January 2023 My Monthly Hero Kit Blog Hop!

Hi and welcome to my blog, and my first post for 2023! Today’s post is part of a blog hop celebrating the first Hero Arts My Monthly Hero kit of the year, and there is a giveaway!

The next stop on the hop is my talented friend Jen Kray!

This kit is super cute and perfect for those Valentine’s Day projects! Beautiful card stock, sweet stamps and coordinating diecuts, as well as a stencil and a bit of sparkle.

This is what Hero Arts are saying about the kit: With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, the January My Monthly Hero kit celebrates the “perfect match”. The centerpiece of this kit is dies to create a faux matchbox, which lies flat on your card or project and can be decorated and filled with the numerous stamps and dies included in the kit. But don’t stop there, let your imagination go wild with all of the possibilities this kit contains! Use the images on their own, build repeating patterns, or add them to planner pages, journals, and more! There is a beautiful stencil included, perfect for backgrounds or mixed media projects. The kit is rounded out with a pack of fun heart-themed sequins and five sheets of gorgeous cardstock.

If you haven’t subscribed to the My Monthly Hero kit, you can sign up HERE. This is a pre-order, and Hero Arts will start shipping the kits on Friday the 13th of January. If you are not subscribed, and miss out on a kit, that’s it, you can not get it again. They are only available in a limited quantity and once they are gone, they are gone. It’s also a great deal as the kit is valued at $77, but it only costs $34.99!

There are also a bunch of fun add-ons you can get, as usual! There are a bunch of fun diecuts, including one that makes an actual match box. There is also a gorgeous heart cover plate, a hot foil plate, a striped stencil and really lovely sentiment stamps, on their own or with coordinating diecuts!! If you are a subscriber, you can add any, or all of these, to your kit order, before it ships, without having to pay extra shipping.

If you can’t pick and chose which ones to get, you can snag them all RIGHT HERE.

As a self-confessed hot foil addict, I love the option of adding foiling to my projects. It’s such a touch of luxury, and glam, and I will never, ever tire of it. The fun thing with hot foil plates is that you can actually use them as embossing plates AND you can dab ink on them and “stamp” as well. Yep, it’s not just for foiling.

However, for my project today I have used just the main kit, so let’s get into it!

First off I used my trimmer to cut out strips of the card stock included, they are about 1cm wide. I did cut two of each, because I wasn’t sure how many I needed, but I did just use one of each in the end.

To add some interest to the white card base, I have ink blended just a touch of left over pink ink (the colour is Taffy) over the stencil. By not adding more ink, the results are super soft and delicate, but you do have to blend for quite a while. I will say it’s worth it for this sort of result.

My second card is also done with just stamps and dies from the main kit, I did use some Distress Spray in Black Soot and some gold water colours to add some interest to the white background.

I cut out the flat matchbox out of white card stock and heat embossed ‘Valentine’ on it in white embossing powder for a subtle look. The hearts are cut out of satin gold card stock and I also used a few of the little red hearts from the embellishments, that come in the kit.

The little specks of red, matched with the gold, works really well I think!

Next up, I had to use that lovely Hearts Hot Foil plate. But not in red, that felt too on the nose, so I went with Matte Gold instead. It looks gorgeous!

This card is finished off by making a card base of out the Peony card stock that comes in the kit, stamping up a sentiment from the You’re Mine stamp and diecut set, and add some 3D heart balloons made with some of the diecuts from the main kit.

My last, and final card, is way outside of my comfort zone. It has so much white space I’m spacing out…!

I started out by cutting out a panel using the Heart Flourish Cover Plate, out of white card stock, and layering this up onto a white card base.

On this I simply added ‘Sending hugs kisses’ from the You’re Mine stamp and diecut set. Because there is no ‘and’ in the stamp set I used the double heart diecut instead of it, this and the lips are cut out of red card stock. To make these stand out a little I added a lot of Crystal Clear Lacquer Pen and set aside to dry.

That’s it from me for today, but don’t forget to check out the rest of the hop! To enter the giveaway, you only have to leave comments on the stops, and you have until January 15th to do so. The winner of the $50 Hero Arts gift card will be announced on the blog the following week, so make sure to check back to see if you have won!

I have used some compensated affiliate links in this post, to Hero Arts, and if you shop with these links I will get a small commission from them directly. At absolutely zero extra cost to you!

Income from these affiliate links are what pays for the boring stuff like blog hosting, internet security, equipment, and other tools for the creative side. I really, really appreciate it whenever someone uses my links, no matter how small the order, every single one helps, so thank you from the bottom of my heart!

Lots of love and happy crafting from Erica

CASE Me A Christmas Card series with Michelle Lupton!

Today it’s my turn to take part in my dear friend Michelle Lupton’s annual CASE Me A Christmas Card Series! Or rather, we thought it was today, it was actually yesterday but both Michelle and I were foiled by time zone converters, lol!

I’m so excited as Michelle and I are rainbow-loving-sisters-from-another-mister, so of course I had to use one of her many, many amazing rainbow cards as my inspiration.

This stunning card was just begging to be CASE’d. In case you haven’t heard of CASE before, it stands for Copy And Selectively Edit. It’s basically what we all do when we see inspiration and then put our own spin on it.

So I took this gorgeous design and put my own spin on it, two different ways. First of all I heat embossed the Holiday Sentiments Strips stamp from Hero Arts in Bright White embossing powder from WOW! Embossing, on two different panels. One on water colour paper, and one on Neenah #110 white card stock.

On the water colour panel, I used my DIY glitter sprays made with Liquid Pixie Dust from Inkon3 and reinkers from Pinkfresh Studios. With sprays you have very little control over where the colours go, and what is going to happen, so it’s best to just spray and let it do it’s thing.

On the second panel I ink blended Inkon3 Atelier inks in Bee Sting Yellow, Marigold Orange, Sweet Petunia Pink, Peacock Blue and Goddess Green. Over this I spritzed a little bit of the DIY yellow glitter spray, as well as gold splatters. Sufficient to say it’s very sparkly!

Because the stamp is perfectly sized for an A2/5.5″x4.25″ card size, I decided to simply add these panels to card bases. One of them isn’t perfectly heat embossed, so I wanted to cover that up.

I did that with Metallic Gold Pearls from Pinkfresh Studio on the ink blended card, and Clear Iridescent Pearls on the glitter spray card. Here I have done my usual ‘Lets. Use. All. Of. The. BLING!’ thing, but I love, love, love how it turned out!

That’s it from me for today but I hope you have enjoyed this post, as well as Michelle’s. Please do give her a follow if you don’t already do so, she’s amazing!

Lots of love and happy crafting from Erica

In this post I have used some compensated affiliate links, at no extra cost to you. What that means is that if you shop using these links, I get a small commission from the company it’s linked to as a thank you for directing you to them. This doesn’t ever cost you, as the shopper, anything extra at all. It comes out of the pocket of the company. These earnings help me keep all of these crafting shenanigans going, as well as pay for things like blog hosting, cost for equipment and replenishing staples. Thank you so much for the support, it means the world to me!

From Crafty Meraki you can get the goodies listed below, and you can also take 10% off your order with the code ERICA10
Peacock Blue
Goddess Green
Bee Sting Yellow
Marigold Orange
Sweet Petunia Pink
Liquid Pixie Dust
WOW Embossing ink pad 
Mini MISTI 

From Inkon3 you can also get goodies:
Liquid Pixie Dust
Goddess Green
Peacock Blue
Sweet Petunia Pink
Marigold Orange
Bee Sting Yellow

September 2022 Hero Arts Monthly Release

Hi and welcome back to my little blog!

Today I’m hopping along with Hero Arts creative team, global team and friends, to celebrate the September My Monthly Hero Kit release! You can find the whole lineup of the hop HERE, and as I’m the last stop on the hop it takes you back to the first Hero Arts blog post.

The September My Monthly Hero kit is an ode to fall and elegance. Just look at this!

The kit contains :

• Clear Stamp Set, 4” x 6”
• 6 Coordinating Frame Cuts
• Rub-On Transfer Sheet
• Cling Background Stamp, 6“ x 6”
• 2 Sheets Each of Cardstock in Sand & Antique Ivory, 5.5” x 8.5”
• Rose Gold Metallic Floss, 5 yds

You can also pick and chose from the amazing My Monthly Hero Add-Ons. Including new hot foil plates!! Eeeeep! I’m firmly onboard the Hot Foil Crazy Train and do not plan on getting off anytime soon.

The kit description says: Autumn is a whisper in the air, with hints of cooler weather, falling leaves, and rich colors. Our September My Monthly Hero release takes an elegant path into fall, featuring a gorgeous vase of fall blooms as the focal point for your cards and projects. There’s also a fun new element this month – rub-ons! Use them for quick and easy cards; the coordinating die in the kit perfectly cuts out the rub-on floral arrangement as well as the stamped images. Or try the rub-ons on any smooth surface. The kit is rounded out with a gorgeous new cling stamp, metallic floss and the perfect neutral cardstocks for stamping your autumn-inspired creations.

Pre-order your kit today! Hero Arts estimate kit shipping will begin Friday, September 9th and continue throughout the following week. You can also subscribe to make sure you don’t miss out on any of the kits, as once they are sold out, that’s it.

I’m super excited about the hot foil plates, and I don’t think it should come as a surprise that I had to use these for my first card.

I’m a bit embarrassed to admit I forgot to add a sentiment to this card but the gold hot foiling and heat embossing steal the show, so maybe it doesn’t matter.

I have also used the lovely rub-ons and I was blown away how gorgeous they looked once on paper.

I need more of these for sure! The first one I did on the Antique Ivory and I did this directly on one of the two card bases that come in the kit. This one was finished off with a simple sentiment from the kit stamp set, in Root Beer ink.

The second one I did on the Sand card stock, the second colour card stock that comes in the kit, and it looked beautiful too!

The sentiments on this card is also stamped with Root Beer ink, with the help of a MINI MISTI.

These are super simple cards to make, but that image is so gorgeous they don’t really need much else.

Now for the fun stuff! There is a giveaway to celebrate. Hero Arts will give away a $50 gift card, drawn from the comments left across the hop. Enter by Sunday, September 11th at 11:59pm Pacific, and the winner will be announced on the Hero Arts blog the following week.

Thank you so much for stopping by today, I hope you enjoyed this post and the rest of the hop!

Happy crafting and lots of love from Erica

Case Me A Christmas Card with Michelle Lupton!

Hi guys!

Today I’m teaming up with my crafty friend Michelle and joining in her annual event Case Me A Christmas Card with Michelle Lupton and friends! You can find all her posts over on her blog Handmade By Michelle.

Michelle’s blog post can be found HERE , and I can’t wait to see which ones on mine she picked to CASE.

A fun fact about Michelle and I is that we are teamies on two different design teams, Picket Fence Studios and Hero Arts Global Team!

This month is the first that we are part of the Hero Arts team so I thought I’d use the My Monthly Hero November kit for my card.

Down below you can see Michelle’s adorable reindeer card that I picked, and yeah, ok, so there isn’t a lot of scope to change things up here as that is a diecut, but roll with me, ok? Get it? Roll? Because it’s a diecut that rolls through the diecutting machine? *snickers at my own bad joke*

It’s so adorable though and I love the shading Michelle added to her girl reindeer. I made a boy reindeer to make a little couple, because I am super soppy and love love. Mine is cut out of coloured card stock, and it took a little bit of fiddling to get it right, but I love how he came out!

I did layer up quite a few pieces to make him a bit more 3D, and his nose for instance is three pieces plus Glossy Accents on top to make it nice and shiny. I added glossy accents to his eyes too.

To keep with Michelle’s design I decided to do the same basic build up of my card, so I trimmed down a panel slightly smaller than an A2 card, and on top of this I heat embossed the Bold Print Candy Cane background in white embossing powder.

I don’t do so well with white spaces to I had to add that texture to the background panel, and even that wasn’t enough, so I ink blended a little bit of green over it in an ombrè fashion. Which also ties in with Michelle’s card so I feel like that’s ok.

Final thing was to add a sentiment and it had to be Merry Christmas, from the Merry Poinsettia Bunch stamp set. I stamped this in green as well, but maybe I should have tried it in red… Hmm, that can be for the next card because I am definitely not done with this kit!! Which sadly is sold out, but the add-ons are still available and you can also subscribe to the My Monthly Hero kit to make sure you don’t miss out on any of the future kits.

That’s it from me for today, but thank you so much for stopping by and don’t forget to check out Michelle’s post too!

I have used compensated affiliate links, at no extra cost to you, in this post. Thank you so much if you support me by shopping these links, they will never, ever add any extra cost to you. All earnings I get from these go directly back into the running of this blog, my YouTube channel and Instagram.

Lots of love and happy crafting from Erica

WOW! Embossing newest release and new goodies to play with!

Hi and welcome back to more crafty shenanigans!

In today’s post I’m showing off some new goodies from WOW! Embossing Powder, there is a new release available from the UK WOW! Shop. We have new stamps, stencils and more powders! Hopefully it will also be available in the US WOW! Shop soon.

I also have some brand new to me goodies, that luckily arrived on my wedding anniversary. How fab timing is that?? Amongst other things I finally got my hands on Salvaged Patina!!

I instantly started ink blending on panels I had heatembossed with the new Abstract Triangles stamp, designed by my friend Natasha! I used Embossing ink and Opaque Bright White super fine embossing powder on all three.

On that one I mixed Salvaged Patina with Mustard Seed. Thanks to the Life Changing Blender Brushes from Picket Fence Studios, the blends are so smooth!

Next up was a blend I’d been dying to try: Salvaged Patina with Kitsch Flamingo!! It did not disappoint!

The third blend is the only one using three colours: Salvaged Patina, Salty Ocean and Chipped Sapphire. They go so well together!

All of the panels were trimmed down and adhered to card bases, and then it was time to start working on sentiments.

Another new goodie that arrived was the Big Hugs stamp and die set from Hero Arts. I have lusted after this one since I first saw it. I cut it out of white card stock, many, many times and layered these up with Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive. I also cut out three Big Hugs out of black card stock and added these to three of the stacks.

On top of one of the black topped ones I heat embossed Midnight embossing powder, and it looks FAB!! Those flecks of gold? Oooooooh! Please note that this one comes in a TRIO.

The next one was done with Hope & Positivity, which looks freaking awesome. The photo isn’t great, though, but it really is amazing in real life. That sparkle is off the charts!

I also did one black topped one with two layers of Clear Gloss. I love that puffy sticker look!

The last one has a little of Salvaged Patina blended onto it, and then I added White Glitz on top. You can still see some of the SP under it.

A few sentiments were also stamped up on white card stock, with black ink, from the Big Hugs stamp set, to compliment the Big Hugs diecuts.

With that, I’m all done for today but I have a reel on my Instagram page for these if you want to check that out. No YouTube video but if you really want one, drop me a comment and I’ll add it to my crafty shenanigans list.

I have used some compensated affiliate links in this post, at no extra cost to you. Thank you so much if you chose to support me by shopping with these links, it doesn’t cost you anything extra at all, ever. The earnings from these links help keep my blog, YouTube channel and Instagram running, so I really appreciate the support.

Lots of love and happy crafting from Erica

5K Subscribers Together | Rainbow Hop |video hop winner announcements!

Hi *waves sheepishly*

Back in June my friend Maria Willis, AKA CardBomb, and I hosted a YouTube video hop together, celebrating (a bit early) reaching 2.5K subscribers each. At the time of the hop, neither one of us had actually made it there, and we are still a bit short. We are also very late with the winner announcements. Apologies about that, life happened at a rapid pace for both of us and we couldn’t get it done in time.

If you want to skip straight to the VIDEO CLICK HERE.

If you missed the Rainbow themed video, and the entire hop, you should definitely check it out as we roped in some of our fabulous crafty friends to hop along with us!

For that video I only managed one card, but of course it was a sparkly-licious rainbow card! It was so fun to make and I love that extra pop of the sparkle on the rainbow. If you want to read all about it, you can find that BLOG POST HERE.

I used an array of the companies that sponsored the hop, including Pinkfresh, Picket Fence Studios, Concord&9th, Hero Arts and WOW! Embossing.

For this video I decided to use another mix of sponsors, to highlight them a bit too. They so generously offered prizes and the hop would definitely not have been the same without them.

The first card I made with a gorgeous stencil from Gina K Designs, called Mandala Burst. Stencils are one of my fave items to work with, they are so versatile and affordable! After spraying the stencils with Pixie Spray, I set those aside to cure for a few minutes (this is a critical step, do not skip this!) while I got out the rest of the stuff I wanted to use.

First off I inkblended some Atelier Inks, from Ink On 3, through the Mandala Burst stencil with my Life Changing Blender Brushes, from left to right Peacock Blue, Goddess Green, Bee Sting Yellow, Marigold Orange and Sweet Petunia Pink.

Over this I stamped the Love Is Love Bold Print from Hero Arts, in black ink with the help of my MISTI. Thanks to having just re-inked my Black Hybrid ink pad I only needed to stamp once but better safe than sorry, right??

With the background panel done, I trimmed it down with a stitched rectangle die from Lawn Fawn. While I had my Diecutting machine out I cut out three ‘thinking of you’ out of white card stock and one out of black card stock. These I layered up with Nuvo Deluxe adhesive, and then on the top (black) layer I heat embossed Clear Gloss embossing powder to give it a nice shiny look. I did two layers of it, for that puffy sticker look. I love that, and it’s one of my fave ways to elevate word dies.

A sentiment from the Thinking Of You stamp set, the coordinating stamps to the word die, was stamped up in black ink on white card stock and trimmed down. This was addhed to the card, and the word die right underneath it. With that, the first card was done. Without a single sequin on it too!! Whaaaaa??

The second card was done with a rainbow stencil from Erin Lee Creative. This one was part of a kit, and isn’t available now, BUT she has a load of other super fun rainbow stencils and rainbow dies. You defintely want to check out her shop and support a small business!

Instead of ink blending, I used my beloved Paper Glazes from Picket Fence Studios. I absolutely LOVE these, not only are they fun to play with but they look fan-freaking-amazeballs-tastic too. That shimmer and shine is enough to mesmerize me, every time!

From left to right, I’ve used Agapatha Purple, Peony Pink, Daffodil Yellow, Lime Zinnia, Ocean Poppy and Cornflower Blue. I actually did this right after I had done the ink blending for the first card, and while the Paper Glaze was drying I worked on all the other bits and pieces for the first card. Multi tasking and all that, right?

I used the same stitched rectangle die on this panel and then it was simply finished off with a sweet sentiment in black ink. The one I chose is from a Gina K Design stamp set, called Watercolor Flowers. Super simple, but with a pop of colour and a sweet sentiment, you don’t need much else sometimes.

That’s it from me for today, but don’t forget to check out the WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT VIDEO to see if you are one of the many winners!! Also, Maria wrote a blog post on her blog and made a video for her YouTube channel, so make sure to check out those as well.

Some compensated affiliate links have been used in this post, for your convenience, at no extra cost to you. Any earnings I get from these links go directly back into the running of my blog, Instagram and YouTube channel so thank you so much if you chose to support me by shopping with these links. I really appreicate it!

Lots of love and happy crafting from Erica

5K Together YouTube Subscribers Hop!

Hi everyone!

Today’s post is a little celebration for myself and a dear crafting friend, Maria Willis, for sort of reaching a milestone of 5000 subscriber combined. I didn’t quite make it to the 2.5K subscribers as I had hoped, as I haven’t been so active recently due to a stressful family situation. If you haven’t heard anything about it, my FIL is not doing well and will have a very risky operation on Monday, after over a month in hospital. The Man flew out this morning and it was quite stressful and hectic to get it all sorted and organised. Hecking pandemic, eh??

If you want to skip right to the hop, start over at Maria’s YouTube video, and go from there. I am the last stop on the loop, but if you want to go to my video, you can click on THIS LINK to get there.

Life is tough at times and I think it’s important to celebrate and cherish the happy times as you never know when the tide will turn. Hence this little hop! Maria and I roped in some of our crafty friends to make the hop bigger than just two stops, and you are not going to want to miss their projects! The full hop list can be found below, and we also have some super generous companies sponsoring prizes for a massive giveaway to celebrate us.

I have a couple little projects to share today, and as the theme for the hop is ‘Rainbow’ I’ll start with that one:

Out of Neenah Solar White #110 card stock, I cut out two rainbows using the Color Block Rainbow die from Pinkfresh Studio. I did two because I wanted to layer up the pieces for some dimension on the card.

Each ‘ray’ of the rainbow got colour added in a slight ombré effect, with Life Changing Blender Brushes from Picket Fence Studios (my go-to blending tools!) and ink colours from Concord & 9th, and also a dab of Ballet Slipper from Pinkfresh. I don’t know why I didn’t use the pink from Concord & 9th. Who knows what goes on in this head of mine at times??

Once they were all colourful and pretty, I glued them down with the Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive onto the second, intact, rainbow, and this in turn was adhered to another piece of card stock for sturdiness. The excess was trimmed off with scissors. I needed it very sturdy as I wanted to heat emboss Halo Glitter Powder from WOW! Embossing on top for shimmer.

This process is very simple: dab your embossing ink pad all over the rainbow, make sure it’s nice and juicy first though. Then sprinkle the Halo Glitter on top and set that with your heat tool. The simmer is insane and I love it!

Sentiment wise I used ‘Believe in yourself, like I believe in you’ from the Hero Arts and Honey Bee Stamps collaboration set Stronger Together. This is stamped directly onto the card base, with Hybrid Black Ink, with the help of the MISTI and the rainbow as a guide where to place the sentiment. I also added lots of hearts from the set, these are also stamped up with black ink.

Unfortunately I made a boo-boo with the hearts, so I HAD TO bring out the sequins to cover that up. Had to. There was simply no other option. I added a few… -ish… to the card, these are Sparkling Clear from Pretty Pink Posh, and they are adhered with Nuvo Deluxe adhesive. It’s become my new staple in liquid adhesives arsenal.

So that’s the rainbow card. The next card is done with one of the new sets from Ellen Hutson, it’s release day today! It’s called Pressing Thoughts and it’s illustrated by Brandi Kincaid. It has a coordinating diecut too! YAY!

It’s coloured very simply with some copics in yellows and greens, and a tiny bit of purple on the stamens. The coordinating diecut was used to cut it out, as well as another two layers. These three pieces were adhered together with more of that Nuvo Deluxe adhesive. This is such a clever way to add some interest to clean and simple cards!

It was trimmed down to a mini-slimline size, this one is just a tad bigger than 3”x6” and the scalloped black card base was cut out using the Scallop Frame Slimline Diecutting System from Picket Fence Studios. I customised the size by running the diecut and the card stock through my diecutting machine twice to get the scalloped frame and the correct size.

The sentiment is from the Pressing Thoughts stamp set, and the ‘thanks’ was stamped directly onto the background and the ‘for everything’ was done on a slim strip of card stock. This was adhered with a little bit of foam tape to make sure it didn’t sag on the sides. And that was it!

Well, that’s it from me for today but I really hope you enjoyed this post and will get a chance to hop along with us over on YouTube! That’s where you need to leave your comments to be in with a chance to win one of the fab prizes. We can not thank the sponsors of this hop enough!

I have also used some compensated affiliate links in this blog post, for your convenience and at no extra cost to you, in case you want to shop! If you shop using my links I get commission directly from the company, and as I mentioned, it doesn’t cost you anything at all. This is a great way to show support for your favorite content creators.

Thank you so much for stopping by, and if you want to get hopping, the full hop list is down below. I’m 100% sure it will blow your mind so don’t miss it!!

Lots of love and happy crafting from Erica

Maria Willis

Marie Heiderscheit

Kari

Ardyth

Channin

Jessica

Jen Kray

Carly

Erica (that’s me)

Hero Arts 2020 Catalog Release Blog Hop!

Hi!

Today is quite a busy day here on my little blog. This post is part of the Hero Arts 202 Catalog Release blog hop and I’m so excited to be part of it!

You should have come here from Amy Kolling and your next stop is Nichol Spohr.

I have four cards to share today so I’m not going to hang around doing my usual jibber-jabbering. Who’s got time for that when there is a hop in full swing??

My first card is using the lovely Circle Pattern Bold Print and heat embossed it in Platinum. A light lilac ink blending in an ombré way finished off the background. I stamped up the Floral Lavender Bunch and coloured it in with Copics, then cut it out with the coordinating diecut.

To finish off the card I diecut the Thinking Of You four times and layered these up. This I adhered to the card and with that, it’s finished!

The second card is using the Circle Pattern Bold Print again, but this time with three pink Oxide inks in an ombré way. I L-O-V-E ombré if that wasn’t clear, lol.

I also love flowers, and to finish this card off I stamped up several Floral Tulips and water colured these in. The coordinating diecuts save so much time, I love them! While I was on a roll with diecutting, I also cut out some Oval Woodgrain Frames which I used to frame the tulips.

A quick birthday sentiment on a banner, finished the card off.

I have a slight obsession with avocados and lemons, and as there is a fabulously zesty background stamp, Fresh Citrus Bold Print, in the newest release it was a no-brainer to use that one! Twice too, and both are heat embossed with white. One on white water colour card stock and the other on black card stock.

The white one I coloured in using Zig Clean Color markers and the black one I have used paper glazes from Picket Fence Studios! This is the first time I have tried water colouring with them on coloured card stock and I LOVE how it turned out! So cool and shimmery.

The sentiment, Lemonade Message, was perfect for one of them. It’s heat embossed in white on light yellow card stock, this is cut it out using the Square Infinity Dies. I did one size bigger in a darker yellow colour. I also stamped up and heat embossed some of the images from the Orange Blossoms set. These are coloured in using the same Zig Clean Color markers and then cut out with the coordinating diecut.

The sentiment bit is popped up with foam tape, then the branch and lemon were added as a final touch.

With another sentiment stamped up and cut out, from the Orange Blossom set, I assembled the cards. This one I also trimmed down a little, adhered to a white card base and had a lime instead of a lemon.

The yellow one is my favourite though. I love how the colours pop!

Well, that’s it from me! I hope you enjoyed these cards and found some inspiration here. Your next stop on the hop is the amazing Nichol!

Blog hop prizes: We will giveaway 3 $50 shopping sprees to people who comment along the hop. Comment on as many blogs as you’d like – more comments means more chances to win! Comment by Wednesday Feb 19 at 11:59pm pst, we’ll announce the winner on the Hero Arts blog.

Hero Arts has collaborated with My Sweet Petunia to make a black MISTI! It is the original style, not the 2.0, and will be available from March 15th. If you want one, click on the ‘notify me’ link on the product page as it’s displayed as ‘out of stock’ at the moment.

Here is the full blog hop list but if you come across any broken links, the list is also available on the Hero Arts blog.

Hero Arts Blog
Jessica Frost-Ballas
Channin Pelletier
Debi Adams
Michelle Short
Caly Person
Emily Midgett
Janette Kausen
Ilina Crouse
Yana Smakula
Daniel West
Lydia Fiedler
Wanda Guess
Seeka
Laurie Willison
Amy Kolling
Erica A-B
Nichol Spohr
Jennifer McGuire
Libby Hickson

Thanks for stopping by today! I have used compensated affiliate links to Hero Arts in this post, if you shop using these links I will get a small commission directly from them, at no extra cost to you whatsoever. Any money I make from these affiliate links go directly back into running my blog and YouTube channel, so thank you so much for the support!

Lots of love and happy crafting from Erica

You can find me on various social media platforms if you want to see more of my work

My blog (that’s right here)

Instagram

My YouTube channel

CaCaCraft on Facebook

Guest Designing for Inspired By All The Little Things challenge #86!

Hello, hello! Today I’m back with another card and post as the May Guest Designer  for Inspired By All The Little Things challenge blog. This is Challenge #86! The inspiration photo for this challenge is very different from Challenge #85, with vivid colours and textures. Isn’t it just lovely? I could so picture some of those glass feathers hanging in my window, catching the sunshine and the colourful prisms bouncing off the walls. Actually, hang on a minute….. *Makes mental note for future craft room*

6E35B242-4181-4ED9-9AFC-7EAF48C52114

My first idea was to basically stamp up feathers on a card and the colour them in with the same colours as in the photo. Sounds cool, doesn’t it? Only problem was I realised I don’t have a feather stamp in my stash…! What? How..? Once I got over the shock of not having exactly the right stamp to work with, my mind was very set on a specific one of course and anything else simply wouldn’t do. Oh no. Impossible! (My inner crafty drama queen was having a full-on temper tantrum!)

Right, plan B: Alcohol ink background with similar colours as in the inspiration photo and stencilled texture paste over it. Using Ranger Ink Alcohol inks on Yupo paper, I played around this way and that, until I had a very colourful and vivid piece to work with. The colours I used are Caramel, Sailboat Blue, Indigo, Pistachio, Coral, Cranberry, Honeycomb and Rose Gold mixative. In the photo you can see how they look once dried on the Yupo paper. For this piece I used Translucent Yupo, rather than my usual Yupo.

0C4C7E44-364B-4D02-A9D0-61DCBF063958

I use a little air blower to puff the colours around as it gives me a headache to blow on them and breathe in the fumes. Even when I have the window open! This pump is very cheap but so helpful. If you want something similar, I got this one from Amazon but you can also check out local photography shops.

To bring in the feather element to the card, I used a stencil from Hero Arts called Peacock Feathers and Ranger Ink texture paste. The one I used is a Opaque Matte (I really like it but it doesn’t seem to be able as a single tub anymore) and I spread a very thin layer on the alcohol ink piece using a spatula.

45D3D43F-8CEC-4193-9338-68904F8BD857

Once it was all dry, I cut out a panel using a Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectable stackable lawncuts and added foam tape to the back of it. This I adhered to a white A2 card base, made out of Neenah Classic Crest 110# card stock, and set aside for the time being.

To finish it off I got out some MFT Stamps goodies: a really lovely and useful stamp and dienamic set called Because You. It comes with a ‘because’ word diecut and some sweet stamp sentiments you can mix’n’match for all sorts of occasions and recipients. The ‘because’ I cut out of card stock with my BigShot and dabbed on my VersaMark ink pad before dusting it very generously with Altenew Platinum embossing powder and melting it with my heatgun. I’m a big fan of the embossing powders from Altenew, they are gorgeous!

22F8FD16-4CA1-400D-B84C-52C54EE386DE

I also cut out a frame in platinum coloured linen textured card stock, using a mix of two different MFT Stamps dienamic sets, Stitched Rectangle Frames and Stitched Mini Scallop Rectangles, as I didn’t have one that was just what I wanted and the right size. I like calling this ‘Crafting MacGyvering’, from the 90’s tv-show MacGyver. Makes me feel very clever indeed, lol!

4C9BC2BD-AA39-4440-899D-7169655CE2BE

The sentiment was finished off with ‘You know just what to say to make me feel better’ which is stamped on white card stock in two blue Altenew inks to create a mottled effect. The two I used are called Tide Blue and Starlight. These you can get separate or as a 4-pack called Deep Blue Seas, both in the big oval pads and mini cubes.

8563357C-774F-4126-84EB-132B6300AE3F

To put the card together I used both foam tape and my fine tip glue pen. First the frame went on, then the ‘because’ and finally the sentiment stripe with foam tape. I toyed with the idea of adding some sequins but surprisingly decided against it. I know, I’m shocked myself…

B254E679-72EB-4569-BAEF-6BBCCBE4C994

Well, with that, I’m finished and I hope you like it and will get inspired to join us yourself! Check back to the main blog for more inspiration from the DT and for the linkup for your own project. Thank you so much for having had me, guys, I really enjoyed myself and hope you liked my projects! To see my card for Challenge #85, click HERE.

As always, I have used compensated affiliate links, where possible, to various companies and shops for your convenience. What that means is that I will get a small commission from the company directly, if you purchase something using these links, at no extra cost to you. Some of the shops and companies linked to are Scrapbook.com, Altenew, MFT Stamps and Ranger Ink.

I’d like to take this opportunity to urge you to use these links and those of other crafters, when you do purchase new crafty goodies. By doing this, you help support our crafting journeys as well as absolutely make our days! Thank you so much in advance.

Lots of love and happy crafting from Erica

Follow me on Instagram, Facebook and Flickr for more crafting adventures and shenanigans!