MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

 

I just want to wish you a Very Merry Christmas
and that you are
Blessed with Happiness and Health in 2015!


THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS

Today's card was made using the Stampin' Up! "Thoughts and Prayers" stamp set.  I needed it right away so went for CAS. SU Colors used are Wild Wasabi and Chocolate Chip.  For the Chocolate Chip strip behind the image, I stamped just the leafy portion of the tree randomly with VersaMark to leave a watermark look. 

 

Thank you so much for stopping by today.  Hope you have a great weekend!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SHERI!!!

 

My dear friend, Sheri, is hopefully celebrating her birthday today and I hope that this card makes it to her on time.  (The week is going to be very busy again so I'm scheduling this one ahead of time.)

 

The card base is Stampin' Up! Marina Blue card stock and I embossed it with the Swiss Dots embossing folder.  Next I randomly cut a piece of white card stock to serve as the snowy hill and added Stickles Glitter Glue shaping some hills.

 

The cute little penguins are easy to make using the SU Owl Punch.  I didn't have the right size of circle punch to do part of the hat so I used the tip of the SU Mitten punch.  The brim of the hat is just a scrap I cut and rounded the edges.  The pompom was with one of the Itty Bitty SU punches.  The wings of the one penguin were made using the small leaf from the SU Build-A-Blossom punch.  The final touch was to add some little snowflakes from a Marvy punch and a touch of the glitter glue in the centers.

 

Your comments are always welcome and very much appreciated!  Thanks for stopping by! 

 

I can't take credit for the idea on this.  I saw something similar on Pinterest but changed it up just a little to make it my own.  Hope it gives Sheri a smile on her birthday!

EVERGREENS

 

Our Yahoo Group had an Artist's Choice Card Swap a few days ago.  This is the card I sent to my partner.  The design was made using a Penny Black stamp.  The stamp design includes the star so my first inking was just of the tree and stamped with Stampin' Up!  Wild Wasabi ink.  Then I inked up the tree a second time but stamped it off one time to the left and repeated that by adding the third image to the right of the main tree. 

 

I cleaned the stamp very well and made sure it was really dry before inking the star on the stamp with VersaMark and placing it to the upper left area of the card.  Then it was embossed with Egyptian Gold EP.  A small "Peace" was stamped with VersaMark and embossed with the gold EP.

 

The main layer was then matted on Wild Wasabi card stock and then onto the white card base.

 

Your comments are always welcome and appreciated!  Thanks for stopping by!

CHRISTMAS POINSETTIA

This is a card I actually made last year right AFTER Christmas.  I had seen one similar and wanted to make one before I forgot the idea.   I really don't remember, but I think the flower was stamped two times and then the center cut out of the second one and popped with foam or glue dots.

 

Thank you for stopping by!

PEACE ON EARTH

 

 

As soon as I pulled the picture of this card onto this page, I thought it looked like the "Peace on Earth" was crooked.  I used the Stamp-A-Ma-Jig to place it so not sure why it doesn't look straight.

 

Anyway, the tree is from the Stampin' Up! Lovely As A Tree stamp set.  I masked off an area on the 3 3/4" x 5" vanilla card stock and sponged it with Stampin' Up! Pear Pizzazz ink.  Then I stamped the tree overlapping the sponging with the same ink.  The sentiment was added and then the piece was matted and added to the vanilla card base.

Thank you for stopping by!

DECEMBER MEANS CHRISTMAS CARDS

 

This is about as easy as it can possibly be.  I used a piece of Stampin' Up! designer paper for the front of the card and then cut a piece of Pear Pizzazz card stock to cut the Merry Christmas with a Memory Box die.  I really like these non-traditional colors.

 

The photo project continues but I will try to at least post Christmas card ideas.  I may not have time to post explanations, but I will check comments to see if there are any questions.

 

I hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving!  Our family gathered for a wonderful meal and then our daughters and some of the grandchildren enjoyed looking through a lot of the pictures that I had been scanning.  There were lots of laughs about old hair styles when they were growing up and a lot of fond memories revisited.  It made all the work well worth the time put into it.

 

Thanks for stopping by today!

THANKSGIVING WISHES

 

Although this card was what I sent to others last year, my wishes for all of you are sent today...........I wish all of you a very special Thanksgiving with family and friends.  It is a day where we all reflect on the many blessings we have in our lives.  May you all have safe travels!!!

STILL WORKING ON PHOTOS

Since I haven't made any cards in the last couple of weeks that I can post, I chose a card that I had posted on October 8, 2009 and I thought maybe some of you hadn't ever seen it.  It seemed appropriate for the time of year.

BUTTERFLY FAVORITE

Back in July I made several cards using this Memory Box die cut.  I cut it with various margins and in different colors.  They make a really CAS card.  The sentiment is from Paper Inspirations.

 

Thank you for coming by today!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

 

A few days ago I posted a birthday card that I accidentally sent to a friend of mine who was actually going to be celebrating their anniversary.  This is the anniversary card that I sent when I found out what I had done.  The card had actually been posted on July 8 of this year so if you would like any further details, you can go back to that post.

 

I'm still working on the HUGE project of scanning all the pictures so I've not made any cards lately.  I will try to at least post some "repeats" of my favorite cards for someone who may not have been here before.



 

Hope you are all staying warm.  So much of the U.S.A. is really cold right now!!!  Thanks for stopping by here!

TWO MORE GRUNGE

Yesterday was a busy day with a dentist appointment (YUCK) and running errands.  When I got home, I took a few minutes to  relax and then had to get ready to go out for a wondeful evening meal at a supper club near us.  (Great way to end the day!!!)

 

I hadn't scheduled anything to post so today I am showing you two more cards I made using the SU Gorgeous Grunge stamp set.

 

 

 

This card used the same design, but I chose to use pink instead of yellow and I also very lightly sponged the pink over the rest of the card front.  I also added the sentiment to the front.

 

As I was going through my supply of butterflies, I also found these cute little bee stickers so I made this card using the yellow again and I found this sentiment on a stamp that had a bee on it.  I just inked up the words bee-cause it fit so well with the design.

 

I'l try to get something posted again for tomorrow.  However, I am really focusing on getting old photos scanned and on thumb drives so I may not have something new every day.

 

Thanks for stopping by today! 

INFORMATION

Thank you to one of my loyal followers for telling me that she was glad to see me posting "again".    Her message made me aware that those of you who signed up to receive daily notices of my blog posts probably were not receiving them.  Due to the number of emails I receive each day and my busy schedule I had not noticed that I was no longer receiving the notice of my own blog or notices from other blogs I had signed up for. 

 

There must have been a glitch somewhere along the line because all of a sudden I started receiving them again.  And here I had just thought some of these other crafters were no longer posting.  So if you thought I was no longer posting and you are now getting this post through an email, you can click on the "HEARTWARMERS FROM VICKI" that appears just above the word "INFORMATION" and it will take you to my blog page.  Then you can scroll back through posts that you may have missed.

Two ways to see my blog:  1) signing up for the message when a post is made to my blog and/or  2) mark my blog as a "favorite place" on your computer so you can visit whenever you like.

 

 

OUTSIDE THE BOX

I wanted to make something completely different from my usual for the Yahoo Group's November Artist's Choice Swap.  I've seen "grunge" type cards but they aren't what I normally do.  I wanted to keep it fairly simple so I turned to Pinterest for some ideas.  I used the color combination I saw on Pinterest but changed the type of butterfly on mine.

 

The yellow honeycomb design was the first step.  I have a die that I purchased before Stampin' Up! came out with one.  I cut one out and then used it as a stencil to sponge SU Yo Yo Yellow through the openings.  The two black stamped designs are from the SU Gorgeous Grunge stamp set.

 

Remember, if there is ever anything you would like to order from Stampin' Up!, I can submit the order for you and it will come directly to you.

 

The weather has turned much colder this week but we are fortunate that we will not be getting all that snow that Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan are supposed to receive.  I'm really not ready for winter quite yet!

 

Thanks for stopping by today!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

This card has a story.  November 9th is my friend Lynette's wedding anniversary and I was in such a hurry to send a card to them that I mistakenly sent her a birthday card!!!  Sad to say, but I think I did the same thing last year.  I couldn't let that be what they received, so I sent a real anniversary card as well which I will post later if it hasn't already been posted on the blog.

 

A few days before I made this card, I had used SU markers to color in an acrylic block, spritzed it and then pressed it onto white card stock.  Before wiping off the block I pressed it a second time onto a second piece of card stock.  I like the affect for a background.

 

Sorry this is getting posted so late in the day.  I've been busy the last few days going through three boxes of old photos that were never put into albums.  I really want to know that they are preserved so I've been scanning, labeling and categorizing them.......not a small job since they go back to 1985!!! What was I thinking???

 

Thanks for visiting!

VERY SIMPLE GUY CARD

So many of us have difficult making cards for the guys.  This is one I put together rather quickly after getting the basic idea from Pinterest.  I simplified mine even more because I needed it so fast.  I used Stampin' Up! designer papers for the banners:  Night of Navy and I think Close to Cocoa but not sure on that one.  The sentiment was stamped and then cut with a Spellbinders label die.  I sponged the edges with the Night of Navy ink.  Very quick and very easy.

Maybe this idea will help you when you're in a pinch.  Thank you for stopping by today!!!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, TERRI!

 

Terri is one of the members of our Yahoo group and yesterday was her Anniversary.  (As you can see I made the card well in advance.)  The sticker is from a Penny Black sheet.  I matted it on Stampin' Up! So Saffron and Melon Mambo card stock which seemed to match colors in the design.  There were two small stickers of the flower blossom, so I attached one to the lower corner of the main sticker and added the second one to the lower corner of the inside.  

 

Thank you for stopping by today!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY HUSBAND

Today is my husband's birthday.  When my mother asked me to make a special card for him,  this year I knew exactly what I was going to try to create.

 

 

Gary has built several ways to feed the squirrels but he makes them work for it.  We have several that stop by and they are quite the "gymnasts".  They also climb the pole for the bird feeders and partake of the sunflower seeds that I put out.  We are able to watch them from our living room window and they can be quite entertaining. 

When our Yahoo group gathers in Des Moines each summer, we go to Outstamping Designs in Valley Junction.  I purchased this stamp of a squirrel either two or three summers ago but had never used it.  Once I had it I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to come up with something to really show it off.  Fortunately I had taken a picture of the sample they had made up and I pulled it up as a guide for the coloring.

 

I wasn't sure what ink I would use to stamp the image and experimented with three different browns.  Stampin' Up! Chocolate Chip was the one I chose.  The coloring I wanted needed to be soft so I pulled out my chalks which I hadn't used in a very long time.  I shaded with two colors of brown and a touch of gold.  Then I used my finger to blend the colors.

 

The background seemed to be too bright.  I had saved the extra stamp offs of the squirrel so I cut one out as a mask and then used my SU Spritzer and the Chocolate Chip marker to add a bit of speckled background.  The card base was embossed with a Darice folder.  The dp strip is an SU Cajun Craze dp which matched the one layer of the mat that I chose.

 

Gary will know that this card was definitely made just for him.  I hope you enjoy it too!  Thanks for stopping by today!

ELECTION DAY

As I prepare this post it is November 3.  By the time this actually posts on November 4, I will have been up and ready for the day.  I will be getting up about 5:00 AM so I can be at the Voting Precinct here in town to get things set up.  Five of us will be manning the polls from 7:00 AM until 9:00 PM.  Then there will be another hour after that preparing everything to submit to the County.

 

It seems that every year there are people who are under the impression that there is another "shift of workers" that will come in to relieve us at some point.  NOT!  We are there for the duration and are not allowed to leave the building.....so it is a very long day.  However, if I didn't enjoy doing it I wouldn't do it.

Of course we can't leave during the day to get something to eat.  I have worked with these same people several times and in June the three of us who were working brought foods to share.  This election day there will be five of us and we will be sharing loose meat sandwiches, potato salad, potato chips, cookies and pumpkin pie.  Sure beats taking cold meat sandwiches or soup like I used to do. 

 

For those of you who are from the USA and visit my blog, I hope you consider using your very special Right to Vote today.  It is a priviledge that many citizens in other countries do not have.

 

Please come back tomorrow to see the special birthday card I made for my mother to send my husband.

SU BEAUTY OF THE SEASON

 

 

When the new Holiday sets were made available to me as a demonstrator, I ordered this  stamp set "Beauty of the Season".  Cardinals are such a beautiful bird and we have some that stop by our bird feeders.

 

I saw this idea on a website using a different stamp and decided to give it a try.  The image was stamped two times on white card stock measuring 4 1/4" x 5 1/2".  The Cardinal was colored with Cherry Blossom Blendabilites markers and a couple of shades of Copics for the branch on the first image.  After dotting the berries with the red, I added tiny dots of white with a gel pen to highlight them.

 

The second image was cut out and used as a mask so I could do the background.   The background was created by using post-its and sponging  a little Going Gray ink along the edge of the post-it.......moving it to different positions to give the appearance of a landscape.  The card I used as an idea used that same color all over the background but I sponged the upper area with Bashful Blue for a sky. 

 

The example I followed also had the design "floating" in the middle of this background.  I trimmed my colored image down so it could be matted and then with a black pen extended the branch out so it would appear to be coming out of the edge of that layer.

 

If you like this stamp set, I'd be very happy to order it for you.  Thank you for coming by!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

I didn't make any new Halloween cards this year so I am pulling out pictures of two cards that I made in previous years.

 

 

A very simple card using designer papers.  The ghost was stamped with VersaMark and embossed with white powder.

 

This card was a case of a card my friend Georgia made.

It's going to be very chilly here this evening for the tricks or treaters but I have my candy bars all ready for however many brave the cold.

Thanks for stopping by!

STAMPIN' UP! SWEETBRIAR ROSE

This is a beautiful stamp from Stampin' Up!  I embossed the front of the card with the Swiss Dots folder.  The banner strip was added.  I colord the image using the SU Blendabilities.  The image was matted and then mounted with foam squares.

Thank you for stopping by today!

STAMPIN UP SERENE SILHOUETTES

 

I love making cards with silhouette designs and really like the images from this stamp set.  I haven't used them nearly often enough.  To start, I took an 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" piece of SU Baja Breeze card stock, folded it for the card base and then embossed the front with one of the SU folders. 

 

I had a piece of white card stock that was about 4 1/4" x 5 1/2".  Using SU Baja Breeze and Old Olive inks, I began sponging the colors on that piece.  I didn't need to cover the entire piece because I was going to trim it down for a matted layer.

 

After I had enough color, I stamped the design using VersaFine Black Onyx ink.  This layer was added to a black and then a white mat. 

 

Thank you for stopping by today!

CASE OF PENNY BLACK STICKER

 

This sticker was giving me problems for what color of card stock I could use with it.  I went to Pinterest and found one like this.  I used Kraft, Blushing Bride and White card stock for this card.  After putting the layers together, I added a "happy birthday", a Martha Stewart punched butterfly and Stickles Crystal Ice for the centers of the flowers.

 

Thank you for stopping by today!

CHRISTMAS REINDEER

This really pretty reindeer was cut with a Penny Black die.  I love the gracefulness of it.  I used a textured gold metallic dp and the picture does show some of that texture.  I found two pieces of dp from a paper pack that also picked up the gold color.

 

Thank you for stopping by today!

PENNY BLACK STICKERS #6

The main color on this one is the Stampin' Up! Baja Breeze card stock which goes so well with some of the color in the background of the sticker.  I decided not to emboss the front of this card at all and just added the sticker which was mounted on the Not Quite Navy card stock.  I scored a couple of lines and then stamped the "Merry Christmas" with the Not Quite Navy ink.  To finish the card off with a bit of sparkle, I added some clear stickle to random places on the design.

 

I hope you enjoyed seeing these cards and that maybe it has given you some ideas of your own.  Thank you for coming by today!  I hope to have something new for you again tomorrow.

PENNY BLACK STICKERS #5

The sticker was adhered to a piece of white card stock.  The "banner" was cut from a Stampin' Up! Not Quite Navy dp.  The front of the card was embossed with the SU folder.

 

Thanks for stopping by!  Tomorrow will be the final card made with this sheet of stickers.

PENNY BLACK STICKERS #4

This "Peace" was cut using a Penny Black die.

PENNY BLACK STICKERS #3

Once again I used Stampin' Up! Not Quite Navy card stock for this post.  The Spellbinders "Peace" die which was on the red card posted this past Monday also has a separate die for just the word which is what I used for this card.

 

Thank you for stopping by!  Be sure to stop back next week for the remaining three cards made from this sheet of stickers.

PENNY BLACK STICKERS #2

Very simple using one of the PB stickers and Stampin' Up! Not Quite Navy card stock.  Thanks for coming by!

PENNY BLACK STICKERS #1

Recently I purchased some Penny Black stickers.  They have such beautiful designs and can make it possible to put several cards together very quickly.  All six of the stickers on this sheet used colors that worked perfectly with the Stampin' Up! Not Quite Navy and Baja Breezed card stock.  I will be sharing the other five cards over the next few days.

 

The "Peace on Earth" was cut using a Penny Black die.  Glue is hard to use on these types of dies so I purchased some double sided sticky paper.  A piece of card stock was attached to one side of the adhesive.  Then the die was used to cut the words.  I peeled off the back side of the adhesive and carefully placed the pieces onto the card.  I like this particular double sided sticky paper because it does allow you to adjust the pieces if they are crooked.  After a while it does become more permanent.

Contact me if you have any questions.  In the meantime, thank you for coming by today!

VERY SIMPLE CHRISTMAS CARDS

Last week I thought I was going to have our two youngest grandchildren for the weekend.  Plans changed and my weekend was completely free so I thought I was going to have all kinds of time to play at my craft table.  WRONG!!!  Well, I had the time but unfortunately my husband's cold decided to find a home in me as well.  Guess it was a very good thing that the grandchildren wouldn't be coming.

 

Friday I had made three VERY simple Christmas cards with Spellbinders dies that I had ordered.  I love the dies! 

I couldn't get a good picture of this card so that it would show the embossing along both sides.  Love the die but I'm not real happy with this card so I'm looking for alternative ways to use it.

 

 

Sorry I didn't get this picture cropped.  The embossing folder that I used for this was one that I borrowed from a friend this past summer in Des Moines.  I simply added a die cut which was made using gold shiny paper.

 

Of the three simple cards, this one is my favorite.  I love the design of this die.  All three designs were cut using a new double sided sticky sheet and then adhered to the cards.

 

Thank you for coming by today!

AUTUMN LEAVES

I have a list of ladies who are in independent living or care centers that I send cards to during the holidays and sometimes for birthdays.  One of those ladies has always thanked me and told me how much she appreciates those cards and knowing that someone is remembering her and thinking of her.  This card is for her just as a random act of kindness. 

 

After seeing so many beautiful fall colors while we were traveling with our trip to the Dakotas, I decided to pull out the Penny Black stamps and dies I recently purchased.  The lady who will be receiving this card may not get out to see some of the lovely foliage around here so maybe I can bring some to her.

 

I chose Stampin' Up! Wild Wasabi, Cajun Craze and Crushed Curry inks to randomly stamp the leaves and the "Autumn".  I then cut one of the Maple leaves, stamped it with the Cajun Craze and mounted it with a foam square over the banner with the sentiment.

 

I hope wherever you live, you are blessed with some of the gorgeous colos of Fall.  Too bad Winter has to follow..............

 

Thank you for stopping by!   I hope to be back Monday with something new again.

PEACE

. 

 

As promised yesterday, I finally have a new card for you to see.  The dove and "Peace" are both from Penny Black.  The "Peace" is very delicate and it was hard to get just very small dots of Tombow Liquid glue on it, but it worked. 

 

The solid and striped dp are from a paper pad which I have had for a long time.  The striped paper has some gold metallic stripes in it which worked perfectly with the gold dp I used for the dove. 

 

The dies were cut with a textured gold metallic dp which I believe I got at Michael's.

 

I hope to get back to getting more new items made on a regular basis.  Thank you so much for stopping by today!!! 

THEODORE ROOSEVELT NATIONAL PARK

 

After visiting the Rapid City area of South Dakota, we headed to Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota.  The weather was dreary and it was late in the season.  We didn't find any shops open so we just did the drive through the park, grabbed a bite to eat at a cute little bar and headed back to our room.  The next day we were on the road headed for home.

 

While we drove through the park loop, we saw buffalo, wild horses, prairie dogs and wild turkeys.  We also saw some deer but I didn't get a picture of them.

 

 

Wild Tukeys

 

The buffalo were on the move.  We parked on the road and many of them crossed over in front of us.  I got a really good video of  some of the bulls actually running from one side to the other.

 

Wild Horses

 

Prairie Dogs

 

Tomorrow, I'm going to get back to posting cards for you.  My husband drove an activity bus for our granddaughter's Junior High volleyball team  last night and will again tomorrow night.  Since I managed to get a card made last night I will be posting that tomorrow.  It really felt good to be making a card again.  It's been quite a while since I've produced anything new.  I hope to take some of that "alone time" again tomorrow night to be inspired at my craft table.  Wish me luck!!

 

Thanks for coming by today.

CRAZYHORSE VOLKSMARCH

 

 

With big smiles on our face we started the 10K Volksmarch Walk to the face of Crazy Horse Mountain.  My camera date was wrong yet here but it was Sunday, September 28th and projected high temp for the day was only 71 degrees.....perfect for this challenge for someone who has never done a walk more than about 2 miles other than when I used to take a short walk for exercise or running errands.  And this was not an ordinary 10K (from beginning to end) since it was through rough terrain in the woods and eventually up steep inclines.  Two-thirds of the walk was to get to the top and I was beginning to be worried because we were walking a long way and for a long time going down!!!!  I thought we were supposed to be going up which made the climb all the more difficult.

 

I think you can see that there were rocks in the walk way.  There were slippery areas of pine needles and lots of twigs and limbs to get over as well.

 

At the second checkpoint, one of the workers had his bird along with him.

 

 

This was Checkpoint 4.   As you can see we still had a very long way to go.

 

More woods to go through but a better path.

 

 

Just one of the last main inclines we had to climb. 

 

But I made it.  It was very emotional for me to have made it because it was a challenge to my body that I had never made and certainly hadn't trained for.  I gave my husband a hug with tears in my eyes out of relief and pride that I had MADE IT!!!!  It was his help and patience that I was able to do it.  Toward the end on the steep inclines he walked slightly behind me and put his finger in the middle of my back.  It sounds crazy but it is amazing how much that helps.  Others tried it after they saw us and found it was true. 

 

The walk down was much easier with more flat areas BUT.......

 

They made us walk one last long incline to reach the High Fives from a park worker and a couple other volunteers.  That was the best feeling to get back!  Most of the time when people sign up for a 5K or 10K walk/run, the surface is much better than this and not nearly as hilly.  When I finished I told my  husband I had done my first Marathon because it was so much more of a challenge than regular 5K's or 10K's.   I'm so grateful that it wasn't 90 degrees as it had been the three days prior.  It's a journey that I won't ever forget!!!

 

And this was my reward for doing it...........