Hello! Welcome to 2022!

Hello friends!  I hope you are all doing well and looking forward to a promising year this go around!  I sure am!  I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted, but I was having a bit of a hard time with having lost my “MOJO” for a period, feeling really down and not myself at all.  Christmas came and then on top of it, I’ve gotten sick.  I am starting to feel a bit better now, so I decided that the only way to get through all of this is by doing what I’ve always felt to be therapeutic, which is to keep on creating!  I just need to get back into the mindset of it again is all, but I do enjoy it when I’m creating as I’m sure my fellow crafty friends can relate to!😉  Appreciate your kindness to me always.

Since I really haven’t created much lately other than Christmas cards (as you can see from my previous post below), I’m going to share some projects that I had done at the end of last year including some commissioned cards I was asked to do:

Last month was a birthday card for my dad, so I’ve pulled out a special birthday kit that came out sometime last year from Simon Says Stamp.  Everything I’ve used on the card including the embossing folder, stamps, sentiment strips and paper all came from the kit.  It may be hard to see in the photo, but I’ve foiled over the “super happy” sentiment strip that was included with the kit and glued it over top of the cake slice.

I’ve added some glitter over the candle flame, the yellow stars and the inside of the white embossed “birthday” strip under the cake slice.  I pulled out the blue colors from the striped paper to color the image with using Copic markers and die cut it out to glue over top of the sentiment strip and embossed oval layer.

And speaking of birthdays, I was commissioned to do a 50th birthday card for a guy that is a professional painter and enjoys grilling outdoors.  The first image that came to my mind was this really cute LOTV image.  I printed him out and thought it would be fun to incorporate the birthday number above “the painter” to make it look like he’s in the process of doing it while the paint is dripping everywhere.  So while the boy painter was printed out, I stamped and embossed the numbers above him.

My husband had the idea of the little grill along the edge going “up in smoke”.  So I created a “ground” area for the ladder and the grill to be on.  I stamped the grill image, colored it in and then a liner pen to draw the line to establish the separation.  I then ripped the corner above the grill and sponged some Black Soot distress ink around the grill and corner edging.  I didn’t want the background to be white or black, so I dug out some brick style pattern paper to place behind that corner area before attaching it to the card base.  Hopefully there were some chuckles from it!

So for the inside of the card, I thought it would be fun to take this corner border die that I received from a Halloween class and make it look like the red paint drip continued on the inside.  Then I found this really funny sentiment to go along with the grilling bit too!  I also sponged some more of that Black Soot distress ink around the edges.

These were really fun cards to do and I enjoyed the coloring process so much!  I find that coloring images really helps me get through some creative blocks…even if it’s a simple image or something that I don’t use, so I’m thankful to at least to be able to do that.  Hopefully I can get back into what I enjoy doing here.

I know people sometimes struggle with masculine style cards, so here are a few examples of cards that I came up with for men.  Hope it helped with some ideas for you too!  Thanks for stopping by today and I’m glad you did!

Challenges:

  1. 613 Avenue Create – Anything Goes
  2. Stamping Sensations – Anything Goes with stamping + use a die (top card only)
  3. Lil’ Patch of Crafty Friends – #173 Anything Goes
  4. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – Anything Goes

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles27 Comments

Autumn Birthday For My Deer

Hello friends!  Really hope that you’re having a great week as we start to dip down into cooler temps and that means that Autumn is coming to a close (sadly) and winter is upon us along with Christmas!  Are you ready?  I’m working on things…that’s all I can say!  I need to get more motivated for sure!  Many things are already done, but it’s the double checking to make sure…and sometimes it’s not! LOL

Recently, I needed to make a birthday card for hubby, so I pulled out a card kit I had from last year and came up with this one for him:

This was a really fun one to do from the Simon Says Stamp Woodland Whimsy card kit from last year. (I linked the stamp set and dies still available.)   My husband is a huge fan of outdoor wilderness and especially deer in the Autumn season as they can be easier to spot with the falling leaves.  So it just seemed like the type of card to make suited for him.

I’ve colored in all of the images with Copic markers and die cut them out with the exception of the birch trees as there were no dies included with the set.  I placed them behind my die cut circle from the woodgrain paper included with the kit.  I backed it with another piece of the paper from the kit as well.  I even tucked in the back part of the deer’s feet along with a leaf to make it part of the scene.  I like the banner from the set which is left blank so that you can add whatever greeting you want with it.

The little heart above the deer was also fussy cut out and then I covered it with a glitter brush pen as well as some crystal effects over top for the shine. I thought about adding some sequins, but decided it wasn’t needed. The scene was layered over a piece of cardstock included with the kit and then I stamped some of the birch trees onto a coordinating envelope as well.

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Also thought I’d share some other projects that I’ve been working on since my last post.  It seems that I’ve become a little addicted to taking those classes and events…honestly don’t need to be taking them, but sometimes it’s just fun to participate in the fun with fellow crafters!  I do enjoy sharing with those like-minded crafters like myself!😁

These are all projects I’ve made using products from Inky Stamper.  (I will link to the information in the descriptions below.  ***If you are on my website, just click on the photos to enlarge them to see better and the wording will also be more visible.) 

  • These are projects we made during a “Game Night” event! Cute fun fold card, a mini card and the little round container is decorated with a deck of circle playing cards inside! It has a magnetic closure! Super fun event!
  • This is a set of projects made during an OOAK event class with Chelsea from Inky Stamper. We made the fun vellum shaker card and the mini Fall card with this class. The kit is still available in the store here – Peppermint Mocha Latte Kit
  • This card was made up by me for the Inky Stamper Inkspiration FB Group using the colors Blue and White for this month’s challenge. I used “Bear” for my main image.

Inky Stamper has just came out with several new stamp sets this month…super cute and great for Christmas!  So be sure to check out the store’s front page to see them!

I’ve also been working on some Christmas things that I will share soon as well as some other requested commissioned cards that I’ve recently finished. I would like to get those Christmas cards finished up early for a change!  How about you?!  Are you all done creating for the Holidays yet?

Until next time, thanks for stopping in today friends!

Challenges (For deer card only)

  1. Alphabet Challenge – ‘P’ is for Patterned Paper
  2. Happy Little Stamper – Anything Goes with Diesimage
  3. Addicted to Stamps and More – Birthdaysimage (1)
  4. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – Anything Goes
  5. {Cupcake Inspirations} – Fall Foliage#532
  6. The Crafter’s Café – Male

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles27 Comments

Taylored Expressions Sept Birthday Challenges & Exciting News!🥳

Hello friends!  Happy Friday and are you ready for the weekend?  I’m supposed to be helping hubby with some outside work, but my allergies have been bad and I’m not feeling well.  Hopefully some medicine will be helping so we can get things finished up!

I have been a “grumpy” fan of Taylored Expressions for a few years as you might have seen in some of my past posts…so of course I get “pulled in” by other cute products too and that’s what happened…my story anyway!  In their FB fan group there is a monthly #TEmakerchallenge with prompts to follow as long as you use at least one of their products.  So I’ve made a fun card for this month I’d like to share:

Now how CUTE are these little critters?!  During TE’s Sept birthday month (13 years in business), they released a collection of birthday related items and this is the introduction of “Chip & Charlie Party“!  I’m saying that Chip is the bird and Charlie is the raccoon…not sure, but that’s what I’m saying! LOL  I’ve colored them up with Copic markers and added some shimmer to the balloon, party hats and cherry on cupcake with a glitter brush pen.  I’ve also added some highlights with a white gel pen.

I wanted something in the background, but not too distracting from the critters, so I stamped the Party Time background stamp in the same cardstock color (Cherry Pop) I then used the stencil from this combo set to white ink blend the tops of the hats.  The paper strip accents came from a TE paper pack I had in my stash.  I thought it needed an extra little image element on the front of the card, so I added some Doodlebug Twine and the party hat from Big Grumpy-Birthday, colored with Copics and popped up with foam tape on bottom corner. It was covered with a glitter brush pen and I also added a Doodlebug Matte Sprinkle at the top of the party hat and in the center of the twine bow.

You might notice that the image panel is not completed adhered to the card front and there’s a score mark in the center as well.  So I was going for something a bit different than a regular A2 birthday card…and the Sept challenge prompts are 1. Heat or non-heat embossing, 2. Napa Valley color quad and/or 3.  Something that begins with “E”  You have to pick at least one of these along with a TE product.  So for the “E” I’ve decided on making an Easel card…

So when you open up the bottom flap, you place it behind the popped up sentiment that was white heat embossed (also a challenge prompt) and cut out with the coordinating die from the “Get the Word Out-Celebrate” set.  I’ve also added some more of those yellow polka-dot papers and a thin strip of Cookie Monster cardstock which is what I used to mat behind the image panel as well as for the sentiment.  There is still room to line the inside of the card with a special birthday message.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my card and please see at the end of this post for other challenges I’ve entered…PLUS a special birthday give away if you’re interested!

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**Now for some EXCITING NEWS**

Taylored Expressions was holding a special set of birthday challenges this month in their FB fans group with certain prompts for each one.  There was a set of four different challenges and I decided to make something for each challenge and I ended up winning a future guest design spot for a future release!  WHAT?!  Taylor shared which one was her favorite I made in THIS FB ANNOUNCEMENT, but I will share all the creations I made here: (click on the photos to enlarge them if you are viewing them on my blog.)

  • The first challenge was using Toffee color cardstock/ink + ROYGBIV (rainbow) colors. I made a theater fold design with the Toffee card base and a stenciled rainbow colored background. I also counted out exactly 13 candles to use on the front of the card for TE’s 13th birthday. I’ve also stenciled a few Toffee confetti sprinkles over top. When you pull on each side of this card, it opens up which you can see in the photo below.
  • I white heat embossed the sentiment on the inside and then I took the same confetti stencil and added some white ones over the toffee inside. You can see the candles popped up in the center opening. This card was Taylor’s favorite pick! 🙂
  • These cards were made for the 2nd challenge which was to create a CAS design and then take the similar style and “Step it up”.
  • For the third challenge, you were given a choice of two different photos for inspiration and you had to pick one to create a project from. I sort of was inspired by both and I some what combined the two for my mini slimline card here. This took a bit of time to white heat emboss the sentiments in the rainbow colors and cut all the stars, etc, but I like how this turned out.
  • The fourth challenge was called “shake it up” which meant to create a shaker card. I’ve used this adorable Gus & Gertie set along with some other elements for design from my stash. I ran an embossing folder over the silver foil frame a die cut to make my shaker element from. Check out the next photo for the shaker bits…
  • And this is the shaker lying flat with all of the inside shaker elements. I’ve used some snowflakes from a past kit as well as silver sequins and ice beads.
Taylored Expressions 13th Birthday Challenge entries

I honestly wasn’t thinking about winning anything! I was basically just enjoying the process of creating and pulling out some stash that I hadn’t yet used and wanted to use so I thought I’d just play along.  I was very surprised to see that I was picked as a winner!  Very humbled and honored by that!  So be watching for an up coming GDT post!

I have actually joined several of Taylor’s classes, virtual events, etc and have made many cool things during the time that I wasn’t blogging, so I never shared them… but like I said, I’ve been creating and having fun!  I do remember something fun she taught in a virtual event from July I was apart of that was Halloween themed, so I’ll have to pull those cards out soon as well since the time is coming up and I do love me some Halloween!🎃

One last thing!  With all of the fun and exciting things going, I realized it’s my birthday month as well!  I’m not 13, but let’s just say a few years older!😁  So I think the best thing to do for my birthday is to give rather than receive!  If you feel the same and think someone would enjoy this little Taylored Expressions bundle that I have shown above in the photo, let me know!  If you’d like to gift this for yourself, let me know!  I would love to give someone these extra set of items already in my stash to someone!  There is a Banner Simple Strips die, a 3 piece balloon layering stencil with a clear stamp set combo, a Cupcake ink pad (unwrapped, but NOT used at all, I just noticed I already had one after unwrapping it!) and a tiny cake and celebrate stamp set all from Taylored Expressions and perfect for party making! (There may be a few other things added as well!)

**Please just leave me a comment that you are interested in the TE give away by October 10th, 2021 and I will be happy to pick someone to send it out to!**

Whew!  I think that’s about it!  Thank you for stopping by friends and enjoy your weekend!

I’d like to enter the top easel card ONLY in these challenges:

  1. Taylored Expressions FB Fans Group Sept #TEmakerchallenge – heat/dry embossing and easel card for something beginning with “E”
  2. Festive Friday – #FF0093 I used: balloons, red & twineFestive-Friday-0093-challenge-card
  3. Krafty Chicks – All Occasions (birthday)

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles36 Comments

August GDT for Inky Stamper!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Vicki-InkyStamperGDT-flipflop-tagbackpocket

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

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

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

Challenges I’d like to enter:

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

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles23 Comments

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:

  1. The Divas That Cut Paper – Dec Anything Goes + die cut machine
  2. Lil’ Patch of Crafty Friends – #147 Anything Goes
  3. The Corrosive Challenge – #12 December Anything Goes
  4. AAA Birthday – #20 Twinkle#20
  5. Creative Moments – #204 Anything Goes
  6. Watercooler Wednesday – WWC301 OccasionsWWC301 - Dawn's All About Occasions Challenge
  7. Cute Card Thursday – Anything Goes

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles28 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* from Stamped Smiles31 Comments

The “Power of Practice” Blog Hop

Hello friends! I’m so excited to be sharing a special collaboration blog hop with my fellow crafty friends collab FB group as we share our own personal progression on how practice over time can help to increase your confidence and skills within your crafting journey. (blog hop links are at bottom of post.)

So please grab your favorite beverage and join us in this fun and informative blog hop that shows how “the power of practice” can be utilized in your own crafting! (highlights are done in red.)

  • I would like to start off by stating each person’s experience is their own journey and will run on it’s own pace which is something that we all need to be aware of and patient with.  Some particular skills will take much longer to grasp than others and you need to take it easy on yourself without harsh judgement.  Just enjoy the process and have fun with it!  (That was and still is the hardest thing for me to learn.)

Although I’ve been paper crafting for the last 20 years or so, I’ve been involved in several different crafts throughout my entire childhood or since I could hold a crayon in my hand!  My grandmother as well as my mother has passed down their experience with crafts which I learned from and picked up many others along the way including what I love today.  So some things I do may already come naturally for me without recognizing where it came from because it was taught to me long ago.  There are some things, however, that I’ve had to spend the time learning.

Now taking classes aren’t the ONLY way to learn something for sure!  Good ole “Trial and Error” are great for learning and gaining personal experience from…which I tend to learn the most from actually!😁  Another thing that helps is new tools/products to help make the process easier or look more “finished” or “professional” in nature.  When I first started with my stamps, there was not a common heat tool for instance.  I had to heat emboss over a stove!  So times have changed as well as techniques and inspiration. Inspiration is EVERYWHERE over the Internet too!  Many people have so many clever ideas…I wish I could keep up with them all!  Some things may not be of interest to you and others may intrigue or intimidate you.  Find what interests you the MOST..at the time…and work on it because you will love learning about it which means you will gain more knowledge from it.  You don’t have to share with others what you do as long as YOU enjoy what you’re doing.  Do what feels right to you and your journey.  It’s never about others, it’s about YOU!

 

I feel like I could write an entire book on just this matter, but since this is a visual craft, it’s better to “see” with your eyes sometimes or show how things can come together…or not!🤨

I’m starting with a photo of a card I had made back in 2007 when I had already been a year into having a blog and was still a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator at the time.  Even the technology of simply taking a photograph has improved tremendously over the years…

crafting encouragement singleNeighborhood_by_basement_stamper

I no longer have most of the products used here and I had to lift the photo from my Splitcoaststampers gallery as they have stored my oldest photos I have anywhere.  This was the first place that I shared anything I made online. (There are 124 pages of my gallery and if you look through, you will see the progression over time.)

 

Now I could really criticize myself and pick this all apart, but it was part of my process at the time.  And at that time, I was happy with it.  It looks like I’ve colored with ink pads and a blender pen, cut out the images with scissors as well as cut fringes of the grass border. (tools have improved since and many purchases have been made as well!😊)    As we move forward, I can share how I updated that design today:

Vicki-CraftyChefs and POPhop

What I have decided to do was to take the photo of the older card above and make an updated version of the same design, but with the mindset and techniques that I’ve learned since.  You can see that my coloring has improved as well as the different tools and items that have been updated to help with my design execution.  I still used similar colors, similar layout design as well as coloring an image, but just maybe updated the look from the practicing of not just the coloring over time, but the practice of just cutting the layers and putting things together as compared to years past.  Just meerily putting together card after card has helped me with the practice and made me better aware.  So you can see how just putting together a card in general, with practice, can help improve skills!

  • Another tip I find helpful is to join your fellow crafty friends in groups and collaborations like this blog hop as well as other groups which is what I’ve also made this card for, called “The Crafty Chefs“, where we take turns coming up with a new “recipe” to follow each month.  There’s no pressure, just a group of friends coming together, learning from each other through challenges, and inspiring one another as we enjoy our love of crafting!  For me, this is a huge deal.  Check out the link above if you’re interested in joining with us!  It’s still fun to craft, but it’s even better when it’s shared with someone.  So here’s the September Crafty Chef’s recipe that our head chef Linda has come up with for us to use:

Crafty Chefs Sept recipe

(I have used ALL of the “must do” items and then added a couple of pearls from the “can do” items.)

I have found that within the last several years, many people enjoy watching video tutorials on You Tube..which makes sense because seeing someone actually doing something or putting something together is a better way to learn rather than just seeing a finished photo of a project.  So to see how I’ve made my latest card for my son’s birthday, check it out below or CLICK HERE to view on my You Tube channel:

Hopefully through the video you were able to learn a few things that you can incorporate into your own card making.  Sometimes we can improve upon ourselves by even trying to recreate something we’ve done in the past and add some new things you’ve learned along the way.  It’s a great way to see how far you’ve come along and not be so critical of yourself to remind you that you are always learning, as I still am right now as well.

 

I have to chuckle at this card for my son’s birthday as he is a fun-loving jokster that will appreciate this along with the fact that it’s a bear image.  He was nicknamed “Bear” in his school years, so I thought these Big Grumpy products from Taylored Expressions would work perfectly for this!  I’ve also used the Big Grumpy Birthday stamps to go with him along with the other products used in my video above.

For the sparkle, I’ve taken some Stickles Star Dust glitter and added to the birthday hat as well as the center of the bow in the present.  I used a glitter brush pen over the balloon and bow.  I added dots to his cheeks, hat and the present with a white gel pen.  I forgot to mention in the video that I’ve added a couple of brown pearls to the blue strip so that I added something from the “can do” list for the Crafty Chefs recipe!😉

I really hope that this post was helpful as well as enjoyable for you and that you received some benefit for taking the time to read over it.  I know that I will be looking forward to seeing what my other crafty friends have to share and inspire me with!  I think there is something to learn from everyone no matter how long you’ve been doing it.  

  • The power of practice simply means, to me, being able to refine your skills into something that you want to be better at, take in more information or take it to the limits of your ability.  This is done by repeating often and over time to increase or add to your knowledge of what you’re trying to improve upon. If we are not trying new things, then we are not learning or growing as individuals.

Please be sure to check out the following crafty friends’ blogs below to see their take on this blog hop concept:

Thanks so much for stopping by my friends and I’ll be seeing you again soon!

Challenges:

  1. Inkspirational – Birthday PhotoChallenge221
  2. Crafty Friends – Anything Goes
  3. Crafty Calendar – Anything Goes
  4. Lil Patch of Crafty Friends – Anything Goes
  5. Dragonfly Dreams – Happy Birtdhay Traci!
  6. The Corrosive Challenge – #9 Sept Anything Goes
  7. Creative Moments – #198 Anything Goes optional:  Make it Funny
  8. AAA Birthday – #17 Animals & Critters#17 bottom badge
  9. Creative Craft Cottage – #133 Include and Animal
  10. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge – Humorus/Fun Card

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles51 Comments

{Cupcake Inspirations} Day 10

Hello friends!  I’m back again with more celebration fun as we continue with our celebrating over at {Cupcake Inspirations} for another feature of sponsors for our 500th “birthday celebration” challenge!!  YAY!

CIC500

Today, we are highlighting Digital Delights by Louby Lou – Please check out the challenge blog for more details about this sponsor.

Digital Delights Logo

The DT was provided with images from this sponsor to use for our creations:

Vicki-CIC500-Day10-DigiDelightsLoubbyLou

Isn’t she a cutie?!  I have used Cupcake Josie for my image here that was colored with Copics and cut out with a stitched rectangle die.  I used some fun birthday papers I’ve found in my stash to layer my design with along with a sentiment that was white heat embossed and die cut with a banner die that I’ve attached over the design.

I’ve added some glossy accents over the cherry on her cupcake as well as some dotting with a metallic gel pen for the sprinkles as well as for her bows.

Please be sure to add your birthay/celebration creations in the gallery soon before the challenge ends in a few days!  We look forward to seeing them all!

Thank you for popping over here today friends!  See you tomorrow!

Challenges:

  1.  Creative Moments – #197Anything Goes optional pretty papers
  2. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – PIP2034 Anything Goes

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles19 Comments

{Cupcake Inspirations} Birthday Celebration Day 7🧁

We are rolling now!  We are on day 7 of celebrating over at {Cupcake Inspirations} with another feature of sponsors for our 500th “birthday celebration” challenge!! Super cool!!

CIC500

Today, we are highlighting Riley and Company – Please check out the challenge blog for more details about this sponsor.

I have loved this little moose for many years and have collected some stamps from them over the years including some recent ones and I always get a chuckle from either the moose or the “Funny Bone” sentiments! So I had to help with featuring this sponsor:

I had to combine this funny sentiment with the cupcake theme and I thought it would be so fun to have little Riley peeking out from the edge holding a cupcake!😂

I took one of the images from the Basic Dress Up Riley, colored him with Copics and cut him out with coordinating dies. The sentiment was white heat embossed over a strip of black that I added Riley partially to the back of before attaching it to the background paper. I’ve also added a couple of banners and tied some black twine around the top of the card. I used a cupcake image from my stash, colored and cut it out and popped it up with a foam dot over Riley’s hand.

I finished the card with some sequins and some clear glitter Stickles.

Hope you’ve enjoyed my inspiration card for today’s sponsor and be sure to play along with us soon! Thanks so much for dropping by and I’ll see you again tomorrow!

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles17 Comments

{Cupcake Inspirations} Birthday Celebration Day 6

Hey there friends!  We are on day 6 of celebrating over at {Cupcake Inspirations} with another feature of sponsors for our 500th “birthday celebration” challenge!!  FUN FUN!

CIC500

Today, we are highlighting Bugaboo Stamps & Lawn Fawn – Please check out the challenge blog for more details about these sponsors.

Bugaboo logo

logo

So on our first day, I had used some fabulous products from our sponsor Lawn Fawn and you can check that post out HERE.  But for today’s post, I wanted to highlight our other sponsor Bugaboo Stamps…

Vicki-CIC500-Day6-Bugaboo

Now how stinkin’ CUTE is this little guy with his ginormous cupcake coming at you?!

I printed out this Picnic Ant-Cupcake2 from Bugaboo Stamps and colored him up with Copic markers.  I sponged some clouds behind him and colored some grass with my markers too.  I used my oval dies to cut the image out with along with the scallop oval layer behind it.

Found some fun papers from my stash along with the rectangle die, sentiment die, ribbon, twine and button to complete the card.

I “dressed up” the cupcake with some liquid applique that was heated up to make it “puffy” and then added some glossy accents over the cherry on top.

Really had fun with this cutie and I hope he brought you a little smile today friends!  Thanks for joining me!  See you again tomorrow!

Challenges:

  1.  Catch the Bug Challenge – End of Summer (what could be better than celebrating a picnic?!) 
  2. Little Red Wagon – Use a Stencil (cloud background)
  3. Creative Knockouts – #364 Something to Say
  4. Aud Sentiments – #258 Anything Goes + Sentiment
  5. Colour Crazy Craft – Anything Goes + Coloring

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles24 Comments