This art that makes me happy

Excited to share my new AccuCut die with you

2012-01-31T13:34:00.000-06:00

With everything going on these past few weeks I really haven't had a chance to share my news with you. I'm excited to finally get to share my brand new AccuCut die (just being released now at winter CHA).

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If you know me at all, you know I'm a huge fan of "cooking and recipe" themed paper crafts. I have always been totally inspired by the fantastic "retro" themed cooking stickers, stamps and images from Crafty Secrets, and I think this will be a fun complement to them.. so I'm thrilled about that. A fun base with extra accessories to pull your project all together. I think it will be fun for albums, layouts, cards, invitations, home decor.. all kinds of things.

It's a two die set and is available with or without holes. ( so if you are wanting to use a binding system you can also do that).

The pocket you see in the top right is sized to fit a standard index/recipe card. So you get the base ( place mat piece), the pocket. and tab to attach to your recipe card.. OR to the side of your pages, the napkins to go under your silverware, a plate, shaker for salt and pepper, and the tabbed index card frame for adding a photo or journaling ect.

VC103CSJB Album Recipe ( 2 of 2)

I was actually in such a hurry to get my project to AccuCut for CHA the day I took it in, that I didnt even get a photo of it. ( crazy I know... but then again..these past few weeks have been a ridiculous blur). I will get a photo of it to share here, as soon as they are back from CHA. I am in a process of creating another one, but no quite finished yet :( I did create this card below using pieces from the die and Papers, stamps and images from Crafty Secrets.

I used the Pocket on the inside of my card to hold a gift card.

Thank Goodness I to have a couple of photos from the album the talented Traci Armbrust (senior designer) at AccuCut created using my die. She always does amazing work. Thankyou Traci!

I promise I'll have more sample using my die to share soooon~!

Off to cut and glue :)

Vic

More Valentines projects

2012-01-29T18:42:00.000-06:00

This weekend went by fast for us..but it was nice to just slow down a bit and be at home. It was sad to have to take family to the airport and say goodbye, but as hard as it is, everyone has to get back to their routines, and back to work, school, ... and all the other things that life consists of . Just hate to see them go. It was nice to have Wes home over the weekend to spend some time with us. Jarad and Kate had to work, but they had brought Cloey (our grandpup) to spend a few days and keep Molly company ( and us too of course). We pretty much laid around ,watched movies, played with the dogs and talked. Just want we were all needing I think.

I hope your weekend was a good one.

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The projects below are the second half of the projects I was sharing in my last post. All of them done with the New Vintage Valentine $5.00 Download Kit from Crafty Secrets. You can read more about it and see what all is in it in this post on the Heartwarming Vintage Blog.

I'll tell you this much.. it's packed with stuff! :)

The tag book below was made with printable from the Vintage Valentine download.

Just added some photos, and put it all together with a piece of ribbon.

This is also another tag done with one of the download tags.

just printed off a second one to cut to add some dimension.

I also put together this hybrid "hanging layout" with papers and elements from the download.

I have so many new product CHA projects to share... I promise to get on it this week.

Lots of fun stuff to show you.

Thanks for sticking with me friends.

Vic

Valentine pretties from Crafty Secrets

2012-01-27T23:04:00.001-06:00

Today I'm sharing some fun things made with the New Vintage Valentine $5.00 Download Kit from Crafty Secrets. I cant believe all the great stuff you get in this download kit.

You can see it all HERE in this post on the Heartwarming Vintage Blog. But here's a few little peeks.

Okay... so here's some things I've done with the kit over the last few days:)

I'll post more photos of the banner pieces towards the bottom of this post. I used the AccuCut die P1317CSJB Pennant Flag and papers and images from the NEW $5.00 Vintage Valentine Downloadable Kit

So many adorable tags too.

I used the papers and images to create these easy candy bar wrappers.

Being able to print things off the size you want them.. makes projects like this re-vamped container super easy.

I have lots more projects to share over the next few days, so instead of drowning you in them all at once I'll just show you some closer photos of the banner pieces for now. It was fun to dig threw my buttons, rick rack and ribbon pieces to embellish it. ( Oh.. had some fun stitching also:)

I see now just how therapeutic "creating" can be these last couple of days. I wondered from time to time if/when I would feel like coming back in my room to "create"... but it has been so good for me. There is a big difference between allowing yourself to grieve, and just making yourself physically sick from "thinking" about things too much. The last two weeks have given us alot to deal with. It's been tough. About the time you think it's getting better, the sadness comes again. I can see there are just going to be days like that. But... I'm thankful that when I dont feel like talking , and I dont want to cry anymore... coming to this room and spending time creating, keeps my mind busy. It's a good distraction.

So today... I'm thankful for that.

Thankyou to all of you! Your kind words, emails, cards, ect have just touched me more than you know.

Vic

One more goodbye

2012-01-26T18:34:00.000-06:00

My blog has always been about "sharing". Sharing ..not just what I create..but my everyday life.. and my family. I've shared my pups often, and I'm sure by that .. you know how much I love them and how important a part of our family they are . That's why even tho I don't want to share another sad thing here on my blog... I have to.. because it's what's going on in my life right now. Yesterday our sweet Aly pup went to heaven. She was by my side for 13 years.. and was the sweetest, kindest most gentle dog ever! I loved her beyond words. Lots of loss in our lives right now, big holes.

It's hard to even talk about these past two weeks right now. But I know life has to go on.. and getting back into a routine will help me stop dwelling on the sadness. So... I'm doing this post all on it's own.. and then tomorrow I will moved on to sharing creative stuff again. Sometimes I feel like I've cried all I can cry. I couldn't sleep last night , so I got up and worked on some things. Actually it was really therapeutic. Sometimes just throwing yourself back into things and keeping your mind busy is best.

Thanks for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers, and thanks for letting me share my life stuff ( happy and sad) with you here. You have no idea how much your words have comforted me these past couple of weeks especially. Thanks friends!

Vic

Tribute to mom

2012-01-21T00:08:00.000-06:00

I wanted to share the video my son Weston made for moms funeral and memorial.

Mom

2012-01-18T11:07:00.000-06:00

I feel like you are all my friends and you've let me share my sweet momma with you here for a long time.. so I need to share with you about her a bit more. The last few days have been the hardest I think I have ever had to go through. My heart aches. But we take comfort knowing our sweet momma is in heaven with Dad now... and I KNOW they are dancing. (something they loved to do). We were with her the entire time.. holding her hand . she knew she was not alone and that she was SO loved.

I'm so thankful for this precious time I have had with her so close for the last few months. I know now what a GIFT that was, and I'm so blessed to have had it.

I'm so thankful for the nice lunch we had just sitting at the table chatting on Thursday, just before she had the stroke. I will cherish every minute of that..

It's been hard to come here to write this ,but I wanted you all to know, because I know you know how important she was to me.( to all of my family). She was our "rock". ... "our" family core... and she will be SO missed. I'm just going to share these photos of her and my boys with you, because they are what is giving me comfort right now. They make me smile and comfort me.

Evelyn Dunn Obituary HERE

I love canvas :)

2012-01-10T10:40:00.000-06:00

Yep, It's true... I do .. I love canvas:) Canvas's are so fun , so many different sizes, and you can do about anything on them. Glimmer Mist is a dream on them of course. Paint, stitching, adding photos ..ect... all so fun. BUT.... suddenly I have a new love .... printing on canvas. I used Crafty Secrets "Designing with Vintage Illustrations CD" to create a my background....then I printed it off on printable canvas sheet. So easy! Well, I printed my "layout" on a canvas sheet, and then added it and other papers and embellishments to a "mounted" canvas, that I had painted black.

If you click on the photo below to enlarge it, you can see better ,just how cool the print looks on the canvas paper.

The Canvas is pretty good size. About 9 1/2 x 11 1/2 x 1

The background, bird, nest paper, and frame are all elements from the CD
So here's what it looked like when I had it all ready to print out .and add to the mounted canvas.

Once I printed this off I light really came on ..and got me thinking about all the possibilities. Time to order more canvas sheets. lol

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My sis is coming today to spend some time with mom and I'm spending the day in my studio working on CHA projects. I think I need to make a quick run to see if they have any more of these at the little mini mart in town so my sis can try them out. Mom and I had some the other day and I'm telling you.. YUMMY!

Oh..again.. one of the perks of small town life. Homemade Kolaches at the corner store :)

These were "peach" and they were practically still warm. ( ok.. that might be stretching a tiny bit..but they were really soft and fresh) Come on over, the coffee's on :)

Let the creative vibes start flowing. I need em . Lots to get done today. Here's to a productive day!

Thanks for stopping by my friends.

Vic

Hello.. I'm here

2012-01-06T11:59:00.000-06:00

I'm trying to figure out if it's my computer my server, or blogger that is giving me so much trouble. I've been really having a hard time getting photos to upload. But... I'm here.. finally, after a number of tries. Here's hoping ( fingers crossed). It's also been a really busy week. My mom is now on oxygen at night , which is helping her sleep so much better, and wake feeling alot more rested.. so yay for that! Now if we could just get her knee pain under control so she can get around as well as she was. CHA is just around the corner... so I've been busy working on projects ( although I'm not planning to actually "go" this time). I've been working on some projects for AccuCut, using some fun dies. The card below is one of them. This design opens up so many options for designs. I decided to make it into a kind of card/gift holder combo. I LOVE the images on the Mini Vintage Creative Scraps

and they work so well with Artist Edition Metal Charms By Fancy Pants, so I thought if would be fun to work them into the card design.. as a little gift.

Accucut card die number is at the bottom of the card photo. (click to enlarge)

I chose this cute little nest image, but there are tons awesome images on the sheets.

Mini Vintage Creative Scraps

Artist Edition Metal Charms By Fancy Pants

This is just the charm set I used. There are lots of other FP metal Frames:)

I can see using this card vertically or horizontally, using one of the squares to showcase something like I did here, or having images showing through all three of the little windows.

I just attached the chain to the back of the card by adhering the two ends of a piece of ribbon to the back of the card.

I'll be sharing more of my AccuCut projects between now and CHA... and SHHHHH.... I have a secret. I am so excited to tell you... I have a new Die design of my own being released at CHA winter :)

I'm so excited to show you. I cant share it yet..but soon. I hope you'll like it.

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Oh.. I cant forget to wish my bestie... Sandy ......

Happy Happy Birthday!

(made this for her with the "Creating with Vintage Patterns CD")

Have a great day my friends!

Vic

Happy New Year

2012-01-01T22:17:00.000-06:00

Well, I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, ringing in the new year. Hard to believe it's 2012. We didn't go out on New Years Eve, but we had company today, and had a fantastic time.

The holidays were great ,but I'm ready for things to get back to normal again. I already have my Christmas stuff put away. I usually don't put things away that quickly, but I have lots of CHA projects calling my name in the next couple of weeks, so it feels go to have it all packed up and put away.

This project isn't one I 've been working on for CHA..but it is a Tattered Angels blog project. December was a fun month on the TA blog. The Team did projects that were inspired by other DT members. You can see where my inspiration came from for this project. here
It was so hard to get a good photo because of the glare on the glass. ... sorry:(

( the darling little girl.. is Kate's niece) Kate gave this project to her mom for Christmas. I got the nicest thank you from her mommy.
I was inspired by the use of screens to create a background paper to match the other papers.

There is lots of great projects on the TA blog this month .. if you get a chance , check them out :)

I have to show you this darling photo..that melts my heart. Aly has not been wanting to eat.. so basically, we are feeding her whatever we can get her to eat, .. whenever we can get her too. ( most of the time.. that's by hand). Nathaniel is just the kindest kid you can imagine. Here he is getting Aly to eat. She is doing well, other than the eating. Really spry as always. Her cancer can not be operated on. We love her so much. For now.. basically whatever this sweet dog wants.. she gets. ( today.. beef stew) .. fed by hand by Nathaniel, and shes loving every minute of it.

I had to take this photo today. As we were looking at old photos, we ran across this photo of Nathaniel's Dad when he was close to Nathaniel's age. ummm slight resemblance ( ya think?) lol

Since I blogged last, we also celebrated my moms "actual" 90th birthday. We had a big open house for her over the summer, but the 29th was a actual day... so CELEBRATE we did! We had reservations for dinner then had cake, with balloons, gifts, flowers ..the works. Mom enjoyed it very much.

Here's to 2012!! Thank you all for your visits and you kind words in 2011. Lets do it all again in 2012:)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Wishing for...

2011-12-28T12:14:00.000-06:00

yep... you guessed it .. SUMMER! Is winter over yet? I know I have a while to go, so I better not start counting the days until summer yet. poo But ... doing a "summery" layout did help. ( now if I could just wear my flip flops, all would be good :)
Maybe I should just do "summery" layouts for the rest of winter huh? lol
This layout was done with papers from the new "Creating with Vintage Illustrations CD" from Crafty Secrets and also with their "Artsy Banners" Stamp set.

I love this stamp set soo much!

I used the banners at the top of the layout and the book print stamp to create this background. I also used one of the borders along the bottom of the patterned paper ( under the flowers).

I love mixing patterns and using this banner stamp is a great will to use up a bunch of paper scraps in different small prints. Oh.. and I had a little fun stitching too:)

You can check out everything over on The Heartwarming Vintage Blog but I wanted to post this so you would know about the sale. You can get all the info HERE

I also wanted to tell you about this, so you could check out the gorgeous samples the girls over at "The Shabby Tea Room" Wow.. they have made some amazing projects!

I keep forgetting to share these with you.. and since it's NOT flip flop weather here... these are a good thing. lol I made a number of these this year for little gifts. I saw them on Pinterest and thought they were so cute. ( oh and you know I love to do blanket stitch:). The are just hear shapes cut from felt ( I found at Hobby Lobby) and they are filled with rice. You put them in the microwave before you head out, then when they are warmed, you can stick them in mittens or into your pocket.. .. if that's were your hands will be.

My family would laugh at this because of my known obsession with my rice sock. ( if you don't know what a rice sock/or bag is , it's just a sock with 2-3 cups of regular rice in it, and tied shut, that you can stick in the microwave to heat to use sort of like a heating pad). Well, I can not live without mine!! I have migraines and it's seriously SO HELPFUL to me. I also heat one up for mom numerous times a day for her hands, knees, lower back.. where ever he arthritis is acting up most. As you can image I have more than ONE in the house... because you never know who will need one. More like 4. They are so easy and so inexpensive to make .. if you haven't tried it before.. give it a whirl. If it helps one person as much as it has me .. it's worth be giving the "rice sock spiel" once again. NOTE: if you made these little hand warmers, I found 20 seconds in the microwave was about right. If you are making a rice sock, I just use a new white tube sock, fill it with 3 cups of regular rice, tie it shut with a piece of ribbon, then microwave it 90 seconds. ( this may very with the difference in microwaves). but whatever you do... DON'T leave it in the microwave too long. Check it often the first time.. because if you scorch the rice... it's just like burning popcorn.. Stinky!... AND you have to start over. Once you scorch it, you have to dump it. As long as you don't scorch it.. you can use it over and over and over. Trust me.. mine has been microwaved hundreds of times. If you want to wash your sock.. rice is cheap enough.. just untie, dump the rice, wash the sock, and then refill with new rice.
You will be surprised how long they stay warm!

Okay, I'll close now so you can go make one :) Trust me on this... they are great!

Have I told you lately, how much I appreciate you coming by? Well... I DO!
Have a fantastic day my friends! Vic