FSS Christmas Cardinal

Good morning! Today's card makes me yearn for Christmas and SNOW! I know if I wait long enough they are BOTH just around the corner! I used FSS Christmas Cardinal image on my card for today...it is pre-colored and just one in a series of winter birds that Tracey has in the store. All the paper used on this card is from Pizzazz Aplenty...the silver and green paper has such a pretty pretty shimmer to it that I just couldn't catch on the camera. I used the Fancy Square nesties to emboss the silver layer and die cut the green layer. The flourish is a Marrianne die...added a silver doily behind the image to help set it off the card. My corners were cut with an SU punch and embossed with Cuttlebug folder. As I look at this card now, I wish I had added some sparkle in the image with some stickles or glitter....guess I can still do that. Anyhoooooo, hope you enjoyed my creation today and are inspired to go out and check out this set of winter birds in the FSS store! Have a great day today and thank you for dropping in and leaving some love!

HUGS!
Vicki

Doodle Pantry Ant Masquerade

Good morning! Just wanted to share this fun card with you! OMG is this the cutest image or what? This is one of many images and sentiments included in the "ANTS MASQUERADE COLORED PACK" at the Doodle Pantry. Once the image was printed, I used nestabilities to cut it out and mat it...added my ribbon and a homemade flower. The butterflies are from an MS punch just cut from the border strip and placed on the corners for "fun". The swirly is a flourish die from Sizzix. And that awesome butterfly paper...it is included in the colored set as well...this is a really fun set and is so versatile. As you can tell, I am having quite a lot of fun playing with the Doodle Pantry Design Team this month as their Guest Designer. Just take a walk through the store and you will see instantly why I am having so much fun!

Well, I am going to be leaving for the airport here in about half an hour. Will be back on Friday but hope to have another card posted more towards mid week.

One last important note...Today is the 10th anniversary of Sept 11...please take a moment to remember all those who lost their lives ten years ago in the terrorist attack on our country. God Bless the USA.

HUGS!

Vicki

FSS Nolan and Bullfrog

Good morning to all! Wow what a gorgeous "fall" day we are having here in the valley! My prayers go out to those living in the path of Irene...I hope you are all staying safe. I know my presence here has been very sporadic but I hope to get back on track soon. I have been very busy at work...last week I put in almost 70 hours and this week is going to be a long one as well! Today I was able to drop in my craft room for a few hours to play. The card for today was created using one of Fred She Said's new images in the store...Nolan and the Bullfrog! This set comes with the colored image as well and that is what I used. I added some glossy accents to the frog but you really can't see that in the picture. I used several dies to create my card..and the sentiment I created on the computer. Hope I have inspired you to go out to the FSS store and take a look at some of Tracey's new images...they are awesome as always! Have a wonderful day today and thank you very much for stopping by!

HUGS!

Vicki

FSS Ornate Butterfly

What a beautiful day we have here today! Birds are singing, weather is nice and cool and I have the day off! Can't get much better than that! Speaking of beautiful, that is how I feel about the card above...what do you think? I really love all white cards, like clean and simple. The beautiful butterfly used on this card is Ornate Butterfly....in the FSS Store. Now this awesome butterfly comes as as a digi and cutting file set. I used the cutting file set and cut it out with my Black Cat Cougar. I ran the bottom layer of the butterfly through the Xyron, put the top layer on and then added some glitter. Some of the other elements used on the card are Cuttlebug Musical Flourish and Polka Dots embossing folders and Nestabilities Lattice Rectangles and Labels Eight dies.The embellishments that I used on the butterfly body and on the edge of the frame are from Pizzazz Aplenty. 
Now that my card has been covered, I have a surprise for you today. Today is my birthday and I am giving one lucky commenter a gift...I have begun making my own paper flowers with punches and I will use Random number to pick a lucky commenter on Friday. Want to see what you will get?

 Just leave some love and you are in the drawing! Now know, I am just learning to make these so they may not be "perfect" but I think they are surely usable! Have a great day today and thanks much for stopping by!
HUGS!
Vicki

FSS Sentimental Flower Doodledallion

Hello all! Well I had a day off yesterday and after playing outside for a few hours, I came back in to play some more! Guess you could say I had a PLAYDAY all the way around! Well, Tracey has a new image in the store...the Sentimental Flower Doodledalion. Such a cute flower to play with and it comes with soooo many goodies including 11 sentiments and some BONUS color pages! I chose to use the precolored image. I cut it out twice and layered it and also layered the sentiment and went around all the edges of the flower with Diamond Stickles. My card front was created using Nestabilities Large Circle dies and the embossing is the Cuttlebug Polka Dots folder. I have some new bling from Pizzazz Aplenty...the red square rhinestones in the lower corner...just love them! My day will be spent cleaning my craft room and maybe watching 2 of my grandsons a little later on in the day...after church. :) It is so darn chilly here today so there won't be much outside time! I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend and thank you so much for spending a little time with me! I will be out to see you all as well. Have a blessed day and enjoy the rest of your weekend!

HUGS!
Vicki

FSS Paper Piercing

Hello! Happy Monday! Well the sun is shining on us today after 2 days of solid rain and cold! Bad thing is I have to go to work!!!! Oh well, I am glad to see the sun...makes for pretty flowers later on in the season. Speaking of pretty flowers...oh gosh what do you think about today's creation? I used the FSS Pattern Frame and Flourish Set...and it comes with this awesome flower as well. I took the flower and did a pixel trace in Make the Cut software so that I could cut it out with a background layer. I colored, pierced the center, folded up the petals a little and added some green leaves and how pretty it came out! Please as always, whenever you alter an artists' image in this manner, check their TOU! I am pleased with how this turned out. The leaves and the flatback pearls are from Pizzazz Aplenty, the sentiment is an SU stamp and the frame was cut out with a nestability. The background embossing was done with Flowers #6 folder from Sizzix. Hope you like my creation! Have a wonderful day today in whatever you do, and thanks for stopping in to see me! I will be by to see each of you later on today!

HUGS!
Vicki

Time for Squigglefly!

Well I did get to play a little last night...and I was wanting a sentiment...so I went to my Squigglefly stash and found the perfect one for the card I created! The sentiment is one created by Jess Holland. I love her sentiments. Well, this creation is a little out of the ordinary for me...LOTS going on! I am usually pretty clean and simple but this card was just a little "not me". The label I used to mat the sentiment is from a set called Marquee Labels by Clear Dollar Stamps. I cut the oval center out on my cricut. The swirls in the corners are Sticko stickers from EK Success. Now those fancy adornments on the top and bottom of the label is actually one of the new Fancy Tags Three Nestabilities cut in half. Might be a bit much. I thought I would add a few flowers to the side of the label..they were cut with punches and layered...with a black flat pearl from Pizzazz Aplenty in the center of each. I added a little Diamond Stickles to the label to set it off a bit...Ohhhh and the white layer is embossed with an SU folder. So....what you think? Little toooooo busy? The more I looked at it the more I liked it...but the jury is still out! Thanks for taking a peek...I would love to know your thoughts...Hope you have a great day planned...I hope we get out of our rain pattern here...or I am going to have to call in the ark! Have a blessed day and I will be by to see each of you later!

HUGS!
Vicki

Happy Easter

Happy Easter to each and every one of you! Today I wanted to share my last two Easter cards with you.  I bet you are saying..FINALLY she is done with those Easter cards! LOL I actually have more but won't bore you with them. My first card today was created using an image from Phindy's Place called Easter Joy and is for my 2 year old grandson:

I colored the image with Copics, added some diamond stickles for some sparkle. I stippled some ink on the background of the image after cutting it out with the Spellbinders Label 10. To get the green layer of the nestie, I traced over the outside of the die on my green cardstock and then cut that out by hand. The white background layer was embossed with the Cuttlebug Polka Dots folder. OHHH and one last touch...I just had to add a cotton tail!

For my last card, I used an image from the Doodle Pantry called Easter Bunny and it is for my 3 year old grandson. This image came pre-colored! I added the sentiment to the image...it was part of the Easter Bunny package...along with the background paper! The only thing I added to the image was some diamond stickles to the eggs in the bunny's basket! The border across the card was created with a MS punch and then I threaded some green and white Baker's Twine from Pizzazz Aplenty through the holes. Rather clean and simple but I think it turned out just swell. Well I am off to start my day...having my children for breakfast this morning so I have to get hoppin here! Thank you for stopping in to see me and I hope your day is full of fun and family! Happy Easter to all!

HUGS!
Vicki

Long Absence

Hello! I am sorry for my long absence. I have been struggling with many many overwhelming issues over the past few months...but am glad to say, I am doing better and beginning to feel like myself again. I lost a dear friend about 3 weeks ago...we were very close and although she was very ill, her passing was a little unexpected. I am thankful she is home with our Lord and no longer suffering but do miss her horribly. And to go to the other side of the spectrum, I am so happy to have become a grandmother again on March 31! We have a new baby to love on...Mom and baby are doing well. I now have a new staff person at work that is working out very well...he is taking a lot of the stress off my shoulders that has burdened me for almost a year. So....life is looking up, and I will be posting again...maybe not real often at first but surely at least a few times a week. I hope you all have not given up on me...

I do have a card to share with you! On Sunday we celebrated our grandson Collin's birthday. He was 2! My gosh how time flies. What a fun day we had. So here is the card I created for my special boy!

The card is a 5x7 in size...I created the 2 in Make the Cut...and used my glitter pens to write the "a sweet grandson" rather than cut it out. Make the Cut is an awesome software as it lets us work with layers...I am not an expert at it...but am working hard at learning it! The corners on the background papers were created with a Martha Stewart punch. The Happy Birthday sentiment was cut out with a Nestie. I hope you like my creation...and if anyone is interested in the Make the Cut file, drop me an email...I would be glad to share it in mtc or svg format! My next post, I will be showing off some vinyl wall art I created for our new grandbaby's wall! Please come back to see me! Thanks again for your patience while I healed....I will be out to see all of you who leave me love! I missed visiting and promise to get out to see what all of you have been up to! Bless you all!

HUGS!
Vicki

JustRite Love is Thread that Binds

Hello again...I did get to play a little yesterday! LOL not real sure if I am liking this actual card but I do love the heart mat that I used. I created it in Make the Cut and cut it and the mat with my cricut. I also created the arrow from shapes in Make the Cut. My image is from the JustRite set Stitched with Love. I cut the image and the border out seperately with circle nestabilities and pop dotted the border so there was a little more dimension. I took a Krylon Silver Leafing Pen around the border of the image as well as to bring out the word Love.  I thought it would be nice to tie in some stitching to the card since the border talks about the "thread that binds" so used a Sew Easy tool to puncture my stitching holes and use some 1 MM silver thread from Pizzazz Aplenty to outline my card...the bow and rose are also from Pizzazz Aplenty. I hope you are enjoying my creations as much as I am enjoying creating them! Once I am sure my mtc files are perfected, I will be sharing them here on my blog so if you are interested, please come back from time to time. Well I am off to work today...we have a winter storm coming tomorrow...our area could get up to 15 inches of snow between noon on Tuesday through 6 PM on Wednesday...I am a true snowbunny...love love love the white stuff and am NOT tired of it yet! And MAYBE I might get a snow day! Well, thanks so much for stopping in to see me...please leave some love, I enjoy hearing from you. Have a great day today!

HUGS!

Vicki

JustRite meets Make the Cut

Good morning again! I really was not sure I would get back this weekend but I had some great play time yesterday! I am one happy camper...got to play with my JustRite stamps AND my cricut using the Make the Cut software! I am just having a blast. Today's cards image is from the JustRite Stitched with Love set...colored with copics and cut out and embossed with the circle nestability. And for the base of my card and my mat, I created that in Make the Cut! I learned a new technique from Beanie...go here for the tutorial...be sure to look around while you are there...she has lots of cute ideas using Make the Cut software. Thank you Beanie for the tutorial! If you are interested in my mtc file I will be more than glad to share it with you...just drop me an email...I don't have it saved as an svg file yet but will do so if you would like it in that format. Now...for my bling...that's right a girl has to add the bling....I used an 8MM pink brad from Pizzazz Aplenty...the flatback pearls are also from Pizzazz Aplenty however, they were white...I colored them with one of the copic marker colors that I used in my image. And last but not least, I embossed the card base with an A7 Cuttlebug folder. Those A7 folders sure come in handy for the larger cards. This card measures about 4.75 x 5 so I am going to have to make my own envie for it...but that isn't hard to do! Well I hope you are having as awesome of a day as I hope to...off to do some more playing so hopefully I will have some cards to show you through the week. Thanks so much for stopping by to see me...I will be by to see all of you who leave me love a little later in the day today!
HUGS!
Vicki

JustRite Always and Forever

Good morning to all! Hope your weekend has started out well! I am looking forward to hopefully having some creating time...that has not been happening much around here! Today I am sharing another black and white card created for the JustRite challenge this week...Love is in the Air. Be sure to check it out and join in the fun...they always have some wonderful prizes and the inspiration is phenomenal! For my card, I used Always and Forever from the Wedding Ensemble and the fancy scroll work around that sentiment is from the You Inspire Me stamp set. I used the Nestabilities Labels Six to cut out around my image and then matted it with the next size nestie in black. I used an SU folder to create my embossed corner...for a little bling on my card I added some of the 5MM Glitter Rhinestones from Pizzazz Aplenty...the camera does not do the bling justice...these are awesome. I also added a little bow of silver cording (from Pizzazz Aplenty) and a small white rose on top of the bow. I really had fun creating this card...hope you like it and are inspired to join in the fun at the JustRite challenge! Well I am off to have a little play time, thanks for stopping in and have a great weekend if I don't get back before it is over!

HUGS!
Vicki

Glitterbabe's Challenge #27

Well, I am back today with my first Glitterbabe's Challenge of the new year! I am so excited to be back on track! The Challenge for this week is to use ANY Glitterbabe image...just be certain to add that BLING! AND this week we have one awesome Guest Designer...Vicki from Stamped Smiles...Please be sure to check out her creation...I am excited to see it as well...she is quite a designer! For my creation this week I chose to use Glitterbabe's Envelope Bear. I added the hearts to the image using brushes in photoshop...and the sentiment was computer generated as well. The white layer has been embossed with a Sizzix embossing folder and then edged on the bottom with the Martha Stewart Heart Punch. For my BLING, I added Crystal Effects to the hearts and dusted them with glitter, added some awesome red lace and those sweet flowers....both from Piazzaz Aplenty...the leaves for the flowers were created using a Martha Stewart punch as well. Please be sure to check out the other lovely creations that my fellow Glitterbugs have designed on the Challenge blog...we would love for you to play along this week...get your bling on girls! Thanks so much for stopping in to see me today and I hope you enjoyed my creation! I will be by to see you soon!

Hugs!

Vicki

JustRite Creation

I know this is soooo unusual for me to post 2 times in one day! I had to have a way to work off my stress from the day/week! My workout at Curves tonight just didn't quite do it so I decided to keep my mind and hands busy creating! My creation is a box created by scoring on the ScorPal....decorated with the mini fleur de lis die from Spellbinders...added a stamped monogram with a fleur de lis border around it and cut and matted it with the circle nestabilities die. The most awesome thing about the JustRite stamps is that they coordinate so well with several of the nestabilities dies! I added a decorative border strip on the lid of the box...border was created with a Martha Stewart punch...and of course I had to use a little bling so I added some 3MM cranberry flatback pearls to the lid...from my Pizzazz Aplenty stash! I created 5 3x3 little gift tags...stamped each one with a JustRite center and border...then embossed each one with Sizixx and Cuttlebug folders...added an eyelet...and some Baker's Twine from Pizzazz Aplenty. Well that did keep my busy and kept my mind from the day's/week's events! Hope you like my creation...thought it would make a nice gift for a friend who is fighting to stay well. Thanks for stopping in to see me again! I will be back tomorrow with my first Glitterbabe Challenge for the new year! Hope you will join me!
Hugs!
Vicki

As Sweet As Can Be

Good morning! This is going to be a quickie post...sorry for the hurry! I am soooo stressed out...interviewing for a new staff person this week and my stress level is rather high...bear with me! Today's card I had created some time ago and never got it posted! Thought it might be a cute baby girl card. The embossing is a folder from Sizzix called Just as Sweet as Can Be...I cut the embossed areas apart and separated them. I chalked and matted the sentiment and used an SU marker to color the embossed area of the border. Sorry I really don't remember where the paper came from as it was in my stash of scraps! The flat pearls are from Pizzazz Aplenty. Speaking of Pizzazz Aplenty....you HAVE to check out their special for this week! Judy is having a BUY ONE GET ONE FREE

sale as the special this week! And she has gotten so many new products in! Geez, I want everything! I never really had a stash of "bling" until I was introduced to Pizzazz Aplenty. Now I am building my stash and you have seen many of the items I have purchased. Tomorrow's card will have even more samples of their wonderful products so stay tuned! Well, I need to run! Bless you all for stopping in to see me and thank you so much. You know I will be by to see you tonight I hope! Have a great day today and happy crafting!

HUGS!

Vicki

Just Rite Wedding

Happy Sunday! I am in hopes that all of you had a great weekend! We had a very busy weekend with our grandkids...it is always great to have them! Today I didn't do an awful lot, was my R&R day. :) I did create the card you see above though! This card was created for the JustRite Challenge posted earlier in the week. The challenge is to use a JustRite stamp on a project along with scoring other than the fold of your card. Well my card is basically an all white card...my scoring is on the back layer of the card. I used my ScorPal to create my score lines. The JustRite stamps I used were from the Wedding Stamp Ensemble and from the Custom Design Cardmaking kits. Of course all my pieces were cut out using various nestability dies...that is one thing I am loving about the JustRite stamps...many of them can be coordinated with the nestabilities. I am really new to JustRite stamps so bear with me on my journey...hopefully my projects will become more interesting. :) I also wanted to point out the "bling" used on my card...the irridescent string of pearls and the flatback pearls used on my card were from Pizzazz Aplenty. I use Crystal Effects as my "glue" to glue all my bling down...it dries clear and hard! Well, I have a busy day tomorrow at work so may not get back here to visit with all of you who leave me love, but rest assured I WILL catch up with you all by Tuesday! Have a great day!

HUGS!
Vicki

Another JustRite card

Good morning! I hope the first week of the new year is going well for everyone and you are all well! There is so much sickness going around...I have managed to stay well to this point thank the good Lord! Today's card is another creation using the JustRite stamps that were Christmas presents to me! This card just evolved...may have too many layers...I had a vision...but this was not really where I wanted to go with it. However, it didn't turn out too bad. All paper used in this project were from Papertrey...the ribbon is from SU. Used the Fancy Square nestability to mat the stamped image. The embossing folder I used on the background is an SU folder...Petals a Plenty and the flowers were from a stem of flowers that I had purchased from Hobby Lobby some time ago...just snipped them off at the bud. I am still experimenting with bows/ribbon and again I feel this one may be too big for the project, however, guess I won't learn unless I try! Thanks so much for stopping by and leaving love...words cannot express the gratitude I feel. Hope you have a crafty day!

HUGS!
Vicki

JustRite Stampers

Well ladies, I have another addiction! I have fallen totally in LOVE with JustRite stamps! And for Christmas, my dear daughter in law got me several sets and some fonts! I am good to go...you will be seeing me use a lot of these stamps in the future! This was one of the larger oval sets...colored with SU markers...I know...I pretty much have only been using copic markers but I have a whole set of the SU markers that NEVER get used...they are perfect for small images like this...that fine point does an awesome job of keeping me within the lines! The nestabilities used in this creation are Labels 10 and one of the small dies from the Fleur de Lis set cut in half...half on the top and half on the bottom of the label. All my paper for this card is from Papertrey Ink...and last but not least....how about that butterfly???? This is an Organza Jeweled Butterfly from Pizzazz Aplenty....is it just perfect for this card or what? Also the white flatback pearls on the ends of the label die cut are from Pizzazz Aplenty. I am here to tell you, if you have not ventured out to see all of the goodies that Judy has on her blog you need to! She just put up some really awesome stick pins in crystal and colors...I know those are going on my "must have list"...BUT I better hurry cause she sold out of them like really the first day she had them on her blog. Well, hope you enjoyed your visit today as much as I enjoy having you...have a great day today!

HUGS!
Vicki

Coming Soon!

Good morning! Well I am off to work today, holidays are over! I did get to play a bit yesterday and will have a few cards for you this week. Today's card was created with a new "coming soon" image from Glitterbabe. It is called Pacific Dogwood and will be an upcoming attraction at Glitterbabe's Art...be watching for it! What a beautiful flower! I colored it with Copic markers, added a pink border around it using one of my JustRite stamp borders. Then cut out the image and matted it using the oval nestabilities. The background was created using the smaller of the Fleur De Lis dies...cut and embossed 6 of them and glued them to the pink cardstock...then added the bow. The bow might be a little tooooooo big for the card...hope it doesn't overpower it...but it is on there now!!! I plan on doing some heavy duty visiting tonight and I will be sure to be by to see all of you who leave me love! Thanks so much for stopping in today.

HUGS!
Vicki

Happy New Year/Happy Birthday

Happy New Year to everyone! I hope that your holidays were blessed with joy, love and family! Our holiday was wonderful...spent lots of time with our kids and grandkids. We are so blessed to have them all. Now the holidays are over, we are all trying to get back into the "normal" routine...but we had to get together for one more party! My youngest son's birthday was yesterday and we celebrated with a breakfast get together. The card you see above was created just for him! I inked up the Bird Call cuttlebug folder, cut out a section of it with the Inverted Squares Nestabilities and matted it...the die cut across the center of the card was in my Christmas package from my sweet friend Stef...it is one of the Die-namics dies from My Favorite Things. And I have to tell you, the Happy Birthday was created with my Cri-Kits glitter pens and cut out on my cricut using the Make The Cuts software. I had purchased it some time ago, have not really had the time to play with it...HOWEVER, a very good friend and fellow blogger, Penny Duncan, has sparked the fire in me to begin using it! Penny has been so instrumental in this creation! She has some wonderful videos on her web site for us MTC users...I have had those darn gel pens for months and NEVER used them...if it had not been for Penny's tut, they would still be in the box! Thanks Penny so much! Well, our agency is closed today so no work for me...but I AM going to be playing so I hope to be able to be here more often now. Thanks for stopping in and I hope you come by again soon! Have a great day!

HUGS!
Vicki