Winter Wishes

These are the last lot of Christmas cards I've made. I have used the background stamp from Hero Arts with wreath dies from Concord and 9th and MFT and the sentiment die from Simon Says Stamp to make two variations.  I'm adding this to the A Blog Named Hero's Winter Holiday challenge. Now that all the cards are done, I need to do tags next!!

Materials

Stamps - Hero Arts Picnic Blanket Bold Print

Dies - Concord and 9th, MFT, Simon Says Stamp

Inks - Hero Arts

Casing Michelle Lupton

I had to make a sympathy card last week and as I'm always in a hurry, I decided to use a stencil. When I found the stencil I wanted to use, it reminded my of my friend Michelle Lupton. We bought some Hero Arts stencils together a while back and she gifted me a stencil. I decided to use my newly acquired Distress Oxide Inks for this card with Michelle's CAS designs in mind. After making one, I decided to make another the following night with different colours. I'm adding this to A Blog Named Hero's Copy a Designer Challenge. Thanks for dropping by.

Materials:
Card - Neenah Solar White and Desert Storm
Stencil - Hero Arts Large Flower
Stamp - Hero Arts
Inks - Distress Oxide Iced Spruce, Fired Brick and Faded Jeans
Other - PPP clear drops

Casing Jessica Frost-Ballas

I'm casing this card made by Jessica Frost-Ballas for the Hero Arts Holidays Blog Hop. I love the colours she used in the background! I used Distress Inks to create the background and white embossed some snowflakes. I decided to add a silver tape to the bottom of the card before adding the sentiment strip the die cut trees and house. Hope you like it! Thanks for dropping by!

Materials
Card - Neenah Solar White
Inks - Distress Inks Picked Raspberry, Salty Ocean and Wilted Violet
Stamps - Hero Arts various collections
Die - Memory Box

Inspiration card by Jessica Frost-Ballas

More Christmas Card

I'm back with another Christmas card to share for the A Blog Named Hero's Calling all Critters challenge. I finally added a couple more Distress Oxides to my collection and couldn't wait to try them out on a Kraft card. I masked a circle and sponged with Iced Spruce and Faded Jeans and the sentiment was stamped with Fired Brick. I love how the inks stand out on kraft, especially after I spritzed with some Perfect Pearls! I made three cards and selected the best one for the blog. Thanks for dropping by!

Materials
Card - Neenah Desert Storm
Stamps - Hero Arts July kit, sentiment from an old stampset
Inks - Distress Oxides, Versafine
Others - Perfect Pearls Spray

First Batch of Christmas Cards!

Before it starts to get too crazy this month, I thought I had better start on my Christmas cards. The challenge this month at A Blog Named Hero is to use critters! I don't have many critters stamps... surely butterflies count? I found this lovely Hero Arts deer stamp and decided to use it. I ended up making 6 cards at the same time using a simple masking technique to ink up the background with Distress inks. I added droplets of water (with my finger) to add a snowy effect. I got a variety of glitter tapes from Officeworks and they were just perfect for these cards! This was easy to make with a MISTI and can be done in batches at a time! Thanks for dropping by!

Challenges:
A Blog Named Hero - Critters
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Christmas

One Layer cards

I'm back with a few one layer cards for A Blog Named Hero's challenge this month. I got these great wide masking tapes from Officeworks which I diecut some butterflies with. I intended on using just the negative space but proceeded to make another card with the butterfly masks. Here are my cards! Thanks for dropping by!

This post is for A Blog Named Hero's Facebook fan page.

Materials
Card - Neenah Solar White
Dies - Hero Arts Antique Flowers and Butterflies (very old set)
Stamp - HA Happy Stamp and Cut
Inks - Various Distress Inks 
Others - Glitter tape and Pretty Posh Pink Clear Drops

Little Florals

I have a couple if one layer cards to share using small flowers from the Hero Arts Summer Garden and Little Florals stampset. I had so much fun making these cards, I worked past my bedtime!! They were so easy to do and very effective as well. Which one do you like? I prefer the second card. Thanks for dropping by!

This post is for A Blog Named Hero's Facebook fan page.

Challenges:
A Blog Named Hero - One Layer Challenge
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - STAMPtember Stamp It
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - STAMPtember Stamp It

A bit of Embossing

Hi there! I'm back with another card using the Hero Arts July kit. I added a bit of embossing for the A Blog Named Hero's Embossing challenge. I used Distress Oxide ink for the background and the flowers were coloured with Zig Clean Colour markers. I then over-stamped the mason jar with Versamark and heat embossed both the jar and the sentiment. A bit of Wink of Stella and sequins were added for the added sparkle. This post is for A Blog Named Hero's Facebook Fanpage. Thank you for dropping by!

Materials
Stamps - Hero Arts July kit
Inks - Distress Oxide (part of the kit), Zig markers
Others - Hero Arts Brass EP, Wink of Stella

Have a Beautiful Birthday

I have a quick watercolour card to share. I used distress inks to add some colour to the background and then white embossed some images over it. I love the washed out look of the distress inks! Thanks for dropping by!

Challenges:
A Blog Named Hero
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Splatter It

Materials:
Card - Watercolour paper, Neenah Desert Storm
Stamps - Hero Arts July Kit
Inks - Distress Inks - Picked Raspberry, Broken China and Seedless Preserve
Die - Lil Inkers 

This post is for A Blog Named Hero's Facebook Fan Page.

Hero Arts July Kit

I was so excited when my parcel arrived from Hero Arts last week and couldn't wait to ink up the images. I love lavender and was very eager to stamp up this image first. After stamping and masking up the images, I added a masked border to two sides of the card and lightly sponged with the Distress Oxide ink that was included in the July kit. The rest of the images were coloured with my Zig Clean Colour markers. Love all the fun containers and bunches of flowers in the kit. I'll be stamping some more real soon!! Thanks for dropping by!

Challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - You've Got the Edge

A Blog Named Hero - Florals

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Anything Goes

Materials:

Stamps - Hero Arts July monthly kit, Winnie and Walter sentiment (hello)

Inks - Distress Ink Iced Spruce, Zig markers

Others - PPP Clear drops, sticky notes tapes from Officeworks

Florals challenge

Did someone say 'Florals'? Most of my favourite stamps have some variety of flowers. I decided to combine a Winnie and Walter stampset with sentiment from Hero Arts for the current A Blog named Hero Florals challenge. I inked up an acrylic block with some Distress Inks, spritzed with some water and invert it over a watercolour card. I tried several times before I perfected the technique. I had drips from the block, not enough water, ink oozing out the side (I tried wiping it and created a mess on the white space)... I was happy to finally see this card finished. Thanks for dropping by!

Materials:
Stamps- Hero Arts Stamp and Cut Happy, Winnie and Walter In Bloom - Addie's Garden
Inks- Tim Holtz Distress Inks - Picked Raspberry, Dusty Concord and Mermaid Lagoon
Dies - Hero Arts

Blue Hydrangeas

After seeing a few blue cards posted recently, I was inspired to do one as well. This card was made with Distress Inks on water colour card. I wanted to colour in the negative space as there is a fair bit of detailing on the stamp which I wanted to leave untouched. I've also inlaid a die cut from Winnie and Walter. I'm adding this card to the current A Blog Named Hero Florals challenge with Winnie & Walter. Thanks for dropping by!

Materials:
Stamps - Hero Arts and Winnie & Walter
Inks - Distress Inks Chipped Sapphire and Broken China, Hero Arts Navy
Dies - Winnie and Walter and MFT Stitched Rectangles
Others - PPP clear drops

A Baptism Shaker Card

I made this card recently for a baby's Baptism. As I do not have any religious stamps or dies (except for Christmas ones), I had to think outside the box or card in this case! I made this card a recent craft day at a friend's place. I marked out the cross with sticky tape and then carefully cut out the outline on the card. I was about to make the shaker card with acetate when my host asked if I wanted to try the fuse tool to make the shaker. So I tried it. So easy! I added sequins inside the fused pocket with some diecut and finished off the card with the name of the baby embossed in gold. This is for A Blog named Hero's Interactive Challenge and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Emboss It. Thanks for dropping by!

Materials:
Cardstock - Hero Hues, gold cardstock
Patterned Paper - Kaisercraft
Dies - Hero Arts, Mama Elephant Hearts and Sequins
Stamps - Hero Arts Congrats Stamp n Cut, HA Kelly's Outline Letters
Others - Versafine, Hero Arts Gold EP, Fuse tool, plastic pockets,  sequins from various sources

Baby Sebastian

It must be baby season! I have a lot of friends with newborns the past couple of months. This card is for baby Sebastian, a first for some dear friends of mine. I'm adding this card to Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes. This is a post for A Blog Named Hero's Facebook Fan Page. Thanks for dropping by!

Materials:
Stamps - Hero Arts lattice background, Congrats Stamp n Cut, Kelly's Outline letters
Inks - Hero Arts Pool, Clean colour brush markers
Others - HA white and silver EP, Kaisercraft glitter tape and glitter yardstick

A Sympathy card

I have a sympathy card to share. This is for no one in particular, just a spare to have if I need it. I used the Hero Arts Antique Rose on watercolour cardstock and distress inks. A very easy card to put together! I'm adding this to the A Blog Named Hero's watercolour challenge. Thanks for dropping by!

Materials
Stamps - Hero Art Antique Rose and sentiment
Inks - Distress Inks Wilted Violet, Dusty Concord, Carved Pumpkin, Cracked Pistachio and Blueprint Sketch
Dies - Hero Arts Infinity dies
Card - Hero Arts

This post is for A Blog Named Hero's Facebook Fan Page.

Watercolour Dahlia

I'm back with another card using the Hero Arts Artistic Dahlia stamp. Lots of masking created this background of flowers on watercolour card. Only two colours were applied with Zig markers to create this lightly washed effect. I'm adding this to this month's A Blog Named Hero's May Watercolour Challenge. Thank you for dropping by!

This post is for A Blog Named Hero's Facebook Fan Page

Materials
Stamps - Hero Arts Artistic Dahlia and Many Everyday Messages
Inks - Versafine, Zig Clean Color brush, Versamark, HA White EP

Spotted Butterfly

I made this card by stamping a spotted background stamp with various coloured inks and then die cutting the butterfly. The frame background was made with a scallop frame die and the inside square was embossed to add a bit of textured interest. I'm adding this card to the current A Blog Named Hero's Anything Goes challenge. Thanks for dropping by!

Materials

Stamp: Hero Arts Sentiment

Inks: Ranger 

Dies: MFT Stitched Square Scallop Edged Frame Dies, Hero Arts Antique Butterfly

Embossing Folder: Tim Holtz

Orchids for Mother's Day

Thank you to all the lovely comments received on the A Blog Named Hero 10th Anniversary Blog Hop last week! The winners of the Blog Hop were announced here. There sure were quite a few inspirational posts from some remarkable ladies! I'm back with another one of my cards made during a recent Craft Retreat. This one is for Mother's Day and I've used my Mother's favourite flower in this card combined with my MIL's favourite colours. Yes, I made two of them at the same time!
Please join in the fun challenge over at A Blog Named Hero - Anything Goes challenge. Thanks for dropping by!

This post is for A Blog Named Hero's Facebook Fan Page.






Materials:
Stamp - Hero Arts Layering Orchid and Sentiment
Die - MFT Dienamics Rectangle Stitched Scallop Edge Frame
Inks - HA Ombre ink and Altenew