Hero Arts Handmade for Christmas Stencil + Embossing Paste

Today, I’m sharing two cards using the Birds & Leaves stencil from the Hero Arts Handmade for Christmas 2014 Catalog.

EmbossedChristmas

For the first card, I used gold Ferro paint (so not technically embossing paste) through the stencil and finished the card with a sentiment from “Very Merry Christmas,” one of my favorite holiday sentiment sets from Hero Arts. I used a double frame to showcase the stenciled image.

EmbossedColoredBird

For the second card, I applied Ranger’s texture paste through the stencil, which I “water” colored with Distress markers after the paste was dry. This was a much more ambitious card than the first one! My first try was a mess as the watercolor seeped through. I was much more careful the second go round, although there’s still room for improvement.

Supplies:

Penny Black Watercolored Background

Today, I’m sharing a card created with the Penny Black 40-350 Tree-Lined background stamp and several Penny Black die cuts.

MerryTrees

I inked the Tree-Lined background stamp with several Distress Inks, in shades of blue-green, and then lightly misted the stamp. I laid a piece of Ranger watercolor paper on top of the stamp and pressed lightly.

Once dry, I trimmed the panel and attached it to a red card base. The “Merry” sentiment, die cut from the 51-021 Love & Joy set, was adhered to the smaller tag from the 51-007 Tagged die cut set. I cut the “Merry” out of gold foil, as well as out of white cardstock in order to add some depth. I used the Zig Memory Two-Way Fine Tip Pen to glue the foil die cut to the white cardstock one.

Penny Black Pocket Treasures

Today, I’m sharing pocket page scrapbooking layouts created with the Penny Black Pocket Treasures collection. These layouts capture memories from early August of our golden retriever, Ginger, who passed away last Friday. She was diagnosed with nasal cancer at Christmas, and every day of the past eight months has been a gift. I can’t begin to express how happy I am that we have these photos celebrating some of our final days with her. These pages will go in an album with the pages I created last month, which were featured in this Scrapbook and Cards Today post. (Scroll to the end of the Scrapbook and Cards Today post for the 6″ x 8″ pocket pages of Ginger.)

AugustScrapbooking1I used the 51-007 Tagged die to create a large journaling spot. I cut the number frame from 51-056 Picture This and paired it with a journaling card. Another journaling card is stamped with a sentiment and ledger lines from 30-247 Life’s Journals and cut with one of the dies in 51-053 A Pocket Full set.

AugustScrapbooking2

I die cut the “love” from 51-052 Texting. I cut the library pocket from 51-053 A Pocket Full. Right now, the pocket holds a ferry ticket, but in time I plan to add a page of handwritten journaling with special memories of Ginger. I stamped the conversation bubble with a stamp from the 30-244 Let’s Chat set and die cut it with a matching die from the 51-053 A Pocket Full set.

Hero Arts Guest Artist – Handmade for Christmas

I’m delighted to be a guest artist on the Hero Arts blog today with a holiday card featuring stamps from the Hero Arts Handmade for Christmas 2014 Catalog.

FamilyFriendsCard

Please head on over to the Hero Arts blog for details about the card and to watch a video in which I describe how I chose the ink colors for the trees. I also go step-by-step through the construction process of the card.

Simon Says Stamp – STAMPtember!

Wow, it’s September! What a fabulous time of year – lots of beginnings are always in store in September! Today, I’m sharing a card created with the Simon Says Stamp Presents and Ornaments stamp set, released as part of the Stamptember event.

Simon Says Stamp - STAMPtember!

For my card, I stamped the Presents and Ornaments packages and bows. I pulled out my Stamp-a-ma-jig to get the packages aligned! I tried the design in a number of different package and bow color combinations, ultimately deciding on a somewhat traditional color combination of red, green and gold.