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! 

British Ducks and Whatnot

 Did you know that was a thing? There are British Ducks. No, really. Very. British Ducks. I didn't know that until I went to London over Christmas, where I met the most British duck I've ever seen. Here... let me introduce you....

There she is. Tell me she is not the most British duck you have ever seen. And, yes, she lives in the Queen's Gardens. And she is lovely. I did not take her home. but I sure did want to do so.

All that to say, ducks are pretty fun. and this new SUPER cute duck die set from Spellbinders is no exception to that!

Ummm... seriously, though! I used an amazing new raindrop 3-D Embossing folder for the background along with blended distress inks and then pieced together the adorable duck, giving him sparkly red rubber rain boots and a sparkly rain cap along with a red umbrella. 

The sentiment die is from the new Raining Hearts Etched Die set and I love it! I stacked it three deep to give it a bit of structure and dimension. And... because I borrowed a couple of the child's rubber ducks for this photo shoot... he insisted on being in a shot with them.

He's a pretty cute little duckling, himself, if you ask me! HA! 

So, head on over and check out the newest release from Spellbinders and spend your day contemplating the nationality of ducks. If you do those two things, I promise you will have a wonderful day. You truly will!

Have a good one!

Deck the Halls With Inky Paws Blog Hop!

 

Welcome to the BLOG HOP! It has been so amazing to be a part of this wonderful Deck the Halls with Inky Paws celebration! I have loved Newton's Nook from the very beginning and I truly think I always will! Today I have two cards to share with you showcasing some amazing holiday products from Newton's Nook!

I created this slimline card using the Christmas Tree Line Stencil. I used a couple of different greens to stencil the tree and then used warm brown tone for the tree trunks. A bit of yellow for the stars tops off every other tree!

To add a bit of decor to the tree, I stenciled with VersaMark ink and then heat embossed using colorful embossing powders.

Finally, a strip of glitter paper and a simple stamped sentiment strip complete the card.

But, that's not all, folks! I have a second card to share with you today using one of my all time favorites, the Beautiful Blizzard stamp set. 

To create this design I stamped and embossed the snowflakes on a white panel and then used blending brushes to create the blue background. I used a few water drops to add an even snowier look and then spritzed the entire panel with shimmer spray to make it SPARKLE!

So much shimmer! Love that! The sentiment is an amazing die that comes in the Main Street Christmas die set. There are actually THREE great word dies in that set along with the coordinating dies for the Main Street Christmas stamp set. It's amazing. I think I said that already. But it is. For reals. 

Not only is there a TON of inspiration, but we also have an amazing sale to share with you AND a chance to win a Gift Certificate! 

Deck the Halls with Inky Paws SALE!

$5 off every $30 You Spend!
That means $5 off $30, $10 off $60...up to $25 off $150!*
No Coupon Needed
Now through Sunday, December 11th!
*Maximum $25 discount per order.

Enter to Win! Deck the Halls with Inky Paws Hop Prizes!
We will be choosing two lucky winners to win a $25 store credit for Newton's Nook Designs online shop! To enter, just leave comments on the Design Team Member and Guest blogs (see list below)! Two winners will be chosen at random from the collective blogs in the blog hop. Make sure to check out each of their blogs and comment for your chance to win. You will not know which blog has been chosen so the more you comment on the better your chances are of winning! You have until Sunday, December 11th at 9 pm EST to comment -- winners will be announced on the NND blog on Monday, December 12th.

Deck the Halls with Inky Paws Blog Hop List:

Newton's Nook Designs
Jennifer Timko
Jenn Shurkus
Jennifer Ingle
Amy Tsuruta
Donna Idlet
Ellen Haxelmans
Tina Herbeck
Larissa Heskett
Samantha Mann
Zsofia Molnar
Maria Russell
Farhana Sarker
Tatiana Trafimovich
Amanda Wilcox

I cannot thank you enough for visiting me today! I wish you a very Happy Holidays and an absolutely wonderful New Year! 

Deck the Halls With Inky Paws: Celebrating With Newton's Nook Designs!

 

I am absolutely thrilled to be joining the team over at Newton's Nook Designs for Deck the Halls with Inky Paws week! 

What is your favorite Christmas song? Mine is silver bells. Why? Because it beautifully describes the amazing feeling of the holidays in the city. There is nothing better than walking the streets of Boston during Christmas time, seeing all of the beautiful decorations, the lights, hearing the holiday music playing, and breathing in that cool, crisp air. I LOVE it. I am excited to share with you a card I created using the absolutely stunning Main Street Christmas stamps and coordinating dies. I chose this set because it has that same feeling of Christmas in the city that I adore so much.

To create the background for this card, I first created a simple circle stencil using a punch and a sheet of printer paper. I used ink blending brushes in yellow tones for the moon. I then masked that area off and used blending brushes to blend a variety of blues to create a gorgeous night sky. I then spritzed some shimmer spray onto the whole thing to make it really sparkle! I stamped Santa and his reindeer over the inked background.

I then stamped the row of buildings and colored them with Copic markers before die cutting and adhering to the panel with foam tape. The sentiment is heat embossed on black to make it stand out perfectly! 

It truly IS the most wonderful time of the year, isn't it?! I hope you will make your way over to the Newton's Nook Designs blog to check out what the other featured designers are creating this week! The line-up is pretty darned amazing, let me tell you. 

Wishing you a very Happy Holiday Season! 

Falalalala

 So, this stencil thing is pretty real. And pretty awesome. This entire image was colored using, you guessed it... STENCILS and INK! I know, right? I used the Under the Christmas tree stamps, dies, and stencils from Pinkfresh Studio to create the image and then simply stamped and embossed the sentiment on a strip of cardstock to finish the look.

These layering stencils are seriously just amazing. I had so much fun creating this tree! I used a bit of gold ink to add some shine and sparkle to the decorations, too! 

If you haven't jumped onto the current stencil trend, I highly recommend giving it a shot! It is so easy to do and the results can be absolutely amazing! 

Heads up: The links in this post are affiliate links. It doesn't cost you anything extra, but if you choose to purchase from that link, I do get a share of the sale. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Just a Touch of Sparkle

 I pulled out an older Altenew stamp set for this one. When I saw older....I mean like.... from their first year. LOL! But... you GUYS! It's the Boston skyline and I rarely get that in a stamp or anything else, so this ha always been one of my favorites. I used some color blocking based on a Jennifer McGuire technique video for the design and I really like how it came out.

I stamped an embossed the image in white and then used blending brushes to apply the ink, masking off a strip for the sentiment. I pulled the sentiment from the Concord & 9th Christmas Cottage stamp set, as I have always loved Christmas time in the city and it just suited this card so well. 

And then, what did I pull out? None other than good old fashioned Stickles! I added just a touch of sparkle to the card to finish it off. It sparkles. It makes me happy. The end.

I hope you have a super terrific day!

Black Dogs are the GREATEST!

 Did you know that black dogs end up in shelters longer than any other color dog? For some reason adopters shy away from black pups. Personally, I think that is ridiculous because black dogs (labs, in particular) are WONDERFUL! I have my super great buddy, Wyatt (along with my chocolate lab, Morgan), and he is a great big ball of love. He's also a 100 lb. lap dog, but, alas....

The Newton's Nook and Simon Says Stamp Stamptember collaboration stamp set had this absolutely perfect little Turkey Day pup and I could not resist using him to create a fun Thanksgiving card! I colored him, black of course, with Copic markers and simply stamped and heat embossed the sentiment.

The background is Simon Says Stamp Fractured stamped in grey ink. Nice and simple. While this particular Thanksgiving stamp set is no longer available as it was a limited edition for Stamptember, don't you worry your little puppy loving head... you can check out the Newton's Nook collection at Simon Says Stamp and find ALL KINDS of cute critter stamps that you will just love!

Since this is such a simple card, I only took the one shot. Also... Wyatt was literally hunting me down because I got caught steeling treats for the photo. So... I will share a photo of Mr. Wyatt, since he inspired my card! YAY!

A Bit of Red, A Bit of Green, and a Bit of Brown

 I mean, when you start working on your holiday cards it's possible that 'Oh! I had better stock up on brown cardstock!' isn't the first thing that comes to mind, but, folks, I'm here to tell you that you just may want to stock up on brown cardstock for your holiday cards! This color combination presented in the Newton's Nook Inky Paws Challenge is really quite gorgeous!

The next thing that may or may not come to mind is to use these colors for... snow. Snowflakes, to be exact. Yup. From the Beautiful Blizzard stamp set. That's what I did. And you know what? I absolutely LOVE it! Turns out snow doesn't have to be blue and silver all the time. 

See what I mean? I used a combination of Hero Arts and Simon Says Stamp inks and I absolutely love how the rich color tones work with those beautiful detailed snowflakes. I stamped and embossed the Pinkfresh Studio sentiment in gold and added a strip of gold glitter paper along the edge for plenty of sparkle and shine!

And... I'm not the only one who loves stamping these pretty snowflakes! Sterling wanted to make a card, too! He is a big fan of pink, so he had to have pink on his and he chose his other colors, too. It doesn't quite fit with the challenge, but that's okay, he's two, he can pick his colors. LOL! He particularly loved the gold ink! This was the first time we've used that one and he thought it was great! We did cheat a little and used the Misti so his snowflakes were a bit easier to stamp and then ended up right where he wanted them. It is so much fun crafting with him!

More Coffee, please

But seriously, do you have some? I'd love a cup. I have to admit, I am actually a tea drinker, but since my son was born both my husband and I seem to drink a LOT more coffee than we used to. Maybe that's because Bailey's goes better with coffee than it does with tea? HA!

Kidding.

Not really. 

But, alas...I have yet another fun card for the Coffee Lovers Blog hop! I used the Picket Fence Studios Jill Girl stamp and die for this one.

I used the Picket Fence Studio Jill Girl stamp and die. I stamped her on kraft cardstock and colored with Spectrum Noir colored pencils. I just love how she turned out! The background is the Simon Says Stamp Leafy Leaves stamped in Gold Brilliance ink (Tsukineko). I did heat set the ink, since it is a metallic pigment ink, to avoid smearing. The Just Because sentiment die from CZ Designs is die cut three times and layered to give it a bit more depth. I then added just a few metal dots as accents.

This is image has such a cozy feel to it! I just love it! 

Be sure to check out the Coffee Lovers Blog hop to see SO MANY PROJECTS and join us!

And with that, I wish you a wonderful weekend!

Coffee = Smiles

 

That's how math works, right? I mean, it must be. Because we all know it's true. Coffee = Smiles. And today is the Coffee Lovers Blog Hop and THAT makes me smile, too! Because basically a whole bunch of talented crafty folks come together and post super fun projects showing off yummy beverages. Coffee, tea, hot cocoa... they all apply. And I am HERE for it, man!

If this is your first visit, WELCOME! I'm Jingle and you can find me on Instagram, too! 

You guys! I even pulled out my Dunkin Donuts scrunchy for this one. Because of course I have a Dunkin Donuts scrunchy. Do you not? 

I created this card with a wonderful amalgam of products from different places. That wonderful coffee cup is from the one and only Erin Lee Creative. I don't know if her coffee stamp set is available anymore, but her Harry Potter stuff CERTAINLY is, so you should just go buy that now because it's freaking amazing. The little mouse is an undeniably adorable stamp from the Simon Says Stamp and Colorado Craft Company Stamptember exclusive. Ummm.... CUTENESS! You can find all kinds of sets with these cute mice designed by Anita Jeram. They are incredibly adorable. And that sentiment. That wicked cute freaking sentiment? Yeah, that one is a wood block stamp from Simon Says Stamp so not only does it look adorable on a card, but it looks wicked cute on my shelf, too! I die cut the tiny heart from the Simon Says Stamp Mini Hearts die set - this is a super useful set to have around. I highly recommend it.

I colored this one with Copics. Shadows and I aren't actually really good friends because, well, quite frankly, I have very poor spacial orientation and struggle with the entire concept of 'where is my light source', but I think this one turned out pretty cute. All in all, I had a super fun time creating this card! Now, head on over to the Coffe Loving Cardmakers Blog to check out all of the amazing creations out there! 

Hej Hej!

 Well, that's how it would be spelled if we were in Sweden, anyway. I'm not. I have been. And I freaking LOVE that place, so when I saw this awesome Hey Hey sentiment die from Simon Says Stamp, I knew it was just perfect for me! Plus, I pretty much just greet everyone with Hey instead of Hi most of the time, anyway, so, there's that, too. 

For the background, I stamped the Simon Says Stamp Fractured background using the Rainbow Hyrbrid Ink cubes. I love that these four colors come in a set and work so brilliantly together! I then filled in a few select segments with the Spectrum Noir glitter brush. I've mentioned how much I love that thing. I REALLY love that thing. I wish you could truly see the shimmer that it gives. It is AWESOME. It is also remarkably difficult to photograph, and for that, I apologize.

The sentiment is die cut from the stamped panel and then popped up on a black card base so it stnad out really well. Love that!

This one was a simple one. It came together pretty quickly, but I love how it turned out!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

We Need a Little Christmas, Right this Very Minute

 We need a little Christmas NOW!

Okay, so I know some of you would prefer to wait a bit, and that's cool, but I had to start on Christmas cards, at least. 

Also, now that song is in your head and that's fun, sooo......

I did lots of things on this card. I don't often do lots of things, but for this one, I did lots of things. I started by stamping and embossing this wicked cool Simon Says Stamp Star to Star background in gold. I kind of love it. I then used the Simon Says Stamp Peace Hope Love Stencil and did some blending with Hero Arts bubblegum ink. That gorgeous medallion is die cut twice, once in black for the 'underneath' part (that's the technical term, naturally), and once from gold cardstock. A bit of foam tape raises the gold over the black.

Finally, the sentiment is an older Simon Says Stamp Joyeux Noel die cut from a nice bright pink cardstock.

I love that this card mixes fun stuff from several collections. I always appreciate when I can use supplies I've had around for awhile along with some of the newer stuff to create new looks.

And thus, we begin with the holiday cards of 2021. Yes, my friends, it has begun. Don't worry too much, though...I will have some others mixed in there, too. I promise.

Have a wonderful day! 

TOADally Awesome

 So, as it turns out, frogs are cute. Well, some frogs anyway. Particularly the adorable frogs in the Toadally Unfrogettable stamp set from Simon Says Stamp. I mean... JUST LOOK AT HIM!

He is colored with Copics and, well, he's just pretty much the cutest thing EVER! Nice and simple design for this one, but I feel like that image and the fun sentiment did all the work for me, so... simple it is! 

I hope you have a hopping good Monday! Hee-hee.... see what I did there... cuz frogs.... cuz.... 

okay. I'll go now.

Thanks for stopping by!

Because Beaches Make Me Happy

I am an East Coast girl. We live in a coastal town and let me tell you what the benefit of that is. The benefit of that, my friends, is that a nice walk on the beach or the simple happy making scent of ocean waters is never more than a few minutes away. And that, my dear friends, is what keeps me sane. Happy. Sane. I don't know... maybe both of those things. When I saw this amazing layered stamp set called Sea and Sky from Simon Says Stamp I was pretty sure it was designed for me. Or at the very least for the people like me. You see, my dear friends...it is FREAKING AWESOME!

So, I stamped the sky portion with cloudy sky ink because, well, I mean, it is a cloudy sky, so that just sort of made sense. I like to be practical sometimes. Sometimes. I stamped the water with a nice dark navy and then colored that with Spectrum Noir colored pencils. The sand is stamped with Stampin' Up Sahara Sand ink. Because it is sand. Again, with the practical. Who knows...maybe it will become a habit.

Finally, I added a whole bunch of sparkle with a Spectrum Noir clear glitter brush. You GUYS! If you don't have these get some. They add a TON of sparkle and shimmer. It's not subtle. I like my sparkle to...well, you know....SPARKLE!

I finished this card with a simply cut CZ Designs Wish I Could Hug You die cut sentiment because it was basically the perfect fit. I mean... the beach is like a hug. It makes you feel calm and cozy and happy. YAY beach! 

I hope you have a delightful day. Maybe with just a hint of salt water in the air.

Two Cards for the Price of One!

 Well, 'price' probably isn't the right word, but basically, I started out creating one card and ended up with two very different designs from the work I put into it. I kind of love them and how very different they turned out even though they use the very same basic supplies all around.

Here are the supplies I used:

Simon Says Stamp Leafy Leaves Background Stamp

CZ Designs Chunky Thankful Die

Prima Watercolors, Decadent Pies

And a Neat and Tangled Maple Leaf stamp that is no longer available, but you can find a similar one in this Simon Says Stamp set

Oh... and some cardstock, bristol, and May Arts twine. 

Fir this one, I stamped the background on bristol and watercolored it to create a nice fall background look. I then die cut the sentiment, saving the middle pieces, adhered the painted panel to a card base and then adhered the sentiment pieces back into the 'Thankful' to make a cool outline look. This let the background be the star of the show for this card.  A simple wrap and bow with twine finished it off nicely.

Now, as you know, I don't normally just jump into a supply list. BUT... for this one, I had to because... CHECK IT OUT! After making this card, I realized I had the perfect makings for a beautiful clean and simple design with the leftovers!

There is a slight chance I like this one even better. Even though the painting took a bit of time and effort and you can't really tell that as much here, BUT, alas...I still LOVE the way that die cut sentiment looks cut from the stamped and watercolored background. It's like.... perfect. So, I used the outline that was left over on a simple white panel and then just stamped a few maple leaves to finish it off in a nice deep red tone. 

Two cards from one set of work! LOVE IT! And I hope you do, too. Never forget to check out what your 'scraps' are giving you! You may just find some treasures in there!

A Little Halloween with a Little Potter Mixed In

Is that okay? Can I squeeze in one more Halloween card for this year? I had fun with this one, taking some fun Halloween stamps and giving them a bit of a Harry Potter twist. Because who doesn't love a sorting hat and a Nimbus 2000? Right? Right. Good. Glad we had this chat.

So, not gonna lie. This one sat on my desk for several days while I decided if I was brave enough to share it. Now that I'm looking at it fresh again, I think I actually really do like it. It's fun! I stamped the hat and the broom from the Simon Says Stamp Toil and Trouble stamps and dies set onto kraft paper and then colored with Spectrum Noir colored pencils. I went for the weathered Sorting hat look on the hat and um..... I REALLY REALLY LIKE IT. K? K. Thanks. I die cut both pieces, along with the tree from the Ghouls and Tree die set from Simon. 

I finished the card by adding just a touch of Reverse Confetti patterned paper and then stamped, embossed, and die cut the sentiment and frame together. 

And, my friends, there you have it. A bit of Halloween and a bit of Harry Potter all rolled into one fun card. Now... where did I leave my robes, I gotta fly......

Cute Spooks

 So, seriously. When you give me absolutely adorable Halloween supplies I just cannot help myself! I am loving creating these cards! 

For this one, I started by die cutting the  Simon Says Stamp Window Webs from a white panel. I just knew I had to create a super cool background to put behind it, so I decided to ink up another cardstock panel to create a night sky using distress inks. I then put a little white ink from a bottle of reinker on a paint brush and splattered it to create the stars in the sky.

You guys! This was a lot for me. LOL! I don't do a ton of messy things anymore, but I absolutely LOVE how this turned out and I super love that it uses those techniques and still results in a clean and simple card.

I stamped the absolutely adorable ghost witch stamp and the spider from the Too Cute To Spook stamp set from Simon Says Stamp and colored them with Spectrum Noir colored pencils. I cut the ghost out, but you can purchase dies with the stamps if you prefer to go that route. Either way... this stamp set is THE CUTEST!

The sentiment is stamped and embossed on a strip of black cardstock to finish off the card. I am linking this little guy up to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.

I hope you have enjoyed my Halloween fun this week! I may do more, I may do some other stuff... we shall see. Thanks for stopping by! Feel free to leave a comment to let me know you are here! 

Friendly Little Bats

 I mentioned that I really like bats, right? When I saw the Reverse Confetti challenge to create a card with a Thanksgiving or Friendship theme, I figured it was a perfect time to combine my love of Halloween and bats with a friendship sentiment for a cute little card.

I stamped the three little bats from the Reverse Confetti Best Witches stamp set and colored them with Spectrum Noir colored pencils. I am discovering that I REALLY love coloring with colored pencils. I honestly feel like I work better with them than I do with my markers a lot of the time. I am loving it. It is also wicked relaxing to feel the smooth pencil over the paper. I don't know...I just really enjoy it.

After stamping and coloring the bats I added a quick stamped star and then finished it off with a great Lawn Fawn Hello die. The friend is actually hand written with a Copic pen to get the look I was going for.  

This card was one of those ones that I just really enjoyed creating. It makes me smile.

What are the kinds of things that just make you happy when you create? Is it coloring? The actual stamping? Putting together various design elements? I'd love hear about it in the comments!