Pink Pink Pink

Hey Everybody! For this card I had a few design ideas in mind before I got started. I liked Dawn's scallops here and I wanted to try another version of a butterfly like I did here. Usually before I start a card I pull out all the papers I want to use. For this card I pulled out a bunch of pinks, kraft and brown. After I put the pink elements together I ditched the browns and went with black. I don't use it often but am glad I did for this card. Maybe it will inspire me to use it more often. :)

I wasn't looking forward to using my border punch for the scallop detail so I came up with the idea to cut out a bunch of scallop rectangles using my Nestabilities and trimmed them in to rows. Much easier. :)

Materials:

[Love You Butterfly Card]

Stamps: Hero Arts Heart Winged Butterfly, Many Hearts

Ink: Memories Black Die, StazOn Black
Paper: PTI, BoBunny, Bazzill Swiss Dots Embossed
Other: Black Hero Arts Gems, String, ShortCuts Acetate, American Crafts Buttons

Sunny Sunday

Hey Everyone! I just love Jennifer's idea to stamp an image and use the reverse side! So I used this peacock stamp, cut off his feathers, turned him over and made him a whole new kind of birdie! Fun, fun!

I also used the tree stamp from my previous post and just cut it down to make the right size trunk for my button tree.

Thank you to everyone who joined in on the I {HEART} HERO ARTS BLOG HOP! It was a total success. I don't know about you but I'm still hoping! I check out a few cards, change a diaper, check out a few more, feed a kid, check out a few more... Most of the time when I'm browsing through blogs I'm holding Rachel in one hand and clicking and typing with the other. But I will get to them all! You all are awesome! Special thanks to Lisa Spangler, Laura Vegas and Jennifer McGuire for joining! You rock!

Materials
[You Make Me Smile Birdie Card]
Stamps: Hero Arts Cloud Background, Houndstooth Background, , All Occasion Messages, Happy Hello
Paper: PTI, Bazzill Swiss Dots Embossed
Ink: Broken China & Shabby Shutters Distress Ink, Soft Blossom Hero Arts Shadow Ink, ColorBox Chalk Ink, Memory Box
Other: PTI Buttons, Googly Eye, Hero Arts Pink Gems

I {Heart} Hero Arts Blog Hop

Hey Everybody! What a fun day it is today! Hero Arts is such a generous and kind company I thought it was about time we all gave them a BIG thank you! So to celebrate such a wonderful company I put together a little blog hop going on over here. Maybe that is why you are here?

My Hero Arts Story: After having my son almost two years ago I was browsing through my local stamp store and came across a Hero Arts catalog. It had so many fun ideas I had to buy it! I admit that I copied several cards in the catalog because I had only stamped a little bit here and there but my creativity soon took off. I also had to check out their website and heard about this new blog they were going to start with lots of fun ideas and challenges. I got on board and haven't looked back!

Why I {Heart} Hero Arts: They are a creative, fun company that is customer focused. Really, they make you feel like part of their community. I love each of the designers individually and as a group for being so kind and keeping me on my toes with fun new challenges! I can't forget the people working behind the scenes either...I wouldn't have stamps with out them. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Materials

[Appericate Hero Arts Card]

Stamps: Live Simply, Home II
Paper: PTI, BoBunny, Bazzill Swiss Dots Embossed

Other: PrismaColor Pencils

Seeing Green

Hey Everyone! Can you believe its Thursday? That means tomorrow it the BIG hop day! Check out the details HERE. I have to admit that I'm a little nervous for how it will go but I'm also super excited. Please please please please join me (yes I'm begging) and make my this hop a success! :) :) :)

This week's Hero Arts challenge is to create a monochromatic card. I chose one of my favorite colors...green. And what is green without a frog? The small pieces behind the frog scene feature some of my favorite Hero Arts background stamps! Can't stop using those!

Materials
[Smile Laugh Giggle Frog Card]
Stamps: Sending Happy Thoughts, Raindrop Background, Houndstooth Background, Screen Shadow, Scattered Flowers, Anytime Messages
Paper: K&C Company Amy Butler, Bazzill Swiss Dots Embossed, PTI
Ink: Memory Box, Hero Arts Green Shadow Ink
Other: Nestabilities Label One

See you tomorrow for the hop!

Two Owls, So Much Inspiration!

Hi Everyone, I'm catching up and sharing a few cards I made for last week's Hero Arts challenge. There is an endless supply of inspiration on the Hero Arts website so this challenge was well...not so challenging. :)


My first card was inspired by Tami's layout seen HERE and the cute little owl seen in the new Hero Arts store HERE.

When I was looking around the website for some new inspiration I came across a set of cards that Shari made. My favorite card of the set was THIS one. You can see all the cards in her set HERE. So with those four cards as my inspiration I made another owl card.

When I was playing around with the design I realized I needed a white center to offset all of the color. I already had the green frame in place but the four squares continued in to the middle. I was going to mount a white piece in the middle but realized it would be fun to cut out the middle instead and mount the owl on the card base which also gave me a place to hide the tree branch. I'm so excited to use the scrap piece that I cut out from the middle!!!

Materials:
[Guess Whoo Card]
Stamps: Hero Arts Artistic Windows, Big Hoot, Cute Letters
Paper: PTI, Bazzill Swiss Dots Embossed
Ink: ColorBox Chalk, Memory Box
Other: Hero Arts Black Gems & Buttons, PrismaColor Pencils, Machine Stitching, String

[Owl Saying Hello Card]
Stamps: Sending Happy Thoughts, All Occassion Messages
Paper: K&C Company Amy Butler, Bazzill Swiss Dots Embossed
Ink: Memory Box
Other: Hero Arts Pearls, PrismaColor Pencils, Nestabilities Label One

I {HEART} HERO ARTS BLOG HOP

Lets HOP! I’m excited to let you know about the I {HEART} HERO ARTS BLOG HOP ! I’ve come up with an easy challenge and a few simple questions so EVERYONE can join! You DO NOT have to have a blog to play. Although we’d love to see your blog feel free to post your card and answers in Flickr or any other photo sharing site. I’m hoping EVERYONE will play so come out if you’ve been hiding and show us your stuff!

I don’t know about you but I’m feeling really thankful for Hero Arts these days. Aaron is a genius, the designers are amazing and the hostesses give me warm fuzzies. Then there are all the people that work behind the scenes to design, put together and ship our amazing stamps. So with that in mind here are the steps to participate in the I {HEART} HERO ARTS BLOG HOP.

1. Create a Thank You card for Hero Arts using your favorite Hero Arts stamps (don’t forget to list the stamps you used so others can add them to their wish lists).

2. Answer these two questions:

a. Tell us your Hero Arts story. How did you get started using Hero Arts products?
b. Hero Arts is full of great people. Tell us why you are thankful for Hero Arts!

3. Post your entry on Friday July 24th before 6PM Pacific Time (9PM Eastern). I will create a discussion topic in the Hero Arts Flickr group to post to. All you need to do is go to the I {HEART} HERO ARTS BLOG HOP discussion and add a direct link to your card. I will open the discussion around 8AM PT on the 24th so you’ll have plenty of time to add your link.

4. Now for the super fun part! After 6PM PT on the 24th go back to the I {HEART} HERO ARTS BLOG HOP discussion and open each link and enjoy, be inspired and learn more about your Hero Arts friends!

Sound like fun? I think so! Spread the word to all your friends and fellow stampers. The more people creating and hopping the merrier!!!

If you have a question please leave a comment or email me at cherryhilldesign@hotmail.com . I look forward to hopping with you!

Cupcake Trio

I took advantage of some free time I had this last weekend and had fun playing with my PTI Cupcake Collection stamps. Here are my three cards...

Which card is your favorite? I have one but I'd like to know what you think. :)

I love these stamps and am looking forward to stamping them again and again!

Gotta run but check back on Friday for exciting details on a blog hop I'm organizing!!!

I Think I'm Inking?

I've been following Jennifer McGuire's Thinking Inking class. Have you? The techniques are SO cool but SO not me. I'm trying....really hard... but it just doesn't come to me naturally. This card took several tries. I seriously went through about 5 sheets of white cardstock to get to this.

I'm going to keep trying. I'm also super excited to try some crackle paint.

Off to work on a top secert card for someone. ;)

Best For Last

Hey Everyone! So I saved my favorite clear card projects for last. If you know me, you know I'm a little addicted to owl stamps. They are just so fun to stamp!

I had to get creative for the tree trunk on this little card. Yep, HAD to. I got a little ink smudge on the bottom of the trunk after I had all the base pieces taped together. Who wants to pull them all apart to fix it? Not me. I don't have the large wood grain stamp so I stamped my little one a couple times, cut out some circles and ta dah! Fixed. I think I like it better. Love those kinds of mistakes.

This owl card was super simple to put together. I had my CARDS magazine laying out, flipped it open and pulled a little bit of inspiration from the two cards I saw. Its a great way to get some fast mojo!

Hope you've been inspired to try out some cards using acetate. Don't forget to visit Caardvarks and enter the current sketch challenge. The deadline is July 17th. Details are HERE.

Hopefully I'll have another card to share soon. Lets just say my hands are super inky today. :)

Thanks for visiting!

Clear Cards Are Fun!

Hey Everybody! I'm back to share a few more clear cards I created. I have to be honest that when I first started working with the clear and frosted sheets it was a little challenging. But after my first card (the cupcake one shown previously) it got easy and I really started having fun.

I die cut these butterflies with my CB and the SU butterfly die cuts. Not all die cuts work with the acetate material but you just have to try it out. It worked great for me! So after cutting out the butterflies I stamped 'em up with some of my favorite Hero Arts background stamps using StazOn ink. I bent the wings so they'd be dimensional and then tied them on to the matching red butterflies with some string. The string is tied a the top which create antennas for the little guys. Cute huh?

For this little mini card I stamped the Hero Arts Japanese Doll with black StazOn. Then I turned it over and painted with acrylics. I love this look! You could get fancy with all sorts of colors but I just used the ones I had on hand. Then I framed her out in pink, added the grass hill and then put mounting tape behind the framed edges. This allowed me to tape on the blue clouds a little ways back. This card reminded me of a project I made in junior high. Some cat I drew on glass and then painted the back. Hmm. Funny how things come back to you.

Thanks for checking in today. I'll be back to share the final two cards tomorrow.

Materials:

[Two Butterflies Thank You Card]
Stamps: Hero Arts Houndstooth Background, Raindrop Background; PTI Cupcake Collection (for sentiment)
Paper: PTI, BoBunny, ShortCuts Acetate
Ink: Memory Box Black, White StazOn
Other: String, Corner Rounder, SU Butterfly Die Cuts, Machine Stitching

[Japanese Doll Mini Window Card]
Stamps: Hero Arts Three Japanese Dolls, Scattered Flowers, Clouds
Paper: PTI, ShortCuts Acetate
Ink: Memory Box Black, ColorBox Chalk Ink
Other: Scallop Rectangle Nesstabilites, Flower Die Cut, Acrylic Paints, Hero Arts pearl

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge 11

Happy Monday everyone! I'm taking a day off of sharing my acetate cards to share the card I created for Dawn McVey's color challenge.

When I first saw these colors on Dawn's blog I pictured the card I wanted to make. When I got in my craft room and pulled out the colors I decided to go in a completely different direction! Apples!

Materials:

[Red Red Green Apple Card]

Stamps: Hero Arts Four Apples Set, Happy Hello

Paper: PTI Bitty Box, Pure Poppy, Raspberry Fizz, New Leaf, White

Ink: Memory Box Black

Other: Machine Stitching, Hero Arts Gems, Corner Rounder

Comments are welcome and appreciated!

Caardvarks Sketch Challenge!

Hey Everyone! For my readers in the US I hope you had a great 4th of July! We spent time with friends, played in the sun all day with the kiddos and watched a fun fireworks show put on by my friend's husband over a small lake. So fun!

I've been super busy the last few weeks squeezing in card time a minute here and there preparing for this awesome challenge over at Caardvarks. Sketch challenges are my favorite because they provide such great inspiration. I had fun playing and I hope you will too!

Here is the sketch and here is my card!

We had the opportunity of working with a really cool sponsor ShortCuts and Sheetloads. Their acetate and frosted sheets are so versatile and fun to work with.

Acetate cards are fun to work with because you can create a dimensional card by placing paper inside and outside.

This is just one of the five cards I made with acetate and I'll be sharing the other four over the next several days so check back for more ideas!

Materials:
[Clear Cupcake Card]
Paper: Shortcuts/Sheetloads, PTI
Stamps: PTI Cupcake Collection
Ink: ColorBox Chalk
Other: Hero Arts Buttons, Stitching, PrismaColor Pencils, SU Scallop Punch, Corner Rounder, String