Tag Tuesday Challenge # 49 Glitter

The tag challenge from Louise this week is to use glitter on our tags. I had this wonderful piece of cardstock full of glimmer mist left over from a project that I can't share yet...

I had used the glimmer mist shield before spraying the mists onto the tag. I stamped a faint imprint of a vine along the right side of the tag.  The rose is from Prima and I added a lovely layer of glitter to the rose. The bees are from Impression obsession and they also received a glitter treatment on their wings.

The ribbon and mat are a dark chocolate brown they always photograph black.

Thanks for stopping by..

Suzz

Play Date Cafe Challenge # 27

Love the colors from Mona for the Play Date Cafe Challenge this week.

 

I immediately thought of birds because of the birdhouse. These birdhouses also inspired my card earlier this week with the yellow birdhouse. I was trying to emulate the shape of the green birdhouse in this picture. (Thanks Mona!) 

I have seen so many pretty cards with the birds sitting on a wire that I decided to create my own little bird party sitting on a wire and having a chat.

The bird is from the Hero Arts Cling set called Two birds. They were stamped across the paper using brown pigment ink and a mask in a few places.  The birds were colored using a water brush and Ranger Distress Inks (Peeled Paint and Tumbled Glass)  The wires were drawn using a watercolor marker and a ruler.   The background was sponged using Tumbled Glass.

I decided to add one little odd bird who doesn't quite fit in because his colors are reversed.  Hence the sentiment One of a Kind.  (I have been to a few gatherings where I was that little bird)

The background is stamped using the Penny Black Japanese Maples stamp. (Lovely stamp) I stamped it on the light blue background using the Ranger Distress Ink Peeled Paint.

Finish it off with some twine in the background and a row of buttons. :)

The challenge this week is hosted by Stephanie

Our wonderful guest designer is Jen Tapler

Swing by the rest of the design team to check out their awesome projects!

Sarah Anderson

Stephanie Kraft

Ruby 2 Shoes

Savannah O'Gwynn

Mona Pendleton

Julie Ranae

Lisa Somerville

Hope you get a chance to play along with these beautiful colors! Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

So very excited!!!

Today is my day on the Hero Arts Blog!  I am lucky enough to be sharing a Home Decor Project on the Hero Arts blog today. 
My hostess duties with Hero Arts end this month and I am sad to see them end. I enjoyed being part of the hostesses for Hero Arts.  My fellow apronettes Arlene, Linda aka Oz, Vera, Sue, and Jill (as we dubbed ourselves) are fantastic! They will be sharing projects/cards they created all week long on the Hero Arts blog this week too. 

My project was inspired by my fellow apronette Arlene.  She had traded with me a lovely ATC.

Which inspired the project I created for the blog:

All the details on the project are shared on Hero Arts here.

Just wanted to share my fun news! Hope you have a lovely day!

Suzz

Cork Board

I created this for the Hero Arts challenge for the home.  My teenage daughter had her birthday this month and I thought it would be fun to create a corkboard for her.  Her only complaint was everything you make me is too pretty to use. :)

The inside of the frame is a square made from cork. I purchased a pack of three from Menards for 5.00. I also had to purchase the frame at Michaels which was pretty cheap. The cork is too thin to be hung buy itself and I liked the black frame as it really made the project pop!

Recipe:

1. Paint the cork using adirondack cool peri acrylic paint. (Love that color)
2. Stamp the friends definition using the purple StaZon ink across the background. (Didn't like the effect after I was done)
3. Stamp flowers and grass using versamark.  Heat embossed  the grass and flowers using different colored embossing powders.
4. Stamp butterflies and dragonflies multiple times on white cardstock using black pigment ink.
5. Color Butterflies and Dragonflies as desired. Cut out and attach butterflies to push pins.
6. Glue dot on dragonflies.
7. Tie ribbon around top of corkboard.
8. Glue down cork board to back of frame.
9. Attach name in corner.
10. Accent with flowers, gems, pearls...

The name is created using some lovely American Crafts Thickers that I was lucky enough to win from Cath over on the Moxie Fab World.

All the stamps are Hero Arts (old and new).

I hope you enjoyed my little project.

Have a blessed Sunday!

Suzz

Birdhouse - Hero Arts Monthly Challenge

Hero Arts Monthly challenge is home or mother. I don't have any of their cute house stamps so I decided to go with one of nature's homes.

and create a bird house!  This was really fun to create. If I had spent a little more time I would have created a tag to slide into it. It is bowed to create a rounded front and roof and a tag would have fit beautifully on the inside.

Here are the details on how to create the birdhouse:

1. Spray three sheets of white cardstock with yellow glimmer mist and orange glimmer mist. (Shake well until all sediment raises from the bottom.) Dab up excess with paper towel.
2. Cut 5 x 7” from glimmer mist background.
3. Measure 2 ½” from the top on both sides and mark.  
4. Measure from the side to the middle 2 ½” across top and mark middle of paper.
5. Cut on diagonal from mark on side to middle. Repeat on other side.
6. Create roof by cutting out a 4 ½” by 5 ¼” piece from glimmer mist background. Measure to center at top and mark with pencil. Measure 1 “ from bottom on side and mark.
7. Create punched border using edger.
8. Cut from marks on side to top center on both sides to create roof.
9. Emboss roof with embossing folder in die cut machine.
10. Sponge orange dye ink around edges.
11. Sponge brown dye ink around edges and lightly on embossing.
12. Punch tag from glimmer mist background. Stamp sentiment using brown pigment ink. Sponge edges using orange dye ink and brown dye ink.
13. Cut 5 ¼” x 4 ½” from glimmer mist background.
14. Punch circle ¼” from bottom in center.
15. Lay front of birdhouse over back. Sponge orange dye ink inside and around the edges of the circle
16. Sponge edges of circle with brown dye ink.
17. Move front of birdhouse and stamp branches along bottom using green dye ink.
18. Attach flowers onto branches and accent with pearls.
19. Stamp birds on glimmer mist background using brown pigment ink.
20. Shade using watercolor pencils and orange dye ink.  
21. Accent birds using white gel pen.
22. Cut out birds.
23. Punch hole under circle opening.
24. Run tape along sides of back of birdhouse.
25. Attach one side of front of birdhouse along edge. Bend the front slightly and attach right side of house.
26. Attach bird inside birdhouse peeking through opening on right.
27. Attach bird on outside of the birdhouse on left side.
28. Find tiny stick and put in hole through front of birdhouse under bird. Attach using glue dot on inside of birdhouse.
29. Tie twine with tag attached around rough of house.
30. Attach roof by applying glue dots on left and right side of top of front of house. Bend slightly to get dome effect.

Products:  

• Sparkle Clear – My Art
• CL428 – Earth Flowers
• Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist – Lemon Zest, Tuscany Sun
• Rangers Distress Ink – Wild Honey
• Tsukineko Sponge Dauber
• Memento – Rich Cocoa, Bamboo Leaves
• Twine
• McGill Tag Punch
• Marvy Uchida – Circle Punch
• Hole Punch
• Prima Flowers
• Versafine – Vintage Sepia
• Signo – Uni-Ball White Gel Pen
• Light Green Pearls
• Martha Stewart Edger
• Cuttlebug Embossing Folder Forest Branches
• Hero Arts – CG152 – Two Birds

 As always thanks for stopping by! 

 

I appreciate all the lovely comments and the visits!

 

Suzz

 

Tuesday Tag Challenge #48 - Re-cycle, re-purpose, Re-Use

Louise's challenge this week is to re-cycle, re-use or re-purpose something.  Well... I didn't pull anything out of my cardboard that I have saved. Instead I took some bits and pieces from finished cards and pulled them together for my tag.

The tag shape was created by tracing the outline from a scrap of cardstock left over from die cutting the new Tim Holtz dies.  I used a background that I had stamped for another project to trace the birdcage on.   I then took the bird remnant from that same cardstock and cut around it to create the bird outline I used on my tag.  The bird outline was sprayed with glimmer mist and sponged with brown ink.  The sentiment was a leftover from some projects this week too. (Cleaning up my desk)

The stamps are all Hero Arts. Some of them are from the latest release and I have had so much fun playing with them. The inks are Versafine Crimson Red and Smokey Gray.

So my re-use/re-cycling is from the die cuts leftovers and background scraps. (Hope that counts)

Thanks for stopping by...

Suzz

Play Date Cafe Challenge# 26 (Happy Earth Day!)

Check out these lovely colors from Julie for the Play Date Cafe Challenge this week. Perfect to celebrate Earth Day.

I decided to go with the earthy inspiration and create one of my wildflowers and butterflies card with a touch of woodgrain.

The background is the Hero Arts Woodgrain stamp. The sentiment is from Stampers Anonymous Purely Random CMS088. Isn't that an awesome thought? I think the fear of many things does hold us back.

The butterflies are Spellbinders Shapeabilities and are stamped with the Hero Arts Cling Variety and Quality.  The flowers are from the new release from Hero Arts (Real Garden Petals).

The inks are Ranger Distress Inks Rusty Hinge, Tumbled Glass and Versafine Smokey Grey.

The challenge this week is hosted by

Our fantastic guest designer is Jen Tapler.

Our sponsor this week is Mod Podge. Go check out their totally fun blog Mod Podge Rocks.

Swing by the rest of the design team to check out their awesome projects!

Sarah Anderson

Stephanie Kraft

Ruby 2 Shoes

Savannah O'Gwynn

Mona Pendleton

Julie Ranae

Lisa Somerville

Happy Earth Day!

Suzz

Deborah's April CCC

Deborah has a monthly card exchange. She provides the topic, sketch or color combo to use on your card. You create it and send it off to someone else. It is a chain with other cardmakers and it is totally fun. Go check out the april challenge here.

I decided to use the sketch and the Earth Day concept. I was lucky enough to send mine off to Alice who has sent me fabulous cards before. 

Here is what I sent to Alice:

I just purchased the new cling set from the Hero Artist release called Earth Flowers (CL428) and love it! The new release is gorgeous tons of wildflowers.

I stamped using versafine vintage sepia on ivory cardstock. Lightly colored in the flowers on the main image using watercolor pencils and a faint background of script using the shadow ink soft sand from Hero Arts.

The lovely sentiment is another one from the Stampscapes Plate 31B - Scenic Sentiments.

Now on to share what I received from Donna... I am a huge fan of Donna's work. You need to go check her blog out if  you haven't seen her work. Not only does she have fantastic coloring skills she also creates fantastic sponged backgrounds, lovely designs and cards. 

Here is what she sent me along with some of my favorite BG paper. 

 

Love this image. She is so adorable and love how Donna colored her and made the fantastic background with the polka dots. (Yep she created that background)

Then she included this lovely artsy tag which unfortunately I didn't take a great picture of it but it is beautiful with its lovely metallic colors on rich magenta background.

So now  you know why it has been so quiet on my blog. Been working on projects I can't share yet. This is one of them. Had to make sure Alice had received my card before I shared here.

Hope you have a fabulous day!

Suzz

Play Date Cafe Challenge #25 - Splash of Color

The Play Date Cafe challenge this week is a splash of color challenge. Love these challenges because it goes back to the neutrals and one color. This challenge's splash of color is orange.

Sarah provided this colour splash challenge.

I think I might have spilled a little too much orange in my splash... :)

I started with these lovely poppies from Hero Arts. They have a lovely background stamp with poppies.

1. Stamp poppies background stamp on white cardstock using black pigment ink.
2. Heat emboss using clear embossing powder.
3. Sponge orange dye ink on poppies. Cut out poppies leaving black outline.
4. Cut a circle from white cardstock. Stamp Hero Arts Kanji poem using black pigment ink on circle.
5. Edge circle with orange dye ink.
6. Stamp background with houndstooth stamp using black pigment ink.
7. Assemble all pieces.

Products:

• Hero Arts - Houndstooth K5175
• Hero Arts - CL371 Essential Messages
• Hero Arts - CG140 Poppy Background
• Hero Arts - K5191 Kanji Poem
• Versafine Black Onyx
• Ranger Distress Inks - Spiced Marmalade
• Clear Embossing Powder
• White silk ribbon
• Orage buttons
• Tag - McGill Tag Punch
• Nestabilities - Circle

Go take a look at all the other design team creations...
Sarah Anderson
Stephanie Kraft
Ruby 2 Shoes
Savannah O'Gwynn
Mona Pendleton
Julie Ranae
Lisa Somerville

and our guest designer ...

Kelly Marie Alvarez of Lawn Fawn

Hope you get a chance to play along...

Suzz

Tag Tuesday Challenge #47 - Inspire Me

Louise's tag challenge this week is to use a quote or word that inspires you.
I thought this was a lovely verse as I am constantly inspired in my art from nature. The verse is from Stampscapes Scenic Sentiments Sheet #5.

This tag started from a scrap piece of kraft with the dogwood stamp already stamped using a brown pigment ink. I laid down a store bought tag and traced it over the stamped image and cut the tag from the kraft cardstock.

The background was stamped using the light pink dye ink and I forgot that it stamps a lovely color until it dries and then it disappears. :) I traced back over the faint background using my watercolor pencils to bring back the image.

Love coloring in the images on kraft. I think it produces such a softness to the color.

Thanks for stopping by...

Suzz

Golden Flowers

I was playing around with my Toffee ink again... I wanted to create a soft background and then overlay it with some pretty flowers.
The background was first stamped using the Hero Arts woodgrain stamp with the Hero Arts shadow ink Soft Sand. Then I stamped again with the Stampers Anonymous Lace border. I stamped it multiple times in both directions. Loved the soft lacy background that it created.

I so love this queen's anne lace flowers stamp from Penny Black. They remind me of the little woods that lay between all of our houses and the fields for the grade school I attended. Very suburban and not at all countryside but there was a little grove of trees at the end and I loved that little patch of woods and the wildflowers.

The flowers were stamped with the Versafine Toffee and edged with Versafine Vintage Sepia. The little flowers are an older stamp from Hero Arts. The sentiment is also from Hero Arts and stamped using the Versafine Orange mixed with the Vintage Sepia.

In searching for a texture on my card I looked over and saw my Hero Arts flowers and decided to take two of them and fold them in half cut off the extra petal and glue dot them together. Instant butterfly!

I hope you are having a lovely day... We are going to be having some very springy weather this week. (Warmer and wet!)

Suzz

Material Girl

I don't know about you but when I see those words I think of a song by Madonna... Now maybe that ages me. :)


I have this lovely mini deck of papers from Cosmo Cricket called Material Girl and haven't really used them. So I decided today to pull them out and make a patchwork bacgkround. (No sewing for me although I think it would add a beautiful touch)

Love the pretty golds, yellows and reds mixed in the various papers. I tried to emulate that with the stamped image. The Northwoods stamp was inked up with Toffee and Crimson Red from Versafine. The Sentiment is Hero Arts and stamped using the Crimson Red and Vintage Sepia from Versafine.

Thanks for stopping by...

Suzz

Tag Tuesday Challenge - Sketch Challenge

So happy to play along with the Tag Tuesday Challenge at Louise's. I haven't been able to play for a few weeks.

This week's challenge is to use a sketch that Louise provided. Here is the sketch and her lovely tag.

and here is my interpretation of her tag.

I have had this Graphic 45 paper that I purchased for another project which never got used and decided to use that as my circle. The rest are bits and pieces that I have lying around. Very little stamping. (Always scares me when I get to the end of the project and don't have a lot of stamping on it.) :)

Quick simple little tag.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Little bites of wisdom!

Hero Arts Blog Challenge for the month is Home and Mother cards. I created this card as both a tribute to the home and for my MIL. Who is a wonderful MIL.

I decided to use an idea that I had used for an Easter card on the Outside the Box blog here and a few touches from the cards that Jenn B created and shared on the Hero Arts blog. (Love everything that Jenn creates!)

This bowl is from the Hero Arts clear set (What's the Scoop?) In the set it has some fun sprinkles, hearts and misc with it. I cut the clear stamp to remove the toppings. I then stamped it using my brown pigment ink. I copied it on my color copier and increased it to 250%.

After the bowl was re-sized:

• Cut the bowl out.
• Stamp the antique brocade background using blue dye ink.
• Sponge edges with brown dye ink.
• Accent lines from bowl stamps with brown watercolor pencil to add shadows.

I then created a set of apples: (the bites of wisdom)

The apples were also stamped on a sheet of paper and copied to re-size to fit in the bowl. :)

I attached them all to white strips of paper that you can pull the little bites of wisdom from the bowl. One of the apple stems says "Happy Mother's Day!"

Now I am going to get my DH to give me some of his mom's bites of wisdom that will make her laugh to hear them now, I will have him write them on each apple stem.

The apples are from the Hero Arts clear set: Designer Fruit.

The inks I used were Memento Bahama Blue, Pear Tart, Rich Cocoa, Versafine Vintage Sepia, Ranger Distress Inks - Fire Brick, Wild Honey, Mustard Seed.

Hope you are having a lovely day.... Enjoy your weekend!

Suzz

Play Date Cafe Challenge #24

Welcome to another fun color combination this week from The Play Date Cafe.

Mona provided this creativity challenge. I love Lilacs and these colors are beautiful!
The colors inspired me to pull out a few stamps that I haven't used in awhile...
Mini Recipe:

1. Cut a circle from ivory cardstock. (I used the Spellbinders Nestabilities Circle)
2. Stamp the Hero Arts Cling Friends Definition stamp using Hero Arts Shadow Ink (Soft Lilac).
3. Stamp the flower (Inkadinkado - 95866 K) with versamark. Heat emboss using clear embossing powder.
4. Lay the Nestability over the circle and sponge on Memento Sweet Plum over the entire surface.
5. Cut ivory panel and emboss using Cuttlebug Embossing folder.
6. Stamp sentiment with flourishes stamp from Flourishes Sweet Violet set using Sweet Plum Dye ink on ivory cardstock.
7. Stamp friends definition on ivory cardstock using versamark. Heat emboss using clear embossing powder and sponge with plum dye ink.
8. Punch butterflies from definition background.
9. Fold prima flowers in half and glue dot together. Attach to edge of circle.
10. Assemble card. :)

Go take a look at all the other design team creations...
Sarah Anderson
Stephanie Kraft
Ruby 2 Shoes
Savannah O'Gwynn
Mona Pendleton
Julie Ranae
Lisa Somerville

and our guest designer ...

Kristen Powers of Kpink

who is also our sponsor this week on The Play Date Cafe!

Thanks for stopping by... Hope you are having a lovely week.

Suzz

Hero Arts Monthly Challenge - Home and Mothers Day

This months challenge at the Hero Arts Blog is Home and Mothers Day.

This Mother's Day is going to be a little difficult for me and my family. My mother passed away last year. My big sister is going to get a card from me as she and my mom always were big puzzlers. They always worked on the Sunday puzzle in the Trib and shared answers at times.

My sis is a great mom and she is divorced so she is always handling everything on her own. So this was a fun way to send her a puzzle card and this is how it is going to be sent to her.
The fun part is you take the card out with the clues. :) and fill in the answers using the little pencil.
I think she will have a fun time with her little puzzle and it will be a sweet reminder of mom.

The stamp and gems are Hero Arts.

Thanks for stopping by...

Suzz

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to everyone!


Here is a fun little card using the Stampers Anonymous rabbit.

Hope you are having a fun filled day and spending it with family.

Suzz