A Friday Hello

Yay!!! It's Friday!!!  I have 2 days of LESS running around to do. I might actually be able so sleep in or stamp!  I live for the weekends when the kids are in school. How about you?

Today I decided to play along with my 2 favorite blogs....Simon Says Stamp and A Blog Named Hero.  I am not very good at combining challenges. I usually never combine them but this week it was just so easy to do that I thought "why not?"

The girls over at A Blog Named Hero have this challenge going on:

The challenge? Use letter stamps for something other than a title. ;)

And Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday challenge is to "Create your own background"

Here is my card:

I used the journal alphabet letters from Hero Arts. I arranged them on an acrylic block going every which way. I then inked them up in Colorbox Frost White ink (just for visibility purposes) and heat embossed them with Ranger's Silver Super Fine Detail Embossing powder.  I turned the stamp a few times until it covered the paper. I found embossing right away works best too. The white pigment ink dries pretty fast and didn't allow me to emboss it all at once.

Here is a closer look:

I used the Simon Says Stamp Feather die and Small Hello. I cut the large feather out of this really cool silver paper I found in my scraps and the smaller one out of some Studio Calico papers.  I mounted both on black cardstock. I die cut the Hello out of Simon Says Stamp Red Lipstick cardstock and then out of black.

To finish is off I wrapped some twine around the bottom of the feathers.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have an awesome weekend.

Michelle

Supplies used:

InLinkz.com

Digital Blog Hop with a2z Scrapbooking & Hero Arts

Hello and Welcome!!!  I am so excited to have you here. Today I have exciting news, a give-a-way and a discount code to share with you. We are celebrating BIG!!!

First is the BIG, EXCITING news over at a2z Scrapbooking . We are excited to announce that  a2z Scrapbooking is now partnering with Hero Arts to  be the only other site, other than Hero Arts, to sell all  Hero Arts Digital Kits!  If you have never used digital or think you can't use digital fear not, we have 16 exciting stops on the hop & 3 videos to show you how.

a2z Scrapbooking is working diligently to get all the digital kits into the store. Please check back often. New kits will be uploaded daily.

You should have arrived here from the very talented and sweet Lisa Spangler.

For my card today I have a small video to go with it to show you how to use the Hero Arts digital CUT files with your Silhouette.  There are 2 more videos to show you how to use the non-cut files on the a2z Scrapbooking Blog so make sure you hop to the end to see them.

Here is my card:

Now for the GIVE-A-WAY......

a2z Scrapbooking is offering a $50 Gift Certificate to the a2z Scrapbooking Store. ​The prize winner will be randomly selected from ALL comments received on the participating designers’ blogs. The more comments you leave along the hop, the better your odds of winning, so be sure to leave a little love at each blog.

Now it's time to hop on over to the very talented Kathy Wade.

If at any time you get lost you can always start from the beginning at Hero Arts. Here is the list of partcipants

Hero Arts
Tami Hartley
Kelly Latevola
Kymona Tracey
Lisa Spangler
Michelle Liimatainen
Kathy Wade
Lucy Abrams
Chitra Nair
Char K
Ruth Bosner
Jocelyn Olson
Zoey Scarpelli
Stephanie B
Kelly Rasmussen
a2z Scrapbooking

Lastly the discount code:  If you want to go shopping at a2z Scrapbooking click HERE and use the code MICHELLE15 to save 15% on your entire order!

Thanks for hopping by
Michelle

Supplies used:

InLinkz.com

Be Happy!

HI! I am taking the Online Card Class "Watercolor for Cardmakers" with Jen McGuire and Kristina Werner. I love these classes. So informative...so fun! Today's card is from Day 1's homework. While I had it done I haven't had the chance to photograph it. We just got a 7 week old Golden Retriever and he is a handful to say the least! LOL My other 2 dogs aren't so happy about him right now so I am lacking in "free" time. I hope this stops soon. I want to participate in every aspect of this class.

Anyhow, today's homework shows how to create your own watercolor background. The awesome Laura Bassen showed this technique and I LOVED her card. I did mine a tad differently but I was thrilled with the effects.

The colors used are all Distress inks. Both stamps are Hero Arts. Gotta run, pup is trying to eat my laptop cord.

Until next time...Have a great day!

Playing along with CASEstudy--You're Loved/Love You

Hi, today I am sharing two cards that I made for CASEstudy challenge #189. I was SO EXCITED when I saw this weeks Muse. It's none other than the talented, sweet, funny Wida Miller. I adore this girl to pieces. Not only is she an amazing person she is an incredibly talented gal!!!

This was the inspiration piece they chose:

I was instantly drawn to the colors and the cutout. I made this card first:

I used my Silhouette and a nested heart file to cut out 3 hearts from cardstock scraps (it's a great way to use those bigger scraps) and then I cut a heart from the Simon Says Stamp woodgrain paper.  I layered them all together. I then die cut the "you" from a Simon Says Stamp die and inked it with Heidi Swap Teal ink. I stamped the word "love" from the Simon Says Stamp "love this" set.  I added some Lawn Fawn sequins to top it off.

I also stamped the inside of the card with a Hero Arts Sentiment:

The whole card came together really quickly.  When I was done I had 4 really pretty hearts sitting on my desk so I decided to use them to make another quick card.

This time I stitched some pretty light teal paper to a piece of white Neenah Cardstock, I then used the Simon Says Stamp Falling Hearts stencil and some white embossing paste to add texture. I wasn't super careful about laying it down and I love the distressed look of the left side of the card. 

I then layered all the hearts and pop dotted them. I stamped a Hero Arts sentiment on some vellum and heat embossed it and wrapped the vellum around the back and adhered it.  Super fast and simple.

That's all for today. See you soon.

Michelle

Supplies used:

InLinkz.com

I miss you watts& watts

Hi!! Happy MAY!!!! I am soooooo excited the warmer months are getting closer and closer. I can't stand the wait. Can you? I hate the winter so very much. I cannot wait to lounge on a beach all day and watch the kids play! Making cards takes my mind off the cold, so on that note.... On to today's card.

I made this card with the April Simon Says Stamp Card Kit. I have to say this  has been one of my favorite kits out of all of them. I love the bright, bold colors of this kit and the fun playful stamps. If you don't subscribe and have been thinking about it I urge you to get a monthly subscription for this kit (I don't work for them and I am not being paid to say this) I am saying it because it is truly a wonderful Kit Club!!!  Every month is something FABULOUS!  This is what was in April 2014's Kit:

It's just loaded with fun things. Look at those stamps and how cute is that light bulb paper clip? OMG!!! The papers are just perfection too.

Here is the first card I made with it. I just moved and I miss my neighbors from my old house so much!  I am making lots of "I miss you" cards these days to let them know we may not be neighbors anymore but I still love and miss them to pieces.

I stamped that ray of light stamp that is in the left corner of the stamp set in a bunch of different Hero Arts Neon inks and then cut them out, the light bulb was stamped on the hot pink paper in the kit and heat embossed with white embossing powder. I also embossed the "I miss you" and the "watts & watts". The Watts & Watts is stamped on Vellum. It stays wet longer so you can use a dye ink and embossing powder on it. I used the new Mid-tone Ultra Pink from Hero arts for the title and it embossed great.

That's all for today.....

Michelle

Supplies used:

InLinkz.com