What a fun discovery!

Don't you love it when you discover something by experimenting and find wow, that's bloody brilliant!  I received a wonderful digital kit for Christmas called Winnie & Rocco Starfish Sandcastle VIP XXL bundle (Thank you my dear friend in the UK for this kit, it's brilliant Dawn)



Whilst playing with this kit I discovered that my Epson Workforce A3 printer prints the most wonderful full colour images onto a matte photo paper I had left over from my Canon printer owing days.  I'd bought a big packet of A4 matt photo paper but never liked how the photos looked.  Jump forward oh about 7yrs to today and wow.  A little 'serendipity' if ever I saw.  I've printed some backgrounds for some cards I'm currently making and didn't want to use up my XpressIt blending card for printed backgrounds.



 

 

 

(This photo is not my Epson but silmilar, and I'm not affiliated with this company at all, I just am so thankful to have found their CISS)

I'm also a fan of the RIHAC Premium Inklink System. It's a continuous ink supply system (CISS) for my printer so I no longer have to buy what had become very expensive replacement cartridges for my Epson WF7520 printer.  I've been using it over a year and still have not run out of ink!  Got to love that. I've had this printer since my son graduated from university. We bought it for him as he needed a way to print out his work without having to spend a fortune at printers (that was some expensive period in our lives his Uni days). It was costing about $110 every time we needed more cartridges. For $120 I bought the RIHAC kit and have never looked back. I've only recently bought a set of bottles of refill inks. But am yet to top up the outside ink wells.

Check this out, it's what I'm using for the background on a card for my father's birthday.



I've already finished another card in different colours but can't share it as yet as the person's birthday is more than a week away and I want it to be a surprize.  I've also used on this card bling from my stash (sorry don't have brand name), Basic Black stampin up card stock and Broken China Oxide Ink.

But this is what I've created for my dear Daddy, isn't it the cutest!



And of course, Nibbles had to help ;-)

'til next time

Happy stamping, colouring and creating!

Essentials Oils, they really can help.

Did you know I have a doTerra advocacy? If you love essentials oils, you can purchase the best on the planet through my online store. I don't do parties, I don't usually sell to others, butyou can purchase from me via my online links. I know that many people, like myself, love essential oils too.  Here is the link to my doTerra site.
https://www.mydoterra.com/virginiahampson/#/

FYI being a wellness advocate doesn't mean you are a "consultant" like many other well known 'party plan' companies . Being a wellness advocate affords me the benefits of purchasing at wholesale prices. When I bought my first products, I started with the petal diffuser and the Family Essentials kit. I liked the diffuser because it is cold water diffused and you can set it to 1, 2 or 4hour timing and it switches it's self off. It can run with or without night light like light as well. You do NOT heat the oils so it's safe to leave on with my kitties around. They don't like it anyway. You don't light candles under it either like traditional oil burners. They definitely are not ment to be diffused by heat. I find the safey side of the petal diffuser fabulous.

My good friend and soul sister Maggie helped me choose and all I have to do is purchase one thing, no price range/minimums, just one item, each month and I continue to get the wholesale prices. A peppermint lip balm or tub of peppermint beadlets or what ever you've used the most of and are running low.

I use to love the brand inEssence. Many years ago it was only able to be purchased by party plan. It's now in many upmarked/good quality pharmacies/chemists. Remember that company Le Reve? I loved some of their products 20+yrs ago too. But neither of those companies have absolutely pure 100% guaranteed oils. They went off really quickly as well and you had to heat them so either a candle or hot oil burner was needed.

I keep my oils in a lovely teak box that was given to me quite a few years ago that held herbal teas, it was the perfect size, plus I no longer had any of the teas left so it was a little bit of 'serendipity' so to speak. I wanted to share that with you because I know many wonder why I've started using doTerra products. It wasn't an over night decision. I needed to test things out, find what suited me and my health issues. I am very sensory aware to smells, noise, crowded places etc, they can all affect me.

I love that I can make my own blends and put them in a small roller bottle or spritzer and take them with me. I can put drops on my diffuser silver pendant and wear a favourite scent or combo in a beautiful necklace. It's like my LilyAnne Designs glass pendant but no glass. (Sorry it's not a LilyAnne product either). The front a filigree design allows the pad of felt inside to diffuse via my body heat. This stops my sensitive skin from reacting to any oils that may be on me whilst outside. As you also may be aware, I'm very sun sensitive.

So there you have it. Why you may see references by me to doTerra popping up on  instagram, facebook and this blog.

til next time

happy stamping, colouring and creating!

Blimey it's hot!

What do you do when you can't go outside and it's, for most people, a perfect beach day?  You do some colouring in,  you play with digital stuff in the comfort of the lounge and with a keyboard hooked up to your laptop because you've also got 'short arm syndrome' ROFL. Here's a look at my current class progress photo with Kit and Clowder using Prismacolor pencils...



And because I can, I am playing with Canva online. Created a new header for my personal Facebook page using background scrapbooking paper I hand created from white 12x12" card stock and lots of pretty bright paint spritzers and such.  I created that page a few years ago. Glad I scanned it coz it's in one of my totally insane 'safe places' and I'm not about to search my craft corner for it right now



Hmmmm I think I need to changed my "Stamp Out your Art With Virginia" Facebook business page now don't it LOL

'til next time,

happy stamping colouring and creating!

 

Surprises come in surprising ways!

Good day all

What a lovely surprise I woke up to this morning.  It's no secret that I've been taking part in some colouring classes over at Kit & Clowder the last couple of months.  What's so wonderful is that there are many designers who have donate a digital image from their stores for each series of classes too.  This morning I woke up to find that one of my hand coloured/created Christmas cards won top three last month. I forgot I'd even entered. Yes brain fog over the last 3 weeks has been a bit of a nightmare but I woke up to a dream that's real. I placed in the top three



And guess which card it was for?  This one!  I think I gave this to my lovely friend Michelle and there were another versions of it that went to several other friends as well.



Edited:  Sandie D got this one, maybe Michelle got one  too in a different colour scheme LOL

Many thanks to everyone over at All Dressed Up Digital Stamps for giving me such a beautiful surprise and boost of confidence this morning!

'til next time,

happy stamping colouring and creating!