Black and Blue

Sponsoring Die Cut Divas!

My turn on the hop is Wednesday.  In the meantime, see what the other Hero Hostesses have done.  I peeked.  It's your turn to check out the talented Hostesses starting at Hero Arts, Monday.

The Blackboard Look

Sometimes I feel black is so harsh, so thought I'd stamp this great new Hero Arts stamp white on Blue and I like it.  I used Distress Paint Picket Fence on the image.  The background is a favorite of mine, now double stamped in Broken China and Faded Jeans.  An entirely new look to an old stamp.  

Closeup of that steam rising from the cup - a dainty cup

Recipe:
Hero Arts A Little (CL750
Hero Arts Need Caffeine (CL731) - steam
Hero Arts Zig Zag (CG422)
Distress Inks Broken China and Faded Jeans
Distress Paint Picket Fence
Cuttlebug
Hero Arts frame
Stickles
Memory Box Die - Dainty Tea Cup

I had to try a blackboard look in black too.

Recipe:
Hero Arts A Little (CL750)
Hero Arts Big Ticket (CL544)
Hero Arts frame
Stickles
Blue gems
PanPastels on the "SMILE"
Cuttlebug
I used this for a Birthday card for my son, so the ticket back says "Good for one Free Lunch"
However I think "A Great Big Hello is perfect for the sentiment on the blackboard panel.

Who's the Guest at Die Cut Divas?

GUEST APPEARANCE at Die Cut Divas!

Find out who our guest is for the month of January.  It's someone you know and love.  No more hints.

Tooting my horn for Dawn

Time to visit Die Cut Divas' to see what Dawn has been up to!

I took a sneak peak (you can't blame me) and I tell you, WOW is my word of the day.

Some pretty amazing work.

Trees can be for Winter

How about the new Hero Arts stamps?   Aren't they great?  Well, there's a surprise coming next week. As time gets closer, I'll whisper in your ear,sweet little nothings..... about stamping.  Until then, I'll try to sway you to have a GOOD NEW STAMPING YEAR with examples of Hero Arts stamps.  I love trees, so when I saw this "Tree for Life", I knew it was mine.  Thank you to Hero Arts.

I used Adirondack's Earthtones Eggplant, Earthtones Denim, and Lights Cool Peri to give a shadowy effect.. The HA butterfly from the new HA Butterfly and Flower set (CL750) didn't want to be left out. 
A spray of Sheer Shimmer Sparkle and Sheer Shimmer Frost adds that dusk feeling 
to the light blue note card.

This grows on you.

Casing Cecilia's Card

I fell in love with Cecilia's card at Cecilia's Cards in December and another CASE card came to bloom.

Check out Die Cut Divas for our "Make it Glitter" challenge for January, sponsored by HERO ARTS!


When I saw this card on the Cecilia's Cards, I fell in love with it and wanted to case it.  One tip from Cecilia, start die-cutting the number 2 to the right more as there will be a lot of thickness on the left bottom of the card.  I can't use my number dies the same as Cecilia because they are all on one plate (Cuttlebug Olivia font).  I still like Cecilia's best, but I went cased this card twice.

I needed a Thank you Card, so I used a portion of the phrase "Thanks for being a friend" 

from Hero Arts Enjoy Today and the Washi tape I had on hand. I die-cut my Glitter Paper and adhered the numbers to the card.  I think Cecilia's method wins hands down.

I made two cards while I had Washi tape and stamp in hand. I die-cut my White Glitter Paper and adhered the numbers to the card.

These turned out great for perky cards to start the NEW YEAR, but a totally different feel to the card. 

 I STILL LOVE Cecilia's card best.  

Case this, Case that.

If you read my January 1st post, you know Jennifer McGuire has inspired me and I cased her technique of double and triple stamping a background.
Here I am, once again casing Jennifer, this time, stamping the background twice.

 Be sure to visit the Die Cut Divas' blog for the January challenge, 

"Make it Glitter" sponsored by Hero Arts.

I

 really hadn't expected much from this Hero Arts Zig Zag background stamp, but I'm loving the pattern.

Close-up of this delightful butterfly, part of the clear set Butterfly and Flower (CL750).  It sparkles!

                    This makes a wonderful Thank you card.                          

The longer panel is a beautiful pattern and a little sentiment & embellishment is all you need.

A close-up of the glitter from Stickles on the edges of the stars and the edge of the panel.

Try it, you'll like it.  While you're trying it, enter the Die Cut Divas' challenge here

Make It Glitter!

That's right!  MAKE IT GLITTER!

This month's challenge at Die Cut Divas is to make it glitter.  Interpret this as you will, just make it glitter or shine, glitter paper, glitter dust, glitter with Perfect Pearls, glimmer sprays, Stickles, Glossy Accents. Surprise me!

And who better to start the year off than one of the top stamp companies in the world. 

I fell in love with Jennifer McGuire's technique of double and triple stamping of the same background stamp on November 17, 2013. Sometimes a design is just perfect and it was!  I used a different background and loving how it turned out.  The Hero Arts Zig Zag (CG422) creates a great pattern stamped in triplicate in 3 distress ink colors, Broken China, Faded Jeans, and Chipped Sapphire.  I wish you could see the shimmer from the Perfect Pearls spray mixture on the entire card.

 Close-up of the butterfly.  As you can see, my stamping wasn't perfect, but this design is very forgiving.  You can see a little of the sparkle on the body of the butterfly.  To see the video of how this design was created, visit Jennifer McGuire's November post here.  Also, it would be best to attached the solid color strip to your panel prior to running your zig-zag panel through your machine.

So hard to capture glitter or shininess sometimes.  I love this card design.  I'm sure many of you have already cased Jennifer's card.   Here's the leftover of the triple stamped zig-zag background.

I hope you can see some glittery Stickles on the edges of those stars and the edging on the panel.

Be sure to enter the Die Cut Divas' challenge this month.  Enjoy the new year!
Added: Entering this card in Treasured Times Rubber Stamps Challenge for Anything Goes.