Whimsy Stamps products I used today: (See the underlined list above and click individual links to purchase Copic Markers from Whimsy Stamps.)

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

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

January 29, 2019January 29, 2019

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles26 Comments

Sparkle N Sprinkle New Release – Kitty Celebrates Up in the Air!

Hello friends! Have you checked out all of the December New Release yet for Sparkle N Sprinkle?! Do you have a favorite? I’m not sure I can pick one! I think they’re all fabulous really! But I’m excited to start with this cute one for today:

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Tee hee! Kitty got a little “carried away” with celebrating I think! I have used the NEW Kitty Celebrates rubber stamp set [00-926P5] for my card. (There is also a wonderful digital set [DIGI926CS] if you prefer that!) I’ve stamped him over Copic Blending Card paper and colored him in with Copic markers and then fussy cut him out.

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So before attaching him to my card, I thought it would be fun to add some Nuvo Crystal Drops in Morning Dew (Gloss-dries clear) [677N] and apply a layer over my balloons to give them a shinny balloon look! I then set kitty aside while I worked on the rest of the card.

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For the background of my card, I made a nice “blue sky” by taking some Sparkle N Sprinkle Watercolor Paper [WC69] and sprinkling some Nuvo Blue Blitz Shimmer Powder [1208N] over it and then spritzing some water over it and letting it run all over the panel until I achieved the look I was going for. (LOVE the subtle shimmer over it too!) and then set it aside to let it dry.

The next thing for me to do was to create some “fluffly clouds” for the kitty to be among:

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So I took some cloud dies from my stash and cut them out with some Sparkle N Sprinkle Sticker Paper [99558].

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These sheets are sticky on one side, so I carefully peeled the release paper and handled them with some tweezers and applied some of the Sparkle N Soft Twinkling Clouds Flocking [FL207] over top of the sticky side, rubbed them with my finger to secure and tapped off the excess. I now have some really cool soft and fuzzy clouds to attach to my blue sky!

So now all I have left to do is assemble everything for my card! I started by taking the clouds and adhering them to my background with some Sparkle N Sprinkle dimensional Glue. I then cut down the watercolor blue sky panel with a rectangle stitched die that fit the size of my card. Then I needed to add my sentiment, so I took the sentiment from the same stamp set and stamped it with a black pigment ink and added some Sparkle N Sprinkle Sparkle EP [EP107] and heat embossed it. (This is a clear style embossing powder that leaves a nice little sparkle over it!) I layered this die cut sky panel over a piece of black cardstock which was then layered over an A2 sized top folding white card base. Lastly, I’ve added the fussy cut kitty over top of the sky background panel with some foam dots and then randomly added some drops with the Nuvo White Blizzard Glitter Drops [758N] over the sky panel.

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I think this turned out really cute and I sure had fun making it! Here I’ve laid it down so the light catches the details of the sparkle in the clouds, the sentiment and the glitter drops in the background as well as the shine over the ballons too!

Hope you’ve enjoyed my card for you today! Thanks for dropping in!

**Please be sure to stop over at the Sparkle N Sprinkle Blog to get updates and see lots of inspiration using their wonderful products! And please don’t forget that you can add any of your Sparkle N Sprinkle creations over on their Facebook Creative Challenge Group. (If you don’t have any of their images, check out how to grab a free one over there!) If you’d like, you can also join us over at the Sparkle N Sprinkle Monthly Challenge Blog by following the challenge guidelines (No Sparkle N Sprinkle image is necessary to play)! We’d love to see what you are creating!**

*Don’t forget if you go shopping over there, be sure to add my discount code when you check out to get 10% off your order:

Here’s the full list shopping list of products from Sparkle N Sprinkle used on my creation for today:

Kitty Celebrates rubber stamp set [00-926P5] or Digital set [DIGI926CS]
Nuvo Crystal Drops Morning Dew (gloss-dries clear) [677N]
Sparkle N Sprinkle Watercolor Paper (6 ct.) [WC69]
Nuvo Blue Blitz Shimmer Powder [1208N]
Sparkle N Sprinkle Sticker Paper (10 sheets @ 5.5″ x 8.5″) [99558]
Sparkle N Soft Twinkling Clouds Flocking [FL207]
Sparkle N Sprinkle Sprinkle embossing powder [EP107]
Nuvo White Blizzard Glitter Drops [758N]
Sparkle N Sprinkle dimensional glue
Tim Holtz Glass Media Mat [1914E]

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

Simon Says Stamp Monday – ‘B’ is for: Balloons, Blue Sky, “Best Day ever”
Tuesday Throwdown – Anything Goes
Addicted to Stamps & More – Anything Goes
The Male Room – Celebrate
Little Red Wagon – House Pets

December 9, 2018December 8, 2018

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles22 Comments

A Clean & Simple Cute Card

Hello again friends! It’s Thursday and time for another Cute Card Thursday challenge! Woot! This week’s challenge is a Clean and Simple or CAS style theme! I hope you can play along with us and share your CAS creations too! We can’t wait to see what you come up with! Here’s the card that I’ve made:

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I have used our sponsor’s image for this week from Kinda Cute called Girl and Balloons digital stamp. I wanted to use some soft colors for the balloons and I have used my Copic markers to color in the image.

I have also taken some distress ink and a cloud stencil to create the cloudy background behind her. I’ve also added a stamped sentiment from my stash. I cut the image panel down to size so that it fit inside the black stitched and scallop rectangle die cut and mounted it over top. I used some foam tape and mounted this entire piece onto a white A2 sized top folding card base.

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In this photo you can better see the details with the Spectrum Noir Glitter brush pen as well as the hightlights I’ve made with a white gel pen in her cheeks and balloons. I had fun coloring this cute image! Hope you’ve enjoyed it too!

Please be sure to stop by the Cute Card Thursday challenge blog to see the challenge details, find inspiration from the rest of the team and to add your link to the challenge this week! Hope to see your creation there! Thanks for stopping in and see you again tomorrow!

challenges for this card:

Addicted to CAS – Girl Power
Seize the Birthday – Anything Goes
Daring Cardmakers – What a Wonderful World (inspired by the “I see skies of blue and clouds of white” lyric) – this song always inspires me to look on the brighter side of the world…great challenge, thank you!
The House That Stamps Built (J2718) – Anything Goes