A Blog Named Hero Collaboration Week: Avery Elle & Hero Arts!

***please scroll down to see my CASE Study post***

It's a special week for the Avery Elle DT:)  This week we taking part in collaboration week over on the A Blog Named Hero challenge site!  ABNH is the brainchild of Mary Dawn and Linda and they host weekly challenges using Hero Arts products.  During collaboration weeks, the challenges pair up Hero Arts with other crafty companies!  That means all this week, the AE DT (love acronyms;) will be sharing projects that combine Avery Elle products with Hero Arts products! You don't even know how much I love this combo:)   ***grinning like a crazy person*** Let's get to the cards, shall we?

For my first card, I used the smaller macaron stamp and coordinating die from the Avery Elle set Bonjour.  I totally can't resist little rainbow colored macarons:)  I paired the macarons with THE PERFECT Hero Arts sentiment from the Glow Girl stamps set.  I also used some of Hero Arts great shadow inks for the macarons.  (Note to self: Get all the Hero Arts inks, lol!)  

For my second card, I used the same macaron stamp, but this card is for a slightly different audience:)  What was a dainty French macaron is now a yummy moon pie!   This one is for my good-ole boy husband who introduced me these Southern treats! 

For the sentiment, I used a Hero Arts stamp from the Darling Sentiments set. I love how the sentiment looks in white on black cardstock.  I stuck the little sentiment "chalkboard sign" into the moon pie with a toothpick.  

The moon pie looked a little lonely all by himself, so I stamped a strip of Hero Arts envelope pattern to add to the left side. That Envelope Pattern stamp is hands down one of my most favorite Hero Arts stamps EVER and I use it all the time.  It has great subtle texture without taking over the whole card:)

Thanks so much for stopping in today!  Hop on over to Heather's blog today too to see what AE/ABNH goodies she has to share!

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Supplies:

Live Colorfully Card
Avery Elle Bonjour stamps and dies
Hero Arts Glow Girl stamps
Hero Arts Butter Bar, Bubble Gum ink

To the Moon and Back Card
Avery Elle Bonjour stamps and dies
Hero Arts Envelope Pattern stamp
Hero Arts Darling Sentiments stamps

Mama Elephant April Stamp Highlight: Bling

Hey y'all!  Welcome back for the next Mama Elephant's April release highlight!  The new release is already available in the store as we feature the new releases one by one:)   The second set to highlight is Bling!

You know that Mama Elephant is known for it's fresh and fun sentiment sets and they've done it again with this set!  If you love to do bright and colorful backgrounds, this is the just the set you NEED!  (Can you say blended ink, sprays, or washi tape?)  Of course, after I said that, I totally went for a different approach;)  I decided to emboss my sentiment using multiple embossing powders in the brightest colors I could find! 

This card is actually 3 pieces: the card base, the pink panel (cut on an angle), and the embossed panel with the sentiment (also cut on an angle).  To get that perfect color match, I embossed the edge of the pink panel with the same embossing powder as I used for the sentiment.  To get a really bold saturated stripe, I used scortape instead of Versamark to adhere the embossing powder.  I love how all the neon pops off the black!  

Thank you for checking in on me today:)  Please go visit the other Mama Elephant team members and see what they did this hot set!

Mama Elephant/Kryssi 

Alice Wertz 
Cheiron Brandon 
Lea Lawson
Mariana Grigsby 
Savannah O'Gwynn 

JJ Bolton (you are here)

Come back tomorrow for the next highlight from the April release!  Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Mama Elephant April Stamp Highlight: Tree Friends

Hey peeps!  You've seen the peeks all week from Kryssi and stampeded with the whole gang, now it's time for Mama Elephant's April release highlights!  If you didn't already know, the new release is live NOW and available for purchase in the store!  The first set to highlight is Tree Friends!

This set is just screams Spring, and honestly, who isn't ready for Spring now?  For my card, I channeled my softer side and used shades of pastels instead of my usual rainbow shades;)  I stamped the beautiful large image of a tree in full bloom and went to work with my Copic markers.  

To break up all the open space, I fussy cut around the tree and layered that over a stamped card base.  The pink card base is stamped in pink with the wide polka dot stamp from the Basic Borders set.  Aren't those little forest creatures adorable?

That's it for me today!  THANK YOU for stopping in!  Please go visit the other Mama Elephant team members and see what they did this lovely set!

Mama Elephant/Kryssi 

Alice Wertz 
Cheiron Brandon 
Lea Lawson
Mariana Grigsby 
Savannah O'Gwynn 

JJ Bolton (you are here)

Come back tomorrow for another highlight from the April release!  Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Mama Elephant April Stampede

Hey people!  Welcome to the Mama Elephant April Stampede!  You've already seen the first looks at the April release on the Mama Elephant blog, and the new release is now live and available for purchase in the store here!  For the stampede, I'm using the new set Central Park!  

Obviously, this set was designed with New York in mind, but it has so many fun images!  I of course gravitated straight to the large cityscape image!  To take advantage of the large scale, I used the stamp behind a word I die cut with my Silhouette.  I blended inks to create a summer night but kept the glow around the buildings:)  I love combining stamping and die cuts!

To celebrate the new release, Mama Elephant is giving away 3 gift certificates worth $20 each to 3 lucky people!  Winners will be chosen at random from the collective blogs in the Stampede.  Winners will be announced on the blog Friday, April 19th.  

Here's how to qualify to win (leave a separate comment for each):

1) Leave a comment on this blog post

2) Become a follower of the Mama Elephant blog

3) Like/share Mama Elephant on Facebook

4) Follow/tweet about Mama Elephant on Twitter

Are you ready to stampede?  Here's the list of designer blogs you'll be visiting.

Mama Elephant/Kryssi 
Lisa Spangler (guest designer!)
Mariana Grigsby 
Lea Lawson 
Alice Wertz
Elena Roussakis (guest designer!)
Geralyn Sy
Savannah O'Gwynn 
Cheiron Brandon 
Pamela Ho (guest designer!)

Jenn Beidermann

Pearl Lui 

JJ Bolton (you are here)

Thank you so much for stopping by!!  Come back tomorrow for the start of the DT stamp highlights!  

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Avery Elle April Release Highlight: Bonjour

***please scroll down for my CASE Study post***

Hi guys!  Today Heather and I have more April release projects to share!  Today, I'm working with the stamp set Bonjour and the coordinating dies!  Seriously, how cute are those macarons!  Total cute overload:)

So who wouldn't love a box of colorful macarons for their birthday?  (Okay, the real thing may be a little bit better, but this is just as fun;)  With the coordinating dies, this card was super, super easy and quick to do.  Don't the dies cut perfectly?  I absolutely love how Jamie has designed the dies with a narrower space around the stamped image.  Since the die is open in the middle, it's a cinch to center perfectly over the stamped image.  No more wonky die cuts, lol!  For the box, I used the border stamp (embossed in gold) to dress it up a bit.  The sentiment is also embossed in gold with a couple of the flourish stamps.  

Thanks so much for stopping in today!  Hop on over to Heather's blog today too! She's highlighting the set Link It Up!

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Avery Elle April Release: Funky Monkey

***please scroll down for my CASE Study post***

Hi guys!  Today Heather and I have some new April release projects to share!  Last month we had a hipster hippo and giraffe.  This month we've got a sassy little monkey!  And this little guy has some pretty cool accessories;)  

For my card, I took that little guy and gave him a bunch of friends in rainbow colors!  And they're all "hanging" from a bit of twine that I stitched into the card.  For fun, I used matching washi tape on their bellies:)  (Note to self: get more washi!)  Anybody else singing to themselves...five little monkeys jumping on the bed..;)

Thanks so much for stopping in today!  Hop on over to Heather's blog today too! She's highlighting the set Rounded Diamonds!

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj

Many Thanks & Giveaway Winner!

Big, huge, ginormous THANKS to all of you who dropped by and left such wonderful comments last week when I posted about the new dies and stamps I worked on with Jamie at Avery Elle.  Your kind words and encouragement are SO very appreciated!  Blog-wise, I'm still a relative newbie and it still surprises me how wonderful people can be out in blogland:) 

How about we get to the winner of the Rounded Diamond dies?  The winner is #60- conil!

Who won with this comment...

Email me conil at ribbongirls at comcast dot net and I'l get your package in the mail!  

Mahalo and Aloha,

jj