Chopped: Cards Edition #3 // Hero Arts

In an unprecendated turn of events, Clare is actually continuing on with one of her many card series, beyond two posts! Crazy, I know. ;)

Today's Chopped card was made for yet another blog hop, months ago. This is a super simple and easy one layer card, using minimal supplies and featuring the super cute Raining Cats and Dogs stamp set.

I think this cat and dog are just the cutest things! I stamped my sentiment first in my favorite black ink, and then the critters in Soft Granite and Charcoal. I filled in the rest of the space by stamping clouds and rain drops in Soft Pool.

It's hard to see the dimension and shine in the pics, but you can definitely tell the colors on the raindrops are slightly off. Why? I used super old Glossy Accents that had a strange greenish tint to it, as I was using a green-headed sewing pin to keep the Glossy Accents tip from drying up.

Why didn't this card make the cut? Like I mentioned above, the old Glossy Accents had a strange greenish tint to them, which through off the Soft Pool color. However, the main reason was because I just could NOT figure out how to photograph this card without it looking super washed out!

SUPPLIES

Cardstock: Michaels

Stamps: Hero Arts Raining Cats and Dogs

Ink: Hero Arts Soft Pool, Black, Soft Granite and Charcoal

Other: Glossy Accents

Chopped: Card Edition #2 // Hero Arts

I'm here today with another "edition" of my card series, Chopped! I know, I'm surprising myself by actually continuing this "series," especially after #cardmakerprobs died so pitifully. ;)

I was experimenting with the Color Layering Hydrangea stamp for THIS blog hop months ago, and that's how today's card came to be.
First I tried a lot of different combinations with the Hero Arts Ombre ink lineup, but wasn't really feeling anything. Then I decided to play around with some Distress Inks, and I don't remember why this unusual color combo came into my mind, but I combined Shaded Lilac and Tea Dye to get a rather vintage stained hydrangea look.

I used the rock'n'roll stamp technique: I inked up the second layer of the hydrangea in Shaded Lilac, and then rolled the edges of the stamp in Tea Dye. I think this technique works best with rubber stamps, but it turned out fine here. It was a little tricky though, since I only had mini ink pads in the colors. ;)

I then lightly spritzed the stamp with water, and stamped a whole border full on some watercolor cardstock.

To top it off, I die cut a black frame using the Hero Arts Rectangle Infinity dies, and die cut my sentiment from the Luggage Tag Alphabet die set. Everything was doubled on another piece of cardstock, and adhered to the base.

Why didn't this card make the cut? I wasn't sold on the colors (again), and I also had the darndest time trying to photograph this card. The colors just really washed out in almost every photograph! It took me several photography "sessions" to just get the pics for this post. ;)

Thanks so much for stopping in and God bless!

SUPPLIES

Cardstock: Canson watercolor, Bazzill black
Stamps: Hero Arts Color Layering Hydrangea
Ink: Distress Inks Shaded Lilac and Tea Dye

Tools: water bottle, Cuttlebug, Hero Arts Rectangle Infinity dies and Luggage Tag Alphabet die set

Chopped: Card Edition #1 // Hero Arts

Things have been pretty mum around here, I realize - this summer has been crazy so far! My oldest brother is getting married a week from today, I'm visiting Ireland with four of my siblings at the end of July for ten days, retreat soon after coming back, working with my brother and dad on marketing and graphic design for their business, a flight down to Denver - these are just some of the crazy things happening! And amidst it all, most of my eight siblings and their families are making their way in and out of the family house for the celebrations. :)

So, that's what I'm up to!

Now, for the card stuff...

Between all the usual craziness, a full-time job and freelancing on the side, I don't have a whole lot of time to card making. I usually only have time to make projects that I need to make for an assignment, and no extras for blog fun.
However, while I make projects for assignments, things don't always turn out the way I want them to right away. Actually, this is usually the case. Lots of experimenting with layout, colors, techniques, etc. Sometimes the experiment looks cool, but doesn't really display what I particularly want to focus on for a blog post.
Instead of throwing it away, I'll finish it up quickly. I don't usually post these cards, but I thought it'd be fun to share some cards that I made for an assignment, and just didn't make the cut.

Welcome to Chopped: Card Edition!

For this first edition, here's a card I worked on for THIS Hero Arts blog post. I needed to try to make the lovely Wallpaper Pattern bold prints shine, so I tried heat embossing it in white and then coloring in little bits and pieces with my ZIG pens.

If I have a really pretty background, I really want it to shine, so I usually end up white heat embossing a sentiment on a small black cardstock panel, adhering it to the base, and calling it a day. However, I do that so often, that I wanted to try spicing things up.

I decided to die cut a navy panel (big stretch from black, I know ;)) with the Rectangle Infinity Dies, and then use a smaller rectangle die to cut two small windows in the panel. I left space in the middle to heat emboss a sentiment from Color Layering Graphic Flowers in white, and then used clear sequins to "shake" things up. (ha!)

So why didn't this card make the cut? Honestly, I wasn't particularly happy with how either of my cards turned out, but I decided to nix this one because I wasn't loving the colors. 

What about you? Do you often have great ideas in mind that just won't translate well to paper? 

SUPPLIES

Cardstock: Canson watercolor, Bazzill navy

Stamps: Hero Arts Color Layering Graphic Flowers

Ink: Versamark, ZIG Clean Color Real Brush pens

Other: Hero Arts white embossing powder, Simon Says Stamp clear sequins

Tools: heat gun, Cuttlebug, Hero Arts Rectangle Infinity Dies, water and paintbrush