Four Seasons

Awhile back in the spring, on the Hero Arts flickr discussion board, I mentioned that I was looking for a retired Hero Arts wood-block text set, called Seasonal Memories.  A very special lady named Robyn found a set on sale in her local store and offered to buy and send it to me!  I used the "spring" one almost immediately, but the rest of the set has been unused ever since.  Yesterday I decided to try and use all of them and make a series of cards, 1 for each of the seasons.  For 3 of the 4 of them, I used cling negative image stamps, inked with distress inks and spritzed with water before stamping.  For the fall one, I masked the square and stamped the Maple Leaf cling several times in various fall hues of distress ink.  Here is a collage of all of them, followed by closer-up views of each one:

 supplies: LL007 Seasonal Memories, stamped in Versafine onyx black ink

supplies: white card stock, CG165 Silhouette Bells, worn lipstick distress ink, spritzed with water, CL184 Thoughtful Messages, versafine onyx black ink, K5185 Wallpaper Flowers, stamped on yellow card stock, punched fern, yellow pearls

supplies: white card stock, CG176 Butterfly Field, shabby shutters distress ink, spritzed with water, CL431 Just Find Me ("smile"), digital Flutterbies, lavender and aqua card stock, pearls

supplies: white card stock, CG228 Maple Leaf, scattered straw, wild honey, mustard seed, spiced marmalade and barn door distress inks, CL361 Season of Giving (sentiment), CL119 Happy Thanksgiving (tiny leaves), various autumnal card stocks, autumnal gemstones

supplies: white card stock, CG224 Starry Night, faded jeans distress ink spritzed with water, CL460 Joy to All, versafine onyx black ink, punched snowflakes, clear gemstones


Because these are all stamped, I'm entering them into the Stamp It! Cards Week Challenge in the Moxie Fab World.

Layered Stamping

Here's another entry for the Moxie Fab World "Stamp It! Cards" challenge.  I challenged myself to try and use all stamping for everything; no printed papers.

supplies: white, cream parchment, orange, and cerulean card stock, Hero Arts S5501 Musical Collage, versarmark ink and white embossing powder, CG119 Flourish Background, broken china distress ink, CG170 Wildflower Garden, spiced marmalade distress ink and green marker, CL374 Big and Small Flowers, Anitas's brown ink, aqua button, cream twine, Hero Arts CH231 Lace Ribbon, Papertrey Ink tiny tags die and stamp


My card uses a technique called layered stamping that Shari Carroll taught us a few months ago at the Hero Arts Blog.  Starting with a piece of white cardstock, I stamped the top of the Musical Collage stamp in Versamark ink and white embossed it. Then I colored the background by smearing some broken china distress ink on an acrylic block, spritzing it liberally with water, and then stamping the block over my panel, giving a splotchy look.  After it dried I overstamped the Flourish Background in the same ink.  Then I applied spiced marmalade distress ink and a green marker for the stem to the Wildflower Garden flower, spritzed it with water, then stamped.    The image wasn't as dark as I'd like, so I reinked and restamped again over the wet flower image.  After everything was dry, I framed my panel and attached it to my background panel, stamped tone-on-tone again with the Flourish Background and broken china ink.  The added orange flower is also stamped and cut out.  To finish I added some lace, a button, twine, and a tiny tag.

Quick Layers of Ink

I stumbled onto a new blog and challenge today; it is known as One Layer Wednesday, at Susan Raihala's blog, Simplicity.  This week we are to make a one layer card with nothing but layers of ink by overlapping stamped images and/or sentiment.  Sounded intriguing to me, so I had a go of it:

supplies: white card stock, Hero Arts CL479 Dictionary Greeting, F2621 A Real Violet (2002), C2969 Abstract Mesh (2004) "borrowed" from my friend Mary Anne, CL371 Essential Messages, versafine onyx black ink, mustard seed distress ink and Memento green marker for stem, VersaCraft cerulean blue ink

I used all Hero Arts stamps, 2 old and 2 new and a color scheme I recently used for another challenge that I really enjoyed.    This was really lots of fun, and I spent an enjoyable afternoon playing with various designs.  For now, this one appeals to me the most.

I'm also entering this into the Moxie Fab World's "Stamp It!" challenge.

Getting Edgy

At CAS-ual Fridays this week, our challenge is "getting edgy"  Here's my entry:

supplies: white, red and green card stock, Hero Arts CL433 Engraved Fruits, Adirondack  Cranberry and Lettuce inks, CL131 SparkleClear Messages, Versafine onyx black ink, Martha Stewart double loop punch

3 challenges!

As I was working on my previous card, I decided to stamp on the same blue card stock that I used for that one, and also to try bleaching the background again, then over-stamping with a music background, to enter the Let's Get Shabby challenge. (Embossing the children's image protects from the bleach and also allows me to over stamp the music).   Here is what I ended up with.  I'm also entering this into the Moxie Fab World's "Stamp It!" challenge and the Hero Arts contest for June:

supplies: blue and black cardstock, Hero Arts CG266 Dancing with Flowers, stamped in versamark ink and clear embossed, bleach, CG222 Music Background, CL497 Find Joy, versafine onyx black ink, Hero Arts CH231 Lace Ribbon, CH165 Art Flowers White and Cream, rolled rose 

I made a small change so that I would meet the requirements for the Let's Get Shabby challenge.  We were to use 2 required elements (I chose music and lace) and the number "2", as they are celebrating their 2nd anniversary!

supplies: same as above, with the addition of the number "2" added in the sentiment (Impression Obsession Clear W19 Baby)

Here's the photo inspiration from Let's Get Shabby:

Stamp It!

This week at the Moxie Fab World blog, Papercrafts Magazine is highlighting its newest publication called "Stamp It! Cards", and Cath has challenged us to make a card primarily using stamps.  I consider myself a stamping card maker; while I love adding all the lace and buttons and ribbons and die-cuts and other elements that you can buy out there, I always feel guilty when they make up the bulk of my cards.  Stamping is what I love and so I'm happiest when my card is constructed using only stamps.   Here is my card for the challenge, using stamps from 3 different companies:

supplies: sky blue, white, black, and red card stock, Rubber Monger #B762 birch trees background stamp, Lawn Fawn "Bannerific" (birds), Hero Arts CL129 Anytime Messages (sentiment), versafine onyx black ink and clear embossing powder, bleach and fantastix brush point coloring tool, green colored pencils

I stamped the birch trees on sky blue card stock with black ink, and heat embossed in clear.  This is a huge stamp, and I cut the finished image in half.  I used bleach to fade the tree trunks to white on the main panel (bleach doesn't bleach on all card stocks; I had to experiment a bit to find one that would).  I added a little color to the leafy parts with several green colored pencils.  Then I stamped the image again on white card stock, and cut out the largest trunk.  That and the birds were popped above the card.

Aqua, Green & Yellow

CR84FN just keeps giving us the most beautiful colors to work with!

I LOVE how the bright yellow and aqua look together!

supplies: white and aqua cardstock, BoBunny "Buttercup Dot"  and "Kiwi Double Dot" dp, Hero Arts K5185 Wallpaper Flowers, CL272 All Occasion Messages, versafine onyx black ink, prismacolor pencils, Hero Arts Art Flowers, Sizzix Branch with Leaves die, turquoise gems

Gingham and Dots

.......2 of my favorite things; TSTR calls them "classic patterns", and I so agree.  So I just had to play at the Shabby Tea Room this week, just getting in under the wire.  Here is the photo inspiration: 

As I was reading my blogger Dashboard this morning, I found this lovely vintage card at The Graphics Fairy, and used that as my focal point.

supplies: cream card base, tone-on-tone fabric from my friend Yvonne, green gingham: October Afternoon "Fly a Kite: Ice Cream", pink dot: BoBunny "Blush Dot", adhesive red gingham ribbon, vintage card from The Graphics Fairy, stamped with Papertrey Ink "Embellishments" sentiment in versafine Vintage Sepia, bit of paper lace, ecru lace from Carol, seam binding dyed with antique linen distress ink, red button

Slate Blue, Barn Red, and Grey

Here's our photo inspiration for this week's Play Date Cafe challenge:

And here's my take on the colors, using some new Purple Onion Designs stamps:

supplies: white cardstock, Hero Arts S5215 Clouds, stormy sky distress ink, bundled sage distress ink on bottom of card, Purple Onion Designs #SABH The Bird House, K&Company Americana mat pad, Hero Arts CL484 Whimsical Houses (sentiment), versafine onyx black ink on kraft paper, twine, die-cut fence from Carol, colored with weathered wood distress ink 

Midnight Garden

Look at the card that Jill made this week for CASE Study:

Jill did a prairie at sunset; my version is a garden at midnight.  I even added some twinkling stars!

supplies:  white and navy cardstock, Hero Arts K4883 CardArt Happy Wishes, pinkpaislee "Butterfly Garden" (sentiment), versamark ink, clear and white embossing powders, CG119 Flourish Background, chipped sapphire and faded jeans distress inks, winter white seam binding, rhinestone stars

Inspired by Vanessa

It's time again for our inspiration challenge at Lily Pad Cards!  There is so much inspiration out there in blogland, but I chose this card by Vanessa this time.  Please visit her blog, Wings of a Butterfly, to see more of the same!

I chose a Crafty Secrets Heartwarming Vintage panel of birds to base my card on, and pulled the colors from it.  I loved how everything popped against Vanessa's dark brown background, so I looked for something similar, and found it in my new Memory Box Valise papers.  The fact that it's all about singing is even better!  Since I had so little stamping to do on this card, I broke out my sewing machine and added some stitching to mimic Vanessa's.

supplies: cream and kraft card stock, Crafty Secrets "Birds & Blossoms" vintage image, design papers from Memory Box "Valise" papers, Jillibean soup "Blossom Soup" papers, DCWV "Garden Party" papers, The Paper Studio music dp, EK Success scallop punch, PTI tiny tags die cut, Hero Arts CL177 SparkleClear Hello Birdie stamp, seam binding dyed with antique linen distress ink, pink button, twine

Father's Day 2011

Sarah had a wonderful idea this morning, to feature a picture of her Dad.  I loved this idea so much that I went looking for pictures of my Daddy and ended up making this collage of them.

He was born in 1920 and celebrated his 91st birthday last month!  Thankfully we have a good amount of pictures of both he and my Mom as young people, but alas, no wedding pictures.  The tiny little picture in the upper right is him - you can see where Liam gets his curly hair; the picture is in bad shape, but it exists.  There are 3 pictures of the 2 of us and the lower middle one was taken this year in Florida, with his beloved Heidi, his "little princess".
We will be visiting him and my Mom this week to celebrate their 66th wedding anniversary!!

Play Date Cafe Challenge #86

Here's my 2nd entry using the colors from this week's inspiration at the Play Date Cafe.

Back in 1996, Hallmark Cards sold some actual seed packets using Marjolein Bastin's beautiful art.  I bought several packs just because they were so pretty; the seeds never got planted, and I still have them.  I scanned this particular Nasturtium one, then reduced it to fit my card.

supplies: white cardstock, design papers from My Mind's Eye Stella & Rose Hattie, Mabel and Hazel paper pads, scan of a seed packet, Verve #VS-0144 Bloom & Grow (sentiment), paper doily, white pearls, hand-dyed seam binding, orange button, white twine

CASE-ing Alice

A certain little boy is potty-training, and I've been wanting to send along a card to him for encouragement.  This morning, I saw this post at Alice's blog, and knew it was perfect for what I wanted.  Alice is a master at color and design - make sure you look at her other posts while you're at her blog.

 I won these Purple Onion stamps awhile ago, and their style is exactly right for this card. I used bright primary colors, and CASED Alice's card almost completely.  Thanks, my friend - I ADORE this design!

supplies: kraft card base, design papers from The Dollar Tree (blue), pink paislee "Hometown Summer", Purple Onion Designs The Bird House and Hearts on a String, Hero Arts CL155 Playful Animals (sentiments), Susan Branch slphabet stickers, Die-namics cloud die (from Carol)

Jill's Flowers

Jilll Foster is the muse this month at CASE Study and here is her card for us this week:

Isn't it amazing?  Jill has such a wonderful color sense and her cards are always jaw-dropping!  Here is my CASE of her card, just reversing her colors.  I think this is the fastest card I've ever made.  Now that I've entered the 21st century and got myself some dies, I'm really enjoying the freedom it gives us!

supplies: kraft card, green card stock , papers from My Mind's Eye Hazel and Mabel paper pads, Sizzlits Branch with Leaves diecut, PTI Bloomin' Flowers II and Tiny Tags diecuts,  Hero Arts CL173 Happy Thoughts, a felt flower from Franziska, orange flower button, tiny green button, natural twine, , Anita's Teddy Bear Brown ink from Carol


And by the way, how did I live without the PTI tiny tags?  I find myself using them on everything!  Best buy of the year for me, I think!

Gingham Daisies

What's better than a basket of daisies?  Gingham daisies!!  As soon as I saw this inspiration picture of summertime colors for the Play Date Cafe Challenge this week, my mind went right to ginghams.

I already had the hot pink and orange ginghams, but not the turquoise. I remembered a site of printable ones.  They have 3 color families, with about 8 shades in each and 2 sizes of gingham in each shade.  Here it is, if there's anyone else out there who's batty about ginghams like me.

supplies: Hero Arts Cerulean layering paper, Core'dinations hot pink and orange card stock,  printed turquoise gingham, Making Memories Orange and Rasberry gingham dps, Hero Arts H3125 Heart Leaf Sketch, CL199 Sunny Smiles (basket), Papertrey tiny tags and stamp, Prismacolor spring green pencil for leaves and stems, hot pink ribbon, Martha Stewart butterfly punch, pearls.

Ribbon Reel challenge

Thanks to Suzanne, I found a new challenge, the Ribbon Reel,  and boy, are these colors challenging!  We are to use blue, kraft, black and grey/silver, and to make it masculine:

Thanks to my friends Mary Anne and Donna, I am armed with grey.  And after seeing this card at Wanda's blog this morning, I had the seed of an idea, to start with these lovely stamps from Pink Paislee's Butterfly Garden Collection.  The sketch is from Julee at Verve Stamps.

supplies: kraft card, dps from K&Company ("Blue Ribbed Flat Paper"), Basic Grey "Ambrosia", October Afternoon "The Thrift Shop", and The Paper Studio "Textured Cream Sheet Music", pinkpaislee Butterfly Garden stamps, PTI tiny tags stamp and die, Hero Arts S5507 Envelope Pattern, versafine onyx black ink, PTI flower dies, Maya Road Gingham Blossom, natural twine

Garden Party

Here's our photo inspiration for this week's Shabby Tea Room challenge, named "Pink Lemonade":

Pink lemonade - what a romantic theme!  We were to use, pink, green, a neutral, and flowers.   My mind immediately went to a garden reception or party, and I envisioned tables set outside with lacy tablecloths and vases of fat summer roses.  Of course there would be butterflies flitting here and there:

I stamped the vase of flowers on the rose print paper, on a tone-on-tone green check cardstock (the vase), on a slightly brighter green (the leaves), and on the paper doily, then cut apart the elements, piecing them back together on the doily.
supplies: white card, Hero Arts K5056 Garden Roses, Papertrey Ink Tiny Tags stamps and diecut, versafine onyx black ink, design papers from K&Company "Watercolor Bouquet" Die-Cut Mat Pad (pink dots) and Susan Winget "Spring Blossom" mat pad (flowers and green background), BoBunny green dot, Lasting Impressions Limeade checks dp, paper doily, skinny pink dotted ribbon, pink heart pearls and pearls, Martha Stewart Monarch Butterfly punch

Pink, green and neutral

Here's the graphic showing the colors we are to play with for this week's CR84FN challenge:

I really enjoyed making this card, as these are some of my favorite colors.  I used an old flower stamp, one of my favorite sentiments, and added some music paper, so this card makes me very happy:

supplies: white cardstock, Rubber Stampede #A2300H Bleeding Hearts, Versafine onyx black ink, watercolor pencils, Hero Arts S5507 Envelope Pattern, S4878 Old Letter Writing, antique linen distress ink, CL272 All Occasion Messages, The Paper Studio music dp, K&Company Tim Coffey "Cottage Garden" designer pad (green), The Girls' Paperie "Jubilee: Picnic Blanket" (pink dots), BoBunny tutu dot, lace, Martha Stewart punched butterflies, Kaiser pearls, heart button, natural twine

Stamp your HeART out

My sweet friend Virginia is having a little challenge, to find inspiration and then create a card based on it.  Virginia and I have been friends quite awhile now, first at the Hero Arts flickr group, and then as Hero Hostess sisters 2 summers ago.  Making friends through our shared love of cardmaking has been an unexpected joy I never expected.  This past February we finally got to meet!  So of course my inspiration is one of her cards, here, just one example of her happy, colorful cards.  This is my take on her card, using one of my all-time favorite sentiments: "I have you in my heart":

supplies: Hero Arts Poppy layering paper, white and brown card stock, Verve #Vs-0144 Bloom & Grow (flowers), Hero Arts E5388 Traditional Butterfly, CL377 Be Happy, CL272 All Occasion Messages, worn lipstick, spiced marmalade, scattered straw, broken china, and vintage photo distress inks, clear gemstones

CAS-ual Fridays #6

I needed a quick thank you card, and thanks to this week's  CAS-ual Friday challenge and my scrap basket, I was able to make one quickly.  This week we're to make a CAS card, incorporating any 3 lines of this table:

Here's what I came up with, using the diagonal line including emboss, punch, and buttons:

supplies: white cardstock, Hero Arts K5175 Houndstooth, Brilliance tricolor Peacock ink, clear embossing powder, H5426 Artists' Butterfly, and CL341 Thank You Sayings, versafine onyx black ink and clear embossing powder, tiny green buttons, Martha Steward butterfly punch

I started by stamping the Houndstooth pattern using Brilliance tri-color ink Peacock and clear embossed it.  That gave me my color scheme.  Then I pulled out an old finished scrap of the aqua/turquoise polished stone and clear embossed the butterfly, cutting it out.   I added some tiny buttons to its body and some previously punched MS butterflies as its trail.  All of my stamping was clear embossed.

Blueberry, dusty rose and cream

Aren't these colors from the Play Date Cafe scrumptious?  

I decided to use this label stamp from Gina K Designs, stamped in Adirondack Denim, and made some rolled roses :

supplies: cream and dusty rose card stock, My Mind's Eye "Hazel" dp, scrap of chatterboxinc "Denim Swirl" dp, Gina K. Designs "Lovely Labels 3" stamp set, Hero Arts CL177 SparkleClear Hello Birdie, Adirondack Denim ink, dusty rose organza ribbon, denim pearls

Tuesday Trigger: Neapolitan

Does anyone else find it difficult to get back into the groove after being away?  I've found that the best thing to do is just jump in and DO IT!  I remembered this Moxie Fab World post from before we left; here is the yummy Tuesday Trigger:

And here is my entry, using a variety of papers, stamps, and embellishments:

supplies: cream card stock, papers: My Mind's Eye Hazel paper pad, unknown striped scrap, Bazzill Cinnamon Stick, Hero Arts CL488 Congrats, Pink Paislee Butterfly Garden, Palette Burnt Umber ink, flowers: ribbon, brown fabric flower, and MS Rose embellishment, ecru lace


We had a lovely mini-vacation at a bed and breakfast in Kennebunkport, Maine.  We were pampered and ate lobster for almost every meal!  The weather couldn't have been better, and I got to see lots of patches of lupine growing alongside the roads as we took some little side trips.  We did a tiny bit of exploring in Boston, too, at the end of the week - loved the friendly people there!  That said, it's good to be home!

Yellow roses and taking a little break

My sweet husband and I are having a little getaway, so I'll be missing for awhile - today is our 40th wedding anniversary!  I couldn't ask for a better partner in life, he is my everything,  and I hope that we have many more years together!  I'll leave you with this beautiful yellow rose; my wedding bouquet was made of them.

This picture prompted me to make a card, not necessarily for our anniversary, but just because I like yellow roses.

supplies: yellow and white cardstock, pinkpaislee "Hometown Summer" dp, Hero Arts S5264 Antique Flower Background, mustard seed distress ink, S5324 Simple Frame, versafine onyx black ink, S5507 Envelope Pattern, antique linen distress ink, Stampendous Q098 Rose Points, gold colored pencil on details, Verve VS-0144 Bloom and Grow (leaves and sentiment), Hero Hues grass chalk ink

CAS-ual Fridays challenge #5

I'm really beginning to enjoy making Clean and Simple cards!  This week at CAS-ual Fridays, the challenge is to use this sketch:

 Many of the DT used a sunshine theme, and I guess that influenced me, because I used these sunny colors.  I haven't inked up this beautiful daisy stamp in a long time, and after I stamped it using mustard seed distress ink, everything came together for me.  I trimmed out the panel, then used a Nesties circle die to cut out an arch from the bottom.  I was originally going to use only that arch, but it occurred to me to use the negative image also, and then I liked adding the arch back in, with just a small break in the design.  This shows off the image so much nicer.  Aren't daisies the best symbol of summer?

supplies: white cardstock, scrap of unknown striped dp, Outlines daisy stamp, Hero Arts CL342 Everyday Sayings, mustard seed distress ink, EK Success scallop punch, Nestabilities circle die

And I used another arch for a second card, turning the sketch 90 degrees and substituting a bright yellow gingham, threaded with twine.  I used the same sentiment, but shaped it into an arch also.

Two happy cards from one fun sketch - thanks, CAS-ual Fridays!

Play Date Cafe challenge #84

Here is our photo inspiration this week at the Play Date Cafe:

I found this printed dp as part of a new K&Company mat stack called Watercolor Bouquet and I thought it represented all of the colors fairly well, so I designed the whole card around it.

supplies: cream parchment and lilac cardstocks, K&Company "Watercolor Bouquet" die-cut mat pad, The Paper Studio "Textured Light Pink" dp, Lasting Impressions "limeade checks" dp, PTI flower dies and  BoBunny "Raspberry Dot" dp, Northwoods sentiment, Hobby Lobby lace, Hero Arts large flower gem

CASEing Jill Foster

Our new muse for this month at CASE Study is Jill Foster!  Here's her card for us this week:

Jill is so talented, and as sweet as they come, too.  It's a real pleasure to turn the tables on her and CASE one of her cards.  Here's my version:

supplies: white cardstock, Inkadinkado 97633 Floral Flourishes, versamark ink and white embossing powder, Hero Arts CG222 Musical Background, broken china distress ink, CL156 Treasure the Moments, vintage photo distress ink, twine, Martha Stewart butterfly punch, tiny blue buttons, sponging on background using broken china, bundled sage, and vintage photo distress inks

I loved her layout, and the aqua and brown color combo, so I just substituted my own stamps and CASED her card completely.  Thank you, my friend, I will use these colors again - my husband, who rarely says anything, really liked them together!