For Cath (sans CHA) with Love Blog Hop

supplies: kraft and BoBunny double dot cardstock, Hero Arts CL499 Special Note of Thanks (wreath), CL476 With Sympathy (sentiment), VersaFine Onyx Black ink, clear embossing powder, white and green Prismacolor pencils, tiny gold buttons

Lorena and Virginia had the idea to host a blog hop to send along some cheer to Cath Edvalson, of Moxie Fab World fame, because she won't be able to attend CHA this year, due to an injured shoulder.  Cath brings us smiles almost every single day with her Moxie Fab posts, and so it's only fitting that we try to do the same for her.  Sending you lots of smiles and good wishes, Cath - hope you're fully recovered very soon!  I couldn't think of any sweeter flower than daisies, so here's a virtual bunch of them for you!

If you'd like to follow along on the hop, please visit Virginia's blog to see all the links.

Using printed papers

Hi!  Our challenge this week at Lily Pad Cards is to make something using printed papers.  I have a huge collection of them - I collect them like I used to collect quilting fabrics.  I decided now was the time to use some of the ones I've been hoarding, so I fussy-cut these beautiful roses from pink paislee's Sweetness collection, and added some coordinating My Mind's Eye papers, along with some punched BoBunny dotted butterflies and one of my favorite sentiments - love the mixed fonts:

supplies: pink paislee "sweetness" rose paper, The Paper Studio (Hobby Lobby) music paper, My Mind's Eye Lost & Found papers, BoBunny "buttercup dot", Hero Arts CL491 Made with Love sentiment, Memento Art Print Brown ink, Martha Stewart doily edge punch and butterfly punch, natural twine, yellow button

This has all my favorite things: pink and yellow roses, some music, lace, butterflies, so it does make me smile - hope it does you too!  While we're at it, here's another card that uses lots of printed papers, this time from Basic Grey's Kissing Booth.  I made this to enter into this month's Hero Arts challenge:

supplies: cream card base, Basic Grey's Kissing Booth 6 x 6 pad design papers, Hero Arts CL586 XO, CG426 Four Hearts, Memories Artprint Brown ink,  CH173 Heart Accent Pearl, 3D foam square to pop up a heart

We're sponsored this week again by Simon Says Stamp, so get out your design papers and play along with us!  And don't forget to visit Lily Pad Cards to see what the other DT members did for this challenge!

Big Eyes!

......that's the name of this new Hero Arts owl stamp.  I am usually NOT an owl person, but who could resist this one?  We had a Valentine card exchange at the Hero Arts flickr group, and this is what I sent to Rachelle.

supplies: white and green cardstock, Doodlebug Designs "sweet cakes" paper pad, Hero Arts K5574 Big Eyes, CL586 XO, VersaFine Onyx Black and Brilliance Orchid inks, Martha Stewart heart edge punch, We R Memory Keepers pink fancy floss

If you'd like to see more cards using this stamp, just visit the Hero Arts flickr group here.  

Classic Tea Flower

supplies: ivory cardsotck, papers from My Mind's Eye Sunshine Lost & Found Two and Stella & Rose Hattie (aqua), Nesties Labels eighteen, Hero Arts  H5577 Classic Tea Flower, CL272 All Occasion Messages, aqua pearls

I haven't been posting as often as usual, been working on some cards for publication, so I thought I'd just share this one showing off the new Classic Tea Flower paired up with some pretty My Mind's Eye papers.  

Sending you lots of sunshine!

Introducing "Virginia's View"!!

Welcome!  I am so excited to introduce you to a new monthly challenge at Lily Pad Cards: Virginia's View!  Each month, our new DT member, Virginia Lu, will give us an inspiration to work from, and we can choose anything about it to base our card on.  Here is her first inspiration photo:

LOVE the hearts and the colors, don't you?  This week we are using Penny Black stamps and here is my card using the clear set "To You":

supplies: white  and pink cardstock, Penny Black #30-067 "To You", Prismacolor watercolor pencils, Aqua-flo brush (LOVE this tool), orange gemstones, tiny foam squares to lift up top butterfly wing

You will love seeing what the rest of the DT team did for this challenge and I hope you'll be inspired to play along, too!  Please hop on over to Lily Pad Cards and meet our other new DT members, Barb and Karin!

CAS Card Making Day 6

I wanted to try Kristina's idea from her Day 6 Lesson, and also was influenced by seeing a card by Jessica Witty that was referenced on Day 8, using a die cut to emboss a frame.  I used a piece of Hero Arts layering paper as my card base, but turned it inside out so that the white was on the outside and the color inside, then embossed my die cut, cut out the center with a circle die, and made my flower to go inside the card.  I LOVED Kristina's idea to use the twine wound around the card as a stem for my flower, and a bow for leaves!  Here's the result:

supplies: white card stock, Hero Arts Pool layering papers, turned inside out so that the color is inside, Hero Arts CG291 Three Dotted flowers, broken china distress ink, Sea Mixed Accents (aqua pearl), MFS Die-namics Decorative Doily die, Spellbinders Nestabilities large circle die, We R Memory Keepers baker's twine

Clean & Simple Card Making, Day 7

I am finally settled again, and hope to catch up on this wonderful class!  Today in Day 7, Julie Ebersole gave us lots of ideas, titling her class "Plainly White".  Here are 2 cards I made.

supplies: white and pink cardstock, Hero Arts LP206 Words & Flowers, Versafine onyx black ink, pink and green Memento markers, pop dot

I liked an example by Krystie Lee that was referenced, and I think this card achieves the purpose of today's class - but it kills me to leave it as is :))  The next card is more "me", but it follows Julie's first card example today, only much more colorful:

supplies: white cardstock, Sizzix embossing folder, papers from Crate Paper "Farmhouse" and My Mind's Eye "Hattie", Coredinations brown to frame, Hero Arts CL 342 Everyday Sayings, Memento Art Print Brown ink, Martha Stewart Monarch butterfly punch

I took Julie's suggestion to dry-emboss a pattern onto the card base and everything else is design papers with just the sentiment banner stamped.  

Sending Hugs

If you're here to see my Hero Hostess Blog Hop post, please click HERE.

I'm going to be out of the loop for the next couple of days into early next week, so I thought I'd leave you with a card that reflects the upcoming Valentine's Day holiday (my favorite all year).  This was made for the current Hero Arts monthly challenge, using the colors that were suggested  and some of the new 2012 stamps.  I'm thrilled with all of the new hearts and related sentiments we got this year!

supplies: white and kraft card stock, Hero Arts CL586 XO, CG426 Four Hearts, LL538 Tub of Hearts (now discontinued), pink, red, lavender and brown inks and tea dye distress ink to age the white cardstock, natural twine, and heart charm

Heart Moments - CAS Day 3

If you're visiting to see my Hero Hostess 2012 Blog Hop cards, please click HERE.

supplies: periwinkle and white card stock, Hero Arts CL129 Anytime Messages, versaMark ink and white embossing powder, Martha Stewart butterfly punches

In today's Clean & Simple Card Making class, Jennifer showed us a fun technique that layers die-cuts or punches for some fun dimension.  This grabbed my attention immediately and I had to give it a try!  Jennifer's sample card used 1 color plus white and I followed suit, using my favorite periwinkle blue.  This was really fun, and I know I'll be using this technique again!

Hero Arts 2012 Hostess Blog Hop

Welcome to the second day of the 2012 Hero Arts Hostess Blog Hop!  All of us former Hostesses are thrilled to be participating again this year to show off the new 2012 Hero Arts stamps!  You should have arrived here from the amazing  Robin Kubasik's blog.

I had such a good time playing with the new stamps that I made you 4 cards.  Because of the length of my post, I'll forego my usual description of each card.....if you have any questions, just email me about the details.  Here we go!

New stamps used: CG335 Dot Flower Pattern, K5583 Wild Flowers with Label, alsoCL307 Mini Messages, PS563 Pool Layering Paper, CH213 Sea Mixed Accents, versafine onyx black ink and tumbled glass distress ink (also used to dye seam binding)

New stamps: CG405 Leaf and Floral Background, H5580 Newsprint Bird, also S5208 Designer Woodgrain, CL371 Essential Messages, CH213 Sea Mixed Accents (pearl for bird's eye), peeled paint, faded jeans and rusty hinge distress inks, versafine onyx black and vintage sepia inks, natural twine

New stamps: CG407 Floral Frames, also CL341 Thank You Sayings, Cuttlebug Victoria embossing folder, Memento Hero Hues Markers, purple gemstones

New stamps: CG420 True Friends, H5577 Classic Tea Flower, also PS597 Carnation Layering Paper, CH173 Hearts Accent Pearls, versafine onyx black ink, October Afternoon "Sidewalks" dotted pink dp, Memento Bamboo Leaves marker, pink gingham ribbon, Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels Eighteen

Thanks so much for visiting my blog; I hope you'll come again.  The Hostess Blog Hop continues all week, with 4 or 5 new blogs to visit each day.  I'm the final blog for today, but tomorrow you can start again at the Hero Club Blog, where you'll find a link to start at the talented and sweet Lisa Carroll's blog.  If you get lost at any time, just go back to the Hero Club blog each day for a listing of the participating blogs with links. If any of the links is broken along the way, please report them to Tami.

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.

Clean & Simple Card Making, Day 1

I'm thrilled to be taking the online class called Clean & Simple Card Making.  Here is my first card, using the second sketch from Day 1's class:

I used the negative image from a die cut (Sizzix  Sizzlits Branch with Leaves), cut from a scrap of polished stone paper I had in my stash, a pretty light teal color.  It was tied with a simple white seam binding, and then popped above the surface of the card.  The sentiment is from an older Archiver's/Hero set AR137 Script Messages, stamped in Adirondack Stream ink.  I also used an art flower from Hero Arts CH168 Meadow collection, centered with a plain white button.

Kathy's Color Palette at Lily Pad Cards

Happy New Year, bloggers, and welcome to the first color challenge of the year at Lily Pad Cards! This week we're being sponsored by Our Craft Lounge, and here's my card using Kathy's colors and just a few of the cute images in their set called "Sunshine Cheer":

supplies: white, gold, egplant, teal, and evergreen cardstocks, Our Craft Lounge CCM080 Sunshine Cheer clear set, versafine onyx black ink, Memento sunshine markers, Nesties circle die

There are actually TWO color palettes to choose from this week, so go on over to  Lily Pad Cards to see them and what my teamies did with these colors, and then play along, too; I'd love to see what you make with them!