Velveteen Stamping

So glad the weekend is here.  It's been too long since I last participated in the Hero Arts contest.  This month, I learnt a new technique from Shari Carroll called Velveteen Stamping and I just had to try it.  Here's my take:

Supplies used : Stamps - S5601 Newspaper Background, CG330 Flower Dot Pattern (w Distress Stain Picket Fence), CL496 Layered Flowers, CL495 Blossom Art, CL477 Delicate Leaf Clusters, CL508 Luscious Patterned Flowers & sentiment CL434 Just Find Me. Inks : Memento Tuxedo Black & Rich Cocoa & London Fog,  Hero Hues - Cerulean, Mid-tone Stone Wash & Shadow Ink Soft Sand, Distress Ink Antique Linen.  Copic Markers : E00, E01, E93 & E95. Others : Stickles, twine, brad, Hero Arts lace, Hero Arts Layering paper Powder.

First, I stamped the Newspaper background on white cardstock with black ink.  Next, I inked up the Flower Dot Pattern stamp with Distress Stain Picket Fence and stamped it onto the same cardstock.  I heat set it dry, and then stamped the various flowers and leaves using various Hero Arts inks.  To give the edges some definition, I added Distress Ink Antique Linen.

For the Layered Flower, I stamped it twice onto white cardstock and coloured the images with Copic Markers.  I cut out the flower centre, curled it a little and adhered it to the layered flower. I also added some stickles in the centre for some sparkle.  The sentiment piece was stamped with the same Newspaper background with Memento London Fog first then the sentiment with Memento Tuxedo Black.

I had so much fun with this technique and it's great to find new ways of using the Distress Stain Picket Fence.

Thanks for visiting me.  If you would like to join the Hero Arts contest, be sure to check this post.

Happy Weekend!
Kary

With Gratitude

It's be a long time since I played the Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger.  I was really inspired by the Beads and Baubles trigger this week.  Here's the photo my card is based on:

I love the colours of the beads and baubles, and the way it's laid out.  They reminded me so much of the Hero Arts Flower Swirl Vine stamp I have.  I stamped the image on white cardstock, coloured the images with Copic Markers and sponged it with Distress Inks Tumbled Glass & Shabby Shutters on one side and Tattered Rose & Spun Sugar on the other side.  Then I cut out the floral image and adhered it with pop dots on the printed paper.  The sentiment was from Paper Smooches "Chit Chat" set.

Here's a closer look :

Thanks for visiting!

Have a great weekend!

Warm Thoughts

Today, I have a card for the October Hero Arts contest.  The challenge is to make a Holiday card using non-holiday stamps or based on one of the sketches given.  I decided to give it a go and make a card which fits both the requirements.

My card is based on this sketch:

For the background, I pulled out all the tiny hearts I could find from all my Hero Arts stamps and a tiny star.  Using Versamark, I stamped them on a white cardstock and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder.   For some colour, I sponged Distress Inks Tumbled Glass, Crushed Olive and Scattered Straw.  Then I brushed some Perfect Pearls Blue Raspberry before the inks dry to give it a nice shimmer and set it with fine mists of water.  When dry, I distressed the edges with Distress Ink Vintage Photo.

For the tree, I stamped the die-cut pieces using non-Holiday stamps Flower Swirl Vine on the tree pieces, and the trunk with a stamp from set You Are The Best.  Then I added colour with Copic Markers YG91, YG93, YG95, R22, R29 & YG25 and assembled the tree by adhering the tree pieces onto the solid tree die-cut with pop dots.  I spritzed some Perfect Pearls Mist on the finished tree and then added some Glossy Accents around the edges and threw some fine glitter on it.

Here's a closer look at the tree:

The sentiment is from the stamp set, Find Joy which is also a non-holiday stamp.

As always, I look forward to read your feedback and comments on the card.  It's always so fun to read what you think.

Have a great week!

Stamps : Flower Swirl Vine & You Are the Best (Tree), Find Joy (sentiment), Background hearts from various different sets.

Inks : Distress Inks Tumbled Glass, Scattered Straw, Crushed Olive, Vintage Photo, Perfect Pearls Mist -Sunflower Sparkle
Paper : Lily Bee Design Jingle 6x6 pad, Kraft cardstock
Other : Taylored Expressions die Trim The Tree, Spellbinders Classic Scallop Oval, Sakura Pigma Micron Black & White gel pen, Hero Arts gems

Two Cards to Share

Happy Saturday!  Today I have two of my recent favourite cards to share.  So very thankful that I have a hobby (cardmaking) that I love and get so much satisfaction from.

I promised to share a Non-traditional coloured Christmas card in my last post.  It was a response to the challenge at Stamp TV, you can read all about it here. 

I absolutely LOVE this new Stamp Set by Melanie Muenchinger (Thank you for creating a fab set, Melanie!).  It's called Holiday Basket (and you can see it by clicking on the link), don't you think the set is so Gorgeous?  I stamped the basket and poinsettia on white cardstock - they are separate images.  The Copic Markers used to colour the images are - Poinsettia (R32, R35, R39), Pinecone (E31, E34, E37), Pine (YG67), Basket (E31, E51, E55, E57).  Then I dyed a plain seam binding with Distress Stain Broken China and tied a bow as shown on the card.  The papers I used are from Pink Paislee Nantucket 6x6 pad.

If you have never joined the Stamp TV challenges, you ought to.  You could be a winner and you'll get to select a stamp set of your choice.  Just click here for the current challenges running and upload your card to Stamp TV site.

The next card, is one I made with the stamps I received from Hero Arts.  I won their challenge back in June, and you can see my watercolour card here.  The stamps arrived while I was away and I didn't have a chance to use them.  When I got home two weeks ago, I thought I should join the Hero Arts September challenge just to show how much I loved the stamps.

I stamped the large Envelope Pattern background stamp onto a white cardstock with Versamark and heat embossed it with Detailed white embossing powder. Then I sponged some Distress Inks on the card (Scattered Straw, Wild Honey, Victorian Velvet, Crushed Olive & Frayed Burlap).  Try to overlap the colours a little when sponging to get a really blended effect.  Before the ink dries, I brushed some Perfect Pearls onto the card and then spritzed some water to set it.  The flowers were coloured with Copic Markers : Round petal flower :YG00, YR02, YR12 & shadow W5 (flower), YG93, YG95, YG97(leaves), Three Petals flower : YR15, YR17 (flower), YG03, YG05, YG07(leaves).  I added an outline around the flowers with E93 and then cut out the images.  To add a little sparkle to the flowers, I used the Atyou Spica clear pen.

I could hardly believe my eyes, as I was reading this post and discovered my card was selected as one of the Fab Five a few days ago.  Thank you Hero Arts!!  If you have some Hero Arts stamps, you can still join the Round Two of the September contest, it's still ongoing till 29 Sep 2011.  You never know, you could be a winner!

Have wonderful weekend!!

Holiday Basket card

Stamp : Holiday Basket (love this set!!) & Blessed is the Season (sentiment)
Paper : Pink Paislee Nantucket 6x6
Other : Seam binding (coloured with Distress stain Broken China), White gel pen
Copics : Poinsettia (R32, R35, R39), Pinecone (E31, E34, E37), Pine (YG67), Basket (E31, E51, E55, E57)

Thank You card

Stamps : LP216 Three Quirky Flowers, S5507 Envelope Pattern, CL497 Find Joy (sentiment)
Inks : Memento Tuxedo Black, Distress Inks Scattered Straw, Wild Honey, Victorian Velvet, Crushed Olive & Frayed Burlap
Others : Detailed White Embossing powder, Perfect Pearls, Copic Markers, Atyou Spica Clear (for some glitter) 

Batik Inspired Card

When I was young, I lived in a place where batik was in abundance.  I used to enjoy visits to places where batiks were created in the old fashioned way - everything was hand-drawn, coloured and processed.  Today batiks have evolved with more modern designs and probably manufactured in modern facilities.

Here is a picture of what today's batik looks like:

Here's my card inspired by the designs above:

First, I stamped the Dots background onto a piece of white cardstock.  Then I stamped the flower with Versamark and clear heat embossed it.  To add colour, I sponged various Distress Inks on the cardstock and dusted some Perfect Pearls on it to give it a hint of shimmer.  I then set the Perfect Pearls by spritzing some water and heat set it.  For the sentiment, I stamped only part of it, leaving out the word "special" as it couldn't fit inside the frame.

Have you seen Virginia's blog?  She is giving away some Hero Arts stamps, and you can enter to be in the draw for some gorgeous stamps.

Lastly, since I'm sharing all Hero Arts today, here is another card made a little while ago with the Watercolour technique shown by Shari Caroll.

Have a good week!

First Card

Stamps : Hero Arts CG298 Life of the Party Dots, CL499 Special Note of Thanks (sentiment), CL509 Luscious Frames (frame), CL510 Sweet Threads Labels (flower)

Paper : PTI Cardstock

Inks : Memento Rich Cocoa, Versafine Onyx Black, Distress Inks Tumbled Glass, Shabby Shutters, Scattered Straw, Spiced Marmalade

Other : i-rock clear crystals, twine, button

Second Card

Stamps : CG125 Friend Definition (background), CL496 Layered Flowers, CL497 Find Joy (sentiment)
Paper : PTI cardstock
Watercolouring : Distress Inks Victorian Velvet, Scattered Straw, Spun Sugar, Spiced Marmalade, Worn Lipstick & Perfect Pearls Grape Fizz & Pink Gumball
Ink : Versafine Onyx Black

Other : Zva Creative pearls

Hero Arts Cards

Hello again.  Today, I'm showing you some Hero Arts cards from the workshop at CHA.  I'm a long time fan of Hero Arts, but I've not used their stamps for sometime.  Perhaps it's because there are so many choices out there and sometimes, I feel the need for a change.

Nevertheless, there are some awesome stamps from the new Hero Arts releases for 2011.  I am loving a number of the stamps in their new catalogue and especially the Spring catalogue with the BasicGrey stamps (which coordinate with the new BasicGrey collections).

These are some of my favourites:

And, here are the cards:

There were quite a number of techniques involved making the cards, and I really enjoyed making every one of them.  We got to play with the new BasicGrey papers too - that was awesome.  Now I know, I must buy the 6x6 pads (my fav is Sweet Threads collection) when they are out.

I must show you the fabric flower made from the floral Hero Arts stamp (I persuaded the ladies at the Hero Arts booth to give me one).  I love it!  I don't sew very well, but I think I'd be tempted to try.

Have a great day!

Birthday Wishes

There are quite a number of birthdays to celebrate this month, so I've been busy with birthday cards.  And I had to make most of them in a great hurry.. yes, bit disorganised lately.. and hence, no photos.  But today, one card was captured by the camera before it got sent out.

Here it is:

I've been making a bunch of these easel cards for a friend, and just had to make one more.  The focal image was a stamp by My Favorite Things and coloured with copics (R81, R83, R85 (dress), B10 & B11 (background), Y15, YR15 (candles) and R02 and B02 & B00 (cake)).  The sentiment stamps are from an old Hero Arts set.  The blings are all the i-rock crystals. 

I'm off to make some wedding cards as well as another 2 birthday cards... wish me luck!

Have a good day!!

Stamps : My Favorite Things- You take the cake, Hero Arts CL139 Birthday wishes

Paper : Echo Park Paper - Sweet Summertime

Ink : Memento Tuxedo Black, Versafine Deep Lagoon, Copics

Others : Spellbinders Squares, Double ended Tags, organza ribbon, paper lace, i-rocks, Cuttlebug Embosing folder Seeing Spots