More Creativebug Inspiration

Are you in the mood to binge-watch something fun and crafty? If so, I highly recommend watching the Creativebug series, A Card a Day with Hero Arts. Whether you are new to stamping or an experienced stamper looking for inspiration, these 31 videos are chock full of ideas and techniques for cardmaking. Then, if you make some cards inspired by any of these videos, we’d love it if you linked them to the current Stay Crafty with Hero Challenge, Creativebug Inspiration. Today, I’m sharing a pair of cards that were inspired by Day 2 of the series, making a winter wreath with stamping and die cuts.

For my cards, I decided to start with colorful, patterned backgrounds. Since the beautiful Sun Background stencil has a circle at the center of its design, using it as a foundation will simplify shaping a wreath. To create my first background, I secured the stencil over a panel of Dove White cardstock, masked off portions of the stencil with masking paper, and then applied Taffy, Fruit Punch, Splash, and Blue Hawaii Reactive inks over the stencil with a foam applicator. You can watch this technique demonstrated on Day 24 and Day 26 of the Creativebug class videos. Before removing the stencil, I splattered water over the panel. Once dry, I trimmed the inked panel and secured it to a Dove White Side Folded card.

Next, I used the Mini MISTI to position and stamp a friendship message from the Unbearably Thankful set with Intens-ified Black ink onto the card. As a reminder that we are stronger when we support one another with friendship, Hero Arts is donating 100% of the their profits from this cute stamp set to the Global Giving Corona Virus Relief Fund to support their efforts and mission.

To make the wreath, I stamped and die cut a collection of flowers with the One Thing at a Time Stamp & Cut set, using the same inks that I applied to the background. I also stamped an adorable bear from the Unbearably Thankful set with black ink, colored it with colored pencils, and then cut around the image with the coordinating die. After I put foam tape on the back of the bear and flower images, I used the circle on the background as a guide to easily position the images to the card in a wreath shape. For a final touch, I added Pink, Blue, and Sunset enamel dots to a few flower centers.

For my second card, I inked a similar background panel, however this time I only used two colors of reactive ink, Fruit Punch and Blue Hawaii. After securing the panel to a card, I created a round, floral wreath by securing eleven stamped flowers, with foam tape, along the edge of the circle at the center of the stenciled background. It was so easy! Then, I added enamel dots to some of the card centers.

This time, I cut a white cardstock circle to fit inside the floral wreath with a Nesting Circle Infinity Die. Before securing it inside the wreath with foam tape, I stamped a small Happy Birthday message from the Wish Big Peek-A-Boo Parts set along the lower edge. The small sentiments in this set are perfect when larger sentiments are a bit too big. Inspired by the original winter theme of the card created in the Day 2 video, I decided to use an image from a winter stamp set, Merry Woof. I stamped the sweet image of a pup opening a gift, colored it with pencils, and then cut around it with the Merry Woof Frame Cuts. To finish, I secured the image to the circle with foam tape.

I hope that you’re able to watch a few of the Hero Arts videos on Creativebug and then create a card or two. We’d love to see the creative ways you’ve used the techniques as a starting point for your cards. There’s still time to join the current challenge. Entries can be submitted until Thursday, August 27 at 5:00 pm PT to be eligible for the $35 gift certificate giveaway.

Thanks so much for stopping by today. Wishing you a wonderful, crafty day!

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