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!

April 6, 2023April 5, 2023

*Vicki*18 Comments

WINNERS of the TE Background stamps!

Hello friends! It has been while since my last posting, but was having some back issues and hobbling around a bit which is never a fun thing to deal with, but I’m getting a bit better day by day. Hoping to get back to doing some crafting soon! I’m going to be working on an AJ page for tomorrow’s post…so stay tuned!

I realized that my giveaway had ended and I needed to pull some winners of the Taylored Expressions background stamps for 4 people!😀 So the way I drew out the names, I did sort of “old school” by printing out the names of everyone according to which stamp or stamps that were indicated via comments from the GIVEAWAY POST. So if you were only interested in one of the stamps, your name only went in the draw for just that particular stamp. If you indicated that you were interested in all of them, then your name went in for each one. I cut the names in strips, wadded them up and had my husband hand-pick out a name strip for each stamp. If there was a duplicated name, I would’ve had him draw another, but there was not any duplicates. Here are the winners for each stamp……..

stampedsmiles.com giveaway Daisies For Days Winner 1 stampedsmiles.com giveaway Goodhearted Winner stampedsmiles.com giveaway Winter Village Winner

WOOO-HOOO!!🥳🎈 CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF THE FOUR WINNERS!!!

If you are one of the winners above, please be sure to CONTACT ME via the form and share your snail mail address with me so that I can promptly mail out your stamp package to you! (I will also try contacting you myself to let you know you were a winner as well.) I would appreciate you contacting me as soon as you can so I can get your stamp to you. If I don’t hear from you within 2-3 weeks, then I will try to draw another winner to claim it.

I’m very sorry if you were not a winner THIS time, (blame my husband!😁) but you never know when I’ll have “extra duplicates” in my craft room that I’d like to share with a fellow friend! Thank you for your kind support! Happy crafting!🤗

September 23, 2022September 20, 2022

*Vicki*14 Comments

Creating Calendars…Do You Need One?

Hello friends! How are you dealing with the 2022 year so far? I hope that you have a fantastic start and look forward to a brilliant and crafty future ahead of you! Speaking of starting a New Year, I realized that I needed to start my crafty calendars…which really should’ve been started sooner!🙄 I actually enjoy putting them together, especially the coloring as it’s very relaxing for me.

I’ve had this set of calendar cards along with this stand since this last Spring from Taylored Expressions and of course I’ve waited until recently to get them finished up! I’m glad I did though as I think these will be so fun to look at and chuckle to change out each month:

Tee hee! What got me interested in Taylored Expressions from the start were these adorable and funny Grumpy characters that she has in one of her product lines! (You may have seen a “Grumpy” calendar I’ve made in the past on THIS POST.) She has LOTS of different types of calendars and accessories to choose from, but this is a set that had came out this past year. Check out all of calendar products at Taylored Expressions HERE. I thought this would be a fun way to help motivate me this year for creative inspiration!😁

I’ve taken a white piece of cardstock cut to size my calendar stand that would accommodate the tear-off calendar pad and hold the “snarky cards” in place with the gold clip. I’ve used some TE inks and blender brushes to blend over top of the white piece. I then used the TE Striped Squares stencil to go over it using the same colors and then mounted this piece over a black cardstock layer. (This piece and the changeable cards are held to the stand with the gold clip.)

Here are all of the completed cards in the set that I can change out each month or whenever I want. I’ve used the TE Clipboard Calendar Cards-Snarky for my own personal calendar that I’ve colored up with Copic markers. The frames were colored with coordinating colors that matched up with the rainbow stenciled background for my calendar front. Really enjoyed coloring and giggling while making this set!

I also wanted to show you the back side of this TE Walnut Wood Clipboard Stand so that you can see how I store all of the extra cards on my calendar when I need to change one out. You can choose to add a package of the TE Calendar Storage Sleeves with the stand if you get one, but I thought this whole system was a nice and sturdy option of creating a calendar that you can personalize for yourself or for a gift. I ended up creating a calendar last year for Mother’s Day and gave it as a gift. I used the TE Clipboard Calendar Cards-Sweet for that one and did some foiling on them. (Just don’t forget to purchase the next year’s tear-off calendars to replenish the recipient for next year!)

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And I also wanted another calendar for my computer area which also brings a smile to me each month! I bought a calendar set last year from Inky Stamper and really enjoyed flipping the cute characters each month as the year went on. Happily, she came out with another new calendar set for this year and I happily purchased it BEFORE it ran out! (So sadly, it sold out quickly!)

With these calendar kits, the stand, the monthly calendar cards as well as all of the pattern paper strips, stamped and die cut characters and sentiment strips ALL come with this kit! I think it’s a pretty good bargain for all that was included with it. Of course you have to color and put together each card…but THAT’S what the fun is about!

And here’s a look at the entire set of calendar cards that I colored and put together. There were instructions for each card along with the Copic markers used in the examples. For some of the cards, I already owned the stamp set, so I added a few extra details to some of them and I also added a few of my Inky Stamper Gems and Sequins mixes to some of them. Square dots and a strip of gold enamel dots were also included to decorate with.

So I had an awesome time putting this one together as well! I look forward to seeing these every single month throughout the entire year!

Since I had a couple of left over Taylored Expressions 2022 Tear-Off calendars, I thought it would be fun to just create a “calendar card stand” for crafters and give them out to whoever wants one!

EDITED UPDATE: All of the calendars have been claimed! Sorry if you’re looking to get one as I have no more left. Hope everyone enjoys their calendar all crafty year!

So I had 5 of these calendars left over and I knew I wasn’t going to use them, but of course I didn’t want to just throw them out either! So I took the TE Big Grumpy Bear and the TE Big Grumpy Cat sets to help motivate a fellow craft friend throughout the year! TEE HEE! I’ve made a rainbow colored background for these by taking the TE Art From the Heart background stamp and stamping it with black over a white piece of cardstock. I used some TE ink and blender brushes to blend in the rainbow colors. I stamped an extra background image to color in some of the images and fussy cut them out for accents.

I attached the “Grumpies” over the background and layered the calendar with a black layered piece behind it to go over top of the “Grumpies” with their “feet” underneath so you can see them. I then added the fussy cut out images that I colored in a corner of each one.

I made a “stand” for this by creating a valley fold piece to attach in between the top folding A2 black card base. This will make for a permanent stand to display your calendar through the year! (And hopefully motivate someone’s crafty process through the year too!❤) I receive so much inspiration from many of you crafty friends, so it would be nice if I could possibly reciprocate that in some way!

Check out each one of these calendars I’ve made below in detail! Just click on the photos to enlarge them if you’re on my website:

So now that we’ve got the year started and in place, let’s hope for a really creative and productive one ahead!

I have some more craft projects that I’ve been working on as well as a really BIG craft project that I’m taking on for the love and excitement of it all! I look forward to sharing with you soon!

Thanks for stopping in and I wish you a happy, healthy and productive rest of your week!

Challenges:

Sweet Stampin’ – NEW (stamped New Year calendars with new products!)
Critter Crazy – Anything Goes + critter
Creative Inspirations – Anything Goes
River of Creativity – Anything Goes
Penny’s Paper-Crafty – Anything Goes using paper
CRAFT – New (New Year calendars with new products!)
Creative Fingers – Anything Goes
Colour Crazy Craft – Anything Goes + coloring

January 12, 2022January 12, 2022

*Vicki*30 Comments

The WINNER of my GIVE AWAY!!🎉

Hey friends! I’m just popping by to tell you who the winner is of my Taylored Expressions Giveaway! Thanks so much for all of you for stopping in to say hello, those that just follow my posts, those of you that have been such really good long-time crafty friends and your kind support! It always makes crafting that much more enjoyable for sure!

This time I’ve asked hubby to help me out with choosing a winner because, honestly, he doesn’t know who anyone is and I know he would be very direct in what reason for choosing someone. So hubby picked out…….

SHIRLEY HOTOP

Here’s her comment about the give away: “…..As for the give away – we have new neighbors and I just started her out with a few stamping supplies – and so far she is loving how creative she can be. I know she would be tickled with a win.“

Congratulations!! I will be sure to send you an e-mail that you’ve won and we’ll get this mailed out to you as soon as we can so you can enjoy! Yay!!

The reason for hubby picking this person is because he said: “I like that this person is sharing her craft supplies so that they can enjoy crafting together and she is trying to help her out with getting supplies.” Sounds like a win to me too!! Really hope that it is enjoyed and shared many times over!

Thanks again everyone for your support and friendship!

October 11, 2021October 7, 2021

*Vicki*6 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 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:

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

September 24, 2021September 23, 2021

*Vicki*36 Comments

Pink & Main Video Hop with Hello Autumn Slimline

Hello friends! I hope you’ve had a fantastic week! It seems like this month is flying by!

I’m excited to share with you a fun video hop collaboration with Pink and Main on my You Tube Channel today! (Be sure to check it out on MY VIDEO because there is a giveaway and you’ll need to leave comments on the videos to be entered to win!) So head on over to see the wonderful inspiration with the Pink and Main products going on!

Here’s the fun Autumn themed slimline card I’ve made for the video hop today:

So Pink and Main has come out with some fabulous new products which I’ve used for my card here and I’ve added some fun techniques to use with some of those products as well!

The background was really fun to create using the Pink & Main Blending Brushes along with the new Crackling Campfire Distress Oxide Ink color that just came out! I’ve also used the wonderful Leafy Stencil from Pink & Main over the background too. The cups and leaves were also colored using the oxide inks and a waterbrush which you can see in my video as well as how I’ve inked and cut out the one image backwards so I have two cups with the handles in opposite directions on my design here.

You can check out how I’ve put this design together and the techniques I’ve used in this video below, or to leave a comment and see the link to the next person in the video hop, CLICK HERE to go to the video on You Tube.

I absolutely fell in love with that Need to Venti stamp set and coordinating dies! I loved that older Christmas Mugs stamps they had previously came out, but Autumn is awesome to add to my collection because it’s my favorite time of the year! So be sure to check out how to stretch out the use of this set in video above!

The Blessings slimline die was so fun to use on my card too and I love that the frame cuts out separately from the center and there was room to layer behind it before attaching to your slimline card base. The Brutus Monroe Copper Glitterstock was the perfect accent behind the scallop frame. That frame was cut out with several layers of cardstock and stacked together for thickness.

The same Copper Glitterstock was used to cut out the sentiment dies as well. I’ve used some vellum to layer behind the Autumn sentiment, which the backing diecut was also included in this same slimeline die set! The final measurement of my slimline card was a piece of brown cardstock measuring 8.5″ x 7″ and scored at 3.5″ in the center. The finished card will fit inside a #10 envelope when closed.

Here’s a closer view of the details with my colored cups using the distress oxide inks and waterbrush. I’ve also used the same Need to Venti stamp set and oxide ink colors to stamp the leaves and die cut them out to arrange over my scene as well.

I popped up the cups with foam squares and added some drops over the whip topping in the cups with some Nuvo Honey Gold Crystal Drops.

Hopefully you can see the pretty Autumn colors and dimension in the card. I sure had lots of fun putting all of this together!

Thanks so much for dropping in today and I’ll be seeing you soon!

Challenges:

Challenge Up Your Life – Autumn Mood
The Paper Funday – #21 Anything Goes optional: Fall/Autumn
Dream Valley – Embossing wet/dry (embossed cup images)
The Sisterhood of Crafters – Autumn Inspiration
CCEE Stampers – CCEE2037 Slimline Cards
Not Just Cards – Anything Goes
Crafting Happiness – Anything Goes
Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – PIP2037 Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Monday – Frame It

September 18, 2020May 25, 2023

*Vicki*33 Comments

WINNER of the Purple Day Blog Hop Give Away!💜

Hello friends!

First, I want to thank you so much for your support and kind comments for the Purple Day Epilepsy Blog Hop! It’s a fantastic cause to be apart of and I was happy to help my friend bring awareness for it!💜

I had a total of 12 entries left from the comments after it closed and drawing from those names….

The winner of my blog candy chosen by random.org is……..

#10 Karen Ladd

Yay!!!🎉✨🎈 Congratulations on your win!! Please be sure to contact me with your snail mail address so that I get these goodies sent out to you asap!

Thank you again for your support in raising awareness about epilepsy!💜

April 2, 2020May 25, 2023

*Vicki*4 Comments

Purple Day Blog Hop For Epilepsy Awareness

Hello my friends! Today starts the annual “Purple Day” blog hop and I have joined with my friend Fiki to help bring awareness about epilepsy.

Please take a moment and read important information about this special day:

Purple Day is a global grassroots event formed with the intention to increase worldwide awareness of epilepsy, and to dispel common myths and fears of this neurological disorder. Further intentions of this movement are to reduce the social stigmas commonly endured by many individuals afflicted with the condition; to provide assurance and advocacy to those living with epilepsy that they are not alone in their ongoing endurance; and to initiate individuals living with the condition to take action in their communities to achieve these aims.

The day occurs annually on March 26. To read more about epilepsy or how you can help in the U.S., check out the Epilepsy Foundation’s website.

My card inspiration:

Vicki-DDS-purplebloghop

Isn’t she just the sweetest little girl with her big heart?! So delighted, of course, to have been provided this darling image from Digi Doodle Studios which is one of the sponsors for our blog hop today! This image is called Sweet Carlina and I’ve got her colored up in purples and pinks. She has a little white heart tucked in her jacket pocket to go with the white hearts on my design.

I found some pretty purplish decorative papers from a recent card kit I had and then I just followed along with a sketch to complete my design. (See challenges below.) After coloring her out, I’ve cut her out with a MFT Wonky Stitch rectangle die and then layered with a purple cardstock layer cut out with a MFT Scallop Stitch rectangle die. I popped it up with craft foam over strips of lace, twine and accents I’ve created with the papers. I’ve used a LF scallop border die to cut accents to go with my heart paper strips. Extra hearts left over were used in the top corner. I also added a purple flower button with twine to finish it off.

Here’s a closer view of the coloring I’ve done on her with my Copic markers. I’ve used white gel pen to dot her checks and color the heart in her pocket. You can barely see the shimmer that I’ve done over the heart she’s holding with a glitter brush pen.

You’ll also notice that I’ve printed out this image twice, fussy cut out just the portion of the heart she’s holding along with her hands and popped it out over the colored image to give it some depth.

Vicki-DDSpurplebloghop-flat

I hope you’ve enjoyed my inspiration for the blog hop! I sure enjoyed creating it and helping to give support to my friend along with creating awareness for epilepsy!

Challenges:

Time Out – Purple (helping to support epilepsy awareness with us!)
Sketch Saturday – sketch #602
Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – PIP2012 Anything Goes
Arty Divas – #18 Anything Goes
Through the Craft Room Door – Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Anything Goes
The House That Stamps Built – M2520

March 26, 2020May 25, 2023

*Vicki*47 Comments

“Purple Day” Epilepsy Blog Hop WINNER!!

Hello friends!

*Please CLICK HERE to see my 2 Crafty Critter Crazies Post for today or scroll down*

I’m back to share who the lucky winner is from my give away during the “Purple Day” Epilepsy Blog Hop!

I’d like to take a moment to thank each and every one of you that participated in the blog hop to help bring awareness of what it’s all about. I enjoyed meeting new friends and finding more out about you along with your experience with Epilepsy. Thank you to Fikreta for bringing us all together.

I have went through all of the comments to find those people that wanted to be entered into the drawing and numbered each one and then ran the numbers through Random.org to find a winner. And the winner picked is…………