Welcome back! I hope you’re enjoying the week so far, it’s going by so fast!
The focus of today’s card uses trimmings of string, ribbon, scrap paper, the cut out hole, plus I used Holiday felt accessories. Think of this as an example of putting it all together.
Here’s a little shot of the snowflake detail. Hopefully you can see how the string lays in between the two felt snowflakes.
Hi everyone! Today is “Watch it Wednesday”, and I have a video for you showing how to create a neat look with glitter and acetate — it almost looks like stained glass. This technique works great for flowers, butterflies and…Christmas ornaments!
Here’s the card that I’ll be showing you — it may look complicated, but it’s really simple:
Other: glitter, liquid glue (Elmer’s, Martha Stewart glitter glue, Diamond Glaze by JudiKins, and Glossy Accents by Ranger all work great!)
Glittery Tips:
This is a great card to make in multiples. Do each step assembly line fashion and you’ll soon have a stack of glittery goodness all ready to send!
I haven’t had much success doing this technique with glitter glue — I think it’s because the glitter isn’t dense enough in the glue to make a solid covering. I do love glitter glue for other projects though since there’s less mess.
Try this same technique with embellishments such as Ornament Gems or Holly Gems — it adds glitter to your bling, and you can use the acetate sheet that they are packaged on! Can’t beat that.
Now, how about a giveaway? One random winner will receive ALL OF THE STAMPS needed to make this card! That’s these THREE yummy stamps — just add glitter!
Woo hoo! To enter, just leave a comment on this post telling us the kind of stamps you find yourself reaching for most often throughout the year — is it birthday, thank-you, flowers, flourishes, butterflies, owls, or…?
The lucky winner will be announced on Friday — so you’ll have plenty of time to get those comments in. And! Friday we’ll also have the next sneak peek of the Hero Arts 2010 Catalog — don’t miss it!
See you tomorrow, when Leslie will announce the winner’s of last week’s challenge.
Happy Wednesday everyone! Are you ready for some more color inspiring ideas to get your day started?
Today we are working with a somewhat traditional holiday color scheme with a few surprises thrown in. The red, green and blue are very much what we’d all expect in Christmas colors but have you ever tried adding touches of orange and yellow? Today, Jennifer and I both give it a try!
I did a layout today using this color scheme. It was a great combination of colors to work with two of my favorite Christmas photos of the kids from last year. For my main element on the page I used a Hero Arts digital kit for the ornament, I printed it out on photo paper for a nice sheen finish, then I cut it out with scissors and added to my page. Additional detailing was added with some stamping - then I embellished with chipboard, buttons and some red metallic decor.
If you are blocking out a page with squares and rectangles of paper, be sure to introduce some curves to the design like I did here (circle ornament, buttons, curved bottom photo corner). It softens things up a bit.
Sometimes when I am adding a long strip of ribbon to a page, I will cut a strip of sturdy cardstock first and adhere it to this first. This helps the ribbon go on perfectly straight and keeps the adhesive from seeping through the fabric of the ribbon.
Next we have some cards for you! Jennifer McGuire used a few of her favorite techniques to create these simple (but show stopping) holiday cards. Be sure to watch the video below showing how to color metallic decor, multi-ink a stamp and create a “kissed background.” I bet you’ll learn something new - I know I always do!
Happy middle of the week (already!) Today we’re kicking up our simple holiday designs with a little heat embossing. Embossing always gives a card that extra “something special”. Impressive results with minimal effort — definitely a good thing! And what’s better than a little silver and gold for the holidays? Today our Web Artists offer ideas for both!
First, Laura Griffin gold embossed poinsettias on a red ornament for the ultimate in simple holiday elegance. Laura says, “Whenever I mass-produce cards, I try to keep it simple. The new Hero Arts cling stamps are perfect for simple designs. When I first saw the Poinsettia Circle stamp, I knew it was meant to be a Christmas ornament! After heat embossing the image with gold powder onto a crimson notecard, I die-cut the circle, then added a custom topper complete with silk bow. Watch today’s video for details on how to make this card and for tips on mass-producing cards for the holiday season.”
Other: red silk ribbon, gold elastic cord, scallop edge scissors
Laura’s Tip: Need to create holiday cards for all your family and friends but daunted by the task? Break apart your stamping and cardmaking into segments so you don’t have to do it all in one day! Heat emboss all of your circles to start, then punch/diecut them out later. You can create an assembly line on another day to pull the finished cards together.
Now how about something silver for the holidays? Jacki Jones came up with a sophisticated design that combines a silver embossed tree with blue, green and white. Such a classy look! Jacki shares, “As much as I love to color, I rarely choose an image that requires a lot of coloring when I’m making multiples. I chose to emboss the Winter Pine in silver for a big impact with just a little effort. When making family Christmas cards, I create an assembly line and enlist other family members to help. With a little planning, this card is quickly and easily duplicated many, many times.”
Other: gingham ribbon, corner punch, mini glue dots
Jacki’s Tip: Consider the embellishments and how they are packaged before planning the card. I divided the package of Silver Metallic Decor, so that I could get four cards from each package by using both sizes on each card.
And that’s a wrap for this Wednesday. I hope these ideas have inspired you to grab — or perhaps dust off — your embossing gun and powders. Have a great day, everyone!
P.S. Don’t forget…there’s still a chance to win one of two great prizes on yesterday’s post!
Paper tearing is so much fun and very freeing. You never know exactly how the paper is going to tear so you just have to be creative on the spot. It becomes more of an art project – not perfect corners, just lots of fun tearing and gluing.
I was having so much fun, I had a hard time deciding which techniques to include on today’s video. I added a few inking ideas too. You all probably know these, but they are my favorites and I wanted to share them.
Here’s the “footprint” card shown in the video…yes you can make the baby feet without a baby.
Now, I have a question for you (this is a little hint at one of Friday’s projects!) Can you find vellum at your local store? Do you enjoy working with it? Let us know if you like using vellum paper and if it is readily available to you. We will randomly pick a winner and send a prize…and some vellum too!
Very often I find myself making tree cards for Christmas. However, a snowflake tree in Palm Springs? I don’t think so! Instead I took the Snowflake Tree and stamped it in various greens instead of the white it suggests. Here are three different variations on my green tree.
My pink and green design (I’ll always love those colors…I could be Lilly Pulitzer!) is up first. Very simple but effective.
Other: ribbon, permanent marker to color gem, green scrap, sewing machine
The last one is stamped on lightly printed patterned paper. Piece it together with some other stamping and a punched border. Then add one of our new Poinsettia Art Flowers and some gems.
Other: printed paper, EK Success Martha Stewart border punch
One of my other jobs last week was to create a craft to use for perhaps a Christmas gift. I had so much fun making it, I decided to show you just how simple making a stamped bracelet could be. (Click HERE for complete supplies and instructions.) So for today’s video, here is a little peek at how I did it.
And as we mentioned last week, the folks at DiyBangles.com are giving our blog readers a special deal! Just click HERE and enter the coupon code HEROARTS-ARTIST$12 upon checkout for $12 off a $25 purchase of bangles, beads or wood shapes.
Tami will be here tomorrow to announce the Paper Piecing Challenge winners, so I’ll see you on Friday!
Hi everyone! Are you ready for some morepaper piecing ideas? I have lots of paper piecing goodness to share with you today (plus a video) so let’s get right to it!
To kick things off, I bring you Laura Griffin and her adorable skating mouse card. Mr. Mouse looks so cute all dressed up for winter! Here’s Laura with more: “When it comes to paper piecing, only your imagination is the limit! You can stamp your own textures, use patterned paper, or just stamp elements onto plain cardstock for a fun layered look. When Tami asked me to create a design for this week’s theme, I knew I had to use Hero’s new Dancing Mouse image. I think he looks a little more like a skater, don’t you? He’s been dying to go for a spin around the local pond bundled in his favorite winter scarf and sweater.”
Other: Copic markers, patterned paper (Making Memories), black ink, white cardstock, McGill retro word window punch
Now, watch Laura’s video below to learn more about paper piecing, as well as creating your own free-form elements like the icy pond shown on her card.
Next, I created a card with the same sentiment as Laura’s and decided to pair it with the tree from the Clear Design: Holiday Dolls set. The “zig-zaggy” nature of this tree is great for piecing. Just trim right along the dotted garland sections and reassemble. I thought it would be fun to give the tree some personality, so half of the tree is pieced with green grid patterned paper and the other half is pieced with a design I stamped — the Antique Flower Background. I ended up creating another tree with the leftover pieces, couldn’t let them go to waste!
Did you notice the other bit of piecing here? It’s the scalloped rectangle from the Clear Design: Large Christmas Tags, which makes not only a great tag, but a great image frame as well. I stamped the image once in Broken China ink onto white cardstock and again in black ink on kraft dot paper to capture the inner frame portion.
Other: cardstock, patterned paper (stripe - American Crafts, kraft dot - Making Memories, green grid - Colorbok), Bazzill Dotted Swiss white cardstock, white pen, paper piercer, Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers)
Last but not least, I invited Kelly Rasmussen to come play, and here’s the super sweet baby card she came up with. She pieced both the boat and the Write Your Own stamp — double the piecing, double the cuteness! She again shows how stamping the pieces onto small-scale patterned papers can give great results.
Other: cardstock, patterned paper, buttons, scallop border punch, brown ink, pop dots
I hope you’re feeling inspired to try some paper piecing this week! I’m impressed with the wonderful paper pieced cards that are popping up in the Flickr group. Awesome! Remember, you have until this Sunday at 11:59pm PST to submit your creations for the challenge.
Shari will be here tomorrow to announce the winners of her ATC challenge and I’ll be back on Friday with more paper piecing ideas…with a twist!
Oh what a fun week this is. The flickr gallery is loaded with some Fabulous ATC’s already and we’re only three days into the week. Awesome work everyone! For those of you who might just be joining us, this week is dedicated to ATC’s (Artist Trading Cards). The cards measure 2.5″ x 3.5″ or 6 cm x 9 cm. They are used for trading with other artists and sharing. Some of you asked what goes on the back, I usually put my name, the occasion or date and stamps used.
Today I thought I’d visit Winter with some fun ATC’s with Christmas and snow. But first I’ve got a video for you. Have you ever wondered how we stamp a complete background of little stamps? Take a peek, it’s so easy!
Here’s the ATC I made in the video. I love these new Poinsettia Art Flowers, they’re so delicate! I thought I’d change things up a bit and only round three of the corners.
I had a lot of fun with this next one! This bird is so CUTE!! I’ve done some basic stamping, coloring with pencils and cutting. I like the clean lines of it.
Other: Corrugated cardstock from The Paper Company, Blue Dot from Bo Bunny, index card, cardstock, sewing supplies
This is a quick Hybrid digital ATC. I printed out the sentiment, cut it out, edged it with ink, then layered it onto some yummy Basic Grey paper with felt and gemstone snowflakes.
Okay, this Santa is great!!! At first I thought he might be too big for an ATC. But after I cut off his boots and let his leggings go to the edge, I think it really works. You never know what will work until you try it.
You still have time to get your entries in for the HeroArtsATC challenge. Just load your card to the Flickr group pool by 11:59 EST on Sunday, Oct 4th to be eligible for our fantastic prizes. To view more challenge information check out the link HERE.
Swap Announcement: On Monday I mentioned that we are going to have our first ever Hero Arts ATC swap. I’ve put together some guidelines for you to look over before we open the sign-ups. Here you go!
Hero Arts ATC SWAP Guidelines: Sign-ups will begin Oct 2nd at 11:00 am EST. in the flickr group discussion area here. We will have four separate threads designated by countries. Please sign -up in your home country thread. We will be swapping with the first 200 people who sign up. Each thread will have additional information for you to follow.
A little about the swap: Create 10 FRIENDSHIP THEMED ATC’s (keep one for yourself). An ATC is 2.5 inches x 3.5 inches (6cm x 9 cm or 64mm x 89mm). It can be vertical or horizontal, with square or rounded corners. Design your cards to show off your artistic style. Keep in mind the bulk of your cards as they may be put into protective sleeves. Put your name, Hero Arts ATC Swap, date and stamp info on the back of your cards. Mail your ATC’s to your hostess by Oct 23, 2009. You hostess will sort and put them together in bundles to ship back to you by November 1st. Note: Please use at least one Hero Arts Stamp on your ATC. The swap is separate from the challenge.
Thanks everyone for a fantastic week, I’m heading out tomorrow to Houston for a trade show and will be blogging from there on Friday. I’ve got a HUGE day planned with special guests, plus I’ll be announcing the winner of Tuesday’s 7Gypsies give away, stay tuned! Nancy will be here tomorrow to announce her Photo Card challenge winners, good luck everyone!
I know you all were expecting a Wednesday video with your morning coffee: and I had it all ready for you. However; my computer decided to take the morning off and act like a spoiled child. I apologize for my “technical spoiled child” and hope he is out of time out by noon PDT.
Show your support for Hero Arts by adding one of these blinkies to your blog!
Then, add a comment HERE to this post to let us know. You never know when we'll be giving away goodies...!
