Hero Arts Birthday Challenge

Over on the Hero Arts blog they have a challenge all about birthdays, and there are five category options to choose from. I decided to go with - 

Metallic birthday cards or party decor - In celebration of the Winter Olympic Games, add a touch of gold, silver, or bronze to your cards/projects.

and here is my take..

Unfortunately the daylight was fading when I took the picture. I made an A2 acrylic card base and stamped Hero Arts S5362 Dogwood stamp onto the lower two-thirds using StazOn metallic ink in gold, I also stamped a piece of patterned paper from the Crate Paper Little Bo Peep 6x6 pad with the same stamp and ink and adhered this inside the card. I inked a Pink Paislee Artisan Elements label with spun sugar distress ink and stamped Happy Birthday from Hero Arts CL181 Sparkle Clear Messages with gold ink.

It looks so delicate and really shines when it catches the light in the sun, I already have an idea who this card is going to go to!

I really love stamping on acetate and so far the card below that I made last year remains one of the most popular in my flickr photo stream and on pinterest. For more details you can visit the original post here.

Thanks for looking,

Ang.

CASE Study Challenge #123

Over at the Case Study Challenge Blog their muse this month is the talented Amber Kemp-Gerstel and the challenge this week is to use this pretty card as inspiration;

So, without further ado, here is my take;

Apologies for the poorly lit picture I am still working on better ways to take pictures at night! I used the PTI Friendship Jar and filled it with hearts from the PTI Sweet Baby set, although you can't see it in this picture I also die cut a jar out of acetate to place over the top to give it a nice glossy 'jar-like' finish. My favourite part was colouring the bow (from PTI Friendship Jar Summer Fillers) I'm not too good when it comes to colouring but I am getting better, I just need to practise more! I finished it all off with a sweet sentiment from Hero Arts.

I am also trying to work more on the inside of cards and envelopes, the quickest way to add a nice finishing touch was some heart print washi tape on the envelope.

Thanks for looking
Ang x

Update: Here is a marginally better photo! You can just about see the shine on the jar from the acetate.

Hero Arts Blog Challenge January 2013

I'm a big fan of Hero Arts product and try to enter their monthly challenges as often as I can, so I decided to join January's challenge. There were three different options to choose from or you could combine all three!

Try Something New — A new year is the perfect time to try something new! A new technique, new color combination, new stamp, new inkpad, new embellishment…anything new to YOU!

ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) — Miniature works of art created on a 2. 5″ x 3. 5″ base. Any theme goes! Be sure to check out Shari Carroll’s January technique article and video on ATCs.

Create a project using 3-4 colors from the palette below, inspired by our new Just Beachy ink cube pack. Color names are provided for reference but feel free to substitute similar shades.

I decided to go for a 'new to me' technique that I have been wanting to try for a long time, but have never got round to it, stamping metallics on acetate. I have had a platinum Staz-On pad for month's but have never wanted to crack it open for fear of it staining my stamps or drying out, well, I certainly won't be looking back now!

I used the Antique Engravings stamp set for the butterflies, the aforementioned Staz-On and Pool Designer Papers for the background, I am pretty pleased with how it turned out, The only tip I would pass on is to be steady of hand when stamping as the risk of slipping on acetate seems to be increased 100 fold! you may find a stamp positioner useful (must get myself one of those one day).

Have a happy Tuesday and thanks for looking!

Ang x

Make A Wish - Clean and Simple?

Here is another card that I am entering in to the Hero Arts monthly challenge. I have been playing around with my silhouette and saw this shape by Jenni Bowlin silhouette of a little girl holding a star. I initially wanted it to take the positive die cut and incorporate it into a card but found that I much preferred the negative. I am entering this as 'clean and simple' which doesn't seem to be my style, I just look at it and wonder if it's CAS enough?

This is the end result:

Supplies: Stamp; Classic Fabric Design Cling, Sky's the Limit Clear (Hero Arts). Ink; Picked Raspberry, Shaded Lilac and Salty Ocean, Squeezed Lemonade Distress Inks (Ranger). Die Cut; Whimsy Silhouette (Jenni Bowlin/Silhouette America).

It wasn't my first try, I made this card first,

I used the Envelope Pattern Background and black pen around the edges but i felt the pattern wasn't bold enough, but i'm happy i have 2 to use as i just love the die cut. Now I need to see what i can do with the positive image :)

A reasonable start to the year!

Craft-wise, that is! I have been in quite a craft slump for the past couple of months but since the start of this new year I have started to pick up the pace, I have even managed a couple of scrapbook pages which I hope to share!

I have really been enjoying using the Papertrey Ink Daydreamer set after entering MIM. After making this card I decided to use the die cut shape on a second card.

Confession: I am trying the whole '-if I make something, I should use up all the scraps before I can start another project-thing' which, if I know myself well enough, I will do for the next 3 projects, then I'll start saving the aforementioned scraps intending on using them up later but will inevitably end up throwing them in the scrap drawer and forget about them!

It all started well enough, until I got to the very end and had the lightbulb moment where I decided to stamp the sentiment on felt, I tested it on a piece of scrap felt and it all seemed ok so I went ahead and stamped it on the felt on the card. Let's just say that I should have left my test piece to develop a bit longer before stamping, as, this happened......

Yup, I clearly didn't think that one through. I stamped the sentiment on a matching piece of card and stuck over the mess!

Not as nice as when the sentiment was first stamped on the felt, but it rescued it so I am happy! Have you had any crafting mishaps that you have had to rescue recently?

Supplies: Note card-Hero Arts, Patterened paper - Making Memories, Felt - Dainty Paperie, Stampset - Papertrey Ink.

Happy saturday!

52 Cards Challenge Week 16

Good morning friends :) I am so excited as I type this, I am looking forward to a week and a half off starting from Thursday and I hope to get some quality crafting in during that time!

Onto the prompts for this week:

Tangerine, Yellow and Garden.

I decided to use some of my lovely new Hero Arts stamps and Gelatos for this week, here's mine;

I misted the stamp with water and rubbed over different colours of Gelatos and stamped on a textured card base, added some white twill and the sentiment.

Supplies used: Hero Arts CL431 Watercolour Petals stamp , Faber-Castell Gelatos, white twill, Papertrey Ink sentiment, Martha Stewart Classic butterfly punch.

Have a great week and remember there is still time to enter my prize draw which is open until 23:59 Monday 25th April and I will be drawing the winners on Tuesday April 26th! (my birthday - yay)

100th Post Prize Giveaway and 52 Cards Challenge Week 14

Hello! When I started this blog I did wonder if it would be a passing fad and I would lose interest but I love sharing what I make with family, friends and visitors and it has really helped me boost my creativity!

I am happy to celebrate my 100th post! and to celebrate I am pleased to have a blog candy giveaway filled with some of my favourite things and there are 3 prizes :)

Prize number one

Fiskars Threading Water Punch
Hero Arts Clear Design Everyday Sayings CL342
Hero Arts Clings Hearts Trio CG160
5 packs of Studio G clear stamps and stamping block
1 Studio G wooden stamp
6 bottles of Tim Holtz Distress Stickles
2 packs of American Crafts Gem set brads
4 Promarkers
1 Sizzix Sizzlet Flourish Die
1 pack of flat back multicoloured pearls
1 bottle of turquoise glitter glue
1 set of flower earrings (just remove the backs!)
1 peach cabochon bracelet (easily separated)

Prize number two

Martha Stewart Classic Butterfly trio punch

Prize number three

Inkadinkado Paperwork Greetings Clear Stamps 97614

All you need to do to enter is:

1 - Be signed up to follow my blog if you aren't already;
2 - Leave a comment on this post :)

Entries are open until 23:59pm GMT on Monday 25th April and I will draw the winner using a random number generator on my birthday Tuesday 26th of April.
Now, on to this week's card challenge. This week's prompts are:

Blue, Stamping, Circles

I needed to make my Mother's Day card and decided to use the prompts for this week. I wouldn't normally have gone with a blue colourway but I was really happy with how it turned out. I decided to use 2 out of the 3 prompts.

On a recent trip to the US I bought some Faber Castell Gelatos and they are just fab to work with. Solid sticks of colour in a lipstick style tube, you just lightly mist your stamp with water and run the gelatos over the stamp and stamp. They give a lovely watercolour look and you can stretch the colour out further using a water pen brush or add more colour by taking a damp brush directly to the gelato and painting on the stamp. I just love them!

I had bought my mum a necklace for Mother's Day but wasn't keen on the box so I made a matching gift box and tag to put it all in and finished off with stamping on the envelope. If you would like to make a gift box take a look at my easy tutorial here.

Supplies used: Hero Arts Botanical Etchings Hydrangea stamp, Papertrey Ink Sentiment, Faber-Castell Gelatos, Bo Bunny Double Dot cardstock, American Crafts Cardstock

Have a happy week and thank you so much for reading :)

PS - All of the challenges so far can now be found under the 52 Cards Challenge page under the header.