Posted on Sunday, February 19, 2017

Cardinal Thank You Card

Hello everyone… I am dreaming of Spring in the last couple of days because the weather has been so nice outside and some more flowers shoots coming out of the ground.

We hear the birds sing beautifully every morning. And Cardinals are one of the birds we can see directly at our backyard. Spring is just right at the corner.

Color Layering stamp sets are my favorite from Hero Arts. I often stretch the use of these stamp sets, like the Color Layering Cardinal stamp set. It is a Holiday stamp set, but I use this set for everyday card, such as thank you card.

I pair the Cardinal Color Layering stamp set with Thanks Stamp & Cut set to create this CAS – One Layer Thank You Card.

I stamped the all the image on a watercolor paper with archival ink pads and then I added some soft light blue to create a sky background. Then I decided to add some glitter with my glitter brush on all over the surface. Don’t you love all the glitter all over the card?

a2z Scrapbooking store just added lots of new Hero Arts products! Check them all at the store and if you do not see something that you look for, you can put a custom order. And get extra 15% OFF by using this code: Helen15 for every $25 or more order!

Have you played along with the February Challenge? Our new challenge this month is “Any Shade of Red”! All you have to do is use any Hero Arts product on your project and use some shade/shades of red. By linking up you project here, you have chances to win the $25 gift certificate to the store.

I hope you all can enjoy a taste of Spring from my card today. I also share this card at a2z Scrapbooking Blog. THANK YOU so much for visiting today.

HAVE A FABULOUS SUNDAY!

I also play along at:

Challenge Weeks #270-271 – Anything Goes

Challenge #105 – Wood

February Challenge – CAS

Posted on Friday, February 17, 2017

Step Out In Faith

Hello everyone! It is Friday already… YAY! We are ready for a long weekend for sure 🙂

Today, I have two blog posts today. First, you can go here to read all about the card and gift box I created for someone special in our family. And now… it is a card I created for the STAMPlorations February Theme & Sketch Challenge reminder.

My vintage / retro card today is inspired by both the theme and sketch. I totally love the sentiment, very encouraging to me right now. It is a reminder that I need to step out in faith to be able to see the work of God in our life while waiting for answer to our prayers. I hope this also can be an encouragement to you all today.

First I created the background using canson watercolor cold water paper 140 lbs with monoprinting with Peony Number One ARTplorations Stencil, Fuchsia and Lime Green Color Bursts powder, and Perfect Pearl mixture spray. Then using make sponge, I added some Vintage Photo Distress Ink on it to give the vintage and retro look on the panel.

Then I die cut it with Crazy Double Running Stitch Rectangle Nesting Dies CUTplorations to create the nesting frames. I added them on a black card base with adhesive liquid glue on the first and second frames, and using 3D foam tape for the last panel on the top for extra dimension.

I stamped the sentiment from Faith Expressions stamp set on a white cardstock strip and cut out the banner tails with micro-tip scissors. I added it on the card with some 3D foam tape also. And I finished the card with some pearl gems.

Visit STAMPlorations blog here to see more inspirations from the Design Team. You have until February 28, 11:55 p.m. Pacific time to play along with this challenge.

THANK YOU for visiting me again today! Have a fabulous blessed weekend!

I also play along at:

February CAS Card Challenge

Never-Ending Anything Goes Challenge

Simon Says: Fantastic Florals

Challenge Weeks #270-271 – Anything Goes

Posted on Friday, February 17, 2017

God Bless You, Grandma

Hello everyone… It starts to feel like Spring arrives early here in Southern Ohio. We already have some Spring flowers coming our of the ground. You can see on my projects today, I am inspired by the Spring colors and flowers 🙂

So, today we are taking a look back at Our Daily Bread Designs February Release. I am joining the team as guest designer and here is a card and a box I created for this reminder blog hop:

My Mother-In-Law is having a birthday this weekend, so I made this card and box for her. The girls love making gifts, so they can put their gifts inside this glorious box and they can write a love note for their grandma in this card.

For the card above, I use the Hugs & Kisses stamp set, To My Favorite stamp set, Tulip Heart Die, Layering Hearts Dies, Pennant Flags Dies, Ovals Dies and Double Stitched Rectangles Dies.

And to create the gift box below, I use Glorious Gable Box Die, Heavenly Hearts Dies, Tulip Heart Die, Layering Hearts Dies, Mini Labels Dies, Bitty Blossoms Dies, Leaves & Branches Dies, and To My Favorite stamp set.

The Our Daily Bread Designs DT members are sharing more inspirations and to find out more information on the February New Release products on the ODBD Blog. You can visit each of the team project at their blogs to see more details:

Sandee * Diana * Julie * Sabrina * Helen

Lisa * Kathy * Dawn * Lori * Cathy * Robin

And here are the previews of the products that I use today:

THANKS A BUNCH for visiting me today and I hope you all have a fabulous weekend with your loved ones!

I also playing along at:

Simon Says: Fantastic Florals

Challenge Weeks #270-271 – Anything Goes

Posted on Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Joy Clair Mardi Gras Show

Hello Everyone… I hope you all had a lovely day celebrating Valentine’s Day yesterday with your loved ones. There is always a special way to show love to others, at any time we can, for love is what you do, not only what you say.

Today… I am joining the Joy Clair Design Team for the Mardi Gras Event. This is a fun event showcasing the Mardi Gras stamp set. Check out all the inspirations from the team at Joy Clair Blog today!

If you are like me, came from a country where do not have Mardi Gras celebration, I found this event is very interesting… Here’s what I found from Wikipedia about Mardi Gras:

Mardi Gras (/ˈmɑːrdiɡrɑː/), also called Shrove Tuesday,^[1] or Fat Tuesday,^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5] in English, refers to events of the Carnival celebrations, beginning on or after the Christian feasts of the Epiphany (Three Kings Day) and culminating on the day before Ash Wednesday. Mardi Gras is French for “Fat Tuesday”, reflecting the practice of the last night of eating richer, fatty foods before the ritual fasting of the Lenten season.

This event is celebrated in several countries, including United States. So, for this event, I created 2 cards with Mardi Gras stamp set:

First card is a shaker card. I die cut 2 sizes of rectangle dies to create the shaker window. I added the acetate plastic that I recycled from plastic packaging. You can use any acetate plastic you have 🙂

For the background, I did a heat-embossing resist technique with color burst powder. First, on a piece watercolor paper I heat embossed the fancy mask with gold embossing powder, then add some of the color burst powder on wet surface. I sprayed more to blend the colors. And I dabbed some of the extra pool water off with paper towel.

I used mixed color sequins from my stash for the shaker card.

And the second card has the same watercolored panel I created on the first one, only I did not stamp or embossed on it. I sprinkle some water with watercolor brush, and dabbed it off the panel with paper towel to add extra texture on it. Then I die cut it with scallop stitched rectangle die.

I stamped the masks on white cardstock with black archival ink and sprinkled some of the black glitter embossing powder on it. And heat-set them with my craft heater. I just fussy cut them out. But when you buy stamp sets from Joy Clair, you will receive SVG cutting files for the stamp that you can use with any electronic die cutting machine. I added the masks on the card with 3D foam tape.

Then I hand-wrote the sentiment using black Tombow Dual Brush Pen. And I finished the card with some gold stars sequins.

Here’s the preview of the Mardi Gras stamp set:

THANK YOU so much for visiting me today! I hope you all are inspired by these cards to create your own to celebrate the fun Mardi Gras event.

Posted on Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Love TAGPlorations Blog Hop Day 7

Hello everyone… Happy Valentine’s Day to you all!!! May you have a love-filled day.

Today is the Day 7 of the Love TAGplorations Blog Hop. It is the last day of the blog hop and also link up. There are many gorgeous inspirations from the STAMPlorations Girls on the blog today. I hope you all will come blog-hopping with us! Do not forget to leave comment along the way for chances to enter the giveaway (info at the bottom of this post).

And for this last day of blog hop, I created this card mixed media card:

Directly on the card base, I added some texture paste and fine glitter using the Zen Hearts ARTplorations Stencil. Set aside to dry, or you can dry it with heat gun but need to be careful not get too hot, becuase it will cause some bubbles on the texture paste.

While waiting for the embossed background to dry, I colored one of the page from Color Blooms Coloring Book using Spectrum Noir Colorsista Pencils Set 4.

Then using 2 sizes of Luggage Tags Nesting Dies CUTplorations, I die cut a black cardstock that I already added some of the gold paint from Finetect Mica Watercolor Paint, Metallic Gold.

I added the colored page on the back of the window tag with some non-wrinkle glue and cut out the extra with scissors. Then I added some of the gold sequing ribbon on it with mini stapler.

The sentiment is from Smile stamp set that I simply stamped it on a white cardstock with black archival ink and cut out.

Final step is adding the tag on the card after I made sure the embossing paste dried well. I use 3D foam tape to add the tag and sentiment on it.

And check out the glittery embossed background and shiny gold metallic watercolor paint on the tag:

That is my mixed media card today. Now it is your turn to get crafty and share with us! Below is the information how you play along and enter the giveaway:

Link Up Party:

Create a new Valentine’s day project (any kind!) with a tag in it.
Post it on your blog (or Flickr, Instagram, SCS gallery, etc.) and then link up here.
Display the TAGplorations event graphic in your post and link back to this post to qualify for the prizes.
You may enter as many projects as you want, but each project must be in its own post (1 project = 1 blog post = 1 entry)
Use whatever product(s) you have; STAMPlorations products are not required.
Link up here by Tuesday, February 14, 11:55 p.m. Pacific (GMT-8).

GIVEAWAY:

To be eligible to win, you need to leave comment on each STAMPlorations Girls’ blogs from today until Tuesday, February 14, 11:55 p.m. Pacific. The winners will be announced on March 10 in the February Challenges & Hops winners post at STAMPlorations Blog. So be sure to follow the blog if you aren’t already.

The Prizes are:

THREE (3) randomly drawn winners from all comments left on this post and participating designers blog will each receive a $10 gift certificate to the store
ONE (1) randomly drawn participant to the Love TAGplorations linky party will receive her choice of stamp set (Pocket Blooms, A Full Heart, or Two of Us)*
ONE (1) randomly drawn participant to the Love TAGplorations linky party will receive her choice of any 2 of the new love-themed dies (Love, Always, XOXO, Forever, You & Me, Clustered Hearts)*
ONE (1) randomly drawn participant in the Love TAGplorations linky party will receive her choice of tag dies set: Luggage Tags or ATC/Tag Builder

Get 20% off on all regular and sale-priced items STAMPlorations stamps, stencils, and dies by using this code: STAMPGIRLHELEN when you check out (please copy and paste the code). Code can not be combined your code with any other discount codes.

When you create with STAMPlorations products, you can link up also at the Never-Ending Anything Goes Challenge!

I also playing along at February CAS Card Challenge:

THANKS A BUNCH for stopping by my blog today! And I hope you all have a fabulous day!