A Bumpy Road

The current challenge over at the Hero Arts’ blog includes a thinking of you theme. So to symbolise “I’m with you”, I decided to connect two die cut bicycles to form a tandem.


Stamps (Hero Arts) - Flourish Background, Envelope Pattern and Everyday Sayings

To start with, I inked a piece of card with tumbled glass distress ink and then stamped the flourish background using the same ink. Then I applied distress inks (shabby shutters, pumice stone and antique linen) to another piece of white card to form the hills and bumpy road. This was stamped with the envelope pattern using shabby shutters distress ink. The bicycles, from Hero Arts, were cut using my new Silhouette Cameo (I’m in love!) and I just did a bit of welding and cutting to form the tandem. To finish I added some heart gems and baker’s twine.

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!

Hanging Out on the Lily Pad

I was absolutely delighted when I received an invitation from Deborah and Vicky asking me to be a guest designer over at Lily Pad Cards. I said yes straight away as I love Lily Pad Cards!! There are always fun challenges going on over there and the blog is full of inspirational and fun posts. Lol, my Sunday morning wouldn’t be complete without taking a break to watch Vicky’s latest video with my cuppa and maybe a bickie (edited. Lin, bickie is slang for what we call a biscuit here but you'd call it a cookie) in hand!

So here is one of the cards I made for today using a few of my favourite stamps.



If you’d like to see two more of my cards and the supply list\instructions for the above card, hop over to the Lily Pad where you will find them.

Thanks again Deborah and Vicky for having me over at the Lily Pad, I had a splashing great time there!

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!

Crazy in two ways for paper piecing!

Below is a birthday card I made for a quilting friend. I was going to put the birthday sentiment on the outside but with so much going on there as it was, I decided to put it inside instead. I’m submitting the card into the Play Date Cafe Challenge Colour Splash Week and the Moxie Fab World Paper Piecing Challenge. This month’s challenge at Hero Arts includes the theme of birthdays.


To start with I stamped the Envelope Pattern in white on red card. Then I stamped this and two pieces of white card with the sewing machine and paper pieced it – yikes those pieces were tiny but I love paper piecing anyway! On a piece of white patterned fabric I stamped the sentiment and hand stitched it with red thread. Then I just threaded up the pieced machine, added a gem and some machine stitching on the black background.



Stamps (Hero Arts) - Sew Artsy, Classic Fabric Design, Large Canvas Stripes, Flourish Background, Magical Background & Envelope Pattern.

For the patterned background I white embossed pieces of black card with the Magical and Flourish Backgrounds and stamped the Classic Fabric Design and Large Canvas Stripe in black on white card. These were then cut into strips. I cut a square of white card into four triangles applied the strips, trimmed and put the square back together again. I think I can safely say this card takes the record for the most time I’ve ever spent making a card but I had great fun making it!



Hope you’re all having a wonderful 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.

PaperPlay Challenge – Coffee and Cream

The challenge on PaperPlay this week is to use browns and creams only on your card/project. Phindy’s Place is kindly sponsoring the challenge and the lucky winner will receive a $15 gift certificate and can choose from the wonderful range available here.



When I was about seven I went to ballet lessons but after a short time moved on to do something else. I still remember how much I loved twirling around in my pink tutu and flouncing up all the layers of tulle! So I was delighted to get a chance to use this adorable image, Twick or Tweet from Phindy’s Place, of a little girl trick or treating in her tutu and wings. I coloured the image with watercolour pencils and added diamond stickles to the wings and copper stickles to the tiara.


Stamps: Twick or Tweet (Phindy's Place) & Flourish Background (Hero Arts).

On a piece of cream pearlescent card I masked a circle for the moon, clear embossed the Flourish Background and then applied some antique linen distress ink. The ground is a scrap of card left over from another project, which has water stamping (Flourish Background) and splashing on walnut stain distress ink. I just added some tulle and a button to finish.

I hope you will join us for coffee and cream this week at PaperPlay!

Swirling Autumn Leaves

The starting point for this card was when I saw the Offset Scallop Gallop Challenge in the Moxie Fab World. I really liked the idea of using offset scallops on a card and wanted to use an autumn theme for Jenny’s "Fall into Autumn"challenge and Hero Arts’ “Everything Autumn” challenge.


Stamps (Hero Arts) Scattered Leaves, Flourish Background, Scallop Borders and Messages.

I embossed the Flourish Background in white on a piece of fabric from an upholstery fabric sample book. The leaves are clear embossed on scraps of upholstery fabric. Because the embossing is all over the leaves they didn’t fray when I cut them. Even if they did fray I wouldn’t mind because it would give that tattered autumn look. I clear embossed some pieces of card with a scallop from the Scallop Borders set and layered them. To finish I just added some gems and machine stitching.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Hero Arts' Virtual Cardmaking Party

Over the weekend Hero Arts held a Virtual Cardmaking Party in celebration of Operation Write Home’s birthday. There were lots of great challenges and fun games to take part in. Amazingly, over 600 cards were created by members of the HA Flickr group during the weekend to donate to Operation Write Home. These are the cards I made over the weekend.


Stamps (Hero Arts) Froggy, Clouds Background, Write Your Message and Flourish Background.



Stamp (Hero Arts) Birthday Messages.



Stamps (Hero Arts) Froggy & You’re the Best.



Stamps (Hero Arts) Heart Owls, Flourish Background & Branch Background.



Stamps (Hero Arts) Antique Engravings & Birthday Messages.

A big thanks to Hero Arts and everyone in the HA Flickr group for making it such a brilliant, fun weekend!



As you can see I had fun getting inky!

PaperPlay Challenge – Autumn is a Comin’

Julie set the challenge on PaperPlay this week and it is to use an autumnal colour scheme on your card\project. I love all the glorious colours of autumn so I can’t wait to see what everyone comes up with!

Simon Says Stamp is kindly sponsoring this week's challenge and the lucky winner will receive $15 to spend in the store. There are so many wonderful goodies to choose from here.



Stamps used (Hero Arts) – Antique Engravings, Scattered Leaves & Flourish Background

I used distress inks (worn lipstick & spiced marmalade) for the sky and stamped the wheat using two brown chalk inks. The dragonflies are stamped on acetate and I added copper stickles to the wings for some sparkle.



I stamped the leaves with shabby shutters distress ink and an orange chalk ink. Then I raided the garden shed for the raffia and snipped some berries off a wreath I have around a candle. For a bit of sheen I covered the berries with glossy accents. I clear embossed the Flourish Background on the cream card and added machine stitching using a dull gold thread.



I’m submitting the card into the current Hero Arts challenge – Everything Autumn.

End of the Honeymoon

It’s finally time for the sun to set on the raccoons' honeymoon. I've had great fun this month making this series of cards and hope I haven’t bored you all to tears with them! But I just wanted to make one last card because of a couple of requests to have them visit Asia.

End of the Honeymoon, originally uploaded by heather maria.

Stamps used (Hero Arts):- Woodland Creatures, Flourish Background & Heart Owls

Using a punched circle as a mask for the setting sun, I inked the white background with spiced marmalade distress ink. Then I splattered water on it to try and give the impression of fireworks in the sky. The raccoons are coloured with colouring pencils and clothed with scraps of paper. I clear embossed the black card base with the Flourish Background.

I'm submitting the card into the Card Style Fun and Cute Challenge at Moxie Fab World as well as Hero Arts' July challenge (Food and Travel).

PaperPlay Challenge - Sandie's Sketch

This week the challenge at PaperPlay is to make a card using this great sketch designed by Sandie.



The prize this week has kindly been sponsored by Meljen’s Designs.

I made a new home card using one of Meljen’s Designs' adorable digital images called Garden Bird House. Now this is the kind of birdhouse I’d love to have in my garden, little love birds and vines included!



Stamps:- Meljen’s Designs (Garden Bird House), Hero Arts (Flourish Background & Clouds)

I coloured the image with pencils, added glossy accents to the ladybird, gems to the flowers, a heart pearl to "HOME" and touches of diamond stickles here and there. The “tweet home” is a Word font – Comic Sans MS. The Flourish Background is embossed in white on the white background.



I printed off the Garden Bird House image in a few different sizes and for my first attempt at making a little mini book used one on the cover. Instructions on Japanese bookbinding can be found in Lisa's video here on the Hero Arts blog. It’s fun making these little mini books and hopefully next time I won’t have to keep starting and stopping the video as I go along!


Stamp:- Meljen’s Designs (Garden Bird House)


I'm using the book to house information on our home. It contains\will contain information on each room (floor size, window size, amount and colours of paints used etc) so instead of having to measure up and estimate quantities any time we decorate, the info will always be there in this book.

I’m sure you’ll have fun with Sandie’s sketch and am looking forward to seeing your creations!

July Card Chain Challenge

I always love taking part in Deborah's Card Chain Challenge (CCC) and today I was delighted to receive this absolute stunner from Marian in the Philippines.



The background looks amazing with the way she inked the hills, sky and sun. It also has a wonderful all over shimmer (perfect pearls maybe?) which I couldn't catch in a photo. The gorgeous embossed tree and butterflies are full of sparkle too.

It's also beautiful on the inside!



Thanks again Marian. I love it!

This is the card I sent to Donna (irishmist2009). As Donna has received the card, I thought I'd post it.



Stamps (Hero Arts):- Leaves Background, Flourish Background, Engraved Flower & Messages.

I used a piece of green fabric for the background (the grain of the fabric is less obvious in real life), clear embossed the Leaves Background on it and added a little machine stitching. The red card base is clear embossed with the Flourish Background. The flower has two layers and is coloured with a red marker and yellow watercolour pencil. I love the little heart pearls from Hero Arts so I had to add one to the card!

If you haven't already tried it, I'd highly recommend taking part in Deborah's monthly challenge. On the last Friday of the month Deborah gives the details of the next CCC on her blog. So you might like to check out her blog on the 30th of July for the August CCC!

PaperPlay Challenge - Your Number's Up

It’s Thursday so it’s time for a new challenge at PaperPlay. The challenge this week is titled “Your Number’s Up”. So you can make a card for any occasion as long as a number features prominently on it. The prize this week is sponsored by Simon Says Stamp! and the winner will receive a $15 voucher for the store. I hope you’ll join in!

I wanted to make a 25th wedding anniversary card and decided to use the opportunity to go all out with silver and sparkle (hard to tell with photos taken on a dull day)!



Stamps (Hero Arts):- Flourish Background, Heart Winged Butterfly

The background is a piece of vellum clear embossed with the Flourish Background. I printed the numbers (from a free template on the internet) onto white card, cut them out and embossed with stardust embossing powder. I repeated the embossing process twice more.



I love the Heart Winged Butterfly stamp from Hero Arts and thought it would be nice to use on an anniversary card. The butterflies are also embossed with stardust embossing powder. One layer is embossed on white card and the other is on a piece of silk fabric. To finish I added some machine stitching and trails of silver gems with a white pearl heart (Hero Arts) at the base of each one.



I’m looking forward to seeing your creations!

Trinh told me about the monochromatic challenge at the CARDS blog so I've submitted this card. Thanks Trinh for yet again alerting me to a challenge!

Hello and Welcome!

Well I never thought I'd be saying this, but hello and welcome to my new blog!

I thought I'd start with a couple of cards I made for the June challenge (Summer Fun & 4th July) at Hero Arts

As soon as I saw the Flourish Grids stamp set by Hero Arts, I knew I'd have to get it and this is my first card using this set.



I applied broken china and faded jeans distress inks to the upper part of a panel of white card and spritzed with water. Then I sponged the base of the panel with shabby shutters distress ink. For the flowers I used two pink chalk inks to get a few different shades. The flowers have diamond stickles centres. Originally the background was white card which I sponged with worn lipstick distress ink and stamped randomly with the flourish background using water.

Stamps
(Hero Arts) Flourish Grids, Scattered Leaves, Flourish Background, Birthday Messages, Dolls .


For the second card I used a stamp which is my absolute favourite - Large Flower by Hero Arts. I just saw that the Crafty Angels challenge this week is using your favourite stamp so I'm entering this card.



The flower is embossed in white, covered with distress inks (shabby shutters and broken china) and has four layers. The scallops and sentiment were also embossed in white and covered with worn lipstick distress ink. For the card itself I lightly applied shabby shutters and broken china distress inks to white card and splattered water on it. I just added some machine stitching and beads to finish.



Stamps (Hero Arts) Large Flower, Scallop Borders, Birthday Messages.