An Oldie, but Goodie…

Celebrating with Hero Arts

As Hero Arts celebrates its 45th anniversary, I’ve started digging into my EXTENSIVE (!!!) old stash of Hero Arts images. I’ve always been a Hero Arts fan.

When I needed a few quick congratulations cards, the Pop Art with Bird stamp seemed like the perfect solution.

I made three cards, using different colored cardstock for each one, and in no time, I had some quick cards. I inked the stamp with black VersaFine and covered it with clear embossing powder. Images were colored with Ranger Distress Inks (using Tsukineko Imagine Crafts’ Fantastics. The congrats stamp is also from an old Hero Arts set. A little Ranger Stickles and I was good to go.

Fun, fast and easy! Thanks for dropping by.

Layering With Dies

In the final issue of Craft Ideas Magazine, I wrote an article about layering stamps and dies. While layering stamps have been around for a while, layering dies are relatively new. I was wowed when I saw these layering dies from Birch Press Design. There are so many ways to use these three piece sets (which are sold separately or in a bundle. Spring for the bundle! Totally worth it!)

Here are two examples:

This uses the Sevilla set. The pieces were cut from peach, pale yellow and dark grey, then placed over a light grey A2 card (4 1/4 x 5 1/2″). Celebrate was die cut using a Technique Tuesday die.  (see that set here) You can’t really see the shimmer in the photo above, but using the Nuvo Aqua Shimmer brush pen on the die makes it sparkle. Yum. (And you can use the inside, leftover pieces, for other cards.)

This card uses the Dazzle die set. The sentiment circle was stamped with a Technique Tuesday Talking in Circles set. The design was stamped in Wendy Vecchi Archival Watering Can ink, the sentiment embossed in white.

I love playing around with different color combinations!

Thanks for stopping by.

 

 

Eastern Beauties, Variations

I love the versatility of Stampin’ Up!’s Eastern Beauty stamp set and matching dies. I posted two cards here, but have many more to go because … say it with me … there are so many variations in this set!!!

Here’s a quick sample of the different looks you can get simply by changing the paper color and size:

For this card, and the one below, I used the dies to cut various shapes into a cover card. On the white card base, I dabbed on various Ranger Distress Inks (Victoran Velvet, Tumbled Glass, Seedless Preserves and Iced Spruce), then layered the die-cut piece on top. The dots are from the Robins Nest.

Using a black cover piece gives a dramatically different look:

(This card is a 4Bar (roughly 3 1/2 x 4 inches, smaller than the A2 size above).  I used the same technique, but using Faber-Castell Gelatos Highlighters in Starfruit, Dragon fruit, Clementine and Dry Ice. Nuvo Crystal Drops added some texture and a strip of glitter paper (Paper Source) added sparkle.

Here’s a detailed look:

Thanks for stopping by! I have one more set of cards using the same stamps and dies, coming soon!

Cool Cats from Waffle Flower

Here are two quick, easy cards using stamps from Waffle Flower:

 

Just some simple stampin’ and colorin’ here! I stamped a bunch of the cats from the Flora Cat Play set, colored them and cut them out, so now I have a stash. All I had to do was stamp the Enveloper Little Birdie, color it in and add my cut out cat (using foam tape) and the sentiment. (Watch a Waffle Flower video here.)

A similar card:

The pretty dots are Dew Drops from the Robins Nest; the hello is a Simon Says Stamp die colored with black Wink of Stella.

Thanks for stopping by!

Pop-Up Housewarming Card

Love this pop-up die from Lawn Fawn! Here’s one I used for a housewarming card:

The little houses are from a set from Stampendous! The plaid paper is also from Lawn Fawn. Look how easily it fits into the envelope:

I did a flat version of the card for another housewarming:

This card was so easy to put together because I had already stamped, colored and cut out a bunch of houses: (sorry for the blurry photo!)

The card base was also something made earlier, using a Hero Arts brush stroke stamp.

You can see my earlier report on this die, with other photos, here.

Thanks for “popping” by!

Fabulous Finds Friday — Eastern Beauty

Who doesn’t love a stamp and die set with versatility? Not me! And that’s exactly what I love about the beautiful Eastern Beauty stamp set (and matching dies) from Stampin’ Up!

There are so many ways to use this release, which also has some lovely coordinating paper. The card above was created using a piece of the coordinating paper for a background. Then I used several dies to create the embellishment (trimming some pieces to create a design.) The sentiment is a die cut from Technique Tuesday.

Here’s another card that uses just the flower-like die and a stamped background using the images from the matching stamp set:

To create the above card, I stamped the rings from the Eastern Beauty set in various colors of ColorBox’s Stephanie Bernard inks. Two of the three flowers were cut from cardstock I had painted using Purple Flash and Aqua Flash from Plaid’s delightfully shimmery Folk Art® Color Shift™ paint. Love the subtle shimmer! And the leaves are from a Tim Holtz /Sizzix punch. Here’s a closer look:

Stay tuned for more ways to use this set!

 

No Piece of Foil Unused!

It’s no secret that I haven’t met a scrap I don’t like. In posts here and here on foiling, I created some cards using various foiling products from Therm O Web. And lo, and behold, I had scraps of foil leftover!

What’s a gal to do? Why use them, of course!

From this card:

(The card above uses the Gina K.™ Designs pre-made Foil-Mates™ toner designs. Love these because I don’t have to worry about finding a laser printer to create my own!)

I had the leftovers of that pretty swirly pattern, which I used here:

™

To create the card, I ran a piece of black cardstock through my Xryon adhesive machine, then put the foil piece (shiny side UP) on top. (I carefully rubbed the piece to make sure it was completely adhered.) I then trimmed the piece and layered it to a black card front. The tag and gold leaves were die cut from bonus pieces in two  Therm O Web™ Gina K. Designs™ die sets.

I still had a tiny scrap left, so I did basically the same thing to create this fast tag:

The sentiment (from Stampin’ Up! Here’s to Cheers set) was gold embossed, the flourishes (from same set) stamped in black.

Thanks for checking in!

Simple Stories … Cards

Almost a year ago I received some journaling stamps from Simple Stories. These papers sat … and they sat … and they sat some more. This week I decided enough is enough! Use these! Since I am a cardmaker at heart, that’s what I did. And I found these journaling cards  made quick, pretty backgrounds.

I trimmed some the papers to fit the front of my A2 card, then I looked around for images to adorn them. I looked first in my stash of pre-stamped images. Here are two using the Stampin’ Up! layered cupcake set:

(Gave it some bling with yellow Stickles.)

And another using Tim Holtz’s Crazy Bird set (watercolored and hit with some Wink of Stella clear sparkle.)

And one more, using two of the same journaling cards, just using the opposite sides:

These are so easy I’m going to make a few sets to give away as holiday gifts.

Thanks for stopping by!

More Random Cards

Two more leftover pieces that finally found homes:

 

Fast and simple!

And this one:

 

The backgrounds on the stamped pieces were brayered and the larger background is the same as in the last post.  The images (Stampendous!) were black embossed.

Now these can go off to someone’s mailbox!

 

Quick Cards from Leftovers

Time to clean the desk again … and use up some of those images and papers that seem to reproduce with wild abandon on my desk.

You’ll all recognize Tim Holtz’s Crazy Birds … well, this one is from a mini set. I love the smaller size — perfect for a 4Bar card (about 4 7/8 x 3 1/2, when folded). The background was made by spritzing Heidi Swapp sprays (mustard, chartreuse and sweet cherry). Layered, glued, added some Lawn Fawn sequins, and that’s a wrap! Oh, and a liberal dose of clear Wink of Stella on the bird. Bam!

These frolicking girls (by Crafty Individuals/Magenta)  have always tickled me. This was stamped a while ago on some leftover card stock that was colored using Faber-Castell Gelatos. The card stock, as you can see, is very textured, so the girls didn’t stamp as smoothly as I wanted. But a part of me is okay with the sketchy look. The paper is an old scrap from Paper Source. 

Thanks for stopping by!