Secret Santa Swap

Over at the Hero Arts Flickr Group a number of us took part in a Secret Santa Swap and sent a Christmas card, a Christmas ATC and a gift to the person we were playing Secret Santa to.

Char in the US received the parcel I sent to her, so now I can show what I made for her. First up is the card. The background snowflakes were stamped with faded jeans distress inks and I applied lots of diamond stickles to the die cut snowflakes.

Supplies - Stunning Snowflakes (Hero Arts), Eliza and Kate snowflake dies (Simon Says Stamp), WPlus9 Woodland Wreaths and Spellbinders Fancy Tags One

Next up is the shaker ATC I made. Every time I make an ATC I just want to make more and more of them - it's fun working with the small area.

Supplies - Snowman and Snowflakes (Hero Arts), Woodland Wreaths (WPlus9) & Snowflake embossing folder (Cuttlebug)

Now I want to share the fabulous package I received from the very talented Maria in Russia. This is Maria's photo of the amazing card and ATC she sent me as well as the wonderful goodies - I'm such a lucky girl! Thank you so much again, Maria, I am absolutely thrilled with everything:):)

ATC Trade with Jutta

Recently for an ATC swap over at the Hero Arts Group on Flickr I made a couple of ATCs and ATC backgrounds to swap with Jutta.

Jutta picked a theme (shabby chic or vintage collage), I picked a theme (favourites) and we were to make a background for the other to complete. I ended up making two backgrounds and was undecided about which one I should send to Jutta, so ended up sending both.

For the shabby chic ATC I embossed the image on cream card and applied a mix of distress inks (shabby shutters, broken china and tumbled glass). Then I embossed the butterfly on cream card and applied antique linen distress ink. After that I just added some Hero Arts lace ribbon and lots of pearls to hopefully give the card a shabby chic look.

Stamp (Hero Arts) - Greetings

Next up was the favourites theme and I had fun with some fabric from my stash and sticky back canvas that my friend Linda gave me - thanks again, Linda:) I stamped the Old Letter Writing on Fabric and after stamping the flower on sticky back canvas coloured it and cut it out. To add a little more texture, I lightly frayed the edges of the image. Some stickles and a gem were added to the flower centre. The sentiment was also stamped on sticky back canvas - love that stuff!

Stamps (Hero Arts) - Old Letter Writing, Flower Text and Be Happy

Next up are the two backgrounds I made for Jutta to complete. For the first one I again used some fabric (which I think in real life looks nicer than in the photo!) and embossed the flowers in copper.

Stamp (Hero Arts) - Exotic Bloom

For the second background I used a gorgeous set called Together that Laura had sent me as part of her scramble prize - thanks again, Laura:) I applied distress inks (broken china, faded denim and dusty concord) to white card and spritzed with water. After the background was dry I stamped a couple of images from the set.

Stamp set (Hero Arts) - Together

Jutta sent me this fabulous set of ATCs using a wonderful mix of images. Thanks again for swapping with me, Jutta:)

ATC and ATC Background Swap with Marilyn - Part 2

In a recent post I showed some ATCs and ATC backgrounds that I had made for a swap with the lovely and very talented Marilyn. Well today I'm excited to show you the amazing ATCs, ATC backgrounds and card that I was so lucky to have received from Marilyn. I have heard people use the expression jaw dropping when they see something fantastic. Well I can tell you that my jaw did literally drop when I looked at what Marilyn had created for our swap.

First up is the wonderful set of butterfly ATCs that Marilyn made.

Unfortunately my photo doesn't do them full justice as they are even more gorgeous in real life.

I have to say when I saw the wonderful ATC backgrounds that Marilyn had sent me, I really didn't want to do anymore to them as I thought they were perfect ATCs are they were. Anyway I thought I'd just add little bits to them as I didn't want to mess them up with whatever I decided to do.

Isn't this first background that Marilyn made so pretty and dreamy looking?

When I saw the sweet little Purple Onion bunny that Marilyn had also sent along with lots of other lovely goodies (thanks again, Marilyn), I thought it would be perfect to go on the background. I just lightly coloured the bunny and added a white fluffy pom pom tail which I coloured pink with a ProMarker.



Here's the other fab background Marilyn sent me.

The black strips reminded me of a piano so I first thought of adding white strips but they covered too much of the lovely background Marilyn had created so I just went with adding a stamped Hero Arts maple leaf.



I applied mustard seed distress ink to cream card and stamped the image using the same ink. After cutting out the leaf and applying some spiced marmalade distress ink, I stamped a portion of a Tim Holtz sentiment (I can't find the packaging so I'm not sure of the name of the set). To finish I added a bow using gold sparkly thread.

So this was the swap that Marilyn and I did but I couldn't end without showing the incredible card that Marilyn also sent me.

Not only is it absolutely adorable but Marilyn's colouring is just amazing! Marilyn, thanks a million again for swapping with me, I had so much fun and will treasure your masterpieces:)

ATC Trade With Marilyn

Recently over in the Hero Arts Flick group I came across some fabulous ATCs that Marilyn had up for trade. Needless to say I jumped at the chance to add these beauties to my ATC collection and was delighted when Marilyn said she'd trade with me. Marilyn, a great big thanks yet again for swapping with me:) For a little bit of extra fun we decided to make an ATC background for the other person to complete. Apologies in advance for the photo heavy post, but I forget to photograph the ATCs and backgrounds in groups before I sent them to Marilyn! I haven't made ATCs in quite a while but now after making these ones I'm itching to make more!

For my first ATC I used a flower set I love from Penny Black.



Stamps - Party Petals (Penny Black) & Woodland Wreaths (WPlus9)

I made a background with glossy card and alcohol inks and then embossed flowers and leaves from the Penny Black set. After applying distress inks I layered the flower and added lots of diamond stickles and a gem to finish.

One of my newer stamps which I hadn't used before is the Large Petal Background from Hero Arts. For its first outing I decided to emboss it and colour a portion of it with ProMarkers.

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Stamp (Hero Arts) - Large Petal Background

I must have been in a sparkly humour that day because I ended up adding diamond stickles to lots of different areas on the ATC. It's nice and shimmery in real life but hard to capture in a photo! I'm submitting this ATC into a2z Scrapbooking How Does Your Garden Grow linky party.

If you've seen my last two posts you'll know that a certain funny moose has become a firm favourite of mine so of course I had to include him on one of my ATCs!



Stamps (Hero Arts) - Missing You & Sew Artsy

I used a couple of fabrics for the background and added lots of machine stitching. The moose was coloured with ProMarkers and I added some dots with a white gel pen and glossy accents to the eyes. Stitching is the theme for Virginia's View Challenge #3 so I'm submitting this ATC into Virginia's fun challenge.

I'm submitting the two floral ATCs into Simon Says Spring Flower Challenge.

Next up are the backgrounds. We were only going to swap one background, but I made three and couldn't decide which one to send to Marilyn, so ended up sending the three of them. They were made by applying distress inks to white card and stamping with water instead of ink.



Stamp (Hero Arts) - Watch Gears



Stamp (Hero Arts) - Tiny Star Background



Stamp (Hero Arts) - Time to Stamp


I'm really looking forward to receiving Marilyn's ATCs and her mystery ATC background which I know will be great fun to play with! It looks like we're in for a bit of a soggy day here today but I suppose that's always a good excuse for doing a bit of stamping;) I hope you have a fun and inky 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 Heaven!

I was so excited when I got home from work the other night and discovered a package from the very talented and sweet Libby Hickson. Libby and I were paired up in an ATC swap over at the Hero Arts Flickr group. We did our swap at a leisurely pace, in my case at a very leisurely pace indeed as I mislaid the first set of ATCs I had made for Libby! Anyway I'm hoping that Libby will receive the ATCs I made any day now, but for the moment I'd love to show you the amazing ATCs I received from Libby. It's a pity my photos don't do any justice to just how beautiful they are in real life.

For our swap Libby came up with the great idea of making ATCs based on what we love and I had fun guessing what Libby would come up with. Lol now why is it that I don't have a chocolate stamp in my stash?! If you know Libby at all, you'll know that one of her big loves is cycling so I was delighted to see this fun biking scene with the cute glittery bicycle and sweet banners. Being a bit of a fabric fiend I just love the way Libby used canvas on the seashell ATC and layered the images so beautifully, to show her love for the oceans, aquariums and fish. Not only does the ATC look pretty but it feels lovely too.


Stamps (Hero Arts) - 1. Cloud Backgrounds, Envelope Pattern, 2. Antique Engravings

Next up is a gorgeous, gorgeous ATC representing Libby's love of poppies, flowers and gardens. Not only is the colouring fab but I wish you could see the wonderful glimmering gold background in all its glory. Isn't the veggie ATC showing Libby's love for cooking and vegetables just the cutest? I have to say I'm a girl (or I should say auld wan!) who loves her veggies and this ATC just makes me smile.


Stamps (Hero Arts)- 1. Delicate Blossoms & Friend Definition 2. Kiss the Cook

Now we're off travelling with Libby to a couple of her favourite places - Texas and New York. Again there's wonderful colouring, distressing and layering on Libby's Texas ATC and it's just such a fun one. I've never been to Texas but I'm with Libby on loving New York City. It's such a brilliant place to visit and I love the wonderful, atmospheric sky Libby has created as a backdrop to this lovely skyscraper skyline stamp.


Stamps (Hero Arts)- 1. Howdy, Magical Background 2. Newspaper Skyline

As you can probably tell I just LOVE all of these ATCs! I included the names of stamps when I recognise them but I'm afraid I've missed out on a few. Libby, thanks again for swapping with me, I enjoyed it so much! Also thanks for all the yummy goodies you included in your package, I'm going to have great fun playing with them:)You can find Libby's inspiring blog here.

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!