A Little Chocolate Makes Everything Better

I can’t believe it’s a little over three weeks since I last posted - I nearly had to dust the cobwebs away from the blog!

I was so excited the other morning when the A Little stamp set by Hero Arts arrived! Since then I've had a great time making little tags and cards using it. To say I'm smitten by this set would be an understatement! Besides using all the great sentiments that come with the set, it will also be fun to add other sentiments to the main image either using stamps I already have or sentiments from the pc.



For this project I used the "chocolate" sentiment. I started by embossing the main image and added sentiment on brown and kraft card. To make the wrap for the chocolate bar, I embossed a piece of pool card, added punched scallops to the edges and adhered it to the cellophane wrapped bar. Then I adhered the chocolate panel to the wrap using foam pads. I'm submitting this project into the Simon Says Stamp Emboss It Challenge and the A Blog Named Hero New Year, New Stash Challenge.

I just want to let you know that the Hero Arts Hostess Blog Hop will start at the Hero Arts blog next Monday.

From Monday to Friday next week, the Hostesses will be showing projects made using new stamps from Hero Arts’ 2014 catalogue. Each day next week the hop will start at the Hero Arts blog. I know we are all having a brilliant time playing with the new stamps. I can't wait to go hopping with my Hosti friends next week and see what everyone has come up with! I hope you'll come along and join in on the hopping fun!

Now I'm off to test the theory on the bar of chocolate - I'm sure it must be right, but I better check just to make sure ;-)

All wrapped up - well first one anyway!

I have to admit I have barely started my Christmas shopping, yet here I am thinking about how I'm going to wrap and tag pressies!

The other day I used Spellbinders' picot edge circles as the base for my tags and as I love the pretty edging, I took them out again for my next set of gift tags.



Stamps (Hero Arts) - Designer Snowflakes, Christmas Ornament set & Christmas Tags set

This time I also went with a white/kraft colour combination but threw in some red too. I die cut the various layers and stamped the sentiments and snowflakes using barn door distress ink. After that I put the tags together using foam pads for some dimension and added some embroidery floss.



Stamps (Hero Arts) - Designer Snowflakes, Christmas Ornament set & Christmas Tags set

When it came to taking photos of the tags they were slipping and sliding all over the place. But then I spotted these little guys who made the perfect props to keep my tags upright!



I made quite a few of these tags in no time at all, and with a slight change in colour used one on a pressie I was wrapping.



Stamps (Hero Arts) - Designer Snowflakes & Christmas Tags set

To make the wrapping paper I stamped a number of snowflakes (again using barn door distress ink) over a piece of paper taken from a plain roll of parcel paper. After adding ribbon I topped the present off with a tag. I can't believe I have my first Christmas present wrapped already - lol I'm never that organised!! I'm submitting these into the current Hero Arts Challenge (A Few of My Favorite Things category as I stamped sentiment frames and also made my own wrapping paper by stamping on plain parcel wrap) as well as the Die Cut Divas' Let's Celebrate Challenge.

Hope you have a fun and inky weekend:)

Autumn Birthday

I wanted to make a card and wrap a gift for a friend using autumn colours and some natural elements.


Stamps (Hero Arts) – Antique Engravings, Maple Leaf & It’s a Day for a Cupcake.

To make the wrapping paper and background for the card, I stamped the butterflies on a piece of parcel paper and kraft card, using walnut stain distress ink. I used a variety of distress inks (spiced marmalade, mustard seed, rusty hinge and barn door) on the leaves.



The maple leaf image was inked up and lightly spritzed with water before stamping. Then I cut out the leaves and applied some more ink as needed. Walnut stain was used again to stamp the sentiment on the card. To finish I just added raffia, wooden buttons and some twigs from the garden.



I’m submitting the card into the Focal Point Challenge in the Moxie Fab World, and the projects into the Paper Crafts September Gallery Challenge and the current Hero Arts Challenge (Fall Feast).

A Gift on a Gift

Yesterday I started making some brooches for a craft fair and thought it might be nice to add one to a gift wrapped present, so that the recipient will end up with a gift on a gift.


Stamps (Hero Arts) – Holiday Dolls (snowflakes) & Very Merry Christmas

To make the gift wrap I randomly embossed the snowflakes on a piece of inexpensive (€1.50 for 20m) parcel paper. After wrapping the box and tying with raffia, I added one of the brooches. The tag has the greeting one side and “to” & “from” on the other side. To finish I just added a scattering of gems to the gift wrap and tag. I’m submitting this project into the current Hero Arts Challenge.

I really enjoy making these flowers and making them has been a great fabric stash buster, though I think I’d need to make hundreds of them to make any real dent in my stash!

Hero Hostess Takeover!

It’s Hero Hostess week on the Hero Arts blog this week and we’ve had such a fun time making birthday cards and projects for the blog!

Linda and Sharon were first up on Monday with wonderful cards for a friend and a guy. On Tuesday Sally shared a stunning gift box which she had created and is sure to make a present extra special. Wednesday saw Anita with her very first video tutorial and she created a gorgeous card with wonderful instructions on how to make twisted ribbon flowers. So Friday is finally here and I’m sharing some gift wrapping ideas.


Stamps (Hero Arts) Antique Engravings, Blossom Art, Large Flower & Birthday Messages

I often make my own wrapping paper and embellishments for gifts. I love choosing the stamps and colours to make these and had great fun going through my Hero Arts stamps to wrap these particular gifts. Full instructions on how I wrapped the gifts are here on the Hero Arts website so I’ll just give the short version now. I stamped a butterfly randomly over pieces of some blue craft paper using VersaMark.



To decorate the parcels I white embossed the butterflies and flowers on vellum and added a selection of gems – thanks again Joy for some of these! The bottom layer of the sentiment was also white embossed on vellum with the top layer white embossed on a scrap of the blue paper.



The blue paper I used was from a roll which is 70m long and cost the same as a single sheet of wrapping paper. So I’ll be able to wrap lots of presents from this roll and will be able to customise them to suit the recipient’s tastes. The other day I wrapped a present for a friend using different paper and stamped embellishments. She told me that she has saved the embellishments so that she can make her first cards using them – hopefully she’ll get hooked on card making too!



I'm submitting this project into The Shabby Tea Room "Party Time" Challenge and the Simon Says Stamp Happy Birthday Challenge.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!