September My Monthly Hero - Release + Giveaway!

Hello and welcome! It's another FABULOUS release day at Hero Arts! This month's kit? TOTALLY SWOON-WORTHY!! I'm sure you've seen a ton of it by this point in the hop, so I'm focusing on a couple of the awesome add-ons. But I'm getting ahead of myself a bit - you should have found me by way of my sweet friend Clare's fabulous blog. If not, head back to Hero Arts to begin at the very beginning!

I am madly and truly in love with a couple of the "extra" items being released today at Hero Arts. They make me daydream about Van Gogh paintings. Love!! I played with the gorgeous Paper Layering Sunflower dies, as well as the completely dreamy Starry Night Brushstroke Bold Prints.

I couldn't bring myself to cutting down the 6x6 background once I stamped it in VersaMark, white heat-embossed, and then watercolored using my dot palette. So, I decided to just leave it as a little piece to display in my craft room. Yes, I am hoarding this one for me, because I love it so! LOL! Just check out the dimension on those sunflowers! I actually die cut them, then trimmed around them to only have the main sunflower part for this project. The paper layering dies are great like that - so many ways to use them. I need to make another card with the sunflowers just coming right out of the card base!

Here's a look at the full background, before I covered it up with sunflowers. Isn't it fun? It doesn't have to be painted Van Gogh-style, though. I also painted one purple, and also another multi-colored. All look awesome! Look for those cards coming to the blog soon...!

And here's a look at the full kit. Those color layering sunflowers and pumpkins are just perfection!! I want to make some purple sunflowers and teal pumpkins, just because. It's on my to-do list!

And now, let's hop! Be sure to visit all of these blogs & leave comments - Hero Arts will be giving away one kit to a lucky commenter, selected from the comments left across all of the blogs in the hop. You have until Monday, September 11 to get those comments in, and the winner will be announced later on the Hero Arts blog.

The Hero Arts Blog
Jennifer McGuire
Lydia Fiedler
Yana Smakula
Amy Kolling
Wanda Guess
Ilina Crouse
May Park
Michelle Short
Jessica Frost-Ballas
Amy Tsuruta
Clare Prezzia
Libby Hickson (you are here!)

Be sure to head on over to the store and get your kit asap - I have a hunch this one will be another quick sellout, despite the record number of kits assembled by Hero Arts. The kits will begin shipping on September 8. Don't want to ever miss a kit? Subscribe! And I'll link all of the new products below - I appreciate if you click to shop using my affiliate links. xoxo

Thanks for stopping by!

Affiliate links are used on this blog, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting me, and clicking on my links to shop!

Hero Arts My Monthly Hero September 2017 Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Get Them All September Add-Ons Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Starry Night Brushstroke Bold Prints Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Paper Layering Sunflower Shop at: Hero
Hero Arts Color Layering Squirrel Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Color Layering Squirrel Bundle Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Color Layering Thanksgiving Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Color Layering Thanksgiving Bundle Shop at: Hero
Hero Arts Luna the Cat Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Vine Pattern Bold Prints Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Thanksgiving Letters Layering Inks Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Gothic Vines Fancy Die Shop at: Hero
Hero Arts Autumn Icons Fancy Dies Shop at: Hero

Hero Arts 2017 Wintertime Fun Catalog Blog Hop

Hey, foxy! That's right, I'm talking to you. I'm so glad your foxy self made it to my blog today. I'm hopping with Hero Arts, as the fabulous new Wintertime Fun Catalog products are released in the Hero Arts Store. You should have found me by way of May's wonderful blog - but if you didn't, hop back to the very beginning at the Hero Arts blog.

So why did I call you foxy? Well first, because you totally are! And also because this blog post is all foxes, all the time! There are several awesome new foxes in this release, and I couldn't resist playing with alllllll of them! First up - the adorable woodblock Fox Family.

This card was inspired by my friend Lydia Fiedler. She likes to do a technique she calls "stamp etching" - taking a pen and adding extra black lines to the image. She does some amazing, detailed work. I just did a little bit on these guys, and more of a doodle - but I love how it looks! The foxes were watercolored, and allowed to dry before I began doodling. Then I trimmed around them by hand, and put them on a card base which was also watercolored. The snowflakes are from Winter Silhouettes, and the message from Off-Beat Holiday Messages. I thought the black snowflakes went with the etchy/edgy look of my foxes!

Next up are the fabulous foxes from the Color Layering Cool Fox set. The first pair of cards were designed for a tradeshow class last month. I used a technique I learned from the one and only Jennifer McGuire - second generation stamp layering!

The first card was stamped "full strength", using the coordinating Ink & Emboss Fox pack. The ink colors in the pack are tangerine, caramel and black - perfect for a fox! The really cool thing is this idea to have Ink & Emboss packs for the color layering sets - this makes it super easy to add a bit of embossing to your project. In this case I used the white embossing powder in the pack to add little snowflakes to the background - but for some of the other new combos, you add the embossing right as the final layer of stamping - cool!

The card above also used a bunch of masking. I used masking paper with the postage stamp die to create a mask for the background, and also created a mask to go over the fox as I inked the background. With masks in place, I used the Sea Aquas ink cubes to create a gradient of color in the background.

While I stamped the layers in the above card, I immediately stamped them again on the cardstock for the card below - where the "second generation" comes in. I love the softer look you achieve by doing this. The black layers were stamped full strength to make them pop. The fox mask was used again on this card, and this time ink was added through the Pop Pattern stencil. I finished the card with a few sequins from the new Frost mix.

The other fox in the Color Layering Cool Fox set is this sweet little baby fox! Once I started stamping him, I couldn't stop. So I ended up with a Warhol-esque-pop-art-style baby fox card! The cute little "hi" bubble is from Holiday Cheer - I cut it out with the matching die.

I wanted to show in this post that it's really easy to use these products for more than just holiday cards. The previous two cards were examples, but this last card is even more so! There's absolutely nothing winter or holiday about it!

This time I used the beautiful Paper Layering Fox die. I cut her out with watercolor paper, and painted. For the background, I was inspired by Debby Hughes and her mad watercoloring skillz (she is so amazing!). I love how thoese watercolored circles look! The sweet little message is from Dress Up Stamp & Cut. Just a bit of glitter paper and a heart sticker to finish it off.

And now it's time to hop!! Hero Arts will be giving away three $25 shopping sprees, drawn from comments left across all blogs in the hop. Be sure to get your comments posted by Wednesday, 8/30 at 11:59pm PT, and they'll announce the winner the following week on the Hero Arts blog. Commenting on every blog in the hop gives you more chances to win!

The Hero Arts Blog
Jennifer McGuire
Cathy Zielske
Wanda Guess
Kathy Racoosin
Ilina Crouse
Clare Prezzia
Yana Smakula
Lydia Fiedler
Jessica Frost-Ballas
Amy Tsuruta
Michelle Short
May Park
Libby Hickson (you are here!)

You've made it to the end of the line - mine is the final stop along the hop. Thanks so much for spending a little time with me today. Be sure to check out the entire release - there are so many amazing new goodies!! If you have any questions about anything you've seen in the hop, please ask in the comments or shoot me an email (find the email icon under my photo on the sidebar) - I'm happy to help you!

Affiliate links are used on this blog, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting me, and clicking on my links to shop!

Hero Arts Fox Family Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Color Layering Cool Fox Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Color Layering Fox Frame Cuts Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Paper Layering Fox Shop at: Hero
Hero Arts Ink & Emboss Fox Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Frost Sequin Mix Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Pop Pattern Stencil Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Nesting Postage Stamps Infinity Dies Shop at: Hero
Hero Arts Winter Silhouettes Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Off-Beat Holiday Messages Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Holiday Cheer Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Holiday Cheer Frame Cuts Shop at: Hero
Hero Arts Dress Up Stamp & Cut Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Watercolor Dot Palette Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Sea Aquas Ink Cubes Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Intense Black Ink Shop at: Hero

Space in my Heart

I'm popping in today to share another card I made with the awesome August Monthly Release from Hero Arts! I love all of the space-themed stuff so much. Today I played with the gorgeous Milky Way Window Fancy Die.

I die cut the frame using watercolor paper, and then just randomly added colors using my Hero Arts Watercolor Dot Palette. I trimmed down a piece of silver glitter cardstock, and die cut again. Then I attached the watercolored galaxy right on top of the glitter one, using foam dots. I like that the silver glitter paper peeks out just a bit to add a hint of shimmer. I also used two die cut stars from the frame die.

The message is from Dream Big, and I embossed it in silver. Speaking of the Dream Big stamp set, have you checked it out? The planet balloons are my favorite thing from the entire release!

If you missed my post yesterday, I shared another project from this month's release.

Thanks for stopping by!

I use affiliate links in my post, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting my blog and clicking the links to these products!

Hero Arts Dream Big Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Milky Way Window Fancy Die Shop at: Hero	August 2017 Get Them All Bundle Shop at: Hero	VersaMark Ink Shop at: Hero
Hero Arst Silver Embossing Powder Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Watercolor Dot Palette Shop at: Hero