A Couple of cards

I entered these cards in this month's Hero Arts Contest. It combined two of my favorite things: flowers & coloring.



Here are the details of the May Challenge: Create a NEW stamped card, scrapbook page, or other project based on any of the following…

Fabulous Flowers — Include one or more flowers on your project
ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) — Miniature works of art created on a 2. 5″ x 3. 5″ base. ATCs can be of any theme for this challenge.
Colored Pencil Techniques. Projects using this technique can be of any theme.
Please use at least one Hero Arts stamp or Hero Arts digital element on each of your projects.



I loved Shari Carroll's video tutorial on coloring with colored pencils. She is amazing! Speaking of Shari Carroll, I am so excited because I am spending the weekend with Shari Carroll and Jennifer McGuire. They are co-teaching a weekend of classes in Kettering, Ohio at Simply Scrapbooks.

As for my cards, I used Hero Arts Two Birds CG152; Hero Arts Cling Dots CG139; Hero Arts Special moments CG108; Hero Arts Anytime Messages CL129. I colored both cards with Prismacolor colored pencils. The Cling Dots were stamped with Tattered Rose Distress Ink.

Thanks for visiting. Have a great weekend!

Rocketman

Today, I'd like to share some very wise advice:

Crafty Ladies, Always marry a man with more expensive hobbies than your own.

If you take this advice, your husband will never be able to complain when you want the latest die-cutting machine or this month's entire new stamp release.

My husband builds and then launches rockets, not the little dinky ones that you can find at your local craft store. He launches the kind that you need a large field and certification to shoot off. Recently, he went to get certified for a certain size motor so I made him this card.

Stampendous makes a great stamp set called Hot Rocketz (SSC1030). I stamped the galaxy swirl in Versamark and dusted it with Pebbles Pearlescent Chalk to make the background. For the three rockets, I stamped them on a separate piece of X-Press It paper, colored them with Copics, fussy-cut them & mounted them to the card. The blue & gray rocket image actually has fins but I cut them off to make it look more like the rockets my husband flies. Glossy Accents gave the rockets a little shine. The cool paper is from a K & Company pack called DayDreams. The sentiment on the inside says "Have a Blast" which is also from the set. The word Rocketman on the front of my card was stamped using the Lawn Fawn set, Harold's ABCs.

This post wouldn't be complete without a picture of my husband's rocket launch.



Thanks for visiting.

Pieced Flower

I made this card weeks ago, inspired by Deb's beautiful card. The technique is now being featured on the Hero Arts blog so I thought I'd post it. Paper piecing is a great technique and the Flower Text stamp is a perfect match.

The paper is from a Jillibean Soup collection. I used Enamel Accents in black to embellish the flowers.

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Happy Birthday

I thought I'd share this birthday card I made recently using Lawn Fawn's Bake Me A Cake stamp set. Have you tried Lawn Fawn stamps yet? They make such a clean, crisp image and are so very cute. The alphabets are my favorite. Somehow each letter is cut so perfectly that when creating your own words, the spacing is always uniform. It makes creating your own sentiments a snap.

Here's a link to their blog. It's packed with fabulous inspiration.

Supplies used:

Lawn Fawn Bake Me a Cake
Hero Arts Cling Dots
Memento Tuxedo Black Ink
Versamark Frost Ink
Pebbles Inc. Shimmers Pearlescent Chalk
Inkssentials Glossy Accents
Derwent Watercolour Pencils
Whispers Strokes Blender Pen

Thanks for visiting.

Thank Ewe

Have you tried the Tim Holtz Vagabond yet? Isn't it amazing! When it first came out I asked myself whether I really needed another die-cutting machine. Certainly many of you asked the same question. The answer is YES. Everyone should have a Vagabond. I love how compact it is. It hardly takes up any room when its folded up and yet its really powerful. I recently had to cut tons of flowers for a class I was teaching and couldn't believe how fast and easy the job was using the Vagabond. I have some medical problems that cause stiffness and numbness in my hands and arms. Using the Vagabond makes class preparation pain free. If you have any kind of stiffness or arthritis, this is the machine for you.

I made this video showing how to cut wafer-thin dies with the vagabond. If you have wondered how to cut Spellbinders or My Favorite Things Die-namics with the Vagabond, please watch. I show what plates you need to make the perfect "sandwich".



This thank you card was made using the grass I cut while making the video.

Here's a list of the products that I used to make the card: My Favorite Things Die-namics Fresh Cut Grass McGill Punch Flowers Petite Petals Hero Arts Cling Dots CG139 Penny Black Bah-quet 4063H C.C. Designs Critter Sentiments Ranger Distress Ink Tattered Rose Tsukineko StazOn Jet Black Ranger Enamel Accents Black Derwent Watercolour Pencils

Thanks for visiting. Good Night!

Peeking Posies

Here are a couple of cards I made using the new Hero Arts Peeking Posies stamp set (LL072). I absolutely love this new set! The flowers are great for coloring and fussy cutting. They remind me that Spring is right around the corner...at least I hope so.



The first card was colored with Copics and the second one with watercolor pencils blended with the Whispers Strokes blender pen. On the second card, I also used the Hero Arts cling stamps: Cling Dots (CG139) & Flourish Background (CG119) stamped with the Versamark stamp pad.



Thanks for visiting and for your kind comments.

Longing for Spring

I've been feeling a little blue tonight, no reason really, maybe just the winter blahs. So I sat down to color (it is the perfect cure-all) and discovered this Stampendous Narcissus stamp. I love daffodils. Don't you? Their smell is pure, sweet heaven.

Here are the details of this card:
Stampendous stamps: Narcissus SSC1107 & Cling Music Score CRR103
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Old Paper & Peeled Paint
Copic Markers: YG0000,YG00, YG01, Y00, Y02, Y04, Y06, Y11, Y13, Y14, YR20, YR21, YR23

Thanks for visiting & Good Night!