Berries and Blossoms with Heather

Gosh it's been nearly 2 months since my Virtual Cardmaking with Pinkfresh Studios happened and I haven't shared all the cards I made at the event. It was quite interesting how quickly they released a lot of the products we received in our kits in their March release, and this stamp set was one of the items released.

Before the event I thought the cards we were creating looked OK but I really loved working with this set. It's actually a "large" red rubber stamp which you stamp/heat emboss and then use the corresponding stencils to colour up followed by the coordinating die cuts out all the different elements in one pass. Card one is gold embossed, card 2 has been stamped in a light grey ink (Rocky Slope).

The class was officially titled "Elegant Notecards" and they truly are elegant and taught by Heather Hoffman.

We've used the notched corner frame dies to make a frame with PFS's Rose Gold glitter cardstock for card 1 and to make an impression for card 2. Card one also has the coverplate die (Stitched Octagons) we received as an essential for the event as an added feature on the background with a few wee splatters of ink. Card 2 we just used a bit of left over ink on our brushes.

At the time this was the first card we got to make on "our Monday" and it was a great start to the day's crafting. 

✿Karen✿

AAA Card Challenge 263: For the Bride

Hi everyone it's time for a new challenge at AAA Cards and anything CAS goes but with an optional twist ; wedding or anniversary. Even though I don't have a wedding coming up it's good to be prepared and I knew I had a lovely stamp just right. The bride stamp comes from a long retired stamp set from Stampin' Up! called Wondrous Moments.

I've stamped off the edge with Smoky Slate ink (SU!) , which I always think is the closest ink I own to silver that is not silver. I've trimmed off 1/4" of 2 sides to make the image pop a bit more and then 3 tiny gems in a row to complete the card. How easy is that!! Only 3 supplies needed (excluding basic tools, glue and paper).

Well I hope you can join in with us this week but as always do check out the inspiration on the blog at AAA Cards Challenge.

✿Karen✿

Friend Flower

It was lovely to do a live class again as it has been quite awhile. I'm actually sitting on my hands and not signing up for new Virtual classes as I need to get on top of the mound under my desk "still to do one day".

Today's class I made it to live was held at 930am on my Sunday and was part of Hero Art's weekend Spring Stamp-a-Long and taught by my favourite teacher Kristina Werner. It was funny looking at the sneak she provided, I actually thought I'd forgotten to buy some groovy flower die that she was working with. But as it turned out, it was using one of the FIVE things I actually did buy to do the event with, namely the Rounded Jewel  Infinity dies. We've used the 2 smallest sizes of these dies to create the petals and leaves. 

The lovely big friend die and sentiment is from the Smile Friend stamp and die set (2nd item). The 3rd item I bought was the Teal Hero Pearls. I also have a Mandela stamp set with a matching stencil (4 and 5) but I felt it was minimal what I needed to buy to participate fully, plus I liked them and I had nothing similar. I am also working with stuff I have in my stash already too.

I used Distress inks to blend my die cuts with: Peacock Flowers, Wilted Violet, Picked Raspberry and Squeezed Lemonade. For my background I used an older stamp from Hero Arts I had in my stash: Rough Dots Bold Prints. I stamped it firstly with Versafine Clair Nocturne ink, then ink blended Charcoal ink (also HA) lightly over the whole panel, before blending the edge with a black ink, Memento Tuxedo black ink as I thought that it would dry faster. The stems are drawn with a white Gelli roll 10 pen. It is a really quick and effective card.

That was a great start to my day and I have to be honest the next card I am most interested in doing from the weekend event is also using these Rounded Jewel Infinity dies. I think they are going to be a great addition to my stash.

If you've ever thought about doing a Virtual class I can highly recommend the Stamp-a-Longs with Hero Arts, they are really are a reasonable price to register, especially if you sign up early, you don't need to buy everything they're working with either. Use what you own where possible and if you do buy a few items like I did their prices are really reasonable and I find their shipping from the States to be the cheapest and even more incredibly the quickest. As it's their 50th anniversary this year, it sounds like their Summer event in mid-July is already being touted as huge and not to be missed.
✿Karen✿