Hello everyone! I am just popping in for a quick post today because it's time to announce the winners from the Rainbow Themed YouTube Hop that my friend Erica and I hosted a few weeks back.
I've got a new video up today sharing a really easy and incredibly shiny background technique for putting together some easy cards. This new video also lists all of the winners from our Rainbow themed YouTube hop so make sure to check it out!
My video today features the Hero Arts Pigment Inks and a really easy way to use them to create gorgeous, shiny backgrounds.
To see how I made this card using only a few products and my Magnetic Platform from Tonic Studios please head over to my YouTube channel to watch the video.
I have this card and two others to share in today's video. They all use this amazing Birthday Message Coverplate from Hero Arts. When combined with Pitch Black cardstock (back in stock- yeay!) this bold die makes such a great contrast against the colorful background!
Ok, to check out today's video and find out who the winners are please CLICK HERE!
If you missed the original video hop you can check that out by CLICKING HERE. If you love a good rainbow then I suggest having a look because there are some terrific videos in the hop!
I want to send a gigantic THANK YOU out to our generous sponsors! Without the support of these wonderful companies (and humans) and their generous donations we could never have pulled off such a fun hop. If you have a chance to support these amazing companies I know they'd all greatly appreciate having you as part of their communities!
-Email me or Erica by July 10 at 11:59pm Pacific. After this time all prizes will be forfeited.
-Please be sure to add "RAINBOW HOP WINNER" to your subject line.
Maria's Email: mariawillis@hotmail.com
Erica's Email: erica1cacacraft@gmail.com
Now, I know Erica has made some gorgeous cards for today's winner's announcement. You can head over to her BLOG and/or YouTube channel to see the beautiful things she's made to share!
Ok, that's all for today folks! I hope you're having an amazing day and if you are here in the US have a fun and safe holiday weekend!
Hey everybody! It's almost time for the July Hero Arts My Monthly Hero release and this month's kit is like gnome other... Sorry, that was awful but I couldn't help it!
But first, if you aren't familiar with the My Monthly Hero kit, it's a kit that is released by Hero Arts on the first Monday of every month. It always has a fun, themed collection of stamps, dies and other goodies. The cost is just $34.99/month and the value is always much greater!
NOTE: This month's kit will go live on Tuesday, July 6th because of the Fourth of July holiday here in the US.
You have the option to subscribe (subscribing now means your first kit will be the July release), or, to buy your favorite kits as one-off purchases. Be aware that once these kits sell out they are gone for good. If you see a kit you like make sure to snatch it up quickly!
Today is Day One of the Countdown to Creativity and I've got a sneak peek of this month's kit to share with you. I picked a few different stamps from the kit and did a little bit of masking, coloring and inkblending to build a fun little scene.
The tree stump and flowers are stamped onto the card face and the little house and gnome climbing the ladder were colored separately, die cut and and then adhered onto the card face.
The trickiest part was the gnome on the ladder. After I die cut him and added him to the card there was a lot of white space between the ladder rungs that blocked the tree stump. Since I had masked the first images onto the background and there was no white space I thought the ladder's white space looked off stylistically. I got out my fine tip sharpie and went to work drawing in the lines of the tree stump onto my ladder die cut. When I was done I colored the hand-drawn scene between the ladder rungs in with matching copic markers. It was easier than I thought it would be and I was happy that it pulled the card together for a more cohesive look.
To catch more sneak peeks of this month's kit head on over to the Hero Arts blog where you can find the rest of the Day One sneaks as well as enter the giveaway to win a kit before you can buy it!
We will catch you on Tuesday, July 6th for the full release!
Hi everybody! It's the last Friday of the month and you know what that means? Yes, release day for the Tonic Studios Stamp Club! This month's release is called Sunshine & Sunflowers and it is gorgeous! The stamp set includes some really lovely sentiments, some beautiful sunflower images and some really fun lady bugs and bees. Some of the dies coordinate with the stamp set but many of them are designed to cut layers of paper so that you can build paper sunflowers. I've got a VIDEO below showing off the whole release especially those layering dies so I hope you'll check that out.
GIVEAWAY: There is an awesome giveaway and one lucky winner will win a $50 gift certificate to Tonic Studios AND the Sunshine & Sunflowers Bundle. All the details for the giveaway are at the bottom of my post. This post is also part of a blog hop so be sure to hop along with us to catch all of the inspiration using this set.
If you want to check this bundle out in the Tonic Studios shop then here you go:
I used almost all of the layering dies on this card including the dies that coordinate with the stamps.
This card has a ton of dimension and was really easy to put together!
On my next card I used the large sunflower corner piece. I stamped it once in black ink and then colored the flowers in with my copic markers.
After using my copics I added more detail with a black sharpie and some colored pencils.
I cut the image out using the coordinating die and popped it up on foam tape for dimension.
The final touches were to add a cute little lady bug, a bee and some nuvo drops.
This next card has a totally different look from my other cards. I heat embossed the sunflowers in gold onto red cardstock. Then I colored them in with colored pencils.
I used a black copic marker to color in all of the background space.
I used the "Happy Birthday" die from a previous release (Happy Hibiscus) to add my sentiment in gold glitter cardstock.
This next card is a mini slimline card that I used the sunflower layering dies on. This time I did not use the dies that coordinate with the stamps and the result is a more delicate flower.
I love the sentiments on this card as they perfect for letting a friend know that you care.
On my next card I heat embossed my image in white embossing powder and then watercolored with my Nuvo Aquaflow pens.
These pens are so easy to watercolor with. My preference is to use them to add color to my work surface. Then, I add a little bit of water and use a paint brush to watercolor with them.
I love that lazy little bee. He looks like he's for a flower to nap on.
This next card shares another way to use heat embossing. This time I paired it with some inkblending for a very easy, bright and happy card.
After heat embossing I ink blended my card with Distress Oxide inks. Then I sprayed the background with White Iridescent Shimmer Mist from Hero Arts and splattered it with White Glimmer Metallic ink, also from Hero Arts.
I know I keep saying it, but I really love the sentiments in this set! I would love to receive a card that says I brighten someone's day.
My next card is another mini slimline card. I went super basic on this card because these stamps are so beautiful that all you need to do is stamp them in black and you've got a gorgeous card.
I heat embossed the images and sentiment in black onto yellow cardstock.
Then, I added a black mat and put all of that on a white mini slimline cardbase.
I've already shared two mini slimline cards so it only made sense to share an easy slimline card as well.
To make this card I used Versamark Ink to stamp the Sunflowers repeatedly onto the background. This gave me a crisp but subtle, tone-on-tone look.
I stamped a sentiment strip from the Sunshine & Sunflowers bundle and then added the HUGS sentiment from the Backgrounds & Borders bundle.
This next card is a little 3"x3" card that goes with the first slimline card I shared above.
I cut my flowers out of white cardstock and then ink blended them with Distress Oxide inks.
The textured piece in the center of the flower is so fun. There are three different sizes of textured centers and if you prefer a smooth center there are three of those too!
Now, before I go here's a look at the whole Sunshine & Sunflowers Bundle. The stamp and die sets are both 6"x8" which is a nice, large size. The bundle is just $34.99 so you get a lot of bang for your buck!
Ok, that's all for today. I hope you all enjoyed my video and cards today. Have an awesome day!
Maria.
GIVEAWAY:
One lucky winner will win a £50/$50 Giftcard to Tonic Studios and the Sunshine & Sunflowers Bundle!
To enter comment on the blogs in the hop by 11:59pm PST on June 30, 2021/ 7:59am GST on June 1, 2021
Comment on as many hop stops as possible as every comment is an additional chance to win!
Winner will be announced on July 2, 2021 on IG and FB so make sure you're following all Tonic accounts!
Hey, everybody! I hope you all had an awesome weekend. I'm just popping in today to let you guys know that I'm up over on the Hero Arts blog sharing this fun card and a video too.
I have to start out today by making a confession... I am terrible with color layering stamps! Since I wanted to use the Color Layering Strawberry stamp set today I decided I needed to come up with some tips for success with your color layering stamps.
My first tip for success with color layering stamps is to check out the guide that Hero Arts provides for every color layering stamp set. You can find these guides on the packaging your stamps come in as well as on the Hero Arts website. Stamping in the order suggested by these guides will help your stamps layer properly and may help you line them up more easily. Here is the guide for the Color Layering Strawberry stamp set.
So, I stamped the background of the strawberries, then the strawberry detail, then the background of the leaves and then the detail of the leaves. One of the things I struggle with is picking just the right colors of ink to use. Today I did not have any issues without because today a new four pack of cube inks called Strawberry Hues Dye Inks was released and it was made to be used in combination with this stamp set. That's my second tip: check to see if Hero already offers inks in the perfect color combo so that there is no guess work.
I have some more tips in my video which you can watch on the Hero Arts YouTube Channel. After stamping and die cutting my strawberries I added them along with a sentiment on top of an ink-blended background.
The last step was to add a few sequins from the Winter Sequins Mix. And, that's it folks! There is more info and a video over on the Hero Arts blog so please head over there if you'd like more info!
Hey everybody! I hope your week is off to a great start. Did you catch the latest release from Ellen Hutson? One of the new stamp sets is called, Organic Elements and it's full of abstract little shapes that can be used in a variety of different ways.
I decided to use the set to create a simple, one-layer card that has a lot of visual texture to it. I started by spraying my background with Kitsch Flamingo and Salvaged Patina Distress Stains. Then I started stamping the shapes from the stamp set randomly on the background.
I used ink colors from Pinkfresh Studio to do the stamping. Then I stamped the chunky, rounded square in embossing ink three times and heat embossed them in Salvaged Patina Distress Embossing Glaze (bottom one) and clear embossing powder (upper two).
To finish off my card I heat embossed a sentiment by stamping in Versafine black ink and then heat embossing in clear embossing powder. This is such a fool proof way to heat emboss a black sentiment without ending up with the mess that black embossing powder can sometimes cause. My sentiment is from an older set called, High Five.
Ok, that's it for now. I hope you all have an amazing day!!!
I started out by inkblending a piece of white cardstock in Abandoned Coral and Wild Honey Distress Oxide Inks. Then I heat embossed the butterfly using Versamark Ink and Clear Embossing Powder and cut it out. I added some white detail using a gel pen just to add a little bit of contrast and show off the gorgeous design inside of the butterfly.
Next, I inkblended a piece of watercolor cardstock using Blueprint Sketch, Broken China and Tumbled Glass. I sprayed this with Iridescent Shimmer Spray and then splattered it with White Metallic Ink while it was still wet (this allowed the white to bleed and spread a little). I cut this panel down to 3.75" x 5" stamped my sentiment before adding it to a black cardbase with foam tape.
The final step was to attach this gorgeous butterfly to my card with foam tape and some embellishments to up the pretty factor.
Ok, that's it for me today you guys! This card was super easy to pull together quickly as there was no coloring involved and the rest was pretty straight forward. Let me know if you decided to give something like this a try!
