Hi everyone, Shari Carroll here.  This is the final day for the “Win a Day on the Hero Blog” and I’ve been waiting ever so impatiently (all week) to introduce you to the very talented Julie Dudley.

I’m excited to get started as Julie has conjured up some tasty blog candy for you all to enjoy.  Thanks Julie, you rock!  Here’s a chance to get to know my special guest from down under:

Q1: What is your favorite stamping technique? (Simple stamping, embossing, collage, etc.)

Julie: My favorite stamping technique is to use my watercolors and 3D my images if I can.

Q2: What is your “go-to” color combination?

Julie: It’s most definitely the earthy colors. Browns and greens.

Q3: What are your favorite Hero Arts embellishments? (Gems, pearls, buttons, etc.)

Julie: I just love my stash of buttons and would probably use them the most.

Q4: What inspires you?

Julie: I am inspired by a lot of things but lately it has been my photos. I also get lots of inspiration from checking out the galleries and blogs of my favorite scrappers and cardies.

Q5: What is your favorite dessert?

Julie: It has to be cheesecake all the way.

Yum, cheesecake is one of my favorites too.  When I received the list of stamps that Julie wanted to work with, I was thrilled, she picked some of my top choices.  But when I feasted my eyes on this Halloween treat bag, I was blown away.  This is absolutely amazing!

Here’s a close-up.

I decided to use this owl in a completely different way.  I wanted it/him to “stand” on his own.

Featured Supplies:

• Big Owl
• Other:  patterned paper (Basic Grey and SEI), letters (American Crafts and Carolee’s Creations), scallop punch (Fiskars),  unknown Halloween die cuts and trims, buttons, watercolor pencils, color pencils

Tips for Julie’s Treat Bag: This is a great opportunity to reuse paper bags from the store.  With a little love and attention, a ghoulish owl mixed with papers and trim can transform an ordinary sack into a treasured holiday keepsake.

Tips for Shari’s Owl Card: A larger image can become a mini card by just affixing it to cardstock and cutting around the edges.  The key is to leave the fold uncut at the fold on top of the ears.

Next is another favorite card that Julie sent me.  Her simplicity and color combination is just perfect.

I was inspired completely by Julie’s design and stamped up a clear tag.

Featured Supplies:

• Clear Design Four Bold Messages
• Clear Design Share Laughter
• White StazOn
• Other:  patterned paper (SEI), (Basic Grey), flower (Prima), clear tag (Clearscraps), button

Tips for Julie’s Card: Julie’s card would be perfect for making several at a time.  By changing colors and using all four stamps from the set, a batch of cards can be made in no time.

Tips for Shari’s Tag: Tags can be used on cards and layouts or just by them selves.  By stamping on acetate, any color cardstock or printed paper can be placed behind for a completely different look.

I love this layout and how Julie created a grouping with the pictures and journal stamp.

I used only a portion of the stamp (Calendar) for my scenic type photograph.

Featured Supplies:

• Adventure Journal
• Basic Lowercase Letters
• Other: patterned paper (Basic Grey, Sassafras Lass, My Minds Eye), letters (American Crafts, Making Memories), scallop edge punch (Fiskars), flowers (Prima)

Tips for Julie’s Layout: One simple journal stamp image can set the stage for a complete layout.  Add photos, trimmings and title letters in a grouping.

Tips for Shari’s Layout: Use stamp portions that might fit the photograph in a more appropriate manner.  In this case, a scenic seasonal photo may not require as much journaling. Use small letters as a subtitle.

Enabling alert! As with all of the stamps shown on the blog this week, today’s featured stamps are all RIGHT HERE in the store!

Are you ready for a GIVEAWAY?  To honor Julie and her love for little letters, I decided a very functional alphabet set would be fitting.  Three lucky winners will be able to create their own little tiles with the Basic Lower Case set of letters.

To enter, just leave a note for Julie here on today’s post.  We will announce the winners on Saturday morning.  Good luck!  There’s still time to enter the challenge this week, remember you have until 11:59pm PST on Sunday. Read more about the challenge details on Monday’s post here.

Julie, when artwork started appearing in the Hero Arts Flickr pool shortly after we started this blog, I was instantly drawn to your work. Your style sings to me in several ways from your color combinations, card and layout designs, to the attention to detail you always incorporate into your artwork. You were a natural fit for me to choose to spend a day with. It has been such a pleasure to work with you for this day of challenges.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.  If you’d like to see more of what Julie’s up to, you can check out her blog here.

And here’s a little note from Julie:

I want to say a big thank you to both Hero Arts and Shari for the opportunity to share a piece of me with you. Being a part of the Hero Arts blog even if only for a day has been an awesome experience. I have had fun putting together these projects and I can’t wait to see the creations you put together for this weeks challenge.

Have a great weekend, and I’ll see you next week.

Filed under: inspiredby

This entry was posted on Friday, November 7th, 2008 at 4:33 am and is filed under Fun Fridays. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.