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:)

Moxie Fab Thanks! Blog Hop

I'm delighted to be part of the Moxie Fab Thanks! Blog Hop, to celebrate and thank the moxie fab Cath Edvalson, former editor at Paper Crafts Magazine and brilliant blogger at Moxie Fab World!

You should have arrived here from sunny California from the blog of the very talented and sweet Nancy Krueger. If you didn't begin at the start of the hop, you can go to Moxie Fab World where the hop begins. A list of all of the stops on this blog hop will also be listed there.

Cath has been such a big part of the paper crafting world so needless to say I was very shocked and saddened when I read Cath's farewell post over at Moxie Fab World. So today I'd love to say thanks a million to Cath for everything and let her know I'll miss her so much.

In her farewell post Cath quoted Winnie the Pooh, and today I have to say to Cath, also in the words of that wise bear, I knew when I met you an adventure was going to happen. And what adventures I've had since I came across Cath's wonderful, inspiring, eloquent, fun and intriguing posts in Moxie Fab World. Because of Cath, visits to Moxie Fab World have always been a must for me. I've also thoroughly enjoyed playing along with the Tuesday Trigger and the amazing variety of challenges Cath has come up with over the years. Cath has always been so generous with her kind words of encouragement to paper crafters. She has even managed to keep me, a non trendy person, interested in and abreast of all the latest trends. My online “visits” to CHA with Cath have been fantastic. Often because of her I’ve ended up with a very long shopping list indeed!



Stamps (Hero Arts) - Exotic Bloom & Dolls (sentiment)

Cath, this card was made for you and about you. The panel represents all the colour you have brought into my life, something for which I will always be thankful. I want to wish you all of the very best in your new adventure in life. I'm sure many, many exciting and fun experiences lie ahead! As the blog hop banner says, Cath, you'll always be moxie fab! Hugs and best wishes :)

Thanks so much for visiting today and now why don't you join me as I hop from here in Ireland over to Switzerland for the next stop in the hop. You will be visiting the lovely and talented Isha Gupta . Happy hopping and hope you have a wonderful weekend!

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!

ATC swap with Barb

Barb and I decided we'd like to have an ATC swap and sent each other three ATCs. It's only now that I'm uploading the images that I realise how similar our choices were!


Above are the absolute beauties I received from Barb. I was so delighted when I opened the package and saw the gorgeous ATCs she had sent me. Thanks again Barb, I really enjoyed our swap and thanks again also for the lovely goodies you sent:)

These are the ATCs I sent to Barb.

Stamps (Hero Arts) - Hydrangea, Exotic Bloom and Antique Engravings.

On the first one, the background started as white card and I applied distress inks (broken china and faded jeans) and stamped an image in VersaMark (it was a while ago and now I can't remember which image I used!). The hydrangea was coloured with ProMarkers and I just added some diamond stickles to the flower centres. The second one has a background of spiced marmalede distress ink and after stamping the image I added a couple of punched butterflies. On the last one I used a piece of paper from a gorgeous stack of paper which my friend Trinh sent me a while ago. The butterfly was coloured with ProMarkers.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend:)

The Blues

One of my favourite techniques is resist, so when I saw Lily Pad Cards' Resist Challenge, I just couldn't resist making a card.


Stamps (Hero Arts) - Exotic Bloom, Starburst Lace & Messages.

I used the sketch from the Square Sketch Challenge in the Moxie Fab World.



To start with I embossed the Exotic Bloom in white on white card and applied a few of my favourite distress inks - tumbled glass, broken china & faded jeans. The butterfly was punched out of a scrap left over from another project (vellum white embossed with Starburst Lace). I also used the resist technique on the sentiment and added a few gems to the card to finish.

Rainbow of ATCs

Part of the May challenge on the Hero Arts blog is to make ATCs. I haven’t made ATCs in a while and had forgotten how fun it is to make them. Another bonus to making ATCs is all the scraps I get to use up!

I wanted to make an ATC for each colour of the rainbow so just picked the first stamp that came to mind when I thought of each colour. All stamps mentioned are by Hero Arts.



The Poppy Background was embossed in red and I added some beads to the flower centre.


I applied spiced marmalade distress ink to white card and stamped the Exotic Bloom in black. Then I just added punched butterflies.


I clear embossed the Clouds Background on yellow card. The bees were embossed in black and I coloured them with a yellow ProMarker and added diamond stickles to the wings. Trinh, thanks again for the black & white baker's twine:)


For the background I applied shabby shutters distress ink to white card, using the same ink stamped with the Envelope Pattern and embossed. Froggy was stamped on patterned paper and coloured in places with a ProMarker. To finish I added some leaves and green & white baker's twine (thanks again, Linda!).



On this one I clear embossed the Friend Definition on blue card for the background. The sewing machine was stamped on gingham patterned paper and I just added some thread and a fabric scrap to finish.


I applied some worn lipstick distress ink to white card, clear embossed the Magical Background and then applied dusty concord and faded jeans distress inks. The butterfly from the Antiques Engravings set was embossed in white and some purple pearls (thanks again, Sharon!) added to the centre.


Now I better go catch up on what I should have done yesterday instead of making these!

Fresh Inspiration Friday Challenge - Inspiration Off the Wall

Today on the Hero Arts blog there is a Fresh Inspiration Friday Challenge. Inspired by gorgeous pictures in her house, Anita picked the colour combination for the challenge.


Tami from Hero Arts and Hero Hostesses Anita, Linda, Sharon, Sally and I made cards using this yummy colour combination. Links to all of our cards can be found at this post here on the Hero Arts website. The post also includes full details of the challenge - I hope you’ll join in on the fun!


Stamps (Hero Arts) - Classic Fabric Design, Envelope Pattern, Exotic Bloom & It’s a Day for a Cupcake

To start with I applied broken china and faded jeans distress inks to the Classic Fabric Background, spritzed well with water and stamped on watercolour paper. Then I used broken china distress ink and the Envelope Pattern to stamp another layer. On the main panel I used the same inks on the Exotic Bloom stamp and this time lightly spritzed with water. The sentiment which was stamped using a chalk ink is from a cute set that Linda sent me last year – thanks again Linda! I just added some twine and a gem to finish.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! It looks like we're going to have another beautiful sunny weekend here so I'm really looking forward to that:)

A Little Layering

This week on the Hero Art Blog, Shari shared some amazing cards and a brilliant video showing her technique for making layered stamped backgrounds. I don’t usually do a lot of layering of stamps on my cards so I thought I’d give her technique a try.


Stamps (Hero Arts) - Exotic Bloom, Earth Flowers and Envelope Pattern

To start with I dabbed faded jeans and broken china distress inks here and there on a large acrylic block, spritzed with lots of water and stamped on watercolour paper. Then I stamped this background with the Envelope Pattern using antique linen distress ink and white embossed the Earth Flowers. Unlike Shari, I didn't walk and wiggle (you'll have to watch Shari's video to see what I'm talking about!) but applied dusty concord distress ink on the Exotic Bloom image, spritzed with water, stamped once on scrap paper and then stamped on the panel. I applied dusty concord distress ink to a scrap of white card, spritzed with water and once dry punched out a butterfly, added Crackle Accents and some gems. Unfortunately my photo of the card isn't great, in real life it doesn’t look so dull and the Envelope Pattern looks more subtle because of the texture of the watercolour paper which isn’t being picked up in the photo.

I'm submitting this card into the Simon Says Stamp Challenge - Anything Goes.



Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been fairly busy with a few things so have become the worst in the world for visiting blogs. Hopefully from today on that will change and I can’t wait to catch up on what I’ve missed out on:)