Paper, Scissors and Superheroes

Coming up roses...

Hey there!  Sorry it's been nearly 2 weeks since my last post.  Don't you hate it when real life gets in the way of the fun stuff in life, like crafting and stamping?  :-)  We've been dealing with a few things around here...my husband ruptured a disc in his back, which has him in complete misery...and I had some week-long flu bug that turned into another week-long sinus infection.  So needless to say, there hasn't been much time, energy, or creativity for making stuff!  And the near future is a little up in the air...hubby has to see a surgeon tomorrow to determine what's happening on that front...surgery or PT, or something else. We're just anxious to get some answers and hopefully get him some relief!  So if I'm not around as much as usual, that's the deal-io!  

But for today, I do have some fun cards to share....maybe even if life isn't all roses, my cards still can be!  :-)  I have been eyeing this stamp set from Hero Arts/Basic Grey since I saw the CHA peeks back in Jan/Feb and I was excited to finally get my hands on it and put it to use!  I think that rose stamp is the most ingenious thing I've seen in a long time.  I love the way part of the rubber is etched to give a two-tone look...combine it with the fact that it's a rose (a huge favorite of late!) and I'm completely in love!  

The stamp is made to coordinate with Basic Grey's Konnichiwa line, which was one of my favorite collections of the 2012 CHA releases...the colors are just so juicy and fresh!  I combined both the stamp and the Konnichiwa papers on this first card.  

The sentiment is also from a Hero set...the Cheer Up set, which has lots of great sentiments.  Here I embossed it with some Leaf Zing powder and accented the "O" with a rose that I hand-cut from patterned paper.

I also snagged this new background set from Hero -- the Radiant Banner stamp, which also caught my eye the first time I saw it.  The stamp is designed to give your ink a gradient look.   Super fun!  It's like an instant card...you don't need to add a whole lot when you start out with a super cool background like that!  I stamped that same rose image over the top and this time embossed it with Rouge Zing powder.

I took some Twinkling H2Os and added a bit of color to the inside of the roses and leaves.  The butterfly was cut from some papers from the Konnichiwa 6x6 pad using PTI's Beautiful Butterflies dies.  Super simple!

That's all for today.  I will be back tomorrow with a Go-to Gal blog hop featuring some Bazzill products!  

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A page, a card, and a deal....

TGIF!  Are you staying warm and dry and out of the way of the big snowstorm that's tracking across the country?  It looks like it will miss us (darn...was kind of in the mood to get snowed in!).  

I'm just popping in to share a few things today.  First off, it's my turn to blog over on the Fancy Pants blog.  You can hop on over there to check out this layout I created which was inspired by Sophie Crespy (who is an amazing scrapper!).  I'm not sure I did her beautiful page justice, but you can click on over to the Fancy Pants blog to check it out.  :-) I used lots of the new goodies on this page.  Here's a peek...

I also have a super simple Valentine's card to share with you.  This card was actually made using a holiday stamp set - Happy Holidays by Hero, which coordinates with Basic Grey's Nordic Holiday collection.  And the best part?  It's marked down now since Christmas has come and gone...but it's a super cute set that could be used for so many things -- love the little houses and the folk art feel which is so hot right now!  (you can still get one HERE from Ellen Hutson)   

I stamped that cute folk art strip in shades of pink and red, then topped it off with the stamped heart and added a sentiment with alpha stickers.

One other thing to share....did you know that some of the new CHA product is already starting to roll in at 2 Peas?  The new My Mind's Eye collections are in the store and if you purchase $25 in new My Mind's Eye goodies you'll get a free gift.  I just snagged a whole stack of their new 6x6 pads.  I'm completely addicted to these!  I love new paper.  Just sayin'.  :-)  Here are the ones I got...

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Thanks for stopping by!

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Go-to Gal Holiday Blog Hop

Good morning!  You've probably already been keeping an eye on the Paper Crafts Connection and Moxie Fab World blogs this week with all of the Holiday Cards & More and World Card Making Day hoopla, right?  If not, be sure to head over there and check it out.  Lots of fun stuff...challenges, giveaways.  Yes, GIVEAWAYS.  

So here's the skinny.

The 2011 edition of Holiday Cards & More is now available for purchase HERE.  

(Gosh, that spool tree is just the cutest thing, isn't it??)

World Card Making Day (WCMD) is this Saturday, October 1st.  WCMD officially kicks off the holiday card making season.  Are you ready?  Do you have a plan?  

Check out the WCMD website for lots of fun stuff...the big WCMD contest, the blog tour (add your link!) as well as tons of projects, including a gallery for you to share your creations.

 

So, I mentioned giveaways a bit ago.  Read on.

My fellow Go-to Gals and I are playing around with some Hero Arts/Basic Grey goodies today.  Each of us selected one of the Nordic Holiday stamp sets to create a card with.  I selected this pretty Poinsettia and Berries set.

 

And here is my card...

I stamped the solid poinsettia image using Latte ink (A Muse Studio) and let them fade into the background a bit for a different take on the typical red poinsettia.  I then stamped the solid leaf and the berry images around the corners.  I topped it off with a label from one of the other Nordic Holiday sets and some patterned paper from the coordinating 6x6 Nordic Holiday pad.  The dove is from the Nordic Holiday Element sticker sheet.  The sentiment is from PTI.  

Ok, so what about this giveaway I keep talking about?  Each Go-to Gal is featuring a Nordic Holiday Basic Grey/Hero stamp set...

Each Go-to Gal is also giving away one of those sets!  

Leave a comment here telling me if you have something fun planned for this weekend's World Card Making Day....and I'll select one winner to receive the Poinsettia and Berries stamp set PLUS a copy of the new Holiday Cards & More!  

Comments must be received by 5:00pm MDT on Thursday, September 29.

Now go hop around to the other 5 Go-to Gals and see what they've created with their selected stamp set.  Be sure to leave each of them a comment for your chance to win!

• Julie Campbell
• Windy Robinson
• Jennifer McGuire
• Kim Kesti
• Teri Anderson

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Tuesday's flowers....

We are having a wonderful Tuesday here.  I hope you are too.  It's cooled down a little here and we could actually go outside this afternoon and hit the pool for a bit.  It's been just simply too hot to be outside...even at the pool.  Today is better though and there's even a little rainshower building over us.  Our poor lawn needs it so badly!  

I have another little project for you today.  This was a quick card that I whipped up using some supplies that were left laying on my table after making these rose cards the other day.  The doily embossed cardstock was something I had tossed in my scrap basket after making my Stamp-A-Faire Iconic Images card, so this came together very quickly.

I used the same Hero Rose Background that I used the other day, this time just stamped in Fresh Snow ink.  The doily impression is the Parisian Doily die from Papertrey.  I just put my embossing mats under it when I ran it through my machine so it embossed instead of cut.  I love the way that looks!  Just another use for one of my already favorite dies.  The sentiment is the same as I used the other day as well...Technique Tuesday's This is the Day.  Love that stamp...it has such a pretty mix of fonts, besides that the sentiment itself is great.  

Time for me to head out.  We've got paper route to do today!  Later!  

Hey pretty lady...

Happy Monday!  Are you feeling refreshed and ready to start a new week?  I am.  We had a nice weekend and I totally ditched any kind of work, so now I'm ready to dig in again on this bright and shiny Monday morning.  

Just a few cards today that I created a while back.  I used the really pretty lady silhouette stamp from Hero Arts and dressed her up in gems for both of these cards.  This first one would be perfect to give to a girlfriend or daughter on her wedding day.  The sentiment is from Papertrey's Tag-its #5....which seems to be quickly becoming one of my favorite sets lately!

This second one uses the same silhouette stamp along with a Hero Arts "thinking of you" stamp and some distressed Ocean Tides cardstock I found in my scrap bucket.  

Speaking of scraps, I've been doing some organizing.  The gals on the Papertrey board were discussing cutting all of their papers into 6x6 pieces since they are cardmakers only and don't scrapbook.  While I don't think I could cut all of my 12x12's into pieces as I do scrapbook, I decided this was a great solution for my scraps.  So I sorted, cut and put them in baskets by color.  I'm loving it!  I'll have to show you pics sometime..thanks for the inspiration, ladies!  :-)

Wishing you a productive Monday!

Summer Card Camp....

Hey everybody!   I'm taking a break from the June Papertrey countdown festivities to bring you a special announcement.  Fellow Go-to Gal Jennifer McGuire, along with Kristina Werner have put together an online card class called Summer Card Camp 2011.  Summer Card Camp is 4-week workshop loaded with fresh color combos, cutting edge techniques, and versatile sketches that will leave you feeling inspired to create! Summer Card Camp is your all-access pass to 48 new card ideas, daily PDFs, twice weekly videos, guest designers (including me!), huge prizes and access to a private blog where you can share your own creations. For more information and to register, visit http://onlinecardclasses.com/summercardcamp2011/classinfo.html. 

Registration is open now and the class begins on June 27.  

As a perk for being one of her guests, I have 3 spots in the class to give away! Just leave a comment on this post by Monday night, June 13 at midnight CST.  I'll choose 3 random winners and will post them here on my blog on Tuesday, June 14. If you are picked as a winner and have already signed up, you will be given a refund.

And since we're talking about summer, what's more summer than the 4th of July?  Here's a little patriotic number for your enjoyment.  

Who besides me grew up in a small town where you could actually ride your bike in the 4th of July parade if you wanted?  :-)  Love the Hero bike stamp and the est. 1776 Papertrey set!

Thanks for stopping by!

Other not linked:  Stampin' Up! Ballet Blue ink

I've got a notion...

I'm just loving the sewing trend in paper crafting goodies.  Maybe becuase I remember my mom sewing when I was a little girl.  I remember her laying out her fabric on the dining room table and carefully measuring and pinning the pattern pieces.  I can still remember the sound of her good scissors...the one I was NEVER allowed to cut paper with :-)...on the table as she cut through the fabric.  And then she would stitch all of those pieces together...I loved to watch the process of her turning a flat piece of fabric into something for one of us to wear, or something for our home.  

Anyway, I seem to be drawn to these motifs...I love this set of chipboard from Maya Road...that little sewing machine is so sweet.  

I trimmed the ruler image from a piece of very masculine paper...from Graphic 45's Proper Gentleman collection...you'd never guess it, would you?  I love finding unexpected uses for products.  

I used Papertrey's Persian Lace doily in the background, stamped with one of my new favorite stamp images...the rose from the Hero Art/Basic Grey Hello Luscious stamp set.  The sentiment is from Papertrey's Postmarks set...love the vintagey font.

Hello Luscious Patterned Flowers	Postmarks Stamp Set	Vintage Cream Cardstock	Rustic Cream	Sweet Blush Ink
True Black Ink	Graphic 45 Proper Gentleman	Graphic 45 Man About Town	J'adore Lost and Found from My Mind's Eye	Rustic Cream Twine
Basic Grey Square Bling Blush	Tim Holtz Ornate Book Plates	Sew Cute Mini Chipboard	Blank Canvas Studio Paint	Vintage Touch Tea Dye Duo
Parisian Lace Doily Die	Scrappy Glue	ATG Gun	Big Shot

Just saying hello...

Hey there!  

Thanks so much to all of you that played along with the Card Creations 9 Blog Hop!  I hope you were inspired to get crafty and go make something!  I think it's time for a winner...

 

Random.org chose commenter #45 who was...

Rebecca!  Who said...

OMG! This is beautiful!! I love it!

Posted by: Rebecca | May 20, 2011 at 09:53 AM

Rebecca....drop me an e-mail using the link on the left side bar and I'll make sure your issue is on its way to you!  

Now how about a card for this Monday morning?  I created this using some fun Hero Arts stamps that I've been itching to try out...

This was a quick and easy card.  I used the adorable background from Hero Arts, along with this fun sentiment label.  The flowers are a chipboard accent from October Afternoon's 5 and Dime...

(click on photos for links)

Hero Edged Fabric with Flowers	Hero Cling Messages	Sweet Blush Cardstock	Vintage Cream Cardstock
Simply Chartreuse Cardstock	Pure Poppy Ink	October Afternoon 5 and Dime Chip 'n Stick

Have a great Monday!  The weather is GORGEOUS here!!  Yay!