Shaking it Up with Hero Arts!

Hey friends - I'm posting at Die Cut Divas today with card one below. A bonus card follows only here.

Supplies: Paper - Neenah Solar White;

Park Lane A2 card; scrap of purple; acetate

Stamps w/Dies - Hero Arts Message Strips Stamp & Cut XL

Dies - Hero Arts Bee Florals Window

Stencils - Hero Arts Color Layering Bee Florals 

Inks - Hero Arts Grape Slush, Amethyst, Key Lime, Moss,

Cup O'Joe & Pitch Black;

Memento Dandelion & Tangelo;

Tumbled Glass & Spiced Marmalade Distress

Other - Shaker mix from a retired Hero Arts MMH kit;

Hero Arts Sparkle Clear Lacquer; iCraft foam

We're doing shaker cards for our February Die Cut Divas Challenge. Our wonderful sponsor is Hero Arts, an inspiration to the crafting community! They're donating a $25 credit to their online store for our randomly drawn challenge winner - thanks Hero Arts!!

I die cut the bee window into an A2 panel of Neenah white, then stenciled the image with the coordinating 5 piece stencil set. I inked the corners with Tumbled Glass DI. Next, I backed the panel with acetate then applied 3mm foam around the edges. Filled it with a shaker mix from an old HA kit. Adhered an A2 card. Added sparkle lacquer to the bee wings. Stamped and die cut a sentiment strip & adhered it to the card.

For a bonus, I used a fave coverplate die:

Supplies: Paper - My Favorite Things red; scrap of white;

Paper Studio Pink; Hero Arts black 

Dies - Hero Arts Window on Love Confetti

Stamps w/Dies - Hero Arts Message Strips Stamp & Cut XL 

Other - Hobby Lobby Valentine Crafts clay chips;

Kat Scrappiness A2 Full Front Shaker Card Pockets

I've tried full front A2 shaker panels before - they work really well when you use a coverplate with a lot of open area. I found a fun shaker mix in the Valentine section at Hobby Lobby - little clay hearts, envelopes and sprinkles. Wrapped the filled shaker panel around a pink A2 panel to form a pouch. Then  I die cut the heart confetti panel and adhered atop the shaker pouch, then glued to an A2 card. Next I stamped/die cut another sentiment from the Message Strip stamp & cut set. I added a couple of the clay hearts to finish the card.

I'm sending my bee florals window card to the February Stay Crafty with a Blog Named Hero where they're doing floral projects.

** Based on Trina's (Phamtastic Design) reminder, I will add my bonus card to the current Sisterhood of Crafters Challenge where they want red or pink. Also to the February Colorful Options Challenge where they have a lovely mood board with loads of red, pink & hearts!

We look forward to seeing your shaker card (including a die cut &/or embossing folder) in our February Diva gallery! Thanks for visiting!!

Thanks for visiting & have a crafty day!

Howl Your Heart Out

Hey crafty friends - welcome! Today I'm here with a card I made yesterday afternoon & planned to post then but I screwed up at Die Cut Divas! Normally I do a Design Team post on the 21st and somehow it published at DCD on the 20th - oh well.... So I went ahead and published my personal post on the Diva card yesterday and will share my gnome card today.

Supplies: Paper - Ms Sparkle & Co A2 card;

Core'dinations black; Neenah white;

Michael's green

Stamps - Lost Coast Designs ZZ-Top Gnome 1 (new)

Inky Antics Punny Christmas Pups

Raisin Boat Feel the Beat (retired)

Embossing Folder - Spellbinders Reversible Music (retired)

Other - Copic Markers, pencils, Hero Arts Lacquer

Isn't this gnome from Lost Coast Designs the cutest??!! I won him as a prize at the Mod Squad Challenge back in October and I finally had a chance to play with him for the first time. Gail (Crafty Nomad) shared a gnome card on Saturday announcing a new challenge at Lost Coast Portal to Creativity and I knew I had to play along with my gnomie!! I planned my card to include elements I'd need to also post at the current Let's Squash It!! Challenge (use an embossing folder & an animal). My singing/howling doggie is from a Christmas set but there's nothing specifically Christmassy about him. I knew he'd be the perfect companion to my guitar playing gnome! The Raisin Boat "your heart out" sentiment has words like sing and dance to accompany it but I used the "howl" from the Inky Antics set which says "Happy Howl-idays". Love that one along with the pups in the set!!

I will also add this card to the January NBUS challenge since my gnomie is new! And to Watercooler Wednesday where the new challenge is Anything Goes with a Masculine Twist - my card will eventually go to a guitar playing man. Finally to Sisterhood of Crafters where the current challenge is to use embossing or a die cut. Thanks to all for the fun challenges!!

Thanks for visiting & I hope you're having a creative week!!

 

 

 

Ornament Card

Hey crafty friends - hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving yesterday if you were celebrating!! Our premade meal from the grocery tasted great and we have loads of leftovers!! On Wednesday I spotted the new Sisterhood of Crafters challenge to do a shaped project. I started it then, couldn't work on it yesterday, and finally finished it this morning. Just finally getting a chance to blog it after doing some Christmas decorating this afternoon.

Supplies: Paper - Paper Studio Holiday;

Lawn Fawn Watercolor Wishes;

Tim Holtz Kraft Metallic

Stamps - Hero Arts Holiday Tags (retired),

Christmas Rose Bold Prints

Dies - Hero Arts Ornament Infinity Dies,

Nesting Oval Infinity Dies, &

Paper Layering Poinsettia

Other - Versamark ink; Ranger Princess Gold ep; 

Basic Grey Obscure ribbon (retired)

 

I started out thinking circle shaped and went into my stash of Hero Arts Infinity Dies. Spotted the Ornaments Infinity Dies set which I've never used. Decided an ornament shaped card would be fun!! I stamped and gold embossed a dark red panel with the rose background, then die cut the largest ornament from the panel. Next I cut a second dark red ornament for the back and two gold hangers. I scored at the bottom of the topper, glued the pieces together, and adhered the hangers. Wasn't sure where to go with the rest of it so left it over Thanksgiving. This morning I knew I wanted to add a sentiment band and a poinsettia. 

Here's how I did the sentiment band: Die cut a full ornament from white. Used an oval die to cut off top and bottom leaving the band. Put the negative in the MISTI along with the top and bottom. Figured out where to place the sentiment (MISTI makes it easy to curve the clear stamp) and popped the band in place to stamp, then gold embossed. Easy peasy!! Here's a photo of the set up MISTI:

For the inside, I die cut the next smaller ornament from white, popped it back into the negative for stamping the sentiment, then adhered inside. Added a die cut bow. Here's a photo of the inside:

The sentiment inside is from a Sunny Studio set - Inside Greetings Holiday Stamps. Got it when released this year and absolutely love it!!

This is my first of three possible entries at the Sisterhood. My card will also go to Darnell's November NBUS Challenge since my ornament die set got its first play (only 3 years after release, not bad...). And to Merry Little Christmas Anything Goes Christmas (fourth entry of five allowed). Finally to Watercooler Wednesday's All Occasion Challenge (second entry of three allowed).

Thanks to all for the fun challenges and I'm so glad you stopped by!!

 

 

 

Christmas Stars

Hi friends! I'm popping in with a couple of cards made with several challenges in mind, starting with Darnell's Twofer Challenge with the theme of Stars. Here's my Twofer:

My stars in common are the bitty yellow ones - oddly, don't they seem bigger on the ornament? Trick of the eye, they're exactly the same and came from Lawn Fawn's Scalloped Box Card Pop-Up set. Here's a closer look with supply list.

Supplies: Paper - Hero Arts (retired); Paper Studio

Stamps - Hero Arts Christmas Rose Bold Prints

Dies - Sizzix Angel set - JOY (retired);

Lawn Fawn Scalloped Box Card Pop Up &

Stitched Ornaments

A Jillian Vance Design Stitched Dot Rectangle 

Embossing folder - Stampin' Up Subtle 3D

Ink - Memento Lu Lu Lavender

For the Joy card I also had Christmas Kickstart and Let's Squash It! in mind. For those challenges, you need to use an embossing folder plus stamping. It might be hard to see the stamping on the background behind the ornament, plus the embossing is subtle (hence the folder's name - LOL). Here's a close-up of the stamping - I stamped tone on tone and then embossed. Also embossed the A2 card. Neon green too loud for you? I love it on the purple! This card will also go to Sisterhood of Crafters where they're doing embossing and to Darnell's November NBUS Challenge since the ornament got its first play today (pretty good - only three years old)!! **Update - apologies to Christmas Kickstart and Let's Squash It!! for not using a CHRISTMAS embossing folder - oops!**

I used the twist at Twofer that allows us to make both occasions Christmas - usually you have to do different ones. For my second card I pulled out an old Hero Arts set exclusive to Archiver's (NIB) with a trio of trees. I figured the little stars would be perfect on the tops. Well, they were too small for the bigger tree so I pulled out another LF set with a different star. Since I was digging in the LF pile, I used one of their labels for my sentiment.

Supplies: Paper - Ms Sparkle & Co A2 card; Momenta watercolor print;

Lawn Fawn Gotta Have Gingham; Authentique Colorful Christmas;

Neenah Classic Crest Solar White; Paper Studio Holiday & Brights

Stamps - Hero Arts Three Trees & Jolly Christmas (retired)

Dies - Lawn Fawn Scalloped Box Card Pop Up ,

Tiny Gift Box & Stitched Labels;

My Favorite Things Blueprints 2 (retired);

Hero Arts Square Infinity Dies

Other - Copic Markers; Stickles, lacquer

I'll add this one to Watercooler Wednesday where Helen is hosting All Occasions this week and to Kathy's (The Daily Marker) latest Coloring Challenge (only 11 days this time). I spent my 10 minutes today coloring the Christmas trees. 😀

Thanks to all for the fun challenges and thanks to you for visiting!!

 

 

Anything But a Card

Hey crafty friends - hope you're enjoying your day, whatever you're doing!! Yesterday was a gloomy one here so I stayed inside and worked on a project for the latest Sisterhood of Crafters challenge. You need to make anything but a card. I waited until this morning to get a decent photograph but the daylight isn't that much better than yesterday, oh well. Here's my gift card holder that looks like a little gift bag:

Supplies: Paper - Graphic 45 Twas the Night Before Christmas;

Paper Studio red, green & glitter;

Hallmark gift bag tissue

Dies - Spellbinders April 2019 Large Die For You Gift Card Holder &

Sunday Drive with Santa (pines)

Sunny Studio Window Quad Circle (flower);

I'm fairly new to the Spellbinders Die of the Month Club but I've been able to pick up some of the past offerings when they didn't sell out at the Club. While I didn't get April 2019 Large Die at the clearance price that's current available at Spellbinders (only $5 - practically free!), I got a good deal. It sat around here all summer until now. I thought of it immediately when I spotted the Anything But a Card challenge via Debbie Mageed (Secrets to Stamping). She made the most beautiful lanterns as a design team member!!

I started out die cutting the pieces using various papers I thought would go together well. These die sets can have some confusing pieces so I'll usually check for a video. I found this one by Nichol Spohr sharing how to assemble the gift bag. I consulted it when I hit the piece that looks from the packaging to be like tissue paper. I wondered how it was assembled, given all the funny score lines. I had die cut it in vellum but mine was heavy weight and didn't want to fold. Nichol seemed to have the same issue with her cardstock. I finally decided to go for real gift bag tissue but did cut it out using the die and sorta folded along the score lines. Nichol cut 3 of this diecut so I did too. I didn't use the little gift tag included in the set, figuring I could do it later, even though it'll mean tying it on versus slipping onto the handle before gluing it down!!

After the gift bag was assembled, I decorated it using the For You dies included in the set plus a flower from Sunny Studio and pines from Spellbinders. Done - whew!! A bit fiddly but soooo worth it! I can see making a bunch of these for chorus friends at Christmas but it's unlikely we'll be able to have a large party by then, given the pandemic. Sigh.... Here's a photo of the bag with the gift card showing:

Since my gift bag die is newly used I'm also adding this to Darnell's NBUS Challenge. She's probably getting sick of me because I have oodles of NBUS needing love. Her challenge forces me to use it!! Thanks, Darnell, and thanks to the lovely women at The Sisterhood of Crafters for a fun challenge.

I'm glad you stopped to visit! Thanks & have a crafty day!!

Masculine Birthday

Yay - it's the weekend! I was excited to get an email from Hero Arts saying that my August My Monthly Hero Kit was "out for delivery". When I checked the tracking status it said DELIVERED so I popped right out to my mailbox. Here's my first play with this fun kit about staycations:

Supplies: Paper - DCWV Neutral A2 card; Neenah Classic Crest Solar White; 

Authentique ; BoBunny Land of Wonder

Simon Says Stamp Sentiment Strips Birthday

Stamp - Hero Arts My Monthly Hero kit (with matching die) 

Dies - My Favorite Things Blueprints & Cloud 9 (retired);

Other - Copic Markers; foam tape

True confessions - the July kit is still sitting here; just opened it but that's it - no immediate need for an underwater card. I was extremely eager for the August kit, though, because I had a masculine birthday card to make for next week and I loved the guy in hammock image. Isn't he fun!! I snipped off the umbrella on the drink because the guy receiving this card isn't the umbrella drink type!! Tried a bit of the dot coloring Jennifer McGuire showed in this post - not good at it but I enjoyed it.

Now all my August birthday cards are made - yay! I'll add this to the Watercolor Wednesday Challenge (WWC) where it's All About Occasions #284; this is my third & last (limit of three). Also adding to Darnell's NBUS challenge since my hammock guy got his first inking today!

**Updates ** - also adding to Stamping Sensations and The Sisterhood of Crafters per Trina's referral. Both challenges have masculine themes and were announced prior to creating my card - thanks Trina; it's always fun to find new challenges! Also found the Daisy Chain Challenge where the theme is "For the Boys/Men".

Thanks to all for these fun challenges and thanks to you for stopping by! Have a great weekend!!