Design DIVAS Oldie But Goodies May Blog Hop

Yep, you guessed it! It's time for the Design DIVAS to share some "stash stuff" with you again!! We are asked to create a project using items in our stash that are at least six months old. (Not a problem for most of us!) It's always a hoot to see what these talented ladies come up with! If you arrived here from Lorie's blog, you are in the right place. If you would like to start at the beginning of the hop, you can begin with Maria's blog.

I decided to share a special order card I was asked to make for my daughter's dear friend. This friend is a German Shepherd lover and has two of her own. We wanted to make her a special card when she so graciously helped my daughter with her own dog. In truth, she helped save the dog's life. I found a really good photo on line and used it as the focal point on my card. I printed it twice on glossy photo paper and layered the photos on the base. I had some cute "doggy" paper I had picked up at Tuesday Morning. I used that as my card base. I used a Thank You stamp cut out with a Spellbinders tag die for the greeting. I framed the photo and greeting with trimmed pieces of the cardstock. This was a half fold card and the colors really popped with the glossy photo. I also added a metal "sweet" tag as an accent. I loved this layout and plan to use it for more fur friend pics in the future.



I hope you enjoyed your visit today! Please come back soon! Your next stop on the hop is on Barb's blog. She always has an inspirational goody to share! Have a great week and I leave as always with-

Blessings to you,
Vicki

1. Maria Matter http://joyfulstamper.blogspot.com/
2. Lorie Souther http://www.thethinkinspot.blogspot.com/
3. Vicki Patranc http://bountifulblessings2u.blogspot.com/
4. Barb Wibel http://madeforkeeps.blogspot.com/
5. Mary Harmon http://sparkly-train.blogspot.com/
6. Gina Lindsay http://ginasmakingsandmusings.blogspot.com/
7. Mary Witter http://www.marywitter.blogspot.com/
8. Cindy Grigiski http://www.stampwithmecindyg.com/

Two from One Design!

Hello Friends!

Today I would like to share a couple of cards made using the same DCWV cardstock design. Once again, I have gone to my favorite Fun in the Sun pack! This has become one of my favorites due to the double sided designs and the touches of glitter on the cardstock.

My maternal grandmother was a tiny lady with a big heart. One of her favorite sayings when we washed the dishes was, "While you have that hot wet rag, how about wiping down this...or that!" She managed to get her entire kitchen cleaned that way!! We use that phrase still today and I was reminded of it when I had this cardstock out. So, while I had this big piece of cardstock out, why not make two cards??

The anniversary card is standard size. I cut the outside edges with Majesty design scissors. The greeting layer is cut with Spellbinders Scalloped Rectangle die and stamped in Really Rust craft ink. The edges are sponged with Ballet Blue ink. I added copper pearls for accent as well as the heart gem brad. I used the SU Bird punch to add some extra interest with the bird and branches. The bird's eye is also a copper pearl. Simple and fun with this card!

The second card was made for my daughter's friend. Military wives are so awesome about encouraging and supporting each other! She needed a card just to say she appreciated her friend's efforts and prayers. Same standard base as before. The greeting is stamped on a strip of GP white cardstock and cut with an MS border punch. The flowers are from a K & Company pack. The centers on the flowers were yellow so I went over them with a copper glimmer gel pen and added the white dots. You are gonna laugh I know, but I thought you would get a kick from the fact that I used the little dot cut outs from the border punch on the flower centers!! How's that for recycling?!?!? The flowers are adhered with dimensionals. I added a rust colored ribbon to soften the card a little and rounded the lower corners. Here again, simple and fun!

I hope you are all enjoying your weekend and you have enjoyed your visit here today! Please come back soon! And, remember....put that hot wet rag to good use while you have it!! Hugs and...

Blessings to you,
Vicki

Heartfelt Thank You

Hello Friends!

I hope you have been having a great weekend! We were blessed with much warmer temperatures and sunny skies! Just beautiful!

I have a very simple card to share with you today. It is part of a set I put together for a friend. I started with a cardstock base made from the K&Company Life's Journey stack. Beautiful design on both sides. I added a piece of ribbon from my bridal floral stash. The sentiment is stamped with Mellow Moss on white cardstock, embossed with clear embossing powder, and cut with Spellbinders Labels Nine die. I like the little heart at the end of the flourish on this stamp. This layer is adhered with dimensionals. I sponged the edges of the sentiment and the card with Mellow Moss. I finished the card with a computer generated greeting inside. I love the elegance this cardstock gives to the card! I must have been born in the wrong generation! I can't seem to get too far away from vintage type cards!

I have a busy week ahead, but hope to get a chance to visit some blogs and leave some love! We may be on longer daylight hours, but the hours still seem too short for me to get everything in a day I would like to! Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by today! It feels so good when we can share time together!

Love and blessings to you~
Vicki

Thank You Ms. Loretta!

Greetings! Hope everyone is having a great weekend! We are finally seeing some sunshine!

Today I want to share some pics of the wonderful blessings I received from an awesome blogging friend, Loretta! Loretta is also a Glitterbee and has a fantastic blog where she shares her many talents and craft projects!

I was thrilled when the package arrived! So many goodies! You rock, Loretta! Let's see....where to begin??? There was a package of holiday ribbon, a bag of dimensionals, a huge roll of red sticky tape, a planner, a beautiful butterfly keyring, a tea light candle lollipop, Fiskars Cameo Ovations stamps, Memory Boutique frames, corners and hat pins, Making Memories frame, a set of scrapbooking embellishments, and Making Memories Sabrina ribbon slides! Whew!! What a haul!! Thank you again, Loretta, for your generous gifts!

I so appreciate the wonderful blogging friends I have made. I am honored to be in groups of bloggers that share not only their creative talent but also share themselves and their time! This has been such a rewarding experience!

I am off now to play in my craft room! Lots of inspiration to get me jumpstarted!

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you will come by often! I wish all of you...

Bountiful Blessings,
Vicki

Thank You Hugs

Glitter Graphics - GlitterLive.co

Hello Friends!

No craft project to share to day, but a big THANK YOU to all the followers!

If you have become a follower on my blog and I haven't contacted you to thank you, please forgive me! It is not something I want to neglect but Blogger has left me with no options! For months now, I have been trying to retrieve the followers that Blogger let vanish and still no help from them. I can see the number of followers I have on my dashboard but I can not view the individual follower. Also, I can not view any followers on anyone else's blog. Nor can I become a follower of any blogs. Nothing shows up for me but the title. You can imagine how frustrating and discouraging this can be. There are so many blogs that I would love to follow and visit on a regular basis, but there is no where for me to sign up with the present situation.

I hope you will continue to follow my blog and know that I appreciate each of you. I am hoping that Blogger can correct this issue in the future. I guess the old saying is true in this case, "You get what you pay for"! I love using Blogger for so many other features they offer. I have also learned I am one of thousands having this issue with them. So, I'll continue to use them and continue to be grateful for the followers I can't see!!

Have a wonderful week and stay safe and warm!

Blessings to you,
Vicki

Five and Six...A Bit of a Mix

Good Morning All!

Today I have the fifth and sixth cards to show you made from my card kit stash! These are the last two thank you cards I am doing for a while! ( and everyone in the house says, Thank Goodness!").
I appreciate those of you who have taken this journey with me and I feel so much better about using up some long neglected kits.

The fifth card is all kit items. The card base, accent and sentiment are all from My Mind's Eye. I think I will be avoiding stripes for a while at least!! LOL!

The sixth card is also from a kit. I brought out the crimper again and used the floral embellishments from the set. I just added buttons to the centers, put the band and sentiment on and DONE!

I am so looking forward to making other kinds of cards and projects! Look out Valentine's Day...here I come!!

Thank you so much for your visit today! I promise no more thank you cards for at least the rest of the month (gotcha)!

Blessings to you,
Vicki

Yep! It's Number 4

Hello and Welcome!

If you haven't stopped by for a while, you may wonder what Number 4 is about! It is the fourth card in a series of Thank You cards I am making in an effort to use up some long neglected products.

This card I really had some fun with! It is another My Mind's Eye card kit ( yes I went overboard on these things!). I used the card base, the flower embellishments and the sentiment also from this kit. The pink band under the sentiment is also in this set. I crimped the flowers with my fingernails to give them some dimension. I then added a flower brad to the centers. The buttons were punched from coordinating cardstock with a Martha Stewart embossing punch and adhered with glue dots. I love this card! I think it really says a cheerful thank you! Hope you like it, too!

I have a side tip for you today! I use a good deal of glue dots in my crafting and it can get rather pricey. I was fortunate to find a tip in a You Tube video that helped me save some real money.(Sorry, I don't remember the name of the video!) I use Tack It Over and Over glue to make my own dots! I just have to put drops of the glue onto parchment paper and let them dry for 24-36 hours. That's it! I dot them on folded paper and then I can fold the blank side over the dots. Please don't try wax paper for this! It won't work! The only snafu is that the glue is not that easy to find. It is available on line and on Ebay sometimes. I have also been lucky enough to find it at Michael's a couple of times. It runs around $5 a bottle and a bottle makes thousands of glue dots. You can make them any size you want this way, too! They will adhere almost anything and they are great for buttons and paperclip bookmarks! Just a little FYI to share so we can all get the benefits!

I'll be back with you soon with the next card in the series!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Come as you are and come back often!

Blessings to you,
Vicki

Number 3 in the Series

Welcome Friends!

So glad you could stop by today! I hope your New year is starting with joy and love! A very quiet New Year's eve for me and my family, but lots of love to share!

The next card in the Thank You series is very basic but with bold lines. The card base is from a My Mind's Eye card kit as is the sentiment. The sentiment is matted to coordinating cardstock and adhered with dimensionals. I added some geometric-shaped paper clips for a little interest. Super quick!

I am still working on using these kits and reducing my "stash". It is slow going but I am determined not to buy any new paper until I use a good deal of what I have on hand!

There are still a few cards in this series and I hope you will visit again. I so appreciate all your nice comments and suggestions!

Blessings to you,
Vicki

Next In The Series

Hello and Welcome! Hope you are having a great day!

This is the next card in a card kit Thank You series I have been working on. In my December 28th post, I explained how I am trying to use some of the card kits I have had stored away for some time now.

I really like the patterns and colors in this card! A bit of a Spring look feels good on these cold Winter days. The card base is from a My Mind's Eye kit. I ran the front through my paper crimper to give a little texture to the stock. I added a strip of ribbon to the front to highlight the sentiment. The sentiment and embellishments, which are raised on dimensionals, are also from the kit. The stash is slowly dwindling so check back again for the next card in the series!

Thanks for stopping by!

Blessings to you,
Vicki

A Series of Thanks!

Hello Friends! Good Monday morning to you! Hope your week starts well!

It's that time when we start to make resolutions for the New Year! I only make one resolution each year...that is to make no resolutions! Past experience has proven to me I always end up disappointed when I try to resolve something for the coming year. I do, however, set goals for myself. It's such a good feeling when you meet that goal and even exceed it sometimes. One of my goals recently is to try and use up as much of my "stash" as I can (without touching the treasured pieces, of course...lol). I have numerous sets of My Mind's Eye card kits. I thought the thank you cards I need to make would be a perfect use for these kits. So, today I would like to start a series of thank you cards that I have made using these products.

This card uses the card base from the kit. I love this color combo! I then used my Labels Four Nesties to to cut the mattes. The sentiment layer is also edged with Colorbox chalk ink Icy Blue. A very simple card but with some interest. I think it would be perfect for a masculine thank you card or one for a family. What do you think?

In future posts I will share some of the other kits and embellishments I have used, so, stay tuned! It has been fun even though I sometimes feel like I am "cheating" using these kits. You know how it is...if you don't agonize over it, how can it be original?!?! How can you say it is hand made?!?! Well, I am overcoming that in an effort to reach my goal! What are your feelings about card kits?

So glad you could visit today! I hope you will come back often! I look forward to your comments and opinions so let me hear from you if you have the time!

Blessings to you,
Vicki

So Much To Be Thankful For

Greetings everyone! I hope your Christmas Day was a blessed one for all of you. The blessings certainly flowed for our family!! I got to talk to my family in Germany and got a chance to visit with family close by. We had a wonderful lunch and some good laughs. I must have been a fairly good girl this year because I was also blessed with some very nice gifts! I now have a giftcard for Starbucks...woohoo!....and I have to brag about my new crockpot! It is the type that has a locking lid so you can transport it safely and without a mess!! It is perfect as I take food twice a month to our church for fellowship dinner. My dear friends know me so well! I also got dinner and a chance to see the Living Christmas Tree production. How wonderful to spend an evening reflecting on the true meaning of Christmas! The production was huge and very well done. The costumes and the music brought so much life to the scenes. Truly awe inspiring!

With so many blessings, I am overwhelmed with gratitude to family and friends for making this holiday even more special! So, I have started to make some thank you cards to show my appreciation. This card started with a white card base that I embossed with the CB folder Floral Fantasy and then rounded the corners. The pink layer is card stock and the corners are punched with a Fiskars corner punch. I used my Nesties to cut the scallop circle and stamped the sentiment with a stamp from Inkadinkadoos "Just Saying" set. I added dots and dashes to the card with a Creative Memories marker. The card came out a little "busier" than I had planned but I still like the look of it. Now to get busy with the rest of the cards and get them sent out!!

Thank you so much for stopping by today! I am so grateful for each visit and hope you find some inspiration to take away with you!

Blessings to you,
Vicki