November My Monthly Hero Release + Blog Hop!

Hello and welcome to the November release from Hero Arts! The kit this month is absolutely amazing. I think it's going to be a quick seller, so grab it asap if you love it!

For my card today, I went in more of a fall direction than the holiday look the kit intended. It's such an incredibly versatile kit, you can do so much with it!

I die cut a bunch of pieces from watercolor paper, then colored them with my Distress Watercolor Pencils. I added some Pool Party ink blending in the background, flicked on some of the same ink as well as Gold Glimmer Metallic Ink, and added some Gold Hero Pearls. The message is from Grateful Words Fancy Dies and is coated with Gold Hero Wax.

Here's a look at the entire kit, and I'll link the add-on products down below:

Now it's time to hop! Visit all of these amazing artists to see what they created!

Hero Arts
Hero Arts Creative Team:
Channin Pelletier
Dana Joy
Daniel West
Emily Midgett
Jessica Frost-Ballas
Kelly Taylor
Libby Hickson
Lydia Fiedler
Michelle Short
Mindy Eggen
Pocono Pam
Seeka
Hero Arts Global Team:
Anna Mahtani
Jen Kray
Michelle Lupton
Special Guests:
Jennifer Kotas
Kelly Lunceford
Meg Brooks
Nichol Spohr
Rebecca Keppel

Thanks for stopping by!

Here are all of the products from the release. I do not use affiliate links on this blog. If you are shopping, consider clicking to the products from one of the other artists from the list above who inspired you!

MH1122 My Monthly Hero Kit November 2022 [ HA ] WB1095 Get Them All Bundle [ HA ] HF108 Snowflake Pattern Hot Foil... [ HA ] HF109 Holly Hot Foil Plate (E) [ HA ] DF096 Santa Gift Tag Fancy Die (D) [ HA ] DF097 Snowman Gift Tag Fancy Die (B) [ HA ] DF098 Tree & Stocking Tag Fancy Die (D) [ HA ] DF099 Light & Mug Tag Fancy Die (D) [ HA ] CM667 Holiday Foliage Messages [ HA ] CM668 Twelve Days of Christmas [ HA ] CM669 Winter Wishes [ HA ] SB346 Winter Wishes Bundle (D) [ HA ] SA216 Snowflake Pattern Stencil [ HA ] SA217 Ornaments Grid Stencil [ HA ] CG894 Ornaments Grid Bold Prints [ HA ]

Hero Arts Holiday Release + Blog Hop!

Happy Launch Day!!! Today the incredible holiday release from Hero Arts is available, yay! The collection has clear stamps, cling backgrounds, dies, stencils, pastes, glitter, and something new and exciting coming from Hero Arts - hot foiling plates! There is so much goodness in this release, I love it all!

For my post today, I decided to give you a little behind the scenes look at some of the things that happen before we launch a catalog! I'm not sure if you all know this, but I'm an actual Hero Arts employee. One of my roles is managing our Creative Team of artists. For our catalog releases, all of the products are shipped to me, and I bundle them into boxes to send to our artists. This is what that looks like - a dining room table, covered with stacks of wonderful new products! It's pretty exciting, I'm not gonna lie!

One member of our Creative Team, Ilina, lives relatively close to me in Georgia, so she gets her products hand-delivered. Here she is, looking adorable, and me, looking tired and ROUGH. Ha!

This all happened months ago. It's a long process to get products from concept into your hands!

Some of you may know, for big catalog releases, we offer a subset of the products to our independent stores prior to launching them ourselves. Part of that process is creating a whole bunch of sample cards to send to those stores. I spend a ton of time in Mass Production Mode!

Some of the samples are made with printouts, but I like to add a little "by-hand" touch as well, to give them a little extra something-something.

It's all a huge amount of work, and sometimes I have to do it while I'm doing other work! Here I am, creating Looking Glass Holiday Kittens while on a Zoom call with my Hero Arts coworkers!

The cards eventually came together. This batch features Finch Greetings.

And after all that work, they end up in a "glamour shot" for our website! 🙂 

The products featured on these cards in the photo include: Holiday Candle Arrangement, Pumpkin Bunch, Looking Glass Holiday Kitten, Snowflake Corner Fancy Die, Season Words Fancy Die, Finch Greetings and Wishing You Tree.

Another thing I do is film overview videos! Here's a look at this entire release.

And I do LIVES! I'll be on the Hero Arts Facebook & YouTube pages today, walking through the new products. Tomorrow night (Thursday 8/25) at 7pm ET, I'll be live once again on the Hero Arts Facebook page for the Creative Team Crafty Hour, creating with new products. And on Friday 8/26 at noon ET, I'll be on the Scrapbook & Cards Today Facebook page!

And one more thing I do - I organize Stamp-Alongs! And, I hope you'll join us for this next one!

So that's a little glimpse at what I do!

Now let's see what the talented artists hopping along with us today are sharing! Make sure you comment along the way as you hop - Hero Arts will give away *THREE* $50 gift cards, drawn from the comments left across the hop. Enter by Wednesday, August 31st at 11:59pm Pacific, and the winner will be announced on the Hero Arts blog the following week.

Hero Arts
Channin Pelletier
Daniel West
Emily Midgett
Ilina Crouse
Jessica Frost-Ballas
Kelly Taylor
Libby Hickson <-- you are here!
Lydia Fiedler
Michelle Short
Mindy Eggen
Pocono Pam
Seeka
Special Guests:
Alberto Gava
Laura Bassen
Nichol Spohr

Thanks for stopping by!

Inspired by Michelle Lupton

Today I'm honored to be sharing a pair of cards inspired by my extremely talented friend, Michelle Lupton!

Michelle does this fun card series every fall, where she invites friends to "case" one of her cards - be inspired to create a card based on one of her designs - and she in turn does the same. I'm honored that she invited me! I don't create many cards, so it's much more difficult for her to find something of mine to be inspired by. Michelle, on the other hand, is a huge resource of constant inspiration!! I chose THIS CARD to inspire my cards today.

Michelle had a die cut element as the main focal point on her card - I used the Hero Arts Floral Holiday Tree Fancy Die as mine. I also was inspired by how Michelle inked up the bottom half of the card, and added a script background stamp. I did similar for my first card.

My tree die cut is painted with Gold Glimmer Metallic Ink, which is so bright and gorgeous! I ink blended Pool Party Reactive Ink on the masked-off bottom portion of my card, then stamped Script Bold Prints in the same ink for a tone on tone look. I splattered more of the gold ink, and created a little message banner with a simple "Merry Christmas" from Floral Nativity.

My second card is similar but different, but still inspired by Michelle's card.

This time when I die cut, I was careful to leave all of the pieces intact in the die cut. I ink blended the tree with Green Apple Reactive Ink, and added more of the Pool Party at the bottom. This time I splattered the Pewter Glimmer Metallic Ink (which comes in a 2-pack with the Gold), and also added Sparkle Clear Lacquer Pen on all of the tree pieces. The message is a woodblock this time - Handwritten Merry Christmas. I matted my inked panel on white glitter paper, and added a little silver cording bow to finish the card.

Now be sure to head to Michelle's blog to see what she created, inspired by one of my cards! And huge thanks again to Michelle for inviting me!

Happy Stamping,

Get Cracking on Christmas - almost there!

Hi everyone! I'm popping in to join Jenn Shurkus and friends for Get Cracking on Christmas - where Jenn inspires us to create Christmas cards throughout the year, so we have a nice stash when December comes. We're down to the wire now, with only a week until Christmas! Here's a quick one, if you're needing cards in a hurry.

Well, I say "quick" - but you do need to allow for some drying time. I got out my Glimmer Metallic Inks for this one, which I love! The metallic shimmer is a lot of fun on this great Christmas Lights Border die from Hero Arts! I used red, gold, green, blue and purple on the lights, then painted the rest with pewter. I die cut the panel two more times and glued them all together for dimension.

The message to finish off the card is from Comfort and Joy Messages. This Christmas is different and not one I could have ever imagined, but it's still the most wonderful time of the year, and I hope you are able to enjoy it.

Now head over to Jenn's blog and see what she created - I'm sure it's spectacular! And she has a giveaway! And check out the other friends who joined along with her this month, too!

Happy stamping,

These are not affiliate links - if you'd like to support an artist by purchasing with affiliate links, please click over to another artist! I just put these here to make it easier for you to see the products used. xoxo

DI786 Christmas Lights Border Fancy... [ HA ] CM468 Comfort and Joy Messages - Hero... [ HA ] GM102 Green & Red Glimmer Metallic... [ HA ] GM103 Purple & Blue Glimmer Metallic... [ HA ] GM100 Gold & Pewter Glimmer Metallic... [ HA ] AF345 Intense Black - Hero Arts [ HA ] GW101 Precision Glue - Hero Arts [ HA ]