Just want to "Bug" You!

Hey everybody! I'm just popping in to let you know that I'm up on the Hero Arts blog today sharing a fun card using the new Bug You stamp set.

All of the details for how I made this are over on the Hero Arts blog.

You can check out the Bug You stamp set by clicking HERE and the Hero Arts Liquid Watercolors by clicking HERE.

 Have an awesome day!

Maria

VIDEO: Hero Arts My Monthly Hero Release and Giveaway!

Hi everybody! It's My Monthly Hero Monday and we finally get to share the entire release with you. This month's kit has a bit of a geometric theme. The kit is valued at $83 and includes a 6" x 8" stamp with 16 coordinating die cuts, 3 geometric rotating stencils, 3 ink cubes and a blending brush! I had a ton of fun with this kit and went the mixed media route when I made my cards. I've got a video up sharing some tips for creating mixed media cards that pop! CLICK HERE  or scroll down to watch the video.

My first card uses stamps from the kit as well as one of the geometric stencils.

 

If you're having trouble viewing this video you can CLICK HERE to watch it now.

I started by inkblending the background in reactive inks. Then I stenciled, stamped, heat embossed, splattered and generally made a mess of my background.

I finished my card off by stamping three butterflies in two tones of ink each, die cutting them and adding them to my card with a sentiment.

With this next card I opted for a cleaner look and inkblended a rainbow background.

I used a stencil to add embossing ink and heat embossed the design using White Puffy embossing Powder.

I added a die cut from the Love You stamp & cut XL, added some enamel dots and that it was it for this card.

This card has a bit of a darker toned look. I used yellow, brown and black to create my background.

Then I grunged up my background and you can watch exactly how I did it in my video.

I used stamps from the monthly kit and stamped in contrasting colors so that the images would pop off of the background. 

There are some really fun add-ons this month and my favorite is the Graphic Reef Stamp set (it's got a coordinating die set too). I created a background using reactive inks and a stencil from the kit. 

Then I heat embossed some of the images from the Graphic Reef stamp set on to watercolor paper and colored them with my Karin markers. I cut them out with the coordinating dies so that I could pop them up with foam tape. 

You can watch the whole process in my video (it will up soon). 

My last card is a card I shared on Friday for my Countdown post but I wanted to make sure to add it here in case you missed that post.

I used acrylic paint through a stencil and then added Nuvo gilding flakes on top.

 I added a heat embossed gold glitter sentiment to finish the card off.

Ok you guys, that's it for today but before I go I want to let you know about an amazing giveaway!

GIVEAWAY:

We will give away one $50 gift card, drawn from the comments left across the hop. Enter by Sunday, April 11th at 11:59pm pacific, and the winner will be announced on the Hero Arts blog the following week.

Have an awesome day you all!

Maria

BLOG HOP LIST:

Hero Arts
Channin Pelletier
Daniel West
Debi Adams
Emily Midgett
Ilina Crouse
Jessica Frost-Ballas
Libby Hickson
Lydia Fiedler
Maria Willis: You are here.
Mindy Eggen
Pocono Pam
Seeka
Jennifer Kotas
Jennifer McGuire
Mansi Bhatia
Nichol Spohr
Rachel Juanita Bellamy
Rebecca Keppel

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Hero Arts My Monthly Hero Countdown

Hey everybody! It's My Monthly Hero Countdown time and I've got a bright and colorful card to share with you today. 

But first, if you aren't familiar with the My Monthly Hero kit, it's a kit that is released by Hero Arts on the first Monday of every month. It always has a fun, themed collection of stamps, dies and other goodies. The cost is just $34.99/month and the value is always much greater! You have the option to subscribe (subscribing now means your first kit will be the May release), or, to buy your favorite kits as one-off purchases. Be aware that once these kits sell out they are gone for good. If you see a kit you like make sure to snatch it up quickly!

Ok, on to my card. I'm not going to tell you anything about the kit except for what you can already see on my card. I started out by inkblending a background in Lemon Drop, Taffy and Splash Reactive inks. Then I used a stencil from the new kit to add some fun to the background with white acrylic paint.

When the paint was almost dry I added some Nuvo Gilding Flakes in gold to the tacky paint. I heat embossed the asterisk stamp in black onto the background and I also heat embossed my sentiment in gold onto black cardstock.

I added a black mat behind my panel and then attached that to a gray cardbase.  Finally, I adhered my sentiment to the card front using foam tape for another layer of dimension. 

And, that's all for today you guys! The full My Monthly Hero release is coming out on Monday and it's a super fun one so I can't wait to share the whole shabang with you then. 

Have an awesome weekend!

Maria

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VIDEO: Backgrounds Two Ways! Stenciled and Die Cut!

Hi Everybody! I hope you are having an amazing day! I'm glad you are here today because not only do I have a a couple of happy cards and a VIDEO to share with you but I'm also taking part in a YouTube hop to celebrate a friend. My friend Jessica Frost-Ballas has hit over 10k subscribers on her YouTube channel so we are YT video hopping to celebrate. There are over $800 prizes to be won so be sure to head to my channel to enter the giveaway (leave a comment).

I made two cards today and had a ton of fun playing around with some goodies from Pinkfresh Studios.

Here's the video for you to check out...

If you are having trouble watching this video please click HERE to view it now.

My first card is a slimline card. I ink-blended the background and then stenciled using Moonshine Glimmer Paste.

I added both a die cut "hello" and stamped sentiment to the card before adding silver, heat embossed florals to the sides.

I finished the card off by adding some small gems to my card.

For my second card I ink-blended the background using the same colors as on my first card. The colors look bolder on this card because I switched from using Bristol (first card) to using 100lb Hammermill on my second card. After ink-blending I adapted the Slim Stitches die to work with my A2 sized card face.

I added a sentiment using the Kelly Alpha dies and the Simply Sentiments- Hello stamp set. I added some sparkly gems to finish my card off!

Here's a last look at both of my cards. I love that even though I used the same color scheme on each card the slimline looks softer and dreamier while the A2 sized card is much more bold.

If you want more details on how I made my cards please head over to my YouTube channel and watch the video. While you are over there make sure to leave a comment and enter yourself into Jessica's giveaway.

I hope you have a fantastic day today and I'll see you back here soon!

Maria

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HAMMERMILL CARDSTOCK

VIDEO: Tonic Studios Stamp Club Release and Giveaway! I Love You Fairy Much!

Hi everybody! I'm so glad you're here because today is launch day for the newest Tonic Studios Stamp Club release called I Love You Fairy Much. I had so much fun with this release that I've got eight cards and a video to share with you today. Before I get to the cards I want to let you know that this release is available exclusively from Tonic Studios. There is a limited quantity of bundles and when they are sold out they'll be gone for good so make sure to grab yours before they sell out. If you want to grab an I Love You Fairy Much bundle for yourself here are the links:

       -Tonic Studios USA

       -Tonic Studios UK

There is also a GIVEAWAY over on my Instagram account @Cardbomb. If you'd like a chance to win this whole stamp and die bundle plus some Nuvo Hybrid inks and one of my favorite blending brushes, please head over to my Instagram account to enter the giveaway.

Ok, let's get on to the cards! For my first card I ink-blended a background, splattered it with Glitter Gloss and gouache, and stamped it with dragonflies.

Then I adhered the fairyland frame die cut to frame out my scene. I used it together with the outer frame so that it perfectly framed on an A2 sized card.

I added a fairy sitting on a mushroom to the left and added a sentiment to the right to finish my card off.

Here's a link to the video I made if you'd like to see this release in action...

 

If you're having trouble watching this video CLICK HERE to view it now.

My next card features a watercolored background in light pastels. It's splattered with Glitter Gloss for some extra shimmer and I used my Tim Holtz Deckle Trimmer to cut it down.

I added a die cut frame from Pinkfresh Studios. I layered a flagged sentiment on to the bottom and added some clear sequins to the background.

To finish the card off I added a copic colored fairy using foam adhesive to make it look like she is floating over the sentiment.

This next card is one of my favorites because I just love this little fairy! She's super spunky and I love her wand. I decided to mask off the background and ink blend a square in yellow. I used that same color of yellow ink to stamp some flowers on to the bottom of the square. I also stamped the wand glow onto the background right behind where I would place the fairy and her wand.

I mounted that card panel onto some light blue cardstock using foam adhesive. Then I heat embossed my sentiment in white embossing powder onto black cardstock and adhered that to my card as well.

Finally, I used foam adhesive to glue my fairy down. I love how it looks like she's hovering over a field of flowers.

This card was fun to put together... I started out ink-blending the background with Nuvo hybrid ink. I especially like using this ink when I am going to apply a product on top of the ink bc this hybrid ink is permanent and will not react with water (or wet products). After ink-blending I added a thin layer of glacier paste on top. I cut the background down to four inches by five and a half inches. I glued this to the right side of a card base. I glued a one quarter inch strip of black cardstock to the left side of the card to fill in the remaining space.

I heat embossed my sentiment in white on black and added the strip to my card.

After that all I had to do was add my fairy and some rhinestones and jewels to my card front.

The I Love You Fairy Much bundle makes creating slimline cards a snap. With so many coordinating elements it's really easy to quickly fill up your card with images that go well together. I started this card by inkblending the background with card stencils that I made using the cloud dies from the second stamp club release. I used a rainbow of colors and then splattered it with Glitter Gloss and white paint. I also heat embossed the fairy dust stamp multiple times onto the background in the spaces between where the fairies would be placed.

Next, I die cut my sentiment multiple times in white cardstock. I also cut it out one time form glittery white cardstock. I glued the multiple layers together with the glittery cardstock on top. This gave me a fun, dimensional, die-cut sentiment that popped off of a piece of black cardstock.

To finish my card off I adhered all of my fairies using foam adhesive and then added a few subtle sequins.

If you look closely at the fairies you will be able to see that I used a white gel pen to add little highlights to their hair, wings and outfits. I think this gives them a sparkly, magical look.

I just love it when a stamp set is versatile and this bundle has got a lot going on. This mushroom stamp pairs perfectly with its punny sentiment to make for a great guy card! I started out by stamping the mushroom in Antique Linen Distress Oxide ink on black cardstock. Then, I colored the image in with colored pencils. This was my first time trying this and I had fun with it but it was hard for me. 

After I finished coloring I heat embossed a sentiment directly below the image. I also splattered the background lightly with white paint before cutting it out with my Deckle Edge trimmer.

I splattered my green cardbase with black ink and adhered my image panel down using foam tape.

Here is another way that you can use this set to create beautiful (non-fairy) cards. I heat embossed the floral image in gold and then watercolored it using Nuvo Shimmer powders.

I used the dies from Stamp Club 6 to cut out my layers and added those onto an ivory cream card base that I splattered with Midas Touch.

I added some Nuvo sequins in Champagne to finish this card off.

For my last card I wanted to share how easy it is make a fabulous shaker card using the fairyland frame die from this set. I cut the die from the inside of an A2 sized piece of black cardstock. 

I inkblended a background panel in red, orange and yellow. Then I poured chunky gold glitter and yellow butterfly confetti on top of it. I added a double layer of quarter inch foam tape to the back of the die cut frame and attached to the background, trapping all of the glitter and confetti inside.

The final steps were to add a gold, heat embossed sentiment and a copic colored flower to the card front.

Ok, that's it for me today you guys! I hope you'll like this I Love You Fairy Much bundle as much as I have. If you do like it, remember that once it sells out it is gone for good so pick yours up while they are still in stock. It's only available at Tonic Studios so here are the links to those shops for you:

        -Tonic Studios USA

        -Tonic Studios UK

Have an amazing day you guys!

Maria

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