SEASON'S GREETINGS IN MAY!

This stencil from Hero Arts called Geometric Holiday was used for my card today.  I was feeling like a little Christmas card would be fun!  Simple stenciling with a couple of shades of red & green and a simple sentiment.  

The sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp Christmas Word Mix 1.  

IMMENSE JOY

I started out with lots of die cuts. More than this actually...I made 8 cards using this design.  

Assembly was pretty easy - I die cut two JOY words out of black card stock & glued them together for a bit of dimension.  I die cut 1 Holly leaf out of green card stock & then ink blended with green ink for the leaves & brown for the stem. For the berries there are 3 different berry dies and I cut them each once & ink blended with a dark red ink.  I tucked the holly branch under the JOY words.  I added thin foam squares to the back of the holly leaves.  

Product List:

DIES:  Penny Black Immense Joy Die, Penny Black holly-days Die, Penny Black Semi-Circle Stackers Rectangle Dies, Avery Elle Simple Sentiment Dies

STAMPS:  Penny Black Jolly Snippets, Hero Arts Christmas Messages, Hero Arts Holiday Says (all the stamps used were for the various sentiments)

CARD STOCK:  I used green, red & black (not sure what company for the holly, berries and the JOY), the rectangle layer I used Canson XL watercolor paper, the card bases were a variety of card stock in my stash

INK:  Ink blending on the Holly - Catherine Pooler Green Tea, Distress Tea Dye

         Ink blending on the branch part of the holly - Distress Walnut Stain

         Ink blending on the Berries - Catherine Pooler Cranberry Fizz

         Ink blending for the rectangle background - Memento Rich Cocoa

         Onyx Versafine for the stamped sentiments

OTHER:  Taylored Expressions Rectangle Masking Stencil, Spectrum Noir Sparkle pen on the berries

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

I had this birthday card in my stash, details on this blog post.  My sister in law's birthday is on Easter this year, so I thought she needed bunny ears on her card! The bunny ears die is from The Stamp Market. 

POINSETTIA

I love a poinsettia!  I die cut lots of pieces & parts then did a bit of ink blending to add dimension.  Hero Arts Poinsettia Layering dies make a beautiful flower!  

I used my Spellbinders Glimmer Hot Plate for the sentiment.  It is called Essential Christmas Greetings GLP-293.  

The Merry Christmas sentiment is from Waffle Flower Essential Sentiments & coordinating dies.

 

STACK OF BOOKS

 Warm gray and shades of brown...  A neutral coloring palette on this card. 

I stamped the Hero Arts Book Stacks Background on Neenah Solar White heavy card stock with Onyx Versafine ink & used clear embossing powder.  I used a rectangle stitched die to cut out the layer for my card.  I colored in the book spines with shades of brown and the pages that are showing were shaded with a warm gray.  I have an idea that I'm going to write the titles of the books that we read this year in my Book Club on the spines of the books.   

Our Book Club choices for 2021 so far - I'll add the rest of them as we go! This is a fun way to keep track of our books!  I ended up using my label maker to add the book titles to the spines.  I didn't like my handwriting, this is much neater!

Sympathy

Not sure if I love how this turned out - I used the cream card base and white for the stamped images.  The Flip the Floral is from Taylored Expressions and the sentiment is Hero Arts.

BIRTHDAY BLESSINGS!

On this card, I used the Papertrey Ink Linen Embossing Plate after I had all the coloring done.  It adds a nice texture to the white space.  

I keep coming back to this stamp, I really really love it.  Honey Bee Pretty Postage.  The blessings word & die cut is Honey Bee Pickup Lines & the stamped Birthday is from Hero Arts Congrats Happy.  I saw this color combination online & probably would have never thought to color the leaves blue, pink & gray, it's so pretty! I used the Wonky Stitched rectangles from My Favorite Things & layered it onto a Fog card base.  

PRETTY POSTAGE METALLIC!

Happy March 1st!  Remember a few weeks ago when I posted all the Honey Bee Pretty Postage cards?  I have one more for you.  If you have been stamping a long time like I have, you may have some version of these metallic colored pencils in your stash.  I was inspired by a card that Kristina Werner did using metallic paints.  I stamped the image on black card stock with Versamark ink and embossed with silver embossing powder.  I used the metallic pencils to color in the image.  

I used a couple of fun square stitched borders to cut out the image.  I layered it on a square ivory card base.  The Happy Anniversary sentiment is from Hero Arts Everyday Sayings.  

SPOOKY GLAMPING

This is a blast from the past.  I made this card design years ago at a Stampin' Up camp.  I bought the stamp set and just now got around to using it.  I made a few changes to the design since I didn't have everything from the original card.  

Products Used:  🕷 Spooky Glamper

Stamps:  Stampin' Up Glamper Greetings, Hero Arts Happy Halloween CL353 (for the spider)

Card stock:  Papertrey Ink Vintage Cream card bases, Simon Says Slate Gray, Misc Gold for the Moon & Black for the Tree, Golden Orange 12x12 for envelope

Ink:  Versafine Onyx, Amuse Studio Cocoa & Pumpkin

Other:  Amuse Studio Stitched Circle Die, Circle Punch, Amuse Studio Bat Trio, Memory Box Twiggy Tree Die, Martha Stewart Pumpkin Foam Stickers, Copics Y23 T1 W8

I also decided to make a matching envelope.  I used a piece of golden orange 12x12 card stock in my stash and the We Are Memory Keepers envelope punch board.  It was super easy - cut your paper 8" x 8", then align the paper at 3 ½" on the ruler and then move card stock counter clockwise on the envelope board for the rest of the score lines lining them up with the point on the punch board.  Go to You Tube to see what I'm talking about if this doesn't make any sense.  😉

HAPPY FOR YOU!

An oldie but goodie - This is a Papertrey Ink Enjoy the Ride stamp set & die.  I found the logo online for the college where the grad is attending.  I printed it out on my computer and then stamped the car over top of the image.  The swirly stamp is from Hero Arts.  

 

BEAUTIFUL BLOSSOMS!

I got this Beautiful Blossoms stamp set for my birthday with a lovely gift card from Shari for shopping at Taylored Expressions!  TE wasn't able to ship the dies at the same time so I stamped & colored the images & they were ready to die cut when the dies arrived!  Such a pretty floral - I wonder how many florals I need...but they keep coming up with more that are too pretty to pass up!  

I also bought the Just Vine Background stamp from Taylored Expressions. I made cards for a variety of occasions.   

MORE BOOKCASE CARDS!

I had a friend that wanted 12 of these cards.  These particular cards require a whole lotta of coloring but I had fun making them.  I worked on them during the time when we had snow a couple of weeks ago.  

These I stamped on the Amuse Studio Pinstripe card stock and colored with the Zig markers without the water brush just some blending of colors.  I did a black border & then mounted them to various colors of card bases.  

This group I stamped on watercolor card stock and colored with the Zig Markers and a water brush.  

I put the 12 cards in a plastic box for a nice presentation and added my sticker to the back of the box.  

BIRTHDAY BOOKS CARD

Happy Birthday Dona!  I thought this card was perfect for you since you like to read a book or two! This stamp is from Hero Arts Bookcase Peek-a-Boo.  I stamped it on Canson XL watercolor paper on the smooth side with Versafine Onyx Black ink and embossed it with clear embossing powder.  I used my Zig Clean Brush markers & a water color brush to do the coloring.  It was addicting - I ended up coloring several of these because it was just that much fun!  

Here are a couple more of cards that I colored using the Zig markers & a water brush.  I think I prefer the ones where I left some of the books uncolored. I just love how these turned out, they look so artsy!  

NO BOOKCLUB

I recently purchased this fun bookcase stamp from Hero Arts.  I have just loved playing with it - sometimes with color and sometimes just stamped in black.  The sentiment seems perfect in this crazy Coronavirus time and it's from Ellen Hutson's Bookworm Lady stamp set.  I made up several different cards to send out to the gals in my Book Club.  We haven't been able to meet for the last couple of months so I thought this was a fun way to connect with them.  Funny thing is, I haven't read any books while in quarantine, but I'm making cards with books on them?!*  Go figure...

On the glasses, I added Glossy Accents to give them dimension - it looks cool in person!

Hero Arts Anniversary

This post was prompted by Hero Arts celebrating 45 years of being in business.  They are asking that we celebrate our stamping history & inviting people to share their first Hero Arts stamps and memories.  I have no idea what my first Hero Arts stamp was but this Wedding Celebration set was/is a favorite!  

Prayers

Sadly it seems like I'm always needing Sympathy cards. I used the Hero Arts Prayers stamp & cut along with a floral from Stampin' Up. 

  

Pretty Florals

I needed a few anniversary cards and I liked this layout that I saw online.  I used an old Papertrey Ink floral set called Friends 'Til The End.  

Stamps:  Papertrey Ink Friends 'Til The End, Hero Arts Words CL342

Ink:  Onyx Versafine, Versamark

Card stock:  Neenah Solar White #110, MFT Black & White Stripes, Black scraps

Other:  White Embossing Powder, Simon Says Stitched Rectangle Die, Doodlebug Tangerine Sprinkles, Copics Y35 YR15 YR07, Circle Punch

Pretty Peony

I was inspired by Amy Rysavy's design HERE.  This beautiful flower by Altenew is called Peony Spray.  I stamped it with VersaMark on Ranger Watercolor paper.  I used two different white embossing powders.  I like them both.  The Hero Arts powder is a bit more detailed and the Amuse Studio powder provides a thicker line.  I did simple watercoloring with distress inks & a water brush without using much water.  

I made these cards before my stamp room was undone for the new paint & carpet.  I have been working on getting things back in place and I'm making good progress.  I'll be back to stamping again soon!  

Products Used:  

Stamps:  Altenew Peony Spray + Die

Card stock:  Amuse Studio Kraft, Ranger Watercolor Paper, Black, Ellen Hutson Linen Card base

Ink:  Versamark, Distress Inks Abandoned Coral, Worn Lipstick, Ripe Persimmon, Mustard Seed, Mowed Lawn, Crushed Olive

Other:  White Embossing Powder (Hero Arts & Amuse Studio), Tim Holtz Dot Fade Layering Stencil, Wendy Vecchi White Embossing Paste, Simon Says Bundle of Stitched Shapes (stitched rectangle), Savvy Happy Birthday Stacked Die, Pink Gems

Golden Anniversary

I needed a quick anniversary card for my Aunt & Uncle's 50th wedding celebration.  I pulled out an oldie but goodie!  I used an embossing folder for the white layer (in quilting this pattern is called the double wedding ring) so it was the perfect compliment for the card.  I stamped with VersaMark ink and used gold embossing powder.  The sentiment on the envelope is a wood mount stamp from Hero Arts.

Impression Obsession - Anniversary

Retirement card

A quick one layer card.  I used the Hero Arts Spiral stencil with Oxide Ink. The sentiment is from the Taylored Expressions Shade Tree sentiments.