Year End Review

Happy New Year Peeps! I thought I would take today to do a year in review, a look back at some of my favorite cards and projects of the past year. I hope you enjoy!

January:



Another for January:




February:



Two for March:






April:






May:







June:



July:







August:






September:




October:






November:






December:







Well, that is it a few of my favorites of the year, here's to another fun filled year, so far 2011, is looking good! I am grateful to each of you for making my blog a part of your life! Take care and HAPPY STAMPING!!!

Vicki

Sweet Valentine

Good Friday Morning Peeps! Yesterday was a rough day here, a neighborhood dog attacked one of our cats and I had to try and rescue it. I tried to beat the dog off with a stick and when I got the cat from him, it was so scared it bit and scratched me up! I have a very sore and swollen hand from the bites. OUCH!!! :(The kitty and I both will be ok, just a bit gun shy for a few days.)

I have another sweet Valentine card to share with you today. Another one made with the Greeting Card Kids stamp set and the Love Letters DSP. This is one of the 5 I told you about the other day. I made this one in honor of my daughter. The little girl reminds me of her, so I colored her with blond hair just like Megan's. She is such a girly girl and loves pink so I had to make her dress that color. I did use riding hood red to color the dress but just watered it down alot and I got this pretty pink color.

Here is a current pic of Megan, they grow up way to fast huh? She turned 24 this pass fall. Seems kinda like yesterday when I was holding her in my arms for the first time........boooo hooooo!!!





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

Vicki

Pals Paper Arts Best Dressed

A little early horn tooting here! I was surprised to find an e-mail this morning from the Pals Paper Arts Team stating I had been chosen as one of their Best Dressed List of 2010.

This is the card that was choosen:




You can read about it HERE and see my original posting HERE.

Thanks for letting me brag just a bit. HAPPY STAMPING!!!!!

Vicki

Paper Crafters Sampler Design Team!

* I'm excited to announce that I've been asked to be part of Melanie Schulenberg's Paper Crafters Sampler Design Team !! Woohoo!

This is a monthly online publication of Stampin'Up! Projects and is such a great resource for your paper crafting ideas. You can subscribe for each month's edition and download each of the projects and instructions, too. I've seen the awesome projects the DTs have created in past editions and it's definitely worth the while. You can check out the site and trial sampler to see what it's all about. Then, if you decide to sign up, you can use referral code PCSVB. :)

My first project will be in the upcoming January issue, more details on that coming soon! Thanks for stopping by and HAPPY STAMPING!!!!

Vicki

SC313....Happy Valentine's Greeting

Happy Wednesday Peeps!!!

Sorry to be MIA for so long, it has been a hectic time around here and DH and I took a couple of days off for ourselves, haven't done that in forever and it was nice to spend some time together just the two of us!

Today I am sharing a card made with the sketch challenge on Splitcoaststampers.

I loved this sketch when I first saw it, I love the out-of-the-box element of the sketch. I have been on a card making frenzy with this DSP. the Love Letters from Stampin' Up. I have made 5 valentine cards in the last couple of days with this paper and using the Greeting Card Kids stamp set, I know, but I can just not stop myself, you seriously need this set! I will be showing you all the Valentines cards I made over the next few days, but let's start with this one.

I used riding hood red for my card base. The card is a different size than what I usually make, but a miss cut after coloring my image lead me to cut down the size of the card, it is a 4-1/2 inch square. I followed up with a layer of basic black, I embossed one side, about 2 inches of the black with the vintage wall embossing folder. I used some dotted paper from the Love Letters DSP on the other side. I added a strip of riding hood red between the layers that I had punched with the pinking hearts edge punch. The cute little image is stamped with black stazon onto the very vanilla card stock and colored with my aqua painter and ink from my ink pads. The colors I used are Daffodil Delight, crumb cake, riding hood red and some blush blossom from my marker. I cut out the strip up to the edge of the little girls dress and then hand cut the girl out with my paper snips. This piece was matted at the bottom with riding hood red and I added a strip of basic black along the bottom edge.

The sentiment is from the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set and is stamped with black stazon onto the very vanilla card stock. I punched it out with the word window punch and mounted it to a piece of riding hood red card stock that was punched with the modern label punch. The sentiment and the panel with the girl are both added to the card with some dimesionals. I added some mini black brads to finish it up.

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

Vicki

My Secret non SU obsession

Merry Christmas Eve Peeps!!!

I am popping in here with a quick little post and a little confession!!! LOL!!! I wanted to show you all some little projects I have been making this holiday season and to confess a little obsession I have. You see, I have fallen head over heels in love with this music sheet paper I found at my local craft store. I first found it when just browsing the paper aisle looking at the paper. I love to just look at all the pretty paper don't you?

I started out with just a couple of sheets, but after making a couple sets of the cute little gingerbread magnets I went back for some more, you know just in case. I did make alot of gingerbread magnets for gifts this year. I think I made 14 or 15 sets of magnets. I used a sizzix die that I got from e-bay and used coasters and sticky magnet sheets to create the magnets. They are so fun and easy to make. I packaged them up using some cello card sleeves and adding a topper.

I then made these, alot of these really:




Using another sizzix die. I cut these out with some chipboard. I glued the paper onto the chipboard first using my tombow mono liquid glue. I then ran the chipboard and die through my cuttlebug to cut out the snowman. I cut out the scarf, the same way and added a button to the scarf. I used black mini brads for the eyes and buttons. The nose is chipboard too and colored with a copic marker. I added color to the cheeks and sponged the edges with some distressing ink. I then used some of the cardboard that comes in the SU paper packs, covered with more of the music paper and cut another snowman out and glued to the back of the snowman. On some of these I used my crop-a dial to punch a hole in the top of the snowman to make into ornaments the others are left without hangers and stuck on presents and into goodie trays. I had to go back to the craft store for more of this paper, this time I bought 10 sheets.

And then I made some of these:




These were made with a tutorial I found HERE

Some really fun to make Pine cone ornaments, After making these I went back for more of this paper, I think 10 more sheets, just to have, cos if they ran out I would be very, very SAD!!

Well, all ENJOY the holidays with your family and friends!! HAPPY STAMPING!!!!

Vicki

Serene Thank You

Happy Tuesday Peeps!!!

Today I am sharing a card that I made with the Serene Snowflake stamp set. I used the LateNightStampers Challenge 101-Doodle This and Doodle That. Do some type of free hand doodling on your creation.

I tried really hard to just use the Serene Snowflake set on my card, but "Noel" would not let me, she insisted on being on the card with the snowflakes, and I have to admit she looks cute there. I promise I will put her away soon and stop letting her climb onto every card I make!!

I used the Curtain Call Color Challenge for my colors on this card. The challenge this week is Bravo Burgundy, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla and Crumb Cake.

The base of the card is the Bravo Burgundy and I followed that with some Crumb Cake and then Early Espresso. I stamped the snowflakes with Bravo Burgundy and cute little "Noel" is stamped with black stazon and colored with my aqua painter. I used bravo burgundy and early espresso ink. I did sneak in a bit of always artichoke for my tree and a tiny bit of yellow for the star.

I added the sentiment from the Just Because I Care stamp set with early espresso ink. I doodled around the edge with my bravo burgundy marker.

Well, that is all from me today, I will probably not be posting much until after holidays, so until then HAPPY STAMPING!!!

Merry Christmas all and than you so much for a great blogging year!

Vicki

SSSC97.....Merry

GOOD SUNDAY MORNING PEEPS!!! It's my favorite time of the week, time for another Sweet Sunday Sketch Sample

This is the fabulous sketch Karen has for us this week:




This is actually the second card made with this sketch, the first one ended up in the circular file! Sometimes I just try to hard and then I end up with a big ol mess! If I would just stick to what I know and what I do, I would end up with something I like better! LOL!!! The only change I made on this sketch was to flip the bottom element to the opposite side.

I again reached for a stamp set I have used over and over again lately, the Stampin' Up Greeting Card Kids set!!! I stamped the little Christmas girl, (that I have named "Holly" and she was born on Christmas Eve, several years ago and her Mother's name is Merry and she was also born on Christmas eve but I digress), onto some very vanilla card stock with black stazon. I colored her with my aqua painter and some ink from my ink pads. I used Cherry Cobbler, soft suede, crumb cake, more mustard, blush blossom and always artichoke. The base of the card is a piece of early espresso card stock, 6-1/2 by 6-1/2 inches folded in half. I used very vanilla card stock to matt my DS paper which is from the Deck the Halls pack. I matted my image with some early espresso card stock and also used early espresso for the scallop strip across the bottom. I then used some of the SU crochet trim above the scallop piece and made a bow. The little "Merry" sentiment come from the Tiny Tags stamp set and is pinched out with my jewelry tag punch. The sentiment works well for this card, for Holly anyway, because the card is for her mother Merry and also wishes her a Merry Christmas!!!

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 has in store for us this week:

Karen-the Sweetest Thing

Jen-JenTapler Designs

Karen-Paper Playhouse

Laura-Scrapnextras

Lynn-The Queen's Scene

Sarah-Jane-Janeybell


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

Vicki

SC311.....Merry Christmas Holly

Good Thursday Morning Peeps!!!

Today I am sharing a card I made with the
sketch challenge on Splitcoaststampers. I haven't played over there in quite some time and I am making a point to do it more.

I loved this sketch, and again I am still making some Christmas cards. I started the card with a base of Crumb cake card stock. I followed that with some very vanilla and the DS paper is from the Deck the Halls paper pack. I stamped the image from the Bells & Boughs stamp set onto very vanilla card stock with black stazon ink. I colored it in with always artichoke and cherry cobbler ink using my aqua painter. I added some crystal effects to the berries to make them shine. I splattered the image with some early espresso ink that I watered down a splattered on with my aqua painter.

The sentiment comes from the A Cardinal Christmas stamp set and I had cut the ends and created a wavy effect by rolling it around a marker. I attached it to the image panel with some foam tape in the middle and glue on the ends I added some always artichoke seam binding ribbon and made a bow. Finally I finished it off with some rusty jingle bells I had in my stash and tied it to the bow with some twine.

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

Vicki

MTSC....Thank You

Good Wednesday Morning Peeps!!

Today's card share is one I made with Mercy's Tuesday Sketch Challenge. I wanted to make a thank you card for a special etsy customer and I also wanted to use the Deck the Walls DSP but not make a Christmas Card. I will miss this paper when it retires, I think there is alot of the paper that can be used for non Christmas cards, case in point.

I started this card out with a base of always artichoke. I followed that with some crumb cake card stock and of course, the DSP is from the Deck the Halls paper pack.

For the main image piece I used the script stamp from the French Foliage set and the Flower and sentiment comes from the Because I Care stamp set. I used very vanilla card stock and crumb cake ink. The sentiment is stamped with Early Espresso ink. I used the sizzix butterfly embosslit to make my layered butterfly. I sponged the edges with crumb cake and always artichoke ink. I tied some twine around the butterfly center and above for his antennas. I added some very vanilla seam binding ribbon and few sticky back pearls that I colored with a copic marker.

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

Vicki

Celebrate Curtain Call Stockings

Good Monday Morning Peeps!!

Today I am sharing a fun little project made for the LateNightStampers Challenge 100. This weeks challenge is Celebration, a card or project for any type of Celebration. I am still in Christmas mode over here and what better celebration than that. I am celebrating family and friends with my project a cute stocking box that holds a little treat. I found the template for this stocking HERE and it is free. Gotta love that. I used Stacey's Curtain Call Color Challenge for my colors on this first Stocking Box. The colors this week are Real Red, Old Olive, Certainly Celery, chocolate Chip and Whisper White.

I printed out the stocking front and back onto real red card stock. The heel, toe and cuff is old olive. I added a bit of Certainly Celery under the cuff with my scallop trim border punch. The entire stocking was embossed with my large dot EF. The Chocolate Chip comes into the stocking in the way of the sentiment which is from the Stampin Up "Four the Holidays" stamp set. I stamped with chocolate chip ink onto white card stock and curled and cut the end in the "V" shape. I added some real red satin ribbon and a white button from my stash with some white twine tied through it.

Here is another one I made as well, with a shot of the yummy Graham Cereal Mix treat package:




This one is made with Riding Hood Red and Sahara Sand card stock and the Vintage Wallpaper EF. I used some of the Riding Hood Red Striped ribbon I got a while back from the clearance rack and a button from the Deck the Halls Big Buttons pack. I also used some silver tinsel on the bow and button. The sentiment is from the "Four the Holidays" stamps set and is stamped with riding hood red ink onto the Sahara Sand card stock.

The recipe for the mix is:

1 box of Golden Grahams Cereal (6-8cups)
1 package of Holiday M&M's
1 cup cashews
1 package of vanilla almond bark

Combine the cereal, M&M's and nuts in a large bowl. Melt almond bark and pour over cereal mix and stir to coat thoroughly. Spread out on waxed paper to cool. Break into bite size chunks and store in air tight container.

** You can alter ingredients to suit your taste, with pretzels, or almonds or other cereals, like cheerios or chex.

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

Vicki

SSSC96.......A Merry Christmas and a Goodbye

GOOD SUNDAY MORNING PEEPS!!! It's my favorite time of the week, time for another Sweet Sunday Sketch Sample

This is the fabulous sketch Karen has for us this week:



I loved this fun sketch, I started my card with a base of Crumb Cake card stock. I followed that up with some cherry cobbler card stock and all of the DS paper is from the Deck the Halls paper pack. I stamped the Holly from the Stampin' Up Bells and Boughs stamp set with black stazon onto very vanilla card stock. I then stamped the sentiment from the same set with cherry cobbler ink below the holly. I colored the holly and berries in with my aqua painter and ink from the always artichoke ink pad and the berries are colored with cherry cobbler ink. I cut the square so as the top of the holly would be out of the box. I matted the image and sentiment piece with crumb cake card stock. I mounted with some foam tape. I added some cherry cobbler and very vanilla seam binding ribbon across the middle and tied a bow. I like the two tone effect. I added a vintage brad to the center of the bow. I used my 3/4 inch circle punch to make the scallop cherry cobbler border. To finish it off I added some crystal effects to the holly and berries and sprinkled a bit of diamond dust glitter over the glaze while it was wet.

Here is a detail shot, so you can see a bit of the shine and glitter:






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.

This week is Joanna's last week on the sketch team, she is scaling back some of her DT responsibility to gain some more family time We will miss her amazing creations, go by and give her some "Sweet Sunday" Love today

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

Karen-the Sweetest Thing

Jen-JenTapler Designs

Karen-Paper Playhouse

Laura-Scrapnextras

Lynn-The Queen's Scene

Sarah-Jane-Janeybell

Joanne Basile-just a little something....


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

Vicki

Merry & Bright Door Hanger

Good Thursday Morning Peeps!!!

Yesterday I spent a fun afternoon with a friend making this adorable door hanger. Wendy has been making these alot and I have admired hers so she asked me to come join her and make one. She said bring whatever you want to decorate your door hanger! I had no idea at first what I wanted to do since I had never made one before. So I decided to go with something I love. The Stampin Up Greeting Card Kids stamp set and the Deck the Halls DS paper. I used a card I made last week for an inspiration for this hanger and actually after finishing, Wendy said they made a cute set.

Here is a picture of them together:




The door hanger is a thin piece of wood, purchased from a big box craft store. I covered mine with a piece of paper from the Deck the Halls paper pack using the tombow mono multi liquid glue. I sorta of copied Wendy's design on the one she was working on, by adding a piece of paper on the hanger at an angle. So clever she is!! I used a piece of Cherry cobbler card stock that I embossed with the Petals a Plenty EF. I them added a couple of strips of always artichoke scallops behind the edges of the Cherry cobbler.

I stamped the little Christmas girls with black stazon onto very vanilla card stock and colored with my aqua painter and ink pads. I used Soft Suede, cherry cobbler, more mustard, always artichoke and blush blossom. I cut her out with circle and scallop circle nesties. She is added to the Hanger with some foam tape. The sentiment is from the Bright Christmas stamp set. I stamped with Cherry Cobbler ink onto the very vanilla. I curled it a bit and cut a "V" in the end. I added a always artichoke button with a bit of twine, I used a non SU punch for my small snowflakes and added a pearl to the centers. I just had to add the ribbon seam binding bow and called it done. Whatcha think? Would this be a nice little gift?

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

Vicki

Peace on Earth

Good Tuesday Morning Peeps!!!


Today's card share is made with this week's color challenge on Stacey's Stamping Stage and The Paper Players Christmas Themed Challenge.

This week's Curtain Call colors are Real Red, Basic Gray, Always Artichoke and Whisper White. The Paper Players theme was an easy one this week, any Christmas themed item.


The base of my card is made with the Basic Gray card stock. The main image and sentiment comes from the Level 2 Hostess Set in the Holiday Mini called "Peaceful Season".

I stamped the holly leaves and berries with Always Artichoke ink and colored the berries with my Real Red Marker. I then used my Basic Gray ink Pad for the Sentiment. It looks totally black but I swear I used Basic Gray ink! I added a bit of crystal effects to the berries. I layered this piece up with some real red scallops along the bottom, three rows actually and I pierced the scallops with my piercing tool and mat pack. I added a strip of basic gray and then more real red across the top. I used some always artichoke seam binding ribbon across the card and to make the bow. I used a real red button with some twine threaded through the button holes.





I love this color combo that Stacey picked this week! Well, that is all from me today, thanks for stopping by and HAPPY STAMPING!!!

Vicki

Merry Snowman

Good Monday Morning Peeps!!

Today's card share is for the LateNightStampers, Challenge 99 - Blue-White and Silver – use only these colors on your card.

I choose Baja Breeze for my blue on this card. I used Baja for the base which is a 4-1/2 inch square. I followed that with a layer or whisper white that was embossed with the Stampin Up Northern Flurries EF. The snowman image comes from the Stampin Up Jolly Old Saint Nick stamp set. I stamped the snowman onto whisper white card stock with black stazon ink. I colored his mittens, scarf and hat band with baja breeze ink and my aqua painter. His hat is colored with Basic gray ink and the aqua painter as well. I masked off the snowman with a post it not and stamped some 2nd generation baja breeze snow flakes. I added some Diamond Dust Twinklets glitter to the ground around the snowman.




The silver comes into my card in the form of the silver tinsel from the Stampin Up winter mini. I added two strips of silver tinsel across the card. I added a Baja Button from the Candy Cane Big Buttons Pack. I threaded more silver tinsel through the button and added two mini tags to the button. One tag is Baja punched with the jewelry tag and the second is "merry" from the Tiny Tags stamp set.

Well, that is all from me today. Thanks so much for stopping by and HAPPY STAMPING!!!

Vicki

SSSC95....Merry Christmas

GOOD SUNDAY MORNING PEEPS!!! It's my favorite time of the week, time for another Sweet Sunday Sketch Sample

This is the fabulous sketch Karen has for us this week:




I started my card with a base of Crumb Cake Card stock, 4-1/2 inches square. I followed that with some basic black and then some very vanilla that was embossed with the Vintage Wall EF. I then used some Newsprint DS paper from Stampin Up. I used the Sheet Music piece eve, tho I ended up covering most of it. I do love that paper! The stamp used is from the Stampin Up Welcome Christmas stamp set and the sentiment is from the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set. I used some for the crochet lace and an antique brad for my bow. Simple and sweet, just the way I like them!





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 has in store for us this week:

Karen-the Sweetest Thing

Jen-JenTapler Designs on vacation this week.

Karen-Paper Playhouse

Laura-Scrapnextras

Lynn-The Queen's Scene

Sarah-Jane-Janeybell

Joanne Basile-just a little something....


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