Blog Archives
I got Happy Mail
It was a great day in the mailbox yesterday, as I finally received my April Kit from Hero Arts.
I feel like I am very late to the party, but set about making some cards with the kit. The theme is/was Australia and it has some wonderful stamps and dies to support this. These cards were all made with an add-on stamp and die set from the Heroscapes line. I love the realistic look of the beach and ocean.
Spring Card Camp 2 Day 11
Today’s video was presented by Julie Ebersole. The theme of the video was “no coloring” (colouring if you are Canadian like me). I like colouring images, but realise it is time-consuming for sure.
I managed to “kill two birds with one stone” as I wanted to use this Picket Fence stamp set called Peony Bouquet because it was still sitting in my “new” drawer and because I could use it as a sample card at the store where I work and because it fits today’s theme very well. So ok, that is “three birds with one stone” but you get my drift.
Spring Card Camp Day 1 Card 3
My third card for today. I apologize for the three posts. In linkz wouldn’t let me post three images in the class gallery are linking to the same post. To get around it I made three separate posts but I know there is a way.
Day 1 Spring Card Camp
I decided to sign up for Jennifer McGuire and Kristina Werner’s Online Card Class called Spring Card Camp. The card class will run for 20 consecutive days. I thought this would be a better way of counting “stay at home” days than scratching marks into my craft room wall like a prisoner would do.
Well, I got my coffee and settled in to watch today’s tutorial. The first lesson is how to use a stamp as an embossing folder. Seemed intriguing, but then Jennifer’s first instruction was to white heat emboss a stamped image ten times………………say what??? I was thinking “Only a crazy person with too much time on their hands would emboss something ten times over.” It was then that I realized that statement pretty much described me right at this moment. So hey, why not.
I honestly did not think it would work. I thought about stopping after three or four layers of embossing but I soldiered on and to my complete surprise it worked quite nicely.
Hero Arts March Kit
I am loving the Monthly Hero Arts Kits. The large stamp set, that is just one part of the kit, provides a lot of inspiration. When you add in the dies and the add on selections that are available, the possibilities are endless.
I have a goal of making at least 10 cards in quick succession from each kit. While I haven’t finished yet, the first two cards turned out quite well. Take a look:
Make it MondaY # 336
The challenge this week is to create a card with faux gilding. At first glance, I thought the only possibility in my Papertrey Ink stash would be the feather. In fact, I have down real gilding using this stamp set before. I happened to find the What the Doodle Ornament Set and bonus, it was brand new. Not only, did it work for this challenge, but it also satisfied my need to not have unused stamps in my stash,
It actually worked even better than I expected. What slowed me down in getting it posted though, was finding a frame that enhanced but did not overpower the ornament. I tried the Papertrey Ink Marquee frame first, but it was a bit too ornate to showcase the ornament well.
Here is the card:
Tropical from Stampin Up
I just picked up the Tropical Suite from Stampin Up and I am already declaring it my all time favourite Stampin Up set. I love everything about it, from the colours to the versatility of the dies, and on to the great 6 X 6 patterned paper pack.
The other thing that is great about it, is that I was able to pair it up with images and dies from Heartfelt Creations and Sizzix. I have found that usually Heartfelt Creations does not play well with others. By this I mean that trying to pair stamps and dies from other companies, with stamps and dies from Heartfelt Creations often results in failure. The card looks like a nerd dating a Kardashian…………………they just don’t go together. It worked on this card though.
Take a look:
Online Card Classes Merry Making- Day 3 Kristina’s Card.
This card acted like many watercolour cards I have done. It was ugly, until suddenly it wasn’t. Probably still wouldn’t be the one I would choose to send to the Queen or even Prince Charles 🙂 , but it does have some charm. Funny how I needed triangles as my stamp again, but at least this one from Concord and 9th was adaptable to the task.
Merry Making Online Card Class Day 2 -Laura Bassen
If struggle and hard work ensures good results, then my card would be a Picasso. Working on this card is pretty much all I have done today, and my craft room mess emphasizes this. Trouble started early, when I realized that I didn’t really have any stamps sets with triangles on them for trees. In fact, the only stamp set I had with varying sizes and solid and outline images was my circles set from Simon Says Stamp. No problem, I say to myself…………..I will make snowmen instead of trees. This proved problematic as well, as the graphic elegance of Laura’s card was impossible with snowmen as the image. They are just cartoonish, and that is all. No problem, I will make a fun version of the card. More problems arose with ink selection, blah blah blah. I finally got the card made, albeit with much darker colours than I intended, but then I went to embellish. I found great little hats in my stash, but they were too big for the snowmen heads. Yikes.
I started over, this time picking snow man heads that fit the hats and worked backwards from there. This time, I liked the results and the holographic cardstock that I used to frame the card finished it off nicely. The only remaining problem is that the camera doesn’t play well with shiny, sparkly things. The card is actually nicer that it appears in a picture.
Supplies: Lots of Dots Stamp Set from Simon Says Stamp, Recollections glitter embossing powders in Mauve Blue and Green, Hero Arts and Simon Says Stamp dye inks, hats from Happy Howlidays Lawn Fawn, Glasses and bowtie from Stylish Simon, DCWV holographic cardstock, Happy Holidays sentiment stamp from Be Joyful stamp set from Simon Says stamp
DebSelby
Maverick Muses 