Hero Arts 45th Anniversary Blog Hop--Day 2

It's Day 2 of Hero Arts 45th Anniversary Blog Hop! Join us for three days of
celebrating Hero Arts' 45th Anniversary--wow!--and the launch of their
2019 Summer Catalog.

Hero Arts was my introduction to stamping and their Flickr group was where
I found friendships that continue till today. I'm thrilled and honored to be one of
the stops in today's lineup.
 

First, here's my card that I created using the From the Vault All Stamp Bold Prints
Catalog Bundle. I wanted the background stamp because it features images from some
of their earliest woodblock stamps that they pulled "from the vault." And as a bonus,
I received the Summer Catalog--such a great deal!

I white embossed the stamp and did my favorite ink distressing in rainbow colors.
I found the perfect sentiment  in the Believe in Yourself Narwhal set. I whie embossed it
on a piece of black card stock and trimmed it, then popped it up on the card.

And it wouldn't be a celebration without PRIZES and Hero Arts pulled out all the stops
with the help of some amazing and generous friends and sponsors.

Visit Hero Arts for the list of prizes and the list of today's hop participants.

The hop wraps up tomorrow, Day 3, and starts at the Hero Arts blog.
Winners will be drawn from people who comment along the blog hop for all three days.
The more you comment, the better your chances of winning!

Comment by Sunday, June 2nd at 11:59PM PST and winners will be announced
on the Hero Arts blog the following week.

Thanks so much for celebrating Hero Arts' 45th Anniversary!

March CAS Christmas Challenge--Deer

It's my first time playing along with CAS Christmas Challenge, prompted by
my blogging friend, Hideko. I love CAS designs and when I was going through my
stash of die cuts, I found an old Maggie Holmes stag to use for the challenge.
Yes, it's a pink stag.

If I remember correctly, I gold embossed a Hero Arts stamp, then added a

quick watercolor wash over it. I die cut an extra stag and adhered it to the
colored one for some dimension.

 The stag's head was adhered to a white card base and finished off with

the gold embossed sentiment and thin white frame. I thought about adding

some small gold sequins but I wanted to keep it as CAS as possible, and I think
there's enough bling on the card as it is.

The best part about entering a Christmas challenge? You get a jump start

on this year's Christmas cards. Thanks for stopping by today!

* * *

Edited to add: Honored to be chosen as Outstanding Design!

Supplies:
Maggie Holmes  Open Book Nesting Dies (retired)
Hero Arts Tiny Flags Background Stamp (retired)
Paper Smooches A Holy Holiday (sentiment)
MFT Single Stitch Rectangle Frame Dienamics

a2z Scrapbooking Guest Designer--Anything Goes

Cindy from a2z Scrapbooking invited me to guest design for their Monthly Challenge.

This month's theme is "Anything Goes" using Hero Arts products.

I was happy to accept and I knew exactly which stamp set I would use--Polar Greetings.

I didn't get to use it during Christmas so today I'm sharing a non traditional Valentine card.

I wanted to create an Aurora Borealis display to ensure that the bear would stand out.

I ended up using about a dozen inks for ink distressing and flicked some white paint 

over it for a starry sky. I tore some lightweight card stock for the snowy ground, 

and finished off the card with the white embossed sentiment and three glittery stars.

A bit of shadowing from a Copic marker helped to ground the bear.

a2z Scrapbooking is a premier Hero Arts retailer. Their Etsy store carries an extensive
array of Hero Arts products, and they'll fill special orders, too. The company, which is run by
 volunteers, was founded in 2007 in an effort to raise funds for Celiac and Behcets awareness.

Click here for info on the Challenge rules and details on prizes, too.

Thanks to Cindy and the a2z Scrapbooking team for the GD invitation and 

reminding me to play with my Hero Arts goodies!

Supplies:

Hero Arts Polar Greetings (CM279)

Hero Arts Polar Greetings Frame Cuts (DI541)

CAS(E) this Sketch #296

Nathalie brings us this week's CAS(E) this Sketch. 

Meet Sketch #296.

And here's my take on it.

Three feathers were cut from an alcohol ink piece and adhered to a white

card base. The middle feather was popped up and the card was finished off

with the gold embossed sentiment.

Visit CAS(E) this Sketch to see how the rest of the team interpreted the sketch

and join us if you can. Link up your card(s) by Thursday, November 8th.

Hope to see you in the gallery!

Supplies:

Hero Arts Paper Layering Feather

My Favorite Things Essential Sentiments

CAS(E) this Sketch #274

Here's this week's CAS(E) this Sketch #274--a little something from me.

I had so many ideas for this sketch, but in the end, settled on this.

I bought the Hero Arts Paper Layering Sunflower when it first debuted, colored it,
but never used it. When it fell out of my stash of diecuts, well, it was a sign. Because
it was colored so long ago, I forgot which medium I used. I'm guessing Zig markers
and a waterbrush, plus a brown Copic marker to dot the "seeds" in the center.

A green piece of card stock was trimmed to 2x3" and the corners were rounded, 

then ink distressed. I adhered the panel onto a kraft card base, and the the 

sunflower over it, per the sketch. The bottom corners were rounded off 

and the stamped sentiment finished off the card.

Visit CAS(E) this Sketch to see how the rest of the team interpreted the

sketch and join us if you can. Link up your card(s) by Thursday, June 7th.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge--ANYTHING GOES

(Note: For my My Favorite Things Wed Sketch Challenge post, please click here or scroll down.)

 It's my last week in the Designer Spotlight over at Simon Says Stamp 
Wednesday Challenge.

This week the challenge theme is the ever popular ANYTHING GOES. The sponsor
is Art Impressions and by now you know that you don't have to use Art Impressions
products, but if you have them, then feel free to use them!

 For my project, I decided to work with products from previous weeks' sponsors:
Hero Arts, Concord & 9th, and Clearly Besotted.

I began by coloring the koi with Copic markers, after seeing this koi (by dobie256)
in the Flickr gallery. Watercolor card stock was ink distressed and I stamped the tree
ring with water, then spattered water over the inking.

The koi was adhered to the card and I pulled up the head, fins, and tail to give it
some dimension. I finished off the card with the sentiment and some sequins.

Visit today's post at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge blog for all
the details and deadlines for this week's challenge and link up your projects.

The random winner will win a $50 gift voucher to the Simon Says Stamp Store!

Ginormous thanks to Lols for the Designer Spotlight invitation. I had such a wonderful
time and can't thank you enough, and the rest of the team, for your gracious hospitality ♥

 

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge January Designer Spotlight

(Note: For my MFT Wed Sketch Challenge post, please click here or scroll down.

Thank you!)

 Happy New Year!
I'm super excited to be invited back in Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge
Designer Spotlight for January. It's such a great way to start the New Year!

 

This week the challenge theme is SOMETHING NEW and we are using Hero Arts

products on our projects. You don't have to use Hero Arts on your projects, but if you

have some, then feel free to use them in the challenge.

For my project, I did the inlay die cutting technique with the gorgeous

Hero Arts koi. After stamping the sentiment on a Bristol card base, I die cut

the koi through the panel. I used a combination of Zig markers and gold

watercolors to color the koi.

Three more koi were cut from white card stock and adhered together with the

colored koi on the top. The panel was adhered to a black card base and the koi

was popped into the negative space. Gold spatters and dots from a black

Gelly roll pen finished off the card.

Visit today's post over at Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge blog for

all the details and deadlines and link your "Something New" project!

 

The prize is a $50 Gift Voucher to the Simon Says Stamp store.

Hope to see you in the gallery! 

 

CAS(E) this Sketch #211

Are you ready for this week's CAS(E) this Sketch?

Here's Sketch #211 compliments of our teammie Michele.

And here's my loose interpretation, because I really wanted to use
the new Hero Arts Paper Layering Koi that arrived in the mail.

I'm pretty sure there are no koi with pink markings, but instead of coloring it,

 I used a watercolor cardstock panel that was stamped with Distress ink 

splotches and die cut the koi from that.

I blame an overfilled C3 Copic marker for the koi's "black eye". Balloon Strings
was stamped with Versamark ink on light gray card stock. After adhering the koi,
I stamped the sentiment and rounded off the right bottom corner of the card.

Visit CAS(E) this Sketch to see how the rest of the team interpreted the
sketch and join us if you can. Link up your card(s) by Thursday, March 9th
and if you're chosen as the winner, you'll be invited to guest design with us!

InLinkz.com

Advent Calendar Extravaganza with Taheerah Atchia

I was super thrilled when the very talented Taheerah invited me to join 

her fun holiday event...

Advent Calendar Extravaganza is "the" festive event of the season! This "hop with 

a twist" was dreamed up by Taheerah Atchia and features surprise destinations each day!

Joining in the fun with Taheerah are ONE HUNDRED special guests, each serving up

some fantastic Christmas inspiration! Just like an Advent Calendar, you'll never know

where you're going to be visiting next until you 'open the door'!

And that's not all! With 26 amazing sponsors taking part as guests as well, your crafty

wish list is bound to get a boost with a chance to win a prize EVERY SINGLE DAY!

Join in the fun each day at Taheerah's blog to see what special surprises

await behind the door!

* * *

Today's sponsor is Hero Arts and there aren't enough superlatives to describe
this amazing company! Hero Arts stamps are the first that I owned, and I joined
their Flickr group back in 2008. It's where I met other stampers who shared the
love of Hero Arts, whose friendships continue to this day.

I created two cards using Hero Arts Origami Happy Holidays and thanks to the
Misti, I was able to stamp them identically, but color them completely different.

On the first card, I ink distressed several non traditional colors over the white 

embossed images, then used the same inks to do some messy watercoloring. 

Not a fan of messy? Then the second card's for you.

This time, I ink distressed over the entire card, spattered water and let it dry,
then spattered white ink over the surface. Both cards were finished off with the
holiday sentiment white embossed on a banner strip and clear sequins.

* * *

It's not a party without a PRIZE and with prizes every day, you have several
chances to win! Today's prize is generously sponsored by HERO ARTS

that you'll definitely want to win!

Simply leave a comment on this post, then head over to taheerah-atchia.com

and leave a comment there, too! You must leave a comment on Taheerah's blog
as well as mine to be eligible to win!

Don't forget to grab the other surprise destinations from Taheerah's blog and
head over there as well to improve your odds even more!
You have until 11:59PM EST on December 31st to enter.

Taheerah's Advent Extravaganza started on December 1st and runs inclusive
through December 31st so be sure to visit taheerah-atchia.com every day for
inspiration + prizes! Thanks so much for stopping by, and Happy Holidays!

* * *

Edited to add: Thanks to all who stopped by and joined Taheerah's Extravaganza!
The winners from all 25 days have been posted and are listed HERE.
Congrats to all the winners!
 

Hero Hostess Alumni Blog Hop--Day 2

Welcome to Day 2 of the Hero Hostess Alumni Blog Hop!

The hop continues today as we showcase Hero Arts 2016 Winter Release and Catalog.
Hero Arts will be awarding two $25 shopping sprees to their Online Store and two 
BONUS prizes for going through all the blogs during the two day hop from randomly
drawn comments. The more you comment, the better your chances of winning!

If you find a broken link, you can find the master list of blogs at the Hero Arts blog.
I'm the first stop on today's lineup. Let's start hopping!

I'm a huge fan of dies and Lia Griffith's Celebrate Tag won me over, big time.

I'm also a big fan of ink distressing. After die cutting the tag from watercolor
card stock, I platinum embossed a sentiment in the center of each tag.
Both tags were ink distressed and I spattered some water on the pink tag.

I die cut two more tags, trimmed off the tag's hole, and layered them to the tag to form
a thick medallion. I adhered it to a square card and finished off with small gold sequins.

I used the same technique for the blue tag, but this time I kept it as a tag to be used as
an ornament. I ink distressed with "cool colors" and added a cord and Hero Arts gemstones.
The ornament is adhered with temporary adhesive so the recipient can remove
it from the card and hang it on their tree, if they wish.

Remember you have a chance to win a $25 Hero Arts gift voucher or a bonus 
prize just by leaving a comment on any of the blogs during this two day event.
The deadline for commenting is Sunday, October 30th at 11:59PM PST.

Your next stop on today's hop is our super talented sista Cheiron, and I know
that she'll wow you with lots of eye candy! Happy hopping!

***



I'm so proud to be hopping with my Hero Arts sistas, and even though the years have 
passed, Hero Arts will always be in our hearts because it's where lifetime friendships
were formed. Thank you, Hero Arts, for sponsoring the reunion, and to sista Virginia 
for being an awesome blog hop coordinator! ♥

 HERO ARTS SUPPLIES:

InLinkz.com