Happy Birthday Justice Ginsburg Blog Hop + Giveaway!

Hello and welcome! Today I'm hopping with some friends to celebrate the birthday of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She's 86 years young today. I recently learned more about her when I saw the documentary "RBG", and I am so thankful for all the work she's done for women's rights and  gender equality. Long before she was a Justice, she was taking cases to the Supreme Court. And she went to Harvard Law School when very few women did. She's been a trailblazer her entire life.

One of my favorite RBG quotes is: “I ask no favor for my sex; all I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks.”

For some crazy reason I thought she needed to be purple.

I used the fabulous new Wonderful Women set from Kelly Purkey. A layering stamp set with Justice Ginsburg? Yes please! I stamped her with Hero Arts Orchid Ink and Intense Black Ink. The little crown is stamped in Dandelion Ink, then covered with Snowfall Glitter. I stamped the message in Unicorn White Ink - I'm wishing I had white embossed it, the ink isn't showing up very well in the photo.

The card is rather silly but the sentiment is real - Happy Birthday QUEEN!

Love the stamp set I used? We are lucky to be able to offer prizes to four winners -- two Wonderful Women sets by Kelly Purkey as well as two Dare to Dream sets from Hero Arts. Thanks to these wonderful sponsors. We will pick the winners of the sets from comments placed on all the blogs through March 19th 11:59pm ET and announce the winners on Joan Bardee's blog on March 21st.

And now let's hop!! Please join my fabulous friends and see what they've created today!

Amy Tsuruta
Coni Longley
Jan Tinklenberg
Joan Bardee
Katie Brooks
Libby Hickson (you are here!)
Lisa Bzibziak
Michele Ferguson

Thanks for stopping by,

March My Monthly Hero Release + Giveaway!

It's My Monthly Hero launch day over at Hero Arts, and this month's release is one of my all-time favorites!! I love all things ocean (well, except actually being IN the ocean... what can I say, I saw Jaws at too young of an age...!). And I love aquariums. I dream of having a salt water aquarium of my own. Maybe someday! But for now, I'll just have to stamp aquariums with this awesome kit!

The stamps in the kit are solid, silhouette stamps. Instead of stamping them as black silhouettes or in bright colors, I decided to use them as a guide for some coloring! I begin by using the awesome Sea Salt Reactive Ink in the kit, and stamped onto Adriatic cardstock.

Then I got to work with my Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils. I love coloring with pencils over white ink on darker cardstock. Here's a closer look:

I finished the card by die cutting a matching oval out of a white panel, then attaching it all to a white card base, adding a thin strip of gold glitter cardstock from my stash.

Here's a look at the full kit:

And be sure to check out the add-ons this month as well, they are fantastic!!

Now it's time to hop! Next up is my sweet friend Mariana Grigsby! I'm so happy to see her joining us today, using Hero Arts products. Yay! Make sure and visit all of the blogs in the hop and comment for a chance to win a kit! Here's the full hop list:

The Hero Arts Blog
Nichol Spohr
Michelle Short
Jessica Frost-Ballas
Janette Kausen
Ilina Crouse
Emily Midgett
Caly Person
Lydia Fiedler
Laurie Willison
Julee Tilman
Jennifer McGuire
Debi Adams
Amy Kolling
Libby Hickson (you are here!)

And if you'd like to see the kit up close and personal, join me TONIGHT (March 4th) at 9pm eastern on the Hero Arts Facebook page, where I'll be doing a live release spotlight. If you're not able to tune in right at 9pm, it will be available on replay as well!

Take care,

Get Cracking on Christmas - February 2019

Today I'm joining my blogging friends to begin my efforts to have a stash of Christmas cards by December. Each month, we'll share a holiday cards or projects as we Get Cracking on Christmas!

My card today is in a bit of a different color palette for Christmas, pink! I dug out an old Hero Arts set that's not even available anymore - Peace Poinsettias - and gold embossed the flowers on lovely new Hero Arts Sand cardstock. The coloring was done with my Polychromos pencils. A bit of gold shimmer spray, sequins, and a message embossed in gold finished the card.

Be sure to stop by and see if my fabulous friends shared today as well: Jenn, Cheiron, Chari & Caryn.

Thanks for stopping by!

The Hero Arts 2019 Catalog Blog Hop + Giveaway!

Hello! I am hopping along with Hero Arts today, to introduce all of the wonderful goodies that were introduced in the new 2019 Hero Arts Catalog - and now available in the Hero Arts store!

Today's post is all about butterflies! I wanted to share some of the fabulous new butterflies in this release, specifically the Nesting Butterflies Infinity Dies. This is a set of six butterfly dies in various sizes, plus some antennae dies, too. There are so many things you can do with this die set!

For this first card, I used the tiniest butterfly in the set, and cut it out repeatedly using the GORGEOUS new cardstock in both Papaya and Pumpkin. (Can I just pause for a moment and tell you just how INCREDIBLY EXCITED I AM about this new cardstock??? It's my favorite new thing in this release by far! If you've used the Hero Layering Paper in the past, you know what a huge change this is!) Attaching all of the butterflies to this card with foam tape was a labor of love. It's all on a panel of Dove White, which was in turn mounted on more Pumpkin then Pitch Black. The message is from a fabulous new little 3x4 message set - Hero Greetings Sending Smiles.

This next card again uses the Nesting Butterflies Infinity Dies.

This time I used a little larger butterfly from the die set, and layered the butterflies together. The gorgeous blue cardstock is called Paradise, and I layered a vellum butterfly on top using just a small line of the fabulous new Precision Glue along only the center. The line of glue was hidden with gems. And that spectacular background? That's a new background stamp called Ocean Waves Bold Prints. I embossed it with Sparkle embossing powder on Sand cardstock for a subtle background.

The message on the card above was from the gorgeous new Color Layering Monarch Butterfly set, which I believe you've seen on other cards in this hop. There's also the New Day Butterflies stamp set in this release, as well as a Monarch Butterfly Fancy Die.

And now, let's get hopping! I was the last stop on today's hop, but be sure to go back and visit all of the blogs! We're giving away FOUR (!!) $50 gift certificates to the Hero Arts store - you don't want to miss your chance to win! Comments close on Sunday February 17th at midnight PST, so get to hopping!

The Hero Arts Blog
Caly Person
Emily Midgett
Ilina Crouse
Janette Kausen
Jessica Frost-Ballas
Michelle Short
Nichol Spohr
Yana Smakula
Amy Kolling
Debi Adams
Jennifer McGuire
Julee Tilman
Kathy Racoosin
Kelly Latevola
Laurie Willison
Lydia Fiedler
Maria Willis
Libby Hickson (you are here!)

Thanks for stopping by,

Guest Designing with a2z Scrapbooking!

Today I'm honored to be guest designing for a2z Scrapbooking!

I was inspired by this gorgeous February Challenge mood board to create a Valentine's card. I loved the pinks and greys of the board.

I had fun using the adorable Stealing My Heart stamp set and matching dies. I combined it with the gorgeous Bursting with Love Bold Prints background. A little Silver Sparkle embossing powder is always a good thing.

To see more about this card, be sure to head on over to the a2z Scrapbooking blog!

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!

Stealing My Heart Shop at: Hero	Stealing My Heart Frame Cuts Shop at: Hero	Bursting with Love Bold Prints Shop at: Hero	Classic Vellum Layering Paper Shop at: Hero
SIlver Sparkle Embossing Powder Shop at: Hero

February My Monthly Hero Release + Giveaway!

This month's My Monthly Hero kit from Hero Arts is a swinging good time!! This kit seriously makes me want to put on the big band music and do the Charleston....

For this card I went nutty with the Gold Glitter embossing powder. It's not included in the main kit, but it pairs really well. But what IS in the kit? Some awesome, mirror-like gold cardstock (silver, too!), which looks incredible die cut with the BEAUTIFUL background die in the kit! The fun gold and black confetti I used on my cardm and as prop around the card is in the kit, too!

I love the little swinging couple above, but there's also some really sophisticated images that are a ton of fun to color, too.

I got out my Copics for this one, for some really simple coloring. I used a little Orchid ink sponged around the oval to make it pop. And speaking of popping - here's a close-up of the background of this card. I used the kit's die to do a black on black background. I love the fun, subtle texture it gives the card in real life!

For this final card, I used the stencil that's included in the kit for the background. It's a smaller-sized stencil, perfect for using on a card front. I used my Life Changing Blender Brushes from Picket Fence Studio to apply Orchid ink.

I made these cards for the kit page over on the Hero Arts blog, fun!

Here's a look at the full kit:

I think this one's going to go quick, so be sure to grab it asap!

Now let's hop! There's a bunch of talented ladies hopping with us today. I'm the last stop on the hop, but be sure to go back and visit them all! Comment along the way, and get in the running for a free kit! The comments close Sunday, Feb 10th.

The Hero Arts Blog
Caly Person
Emily Midgett
Ilina Crouse
Janette Kausen
Jessica Frost-Ballas
Michelle Short
Nichol Spohr
Yana Smakula
Amy Kolling
Debi Adams
Jennifer McGuire
Julee Tilman
Laurie Willison
Lydia Fiedler
Libby Hickson(you are here!)

And here's something FUN!! Want to see a walk-through of this month's release? Join me on the Hero Arts Facebook page, tonight at 9pm eastern, where I'm going to do a Facebook Live about the release! I hope to see you there.

Thanks for stopping by!

January My Monthly Hero Release

It's time for the January My Monthly Hero kit! This release is so much fun - it's great for Valentine's, but the Francophile and Tour de France junkie in me loves how French the main kit looks, and there are BIKES!! Yay! Here's the main kit:

For my post today, I played with a couple add-on products, and made a card that actually isn't very French-looking at all! But I also am head over heels for this adorable Bursting with Love Bold Prints background!

I just did a quick watercolor using various shades of red and pool blue from my Daniel Smith watercolors, after stamping the background in black. It's not a very precise job at all. I'm a big fan of this imperfect, almost comic-book look sometimes.

I stamped the message from You Are Loved Flourish Messages on vellum, and carefully heat embossed in black. The message was stapled to a strip of white cardstock, then adhered to the card with foam tape.

As every month, there's a fun blog hop to help with inspiration for this release. Be sure to comment on all stops along the way for a chance to win a free kit! Stop by the Hero Arts blog for full details!

The Hero Arts Blog
Caly Person
Emily Midgett
Ilina Crouse
Janette Kausen
Jessica Frost-Ballas
Michelle Short
Nichol Spohr
Yana Smakula
Amy Kolling
Debi Adams
Emily Loggans
Julee Tilman
Laurie Willison
Lydia Fiedler
Libby Hickson (you are here!)

Thanks for stopping by!

Here's a look at all of the products included in this release in addition to the extra products I used. 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!

January 2019 My Monthly Hero Shop at: Hero	Get Them All Add-Ons Shop at: Hero	Bursting with Love Bold Prints Shop at: Hero	You Are Loved Flourish Messages Shop at: Hero
Hearts & Flowers Bold Prints Shop at: Hero	Color Layering Waffles Shop at: Hero	Color Layering Waffles Frame Cuts Shop at: Hero	Gal Pal Brunch Shop at: Hero
Gal Pal Brunch Frame Cuts Shop at: Hero	All My Love Decorative Hearts Shop at: Hero	Bicycle With Basket Fancy Die Shop at: Hero	Classic Vellum Layering Paper Shop at: Hero
Black Detail Embossing Powder Shop at: Hero	VersaMark Ink Shop at: Hero	Heat Tool Shop at: Hero	Intense Black Ink Shop at: Hero