and now for something completely different!

edited & reposted, thursday 3/26:

HOLY MOLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the card below, with the bird on the branch, which i sent in to the "SPRING" card contest on the hero arts blog... (at the suggestion of a lovely lady called vera from the flickr group; thanks, vera!) ...well, it won the "fresh face" for this week!!! holy moly, how exciting is that?!

'scuse me whilst a do a little ♥ HAPPY DANCE ♥ next to my desk!

(and now back to the original post, from sunday...new stuff tomorrow, though, honest!)

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actually that's a lie. once again i'm fixin' to show you MORE cards from the hero arts gallery we caardvarks made to go along with the current challenge*. on the other hand, whilst the theme is the same, the *CARDS* really are completely different. does that count?? (just nod & smile, ok?! thanks. i owe ya one!)

so far i've mostly showcased the asian frames set...but the all occasion messages may well be one of the most flexible...and just downright useful...stamp sets i've ever seen. it has *twenty* different phrases--covering a whole range of occasions and sentiments--plus eleven adorable teeny images: a sweet tiny bird, flowers, hearts, stars...i'm pretty sure this is a set that a CARDMAKER invented, actually!



the first thing i thought of when i saw this set is how cool the phrases looked all lined up together on the sheet. i wondered if i could leave them ON THERE and stamp a multi-greeting text panel. turns out, yepper, i could; and i think it came out pretty well! wanna see?

(hero arts stamps: all occasion messages; patterned paper: american crafts, we r memory keepers, creative imaginations, sei, floral origami paper; flowers: prima; flower sequins: queen&co; eyelets: hot off the press, making memories; other: fancy pants & heidi swapp chipboard shapes used as templates for bird & wing, tiny nail gems from terrie, colorbox inks, zig pen, 3m foam tape)

the "greeting panel" is inside the card, visible through a cut-out cloud on the front. this was accomplished using a craft knife and mat--the ultimate sacrifice if one has carpal tunnel issues--but well worth the trouble, i feel!

of course you don't have to use the phrases en masse. here's a set of mini-cards--made to fit some cool veterinary envelopes debb sent me--using individual phrases. in fact, sometimes i didn't even use the whole phrase; to fit on the rabbit card, i only inked "warm wishes" on the "sending warm wishes" stamp; and all the envelopes read for "you" using just that bit of the "just for you" or "you make me smile" stamps.

(hero arts stamps: all occasion messages; patterned paper: imaginisce, creative imaginations, love elsie, sei, dcwv, anna griffin; other: ranger & colorbox inks, tiny nail art stickers, tombow markers, 3m foam tape)

remember, the actual prize-eligible caardvarks challenge involves making a card from heidi's fabulous sketch, which can be found several posts below, and also on the caardvarks site! the last few challenges have been almost *overwhelming* in terms of how many--and HOW COOL--the cards submitted are; i cannot wait to see what everyone makes this time!