Friday, January 13, 2012

Clean and Simple Cardmaking Class day 4

If you're looking for my Hero Arts Hostess blog hop post, please click here.




I signed up (late) for the CAS online card class, and I'm so glad I did! Today's post is for day #4, which was all about using 1 stamp in 3 different ways.

I chose to use the Dotted Flowers, cling set from Hero Arts, and thought it would be fun to also use the same sentiment stamp for all three cards. It's from the new Hero Arts, XO clear set.

Here's my first card - very CAS using a couple of strips of ribbon and just stamping one of the flowers onto patterned paper.



For my second card, I used a smaller flower from the cling set, to create my own background. I also have cut apart the clear sentiment so it would fit where I wanted to stamp it on my card. It's OKAY! I put it perfectly back together, as you'll see on my last card.



On this third card, I stamped all three flowers from the set onto red cardstock. I wanted to create another background, but this time, using the sentiment. SEE?! It's all put back together, exactly how it was before I cut it apart. I just lined it up onto my acrylic block before stamping - so easy! :)



If you haven't tried cutting apart a clear sentiment, don't be scared! It gives you more options for your sentiments! You do need a small, sharp scissors, and you need to be careful with sentiments that have words very close together, but they really do cut apart beautifully!

One more IMPORTANT thing! I've finally gathered all the goodies to do my giveaway, celebrating 200 followers! I just need to put them all together and take a photo. So be on the lookout for that very soon! I also have something really exciting coming at the end of next week that I can't wait to share with you! :)

Thanks so much for coming by, and have a great weekend! :)

Monday, January 9, 2012

Hero Arts Hostess Blog Hop!

Hello there, and welcome to my blog!


Today is the start of an exciting week of hopping with the Hero Arts hostesses! Each of us will be sharing projects using brand new 2012 Hero Arts stamps, and I am so thrilled to be a part of it all!

Hero Arts will be awarding prizes from randomly drawn comments! For a chance to win, simply comment on ANY of the stops along the hop, on ANY day, including each day’s starting post at the Hero Club Blog. The more comments you leave, the better your chance of winning!

If you're hopping in the correct order, you should have arrived here from the blog of the fabulously talented Donna Mikasa. Isn't she awesome?! If you come across a broken link, you'll find a master list of the hop links at the Hero Club Blog. Also, please report any broken links to Tami.

I was very eager to start playing with the new, 2012, Hero Arts stamps! There are so many wonderful ones to choose from this year! I wanted to start out with a simple card for those of you who may be new to stamping, or may have just recently discovered Hero Arts stamps. They're a wonderful company, and they make stamping easy and fun! If you'd like a link to any of the stamps I've used today, just click on their highlighted name(s).

Here's my first card, using the beautiful, new Frame with Scrolls woodblock stamp.


The script stamped in the background is called, Old Letter Writing. The sentiment is from a lovely, new clear set called, Speedy Recovery. It's a set with three pretty, little frames and four different sentiments. I added a layered flower with some twine bows - very simple.

Then I wanted to try something a bit different using the Frame with Scrolls, so I stamped it and cut around it.


I attached it to the background panel, which is stamped and white embossed with the fabulous, new True Friends Background stamp. I added the colors with Distress Stains, then spritzed the whole panel with a mix of Perfect Pearls and water. So shimmery! The sentiment is from another new set called, Say it All. There are lots of wonderful sentiments in this set!

For my next card, I wanted to use the colors for the Hero Arts January contest.

I first stamped the fun, new Dot Flower Pattern with StazOn Metallic Silver Ink. This background stamp is really cool because it's just a bit smaller than a usual background stamp, so it leaves a wonderful "frame" around the image. I then took one of the hearts from the adorable, new XO clear set, stamped it several times with different pink and red inks, cut them all out and adhered them to the background image with dimensional adhesives. The sentiment is from the XO set too - such fun!

Continuing with similar colors and the same stamps, I created this next card. (Hero Arts stamps are so versatile!)


I used the same Dot Flower Pattern for my background, but this time I white embossed it. I added some fun patterned paper, a pretty, pink ribbon, and another one of the hearts from the XO set. All the tiny x's and o's on the long strip also come in the set! Love it!


Moving away from Valentine's Day, I wanted to make sure to show you my favorite stamp from the 2012 collection so far. It's called, Large Flower Background, and it really is a beautiful stamp!


I used some Kraft colored card stock and white embossed this pretty stamp. Then I colored in the flowers and leaves with markers, added some twine, a pearl and the little tag, with a sentiment from a clear set called, Thinking of You.

Sorry for the long post, but once I started playing with the new stamps, I just couldn't stop! I know you'll love all of them as much as I do!

Thanks for stopping here along the way! Now it's time to hop over to Kelly Booth's blog, where you'll find wonderful creativity! You just have to see what she's sharing today! Have fun! :)