Hi everyone, I’m back and ready to announce the winners of last week’s “Little Things” Challenge.  First, a big “thank you” to everyone who participated.  The judges and I were so impressed with all of your creative ideas — you made those small stamps shine in the most clever ways!  Of course this made for another difficult week of judging, but that’s become par for the course with this talented group.

Now, here are our winners…

The Fresh Face prize this week goes to craft side of life –  just look at all the fun little animal stamps she incorporated into this cute card!

Our Scrapbooking winner is shannavineyard, who created this wonderful layout with a sweet little row of birds.  “So Tweet” indeed!

1st Place this week goes to scrapperjjb, who inspired the judges with her clever thank you card.  It may be small, but it sure packs a big creative punch.  The tire swing is just brilliant!

In 2nd Place we have an adorable creation by Pia Overgaard. Her playful “peeking owls” card is sure to bring a smile!  Pia also created a similar card with bunnies — take a look here.

And coming in 3rd Place is wteresa15 with this pretty springtime card featuring a clever flower pot.  We loved the details she added, and the colors are wonderful…

We’re not done quite yet — we’d like to give special recognition to some outstanding Honorable Mention creations too.

First, jaemom came up with a delightfully creative baby card.  We love how she used the flower image to make the chick — very clever!  This would also make an adorable Easter card.

Next, take a look at these color blocked beauties by stampstudio1.  What a great, simple grid design and amazing colors…

And finally, we have an Honorable Mention for debstamps.  She was really on a roll this week and submitted so many creative ideas. Here is one of them — a fantastic interactive Easter egg card that can be “cracked” open.  What fun!

The message inside…

Winners and honorable mentions, please email us at the address in the blog sidebar to claim your prizes.  Please include “Little Things Winner” in the subject line and include your mailing address.

Thanks again for joining me on the blog last week and for entering the challenge.  Shari will be back tomorrow with more terrific ideas for shaped cards.

See you next time,

The smallest of stamps can make a big impact…

• Monday: Ideas for using the new Ink ‘n’ Stamp Floral images.
• Tuesday: Two cards featuring stamps from the Ink ‘n’ Stamp Design Elements set.
• Wednesday: Decoupage egg project with step-by-step video tutorial.
• Friday: A scrapbook page and matching card.

Thanks for joining me this week, and I hope you have fun exploring the many possibilities of small stamps.  The weekly challenge will be open until tomorrow (Sunday) at 11:59pm PST. All of the challenge details can be found HERE on Monday’s post.

Do you have a blog?  If so, how about adding one of our new blinkies your blog this weekend!  We’ve decided to pick even MORE winners for random prize giveaways in the coming weeks.  For a chance, just go HERE, grab your favorite blinkie, post it to your blog, and then let us know about it by commenting on the original post HERE.

Enjoy the little things this weekend,

Hi everyone, today I’ll be sharing a matching scrapbook page and card for “Fun Friday”.  I love making scrapbook pages for my granddaughter and her new horse, Boo.

All the sentiments on this page are from the Clear Design Fancy Friendship set, which is perfect for girls and their horses.  The Winsome Pony was colored with colored pencils.

Instructions:

1. Mount the photo on beige cardstock. Stamp the sentiments on cream papers, using a larger piece for the pony image and “friendship” that can slide under the mounted photo.
2. Color the pony image to match the horse in the photo. Extend the grass around the pony using a fine line marker and green colored pencils.
3. Mount the sentiments on the cream page and add charms and horseshoe twill.

Tips:

• This page leaves plenty of space for Annie to write about the photograph shown. Although I would like to put in all the “mushy grandma stuff” I know it will be more fun for her to add the copy in her own words.   So for all you grandmas out there, consider making pages that your grandchildren can fill in on their own, it makes a much more personal scrapbook for them.
• Because the Winsome Pony stamp is a linear image you can color it to match the horse you are scrapbooking as I did.  Even the white star on Boo’s forehead can be duplicated.
• To continue this week’s theme of using small images, try substituting the twill ribbon with strips of paper that are stamped with images to match your page. This is a great way to use your tiniest images as well as the long thin paper scraps that we often throw away.  Or, try stamping on quilling strips of paper, which are available at most craft stores.

The matching card uses a blue notecard and knots of embroidery floss glued to the top of three coordinating buttons.

Supplies for Layout and Card:

• Clear Design Fancy Friendship
• Winsome Pony
• Neutral & Spring Card Buttons
• Memories Black Ink
• Other: brown, cream, blue & beige cardstock, colored pencils, fine line marker, horseshoe and message twill, horseshoe charms, embroidery floss

I’ll be back tomorrow with the wrap up. Until then, I hope that everyone is having fun creating for the “Little Things” Challenge.  You have until Sunday, March 8 at 11:59pm PST to submit your entries.

Have fun,

It is about time for Peter Cottontail to come hopping down the bunny trail, so today I’ll be showing you how to use your stamps to create some unique decoupage eggs.  These eggs require no refrigeration and can be hidden the night before without fear of your dogs and cats having a banquet while you sleep.

I have used plastic eggs (available at most craft stores) and coordinating tissue papers and inks to cover the eggs in patterns or messages.  For variety, I used a combination of small and medium sized images.  Here’s a video to take you through the process step-by-step…

The eggs shown at the beginning of the video can be made in a snap. The large striped egg was simply decorated with paper flowers, gemstones and a tag stamped with the new Happy Easter message. These can also be used as place cards for your holiday table. The smaller green striped egg is decorated with gemstones and a bow.

Supplies:

• Leaf Flourish
• Pop Art Designs
• Tiny Daisy
• Happy Easter Flowers
• Black and White Flowers
• Three Swirly Flourishes
• Gems
• Art Flowers
• Other: plastic eggs, StazOn ink (mustard, violet, brown), pigment ink (turquoise, orange, lilac), tissue paper (yellow, blue, pink), Mod Podge gloss-lustre, foam paintbrush, ribbon

Instructions:

1. Stamp overlapping images in different colors of ink on the tissue paper. After the paper has dried tear in small pieces.
2. Using a small foam brush cover an area of the egg with Mod Podge, add the pieces of torn paper and finish with an additional coat of Mod Podge. Continue covering the egg with overlapping papers and Mod Podge.
3. I allow at least two hours for the eggs to dry completely. Place on a baking rack to dry and be sure to rinse the foam brush when finished.

Tips:

• Be sure to glue both pieces of the egg together before adding the decoupage.
• Cover the tissue paper completely with designs, overlapping colors.
• If you use Styrofoam eggs, brush on an undercoat of Mod Podge before adding the tissue paper; otherwise you will have tiny pieces of Styrofoam on the brush and the surface of the finished eggs.

Now for some added “egg-citement”, how about a giveaway?  Tell me…what stamps would you like the Easter bunny to leave you in your basket?  Just leave your wish (by commenting on this post before 11:59pm PST on Thursday, March 5) for a chance to win one of three Brightening My Day stamps.  I used this sunny message stamp on one of Monday’s cards.

I’ll announce the three winners on Friday.  Good luck!

Hello everybody! Wow…you all gave me such great suggestions for hidden storage. Since I used part of many different ideas, I couldn’t decide how to pick only two winners.  I decided to pick the winners randomly…well not exactly randomly…I picked numbers that are my favorites.  My grandson’s hockey # is 46 and my granddaughter’s soccer #  is 22, so those are the lucky comment numbers.

• #22 - Nancy L. said March 2nd, 2009 at 10:00 am: “Loved those cards. I store everything in plastic bins/containers…”
• #46 - Eileen said March 2nd, 2009 at 11:14 am: “…What is hidden storage? My kitchen table has been covered for months! I find that if it is out of sight, out of mind and I end up buying stuff I already have so…I believe in everything out in the open. I especially like apothecary jars for my wooden stamps, my clear ones go in a binder. It’s so easy to see everything I need.”

Congratulations Nancy and Eileen, you will each be receiving the Ink ‘n’ Stamp Floral set!  To claim your prizes please email the address over in the blog sidebar.

This was a hard decision to make, many of you were so gracious to take the time to put your ideas in print. Here is how I am now arranging my stamps, thanks to all of you.

I reused the plastic container brownies came in for ink…don’t mind eating some more to get the containers for accessories. The decorative shoe boxes hold images from the current catalog. I got twelve large background images in one box! Mostly “S” size, but some “K”images too.

Thanks for your help,

Welcome back to my week of “Big Ideas with Little Stamps”.  For today’s cards I’ve broken out a brand new tub of stamps –  the Ink ‘n’ Stamp Design Elements. (Click HERE to see all eighteen of the stamps included in the set.)

Combining Hero Arts Shadow Inks with tiny stamps allows you to create a soft pattern for an entire card or in just a corner like the sample shown.

Because these are dye based inks they tend to be absorbed into the paper creating soft overlapping patterns as shown below. After the ink has dried completely you can add a message or another image in StazOn ink.

Supplies:

• Ink ‘n’ Stamp Design Elements
• Heart Flourish
• Art Flowers White and Cream
• Pink Accent Pearls
• Pink Notecards
• Soft Lilac, Soft Blossom & Soft Apricot Shadow Inks

Instructions:

1. Trim about a ½ “off the side and bottom of a pink notecard.
2. Using Shadow Inks and the solid flower shape, stamp an overlapping area of flowers. Stamp the flourish design in Soft Lilac Shadow Ink over the stamped flowers.
3. When the ink has dried add white and cream flowers, allowing the petals to extend over the side and bottom of the notecard. Place a pink pearl accent in the center of each flower.

Tip: If you trim the bottom and side of the notecard, you can allow the flowers to extend over the notecard and still fit in the same sized envelope.

I made this next card during a commercial — we’re talking really simple.

Supplies:

• Ink ‘n’ Stamp Design Elements
• Art Flowers Summer
• Citron Gemstones
• Garden Notecards
• Memories Black Ink
• Primary Elements Chalk Ink Queue (Lime Pastel)
• Other: white cardstock, glue dots

Instructions:

1. Cut a piece of white paper into a square shape and mount on a piece of green apple paper.
2. Stamp three tiny branches in lime green ink on the white paper and the message in black ink. Adhere to the front of an endive notecard from the Garden variety pack notecards.
3. Attach the flowers over the leaves adding gemstones to the center of each flower.

Thanks for the great hidden storage tips yesterday, and if you missed yesterday’s post be sure to leave a tip HERE for a chance to win the Ink ‘n’ Stamp Floral tub.  I’ll announce the two winners tomorrow morning. I also have a fun video to share tomorrow — see you then!

Welcome to my blog week! It’s “the little things in life that matter most”, so this week the challenge is to create a project using as many little stamps as you wish (1.5″ or smaller). Each project (card, scrapbook page, or other) should feature at least one Hero Arts stamp.  Submit your creations to the Hero Arts Flickr Group by 11:59pm PST on Sunday, March 8 and tag them “littlethings”.  I’m always amazed at the inspiring card samples that are submitted for each week’s challenge and can’t wait to see what you come up with. We will award the following prizes:

• Fresh Face Winner (someone who has not yet won a contest): $50 of new Hero Arts stamps + a 2009 catalog
• Scrapbook Page Winner: $50 of new Hero Arts stamps + a 2009 catalog
• 1st Place: $50 of new Hero Arts stamps + a 2009 catalog
• 2nd Place: $25 of new Hero Arts stamps + a 2009 catalog
• 3rd Place: $15 of new Hero Arts stamps + a 2009 catalog

Why this challenge? Because I have been working with the new, very hip, tiny images in our new line of Ink ‘n’ Stamp sets.

You can see the images I used this week in the What’s Cooking supplement.  Just click on “Browse the What’s Cooking Supplement” and there they are — tubs of images that can be used as backgrounds, borders, or in combination with other images.   Thanks to suggestions from Maria (a customer of Stamper’s Corner) and Lin (a Hero Arts Flickr Group member), the website shows all of the individual stamps that are included in each Ink ‘n’ Stamp set. We appreciate our customers taking the time to comment on our products and offer ideas.

This first card is a cinch to make. I repeatedly stamped the small images onto punched circles using a variety of ink colors.  Now I have a box of decorated circles (without sentiments) so I can make a card in seconds for any occasion.

Supplies:

• Ink ‘n’ Stamp Floral
• Art Flowers Summer
• Pale Pink Accent Pearls
• Light Green Accent Pearls
• Medium Accent Pearls
• Sunshine Notecards
• Other: circle punches (2″, 1 ½”, 1″),  turquoise, pink, green, orange, and purple ink, glue dots

Instructions:

1. Punch circles from three different size punches. Using coordinating ink colors, stamp each circle with a different pattern.
2. After the ink has dried, arrange the stamped circles on a Cantaloupe notecard and attach with glue.
3. Layer and glue flowers among the circles. Add pearls on several of the stamped circles as shown.

Tip: When using small stamps, dab the ink on the rubber (instead of tapping the stamp on the ink pad); or trim the rubber close to the image. Using one of these ideas will help you stamp a crisp image every time.

This next card is another easy one, but so much fun to make.

Since you are covering the punched flower with a pattern you can also stamp the other side and make the flower more dimensional by curling up the petals. This is so cute at the top of a pony tail attached to a barrette.

Supplies:

• Ink ‘n’ Stamp Floral
• Brightening My Day
• Blush Notecards
• Sparkle Gems Small Blossoms
• Small Mixed Gemstones
• Soft Apricot Shadow Ink
• Jet Black StazOn Ink
• Other: light green, white, plum and dark pink cardstock, 2″ flower punch (EK Success Paper Shaper), glue, paper trimmer, toothpick

Instructions:

1. Punch a flower from white paper and cover the entire flower with an image from the Floral Ink ‘n’ Stamp set. Stamp three leaves on green paper in lime green ink and trim.
2. Attach the pink and plum papers to fit the front of a pink notecard. Stamp your message in the lower right corner of the plum paper and add a gemstone to the center of the sun.
3. After the ink has dried on the flower and leaves, roll the petals.

How about a giveaway to start the week? Since I am storage challenged and have vowed to “clean up my act” this year…today I am giving away the Floral Ink ‘n’ Stamp tub to the two stampers who offer the best tip for hidden storage.

Leave your tips in the comments on this post by 11:59pm PST on Tuesday, March 3 and I will announce the winners on Wednesday morning.   So let’s hear some tips on storage so my husband doesn’t know how many supplies I really have. Here is one I will share with you. I hang my big sheets of loose paper over a coat hanger (under a seldom worn dress).

I hope you have fun experimenting with “the little things” this week.  I know you will all surprise me and give me lots of new ideas.

Until tomorrow,