STAMPtember® Exclusive: Hero Arts

Today I'm thrilled to be joining Simon Says Stamp as they release their exclusive STAMPtember® set from Hero Arts! It's a fun stamp and die set called Happy Thanksgiving, perfect for making cards, scrapbook pages or even placecards for your Thanksgiving table. My favorite part? That little slice of pumpkin pie! Yum!

I decided to make a pumpkinlicious background by stamping the little pie and pumpkin images in Hero Arts Intense Black ink. Then I very loosely watercolored them. I love this look! And of course, it's super easy - all you have to do is be messy. I'm exceptionally good at that!

The message was embossing in Hero Arts Detail Black embossing powder. I inked it up with VersaMark in my MISTI - because I was using watercolor paper, I wanted to ink it a couple times before adding the embossing powder, to make sure the coverage was good.

Here's a closer look at the Happy Thanksgiving stamp set:

If you love it, hurry and snap it up - STAMPtember® products are available while supplies last.

Thanks for stopping by!

Hero Arts Intense Black Ink Shop at: Hero | SSS	Embossing Gun Shop at: Hero | SSS	VersaMark Ink Shop at: Hero | SSS	Hero Arts Detail Black EP Shop at: Hero | SSS
Simon Says Stamp Hero Arts Happy Thanksgiving Shop at: SSS	Tim Holtz Watercolor Cardstock Shop at: SSS	Zig Kuretake Gansai Tambi Shop at: SSS	Embossing Buddy Shop at: SSS
Mini MISTI Shop at: SSS	Tim Holtz Water Brush Shop at: SSS	Sakura Koi Watercolors Shop at: SSS

September My Monthly Hero - release + giveaway!

It's My Monthly Hero release day at Hero Arts! The September kit is absolutely gorgeous. GORGEOUS! I know I say this every month - but every month it's TRUE! You've probably seen a bunch of great ideas for using these dies for the fall holidays and Christmas, so I wanted to try something a little different. I made a wedding card!

I cut one of the wreath dies included in the kit twice from vellum. I wanted it to look a little like lavender plants, so I colored the tips of the wreath with a Copic marker - V17 Amethyst. The message is from the extremely useful stamp set Many Everyday Messages. Do you have that one? If you don't, you should! :) I embossed the message in silver, and then layered it with some gray and silver glitter cardstocks, cut with Infinity dies. They make even layers so easy! And then just a few purple gems to finish it off.

Of course I did have to make a fall card, too. I love every single things about fall, it's my favorite season! The cooler temps, the fall colors, everything. And yes, I'm one of those crazy Pumpkin Spice Latte fanatics. I already got my #FirstPSL last week! LOL! So I made a card with a wreath that I'd totally hang on my front door if I had it in real life - a PSL wreath!!

I used one of the kit dies as well as the optional add-on Branch Wreath Die. The cute little coffee cups are from the City Adventure stamp set. I colored them with my Copics and fussy cut them out. The sequins are the Pretty Pink Posh Autumn Harvest Mix. And I finished it with some of the words from the kit, embossed in gold. (The messages in the kit are my sweet teammate Clare Prezzia's hand lettering!! How awesome is that??)

I "dedicate" this card to my wonderful coffee-loving Hero Arts teammate - Amy Tsuruta, the biggest coffee lover on the planet! She even runs a blog just for coffee-loving cardmakers, check it out HERE!

Be sure to check out the release blog hop for more inspiration! Hero Arts is giving away a kit to one lucky person, drawn from the comments across all of the blogs in the hop! I'm the final stop in the hop, but be sure to visit the entire list if you haven't already!

The Hero Arts Blog
Jennifer McGuire
Yana Smakula
Mariana Grigsby
Clare Prezzia
May Sukyong Park
Amy Tsuruta
Laura Bassen
Lydia Fiedler
Jessica Frost-Ballas
Libby Hickson (you are here!)

Thanks for stopping by,

#N/A #N/A

Embossing Gun Shop at: Hero	VersaMark Ink Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts My Monthly Hero September 2016 Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Branch Wreath Fancy Die Shop at: Hero
Hero Arts Christmas Trimmings Stamp & Cut Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Halloween Trimmings Stamp & Cut Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Many Everyday Messages Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Silver EP Shop at: Hero
Hero Arts Rectangle Infinity Dies Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts City Adventure Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Gold EP Shop at: Hero

Green Leaves + Gorgeous Embellies!

Today I'm popping in to share a card I made featuring one of my favorite new Hero Arts stamp sets from the Winter Catalog - Color Layering Grateful Leaves.

This was designed to be a fall stamp set, and looks gorgeous stamped in the Autumn Ombre ink pad! But I thought I'd give a different look a whirl, and used Lime to Forever Green.  The center veins were stamped in a shade of brown. This card was inspired by a beauty that my stamping idol Yana Smakula designed for me to teach at a tradeshow in July!

I used a fabulous limited edition 28 Lilac Lane mix from Buttons Galore to embellish my card. My friend May Flaum designed the mix, and I'm thrilled she invited me to play with it! Nobody ever invites me to play with things, and I got two offers in the same week! What are the chances? I'm typically the person making a stampers day by sending them goodies to play with - not gonna lie, it was super fun being on the receiving end! :D

Visit May's blog for more info about this gorgeous mix right HERE! And hurry, if you pick it up before 11:59pm TONIGHT (August 26), May has a discount code for you to use!

Thanks for stopping by!

Snow Layering Paper Shop at: Hero	Color Layering Grateful Leaves Shop at: Hero	Color Layering Grateful Leaves Frame Cuts Shop at: Hero	Grateful Leaves Stamp+Die Combo Shop at: Hero
Ombre Lime to Forever Green Shop at: Hero

Hero Arts 2016 Winter Catalog Blog Hop!

Today I'm hopping with Hero Arts as they launch their fabulous products from the 2016 Winter Catalog in the Hero Arts store! You should have made your way here from my friend May Park's blog. If not, do yourself a favor and head over to the Hero Arts Blog and start the hop at the very beginning!

For my post today, I went on a bit of a tag-a-palooza! One of my very favorite things in the new release are the Tag Infinity Dies!! Hooray for multiple sizes of awesome tags!! And with little reinforcers you can die cut too! Love!

For my first set of tags, I played with the fun new Santa Frame Cuts! Aren't they the cutest?? I had tons of fun putting the Santa parts together! That little "ho ho ho" die is awesome, I'll be using it often. And adding a little *bling* to Santa with silver glitter paper? Why not!

Next I combined some of my favorite stamps from the Summer release - the destination stamps - with they adorable holiday accessories that go with them! The little Santa's Sleigh was designed with the destination stamps in mind, but of course it can be used on it's own, too. The same is true of the Merry Christmas Banner - I know I'll be using that one all the time! For my tags, Santa visited San Francisco, Boston and Seattle. The great little "to:" and "from:" stamps are from THE ABSOLUTE MUST-HAVE set Christmas Messages! (Yes, I yelled that! Everyone needs this useful set, I'm doing a public service here, letting you know about it!) :-)

My last set of tags are some I created for a class I taught last month at the Sierra-Pacific tradeshow out in Utah. I love love LOVE the new Antique Poinsettia stamp, it is gorgeous! And best of all, it has "layering" dies, so you can easily cut out the sections of the flower and layer them up for dimension! I watercolored the flowers with my favorite Daniel Smith paints, after embossing in white.

And now it's time to hop! I was the final stop along this hop, but be sure to visit all of these fabulous bloggers if you haven't already - and leave comments along the way! Hero Arts is giving away three shopping sprees to lucky commenters. Yay!

The Hero Arts Blog
Jennifer McGuire
Kathy Racoosin
Wanda Guess
Lydia Fiedler
Alice Wertz
Amy Tan
Cheiron Brandon
Debbie Olson
Laura Bassen
Debby Hughes
Heather Ruwe
Ilina Crouse
Isha Gupta
Jenn Shurkus
Jessica Frost-Ballas
Joan Bardee
Karin Akesdotter
Yana Smakula
Kelly Rasmussen
Amy Tsuruta
Clare Prezzia
Mariana Grigsby
May Sukyong Park
Libby Hickson (you are here!)  

Have fun hopping and shopping!

Destination Boston Shop at: Hero	Destination San Francisco Shop at: Hero	Destination Seattle Shop at: Hero	Santa's Sleigh Shop at: Hero
Merry Christmas Banner Shop at: Hero	Tag Infinity Dies Shop at: Hero	Christmas Messages Shop at: Hero	Poinsettia Stamp+Die Combo Shop at: Hero
Antique Poinsettia Shop at: Hero	Paper Layering Antique Poinsettia Shop at: Hero	Intense Black Ink Shop at: Hero	Snow Layering Paper Shop at: Hero
Santa Frame Cuts Shop at: Hero	White Embossing Powder Shop at: Hero	Embossing Gun Shop at: Hero	VersaMark Ink Shop at: Hero