Just For You at 2 Crafty Critter Crazies

Hello friends! It’s not only the weekend, but it’s also the first of February! It’s what we call the “love dovey month”! LOL! The first of the month also brings us a new challenge starting over at the 2 Crafty Critter Crazies blog! It’s always an “ANYTHING GOES + ANIMAL” for your project each month. We look forward to seeing your creations!

For this month we’re being sponsored by Jan’s Digi Stamps and here’s what I’ve come up with for my project:

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Check out this dapper little penguin stepping out to hand his loved one a bouquet of flowers! 🙂 I’ve used the adorable Puttin’ On the Ritz digital set for my card here. It had me at penguin! LOL!

I have pulled out some of those cool vintage looking papers from that SSS Valentine card kit that I had used earlier this week on my parent’s anniversary card and just loved the blue tones in them, so I went with that color scheme for my design!

The penguin was colored and fussy cut out. The way he was positioned looked like he was popping right through an opening to hand out the flowers, so I’ve used some circle die cuts with more of the vintage papers for the background and tucked him in there with his foot and flowers outside the circle frame. I’ve placed a silver doily behind him.

The base of the card measures 5″ square, I’ve taken a couple of strips of the papers and layered them over a white card panel that I’ve sanded the edges on before mounting it over the blue card base. I took some seam binding ribbon to wrap around it and then attached the circle panel to the front with a bow and candy heart accent over top.

The sentiment was printed out from the same stamp set and cut out and layered with a heart die set. I’ve also sponged around the edges of the white heart with grey ink.

Here’s a close view of the image and how I’ve got him all colored up with Copic markers. I’ve used a white gel pen for dots on his cheeks as well as dots around the flowers. Sometimes those bouquet of roses have the baby’s breath with them…for some reason I think it makes the bouquet look extra special!

For part of the penguin’s “cane” or “umbrella”…not sure, I’ve used a silver metallic gel pen to color in parts of it.

I kept his hands white as I felt like he was wearing white gloves. LOL.

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I hope you’ve enjoyed my fancy little love penguin card today and have been inspired!

Thanks so much for stopping in!

Challenges:

Jan’s Digi Stamps Challenge – #6 Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp Monday – All Loved Up
Cute Card Thursday – Valentines
Krafty Chicks – Anything Goes
As You Like It – Warm or Cool Colors (love the cool tones)
Daring Card Makers – Layer it Up!
QKR Stampede – #383 Anything Goes

Falling in Love With Wintertime Penguins!

Hello friends! We are now past Christmas and getting ready for a New Year, but soon the feeling of love will be in the air! So I thought I’d start that off with something that I personally love, which you might know, are those cute penguins!

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And of course you’ve already seen me use this super fun Wintertime Penguins Pairables set from Digi Doodle Studios in a couple of different ways, but this time I’ve added the hearts above his head and sentiment from the same set to make this a “lovey dovey” style card!

I kept the colors in pink and red to go with Valentine’s Day, but you could easily make this a wonderful anniversary or “any day” card for your favorite love penguin as well! LOL!

So I grabbed some fun papers from my stash with both pink snowflakes and red/pinkish hearts paper for my 5″ top folding white base card that I layered the turquoise colored cardstock over and then applied the papers to. I embossed some hearts on the middle strip with a piece of white cardstock and then rubbed some turquoise colored ink lightly over them. I layered that strip onto a piece of turquoise cardstock again and then wrapped some white/clear metallic ribbon with a bow over it before attaching it down.

The sentiment was printed out from this cute set with the penguin and then I just used a banner die to cut it out with and attach to the front of the card.

I added the penguin image that was die cut and layered with some stitched and scallop circle dies. I’ve used some craft foam to pop it up over the center, then added a heart button with twine in the center of the bow. Lastly, I’ve added a couple of snowflake sequins and some liquid pearl “dots” randomly over the card.

Here’s a closer look at this cutie and how I’ve got him colored up with my Copic markers. I’ve used a white gel pen to dot his cheeks and then I took a glitter brush pen (Spectrum Noir) and covered the hearts above his head as well as the “snowy” ground under his feet for a bit of shimmer.

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I hope you’ve enjoyed my “lovey dovey” card today and have been inspired in some way! Thanks so much for joining me on my blog today!

I can’t believe that the New Year is just about to start!! I will most definitely be seeing you in 2020 my friends!

Challenges:

Tuesday Morning Sketches – Annual Anything Goes
The House That Stamps Built – Anything Goes D2519
Aud Sentiments – Christmas/Winter + a sentiment (DDS is sponsoring!)
Crafting By Designs – December Anything Goes
Let’s Craft and Create – Anything Goes with optional Let it Snow

Check out the Digi Doodle products used on my card today – click photo below to see/purchase in the store:

Late Valentine Share and Looking Into Future With More Calendar Months!

Hello friends! (Long post with lots of photos!!)

I wanted to share the Valentine card I made for my hubby on Valentine’s Day yesterday, but I couldn’t share it on my blog until after he got it because he can be known to be a “stalker” on my blog to see what I’m up to!! LOL!

I’ve colored up these “wasps” with Copics and for the wings and hearts there is a bit of shimmer on them as you can see in the photo. For that I have used the Aqua Pigments Valentine Collection plus the Aqua Pigment Pearl for the wings. I heat embossed the sentiment from the stamp set with EP and I cut the banner myself with scissors and mounted it over the card with the Foam Tape. The little wooden Convo heart accent was added too. Lastly, I took some Nuvo White Crystal Drops and added a few dots here and there around the hearts.

I’ve cut the “wasps” out with a stitched circle die and mounted it over some cardstock from the kit that was cut with a scallop circle die.

So, for the background of my card, as I had mentioned above, I used the stencil in the background which is a huge heart with several hearts inside of it. I took some Ink and sponged it over my white card front background. I was able to take some Nuvo Moonstone Glitter Paste and go over it to add sparkly dimension to it! LOVE how it turned out! I stamped a couple more hearts in the bottom corner and colored them the same as the hearts with the “wasps” using the same Aqua Pigments collection. I also added more dots with the Nuvo White Crystal Drops. I layered this onto a piece of red cardstock and cut it out with a scallop rectangle die and then mounted this entire design onto an A2 sized top folding white card base. The envelope underneath was used to house the card in and I embellished it with some heart glitter stickers that was included in the box as well.

Challenges I’d like to enter this above card for:

Crazy 4 Challenges (C4C470) – Valentine’s Day Card
Crafty Cardmakers – Love, Love, Love
Always Fun – Love/Valentines
Tuesday Throwdown – Falling Hearts
Try it On Tuesday – Romance
Crafting By Designs – Love is in the Air
Crafty Gals Corner – Love is in the Air (Add a Heart)
Creative Knockouts – Love is in the Air

Now if you remember this post I had a few weeks ago where I had started (late of course) making up my calendar pages for 2019 to put in my stamp room, I needed to make up a couple more of them as the time keeps on ticking….

LOL! These cute Calendar Grumplings from Taylored Expressions so crack me up! 🙂

Oh, I can’t believe we are getting ready to look into the month of March soon! I think after having so much cold, ice and snow, I’m about ready to see some pretty flowers in my back yard! Yay!

So, here’s my March calendar and like the entire calendar card set, I’ve used the Taylor Expressions pre-made 3×4 Calendar set for 2019. I’ve cut down this panel very slightly so that I could mat a black piece of cardstock behind it.

For the image area, I’ve used a rainbow die from Lawn Fawn and cut it out in several different colors to create rainbow strips which I’ve added to the backside of the black scallop frame from the TE Build A Scene – Calendar 2 die set. I’ve also cut out a strip of grass from the Build A Scene – Calendar die set. The sentiment (from the same stamp set) was stamped with black pigment ink and clear heat embossed over a strip of vellum which I cut into a banner with scissors and then attached it to the corner of the black frame.

Here’s a closer view of the image panel. I colored the image with Copic markers and then cut it out with the coordinating TE Calendar Grumplings die set. I’ve also added some Nuvo White Blizzard Glitter Drops over the clover.

And here’s my April Calendar card using the same stamp set, coordinating dies and 2019 pre-printed calendar cards. I slightly cut the edges to mat the blue cardstock behind it as well. I’ve used this same color of cardstock to cut the frame from the TE Build A Scene – Calendar Dies. I stamped the sentiment onto a strip of white cardstock and made a banner with my scissors and attached it behind the frame on the top left side. (I’ve also used this same die set to cut a couple of clouds and sponged some gray ink at the bottom of each one.

For the bottom of the frame, I took a piece of vellum and cut out that piece from the Build A Scene – Calendar 2 dies. I took a glitter brush pen to add some sparkle to this piece of vellum, so it makes it look like a “rain puddle” he’s standing in.

For this elephant image, I also colored him up with Copic markers and cut him out with the coordinating dies. I attached him along with the clouds over the panel where I wanted them to be. I cut out some “rain drops” with vellum but ended up not being able to see them very well, so I took the Nuvo White Blizzard Glitter Drops and went over them and then created more “rain drops” with it….I ended up liking that effect better, but I had already attached the vellum and just decided to leave it and go over them. LOL!

There you go, that just tells you that I’m either getting old and my sight is failing me or I just have been continuously crafting until I’m blinding myself!! ha!

I hope you’ve enjoyed my crafty makes today and I will be back again tomorrow to share a special post with you for a VERY special cause and I hope you can join me to share in this event!! So please be sure to come back tomorrow!

Have a great Friday evening and thanks for dropping by!

Valentines for Cute Card Thursday

Hello friends! It’s Thursday already! And you know what that means….It’s time for a new Cute Card Thursday challenge! For this week’s challenge, we’d like to see your Valentine’s projects! (A great way to get going on your love cards!)

Our sponsor this week is Odball Art Co. and I have used one of their images on my card for this challenge today:

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This cute little fellow is called Valentine Giraffe and so I thought he’s the perfect image for this challenge and he was so fun to color too! I have used my Copic markers to color him with. It went rather quickly, and I knew I wanted this to be a bit simple because you never know if this one need to be delivered to a male! *Wink

For the hearts sprinkling down as well as the sentiment, I’ve used an older Simon Says Stamp set from my stash and stamped the hearts with a rose-colored ink and then shifted the image slightly to do a “double generation” stamp over it. The sentiment was stamped in black ink next to the giraffe and then I’ve added some stitch lines around the panel as well as around the “xo” papers with a black marker.

I then added the ribbon to the “xo” papers and then popped the giraffe image over some craft foam and mounted it over the papers which was then mounted onto an A2 sized top folding white card base.

Taking a closer look at the image, you can see how I’ve colored it in and I’ve added some white gel dots to his eyeballs and cheeks.

For a bit of shimmer, I took a clear glitter brush pen and went over the sprinkling hearts with it. I then took some Nuvo White Blizzard glitter drops to add some extra sparkle to the heart dangling from his mouth.

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I think this is a great masculine style Valentine as it has the neutral color palette with the pops of bright pink/rose for the hearts. And just a touch of shimmer thrown in!

Thanks for dropping by today!! See you tomorrow for several projects I will be sharing! Stay tuned!!

Challenges:

QKR Stampede – #332 Anything Goes
Crafty Friends – Animals/Birds
Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers (SOSS127) – ‘V’ is for Valentine
Crafting By Designs – Animals

Sympathy & Banish the Blues

Hello friends! Hope you have enjoyed a nice weekend. Unfortunately, I needed to make up a sympathy card and didn’t realize that I had run out of them, so I will need to make some up in the future so I can have them on hand and not have to worry about it when the time comes again. I had a friend who recently passed and needed a card for her family, so I pulled out a set that I hadn’t used before until now:

vicki-su blue sympathy

This is an older set from last year’s Sale-a-Bration at Stampin’ Up! called “Heartfelt Blooms”. I think it’s so pretty and since the lady who passed was a happy crafter, I felt good about making this tribute for her. I will miss seeing you at lunches Penny, rest in peace my friend.

I stamped the floral image several times with a Copic friendly navy color ink over some cream colored cardstock and then colored in the images with my Copic markers. I also went around the images with some markers and blended it all out around the design.

I then took some distress ink and the foam ink blending tool to soften the edges a bit and make it look a bit more Vintage. I also stamped the sentiment with navy ink and die cut it along with some navy cardstock with a banner die. I sponged around the edges of this as well. I wrapped some linen thread several times around this panel and tied it off with a bow next to the banner. I then attached it over an A2 sized top folding navy card base.

I created a matching envelope by stamping the image in navy ink over it as well. Lastly finished off the design with some clear sequins.

Here’s a closer view of the coloring on the floral image I did as well as the sponged around the front panel and banner. I thought all of the blue colors turned out really pretty and made a nice Vintage feel.

Challenges I’d like to enter for the above card:

A Bit More Time to Craft – #84 Anything Goes
The Creative Crafters – Anything Goes
Crafty Catz – Anything Goes with optional: Blue, Green plus one other color (cream)

So on another {positive} note, I’d also like to remind you that there are still a couple of days left to play along with us over at the Cute Card Thursday Challenge this week! The theme for this challenge is “Banish the Blues” which I felt like doing in my craft room and so I decided to make this “Fun-Loving” card:

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Now how happy do these cute honey bees look?! They almost look like they’re dancing in the air!! I’ve used items from a February card kit for this card.

I’ve heat embossed the bees and colored them in with some Aqua Pigments. I’ve used the paper from the kit and stamped the background and the edges of the bee panel with some SU! ink that happened to match up with it. I then white heat embossed the sentiment from the same stamp set above the bee panel. I sponged around the edges of this red panel with white ink and attached it to a side folding A2 sized card base.

Here’s a closer look at the bees and how I’ve colored them. Some of the Aqua Pigments are shimmery and I’ve used a couple of those colors too! I’ve added some white dots on their cheeks as well as a few around the hearts. I topped off their eye-balls with some glossy accents. I’ve also stamped some more “xoxo”s on each end of this image border and layered it over a piece of black cardstock. I took two strips of glitter washi tape from the kit and added it above and below the image panel area and then attached the bees over top but between the strips. Lastly I’ve added a heart shaped sequins to the center of the white embossed heart “O” in the sentiment and the rest of the sequins from the kit randomly placed on the card. I topped off the circle sequins with some Nuvo White Blizzard Glitter Drops.

Hope this helped to end my post on a happier note with a smile.

Thanks so much for checking in with me today! I’ll see you again tomorrow for more crafty inspiration!!

Here’s some challenges I’d like to enter the above “Bee card” for:

Shopping Our Stash – #SOS386 Hearts On Fire
Moving Along With the Times – #89 Have a Heart
QKR Stampede – #331 Anything Goes
Pammie’s Inky Pinkies – #PIP1903 Anything Goes
Paper Girls – #168 Sparkle and Shine
Double Trouble: #20 Thing 1 Trouble Maker – “Love is in the Air” (honey bees!), Thing 2 Double Dare – Entered the Paper Girls Challenge #168, Thing 3 Twisted Sister – “Sparkling and Shining” (I used metallic watercolor, sequins, glitter drops and glitter washi tape)

Rose Heart Card

Hello friends! I’m back again to share my Rose Heart card! I’m still “in the mood for love”, so here’s what I’ve got for you today:

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I absolutely love this new Rose Heart stamp set! It’s a wonderful layering stamp set, and I can see so many creative possibilities with it! I really hope to get some time to play with it some more!

I thought this stamp set had an elegant Vintage feel to it and I wanted to create with it in that way. There are lots of fun heat embossing, ink blending and layering going on in this design.

Thanks so much for stopping in today! I appreciate your time and comments very much! 🙂

Challenges I’d like to enter my card for:

QKR Stampede – Anything Goes #329
Simply Create Too – Anything Goes/No Twist
Allsorts – Hearts and Flowers
Happy Little Stampers Mixed Media – Layers
Pammies Inky Pinkies (PIP1901) – Anything Goes

Spread Love at Whimsy Stamps

Hello friends! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Although it’s supposed to be VERY cold in January over my way, it has actually reached warm enough temperatures that we can cook out on the grill! I’ll take it for now as I don’t think it will last!

Have you been over to see the Digital January release at Whimsy Stamps yet? There are SO MANY really fun and adorable images to color along with a couple of fun digital papers to help you finish up your cards! Since Valentine’s Day is coming near, I decided to make a card with that in mind:

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I have used this darling Spread Love digital stamp by Crissy Armstrong. I just adore her wings and “heart antlers” sprinkling hearts everywhere! 🙂

I have colored her up in Copic markers in the following:

Dress, shoes and a couple of the hearts – R85, R83, R81
Heart on dress, heart antlers and other hearts – R24, R22, R21
Wings – R00, BG000
Hair – E27, E25, E23, E21
Skin – E11, E00, E000, R20, R00 (cheeks)
Around image – B000, E0000

I’ve also taken a cloud stencil to add some clouds in the background with an ink blender foam tool and Tumbled Glass Distress Ink. I then embossed the sentiment from the Whimsy Stamps Snow Flurry clear stamp set with some gold embossing powder. I went around the edges of the image panel and added a few “dots” around the hearts with the Nuvo Honey Gold Glitter Drops.

For the background of the card, I’ve used the new Hearts a Flutter Digital Papers and cut out a piece with the Whimsy Stamps Hand Stitched Nested Rectangles die. I then trimmed this piece at an angle and attached it to a strip of this white punched border that I’ve made. I’ve also cut out a piece of pink cardstock with the same die and trimmed this out an angle as well. Both of these pieces were attached to an A2 sized white top folding card base. The image panel was attached over a piece of craft foam and mounted to the front of the card along with the gold ribbon.

Taking a closer view of this image, you can see on the wings that I’ve added some shimmer to them with a Wink of Stella clear glitter brush pen. You can also see where I’ve taken a gold gel pen and went over the swirls in her dress as well as the “heart antler stems” on her head. I always love to add little details like on my coloring and I hope you’ve enjoyed it today as well!

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

Challenges I’d like to enter this card for:

Creative Inspirations – Anything Goes
Crafting by Designs – Anything Goes
As You Like It – Anything Goes/Show Your Style
Crafting With an Attitude – Anything Goes
Daisy Chain – Add Some Sparkle

I Woof You!

Hello friends!! Sheesh! It’s almost Christmas! How did it get here SO fast?! Today I am actually preparing for my own family dinner gathering, so I will be very busy with cooking and spending time with my family today. But I have scheduled a post to share with you using a darling Puppy Love digital stamp:

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I thought this little pup was SO CUTE! I love the little shirt with the hearts on it! So, if you are moving past your Christmas creations now, here’s some inspiration to share with a Valentine/Love theme! 🙂

For the image, I’ve printed it out and added the sentiment from the digital set underneath him. I’ve used a scallop rectangle die to make an “Out of the Box” technique by cutting out the top of the heart balloon. I colored the image with Copics. I layered the image panel onto a piece of Chrome Silver Mirror Cardstock.

For the red layer behind that, I’ve taken a larger piece of white cardstock and added some 1/2″ Tear Tape around the edges. I then used a larger sized scalloped rectangle die to cut it out with. I peeled the release paper and added the Cherry Sparkle Flocking. I’ve also added this to the tiny hearts on the shirt as well as the Pink Spirit Flocking but using the Nuvo Precision Glue Pen for the adhesive. I’ve attached all of these layers onto a white A2 sized top folding card base.

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Upon a closer look at the image, you can see where I’ve added the flocking on the hearts in his shirt as well as the flocking at the top over the scallop rectangle panel.

For the balloons, I have covered them with some Nuvo Crystal Drops Morning Dew. It dries clear, but while it was still wet, I’ve sprinkled on some Ultrafine Waterscape Glitter very carefully and lightly and let it dry. I think it adds a bit more sparkle to the shiny balloons! After it dried, I used some silver ribbon to make bows and then attached them with some glue. I also decided to add some more of the Crystal Drops on his nose!

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I love how this turned out with the flocking and glittery shine! Hope you’ve enjoyed my card too!! I thank you so much for stopping in today and I wanted to take the time here to wish you all a VERY HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON!!! See you soon!

Challenges I’d like to enter:

Pammie’s Inky Pinkies (PIP1850) – Anything Goes
Crafting From the Heart – Anything Goes
Watercooler Wednesday (WWC201) – Anything Goes
Crafty Gals Corner – Anything Goes
As You Like It – Anything Goes – Your Style

The Feeling of Happy Mail

Hello friends! Back with you again today to share another Whimsy Stamps digital “pretty”! If you missed my Guest Design post for the Retro Rubber Challenge Blog, please click on the link or scroll down below this post. – thank you

You all know the feeling you get when you receive “happy mail” from the mailbox, and I think this cute image on my card today really sums up that feeling:

Vicki-WS-Pretty Girl Happy Mail- Oct 9

I have used the brand-new October digital stamp from Whimsy Stamps called “Pretty Girl Happy Mail” on my card today. Oh those curly locks are adorable!

I have colored her in with my Copic markers in the following:

Coat/hat (darker tone) – R85, R83, R81 and for trimming – E11, E00, E000 (also coat fasteners)
Coat/hat (fur) – W5, W3, W1 and highlighted with white gel pen flicks.
Hair – E47, E43, E42 (eyebrows too)
Skin – E21, E11, E00, E000, R20, R00 (eyes BG49)
Mail – B00, B000 (unsure of tiny bit of color on postage stamp or coat fastener centers and string)

I then took a retired Whimsy Stamps clear set called “Handmade From Me” which had a couple of tiny solid hearts in it, and I took some pink colored ink to stamp a few hearts around the girl. She really loves all her mail after all! 🙂

I cut her out with a stitched circle die and then mounted her over a piece of silver foil cardstock cut with a scallop stitched circle die. I have used the same stamp set that I’ve mentioned above to heat emboss the sentiment with silver EP and cut it out with a banner die cut. This is the same-colored cardstock I’ve used for the A2 sized top folding card base too.

The snowflake paper is from my stash and some I’ve been hoarding because I love it so much, but the snowflakes on it are silver metallic and have the texture on it as if it was heat embossed. I placed this panel over my card base, attached the banner and then added the circle image panel over top of that including some craft foam to raise it up slightly over the design.

I was thinking that this image would work for either Christmas, winter or Valentine’s Day. Yes, I know, I said the V word already!! Oops!

Here’s a closer view of the coloring that I’ve done on her as well as the heat embossing. Had so much fun coloring her up. I think she especially looks wonderful on such a simple style design!

Thanks so much for stopping in and sharing your thoughts with me! I appreciate that so much! See you soon!

Challenges: