Hero Arts Hostess Summer Picnic Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to your next picnic spot on the Hero Arts Hostess Summer Picnic Blog Hop!

If you’ve been following along the picnic trail, you should have just arrived from the blog of the talented Kryssi Ng. In case you come across a broken link or didn't begin at the start of the hop, you’ll find a master list of the hop links at the Hero Club Blog. Also please report broken links to blog@heroarts.com.

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 - best of luck! I have comment moderator switched on, so don’t worry if your comment doesn’t appear immediately.

Recently we’ve been enjoying the most glorious weather and have had lots of days out in some of our local scenic areas. Each time we’ve loaded up our wicker picnic basket, so for our virtual picnic today I thought I’d make a picnic basket shaped card.

Hero Arts Stamps – Picnic CL599, Designer Woodgrain S5208 and It’s a Day for a Cupcake AR171 (Archiver’s exclusive)

I die cut the basket using my Silhouette and stamped the outer layer and handles with the Designer Woodgrain stamp. The sentiment was heat embossed in white. Then I made a little tablecloth/blanket by repeatedly stamping the strawberry from the Picnic set on a triangle of white card and coloured it with ProMarkers. The borders were made from scraps of card left over from other projects. After stamping and cutting out the cupcakes, I added some dimension by adhering the “cream” topping with foam pads. Some swirls of stickles were applied for added sparkle and the “chocolate” and strawberries on the cupcakes were covered with a layer of Glossy Accents.

All week I’ve been enjoying this calorie free picnic and want to try out all the mouth watering recipes my Hosti sisters have provided. So now it’s my turn to come up with something for our picnic. One of my favourite summer time combinations is strawberries and cream, so pavlova is one of the (many!) desserts I love.

Hero Arts Stamps - Remember & Picnic

As well as being a cool and refreshing dessert, pavlova is also easy to make. If you’re having a garden picnic, the pavlova can come straight out of your fridge or if you’re going on a picnic out and about, just pop the pavlova or elements needed for the pavlova into your cooler box to keep chilled. With the recipe below you can either make one big pavlova or a batch of mini pavlovas as I did.

Since we have a coeliac in the family, it’s great to have this delicious dessert that can be enjoyed by all of us, even those on a gluten free diet. If you are making pavlovas for a coelic, please just ensure that the cornflour and white wine vinegar do not have any added gluten or have not been on a production line where they could have been contaminated by gluten. If you live in Ireland, just to let you know the Coeliac Society of Ireland produces a wonderful booklet that is an invaluable source of information and provides a comprehensive list of gluten free manufactured products on sale in Ireland. Anyway here is the recipe if you’d like to make mini pavlovas:

Mini Pavlovas

Ingredients

3 egg whites
6oz caster sugar
1 teaspoon cornflour
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar or lemon juice
½ pint cream
2 teaspoons icing sugar
Strawberries and cherries (or any other fruits) to decorate

Method

1. Line baking trays with non stick baking parchment.

2. Whisk egg whites until stiff. Whisk in the caster sugar a third at a time, each time whisking until the mixture is stiff and very shiny. Fold in the cornflour, vanilla essence and the white wine vinegar or lemon juice.

3. Spoon dollops of the mixture into small round shapes on the baking parchment. Form a hollow in the middle of the round mounds.

4. Bake at 130 C (250 F) for approximately 45 minutes or until pale brown and dry but a little soft in the centre. (If you are making 1 large pavlova, adjust the cooking time to 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 hours). Leave to cool slightly and peel off paper.

5. Whisk the cream until thick and fold in icing sugar. Spoon cream onto mini pavlovas and decorate with strawberries and cherries (or any other fruits).

6. Now sit back, relax and enjoy!

I've made my card and my dish so now it's time for me to find a lovely picnic spot. I'd dearly love to have all my Hosti sisters right here with me, so we could enjoy a little hike and picnic together overlooking the lakes at Glendalough, Co Wicklow.

I'd like to say a great big thanks to Hero Arts for letting us loose having us on the blog this week and of course for all the fab must have goodies it produces! Also a great big thanks to Deborah, who has put in an amazing amount of work behind the scenes for the hop and has had us all in giggles as she's let the cat out of the bag over on the Hero Arts blog about our shenanigans at the picnic!

But for the moment why don’t you join me in hopping over to the next stop on the Hero Arts Hostess Summer Picnic Blog Hop where we'll visit the lovely and talented Kathy Wade – I can’t wait to see what she has lined up for us! Thanks for visiting and enjoy the rest of the hop!

I'm submitting this card into the Simon Says Stamp Summer Food and/or Drink Challenge.

Tuesday Trigger: Pretty Little Petits Fours

I made this card based on the Tuesday Trigger: Pretty Little Petits Fours over at Moxie Fab World.



It was inspired by a number of items from the Trigger photo – the various shades of pink, the woodgrain background and the wavy placement of the the petit fours on the plate.



Stamps Hero Arts) - Sew Artsy & Designer Woodgrain

The background was very easy to make and the idea was borrowed from a quilt I made a long time ago. I cut two rectangles from two different shades of pink card and cut wavy lines in one direction on one rectangle and in the other direction on the other piece of card. Then I just wove them together, trimmed and added stitching.



When I originally saw the Trigger photo I was inclined to a put flower on the card, but because of the background I had made, decided to go with a sewing theme instead. I stamped the woodgrain on kraft card and embossed the thread holder. To finish I added thread and a needle.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Happy fingers, happy feet and a chance to win a trip to Ireland

My fingers are orange and green but, as always, I've had great fun playing with distress inks!

I made this card for the Focal Point Challenge in the Moxie Fab World, Paper Crafts September 2012 Gallery Challenge (natural elements) and the current Hero Arts Challenge (fall feast).



Stamps (Hero Arts) - Earth Flowers, Blossom Art, Designer Woodgrain & Everyday Sayings

On the card base I stamped the woodgrain using antique linen distress. Then I die cut a piece of fabric and stamped the Earth Flowers with tea dye distress ink. The flower and leaves were white embossed and I applied distress inks (spiced marmalade and forest moss). To add some more natural elements I added some raffia and a wooden button.

So you've heard about the happy fingers and now on to the happy feet with some photos from a recent hike in Glendalough. We started the walk from the far side of the lake you can see way down in the valley. You can probably tell from the photo our walking boots have enjoyed quite a few rambles!

On some parts of the trail these railway sleepers have been put down, mainly to protect the mountains but they also provide a good grip on what can sometimes be slippery slopes.

Wish I could capture in photos just how beautiful it is in the mountains,

especially on gorgeous sunny days.

The heather is in full bloom.

But it looks like we were a bit late to try the sweet, juicy fraughans (bilberries) that can be found there.

Coming down through the forest we can across foxgloves. A bee was hovering around them but in each photo I took he had disappeared into the flowers or ended up blurry.

Here we are back down at the lake again and up to the left is where we had been.

I just thought I'd mention a place where I came across a chance to win a trip to Ireland next year from the US. A year long event called The Gathering celebrating Ireland and all things Irish is being held next year. It sounds like it's going to be a brilliant fun filled year. Anyway on The Gathering's Facebook page there is a chance to win the holiday here. Good luck!:)

A Good Book and a Trip to London

Paper Crafts August Gallery Challenge is to make a British inspired project.

As I don't have any British themed stamps, I decide to go with something I love – books and in this case books by British authors. Sometimes I read curled up in a comfy chair with a squishy cushion, so to go a bit further with the British theme I made a tiny Union Jack cushion for my card.


Stamps (Hero Arts) - Wish You Were Here, Everyday Sayings and Designer Woodgrain

To start with I made the chair by stamping it twice, once on card and the other time on a scrap of suede upholstery fabric. Then I made the cushion with a scrap of denim from an old pair of jeans, wadding and thread\yarn.

To make the table I inked the stamp and kissed it with the woodgrain background using a slightly darker ink. There are so many wonderful British books to choose from but to save the table breaking, I just picked some on my favourites! The book titles were printed off using a variety of fonts and I tried to achieve a worn and well read look by using distress inks and rumpling the paper a bit. I curled the titles to form book spines and left them slightly bowed when I adhered them to a piece of backing card.

I'm also submitting this card into the current Hero Arts Challenge, as one of the themes is make your own embellishment.

Since the card is British inspired I thought I'd share some photos of our trip earlier in the year.

Up, up and away in Legoland, Windsor

A peek into Gryffindor Common Room, Warner Brothers Studio Tour, London

Up close to Hagrid

Spotting Marilyn at Madam Tussauds, London

A view of Big Ben and Houses of Parliament from the London Eye

Back on firm ground again for lunch

A visit to Tower Bridge

and finally aboard the H.M.S. Belfast

Hope you're all having a great weekend!

Rainbow Star

Recently I’ve been busy, busy with a lot of things going on here, but I knew with the Hooked on Hexagons Challenge going on currently over at the MoxieFab World, it wouldn’t be long before I'd start playing with hexagons again!



Stamps (Hero Arts) – Sew Artsy, Woodgrain Background, Magical Background, Friend Definition, Dot Flower Pattern, Lattice Background and Hydrangea.

As I was trying to make different patterns out of hexagons, I realised that by removing one from the centre of a cluster of hexagons, I could form a star shape. So I used up lots of little scraps, which had already been stamped, to fill my star centre. Then I just added some machine stitching and a sentiment to finish.

One of the things that has been keeping me busy is preparing for a class I'm doing in An Siopa Bui in Spiddal on Saturday and I just finished cutting 75 circles of fabric (thank goodness for Cuttlebugs!) as part of the preparation - phew! Kerry has some sneak peeks here of some of the cards we'll be making. I can't wait for it!

Woodgrain and Flowers

Don’t ask me what it is, but for some reason I love cutting paper or fabric and find it very relaxing. So I thought I’d do a bit more cutting for the Cutting & Trimming Challenge in the Moxie Fab World. I’m also submitting this card into the current Hero Arts Challenge.


Stamps (Hero Arts) Designer Woodgrain, Everyday Sayings & Large Flower Background

I started by embossing the Large Flower Background in white and cut around the outside of the image leaving a small border. Then I just cut around the flowers and leaves to my heart’s content! When I started making cards I didn’t have a craft shop anywhere near me. I needed a scissors to cut out images and came across a curved nail scissors in a local chemist and that’s what I use to this day.

After all that cutting I was left with a framed image of the flowers which I then watercoloured using dried marigold and shabby shutters distress inks. I applied walnut stain distress ink to a piece of white card and using the same ink stamped the woodgrain background. As the white border was around the image, I just adhered the border to the woodgrain background so the flowers are floating free. I only had to use one tiny foam dot to keep one flower in place. The sentiment is stamped with walnut stain distress ink.

Hope you are all having a brilliant weekend:)

Owl book gift card holder and bookmark

Something my friends and I do more often in the autumn is read. So I made this little gift card holder which has a pocket inside for a book gift card and bookmark.

To start with, I white embossed some white card with the Friend Definition stamp and applied spiced marmalade distress ink. For the woodgrain pieces I applied walnut stain distress ink to white card and stamped the Woodgrain Background using the same ink.


Stamps (Hero Arts ) - Friend Definition, Heart Owls, Designer Woodgrain and Flourish Background

The green background started as white card and this was white embossed with the Flourish Background and some shabby shutters distress ink applied. The little owls were coloured with colouring pencils. I just added some googly eyes, leaves (May Arts ribbon) and glossy hearts to finish.

I'm submitting these into this month's Hero Arts Challenge and the Resist Challenge at Lily Pad Cards. Now I'm off to tackle a mountain of ironing which I should have been doing this morning instead of getting inky!

Critters in Love ATCs

I had so much fun making my last set of ATCs and couldn’t resist making more for the current Hero Arts challenge. This time it’s critters in love. I’ve uploaded the photos from a laptop (pc in for repairs:( ) and it’s a really cloudy day here, so sorry if the photo is terrible!


Stamps (Hero Arts) – Adorable Baby Girl, Heart Owls, Designer Woodgrain, Be Happy, Envelope Pattern, Woodland Creatures & Clouds Background.

Ladybirds card
For the sky I applied tumbled glass distress ink to white card and spritzed lightly with water. Shabby shutters distress ink was applied to white card and one of the hills was stamped with the Envelope Pattern. The tree was coloured with watercolours pencils and the hearts coloured with a ProMarker and covered with Glossy Accents.

Owls card
I applied distress inks (pumice stone & walnut stain) to white card and stamped the woodgrain using walnut stain distress ink. The owls were coloured with watercolour pencils. I stamped the leaves on patterned paper and the hearts were coloured with a ProMarker and Glossy Accents applied. For the background I applied shabby shutters distress in to white card and stamped with the Envelope Pattern.

Raccoons card
The grass was stamped on patterned paper and the clouds stamped on white card. I coloured the raccoons with watercolours pencils. The hearts were coloured with a ProMarker and I applied Glossy Accents to them.

Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend!

Best Wishes Mike

During the Hero Arts blog hop last week it was mentioned that “This blog hop is in honor of our friend Mike, who is battling cancer. The world is simply brighter with Mike in it, and words can’t express our appreciation to Mike as a business partner and friend. The Hero Hostesses will be sending Mike and his family some of the cards shown during this week’s blog hop”.

Deborah gave details here for those who would like to send a card to Mike. This is a card I made for Mike who really sounds like a very special man indeed.


Stamps (Hero Arts) - Antique Engravings, Designer Woodgrain, Birthday Messages & You're the Best.

I find masculine cards really hard to make and usually end up keeping them fairly simple and plain. To start with I applied shabby shutters and broken china distress inks to a piece of white card and spritzed with water. I stamped the dragonflies on this card and also used it for the bottom part of the background. For the top part of the background light brown card was clear embossed with the woodgrain stamp. To finish I white embossed words from two sentiments and added some machine stitching.

Hope you’re all having a great weekend!

Surrounded by Love

As soon as I saw Lisa’s post on the Hero Arts blog this morning I wanted to make a card. Lisa created an adorable card inspired by her super cute card on page 74 of the catalogue. I love these cards and decided to use them to come up with an idea for my hubby’s Valentine.

Lucy is sharing a sketch and card every day this week on her blog so I decided to use her sketch from Day 2. I may have strayed a bit too far off the sketch though!


Stamps (Hero Arts) – Heart Owls, Designer Woodgrain, Buttons, Flourish Background, Tree Birds & Messages.

The card came together pretty quickly. Most of the pieces on the card were in my pile of scraps - I really have to use more of them! The owls were coloured with watercolour pencils and I perched them on a twig which came from an old Christmas decoration. I made the heart wreath using the cute little heart shaped button from the Buttons set. The buttons were covered with a layer of Glossy Accents and some yarn threaded through the buttonholes. Thanks to Sue for the brown twine I used for the loop on the wreath. One of the scraps I used for the background had been clear embossed with the woodgrain stamp. On the other one I had applied walnut stain distress ink to white card and stamped, spritzed and spattered with water.