Society of Stampaholics

Hannah & Linda - Champion Challengers!

Today I want to share with you some very talented cardmakers that go by the names of Hannah and Linda (aka Oz) over at the Hero Arts Flickr group. I enjoy looking at their creations, and I've been to their blogs, and y'all need to check out their stamping art!

During Inspiration Reward - Blog Morsel Opportunity #4, Hannah nominated Linda, and the Random Number Generator selected the two of them to receive identical Blog Morsels in the form of a rather modest card kit: 

As you can see, this is not what I would call a major "reward" (8 pieces of 5.5" x 5.5" patterned paper, 2 cardstock Nestie shapes, some punched out hearts, ribbon, stickers, a few sundry buttons and bits, and some digital stamp images that aren't shown in the picture). As I wrote in the post, there's enough here for one card and maybe a couple more.

Now in my hands, the above statement might be true. But in the hands of Hannah and Linda... well, we're talkin' a whole new ballgame....

The two of them challenged one another to see what they could make with these identical materials. They allowed themselves a "plus 1" rule, meaning they could add one additional item into the mix.

And do you know how many cards they made?

Not one card. Not two. Not even three....

They made thirty cards.

Thirty!

Hannah made 17 and Linda made 13.

Mercy, mercy Maude!

Feast your eyes on just a few of their beautiful creations!

By Linda:

 

By Hannah:

 

 

So if these two can do this much with so little - and with stuff they didn't even choose for themselves.... YOWZA!

I'd say we have some mighty fine cardmakers here, and I'm so pleased to give them both a shout out! I'm especially proud of Hannah, as she's only 17 years old. I know plenty of people who are twice her age and haven't developed their talent this quickly.

So go check 'em out at Hannah's Flickr photostream, Linda's photostream, Hannah's blog  and Linda's blog.

Welcome, Hero Arts Hoppers!

Hello, Hoppers!!!!

Welcome to my blog and thank you for dropping by! I'm honored to be a part of such a fantastic undertaking!

You're probably noticing by now that the 2010 Hero Arts collection is as hot as a Yule Log. I had a wonderful time playing with these stamps and can't wait to get my hands on so many more of them!

The cards I created for today are very simple and fast to make because that's the way I roll this time of year - and I bet you do, too.

I love this cling stamp!

SUPPLIES: Stamps: *NEW* Hero Arts CL165: Silhouette Bells and CL278; Ranger Distress Embossing Ink; Ranger embossing powder; American Crafts ribbon; Mark Richardson pearls. 

This card looks much better in person because you can see the wash of Stickles on the petals (kind of washed out here).

Supplies: Stamps: *New* Hero Arts CG141 and CL184; Cosmo Cricket patterned paper; silk ribbon; Mark Richardson pearls; Stickles; Zig marker; pop dots.

My last project took place in the oven. I have dubbed these "Lin's Cookies" because I used the new Cling Stamp CG169: "Heart Flourishes." When I received this stamp, I immediately thought of my fellow Hero Arts Hostess, Lin Brandyberry, because it just said "Lin" all over it. (It really ought to be called "Lin's Stamp"!)

These are sugar cookies - plain and with icing. I was thrilled at how well the stamps worked here and am looking forward to experimenting much more in the future! If you decide to try this, make sure that your stamp is dusted with flour when stamping into cookie dough, but wet when stamping into the icing. Use a toothbrush to immediately clean any dough or icing out of your stamp's grooves.

Stamps used: *NEW* CG169: Heart Flourishes Cling, (pink and green cookies) *NEW* F5318: Starburst, (blue cookie above) and *NEW* CG165: Silhouette Bells Cling (blue cookie)

I hope you enjoyed your stop! The Card Castle is the next blog on the hop where the lovely and talented Jacki Jones is waiting to share her creative magic!

(If you should encounter a broken link, just return to the Hero Arts Blog where you can find a direct link to each blog on the hop.)

Happy Hopping!!!

More Beautiful ATCs

When Hero Arts decided to do a massive ATC exchange, some of us were invited to be responsible for a group of ten swappers, be the collection point for their ATCs and then distribute them. Although some of us signed up to flesh out those groups that were shy of ten participants, we weren't all able to fit in, so we decided to have a swap amongst ourselves. And here are the oh-so-fabulous results:

From Lucy Abrams:

From Cathy Andronicou:

From Jenn Biedermann:

From Kelly Booth:

From Lin BrandyBerry:

From Shari Carroll:

From Judy Jung:

From Tracey Kuzniak:

From Jennifer McGuire:

From Sarah Moerman:

From Deborah Nolan (me):

From Kathy Racoosin:

Thank you, ladies, for these beautiful pieces of art!

Eye Candy

Oh. My. Word.

As I said in yesterday's post, I haven't had time to blog-hop or even to see what's been going on at the Hero Arts Flickr group. So I took 30 minutes this morning and checked out all the entries for this last week's Hero Arts Blog challenge....

These women got some crazy-mad card-makin' skills!

I may have to lie down I'm so dizzy from all that eye candy.

If you haven't been over there, you need to GO. Here's a small (and I do mean small) sampling of what these stamping artistas have been up to. (The challenge, by the way, was to create a card out of a non-traditional card-shape)

Check out more of Tomoh's art at her blog, Tomoh's Attic.

We can thank Skrappergirl for this trio! Check out Skrappergirl's blog.

Or what about these cuties from Sarah? These are good to have on hand:

I hereby crown Jenn Biedermann Queen of Cards for the following three creations. (This woman is going places - check out her blog, Created by JB, now before you have to pay to see her work. Because the day's coming, I'm telling you!)

 

How fantastic is this?!

And look at this HAT! (Makes my hat card look like a sad and sorry poser!)

And then Ashley has provided me with the perfect card to replicate for Gigi's Easter basket:

Ashley has a blog, Cherry Hill Design, so go check out the talent!

Lin built this birdhouse:

And could you just scream over these little flower pots or what?!

Check out quilterlin's photostream to see more of Lin's work.

And here's a crown card given a new twist by Sarah:

 
See more of Sarah's creations at Sarah Belgium's photostream.

And check out Maylee's Japanese lantern:

Go here to visit Maylee's blog, Maylee's Creative Corner.

And, of course, you know there is no way a Donna Mikasa card can't be noticed:

Check out Donna's creations at mi kasa's photostream.

Lucy came up with this super-cool-arooni idea of making what people are referring to as a "tag-ling."  It's a perfect idea for a gift bag or a gift.

Lucy's work can be seen at Lucy_England's photostream and at her blog, Lucy's Cards.

I think the entries start in the pool on Day One and continue until today.

There would be a lot more entries here, but I'm out of time, so go check out ALL the entries because what I posted here is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg!