Hero Arts - Artistic Circles

The only thing better than getting new stamps in the mail is finding some old treasures in your stash - and that is what I did this weekend. I looked through my shoebox of wood-mounted stamps and found Artistic Circles from Hero Arts. I am pretty sure that this was the first background stamp I ever bought - and I bought it to make Christmas cards even though it isn't expressly a Christmas stamp.

I gently removed the stamp from it's wood mount and temporarily adhered in my Misti to play with it. The first card I made, I stamped in Versamark onto vellum and heat embossed in white. I then coloured the back side of the vellum with Copics in pink, red, yellow and orange to add some soft colours from the front. 

I created an open frame card using a SSS rectangle die, and sandwiched the vellum piece (with another one behind it) between the pieces. I finished the card with a silver glitter W&W die cut and a red strip of cardstock white embossed with a SSS greeting. It is hard to see in the picture - but I love the semi transparency of the vellum to see through to the inside of the card.

For the second card, I stamped the image in SSS Intense Black ink and then coloured the image selectively using a few shades of Copic pink. I then used the rectangles die from the SSS Frames set to inlay the panel with a black border into the card front. I love this die and technique because it creates the look of layers with a flat card front. I die cut the W&W thanks (one of my faves) several times from textures black cardstock and glued them together to create a dimensional greeting across the middle of the card. I finished off with some Wink of Stella on the pink parts and the greeting for a little bit of shimmer. I went back and forth over whether I should also add a few sparkling clear PPP sequins - but eventually decided that the image should take centre stage and left them off,

I will enter the following challenges:

• Hero Arts Holiday Cardmaking Challenge (second entry)
• Happy Little Stampers Christmas Card Challenge - the theme is embossing
• ATSAM - the Challenge is Make Your Mark
• Inkspirational - the challenge is black, white, and one other colour

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Jill

TIME OUT#69 - Inspired By Words

Our challenge at TIME OUT this week is all about being inspired by the following words:

'Give Thanks with a Grateful Heart'

A very seasonally appropriate quote as we are coming up to American Thanksgiving - and lots of different ways to interpret the words. Make sure you check out how our wonderful guest designer, Karren J of Stamping Stuff interpreted these words....

Here is what I did did with the quote:

I was originally going to make something more Autumn-inspired but then I thought about focusing on the heart part of the quote and I remembered this fabulous Winnie and Walter faceted heart from the True stamp set. I stamped it three times across the front of the panel using SSS Intense Black ink. I coloured it using 5 different colours of Winsor and Newton ProMarkers with a blender pen to create a rainbow. I also added some clear Wink of Stella over the colouring to give the hearts some shimmer. I finished the card with a simple strip of silver glitter across the bottom of the panel, and an Altenew sentiment.  This is one of my favourite cards of late - I am really happy with how it came together :) I will link it up to:

• Winnie and Water ReRun challenge - I took my inspiration from the CAS design and the rainbow of Gayatri's card
• Addicted to Stamps and More - Make Your Mark Challenge
• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by!
Jill 

Sunday Cards

It has been a long time since I have shared any cards outside my DT ones but I do have a few to share today. First up, I finally got a start on some Christmas cards :)

I am not a coffee drinker but so many of my friends are that I couldn't resist the new Hero Arts Coffee Cut Stamp and Die combo to make some cards. I stamped, die cut and assembled the elements to make the coffee cups, and then I embellished the whipped cream and holly with some glitter (applied with multi medium) and sparkly gems. For the background, I die cut a stitched rectangle and used the "Peace Love Joy" from the HA Christmas Crystals set. On the vertical card, I stamped them lined up, and on the horizontal card, I stamped them in a more random and overlapped manner. I used matching cardstock for the card base.

I will link these cards up to a few places:

• Addicted to CAS has the code word COFFEE
• CAS-Ology has the cue card COFFEE
• Hero Arts Holiday Card Making Challenge
• Freshly Made Sketches - I used this week's sketch for the vertical card

The other card I am sharing is one that I made for my nephew's birthday. I used the  Your Next Stamp Happy Dance lizards - coloured with Copics and fussy cut  as the main image. I added in the Lil Inkers Happy Birthday die cut in black  and white embossed the greeting on top. The background was created with Wilted Violet Distress Ink and a stencil - with a few water splashes for fun.

I will link this card to:

• Your Next Stamp - Sketch and Color Challenge (I used the colours)
• Addicted to Stamps and More - Anything Goes

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Jill

TIME OUT#68 - CASE-ing Ardyth

We have another fabulous TIME OUT challenge - this week we are CASE-ing a really pretty card from Ardtyh. Her blog is Maskerade and she is always sharing amazing cards there. Here is the card she gave us to CASE:

We also have a great guest designer with us this week - Marina from My Perfect Life is sharing her inspiration so please stop by her blog.

Finally, if you didn't see the news last week, we have two new DT members - Stephanie and Jenny will be joining us! I am so happy that they have decided to join us!

My card for this CASE - and I have to apologize for the poor photo quality - we are moving into that time of year when I really struggle with the light.

There are so many great elements to CASE in Ardyth's card that I incorporated almost all of them into this card - it is shamelessly more of a copy than a CASE!!! I used Clearly Besotted's Brushed Poppies for the image. I love this stamp set - I think it was the first layering set I ever bought but I am still amazed at the results. I loved the glitter on Ardyth's card - so I added some to mine as well - applied to a strip of Be Creative across the bottom and also to some drops of Glossy Accents. The greeting is from W+9.

So please join us at TIME OUT for this wonderful CASE Challenge!
Thanks for stopping by!
Jill

TIME OUT#68 - CASE-ing Ardyth

We have another fabulous TIME OUT challenge - this week we are CASE-ing a really pretty card from Ardtyh. Her blog is Maskerade and she is always sharing amazing cards there. Here is the card she gave us to CASE:

We also have a great guest designer with us this week - Marina from My Perfect Life is sharing her inspiration so please stop by her blog.

Finally, if you didn't see the news last week, we have two new DT members - Stephanie and Jenny will be joining us! I am so happy that they have decided to join us!

My card for this CASE - and I have to apologize for the poor photo quality - we are moving into that time of year when I really struggle with the light.

There are so many great elements to CASE in Ardyth's card that I incorporated almost all of them into this card - it is shamelessly more of a copy than a CASE!!! I used Clearly Besotted's Brushed Poppies for the image. I love this stamp set - I think it was the first layering set I ever bought but I am still amazed at the results. I loved the glitter on Ardyth's card - so I added some to mine as well - applied to a strip of Be Creative across the bottom and also to some drops of Glossy Accents. The greeting is from W+9.

So please join us at TIME OUT for this wonderful CASE Challenge!
Thanks for stopping by!
Jill