Stamping with Hero Arts

I've been trying to renew my stash of greeting cards this past month. In the past year I've discovered some very inspiring blogs that feature stamping and card making. I find the techniques cross over very well to my visual journaling as well.

More recently I discovered the Happy Heart Studio Blog. Nancy is having a drawing for the newest Hero Arts catalog which was signed by the artists at the recent CHA convention. You must make a card using Hero Arts Stamps. Both of the above cards feature E1212 Bold Birthday Candles. The the black embossed image is on water color paper. Caran d'Ache Neocolor II was used to color the image. Printed scrapbook papers inspired my color choices. I used a glitter gel pen to write "happy birthday" on the above card.

This is a set that was given to me and has always posed a challenge to me. I decided to this was a good time to take on that challenge. This is what I made:

The white card was stamped with G2678 - Art, Life & Beauty using Distress Inks.

The green "tiles" were stamped with the LL637 Woodcut Leaf Pattern Stamps using Versamark Ink on a medium green cardstock. I didn't get as much contrast as I'd hoped for, so I decided to try "chalking" the stamped image using dark blue NuPastel dust that I sanded off the stick & rubbed into the stamping. I trimmed the squares and rounded the corners with a punch. Next I added the sentiment - C1122 - Thinking of You.

Arranging the tiles was my biggest challenge. I added a matte layer to the sentiment tile. I'm not big on embellishments, but I knew something was missing. So I searched my little drawers and found this leaf skeleton that I adhered with vellum glue dots.

I hope you will check out Nancy's blog. Here's another one of my favorite paper art blogs - Jennifer McGuire Ink.