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!
  • This is an image from Impression Obsession that was more of a “Spring like” image, but changing up the colors for Fall gave it a different look. I sponged around the image and panel and added some splatters.
  • This was a Simon Says Stamp class using an older stamp set. We used some sprays and also colored with them for the images.

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:

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

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles24 Comments

Classes, Donation and Challenged

Hey friends!  Hope you’ve had a wonderful weekend and will be enjoying the first ‘official’ day of Autumn tomorrow!🍂 Yay!  I know that this is my most favorite time of the year and today it seems like it has finally cooled off a bit which is very welcoming to give the air condition a break!  Decorating for Fall/Halloween is also a favorite thing I like to do along with being outside…so I’ll be doing that this week and weekend for sure!

Today I have some creations that I’ve been working on.  The first one comes from a challenge that I wanted to enter along with breaking out a new stamp set, but excited about using an older embossing folder and some paper that has been in my stash for far too long:

He even looks like a wise old owl…and I thought he would be cute with a little bow around his neck too!  This is not a ‘new’ stamp set from Inky Stamper, but it’s the first time I’ve broken out to use this Owl stamp set!  Their challenge issued this month was “embossing” and so I pulled out a VERY old embossing folder (remember the Cuttlebug days?! LOL)  I think it was one of my very first ones!  Plus, I pulled out some Coordinations Sandable textured and colored cardstock.  It is weathered looking, but when you sand over it, the color comes out underneath…really cool stuff that I haven’t used very much!  You can get the coordinating dies for this ‘Owl’ set which also cuts out the owl and the leaf in the set.  I’ve colored them up with Copic markers and used the die to cut them out with.

For the embossing folder card front, I took a piece of the Coordinations paper, die cut it out and then ran that piece through the selected embossing folder and then sanded over it with a sanding block.  I also die cut a frame the same color as the card base and took a separate embossing folder from Stampin’ Up! to go over that with and sanded it a bit as well before popping it up on the card front.

Before placing all of the elements on the card front, I decided to add some white and black paint splatters over the background.  I also copper heat embossed the sentiment underneath the owl, die cut the strip and popped it up with one of the leaves over top. (You can also see along the edges that I’ve heat embossed too!)  I popped up the owl, but left him grounded to the frame and then finished it with copper sequins filled with glitter drops.  The copper twine bow was a last element decision.  LOL🦉    

Speaking of sanding, it reminded me of this class I took with Inky Stamper making these cards. (couple weeks ago)  I believe there are still a few kits available in the store if interested.  The directions are recorded and saved on their You Tube channel.

Anyway, the sanding reminded me of this class because at the bottom of the card, the kit included sandpaper for the beach.  Really love the look it gave to the design with the texture and tiny bit of sparkle in it!

 

And the same day I had the class above, I had this class from Craft Fancy during their OOAK event.  These were made from their “Alcohol Pearls Butterfly card kit” (I think they have some left in store if interested).  The kit came with one alcohol ink color in Celestial Pearls, which is beautiful, but I decided to also add some copper metallic from my stash for another bit of color.  I also went on my own a bit with the white heat embossed sentiments at the bottom.  I really had fun playing with the alcohol backgrounds and being able to cut them out in one pass for different looks.

I thought this set of four cards would be perfect to add to my donation box to The Butterfly Project in support of domestic violence.  So I was able to send off a batch of cards for that this past week too.

Hope you’ve enjoyed my mixed collection of projects here and I’m sure I’ll have more fun things coming soon!  Thank you for stopping in!

Challenges I’d like to enter for OWL CARD only:

  1. Inky Stamper Inkspirations FB Sept Challenge – Embossing (heat or dry)
  2. Let’s Squash It! – embossing folder (Cuttlebug & SU! used on mine) with letters or #s and sand it
  3. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – Anything Goes
  4. Lil’ Patch of Crafty Friends – Anything Goes
  5. Allsorts – ‘real’ animal/creature
  6. My Time to Craft – embossing (heat/dry)
  7. Splitcoaststampers – SC871 Wednesday SketchSC871 Color

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles26 Comments

Shades of Blue at {Cupcake Inspirations}

Hello friends!  Hope that you’ve had a great first weekend of December and are ready to roll on with the spirit of the Season!  I know the world is a bit different, but it’s been great to get out the Holiday decorations and try to keep things as “normal” as we can be.  We went out and drove through our local park filled with Christmas lights while sipping some Starbuks coffee and the baking of cookies always gets me in the spirit.  What do you like to do around the Holidays?

Today, I have a new challenge to share with you over at {Cupcake Inspirations}:

The new challenge for the next two weeks is a color challenge in “Shades of Blue“!  You need to be sure to use at least three different shades of blue when making your project.  So any theme or occasion you can think of just use these colors!  We look forward to seeing what you come up with for this challenge!  Here’s my project:

I think my favorite colors to decorate with for Christmas are blue and silver!  So I knew I wanted to pull out this GORGEOUS stamp set from Whimsy Stamps called Elegant Ornaments and have a play with it!

I started with a Bristol Smooth Watercolor panel and took the Whimsy Stamps Beaded Curtain Stencil and went over the top with some Blueprint Sketch, Salty Ocean and Tumbled Glass Oxide Distress Inks.  I ended with the lightest color and faded it into the white.  I took the lightest color and also went over the top of the panel too.  I then cut the panel out with the Whimsy Stamps Zig-Zag Stitched Rectangle die.

I then took a couple of the ornaments along with the sentiment from the stamp set and heat embossed them where I wanted to place them with Ranger Liquid Platinum EP.  I took my Zig CC Real Brush Markers and colored in the heat embossed ornaments and blended them together with a watercolor brush.  I then stamped the “curved beads” images in navy colored ink and then heat embossed the strings to the ornaments so that it all looked layered.

This image panel was layered over a piece of silver mirror cardstock and then layered over an A2 sized side folding navy cardbase.  Lastly, I added some blue sequins and filled the centers with some Nuvo Dazzling Blue Glitter Drops.

Here’s a closer look at the ornaments and how that pretty embossing powder looks.  I noticed that the navy beads caught some of the EP when I heat embossed the strings to the ornaments, but I don’t mind that as I think it gives a bit of shimmer over them and gives more depth to it.  The card looks very pretty and sparkly and I’m happy with how it turned out.

I hope that you’ve enjoyed my “shades of blue” creation today and it has inspired you to pull out your blue colored goodies to play along with us!  Please be sure to check out the {Cupcake Inspirations} Challenge Blog to have a look at the wonderful inspiration from the rest of the DT to help inspire you more!

Thanks so much for joining me here today and I’ll be seeing you soon!😉

Challenges:

  1. Cute Card Thursday – Anything Goes
  2. Dream Valley – #238 Christmas
  3. Winter Wonderland – Anything Christmas Goes
  4. 52 Christmas Card Throwdown – Pick a Precious 2020 Challenge – February 52CCT6-20 3 shades of blue
  5. Through the Purple Haze – #174 Holiday – Make it Blue
  6. Crazy 4 Challenges – C4C564 Elvis “A Blue Christmas”
  7. Merry Little Christmas – MLCCB29 December Anything Goes Christmas
  8. The Paper Funday – #24 December Anything Goes optional: Christmas/Holiday
  9. Crafty Calendar – December Christmas theme

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles28 Comments

WARNING: Spooky post with Monsters/Ghouls for {Cupcake Inspirations}

Hello there friends!  Halloween is very quickly approaching us at the end of this week and it’s one of my favorite Holidays ever since I can remember and it was such a fun memory of things I passed onto my own children to have fun with as well.  We have lots of fun memories together.  I know there are some people that don’t like it…or maybe the “scary” things that come from it, but for me, the more scary, the better! (With the exception of the little ones, I don’t like to scare people that don’t like a good scare…but for me, it’s all in fun and make believe.)  This is the reason for my warning post title…just in case you happen to not like it.  It’s totally fine if you don’t!😉 – OR clowns!! LOL!

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Today starts a fun new challenge over at the {Cupcake Inspirations} Challenge Blog with the theme of “Monsters/Ghouls“.  Looking at the photo, you can opt to make a cute little colorful monster/alien type of birthday card if you’re not into the Halloween or scary, so just another way you could interpret the challenge idea if you wanted to.

But here’s my scary “monster/ghoul” creation I made for the challenge:

He is a bit on the spooky/scary side, isn’t he?!  I have been looking for a creepy clown image like this for a couple of years and finally Whimsy Stamps came out with this “Creepy Clown Sleep Tight” rubber stamp set and I knew I had to grab it up and specifically in reference to the movie “It” by Stephen King who’s a favorite author of mine.  My younger son is really into these type of things too, so this one’s going to him!

I started out the background with a piece of watercolor cardstock that I used some Black Soot Distress ink to sponge in some clouds with using a cloud stencil from my stash.  I then took some Wilted Violet Distress Oxide Spray and water and let the color run into the background with the sprayed water.  I also watered down some more Black Soot ink and made some splatters with a brush over it.  I then black heat embossed the Whimsy Stamps Spider Web Frame over top of it, cut it out with the WS Zig Zag Stitched Rectangle die and then added some more Black Soot ink around the edges.  I layered it over an A2 sized top folding black card base.

For the creepy clown image, I black heat embossed it twice over a piece of Bristol Smooth Watercolor panel and then used my Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers and a water brush to color it with.  I fussy cut it out and then just cut out the hands only of the second image, and used some foam tape to pop the hands over the image and then the entire clown image over the frame background.  I white heat embossed the sentiment from the “Creepy Clown Sleep Tight” set over a piece of black cardstock and then die cut it out using the WS Quick Strips die set.  (Note:  I used a partial die cut method to lengthen the die so that it would fit the sentiment.)  I sponged around it with white ink and then glued in place under the clown image.

If you “dare” to take a closer look at mister creepy clown here, you see how I’ve colored him and cut him out.

I did use some brighter colors as he’s a clown and I really wanted him to pop from the design.  I used a silver metallic gel pen to color in the bells on his hat and then I’ve used some glossy accents over his yellow colored eyeballs to make them pop out a bit more as well.  The teeth were left white, but I used a white gel pen to color them in a bit for more prominent whiteness.  It is such a detailed image so it was fairly easy to color.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my good Monday morning scare for you today!😱🤡😂

So if you’re still making some Halloween type of creations or you have some cute, creepy, fun monsters/ghouls on your projects, be sure to share them with us over on the {Cupcakes Inspirations} challenge blog in the next 2 weeks!  We are looking forward to seeing your makes!

Whimsy Stamps still has their 31 Nights of Halloween Event going on, so I’ll be entering this card in that as well.

Other Challenges I’d like to enter “Creepy Clown” for:

  1. Double D – October:  What does it mean to you? (spooky Fall fun Halloween!)
  2. Mod Squad – Spooky Halloween
  3. Simon Says Stamp Wednesday – Layer it Up (popped up layers over clown)
  4. Creative Moments – #201 Anything Goes
  5. Cute Card Thursday – Stamping
  6. Creative Knockouts – #373 Halloween (black, green, purple, orange)
  7. Crafty Catz – #524 Anything Goes optional: hats
  8. Daring Cardmakers – Spooktacular Makes
  9. Two Old Bats – Halloween Jump Start *NEW CHALLENGE BLOG

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles30 Comments

Slimline Waving Hello🧜‍♀️

Hello there friends!  Hope you’re having a wonderful week!  Just wanted to stop in with a Slimline style card I had made with a fun underwater scene.  (I’m thinking a magical place like this would be great to be in right now!  How about you?)

Vicki-BRM-mermaidslimline

These slimline cards are really great for creating scenes like this on and I was also having fun being able to “experiment” with my different products too!

I’ve the stamp set called Sea You Soon along with the background paper (mermaid skin) and the Lilac Shimmering Sand Paste were all items from a past card kit.

I created my underwater scene basically using the mermaid skin paper as the background.  Although it has a cool texture and smoothness to it, I was able to take the School of Fish stencil and add that Lilac sand paste over it.  Love that extra texture and purple hue it gave!  I also took the silhouette images from the stamp set and heat embossed them over this paper with black EP.

I stamped and colored the rest of the images from the stamp set with Copic markers and then fussy cut them out to arrange for my scene and popped some up with foam tape and then lastly added some clear acrylic bubbles over it.

Vicki-BRM-mermaidslimline-flat

You can see now that it’s lying flat how the color shifts and changes on the paper!

I’ve used some stitched wave border dies to help create the scene using some Kraft cardstock where I’ve also fit in to arrange the sand castle image that I colored and cut out.  I used Copic markers and gel pens to help fit the borders and image together.

I cut out the background paper with the Trinity Stamps Slimeline Stitched Card Panels and Windows die set.  I layered it over a piece of blue paper that was included with the kit and then layered that over a Slimline style card base measuring 8.5″ x 7″ folded in half from a piece of Aubergine Cardstock.  The sentiment was actually stamped from the Merfriends stamp set using black Ink.

You can see parts of the images with shimmer on them which have been colored with metallic gel pens.  I’ve also covered the mermaid tail and jelly fish with a Spectrum Noir Glitter Brush Pen.

The bubbles are looking a bit white instead of clear because my glue wasn’t quite dry enough when taking my photos, so my apology on that, but it took a couple of days to completely dry up clear for some weird reason!  Those babies aren’t going anywhere though!! LOL!

Hope you’ve enjoyed my magical underwater slimline card today!  Thanks so much for joining with me today and I’ll SEA you again soon!😁

Challenges:

  1.  Just Us Girls – #544 Trend Week:  Long & SkinnyScreen Shot 2020-05-29 at 9.41.33 AM
  2. Crafting Happiness– #57 Anything Goes
  3. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – PIP2028 Anything Goes
  4. Mod Squad – Slim Line Scene
  5. Little Red Wagon – #558 Fantasy
  6. Papercraft – Fantasy
  7. There’s a Stamp For That FB Challenge –  #2 Summer and/or Slimline
  8. Not Just Cards – July Anything Goes

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles29 Comments

Crafty Chefs Group and Sympathy

Hello friends!  I know I’ve said this before, but it seems that I don’t ever have a sympathy card on hand when one is needed, so this time as I was making one because I needed it, I’ve also created an additional to have in my stash.

I have also just joined with some fellow crafty friends who started a sort of “challenge group” and I think we dubbed ourselves the “Crafty Chefs” simply because our challenges consist of “recipes” to follow of “MUST DO” and another list of “CAN DO” items to follow when making our projects and we each take turns being the “top head chef” in charge of making the recipes or lists.  It’s just something non-pressure and just for fun which I think is fabulous as it helps me to use up my expansive crafty stash and join my fellow friends in paper crafting which we all have in common and love to do!😀

Vicki-PaintchipSympathy

Here’s the sympathy card that I’ve come up with for our July’s Crafty Chefs Group Challenge!  The July challenge is as follows:

MUST DO:

  1.  monochromatic
  2. sentiment as focal point
  3. paint chips
  4. decorative papers

CAN DO: (items that are optional to add)

  1.  die cut
  2. favorite color
  3. summer fruits

When I saw the paint chips on the list, it immediately made me think of this technique with the wavy die cut along the edge of the design over a card and I think I had done it before, but it had been a long time ago.  So with the decortive papers in mind, I went through my stash to find different ones in similar monochromatic color and the most I had was the yellow color.  I love yellow, but if you know me, then you know purple is my favorite color…so I didn’t do that one or the summer fruits from the list..but the MUST DO are all included!

Vicki-PaintchipSympathy-close

I die cut the word for the focal point of my design with some of the pattern papers that I’ve used and cut several to stack on each other. I also die cut a butterfly to add as an accent along with the stitched wave border die to cut my edge with.  I also took the small word stamped with yellow ink over white and die cut it with a banner die to place over the design and then the panel was mounted over a yellow A2 sized top folding card base and finished with clear sequins that were filled with glitter glue.

Vicki-PaintchipSympathy-flat

I‘m really happy how it turned out and sort of challenged myelf to make it a sympathy card.  It had it’s twists and turns to complete each thing on my list, but worth the thought process to figure out!  I’m glad I had this challenge!  Hope you enjoyed it as well! 

 

Vicki-SUsympathy

Here’s the sympathy card that I had made and actually hand delivered in person so I know they’ve already received it.

My thought on this one was the card was for females and I based my design on the flowers that I also gave to the recipient which had pinks in the mix along with the base of the lantern being white with the candle.

Vicki-SUsympathy-close

I went through my stash of floral stamps and have always loved this one from Stampin’ Up! which was stamped in black ink over white.  I used some watercolor to just color in one of the flowers within the image.  I used a piece of vellum to silver heat emboss the sentiment which was wrapped around the panel.  I also took some silver shimmer paint that was watered down and splattered over top.

Vicki-SUsympathy-flat

I die cut the panel, layered it over a piece of silver foil cardstock and then another piece of pink cardstock that was mounted onto an A2 sized white top folding card base.  Lastly, I’ve added some silver sequins to finish it off.

Thanks so much for stopping in today my friends!  I hope you’ve gotten some inspiration from my projects and I’ll be seeing you again soon!!

Challenges: 

  1.  Dragonfly Dreams – No Pattern Paper (second card only)
  2. 613 Avenue Create – #235 Anything Goes optional: Sentiment as Focal (first card only)
  3. Daisy Chain – #43 No Design Paper (second card only)
  4. The Corrosive– #7 Anything Goes
  5. Crafting Happiness – #56 Anything Goes optional: things that fly (first card only)
  6. Pammies Inky Pinkies – PIP2027 Anything Goes
  7. Creative Craft Cottage – #131 Add a Flower(s) (second card only)
  8. Creative Moments – #194 Anything Goes
  9. Little Red Wagon – #557 embossing (second card only heat embossing)

 

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles31 Comments

Caffeinated Changito☕

Hello there friends! Really hope that you have enjoyed your long Memorial weekend! The weather finally turned warm and once it turned warm, it REALLY turned warm and humid over my way! So we were able to plant some flowers in our garden pots outside and enjoy some cookout time too!

I noticed that the “Spring/Summer Coffee Lovers Blog Hop” had started up this weekend and I thought it would be a great opportunity to pull out some old stamps and have some fun with it while making a maculine card for the up-coming Father’s Day holiday too:

Does anyone remember these cute little “Changito” stamps back in the day?! I have used the Changito Coffee stamp (only found this one online) and the sentiment to go with it too! I actually bought these wood mounted rubber stamps years ago at a convention I had went to and have kept them hoarded like my other old stamps. LOL!

I stamped the image on Copic blending card and then again on some blue gingham background paper for paper piecing his PJs in! For the sentiment, I heat embossed it over my background with some appropriately named “Coffee” EP which has a metallic copper with some brown speckling in it…very cool. the store is no longer active that it came from.

For the background of this card, I had some fun playing with my Oxide Distress Inks in Vintage Photo, Broken China, Scattered Straw and touches of Espresso. I sprayed and dried layers as I went. I even took the bottom of a jar I had laying on my table to ink up some Espresso ink to make the “ring” marks over the background. I also took some more of that “Coffee” EP and sprinkled some over the background for even more distressing.

I wrapped some twine around it and attached it to an A2 sized white card base that I sponged around the edges with some Vintage Photo ink.

Here you can see a better look at the image and how I’ve got him colored up with Copic markers. You can barely see the gingham pattern in his paper pieced PJs, but I thought it was cute! I also took a black Copic liner and drew lettering on the coffee cups. I added just a hint of sparkle over the coffee inside the cups with a Spectrum Noir glitter brush pen. I also took a black gel pen to dot his eyeballs, the buttons on his PJs as well as dot the bunny slipper eyes. I think that little detail really makes his pop more with a bit of character.

The image was cut out with a stitched circle die and then I also cut out an additional circle to mat behind him, which I took a VersaMark ink pad and then used the “Coffee” EP to heat set along the edges of it so it has the same look and texture as the background and sentiment. This was attached over the background with twine.

Lastly, I’ve taken some brown colored sequins from my stash and attached them to the background and filled the centers with some Nuvo Honey Gold Glitter Drops.

Hope you’ve enjoyed my masculine and quirky card for today! Thanks so much for dropping in and I’ll be seeing you again soon!!😉

Challenges:

  1. Spring/Summer 2020 Coffee Lovers Blog Hop – Coffee/Tea/Cocoa Related Project

2. Addicted to Stamps and More – #391 Anything Goes

3. Cute Card Thursday – #635 Critters

4. Creative Knockouts – #351 Embossing Delight (wet or dry)

5. QKR Stampede – #399 Anything Goes

6. Simon Says Stamp Monday – “Going Around in Circles”

7. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – PIP2021 Anything Goes

8. Die Cut Divas – Make it a Beverage + die cut/embossing folder

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles30 Comments

Faux Emboss With a Stamp!😮

Hello there friends!  Hoping you had a wonderful weekend and a fabulous Mother’s Day as well!  I had a wonderful day with flowers delivered to me and wonderful phone messages as well as some safe social distancing with my own mom.  It was great to actually “see” her as I haven’t been able to since this “shelter in place” had started.

Today I wanted to share a couple of cards that I had made participating in the “Spring Card Camp” classes from Online Card Classes. (It started April 11 and ran through the end of April.)  Although we are now on a separate Part 2 Spring Card Camp, I have enjoyed the classes each day and I thought I’d just take my time and enjoy everything.  So there may be posts spread across time as I go.  I just like to take my time and actually enjoy the process rather than hurry up and run right through it.  I feel this helps me to fully understand what I’m doing and what products I’ve used, take notes, etc.

SPRSCC2020-participant

The first class was taught from Jennifer McGuire as she showed us how to use a stamp and create our own embossing folder to make an impression with it!!  Something that I had not heard of before, so this was fun to try out:

Vicki-BMKindFloral-fauxemboss

So the idea of each class is to pretty much get a “two for one” type of design and stretch your supplies and design concept so that it makes it easier to create multiple cards at a time, which is really great right now as I seem to be making more cards and donating extra cards that I normally wouldn’t be doing at this time of the year.  (I also actually thought this could be applied towards Christmas making time as well…which I will be keeping in mind!)

I started with this panel first as this was my piece that created the faux embossng folder:

Vicki-BMKindFloral-FE

I decided to use this gorgeous large image from the Kind Floral stamp set to create my “faux embossing” piece with.  This image was heat set several times with white EP.   All of the cards I made including the sentiments were used with this same stamp set.

After using it for my “faux embossing” on my other cards shown below, I went back to it and finished it on a card by using some blending brushes and ink to color in the panel.  I took a strip of black cardstock and white heat embossed the sentiment over it and then layered it onto a white A2 side folding card base.  I finished it off with some colored bubble drops and Stickles glitter drops.

Vicki-BMKindFloral-FE1

Here’s a closer view of the white heat embossing I did on this panel with the image.  It’s very thick as I had to build up layers to create a faux embossing folder to get a good impression with it.  (See below)

Vicki-BMKindFloral-FE2

For my first card using the “Faux Embossing” piece, I took a sheet of pink cardstock and made the impression into it.  You can see it in the background.  For this panel I used the negative side of it and then sponged some darker pink ink over top of it so that you can really see the impression from the image.  I used a Wonky Stitched Rectangle die to cut it out with and layered it over a piece of kraft Cardstock.  This was attached to a top folded A2 sized white card base.

I took another sentiment from the same stamp set as above and heat embossed it with Gilded EP.  I sponged some more pink ink around the edges of this panel and layered it over another piece of kraft CS.  I popped it up with foam tape over some die cut flowers from vellum along with a strip of gold mirror cardstock and finished it off with some gold sequins.

Vicki-BMKindFloral-FE2a

Here’s a closer view at the texture in the background from the faux embossed piece.

I thought this gave a subtle but soft and pretty look to the design.  Also, that sentiment could not be at a more perfect time right now, don’t you think?

Vicki-BMKindFloral-FE3

And for my last card, I made the faux embossed background using some more kraft CS.  This image I used the positive side and ran some distress ink over the raised areas to bring it out more.  I took a darker brown ink to go around the edges.

I stamped a sentiment from the same stamp set with brown ink, layered with some Copper Glitter paper and then cut a piece of Macchiato CS from a scalloped stitched square die that was also used for the A2 Sized top folding card base, and popped up the sentiment panel with foam tape.

I layered the embossed background piece over a vanilla cardstock layer that was cut with a scalloped stitched rectangle die and then I wrapped some silk ribbon with a bow around it before placing the sentiment panel over it.  I attached the flower and the sequins to the design and finished it off with some Nuvo Honey Gold Glitter Drops.

Vicki-BMKindFloral-FE3a

Here’s a closer look at not only the texture from the embossed background piece, but I also took some Shimmer Spray and covered the background with it.  You can sort of see the beautiful shimmer over it…and it really looks incredible in person.

Hope you’ve enjoyed what I’ve learned and created for class!  Thanks for dropping in with me today!  There will be more things I have to share with you coming up, so I’ll see you soon!!

Challenges:

  1.  Pearly Sparkles – Add a Ribbon or Bow (last card only)
  2. Moving Along With the Times – #118 Flowers
  3. Crafts Galore Encore – #75 Anything Goes
  4. Simply Create Too – #160 Use Flowers
  5. The Corrosive – #15 Anything Goes
  6. Use Your Stuff– #397 Flowers and/or Butterflies
  7. Arty Divas – #21 Anything Goes
  8. Cute Card Thursday – #633 Anything Goes

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles25 Comments

Guest Design Spot For Retro Rubber Challenge and Playing Tic-Tac-Toe!

Hello there friends!  I hope that you’ve had a great weekend and found some enjoyable moments for yourself!  I had a nice and cozy weekend with my hubby!

Today, I’m thrilled to share my post for the Retro Rubber Challenge Blog as I’ve been asked to do a guest design spot for their challenge!  Retro Rubber is known for their challenges in which they challenge you to pull out those neglected older stamps from your stash and use them!  (They ask that you use a stamp that is at least 1 year or older to enter).  For this particular challenge, they’e asking you to follow along with a fun Tic-Tac-Toe board as a reference for your project:

RRCB 127

For my card, I was going for a diagonal direction one way, but it ended up fitting with several different directions on this board!  LOL!  I just had fun playing I think:

(My card below utilizes the top row across, and diagonally in both directions!) Squares used for my card are:  green, twine, pattern paper, die cut or punch, sympathy and nature.

Vicki-RRCB127GDT-EHMondoHydrangea

Isn’t this such a pretty floral stamp?!  Hydrangeas are pretty much my fave all time flower!  The colors amaze me and I have a line of them in my backyard along my fence and look forward to seeing them bloom every year!  I take photos of them too!

Well I have this container sitting on a shelf in my stamp room where this particular stamp and die set is just “staring at me” awaiting for me to pull it out!  I didn’t realize that it was actually a 3 year old set until I pulled it out, but do you remember this Mondo Hydrangea from Ellen Hutson by Julie E?  Fell in love with it immediately, purchased it and think I may have used it one time!  I was excited about pulling it out to make my card for today as it’s one that I really love!  🙂

I started by heat embossing the image with some Brutus Monroe Gilded EP and then used my Clean Color Real Brush markers and a water brush pen to blend out the colors over the images.  I then used the Mondo Hydrangea coordinating dies to cut out all of the images.  I also took some vanilla cardstock to die cut the top border with the MFT Stitched Scallop Basic Edges die as well as cut it out along with the green pattern papers with the MFT A2 Stitched Rectangle STAX die.  These layers were attached over an A2 sized vanillia top folding card base.

I’ve used a sentiment from the Whimsy Stamps Furever in Our Hearts stamp set and heat embossed that over that vanilla die cut panel as well. (Adorable pet sympathy set to have on hand!)

The flowers were popped up over the design with foam tape, but before I attached the large hydrangea to the card, I took some metallic gold twine and tied a bow around the stem.  Lastly, I added some clear confetti sequins.

Vicki-RRCB127GDT-EHMondoHydrangea-close

Here’s a closer look at the watercolor I’ve done over the flower.  I don’t do this very often, but it’s always satisfying when I play around with it!  At first I thought it would be intimidating to color, but it’s really not.  I just added layers of watercolor as I wanted it to look.  You can really see where the EP shines on this!

I had thought about adding some glitter over it, but wanted to keep it soft since it’s a sympathy card.

Vicki-RRCB127GDT-EHMondoHydrangea-flat

It seems that I hardly ever have a sympathy card on hand when I need one, so this will be a great one to have on stand by for my collection.

I hope that you’ve enjoyed my card today and have been inspired in some way!  Please be sure to stop on over at the Retro Rubber Challenge Blog to check out the wonderful inspiration from design team and play along with us!  We can’t wait to see what older stamps you have in your stash too!

Thanks for stopping by today and I’ll see you soon!

Other challenges I’d like to enter this card for:

  1.  Cute Card Thursday – Green
  2. Krafty Chicks – KCC491 All Occasions
  3. Crafty Catz– #490 Anything Goes + optional twist:  Flower Power

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles26 Comments

Tidings of Joy with Whimsy Stamps

Hello friends!  It’s December and that means Whimsy Stamps has fun things coming out!  Have you checked out December’s release at Whimsy Stamps yet?  There are lots of really cute digital stamps in the store!  CHECK THEM OUT HERE!

I have this really sweet card just perfect for this time of the year….

Vicki-WSChristmasManger-Dec3

Today I’m sharing this really sweet image called “Christmas Manger” by Crissy Armstrong.  Isn’t this just as precious as can be!  You may remember a card I did last year IN THIS POST with a penguin style manger.  Really love Crissy’s sweet images and I’m thinking I may have to start collecting her mangers she comes out with each year now! LOL!

After coloring up this image, I’ve fussy cut it out while I worked on the background design.  I started by ripping a piece of masking paper and covered the bottom portion of a square 4″ piece of cardstock.  I took a “Light Ray” stencil and ink blended some Chipped Saphire distress ink over it.  While the stencil was still on it, I took some white watered down paint and splattered over the background.  After removing the stencil, I let that dry while cleaning up my stencil and work area.  After it was dry, I took some Scattered Straw and Mustard Seed distress inks and blended over top.  I then took a glitter brush pen and went over each of the yellow strips in the background.  (I also covered the tops portions of the images too.  You can see this all better in the photos below.)  Lastly, I’ve used the other side of the masking paper that I ripped to cover up the sponged rays and ink blended with Rusty Hinge, Walnut Stain and Ground Espresso.  I used a marker to add some shading around the image and glued it down.

For the card, I’ve used a navy 5.25″ square card base and I’ve also used it as part of a layer behind the image panel along with a piece of gold mirror cardstock.  It’s hard to completely see this, but I’ve printed out some digital papers from the Whimsy Stamps Christmas Red, Gold and Green collection as well as the Whimsy Stamps Rustic Wood and Brick Collection.  The background was sponged with the same colors that I’ve used for the bottom of the image panel.  I’ve used some twine for the center strip area and tied a bow along the side with it.  The image panel layered with the Gold Mirror cardstock was popped up with some craft foam over that.

I’ve used a wooden star that I’ve heat embossed several times with some Gold Sparkle EP which is what I’ve used to heat emboss the sentiment at the bottom of the image panel from the Whimsy Stamps Holiday Mini Sentiments.  To finish it off I’ve decided to add some Studio Katia Sparkling Crystals.

Whew!  Yeah, it took a bit to create! LOL!

Vicki-WSChristmasManger-Dec3-close

Here you can better see the sparkle and shimmer on the yellow “light rays” as well as the tops of the images where the light might be shining on them.  I’ve got the image colored up with my go-to Copic markers.

You can also see the sparkle and shine on the wooden star and sentiment from the gold sparkle embossing powder.  Plus of course the shine from the gold mirror cardstock.

Vicki-WSChristmasManger-Dec3-flat

I hope you’ve enjoyed my card today!  I sure had fun putting it together and I know someone special that this needs to get sent to as soon as I can!  Time is running out for it to make it on time!  Oh yes…that dreaded time running out is near isn’t it?! LOL

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I appreciate you being here!  I will be seeing you again soon my friends!

Here are the Whimsy Stamps products used on my card today with affilate links:

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Christmas Red, Gold and Green Papers - Digital Papers

Challenges I’d like to enter this card for:

  1.  Creative Knockouts – Winter/Holidays
  2. Daring Cardmakers – Anything Crafty with theme Shining Lights
  3. Crafty Friends– Anything Goes
  4. Merry Little Christmas – December Anything Christmas Goes
  5. Country Views– Stars
  6. Crafty Animals – #33 Anything Goes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles23 Comments