Inspired by...Jana!

Today is an extra special day because I get to announce that our featured artist this week is none other than the talented Jana Millen AND today is my birthday!! :) Our first card by Jana is just perfect:

Sympathy cards are so difficult to make and Jana has really outdone herself here. I love the beautiful blue of her background with the flower stamped to the left. The text adds another stunning layer of stamping and the ribbon finshes this beauty off perfectly!
Here is my take: To create the background on this card, I inked up my acrylic block with Distress Ink (Broken China, Faded Jeans, and Brushed Corduroy), spritz the acrylic block and pressed it onto white cardstock. Next, I stamped the text using Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink (removing some ink from the stamp with a baby whip before stamping) and the plant with Forest Moss Distress Ink.
Thank you so much for visiting today! I will be back tomorrow as I am one of the lucky bloggers participating in the Hero Arts 2011 Hostess Blog Hop featuring new stamps from the 2011 Hero Arts catalog. Can't wait to share--I'll have 2 cards for you tomorrow. And I'll be back on Wednesday with our next card by the lovely Jana.
All Stamps Hero Arts (CL497, CL477, K5344)

Love this 2011 HA stamp!

Happy Saturday, my friends! I just had to share this new 2011 Hero Arts stamp that is turning out to be an unexpected fav of mine. Meet Flower Text (S5506):

Here's my card:

Stamping was done with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on Copic Express paper (LOVE THAT PAPER!). The flowers were colored with Copics and then lightly distressed with Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink.
Thanks for popping by the lil' old blog-o! Hope you have a restful and creative weekend! HUGS!

Karen *Day 5* and TD Challenge

Before I show you our last inspiration card by Karen, I wanted to share my card for the January Tiffany Doodles Challenge. This month's challenge is a sketch challenge, using an awesome sketch by Jenyfur at Torn Paper. I decided to turn the sketch for my card. And here's my card featuring this beautiful Dahlia with Oval stamp:

And if you haven't checked out the new Tiffany Doodles store you MUST go visit it HERE--easy to navigate and lots of inspiration! Details on the challenge are available HERE.

Now onto our last great inspiration card by Karen: This is another one of those cards that makes me smile! I love the watercolor look of Karen's stamping! And isn't it clever the way she has layered the sentiment panel with the same stamping as the background. The dimension is FAB!
Here is my take. I just had to create something with those beautiful greens, reds, and oranges! (Sorry for the poor photo on this one...not sure what happened...LOL)
The floral stamp was stamped with Tea Dye Distress ink and was spritzed with water before stamping. After drying, I colored over the stamped image using colored pencils. The backgrounds were inked with Peeled Paint and Broken China Distress Ink.
BIG thanks to Karen for allowing me to share your awesome work this week! I love everything you create! You can always see lots more of Karen's creations HERE. See you all tomorrow with another card made with some new 2011 Hero Arts stamps!
All Stamps Hero Arts (CL140, CG170)

Karen *Day 4*

Not a lot of typing time today... I'm headed back to work after my Christmas vacation. And I know Christmas is over but I had to share this holiday card by Karen because her unique stamping of the poinsettias really inspired me:Here's my non-holiday take:
Thanks for visiting! See you tomorrow!
Flowers (Penny Black Flower Gallery), Sentiment (Hero Arts CL272)

Karen *Day 3* and a VIDEO

This card by Karen is so fun: And did you notice all the charming details on this card? I especially love the button centers and stitching on the flowers! Oh, and don't forget the cute ribbon leaves!
Here is my take:

This card began entirely as white cardstock. The green background was distressed with Forest Moss and Peeled Paint Distress Ink. The stamping was done with Forest Moss Distress Ink. The butterfly was colored with Copic markers and the dot details were added with a fine tip black pen and white gel pen. (Yep, more Kathy inspired dotting--once you start you just can't stop!!)The sentiment panel was distressed using Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink.

I also have a card and video that I made for my LSS, Mementos, to share with you today. Pretty clean and simple stamping on this card:
And here's the video:

Thanks again for visiting, my friends! See you tomorrow!
All Stamps Hero Arts CL383, CL428, CL434

Karen *Day 2

Check out our next card by Karen:
Um...yah, I think I could be here all day telling you what I love about this one!!!! The blue and green color combo, the window effect, the script text, and those beeeautiful butterflies....ABSOLUTE GENIUS!!
Here is my humble take:

And yes, I know that leaves aren't blue, but when you're stamping they can be; right? :)
I began by stamping the beautiful foliage stamp (a new Hero Arts fav!) with light Tea Dye Distress Ink. Then I colored over the stamped images using colored pencils. The card was then lightly distressed using Forest Moss Distress Ink around the edges and the script was stamped using Pumice Stone Distress Ink. The butterflies were punched from white paper distressed with Forest Moss Distress Ink. Finally I edged the entire card with Walnut Stain Distress Ink and added the sentiment banner.

And here's a fun link for you--a great video by Tricia Morris at Club Scrap, showing off Faber-Castell's new Color Gelatos-- click HERE to watch! :)
Thanks for looking!! See you tomorrow! HUGS!
All Stamps Hero Arts (CL497, K5344, CL477)

Inspired by...Karen!

This week's fantastic featured artist is Karen from Ontario! Her cards are real gems and I am thrilled to share some of them here this week. Karen's work is always so eye-catching, balanced, and fun--check it out on her PHOTOSTREAM, I know you'll be glad you did! :) Here's our first inspiration card by Karen:

There is so much I love about this card of Karen's that I don't know where to begin! Let's start with the bright, vibrant colors. They really do make me smile. :) I love how she has colored in those flowers, too. And speaking of the flowers, her stamping is wonderful. The way she has layered and masked really takes her design to the next level. Finally, the overall layout of this card is very inspirational. The center panel with the flowers around the bottom and sides lends itself to any card stamped with big flowers.
Here is my take. I was especially inspired by Karen's overall design, but I switched the colors up a bit on mine:

The flowers were stamped on white cardstock using Memento Tuxedo Black ink and were colored using colored pencils. After coloring the flowers, I distressed the edges using Brushed Cordroy Distress Ink. The center panel was layered on top of a piece of white cardstock which has been embossed and lightly distressed with Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink.

Thanks for popping by! I can't wait to share Karen's next inspiration card. It's a total STUNNER!
All Stamps Hero Arts (F5429, CL156)