Hero Arts Celebration

Hero Arts is celebrating their 45th anniversary this year!  Wow, pretty amazing!  As part of their celebration, they are having a show and tell link-up.  They want their customers to share their first Hero Arts stamps and memories.  This is my very first Hero Arts stamp: Old French Writing.

It was actually one of the very first stamps I ever bought; I've probably had it at least 15 years and it is still one of my favorite background stamps.  My only wish is that is was larger, so it would cover more at one time.  The font is so elegant and it I just love it!  Here is one of the the most recent projects I created using it:

I stamped it in on the background before dry embossing the panel.

Anniversary Wishes

Happy Friday!!  It's time for another challenge from Jo's Scrap Shack.  As always, we are now an Anything Goes challenge and our sponsor for this week is Little Blue Button Stamps. 

Here is the card I created for your inspiration:

My husband's aunt and uncle are celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary this weekend.  I wanted something soft and elegant and not too girly.  I think the blue and gray are just enough contrast to the pink to keep it from being too feminine.  So many great details here: mulberry paper, stitched dies, pearls and a bit of ribbon that was in my bits and pieces stash.

What do you need to do to enter?

Challenge Rules

1.  Please post a direct link to your blog post that includes your challenge entry project, using the linky tool on Jo's blog.

2.  Be sure to include a link back to Jo's Scrap Shack and to the challenge post you are entering your project into.

3.  THREE entries per person are allowed for each challenge and you must post a separate blog post for each entry.

4.  For all entries-NO BACK LINKS ACCEPTED--the date on your blog post should be dated between the start date and the end date for the challenge you are entering, in order to be eligible for the challenge prizes.

5.  You may link up to other challenges but be sure to link back to Jo's Scrap Shack and to the challenge post you are entering.

*All entries that do not meet the challenge requirements WILL NOT be eligible for the top 3, any sponsor wins or any random wins by Jo.

All random wins will only be mailed within the US and Canada only.

You have until May 3rd by 12:00AM  (eastern, USA) time to link up.

All winners will be announced during the week of May 6th.

Have fun and we look forward to seeing what you create.

Supplies:

Stamps: Little Blue Button Stamps "Magnolia" digi; Papertrey Ink "Damask Designs" sentiment

Dies: Spellbinders "A2 Matting Basics A" rectangle; MFT "Stitched Scalloped Trio"; PTI border die

Dies:

Moving Along With the Times #96--florals

As You Like It--Flowers or Ribbon and Why? (I love using flower images on my cards, but for embellishments I prefer ribbon.  It can be used on cards for pretty much any occasion, comes in unlimited colors and can add embellishing without adding bulk.  Plus, it's much cheaper than purchased flowers and much easier than making your own!)

Crafty Creations #389--anything goes

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday--anything goes

Penny's Challenge #427--anything goes

Crafty Sentiments--anything goes

Tuesday Morning Sketches #500--sketch

Lil' Patch of Crafty Friends #104--anything goes

Crafter's Cafe #217--Easter and/or Florals

Pile It On #153--lots of layers

Crafty Calendar--1 ribbon and 2 or more patterned papers

Creative Sketchy Girls #35--flowers

Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper--anything goes with patterned paper

Pattie's Creations #157--flowers

Unicorn Challenge #42--spots and/or stripes (one of the blue papers has gray polka dots and the ribbon is dotted)

Peaceful water

Happy Wednesday!!  It's time for another challenge from The House That Stamps Built and this week it is a fan favorite: Anything Goes!! And here is the card I created for your inspiration:

This is my attempt at a water colored scene.  For my first attempt, I'm relatively pleased.  The last two years when my mother-in-law and I have attended the Stamp And Scrapbook Expo, we've watched the water color demonstration at the ART Impressions Stamps booth.  They make it look so easy and fun!!  Since then, I've watched a couple of their Water color Wednesday videos and was inspired to try my hand at it.  I used some water based markers for the images (just cheap ones that I've had for a really long time) and some gelatos for the water and sky.
Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you will hop over to the House blog to see the rest of the DT's creations and then get inky and play along with us.  And if you need any of the stamps I used, check out my 10% off your ENTIRE order coupon code over in my left sidebar.

Supplies:
Stamps: Repeat Impressions "Grass Border", "Birdbath", "Cattails", "Calm Water", "Random Dots" (for the little purple flowers), "Sandcastle" (for the group of birds), and "Waterlily"
Dies: MFT "Blueprints 13" stitched rectangle

Challenges:
Your Next Stamp #112--CAS
Creative Fingers #162--anything goes
Double Trouble #26--Splish Splash (I created a water scene using watercolor techniques)
Stamplorations Theme and Sketch--stamps & watercolors

Creative Craft Cottage #117--no patterned paper
Love To Craft Challenge Blog #33--anything goes
Die Cut Divas--water
Crafting with an Attitude #50--anything goes
Crafts Galore #62--anything goes
Crafty Sentiments--anything goes

Daffodil Bear

It's Saturday!!  That means it's time for another challenge from Di's Digi Designs.

The challenge this time is: Spring Flowers
And here is my card for your inspiration:

This sweet card is going to be my birthday card for my mother.  As her birthday just passed a couple days ago, this little bear with his daffodil is perfect!  Daffodils are starting to show their pretty faces here in the Northeast.  I added a fancy die cut, some mulberry paper, a few pearls and two pieces of ribbon that were in my bits and pieces stash.  Oh yeah, the patterned paper has been in my stash forever!!  I really thought I was going to use yellow patterned paper but it was just too much of a contrast with the dark green ribbons.  I think I ended up liking the green better anyway, it feels very fresh and springy.

I hope you will get a chance to play along with us; I can't wait to see what you create.  And make sure you hop over to the Di's Digital Designs blog to see what the rest of the team has made for this challenge.

Supplies: 

Stams: Di's Digi Stamps "Daffodil Bear" digi

Dies: Spellbinders "Filigree Delight"

Challenges:
MFT #433--sketch

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday--spring mood board (I was inspired by all the fresh green and the yellow flowers in the upper right picture)

Penny's Challenge #426--anything goes
Die Cuttin' Divas #416--Animal Cruelty Awareness
Crafter's Cafe #217--Easter and/or Florals
Use Your Stuff #355--Easter/spring
Simon Says Stamp Monday--beautiful blooms
Pink Gem Challenge--anything goes
Cardz TV #87--anything goes
Moving Along with the Times #95--that spring feeling
Time Out Challenge #133--2 or more embellishments with the optional twist: one layer (I did not use the optional twist)
Creative Moments #166--anything goes with the optional twist: Easter or spring
Brown Sugar #289--spring or fall
2 Crafty Critter Crazies #23--anything goes
Pile it On #153--lots of layers
Three Amigos #25--spring
Dare 2B Artzy--animals
Power Poppy Creative Confetti--think spring

Floating Frame

Happy Wednesday!!  It's time for another challenge from The House That Stamps.  This week we have a beautiful inspiration photo for you:

And here are the cards I created (yes, there are two!):

I was watching a video from Jennifer McGuire on how to create a floating frame card and I just had to give it a try.  I loved how the cards turned out even though they were a bit time consuming since I had to fussy cut each of the flowers by hand.  I actually went out and bought some Glad Press 'n Seal specifically for this project!  The dimension on these are just fabulous!

After cutting out the rectangle from the flower panel, you are left with a flower rectangle that you can use for a second card:

They really turned out fabulous; I'm sure I will be doing this again in the future.  After trimming the panels down, I had one almost completely whole flower left over, so I added to the inside of the card (because, you know I just can't throw something like that away!). 

Thanks for stopping by!  Make sure you head on over to The House blog to see what the rest of the Design Team has done with this photo.  And if you "need" any of the stamps I used, check out my 10% off your entire order coupon code over in my lift sidebar.

Supplies:

Stamps: Repeat Impressions "Pattie's Flower Outline", "Mum Outline", "Kathy's Flower Outline", "Striped Flower Outline", "Leaf Outline Large" all from the Flower Power Separates collection, "Hello Cling Set" hello and gorgeous, and "I'm so glad . . ."

Dies: Spellbinders "A2 Matting Basics A" rectangle

Card #1:
Challenges:
Cards Galore #62--anything goes
Crafting with an Attitude #50--anything goes
Creative Craft Cottage #117--no patterned paper
Southern Girls--frame it
Lil' Patch of Crafty Friends #103--anything goes
Crafty Creations #385--anything goes
Simon Says Stamp Monday--beautiful blooms

Card #2:
Challenges:
Pattie's Creations #157--flowers
Love to Craft Challenge Blog #33--anything goes
Creative Fingers #161--anything goes
Your Next Stamp #111--florals
Word Art Wednesday #382--anything goes with uplifting sentiment
Cardz TV #87--anything goes
Pink Gem Challenge--anything goes
Pixie's Crafty Workshop #350--anything goes with snippets (all the flowers were stamped on scraps)
Crafter's Cafe #217--Easter and/or florals

You're in my Thoughts

Happy Friday!!  It's time for another challenge from Jo's Scrap Shack.  As always, we are now an Anything Goes challenge and our sponsor for the week is The Cutting Cafe.

Here is what I created for your inspiration:

I was given the gorgeous "Beautiful Rose" file to work with, and oh my, there are so many fabulous images and sentiments in it!  It was hard to choose just one; if I had had more time, I would have made several cards to show them off.  But, alas, I only had time for the one.

What do you need to do to enter?

Challenge Rules

1.  Please post a direct link to your blog post that includes your challenge entry project, using the linky tool on Jo's blog.

2.  Be sure to include a link back to Jo's Scrap Shack and to the challenge post you are entering your project into.

3.  THREE entries per person are allowed for each challenge and you must post a separate blog post for each entry.

4.  For all entries-NO BACK LINKS ACCEPTED--the date on your blog post should be dated between the start date and the end date for the challenge you are entering, in order to be eligible for the challenge prizes.

5.  You may link up to other challenges but be sure to link back to Jo's Scrap Shack and to the challenge post you are entering.

*All entries that do not meet the challenge requirements WILL NOT be eligible for the top 3, any sponsor wins or any random wins by Jo.

All random wins will only be mailed within the US and Canada only.

You have until April 29th by 12:00AM  (eastern, USA) time to link up.

All winners will be announced during the week of April 22nd.

Have fun and we look forward to seeing what you create.

Supplies:

Stamps: The Cutting Cafe "Beautiful Rose" digital file

Challenges:

Creative Moments #166--anything goes

Crafty Creations #388--anything goes

Word Art Wednesday #382--anything goes with uplifting sentiment

Penny's Challenge #425--anything goes

Crafty Sentiments--only for the girls

Try Stampin' on Tuesday #403--sketch (I flipped it upside down)

Your Next Stamp #111--florals

Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper--anything goes with patterned paper

Pattie's Creations #157--flowers

New arrival

Happy Wednesday!!  It's time for another challenge from The House That Stamps Built.  This week we have a fun Tic Tac Toe board for you:

  

Here is what I created for your inspiration:

     I used the diagonal starting in the top right corner: pastels, polka dots, piercing.  A girl at our church is expecting her third baby in a couple months, so this was the perfect opportunity (and challenge) to create a baby card for her.  I used some really old SU! paper (probably 12 years old at least!) to create the pieced background.  One of the papers does have some large dots on it, but I added more polka dots with the ribbon.  I used a piercing tool to create a pierced border around the focal image.  I got this sweet little lamb image with the intention of using it for baby cards and it is soooo cute!!

     Thanks for stopping by!  Make sure you head on over to The House blog to see what the rest of the Design Team has done with this photo.  And if you "need" any of the stamps I used, check out my 10% off your entire order coupon code over in my lift sidebar.

Supplies:

Stamps: Repeat Impressions "New Arrival" and "Little Lamb"

Dies: Spellbinders "Standard Ovals, large"; MFT "Blueprints 13" stitched rectangle; PTI border die

Challenges:
Crafty Sentiments--only for the girls
Tuesday Throwdown #429--anything goes
Simon Says Stamp Monday--down on the farm
Lil' Patch of Crafty Friends #103--anything goes
Creative Fingers #161--anything goes
Crafty Catz #452--use your dies
Creative Inspiration--Easter wishes and/or animals
Cheerful Sketches--sketch

Crafty Hazelnut's Patterned Paper--anything goes with patterned paper
Unicorn Challenge #42--spots and/or stripes
Craft Dee BowZ--anything goes with handmade bow
Pixie's Crafty Workshop #349--anything goes with snippets (all the papers are snippets, as well as the bit of mulberry paper and the strip of white the border die cut was cut from)
Cutie Pie Challenge #134--new beginnings
Crafty Calendar--1 ribbon/2 or more patterned papers

Spring Flowers

I've been going through my patterned paper stash very slowly  (like one color at a time, here and there) and in my yellow stack, I found this card base that I have had for ever!  Someone had given me a bunch of bits and pieces of cards years ago and a lot of them I haven't really known what to do with.  This was one of those, but I finally decided I would give it a go.  My grandmother came down with my parents to visit us last weekend, as she left a bookmark stuck in our couch.  I'm sure it's nothing very important but this long card will be perfect for sending it back to her, specially since her favorite color is yellow.  Everything was already die cut, so I colored the daffodils and punched them out of their frames.  I added yellow patterned paper topped with vellum (to soften the pattern) behind the squares and then used the frames of the flower to position the flowers on top of the vellum.

 I finished everything off with a sweet sentiment and some yellow rhinestones.  The card came with a matching envelope so I stamped a daffodil on the outside.  I'm so glad I finally found a way to use this card base.

Supplies:

Stamps: MFT "Essential Sentiments"; PTI "Year of Flowers: Collection"

Challenges:

Crafts Galore #62--anything goes

Through The Purple Haze #155--spring forward

Love To Scrap Challenge Blog #33--anything goes

Three Amigos #25--spring

Penny's Challenge #424--anything goes

Creative Knockouts #292--anything goes

Southern Girls--frame it

Sweet Stampin--anything with the optional twist: mellow yellow "spring"

Friendly Hello

It's Saturday!!  That means it's time for another challenge from Di's Digi Designs.

The challenge this time is:  Add or Show Texture
And here is my card for your inspiration:

I really had fun adding a lot of texture to this one.  The background is a piece of burlap that I adhered to a piece of yellow patterned paper.  The ribbon is a nice twill which has texture to it and I added stickles to the center of both the punched flowers and the image flower for some sparkly texture.  I also added a layer of mulberry paper as a second mat behind my focal image.  And I showed texture by adding some colored pencil fur to my cute, little bear.  You can see both that texture and the sparkle of the stickles in the photo below.

I just LOVE how this turned out; it is so adorable!!!  And I know just who I am going to send it to; now to just get it in the mail.

I hope you will get a chance to play along with us; I can't wait to see what you create.  And make sure you hop over to the Di's Digital Designs blog to see what the rest of the team has made for this challenge.

Supplies: 

Stamps: Di's Digi Stamps "Happiness is a Sunflower Bear" digi; YNS "Phoebe and Her Wagon" sentiment; Repeat Impressions "Ladybug"

Dies: Spellbinders "Labels One" and "Pansy" leaves; Fiskars small flower punch

Challenges:
Your Next Stamp #111--florals
Crafty Catz #456--use your dies
Cute Card #376--anything goes
Sweet Sketch Wednesday 2 #157--sketch

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday--animal antics
Penny's Challenge #424--anything goes
2 Crafty Critter Crazies #25--anything goes with a critter
Creative Inspirations--Easter wishes and/or animals
Cutie Pie--beary sweet
Crafty Sentiments--anything goes
Word Art Wednesday #381--anything goes with uplifting sentiment
As You Like It--your favorite coloring medium (love using my Spectrum Noir markers--the colors are so bold and they blend so nicely)
Art Impressions #242--Outdoor scenes
Alphabet--A is for animals
Cardz TV #86--anything goes
Incy Wincy--animals
Use Your stuff #353--fuzzy wuzzy
Cupcake Inspirations #467--woodland critters

Best Fishes

Happy Wednesday!!  It's time for another challenge from The House That Stamps Built and this week it is a fun Designer's Choice Challenge!   Laurie has challenged us to "Use a Stencil".

And here is the card I created for your inspiration:

The idea for this started with the strip of patterned paper.  I found a scrap of it while going through my blue papers/card stocks.  It made me think of water right away, and I put it on my desk so I would remember to use it.  Perfect for a CAS card, it adds just a hint of water which I played up with the bubble stencil.  I added white gel pen to the larger bubbles.  Then I stamped the fish images, colored them and fussy cut them.  I finished them off with some clear Wink of Stella for some shimmery scales.  You can see the glitter in the photo below: 

And did you notice the sentiment?!  I feel super clever about this one.  I was looking through my sentiments and saw the "Best Wishes".  I realized that Wendy so nicely used the same font on many of her sentiments.  I stamped the "Best Wishes" after masking out the "W" and then I masked and stamped ONLY the "F" from the Father's Day stamp to create the fun "Best Fishes" sentiment to go along with these fish!  Clever, huh?

I had so much fun with this sketch and the patterned paper that I made a second card.  I didn't use a stencil on this one:

This card uses the exact same sketch, just flipped upside down.  I colored and fussy cut the beaver and added him to the top of the patterned paper so it looks like he is swimming in it.  So fun!  I masked the sentiment so I could stamp the words side by side instead of stacked top and bottom.

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you will hop over to the House blog to see the rest of the DT's creations and then get inky and play along with us.  And if you need any of the stamps I used, check out my 10% off your ENTIRE order coupon code over in my left sidebar.

Supplies:
CARD #1:
Stamps: Repeat Impressions "Large Tropical Fish", "Small Tropical Fish", "Best Wishes", and "Happy Father's Day"
Taylored Expressions "Bubbles" stencil

Challenges:
CAS(E) #315--sketch

Crafty Creations--anything goes
Cardz TV #86--anything goes
Sweet Stampin'--funny (the sentiment)
A Gem of a Challenge--anything goes
Make My Monday #93--something humorous (the sentiment)
Paper Girls #173--April Fools (sentiment)
Crafty Sentiments--anything goes

CARD #2:
Stamps: Repeat Impressions "Birthday" and "Beaver"
Darice: Woodgrain embossing folder

Challenges:
Creative Knockouts #291--outside fun
Moving Along with The Times #94--for a man
Alphabet Challenge--A is for animals
Incy Wincy--animals
Cupcake Challenge #467--woodland animals (beavers might be stretching it, but they are usually found in the woodlands)

Double Trouble #24--Thing #1: let's get groovy (wood grain embossing folder); Thing #3: woodland critters; Thing #2: link up to the Cupcake Inspiration Challenge
2 Crafty Critter Crazies #25--anything goes with a critter

Relax

Happy April!!  I can't believe it's hear already!  Where did the first three months of 2019 go?  Since it is the first of the month, it's time for a new challenge from The Love To Scrap Challenge Blog.  This month the challenge is: Male Call (create a masculine card/project).  Our sponsor is the fabulous Bugaboo Stamps:

and here is the card I created for your inspiration:

This is probably my favorite masculine image from Bugaboo.  It's a great image for an adult male (none of that cutsie stuff here) and can be used for birthday, Father's Day, retirement, etc.  And I always love it paired with with sentiments like this.

I hope you will get a chance to play along with us this month.  Let it be the inspiration to create some masculine cards.  Thanks for stopping by.

Supplies:

Stamps: Bugaboo Stamps "Relax Guy" digi; Raisin Boat (three sentiments used from the set)

Dies: Spellbinders "Standard Circles, large"

Challenges:
Creative Moments--anything goes
Aud Sentiments #223--any sentiment BUT happy birthday
Try Stampin' On Tuesday #401--sketch

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday--anything goes
Word Art Wednesday #380--anything goes with uplifting sentiment
Moving Along with The Times #94--for a man