One Layer Blocks

Today I made another one layer card using the same method I used in the first card in this post.

This time I masked off areas in blocks and applied distress inks. After applying the inks and spritzing with water I stamped images on the blocks using the same distress inks.


Stamps (Hero Arts) - Fantastic Birthday, Magical Background, Tiny Star Background and Solid Dots Pattern

Once the card had dried completely I embossed the sentiment and machine stitched frames around the blocks. Sequins were added for a touch of sparkle.

I'm submitting this card into Hero Arts' One Layer Challenge and Simon Says Stamp's Make it Sparkle Challenge.

Waiting for the Rainbows

We're enjoying an extra long weekend here with it being a bank holiday on Monday. But unfortunately the weather has taken a turn for the worse and it's expected that we'll have very heavy rain all day today and tomorrow. It has been raining constantly for the past six hours so I really am waiting for the rainbows after the rain! Anyway what better excuse to do a bit of stamping with water and rainbows in mind.

For both of the cards I made today I used the same colours and same technique. I just love distress inks and the way they react to water so made my backgrounds by applying distress inks to white card and stamping with water instead of ink.

Stamps (Hero Arts) - Simple Leaf Background & Lil Hoot

For the card above I stated by masking off a frame around my card and cut thin strips of washi tape to create blocks on the card.

Then I applied distress inks (worn lipstick, spiced marmalade, mustard seed, mowed lawn and peacock feathers) diagonally across the card. I didn't worry about carefully blending the inks as I knew I was going to add lots of water and the inks would move around a bit.

After that I spritzed lots and lots of water on my background stamp and stamped on the card.

I left it for a little while so that the water and ink would have lots of time to react with each other and then I dabbed off the excess water. After ensuring that the ink was completely dry I peeled off the washi tape and added the sentiment and some machine stitching.

As I had all these inks out I thought I might as well make another simpler card.

Stamps (Hero Arts) - Simple Leaf Background & Fantastic Birthday

For this one I again masked a frame around the card, applied distress inks and stamped with water. This time I just added a sprinkling of sequins to finish.

I'm submitting both cards into Hero Arts One Layer Challenge and Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes Challenge. I'm also submitting the first card into a2z Scrapbooking Encouragement Challenge.

I hope you are having a great weekend and that it's not as soggy in your part of the world as it is here:)

Fabric Card & Pastel Christmas Tree Set

One of my favourite Christmas stamps from this year is Shari's Tree No. 3. When I first saw it it made me think of a Christmas tree that could be appliquéd onto a quilt. So out came the fabrics and I ended up using them for the whole card front, with some card used as backing for a bit of firmness.


Stamp (Hero Arts) - Shari's Tree No. 3

I stamped the tree on fabric, added another layer of fabric at the back, and stitched the outline using a machine. After cutting out the tree I gently frayed the edges back to the stitching and added some buttons. For the background I used a white fabric with a white design and the "snow" is a piece of batting. A piece of red fabric was used for the card front. After die cutting both of these pieces I also gently frayed them around the edges to give a fuzzy look.

As I had the tree stamp out, I decided to go ahead and make another card by stamping on various pieces of pastel coloured card. In the end as I had to stamp four trees anyway, I made a set of cards changing the sentiments on each.


Stamps (Hero Arts) - Shari's Tree No. 3, Very Merry Christmas & Special Delivery

I die cut the kraft panel pieces, stamped the tree on them and then added some stitching.



After that I embossed the sentiments and lightly applied white ink around the edges.



I paper pieced the trunks and popped the branches up on foam pads for dimension.



For the background I embossed snowflake panels.



I can't believe I made five cards today - must be a record for me, lol! I'm submitting these cards into the current Hero Arts Challenge (A Few of my Favourite Things category as I love stamping on fabric and also love paper piecing) as well as Simon Says Stamp's Anything Goes Challenge.

Gossamer Wings in Handmade Cards

I like when I can combine a bit of stamping and a bit of stitching on my cards. In the case of this card today, there’s a little stamping and a lot of stitching.



Stamp (Hero Arts) – It’s Your Day
Die (Hero Arts) – Butterfly

The card was recently published in the fabric and fibres section of Paper Crafts Handmade Cards. When I came home from work this evening, I started poring over the digital version of the magazine. It looks like it's packed full of wonderful projects and I'm not even halfway through the magazine yet.

For the background I used lots of distress inks (barn door, spiced marmalade, mustard seed, shabby shutters, tumbled glass and dusty concord) and went with matching threads on each panel. After die cutting the butterfly, I added a piece of silver organza to the back to give parts of the wings a semi transparent look. To finish it off I added a bit of bling. Thanks for visiting:)

Triangular Thanks

I thought I'd play along again with the Trendy Triangle Challenge over at Moxie Fab World. This time, as well as using triangles on my card, I decided to make a triangular card.



Stamps (Hero Arts) - Friendly Flags, Lattice Background and Antique Brocade

For the orange and darker green triangles, I applied Hero Arts tide pool and orange soda shadow inks to white card and stamped and/or embossed images. I used pool layer paper for the lighter green triangles. After cutting out the triangles, I adhered them to white card and did some machine stitching before adding the back of the card. As I've used inks from the Stamp Your Story catalogue, I'm also submitting this card into the current Hero Arts Challenge. I was inspired by the colours and mix of patterns on this gorgeous card by Kelly Rasmussen.

Hope you're having a great weekend:) Our National Heritage Week starts today so we're hoping to fit in as many fun events as possible over the next seven days and are trying not to think too much about the imminent return to school!

Tuesday Trigger: Pretty Little Petits Fours

I made this card based on the Tuesday Trigger: Pretty Little Petits Fours over at Moxie Fab World.



It was inspired by a number of items from the Trigger photo – the various shades of pink, the woodgrain background and the wavy placement of the the petit fours on the plate.



Stamps Hero Arts) - Sew Artsy & Designer Woodgrain

The background was very easy to make and the idea was borrowed from a quilt I made a long time ago. I cut two rectangles from two different shades of pink card and cut wavy lines in one direction on one rectangle and in the other direction on the other piece of card. Then I just wove them together, trimmed and added stitching.



When I originally saw the Trigger photo I was inclined to a put flower on the card, but because of the background I had made, decided to go with a sewing theme instead. I stamped the woodgrain on kraft card and embossed the thread holder. To finish I added thread and a needle.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Itty Bitty Hi

Cath over at Moxie Fab World has lots for fun challenges for the 75 Creative Card Challenges Week. Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to play along until today, which also happens to be the last day for submitting entries! So when I had some spare time this morning I decided I'd join in on the Make an Itty Bitty Card Challenge in the Moxie Fab World. Lol little did I realise that making a tiny card would take nearly as long as making a normal sized card. Of course having butter fingers this morning and dropping all of the fiddly bits didn't exactly help!



Card size 1 1/2 inches x 2 inches

Stamps (Hero Arts) - Looped Circle Pattern & Ghostly Greetings

As you can probably tell from the photo it's a lovely sunny day here today and after all the rain we've had recently everywhere is looking very green. So as I'm thinking of Spring I decided to make a green background by applying mowed lawn distress ink to white card and spritzed it with water. When the panel was dry I embossed the sentiment and added some machine stitching.

To make the flower I embossed the Looped Circle Pattern on vellum and cut out three of the flowers to layer.

I just added a raffia string stem and bow and a little pearl to finish.

I won't get a chance to play along in the other challenges Cath has set but will definitely give them all a go in the future.

Hero Arts Hostess Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to your next stop on the Hero Arts Hostess Hop, featuring fabulous stamps from the new 2013 release!

If you’ve been following along, you should have just arrived from the blog of the ultra talented Lisa Carroll. In case you come across a broken link, you’ll find a master list of the hop links at the Hero Club Blog. Also please report broken links to Tami at blog@heroarts.com.

Hero Arts will be awarding prizes from randomly drawn comments. For a chance to win, simply comment on ANY of the stops along the hop on ANY day, including each day’s starting post at the Hero Club Blog. The more comments you leave, the better your chance of winning - best of luck! I have comment moderator switched on, so don’t worry if your comment doesn’t appear immediately.

The Hero Arts 2013 catalogue is packed with the most wonderful stamps! I can tell you after browsing through the catalogue many times, my shopping list is very, very long! Thanks to the ever generous Hero Arts, I’ve had a chance to play with some of the new stamps, before my shopping order arrives. When the stamps arrived from Hero Arts I was like a kid on Christmas morning and have had so much fun playing with my new “toys”!



The New Baby set is one of the most adorable baby sets I’ve ever seen! The images are so cute and I love the stitching details on the stamps. Not only is the set brilliant for making baby cards but I know I’ll be using some of the images on cards for kids and also for cute cards for adults. Anyway above is the first card I made using this set and the gorgeous new Looped Circle Pattern stamp – oh I love all the possibilities for this stamp!

Hero Arts Stamps – New Baby & Looped Circle Pattern
Other Supplies - Card (white & blue), broken china distress ink, VersaMark, white embossing powder, baker's twine, tag punch, gems, glitter, paintbrush and water.



On this card I again used the Looped Circle Pattern but in a different way to my first card, by using an embossed strip and cutting out pieces from the pattern. Along with this stamp, I used the Fantastic Birthday set which contains beautiful sentiments and lots of yummy, calorie free images – I can’t resist sweet things and I certainly couldn’t resist this sweet set!

Hero Arts Stamps - Fantastic Birthday, It’s Your Day and Looped Circle Pattern
Other Supplies – Card (cream woodgrain, white & brown), white embossing powder, VersaMark, patterned paper, shabby shutters and tumbled glass distress ink, markers, pearls, label die, glossy accents and diamond stickles.



I’ve always loved patchwork and my first attempt at patchwork involved cutting out lots of hexagons from card and fabric and piecing the hexagons together, using the card as backing for the fabric. So when I saw the Hexagon Background, I knew I had to have that stamp! I just love it and can again imagine using it in so many different ways – love when a stamp does that for you! My good friend Linda included the fab It’s Your Day set in a wonderful bundle of goodies she sent me at Christmas – thanks again, Linda:) Talk about being spoiled for choice for birthday greeting with this set! Anyway to make this card I did a lot of embossing, a lot of paper piecing and a lot of stitching too. I had great fun making my mini paper quilt!

Hero Arts Stamps - Hexagon Background and It’s Your Day
Other Supplies - patterned paper, VersaMark, white embossing powder, pink card, thread, sewing machine and gems.

Thanks to Hero Arts for another fab release of new stamps, to Deborah and Tami for all the work they put into organising the Hop and of course, the Hero Hostesses for all the inspiration they provide me with on a daily basis. Also thanks a million to you for visiting and best of luck in the draw – I know Hero Arts prizes are always fantastic!

Now it’s time for you to leave Ireland and take a big, big hop across the Atlantic to Canada and your next stop on the Hero Arts Hostess Blog Hop where you’ll meet the super talented Tracey Kuzniak. Brrr snow is forecast here, I wonder if Tracey has any in her neck of the woods! Enjoy the rest of the Hop and I’m off to join you hopping with my hot chocolate in hand!

Edited for questions I've been asked in the comment section or by email

1. Quite a few people have asked me what tool I use for cutting. I just use a curved nail scissors that I bought in Boots Chemists when I first started card making a few years ago. I've never tried any other type of scissors as these work well for me.

2. A few people asked me if I really did emboss, cut and stitch all those hexagons. The answer is yes! I embossed a mix of patterned papers and also a backing piece of card stock, cut out the patterned paper hexagons and adhered them to the backing card. Then I just used a tiny zig zag stitch setting on my machine and stitched away. It did take a while to do but I really enjoying cutting and sewing when making cards:)

Thanks so much to you for all for your lovely comments, I really appreciate each and every one of them:):)

You're Sew Nice

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas:) We certainly had a very enjoyable one and are still making the most of our break from work/school. It feels a bit strange not to be making Christmas cards and a pity to be putting away those Christmas stamps for another year. So today I made a card which is a bit of a break away from my norm as I used a lot of patterned paper, bold colours and a (very!) wild colour combination for me!

My friend Linda sent me all the gorgeous, gorgeous papers on this card and I wanted to use them on a sewing related card - thanks again, Linda!



Stamp (Hero Arts) - Sew Artsy

To start with I embossed the sewing machine, added the gem and thread and placed the machine on a frayed piece of fabric. The sentiment was also embossed and I stitched on the patterned papers for the background.



I'm submitting this card into the Ellen Hutson LLC Hero Arts Clear Take 'n Make. The picture of the challenge project must include the stamp/s used. As you can see the Sew Artsy set is much loved and much used by me! I'm also submitting the card into the Anything Goes Challenge at Simon Says Stamp.

Merry Christmas

Here's wishing you a very Merry Christmas! I hope you all have a wonderful time celebrating Christmas with your family and friends and wish that all your dreams come true in the year ahead!



Stamps (Hero Arts) - Gingerbread Fun, Celebrate Everyday & Write Your Message

Rainbow Star

Recently I’ve been busy, busy with a lot of things going on here, but I knew with the Hooked on Hexagons Challenge going on currently over at the MoxieFab World, it wouldn’t be long before I'd start playing with hexagons again!



Stamps (Hero Arts) – Sew Artsy, Woodgrain Background, Magical Background, Friend Definition, Dot Flower Pattern, Lattice Background and Hydrangea.

As I was trying to make different patterns out of hexagons, I realised that by removing one from the centre of a cluster of hexagons, I could form a star shape. So I used up lots of little scraps, which had already been stamped, to fill my star centre. Then I just added some machine stitching and a sentiment to finish.

One of the things that has been keeping me busy is preparing for a class I'm doing in An Siopa Bui in Spiddal on Saturday and I just finished cutting 75 circles of fabric (thank goodness for Cuttlebugs!) as part of the preparation - phew! Kerry has some sneak peeks here of some of the cards we'll be making. I can't wait for it!

You Make my World Happy

This is a card I made for my hubby. It’s not for any particular occasion, it’s just to tell him how I feel – sorry, should have given a soppy alert on this post!



Stamps (Hero Arts) - Right at Home & Woodland Creatures

I decided to combine two challenges the Map to Your Heart Challenge in the Moxie Fab World and Hero Arts’ Love & Hugs and Kisses Challenge. CAS cards are a bit of a struggle for me but I’m still trying and I hope this card is sort of CASish!

I stamped the cute picture from the Right at Home set a few times, cut out the centre and coloured the frame with a marker. Then I took an old map and cut out significant places for my hubby and me – where we went on our first date, where we were married and where our boys were born. The map piece on the centre picture is a bit worn at one edge, but I like that because it’s one of the places we love and often visit. So I just hung the pictures with some thread and beads and added a heart gem beside the sentiment.

Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend:)

Sew a Rainbow

Thank you so much everyone for all the wonderful comments from the Hero Arts Hostesses Blog Hop, I really appreciate them:) If you are here for the blog hop you can find my post here.

My fabric mountain needs to be tackled a bit so I decided to use up some scraps left over from quilt projects on this card.


Stamp set (Hero Arts) - Sew Artsy

I foundation pieced the scraps and added some meandering stitching to each colour panel. Also zigzag stitching was added to the outer edges to prevent fraying. The sewing machine was embossed in white and I just added a heart gem and some thread to finish.

I'm submitting this card into the Around the House Challenge in the Moxie Fab World.

Fabric Heart Valentine

This is a Valentine I made for my hubby and it incorporates themes from a couple of challenges too - the Cutting & Trimming Challenge in the Moxie Fab World and the Love & Hugs & Kisses theme for the current Hero Arts’ Challenge.


Stamps (Hero Arts) – Four Hearts, Dot Flower Pattern and Celebrate Everyday

To make the background I applied barn door distress ink to white card, and using the same ink, stamped the Dot Flower Pattern. The sentiment is also stamped in barn door distress ink. To make the heart I stamped the heart (again using barn door distress ink) on a piece of fabric and sandwiched thick wadding between it and another piece of fabric. Then I machine stitched the outline of the heart and cut it out slightly beyond the stitched line. I snipped toward the stitched line and frayed the cut fabric to fluff it up a little. To finish I just added a bow and pearl. Before using the wadding I sprayed it lightly with my favourite perfume – it gives a nice scent and also a hint of a perfume I might like to receive on Valentine’s Day!!

Hanging Out on the Lily Pad

I was absolutely delighted when I received an invitation from Deborah and Vicky asking me to be a guest designer over at Lily Pad Cards. I said yes straight away as I love Lily Pad Cards!! There are always fun challenges going on over there and the blog is full of inspirational and fun posts. Lol, my Sunday morning wouldn’t be complete without taking a break to watch Vicky’s latest video with my cuppa and maybe a bickie (edited. Lin, bickie is slang for what we call a biscuit here but you'd call it a cookie) in hand!

So here is one of the cards I made for today using a few of my favourite stamps.



If you’d like to see two more of my cards and the supply list\instructions for the above card, hop over to the Lily Pad where you will find them.

Thanks again Deborah and Vicky for having me over at the Lily Pad, I had a splashing great time there!

Glittering Wedding Wishes

My last wedding card was in muted colours so this time I wanted to use bolder colours and try to keep the card plain and simple.


Stamps (Hero Arts) - Heart Winged Butterfly & Warmest Wedding Wishes

I love using the Heart Winged Butterfly on wedding cards and started by white embossing the butterflies on vellum.



To emphasise the hearts on the image I embossed the image again, cut out some of the hearts and covered them (and myself!) with a layer of red glitter. The sentiment was also embossed in white and I just added some machine stitching to finish.

Fuzzy Quilt Card

When I saw Cath's I'm Sew Excited! Challenge in the Moxie Fab World, I just had to make something! The challenge is to use sewing icons on a project. I love quilts so I wanted to incorporate something to do with quilts on my card and used this sentiment because I thought it would go with the idea of being snuggled up in a quilt.


Stamps (Hero Arts) - Everyday Sayings & Sew Artsy

I had patterned paper (Tulip by Andrea Jayne) left over from some baby cards and cut these into squares and circles for the scallop edged “quilt”. The pieces were randomly put together and machine stitched with a small zigzag stitch. The base of the pin cushion was coloured with watercolour pencils. I cut the top of the pincushion out of a scrap of felt and added the Hero Arts heart gems (thanks again, Anita) to the tops of ordinary pins. The “fuzzies” letters were also cut out of felt scraps using an X-cut alphabet die.



I love Lisa Spangler’s Make-It+mail-It Challenge so I’m also submitting the card to her challenge as it will be on the way to a friend very soon.

Thanks a Million

This is a card I made recently using a lot of my favourite things – the particular stamps, hand dyed fabric and some stitching.


Stamps (Hero Arts) - Antique Engravings, Scallop Borders, Thank You and Envelope Pattern.

To start with I stamped the butterfly on a piece of hand dyed fabric. Then I sandwiched a piece of wadding between it and another piece of the same fabric. I added some tight machine stitching to the butterfly and trimmed close to the stitched outer edges.



The bottom part of the panel was stamped with the Thank You and Envelope Pattern backgrounds using tumbled glass distress ink. The Scallop Borders were also stamped with the same ink and attached to the card with some machine stitching.

I'm still without my usual pc so hope the photos are okay!

Dotty Butterflies

This is another card I made for the Moxie Fab World Paper Piecing Challenge, this month’s Hero Arts challenge and Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes Challenge and . It's great that because of these challenges I’m getting lots of birthday cards ready in advance for family and friends rather than rushing at the last minute as often happens with me!


Stamps (Hero Arts) – Antique Engravings, Magical Background, Envelope Pattern and Birthday Wishes.

For the top part of the background I applied broken china distress ink to white card, spritzed with water, stamped the Envelope Pattern using the same ink and white embossed with the Magical Background.



I white embossed the butterflies on vellum, added beads and paper pieced some scraps of vellum which had alcohol inks applied. I had been messing around with vellum and alcohol inks after seeing Sue’s wonderful video here. The sentiment was stamped using broken china distress ink (can you tell that’s my favourite one?!) and I just added some machine stitching and string to finish.

Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend:)

Crazy in two ways for paper piecing!

Below is a birthday card I made for a quilting friend. I was going to put the birthday sentiment on the outside but with so much going on there as it was, I decided to put it inside instead. I’m submitting the card into the Play Date Cafe Challenge Colour Splash Week and the Moxie Fab World Paper Piecing Challenge. This month’s challenge at Hero Arts includes the theme of birthdays.


To start with I stamped the Envelope Pattern in white on red card. Then I stamped this and two pieces of white card with the sewing machine and paper pieced it – yikes those pieces were tiny but I love paper piecing anyway! On a piece of white patterned fabric I stamped the sentiment and hand stitched it with red thread. Then I just threaded up the pieced machine, added a gem and some machine stitching on the black background.



Stamps (Hero Arts) - Sew Artsy, Classic Fabric Design, Large Canvas Stripes, Flourish Background, Magical Background & Envelope Pattern.

For the patterned background I white embossed pieces of black card with the Magical and Flourish Backgrounds and stamped the Classic Fabric Design and Large Canvas Stripe in black on white card. These were then cut into strips. I cut a square of white card into four triangles applied the strips, trimmed and put the square back together again. I think I can safely say this card takes the record for the most time I’ve ever spent making a card but I had great fun making it!



Hope you’re all having a wonderful weekend!