Thinking of You

Happy Thursday Peeps!!

So sorry I have been quite this week on the ol blog. I have been busy creating, just some stuff I can't show you right now.

I have made the decision to step down from a couple design team commitments as I try to find a balance in my life.Sometimes we need to step away from things to see them more clearly, don't get me wrong, I WILL still be stamping and I do have a couple of new things on the horizon that I am excited about so watch for those.

The card I am sharing with you here is one I made quite a while back and hadn't shared. It uses the Stampin Up "You are Loved" set that was in the Holiday Mini and thankfully will be in the new catalog!

I used some cherry cobbler card stock for the base, and some river rock that I embossed with the vintage wall EF and the DSP is from the Well Worn paper pack. I distresses and curled the edges a bit. I added some crochet trim and cherry cobbler seam binding ribbon and antique brad to embellish.

Well, that is all from me today, thanks for stopping by and 

HAPPY STAMPING!!!

Vicki

Stamping 411.......Many Thanks

Happy Monday Peeps and Memorial Day for all of us here in the US.

Love this holiday, a three day weekend, the official start of summer and the day to honor our Veterans.

Today I am sharing a card made using the sketch this week on the Stamping 411 Blog.

I can not even tell you how obsessed I am with Geraniums. A fave summer flower of mine. 

I think of them as old fashioned, the remind me of a favorite Aunt, she always had a flower box full of them on her front porch every summer. 

I especially love the red ones, and I wanted to try to make some.

 I really dislike that SU does not have some pretty old fashion flower stamps, some with clay pots or flower boxes and geraniums.......oh well! :)

I am not sure my final creation looks alot like a geranium, but I still like the outcome.

I used one of the punches from the "Itty Bitty Punch Pack" to make my flower head. I punched alot of flowers using both real read and cherry cobbler card stock. I used my cushioned foam piece from my mat pack to lay the flowers on and pressed the center in. I punched a circle with scrap paper and curled it by using the foam mat and my stylus, going around in circles from the edge to the center and then used a couple of dimesionals to add it to my base piece. I then just started gluing on my little flower heads all over the circle, overlapping to cover the circle.

I then used some always artichoke scraps to make my stem and leaves. the leaves are punched with the butterfly punch and then embossed with the square lattice EF.

The clay pots was made using some cajun craze card stock, I cut a square and then angle cut from the top to bottom to make the flower pot. I added a small strip across the top of that piece. I sponged the edges heavily with cajun craze ink.

One thing I know about geraniums is that the little flower heads fall off alot, so I added a few random flowers around the bottom of the pot.

The sentiment is from the "Petite Pairs" stamp set, I used my 1" circle and 1-1/4" circle punch for the sentiment and mat.

I colored several small pearls with a copic marker to add to the flower centers and to the corners and sentiment piece.

So what do you think, does it sorta resemble a geranium?

Well, thanks so much for stopping by and 

HAPPY STAMPING!!

Vicki

Dynamic Duos.........Birthday Flowers

Happy Sunday Peeps!!!

Today I am sharing a card I made using the challenge this week on the Dynamic Duos Blog.

This week it is Monochromatic Colors.

I CASED a card by my sweet friend Heather Klump, 

I loved her card the second I saw it on her blog back in January, I changed up the colors and a couple other details, but the rest is about the same, why mess with perfection?!!

The base of my card is Confetti Cream card stock. I followed that with some marina mist card stock and the DSP comes from the Soft Subtles Paper Pack.

I used confetti cream for the doily die cut and the lace punch strip. 

I added some Marina Mist satin ribbon, man I am gonna soooo miss the satin ribbon, I am holding out hope for some in the Holiday mini, fingers crossed!!!

I made my rolled roses using bashful blue and marina mist. I punched out circles with my 1-3/4 inch circle punch. I added pearls to the centers of the rolled flowers. I added them to my card using my glue gun.

I used some crumb cake card stock to make the leaves and the butterfly.

The sentiment comes from the hostess set called "Happiest Birthday Wishes'.

Well, that is all for me today!

thanks for stopping by and HAPPY STAMPING!!!

Vicki

OCC......Shabby Thanks

Happy Saturday Peeps!!

It is time for another new challenge at Our Creative Corner.

Our hostess this week is the uber talented Susan Butler and she has a fun challenge for us this week.
Here it is in Susan's own words:

 The theme this week is unequivocally 'Shabby Chic'.This means the shabby part of Vintage! The challenge requires you to pull elements together, the more old/worn and distressed the elements/images the better; think of muted colours, layers, roses, burlap and pearls. 
You do not have to use all of these elements. 
The effect you are aiming for is a soft warm palette. 

Shabby chic is not my usual style and I put off tackling this challenge all week until down to crunch time and I had to put something together. Not sure my card is completely what one would call shabby chic but it does have a few of it's elements.

I keep my colors muted and I added some pearls and a scrunchy bow with and antique brad.

I have a few of these decorative pins in my stash and added them to the bow. 
The flowers are from the retired hostess set called "Love & Care" and I stamped them onto my whisper white top note die cut piece with Pink Pirouette ink and the stems are Pear Pizzazz. 
The sentiment is from the "Kindness Matters" stamp set and I stamped with soft Suede ink.  
The DSP on my card is from the Beau Chateau paper pack. 


I decorated the inside to match:

Be sure to check the Our Creative Corner Blog 

to see what the rest of the design team came up with for this fun challenge. 

I hope you can find some time to play along and if you do, don't forget to link it up over on the Our Creative Corner Blog so we can all see it!

Thanks for stopping by today and HAPPY STAMPING!!!!

Vicki

Paper Players........Celebrate

Happy Thursday Peeps!!

Today I am sharing a card I made using the challenge this week on The Paper Players Blog.

The challenge is a Clean & Simple card with polka dots. Yup, I can do that!!!

I started with a base of White card stock and then a layer of Real Red. I then used the dot EF on the next layer. The DSP is from the Summer Smooches pack.

I always love Americana decor and cards. So when I choose the DSP the rest was fairly easy.

I added a few Night of Navy stars made with punches.

The sentiment is from a retired hostess set called "Something to Celebrate".

 I added a few silver pearls and it is done! Very Easy Peasy!!

Thanks for stopping by and

HAPPY STAMPING!!

Vicki

Dynamic Duos.....Happy Birthday

Happy Hump Day Peeps!

Today I am sharing a card made using the Dynamic Duos Challenge this week.

This week it is Daffodil Delight and Basic Black.

 I CASED a card I made last summer, you can see it HERE.

I love this retiring flower set from Stampin Up called "Flower Fest".

I stamped the large flower four times onto daffodil delight card stock with versamark and embossed with white embossing powder. I cut the flower out reducing one layer each time and used dimesionals between each layer.

The sentiment is from the Curly Cute stamp set and I used my stamp a ma jig to line it up.

The DSP is from the Floral District paper pack and will be available June 1st.

I added some Little Leaves using black card stock, also some daffodil satin ribbon and black brads was used.

Well, that is all from me, thanks for stopping by and HAPPY STAMPING!!

Vicki

P.S. for all those who said they would like a tutorial on the pinwheel, I will get that together and have for you later this week, hopefully.

Stamping 411......Happy Birthday Pinwheel

Happy Tuesday Peeps!!

Today I am sharing a card I made using the sketch this week on the Stamping 411 Blog.

After looking at the sketch a bit I decide I would make a pinwheel, they are very popular right know and even tho I have a die from another company that makes the cutesiest pinwheels, I decide to make one on my own. The kind that any one could duplicate, weather they have a die or not.

This one is made by starting with a 3 inch square of DSP . So cute and so easy.

I used some of the new Floral District paper that will be available from Stampin Up when the catalog breaks the first of June.

The base of my card is white card stock and I used Rose Red card stock for matting my layers.

The sentiment is from the Friendly Phrases stamp set. I matted the sentiment piece with Pumpkin Pie card stock.

I used one of the punches from the Itty Bitty Punch pack to make the little flower accents.

I used a wooden skewer for the handle to my pin wheel. I glued the pinwheel to the skewer using my glue gun and I used the glue gun to attach the pinwheel to the card.

There is no way this card would fit into a standard envelope. It is one of those cards that would be best hand delivered or attached to a present or gift bag.

I think the pinwheel turned out so cute!!

 I will do a little tutorial on making these pinwheels if anyone is interested. Just leave me a comment.

Thanks for stopping by today and HAPPY STAMPING!!

Vicki

SSSC159......Birthday Wishes

Happy SundayPeeps!!

It is time for another Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge.

Here is the SWEET sketch Karen has for us this week:

A fun sketch with lots of layers and accents....my favorite kind!!!

I started out with a base of rich razzleberry card stock. 

I once again used pulled out the Stampin Up Floral District DSP and the "Betsy's Blossoms" stamp set. Both of these are just a tiny sneak peek of what is in store for you when the new catalog comes out June 1st.

I pulled my colors from this fun DSP, rich razzleberry, daffodil delight, old olive and whisper white.

Isn't that little bird so cute? Love the floral wings! 

I added some little flowers using one of the punches from the Itty Bitty Punch Pack, and some 1/8 inch razzleberry taffeta ribbon. I stopped myself from making a sentiment flag, which is something I tend to do way to much, I stamped this sentiment, which comes from the retired "Occasional Quotes" stamp set,  with black ink directly onto my main panel. The bird and the wing are on dimesionals. I used the Pinking Heart edge punch to add the little element on the edge of the main piece.

I hope you can find some time to play along with us this week, I would love to see what you come up with, create a card or scrapbook page with this sketch and then go to Karen's blog and link up your project for all of us to see.

OK, let's see what the rest of the Sweet Sunday Sketch Team, and Guest Designer has in store for us this week:

Karen-the Sweetest Thing 

Jen-JenTapler Designs-on vacation

Karen-Paper Playhouse-

Lynn-The Queen's Scene-is celebrating her 20th anniversary this weekend but will have her card up on Monday

Sarah-Jane-Janeybell 

Dana-Dana's House of Cards

and this week's Sweet Guest Designer: Melissa Hubert

Well, thank you for stopping by today and HAPPY STAMPING!!!

Vicki

OCC Inspiration Challenge.....Birthday Wishes

Happy Saturday Peeps!!

It is time for another new challenge at Our Creative Corner.

Our hostess this week is the uber talented Meihsia Liu and she has a great photo inspiration challenge for us this week:

I am showing you some new goodies I got this week, a little sneak peek of some stamps and DSP that will be availabe June 1st when the new Stampin Up catalog goes live.

This stamp set is called "Betsy's Blossoms and the DSP is from the Floral District pack.

I used pumpkin pie ink to stamp the flower and Baja for the Bird.

I keep my card fairly Clean & Simple to mimic the crisp &clean feel of the inspiration photo. Love that quilt, don't you? It is gorgeous and really pops in the photo, it is certainly what I am drawn to in the photo.

I hope my card reflects the feel of the photo.

Be sure to check the Our Creative Corner Blog 

to see what the rest of the design team came up with for this fun challenge. 

I hope you can find some time to play along and if you do, don't forget to link it up over on the Our Creative Corner Blog so we can all see it!

Thanks for stopping by today and HAPPY STAMPING!!!!

Vicki

Merry Monday Sketch.....Notepad

Happy Hump Day Peeps!

Today I have a fun little notepad to share with you.

I found a few lined sticky notepads awhile back and had been wanting to make them into some covered notepads for Christmas gifts and so when I looked at the Merry Monday Sketch Challenge I thought it would be perfect for this.

I had gotten some new SU goodies on Tuesday and I used a few of them on this project.

You are getting a little sneak peek of  some things that will be available June 1st in the new Stampin' Up catalog.

The DSP is called "Be of Good Cheer" and the stamp set is called "Chock-full of Cheer" 

The lined sticky note pad is 4" x 6", I got mine at the dollar store.

The cover is 6-1/4" x 8-7/8" scored at 4-1/4" and 4-5/8"

That makes the base cover for the notepad. 

Here is a picture of the inside:

Love the little mitten stamp in this set! 

The sentiment on the inside is from the retiring "Short & Sweet' stamp set, grab that while you still can!

I made a pocket on the inside to hold whatever, stamps, coupons, lists, money, receipts, whatever you want.

Well, that is it from me for today! Thanks for stopping by and 

HAPPY STAMPING!!

Vicki

Stamping 411......Miss You

Happy Monday Peeps!

How was your weekend? 

We had a great one, got alot accomplished and did just enough of nothing to make you feel good.

I have been working on some primitive wood pieces, I may show them to you later.

I also got a Kindle Fire for Mother's Day! I am so stoked about this.

But onto today's card, I put this together yesterday using this week's sketch on the Stamping 411 Blog.

I pulled out a retired hostess set called "Up in the Air", I loved this set because of these flowers, but I do find myself passing it over time and time again for some reason. So I tried to give it a go again to make soemthing I liked with it.

I stamped the flowers three times across the main panel, masking of the butterflies and sentiment that are part of this stamp. I then stamped the flowers a couple of more times onto some scrap paper. I colored the flower heads with my aqua painter using my daffodil delight ink pad. I then cut out a few from the scrap stamped ones and added them to my panel with some dimesionals.

I used some old olive for my stems and leaves.

The base of my card is daffodil delight card stock, I then used Early espresso card stock for the next layer and the DSP on here is from the Summer Smooches and First Edition paper packs.

I used some Daffodil Delight seam binding across the middle and I tried to get a bow on here like the sketch, but it was just not happening.

My squares are made up of  confetti and early espresso card stock. I used my square lattice EF on those.

I added some butterflies made with the beautiful wings embosslit die and finished it off with some basic pearls.

I am eagerly awaiting a box from Mr. Brown today with some new goodies, so stay tuned1

Thanks for stopping by and HAPPY STAMPING!!

Vicki

OCC Sketch Challenge

It is time for another new challenge at Our Creative Corner.

Our hostess this week is the uber talented Meihsia Liu and she has a great sketch challenge for us this week:

 Design a card/project according to the sketch. Turn or flip it any way and use any theme you want. Please also include a ribbon bow on your project. 

I decided to showcase a retiring stamp set, this one is called "Flower Fest" and those of you who visit here often know that I really like this set.

I stamped the flower roses onto some Calypso Coral card stock using versmark and embossed with some white embossing powder. For each flower I stamped and embossed twice. I cut out the center and added it to the bottom with a dimesional.

The leaves are stamped and embossed onto Wild Wasabi card stock.

The base of the card is pool Party card stock and the DSP is from the Domestic Goddess paper pack.
I used the top note die for my main panel and the sentiment is from the "Occasional Quotes" stamp set.
I added some white satin ribbon and tied a bow across the embossed pool party strip.
I finished it off with some basic pearls in the corners.

Be sure to check the Our Creative Corner Blog 

to see what the rest of the design team came up with for this fun challenge. 

I hope you can find some time to play along and if you do, don't forget to link it up over on the Our Creative Corner Blog so we can all see it!

Thanks for stopping by today and HAPPY STAMPING!!!!

Vicki

Another Goodbye......

Happy Friday Peeps!!

Today I am sharing another goodbye. This time my goodbye tribute is dedicated to Poppy Parade.

This is an amazing red. Super for water coloring as the red stays red when using it with water, unlike some of the other reds, even real red turns pink when you add water, but not good ol Poppy Parade.

I used the same set as yesterday, Stampin Up "Simply Soft". I colored the flower using Poppy and Daffodil Delight. I added some Old Olive for the leaves and Crumb Cake to outline a bit.

I didn't have any of the Poppy Parade ribbon left so I made some. I colored some very vanilla seam binding with my Poppy ink pad. I then tied and double bow and added an antique brad. Love the way it turned out, it is a bit darker than the card stock, but it blends nicely!!

I also colored some basic pearls with a permanent marker. 

the base of the card is Confetti White and then a layer of Poppy Parade and then another layer of Confetti that I embossed using the vintage Wall EF.

I used the Labels Collection Framelits for the main image piece and also for the poppy parade embossed piece behind the main image.

The sentiment comes from the "Something to Celebrate" stamp set that is retired.

I will miss Poppy Parade, but I am sure she will be happy on the beach along side Concord Crush and she may make an appearance from time to time, you just never know.

Thanks for stopping by today and 

HAPPY STAMPING!!!

Vicki

Saying Goodbye.......

Happy Thursday Peeps!!

Today I am sharing a card I CASED from ME!!!

One of my favorite in colors is going away! I am sad to say Goodbye to Concord Crush!!

Can we have a show of hands of people who loves this color as much as me!

I did buy an extra pack so it may make a reappearance sometime, but it will be official retired, sun bathing on a tropical beach somewhere with a Pina Colada by it's side, on June 1st.

The new in colors are gorgeous and I am sure I will settle down about this one retiring when I play with some of the new colors soon!

But for now I am weepy, seepy, and broken hearted!!! LOL!!

I love the way Concord stands with Wisteria Wonder! They are meant to be together dontcha think?

Also so sad to have this pretty hostess set "Simply Soft" going away too. I love the flowers in this set, you all know I am such a flower card maker!!

I need new flower stamps. Can Not Wait til June 1st to order some!! :)

I used the wonderful Doily die on my card, I know alot of people complain about this die and say they have trouble with it, but I have to say I adore it! It does take a little extra work, using a shim or two and manually poking out some of the pieces but to me it is well worth it!! I swear I even hear it whisper "Thank You" when I pulled it out to use on this card yesterday. Just look at it standing tall and proud decked out in the beautiful Concord Crush!

The DSP I used is from the "Berry Blossom" paper pack. Oh, and how pretty is the Concord Crush ribbon? 

Did I mention I will be missing this color? :)

So a sad farewell to Concord Crush, going, going, but NOT gone!!! :)

Stay tuned tomorrow for another farewell!

Thanks for stopping by and 

HAPPY STAMPING!!

Vicki

Coffee Gift Card Holders

Happy Hump Day Peeps!!

Today I am sharing some Coffee Cup Gift Card Holders, I used a tutorial by Lorri Heiling to make this fun gift card holders.

I had gotten an e-mail from a sweet customer asking for some gift card holders for some friends and she said she was going to give them Starbucks gift cards cos they all are addicted to it!

I knew instantly I wanted to make these cups I had seen around blog land for awhile.

I had gotten the Stampin Up S.W.A.K stamp as soon as I saw it on the retiring list, I had been wanting it and I couldn't let it go by, so glad I did since I  think it is adorable on these cups!

I used DSP from the Mocha Morning Speciality and the SAB Everyday Enchantment packs.

I think they came out super cute and I hope the recipients will like them too

Thanks for stopping by and 

HAPPY STAMPING!!!

Vicki

Merry Monday on Tuesday

Happy Tuesday Peeps!!!

Today I am sharing a card made using the Merry Monday Sketch Challenge.

The idea behind these sketch challenges are to get a head start on your Christmas cards.

I pulled out my favorite Stampin Up set, "Greeting Card Kids". You all know I love this sweet little Christmas image from this set. 

I stamped the image with black stazon onto some confetti cream card stock and colored with my aqua painter. I used Marina Mist,  Crumb Cake and Riding Hood Red ink. 

The base of the card is Crumb Cake card stock and the DSP is from the "Letters to Santa" pack. I matted all the DSP with Early Espresso card stock.

The holly and berries are from the "Bells and Boughs" stamp set. I stamped onto some confetti card stock and colored with my aqua painter and ink pads. I cut out and added to my image panel. I used a bit of crystal effects on the berries.

The sentiment is from the "Teeny Tiny Wishes" stamp set.  I added a few basic pearls to finish it off.

Well, that is all from me today, thanks for stopping by and 

HAPPY STAMPING!!

Vicki

Stamping 411......Birthday Wishes

Happy Monday Peeps!!

Hope you all had a great weekend and are ready to tackle another week!

Today I am sharing a card I made yesterday using the sketch this week on the Stamping 411 Blog.

I started out with the image, this fabulous truck from the Stampin Up "Countryside" stamp set.

I stamped the image onto some confetti white card stock with black stazon and colored using my aqua painter and ink pads. I used Island Indigo for the truck.

I thought I might be able to make a masculine card with this image, but in the end I had to go and "girl" it up with the little flowers! I just couldn't help myself, it is just how I roll!!! LOL!!

The base of the card is Island Indigo card stock and then I followed that up with some Pool Party card stock that I embossed using the square lattice EF. The DSP on here, the red and blue are both from the "Summer Smooches" pack.

The sentiment is from the Stampin Up "Petite Pairs" set. I used my circle punches, 1-1/4" and 1-3/8" to punch out the sentiment and for the mat. 

So who would get this card, a guy or a girl or could it go either way? Not sure....hmmmm?

Well, that is all from me today, thanks for stopping by today and be sure and leave me a comment, I love hearing from you!

HAPPY STAMPING!!

Vicki

SSSC158....Grateful Heart

Happy SundayPeeps!!

It is time for another Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge.

Here is the SWEET sketch Karen has for us this week:

I started my card with a base of Early Espresso card stock, I followed that up with some Crumb Cake card stock. The DSP I used is from the Stampin Up Mocha Morning Specialty paper pack.

The sentiment comes from the Stampin Up Pursuit of Happiness stamp set. 

I stamped with Early Espresso ink onto Very Vanilla card stock.

I used Crumb Cake and Very Vanilla card stock to make my rolled flowers. I added some leaves with Early Espresso card stock made using the Little Leaves sizzlet die.
I added some basic pearls to the flower centers and to the top corner of the card.

I hope you can find some time to play along with us this week, I would love to see what you come up with, create a card or scrapbook page with this sketch and then go to Karen's blog and link up your project for all of us to see.

OK, let's see what the rest of the Sweet Sunday Sketch Team, and Guest Designer has in store for us this week:

Karen-the Sweetest Thing 

Jen-JenTapler Designs-

Karen-Paper Playhouse-

Lynn-The Queen's Scene

Sarah-Jane-Janeybell 

Dana-Dana's House of Cards

and this week's Sweet Guest Designer:-Erica Cerwin

Well, thank you for stopping by today and HAPPY STAMPING!!!

Vicki