Home Is Where the Heart Is

I've been having great fun trying out different things with Hero Arts' Brush Strokes set, but as soon as the Tiny Star Background (love this new stamp!) arrived the other day, I knew I wanted to combine it with one of the brush stroke images.


Stamps (Hero Arts) - Tiny Star Background, Brush Strokes and Right at Home

I love this fun card by Kelly Rasmussen and fell for the tiny banner at the top of the card with the heart cut out. So I thought I'd make a banner with a cut out heart too but have it as the focal point on my card. I embossed the stars in white, applied faded jeans distress ink and cut out the heart and banner shape. On another panel of white card I stamped the brush strokes using barn door distress ink and placed this behind the banner using foam pads.

I used a lovely sentiment from the Right at Home set brought out by Hero Arts for Operation Write Home.



By changing the sentiment I could also use the card for a 4th July card or for our older son's birthday as he was born on 4th July. I'm submitting this card into the Color Media Challenge in the Moxie Fab World and the current Hero Arts Challenge.

Hope you have a great weekend:)

ATCs Swapped with Libby

Last week I blogged about the fabulous ATCs I received from Libby in a swap organised over at the Hero Arts Flickr Group. Now Libby has finally received the ATCs I sent her. Unfortunately, this set was made in bit of a hurry as I mislaid the set I had originally made for Libby, so please ignore the dodgy bits on the ATCs! Libby came up with the great idea of making the ATCs based on what we love, so here are some of the things I love:

1. Family and home & 2. Gardening and butterflies


Stamps (Hero Arts) 1. House with Plant & Right at Home 2. Leafy Vines

On the first ATC I just applied distress inks to a piece of paper from a book and coloured the house with markers. For the second one I embossed the vines, applied mowed lawn distress ink and spritzed with a mix of perfect pearls and water. The tiny layered butterflies were punched out.

3. Sewing/fabric & 4. Ireland



Stamps (Hero Arts) 3. Sew Artsy & Be Happy 4. Postcard Collage

For the sewing ATC I embossed the machine, cut out the image and added some thread. Then I frayed some fabric for the background, stamped the sentiment and hand stitched over it. On the Ireland ATC I just stamped the map on some kraft card, distressed the edges and used markers to colour the map of Ireland.

5. Hillwalking & 6. Glendalough/historical places



Stamps (Hero Arts) 5. Be Happy 6. Scattered Leaves & Magical Background

On the hillwalking card I rummaged through my fabrics for a mix of colours, shades and patterns and tried to make a background that looked like a lake and mountains. The sun was stamped on card with distress ink applied. Then on my last ATC I framed a photo from Glendalough in a die cut window and added it to a background which had been covered with distress ink and stamped with the Magical Background and leaves.

I had so much fun making these little cards and really enjoyed my swap with Libby.

ATC Swap

Recently I organised an ATC swap over in the Hero Arts Group on Flickr. It's wonderful to see all the gorgeous ATCs that have been whizzing their way around the world. You'll find photos of the ones that have been received so far in this discussion thread in the group.

One of the swaps I'm doing is with the very talented Linda. Linda came up with the fun idea of us sending each other one ATC plus an ATC background for the other to complete.

I'm delighted that we have now both received our ATCs so I can post here. This is the completed ATC I sent to Linda.


Stamps (Hero Arts) - Old Letter Writing, Exotic Bloom & Right at Home

I called it Dreaming of Summer Sunsets as I was certainly dreaming of Summer on the day I made it - we had a mixed bag of weather that day, including rain, wild winds, hailstones and a teeny tiny bit of sunshine. To start with I applied lots of distress inks (spiced marmalade, barn door, dried marigold, mustard seed & worn lipstick) to white card and spritzed liberally with water. Once the background was dry I stamped the Old Letter Writing on it, after firstly stamping on some scrap paper to lighten the ink load on the stamp. After stamping the Exotic Bloom I added some stickles here and there. The sentiment was embossed and I just added some pearls to finish.

This is the background I sent to Linda for her to complete


Stamps (Hero Arts) - Looped Circle Pattern & Old Letter Writing

Here you'll find what Linda created with it.

Next is the ATC I made using the fabulous ATC background that Linda had sent me. As you can see here the background looks fantastic but it looks even more amazing in real life with a wonderful overall shimmer.


Stamps (Hero Arts) - Antique Engravings & Right at Home

As I was afraid of ruining the background by stamping on it and wanted to keep as much of the background visible as possible, I just stamped and coloured the dragonfly and added the embossed sentiment on vellum.

Finally, here is the gorgeous ATC that Linda sent me. Lucky me to have received this absolute beauty! Linda, thanks again for the fun swap, I really enjoyed it!

Hope you are all having a brilliant weekend!

90 Minute Mayhem aka 90 Minute Scramble

It has been too long since I've been able to take part in one of the 90 minute scrambles over at the Hero Arts Flickr group. But today the timing was right and I was able to join in on Janet's fun scramble.

The idea is to design, make, photograph and upload a card to the group in 90 minutes. 90 minutes sounds like a long time but it's amazing how quickly the time flies by. Today for the first time, I actually got to make two cards before time ran out. So please excuse the not so great photos as I was a bit rushed when I was taking them!


Stamps (Hero Arts) - Lattice Background and Right at Home

For the first card, I embossed the lattice background and applied distress inks (shabby shutters, faded denim, tumbled glass). The flower is one I had made a while ago and I added a gorgeous heart button from a pack of wood buttons which my friend Linda had sent me. The sentiment was stamped with walnut stain distress ink.


Stamps (Hero Arts) - Clouds Background, Woodland Creatures and Picnic

To make the background on the second card, I stamped the clouds on blue card using faded jeans distress ink. Then I added a strip of patterned paper and layered some ribbon (thanks again, Linda!) over it. I paper pieced the kite and coloured the raccoon with colouring pencils.

Hope you are all having a great weekend:)

Rainbow of Kites

For Lily Pad Cards’ First Birthday Blog Hop post please click here.

In the last couple of weeks we've had a real mixed bag of weather with a week of 20C sunshine, followed by a few days with flurries of snow. I'm glad to say today we're back to sunny blue skies again. So I thought I'd make a card with the same blue skies and some colourful kites.


Stamps (Hero Arts) - Right at Home, Be Happy & Woodland Creatures

For the sky I applied distress inks (broken china & tumbled glass) to the back of textured card to get a kind of mottled look (unfortunately it doesn't seem to show in the photo!). Something I seem to accumulate at rapid speed is paper scraps and since I'm not great for throwing things out, even tiny pieces of paper, Cath's Paper Scraps Challenge in the Moxie Fab World is the ideal excuse for using up some of these.



The kites were stamped on the background and I pieced the little bows from scraps and added some gems. I stamped the kites again on scraps of white and coloured card and pieced the kites. The sun and clouds were stamped on scraps too.

I'm also submitting this card into A Blog Named Hero's first challenge which is using favourite Hero Arts products (the Right at Home set is one of my favourites from this year) and also the current Hero Arts Challenge, Sunshine and Showers.

As Maggie Muggins invited me share this card at her Silhouette Free Shape Party #3, I've linked it there. I really wish I had a Silhouette and am hoping that maybe some day a shop in Ireland will stock them!

Well I'm off to enjoy the rest of this beautiful day, I hope it's sunny wherever you are:)

You Make my World Happy

This is a card I made for my hubby. It’s not for any particular occasion, it’s just to tell him how I feel – sorry, should have given a soppy alert on this post!



Stamps (Hero Arts) - Right at Home & Woodland Creatures

I decided to combine two challenges the Map to Your Heart Challenge in the Moxie Fab World and Hero Arts’ Love & Hugs and Kisses Challenge. CAS cards are a bit of a struggle for me but I’m still trying and I hope this card is sort of CASish!

I stamped the cute picture from the Right at Home set a few times, cut out the centre and coloured the frame with a marker. Then I took an old map and cut out significant places for my hubby and me – where we went on our first date, where we were married and where our boys were born. The map piece on the centre picture is a bit worn at one edge, but I like that because it’s one of the places we love and often visit. So I just hung the pictures with some thread and beads and added a heart gem beside the sentiment.

Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend:)

Hero Hostesses Blog Hop

Hi and welcome to your next stop in the Hero Arts 2012 Catalogue Blog Hop with the Hero Hostesses!



You should have arrived here from Anita’s blog. She is so talented and fun, I can’t wait to go hopping myself and see what she has created! If you find a broken link, you'll find a master list of the hop links at the Hero Club Blog. Also, if you happen to come across any broken links, please report them to Tami.

Don’t forget to leave comments as you hop! Hero Arts will be awarding 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! Good luck!

The Hero Arts 2012 catalogue is packed full with fab stamps to suit every style you could possibly imagine. I had so much fun getting inky with the stamps the ever generous Hero Arts sent me to play with. Usually I give details of how I’ve made a card, but I’ve omitted that today as my post is quite long as it is, so please feel free to email me if you have questions about any of the cards. Now on to what I got up to with the new stamps!

I love flowers and knew I had to get the Newspaper Tulips K5576 stamp as soon as I saw it. Tulips come in so many colours and I’ve had a great time trying out lots of different colours on the Newspaper Tulips, so quite a few of my family\friends will be recieving tulip cards soon!



Hero Arts Stamps:
Newspaper Tulips K5576
Flourish Background CG119
Four Hearts CG425 (for the punched heart sentiment piece)

Other supplies - inks (dried marigold distress ink, VersaMark & VersaCraft Celadon), white embossing powder, cream card, cotton upholstery fabric, string, gem, heart punch and Labels 8.

I'm submitting this card into the Die Cutting Challenge in the Moxie Fab World and the Around the House Challenge in the Moxie Fab World (used upholstery fabric).


Hero Arts have created three new clear stamp sets in collaboration with Operation Write Home. Hero Arts will donate 25% of the profits from these sets to that great organisation – love that! One of these sets is Right at Home CL583 which I love and used on this card along with lots of other Hero Arts stamps.



With all the great elements in this adorable Right at Home set - the house, picket fence, framed picture, kite, cloud and sentiments, I just couldn’t resist it and will be using these images on cards for all different kinds of occasions.


Inside card

Hero Arts Stamps:
Right at Home CL583
Dot Flower Pattern CG335 (wallpaper on inside)
Cloud Background S5215
Be Happy CL377
Adorable Baby Girl CL265

Other supplies – distress inks (tumbled glass, shabby shutters, broken china & antique linen), patterned paper, white & red card, colouring pencils, heart gem and string.



I absolutely LOVE the new Greetings set CG414 and can imagine using both stamps in so many different ways. On this card I teamed the butterfly thank you stamp with a background stamp I use over and over again – Old Letter Writing S4878



Hero Arts Stamps:
Greetings CG414
Old Letter Writing S4878

Other supplies - Ribbon Lace CH231, distress inks (tumbled glass, shabby shutters & antique linen), cream & white card, VersaMark, white embossing powder, pearls, thread, button, seam binding, patterned paper.



I want to send a great big thanks to my favourite company, Hero Arts, for a wonderful new catalogue brim full of fabulous products and for inviting me to take part in this blog hop!


Hero Arts Stamp – Four Hearts CG426

A big thanks too to Tami and Deborah for all that they’ve done in organising the hop and of course the Hero Hostesses for all the amazing projects they have created – girls you’ve been so inspiring and have made my shopping list a lot longer!!

Last but not least, a big thanks to you too for visiting and now it’s time for you to go hopping again. At your next stop you will visit the super creative Tracey! Enjoy the rest of your hopping, I’m off to do some hopping too!