September My Monthly Hero - Release Blog Hop + Giveaway!

It's time for another My Monthly Hero release, and this month the theme takes a fun twist on all things autumn. The main kit features beautiful Chinese lantern plants, among other images. The bright orange lanterns are gorgeous for fall!

I began with my kit by stamping out all of the images on watercolor paper, and just painting them in with the Daniel Smith dot card, included in the kit. It's amazing just how far those little dots can go when watercoloring! Once dry, I die cut the images and arranged some of them on my card, popping up the pieces.

Here's a look at the entire amazing kit. It's so pretty - definitely on my list of all-time favorites!

I also made several cards used the optional add-on products. For this next card, I began by painting a very vibrant background using the brand new Orange Liquid Watercolor (which is so gorgeous!!) along with Dandelion and Cocoa.

I stamped out the images from the stamp and cut set and again just painted them all in, using the liquid watercolors mentioned above along with Moss, Pine and Strawberry. After die cutting, I arranged them on my watercolored background, accenting with sequins from the Champagne mix as well as a strip of glitter cardstock.

The next card features the absolutely gorgeous new Ornate Floral Stencil.

To create the background for this card, I mixed a bit of Nuvo Glimmer Paste on my craft mat along with a few drops of the Orange Liquid Watercolor. I smoothed this paste across the stencil using a palette knife, and set aside to dry. The Nuvo paste dries quite quickly, so I immediately washed my stencil. The accent on this card is an oak leaf from the Textured Leaves set, embossed in gold on vellum. The "autumn greetings" message is from the new Autumn Moon stamp set.

Here's another card featuring stamps from the Autumn Moon set. These were stamped, die cut and colored with Copics. That gorgeous background is the new Patterned Lanterns Bold Prints, embossed with the fun new Red Embossing Powder.

And finally, a card using the new Cloudy Moon Fancy Die. These fun clouds were die cut from watercolor paper, which I added color to using liquid watercolors in Indigo and Purple. I added a little Black to the clouds, watered down quite a lot to be more gray than black, and then covered them with Star Dust Stickles.

I stamped the sweet little bunny from Autumn Moon in Orchid ink, and created a shaker card filled with Ombre Purple sequins.

Now it's time to hop! There's so much inspiration from these bloggers, be sure to check it all out! And like every month, there's a giveaway - be sure to comment on every blog in the hop, and a lucky winner drawn from the comments will receive a free kit! The winner will be announced on the Hero Arts blog. Comment by Sunday night, September 9th!

The Hero Arts Blog
Ilina Crouse
Lydia Fiedler
Jessica Frost-Ballas
Libby Hickson (you are here!)
Janette Kausen
Amy Kolling
Kelly Latevola
Jennifer McGuire
Emily Midgett
Caly Person
Michelle Short
Jenn Shurkus
Yana Smakula
Nichol Spohr
Julee Tilman

Thanks for stopping by!