HAPPY FLOWERS

My cards today were inspired by this card by Lydia Evans.  I don't own the dies or the flowers she used, so I went hunting through my Hero Arts stuff and came up with lots of little flowers and quite a large die that I thought would work.

What a good time I had playing with different colors and stamps!!  I actually made two die cuts using various Hero Arts colors and stamps.  The "happy" die cut was popped up on some fun foam (so good to use up some of those small pieces I've saved!).  The tiny sentiments were stamped in HA black and clear embossed.  After playing around a bit with the arrangement, decided to add the stitched frame and a few Nuvo jewel drops.  Two very CAS cards - lots of "white" space and one focal point.

Supplies:

Hero Arts Stamp & Cut: DC150, DC130, DC149

Hero Arts Inks: Sea Glass, Butter Bar, Cornflower, Field Greens, Pale Tomato - pinks that were in MMH kits, Intense Black

Sorry I don't know the manufacturer of the "happy" die.

MFT Stitched Rectangle Frames

Nuvo Jewel Drops-Rosewater

The challenge at A Blog Named Hero this month is CAS and you still have time to enter here - challenge closes on 26 February. 

I am also entering this The Paper Players challenge which is to use a sentiment as the focal point.

 

Thanks for visiting today and love to read  your kind comments.

SCRAMBLE #148

Today's scramble on the Hero Arts discussion group was to design a card by making your own background.  This has always been a challenge for me as I always seem to mess it up just when I think it's all good!!  And of course that is what happened - started it out in black and the third one I stamped didn't stamp all the way :(  So switched to gray which worked out much better.  

After stamping all the leaves, I added the sentiment on a piece of vellum and gold embossed.  Popped it up with some fun foam and finally added some black Nuvo dots (risky as I've been known to mess those up too!).  This actually was a very quick and easy card to make and plan on trying more with different leaves.

This also fits Muse Challenge203 as the background and a single sentiment are also prominent in the challenge - so will enter it there also.
 

Thanks for stopping by and love to read your kind comments.

FEBRUARY CCC

This month's card for the Card Chain Challenge is going to Lucille in Colorado - I used the colors (purple/pink and two shades of green) from the challenge and the theme of friendship.

I die cut the leaves from a piece of Yupo  colored with alcohol inks.  Instead of putting the centers of the leaves back where they were originally, I exchanged them.  Added the "hello", various purple/pink sequins, a few Nuvo black dots and done!

Thanks for stopping by and all your kind comments.

 

JUST A PLAY DAY

Today was just a day for creating for no particular reason except to try a couple of techniques.  TaeEun always has such lovely alcohol inked flowers and Jennifer McGuire has a gatefold card technique I wanted to try - so put them together in this card.

 

First I used glossy card to create pink and green alcohol inked background pieces.  Then using Versamark and gold embossing powder stamped the flowers and leaves and fussy cut.  After arranging the flowers and leaves, I used Press 'n Seal to keep all in place so I could put them on the bottom of the front flap.  Adhered that on and again fussy cut away the bottom of the flowers and leaves.  Added the sentiment - left the inside blank until I need this for some special occasion.  If you watch Jennifer's video you'll easily understand how I did this.  It makes a different and fun card - altho a real pain to photograph!!   It was so nice to create today with no agenda.

 

Thanks for visiting today and all of your kind comments.

 

 

LOVE YOU

This month the challenge at A Blog Named Hero is CAS.  Not too much of a challenge for me as I tend to be a little too much CAS and really have a hard time creating anything else.  As I often do, I had a little wander through the $ bins at Target and found some darling notecards - I think they were eight or ten for $3 with the envelopes included.  These inexpensive cards make a great base for a quick and easy card - especially if you need to send out multiples.  Another bonus - since these cards were glossy and I only used the front, I ended up with some glossy pieces from the back to use on other cards.

I first die cut the card with an HA rectangle die.  Added the "you" from one of the sentiments from the January My Monthly Hero kit (did a little surgery on the stamp),  It was stamped in HA black and embossed with HA clear powder.  Stamped a hibiscus flower with pink and pale tomato and some of the leaves from the January kit.  Put this all together with a pale pink mat onto a white card base - quick card - easy to make in multiples!  The inside is stamped "happy valentine's day" (from January MMH kit).  Hope you like it!

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to enter the February CAS challenge at A Blog Named Hero here!

I am entering this in LaVon's LOVE challenge where the theme this month is hearts & flowers, Addicted to Stamps - Holiday and The Paper Players - Valentine.

My DIL posted this today on Facebook and I thought it was so appropriate for Valentine's Day and everyday of the year - it is truly a "be the change you want to see in the world" message.

  
Thanks for visiting today and enjoy reading your kind comments.

  

KandR 300 WEEKS OF INSPIRATION

I have been a follower of Kara's Friday Inspiration File and she has a challenge to choose one of her Friday choices and CASE it.  I picked a card by Shona Chambers in week 282 - loved the soft colors and the simple design.

I used an old Technique Tuesday stamp from their Greenhouse Society line (I think it's called Cosmos).  Stamped and embossed in gold and colored with my Zigs shaded with a damp brush.  Added the sentiment and some sequins and done!

A couple of years ago, Kara chose one of my cards (it's the second card) for her FIF#241 - one of the best honors I've ever had for a card.

Thanks for visiting today and love to read your kind comments.

POPPY LOVE

The Flower Challenge this month is to CASE designer Therese Calvird's card and the theme at CAS Watercolour Challenge is "love".

Therese designs gorgeous cards and this is no exception.  Much as I wanted to use the same die as she did, I resisted and chose another favorite of mine.

Basically made the card the same way she did - die cut the flower, added a watercolored piece behind and added the die cut back in. Die cut the "love" in black and added glossy accents on top.  The "you" was stamped in black and embossed in clear. Added the sentiment and some Nuvo drops and done!  Inside is "happy valentine's day".

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy reading your kind comments.

HERO ARTS GROUP SCRAMBLE

I'm hosting a scramble today over in the Hero Arts discussion group and would love it if you could join in.  It's actually a 24 hour time period in which you can make a card following my theme - just set you timer for 90 minutes and get your card done any time between 1 pm CST today (4 February) and 1 pm CST tomorrow (Sunday).

Here are my inspiration cards for the theme of love in black and gold using at least one Hero Arts stamp, die, stencil, etc.

Hope to see you over at the Hero Arts group - details are here.

 

HYDRANGEA

The current Ellen Hutson's Pinsights challenge has some pretty blues and grays for inspiration - so I chose to use those colors with the mondo hydrangea stamp (a favorite of mine).

I watercolored the white embossed flower with my Zigs and a damp brush, stamped the flower again in a soft gray onto a light gray base, added the sentiment from the same set in black and heat embossed in clear, added some clear raindrops, rounded the corner and done!!

Thanks for visiting today and love to read your kind comments.   

 

JANUARY CARD CHAIN CHALLENGE

This month the Card Chain Challenge uses two shades of purple and yellow (I substituted gold for the yellow).  My card is going to Jo in England.

Used my Zigs to color a flower from a HA My Monthly Hero kit and added the sentiment.  Sorry that large dot looks black in the photo - it's really gold - just noticed it now - and Jo already has the card so I can't undo.

All for now - thanks for stopping by.

"INSPIRED BY" VALENTINES

Since Valentine's Day is only a few weeks away, I've been making quite a few lately.  The Inspired by All the Little Things challenge today prompted me to make these two.

The background paper in the first one is from the Target $$ bin and I made the background for the second one with some swirls from EH - the "happy" sentiment is from Concord & 9th and the rest is from an old HA set.

Thanks for visiting today and have a great rest of the weekend.

HEARTS & FLOWERS

The challenge this month at A Blog Named Hero is "New to Me" - and just about everything on my card is new.  

First I colored the floral heart from my new January My Monthly Hero kit  with my new Altenew alcohol markers (crazy easy to use).  Die cut the background with my new HA confetti heart die - once in white and once on a piece of gold with Stick-It on the back so I could get those little gold hearts in place easily.  The large gold heart was cut with my new HA infinity heart dies.  I love to make valentines to send to those I love - but I think I kind of went overboard on the new heart stuff this month:)

I am entering this in a few challenges - Darnell's NBUS (never been used), CAS on Sunday (hearts), and the Paper Players (flowers).

Thanks for visiting today.

 

BLUE AND YELLOW

Am just going to get in under the wire with my entry in the Flower Challenge for this month.  I had been wanting to do a card with the technique used on the MIM challenge a few weeks ago, so combined this technique with the blue and yellow for a Valentine.

I die cut a heart on a post-it note and then did the stamping around it with the little flowers, leaves and hearts from the January My Monthly Hero kit - just used a variety of inks.  The sentiment is also from the kit.  Trimmed it out and mounted it on a blue card base.  Fun technique - also did one in shades of pink and purple.

 Thanks for stopping by and for all your kind comments.

DEER IN THE FOREST

This week the challenge at Merry Monday is "reindeer".  Decided on a shaker card with the deer die cuts on the outside of the shaker.

 

Stenciled the trees onto white that had first been sponged randomly with some frost white paint.  This gave the background kind of a shimmery look plus it made the trees look like there was snow/frost on them.  Die cut the piece with a frame die and put it back together again with foam tape on the frame, acetate and sprinkles to make the shaker.  Added the deer - done and dusted!

 

 

Thanks for stopping by and love to read your kind comments.

 

 

MERRY

This is my first post for A Blog Named Hero Facebook Team which I was asked to join in December - I will be posting a card to carry out the monthly theme for ABNH the second and fourth Thursday every month. The theme for the January challenge is "New to Me" - this can be a new stamp, a new technique, new anything.

I chose to use a "new to me" technique - painting with alcohol inks.  TaeEun has colored flowers with alcohol inks, but i have no idea how she really does this - so I decided to just do my own thing.  First I gold heat embossed the flowers and leaves (from the April My Monthly Hero Kit).  Then I added cranberry, watermelon and shell pink inks, wet a small brush with blending solution and just played around with the color.  Did the same for the leaves with lettuce and botanical inks.  Since I kind of went out of the lines while doing this, I put some ink on an acrylic block with some blending solution and painted all around the leaves and flower.  Wasn't intending to make a Christmas card, but since the flower looked like a poinsettia, I went along with that.  Lastly I put some of the green on my brush and spattered it.  Added some gold seed beads and the glitter sentiment backed with black.

This card goes along with the following challenges:

CAS Mix-Up (liquid inks, stamping and embossing)
Happy Little Stampers Christmas (anything goes)
A Blog Named Hero (new to me)

Remember to stop by A Blog Named Hero Facebook page and A Blog Named Hero for the latest Hero Arts inspiration and to enter the monthly challenge!  

Thanks for visiting today and reading your comments makes my day!

MR. & MRS.

The Paper Players' challenge this week is "going green" - use something recycled on your card.  I often save cards that have a potential for remaking into a new card.  The recycled part of my card is the embossed piece with the sentiment in silver on the bottom right.  It was the front of a thank you from a recently married couple.  I couldn't get the sentiment to show up very well in the photo, but it says Mr. & Mrs.

I trimmed the piece down and matted it in black.  The flower and leaves were colored with Zigs - covered the whole flower with spectrum noir clear, added a few sequins and done.

I am also entering this in Color Throwdown.

 

Thanks for stopping by today and also for your kind comments.