Happy Birthday Balloons

Balloons are such happy things! I’ve been having lots of fun with this Balloon Bundle die set from My Favorite Things (see this post for another use).

This card base was leftover from some of my watercolor experiments (so I’m not sure which watercolors I used!). The open cake is an old one from the late, lamented Stampa Barbara. The gemstones, I believe, are from Hero Arts.

Hope your day is as happy as these balloons!

Shop ’til You ….

…. Can’t stop making these adorable shopping bags from Hero Arts!

These are made using the Fancy Dies 3-D Shopping Bag.  As you can see, I couldn’t stop making them! The bag is open enough to let you add things, but not so puffy that it won’t easily slip into an envelope.  I love that you can put anything in these bags!

Check it out:

For the background, I did a soft watercolor wash using Hero Arts’ liquid pigment watercolors. The greenery was created from Spellbinders’ Fern Dies. The dots are Nuvo crystal drops.

For this card, I first stamped Hero Arts’ Floral Mandala Bold Print in Unicorn White onto the gray cardstock. The flowers are from Hero’s Coloring Layering bird CL866, and the stems are an older stamp from Art Impressions F3022.

This one is a particular favorite — I love the ombre bag and the balloons!

The paper for the bag was colored using Ranger Distress Oxides; the background is Lawn Fawn’s Quilted Backdrop die, and the balloons are from My Favorite Things,  the Bundles of Balloons card kit.

Thanks for stopping by!

Random Acts of Cardmaking

Another play date, another attempt to clean up my desk. Here are random cards made from the “slush” pile — everything was found on my messy desk or in my box of bits and pieces:

This card sat around a loooong time. So long that I don’t remember who made the paper. The stamp is from Hero Arts, the doily from My Favorite Things and the sentiment from Technique Tuesday.

The torn paper “water” is Core’dinations cardstock (left over from another project), the fishes (I think!) are from Judikins and colored in with gel pens. All I added was the sentiment, using a small alphabet set.

Next is a true hodgepodge of pieces.

Not my favorite card, but at least I used up some pieces! (Background paper by Basic Grey, bird stamp by Hero Arts, and the embossing powder is Zing! from American Crafts.)

One more:

I’ve always loved this wacky cityscape from Hero Arts. This was stamped in black and fussy-cut. The cloud background is a Darice embossing folder. Sentiment, an old one from Hero Arts. Easy peasy.

Thanks for sticking with me!

Fabulous Finds Friday — Lollipop Treats

Are these not the cutest things? A little lollipop holder die from My Favorite Things. Oh, how I love this die!

This is a great way to present treats for a sports team, class room, scout troop, etc. The die (which feels a bit pricey at MSRP $31.99) comes with the main piece plus three circles to complete the look. Additional stamp sets offer perfectly sized circle stamps, sayings and borders (which are now on my wish list).

I made a bunch of treats for Halloween (using new paper from Bella Blvd), then started on Christmas ones. I wish I had this die for a baby shower I hosted a few months ago!

Here’s a side view:

I didn’t have the matching stamps so I just used images I had from other companies, such as the “Boo” stamp from Hero Arts.

Have a sweet weekend!

Messy Collage

I was inspired to create these “messy collage” cards by an article in Paper Crafts magazine (probably a year ago). The article talks about taking all the random pieces from your messy desk (who doesn’t have these? I am the QUEEN of the messy desk and the person who never met a scrap she didn’t love) and just making a “messy collage.” Can you tell this article SPOKE to me?

Anyway … here’s what happened:

I stamped some Hero Arts images in Marvy grey and Hero Arts Soft Stone on a piece of white card stock, then rummaged around until I pulled these scraps together (patterned paper, I think, is from an old Making Memories pad… doily is a My Favorite Things die … butterflies from a Martha Stewart punch … sentiment and text from Hero Arts …

Here are two more:

What’s on YOUR desk?

Ah, the Sweet Smell of Scraps

I was in a groove, going through my hoarded scrapbook paper, using it up and having fun in the process.
First, I randomly covered card fronts with leftover paper:

(the blue/pink combos are from Hot Off The Press.)

Then I added images and embellishments:

(typewriter by Hero Arts; Stampin’ Up punch; imaginisce hot-fix metallic dots)

Here’s a close-up of the embellies:

And another card:

(Sillyscape by Hero Arts; clouds dies by My Favorite Things.)

Card for a teen:

How fun is the above image from American Art Stamp? The speech bubble is a Marvy punch; the “wheeee” is hand written. The images were colored with watercolor pencils.

Thanks for stopping by! I’ll be showing some fun embellishments on Friday!