New Challenge Blog - Lily Pad Cards! and Show Time

There’s a new challenge blog in town with articles, swaps, interviews, videos, challenges, great prizes and MORE! Check out Lily Pad Cards!

Just publicizing info from some Hero Arts Flickr Group friends who've started up a new challenge blog.  It looks like such fun so I hope you'll check it out.  They've got a fun Blog Hop going on this week, loaded with talented card makers.  Start the Hop here at Clip-n-Cuts and enjoy!

As for me - I'm busy getting ready for a show this weekend at Bethel's Great Hall.  Check it out here.  We're having some great quartets - S.A.S.S., ICE! and GQ, plus the chorus is sounding awesome.  I'm one of the MCs so am studying my lines, rather than crafting.  Hope you're having a wonderful week!

Fresh Inspiration Friday

Hi all - We current Hero Hostesses had a great time with Tami Hartley, featured blogger and friend, on the Hero Arts Blog today for Fresh Inspiration Friday 3.  The challenge - create a card based on the inspiration photo.  You can see the photo at the Fresh Inspiration link, as well as cards by Tami and the hostesses.  Hope you can join us in the Hero Arts Flickr group for this fun challenge.

Here's the card I created.

I used some favorite Hero Arts stamps - the Envelope Pattern and the Silhouette Grass.  Card stock is from Hero Arts (mocha and powder) as are the lace and gems.  Butterflies were punched from Basic Grey manilla papers and stamped with the Hero Arts Happy Definition stamp (punches from EK Success).  Distress Inks by Tim Holtz:  Broken China with Weathered Wood for the blue and Frayed Burlap.  I distressed the edge of the Basic Grey ledger paper with a Tim Holtz tool, love it!

My sister is visiting from AZ so we went to Archiver's tonight for Scrap Mania.  Long day but we had a great time and celebrated the birthday of my friend and coworker, Julie.  Thanks for stopping by!

Scramble Time

Happy Saturday, everyone!  Got up early and ran a bunch of errands so I could get home in time to Scramble with Linda v V over on the Hero Arts Flickr group.  Check out all the quickcard12 cards - amazing what can be done in 90 minutes, including photographing and uploading!  The challenge was a sketch or to use acetate; I combined the two:

Not a great photo but acetate can be a challenge to photograph.  I stamped Hero Arts Flower Wallpaper (a fun Cling stamp) on acetate using violet StaZon.  Put the acetate over a Hero Arts lilac card.  Had a piece of an HA iris card so used it for the sentiment - a lovely cursive from Hero Arts' Sending Smiles clear set.  I have to say I reworked this a bit afterward - changed out the ribbon to a sheer one, added another bitty butterfly to the bottom circle and another paper circle under the flower.  Just couldn't make myself take another photo :)

Worked on some other cards but will have to photography later.  Now I've got to clean up the mess I made scrambling!  Thanks for stopping by...

Hero Hostess Week Finale

We've come to the final day of the Hero Hostess Take-over on the Hero Arts Blog.  And it ended on a high when my Irish friend Heather featured her gorgeous vellum flower and butterflies on some gift wrap.  Truly inspiring!  I swear I'll try it for a special gift someday - maybe for my mother.  Mom's the type to carefully unwrap a gift and extract it, then wrap it back up to its original state!  She did this with a Mother's Day gift we gave her one time - that perfectly re-wrapped box sat in the living room corner for about a year!!

My favorite gift to give these days is the boring GIFT CARD!  Just have to think which places the recipient likes, pick one up and pop it inside a greeting card and I'm done!  Bad, aren't I?  While we were on the cruise one of the kids turned 13 (I call him my nephew but he's really my BIL's grandson from another marriage).  Had to give him cash - yikes!  And sorry I forgot to photograph his card but he loved it.  I used a bicycle from Hero Arts and put some birthday balloons coming off it as others in our HA Flickr group have done.

Here's a birthday card I whipped up tonight after work. 

Just had to try a vellum butterfly and I had a scrap of this really thick vellum that was just the right size for the Hero Arts Heart Winged Butterfly, an old fave.  I was lucky enough to get that stamp along with some other products when I was a new Hero Club member back in '09.  I was so excited to get that package!!  But I digress... Got a bit too close with the heating tool and the vellum began to bubble up like someone blowing a bubble - yikes!  Moved the tool away quickly and the bubble went away - weird.  Other Hero Arts stamps used - Large Fabric Design, Happy Definition, and the Large Happy Birthday (vintage 1995 but new to me).  Used a Hero Arts carnation folded card - love these cards with their slight shimmer and white insides.

Thanks for stopping by!

Birthday Card with Rolled Lace Flower

Just had to try the rolled lace flower as shown in Anita's Hero Hostess Blog video!  Luckily I had some yummy purple lace sent by my sweet friend Barb along with some thread and buttons for Deborah's February Card Chain Challenge.  Thanks Barb for that AND the gorgeous card!  She knows I loooove purple!!  The lace flower came together so quickly thanks to Anita's great instructions - I used the method of starting with a button to anchor it.

Decided to darken up the lace I didn't roll with some Dusty Concord Distress Ink for a bit of contrast.  Stamped 1/2 the daffodil card base with Hero Arts Happy Definition CG269 and the other 1/2 with the new Life of the Party Dots CG298 using Scattered Straw.  Stamped one of the leaves from CL457 Real Leaves with Peeled Paint and clear embossed.  Sentiment from CL497 Find Joy (love that set!) was cut apart and stamped separately using Dusty Concord.  A few gems and I'm done! 
Here's the card:

And close-up of the flower:



Thanks for stopping!

Hero Hostess Blog Take-over Day 3

What a fun week we Hero Hostesses have been having!  And today was no exception with sweet Anita doing her FIRST video!  See the Hero Hostess Blog Take-over Day 3 for some fun lace and ribbon flowers by Anita.  She did a fabulous job!!

I had a chance to work with some new Hero Arts goodies that came in the mail yesterday!  Here's a simple thank you I made for a coworker.  Some of you may have heard about my "Card of the Month" donated to our work's charity auction.  I make a card each month for the person who bid the most for charity, customizing it for whatever occasion or colors he/she wants.  This month Kenlyn wants a thank you card that might work for a man or woman.  I came up with this:

Stamped my new Large Canvas Stripes design block on a Latte folded card using Pumice Stone Distress Ink.  Added some yummy Hero Arts Earth ribbon.  Stamped and clear embossed a label and sentiment from my new Congrats clear set using Black Soot Distress Ink.  Cut out, cutting off the elegant swirl part so it could work better for a man.  Overstamped with the Envelope Pattern (like to stamp everything that isn't nailed down with that one!!) using Pumice Stone.  Layered with some brown Basic Grey paper from their new Hello Luscious line and popped up the whole thing with foam tape over the ribbon.  Added some pearls.  Done!  Hope Kenlyn likes it!  Sorry the photo isn't the best...

Thanks for stopping!!

More fun with the Hero Hostess Blog Take-over

My Hostess Sista, the awesome Sally, created a wonderful project for the Hero Hostess Blog Take-over Day 2.  Hope you stop by to check it out!  Sally always creates such elegant projects with just the perfect details - she's an inspiration!

I was excited to get a lovely order from Hero Arts today! Can't wait to get some new stamps inky.  Meanwhile, here's a card I created the other day with some new Basic Grey and Hero Arts Hello Luscious products.  I love the new Hello Luscious papers and stamps like this Luscious Ledger!

Met friends Anne and Barb at Mall of America Saturday where we lightened our wallets at Archiver's.

We all found some great buys and enjoyed getting a coffee at Caribou!  Thanks for visiting!!

Hero Arts Blog "Hostess Take-over"!

Can't believe it's been so long since a post from me!  I went on a relaxing vacation, including a cruise and then have been trying to catch up with everything.  More about all that in future posts, maybe....

I was also getting ready for the big Hostess Take-over on the Hero Arts Blog this week.  Sister Hostess Sharon and I kicked off the week today with birthday cards.  Here's my entry:

For full instructions on this card, click here.

I have such fun stamping the text that I did companion card.

Hope you enjoy these colorful cards and be sure to visit the Hero Arts Blog for more fun with the rest of the hostesses.