United We Flourish - Hero Arts + Ellen Hutson!

Today I'm thrilled to be part of a blog hop celebrating the release of the Ellen Hutson + Hero Arts collaboration for United We Flourish! I've been lucky enough to meet Ellen in person, and she is truly one of the nicest people around. I'm soooo excited to actually be hopping with her team, yay!! You should have arrived here from Laurel's blog, but if you didn't you should head over to The CLASSroom and start at the very beginning!

The stamp set is called Better Together. One of my favorite things about this set is the message "we all share the same branch" - because we really do, don't we? Being inspired by using that message, here's the card I came up with:

I stamped various birds randomly, then colored with my Chameleon pencils. I added a bit of lacquer pen to the birds for a little extra fun - the lacquer pen is a new product coming from Hero Arts.

Here's a look at the full set and matching dies:

GIVEAWAY!! To celebrate, two randomly selected commenters will win a $30 gift certificate to the Ellen Hutson shop! To enter just leave a comment on the Ellen Hutson Classroom blog by 11:59 PST on January 28th.

Now it's time to hop! Next stop is my sweet friend Lisa Adametz. And be sure to get your Better Together set before they are gone!

Thanks for stopping by!

January 2018 My Monthly Hero - Release + Giveaway!

Hello hello!! It's time for the first My Monthly Hero release for the year at Hero Arts! This month's kit is so much fun - a big, fabulous word LOVE, gorgeous dies, and beautiful papers, sequins, embossing powder, inks... so much to LOVE!

Today I'm sharing a couple projects I made for the Hero Arts website. When I saw the Passion Flower and Navy inks included in the kit, of course I had to use them. Because purple.

The big "LOVE" message is so cool! I love the font. And you can do so many fun things with it - you can color layer it in different colors, or use the same color for both image to make it one bold, solid color. Or you can use embossing on the top layer, which looks awesome too! I went with the purple and navy look - such a nice combo!

I love the ampersand in the kit, too!!

There are also a bunch of awesome dies - be sure to check out Ilina's beautiful project using the heart die on the Hero Arts blog! Here's a look at the full kit:

Now it's time to hop! Be sure to visit all of these blogs and leave comments - Hero Arts will be giving away one kit to a lucky commenter, selected from the comments left across all of the blogs in the hop. You have until Sunday, January 14th to get those comments in, and the winner will be announced at a later date on the Hero Arts blog.

The Hero Arts Blog
Jennifer McGuire
Yana Smakula
Jessica Frost-Ballas
Wanda Guess
Lydia Fiedler
Amy Tsuruta
Laurie Willison
May Park
Janette Kausen
Michelle Short
Libby Hickson (you are here!)
Ilina Crouse
Clare Prezzia
Emily Midgett

Thanks for stopping by today!

Season's Givings Blog Hop WINNER!

Thanks for all of the wonderful comments you left on my last post. I appreciate all the love for my look back. Makes me happy to hear you like what I post, even if the posts are few and far between!

So without further adieu, the winner of my Hero Arts goodies is...

CHRISTI CONLEY

Christi, please send me an email (stampinlibby@gmail.com) and I'll get your goodies right out to you!

Happy stamping!

Season's Givings Blog Hop + 2017 in Review

Happy New Year! Today I'm thrilled and honored to be joining a bunch of wonderful stampers and stamp companies with this year's Season's Givings Blog Hop. If you didn't find your way here from Debbie Seyer's blog, be sure to hop back over to Lawn Fawn and start at the very beginning! This is our little way of saying a big THANK YOU to our dear blog readers. I so appreciate anyone who takes the time to stop by my little ol' blog - thank you thank you thank you!!

My prize today is a big stack of Hero Arts goodies. Just leave me a comment by Friday January 5, and I'll announce the winner on Sunday January 7. Good luck!

And now I thought I'd take a look back at some of my favorite projects from 2017. I don't blog much, but I do have an awful lot of fun when I do find time to stamp or craft. It's definitely my happy place! Here are a few of my favorites...

Now off you go - here's the list of stampers and companies! Have fun!!

Lawn Fawn
Technique Tuesday
Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L
Reverse Confetti
MFT StampsNeat & Tangled
Winnie & Walter
Hero Arts
CAS-ual Friday Stamps
My Sweet Petunia
Paper House Productions
Verve Stamps
Stamp Simply Ribbon Store
Catherine Pooler
Indigojade Art
A Jillian Vance Design
Kelly Creates
Latisha Yoast
Kimberly Crawford
Vera Yates
Nichol Spohr
Chari Moss
Audrey Tokach
Zsoka Marko
Teri Anderson
Wanda Guess
Amy Tsuruta
Lydia Fiedler
Laurie Willison
Jenn Shurkus
Debi Adams
Cindy Lawrence
Lori Craig
Lisa Henke
Dina Kowal
Laura Bassen
Jessica Frost-Ballas
Kelly Lunceford
Dana Joy
Tracey McNeely
Margie Higuchi
Laurel Beard
Janine Tinklenberg
Sean Fetterman
Christine Meyer
Heidi Blankenship
Debbie Seyer
Libby Hickson (you are here!)
Gracie Chavez
Julee Tilman
Karen Baker
Lee Murphy
Yvonne Van De Grijp
Leigh Penner
Marcie Sharp
Patti Gilliam
Barbara Anders
Bunny Vance
Kyra Sanders
Giovana Smith
Jillian Vance
Ceal Pritchett
Neva Cole

Wishing you all the best in 2018!

Hero Arts 2018 Valentine's Collection Blog Hop

Hello and welcome! Today I am hopping with the Hero Arts Creative Team as we launch the new 2018 Valentine's Collection in the Hero Arts online store! Are you in the mood for a little love? Well I guess I am because I love these new products. Ha!

For my card today, I used the stamp set I Love How You. I stamped the pillow image repeatedly in VersaMark ink on Sea Layering Paper, and embossed in black. Then I colored each pillow with my Picket Fence Distress Marker. I very rarely use these markers - I love how the white looks on the blue paper! I added a little Wink of Stella shimmer, then stamped the smaller heart from the set in Strawberry ink.

For the message, I combined several phrases in the set, and embossed in black once again, this time on vellum cardstock. I used my Circle Infinity dies to cut it out, and stamped another Strawberry heart. I love that the hybrid inks will work (and dry!) on vellum.

This set is so much fun - it has a ton of phrases that you can mix and match to make fun (or snarky!) messages. And I really adore the font they used!

 

Now it's time to hop! Be sure to visit every blog in the hop and leave your comments - Hero Arts will be giving away THREE $25 shopping sprees, drawn from comments left across all blogs in the hop. Please leave your comment by Thursday, December 21st at 11:59pm PT and they will announce the winner the following week.

The Hero Arts Blog
Yana Smakula
Jessica Frost-Ballas
Janette Kausen
Amy Tsuruta
Ilina Crouse
Michelle Short
Clare Prezzia
Libby Hickson (you are here!)

I'm the final stop in our hop today. I hope you enjoyed it!
Sending you lots of LOVE!

Affiliate links are used on this blog, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting me, and clicking on my links to shop!

Hero Arts I Love How You Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Strawberry Bold Ink Shop at: Hero	VersaMark Ink Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Black Detail EP Shop at: Hero
Hero Arts Circle Infinity Dies Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Sea Mixed Layering Paper Shop at: Hero	Wink of Stella Shop at: SSS	Picket Fence Distress Marker Shop at: SSS
Neenah Solar White Cardstock 110lb Shop at: SSS

December My Monthly Hero - Release + Giveaway!

Hello and welcome! It's the first Monday of the month so you know why I'm making an appearance here on my blog - it's time for the December My Monthly Hero release from Hero Arts! This month the kit will take you on a magic carpet ride. Not gonna lie, I was singing "A Whole New World..." the entire time I was creating with this month's kit!

I made a ton of projects with the kit - if you head over to the Hero Arts website, you will see them on the main homepage slider, as well as the page for the December kit. While I love the man and woman images from the kit (aka Aladdin and Jasmine, am I right?), I'm showing this one here today...

There's so many awesome things going on with this card! First, I colored the camel with my Zig Clean Color markers, and die cut him with the matching Frame Cut.

For the background, I used the stencil that's included in the kit (isn't it gorgeous??) with some embossing paste. Hero Arts included TCW's modeling paste as an optional add-on this month. This stuff is super fun - I recommend you give it a try if you've never used it. I put a little pile of it on my craft mat, and tinted it with an Orchid re-inker. It also works to tint it with your ink pad. I'll be sharing an Instagram story about how to do this today - be sure to check it out if you're interested, I'm stampinlibby on IG. After the embossing paste was completely dry, I used the frame portion of the window die cut included in the kit to cut out the shape. A bit of Stickles on top added a little shimmer, and I finished the card with a message from the kit and some gold glitter cardstock from my stash.

Here's a look at this month's awesome kit. It comes with FIVE exclusive inks - very nice!

Now it's time to hop! Be sure to visit all of these blogs and leave comments - Hero Arts will be giving away one kit to a lucky commenter, selected from the comments left across all of the blogs in the hop. You have until Sunday, December 10th to get those comments in, and the winner will be announced at a later date on the Hero Arts blog.

The Hero Arts Blog
Yana Smakula
Jessica Frost-Ballas
Wanda Guess
Lydia Fiedler
Amy Tsuruta
Janette Kausen
May Park
Michelle Short
Clare Prezzia
Libby Hickson (you are here!)
Ilina Crouse
Kelly Latevola

Be sure to get your kit asap - once they're gone, that's it! The other items in the release will be re-stocked, but not the main December kit. Kits begin shipping on Friday, December 7.

I'll be back this week with more examples from this month's awesome release!

Affiliate links are used on this blog, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting me, and clicking on my links to shop!

December My Monthly Hero Shop at: Hero	TCW White Modeling Paste Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Orchid Bold Ink Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Orchid Reinker Shop at: Hero
Hero Arts Intense Black Ink Shop at: Hero

Whimsy Wednesdays - Take 2!

It's time for another Whimsy Wednesday! I needed to rev up my creativity, it's been in hiding lately - so I thought what would be better for that than coloring this absolutely gorgeous Mistletoe Fairy from Whimsy Stamps?! I think I actually gasped when I saw this stamp on their site - it's so so so pretty!

I began by coloring her with my Copics, using my favorite group of colors - purples! She has mistletoe, but what's wrong with a little purple at Christmas time? Answer: absolutely nothing!

Once I was finished coloring, I also added massive amounts of glitter glue. Just because shimmer and shine make me happy! Here's a tilted view for maximum shine.

Finishing up the card, I die cut the colored fairy using my oval dies, and mounted her with some very old purple cardstock that's been in my stash for ages. Literally - this is from 10+ years ago when I was a Stampin' Up demo. Do they even make Orchid Opulence anymore? No idea. The message is from a great clear set of messages from Whimsy Stamps called Snowflake Wishes. I embossed it in silver on vellum, then die cut it with my same oval die so it would line up perfectly. The glittery silver corners are from the Hero Arts Snowflakes die set. And I finished the card with some sequins.

 It's so much fun to color these Whimsy Stamps - check them out if you haven't already!

Wishing you peace, love and joy - thanks for stopping by!

Affiliate links are used on this blog, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting me, and clicking on my links to shop!

Mistletoe Fairy Shop at: Whimsy	Snowflake Wishes Shop at: Whimsy	Hero Arts Intense Black Shop at: SSS	Hero Arts Snowflake Infinity Dies Shop at: SSS
Hero Arts Champagne Sequins Shop at: SSS	Hero Arts Oval Infinity Dies Shop at: SSS	Hero Arts Silver Embossing Powder Shop at: SSS	Copic Markers Shop at: SSS
Diamond Stickles Shop at: SSS	Vellum Shop at: SSS	Neenah Solar White Cardstock 110lb Shop at: SSS	Silver Glitter Cardstock Shop at: SSS