Hero Arts Spring Catalog Blog Hop and Giveaway

 

Hello, friends! I am so excited to be joining the Hero Arts Spring Catalog Blog Hop today! If you came from Jenn Shurkus' blog, you are off to a great start! If not, feel free to jump over to the Hero Arts Blog to get the full hop list! This catalog is stuffed with SO many amazing new designs and it includes some less new designs you may not have noticed before, too, so be sure to check it out! AND.... guess what?! There is actually a second catalog available now, as well! The Creative Essentials catalog is full of all of the most essential craft supplies you could possibly desire from Hero Arts. It's pretty amazing. 

I actually have TWO cards to share with you using the beautiful new Wonderful Day bundle and a few other fantastic things from this catalog. 

For this card, I used the new Overlapping Circles stencil as my background and then used the Wonderful Day stamps, stencils, and dies to create a CAS design that is loaded with color! The sentiment comes from the Every Day Sentiment strips stamp set cut with the sentiment strips die. 

AND...I have a surprise! I made my first ever card making video. Please be kind, it is literally my first and I have no idea what I am doing, but it was wicked fun to create! I will grow with it. I promise. LOL!

I loved this set so much I had to make another card with it right away! For this one, I used the full collection of gorgeous flowers and went with lots of color and a bit of glitter! I used the sentiment strip die to emboss the background, giving it a very deep, pronounced striped look. 

Thank you for stopping by today! Your next stop is Jennifer Kotas. You can find the complete hop list on the Hero Arts Blog! 

GIVEAWAY! 

Leave a comment to enter!

Hero Arts will be giving away two $50 gift cards, drawn from the comments left along the hop. Comment on all the blogs for more chances to win! You have until Sunday, February 26 at 11:59pm to enter. The winners will be announced on the Hero Arts blog.

Pigment Ink is not the Enemy

 Is it just me, or does it seem that pigment ink has gone a bit out of fashion. Hybrids seem to be all over the place and we love our reactive and I think our trusty Dye inks are still the king when it comes to every day creating, but good old fashioned pigment ink - the SUPER juicy kind - doesn't seem to get any hype anymore. Well, I'm here today to give it a bit of hype. 

Rose Gold metallic Hero Hues ink, folks. Yup. It's pigment ink. And that, my friends, is the very reason it stamped so smoothly, so evenly, and so shimmery on this card background! That amazing cling stamp, along with the others used on this card, came from the December My Monthly Hero kit and oh, my goodness!!!! Honestly, I was intimated by the ink at first, but I really wanted to try it because the color is just so gorgeous. I inked up that rubber cling stamp and made it happen and I am so glad I did!

Quick tip: Heat set pigment ink backgrounds and seal with Workable Fixatif before adding other elements to the card. That will help prevent smearing. 

Go dig out one of those pigment ink pads and have some fun! 

It's Ombré Time!

Hello, all, and welcome to another installment of the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, brought to you by Simon Says Stamp, your one stop shop for all of your paper crafting needs! *And the crowd goes wild!*

Yup. It's a game show opener kind of day. Why? Because that's just the kind of mood I'm in. And I'm in charge around here. So, that's what you get.

Whatever. You know you love it.

The challenge this week is to use the ombré technique on your projects! The design team is featuring Hero Arts products this week. You don't have to use them to play along, but if you've got some on hand, we'd love to see what you do with them!



I used this AWESOME dot background stamp to create my card for today. I seriously love this stamp! I stamped in VersaMark and heat embossed with white embossing powder on white cardstock. I then used distress inks to create the ombé background. I kind of love it. The sentiment is the Simon Says Stamp Painted Thanks die, cut several times, layered, and then I used Wink of Stella, Glossy Accents, and some super fine glitter to make it sparkle. It sparkles. Lots.


Now it's YOUR turn! Created something awesome based on the Ombré inspiration and link it up over on the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge blog for your chance to win a $50 Gift Voucher to the Simon Says Stamp Store! 

That's all for today, folks! Thanks so much for joining us and be sure to come back next week for another fabulous installment of... the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge! *Closing Music Plays* 

Have a Happy. *wink*

Make it SPARKLE!

Happy Christmas Eve EVE! I confess, I am still sneaking Christmas cards into my creating. And I still need to send them, so that works out well, actually. HA! The challenge this week over on the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge blog is to Make it Sparkle! Ummm... okay! I LOVE sparkle. For reals, though. I love it. Lots.

The Design Team is featuring Technique Tuesday products this week. You don't have to use them to play along, but if you have some, we'd love to see what you do with them! Technique Tuesday has a great selection of truly unique stamps and dies. Plus, I happen to adore two of their designers, Cath and Teri. They contribute amazing designs with a whole lot of love behind them. YAY!

I used the absolutely GORGEOUS Cath Edvalson Garden Leaves Die set for my card. Cath's designs are based on her own papercutting work so they have absolutely incredible details. I love this leaf die so much! I coated each cut with my Wink of Stella clear to make it truly sparkle and then layered them to create a totally unique look. A few Jillibean Soup self adhesive sequins add both color and sparkle to the swag. Those things are a tad bit on the amazing side.

The sentiment comes form the Hero Arts Clearly Kelly Fa La La La La stamp set. (Yup. That was officially fun to type. And yup... I totally sang it.) It is heat embossed with a red glitter embossing powder to add even more sparkle to my card design. YAY for sparkle! I used my MISTI to get perfect placement for both the 'joy' and the 'to the world'. I have to admit. I fought purchasing one of those things for a LONG time, but I am a convert. I love that thing!

Now it's YOUR TURN! Create something fabulous and MAKE IT SPARKLE! Link it up over on the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge blog for your chance to win a $50 Gift Voucher to the Simon Says Stamp Store! I bet you would enjoy some post holiday shopping! 

In the meantime, have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS! Thanks for being awesome!

Howdy, Y'all!

Hello, ya'll! Yup. I totally just said y'all. And, yup, it totally sounded ridiculous coming out of my Boston-girl mouth. BUT, I think it suits my card for the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge this week, so I'm going with it. This week our challenge is CLEAN & SIMPLE. Ummm.. OKAY! HA! That just so happens to be what I do. Like, all the time. Therefore, I am ON BOARD for this one, ya'll. (Bwahahaha! There it is again.) The design team is using Hero Arts products for our projects this week. You don't have to use them to join in, but if you have some, we'd love to see what you do with them!



I played with a couple of great background stamps along with the super cute Stamp Your Own Cactus set from Hero Arts for this card. I heat embossed the tiny flags background and then die cut the tag, layering the stamped cactus over the gold embossed background. Clean and Simple doesn't mean you have to ignore technique. You can still play with some of your favorite techniques for a design that is nice and clean and simple!



I used Hero Arts Shadow Inks for the stamping. I LOVE their shadow inks! They cover so well and you can even use the rock and roll technique, as I did on the pot, and the inks blend really nicely!

Now it's your turn! Head on over to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog to link up YOUR Clean and Simple design for a chance to win a $50 Gift Voucher to the Simon Says Stamp store, y'all! (Okay, fine. I'll stop doing that. But, for REALS, you guys, it's pretty hilarious...if only you could hear me.)

Have a Happy, folks!

Supplies:

Stamps: Hero Arts Stamp Your Own Cactus, Hero Arts Tiny Flags, Hero Arts Kelly Purkey Stars Background
Ink: Hero Arts Shadow Inks (Just Rust, Field Greens, Soft Sand), VersaMark
Die: WPlus9 Timeless Tags 2
Gold String: May Arts
Embossing Powder: White, Gold

A Prickly Pair with Bazzill Basics

I have a new post up over on the Bazzill Basics blog today! It is SO fun to use Smoothies and Card Shoppe cardstock in fabulous colors to make stamps really shine!



These fun cactus stamps were a blast to use! You will definitely be seeing more of those on my blog! Be sure to head on over to check out the full tutorial to make these fun cards!

Have a Happy!

Unforgettable...That's What You Are

Yup. Totally just dropped that ear worm. HA! Sorry. It had to happen. No, for reals, though, it did. It's Monday and I need entertainment, what can I say? BUT, at least I have a couple of bits of awesome to share with you today!

First, I have a WINNER for the $20 Simon Says Stamp Gift Voucher Giveaway! And the Winner is...

MARCIE SHARP!

Congratulations, Marcie!

And I also have a super fun card to share with you today!



This one uses a couple of different background stamps along with the adorable new Unforgettable stamp set from WPlus9. Ummm, you guys, for reals, though...I love this stamp set. I actually created this one awhile ago right after I got it because I HAD to use it, I just haven't had the chance to post it yet, so, well, here it is, folks!



To create the banner, I stamped and embossed the Hero Arts Tiny Flags background stamp on watercolor paper with Matte Dull embossing powder. I then watercolored over the embossing and cut and embossed the banner using Spellbinders® Baby Buntings dies.  I stamped the background stripes on my card based and then accented with brads (yes, you can still use those), some May Arts string, and a few sequins.

This card was created purely for fun and I LOVE that about it! It was so much fun to pull together and it makes me smile!

Supplies:

Stamps: Hero Arts Tiny Flags, Simon Says Stamp Wide Stripes, WPlus9 Unforgettable
Die: Spellbinders® Baby Buntings
Ink: My Favorite Things Black Licorice Hybrid, Simon Says Stamp Fog, VersaMark
Watercolors: Zig Kuretake
Watercolor Paper: Tim Holtz
String: May Arts
Tools: Corner Chomper, Copic Markers, Milwaukee Heat Gun
Embossing Powder: Wow Clear Matte Dull, Ranger Liquid Platinum
Other: White Mini Brads, Blue Sequins

With All My Love

You know when you get a new product in the mail and all of the sudden have ALL KINDS of fun ideas on how to use it? Well, that is just exactly how I felt when the Tic Tac Toe Fri-Die from CAS-ual Fridays Stamps arrived in my happy little studio! Today is my day over on the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps blog and I created this fun card to share with you!



Instead of using the die as an actual tic tac toe board, I decided to use the grid to cut quilt squares from some gorgeous patterned papers from Crate Paper. I die cut several different patterns and then used one of the grids as the guide for adhering the squares. The gold glitter heart is die cut using one of the 'pieces' dies in the set. LOVE IT!



I stamped the 'With All My Love' with Pale Tomato ink from Hero Arts and then overstamped the 'love' with Smokey Grey VersaFine. These colors worked SO well with these patterned papers! I love it when that happens!

Be sure to head on over to the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps blog to check out the inspiration you will find there. There girls knock my socks off! Well, not literally. That would be weird. But they are really good at what they do. For reals.

Have a Happy!

All Things Bright And Beautiful

All Things Bright and Beautiful! That's the theme for the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge this week! Yup. We're pretty darned sick of winter and thought that this would be a great time to BRIGHTEN things up by using bright, happy, beautiful colors in our projects! The Design Team is featuring Hero Arts products this week. You don't have to use them to play along, but we would love to see you rock them if you have some on hand!

I figured with a challenge to use bright colors it just made sense to pull out the BRIGHTEST colors I have! I used my Hero Arts neon inks for this fun card, and... yup. It's BRIGHT! LOL! I stamped the background in pink by inking only part of the stamp and then used my favorite WPlus9 tag die to create a simple tag with more bright colors.


You can find my complete supply list below. Now it's YOUR turn! Create something BRIGHT and BEAUTIFUL (something NEW, please) for the challenge and link it up over on the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge blog! You can enter up to five NEW projects and one lucky participant will win a $50 Voucher to the Simon Says Stamp Store! WHAT?! Yup. Totally, you guys. For reals.

Here are the supplies I used for my card. These are affiliate links and your support is, as always, appreciated!

Cardstock: Simon Says Stamp Black Cardstock, Crafter's Companion Ultra Smooth White
Ink: Hero Arts Neon Ink, VersaMark
Stamps: Hero Arts Tiny Flags Background Stamp, Hero Arts Shoot for the Moon
Die: WPlus9 Timeless Tags 2
String: May Arts Metallic String
Embossing Powder: Stampendous!
Foam Tape: Scotch (Giant Roll - totally worth it!)
Tool: Milwaukee Heat Gun (I love that thing. With all of my heart.)

Go and Do

First, let me take a moment to say GO PATRIOTS!!!!!!! Whew! That was a crazy game. And an awesome game. Just awesome!

Okay, now let's chat about the card I am excited to share with you today! I picked up a simple background inking technique from Day 6 of Clean and Simple 4 over at Online Card Classes that I just loved and wanted to try out right away. Tasnim showcased it using one ink color, but I wanted to use a variety to create a unique background, so I pulled out my Hero Arts Soft Vanilla, Simon Says Stamp Slate, and Simon Says Stamp Audrey Blue and I got started!



I used a strip of post-it tape to mask as I inked and I just love how these colors worked so beautifully together! I then pulled out the Neat & Tangled Oragami Map stamp and the coordinating die for the focal point. I stamped the map on vellum and heat embossed and then die cut the entire thing and adhered it with Kool Tac Clear Foam Tape so the adhesive would raise the map, but not be visible. I seriously love that stuff, you guys. For reals.



I trimmed a strip of cardstock the length of the card and heat embossed the sentiment on it before adhering it to the card. A few sequins finish it off with just a bit of sparkle.

You guys, I can't even pretend that I don't love this card. Because I do. Lots. For reals, though.

That's all for today! We are getting another foot of snow today, so... yeah. *sigh* HA! BUT, at least the PATRIOTS WON!!!!! YAY!!!!!

Have a Happy!

Celebrate!

We had a Hanukkah party to attend this past weekend and I, naturally, created the card for the hosts at the very last minute, which is why this is being posted after Hanukkah. LOL! BUT, I still think it is such a pretty card! I have been using this design quite a bit lately. I just change it up to suit different colors, icons, etc.



The dies are from all over the place. LOL! The 8 is from CAS-ual Fridays, the snowflake is Avery Elle, and the tag is WPlus9. The stamps are all from the 8 Happy Nights stamp set from CAS-ual Fridays. I used silver embossing powder to give the snowflake a dip dyed look and strung May Arts metallic string through the tag.



I know this is a busy week for lots of folks, but I do hope you will stop by when you get a chance! I will have some fun things to show throughout the week!

Have a Happy!

Happy Thanksgiving and Anything Goes!

***This is my second post for today! To check out Day 2 of the Winnie & Walter Premiere, be sure to click HERE or scroll down!

Happy Wednesday, folks! We have an ANYTHING GOES challenge for you today over on the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge blog! The design team is featuring Spectrum Noir products this week! If you have them we would LOVE to see you use them, but if not, feel free to use whatever you want for this challenge. I super duper LOVE Spectrum Noir markers and colored pencils, so I was excited to have an excuse to pull them out and play!



I created a pretty Thankgiving card using the Simon Says Stamp Feast of Thanksgiving stamp set. I love this stamp set so much! I used a bit of masking magic to layer my elements before coloring them and I really like how it all came together.

Now it's your turn! Create something...ANYTHING....and link it up to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge blog for your chance to win a $50 Gift Voucher to the Simon Says Stamp store! Your project MUST be new and you can enter up to FIVE times! Happy Crafting, folks!

In addition to the usual Simon Says Stamp prize, Spectrum Noir is giving away TWO tins of their totally awesome colored pencils to one lucky winner!!! Dude. I have them. You want them. Trust me on this one. They are the BEST!!! For reals. I had Prismacolors and I use these way more often now. Love them! Go. Enter. Win. Glad we had this talk.

Have a Happy!

I Can't WAIT!

This week for the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge we are getting KRAFTY! Yes, that's right, we want to see you use KRAFT in your projects in some way. The Design Team is using Hero Arts goodies generously provided by Hero Arts and Simon Says Stamp. If you have Hero Arts in your stash, we'd LOVE to see you rock their products, but if not, that's totally cool, it isn't required to play along.



I used this adorable Lil' Hoot Set from Hero Arts along with a new background stamp coming out soon! Eeek! Love sneak peeks! I embossed my background using both gold and white powders to create a unique pattern and colored that pair of cuties with Spectrum Noir pens. A couple of googly eyes were a perfect finish!

Now it's your turn! One lucky participant is going to win a $50 voucher to the Simon Says Stamp Store to do some shopping!!!! WHAT?! Yup. Totes, you guys. You can enter up to five times, but your projects must be NEW... no backlinking is allowed. Have fun creating! Simply link your project up to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog!

Have a Happy!