Dog Food Die Cuts

Hello Friends!

Hope you are having an awesome weekend!

Today's post may seem a little strange when you read the title! No, I didn't die cut dog food! (Not yet anyway!) But I did think "outside the bag" for this project! Let me give you some background info so you won't think I have totally lost it! ( No comment from those who know me well, please)

My BFF Mary and her hubby have asked me on occasion to babysit my dogniece and dognephew, Susie and Max, for them. This time, their anniversary fell during there time away.

You have to understand, with my three dogs and their two, it is a cute circus at times in my house! Thankfully, they all get along well! More thankfully, they all eat the same dog food! This is a real plus when you have five eating at the same time! NOW, Mary's favorite colors are pastel blue and pink! One night while I was feeding the dogs, I looked at the bag, and guess what?!?! Those colors were on the bag!! Well, me being me, the concept for their card was established!! Perfect sense, right???

I got the animals fed, out to potty and settled in for the night. Then I began to cut apart their dog food bag! They were a little confused, but full, so they left me alone with the bag! I cut panels from the bag to fit my Cricut mat. I used the Daisy from the Walk In My Garden cartridge to start cutting flowers from the bag! Well, the bag had a coating, kind of like freezer paper on it. My cuts were sliding all over the place and I was almost crushed that I would not be able to use my awesome (to me) idea for their card. Then I was blessed with an AHA moment! I have the spray for renewing your mats! I sprayed the panels before putting them on the mat and it worked beautifully!! I was so tickled, I woke the dogs when I uttered a very loud, "YES!!" Once again, they looked up, gave me the "she's lost it again" look and resumed their naps.

After cutting out various sizes of the flower, I layered them to resemble Mary's favorite flower, the Dahlia. I think I got pretty close! I punched the centers of the layers and bound them with a large gem topped brad. Whew! It worked! Now, what to do next?!?!

I decided to go with a craft colored base. I had to get something in there for hubby! I used some DCWV Spring paper for the background, cut the sides with a border punch and edged it with a Versamark pen, and embossed the edge with copper powder. I stamped the sentiment with Versamark on some coordinating paper from the same stack. I then embossed that with the copper powder also. I used a Spellbinders Fancy Tags die to cut out the greeting. I also embossed the ends and edges of the tag. Now it was time to put it all together on the base. I used some leaves from my floral stash to accent the flower, which is attached with glue dots. The sentiment is mounted on dimensionals. I added a computer generated greeting inside, rounded the corners, and called it "done"! I wanted to dress up the envelope a little so I stamped the flying bird with Versamark and embossed it in the copper also. The bird represents them being away and going to Florida as "snowbirds" to get away from the cold! I know, I'm awful!

I hope I didn't bore you with my journey through this project. I just felt I might need to explain myself a little. Who am I kidding? If you follow my blog, you know this is typical of me, right?!?!
I know Mary will get a big kick out of it and that is what I was after! She and Don have been wonderful to me and are always there to give me rides, fix my broken house, or just give me a boost when I need it! I love them dearly!

If this post starts your week off with a chuckle or a sigh (sympathy for my friends...lol), then I am happy! It makes my heart sing when friends drop by and check out my latest craziness! Thanks so much and come back again soon, won't you?

Love and hugs to you all.. and .....

Blessings to you,
Vicki

Welcome to the Design D.I.V.A.S. Oldies but Goodies Blog Hop

Hello and Welcome! Design D.I.V.A.S. on Facebook is a private group of crafters who love to share fun and inspiration! Our Oldies but Goodies Blog Hop was created for us to share some of our "back of the drawer or cabinet goodies" with everyone! We are to use craft items that have not seen the light for six months or more.

If you have arrived here from Sharri Seffens blog, you are in the right place! This stop is the last one on the hop! If you would like to go to the beginning of the hop, please start with Brenda
Turner's blog!

I didn't have to dig too deep to find items that meet the criteria for this hop! I went "back in the day" with some tools and stamps that have sadly been neglected for more than several months.

I started with a cranberry cardstock base. I then added borders cut with the Cuttlebug Floral Borders die. The tiny blossom accents were also cut with this die. Next came the inside corner accents cut with the CB Vintage die. I distressed all the edges of the card, rounded the outside corners and sponged them with Color Box Chalk Warm Violet ink. The sentiment layer was stamped and then cut with Spellbinders Label One die. I sponged the edges here, too. The panel was then adhered with dimensionals. Next, I added the multicolored butterfly, cut with the Sizzlits Butterfly Tag die and mounted it with glue dots. As a final accent, I edged the sentiment panel and the butterfly with DecoArt Twinkles Glitter Paint. I also added the glitter paint to the flower blossoms.

This is just a fun card to send to a good friend recovering from surgery. She is a very dainty lady and I thought the borders and bling would be perfect for her.

I hope you have enjoyed your stop here today! I am the last blog to visit on this month's hop. If you have not visited all the members in the hop, please start with Brenda's blog and soak in all the wonderful talent and inspiration these ladies offer! We will be doing this hop again the third Wednesday of each month so be sure to join us!

You are always welcome to drop by here whenever you can! You may start out as a newcomer to my blog, but I hope you will feel like a friend when you leave! For those of you who visit often, you bless me with the gift of your time and friendship!

Hope everyone has an awesome day and, as always, I send...

Blessings to you,
Vicki

Cricut Birthday Roses

Hello Friends!

Hope everyone is having a good weekend and thawing out from our serious snows! I was kind of sad to see all the snow melt away. Everything was so beautiful in that blanket of white!

Today, I'd like to share with you a card project made for a very special lady! Her mother actually ordered the card; but, bless her heart, the mother gave me the freedom to create anything I wanted. I love it when I can let go the reins and just create!

I started with a half-fold card base (5 1/2 x 8). I used DCWV cardstock and cut it down to size. Most of the vintage floral is covered, but it still made for a beautiful background. I then cut the outside edge with a Fiskars border punch. I distressed all the edges and sponged them with SU Old Olive ink.

I knew I wanted to do a floral bouquet on this card, but I wasn't sure how I wanted to display it. I decided to go with a nosegay look, so I gathered some lace trim and attached it to the card with Quick Dry Tacky Glue. I also chose to use roses as the flower. These were cut with the Cricut "Walk In My Garden" cartridge. I used the blackout feature to cut the base of the rose head in a soft pink cardstock. I cut the top of the rose in a darker shade of pink. This is where I started playing until I was happy with the look! I went ahead and put the rose together with foam dimensionals. Then, I sponged on SU Pink Passion ink. Not happy with that result, I went over them again with Warm Violet Brilliance ink. They still looked too "new" for the vintage style I wanted, so I went over them again with SU Really Rust. And, yes, the paper held up well through all that!! I decided I wanted some shimmer on them, so, I added some Kaleidoscope embossing powder by dabbing them with some Boss Gloss embossing ink. I had to be careful with the heat tool so as not to melt the dimensionals. I got a little shimmer, but I just wasn't happy with the look yet. As a final step on these "dried" roses, I decided to emboss once more with clear powder. Voila! I finally liked the vintage look that came through! I am sure there are many ways I could have achieved this "color" but I had fun with this! I attached the roses in a bouquet pattern with dimensionals. For the stems, I doubled floral wire and covered them in green satin ribbon. These were attached under the roses with the tacky glue. I made a simple multi-loop bow with seafoam green satin ribbon and attached it with glue dots. I used a pearl head corsage pin with a heart cross charm to also anchor the bow. As an extra removable accent, I stuck in a beaded hat pin. Whew! I was finally happy with the finished bouquet! I know, I know...a little anal wasn't I?

For the sentiment layer, I stamped the greeting with Versamark and heat embossed it with gold powder. I used a Spellbinders Label 9 die to cut the panel. The "daughter" is a gold sticker. I sponged the edges with the Old Olive and attached the layer with dimensionals.

The inside of the card was very simple. I let the pattern of the paper do the "work" inside and added a computer generated "Daughter" greeting.

Now, with all those layers and the overall dimension of the card, I had to come up with a "cover" for it. I had no envelope that would hold the thickness, so I made a box for it. I used coordinating cardstock and the card as a template. I cut the top of the box the same way only 1/8 inch bigger to cover the base. I tied a green satin bow around the box and it looked so pretty. Sorry, but it was delivered before I could get a picture of the box.

This was a total labor of love for a very special friend! Thankfully, she loved it! She even loved the box!! And that's why I love what I do! To know someone appreciates your work is so rewarding! Don't you think so?

I hope all of you who were interested survived the Super Bowl! I'm off to play some more with paste and paper!

Thank you so very much for stopping by today! The gift of your time and your comments are greatly appreciated! Hope you will come again! I leave you now with...

Blessings to you,
Vicki

Blue Birthday Greetings

Hello and Welcome!

Just a quick post today to share a birthday card. I started this project using a blue floral card base. The layers were created using white card stock cut with the Cricut. (Forgive me, but the cart for this layer has left my brain completely.) I outlined the border of this layer with a silver gel pen and added pearl accents. The Flower T was cut with the Songbird cartridge. The bow is a little goody from my stash! The sentiment layer is a rectangle with the corners punched using a filigree punch. The Happy Birthday was stamped with Versamark and then embossed with silver powder. A tiny pearl was used to dot the"i". The layers and flower were raised on dimensionals. I used a white gel pen for faux stitching all around the card and layers. For the inside of the card, I used computer generated sentiments on layers cut with deco scissors and a border punch. I added a stamped heart outlined with the white gel pen again as a last touch.

As you can see, this card was designed for the daughter of a dear friend. I seem to always have greater inspiration if I know the recipient of the cards I make, don't you?

I hope everyone's New Year is getting off to a great start! The weather has been a big factor for us this year. We're seeing more snow than we have in many years. I love it, but I feel so bad for those who have to drive in it. These first few days of the year also bring back memories of my grandmother who grew up in these hills and lived by the proven statistics of her life. She would record the weather for the first twelve days of January and then predict the weather for the twelve months of the year! I was amazed by how accurate her predictions always were! We can be skeptical of these mountaineer or hillbilly visions, but they used every aspect of their surroundings to provide a better chance of survival for their families. And it worked!!

Thank you for stopping by today! I hope you enjoyed your visit and will come by again soon! It is always a joy to have folks drop in! I am off to see if I can predict what will be missing from my kitchen after I eat!! I leave you with.....

Blessings to you,
Vicki

Merry Christmas!!

Hello Everyone! Merry Christmas! I wanted to share with you some pictures taken of my home in East Tennessee and the wonderful Live Nativity the church presented at our barn! The shepherd with the donkey is my grandson who is here from Ft. Knox!

It has been a season of trials but even more blessings for my family! We got to share some awesome family time together! Movies, dinners, Nativity, laughs, cries and so much more! And, we even have our first white Christmas in many many years! Just beautiful!


Hope each of you is having a joyful holiday! Celebrating the birth of Jesus makes every day joyful for me! I hope, too, that the New Year brings Bountiful Blessings to you!

Love and blessings,
Vicki

White Christmas....Maybe?

Hello Friends!

I wanted to share some pics of our first snowfall with you. It is so beautiful! I just feel bad for those who have to get out in it! The first pic is my view from my kitchen window. The horses don't seem to mind the snow as long as they get some extra hay and corn! You can see that the right side of the barn faces the road. Our church will be presenting a Live Nativity there on the 19th. Viewers don't even have to leave their cars! Now we are just hoping the weather will cooperate so folks can be safe driving the road!

The next pics are the views from my front porch. Amazing how a little snow can make things look so peaceful! We have three creeks on the property and they merge in my front yard. It's beautiful when it snows but a little scary when the heavy rains come! The little metal house you see on the right is a canning house that my grandfather built so they would not have to heat up the house kitchen so much! The wooden building by my mailbox is the wood shed. No, I never had to make a trip there for a good "whoopin" but I carried many a piece of wood to and from there! The little bit of a building you see on the left of that pic is the general store my family had here for years. My Mom has most of the display pieces from the store in her house now, but there is still a HUGE safe and several other things in there. The store was closed by the time I was born, but you can imagine the stories we have heard that came from the front porch of that building!!






The last pic is where the road curves around my house. This was just a dirt road made from a wagon trail until the 70's. I had so much fun racing down the hill on a homemade cart! Stopping was the hard part! Now the dogs wonder why all this traffic keeps coming through their yard! The little bridge is one lane still and one of the few left in the county. Many a traveler has misjudged their speed around that curve and they got to see the creek "up close and personal" with their cars! Those who think the country is a quiet little place with nothing happening have never been here!

We are now covered in ice! Hopefully, it will all thaw soon so I can get to the church to decorate for our "Keenagers" (Seniors) party on Saturday!

Thanks so much for stopping by and letting me share a bit of home with you! I love this place and feel so blessed to enjoy it every day! Come back when you can and feel free to leave a comment anytime! Hope you all have a Blessed Christmas or a Blessed Holiday to those who observe other special days! We'll be looking forward to your next visit!

Blessings to all,
Vicki

Anniversary Wishes

Hello Everyone!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! I had a fantastic time with family in Kentucky! Even Missy enjoyed herself and was exceptionally good with the traveling! The rest of the herd stayed home and was attended by an awesome neighbor! Thanks again, Janice!

Today's card was designed for an anniversary. I started with some DCWV cardstock for the base. I used a Fiskars border punch around the edges. Next I stamped a French script background on vellum with Versamark and embossed that with white powder. I cut the sentiment square with scallop scissors and stamped the sentiment with Versamark and embossed with copper powder. The leaf images were stamped and embossed the same way. I took some pewter photo corners, pressed them into the Versamark pad and embossed them with the copper powder also. I finished the card with green satin ribbon and a little bling accent on the knot. The inside of the card was completed with computer generated sentiments on white cardstock layers edged in green. I really liked the look of this card! It was made for an elderly couple and the vintage feel seemed just right! Hope you like it!

Thanks so much for visiting today! Hope you enjoyed your visit and maybe felt a little inspiration! So many of you inspire me with your amazing talents! Please come back soon!

Blessings to you,
Vicki