Loving my new Hero Arts stamps!

Hey!

I'm actually posting some of my crafty creations today. I'll admit I didn't make all of these in one afternoon but I have made them in the last week and I figured that my blog needed a 'boost'!

I am loving the new Hero Arts stamp collection! I treated myself to two sets - four dolls and so sweet. Four dolls has to be my fave set - I just can't stop stamping these cuties!

The first two cards I made whilst playing with my brayer. I feel sorry for my brayer, I confess it hasn't had much love since I bought it over a year ago! A simple trip over to Michelle Zindorf's blog soon inspired me though, and my little brayer is on a roll! Sorry for the pun - I couldn't resist ;)

I now love my brayer LOL!
I used clear embossing powder to protect the doll and lanterns when brayering my ink and a mask (post-it note in the shape of a circle) to create the sun. You can't tell on the picture, but the doll has a cute orange gem on her dress - by chance this was a gem that was lying alone on my desk, in my bits 'n' bobs tray. It was urging me to use it on this card by catching my eye with its sparkle as I was brayering!

My second card has a cooler colour scheme. Again I clear embossed the fan and doll to protect it from my brayering, wiping off the ink with a piece of kitchen towel. I created the mountains by tearing paper as a mask and sponging ink up to the teared paper in different shades of purple. Final touches were added with my trusty white gel pen to add the detail to the mountains and the highlights on the doll's hair. I LOVE my white gel pen, it's definitely in my essential items tray!

To colour in the dolls I used Letraset Promarkers. I love my markers, they blend fantastically well and are capable of both bold and subtle shades. I would love to invest in Copics but I just haven't got the budget or talent to do them justice quite yet...

I found the hardest part of making these cards was mounting them! I could happily create little scenes like this forever but deciding how to mount them on a card was another matter! In the end I decided to simply mat and layer with a couple of felt flowers attached with eyelets - I think it looks OK although I'm not entirely satisfied...

Last but not least, I took part in the challenges on Splitcoast Stampers this week. I've been on half term (I work as a teaching assistant in a secondary school) and have loved the time I've had to play in my crafty corner! This card was for the Sketch Challenge as well as the Ways To Use It Challenge (ways to use stripes this week!)

I love the layout, it was challenging but my Nestabilities and Cuttlebug saved the day! I also tried a new technique - paper piecing. I've never done this before but it's really effective. The dolls outfit was stamped onto the same designer paper as the background. She looks a bit more fashionable now I think! The paper used is Basic Grey's Blush Collection.

Anyways that's about all from me for now, hopefully my blog is looking a bit more interesting! Now I have to prepare for going back to work tomorrow : ( I do love my job but I love crafting time even more LOL!

Thanks for stopping by!

Aimes

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