Hero Hostess Blog Hop continues!

Hi all - It's Day 3 of the Hero Hostess Blog Hop!  Click on over to see inspiration from 7 more talented Hero Hostesses!!  If you missed the other days, click the day below:

Day 1

Day 2 

I was honored to be a part of Day 2 with 7 awesome sistas!  

If you're looking for my Hop post, go here.  

You have until 11:59 US PST on Sunday 2/22/15 to leave comments for the chance to win Hero Arts PRIZES.  They will draw randomly from  comments left on the 2015 Hop posts of  any of  hopping Hostesses, including the main post at the Hero Club Blog (see links above for each day) - just be sure
you're commenting on the Hop post (this isn't one, but I'll appreciate any comments you leave!)

I made this card as a follow-up to my Hop post:

I received the Stamp your Own Succulents clear set (CL839) from Hero Arts and didn't think I could make a succulent card as gorgeous as Jennifer McGuire's card here.  What could I do??  I had this sorta weird idea to use the terrarium stamp as a geometric shape. Call me crazy but I made by own background using that stamp, as well as a star from CL772 Written in the Stars (the sentiment is from that set too), the tiny star from DC152 Thanks Stamp&Cut, and a "flower" from CL498 Celebrate Every Day.   Distress Inks used: Cracked Pistachio, Spiced Marmalad, and Peacock Feathers.  The star die is the medium size from Hero Arts DI095 Stylish Stars and the pierced circle is from a card die cut set by Sizzix #559171 called Circle Flip-it.  The folded card is from Hero Arts Sunshine Mixed Folded Cards set and the purple piece is from the Floral Mixed Layering Paper set.  Thanks again to Hero Arts for a fun Hostess Hop!!

Thanks for stopping and happy crafting!!

Welcome to the Hero Arts Hostess Hop, featuring fabulous stamps from the new 2015 release!  

Today is Day 2 of our Hop - if you've been following along, you've just arrived from the blog "Happy Heart Studio" of the sweet and super talented, Nancy.  If you want to start at the beginning or you've found a broken link, please find the master list of links for today at the Hero Arts Club Blog here.  

To hop with Day 1, go here.  

Please report broken links to blog@heroarts.com.

With so much stamping and die cutting goodness in this new release, where do you start??!  For the first card, I immediately went for this yummy new cling background stamp called Lines Background - a graphic look but so versatile!  

Here's my card:

Supply list:  Hero Arts:  Stamp - Lines Background; Dies - Thanks Stamp & Cut, 
Triangle Background; Card base - Pool Mixed folded cards.
Other: Tim Holtz Distress Inks and Markers, embossing ink and powder;
Doodlebug Frosty Friends paper (for purple mat); Wink of Stella

The first thing I did was create the panel behind the sentiment.  I smooshed Distress Inks (Cracked Pistachio, Peacock Feathers and Seedless Preserves) on my craft sheet, swirled them around and inked the Lines Background cling stamp.  I pressed a sheet of Neenah Bright White card stock on the inked stamp and then misted the inked paper for a watercolor look.  Dried it with a heat tool (even clear embossed a few spots on it) and then sponged on more Cracked Pistachio to cover some of the white.  Anyway, I love how it turned out.  

Then I grabbed the lightest shade of the Pool Mixed Folded Cards set from Hero Arts - this is a favorite set of mine; I looooove Hero's pool color, paper and inks!!  I used Cracked Pistachio (adore this new Tim Holtz Distress Ink color!) to stamp the Lines Background on the card.  That in itself looked nice to me but I whipped out my Distress Markers and randomly colored some of the triangles and squares using Cracked Pistachio, Peacock Feathers, and Seedless Preserves. Then I added clear Wink of Stella to each colored shape.  Really love this look!

The thanks sentiment is a die cut from Hero Arts' new Thanks stamp & cut set.  I just love these new word Stamp & Cut sets and want every single one!!!!  Besides the word stamp, plus matching die, you get all these little sentiment stamps to add to the main word.  I didn't add any of them here, but this set includes phrases like:  "for everything", "a bunch", "you are amazing", etc.  I make a lot of thank you cards so this was the perfect set for me!  The little triangles were cut from the popular Triangle Background die. When you cut it, all these little triangles pop out - so fun for making your own embellies (these were clear embossed for the shine, as was the die cut sentiment) or using in shaker cards or for confetti.

My next card features the new Amor stamp.  Think of the many occasions this stamp covers - Valentine's Day, anniversary, wedding, engagement, I love you, etc.  When I saw it, the first thing that popped into my brain was that amor is Spanish for love and this looks like a Mexican tile.  Here's the card:

Supply List:  Hero Arts stamps:  Amor, Heart Background; gems; Sea Mixed Folded Card
Tim Holtz Distress Inks; BoBunny dotted paper, Copic Markers, Ranger clear embossing powder

I clear embossed the image with Festive Berries Distress Ink on a piece of Neenah Solar White card, then colored the white areas with Copic markers.  Because I bobbled the stamp while stamping, I had to trim it out to remove an extra scallop - hate when that happens!  So I traced the trimmed image on a white card and then cut a white mat for it.  There's a layer of foam tape between the image and the mat for some dimension.  The card base is the darkest shade from Hero Arts' Sea Mixed Folded Cards set, stamped with Salty Ocean Distress Ink on the Hero Arts/Basic Grey Heart Background (love the heart clusters on this!).  Dotted paper is from BoBunny.  Added some gems - done!  There's a lot of pink and red here but, hey, I made it as a Valentine for my parents.  They loved it, of course.

I'm the last stop for today!  

But don't fret - please visit the Hero Club Blog starting at 6 a.m. US Central Time tomorrow for Day 3 of our Hop.  Seven more awesome Hero Hostesses will offer crafty inspiration with quality and on trend 2015 Hero Arts products!

IMPORTANT - Chance to win prizes!!!

Hero Arts will award prizes from randomly drawn comments.  For a chance to win, simply comment on ANY of the stops along the hop on ANY day - including each day's starting post at the Hero Club Blog.  The more comments you leave, the better your chance of winning.  Check back at the Club Blog for the deadline for entry and for the announcement of winners.

Thanks for visiting today and leaving your kind comments.  Many thanks to Hero Arts for such great products and the amazing opportunity to share them with you today on this Hop.  In case you don't know me, I was a Hero Hostess in 2011.  Not only was this a wonderful experience but I gained some life-long friends from it.  I really enjoy this annual hop with brand new products.  Thanks again Hero Arts!!

Another card for Merry Monday!

I'm back with another card for Sue's challenge on Merry Monday to include Santa on your card!  I'm still looking for my old fashioned Santa stamp but in my search I found a darling Hero Arts clear stamp set from 2007 CL114 Joyful Greetings (no longer available for sale at Hero Arts).  Just love this Santa image!  And Hero Arts has such great quality clear stamps, here it is 8 years later and it stamps as well as it did on the day I bought it!!  Here's my card:

I used a Hero Arts folded card (lightest shade from the Pool Mixed Folded Cards set), Basic Grey Aspen paper, Lawn Fawn sequins, Copic Markers and Distress Inks.  For the stamped background I used the Tiny Ink Spots large design block stamp from Hero Arts - I use this one a lot, love it!!

And speaking of Hero Arts - today was Day 1 of our annual Hero Hostess Blog Hop, celebrating the release of their new 2015 Spring catalog.  Be sure to stop by if you haven't already; you'll see fabulous projects from 8 talented ladies!  I'll be holding up the rear on Day 2 tomorrow so be sure to check out the Hero Arts Blog starting at 6 a.m. US Central Time or stop at my blog for the links.

Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!!

Santa over at Merry Monday!

Hi all - another Monday - yay!  It's Presidents' Day holiday for me 

so I checked out Merry Monday for the latest challenge.  

This week, Sue challenges us to use a Santa on our card.

I have the greatest Santa stamp but do you think I can find it??!  So I grabbed some Graphic 45 patterned paper with a charming old fashioned Santa image.  Here's my card:

For my card base I used a piece of Hero Arts designer layering paper.  The cute pierced circle is a die from the Sizzix Circle Flip-its set (#559171) - just love this set!!  Holly embellie is from Jolee.  The paper for the banner is from the same Graphic 45 Twas the Night Before Christmas 8x8 pad.  I varied an OWH sketch (#191) for the design.

Busy week for me this week but I'll try to find my Santa stamp later.  Meanwhile, I hope you'll stop back on Wednesday as there will be a surprise from Hero Arts - I'm glad to be hopping along with some "sistas".

Thanks for stopping and happy crafting!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!!  It's a cold but sunny, clear day in Minnesota and - big surprise, I'm not out doing Singing Valentines this year.  There were enough other people eager to do it so, since I've done it many times, I took this year off.

I had fun making Valentines this year and have shared some of my cards.  Here's one I made for my sister who has found a second "career" as a quilter!  I used a die from Art Gone Wild to create these cute quilt pieces using paper from BoBunny's Head over Heels 6x6 pad.  I made a 5.5x5.5 square card to be able to fit all the pieces on it.  The xoxo sentiment is from Hero Arts - a set appropriately named XO.

It was a busy week for me but yesterday I had a day off and time to create a card for this week's Merry Monday!  The challenge - use a candy cane on your card.  It may seem odd to share a Christmas card on Valentine's Day but I'm trying to get that quota for 2015!  I actually made two cards but will just link up one to save time.  Here are the cards:

Candy Cane Joy

Supplies:  Silhouette Design ID #52325 and 52613; Stamps: Hero Arts Tiny Ink Spots and Bring on the Merry

Theresa Collins glitter dots, Wink of Stella

Candy Cane with Bow
Supplies:  Silhouette Design ID# 52613; Hero Arts stamp Tiny Ink Spots; Teresa Collins glitter dot

Yay two more Christmas cards done!  I've lost track of my total but I'm over 20 - yay.  Now I'm off to run some errands and have lunch with friends.  Hope you have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping!

Scramble time and another Valentine done!

Well, it was a rough Scramble 102 for me over on the Hero Arts Flickr Group with things going wonky all over my crafty space!  But I still managed to make and upload a card within 60 minutes (we have 90 but - hey - I like to be quick!).  The challenge from Betty was to use one or both of the inspiration photos she offered and create a Valentine.  Here are her inspiration photos:

Just loved both of these chairs with pillows.  The striking color combos and patterns really inspired me.  I used a combo of the two - black and white with the pop of red ribbon and, of course, a heart.  Here's my card:

I used the Hero Arts Heart Background (from the Basic Grey True Love collection) and a white embossed black heart using a stamp from Untitled Hearts.  The sentiment "love" is from a fun set called XO.  This will go to a couple of married friends.

And speaking of Valentines, I heard from my friend Heather saying she received the ones I sent her.  Here is the pair for Heather and her hubby:

These are 3x3 minis - the left one uses a fun Valentine set from Hero Arts called So Sweet.  The cup for the card on the right was stamped from another great Hero Arts set called Need Caffeine.  When I went to visit last May, Philip made me lattes from a mix - they being mostly tea drinkers.  But Philip gamely tried one and I think he's probably still drinking up that mix!

Here's another pair of minis:

On left - a fun set from Lawn Fawn (it was an exclusive for the old Archiver's).  On the right  - a great Operation Write Home set called Dude from Hero Arts.  These went to a friend in California and to one of Heather's sons, respectively.  Heather's other son received the doggie mini I made for a previous Scramble; see it here.

O.K. - let me tell you all the wonky fun for the Scramble.  First I pulled out my beautiful seam binder style ribbon from May Arts - it's hopelessly wrinkled (no surprise, if you know how I store it in a crumple heap).  I get out the ironing board and iron, add water for steam and wait while it heats.  Quickly iron my ribbon.  Then when I was white embossing a sentiment (not the love - I tried a different one first), I realized I had mixed some clear ep with my white when I jarred it last night  - ugh.  So I dumped out as much as I thought I'd added to the jar but to be on the safe side, pulled out a new jar (don't ask where my handy plastic bin, with spoon included, went - it's around here somewhere...).  Had a terrible time getting the wrapping off the second jar!  My patterned paper was ruined and I didn't have any more of that pattern so had to pick a different paper.  The rest of the creating and assembling went smoothly.  I took my photo with a camera but couldn't get the camera to process the download.  Back to take an iPhone photo and finally got it uploaded.  Whew - by then I was exhausted.  But I had a great time and thanks to Betty for hosting!

Hope you're having a crafty day too!!

Using a BOW at Merry Monday!

Hello everyone - Happy Monday!  Ahhhh, it's my Monday off so I could check out Merry Monday right away this morning!  This week's challenge by Nina requires us to use a bow on a card - easy, right?  Well, since we often use bows on our projects, I'm sure anyone wanting to stand out will have to think of something extra creative!  Don't think that's me but I had fun with a Silhouette file Card Christmas Door (#14821) by Samantha Walker.

Here's my card:

After cutting the card base and overlay with a kraft card stock, I stamped both with Hero Arts Woodgrain Pattern, then darkened the overlay with Distress Ink.  Added an enamel dot for the door handle.  The wreath and bow came from the same digi cut file.  I cut each with patterned paper and inked a bit with Copic Markers and Distress Inks.  The gems on the wreath were clear but I colored them Cardinal Red with a Copic.

Reminder to self - don't try to color the edges with the marker while holding them in the air - invariably you get a random line!  I have a few of those on my door and I just left them - they kinda look like scratches that happen to a real door, certainly my front door has some!  Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out Merry Monday - there's great inspiration for anyone (like me) trying to get on track with my Christmas cards!