Hero Arts Blog Hop!

Welcome to the  Hero Arts 2011 Hostesses Blog Hop!  The Hero Arts 2011 blog hop  is  all week long,  January 10th through Friday January 14th.   Along the way you will see wonderful  inspiration from the Hero Hostesses using the 2011 release! 

I was so thrilled with my new Hero Arts stamps I had a hard time deciding which card I should share as part of the blog hop. I finally decided on this card because I loved the flowers on the Large Flower Pattern!  

The Large Flower Pattern (S5471) background is so beautiful it reminded me of waterlilies floating in the water. 

Recipe:

1. Stamp Large Flower Pattern using Versafine Smokey Grey on white cardstock. 
2. Stamp Thinking of You (All Occasion Messages CL272) using grey pigment ink on white cardstock. 
3. Sponge sentiment using grey dye ink and pink dye ink. 
4. Color flowers using black and red watercolor pencils. 
5. Color stems and leaves using light green and black watercolor pencils. 
6. Soften watercolors using water brush to blend colors. 
7. Accent flowers and stems using white gel pen. 
8. Stamp dragonflies from Antique Engravings - CL383 using gray pigment ink. 
9. Color dragonflies using light green watercolor pencil. Highlight with glue pen and clear fine glitter. 
10. Accent dragonfly bodies with white pearls.

 My second project is a sweet pendant that could be used for an accent on a package, a necklace or even a pin to hang on your lapel.  The stamps used are from the  With Sympathy CL476 set and   Delicate Leaf Clusters CL477. Both of these sets were on my list as soon as I saw them.

1. Stamp the background   Thank You Definition - CG268  using Versafine Vintage Sepia.
2. Paint the flowers using chalks and a water brush and stamp on background. 
3. Stamp sentiment using Versafine Majestic Blue. 
4. Paint dragonflies using chalks and a water brush and stamp over background. 
5. Fill frame with Glossy Accents. 
6. Accent with flowers, gems, heart charm and ribbon. 

Onto the important details: 

If you arrived here from Lisa Carroll at My Little Ink Spot you are in the right place, I am the end of the blog hop for today.  Tomorrow there are more wonderful artists on the blog hop and all you need to do is head over to the  Hero Arts Blog  and start hopping again.  If you didn't come here from Lisa Carroll you should head over to the Hero Arts Blog today and start at the beginning of the hop!

Please leave a comment at every blog, because every comment left along the hop gives you a chance to win new Hero Arts 2011 stamps!

If you find a broken link, you can always go back to the Hero Arts blog  for the master list of blog links.  Also, please email tami@heroarts.com and provide the blog address that has the bad link so we can fix it. Thanks!

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

Eggstra Eggstra Read all About it...

Yesterday myself and the other Hero Hostesses were lucky enough to share some of our cards on the Hero Arts Blog.

We had an idea to do a series of egg shaped cards and there is a template over on the HA blog for this shape created by Linda ak Oz if you are interested in trying this out.

As you can see I went through a few iterations of eggs and then couldn't decide which one. I had a few people vote on them and made a decision on which one to share on the HA blog.

The first one was intended to look like a cut out egg where you were able to see the inside of the egg and the beautiful decorations within. The flowers are all from a Hero Arts Wallpaper Flowers and colored using my trusty watercolor pencils. The butterflies are punched from the Marvy Uchida punches. The stem on the main image is from the Hero Arts Heart Flower Blossoms.

The second series of eggs includes the card I actually put up on the blog. The one of the left is how the card started. I created it and distressed the inside to match the outside color. After I let it sit overnight I decided it was too drab and pulled the back off the card and found a lovely butter cream inside and replaced it. Do you rework your cards? I tend to do that a lot if I am not happy with the final results. The flowers are this beautiful Dogwood stamp from Hero Arts and once again I used my watercolor pencils. The bird stamp is from Hero Arts set called Two Birds. The sentiments are from Cornish Heritage Farms - CDD-1674C Happy Easter Script, and Memory Box.

Finally this was actually my favorite one and the one that I would have selected. I loved the idea of a wood grain egg and some natural elements. So I did two versions of this. The butterfly was actually a scrap from another project where it didn't quite fit so it was happy to end up on this card. Everything on both cards is from Hero Arts. :)

The best part of the whole project is that now I have a bunch of Easter cards or springtime cards to send off to family and friends.

Hope you are having a lovely day!

Suzz

My fun news...

I was lucky enough to be asked by the Hero Arts crew to be a Hero Arts Hostess. This means I get to help out over at the Flickr Group for Hero Arts Challenges. There is so many interesting topics and inspiration over at the Hero Arts Flickr Group.

My introduction was today on the Hero Arts Blog. One of my cards is posted today on the blog too!

Very exciting as I am a big fan of my Hero Arts stamps!

On to other fun stuff... Here is a card that I am teaching in my next class with the new Memory Box stamps.

No surprise here ... More trees!

Thanks for stopping by and sharing in my good news.

Suzz