VivLyn Designs

Check out this Halloween Kitty

I just love this Halloween kitty image by SweetMissDaisy.  It is from her Whipper Snapper Designs cling mount set called Halloween Expressions.  I love the big smile on his face.  He is just too cute.  I stamped him with VersaFine Onyx Black and then masked him, sprayed the background with my Copic air brush and drew in some grass at the bottom.  The sentiment is from the same set.  I stamped another kitty and cut him out.  He is mouted on top of the other one and I took a scrap piece of green cardstock and cut little slits all along the length and adjusted the height of the slits and mounted it on dimensionals for the grass.  I mounted it on a yellowish orange Nestie scalloped rectangle and mounted that on a sheet from an old Memory Box Halloween paper pad.  It is all mounted on a Memory Box gourd card.  The ribbon is old from my ribbon drawer and the button is a vintage one that looks pearlized IRL.  I threaded 3 pieces of linen thread through it and made them look like legs.  I was going to color them black but knew they wouldn't show up well on the card.  Here is a close-up of the kitty and grass from the side. 

Hubby brought home a rotissere chicken for dinner tonight and I took what was left and threw it in a pot and am making some chicken soup for tomorrow's lunch.  I wish it was done now.  It's smelling yummy!

Cute Chick!

A couple of week's ago, the Splitcoast Stampers Crafty Secrets forum challenge was for a card using yellow.  I submitted a different card for the challenge but had started this one and then didn't know where I was going with it.  I finally finished it up and it turned out pretty cute, I think.  The image is from the Crafty Secrets Heartwarming Vintage Image & Journal Birds & Botanicals booklet.  I cut the image portion and mounted it with a decorative piece of green cardstock down the left side that I used a Martha Stewart punch on.  The upper right needed something, so I used a piece of PTI Spring Moss satin ribbon and my Bow-Easy from Sharon.  I love the ease of making bows now.  The sentiment is from SweetMissDaisy's Whipper Snapper unmounted set called Crazy for Chickens stamped in PTI Spring Moss ink.  The embossed paper I've had for a long time and it is K&Company.  The whole thing is mounted on a Memory Box parsley card.

I hope everyone had a great Labor Day.  We didn't do anything special.  I was busy cleaning, reorganizing and purging things I haven't used in ages.  I'm working on one room at a time and wanted to start with my stamping area.  What a mess!!  I want to live more simply and not be so consumed by all this *stuff* around me.  I will continue to make cards but am going to try and use what I already have instead of buying more.  Other things I'm doing for our simple life style is cooking from scratch to get chemicals out of our diet.  I was told years ago by a nutritionist after my cancer treatments were over to do that and tried for a time but it was just to hard to do when you work full time.  Everything is geared toward time savings when you work.  Well, now, I don't have any excuses, do I?  I'll keep you posted on other changes I do.  I have found numerous blogs that are great on the subject of simplifying!

CSSC83 - Let's Go to the Fair

The Splitcoast Stampers Crafty Secrets Forum challenge this week was to do something with the theme being Let's Go to the Fair.  I saw this image in the  Crafty Secrets Heart Warming Vintage Summertime Images & Journal Notes booklet and it looked like a winner to me.  The background paper is from the CSHV Radiant Paper Pad.  The "blue ribbon" is a Nestabilities pinking circle with a button in the center, grosgrain ribbon on the back and off white twine threaded through the button.  The image is adhered to cardstock that has been punched with Martha's Latice punch at the bottom.  I mounted the whole thing on dimensionals and the blue ribbon is mounted on dimensionals I stacked two high so it would clear the image.  It feels good to be creating again!

Another Challenge Done!

This card was for the Paper Craft Planet Crafty Secret Challenge here.  We were to use ribbon which is really easy to do since I love ribbons of all kinds!  The image is from the Crafty Secrets Heartwarming Vintage Homemade Images & Journal Notes.  The journal part of the sheet is a canning jar and I mounted it on the same piece of background paper on the inside of the card for the sentiment to be written on.  The papers, including the aqua that I cut with my Nestabilities scalloped rectangle, are from the CSHV Radiant Paper Pad.  The flower I've had for ages and it's from Bo Bunny.  The ribbon is wide silk that I purchased from Sharon Johnson.  It is yummy to work with.  I used my SU corner rounder punch on the bottom corners just for a more feminine touch.

I need to get busy on work on my last challenge until Saturday!  Yippee!! 

Paperee Crafty Secrets Challenge

I'm trying to get caught up on all the current Crafty Secrets challenges.  This one is for the Paperee challenge and the theme is fall.  You read about it here.  The image I chose is from Crafty Secrets Heartwarming Vintage Fall Cotton Scraps.  I sewed it on a piece of paper from Basic Grey's Mellow paper pad, which the background paper is also from.  I punched little leaves, marked veins in them and then crinkled them up.  They are mounted on dimensionals.  Everything is mounted on a Memory Box card in Dill.  This was a quick card to put together.  The time consuming part for me is deciding on what to do, what image to use, what paper to use.  I'm sure we all suffer from that from time to time.  I think I spend wayyyyyy too much time thinking about a card, rather than just diving in and doing it.  Oh well, that's me!

A beautiful day today...warm with a gorgeous breeze.  Perfect in my opinion!

CSSC82 - Challenge Using Yellow

This card is for last week's Crafty Secrets Forum card challenge over at Splitcoast Stampers...yes, last week's.  Tomorrow is a new one!  You can read about the challenge here.  It was a toughie for me since I very seldom use yellow.  I don't know why, but I just don't.  This image is from the Crafty Secrets Summertime Images and Journal Notes booklet.  There were a lot of images I could have used but I thought this little girl with her flowers and butterflys was really sweet.  The background paper is from Basic Grey's Stella Ruby paper pad and is mounted on a Memory Box premade card.  Sorry I don't know what color it is...it wasn't marked and I failed to mark it when I received it.  I went around the edges with my pinking shears and then sewed the image on a pale yellow piece of cardstock and then ran my scissors along the edge to distress it.  The little flower in the upper right hand corner is a piece of PTI saddle stitched ribbon in Lemon Tart.  I saw on Lisa Johnson's blog where she used the stitching on the one side and pulled it to make it a ruffle.  I just pulled it tighter and made a flower...looks like I should have used more ribbon and pulled tighter.  Actually I did have a longer piece of ribbon and then cut some off, now I wish I'd left it on.  Oh well, live and learn.  The ribbon flower and button are attached with a double sticky large circle.  The sentiment from Crafty Secrets Clear Art Stamps Garden Girls set is stamped in VersaFine Vintage Sepia on another piece of paper from the Stella Ruby paper pad.  I cut it out with a Nestabilities scalloped circle and it is mounted on a Nestabilities pinking circle.  You can't tell by the picture that it is pinked but goes with the pinked edges on the card.  This is mounted on dimensionals to make it lay nicely on the rough edges of the image mount.

What a Sweet Little Witch

I have been so bad this summer...not keeping up with my blog.  I have had some health issues that just seemed to hang around but now am feeling so much better with new meds.  I have so many things in my head that I want to do, it is spinning.  During my blog absence, hubby and I celebrated our 39th anniversary!  I can't believe it's been that long, but hopefully we will have many, many more.

This card is made with the cute Halloween set that came out last year from Crafty Secrets Clear Image Art Stamps called Halloween Fun.  I love this little witch.  She is so cute and innocent looking.  I used up some scrap Halloween papers and some cute ribbon I've been hoarding.  The bat brad in the upper left of the image is Making Memories, I believe.  The bat on the Boo sentiment is a Making Memories metal embellishment with a sticky strip on the back for adhering.  I sewed the orange pumpkin paper on with my sewing machine.  I have been using it way too little on my cards.  I think it really adds something to the finished project.

It is cool today and so nice.  Fall is in the air.  I have some chicken breasts on cooking for chicken and dumplings later.  That's always good for a cool day...warms you up on the inside.

A Really Fun Mouse Party!

Sorry, I've been MIA!!  Just too many things going on in the summer.  I'll try and get back to regular blogging...am I forgiven?

I made this card a little while ago but just never got around to posting it here.  The image is from the new Mouse Party set from Crafty Secrets Clear Arts Stamps.  It has so many cute images of the sweetest mice.  The background papers are from my scrap bin.  I stamped the little row of mice at the bottom on the lime piece with VersaFine Vintage Sepia.  The teeny tiny pompom trim is from the Shabby Cottage Studio that I've had about a year now and it seemed perfect card to use on this card.  I sewed it on with my trusty sewing machine.  I used my Spellbinder's Nestabilities scalloped square die to cut both mounts behind the litte mouse.  I colored the little mouse with my Copic markers and used a Copic metallic pen to make little dots on his clown costume.  Everything is mounted on a Memory Box Forget-Me-Not notecard.

I purchased an Excalibur Dehydrator online today.  Can't wait for it to come and start drying fruits and vegetables.  Anybody else out there have a dehydrator?  How do you like it?  I have heard so many good things about dehydrated foods.

Crafty Secrets New Post Card Kits!!!

Sandy Redburn over at Crafty Secrets has come up these super cute and fun to use Post Card Kits.  They are being debuted at the upcoming CHA.  The DT got some of the images early to create samples.  I got a sheet with two baby girl images and a sheet with two Christmas images, the chipboard post cards and shapes for embellishments, along with a set of stamps that pertain to the kit.  If you would like to see what you actually receive in these kits, please check out the Crafty Secrets blog and also enter for the post card kit giveaway!  They are "knock your socks off" cute!!!!

This image reminded me of the door knob hangie things that you see on a baby's door when they are napping.  Isn't that the cutest little baby girl ever?  I started by gluing the image to the front of the post card.  I used the Tombow Mono Multi which was the perfect glue for this.  I used my Basic Grey file set that I purchased here to sand off the extra paper and then I sewed up a few buttons and then mounted them with glue dots.  I then started taping (yes, taping) the lace border on the back.  The lace was a good 1/2" wide and went on very well with the tape. 

 

 

Here is a closeup of the image!  The little bow at the bottom and the hanger is vintage seam tape.  I made the bow at the bottom using the Bow-Easy purchased here from Sharon Johnson.  It is perfect for me, since I can't tie a bow for beans and this makes a perfect bow everytime.

 

 

 

I made the background paper on my computer and also the label.  I used my Nestabilities Labels Four to cut out both layers and mounted them both with dimensionals.  When your baby is napping, this side shows and when she's up, just turn it around.  I used part of a bead cluster from Blue Moon beads for the hanging portion at the bottom.  There is also a little heart that is also part of the post card kit in with the beads. 

I made four post cards but this was the only one that the pictures turned out.  It got dark too early tonight because of rain, so I ran out of light and the flash made every thing glare. 

Don't forget to go over to the Crafty Secrets blog and check out the different kits and sign up for their giveaway, too!  Four post card kits are being released now and then another four at a later date. 

Crafty Secrets DS Tutorial Challenge

Today all the gals on the Crafty Secrets Design Team are doing tutorials.  You must stop by each of their blogs because I KNOW they will WOW you!  My tutorial is on masking.  I will admit masking is time consuming but usually the end results are worth it.

These are the products to get you started.  The white roll on the left side is called Eclipse Tape that I purchased here.  It is a roll of thin tacky paper used for masking.  There is quite a bit on the roll and it lasts a very long time.  You also need a pair of sharp detail scissors and your stamps. If you don't feel like purchasing the Eclipse Tape, you can use a Post-It note.  I prefer the Eclipse because it is thinner and can be used over and over again.

For my first card I chose to use the Crafty Secrets Clear Art Stamps Fairyland set.  To start out, you need to is determine what you want the finished image to look like.  I wanted the fairy sitting on the mushroom and then you can add whatever else you want.  In order to show the fairy sitting on the mushroom, I stamped the fairy first.  You will notice that I stamped her in the middle of the sheet to make sure I had enough paper at the bottom to add the mushroom. 

At this point, I also stamped the same image on a piece of the Eclipse Tape and cut her out (that is the time consuming part).  Place the image you cut out (the mask) directly over the image on your card and then you can stamp the mushroom.  The best thing about Crafty Secrets stamps is they are clear so you can see exactly where you want to stamp.  In the image below, you see the mask over the image and the mushroom stamped.

You can click on the picture to see it larger.  After your mushroom is stamped, remove the mask and I put mine on the outside of the clear sheet the stamps are mounted on, so I can use it again and it's with the correct stamp set.  The tackiness is quite subtle and the mask comes off easily and doesn't pull any of the original image off.  NOTE: Please excuse my numbers on the images, I got them out of sequence and couldn't fix my boo-boo.

Here is the complete image with the mask removed.  Doesn't she look cute sitting on that mushroom?  Now it is time to add other images if you want and then start coloring.  For all three of my cards today, I stamped them on water color paper and colored them with SU markers and a Dove blender pen.  I was pleased with the results.

 

Here is my finished card.  As you can see, I added the cute little snail also from the Fairyland set.  The background paper is from a K&C small paper pad from Michaels.  The flower brad is also K&C from Michaels.

For my next card, I used the new Crafty Secrets Clear Art Stamps Mouse Party set.  I stamped the mouse running on the card and also on a piece of the Eclipse Tape.  I then cut out the mask and placed it over the mouse and stamped the cheese wedge.  I didn't need a mask for the second cheese wedge since I wanted it just balancing on the first.  Just color and mount on your card.  Again the background paper is from an old K&C small paper pad from Michaels.  The green satin ribbon is from my ribbon drawer.  I used Memory Box cards as my base for all three of these cards.  The cards and envelopes come in a package of ten in many different colors.  I purchase mine here. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the last card I made using the masking technique.  The little mouse was masked, so his tail would show.  This card was also made using the Crafty Secrets Clear Art Stamps Mouse Party set.  Mom even has little fuzzy pompoms on her slippers.  I used Fun Flock by Stampendous in white that you can purchase here or here (newest yummy colors).  I stamped the balloons and cut them out and used linen thread as the string.  The balloons are mountd on dimesionals to give them the look of floating.

I hope you enjoyed my tutorial.  It was my first in case you couldn't tell.  LOL 

Make sure to stop by the other blogs and especially Heidi's as she is giving away a $30 certificate for Crafty Secrets products!  Who wouldn't want to win that?  Have a great day!!!

Crafty Secrets Heartwarming Vintage Blog
Crafty Secrets Site

Vicki Chrisman
Lisa Zappa
Pam Hooten
Heidi Blankenship
Marisa Grosson
Anna Wight
Michele Kovack
Linda Duke
Melissa Phillips
Michelle Van Etten