Class Fun & Square Samplers + Give Away

Happy April friends!  We have finished March already and onto Easter very quickly approaching!  I hope you’re enjoying all things Spring coming up your way!  We’ve had several storms and we’re in the tornado season as well, so I hope everyone is staying safe out there whatever the weather.  I do have some things that I had previously finished and wanted to share:

First, I wanted to share about the Virtual Stamp Joy Event by Taylored Expressions that I participated in a few weeks ago.  I always have so much fun and enjoy the motivation that it seems to generate!  I’m sharing them in the gallery below, so if you’re on my website post, then just click on each photo to enlarge it.

  • The first four photos were from a class using the same floral stamp set and the others are from the next day of make-n-take projects.  Please let me know if you have any questions about any of them!

The last set of four cards were a “mass production” using a background stamp in different colored cardstock panels and clear heat embossing over them.  The class sample had “hello” sentiment on each one, but I changed up the sentiments and have placed them in a card box to give them out with envelopes as a gift for someone.

Hope you’ve enjoyed the inspiration as much as I enjoyed putting them all together!

From the end of last year up until this last month, I didn’t have much time with the Holidays and everything going on, but as you may have seen in previous posts, I participate in a “square sampler swap” and when everyone sends out their squares, we then complete a home décor piece with all of the squares, so I thought I’d share mine finally completed:

  • CLICK PHOTOS BELOW TO ENLARGE

This was for the Christmas Sampler SWAP and you can see that I’ve used a black shadow box frame for my sampler and placed some red with red metallic dotted paper behind it.  The square on the right is the one that I made. (I’ve used My Favorite Things products for my square.)

This was for the Winter Sampler SWAP and I went with a white shadow box for this one.  I’ve placed some soft blue snowflake papers for behind my sampler as I thought it was soft enough to not look too busy.  The square on the right is the one that I made. (I’ve used Inky Stamper products for my square.)

And recently we finished up our Spring Animals Sampler SWAP that I used another white shadow box for the sampler.  I’ve added a piece of pink colored “Watercolor Wishes” paper from Lawn Fawn behind it.  It looks a little off in the photo, but it looks better IRL.  The square on the right is the one that I made.  (I used Taylored Expressions products for my square.)

Not sure if we’re doing any more or not, but I had so much fun making the squares to swap with friends!

Lastly, I have a fun little thing to give to whoever is interested in these Taylored Expressions dies + foil-it panels package. (It’s not sold in stores anywhere as it was a free gift with purchase)  I have an extra and so I thought I’d give it away to someone!  Just leave me a comment below if you’re interested and I’ll pick someone from the comments.
Leave a comment below if you’re interested!

That’s all I have for today!  Thanks so much for stopping in!  I’ll be seeing you soon!

*Vicki*18 Comments

Party Pandas

Hello friends!  I had another birthday card to make and this person likes panda bears, so I thought I’d go through my stash and see what I had for that.  Here’s what I came up with:

So I found this cute little guy that I believe was a “freebie” a few years back for your birthday month from Lawn Fawn called “Party Panda” and the extra was that “Happy birthday” sentiment as well.  There was also a set of coordinating dies with it that cut out the panda as well as the tiny cupcake.

So to make it a good party, you need more than one panda, so I stamped him out three times and stamped out some “party elements” as well from the Lawn Fawn Party Animals stamp set, colored and cut everything out with the coordinating dies.  These little guys turned out so cute with their party hats on and holding their birthday items to celebrate with another panda friend, of course!

I thought it would be fun to create  a green colored frame with the Watercolor Wishes paper cut out with the Outside In Stitched Rectangle and the Reversed Stitched Scallop Rectangle dies to create a frame.  I had some additional metallic gold polka dotted papers for the background behind it that were also a freebie with one of my orders.  Before attaching it to the back of the green frame, I also added a piece of Noble Fir cardstock cut from the Grassy Border die.  Attaching this border to the frame only gave me some room to tuck the pandas behind the grass.

I stamped the sentiment in black, cut it out with my scissors to make a banner and sponged some green ink around it before attaching to the card.  Lastly, I added some gold sequins and placed it over an A2 sized top-folding white card base.  I decided to create my own envelope with more of that green Watercolor Wishes paper to mail it in.

  • Well the green and grass have me thinking of Spring coming and I think I might party like a panda myself when it finally arrives!! 😆🎈  I’m sure ready to be outdoors! 

Hope that you’ve enjoyed my card today and have been inspired!  I’ll be back Saturday for this month’s Art Journal Page and hope to see you then!  Thanks for dropping in!

Challenges:

  1. Creative Knockouts – Add a Sentiment
  2. Lil’ Patch of Crafty Friends – Anything Goes
  3. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – PIP2311 Anything Goes
  4. Lawn Fawnatics – Inspired by Book/Movie/Song (My book inspiration came from Xander’s Panda Party by Linda Sue Park)BandN
  5. The Corrosive – Anything Goes
  6. Creative Fingers – Anything Goes

*Vicki*18 Comments

Going CAS at Sparkles Monthly

Hello friends and happy Wednesday!  Today starts a new challenge over at the Sparkles Monthly Challenge Blog and this time we would like to see your CAS (or “clean and simple”) creations!  I hope you will hop on over to see the inspiration from the team and consider joining in the fun with us!

Here’s the DT creation that I’ve made for it:

Sometimes I feel that CAS can actually be even more difficult than regular cards and I struggle with thinking I’ve added too much or it doesn’t look right.  I think it’s more of me over-thinking something, though!

It was my son’s birthday yesterday and I thought this would be a great opportunity to make a card for him.  He’s a postal carrier, so I thought this cute owl from the Lawn Fawn Special Delivery would work great for this.  I started with the LF Stitched Cloud Backdrop and the LF Stitched Rectangle Frames dies to create the main focal panel.  I lightly blended some blue ink in a circle before adding the Copic colored postal owl popped up with foam.

Over some red cardstock, I white heat embossed the sentiment.  (I don’t remember which LF stamp set it came from)  I  die cut it with a banner die and popped it up over the cloud panel.  I also had an extra die cut heart lying on my table, so I thought it would be great to add with the owl.

Thanks so much for stopping in today!  Hope you’ve enjoyed my CAS card and have been inspired to join us this month with your take on the challenge too!

Challenges:

  1. Country View – Birthday card for a man
  2. Love to Scrap – Anything Goes
  3. 613 Avenue Create – Anything Goes optional: CAS
  4. Lawn Fawnatics – All things birthday
  5. Sunday Stamps – SSC304 sketchSSC304

*Vicki*27 Comments

It’s 2023! Commissioned Calendars and More Calendars to Start the Year!

We’ve made it to 2023!🎉  Congratulations and a huge welcome!  I’m so thrilled to have you with me for another crafty year and honored to be apart of your creative journey in some way.

Towards the end of last year…which was a few months ago…I was asked to create a set of those calendar cards that I had made last January which you can view in my previous post HERE. If you look at the calendars at the bottom of the post, it explains the details. In sharing those, someone asked me to create a set with a particular theme in mind for giving as Christmas gifts.

I was given instructions to use a sheep image for their card/game group that call themselves “Sheeples”.😄  The first one that came to my mind was this adorable little die cut set from Taylored Expressions called Spring Squad Die & Clear Stamp Combo.  I love the added stamp set to create the details of the characters!  And of course I’ve also used the TE Mini Tear-Off Calendars.

For the background, I wanted to incorporate some game theme items with this cutie, so I pulled out the fun stamp set from Inky Stamper called Game Night, of course!  I ink blended the background panel with some reds and black/gray Oxide Ink colors and spritzed it with water for some texture.  Once dried, I added the different “suit” images in the corresponding colors of the suits.  I also stamped a sentiment from this same stamp set and die cut a banner with it to pop up under the sheep.  Lastly, I’ve added a few Playing Card Shaker Elements and rhinestones.

In total, I needed to create 8 of these calendars and I think they turned out really cute and fun!  I didn’t know if there were any masculine members of the group, so I wanted to keep it for use either way and I’m glad I did as it was needed.  So these are each A2 size that can fold flat and fit inside A2 envelopes for mailing if you needed. Then the recipient can stand them up to remind them of their next game night fun throughout the year!  She seemed pretty pleased with them, so that was great too!  And of course she received them in plenty of time for Christmas giving, but I’m just now getting them posted.

I enjoy creating a new calendar for my craft room every year and there is a fun 2023 Calendar Kit from Inky Stamper that I completed.

Every year Inky Stamper comes out with these calendars that comes with all of the calendar month cards plus pre-stamped and cut images along with a sentiment strip and papers for each month.  It also includes some sort of stand to display them on. (I like to use the previous year calendar to make cards with too!)

I was able to get them all colored and assembled for this year and have it displayed on a shelf next to my computer so that I can flip through each month and enjoy.  I enjoy taking the time to sit and color especially with it being cold and snowy again over my way.

And since this post is all about calendars, I thought I’d take the time to complete TWO Perpetual Occasions Calendars from Taylored Expressions that I had gotten sometime last year for gifts and never got around to finishing them up.

Vicki-TE-perpetual calendar

I’ve just turned it to January to show, but you can see the other pages of the calendar on the bottom corner that were all stenciled up similarly.  The link above takes you to the class kit which includes the TE Perpetual Occasions Calendar, the TE Calendar Coil plus the video class instructions from Taylor on how to put everything together.  You can also get the TE Floral Vines Layering Stencils that work with this calendar which I’ve used with these that I made.

And of course you can also use these same stencils to make a pretty card too!  I’ve taken the same stencils that I’ve used on my calendar and made a birthday card.  I took the instruction from Taylor’s class and applied it similar to my own card using the TE Diagonal Stitch Rectangle die to partially cut one side of the stenciled panel.  I also pulled out the TE On Occasion stamps & dies to white heat emboss over black and cut out over the front of the card.

And then after creating two sets of the perpetual calendars and birthday cards to match, I’ve added a rainbow pen that I had previously purchased from Taylored Expressions (no longer in the store) and placed them all inside these TE 5×8 Clear Calendar Boxes.  I pulled out some ribbon in my stash and wrapped it around the boxes.  I now have two completed birthday gifts with cards this year!  Yay!  I feel like I’ve accomplished something ahead of time for a change!

  • I hope you’ve enjoyed my New Year calendar post today and have been inspired to start getting crafty!  Thanks so much for stopping in and I’ll see you soon! 

Challenges:

  1. Creatalicious – Anything Goes optional something new (new calendar kit for 2023)
  2. Love to Craft – Anything Goes
  3. Love to Scrap – Anything Goes
  4. Crafty Animals – Anything Goes + animal (top and middle projects)
  5. Lil’ Patch of Crafty Friends – Anything Goes
  6. Penny’s Paper-Crafty – Anything Goes with paper
  7. Paper a la Mode – Let’s Get Started (no cards)

*Vicki*21 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

Friendly SWAPs

Hello friends!  The weather has been really nice over my way so I’ve been taking advantage of it by enjoying the outdoors before it starts changing into more chilly temperatures.  All of the prize winners have contacted me and the packages have all been sent out.  I have received notice that the U.S. winners have gotten their packages and hopefully the overseas will be arriving soon.  My thoughts are also with those that were affected from Storm Ian and hope for healing and recovery as soon as possible.

Although it’s been a while since I last posted, I have been working on some things for SWAPs and a few other cards that I had created as well to share with you.

  • please click on the photos below to see them close-up

Within a FB Group that I’m in, we could choose to join an ATC SWAP with the theme of “Friendship” and these are the cards that I had created.  I swapped with two others and then kept one set of three for myself.  I was excited because this is the first ATCs I’ve sent overseas and really enjoyed making the collection.  I thought the butterfly theme with similar colors would work keeping the “Friendship” in mind… 

And then below are the set of ATCs I’ve received from my SWAP partners in return.  The first lady sent her ATCs from Australia and the other lady was from the UK I believe.  Love them and was excited to receive them to add to my book.

I was also involved in another “Stamped Sampler SWAP” making those squares like I had done with my Summer one if you remember that with my friends Patti, Shirley and Donna.  This time our squares were the theme of Autumn/Fall using the Stampin’ Up! colors Pumpkin Pie and Mossy Meadow.  It’s so fun to see them come in and then put it all together in the frame!  Here’s how mine finished out:

For my Sampler frame, I used some different colored woodgrain pattern paper to attach the squares to and this frame is a bit different than my Summer Sampler (Check it out in THIS POST if you want to see that one.)  It can stand on a table surface or you can hang it up.  I also decided to add a burlap bow at the top of the frame using a hot glue gun.

This is the Sampler Square that I had made using the adorable fox from the Taylored Expressions Woodland Squad Die & Clear Stamp Combo set.  The background was stamped with the TE Four Seasons Stamp & Stencil Combo set using ONLY the background stamp in one color.  I then using some gold acrylic paint to splatter over it.  I also added a twine bow to the fox.  I believe we’re going to be doing another one for Winter too…stay tuned!

My friend Patti had also sent me an extra card kit from one of her classes along with her SWAP square, which I thought was so nice…so I had some fun putting it together as I don’t have this set which I believe is a Stampin’ Up! one.

The card kit had all of the pieces in it along with the stamped birds cut out, the stamped branches and sentiments (even on the included envelope) along with cut glitter clouds and flowers!  There was a sheet with photo and instructions so I just followed along except I die cut some leaves for the branches from a piece of scrap green paper I had.  Now I have a cute little birthday card ready to send out, so thank you for the fun Patti!😉

And speaking of birds and Stampin’ Up!, I had to make a sympathy card for someone that lost their pet bird.  I was looking through my stash and found an older Stampin’ Up! set with a bird silhouette which I thought would be good for a sympathy card like this.  I was inspired to pull out more of my older Stampin’ Up! stash to use so I used some old punches, ribbon and paper for my card as well.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the inspiration today and I thank you so much for stopping in!  If you have any questions about my post, please let me know.  Have a great day and see you soon!

Challenges:

  1. Lil’ Patch of Crafty Friends – Anything Goes (Bird sympathy card)
  2. The Corrosive – Anything Goes (Butterfly ATCs)
  3. Crafty Animals – Anything Goes + animal (Fox Square and/or Bird sympathy card)
  4. Fab ‘N’ Funky – Embossing wet/dry (Bird sympathy card)
  5. Creative Knockouts – Anything Goes (Butterfly ATCs)
  6. Sweet Stampin’ – Anything Goes EXCEPT birthday (Bird sympathy card)
  7. Ally’s Angels – Anything Goes (Butterfly ATCs)

*Vicki*19 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

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

Massive Mass Producing!

Hello friends!  I hope that you are having a great week so far!  After the little “heat wave” hit us, I’ve been enjoying some ‘nicer’ outdoor temperatures, finally.  As you may have read in a previous post, I had been working on my son’s wedding invites as well as some thank you cards for them to send out afterwards.  I will be sharing that later on, but today I have some other “mass production” that I’ve been working on in addition to those:

First up, I’d like to share a set of cards I’ve made for the Taylored Expressions Fans FB Group challenge for May which calls for “4-8 mass-produced cards. (similar or identical)” & the colors “Poblano Pepper with Confetti Cake“.  I do not own the Poblano Pepper, but I do have a small cube of Confetti Cake ink.

I’ve been wanting to create several sympathy cards so that I had them on hand instead of making at the last minute for one, so I was happy to get these made.  I decided it was just easier to make them identical so that I didn’t have to decide how to arrange or cut my papers, etc.  I’ve used the Taylored Expressions Diamond Botanicals with dies as well as the TE Diamonds Masking Stencils for the main image.  The background uses the TE Pierced Lattice Cutting Plate over a piece of Toffee cardstock.

Here’s a close-up look at one of the cards.  I stamped the floral image in black ink as well as the sentiment from the stamp set and then took one of the Diamonds masking stencil with some Confetti Cake Ink to softly blend around the edges of the sentiment area with it.  I also used a blender brush to blend around the edges of the cut Toffee layer too.

Since I only had the Confetti Cake ink color, I matched up the coordinating colors with my Copic markers and colored in the image using only those color tones.  I think it worked out great for sympathy cards.  After I colored up the images, I used the coordinating die cut and popped it up over the Toffee cut panels with foam tape squares and then layered it over a side folding white A2 card base.  I finished each one with some of those coordinating TE Pastel Tiny Diamonds.  (Although the suggested listed coordinating colors on the website don’t have the Poblano Pepper or Confetti Cake, I thought it matched up rather nicely to this anyway.)  I think these cards work out great for mailing too.

And speaking of sympathy cards and Taylored Expressions, I thought it would be great to create a nice gift set too:

If you remember one of my previous posts, you may remember where I created a greeting card gift set (CLICK HERE).  I’ve went along with the same idea here and made them all sympathy related cards using my own acetate box and some Taylored Expressions products.  These were all quick and easy to pull together using the Taylored Expressions Done for You Alcohol Ink Background Panels along with a previously released card kit stamp set/dies.

I decided to heat emboss several of the fern images with white, gold and silver over a few of the panels, some over white and vellum and then cut out.  I placed them along with the heat embossed sentiments cut out and arranged them over the panels.  I matched up the cardstock that I had from my stash with the panels to create the completed cards.

Here’s a gallery of a few of the cards up close along with the finished gift box tied with a ribbon: (Just click on each photo from my website to see them enlarged.)

I think this will make a nice gift for someone as I always hear people saying they never have a sympathy card on hand when they need one or for those people that don’t make their own cards too.

And lastly, I’ve made a couple sets of mini slimline style cards using the Taylored Expressions In the Garden-Triple Slim Layering Stencil:

I quickly fell in love with these quad type of stencils especially with these gorgeous florals!  I love the way these floral panels are different from one another and you can stencil them all up with the same color in one pass!  I needed a couple of Mother’s Day cards, so making all of these at once sure came in handy for bonuses too!

Using the “craft-along” video from Taylor and Heather, I used the same, or similar colors that was used, added my black splatters and then used the TE On Occasion with dies as well as the TE Get The Word Out-Mother’s Day with dies for the sentiments where I white heat embossed over black cardstock and cut out.  I just glued to the panels and attached each panel to a white mini slimline card base.

And then here’s another set of mini slimline cards using the same products as above except I used Toffee instead of the white cardstock for these.  I also stamped the sentiment with dark brown ink over white cardstock and then cut them out to place over the stenciled panels. 

I also used both dark brown and white paint to make the splatters over these.  I also used the TE mini slimline stitched and scallop die cuts for these cards and then layered them over top of a Toffee mini slimline card base.  I’ve also added a few TE white rhinestones for a bit of sparkle too.

I also think that these would make great greeting card gift sets as well!  So then it’s just a matter of which ones to keep and which ones to give away as a gift!?🤔

Hope you’ve enjoyed my mass production post today or have been inspired in some way.  Thank you so much for taking the time to drop in and say hi as I enjoy hearing from you!

Challenges:

  1. Creative Friday – No patterned paper (top set of cards only)
  2. Colour Crazy Craft – Anything Goes with coloring (top set of cards only)
  3. Creative Fingers – Anything Goes
  4. Sparkles Monthly – Floral Frenzy
  5. Lil Patch of Crafty Friends – Anything Goes
  6. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – Anything Goes
  7. Stamping Sensations – Anything Goes optional: Flowers/Fauna

*Vicki*34 Comments