Card Kit – Stamped Smiles

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!

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)

Alphabet Challenge – ‘P’ is for Patterned Paper
Happy Little Stamper – Anything Goes with Dies
Addicted to Stamps and More – Birthdays
Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – Anything Goes
{Cupcake Inspirations} – Fall Foliage
The Crafter’s Café – Male

November 17, 2021November 16, 2021

*Vicki*27 Comments

Amazing Autumn🍂

Hello friends! Happy October! I hope that you’re having a great week so far and looking forward to doing something crafty this weekend for World Card Making Day!!🌍😀 I have decided to post something a bit early as I know there will be tons and tons of special posts planned by many, so I thought it best to post today instead!

IN THE MEANTIME, I DO HAVE A FUN GIVEWAY LOCATED ON MY POST BELOW OR CLICK HERE TO SEE IT!! YOU HAVE UNTIL OCTOBER 10th TO ENTER…JUST LEAVE ME A COMMENT THAT YOU’RE INTERESTED!!

There are SO MANY things going on this time of the year and maybe that’s why I love Autumn so much. (WCD, Halloween, birthday, Cooler temps, warm clothes, Harvest, yummy foods, pretty colors, changing leaves, Halloween…oops already said that…but you know!) I am thankful for all of it! I have a couple of cards from a TE kit I recently got (yes, I know…another one to pile on!), but I fell in love with it so much & I am using it right away!😁

There is some copper EP that comes in the kit, so I heat embossed both the sunflower and wheat images together so that I could color them both at the same time with some watercolor. I then cut them both out with the coordinating dies and set aside to work on my background.

The background was so fun! I’ve used a Bristol Smooth watercolor panel and pulled out some Mica Stains and other sprays from my stash with a spray bottle filled with water and just played. Some of it I splattered to make “dots”. I used the “Burlap” background stamp in the kit and randomly stamped the background as well as heat embossed an element and sentiment from the stamp set. I cut this panel with a die and wrapped some twine around it before attaching to a chocolate truffle card base. I used some foam strips to pop up the flower and added a twine bow to it. Finished it off with some Iridescent Rhinestones.

And this is the second card I’ve made using the wheat image that I previously colored with the sunflower image above. What’s nice about this card is that the background was done using one of the foilable panels from the kit. I found some copper foil and ran it through my laminator. I lined up the cut out wheat image with the background and glued it over top cutting off the bottom portion that stuck out. I also heat embossed a sentiment from the TE clear set in my stash and then punched it out with a circle punch. I used my blender brush to very lightly add some Sea Salt ink at the top of the foiled panel as well as around the sentiment circle.

Lastly, I attached both the image and sentiment panels onto a piece of copper foil cardstock and then mounted it onto a side folding A2 white card base. It was simple, but I like the shine it gives.

I had been discussing with someone recently how I really need to make more sympathy cards to have on hand…so here’s a start to getting a pile going hopefully.

Speaking of needing cards, all of the birthday cards from my last post have been spoken for! Everyone seems to really need birthday cards and like having them on hand. I can totally relate to that! I think I need to get some “sorry I forgot” ones thrown in there too! 😂

I still have some projects that I’ve been working on in the background from some classes I took over the Summer but still haven’t shared yet, so I thought I’d start a little bit at a time and I think these “Autumn themed” cards work with my post today: (If you’re seeing this post on my website, just click on the photos below in the gallery to see them up close.)

These projects were from a class taught by Daniel West for Hero Arts and we received a large woodgrain background stamp for the class. It was fun to make the backgrounds!

I have taken SO MANY classes, so I still have many more projects to share as I go here! Hope that you enjoy seeing what I’ve been up to! It’s just fun to play around and in the process…no matter how little a piece I use…I am using my stash somehow and I’m very happy about that! At least I’m still crafting anyway! LOL

Thanks for dropping in and have a great crafty weekend!

Challenges to enter for the first two cards only:

Sketch Saturday – Sketch #679 (my second card turned)
Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – Anything Goes
Make My Monday – Embossing (heat on both cards)
Penny’s Paper Crafty – Anything Goes using Paper
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Anything Goes
Happy Little Stampers – Watercolor (used on both images)
Creative Knockouts – Fall is in the Air

October 1, 2021September 30, 2021

*Vicki*24 Comments

Color Challenge Reminder for {Cupcake Inspirations} – Hugs Enclosed

Hello friends! I hope that you’ve had a great weekend! The weather has really started to cool down over the weekend and I can feel the Autumn breeze in the air right now!

I’m swinging in today to remind you about our current color combo challenge over at {Cupcake Inspirations} and the second card I’ve made using the colors GREEN, PINK and LIME:

If you remember my card from last week, I had so much fun blending the green ink colors on the grass, I thought I’d continue with another panel of the ink blending on this backround too! I also spritzed it with water and then once it was dry, I stamped the images from a Simon Says Stamp Crafty Friend stamp set with black ink. I’ve used the stamp set throughout the card with the cut out scissors and envelope accents and the strip across the pink piece too.

I did white heat emboss the sentiment from the stamp set over the black strip on the heart. I used just a set of Hero Arts Inifinity Heart dies to cut out the pink heart and another will vellum behind the heart and pink strip. The pink heart was popped up with craft foam and so was that little envelope over top of it. I did run the pink die cut heart through a Tim Holtz embossing folder and rubbed some white ink over it.

The blended ink and stamped background was cut out with a stitched rectangle die and layered over a black and then a green panel, which was then layered over top of an A2 sized top folding white card base. I finished the card with some pink die cut hearts and some Studio Katia Cupid’s Kiss Crystals. (So happy to have again pulled out an older card kit!)

Here’s a closer look at the images on my card. I just fussy cut the envelope and scissors WITH my scissors.😂 For the open areas in the handle of the scissors, I just took a small hand held circle punch to create the circle openings.

I have taken one of the pink hearts that I die cut for my background and used one over the tiny envelope on the heart. The crystals add a nice bit of sparkle to the design too.

I think this will be a nice card to send out to one of my crafty friends! I think maybe we could all use a crafty hug right now so maybe this will help!

Hope you will join us over on the {Cupcake Inspirations} blog to check out more inspiration from the team and join with us in this lovely color challenge too! Thanks so much for stopping in today and I’ll see you again soon!

Challenges:

A Bit More Time to Craft – #124 Anything Goes
QKR Stampede – #404 Anything Goes
Creatalicious – #195 Anything Goes optional: use a punch
Aud Sentiments – Anything Goes + Sentiment
Creative Knockouts – #368 Anything Goes
Creative Fingers – #193 Anything Goes

September 20, 2020September 18, 2020

*Vicki*30 Comments

On the Farm Reminder for {Cupcake Inspirations}

Hello friends! I hope that you’ve enjoyed your weekend. I’m still spending some time with my husband as it’s a long Labor Day weekend for him. The weather over our way will certainly start to shift now and I’m looking forward to everything Autumn which is my favorite time of the year! Such a great time to be outdoors before the Winter sets in!

Today is our midway reminder over at the {Cupcake Inspirations} challenge blog with our “On the Farm” theme. So if you haven’t played along with us yet, I hope you’re able to share your project with us within the next week! We are enjoying seeing the wonderful creations so far!

Here’s my reminder project for this week:

I decided to pull out one of my past card kits that I didn’t get much a chance to play with and put together a card with that Farmhouse Friends stamp set included with it.

There were lots of different textures included with the kit including that piece of buffalo check pattern mesh fabric that I put a layer of red cardstock, included in the kit, behind it. I ran a piece of brown cardstock through an embossing folder as well as stenciled a cloud background over one of the printed panels included in the kit. I also took some copper DecoFoil Transfer papers and foiled over the printed barns on it. I put together this fun layout with those different pieces, cut them up and then die cut the entire panel with a Wonky Stitched Rectangle die from MFT. I used the die again to cut an additional panel out with some kraft cardstock.

That layer is where I’ve added the stamped, colored and cut out images from the stamp set. I’ve also stamped a sentiment from the set at the bottom of the panel as well. I layered this piece over some more of the brown cardstock and popped it up with foam tape. Before attaching it to the panel, I wrapped some twine around the front panel and added a bow next to the animal panel. I added another layer of brown cardstock behind this and attached it all to an A2 sized top folding kraft card base.

Here you can see the shine from where the printed barns were foiled over the cloud stenciled background.

There was a “stain pen” included with the kit that you could actually use on the tiny wooden fence also included in that kit which you can see as a prop in my photo. But I used it to color in my stamped fence on the card this time. I’ve also taken a white gel pen for highlights on the animals and then I added some glossy accents to the chicken’s head, the pig’s nose and the sheep’s eyes which you can sort of see the reflection of light over those parts.

I lastly added some real wooden dots over the design including in the center of the twine bow.

Have you ever been to a farm or are familiar with the setting of a farm? I grew up out in the country and have pretty much lived most of my life either near a farm or in a rural small town setting, so farm surroundings are very familiar to me and I forget that not everyone has had the experience of it. I can’t imagine not being able to hear the sound of a cow “moo” for instance. If you’ve not been on a farm, it’s quite an experience and lots of hard labor, but also a rewarding experience at the same time…so check it out sometime in your life if you can!

Hope you’ve enjoyed my creation today friends and thanks for stopping in! Be sure to stop by the {Cupcake Inspirations} blog today and check more inspiration from the team and play along! I have something fun to share with you coming up shortly, so stay tuned!

Challenges:

2 Crafty Critter Crazies – Anything Goes + animal
Crafty Animals – Anything Goes + animal
QKR Stampede – #403 Anything Goes
Arty Divas – #29 Anything Goes
Crafty Creations – #413 Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Stamp It! (no digis)
Aud Sentiments – Anything Goes + sentiment
Krafty Chicks – #523 Stamp Act
My Time to Craft – #440 Embossing (Wet/dry)

September 6, 2020August 3, 2021

*Vicki*23 Comments

Hot Dog! It’s Birthday Time!

Hello friends! As you know, I’ve been TRYING to get my MOJO flowing and I REALLY appreciate the feedback that I’ve gotten from you and others about things I can try including non-craft related things! (Honestly, right now in this world with what is going on, it is hard to concentrate along with worrying about my own family in different ways…so that doesn’t help either!) But I’ve been trying to find things to keep my mind focused and try new things that are interesting to me…so I will just keep going along and see what happens!! I would like to continue with as many “stamped smiles” as I possibly can right now….we all need that at this time! 🙂

Today’s card was made for my son’s birthday that was this past Saturday. I wanted to make sure he recieved it before I posted it:

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I pulled out an older Simon Says Stamp card kit and used the So Pun Friends and the I Chews You stamp sets along with the coordinating dies. I’ve used the cardstock and cute Doodlebug So Much Pun Papers that came with the card kit as well. The tag was cut using the My Favorite Things Stitched Tag dies. I created the hole at the top of the tag with circle punches and the twine is from left over packaging.

I cut the tag shape out again with more of the papers from the kit and then popped up the image tag with foam tape and added some white enamel dots.

On the inside I stamped a birthday greeting and made a pocket to hold a gift card for him. We usually take him out to dinner for his birthday, but since he’s moved away I had to send him a gift card instead. Bummer…

Here’s a closer look at the cute smile face images that I colored up with my Copic markers. I cut out the food images with the So Pun Friends coordinating dies. For the sentiment, I stamped the speech bubble from the I Chews You stamp set over a piece of the Doodlebug papers and then added the sentiment from the So Pun Friends stamp set in the center of the speech bubble. I then die cut it out with the I Chews You coordinating dies.

I used some blue distress ink to blend some color over the center of the white area on the tag and then popped up the speech bubble with some foam tape over that area. The hotdog at the bottom was also popped up with foam tape as well.

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I actually had some fun pulling out this older card kit to play with and who could resist a hotdog smiling at you?! LOL!

Thanks so much for stopping in and for your continued support! It’s very much appreciated and I hope that I helped bring a smile or inspiration to you today!

I actually have a couple more birthdays coming up that I need to make cards for, so I’m sure you’ll be seeing more of those in the near future too!

Challenges:

Not Just Cards – March Anything Goes
Little Red Wagon – Etc, etc, etc (3 enamel dots and 3 food images with smiles)
Cute Card Thursday – Celebrate!
TIME OUT – Birthday with optional twist: die cutting or fussy cutting
Seize the Birthday – #185 Touch of Green or Anything Goes

March 17, 2020March 17, 2020

*Vicki*24 Comments

A Vintage Love

Hello friends! I hope you’re having a great week! I must be really wishing for flowers as this seems to be my theme this week!…along with watercolor and heat embossing! LOL!

Today I wanted to share a card I’ve made for my parent’s anniversary:

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As you can see from the card itself, my parents have been married for 55 years. So when I saw this Simon Says Stamp LE Valentine 2020 card kit, I knew that this would be a great way to start using the kit immediately! (This card kit is still available as of this posting, but I think it’s going soon!)

I actually really didn’t know what direction I was going to go with this anniversary card and I just started pulling things out and swatching different items to see what I wanted to do. I sampled the stencil with the metallic paste from the kit and really liked it, but when I pulled out my copper metallic mirror cardstock, I decided to heat emboss over the stencil with the same copper EP that I used on the sentiment for this card.

I’ve also cut out the numbers with the copper metallic mirror cardstock along with the layer behind some of the papers from the card kit. I’ve added another heart strip of the papers from the kit at the top and used one of the butterflies from the kit to go over the piece of lace I’ve added from my stash. The layers were all attached over an A2 sized top folding card base. Lastly, I added some white hearts that were actually from a different card kit. LOL!

I wanted to share a closer look at the flower. The stamp set in that card kit is so stunning! I’ve white heat embossed the flower and leaves over some watercolor paper and then used my Clean Color Real Brush markers to color it with. I’ve used some foam tape to pop up the flower over the stenciled heat embossed piece that was cut out with a circle die and attached to the card front.

You can see the shimmer over the butterfly wings that I’ve covered with a glitter brush pen. I only glued the center of the butterfly so that I could pop out the wings a bit.

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Although this card looks a bit simple, there were a few steps to the stenciling and heat embossing some of the elements.

My parents commented how pretty it was, so I’m glad they liked it!

I hope you like it too! Please be sure to come back to visit my blog this Saturday as there will be a new challenge to share as well as a special blog hop! Hope to see you there! Thanks so much for stopping in and I’ll see you soon!

Challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Wednsday – Anything Goes (Instagram: #ssswchallenge)
QKR Stampede – #382 Anything Goes
Allsorts – Take Flight
Creative Fingers – #178 Anything Goes
Watercooler Wednesday – WWC256 All About Occasions
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends – #124 Anything Goes

January 30, 2020January 30, 2020

*Vicki*19 Comments

Working in a Winter Kit!

Hello friends! If you live around my area, then you know that it’s in full swing Winter Weather time! We do have snowflakes in the forecast for tomorrow, but hopefully it’s not too bad!

So while we’re thinking of snow, I thought this would be a great time to share with you all of the winter style cards I’ve made using a brand new subscription card kit that I’ve got going from Pink and Main. So grab a cup of your favorite beverage and enjoy some crafty winter inspiration!

So my first card kit from Pink and Main was the December 2019 Winter Wonderland Crafty Courtyard Box which is no longer available, but they have this month’s box out which I will I get soon! Here’s what I’ve made for the December box:

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Yeah, I know! That’s alot of cards, right?! I was surprised myself how many cards I was creating from this kit and I could’ve just kept going as I still have plenty of supplies left! I needed to make a few more cards to send out after Christmas for the ones I missed and send out thank yous…so this came in handy actually!

P.S. Every single one of these cards were completed with an envelope too! (So far so good on my New Year’s Resolution! Yay!)

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My first card here is a “see through” design using acetate for the center of the design. I have used a Bold Snowflake die from Pink and Main NOT included in the kit, but overlayed it with another foam snowflake and button that WAS included in the kit.

I stamped snowflakes from the stamp set in the kit and added some “dots” with Stickles over the design too.

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This card was pretty simple, but I love it! I’ve used the sentiment die that was included in the kit and die cut it with the sparkle cardstock from the kit as well as the pretty snowflake papers. All I did was stamp 3 snowflakes and added another dot of Stickles to the centers. I chomped the corners at the bottom and done!

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For this particular card, I’ve decided to make a ‘Z-fold’ card design and if you’d like to know the measurements and/or how to see one put together, then please check out my video tutorial on it here – “Coffee Style Z-fold Gift Card Holder“.

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This is how the card folds closed. It folds down to an A2 size. I love how the colors look on this one! Everything on this card except for the greeting on the inside was from the kit.

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So I wanted to use lots of those papers from the paper pad included with the kit and they were double sided so I had even more choices to deal with! LOL! I decided to make square panels for my layout and use those sparkly silver snowflakes from the kit to place over top. I heat embossed the sentiment from the stamp set at the bottom.

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This card was just destined to be a square design. I wanted to use my Reverse Scallop Square dies from Pink and Main for this one. I’ve also used papers from the kit as well as the silver sparkle paper and snowflake. I took a snowflake embossing folder fort he background. I used sequins from the kit and filled the centers with more of that silver Stickles. (I got a bit of the prop over my sentiment there. LOL!)

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I wasn’t finished using that “Reverse Scallop Square” die set, so I took it to die cut some embossed snowflakes and layer them over some of the papers from the kit. The middle of the card has a strip of the awesome transluscent tape included in the kit. I covered the middle of the snowflakes with a rhinestone and pop up the embossed sentiment with foam tape over the tape.

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And this last one was hubby’s favorite. I took the largest image from the stamp set in the kit and heat embossed it over a watercolor panel. Then I took some Distress Oxide ink spritzed with water over a glass mat and brushed them over it and splatterd some with with a brush as well. I die cut the sentiment from the die included in the kit with the sparkle paper in the kit and finished the design with more sequins filled with Silver Stickles.

I had “SNOW” much fun with this kit and creating these cards! I hope you’ve enjoyed it as well and have been inspired in some way!!

Thanks so much for stopping in and I enjoy seeing what you have say! I loved reading all of your New Year’s resolutions and NOT resolutions too! LOL!!

I’ll see you again soon my friends! 🙂

Challenges:

Cardz 4 Guyz – Blue is the Color
Arty Divas – #12 Anything Goes
Classic Design– Anything Goes
Creative Inspiration – Something New or Something Old
Challenge Up Your Life– Anything Goes
A Bit More Time to Craft – Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Work It Wednesday – Snowflakes!

January 9, 2020January 9, 2020

*Vicki*24 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*26 Comments

Anything Goes for Cute Card Thursday!

Hello there friends! Have you been busy with your Christmas festivities? I am doing a “run-run Rudolph” right now and trying to finish up my Christmas cards let alone some baking, preparing for a Christmas dinner and finish wrapping up presents!! It is the fun of the Holiday Season and I enjoy spending time with my family, so I look forward to seeing them all!

It’s a new challenge today over at Cute Card Thursday! Since it’s that time of year and busy, we made this any easy “ANYTHING GOES” challenge for you!! We are looking forward to seeing what you’re making!

Since I am trying to finish up some Christmas cards, I thought I’d try and work on some doing “mass production” of a design. I only do so many of these before I have to switch things up, but I thought these turned out pretty cute:

Vicki-CCT561-Snowman Joy-mass produce

I have used the My Favorite Things “Filled with Joy” card kit (sold out) to make these plus I have pulled out the MFT “Simply Snowflakes” stamp set (retired) to clear heat emboss the background and then rubbed some Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide ink over it. The panel was cut out with the MFT Die-namics Blueprints 27 and the heat embossed sentiment strip was cut out with the MFT Die-namics Essential Fishtail Sentiment Strips.

Vicki-CCT561-Snowman Joy

Here you can see how I’ve pieced together the snowman. The die in the card kit cuts out everything including the letters. I’ve cut his top hat with some black felt paper that was also included in the kit and then I decided to cut out the snowman head so that I could cut out those tiny eyes and mouth with the felt paper as well! So if you happen to get this card from me, please be sure to rub your finger over the felt pieces in his hat and face!! I very carefully and lovingly placed each tiny felt dot in!! 🙂 I think that the blue snowflake background really makes him stand out even more!

On an even closer look at the card, you can see that I’ve added a sequins snowflake to each snowman’s hat and then added some sequins to the card background. I filled each one of these with some silver Stickles. The snowman head was popped up with a foam circle and the rest is just glued down.

Hope you’ve enjoyed my card today! Please be sure to check out what the rest of the design team has for inspiration and come add your creation to the gallery over on the Cute Card Thursday blog too!

I’ll be back again soon!

Challenges I’d like to enter:

Daring Cardmakers – Snowflakes Falling
A Bit More Time to Craft – Anything Goes
Always Fun – Snowman
The Creative Crafters – Anything Goes
Double D – Let it Snow!

December 20, 2018December 19, 2018

*Vicki*22 Comments

Food and Drink at Cute Card Thursday!

Hello friends! It’s time for a new Cute Card Thursday challenge! This one may have a tendancy to make you a little hungry as we are asking for your “Food and/or Drink” creations to add to the challenge gallery this week! We really look forward to seeing what you come up with for it!

Here’s my take on the challenge:

Vicki-CCT552-NachoBday

LOL! I can’t help but giggle at these silly puns and especially with the smiling faces on the food images too! 🙂 I just had to grab the Simon Says Stamp “I Chews You” card kit and I couldn’t wait to have a play with it! (I think there are still some available if you’re interested in it!) Everything that I’ve used on my card including the paper all come from this card kit.

There were some pre-scored card bases, so I used one of those for my card base, then I took a strip of the colored stripes paper and a thin strip of the gold glitter paper included in the kit and glued it on at the bottom with the glue included in the kit.

I then stamped the images and colored them with my Copic markers. I put the “salsa bowl” at the bottom so it looks like it’s setting on top of the colored stripes. I added the speech bubble with the punny sentiment inside of it too. I then added the sequins from the kit and then filled the centers with some Nuvo Crystal Drops for the centers.

Vicki-CCT552-NachoBday1

Here you can see a closer look at the coloring of the images. I’ve also added some shimmer with a Spectrum Noir Clear Glitter Brush Pen over the “salsa” images. I know that it shows it as “guacamole”, but I’m more of a “salsa” person myself and decided to go for that instead. Hubby is not a guac fan either, but we love to eat Mexican food! 🙂

So I hope that you will get out your “food and/or drink” craft supplies and join us for the challenge this week! Be sure to check out the inspiration from the design team over on the blog!! Thanks for joining me today!….What’s on your menu?!

Challenges: