The craft store had a sale on Fimo this week, so I decided to give it a try!

I was inspired by Jane Beljo (janeB74)'s beautiful Fimo buttons here and here. You can see a tutorial on her blog. My buttons didn't come out nearly as pretty as Jane's, but I'm pretty happy with the results. Maybe Jane can send me some pointers from Croatia!

Here is my first batch using blue and white Fimo. I already sprayed some clear varnish on these.



Here is my second batch, fresh out of the oven. I used orange on some and red, white, and purple Fimo on the rest. I tried to do the "millefiori" technique on some of them. I need more practice, but isn't it cool?



Thanks for looking!

Hugs,
dustypenny (aka Joy)

This is my final entry for Jennifer's Color It challenge on the Hero Arts blog. This is a 12" x 12" digital scrapbook page. The pictures are of my hubby as a child.

I modified a page template by Marie Stones and added a special touch with the Hero Arts Sunshine Daisy and Stitch Border (plain papers) DigiKits. The little swirls are black in the kit, but but I changed them to blue and green to match the paper and used them to make my own digi background paper (so fun!). The little scallop border is from Artsy Edged Punches by Rhonna Farrer. Thanks for looking!

This is a 12" x 12" digital scrapbook page I made for my hubby. We took the photos on a trip to Europe. Everything except the photos are from the Hero Arts Long Writing Background DigiKit. I changed the color of the stamped text to more closely match the color of the bottom left picture. Thanks for looking!

This is an 8" x 8" digital scrapbook page. I created the upper background paper myself by repeating the stamps from the kit, adding the lower green paper then lightening it up. How cool is that?

Everything except the photo is from the Hero Arts Blossoms and Stems DigiKit. I also tried to make the text look a little artsy to go with the beautiful flowers and stems from the kit.

Thanks for looking!

Here is another digital card using:

Hero Arts Kit: Vintage Skyland Bird (changed from color to black and white except for birds)
Other DigiKit: Krafty Leger by Katie Pertiet, Long Ago Love by Glenda Ketchum (bow)

Now I must go clean up my non-digi craft room -- creating is messy!

Thanks for looking!

This is a 12" x 12" digital scrapbook page I made for my hubby. I modified a page template by Marie Stones and added a special touch with the Hero Arts Stitch Border DigiKit. I changed the colors of the flower and button from the kit! Thanks for looking!

I created this card for Jennifer's Color It challenge on the Hero Arts blog. I used Prismacolor colored pencils and odorless mineral spirits for blending the apples. The music background paper is from Paper Pizazz. I added white opaque pen dots on the apples and some green gingham ribbon! Thanks for looking!

I created this card for Jennifer's Color It challenge on the Hero Arts blog. It is early, but Miss Curious Owl is thinking of what to add to her Thanksgiving grocery list!

I used Prismacolor colored pencils and odorless mineral spirits for blending. Thanks for looking!

This is a 12" x 12" digital scrapbook page I made for Lin. Isn't her little grandson Liam just adorable?

I modified a page template by Marie Stones and added a special touch with the Hero Arts Sketch Icons DigiKit. The butterfly is pink and purple in the kit, but I changedit to blue to go with Liam's hat!

Hope you like it, Lin! Thanks for looking!

This is a 12" x 12" digital scrapbook page. I modified a page template by Marie Stones and adding a special touch with the Hero Arts Climbing Vine DigiKit. The flowers are purple in the kit, but I changed them to pink, which is Penny's favorite color! Thanks for looking!

I created this "a bushel of thanks" card for Jennifer's Color It challenge on the Hero Arts blog. This is my second attempt at using Prismacolor colored pencils and odorless mineral spirits for blending. I had a bit more trouble blending the red than other colors, but I am pretty happy with the results.

The basket (cut w/ Cricut Doodlecharms) and some of the apples are pop-dotted for dimension. The music background paper is from Paper Pizazz (cut w/ Cricut Accent Essentials). I just had to to add some white opaque pen dots on the apples and a little green gingham ribbon! Thanks for looking!

I created this card for Jennifer's Color It challenge on the Hero Arts blog. This is my first attempt at using Prismacolor colored pencils and odorless mineral spirits for blending. After a long search I finally found some of it -- or rather my lovely husband did -- at the home improvement store. I think the shading came out pretty good and I just love this new cheerful F5270 Traditional Pumpkin stamp from Hero Arts! Thanks for looking!

I found this lovely new vintage image in the Hero Arts DigiKits on Two Peas!

Hero Arts Kit: Vintage Skyland Bird, Real Flowers (changed flower from white to brown -- can't decide if I like it or not)
Other DigiKit: Krafty Leger and LetterBox by Katie Pertiet, Frayed Knots by Lynn Grievson

Thanks for looking!

I checked the Hero Arts Blog this morning and saw that my card was listed as the winner of the Digital category for the Mail It Challenge!



Thanks so much, Hero Arts! Here's what they said about my "mailit" card:

Dustypenny (aka Joy) wins our Digital category this week. I am always in love with pink and green combos…and those tulips! Many years ago I sketched those and they became a rubber stamp. NOW they are digital, so I have to learn how to use them!!! Also love the stitching…like magic with no sewing machine!!

Thanks again, Hero Arts! And BIG congrats to the other winners!

Hugs,
dustypenny (aka Joy)

Created for Jennifer's "colorit" challenge on the Hero Arts blog using white crayon resist (flowers) and lots of distress inks (Mustard Seed, Broken China, Dried Marigold, Spiced Marmalade, Scattered Straw, Tea Dye)! The flower stems are cut from Cricut Walk in my Garden then inked with the background stamp that I also used on the Kraft notecard. The shapes are cut from Cricut Accent Essentials. The owl has little googly eyes.

Thanks for looking!

Created for Jennifer's "colorit" challenge on the Hero Arts blog. I used crayon resist in white and orange on a single flower cut out from the Outline Flowers Designblock. I covered that with Worn Lipstick distress ink, white opaque pen (dots) and frosted lace stickles (center). I stamped only the stem of the Cut Out Flower stamp in Peeled Paint distress ink. I added lace and Hero Arts gemstones.

Thanks for looking!

Created for the Caardvarks myStampBOX challenge with:

Hero Arts H4464 Two Flourish Flowers (inked stems only)
Maya Road Felt Beaded Flowers
Black and White Gingham Ribbon
Shapes cut from Cricut Accent Essentials

Thanks for looking!

Just a quick card tonight for my Dad's birthday so I can get it in the mail.

Hero Arts: CL264, S5027, Gemstones, Shadow Ink Soft Leaf
Other: Distress Inks in Shabby Shutters (background and sails) and Broken China (background), Tea Dye (hull) White Embossing Powder, Glitter Pen, Marker, Bazzill Cardstock Strip (waves), Pop Dots

Thanks for looking!

The ladies who lunch were more pink and brown in the kit, but I changed them to blue!

Hero Arts DigiKit: Vintage Trio of Women, Birthday Definition
Other DigiKit: Spools Of Stitches by Tia Bennett, Beautiful Life sentiment by Marie Stones (changed this to blue, too)

Thanks for looking!

I'm having a lot of fun with the DigiKits! The flower was yellow in the kit, but I changed it to purple for Jennifer's "colorit" challenge on the blog this week!

Hero Arts DigiKit: Blossoms and Stems, Friendship Definition, Climbing Vine
Other DigiKit: Rio by Kimberly Giarrusso (staples on button), Variety Show Stitching by Tia Bennett

Thanks for looking!

Sending to my Dad. Don't talk to him nearly enough.

Hero Arts DigiKit: Four Leaves
Other DigiKit: Father Sayings by Marie Stone

Sending to an online friend. Hope she likes it!

HeroArts DigiKit: Long Writing Background
Other DigiKit: Spools Of Stitches by Tia Bennett, Spring Fever by Tia Bennet, March Free{Pea} Kit by Rhonna Farrer

Thanks for looking!

Sending to an online friend. Hope she likes it!

HeroArts DigiKit: Friendship Definition, Watercolor Flowers
Other DigiKit: Spools Of Stitches by Tia Bennett

Thanks for looking!

I made 20 Thanksgiving cards to send to CardsforHeroes.org. I am getting close to having 100 cards to send in soon.

The turkey is from the Cricut Animal Kingdom cartridge. I colored him with markers and chalks. The red circle is embossed with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder. The sentiment and leaf are from Hero Arts CL245 Sparkle Clear: Happy Winter Occasions.



I hope my cards brighten someone's day. I'm glad I can contribute to CardsforHeroes.org. Thanks for looking!

This card will be going to someone special in Ohio who is my distant neighbor (I'm in Indiana)! I have been saving this Paper Pizazz Tan Catalog paper for awhile and I think she might like it, too! I hope the crackle paint holds up ok in the mail.

S5146 Bold Flourish (Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint, Vintage Photo Distress Inks)
CL270 Sky's the Limit (sentiment; Vintage Photo Distress Ink)
Chipboard Flower (Dusty Concord Distress Crackle Paint)
Chipboard Flower Center (Mustard Seed Distress Crackle Paint)

Thanks for looking!

This card will be going to someone special in Oregon! I thought the bright colors would suit her just fine! I hope the crackle paint holds up ok in the mail.

K5058 Friendship Writing (Vintage Photo Distress Ink)
Chipboard Flower (Spiced Marmalade Distress Crackle Paint)
Chipboard Leaves (Shabby Shutters Distress Crackle Paint)
Hero Arts button and twine

Thanks for looking!

Can you guess whooo this crafty owl card is for? I will mail it if she sends me her address!

K5059 Big Owl (black embossed and colored with Perfect Pearls and water)
CL232 Jolly Christmas (thought bubble)
Mini Scrapbook set (maybe Hampton Art, not sure)

Thanks for looking!

Hero Arts DigiKit: Watercolor Flowers
Other DigiKit: Berry Days (free TwoPeas download)

Hero Arts DigiKit: Long Writing Background Other DigiKit: Street Fair kit by Erikia Ghumm, Give Freely by The Queen of Quirk

Hero Arts DigiKits: Friendship Definition, Watercolor Flowers

Other DigiKit: Rio by Kimberly Giarrusso

I created this digi card to send to my Mom.

Hero Arts DigiKits: Sketch Tulips, Friendship Definition
TwoPeas DigiiKit: Spring Chicken by The Queen of Quirk (free download)

Love the digital stitching. So much easier and I can make a straight line!

Thanks for looking!

Shh, don't tell! I created this digi card for my husband's birthday on Friday. Looks like I forgot to add the shadow to the second button. Oh well.

Hero Arts DigiKits: Birthday Definition, Climbing Vine
TwoPeas DigiiKit: Back2School by Shannon Freeman (free download)

Having lots of fun with the DigiKits! Thanks for looking!

Created for the last week (boo hoo) of Thinking Inking. I used Jennifer's white embossing on white paper technique for the background and the crayon resist technique on the flowers, two Hero Arts stamps, and Distress Inks in Shabby Shutters and Broken China. I added frosted lace stickles to the centers of the flowers.

S5135 Outline Flowers
H2365 Old French Writing (background)

Thanks for looking!

Created for the last week (boo hoo) of Thinking Inking. I used Jennifer's white embossing on white paper technique for the background and the crayon resist technique on the darker flowers, two Hero Arts stamps, and Distress Inks in Milled Lavendar and Dusty Concord. I added frosted lace stickles to the centers of the darker flowers.

S5135 Outline Flowers
S5025 Flowers (background)

Thanks for looking!

Created for the last week (boo hoo) of Thinking Inking. I used Jennifer's crayon resist technique, three Hero Arts stamps, and Distress Inks in Broken China and Spiced Marmalade. I added frosted lace stickles to the centers of the flowers.

S5135 Outline Flowers
CL285 Dot Flourishes
S5216 Grid Pattern

Thanks for looking!

This is a card for Shari's Sketch Week on the Hero Arts Blog!

This card is entirely digital. All items are from Hero Arts DigiKit: Sketch Tulips. I could never get the rounded corners to come out right. Need more practice.

Thanks for looking!

This is a card for Shari's Sketch Week on the Hero Arts Blog!

This card is entirely digital. All items are from Hero Arts DigiKits: Long Writing Background and Sketch Icons (flower).

Thanks for looking!

This is a card for Shari's Sketch Week on the Hero Arts Blog!

This card is entirely digital. I swapped Shari's circle for the heart. All items are from Hero Arts DigiKits: Friendship Definition and Garden Flower Sketches (blossom paper). I colorized the flowers and gemstones similar to Shari's video on Friday.

I'm finding Photoshop Elements fun but somewhat frustrating. Even if I know what I want to do, I can't always make the program cooperate with me!

Thanks for looking!

I finally made a card for Shari's Sketch Week on the Hero Arts Blog!

This card is entirely digital. I swapped Shari's circle for the tulip shape to go with the vase of flowers. All items are from Hero Arts DigiKit: Garden Flower Sketches.

Thanks for looking!

Today I took two interesting classes at Wishful Thinking in Nashville, IN!

The first class was a beginner's Copic Markers and I am now the proud owner of three markers and a blender pen (paid for as part of the class fees). I didn't take a picture of the little pumpkins we colored in with a few different techniques. I kind of got mixed results on those, but the instructor, Bianca Mandity, said it takes practice to get used to them. Hope she is right and that it wasn't just me!

My favorite part, though, was when she let us use her air compresser with the Copic markers! Here's a sample using a mask and two of my green markers (yes, the Ciao markers do work with some putty to hold them in place). Lots of fun! If I ever build up a bigger supply of Copics I would definitely think about investing in the air compresser! Just think of all the fun card and scrapbook backgrounds that could be made!




















The second class was Japanese No-Stitch Book Binding, also with Bianca. We made an entire mini-book with just a few supplies!

We used a single piece of printed paper from Japan for the cover and colored it with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mists. I really like the paper she gave me and I stuck to a mix of blues and greens for my cover. Incidentally, some of the blue is still on my hands despite several washings! Oh well.

While we set the cover aside to dry, we created the inside pages. Would you believe the inside is made from a single piece of Japanese fiber paper? We just folded and folded and folded and ended up with this cute little mini-book! I think I'm still amazed.

The only supplies we used besides the ones above were a metal ruler and a bone folder. Zero adhesives, zero sewing. Amazing!

I hope I will somehow be able to recreate this at home. It wasn't especially intuitive for me and there were a couple of times I got stuck. Lots of measuring and thinking about folds but so worth it! What a great gift this could be when decorated with photos, notes, or stamping! Bianca said she had even made some with gift wrap for the holidays last year.




















We had some extra time at the end of class for playing with the store's huge selection of Tattered Angels Glimmer Mists. I didn't even know they made so many colors! Here are the ones I made and they are super shiny in person. You might see them again cut up and used on cards. I really like how the bottom two turned out.

Made lots more cards for CardsforHeroes.org this week using Hero Arts stamps! I am trying to come up with 100 cards to send in my next package! I may be close to halfway now, but I'll have to count them up to be sure.

This first group uses two new Cling stamps and the images are colored in with markers.

CG116 Thinking of You
CG112 Hello (really love this one!)








This set uses Hero Arts F5158 Heart Winged Butterfly. I embossed it in black on black paper, then colored it in with a mix of water and Perfect Pearls (love 'em thanks to Jennifer McGuire and Thinking Inking). I made circles for the backgrounds and covered them in distress inks (ditto above re: Jennifer!) then splotched on water and/or a mix of water and Perfect Pearls. The sentiment is from Hero Arts CL342 ClearDesign: Everyday Sayings.








Thanks for looking! I can already imagine the withdrawal symptoms next week since Thinking Inking is over now! Such a great class!

Here are the two free projects I made at Archiver's Make & Take Weekend on August 8th. Yes, I'm a week late posting this. Better late than never, right?

Blue: The left side is an 8" x 8" scrapbook page. We used a mask and ink on patterned paper to make the star. The flourish was made with a mask and watermark ink. I went out of the lines a little, but it still looks ok. The white dot on the right side of the page is a brad made of satin ribbon using the new i-Top Brad Maker. I love the idea of that tool, but it was a little hard to use and I'm running out of space in my scraproom as it is!

Red: The right side is a window card using little inchies stamps. Note to self: Make more window cards!

















Loved Archiver's Make & Take Weekend, but didn't love the lines!

Thanks for looking!

Here is a sampling of the cute $10 mini-album I made at Archiver's Make & Take Weekend on August 8th. The cover and pages are made from Yours Truly stationery and envelopes (which serve as pockets to hold more pictures or notes), then embellished with paper, die cuts, felt flowers, buttons, and gemstones. The mini-album is held together with two ring binders which we adorned with several ribbons.

This was lots of fun to make and it would be a great gift idea. I will probably make more of these in the future. I haven't decided which photos to put in mine yet. Thanks for looking!