Tag: Hero Arts

Lots of Joy Mailed Out!

Hello friends!  I hope that you’re having a great start to your week!  We’re almost there as Christmas approaches us quickly!  I’ve been enjoying the Season and having fun keeping busy.  Currently baking cookies and decided to take a break from that to sit and make a post about all of things that I’ve been doing besides posting!😆

This is just one of the several similar cards that I created for my Christmas cards this year.  It came from a Christmas in July card kit from Taylored Expressions.  It mainly used the Wreathed in Joy Stamp & Stencil Combo set.  There are dies you can cut them out with as well as foilable panels which is shown on this one.

I do not like to make several of the “same thing”, so I’ve changed them up to different colors, layouts, etc.  So you can see the different versions I’ve done below.  (If you are visiting my web page, just click on each photo to see it enlarged.)

 *Apologies for the messy stack for photo taking…it was a lot to do all at once!

Most of these are blue and silver which is my favorite color combination for Christmas colors, so I did about 6 of these.
I think these look the most vintage with the soft tones. Only 2 of these.
These are more traditional looking with the red and greens, plus some were foiled and some heat embossed. There are 4 of these.
These are all pretty similar with the larger wreath used. I changed up the green colors a couple of times. There are 6 of this kind.

I thought these would be enough for all of the Christmas cards to send out, but I realized going back through my list that I wasn’t going to quite have enough. 

So I’m glad that at the beginning of this month I took a Hero Arts Stamp-a-Long and made several different types of Christmas cards.  Here are the results of these below:  (Again, if you’re looking on my web page, just click on the photos to enlarge them.)

background using sprays and coloring die cuts
simple CAS card
northern light mixed media technique
emboss resist background and dimension die cutting
gift tag card with a pocket inside for holding a gift card
reverse die cutting on gatefold card
layering tree stamp and gatefold card
using die cut plate for stenciling
Watercolor CAS projects
using a die cut plate for embossing and masking
mirror stamping technique and rub-on background

So some of these were also taken and used for sending out more Christmas cards.  I’m glad that I did the projects for this class or I probably would not have had enough cards.

BUT WAIT!  That’s not all!  I’ve also made a few other Christmas items that I’ve also sent out.  I’m also sharing some gifts and gift tags that I’ve made from a Taylored Expressions Advent Calendar that I got this year.  I made some more cards and tags.  (I tried out wax melting which is something I’ve never done…it was fun)  Others are from classes I took or participated in Craft Roulette for.

If you’re on my web page, just click on the photos below to enlarge each one.

a craft roulette challenge
another craft roulette challenge
Inky Stamper OOAK class
craft roulette challenge
stencil from my advent calendar
melted wax, tags, pine sprig die and stamp set from advent calendar
I usually make these every year along with a poem on the back for the hot cocoa ingredients. This one is called “Santa’s Soup”. I might add a few other fun items in there as well! The people that get one of these knows to look inside right away!

Wow, so that was a lot!  I know that my blog has been pretty sparse with posts lately and I am finally getting around to posting the things that I’ve been working on, so I hope you’ll get that and you’re able to take some time for yourself this season and enjoy the peaceful quiet moments!

I will be sure to take a moment and catch up with everyone before Christmas arrives.  In the meantime, it’s back to cookie making!  Thanks so much for stopping in today!❤️

November AJ Page-Winter Wonderland

Hello friends!  Hope everyone has had a wonderful Thanksgiving for those that celebrate.  And with that, there is also the Black Friday deals, and today is “small business Saturday”.  So have you’ve gotten some really good deals or do you shop during this time?  I don’t really shop too much during this time, but I enjoy hearing about the great deals everyone has gotten!

The last Saturday of the month also brings us to the monthly Art Journal Page collaboration with my crafty friend, Carol (from Crafty-Stamper)! We get creative trying to use up our never-ending stash piles along with a prompt for each month.  I know she always has great inspiration to share, so please check out her blog too! Here’s my AJ page with the “SMASH OUR STASH” November prompt of “STENCILS” (can also make your own):

I do love stencils, don’t you?!  I have lots of them in my stash and I don’t always use them as much as I’d like to, so how fun to pull out several of them for this month’s prompt!  All of the ones I’ve used on my page are from Tim Holtz.  The entire page is stencil expect for the deer, sentiment and bottom snow!  (I would’ve used the deer for a stencil too, but I don’t have one.)

For the background:  Started with my usual 6″x9″ 140# watercolor pre-punched holes on the side.  I took the large star looking stencil and sponged some VersaMark ink over it towards the top of the page and heat embossed it with clear EP.  (This made a “resist” for the ink I layered on top.)  I took a long strip of masking paper and ripped it to create some hills for the bottom.  I needed to mask so the colors didn’t go over it.   I took several different colors of Distress Oxide sprays along with spritzing with water to help the colors move around and made a few layers with this.  Once dry, I went over the background with the dotted stencil and sponged ink over it with a blue color.

For the tree stencil, I needed to be sure that it would cover the background I created, so I used some green paint to sponge over the stencil, but because the background is blue, it’s sort of harder to see the green.  This stencil also had a second part where you can cover each tree with another layer for either another green or snow.  So I used some Hero Arts white paste to cover it with.  I also used the same paste to add another layer of stencil to the sky for snowfall.

The silhouette deer is a stamp that I stamped with black pigment ink and then I heat embossed it with clear EP.  My final touch to the page was to take the Hero Arts white paste and cover the hills at the bottom using my spatula.  Really love the dried look of the paste as it has a wonderful shine to it which works great for snow!  It didn’t take as long as I thought it would to dry. (About 2 hours it was hardened.)

I found a couple of the Tim Holtz sticker quotes to go with my theme, added to black cardstock and went around the edges with a silver paint pen.  I cut them out with scissors and glued to the page.  I took some silver wax and went around the edge of the page with my finger and lastly added some glitter drops to a couple of the centers of the “stars” in the sky.

Hope you’ve enjoyed my art journal page today or have been inspired!  I appreciate you taking the time to stop in! 

Challenges:

  1. Art Journal Journey – Nature (I love nature in the wintertime!  So pretty covered in snow!)
  2. Try It on Tuesday – Baby, It’s Cold Outside!
  3. Crafting From the Heart – Anything Goes
  4. Creative Artiste – Anything Goes Mixed Media (stencils, pastes, paints, inks)
  5. Stencil Fun – Anything Goes using stencil(s) optional: leaves
  6. 613 Avenue Create – Anything Goes optional embossing (heat embossed)