More from July's Monthly Release

(If you're looking for my My Monthly Hero blog hop post, please click HERE or scroll down!)

I'm back with a few more cards I created using the July release from Hero Arts. I am so in love with everything this month! Flowers are always my favorite.

I followed the same general theme with this trio of cards - using a watercolor wash for the background, created with Ultramarine Turquoise paint on my Watercolor Dot Palette. This first card features the Daisy and Bugs Stamp & Cut set. I absolutely love daisies, and this great big bloom is just plain gorgeous. Instead of using the dies, I fussy cut this one. Dies would be easier!

My second card uses a flower from Little Florals, and lots of masking. I'm not sure if the flower is technically a poppy? But I used it like it was, watercoloring it orange after stamping it multiple times, masking to create some dimension. I added a little glitter glue to the flower centers once the paint was dry.

For the third and final card, I made a very simple card with the adorable little snail included in Summer Garden. I love this "cheering you on" message with the snail - I think of someone sending it to me if I were to do something like running a race or riding a bike, because I'd be going as slow as a snail...!

I added glitter glue to the snail's body, but my very favorite part? The glitter glue snail trail!

Thanks for stopping by!

Hero Arts Watercolor Dot Palette Shop at: Hero	CM193 Little Florals Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Little Florals Frame Cuts Shop at: Hero	CM194 Summer Garden Shop at: Hero
DC219 Daisy and Bugs Stamp & Cut Shop at: Hero	Get Them All - July Add-Ons Shop at: Hero

July My Monthly Hero - Release + Giveaway!

(Edited to add: I've created a trio of cards using some of the other products released this month. You can see them in another blog post, HERE!)

Hello and welcome to another My Monthly Hero release blog hop. You should have arrived here by way of Michelle's blog. If not - head back to the Hero Arts blog to start at the beginning.

This month's kit has some of my favorite flowers - sweet peas and lavender - and a bunch of great containers for holding them. I've created a few cards today, but I wanted to walk you through the process for the background on this first one.

Along with the gorgeous stamps and dies in the kit, they have also included a Ranger Distress Oxide ink pad in the Iced Spruce color! The idea was that you can create a verdigris effect for the metal containers in the kit. Have you tried the oxide inks yet? They are a lot of fun! They react with water like all Distress inks, but they are more of a pigment ink, so the look and effect is a bit different. I've always had trouble getting a smooth blend with regular Distress inks (user error!!), but these blend like butter. I began by blending ink all over cardstock and spritzing with water, adding larger droplets by hand, and then dried it with my heat tool.

Next I added some of the Hero Arts Caramel ink by wiping the ink pad directly onto my craft sheet and spritzing with water. Please note - the Hero Arts inks *do not* behave like Distress Inks with water. Do not go in with that expectation!! But, you can do cool things with them - just different cool things. Embrace the difference! :) I randomly dipped the cardstock panels into the pool of ink then dried it with my heat tool.

Here are my finished panels. The idea was to create a verdigris look - the greenish oxide that forms on copper But don't they look like rusty metal? Either way, I love it!

I used one as a background panel on today's card. For the focal point image, I colored the pot to mimic the background using my Copics. I plan to also stamp the metal containers directly onto another one of these sheets I created, for use on a future card. The message on this card was embossed in copper.

Moving on to my next card... for this one I created a "custom" garden boot by combining the boot and little butterfly images that are included in the kit stamps. I made a reverse mask for this one. I stamped the boot on masking tape, trimmed it out, and then used the negative piece to form the mask around the outside of the boot. Then I stamped the butterflies randomly all over the boot, and colored with my Copics.

I added a little Glossy Accents to the boot to give it a shiny look.

For my final card, I used masking once again. This time I created some jar masks, so I could make it look like some jars were behind others.

I added some lavender to one of the jars, again with masking so the stems look like they are inside the jar. I dug out some oldies but goodies from my stash to finish this one - burlap paper, washi and brads.

Here's a look at the complete kit:

And now it's time to hop! Please visit all of the links below, and leave comments as you go! Hero Arts is giving away a kit to one lucky commenter, drawn from the comments left on all of the blogs. You have until Sunday, July 9 at 11:59pm to get your comments in. Check the Hero Arts blog for the winner!

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

Thanks so much for hopping along with us today! You can find the kit in the Hero Arts store HERE. There are also a bunch of gorgeous add-ons, you can find all of those HERE.

Thanks for stopping by,

Hero Arts My Monthly Hero July 2017 Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Copper Embossing Powder Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Caramel Bold Ink Shop at: Hero	CM193 Little Florals Shop at: Hero
Hero Arts Little Florals Frame Cuts Shop at: Hero	CM194 Summer Garden Shop at: Hero	DI411 Bufferfly Confetti Fancy Die Shop at: Hero	DI410 Paper Layering Basket Shop at: Hero
DC219 Daisy and Bugs Stamp & Cut Shop at: Hero	CG713 Ant Trail Bold Prints Shop at: Hero	CG714 Picnic Blanket Bold Prints Shop at: Hero	E6253 Picnic Basket Shop at: Hero
Get Them All - July Add-Ons Shop at: Hero

Hero Arts 2017 Summer Catalog Blog Hop

Hello! I'm joining Hero Arts for the release of their 2017 Summer Catalog in the Hero Arts online store! You should have made it here by way of my friend Ilina Crouse. If you didn't, be sure to head over the Hero Arts blog to start at the very beginning!

Today I'm sharing a few of the projects I created for the catalog. I love all of the rainbows, unicorns and other fantastic beasts in this release! There's so much fun stuff!

First the tags - I die cut them using the Infinity Tag dies out of watercolor paper. I used a combination of stamps - two great woodblocks Unicorn and the message Something Magical. I also used the message from the Unicorn Stamp & Cut set. The images were embossed in gold, and then watercolored with my Daniel Smith dot palette. I added some strips of gold glitter paper to the unicorn tag, and also die cut some teeny little hearts with the tiniest heart die from the Heart Infinity dies set. I finished the rainbow tag with some gold shimmer spray splatters.

I also made a full sized card, very similar to the tag - just a watercolored rainbow on watercolor paper, and then the Something Magical message embossed in gold.

I'm the last stop on the blog hop today, but I encourage you to visit all of these fabulous bloggers! Hero Arts will be giving away three $25 shopping sprees, drawn from comments left across all blogs in the hop. Please comment by Wednesday, 5/24 at 11:59pm PT and the winner will be announced the following week.

The Hero Arts Blog
Jennifer McGuire
Laura Bassen
Wanda Guess
May Park
Amy Tsuruta
Cheiron Brandon
Yana Smakula
Lydia Fiedler
Jessica Frost-Ballas
Jenn Shurkus
Clare Prezzia
Tracie Pond
Michelle Short
Heather Ruwe
Ilina Crouse
Libby Hickson

Thanks for stopping by today!

Hero Arts Watercolor Dot Palette Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Unicorn Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Something Magical Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Unicorn Stamp & Cut Shop at: Hero
Hero Arts Tag Infinity Dies Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Nesting Hearts Infinity Dies Shop at: Hero	Gold Embossing Powder Shop at: Hero

May My Monthly Hero - Release + Giveaway!

Hello!! It's time for another My Monthly Hero kit from Hero Arts, and I am soooo over the moon in love with this month's main kit and optional add-ons!! Every single one of them!!

First a card I made with the main kit. I love the adorable little mermaids in the kit. They are drawn in the same style (by the same artist) as the fairy kit last August, which was another of my all-time favorites. They are so pretty. And I love that they are cute, but also a little more pretty & realistic than some of the other mermaids I've seen. BUT - for today's card I didn't even use the mermaids! I used the sea horses instead.

I embossed the sea horses in white, then watercolored them with my Hero Arts Watercolor Dot Palette. The background is a wash of the turquoise, also from the dot card. The message is from the add-on stamp set Mer-mazing Messages, and that strip of shimmery blue paper to the left side is included in the main kit - so pretty!!

I'll also show you the card I shared over the weekend on the Hero Arts blog, in case you missed it. Head over to this post for more details - but this one features the absolutely GORGEOUS new woodblock stamp, Mermaid, also launching today. It even has a matching die!

Here's a peek at the entire kit. Love!!

And now it's time to hop! Please visit all of the links below, and leave comments as you go! Hero Arts is giving away a kit to one lucky commenter, drawn from the comments left on all of the blogs. You have until Sunday, May 7 at 11:59pm to get your comments in. Check the Hero Arts blog for the winner!

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

Head on over to Michelle's blog - I'm sure she's made something AMAZING. Then head on over to grad your kit HERE - I have a hunch these will not last long!!

Thanks for stopping by,

Hero Arts My Monthly Hero February 2017 Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Mermaid Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Mermaid Frame Cuts Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Reef Border and Frame Fancy Dies Shop at: Hero
Hero Arts Shell Confetti Fancy Die Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Paper Layering Merman with Frame Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Paper Layering Mermaid with Frame Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Manatee Stamp & Cut Shop at: Hero
Hero Arts Mer-mazing Messages Shop at: Hero	Hero Arts Watercolor Dot Palette Shop at: Hero