Merry Christmas!🎄

Just wanted to share some Christmas cards I made this year and wish each and everyone a peaceful, loving and joyful season!  

Made with the Taylored Expressions Woodland Reindeer Silhouettes stamps & dies and the Woodland Reindeer Deco Foil Transfer Sheets.  The sentiments were foiled from the TE Simple Strips in Reverse Christmas Panels.  The shaded oval panel was blended on by using the TE Oval Masking Stencils and I splattered the background with white paint.

This card was made using a TE freebie (not available for purchase) and created in the same way with the card on top except this one has the sentiment in the center rather than the reindeer.  I also foiled a couple of the snowflake/stars randomly over it and rounded the corners.

  • Thanks so much for your continued support my friends!!!

Challenges:

  1. Fab ‘N’ Funky – Last minute Christmas
  2. The Sisterhood of Crafters – Traditional Christmas Colors
  3. Crafty Gals Corner – ‘Tis the Season
  4. Creative Moments – Christmas/Winter Celebrations
  5. Creative Knockouts – ‘Tis the Season
  6. Creative Fingers – Anything Goes
  7. Lil’ Patch of Crafty Friends – Anything Goes
  8. Pammies Inky Pinkies – Anything Goes

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles23 Comments

It’s Time For Tags!

Hello friends!  I thought I’d take some time for making up some tags which is something that I really enjoy doing, but don’t do it very often.  They’re so nice to have a batch made up ahead of time so that you can pull one out as you need it instead of trying to hurry through making something.  It’s always better to have fun instead of rushing! 

This trio of tags was a bit time consuming, but it was nice to finally pull out some things that I’ve been wanting to play with and use without being in a hurry.  The characters are from the Taylored Expressions Holiday Squad die set.  The tags themselves were cut from the TE Pierced Stacklets dies, the TE Tag Stacklets 2 dies and the TE Tag Reinforcements dies. The background for the tags was made with the TE Foil It-Plaid Layering Panels that I foiled in gold along with the stenciling from the TE Plaid Layering Stencil set.  The sentiments were white heat embossed from the TE Just Saying-Christmas stamps.  I’ve used various colors of Taylored Expressions papers and inks and then finished the embellishments for the “holly berries” using the red from TE Tiny Diamonds-Bold set and then I also used the TE Gold Drip Drops in the background.  The ribbon and twine from my stash at the top.

 

My next trio of tags here was really fun with these adorable penguins from Taylored Expressions Dancing Through the Snow stamp set and dies.  I placed them over top of the transparency that was used to create a shaker tag behind the penguins.  I used the TE Tag Stacklets 3 dies and also used some pink polka dotted papers from a free paper pad I received with an order.  The bright shinny purple paper came from my stash I’ve had for quite a while and thought it would be a fun non-traditional color to use with these.  I filled the shaker tags with the TE Bits & Pieces-Snowflakes and the TE Bits & Pieces-Sparkly Stars. 

 

And these tags were a little hard to photograph with all of that cording in the way! (pardon my photograph skills! LOL)  They’re smaller than the tags above, but they work great for different packaging sizes!  These were easy and fun as I’ve done mostly foiling with these using the Taylored Expressions Foil It-Simple Tags Holidays panels and the stencil to go with it.  I cut them all out at the same time with the coordinating dies. The tags with the black cording are the negatives from foiling the toffee colored tags and are mostly completely foiled.  I just used different colored Stickles glitter to create the Christmas lights on those.  (Really been having fun with the foiling this year!)

 

And lastly I wanted to share a set of tags that I’ve made using various Inky Stamper sets!  I decided to go through all of the different Christmas sets that I have from them and pull out the ones that I either haven’t used or barely used to play with them.  The tag at the top was made with the Inky Stamper Fox set that I really enjoyed coloring.  The presents at the bottom and the Santa hat were colored and fussy cut from the same stamp set.  I made the background of that one with the Falling Snowflake Stencil with white ink and heat embossing over it with sparkly white embossing powder. 

The tag on the bottom left is another fun shaker tag!  I pulled out the Inky Stamper Nutcracker set to color him up and cut out with the coordinating die.  He was placed over the acetate on the shaker tag.  I used a scallop circle tag die with gold foil cardstock that I cut out the center with a circle die, added some papers for the background from the Doodlebug Buffalo Check/Woodgrain paper pack.  The shaker bits inside are the Shaker Garnish which is really lightweight and still make a great shaker sound too!

The bottom right tag was cut from an Infinity Tree die set.  I sponged the edges with some white ink and punched a hole at the top to make it a tag.  That cute little truck is from the Inky Stamper Vintage Truck set that I colored and cut out with the coordinating dies.  I used a fun Lawn Fawn road die to place him over and then stamped the sentiment from the stamp set with white ink.  I also added some snowflake sequins above him with the Icicles sequins mix.  And both blue and red Doodlebug Twine was used for two of the tags.  The other ribbons/cord from my stash.

  • Thanks so much for stopping in today!  Hope you’ve been inspired and enjoying the Season!

Challenges:

  1. Country View – Christmas
  2. Ally’s Angels – Anything Goes
  3. Cupcake Inspirations – Happy Holidays
  4. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – Anything Goes
  5. Simon Says Stamp Mon – Tag It
  6. Tag Tuesday – Winter Holidays
  7. Crafter’s Café – Anything Goes

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles26 Comments

Friendly SWAPs

Hello friends!  The weather has been really nice over my way so I’ve been taking advantage of it by enjoying the outdoors before it starts changing into more chilly temperatures.  All of the prize winners have contacted me and the packages have all been sent out.  I have received notice that the U.S. winners have gotten their packages and hopefully the overseas will be arriving soon.  My thoughts are also with those that were affected from Storm Ian and hope for healing and recovery as soon as possible.

Although it’s been a while since I last posted, I have been working on some things for SWAPs and a few other cards that I had created as well to share with you.

  • please click on the photos below to see them close-up

Within a FB Group that I’m in, we could choose to join an ATC SWAP with the theme of “Friendship” and these are the cards that I had created.  I swapped with two others and then kept one set of three for myself.  I was excited because this is the first ATCs I’ve sent overseas and really enjoyed making the collection.  I thought the butterfly theme with similar colors would work keeping the “Friendship” in mind… 

And then below are the set of ATCs I’ve received from my SWAP partners in return.  The first lady sent her ATCs from Australia and the other lady was from the UK I believe.  Love them and was excited to receive them to add to my book.

I was also involved in another “Stamped Sampler SWAP” making those squares like I had done with my Summer one if you remember that with my friends Patti, Shirley and Donna.  This time our squares were the theme of Autumn/Fall using the Stampin’ Up! colors Pumpkin Pie and Mossy Meadow.  It’s so fun to see them come in and then put it all together in the frame!  Here’s how mine finished out:

For my Sampler frame, I used some different colored woodgrain pattern paper to attach the squares to and this frame is a bit different than my Summer Sampler (Check it out in THIS POST if you want to see that one.)  It can stand on a table surface or you can hang it up.  I also decided to add a burlap bow at the top of the frame using a hot glue gun.

This is the Sampler Square that I had made using the adorable fox from the Taylored Expressions Woodland Squad Die & Clear Stamp Combo set.  The background was stamped with the TE Four Seasons Stamp & Stencil Combo set using ONLY the background stamp in one color.  I then using some gold acrylic paint to splatter over it.  I also added a twine bow to the fox.  I believe we’re going to be doing another one for Winter too…stay tuned!

My friend Patti had also sent me an extra card kit from one of her classes along with her SWAP square, which I thought was so nice…so I had some fun putting it together as I don’t have this set which I believe is a Stampin’ Up! one.

The card kit had all of the pieces in it along with the stamped birds cut out, the stamped branches and sentiments (even on the included envelope) along with cut glitter clouds and flowers!  There was a sheet with photo and instructions so I just followed along except I die cut some leaves for the branches from a piece of scrap green paper I had.  Now I have a cute little birthday card ready to send out, so thank you for the fun Patti!😉

And speaking of birds and Stampin’ Up!, I had to make a sympathy card for someone that lost their pet bird.  I was looking through my stash and found an older Stampin’ Up! set with a bird silhouette which I thought would be good for a sympathy card like this.  I was inspired to pull out more of my older Stampin’ Up! stash to use so I used some old punches, ribbon and paper for my card as well.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the inspiration today and I thank you so much for stopping in!  If you have any questions about my post, please let me know.  Have a great day and see you soon!

Challenges:

  1. Lil’ Patch of Crafty Friends – Anything Goes (Bird sympathy card)
  2. The Corrosive – Anything Goes (Butterfly ATCs)
  3. Crafty Animals – Anything Goes + animal (Fox Square and/or Bird sympathy card)
  4. Fab ‘N’ Funky – Embossing wet/dry (Bird sympathy card)
  5. Creative Knockouts – Anything Goes (Butterfly ATCs)
  6. Sweet Stampin’ – Anything Goes EXCEPT birthday (Bird sympathy card)
  7. Ally’s Angels – Anything Goes (Butterfly ATCs)

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles19 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 1stampedsmiles.com giveaway Daisies For Days Winner 2stampedsmiles.com giveaway Goodhearted Winnerstampedsmiles.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!🤗

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles14 Comments

Gettin’ My Halloween On + GIVE AWAY!

Hello friends!  It’s been a minute or two since my last posting as I had been sick and then totally lost my “MOJO” during that point! So I was trying to get it going again with a few Halloween projects!  I have been playing with some new Taylored Expressions goodies and I thought it would be fun to give away some TE stuff as well!😀  Stay tuned to the end of this post!

  • click on the photos below to enlarge them if you’re on my website:

Now how cute are all of these critters, ghouls and creeps?!  As you may remember from my last post, I had been having so much fun creating with the Taylored Expressions Create-in-Quads stencils, so I had my play with the Halloween Create-in-Quads with the makes above!  I stenciled some black, candy corn, plum punch and lime zest colors, plus I went over the lime zest with some glow-in-the-dark glitter paste.  The stencil quads make two A2 sized backgrounds as well as the cat and witch cauldron too!  There is also coordinating dies to cut out the cat and witch that I used to cut out for the second set of cards.  For all of the cards, I’ve used the TE Frame in Frame 3 dies (free from an order a while back) that was cut with some black cardstock. I’ve also used the TE Simple Strips-Halloween stamped and heat embossed with some black glitter EP and cut out with the TE Asymmetrical Simple Strips Die for each card.

The set of cards on the left were created with the stenciled backgrounds and then with the black frames, I’ve added a character from a “free with purchase” Gus & Gertie Halloween stamp set.  The bird saying “boo” is in a bat costume.😅  I popped up the sentiment strip, bird and dog with foam tape.  I die cut the “boo” sentiment with a speech bubble die from my stash.  The ghoul card was made with the awesome TE Monster Squad die set.  I placed a piece of vellum behind the black frame so the ghoul stood out a bit more, die cut my pieces as I wanted and attached it right above the sentiment strip.  I added a green googly eye as well as a few die cut stars from silver metallic cardstock.

The set of cards on the right was put together with a couple of different unique backgrounds. On the black cat card, I used the TE Superstar Rotating Stencil and stenciled once with candy corn and only rotated once using the glow-in-the-dark glitter paste again.  I finished it by splattering black and white paint over it.  Topped it off with the black frame, the kitty and sentiment strip.  I also used some Cosmic Drip Drops for kitty’s eyes. (These were also used on the bows of the witch’s shoes too!)  For the witch background, I silver foiled one of the TE Foil It-Spiderweb panels and then ink blended some grey ink over a couple of the webs.  I then added the black frame, the witch and the sentiment strip. Lastly, I added a couple of spiders cut out with the TE Little Bits-Spiders die set.

These ghosts make me smile every time I see them with those faces!👻  For these set of cards, I pulled out the TE G-G-G-Ghost Stamp & Stencil Combo.  I didn’t used any TE inks, but pulled out my oxide inks for an ombre looking color to make these different backgrounds. The stencil was used for the faces by heat embossing some black glitter EP over VersaMark ink through the stencil. The purple is A2 sized and the set of cards on the right as mini slim cards.  I continued using my sentiment strips that were previously used on the card sets above, but with these I’ve added a black layer that I just cut from cardstock.  I’ve also used TE Ghost Gang Die & Clear Combo set to cut out the ghosts popped up around the sentiments and stamped their faces. 

For the purple ghost card, I used the silver foil negative from the “witch spiderweb background” card and foiled a cut out TE On the Block-Boo Shadow die which was popped up with several layers of die cut black ones.  I popped up the die cut ghost over the foiled “boo” as well as the sentiment strips.

For the set of mini slim cards, I did pretty much the same style as the purple, but for the “boo” sentiment I used the TE Boo Script + Backer and die cut 2 of the sentiments with black cardstock and then heat embossed it with the black glitter EP.  I placed it over the vellum die cut backer and attached to the card front.  I popped up the ghosts and the sentiment strips with foam tape.

**GIVE AWAY!!!**

So, because I’ve placed some TE orders, I have gotten multiple sets (duplicates) of goodies!!  If you or someone you know would like to get one of these stamp sets, please let me know in the comments below! (Which one(s) you want!)  I have FOUR large rubber stamps to give away!!  Check it out….

  • Click on each photo below to enlarge if you’re on my website!
I have TWO of these sets to give away!!

These are all background A2 sized rubber stamps. The last stamp photographed is “Winter Village Background”  which measures approx. 6.25″ x 2.5″ in size. I have TWO of the “Daises for Days” to give out.  (See the photo where it shows the clear stamp set included for stamping the flower centers.)  The “Good Hearted Background” stamp is perfect for almost any occasion just by adding a quick sentiment with it!  I also have a little “extra” to go along with each one of these to accompany the package too! 

  • If you click on the names in orange above, you can see some examples using them on the TE website for ideas!

Just leave me a comment below if you’re interested in my give away and tell me which one(s) you’re interested in by September 22nd, 2022 which is the first day of Fall for us here in the U.S.  This will give everyone time to see the post and tell a friend that might be interested too!

Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing your support and inspiration with me as it helps keep me going!😉

Challenges:

  1.  This is Halloween – Anything Goes Halloween/Gothic
  2. Two Old Bats – Anything Goes Halloween
  3. Crafty Animals – Anything Goes + animal
  4. Show Us Your Pussycats – Anything with kitty
  5. 613 Avenue Create – Anything Goes
  6. Through the Craftroom Door – Anything Goes
  7. Lil’ Patch of Crafty Friends – Anything Goes
  8. The Corrosive – Anything Goes
  9. Arty Divas – Anything Goes

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles39 Comments

Some Summer Session Sets

Happy August friends!  This Summer has really flown right by me this year, how about you?  Before you know it we’ll be getting ready for all things Fall…which is my favorite time of the year!🍂  I haven’t been feeling well for the last several days and haven’t done much crafting, but I do have some sets of cards that I’ve made sometime during these Summer months, but haven’t posted, so I’d like to share them with you today.

Taylored Expression had released an adorable collection of fish themed products this Summer that I thought would be so fun for several different occasions, and not just for those that like to fish, but for anyone for any occasion too!

The first white background card on the left was created with the TE Hook, Line & Sinker Stamp & Stencil Combo.  The stencil is really nice to create different effects in an easy way without lots of coloring. I like that the TE Hook, Line & Sinker Dies cut out some of the mass produced stenciled fish background too!  (I saved one for the other card as well and still had a few more left over for another project.)  After I created a couple of the stenciled fish backgrounds, I cut out a panel with a wonky stitched rectangle die and placed it over a Kraft A2 card base.  I added some TE Drip Drops for the “bubbles” on the extra fish and you can see that I’ve covered the body of this fish with a glitter brush pen.

The second card on the right was created with the TE Just Keep Swimming Stencil with Toffee Ink color for a watermark look.  I splattered some white and black paint over the background.  The fishing pool as well as the sentiments for both cards came from the TE Reely Great Stamp & Die Combo.  (It includes the fishing pool die cut with it.)  You will also noticed the tiny little sparkly fish on both of the cards which were cut from the TE Little Bits-Fish die with some blue and turquoise glitter cardstock.  The ‘frame’ around the sentiment on the first card as well as the green frame for the second card were extra pieces in my stash previously cut out with the TE A2 Thin Frame Cutting Plate. (I save the extras to use for other projects.)  

Of course I didn’t “invent the wheel” on these as it was simple by following along with the TE “Hugs & Fishes Craft-a-Long Class” which I got for free with my stamp/combo purchase when it came out. I tweaked it slightly, but sometimes it’s nice to just create and follow along without having to think about what to do with it.😁 

This next set of cards was actually pretty fun and easy to put together:

Continuing on with more Taylored Expressions products, I’ve used the TE Create-in-Quads Hexagon Layering Stencil Set.  Taylor had recently come with this series sometime last year I believe and they seem to go over pretty well.  (I think I had previously made Christmas cards and some Mother’s Day type of cards earlier this Spring with other “Create-in-Quads” sets.)  It seems like a lot, but when you see how easy it is to knock out four cards at once…which I did with Christmas last year…it’s such a time saver with wonderful results!

All of these cards were finished off with the TE Oh No You Didn’t stamp set & dies (love this set)! A couple of the cards use the TE Simple Strips-Snarky stamp set that were white heat embossed and cut out.  The other cards have sentiments that were foiled from the TE Simple Strips In Reverse-Everyday Occasions and die cut.  And of course I didn’t want to waste too much of the foiled panels, so I again took my TE A2 Thin Frame Cutting Plate to cut a couple of the frames with it.  I also stamped out a couple of extra stars here and there from another TE stamp set, but I can’t remember which one I used. (I think it was from a previous card kit I have that’s no longer available…but any star will do!)

And again, no need to reinvent the wheel as I believe this was another class I received for free from a purchase.  You can check out the Create-in-Quads Hexagon Craft-a-Long Class if you’re interested in it.  I think I changed up the colors and details a bit for mine, but very similar in style.

**👀  Be on the look-out for another TE project set from me using another Create-in-Quads I recently got and can’t wait to use!  I’m also going to have some things to give away too!  STAY TUNED!!!

I had also attended a class from Riley and Company sometime this Summer as well:

I have loved that little Riley moose character for years, but Tanya (owner) does several of these on-line class events and she comes out with some really cute class kits.  This kit had everything you need to make the projects and this one also included the sentiment die as well as a full 6×6 packet of papers in the coordinating theme.

I looked in the store, but I don’t see any of these kits available currently, but if you’re interested in seeing what kits she offers, check out – “Cool Kits”

For my projects, the giraffe was the only pre-cut image to color.  All of the other bee images came from the papers that were included with the kit that you were to fussy cut from.  Since the sentiment die was also included, I die cut all of those pieces for my card too.  I decided to step-up my cards with some glitter cardstock along the edge of the giraffe card and then I die cut the “gold glitter honey drip” on that card from the Riley and Company Corner Goo Die.  I also added little details like the “flying trail” of the bee with a marker and using a glitter brush pen on the bee wings.  If you’re interested in the sentiment die that came with this kit, check it out HERE.

Hope you’ve enjoyed my Summer Session Sets today and have been inspired or brought a smile!  Thank you so kindly for your time to stop in and have a look!  I really appreciate it!

Challenges:

  1. Pearly Sparkles – Anything Goes
  2. Moving Along With the Times – Anything Goes
  3. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – Anything Goes
  4. Addicted to Stamps & More – Die Cuts and/or Stencils (I’ve used both!)ATSM die cut stencils
  5. Happy Little Stampers – Anything Goes With Dies challengeimage
  6. Crafty Calendar – Anything Goes
  7. Creative Inspirations – Anything Goes

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles27 Comments

A Beautiful June Wedding!

Hello friends!  I hope you’re having a great week!  We got a tiny break from the hot weather, so I had to spend the last few days enjoying it and was happy to get away from being indoors!  Now as the temps climb back up, it’s time to get busy and craft some more!😃

As promised, I’m catching up with my postings to share the wedding invites, thank you cards and special wedding card I made from my son’s June wedding.  I made them a few months back, obviously, but I thought it would be nice to condense it altogether here in one posting.

The couple had asked for me to make their invites for them and of course it was a great honor to be able to do that for them.  I was given a photo of an image and was educated about the “Tree of Life” to incorporate that into a design as well as a sample of some color shades.  Making a total of 50, here’s what I came up with:

I was able to find some similar Stampin’ Up! colors that closely resembled the samples given and come up with Bermuda Bay and Mint Macaron for the design.  I wanted both the ink and cardstock colors and worked it out from there.

For the base of the design, I’ve used the darker Bermuda Bay and on the front panel, I used a piece of Mint Macaron with a stenciled “tree of life” over top of it with Bermuda Bay ink.  I actually found a fairly inexpensive stencil on Amazon and thought it looked very similar to the image I was given and thought it would be perfect for the front with a partial side off the edge.  I never inked up 50 panels before, but this stencil certainly got a work out!  I was thinking it needed a bit more to it than just the stenciling, but I didn’t want to do too much with having 50 to make!  I took the Taylored Expressions Diagonal Stitched Rectangle die to impress a design around the edge, wrapped silver ribbon around the front with the knot and layered it over the front of the invite.

So being happy with that, the hardest task was to figure out the inside details….

I wanted to make the inside a portfolio style with a pocket containing the wedding details as well as the RSVP/envelope inside and then the actual “announcement” on the other side.  As I was piecing it together, I thought a decorative flap with some vellum would be pretty over the announcement too.

I’ve used the Stampin’ Up! Basic Borders die set to die cut the pocket front as well as the vellum flap on the left side.  I had to adhere two Bermuda Bay card panels together and cut out the areas I didn’t need.  (I ended up using the left over pieces to punch out a circle layer.  To add a bit more of a decorative detail, I cut strips of silver cardstock as well as silver heat emboss the “tree of life” circle stamp.  (I was happy to also find this really inexpensive rubber stamp image for a couple of dollars to use for this too!)  For the image on the pocket area, it was stamped with Bermuda Bay over the Mint Macaron cardstock, layered with that left over Bermuda Bay circle punched pieces and popped up with foam squares over the silver strip.  I was happy with how the portfolio design was working.

And now once you open up the vellum flap on the left side, you will see the announcement portion.  The silver strips were strategically placed to cover up where all of the layers are glued/attached together, but still looks like it “belongs” there.  The image that was given to me via digital photo was used at the “back drop” behind the wording.  It was a very bright image that I altered on my computer and muted it down so that it was faded in the background, but yet still clearly visible on the design.  I thought it worked out nicely and still coordinated with the stenciled area on the front.

Because this invite was so thick in nature, I didn’t want to add more layers of cardstock, so I used a thinner parchment style copy paper as everything was printed out from the computer anyway.  The parchment made it feel a bit more professional I thought.  I die cut ALL of the printed parchment pieces with a Lawn Fawn RETIRED Small Dotted Rectangle dies. (I thought the “small dots” went with the SU! edges I used on the flaps.) I placed the announcement over a piece of Mint Macaron and then layered it inside the card.  I layered the RSVP card over a piece of Mint Macaron and the “wedding details” card was left on it’s own.

Finally, you can see that on the silver envelope flaps, I silver heat embossed the image. This was also done for the larger silver envelopes for the whole invite to fit in as well.  I even used the “Tree of Life” computer generated image to create some address sticker labels for them and give them extras ones to use.

Of course after the wedding, you need to send out the thank you cards, so I also made 50 of those….

I really didn’t want to event a new wheel with it, so I had plenty of cardstock colors and just repeated the same design on the front as I did with the invites except for this one, I used the Taylored Expressions On Occasion stamps.  I stamped them out with the Bermuda Bay over the Mint Macaron cardstock, cut it out with the coordinating dies and popped it up with foam tape over the silver ribbon.  Stenciling another 50 panels with this same stencil gave it another work out yet! 

So for the actual day of their wedding, this is the card I made FOR the couple.  I was able to get a little more “intense” with this one as it was only ONE card!

I was so excited when I saw this stunning card kit come out from Taylored Expressions called “Modern Eucalyptus” (no longer available) and I thought it was the perfect colors to create something with for their wedding.  The white panel was silver foiled and then I stenciled the colors of the wreath pieces, stenciled some silver paste, die cut them out and popped them up over the foiled wreath.  I stamped the sentiment in the center, added some TE Tiny Diamonds to some areas and cut a strip of silver glitter cardstock to go across the bottom.

Around the edge of the panel, I used a free gift that I got with purchasing items and tried it out and on my panel without realizing that it cut the center.  I went ahead and attached it down anyway as I liked the decorative look to it.  I had a matching envelope and off we went to the wedding!!!!!

The couple was married in Hocking Hills (Ohio State Park area) and it was absolutely beautiful over there!  The venue they used only had a certain capacity limit and so this is why there were only 50 invitations that went out.  It was a very nice private wedding with everything done and organized for them.  I do not have any professional photos of the wedding as of yet, but I had to rely on my husband for taking a few photos on his phone and then handing the phone to someone for photos as well…my dress didn’t allow me for handy phone carrying.  LOL  But here a just a few photos (not professional) of the wedding

As being a first time “mom of the groom”, it is quite an experience and very emotional especially when my son picks out a song for our dance with a song I used to sing to him as a baby in my belly!  We both had tears!! LOL  It was such a joyous occasion and I’m thrilled to welcome our new family into our lives for years to come!  May they always feel the joy and love together for ever after!

Hope you’ve enjoyed my wedding post today and have been inspired in some way to brighten your day.  I thank you so much for taking the time to stop in and say hello!  It means so much to me!  See you soon!

Challenges:

  1. Crafty Friends – Embossing Wet/Dry (heat embossed on invites)
  2. Crafty Calendar – Add a ribbon (on invites and thank you)
  3. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – Anything Goes
  4. Fab ‘N’ Funky – Anything Goes
  5. Penny’s Paper Crafty – Anything Goes using paper
  6. Creative Fingers – Anything Goes

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles23 Comments

Your Own Sparkle AJ Page

*This is a scheduled post as I’m away for my son’s wedding and don’t have access to Internet at this time*

Hello friends!  Here we are towards the end of June already and in full Summer mode now!  Time has went by so fast!  I do hope you’re all doing well, staying safe and enjoying your time however you’re spending it.

The end of the month also brings the monthly AJ page collaboration with my crafty friend, Carol (from Crafty-Stamper), so please check out her blog for more inspiration too!  We’re trying to get creative by using up our never-ending stash piles!  So here’s my Art Journal inspiration with the “SMASH OUR STASH” June prompt of: “buttons/sequins/gems.“

So who doesn’t have oodles of sequins in their stash?  (I probably had enough to cover the entire page, but left it strictly for the fish scales and “bubbles”.😄)  I was inspired by the Art Journal Journey challenge prompt this month of “FISH” and with the stash prompt in mind, it had me thinking of a book I had gotten for the kids years ago, perhaps you’re familiar with “The Rainbow Fish” by Marcus Pfister? 

In the book, the fish’s scales were very shimmery and it made me think to add the sequins to a fish, so I actually found a fun and free “coloring page” fish image to print out and color for my page!  I used Copic markers to color that fish and the sequins are a glittery silver sequin that were topped with some silver Stickles as well as the “lines” on his fins.  I also added some clear iridescent sequins for the “bubbles” above him.

For my background – Since the goal is to use my stash, I pulled out my set of gelatos that I’ve had for a few years to create my background.  I found it fun to blend them and smudge them with my finger. I also used a piece of punchella trim for stenciling with them too.  Of course, since they’re water soluble, I needed to cover it with some matte medium using a spatula rather than a brush.  Once the matte medium dried, I added some printed vellum pieces ripped up over it and then used some white and silver paint for splatters and stamping an empty roll circle.  I also went around the edges a bit with the silver paint for shimmer.  For a little bit more texture, I took some Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel (UTEE) and heated up a few “piles” of the crystals and melted them…I haven’t used that in a long time either!  I needed to be VERY careful with my heat gun because of the matte medium…it started to smoke a bit!😮

For the background fish – I had a few extra cut out fish pieces from a previous project I made using the Taylored Expressions Hook, Line & Sinker Stamp & Stencil Combo with dies and adding them to the scene.  I also added some sparkly fish that was die cut from the TE Little Bits-Fish dies. (I haven’t posted this project yet, but I will later on!)  I took a micron pen to add a fishing line coming down from the top with a hook. 

Here’s a closer view of the fish as well as some of the details in the background.

For the sentiment – it was printed out along with the fish and then I just ripped around it and then using the same ink colors as the background fish, I blended over this piece.  I also used the same UTEE on it as the background.  I took a white Big Brush marker to highlight the letters and underline.  I also used it for highlights on the fish. I used different colors of the Big Brush markers to add some shading details around the fish.

All of the sequins and silver Stickles were added very last to the page.

Challenges:

  1. Art Journal Journey – Fish (will have to link later when I get back!)

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles22 Comments

So Proud of You Commissioned Grad

Hello friends!  Just popping in to share a commissioned graduation card that I made for someone a few weeks ago.  I love making grad cards and was happy to help accommodate a personalized one for a special person in someone’s life.

She didn’t even realize that she told me her grandson’s name, and all she mentioned was the school colors to go by.  So I decided to have fun with personalizing an infinity shaker this time:

Vicki-TEgradshaker-comm

For the background of this card: I’ve started with the Taylored Expressions Bokeh Stars Layering Stencils blended over a white 4″ x 5.25″ cardstock piece with coordinating colors assigned to me using a burgundy/silver school color scheme.  I’ve decided for the inside shaker bits, to die cut a few sized stars with the burgundy (TE Mulled Wine) and some Brushed Silver from my stash. I also had some TE Sparkly Stars Bits & Pieces to add to them.  I turned the stenciled panel into an “infinity shaker” by using a TE A2 Infinity Shaker Panel and attaching it to a A2 sized “Mulled Wine” side folding card base.

For the front of the clear shaker panel: I die cut a frame from the Brushed Silver cardstock with the TE A2 Thin Frame Cutting Plate that was also attached to a Mulled Wine die cut banner that I’ve silver heat embossed the “so proud of you” sentiment from the TE Mini Strips-Grad stamp set.  I personalized the silver frame by die cutting the letters from the TE Cap It Off Alpha die set with the same Brushed Silver cardstock.  I attached these letters before setting the frame in place and then just cutting the frame off where the letters meet up with it.  Lastly, I thought of the Lawn Fawn Hats Off to You stamp set, stamped, colored it in to match up with the colors and added a bit of sparkle to the tassel with a silver gel pen and cut it out with the coordinating die. I popped it up with foam squares so that it is tilted over the “C” in the name.

The envelope was decorated with the year by die cutting the outline with the Mulled Wine cardstock from the TE Cap It Off Numbers die.  I also used one of the Mulled Wine stars I previously cut for the shaker to place in the middle of the “0” as well.

Here’s the “action” of the infinity shaker…

I think I enjoyed seeing those stars move around from edge to edge on this one! LOL  You can never have too many confetti stars shaking around to celebrate the grad, right?!⭐

 

And of course I made a greeting for the inside of the card stamped in the same Mulled Wine color along with a few stars stamped in there.  I used another piece of the die cut frame in Brushed Silver cardstock to go around the stamped panel and attached to the inside of the card.

You can see on the front of the silver envelope in the corner, that I’ve added a couple more of those die cut stars to decorate it as well.

She seemed pretty pleased with the card and of course very proud of her grandson.👨‍🎓

I hope you’ve enjoyed my project too and thank you so much for stopping in!  See you soon!

Challenges:

  1. {Cupcake Inspirations} – Graduation
  2. Crafty Catz – Anything Goes with optional “Celebrate”
  3. Country View – Seeing Stars
  4. Crafty Calendar – Anything Goes
  5. Lil’ Patch of Crafty Friends – Anything Goes
  6. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – Anything Goes

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles24 Comments

Massive Mass Producing!

Hello friends!  I hope that you are having a great week so far!  After the little “heat wave” hit us, I’ve been enjoying some ‘nicer’ outdoor temperatures, finally.  As you may have read in a previous post, I had been working on my son’s wedding invites as well as some thank you cards for them to send out afterwards.  I will be sharing that later on, but today I have some other “mass production” that I’ve been working on in addition to those:

First up, I’d like to share a set of cards I’ve made for the Taylored Expressions Fans FB Group challenge for May which calls for “4-8 mass-produced cards. (similar or identical)” & the colors “Poblano Pepper with Confetti Cake“.  I do not own the Poblano Pepper, but I do have a small cube of Confetti Cake ink.

I’ve been wanting to create several sympathy cards so that I had them on hand instead of making at the last minute for one, so I was happy to get these made.  I decided it was just easier to make them identical so that I didn’t have to decide how to arrange or cut my papers, etc.  I’ve used the Taylored Expressions Diamond Botanicals with dies as well as the TE Diamonds Masking Stencils for the main image.  The background uses the TE Pierced Lattice Cutting Plate over a piece of Toffee cardstock.

Here’s a close-up look at one of the cards.  I stamped the floral image in black ink as well as the sentiment from the stamp set and then took one of the Diamonds masking stencil with some Confetti Cake Ink to softly blend around the edges of the sentiment area with it.  I also used a blender brush to blend around the edges of the cut Toffee layer too.

Since I only had the Confetti Cake ink color, I matched up the coordinating colors with my Copic markers and colored in the image using only those color tones.  I think it worked out great for sympathy cards.  After I colored up the images, I used the coordinating die cut and popped it up over the Toffee cut panels with foam tape squares and then layered it over a side folding white A2 card base.  I finished each one with some of those coordinating TE Pastel Tiny Diamonds.  (Although the suggested listed coordinating colors on the website don’t have the Poblano Pepper or Confetti Cake, I thought it matched up rather nicely to this anyway.)  I think these cards work out great for mailing too.

And speaking of sympathy cards and Taylored Expressions, I thought it would be great to create a nice gift set too:

If you remember one of my previous posts, you may remember where I created a greeting card gift set (CLICK HERE).  I’ve went along with the same idea here and made them all sympathy related cards using my own acetate box and some Taylored Expressions products.  These were all quick and easy to pull together using the Taylored Expressions Done for You Alcohol Ink Background Panels along with a previously released card kit stamp set/dies.

I decided to heat emboss several of the fern images with white, gold and silver over a few of the panels, some over white and vellum and then cut out.  I placed them along with the heat embossed sentiments cut out and arranged them over the panels.  I matched up the cardstock that I had from my stash with the panels to create the completed cards.

Here’s a gallery of a few of the cards up close along with the finished gift box tied with a ribbon: (Just click on each photo from my website to see them enlarged.)

I think this will make a nice gift for someone as I always hear people saying they never have a sympathy card on hand when they need one or for those people that don’t make their own cards too.

And lastly, I’ve made a couple sets of mini slimline style cards using the Taylored Expressions In the Garden-Triple Slim Layering Stencil:

I quickly fell in love with these quad type of stencils especially with these gorgeous florals!  I love the way these floral panels are different from one another and you can stencil them all up with the same color in one pass!  I needed a couple of Mother’s Day cards, so making all of these at once sure came in handy for bonuses too!

Using the “craft-along” video from Taylor and Heather, I used the same, or similar colors that was used, added my black splatters and then used the TE On Occasion with dies as well as the TE Get The Word Out-Mother’s Day with dies for the sentiments where I white heat embossed over black cardstock and cut out.  I just glued to the panels and attached each panel to a white mini slimline card base.

And then here’s another set of mini slimline cards using the same products as above except I used Toffee instead of the white cardstock for these.  I also stamped the sentiment with dark brown ink over white cardstock and then cut them out to place over the stenciled panels. 

I also used both dark brown and white paint to make the splatters over these.  I also used the TE mini slimline stitched and scallop die cuts for these cards and then layered them over top of a Toffee mini slimline card base.  I’ve also added a few TE white rhinestones for a bit of sparkle too.

I also think that these would make great greeting card gift sets as well!  So then it’s just a matter of which ones to keep and which ones to give away as a gift!?🤔

Hope you’ve enjoyed my mass production post today or have been inspired in some way.  Thank you so much for taking the time to drop in and say hi as I enjoy hearing from you!

Challenges:

  1. Creative Friday – No patterned paper (top set of cards only)
  2. Colour Crazy Craft – Anything Goes with coloring (top set of cards only)
  3. Creative Fingers – Anything Goes
  4. Sparkles Monthly – Floral Frenzy
  5. Lil Patch of Crafty Friends – Anything Goes
  6. Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – Anything Goes
  7. Stamping Sensations – Anything Goes optional: Flowers/Fauna

*Vicki* from Stamped Smiles34 Comments