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Author Archives: krolski


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Pink anyone?

Hi there!  It’s Kathy again. Today, I’ve created a very simple card. I like simple, can you tell?  🙂  We have a ton of February birthdays in my family so I’ve made a quick birthday card using a lot of pink!

a2zhearts1

I wanted to make a tone-on-tone background, so I stamped the Hero Arts/Basic Grey Deco Background stamp with Hero Arts mid-tone Bubble Gum ink on a Hero Arts Blush notecard.  I then stamped the banner stamp on white cardstock (again with Bubble Gum ink) and used the die to cut it out. I know I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again. I love, love, love these stamp and cut sets from Hero Arts! Anyway, I used a heart punch with glitter paper to make my own heart embellishment and added that to the banner. The banner is adhered with foam squares to give it some dimension. To finish it off, I added a few Hero Arts pearl heart gems. Love them too! As I said, a very simple card.

The challenge for January is to use something new to you. To see more details about the challenge, click the link in the right side menu. I hope you’ll add a link to your project and play along with us this month!

Also, don’t forget if you’d like to buy any products from the store, feel free to use the discount code, Kathy15 to get 15% off. Check out the sale section, there are tons of great deals!

Thanks for dropping in. I hope you have a wonderful week and find time to be creative!

kathy1 Supplies:

Hero Arts Basic Grey Deco Background

Hero Arts Stamp and Cut Cake Day

Hero Hues Black Ink

Hero Arts Bubble Gum Mid-tone Ink

Acrylic block

Hero Arts Note cards – Blush

Hero Arts Heart Pearls

Martha Stewart Heart Punch

Simon Says Heart Parade Die


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Happy Birthday Stars

Hi and Happy New Year! Can you believe it’s 2015 already? Wow. Where did 2014 go? Anyway, I hope your new year is off to a great start!

The challenge for January is to use some of the new products you have received. Perhaps you were given some great gifts for Christmas or the holidays? For my card, I wanted to use one of the Christmas stamp sets for a birthday card. I like to challenge myself to use my stamps in different ways. So, here’s my card.

a2z_jan4

I stamped the star ornaments from the Christmas Crystal set and then colored them with Copic markers and cut them out. I then used my new honeycomb stencil to add a subtle background to my note card. I used Green Fields mid tone ink with an ink blending tool to add ink over the stencil. I then stamped the greeting in black and adhered the stars to the note card – some with dimensional foam squares.

To see more details about the challenge, click the link in the right side menu. I hope you’ll add a link to your project and play along with us this month!

Also, don’t forget if you’d like to buy any products from the store, use the discount code, Kathy15 to get 15% off.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have time to play with all your new crafting goodies today. 🙂

kathy1

Supplies:

Hero Arts Christmas Crystals

Hero Arts For Your Kindness

Hero Hues Black Ink

Hero Arts Green Fields Mid-tone Ink

Acrylic block

Hero Arts Note cards – Foliage

Heidi Swap Honeycomb Stencil

Tim Holtz Mini Ink Blending Tool


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Quick card

Hello and welcome back! It’s Kathy here again. I hope you’re having a great week!

I have been making Christmas and holiday cards lately, but decided to take a break and make a non-holiday card. Sometimes I challenge myself to make a really quick card, because to be honest, it typically takes me forever to make just one card. Let’s just keep that our little secret.  🙂

So for my card today, first I used a stencil and an embossing mat to run the cardstock through my Big Shot. This dry embosses the stencil onto the card stock. It’s very, very subtle so I included a close up photo so you can hopefully see it a bit better.  I intentionally left the photo a bit dark so the dry embossing would be noticeable. Then I inked up the heart stamp (from the Brush Strokes set) with distress ink and sprayed it with water using my mini mister bottle and stamped it on the embossed cardstock.  Spraying it with water before stamping it gives the stamp more of a water colored look. I did this three times with different colors of distress inks. I then stamped the greeting, added the enamel dots and adhered the white panel to a hot pink card base with dimensional tape. It was definitely one of the quickest cards I’ve made in quite some time!

a2z_loveyou

 

a2z photo2

 

We hope you’ll play along with us this month in the watercolor challenge! To see more details about the challenge, click the link in the right side menu. You have a chance to win a $25.00 gift card to the a2z Scrapbooking Store. Yay!

Also, don’t forget if you’d like to buy any products from the store, use the discount code, Kathy15 to get 15% off.

This is my last post for December so I want to wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! I hope Santa brings you plenty of stamping supplies!  🙂

kathy1

Supplies:

Hero Art Brush Strokes

Hero Arts Basic Grey Flag Pattern Stencil

Hero Arts Black Ink

Tim Holtz Distress Inks

Embossing Mat

Winnie and Walter The Big, the Bold and You

Neenah White card stock

DCWV Box of Cards


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Peace and Joy and Scavenger Hunt Winner!

Hi! It’s Kathy here again. Have you checked out the challenge yet for this month? The theme for December is watercolors which is so popular in card making right now, isn’t it?

My card today uses the Hero Arts Christmas Crystals set. It’s such a unique set and tons of fun to use.  Below are some quick instructions on how to make this card.
Peace card

Stamp the crystals on watercolor paper
Watercolor the crystals (I used the Hero Arts watercolor wheel) and then use the Wink of Stella brush pen to add some shimmer
Cut out the crystals
Cut a small piece of watercolor paper
Add some Tumbled Glass distress marker to an acrylic block and spritz it with water. Then press the acrylic block onto the piece of watercolor paper to create the blue background.
Stamp the crystals again onto the blue watercolored paper and stamp the dotted lines at the top. Use foam squares to adhere the cut out crystals over the stamped crystal images.
Stamp the greeting. I love the greetings in this set!

Now to assemble the card, cut a piece of Neenah Dessert Storm paper and score it to make a top folding card.
Adhere the clear star transparency over the cardstock. It’s hard to tell that this is a layer of clear transparency in the photo.
Adhere the watercolor panel.
Add some red gems and call it a day!  🙂

To see more details about the challenge, click the link in the right side menu. I hope you’ll add a link to your project and play along with us this month!
And we are thrilled to announce the winner of our Scavenger Hunt, Nancy Ward! Nancy please email Linda @ a2zscrapbooking@comcast.net to claim your gift certificate.

Also, don’t forget if you’d like to buy any products from the store, use the discount code, Kathy15 to get 15% off.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have time to create today! It’s so good for the soul! 🙂

kathy1

Supplies:

Hero Arts Christmas Crystals

Hero Hues Black Ink

Hero Arts Red Royal Mid-tone Ink

Hero Arts Watercolor wheel

Tim Holtz Watercolor cardstock

Wink of Stella brush pen

Acrylic block

Tumbled Glass Distress Marker

Neenah Dessert Storm Cardstock

Studio Calico Transparency Darling


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Glitter, Anyone?

Hi All! Happy Day! It’s Kathy here again. I made two cards to share with you today and used several different Hero Arts products. Don’t we all love Hero Arts? 🙂

For my first card, I wanted to keep it simple, but also wanted to created my own background so I used the new Hero Arts/Basic Grey Flag Pattern stencil. I laid it over a piece of white cardstock and then used distress inks with a mini ink blending tool to add various colors. It makes for such a bright and cherry background, doesn’t it?  After I was done creating the background with the stencil, I stamped the Happy Birthday greeting and then used a star die to cut out several sizes of stars from glitter paper. I had to use the glitter paper somewhere on this card because as I’ve said in previous posts, I’m addicted to glitter paper. No lie. 🙂 Once I had the panel done, I adhered it to a Hero Arts note card. I kept this card fairly flat because I wanted to mail it in a regular envelope.

card1 copy

My second card was just for fun. 🙂  Nothing too complicated, just lots of stamping and coloring. I stamped the cloud background stamp with distress ink and then I stamped all my pieces (the moose, the rainbow, etc), colored them and cut them out or die cut them. I punched the heart from glitter paper (of course!) and I used a border punch for the grass. Then I assembled the card. If you need more details, just let me know.

card3 copy

 

The challenge this month is “Anything goes!” Such an awesome theme, don’t you think? To see more details about the challenge, click the link in the right side menu. I hope you’ll play along with us this month. Just add a link to your project and you could win a $25 gift certificate!

Also don’t forget if you’d like to buy any products from the store, use the discount code, Kathy15 to get 15% off. There are always great Hero Arts products in the store including some new items!

I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving and I’ll see you again soon!

kathy1

Supplies:

Hero Arts/Basic Grey Flag Pattern Stencil

Hero Arts Messages with Flourish

Hero Arts Enjoy Today

Distress Ink Pads

Mini Ink Blending Tools

Hero Arts Green notecards or Pine Layering Paper

Hero Arts Black Ink

Hero Arts You’re a Rainbow (OWH)

Hero Arts Missing You

Hero Arts Missing You Die Cuts

Hero Arts Cloud Background

Hero Arts Sea Mix Note Cards

Wink of Stella

DCWV Glitter Paper

Fiskars Grass Border Punch

Martha Stewart Heart Punch

 


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Anything Goes! Woohoo!

Hey there! It’s Kathy here again. The challenge this month is “Anything goes!” I don’t know about you, but I love that theme! To see more details about the challenge, click the link in the right side menu. I hope you’ll add a link to your project and play along with us this month!

My card today uses the Hero Arts Lil Hoot OWH set which I absolutely love! The images are just too cute, aren’t they? You can also get the dies for this set too. I colored the bears with Copic markers. Then I die cut the trees from a wood grain patterned paper. I wanted this to be an autumn looking card, so I die cut the bottom piece from a fun patterned paper of colorful leaves. I adhered the pool patterned paper onto a Hero Arts pool note card, then added the trees, the “hill” of leaves and adhered the bears with dimensional squares. And last, but not least, I stamped that oh so cute greeting. I have sent this card to my brand new nephew — he’s only a month old and is cute as can be!

 

hugyou

 

Also, don’t forget if you’d like to buy any products from the store, use the discount code, Kathy15 to get 15% off. There are some great Hero Arts products in the store including some new items!  This is one of my favs! Oh and we are on Twitter and Instagram so come follow us!  🙂

Thanks for stopping by and I’ll see you next time.

kathy1

Supplies:

Hero Arts Lil Hoot OWH stamp set

Hero Arts Lil Hoot Die Cuts

Hero Arts Pool notecards

Doodlebug Happy Harvest 6×6 Paper Pad

Lawn Fawn Joy to the Woods Die Cuts

Mama Elephant Landscape Trio Creative Cuts

Hero Arts Black Ink


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Die Cut Trees and More Pumpkins!

Hello! It’s Kathy here again. The challenge this month is to use two Hero Arts hard products (stamps, dies, etc.) Click here to see more details about the challenge and to link to your project if you would like to play along. I can’t wait to see what you make!

Below are a couple of the cards I’ve created using this month’s theme. I can’t seem to put the Holiday Trees stamp and cut set down. On this card, I only used the dies and used the inlaid die technique. So first I cut the white shimmery paper. Then I carefully placed the tree die on the white paper and ran it through my Big Shot. I did this three times since I only have one tree die. Next, I cut three different patterned papers with the tree die. I adhered the white paper to my card base, then laid the patterned paper trees into the cut out spots. I then stamped the greeting and added embellishments. Such a fun technique!

Christmas_ThinkingU2

On the next card, I used the Hero Arts Thankful for You set, the Hero Arts Tag Collage set and the Hero Arts Enjoy Today set. I stamped the big tag over patterned paper to give it a tone-on-tone effect. I used the mid-tone Pumpkin Pie ink. I stamped and colored the pumpkins with Copic markers and then cut them out. I die cut the stars and then put the card together. Easy peasy, as they say. 🙂 I stamped the greeting and also added a bow made of rafia. I’m going to send this for an upcoming October birthday.

PumpkinBday
Also, don’t forget if you’d like to buy any products from the store, use the discount code, Kathy15 to get 15% off. There are some great Hero Arts products in the store!

Thanks for stopping by! See you next time.

kathy1

Supplies:

Hero Arts Holiday Tree Stamp & Cuts Die
Hero Arts Merry Christmas Message
Hero Arts Thankful for You
Hero Arts Pine Layering Paper
Hero Arts Neutrals Pearls and Gems
Hero Arts Tag Collage
Hero Arts Enjoy Today


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Hope your Day is a Hoot!

Hi there! It’s Kathy here again stopping in to show you this quirky card I made for the monthly challenge. The challenge is to use two Hero Arts products. This Curious Owl is one of my favorite stamps. I love owl stamps! And you already know how much I love pumpkins for Fall cards.

I wanted to use a lot of patterned paper with Halloween colors for this card. I think I accomplished my goal! 🙂  I also wanted to make it a fun card so I cut out the witch’s hat from another Hero Arts set and added to the Hero Arts Curious Owl stamp. I love how his eyes are looking up at the witch’s hat.

Halloween_owl1

 

After I stamped, colored and cut out the owl, I adhered the witch’s hat to him. I then used a border punch to cut out the fence, a die to cut the balloon and I also cut several different pieces of patterned paper. I also stamped, colored and cut out the pumpkin. This Hero Arts Thankful for You set is a must have! I used Copic markers to color the orange on the owl and the pumpkin. I then stamped the greeting on the balloon.

Once I had all my pieces, I assembled the card. I also add some white twine to the balloon and colored the owl’s eyes with a white gel pen.

I hope you’ll play along with the challenge. You can find more information about it by clicking on the link in the right side bar. And don’t forget, if you’d like to order anything from the store, use the coupon code Kathy15 to receive a 15% off discount.

And for other good news, there is a Design Team call out now too. We would like to invite you and your friends to apply. If you are interested, click HERE for more details. We hope you will apply.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope your day is a hoot!

kathy1

 

Supplies Used:

Hero Arts Thankful for You Stamp set
Hero Arts Harvest Die Cuts
Hero Arts Curious Owl
Hero Arts Owl-oween
Doodlebug Haunted Manor 6×6 paper pad
Sweet n Sassy Owl Be There stamp set

 


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Three Months Until Christmas!

Can you believe it’s only 3 months until Christmas? Wait, what? I’m asking myself, are you sure? Yes, I’m sure. Yikes! It’s a good thing I’ve already started making some of my Christmas cards!

This first card was super simple. I stamped the snowflakes and the greeting with Versamark ink and then heat embossed them with white embossing powder. I then stamped the ornaments, one with Red Royal mid-tone ink and the other two with the Soft Granite mid-tone ink. Then I added a little color with a green gel pen. I also brushed on the Wink of Stella clear glitter pen to add shimmer to all three ornaments. I used the die to cut them all out and then I strung silver and white string/thread so they look like they are hanging. The ornaments are adhered with dimensional foam squares to add some depth.

ChristmasOrnaments

 

On this second card, I first added distress inks to the background with an ink blending tool. Then I put the Leaf & Floral stencil over the background paper and used the ink blending tool to apply the Soft Granite ink for a tone-on-tone effect. I then stamped the trees with Forever Green and Green Hills mid-tone inks and used the die to cut them out. I stamped the greeting with Forever Green ink as well, and then adhered all the trees. The middle tree is adhered with dimensional foam squares. I also added a little bit of color to the middle tree with a red gel pen. I finished it off my adhering the panel to a white notecard and adding a few gems.

ChristmasTrees

 

On my last card, I once again used the Leaf & Floral stencil with Soft Granite ink on white cardstock – I used the same technique as I mentioned above. I purposely used less ink when pouncing in the center of the stencil. I then used the Hero Arts Alphabet die to cut out the letters from red cardstock. I added a layer of Glossy Accents to make them shine. I also cut the stars from gold and silver glitter paper. I assembled the card and called it done. 🙂

Peace1

 

Don’t forget that if you use the coupon code Kathy15 in the store, you will receive 15% off your order. How cool is that?!

Also, there’s still time to join the monthly challenge. We would love for you to play along with us. This month’s theme is Autumn and Christmas. You may enter up to 5 times and you will be eligible to win a $25 gift certificate to the a2z Scrapbooking store with each entry. We have lots of great Hero Arts holiday stamps in the store (see the supplies below to be linked directly to them). And click HERE to submit your entry.
Also, we would like to invite you and your friends to apply for our Design Team. The link is over to the right if you are interested or you can click HERE for more details.  We really hope you will apply.

So, tell me, have you started making Christmas or holiday cards yet? 🙂  Have a great day and weekend!

Supplies Used:


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Thanksgiving Blessings

Hi there! It’s Kathy here. I hope you’re week is going well!  Today I’m sharing a card that I have created using one of the new Hero Arts Thanksgiving/Fall stamp sets. I love pumpkins. Any time I see them, it puts me in an autumn mood. How about you?

Ok, on to the card. I stamped an older Hero Arts cloud background stamp with Pumpkin Pie mid-tone ink on kraft paper. You can also use a stencil for this. Then I used the greeting from the new Thankful for You set and stamped it over the clouds (also using the Pumpkin Pie mid-tone ink). It’s very subtle. The Hero Arts mid-tone inks are some of my very favorite inks. I then stamped the pumpkins and used distressed inks with an ink blending tool to add different colors and shading to them. I also used a distress marker to color in the patterned lines on the pumpkins and then used the Wink of Stella glitter brush pen to add a bit of shine.  After the pumpkins were done, I cut the grass using a Fiskars border punch and then I adhered the card together. I then stamped the “Thanksgiving Blessings” greeting on patterned paper and cut it into a banner shape. I added the banner to the card with foam squares, along with a few gems, and voila, it’s finished!

Thanksgvg

We would love it if you played along with our monthly challenge.  Just click on the challenge link on the right. The theme this month is Autumn and Christmas and you have a chance to win a $25.00 gift card to the store.

Also, if you are interested in any of the products I used on my cards today, please see the InLinkz at the bottom of this post. When you click on them, you will be taken to the store and you can use the coupon code KATHY15 to get 15% off.

Have a great day and go buy some pumpkins! 🙂

kathy1

 

Supplies Used: