Final Day as a Hero Hostess!

Yes, today is my last day as a Hero Hostess!  Three months went by like a flash but I had so many amazing experiences along the way - features on the Hero Arts Blog, great times with my sister hostesses, posting challenges, doing a gem hunt, making more friends on the Hero Arts Flickr group - I could go on and on!  So thanks again to Heather, Anita, Sharon and Sally who were such great Hostesses and friends.  And thanks to Hero Arts and the HA Flickr group for an amazing time!!  Here's my card...

I used one of Shari's sketches, the new Hero Arts designer papers and a piece of Basic Grey Sweet Threads patterned paper that had our hostess colors mixed in.  Stamped the Thanks definition on the patterned paper and clear embossed (the paper was a bit busy).  Stamped "THANKS" from the Hero Arts clear set Type on a piece of white card stock, cutting off the "s".  Embossed in white ep from Ranger and inked with Distress Inks in our hostess colors - purple, green, hot pink, aqua, and pink.  Stamped and clear embossed the "YOU" on a separate strip of white cs, using the heart typewriter key for the O.  Overstamped that strip with the envelope pattern.  Assembled, popping up the sentiment with foam tape, added some May Arts string twine and some Hero Arts pearls and it's done!

Thanks for stopping and thanks again, Hero Arts!!

Hero Hostesses Featured and some challenge cards

Hi all - just thought I'd share the card I made for the Hero Arts Blog Social Club post today featuring the current Hero Hostesses.  Heather, Anita, Sharon, Sally & I end our three month tour as Hostesses this Saturday so we had one more feature.  We picked a thank-you theme as we feel so grateful to Hero Arts for their generosity to its Club and Flickr members!!  We had a great time working with each other and with Tami and Libby from the Hero Arts team.

Used the Hero Arts Thanks Definition - a fab Cling, Life of the Party Dots - another fab Cling, and a sentiment from a new set Live and Laugh which I love.  I enjoyed using the emboss/resist technique on the background with fabulous Tim Holtz Distress Inks.

And at this week's craft night with my friends I made these two cards for Lisa Spangler's make-it and mail-it challenge.  Lisa is a fab Hero Arts designer and such a sweetie to host this challenge.  The card on the left is for my brother-in-law who needs some encouragement to face an illness.  The one on the right is for my dear friend (more like a sister) Connie & her hubby who invited me for Easter weekend.  I had a great time and enjoyed the food and hospitality!

Recognize those dots?  They look great with the Hero Arts Designer Woodgrain stamp.  The other card used the HA Music Background Cling - love that one - and a clear set I bought at Archiver's, an exclusive from Hero Arts, for the lacy circle, sentiment and butterfly.  Oh, and I squeezed another fave - the Envelope Pattern - into the card on the right.  I also meant to stamp it lightly over the tag on the left but forgot.  Thanks for stopping!

Another Hostess Challenge - Using the Same Stamp

Hello everyone – happy Monday!  I hope you can play along at the Hero Arts Flickr group where the current Hero Hostesses have put up another challenge - Using the Same Stamp!  This one's open ended - no specific end date and therefore no prize attached.  Just a lot of fun.  Heather, Anita, Sharon, Sally & I found we have oodles of Hero Arts stamps in common.  To keep it simple we settled on using the wonderful clear set CL383 Antique Engravings.  Here's my card:

I stamped the various winged creatures directly from the set's packaging onto the card base - a trick I learned at a Hero Arts class by Jennifer McGuire and Shari Carroll.  For this card I left off the CL383's shells and put a butterfly in a spot left by a shell.  I used Faded Jeans Distress Ink by Tim Holtz for this stamping.  Then I overstamped using the Envelope Pattern design block from Hero Arts, using Weathered Wood Distress Ink - love this stamp for the subtle texture it gives.  Next I stamped a piece of pale golden yellow Basic Grey paper (it's the flip side of a two-sided Christmas paper from their Fruitcake line!) with Hero Arts’ Lace Background DesignBlock inked with VersaMark ink and embossed with gold powder by Ranger.  I then stamped the sentiment on another strip of the same paper with Faded Jeans, and clear embossed.  Then I overstamped the sentiment strip lightly with the Envelope Pattern inked in Scattered Straw Distress Ink.  I stamped and clear embossed the butterfly with Black Soot Distress Ink three times on a piece of patterned paper from Basic Grey's Kioshi line, picking areas to stamp with blues and yellows among the other colors in the pattern.  I cut out the three butterflies and glued them together for a 3D effect using this technique from Nancy Taylor on the Hero Arts Blog.  I just love Nancy's technique and have used it on several cards in my Flickr photostream.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you can make a project with this fabulous set or find another Hero Arts stamp in common with a friend and play along in our Hostess challenge!

Hello Birdy Card - for a couple challenges...

Hi all - really wanted to get a card done for Lily Pad Cards first challenge - a color one here.  Thought I'd use a sketch from the current Hero Arts contest - I'm having so much fun with these great sketches by the awesome Shari Carroll.

Last night I was at my weekly craft group - just three of us friends who met at work and love to craft.  Showed Bonnie the Lily Pad colors and she tossed me a scrap of flowered paper - away I went.  Here's my card:

I came prepared with some wonderful Hero Arts folded cards - I bought the Sunshine pack with three fab colors, which included this Mandarin.  Had my canvas stripes ready to ink up with Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink, along with a darling clear set from "the girls' paperie" that my friend Heather sent me for my birthday.  Thanks again, Heather!  I stamped the birdy from that set one a scrap of yellow using a lime green ColorBox ink and cut it out.  Then I punched a small scalloped circle from EK Success and cut into it to form a nest.  Added some "twigs" using raffia which I inked a bit with various twiggy looking Distress Inks.  Thanks for stopping!

Spring and Easter Card Exchange

Just sharing a card I made for a Hero Arts Flickr group exchange; details here.  I made this card for sweet Marcy in Massachusetts.  Just heard from her that she received it along with a birthday card and some goodies I sent.  Her birthday is TODAY - Happy Birthday, Marcy!

I love this sweet bunny by Hero Arts called Thoughtful Bunny.  I bought it in February when I was thinking of cards for Chinese New Year, the Year of the Rabbit, but it's perfect for Spring and Easter too.  Also used the Envelope Pattern which is so great for texture.  The sentiment is from a Hero Arts set exclusive for Archiver's that I got last year.  I've used these poppy colored Hero Arts folded cards for quite a few cards - just love the three colors in the Sunshine assortment!  And such fun flowers and gems to coordinate.

It's finally starting to feel like Spring here.  I was so excited to have some daffodils blooming in my front "garden".  It's not much of a garden but I do have some flowers amongst the weeds....

Hope you're having a great day - thanks for stopping by!

Inspiration and a Birthday

Hi all - the Hero Arts Blog announced a great Friday inspiration yesterday and I had a chance to play with it last night and this morning.  Here's the card:

Just love the Hero Arts Large Canvas Stripes and the Lace Background stamps and the sentiment is from Find Joy, a clear set with a wonderful assortment of phrases.  Added some punched circles of various scraps and a few flowers and punched butterfly - done!  Hope you like it!

Here's a photo of my dear brother and me taken at his birthday party on Thursday.  His actual birthday is today - Happy Birthday, Junior!!  His wife had the party at Claddagh, an Irish pub in town.  On Thursdays they have a trivia contest but we could only stay for half of it.  We did win the best team name of the night - a long one but so fitting for the birthday boy's team - "I see the hill and I'm going over it".  The in-laws thought of that one - he, he.

We're both sitting but I'm behind & leaning in so look lots shorter - really it's only a few inches...My poor brother, growing up with three sisters - hope we didn't torture him too much!

Masculine Birthday Duo

Happy Sunday everyone!  Can't believe it's April already!!

My chorus, City of Lakes, had a great show yesterday - don't have any photos or video to share yet but I'll try to get something posted eventually.  With all the show preparations, I'm behind on my crafting and have lots of birthdays coming up in April.  Made these two cards - one for my brother and one for a friend:

The card on the left is one I re-worked from a make 'n take at A Scrap N Time (now out of business).  The sentiment originally was just on typing paper - I reprinted it on nice ivory cardstock with Goudy Stout font.  Then I added the little cars as the bottom half looked so bare with just that printed paper!  I stamped the Volkswagon Bug from Hero Arts Going clear set on two colors of Basic Grey paper from Life of the Party.  That same paper line has a sheet of rulers so I punched out some 50s - my brother turns 50 this month!  The other patterned papers are from We R Memory Keepers.  I really liked how Brenda from Scrap in Time had cut little inchies from the pp.

Decided to try to replicate this card today with some different materials - came up with the card on the right.  Patterned papers are from Life of the Party, except the inchies, and card base is Bazzill.  Made my own inchies from a different pattern of the We R Memory Keepers paper (Out and About - Running Errands is the name of it) and put them on a piece of Basic Grey Life of the Party ivory paper stamped with Hero Arts Large Plaid (Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink).  To get the effect of the other card's paper, I doodled black lines and added the yellow shadow to them with a Copic marker.  The little "To" and "From" are also from the Going stamp set, stamped with Barn Door Distress Ink.  Added a couple more cars - love those - and this time added a sentiment from an old Hero Arts clear birthday set.  Made it to look like exhaust from the car.  So I'm set for the manly cards for April and luckily made a bunch of more feminine cards during Hero Arts' March challenge.  Off to go work on a couple more cards for the April Hero Arts contest.

Thanks for stopping!