Get Cracking On Christmas - May Edition

It's time to Get Cracking on Christmas! On the third Thursday of the month, I join some crafty friends to post Christmas cards. The hope is that by December, I'll have a nice little stack of cards to send out. Although, I suppose this month's card won't be sent to anyone outside of my house - this one will have to be set aside for the hubs!

I used the adorable Nice Elves set from Hero Arts. The little elves were colored with Copics, and cut out with the matching dies. I combined the elves with a message from Irreverent Elf Messages - "you tickle my tinsel" cracks me up! I embossed it with Silver Sparkle, and mounted it all on vellum.

The background was stamped repeatedly with images from the Nice Elves set. I finished everything with Stickles, on both the mistletoe in the background, and on the elves' trim.

Make sure and check out what my friends Jenn, Cheiron and Chari came up with today!

Thanks for stopping by!

Affiliate links are used on this blog, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting me, and clicking on my links to shop!

Nice Elves Shop at: Hero	Nice Elves Frame Cuts Shop at: Hero	Irreverent Elf Messages Shop at: Hero	SIlver Sparkle Embossing Powder Shop at: Hero
Classic Vellum Shop at: Hero	Copic Markers Shop at: SSS	Stickles Star Dust Shop at: SSS

Hero Arts 2018 Catalog Release Blog Hop + Giveaway!

It's release day at Hero Arts! Today the products from the 2018 Summer Catalog are launching on the Hero Arts website, and we're celebrating with a fun blog hop! You should have come here by way of the Hero Arts blog - if you didn't, I highly recommend you head back and start at the beginning.

Today I'm sharing a favorite card I created for the catalog. This is a release is a combination of flowers and a western theme. The On The Prairie fancy die combines the two! It is inspired by Georgia O'Keeffe, one of the great artists of the American Southwest, and I absolutely love it!

I die cut the skull and flowers from Bristol paper, and watercolored them loosely using Liquid Watercolors in Purple, Strawberry, Deep Ocean, Moss and Pine, with some watered down Black on the skull itself. Once they were dry, I also added a big of glitter glue to the centers. For the background, I die cut clouds from Classic Vellum with the Nesting Clouds Infinity Dies, and then mounted it all on a panel of Decorative Woodgrain Cardstock. The "hello" message is from the Hero Florals Rose Stamp & Cut, and I stamped it in Unicorn White ink on a small bit of black cardstock, and popped it up.

I was inspired by this Georgia O'Keeffe painting when creating this card. What do you think, did I achieve the feel of it? Kinda sorta?

Now it's time to hop. Be sure to visit everyone along the hop and leave comments - Hero Arts will be giving away TWO $50 gift certificates to lucky winners drawn from the blog comments across the hop. You have until Sunday, May 20 at 11:59pm pacific to leave those comments! You're almost at the end of the hop - all that's left is the one and only Jennifer McGuire!

The Hero Arts Blog
Amy Tsuruta
Clare Prezzia
Emily Midgett
Ilina Crouse
Janette Kausen
Jessica Frost-Ballas
May Sukyong Park
Michelle Short
Yana Smakula
Kathy Racoosin
Kelly Latevola
Lydia Fiedler
Wanda Guess
Cynde Whitlow
Ericka Strange
Jeanne Jachna
Juhi Khanna
Karen Bull
Kim Hamilton
Lisa Stein
Meghan Peterson
Michelle Yuen
Libby Hickson (you are here!)
Jennifer McGuire

Thanks for stopping by today!

Affiliate links are used on this blog, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting me, and clicking on my links to shop!

On The Prairie Fancy Die Shop at: Hero	Liquid Watercolors Purple Shop at: Hero	Liquid Watercolors Strawberry Shop at: Hero	Liquid Watercolors Deep Ocean Shop at: Hero
Liquid Watercolors Moss Shop at: Hero	Liquid Watercolors Pine Shop at: Hero	Liquid Watercolors Black Shop at: Hero	Nesting Cloud Infinity Dies Shop at: Hero
Classic Vellum Shop at: Hero	Decorative Woodgrain Cardstock Shop at: Hero	Unicorn White Ink Shop at: Hero	Hero Florals Rose Stamp & Cut Shop at: Hero

May 2018 My Monthly Hero - Release Blog Hop + Giveaway!

It's release day at Hero Arts - and the May 2018 My Monthly Hero kit is a beauty! They are celebrating the "Tree of Life" - with sweet & nostalgic products that make me smile. For my card today, I played with the main kit, and made a bunch of thank you cards for some important people who have touched our lives recently.

I began by stamping the tree trunk and branches on Kraft paper using Unicorn White pigment ink. Once it was completely dry, I colored in the solid white image with my Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils.

I rounded the tree panel using the Rounded Rectangle Infinity Dies, and then embossed the message with Brass embossing powder on Classic Vellum and die cut with Oval Infinity Dies. I carefully cut around a couple leaves with an X-acto knife to allow them to be on top of the message panel.

The design is pretty, yet simple enough to mass produce another five cards.

Here's a look at the full kit:

I'm part of a fun blog hop today! Be sure to leave a comment for everyone along the hop - Hero Arts will be drawing a winner among all the comments to receive a free kit! Get your comments in by Sunday, May 13 at 11:59pm PST.

The Hero Arts Blog
Jennifer McGuire
Nichol Spohr
Wanda Guess
Janette Kausen
Laurie Willison
Ilina Crouse
Michelle Short
Amy Kolling
Clare Prezzia
Lydia Fiedler
Jessica Frost-Ballas
Amy Tsuruta
Emily Midgett
May Sukyong Park
Libby Hickson (you are here!)
Yana Smakula

Thanks for stopping by!

Affiliate links are used on this blog, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting me, and clicking on my links to shop!

May 2018 My Monthly Hero Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Kraft Paper Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Brass Embossing Powder Shop at: Hero	VersaMark Ink Shop at: Hero
Hero Arts Unicorn White Ink Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Classic Vellum Shop at: Hero	Rounded Rectangle Infinity Dies Shop at: Hero	Oval Infinity Dies Shop at: Hero

April 2018 My Monthly Hero - Release Blog Hop + Giveaway!

Hola, amigos! I am ready to make me some margaritas and have a fiesta right here on my blog!! The April My Monthly Hero kit from Hero Arts is here, and it is SO MUCH FUN!! In fact, I had so much fun this month, I couldn't stop making cards! It's a card fiesta! So let's get started...

I had to start with this adorable little mouse. She's just the sweetest! I love coloring with my Copics, and the entire 6" x 8" stamp set is so much fun to color!

For the background, I created a reverse mask by die cutting with my Rounded Rectangle Infinity Dies on masking paper, and using the negative piece on top of my cardstock to ink blend. I finished this card with a coating of Wink of Stella on her outfit, black Glaze pen for trim and flower centers, and some of the clear sequins from the Seashore Sequin mix.

Next, a card I got a little silly with, and had a lot of fun in the process!

I mean really, who doesn't love a googly-eyed cactus??

The little mariachi mouse is pretty darn fabulous, too. I combined lots of images from the kit for this card.

Lots of Copic coloring, details in black Glaze and white gel pens, and some vellum behind the focal point images.

How about some hot peppers for you hot mamas out there?

The message is white embossed, and some Crystal Clear Lacquer Pen was added to all of the peppers after Copic coloring, and drawing in the little white gel pen "shine line".

And here's a look at the full kit. I didn't even tell you about the AMAZING inks included in the kit (see the Hero Arts post for a photo I took of those!), and that GORGEOUS background frame die. It was shared by Janette in this Countdown post.

And now it's time to hop! I'm the last stop on the hop, but I'm certain there's been tons of inspiration before me. Be sure to visit all of the blogs and leave comments as you go - one lucky hopper will win a kit!

The Hero Arts Blog
Laurie Willison
Yana Smakula
Janette Kausen
Nichol Spohr
Ilina Crouse
Kathy Racoosin
Clare Prezzia
Lydia Fiedler
Jessica Frost-Ballas
Kelly Latevola
Jana Millen
Amy Tsuruta
Emily Midgett
May Sukyong Park
Libby Hickson (you are here!)

Thanks for stopping by!

Affiliate links are used on this blog, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting me, and clicking on my links to shop!

March 2018 My Monthly Hero Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Rounded Rectangle Infinity Dies Shop at: Hero	Hero Art Seashore Sequin Mix Shop at: Hero	Inkadinkado Masking Paper Shop at: SSS
Wink of Stella Shop at: SSS	Sakura Black Glaze Pens Shop at: SSS	Uni-Ball Signo White Gel Pen Shop at: SSS	Hero Arts Classic Vellum Shop at: Hero
Hero Arts White Detail Embossing Powder Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Crystal Clear Lacquer Pen Shop at: Hero