Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Love Lines



Here's a couple of cards that I had lots of fun creating yesterday!

These super cute stamps and matching die set are from The Stamps of Life!





I love the cheery birds and the cool mailbox die!

Happy Stamping!


Monday, December 28, 2015

Postcard Love


Yes! a Valentine. I had to jaunt down to the dollar store today to pick up some loaf pans for the Bazillion Banana Breads that I will be baking as soon as I'm done blogging. Whilst there, I heard a lady look at the Valentine display, sigh and say "we've barely gotten through Christmas and Valentine's already?" Well, as you know, the most Industrious of cardmakers work ahead! If I was truly working ahead, i'd probably be working on Christmas cards still, but alas, I LOVE hearts and could create Valentine's cards 24-7

I'm home enjoying the stat day and decided to play along with the Splitcoaststampers way to use it challenge. You can find it HERE. Today's challenge was to only use a partial die cut. You can do this in a few different ways, but I decided to create a pop up heart border for my LOVE creation!

Debbie Hughes has created an excellent Tutorial right HERE on SCS if you're unsure of how to do this.  It was fun to stamp today~ I made a few cards- i'll share more tomorrow but here's the list of supplies for today's card:

Love Doves Die - "cept I only used the Love, not the Doves"
Vintage Postcard Clear Set

Red Satin Ribbon
Gold Embossing Powder

and a little glue of course!



Thursday, December 17, 2015

IO Designer Challenge-Snowy WIshes


Welcome to the IO Stamps Thursday Designer Challenge

Today we're creating Snowy Wishes!

Be sure to visit the IO Blog to link up your cards for the challenge and you could be the lucky winner of a IO Gift Certificate, an early Christmas present for you!


Today's little number is a quick and easy card with a Vintage Feel

This one doesn't need a lot of explaining

I used:



Other than that, I sponged a little Soft Sky onto the cardstock and made a snow flurry with my White Gel Pen. Be sure to visit the IO DT's Blogs for some more Snowy Goodness


Anna Wight 
Daniela Dobson
Dina Kowal
Ellen Taylor
Jeanne Streiff
Jenny Gropp
Karen Amidon
Kittie Caracciolo
Laura Fulcher
Vicki Garrett- That's me!

Happy Stamping!

--Vicki~~

Sunday, December 13, 2015

Challenge Chicks- Ice Ice Baby


Hello! long time no see! Been working on some release cards for IO stamps and of course doing Christmas Prep!!!! This month’s challenge is from Lydia – “Ice, Ice baby”.  Represent ice with a CLEAR element on your card – embossing powder, glaze, acetate, etc.
We’ll be posting a new challenge every month. We hope you can join us! No stress, no deadlines… just have fun! Please play along with us! The Challenge Chicks are on Facebook! Come “Like us” HERE and link your projects! If you are linking to an online gallery use the Keyword CHXDEC15. 


I really too the CLEAR Element to heart and rather than making a card, I whipped up a couple of Christmas Ornaments using my IO Die cuts and Clear Plastic Christmas  Balls.

I first saw the idea for the Christmas Ornament on Papertrey Ink however I knew that I could make my own with my existing Dies




The Dies I used for this project include


I also used Spellbinders Circle and Scalloped Circle Dies.
I used a small hole punch in the Sky coloured Layer to emulate Snowflakes



Here's another...... I love the Chubby Little Penguin and all the glitter

The Dies I used Here are

In addition, I used Spellbinders Scalloped Circle and Circle dies
and this pretty Doily Die from Prima Marketing


Hope you enjoyed my Ice Ice Baby Projects!

Happy Stamping!


Thursday, December 3, 2015






Welcome to the Impression Obsession Valentine Release Blog Hop!

We have some beautiful new stamps to share AND a Gift Certificate to give away!

My first creation is a bit of a Manly Valentine!

I started my card with a base of Doodlebug Design Valentine Paper

I coloured up Striped Love with my Touch Twin Markers and then added embellishments with the Heart Die Set

The hop will start today with a list of participants on the Impression Obsession Blog at 6am EST. Visit our fabulous IO Design Team’s projects with our stamps on their blogs (only one comment per blog please).


















The more blogs you visit … the better chance you will have to win a $25 Impression Obsession Gift Certificate!!!

Isn't this Girl just the Sweetest?

Her name is Valentina! Sweet Sweet Valentina!
Again, I coloured her up using my Touch Twin Markers.
The Patterned Papers are from Doodlebug Design
I embellished this card with Two Dies


I Finished up by adding the nifty Sentiment which you can find HERE



Comment entries will be open until 9pm CT on Sunday December 6th and a winner will be announced Monday December 7th. Good luck!




If you have any questions please email Jeanne.

All of the new stamps you'll be seeing on the hop are available NOW!


Hop list:


Anna Wight 
Daniela Dobson
Dina Kowal
Ellen Taylor
Jeanne Streiff
Jenny Gropp
Karen Amidon
Kittie Caracciolo
Laura Fulcher
Vicki Garrett

Happy Stamping~~

--VIcki~~

Thursday, November 19, 2015

IO Stamps DT Thursday Challenge


Good Morning!!!! Are you all getting ready for Christmas?

This morning I made a quick and easy card for the Seasons Greetings Challenge.

You could win a $25.00 Gift Certificate for Participating! Just use IO stamps and dies to create your finest Holiday creation!

For my card, I used the Merry Mouse Stamp!

I coloured her up with my Touch Markers and added a little Polar White Flower Soft to add snow and  bring dimension! I was teaching my mixed media canvas class this week, so I took advantage of having the stencil and whipped spackle out and made a flaky background! The final touch was to add some cranberry seam binding and the from our family to yours sentiment

you can link you card up HERE




If you're in the Virginia Area, you should pop in to the Warehouse Sale! 


check out the Designer cards! They're some pretty!


Thursday, November 12, 2015

Impression Obsession DT Thursday




Hi! I'm very happy to share some projects with you as the DT Thursday featured designer. This came at a perfect time as it allowed me to get a good start on my Christmas Cards. I'll just list the supplies under each card. So here goes

Merry from A Very Merry  Die
The sweet little gingerbread men from Cookie Block
Christmas from the Merry Christmas Die

The Paper is Carta Bella- Have a  Very Merry Christmas
The Little flag and poinsettia embellie are Chipboard accents from the Carta Bella Christmas  Wonderland Collection



That's that! Hope you enjoyed my share for today

--Vicki~~

Sunday, November 8, 2015

Challenge Chicks and Doodlebug oh my!



Good Morning!!! Okay so HOW many days 'til Christmas?

What happened to 2015? I can't believe it's almost through. It just seems it was January. I'm kind of glad in one sense, as it's been a tough 18 months for me, but each month that we got deeper into the year I got feeling better, so I guess it's all good! I'm positive the 2016 is going to be my year! POSITIVE!!!! 

So onto the card! How freakin grin evoking sweet is THIS???? That little Christmas tree makes me want to reach out and tickle it! I KNOW silly me. Anyway I kind of took artistic liberty with the Challenge Chicks Challenge this month..well HUGE artistic liberty in fact. The challenge was to create a tag to match some gift wrap that you have at home. I do have some Christmas Wrap packed away into a box and good lord, I wasn't ready to crack that yet! I had already had started this little gift tag featuring the Merry Tree Doodlepop 3D sticker. Then I thought perhaps I'd make some gift wrap to match. Well then I decided that I'd wrap something with the Christmas Magic Paper, but since I didn't have a gift to wrap, I didn't want to waste the paper, so I used it as the base for a card.

I used a strip of Christmas Trim to break up the background a bit and a small circle of Tiny Trimmings on the tag. I thought the tree could use a little snow under, so I added some Polar White Flower Soft. I had some fun stickers from the Dollar store that I added for the sentiment and of course the big black bow! Did I stray too far from the challenge?

Hope you enjoy my cute little creation as much as I enjoyed making it!


--Vicki~~

Thursday, November 5, 2015

Impression Obsession Thursday Designer Challenge


Good Morning! It's almost the weekend! Today's challenge is Give Thanks


For my card, I used




Check out what that super talented Design Team created!

To Play along in the challenge head over to the 

Happy Stamping!
--Vicki~~

Saturday, October 31, 2015

Happy Halloween!


All ready for Halloween? What are you going to be wearing this year?
I'm foregoing Halloween festivities this year. Sadly, we don't have any trick or treaters out this way.
I say sadly on one hand, but on the other it's not a bad thing, because I have NO excuse to buy Halloween chocolate and if I decide to, I don't have to share! Bwa hahahaha!!!!!

I'll fess up to buying a small (is a 24 pack small...lol a chocolate two-four!) For those of you that don't know what a two-four is, it's a case of beer.....24 to be exact! Anyway, I bought a 24 of a combination of Wunderbar, Caramilk, Crispy Crunch and What are they called...oh yeah, Mr. Big....I think my Mr. Boy Big got most of them, it was really just the Wunderbar I was after!  Anyway, that was the extent of Halloween around here, except for the card making and scrapbooking.

I figured I'd get one last creation in as the Halloween images in the fall release from Impression Obsession were simply scrumptious!!!! I absolutely LOVE Crazy eyes. I'm wondering if the stamp artist is a fan of the Orange is the New Black. I loved the first two seasons and Uzo Aduba is my favourite actress on the show. 


Was a little disappointed in Season Three and then got turned on to Wentworth, another Woman's Prison Drama, but much more intense. I know I KNOW..... work in a Prison all day and watch Prison and crime shows at night! lol

Okay So now for my card!!!!

Ad I said, the main image is Crazy Eyes from Impression Obsession

I added the corrugated cardboard later and then secured the main image, which I coloured in Touch Twin Marker and sponged over in so saffron and vintage photo.

Then comes the fun part.. I added a touch of black paint to some whipped spackle and added the checkerboard to each side of the image. I finished up with Orange, Black and White Paint Splashes ( I diluted Dylusions paint with a little water)...... and that's all folks!!!!

If you're heading out for the night, be safe!

Happy Halloween

--Vicki~~


Thursday, October 29, 2015

Splitcoaststampers Wednesday Sketch Challenge with Doodlebug Design



Oh My! What a blustery week it's been here. Although it's really windy, the sun is finally peeking through the clouds and it's warmed up a bit. Yesterday I had a little bit of time on my hands (erm, I should say I MADE a little time......but who needs to do housework when there's cardmaking to do!).

I love playing the sketch challenges over at Splitcoaststampers. For those of you that have never heard of it, it's a wonderful stamping community with loads of inspiration and tutorials!

Anyway, I decided to create this shaker card for the sketch challenge.

To make the shaker portion, I simply used two circle dies to cut out the image that can be found on the Christmas Magic Paper I mounted the inner circle (tree images) on a piece of paper the size of the outer circle so I would have a base to mount the outer circle on, once I added my foam dimensionals. I cut a piece of acetate the size of the green circle and adhered to the green ring to create my window. Then I added some Polar White Flower Soft for my snowy shaker!

I assembled the shaker and mounted it onto a larger red circle and then again onto a flower shaped circle. I cut the flower shape out of some cupid's arrow from the sweetheart collection. I wanted a bright pop of the rich pink!

That was all mounted on Doodlebug Christmas Trim Paper with a strip of  Sugarplums Paper

The sweetie little Reindeer is from the Sugarplum Die cuts Craft Kit and the little present and Ju Jube from Kris Kringle Doodle Pop 3-D stickers. I also cut the "Christmas" out of the Christmas Magic paper and finished the sentiment off with some stickers that I found at the dollar store!

Hope you like my Whimsical Creation!


Happy Crafting~

--Vicki~~

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Fifty-three Years



Fifty-three Years is a long time for anyone to be married. Fifty-three years, is a long time. But as you and I know, time flies. I am so proud of my parents for hanging on through the good, the bad and the downright ugly! It takes more than love for a relationship to endure. I'd say it has taken a lot of patience; on both their parts.

Sometimes I listen to them bicker at each other and wonder why they're still together. Then there's the tender moments; rarely seen by my eyes, they do get caught occasionally. They grow together gracefully and although they drive each other crazy, they have each other's back. That's a part of their love that I truly admire. 




To wish them 53 more years together would probably just be cruel. What I do wish for them however is to continue to grow older together and to enjoy each other as long as they can. I love that they took their marriage vows seriously


To have and to hold
For better or worse
for richer or poorer
in sickness and in health 
'til death do us part.

Happy Anniversary

All my love, Vicki

Sunday, October 25, 2015

Something WIcked This Way Comes


Are you all ready for Halloween? I just realized how close we are getting and thought I'd better get this post up! I picked up this fabulous  Carta Bella 12x12 Trick or Treat Collection and had only made a card with it. I started working on the altered box a few weeks ago, when I was at Jactopia. 
I had to light a fire under my backside to get it finished, or it would probably end up in the Unfinished Projects Pile! Do you know that pile? lol

Soooooooo for the cover, I started off by covering the entire front in the Bat Paper and then I got distracted and ended up on Pinterest, where I found this AMAZING Tutorial

So I didn't want to alter the entire cover, after having put the cool bat paper on, so I just altered bits of it!  I picked up the bats and centipedes, along with the book box at one of our local Dollar stores.

To find out how to do the bats and bugs oh my, refer to the tutorial!!!!!





Of course I had to alter the interior of the book as well and had a lot of fun using the sticker sheets that came in the collection.

In addition, I used the following dies from Impression Obsession Stamps






Lastly I used a little Tim Holtz Halloween Medallion!

Hope you enjoyed my Spooky Project!

Happy Crafting!

--Vicki~~

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Upcoming Christmas Class Project



Hello! I'm excited to share a project for an upcoming Christmas Class.

We're going to create this rolled tree Mixed Media Canvas. 

How fun is That! I will have a blue toned sample coming soon!


Happy Stamping

--Vicki~~

Sunday, October 18, 2015

Quick Cards with Doodlebug Designs



Did you all have a good weekend? I know that mine passed WAY too fast! I enjoyed a lovely crop on Saturday with some fellow stampers and scrappers and had a yummy sleep in this morning!

It's almost time to hit the hay, but before I do, I wanted to share a couple of cards I made with the Doodlebug Sugarplum Collection papers and the Die Cuts Craft Kit

The papers I used on the cute Ginger Girl card were

and
I used  Doodlebug Bubblegum Twine to adhere the sweet heart 



What about this cute little gaffer?

The paper I used here is
and 

The stamps is Christmas Wishes from Impression Obsession

Hope you enjoyed my little share and that you have a fabulous week~


Happy Stamping

--Vicki~~

Friday, October 16, 2015

Getting Sketchy and procrastinating to the hilt!


I've been feeling UBER crafty lately. UBER .......what a word, does anyone really use that anymore? Must be the Chic Geek in me! Anyway, I was sitting around tonight, the dishes piling higher and higher in the kitchen; a little overwhelming in all actuality! So what better thing to do to avoid household chores? STAMP of Course!!!

I coloured up this super sweet image with my Touch Twin Markers and she's been laying patiently on my night table ( incidentally, does anyone else colour in bed?) to be made into a card. It's been a long while since I've joined the Sketch challenge at Splitcoast Stampers. Love this fun challenge!

So here's what I used to build my card

The image is BAT GIRL or should I say....na na na na, na na na...no wait, that's Batman!
Impression Obsession has a new artist Lindsay Ostrom and I am LOVING her images 
You can see them all HERE

On the inside of the card, so as not to stray from the sketch, I used the sentiment

GHOULS Just wanna... now what song does that evoke in your hear? Or is it just mean.... Now all I can think of is She Bop! lol.

I added a couple of die cuts to stir things up a bit I added the Spider and Web from the Spider Web Die set. Paper is from Recollections- a combination of this years and last years 6x6 pad. I added some sparkle fluff to her wings and the spider....The card feels so soft and fuzzy. No I can play pat the spider when I'm avoiding the dishes.

Well I better head to bed before I nod off. I'd like to have fun, but this Ghoul needs her Beauty Sleep or she'll be a witch tomorrow!!! Hmmmm perhaps If I was a witch, I could wave my magic wand and have a tidy kitchen......ahhh, wishful thinking!


Happy Stamping

--Vicki~~

Thursday, October 15, 2015

Impression Obsession Designer Challenge-Feeling Blue


Hello! Hope you're having a great week! I can't believe it's almost Friday!

This week the challenge is to create a card that is mostly blue!

This is a card that I created for last nights Cornucopia of Cards Class. It was inspired by Kim. You can find her card HERE. It just happened to be perfect for this challenge. 

I coupled newer and older stamps in the creation of this card


Make sure you link your creation up to the IO Stamps Blog
for a chance to win a lovely Gift Certificate!

Here's a list of the players for today!



Happy Stamping!

--Vicki~~

Wednesday, October 14, 2015




It's always difficult to lose friends. My Parents lost a dear friend several weeks ago. She requested two "Special" Sympathy cards for the Children of her friend. I know when she requests "Special, or Extra Special" cards, she is asking for the multi layered dimensional cards that are Shabby chic, or Vintage in nature. Of course she always prefaces her request by indicating that all my cards are nice, but that she wants me to take some extra care with these ones!

I used various products from Prima Marketing to create the cards, most items being from the Cartographer collection. I do love the vintage look to this line and have lots stashed away for these types of projects!

The sentiments are from the Sympathy Sentiments and the Treasured Memories clear stamps from Impression Obsession




Thanks for stopping by and make sure to hug someone you love today!

--Vicki~~

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Merry & Bright




"His eyes how they twinkle, his dimples so merry"!
I've had this picture of Jonathon kicking around for a long time (about 15 years in fact!) waiting for the perfect time to create a layout. When I saw the Merry & Bright sentiment in this Sugarplum Christmas Collection, I just had to find the picture! Oh my gosh, that little face is the sweetest isn't it?

I had a lot of fun creating this layout with the addition of the cottage and gumdrops from the  Die Cuts Craft Kit and the Jolly Gingerbread Doodle-Pops 3D stickers

I wanted to bring the little cottage to life a bit, so I used an exacto knife to open the doorway and added some sponging with tim holtz distress ink to the edges. I added some fine glitter to the windows for a little frosty effect! I couldn't resist but to add the sweet little 3-D gingerboy inside the house. Doesn't he look scrumptious? Good enough to eat!

Lastly, I used some Diamond Glaze to the Gumdrops for a glossy effect as well as some stickles for some sugary sweetness~  





I'm so glad I found the perfect paper collection for the perfect picture!

--Vicki~~

Monday, October 12, 2015

Thankful for my Boy and his Dog



Good Morning and Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian Friends! 
I hope that you're out enjoying this glorious day! I'm headed out shortly for a walk! I don't want to miss the opportunity of enjoying this great weather while it still lasts.

For most of you that know me, you know I look to the positive and realize the many ways that I have been blessed each and every day. I'm thankful for my family, my work, my creativity and the friends and acquaintances that i've had the opportunity to make through paper crafting.

There is no love greater than that of the relationship between man and his best friend. My Boy and his dog. Pets offer unconditional love to their family, as do Mothers to their children. I love my Son and my little Fur Baby Sydney! They both bring joy to my life, along with frustration, worry, laughter and sometimes tears, but I wouldn't trade either of the two for the world!

I created this layout with papers from an older line of Doodlebug Design.  You can find them in the clearance bin at Scrappin' Great Deals The line is called Sweetheart and the papers  are 4050 Heartthrob and 4043 Secret admirer.  i'm sure if you called the store, they could add them to you order if you wished to recreate the layout.  If you lift the "you're so tweet" layer, you will find a spot for embellishing! I added some Sugarplum Enamel Glossy Sticker dots to give the layout just a little more texture! You can find those in the SGD online store HERE

Lastly, I'm Thankful for the opportunity to share my creations with you and the fact that you continue to visit my blog!  Have a wonderful day!

--Vicki~~