I Heart New Stamps!

I made this thank you card for my sister because she bought me this Hero Arts bicycle stamp for Christmas. Love it! I used several different HA stamps on this along with distress inks and Copic markers. I added Glossy Accents to the bike seat and handles, the basket and the flowers. I also added Sakura sparkle pen to the bike gear, pedals and around the cut out cloud.

This card took a lot of time, but I really enjoyed making it. I can tell this is going to be one of my favorite stamps! Thanks for dropping by!

supplies: Hero Arts stamps, Copic markers, Sakura Gelly Roll pen, TH Distress Inks, EK Success punch, PaperTreyInk cloud die

Christmas Spirit

I'm always a bit sad when Christmas is over....so I decided to share one more Christmas card with you to keep the spirit alive. :) 

Hope you had a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday!!  Thanks so much for stopping by and all your encouraging comments! I really appreciate them!

supplies: Hero Arts stamps and gems, TH Distress Inks, Copic markers

Five Trees.....

Just posting another Christmas card I made a week or so ago.  I love adding a touch of pink with the traditional red and green colors. I used this hanging tree stamp from Hero Arts and colored it with Copics. Added a few gems and the main part of the card was done.

Three more days until Christmas! Are you ready? I think I'm finally done with the shopping part. :)  Now I just have to make food.

supplies: Hero Arts stamps and notecard, Basic Grey paper, Copic markers, Fiskars punch

Two Reindeer and a Tree....

Remember that movie, Three Men and a Baby?  Well this card is titled, Two Reindeer and a Tree.  :) 
Just another Christmas card that I made. Not really much to say about it. I combined some of this year's  Hero Arts stamps with the tree from one of last year's sets.

Hope your week is off to a good start!  Christmas is on it's way!  Do you have your stockings hung by the chimney with care?  :)

supplies: Hero Arts stamps, gems and notecard, Basic Grey paper

A Christmas Owl

Yep, here's another Christmas card.  :)  I made this card for one of my sisters. She likes owls.  I've mailed all my cards, but I haven't posted them all yet. Are you getting tired of seeing them?  :)

Thanks for stopping by and for your sweet comments! Hope you're having a great week! 

supplies: Hero Arts stamps and felt poinsettia, PaperTreyInk die cut, Basic Grey paper

Christmas is coming soon....

....and I just now finished up some cards.  I'll try to post them this week and next.  I've been so busy that I haven't had much time for blogging. I've been making some gifts for family and it's been taking most of my free time...along with Christmas shopping.  :)  Anyway, here's a card I made with one of my favorite Hero Arts stamps - Starry Night. I used the sparkling embossing powder to give it some shine.

Hope you're all staying warm. It's snowing and very cold here today.  Thanks for stopping by! :)

supplies: Hero Arts stamps and note card, Versa mark ink, embossing powder

Hero Arts Blog Hop is Coming Soon!!

Have you heard the exciting news?? Hero Arts is having a big blog hop on Friday, December 10th to preview new stamps from the 2011 Catalog!! They have sneak peeks on their blog today. I can't wait to see all the stamps in this new catalog!  Go here to get more information!  Don't wait, go now!  :)

Still making Christmas cards...

I'm still working on my Christmas cards as well as making some other gifts.  I'm going to keep this short because I really need to get these cards done and mailed. :)  Here's another card I made using the Hero Arts reindeer stamp. I love that little guy. I also used more Basic Grey paper and some older HA stamps for the snowflakes, trees and greeting.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you're almost done with your Christmas cards too!  :)

supplies: Hero Arts stamps, Basic Grey paper, TH Distress Inks

Hmmm....Christmas yet again!

I'm back to working on my Christmas cards. Are you tired of all these Christmas cards yet?  :)  More of the usual....Hero Arts stamps and Basic Grey paper. My favs. Not much more to say...

Hope you're making Christmas cards too!  :)  Only 26 days until Christmas! woohooo!

supplies: Hero Arts stamps and gems, Basic Grey paper, Copic markers

So blessed....So thankful

Happy Thanksgiving!  I won't be online tomorrow, so I thought I'd post this today. No card today, just a very quick post with a very brief list of what I'm thankful for:

My faith
My husband - he's my best friend and soulmate
My parents - they've always been there for us and still are
My siblings - I have 7 of them!
My in-laws - they are my second set of parents
My nieces and nephews - we have 21 now! 
My friends, including my online crafty friends.
All my craft supplies.  Had to throw that one in there just to get you to smile. :-)
There are many other things, but I'm keeping this short today. Afterall, I have lots to eat including turkey and of course pie! :)

Wishing you all a great holiday and hoping you are so very blessed too!

Love this stamp

Still using the new Hero Arts reindeer stamp.....isn't he cute?  :)  Also used one of Jennifer McGuire's inking techniques for the background.

Hope your week is going well!  Thanks for looking!  :)

supplies: Hero Arts stamps, gems and felt flower, American Crafts ribbon, Ranger Distress Inks

It's a Boy!

My nephew and his wife had a baby recently so I took a break from making Christmas cards and made this baby card for little Noah. I added Glossy Accents to the monkey to make him stand out a bit.

Do you think it's colorful enough?  :)  Thanks for dropping by! Hope you're having a great weekend!

supplies: Hero Arts stamps, Basic Grey paper, Cloud 9 Design puffy stickers

Snowman & Rudolph

I created this scene and framed it to give as a gift.  I also entered it into the Hero Arts challenge for this month. I used 10 different Hero Arts stamps on this.  Can you find them all?  :)

Thanks for all your sweet comments! 

supplies: Hero Arts stamps and gems, Basic Grey paper, Crystal snow

Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer

I picked up this Hero Arts reindeer stamp last weekend and couldn't wait to get started using it. I also used the Hero Arts tree set from last year. I've used these a lot and love this set of stamps. I used distress ink for the trees and stamped the reindeer on kraft paper before cutting him out. I turned him into Rudolph with the red gem for a nose. :)  This card looks much better in real life than in the picture, but I had a hard time getting a good pic of it.

Hope you're having a great week!  Have you started making Christmas cards yet?

supplies: Hero Arts stamps & gems, Basic Grey paper, EK Success border punch, American Crafts ribbon

Short Post...

Shortest post ever. Another Christmas card. :)

That's all.  :)

supplies: Basic Grey paper, Hero Arts felt poinsettias, Fiskars punch, Paper Inspirations stamp

Hot Air balloons and Christmas

I love this Hero Arts starry night stamp! I thought I'd add a Christmas hot air balloon to the scene. :)  I love hot air balloons. We took a hot air balloon ride once. What fun!  Anyway, I know it's not something you think of when you think of Christmas, but what the heck, why not?  :)  I used Glossy Accents on the balloon to make it shine. I also used distress inks to tone down some of the patterned paper. I also used imperial blue ink and then covered it with white embossing tinsel to tone down the blue and give it a shimmery effect.  

So, what do you think? Will you think of Christmas now when you see a hot air balloon?  :)

supplies: Hero Arts stamps, Papertrey Ink stamp, Basic Grey paper, BoBunny paper, Glossy Accents, Copic markers

More Christmas....

I'm still working on my Christmas cards. I thought I'd try something different on this card. I punched a hole and used a pink tinted vellum as a background for the hole. I also made ruffles with the ribbon on this card. I used some of my Hero Arts Christmas stamps from last year with some Basic Grey paper. I used distress inks to tone down the green card color a bit.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you have a great weekend!

supplies: Hero Arts stamps, gems/pearls and shadow inks, May Arts ribbon, Martha Stewart punch

Older Stamps & Birthdays...

I needed a birthday card for my oldest brother, so I decided to play with one of my older Hero Arts stamps.  I embossed the Birthday image in white and then used distress inks to ink it up.  I stamped the cupcake, colored it in with Copics and added some Glossy Accents to the heart. Added a little ribbon and it was good to go. Addressed and sent already.  :)

Hope you have a great week! I can't believe it's already November. I'm looking forward to the time change this weekend because then it will be a bit lighter in the early mornings.  Makes it easier to get up and get to work. :)

supplies: Hero Arts stamps, American Crafts ribbon, Making Memories mini staples, Glossy Accents, Copic markers

56 Days until Christmas!

Christmas will be here before we know it, so I thought I'd better get busy working on my cards!  Here are a couple I've made this past week using some of the new Hero Arts stamps (starry night and the music background).

I also used some of the new Basic Grey Christmas papers and TH distress inks.  Love them both.

Hope you have a great weekend and have time to work on your Christmas cards!!

supplies: Hero Arts stamps, notecard and gems, Basic Grey paper, Fiskars border punches, Sakura pen, TH Distress inks

Happy Haunting....

I've been making lots of Christmas cards, but I thought I'd take a break and make a couple really quick Halloween cards for my nieces and nephews. I wanted to use up some of the scraps on my craft table too.  So, here's what I came up with....some really simple cards.

I used all Hero Arts stamps. Thanks for stopping by. Hope you're having a great week!

supplies: Hero Arts stamps, Basic Grey paper, Fiskars border punch, Copic markers

Caring Hearts Blog Hop

Welcome to the Caring Hearts Blog Hop!  The ever so sweet Vera has come up with a great idea! She is collecting holiday cards for the elderly that live in nursing homes or care centers. Read all about it on Vera's blog here if you want to participate. If you have been blog hopping, you should have arrived at my site from Kathy Racoosin's blog.  Here is one of the cards I made.

Next on the blog hop is Kelley Eubanks and if you want to start at the very beginning of the hop, go to Vera's blog. Have fun hopping!

supplies: Hero Arts notecard & stamps, Glossy Accents, Archivers ribbon, Basic grey paper, Fiskars border punch

Chuck-E-Cheese

I've never been to Chuck-E-Cheese, but I hear that all kids love it!  My nephew had his "kids" birthday party there this year and this is my niece with some character....who I'm assuming is Chuck-E-Cheese himself.   :)  I'm clueless about Chuck-E-Cheese so I don't even know if that's correct, but I liked the photo of Hannah so I decided to make a layout.

Hope you have a great week and maybe even get a chance to go to Chuck-E-Cheese!  heeehee.... :)

Winner....

Thank you all for the sweet comments.  They always make my day!  I picked a random winner this evening and the winner is....Donna Mikasa!  Congrats Donna!  Please flickr email me with your address and I'll send your prize right out!  :)

Non-traditional colors

I've started working on my Christmas cards. I decided to use some non-traditional colors like aqua and pink and pair them with red/green.  I used all Hero Arts stamps...once again.  You're probably asking, "what else is new?" Right?  :)  Kind of hard to tell in the photo, but I used the Antique Brocade stamp for the background on this card. I stamped it with the HA shadow ink. I embossed the ornament and then used distress ink on it. And I used some Basic Grey patterned paper...as usual.  :)  Hope you're all having a good week!  It sure is warm here for October, but I love it!

Don't forget to leave a comment on this post if you want to be entered to win the giveaway! The giveaway ends on 10/15/10 at midnight (Eastern time). And I'll draw a winner some time this weekend.


supplies: Hero Arts stamps and notecard, embossing powder, Basic Grey paper, Archivers ribbon

Wedding card...

I made this wedding card for Hero Arts hostess, Jenny and her fiance Jason. They got married on 10.10.10. How cool is that?  Any time I think of a wedding card, I always think of butterflies. Weird, I know, but I think they remind me of new life....as in the couple's new life together. I wanted to use a non-traditional sentiment, so this is what I came up with.

Thanks for dropping by.  Don't forget to leave a comment on this post if you want to be entered to win the giveaway!

supplies: Hero Arts stamps and pearls, Archivers ribbon, Basic Grey paper

Giveaway!!

One thing you can say about the Hero Arts Flickr group of cardmakers is that they are all very generous!  About a month ago, I received a very nice card and this ornament stamp from one of the flickr ladies. Thanks Tif!  I love this stamp so much so I ordered one and am giving it away.  I'm also throwing in some American Crafts scarlet ribbon. Love their ribbon!

So, to be entered into the giveaway, please become a follower of my blog and leave me a comment on this post. I will leave the contest open until Friday, 10/15 and then I will pick a random winner some time next weekend.  Good luck and have a great week!  :)

Not What I Imagined...

Do you ever have an idea in your head and then your card turns out nothing like you imagined?  :)  Well, that's what happened to me on this card.  I'm still working on some Fall/Thanksgiving cards and was playing with distress inks. The leaves are pop-dotted for extra dimension. Also, the flower and brad look better in real life than in the photo. Do you think I should leave it on or remove it? 

Hope you're having a great weekend! Don't you just love the weekend?  :)

supplies: Hero Arts stamps and flower, BG paper and brad, TH distress inks and distressing tool

Butterfly

I created this card because I wanted to use this Hero Arts butterfly stamp and Ranger's Perfect Pearls.  Sometimes that's all it takes to get a card maker going....a cool stamp and a new product to try.  :)  I colored the butterfly with Copic markers, cut it out and then sprayed it with perfect pearls. I then stamped the Hero Arts antique brocade background and added some border-punched patterned paper and ribbon. I used pop-dots to make the wings on the butterfly stick up a bit and viola, the card was done.  Later I added a sentiment on the bottom and gave it to my niece.

Happy Thursday! The weekend is almost here. Yea!  :)

supplies: Hero Arts stamps, Basic Grey paper, My Minds Eye paper, Ranger Perfect Pearls, Copic markers, Making Memories staples, kraft cardstock, Fiskars punch, EK Success punch

Wedding favors....

Here are a few things I made for my sister's wedding.  Her two requirements were: she wanted recycled paper for everything and she wanted to keep it simple looking. Nothing too fancy.  Here's what we came up with.

The table seating cards.  The cards were attached to bamboo salad server hands.  On one side it said the name of the guests and the table assignment.  On the other side it said "Hand in Hand" with the names of the bride and groom and the wedding date.

Side  1:

 Side 2:

This was one of the table name cards. Each table had a different name and they were named after places the bride and groom have been.

They had cupcakes for their wedding cake so they needed something to tell people what flavor each cupcake was.  I made this little sign:

And they put together gift bags for all the out of town guests who were staying in hotels. She wanted to include a postcard in each gift bag. Here's what we came up with:

 

Sorry the pics are a bit blurry. I took them in a hurry since we were pretty busy the week before the wedding. Thanks for your sweet comments about the wedding pics. Have a great day!

supplies: Hero Arts stamps, TH distress inks, American Crafts ribbon.

The Big Day....

My youngest sister, Jenn, got married on 9-25-10, so I'm posting a few pics. It was a beautiful day and we all had a great time! She got married outside and even had the reception outside.  It all turned out wonderful. No rain, just nice blue skies. :)  Here are the bride and groom (we have a new brother-in-law now- yay!!) 

Here's another picture of the happy couple at the reception before dinner.

And here is a picture of my husband and me. My other 2 sisters and I were bridesmaids.

And these are my nieces and nephews who were flower girls and ring bearers.  :)

And I threw in this pic just because it's fun.  :)

For the wedding, I made the table seating cards and a few other things. I'll post those later this week so you don't get tired of all the pics.  :)  Thanks for stopping by and have a great week! 

Cardvaarks CAS Challenge

I made this card for the Caardvarks Clean and Simple challenge. They teamed up with Hero Arts, one of my favorite stamp companies for this challenge. Yea! I used the Hero Arts Hanging Christmas Ornaments stamp on this card. My sweet online friend Tiffany sent me this stamp and I had to ink it up and try it out. I colored the ornaments with Copic markers and added Glossy Accents to the yellow ornaments and the dots on the big red ornament. It's hard to tell in this photo though.

Hope you're having a great week.  Thanks for dropping by! I hope I have time this weekend to post some wedding photos from my sister's wedding last weekend.

supplies: Hero Arts notecard and stamp, Archivers twine, Basic Grey paper, Copic markers, Glossy Accents

So Blessed So Thankful

I decided to take a bit of time and make a Thanksgiving card today.  I used TH distress inks and inked up some white cardstock, then ran it through the Cuttlebug with my leaf die cuts.  I used all Hero Arts stamps (that background flourish is one of my favs). 

Hope you're having a great week! Still doing some last minute things for my sister's wedding this weekend, so I'll probably be MIA for awhile. :-)

supplies: Hero Arts notecard and stamps, Cuttlebug leaf die cuts, May Arts ribbon, TH Distress Inks

Hero Arts 90 min Scramble Challenge

Last night, Virginia teamed up with Hero Arts Flickr Group to hold a 90 min card making "scramble."  Virginia challenged us to make our own background using Hero Arts stamps. This is the card I came up with.  Thanks Virginia for hosting the challenge!  Everyone had fun! I hope you can play in the next scramble. See this site for more details.

supplies: Hero Arts stamps, TH distress inks, Archivers twine, May Arts ribbon.

It's been awhile....

Life has been busy....so not much time for blogging. I made this card several weeks (maybe months) ago. I've lost track of time!  :)  Just thought I'd better post something soon. So, here it is. I hope I haven't already posted this one before. 

Thanks for stopping by. Sorry I've been missing lately. Once things settle down a bit, I'll be sure to visit your blogs again. Oh, and I wish I was at Scrapfest this weekend! It looks like the HA flickr group is having a good ol' time! Enjoy!

supplies: Hero Arts stamps and pearls, Bazzill paper, Copic markers

Good Times.....

Hello! Sorry for the long hiatus from blog posting!  I've been out of town and working and helping my sister with her wedding stuff - seating placement cards, etc. I'm hoping to make some time to post pics of them when I get them done. Anyway, in the mean time, I thought I'd post this scrapbook layout that I did a while ago.  These are 3 of my nephews at one of their b-day parties. Once again I used BoBunny papers and chipboard. I love this star paper. Thanks for dropping by. I hope you're all having a great week!

supplies: BoBunny paper and chipboard, Hero Arts button

More BoBunny...

Hi there! Well I decided to try to create a card with absolutely no stamping at all. That was pretty hard for me. :)  Anyway, I used more BoBunny products - stickers, chipboard and paper and this is what I came up with. 

I can't believe the weekend is over already. I hope you have a great week! Thanks for all of your nice comments. They make my day!

supplies: BoBunny paper, chipboard, stickers, Hobby Lobby kraft paper.

Hello! and a Back to School Layout

Hello! I had a little time for stamping this weekend so I decided to create a layout and a card for the Hero Arts challenge this month. I created this layout of my niece and nephew. They just started school last week. I used the Simply the Best stamp set to stamp the apples, colored them with copics, added Glossy Accents and cut them out for embellishments. I also used the "Rember this" circle stamp from the Travel set (blog candy from my sweet friend Virginia) and added a title. I used the Hero Hues paper (orange) for the first time. I ran it through my CB with a die cut and it cuts like butter. :)  The row of apples is actually ribbon from TPC Studio to match the paper. Cute! Sorry about the wonky pic. I didn't have much light to work with so I had to place the layout on the seat of a folding chair. :)  My niece, Hannah, loves to hold up the peace sign in all her photos now. Cracks me up.

On to the card now. I love the Silly scape stamp, but boy is it a lot of work to color like this! :)  I used the Hero Hues paper to make this notecard. I used TH distress inks to make the sky look more sunny at the top. I also used tumbled glass to ink around the clouds and I added some Glossy Accents on the balloon. The clouds are die cuts and the balloon is a stamp I colored with Copics - they're both from PaperTrey Ink. I used the Hello! greeting from one of my older HA stamp sets - the 2x3 Home set.

Thanks for reading this long post and for all your sweet comments. I really appreciate them! 

supplies: Hero Arts stamps, Hero Hues papers, PaperTrey Ink stamps and die cuts, Heather Nichols digi library card, TPC Studio paper and ribbon, Copic markers

BoBunny leftovers...

Hello! I had some left over paper from a scrapbook layout that I made, so I decided to make this card. Most of the products are from BoBunny, except the stamp is Hero Arts. I love the BoBunny chipboard flowers and butterfly. Thanks for stopping by. Hope you have a great week!

supplies: BoBunny paper, chipboard and Hero Arts stamp

Girly, You Rock!

Happy Thursday!  I picked up some BoBunny papers along with some of their stickers and chipboard at my local Archivers a few weeks ago and decided to create a layout of my niece, Grace.  I love this pic of Grace! I used the PaperTrey Ink Signature Greetings stamp set by Dawn McVey to add a small title to the page. It says, "Girly, You Rock!" and I thought that was fitting for this photo.  :)  It's hard to see in the picture, but I used the Tim Holtz distress tool for the edges of the orangish/yellow paper and I even did some faux stitching on this layout.

Thanks for stopping by. It's almost the weekend!  Is anyone getting the feeling that I live for the weekends?  :)

supplies: BoBunny paper, chipboard and stickers, PaperTrey Ink stamp, TH distress tool