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 Unfortunately, this set was made in bit of a hurry as I mislaid the set I had originally made for Libby, so please ignore the dodgy bits on the ATCs!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.

Clean and Simple\Plain and Simple

This is a card I made for the Caardvarks Clean and Simple challenge, the Allsorts Plain and Simple challenge and the clean and simple challenge at My Partner in Crafting Crime. The Scrappy Saturday Challenge this week is CAS and\or tags so I'm submitting to that challenge too.



Stamp (Hero Arts) - House with Plant

I really admire CAS cards but I find them very difficult to make. With this one I embossed the house in white and added the Hero Arts heart pearl to the door. Then I machine stitched the frame and ground around the house. I added some twine that Sue had kindly sent me a while ago along with lots more fab goodies - thanks again Sue. After that I needed to sit on my hands or tie them behind my back so I wouldn’t fiddle around with the card anymore or add anything else – oh it was so hard to resist doing something else with it! So I quickly took a photo and uploaded it.

Keep Out!

Although we have a great time at Halloween and the kids and I love it so much, I’ve never made a Halloween card before. As I don’t have any Halloween stamps I thought I'd try to make a little Halloween scene. Robin has made wonderful Halloween cards using houses, see here and here, so I thought I’d have a go at a spooky Halloween house too. It took me a while to make but I just had so much fun putting all the bits and pieces together.



Where to start with a description! The gates\fence are embossed in black and after adding a mask for the moon I applied distress inks (shabby shutters, dusty concord, broken china & faded jeans) for the background. I printed the “KEEP OUT” sign from Word, distressed the edges and applied antique linen distress ink. I used a piece of string (with some antique linen on it) and a sparkly brad to attach the sign to the gate.




Now to the inside of the card. I made the background for the house using distress inks (shabby shutters, dusty concord, broken china & faded jeans) and masks for the moon and hill. The path is a scrap (with walnut stain distress ink) left over from another project. I coloured the house with watercolour pencils and added some cracks to the wall with a marker. The occupant of the house has left her broomstick and hat outside – fiddly but fun to make. The tree in the pot has little dots on it so I added an extra dot beside each one to make it look likes eyes peeking out of the greenery. I love decorating our house for Halloween and on the day itself we fill the driveway with leaves so the trick or treaters have to rustle through the leaves up to our “haunted house”. So I had to add some leaves on the ground and on the house like we do at home. Then I just added some googly eyes to finish.



I made this card for Hero Arts’ current challenge “Everything Autumn” as well as Jenny’s Wee Memories Challenge #23 - S.O.S..



The S.O.S. Challenge is to incorporate any 2 of the 3 designs, Scallops, Orange or String into a card\project. So I’ve got the scallops (on the roof), orange (leaves & on house) and string (tied to raffia on broomstick, gold string on witch’s hat & on the keep out sign).


Stamps (Hero Arts) Flourish Grids, House with Plant & Tree, Birds and Messages

The CRAFT CRITIQUE blog is having a HALLOWEEN BLOG CARNIVAL where you can see and share all kinds of Halloween related crafty projects; cards, scrapbook pages, knits, jewellery, clothes, gifts, foods, costumes etc. The Halloween Carnival will run until 14th October so if you have a crafty Halloween project you’d like to share it has to be linked to their blog before that date.

PaperPlay Challenge - Bon Voyage

Bon Voyage is the title of this week’s challenge on PaperPlay. So your card can be for a vacation, moving house etc.

Simon Says Stamp has kindly sponsored this week’s challenge and I’m sure the lucky winner will have a great time picking out yummy new goodies to the tune of $15 from the store.



Stamps used: - House with Plant & Cloud Background (Hero Arts) & New Home (Anita’s).

I love this house stamp from Hero Arts so I’ve stamped off lots of images and have had fun colouring them using different colour combinations. The house here is coloured with watercolour pencils and for the background I sponged distress inks (shabby shutters, broken china & faded jeans) onto white card. I love looking at all the creative cards/layouts that Trinh comes up with and I absolutely loved the way she embossed the Cloud Background in white on one of her gorgeous cards here. It made such a beautiful, soft background so I decided to use her idea on my card.

I’ve been buying bits and pieces of ribbon since I started making cards and hardly ever use them, so I think it’s time to start digging into my stash. I find it hard to make nice looking bows and spend ages fiddling around with ribbons trying to get it right. It's too late now for this card but next time I must try this make your own bow maker that I just came across - I have the jar, the pegs and I certainly have the ribbon!

I’m looking forward to seeing what you come up with for the challenge!

Keeping in Touch

Two posts in the one day, now that won't be happening very often with me!

The August challenge at Hero Arts is Keeping in Touch and Back to School. So I thought for the keeping in touch theme I would make something for a family moving house. I made a card and also a set of new address cards to go with it which they could give to their friends to help keep in touch.

Keeping in Touch - Card, originally uploaded by heather maria.

Stamps used (Hero Arts):- House with Plant, Lace Background.

I embossed the background on the main card in white with the the Lace Background stamp. For the sky and grass I sponged distress inks (shabby shutters, broken china and faded jeans) onto white card. The house is coloured with watercolour pencils and I added Glossy Accents to the door and pot. Both the sold sign and pot with the tree are on foam pads.



On the new address cards I printed the address using French Script MT in Word and also coloured these houses with watercolour pencils.

Edited - Just to let you know that for the example I've shown here, I didn't use my friends' real surname, address or telephone number. Thanks Jenny for your concern!