Hero Arts Technique Challenge

Hero Arts is one of my favorite stamping companies, if not my favorite. I love their cute, whimsical, and clean images - and great prices to boot! Their clear stamps are high quality polymer, so I never have trouble with them. I have a lot of their stamps, so participating in their challenges was an easy decision for me. Honing my skills to answer the challenges was a little more work.

This week's challenge is to use a technique. I submitted three six pieces. (I'll post the other three later.) I've come to really enjoy distressing. I even made my own foam tool thingies - one for each color! :P I think it adds so much to the canvas.

This is a fun tag. I used broken china and frayed burlap to distress the background. The large snowflake was stamped in versamark ink and then embossed with white powder. To dress up the tag, I added rhinestones. A little bling always helps!



Stamps: Hero Arts Owl Christmas, Love That, Winter's Butterflies
Ink: Ranger Frayed Burlap, Broken China
Paper: PTI Dark Chocolate
Other: Janome Sew Mini

Here I did very light distressing with a mix between tattered rose and antique linen. I also experimented with the zig-zag stitch on my sewing machine. It's really not that hard to sew once you get past the initial jitters!



Stamps: Hero Arts Birds and Branches, Owl Christmas
Ink: CTMH Chocolate, Holiday Red, Ranger Antique Linen, Tattered Rose
Paper: PTI Dark Chocolate, Pure Poppy
Other: Janome Sew Mini, Stickles Holiday Red, Sakura Glitter Pen, Paper Piercer, Spellbinders Tags

The words "shabby chic" intimidates me as much as I love the soft vintage look. I think the distressing look goes hand in hand with this look. This challenge was the perfect time to challenge myself to try it! I think this is one of the few times I ever planned my work. I pulled out my lacey ribbon, gotta have lace to be shabby chic!, and dug into my limited supply of buttons. I'm glad that I learned how to use my sewing machine. The sewing definitely adds to shabby chic.

I first swiped new canvas all over the background making sure to mask the bottom. Then I distressed the top corner with broken china and distressed frayed burlap over that. The trees were both distressed with tattered rose.

I pulled out a whole bunch of different stamp sets to create this one!



What do you think? Does it scream shabby chic or just whimper it?

Stamps: Hero Arts Jolly Christmas, Tea for Two, Borders, PTI Polka Dot Basics
Ink: CTMH Desert Sand, Bamboo, Indian Corn Blue, Stewart New Canvas, Ranger Frayed Burlap, Tattered Rose, Broken China
Paper: PTI Sweet Blush, Kraft
Other: Janome Sew Mini

Which one do you like best?

Thanks for looking!