Good morning! I am so excited to be hopping along with the Hero Arts Creative team and other special guests for their Winter 2016 Release! There are SO many gorgeous and adorable stamps and products in this release! You should have arrived from Jenn Shurkus’ blog but if not, you can head to the Hero Arts blog to start at the beginning! I created two cards using some of my favorite Christmas stamps from this year and last year’s Winter releases! My first card uses the new Color Layering Cardinal with one of my favorite holiday background stamps from Hero Arts.
Isn’t that cardinal gorgeous!? It’s really easy to line up the stamps and you get that great layered look just by using different inks! I stamped the cardinal, branch, and pine sprigs and then die-cut them with the coordinating dies. Then I inked the background stamp with versamark and pressed a piece of kraft cardstock over the stamp. I heat-embossed it with white embossing powder and then trimmed it down to an A2 card base. I stamped the sentiment on vellum and heat-embossed it with white embossing powder. Next I trimmed it down to a fishtail banner and layered it over red cardstock. I adhered them to my kraft base and then tucked my cardinal and branch around the sentiment. I finished the card by adding a little spectrum noir clear sparkle to the vellum.
I decided to make a shaker for my second card using one of the tag dies from last winter’s release. I die-cut it from white cardstock and then added a layer of acetate and foam mounting tape behind the cardstock. I filled it with a mixture of silver and sparkling clear sequins and beads and then sealed it with a white cardstock backing.
Next I stamped the same snowflake background stamp onto white cardstock and heat-embossed it with silver embossing powder. Then I blended Cracked Pistachio, Evergreen Bough, and Peacock Feathers distress ink over the background. I adhered the distress inked background to a white card base and then adhered the shaker over it. I am really becoming fond of nontraditional colors for Christmas cards and I love the sparkle and shimmer from the embossing powder and shaker!
To celebrate the release Hero Arts is giving away three $25 gift certificates to comments selected from all of the blogs in the hop so make sure you leave a comment at each hop stop for the most chances to win! Please comment by Sunday, August 28 at 11:59pm PT and we’ll announce the winner the following week. Your next stop on the hop is the wonderful Joan Bardee! Here’s the full hop list in case you get lost!
The Hero Arts Blog
Jennifer McGuire
Kathy Racoosin
Wanda Guess
Lydia Fiedler
Alice Wertz
Amy Tan
Cheiron Brandon
Debbie Olson
Laura Bassen
Debby Hughes
Heather Ruwe
Ilina Crouse
Isha Gupta
Jenn Shurkus
Jessica Frost-Ballas —> YOU ARE HERE!
Joan Bardee
Karin Akesdotter
Yana Smakula
Kelly Rasmussen
Amy Tsuruta
Clare Prezzia
Mariana Grigsby
May Sukyong Park
Libby Hickson
Thanks so much for visiting and have a wonderful day!
Carolee McCaslin says
LOVE your pretty cards!!!
Sue says
Stunning cards… The snowflake embossing truly sets off the stunning Cardinal.
Marilyn says
Gorgeous cards, but I’m partial to the shaker card, which has my favorite colors to boot. Oh, and snowflakes; love ’em!
Sue Smith says
I love your snowflake backgrounds. They are fantastic. I think that both cards are stunning, especially the shaker card 🙂
Becca Yahrling says
All my favorites: the word “Peace”, the gorgeous Cardinal and a shaker! Beautiful cards.
Barbara says
Love the shaker idea!!
sandym says
Gorgeous cards! I love that snowflake background!
Diane Zalusky says
Love the backgrounds.
Gretchen says
Beautiful cards,I really like the aqua and silver one, so rich!
Isabelle says
Don’t ask me to choose my favorite card, I cannot, they are both gorgeous !
eliza d says
Ooh, I love your embossed snowflake backgrounds!
Gilda (McStamper) says
Love the snowflakes. The shaker is great.
sharon L says
Great shaker card!
Debra Davison says
Such pretty cards… Great coloring !!
Susan Holston says
Love the treatment of your backgrounds with the snowflake stamp….Love the shaker card!!
Amy Cooley says
I love the silver embossed snowflakes and ombre background!
Holley Downs says
Love your cards especially the snowflake backgrounds!
Michel E says
Lovely card.
Abby says
Beautiful backgrounds.
Kathy J in Ellicott City says
Love both the bird and snowflakes! Great cards!
Connie M says
I just love the snowflake shaker card. What a great idea. Thanks
Kathy J in Ellicott City says
Beautiful cards!
MaryEllen Crafter says
cute snowflake shaker – fun!
Janet D. says
Gorgeous cards!
Maria says
I am seeing some of the best backgrounds on these blogs, including yours.