Hero Arts at CHA

Hero Arts never disappoints in its showing of stamps, inks and more. And this year’s CHA reveal was no exception.

We all know how crazy I am about succulents (see here)

So naturally, I immediately gravitated to these cards (and images):

I also love the new ombre ink pads:

And look at this cute card done with those inks:

Check them out at www.heroarts.com.

Thanks for stopping by!

Another Day, Another CHA Report

Here are some random items from CHA:

Spray paint has come a long way from when my dad used it to cover an old lawn chair. Krylon showcased some nifty new sprays including a cool dry erase spray that turns any surface into a dry erase board. They showcased a table sprayed with dry erase paint … how fun is that?

I also love some of the frosty finishes, and check out these pretty rocks:

Not to mention glitter and chalk and other delicious colors. Hmmm… where’s my old lawn chair ….
Check out Krylon at www.krylon.com.

And speaking of glitter, these pretty little bottles of bling from Sulyn (an Advantus company) are so … well, glittery:

Stay tuned for a peek at Hero Arts.

More Mega Madness — CHA report

Another report from CHA…

One of the joys of attending the Craft & Hobby Association trade show is discovering new (to me!) stamp companies.

Take a look at the delightful designs of Dare 2B Artzy:

I love coloring and doodling (can you say Zentangle addict?) so these flower/butterfly images speak to me. I was just playing around and stamped these images in VersaFine black on a piece of scrap cardstock. (See the full flower? I stamped once then reinked and turned the card so I stamped a mirror image to create the fuller flower.) I found it so relaxing to color in the patterns (not my best coloring work, but I had fun.)

I really like this bookmark image. This would have been a fun project for my Girl Scout troop!

Thanks Dare 2B Artzy, for letting me play with these stamps!

Check out the website: www.dare2bartzy.com

I’ll be back with more CHA reports.

Mega Craft Show Report!

I survived another stint at the Mega Craft Show put on by the Craft & Hobby Association (CHA). And what an event it was! As you most likely know, this is the craft industry’s Academy Awards, Emmys and Golden Globes all rolled into one. More than 400 exhibitors showed up in Anaheim to showcase new craft products. Vendors came from all across the U.S., plus Canada, Australia, England, etc. and booths spanned all the creative arts: beads and jewelry, cake and food decorating, paint and art materials, floral decorating and paper, fabric/needlecraft, kids and general crafting.

In the next few weeks, I will try to give you a taste of some of the things I found there, from the biggies (Ranger, Sizzix, Spellbinders, etc.) to smaller, lesser known companies.

Let’s start off with something a little out-of-the-box — metal and chalkboard products from M-D Hobby & Craft. Here are some of their offerings:

Who knew you could be so creative with building material? (Well, actually any mixed media artist knows!)

Check out these darling bird houses:

And beautiful jewelry:

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For more ideas, and how-to videos, visit www.mdhobbyandcraft.com.

Stay tuned for more CHA reports.

Fabulous Finds Friday — Scrumptious Succulents

I have had a thing for succulents for a long time so when I found this stamp and die set from Simon Says I had to have it!

I’ve only started to play, but check out these cute tags:

The stamps and dies — designed by the talented Sandy Allnock — are so dang clever. You can stamp the succulent and the containers together or separately, and die cut them the same way. (Sandy has a great tutorial here showing how to do this.)

I used a variety of tools to make these tags, including a corner rounder and the tag and ticket punch from Tonic Studios, which creates the straight corner as well as the ticket punch.

I colored them all with watercolor pencils then used my water brush to blend the colors. When they were dry, I added some dots and trim using Faber-Castell’s white PITT artist pen.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone, and here’s hoping that 2015 is a year of health and happiness.

Since I had a day off, I created a few New Year cards. Enjoy.

I love this card for several reasons: first, it was so fast and easy to make! And second, I found a small stash of previously dry embossed card stock pieces that I had put away!
The silver embossed background was made using a Cuttlebug swirl folder. I simply cut it to size to fit the card front, edged it with a gold metallic marker, and glued it on the card. The greeting (Hero Arts Celebrate Everyday set) was embossed in gold, trimmed, and edged with the gold metallic pen. Silver sequin stars (Sulyn) and gold glitter stars (die cut using the set from Lawn Fawn’s Stitched Journaling die) were added using Ranger’s Glossy Accents. That’s it!

This was inspired by a New Year’s Eve ad I saw in a magazine a while ago. Also, super easy — I used a variety of circle stamps (all from Hero Arts in various sets) and embossed some in gold, some in silver (including Judikins Aegean Silver, which has a lot of sparkle). The sentiment was trimmed and layered over a scrap of gold paper, cut to the same proportions.

This was also fun. Using Sizzix’s Banner Triplets by Stephanie Bernard and some gold, silver and off-white scraps, I die cut my way to the New Year. When I glued the cut out pieces to the layering banner, some glue seeped out. At first i despaired, but then I added some ultra fine glitter and, hey, it’s not so bad. Same sentiment, but I added a little stamped and embossed bit for extra flavor. The silver Dew Drops (Robins Nest) and sequin stars (Sulyn) added the finishing touches.

Thanks for stopping by! And here’s to a great year!