Mix it Up With a Fun Fold

Hello friends! Happy March! I’m happy to see this month come as signs of Spring start popping out everywhere! Pretty soon the flowers will start coming up too! Are you ready for Spring?

Today starts a new challenge over at the Mix It Up Challenge Blog! There is always lots of wonderful inspiration from the team, so please go check it out and play along! The challenges are always ANYTHING GOES with an optional theme. This month’s theme is FANCY FOLD! For these challenges, you have plenty of time to enter as they run for 6 weeks! I look forward to seeing what you come up with! Here’s the project I made:

These birds are ready to party! How fun are those party hats?! I’ve found this really cool take on a “Z” fold card, but this one has been named “Diamond Z Fold Pop-Up Card“. There are so many variations of this that I found on You Tube, but they’re all the same concept of the two diamond shapes on front and then an additional diamond pop-up mechanism on the inside that moves when you open the card. (Click on the card name for a tutorial.) The only thing I did differently than hers was using scallop square die cuts and I covered the pop-up mechanism on the inside with pattern paper so it’s not as noticeable.

I’ve used the My Favorite Things (retired) Birthday Chicks that I stamped, colored and die cut out and arranged over the design. I’ve also used the My Favorite Things (retired) pattern papers and of course the same for the scallop stitched squares. For the white squares, I’ve used a MFT cloud stencil with blue ink for the clouds and the sentiment was white heat embossed and cut out with a banner die.

When this card is closed, this is what it looks like. Notice that you do not see the bird on the inside panel next to the bird on top of the balloon as he is hidden until you open it.

It folds up just like a Z fold would and it’s A2 and ready for a regular A2 envelope. I’ve placed an extra panel on the back of the card for a special handwritten message and decorated it a strip of pattern paper and another party bird. I didn’t put anything on the inside stars pattern because I thought it took too much away from the front of the card and you don’t want an inside message to show on the front of the card. It takes a bit of maneuvering to decorate images and sentiments as to where to put them strategically on the card, but it was so fun!

I hope you’ve enjoyed my card today and go check out the challenge to come and play along with us! I really look forward to seeing all of the different fancy fold projects in the gallery this month!

Thanks so much for dropping by and I’ll see you soon!

Challenges:

Make My Monday – Fun Folds #220
Penny’s Paper-Crafty – Anything Goes using Paper #566
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Anything Goes
Crafty Catz – More Than One Fold/Anything Goes #666
Krafty Chicks – #705 Anything Goes

Alice in Wonderland for Sparkles Monthly

Hello friends! Hope you’re doing well and have had a great start to September! It’s hard to believe we’re almost into Autumn already! I’ve been enjoying the outdoors for as long as I can and Autumn around my area is so pretty, so I need to go out in it! Crafting will be waiting for me soon!

Today starts a new challenge for Sparkles Monthly with the theme of: Alice in Wonderland! So I hope that you will stop by the blog to check out the inspiration and join us this month! Here’s what I’ve come up with:

This was really fun to put together! I have always loved the Alice in Wonderland stuff and I actually have quite a bit of it for crafting, but this stamp set by Visible Image was new to me and something that I had gotten from a win for a challenge I entered a few months back. I also used the Supernova Stencil for the background from the same company.

For the background: I ink blended several colored and then spritzed with water for the watermark effect. I went over it with the stencil in a darker blue ink and spritzed it again. I then added some gold and white ink splatters over top for more texture. It was cut out with the wonky stitch rectangle die and layered over mirror gold cardstock.

I had some Alice in Wonderland papers and used s strip of the blue checks to cut out a wavy border and attached it to the bottom of the stenciled panel. I added these layers to an A2 top folding blue card base. I had some old-fashioned looking stamps which I had for years and stamped a few on the background in blue ink.

I colored “Alice” with Copic markers along with the piece of cake and key and then used the coordinating die to cut them out and attach to the card front. I added some pink glitter to Alice’s drink in her hand and the filling in the cake. I also added some gold sequins over the card. The sentiment was cut out with a banner die which I thought would make for a fun birthday card.

Thanks for stopping by to check out my card and I hope you’ve got some inspiration with it! (I’m a bit behind with so many things, so I will be checking out to see what you’re up to!)

Challenges:

Crafter’s Cafe – Clothing Styles for Children
Lil’ Patch of Crafty Friends – Anything Goes
Alphabet – ‘L’ is for Literature (inspired by a book) Alice in Wonderland
Creative Fingers – Anything Goes
Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – Anything Goes
Penny’s Paper-Crafty – Anything Goes using Paper
Love to Craft – Anything Goes

I Scream, You Scream

Did you say “We All Scream for Ice Cream”? or did you think this was about Halloween? Well although that season is quickly approaching and I do love all the spooky things, this one is actually about ice cream today. As hot as it has been and going to be this weekend, it might be nice to have! However, I do have some on my card today:

I made a birthday card for someone that loves a local ice cream parlor that sells lemon ice cream, so that’s why it’s all in the bright yellow colors! I’ve used some yummy goodies today from Newton’s Nook for my card. I also followed along with a sketch challenge for the Inky Paws Challenge, and it’s about over, so I needed to get it in! (see details below)

I pulled out the NN Summer Scoops stamp set and stamped a couple of the cones, colored and cut them out with the coordinating dies. I also took a strip of vellum and heat embossed the sentiment in black over the pattern and black layers. The striped pattern was from the NN Birthday Woofs paper pad, and I used the largest of the NN Frameworks die set to cut it out. For the center of the striped panel, I used the heart die from the NN Furr-ever Friends die set and cut out the center where the vellum sentiment strip was placed. I added a piece of yellow cardstock behind the heart so that the sentiment would show up and layered the striped panel onto a black layer which I placed over a top folding A2 sized white card base. After popping up the ice cream cones, I added two black strips above and below them to fit the sketch design.

The Summer Scoops set also had the extra heart which I colored and cut out to place next to the sentiment. I added some shimmer to all of the hearts with a glitter brush pen and then I took some individual sprinkles from the NN Celebration Embellishment Mix and glued those on top of the ice cream. I saved the twine that came with my order from Newton’s Nook and tied a couple of bows to go on top of the ice cream cones. It was the perfect color to go with the sprinkles!

Of course, I need to make the envelope yellow too and I stamped an additional cone image on the bottom left corner of that too. And yes, the birthday person was also gifted some lemon ice cream!

I hope you’ve enjoyed my lemon ice cream card today or found some inspiration with it! Thanks for dropping by and I hope you’re able to enjoy yourself something refreshing this weekend even if it isn’t ice cream! 😉

Challenges I’d like to enter:

Inky Paws Challenge – #204 Sketch challenge using NND product
Cupcake Inspirations – CIC575 Add a bow/ribbon
AAA Birthday – Game #52 Anything Goes Birthday
The Crafty Addicts – Anything Goes
Tic Tac Toe – TTTC222 I used middle down: patterned paper, free, birthday
Penny’s Paper-Crafty– #553 Anything Goes using paper
Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – PIP2332 Anything Goes

Party Pandas

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Challenges:

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

Dir-Tea Birthday Bunny Coffee Card🐰

Hello friends! I’m back again today with another fun card that I wanted to enter before the time runs out! So check it out:

Vicki-TSDir-teaBunnyCup

This adorable smiling bunny is so fun and I really loved creating this coffee themed cup shaped card using some products from Trinity Stamps. I’ve used the Dir-Tea Bunny stamp set along with the coordinating dies that also cut out his hands so you can stick stuff between them like I did with the coffee cup and balloon! The coffee cup came with the stamp set and I added that sentiment to it! The balloon is a die set from MFT. I cut out the balloon with vellum and used my Copic marker to color it in.

I used the Trinity Stamps Coffee Mug Card die set in white cardstock and then took the Slimline Stripes stencil to sponge over it. I completely sponged over the handle of the cup and then I sponged the center of the cup in grey colored ink for the bunny to be on top. I also stamped a few coffee beans from the stamp set with the same sponged ink. I took some Glitterstock to cut the die cut piece for the top of the coffee cup and for the inside of the card is where I added my gift card holder which comes with this die…which is pretty cool! It’s already to go for my coffee loving birthday person now!!

I did not have a Trinity Stamps birthday sentiment, so I pulled out one from my stash and white heat embossed it over a strip of cardstock that is the same color of ink from my cup. The banner was actually cut out with the Trinity Stamps Slimline Scalloped Card Panels and Banners die set. (I just shortened it as needed.) I used foam squares to pop up the die cut bunny to sit on top of the banner.

Here’s a close up view of the details on the card. I’ve used Copic markers to color in the bunny and added dots to his cheeks with a white gel pen. I’ve also took some glitter and added it to the inside of his coffee cup to make it look as glittery as the larger cup!

Hard to tell in the photos, but the blue vellum balloon was also covered with a Spectrum Noir glitter brush pen for a bit of shimmer. To attach the vellum balloon, I ran it through my Xyron Machine so you couldn’t “see” any glue marks.

(I love how he can hold different items!) 😀🎈

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Wished I remembered to take a photo of the inside of the card, but it just has a coffee gift card holder on the inside along with a greeting and more stamped coffee beans.

Hope you’ve enjoyed my funny bunny shaped coffee cup card today! I sure appreciate you stopping in and I’ll be seeing you again soon!!

Challenges:

Trinity Stamps Crafty Troop – #4 Birthdays + Trinity Stamps products
Pammies Inky Pinkies – PIP2025 – Anything Goes
Dream Valley – #228 All Occasions
Always Fun – #168 Anything Goes
The Male Room – #139 Use Die Cuts
The House That Stamps Built – J2420 Anything Goes
Watercooler Wednesday– WWC277 All About Occasions

Celebrate For 2 Crafty Critter Crazies + Other News

Hello friends! Happy April 1st which means it’s time for a new monthly challenge for the 2 Crafty Critter Crazies Challenge! Remember that it’s always an “ANYTHING GOES + CRITTER” challenge to enter your creation. We’re looking forward to seeing your projects!

This month we’re being sponsored by Digi Doodle Studios! They were kind enough to provide images for the design team to create their projects with, so here’s what I’ve made for my challenge project:

Vicki-2CCCwithDDS

I think I could probably celebrate with these cute little hedgies, couldn’t you?!🦔🦔

This image is called Hedgie Party from Digi Doodle Studios and it was super fun to color up for my card! We can always use birthday cards in our stash, so I pulled out some papers from my stash…including some left over pieces to assemble the design.

I used a Simon Says Stamp stamp set to heat emboss the stars over the green decorative paper with gold EP. I stamped the sentiment at the bottom of the paper from the same stamp set with black ink. I cut out this panel with a square stitched die, layered over white cardstock and then attached it to a piece of orange top folding 5″ square card base.

I pulled out some gold mirror cardstock cut with a scallop square die and layered it over the design, wrapped some gold ribbon around it, placed the layered image panel over top of that with craft foam and added the bow.

Here’s a closer view of the image I’ve colored with Copic markers. I’ve also used a white and gold gel pen to create some polka dots over parts of the image.

Hard to see in the photo, but I covered the big present bow with a glitter brush pen too.

Vicki-2CCCwithDDS-flat

I hope you’ve enjoyed my card today using this sweet DDS image! Thanks for stopping in!

Other news:

Just FYI that this post will be my final creation as a design team member for not only 2 Crafty Critter Crazies, but also for Digi Doodle Studios as well. Although I adore everyone on these design teams very much, it’s just time for me to let DTs go for a while.

Challenges:

Krafty Chicks – All Occasions
Di’s Digi Challenge – Birthdays
QKR Stampede – #391 Anything Goes
Creative Knockouts – #343 Anything Goes
Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – PIP2013 Ribbon
Country View– Animal Magic

It’s a HAPPY Birthday!

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

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

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

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

Vicki-SSSSweetbirthday

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

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

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

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

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

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

Vicki-SSSSweetbirthday-flat

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

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

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

I’ll see you again soon my friends!

Challenges: