It was a VERY EXCITING DAYwhen I recieved an email

from Jenyfur at asking if I would like to be a guest designer for Hero Arts Digital Showcase with Caardvarks. Well you can only imagine my excitement and I am here to say that I said YES!!!!! If you don’t know me I love Hero Arts and Caardvarks so I really racked my brain to do something special for this great honor. So I am delighted you are stopping by and a big thanks you all who visit my blog on a regular basis and a very special thanks to Jenyfur for this great opportunity!

I loved working with Hero Arts DigiKit “Holiday Words and Ornaments” here . One of the things I LOVE about going hybrid is you can change the sizes of the digi “stamps” !!! I saved time on this ornament by not coloring or stamping, cleaning etc. so I could spend more time on the beading. To begin I downloaded the kit, chose the ornament with the geometric lines and changed the color to blue. I printed on white card stock and cut the image out leaving a boarder on the edge. For the beading I used some blue thread I had on hand and I didn’t worry about placement of the seed beads. The most important thing is to have the right size needle. I suggest you test the needle on several beads to see if they fit completely through the eye of needle otherwise it’s very frustrating! For the threading on the ornament I had some silver and blue metallic threads. I used a thicker needle and followed the lines in the digital ornament. When I placed the ornament on the card I put double pop dots on top of each other on the back so it’s raised over the boarder of the frame.

Supplies: Hero Arts “Holiday Words & Ornaments” seed beads, embroidery floss, metallic threads and sewing needles.











I also really enjoyed Hero Arts wonderful and creative “Scribble Trees” digikit here  I really wanted to create some mini stockings for those special people in my life. I wanted to find a template that was quick and easy that I could pass on to you so I was delighted when I found Martha Stewart’s template here. If you making mini stockings do NOT enlarge the template. This way you can cut both sides of your stocking on a single  8.5 x 11 sheet of paper. (finished stocking size is 7x7x4)

Details on the stocking:
I printed M.S. template on “printer” paper to make my template, traced it on card stock and cut out. (I trimmed the sewing margins just a tiny bit.) After cutting out both sides of the stocking I put one aside because I had no interest in decorating the back. I stamped  the green paper with Hero Arts stamps in distress ink and embossed the branch stamp in clear and then distressed with a heavy hand.  I scored the paper every half inch and then rotated the paper to create a diamond patter. Fold down the cuff and choose your ribbon for the hanger.(This is a good time to start on your trees so they have time to dry …while you are waiting for them to dry you can do your sewing)  Make a sandwich between the ribbon loop with both sides of your stocking. I use paper clips to hold my two sides of the stocking in place while sewing. You will be sewing your loop into the stocking. If you choose you can go over the stitching with a light  marker to add color so the stitches are more subtle and not so bright white.

Supplies for stocking:  Hero Arts “Old Lettering Writing”S4878, “Branch Background” CG122, green cardstock, embellishments ,Ranger Peeled Paint & Pine distress inks, Copic Markers, Stickles Lime Green.


Details for the scribble trees on the green stocking:
I downloaded the trees & selected this particular tree to work with. I played with the sizes of trees I desired in “Word” then printed them in different sizes and heights on Claudine Hellmuth’s “Sticky Back Canvas” (do a test first of your sizes first) I have the 8.5×11 sheets so they just slide right into your printer. After cutting out the trees I colored them with Copic markers (you can use distress inks too) and outlined the edges so you don’t see ANY white. Then I covered all the trees with Stickles and while waiting to dry I did my sewing. Once dry I DID NOT  remove the backing (from the Claudine’s Sticky back canvas) from the trees. I glued down 3 trees and popdotted the last two. Apply your embellishments and ribbon and stand back to admire your work.

Supplies for scribble trees: Claudine Hellmuth’s “Sticky Back Canvas”, Copic markers, metal accents by Mark Richards and Crystal Sticker Elements, Lime Green Stickles.










This blue mini stocking was created from the same DigiKit from Hero Arts as the green one above this but, here it is again and here is Martha Stewart’s template again. 

Details on the blue stocking:
I printed Martha Stewart template on “printer” paper to make my template, traced it on card stock, cut out. (I trimmed the sewing margins just a tiny bit.) After cutting out both sides of the stocking I put one aside because I had no interest in decorating the back. Then I stamped with Hero Arts Flourish Background in Broken China Distress Ink and I added white details with a Glaxy white marker for a shadow effect. Now you are ready to fold down the cuff and choose your ribbon for the hanger. (this is a good time to start on your trees so they have time to dry …while you are waiting for the trees to dry you can do your sewing)  Make a sandwich between the ribbon loop with both sides of your stocking. I use paper clips to hold my two sides of the stocking in place while sewing. You will be sewing your loop into the stocking.

Supplies for this stocking:  Hero Arts “Flourish Background” CG119, card stock, embellishments and a boarder punch. This particular punch new from Martha Stewart. PapertreyInk ribbon and button, Broken China distress ink by Ranger, Galazy White Marker. 

Details for the scribble trees:
I downloaded the trees & selected this particular tree to work with. I created the tree image to different sizes that I desired in “Word” and changed the color of the trees to a blue grey then, I printed them on a white card stock and cut out (notice I cut off some of the lines that extend off the tree all except for the focal tree). I distressed the trees in Broken China and Faded Jeans. When distressing try to keep the center lighter than the permitter of the image. I stamped the trees with Hero Arts Old Letter Writing in Broken China and for the biggest tree I added some Walnut distress ink (just a little on the stamp). I used a blob of Stickles and rubbed it into my trees with my finger and set aside to dry. (while drying this is a good time to do your sewing). Now it’s time to decide how you want to decorate the trees. I sewed down some seed beads with some blue thread I had on hand and added sequins with seed beads on top of the sequins for the largest tree. (It really didn’t take as long as you might think.) Most important is to have the right size needle to fit though the seed beads. Test before trying otherwise it’s very frustrating! Glue down the secondary trees first and then popdot your focal tree. Apply your embellishments and ribbon on the cuff and stand back to admire your work. 

Supplies for the scribble trees:  Hero Arts “Old Letter Writing” S4878, Faded Jeans and Broken China distress ink, Waterfall Blue Stickles, Seed beads and Sequins, Bugle Beads for the star, card stock, thread and needle.





THANKS AGAIN FOR GIVING ME THIS OPPORTUNITY TO SHARE ! Hugs,Kathy