Watercoloured Backgrounds

I could play for hours with watercolour paints and paper. Watching the colours mix and move, never knowing exactly how it will turn out. Oh, happy days!

Then I end up with all sorts of watercoloured pieces that I don't use right away so they sit in my drawer for some future card. But then I get the inkling to play with the paints again and the vicious cycle repeats itself.

Case in point, I wanted to play in Papertrey Inks Make It Monday Watercoloured Background Challenge. I had oodles of backgrounds ready and waiting but oh no, I decided I needed to paint a fresh and new background. So I made one and thought maybe I would use two on my card, so I made another. And another, until I had seven background pieces. Was it necessary? No, but I had a ball making them!!!

I used two watercoloured pieces for this card. Some pinks, corals and yellow for the sentiment piece and yellow and pink for the card background.

The sentiment from Stylish Sentiments Birthday was white embossed and the dotted lines from Background Basics Retro was clear embossed over pigment ink. I clear embossed stars onto the background and added a bunch of iridescent sequins.

I'm going to try and make another card for the challenge with one of the pieces I painted last night. Hopefully I'll be able to control myself from pulling out the watercolours again!

Thanks for visiting, I appreciate all the comments you leave for me!

Beat The Winter Blues Blog Hop!

Hi everyone!

We're so excited to be here today, because it's time to BEAT THE WINTER BLUES with a blog hop, celebrating a huge sale at one of our favorite online crafty retailers on etsy,  a2zScrapbooking .

Their Sale section is jam-packed full of Hero Arts items that are 50% off!!

As if that's not enough, we have an extra discount code for an extra 20% off your entire purchase!!! 

So hop along with us today (February 21st), to see some fantastic, inspirational projects made using products you'll find in the a2z Sale Section!

Be sure to comment on each of the blogs, "LIKE" our Facebook page, and enter below using the Rafflecopter widget, to increase your chances of winning a gift certificate of $25.00!!!  You have until February 28th midnight, to comment and get extra entries via Rafflecopter. Now that's sure to beat those wintery blues!

Here is the list of Hoppers! If you get lost along the way or encounter a broken link, please come back here for the full list!

Elizabeth

Sue  - you are here

Haven 

Kelly 

Steph 

Cris 

Mary Dawn 

Lucy 

Stacia 

Michelle 

Lisa 

Christine 

Linda 

Now that you have all the info, let's get started!

I made three cards today, featuring some of my fave Hero Arts stamps.

 

For this first card I used the Wildflower Garden stamp with Sunflower Sparkle Perfect Pearls. Love the rich shine on the black card stock.  For the background I did tone-on-tone stamping with Small Scallop Background, a perfect image for adding subtle texture and interest to any card.

I made this card for my teenage nephew.

I white embossed the Tweed Pattern on watercolour paper and swiped on various Distress Ink colours diagonally in greens and blues and sprayed it with water so they would blend together.  Three different sentiments were embossed onto vellum and added across the card front.

My final card was made using the image from Merriest Christmas Wishes.  

 
Although this stamp was meant to be used for the holidays I think it can be used year round. 

I used Perfect Pearls again, though this time in purples and blues on black card stock to create a night scene.  For the background I once again used one of my staples, the Small Scallop Background.

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  Your next stop on the hop is Haven. 

Remember to leave comments along the way and enter the Rafflecopter contest for your chance at a prize.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Please note the terms and conditions:

• Minimum purchase of $25.00 in order to receive the 20% off. (no minimum purchase required to receive the original 50% off discount)
• The code A2ZHop20 will be good for February 21-28
• If you spend $50.00 or more, you will also get a free gift with your purchase!!!
• You have until Midnight February 28th to enter via the Rafflecopter widget.
• Winners will be drawn randomly and will be contacted via email, by March 5th.
• Please ensure you leave a current email address with your entry, so that we can contact you! Be sure to check your email, to see if you've won!
• Any winners who are contacted, but who do not reply with their full details (so we can organize their prize) by March 10th, will forfeit their prize and new winners will be drawn.

It's Roy G. Biv at A Blog Named Hero

Who is Roy G. Biv, you ask? It's not really a who, but a what.  It's the acronym that stands for Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet, the colours that are found in the rainbow.  That's right, the current challenge over at A Blog Named Hero is rainbow.  We know how much you love rainbows!

Today we're using Hero Arts and Elle's Studio products on our projects.  The Elle's Studio goodies are from the Love You More Collection and they include some wonderful rainbow inspired papers.

I couldn't resist using Hero Arts Petals of Beauty stamp and colouring it with Memento and Marvy LePlume markers in colours that match the striped background paper.

I usually don't mix patterns but thought the dotted paper was a nice contrast to the diagonal stripes.  I also added the "love" tag and the "you" stamp, both from the same Elle's Studio Love You More Collection.

Now it's your turn to wow us with some rainbow projects.  You have two weeks to enter the challenge and a random winner will receive a gift voucher from Simon Says Stamp.

Make sure you stop by A Blog Named Hero to check out the fabulous projects by the other design team members.

Thanks for visiting today!

InLinkz.com

A Blog Named Hero Post

I'm up with His/Her Valentine's Day cards over at A Blog Named Hero. I hope you drop by for a visit.

Embossed Embossing

This is my last card for the Stenciled Online Card Class and I'm using the technique of heat embossing the stencil embossing paste.

I used a Turquoise Tapestry Embossing Powder that has little flecks of gold and black in it along with a fun brass stencil called Organic Texture.

The photo doesn't capture the raised embossing very well, but it's so cool in person.

Thanks for dropping by today!

Scribbled Butterflies

One more card for the Stenciled Online Card Class.

Kristina's scribbled hearts card in class looked so cool so I adapted the technique for my card with butterflies and by using two colours on each butterfly instead of just one.  It's a simple and fun technique and would be great to do with kids.

Off to make another card for class. Thanks for dropping by!

Stenciled Heart

I'm back with another card for the Stenciled Class.  I'm behind on my "homework" but I am having fun playing catch-up.

For this card I created a stencil from Impression Obsession's Heart of Hearts Die by running it through my Vagabond with some transparency film.  It's another great way to get more mileage from your dies.

I used the stencil to clear emboss the heart and added Distress Inks ontop.  With a little water flicking (ok, maybe a lot) and some distressing to the edges, my card was done.

I'm also entering this in Simon Says Anything Goes with Twine or String Challenge.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Stenciled

Still working on Day 1 cards from the Stenciled Online Card Class.  I'm a little behind but am glad this class gives more time to work on my cards.

I used sprays for this card and actually only own two sprays, both by Dylusions in London Blue and Fresh Lime.  I love how the colours combined on this totally fun card.

Thanks for stopping by and visiting!

Stenciled Class Day 1

Quickie post for my card for the Online Card Classes, Stenciled.  There's so many great tips and videos and you can still sign up for the class here.

I don't have a lot of stencils but I love this fun circle one.  I made a stencil using a design from the Silhouette store and cut it on my Silhouette Cameo.  This one is called Bubbles Mask #42010.

Thanks for visiting today, I appreciate every wonderful comment you leave!

It's A Hero Arts Hostess Hop!

Welcome to the final day of the Hero Arts Hostess Blog Hop.  I'm so happy you could join in all the fun inspiration provided by this awesome group of stampers.

You should be arriving from Vera's blog, but if you've just joined us you can start at the beginning of the hop here. Remember to comment on any of the blogs during this weeks hop for a chance to win some fabulous goodies from the new 2014 Hero Arts collection.

My first card features the Petals of Beauty stamp, it's such a perfect name for this image.


I coloured right on the stamp using Memento Markers and stamped onto glossy paper.  The image was cut into three pieces and layered onto charcoal paper with some foam adhesive.  This was layered onto pool paper that was clear embossed with the Five Lines Background.  For the sentiment, I stamped it on vellum and wrapped it around the corner of the card stock.

Another card with Petals of Beauty.

This time I dug out my Perfect Pearls to use on the card.  The flower and sentiment were inked with Versamark and then coloured with Perfect Pearls.  I wish you could see just how pretty the shimmer is on the black cardstock.  The card base was stamped with the Five Lines Border, you can see the pattern peeking through on the scallops.

My next card is all about fun.


I masked off a centre portion of the card stock and randomly stamped two of the circle images from Dauber Bunch.  I inked up sponge daubers and used them to colour in the circles.  Because of the free-form shape of the circles, it's okay to colour outside of the lines!  I also used the Wink of Stella pen in clear to go over all the circles for some added sparkle.

I inked up the sentiment in black and stamped it in the centre of the masked off area and stamped it two more times but first stamped it off on scrap paper so I would get a lighter impression.  This way the complete sentiment stands out a little more in the darker ink.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today and for joining us all week long.  Your next stop is Cheiron's blog and it's the last one of the hop.

Have a great day!

Hero Arts Hostess Hop Next Week

The Hostesses are taking over the Hero Arts Blog next week and we hope you'll join in the fun!  We'll be having a hop each day of the week showcasing projects made with the new 2014 stamps. See you next week!

It's All New At A Blog Named Hero

Welcome to my first challenge of 2014 with A Blog Named Hero.  This challenge is about anything that's new to you.  New stamp, new products, new colour.

For my card I'm using a new stamp, Hero Arts Tiny Flags and a new technique to me, chalkboard.  To challenge myself even further, I wanted to make a masculine Valentine's Day card.  In my house that means no glitter, sparkle, gems, frills, lace or pink.


For the large heart I took the Tiny Flags stamp, inked it in Mint Julep and stamped it on white paper. Then I inked the stamp in navy and stamped it slightly off  from the green triangles, so they are slightly overlapping.

For the small heart I stamped the image in Mint Julep on Shallow Layering Paper, flipped the stamp around and inked it in navy and stamped.  This has the triangles pointing in two different directions while on the large heart they are pointing in the same direction but offset a bit.

It's hard to see it on the hearts but here's a close-up of the stamped papers.

I white embossed the sentiment and stamped the XOXO's and heart in Memories White Dye and Pigment inks and used my fingers and a cloth to smear some of the ink around and lighten the stamped images.  For a pop of colour I added a red heart paper clip in the corner (it's from a dollar store).

So now it's your turn to make a project using something "new".  You can link up your projects here and a random winner will be chosen to receive a gift voucher from the fabulous Simon Says Stamp.

Happy crafting and thanks for visiting today!

InLinkz.com