Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Hero Arts: June My Monthly Hero Kit & Add-ons

Hi guys! I hope you all are doing well and getting lots of crafting time in. I have been a wild woman this past week. My son got out of school and got his first job! We've been so busy with paperwork and meetings and shopping for his work uniforms (among other things) that I haven't had much time to craft or even to blog the things I made weeks ago. I do have some AWESOME  news though! 

I started out the month playing along with Kathy Racoosin's 30 day coloring challenge (and fell off the bandwagon when life struck but that's ok!). A while back I realized that her Coloring Challenge Road Trip would be at Hero Arts which is only a couple of hours away from me! I was so excited at the possibility of attending and then so bummed when I realized that I was too late and the event was full. I decided to message Kathy to see if there was a waiting list. Today I heard back from Hero Arts and there is room for me to attend! That means that this coming Saturday I will be spending the day at Hero Arts with an amazing group of crafty people. We will just color all day long and apparently eat turkey sandwiches for lunch. Woohoo! So, this is the perfect chance for me to share some of the projects I've made recently using Hero Arts products.

This card features the June My Monthly Hero kit and one of the add-on sets called Seal of Approval. This card was custom ordered for a boy (Ethan) who was turning ten. 
#cardbomb, #mariawillis, #heroarts, #mymonthyhero, #beach, #ocean, #sea, #seal, #timholtz, #distressinks, #distressoxideinks, #cards, #cardmaking, #stamp, #ink, #paper, #papercraft,

I sponged the sand and stamped the ocean with Distress Oxide inks. I wanted a softer look to the ocean so before stamping the second and darker layer of water, I spritzed the inked up stamp to oxidize the ink. I was happy with the way it blended into the larger body of water. Instead of stamping the third layer of water with the finest detail in ink... I decided to use my White Puff Embossing Powder from Wow Embossing to add some sea foam to the top of the water. I love how that embossing powder adds life and texture to the card. I watercolored the sky with Distress Oxides and stamped the clouds in white pigment ink. The clouds weren't bright enough for me so I used a white gel pen to outline the tops of them. Last, I stamped the birds in gray archival ink. 
#cardbomb, #mariawillis, #heroarts, #mymonthyhero, #beach, #ocean, #sea, #seal, #timholtz, #distressinks, #distressoxideinks, #cards, #cardmaking, #stamp, #ink, #paper, #papercraft,

Now, since this card was for a ten year old I decided to make it interactive and I rigged a little mechanism on the side to make the ball bounce around a little. Here's what it looks like when it's in motion...




It's pretty basic but apparently Ethan loved it and that is all that matters. It was pretty simple to make but I wanted to share a picture of the guts of the card so that you could see what I did. After coloring the ball with Copic markers I used a hole punch to punch out a hole that was smaller than the ball. I wanted the ball to have room to move without the hole being visible from the front of the card. I put a small piece of foam adhesive on the back of the ball and fit the adhesive through the hole that I had punched. Then I used a 1/4" strip of cardstock to connect two circles that I had punched out with punches (but you could also dies or cut by hand). I attached the larger circle to the foam adhesive on the back of the ball and placed it so the smaller circle would stick out the side to move the ball around. Then I used foam adhesive to create a channel for the mechanism to sit inside, added adhesive to the rest of the card and attached it to my card base. 
#cardbomb, #mariawillis, #heroarts, #mymonthyhero, #beach, #ocean, #sea, #seal, #timholtz, #distressinks, #distressoxideinks, #cards, #cardmaking, #stamp, #ink, #paper, #papercraft,

My seal was also colored with Copic Markers. Ethan's name was created by die cutting the letters out of paper that was sponged with color. I taped off the bottom half of the letters and used the Sand Embossing Powder that came in the kit to heat emboss the top of his name. You can't see it in the photo but the sand EP has quite a bit of copper in it and it gleams like Fool's Gold. It's a really cool product!
#cardbomb, #mariawillis, #heroarts, #mymonthyhero, #beach, #ocean, #sea, #seal, #timholtz, #distressinks, #distressoxideinks, #cards, #cardmaking, #stamp, #ink, #paper, #papercraft,

This set made it so easy to create a gorgeous beach scene that I am sure I'll be using it often in the future.
#cardbomb, #mariawillis, #heroarts, #mymonthyhero, #beach, #ocean, #sea, #seal, #timholtz, #distressinks, #distressoxideinks, #cards, #cardmaking, #stamp, #ink, #paper, #papercraft,

I'm going to enter this card into the A Blog Named Hero monthly challenge. The theme for this month is Summertime Fun and I think this card fits the theme.

#cardbomb, #mariawillis, #heroarts, #mymonthyhero, #beach, #ocean, #sea, #seal, #timholtz, #distressinks, #distressoxideinks, #cards, #cardmaking, #stamp, #ink, #paper, #papercraft,


Alright, y'all. It is late in my neck of the woods and I need to head off to bed now. Thank you so much for stopping by and I will see you back here soon.

Have an awesome day!
Maria

















Thursday, June 14, 2018

Waffleflower Crafts Meets Tonic Nuvo Mousse Background

Hey guys! Guess what? I have a new blog header...did you notice? I don't make big changes very often and the colors in my new header make grin stupidly so I'd say I'm pretty happy with it (Thank you for the pretty work Fancy That Jane!).

Today I want to share a card I made using a set from Waffleflower Crafts called Bouquet Builder 1 Combo. I love these long stemmed buds of flowers and I decided to color them in using my Copic markers (I can't remember which colors I used-I'm sorry!). 

#cardbomb, #mariawillis, #tonicstudiosusa, #tonicstudios, #nuvo, #nuvoembellishmentmousse, #copics, #waffleflowercrafts, #technique, #color, #stamp, #ink, #paper, #papercraft, #cardmaking,

I wanted to do something different for the background so I decided to try sponging on some Nuvo Embellishment Mousse with a sponge dauber. I started by embossing my background piece. Then I light sponged the mousse over the raised areas of the background to make them pop (and shine because this mousse is so glimmery!). I got a little heavy handed in the bottom corner but overall, as long as I was careful, this technique was pretty easy to pull off.
#cardbomb, #mariawillis, #tonicstudiosusa, #tonicstudios, #nuvo, #nuvoembellishmentmousse, #copics, #waffleflowercrafts, #technique, #color, #stamp, #ink, #paper, #papercraft, #cardmaking,

Here's a close up of those gorgeous flowers... even the stems and leaves are beautiful. I colored and die cut two sets of flowers and then layered them to get a fuller look. 
#cardbomb, #mariawillis, #tonicstudiosusa, #tonicstudios, #nuvo, #nuvoembellishmentmousse, #copics, #waffleflowercrafts, #technique, #color, #stamp, #ink, #paper, #papercraft, #cardmaking,

Here's a last look look at the full card. Have you tried out this Nuvo Embellishment Mousse yet? This was my first time using it and I found it really easy to work with. I just ordered a few more colors because there's a lot you can do with it. Aside from sponging it onto your cards, you can also use it with a mask like texture paste, watercolor with it, or even make your own custom spritzers with it. It's pretty cool stuff and I'm looking forward to playing around with it more now that I have more colors. I will add a link below just in case you're interested in picking some up for yourself.
#cardbomb, #mariawillis, #tonicstudiosusa, #tonicstudios, #nuvo, #nuvoembellishmentmousse, #copics, #waffleflowercrafts, #technique, #color, #stamp, #ink, #paper, #papercraft, #cardmaking,


Alright folks, it's late and I have work tomorrow. Even crazier than that, my son has his first job interview tomorrow and I need to go make sure I don't have to iron a shirt for him (Update: I ironed four shirts...). Fingers crossed he gets the job!


Good night!
Maria

mariawillis@hotmail.com


PRODUCT SUPPLY LIST:
-Nuvo Embellishment Mousse
-Tim Holtz 8.5" / 22cm Trimmer


Friday, June 8, 2018

#TGIFC163 - Sketch Challenge

Hello everybody and welcome back for another fabulous TGIF Challenge! I'm sad to say that this will be my last week with the TGIF Design Team. If you follow my blog then you know that I've resigned from Stampin' Up! so that I can expand my creativity and use products from all of the amazing stamp and craft companies out there. TGIF is a team that is made of SU Demos. As I am no longer a demo I am stepping down from the design team. I am excited for my new crafty adventures but this design team holds a special place in my heart as all of the members are really wonderful human beings. I will miss creating alongside them.

This week we've got an awesome Sketch Challenge for you! Here's my take on it using a new stamp set from SU's new catalog. The set is called Sea of Textures and has a matching set of dies that is pretty epic! I started out by watercoloring my background and a bunch of extra pieces of paper to cut my shells and coral from. Then I layered a piece of vellum over the background and started arranging my pieces.
#cardbomb, #stampinup, #cards, #watercolor, #seaoftextures, #octopus, #stamps, #ink, #paper, #stamping, #art, #ocean,

Here you can see close up of the gorgeous die cut pieces. The sand dollar is really cool bc you can pop the center out or leave it in. 
#cardbomb, #stampinup, #cards, #watercolor, #seaoftextures, #octopus, #stamps, #ink, #paper, #stamping, #art, #ocean,

The sentiment is heat embossed in white embossing powder and I added a blue sea star to the banner to anchor it to the design. If you look closely, you can see that behind the seagrass I added some blue dots for detail with an alcohol marker.
#cardbomb, #stampinup, #cards, #watercolor, #seaoftextures, #octopus, #stamps, #ink, #paper, #stamping, #art, #ocean,

The octopus is stamped in Gorgeous Grape ink and heat embossed in clear. He's such a cool looking guy and I like that it looks like he is walking across the sea floor. 
#cardbomb, #stampinup, #cards, #watercolor, #seaoftextures, #octopus, #stamps, #ink, #paper, #stamping, #art, #ocean,


That's it for today you guys! If you'd like to see what the rest of the Design Team has done with this sketch then head on over to the TGIF Challenge Blog! Here's a graphic of the sketch for you to check out. If you've got a great idea on how to interpret it then please play along with us this week!


Bye guys! I'll be back with another fun post in the next day or so. 

Have an amazing day!
Maria

mariawillis@hotmail.com



Wednesday, June 6, 2018

Moon Men- You're Outta This World!

Hey Everybody! It's been a while since I've posted and I'm sorry for being a bit MIA. A lot has been going on in the last couple of weeks. I've been trying to knock things off of my "to-do" list and I've been running around like a chicken with my head cut-off. The end of "things to do" isn't really in sight but I'm so glad to have the time to say hi to you guys today. I have been crafting but haven't had time to photograph and blog much so I'm sorry I haven't been sharing here. 

Anyhow, on to today's card because I'm sure that's why you are here... And, I absolutely LOVE what you can do with the Nuvo Shimmer Powders that I used on this card! It was my first time using them and they are easy to use and you can get such a variety of gorgeous effects with them (video coming soon!). The shimmer powders made the perfect, magical background for the astronaut and planets from Reverse Confetti's Moon Men stamp set. I'll put a link to the Nuvo Shimmer Powders at the bottom of my post in case you'd like to pick them up for yourself.
#cardbomb, #simonsaysstamps, #reverseconfetti, #tonicstudiosusa, #nuvoshimmerpowder, #moonmen, #watercolor, #art, #outerspace, #copics, #color, #paper, #stamping, #ink, #card, #cardmaking,

Here's a close up of the background. I started with a piece of watercolor paper and used just three colors of shimmer powder to create this background. I started out by tapping out some of the powder onto the dry paper and then I spritzed it until I saw the powder activating. Depending on how much water is on your paper you can tilt it back and forth to mix the colors, or, you can use a paint brush to drag them around to where you want them. 
#cardbomb, #simonsaysstamps, #reverseconfetti, #tonicstudiosusa, #nuvoshimmerpowder, #moonmen, #watercolor, #art, #outerspace, #copics, #color, #paper, #stamping, #ink, #card, #cardmaking,

I colored my Moon Man and the planets with Copic Markers. I wish I could remember what colors I used... but I made this a few weeks ago and didn't make note of what I colored with before cleaning up my desk. 
#cardbomb, #simonsaysstamps, #reverseconfetti, #tonicstudiosusa, #nuvoshimmerpowder, #moonmen, #watercolor, #art, #outerspace, #copics, #color, #paper, #stamping, #ink, #card, #cardmaking,

If you look closely at the purple planet you can see that I also added a little bit of the black shimmer powder to add some shading. It looks cool in real life bc it glitters when you move it. I heat embossed my sentiment in white added it to the card with foam adhesive.
#cardbomb, #simonsaysstamps, #reverseconfetti, #tonicstudiosusa, #nuvoshimmerpowder, #moonmen, #watercolor, #art, #outerspace, #copics, #color, #paper, #stamping, #ink, #card, #cardmaking,

I used some awesome Crystal Clear Confetti sequins by Studio Katia to finish off the card. These sequins have a gorgeous iridescent look and have no hole in the middle which I love! It makes them so easy to adhere as you don't have to worry about glue seeping out the hole in the center. 
#cardbomb, #simonsaysstamps, #reverseconfetti, #tonicstudiosusa, #nuvoshimmerpowder, #moonmen, #watercolor, #art, #outerspace, #copics, #color, #paper, #stamping, #ink, #card, #cardmaking,

Before I go I'm going to enter this card into a couple of fun challenges
-Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Wedding/Anniversary (I would totally give this to my husband for our anniversary)

That's it for today you guys! I'm so glad to be back here. I hope you all have an amazing day today and I will be back soon (really, I promise, lol!)!

Maria
mariawillis@hotmail.com



PRODUCT SUPPLY LIST:

Nuvo - Shimmer Powder - Atlantis Burst - 1213n












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