Monday, January 4, 2021

Hero Arts My Monthly Hero Kit January 2021 and a Giveaway!

Hi everybody and happy Monday! I'm glad you are here because today the first My Monthly Hero Kit of the year is releasing and it is amazing! 

This kit is possibly my favorite MMH kit of all time! I could not stop making cards with it so I've got five cards to share with you today and I'll have more in the coming days. I have used some of the add-ons in my cards today but I'll have more of those in separate posts as well. Make sure to check back in here if you'd like to see those. For my first card I decided to watercolor the large floral image. I stamped it in INTENS-ified black ink (good for both watercoloring and copic coloring) onto Arches cold press watercolor paper. I also stamped a bunch of the chubby bees (three or four of each) too.
Cardbomb, Maria Willis,Hero Arts, My Monthly Hero Kit January 2021,flowers,bees,stamps,stamping, mixed media, art, die cutting,#hexagon, color,watercolor,ink blending,grunge,

I watercolored with my Daniel Smith watercolors and cut the bees out with the coordinating die cuts. I stamped the sentiment using my Misti.
Cardbomb, Maria Willis,Hero Arts, My Monthly Hero Kit January 2021,flowers,bees,stamps,stamping, mixed media, art, die cutting,#hexagon, color,watercolor,ink blending,grunge,

I don't have the honey lacquer that comes with the kit but I wanted to add some "pollen" to my card. I used some gold Nuvo drops to add little dots everywhere. I think that you will get a similar affect using the lacquer that comes with the kit.
Cardbomb, Maria Willis,Hero Arts, My Monthly Hero Kit January 2021,flowers,bees,stamps,stamping, mixed media, art, die cutting,#hexagon, color,watercolor,ink blending,grunge,

I used foam adhesive to adhere my bees to the card and that was it!
Cardbomb, Maria Willis,Hero Arts, My Monthly Hero Kit January 2021,flowers,bees,stamps,stamping, mixed media, art, die cutting,#hexagon, color,watercolor,ink blending,grunge,

Now, if you visited my blog yesterday for the countdown then you've already seen this next card. I did promise that in today's post I'd let you know how I made this grungy card. I started out with a piece of watercolor paper that had a light watercolor wash of yellow and orange. Once it was dry I inkblended some Butterbar and Tangerine ink over the top in random splotches. Don't worry about doing perfect ink blending because we're going for grunge! Next, I grabbed the new Peek-A-Boo Honeycomb Fancy Die and use it as a stencil (yep, think outside the box and get the most you can out of all of your products) to ink blend some brown hexagons randomly onto your background.
Cardbomb, Maria Willis,Hero Arts, My Monthly Hero Kit January 2021,flowers,bees,stamps,stamping, mixed media, art, die cutting,#hexagon, color,watercolor,ink blending,grunge,

Next I stamped the hexagon outline stamp from the kit in black ink. I stamped it randomly all over the place using an acrylic block. My stamping was not perfect. I used a black sharpie to color in some of the hexagons. Next, I stamped the same hexagon outline stamp using Versamark ink so that I could heat emboss. Note that I didn't bother using an anti-static tool as it doesn't matter if you get embossing powder all over the place with this technique. It actually looks cool with random specks of embossing powder. I used Sand embossing powder. This is probably my favorite embossing powder for grungy backgrounds because it has multiple colors of metallic powder in it (this results in a variety of metallic colors being embossed and it looks amazing). The embossing powder also has different sized powder granules which really adds to the texture on the card.
Cardbomb, Maria Willis,Hero Arts, My Monthly Hero Kit January 2021,flowers,bees,stamps,stamping, mixed media, art, die cutting,#hexagon, color,watercolor,ink blending,grunge,

To finish off the background I ink blended the edges in Cup O' Joe ink and a darker brown ink. Then I dragged my black ink pad around the edges to really darken it up. This might sound scary but don't worry about messing it up. The whole thing with grungy backgrounds is that you are making a beautiful mess. Just try to make sure that you have areas of light and dark so that you have contrast. the last thing that I did was to splatter the backgroud with gold ink from my Midas Touch pen.
Cardbomb, Maria Willis,Hero Arts, My Monthly Hero Kit January 2021,flowers,bees,stamps,stamping, mixed media, art, die cutting,#hexagon, color,watercolor,ink blending,grunge,

To finish the card off I added a gold embossed sentiment on black cardstock cut with the new Hexagon Infinity dies. Then I added some chubby bees (leftover from my first card) with foam tape and, that was, that!
Cardbomb, Maria Willis,Hero Arts, My Monthly Hero Kit January 2021,flowers,bees,stamps,stamping, mixed media, art, die cutting,#hexagon, color,watercolor,ink blending,grunge,


For my third card I again watercolored the floral stamp. I didn't like the way the bottom of my painting came out so I cut it off. 
Cardbomb, Maria Willis,Hero Arts, My Monthly Hero Kit January 2021,flowers,bees,stamps,stamping, mixed media, art, die cutting,#hexagon, color,watercolor,ink blending,grunge,

I splattered some blue cardstock with Metallic white ink and added a frame that I created with the rectangle infinity dies. My flowers were adhered to the top of the card using foam adhesive.
Cardbomb, Maria Willis,Hero Arts, My Monthly Hero Kit January 2021,flowers,bees,stamps,stamping, mixed media, art, die cutting,#hexagon, color,watercolor,ink blending,grunge,

I cut the "thinking of you" sentiment out three times from white cardstock and once from the yellow glitter cardstock that came from the kit. I glued the layers together and then glued those to my card front. I added some sequins to finish the card off.
Cardbomb, Maria Willis,Hero Arts, My Monthly Hero Kit January 2021,flowers,bees,stamps,stamping, mixed media, art, die cutting,#hexagon, color,watercolor,ink blending,grunge,


My next card is a much more simple card. I splattered an A2 sized, black card base with gold. Then I cut a rectangle out three times in yellow cardstock and once from black. I glued the layers together and adhered them to the card base. This gave a subtle but fun look because you can see the yellow layers from the sides.
Cardbomb, Maria Willis,Hero Arts, My Monthly Hero Kit January 2021,flowers,bees,stamps,stamping, mixed media, art, die cutting,#hexagon, color,watercolor,ink blending,grunge,

I heat embossed my sentiment and added the bee with foam tape.
Cardbomb, Maria Willis,Hero Arts, My Monthly Hero Kit January 2021,flowers,bees,stamps,stamping, mixed media, art, die cutting,#hexagon, color,watercolor,ink blending,grunge,

I finished the card off with some black enamel dots. Here's a closer look at the yellow layers of cardstock that you can see from the sides of this card.
Cardbomb, Maria Willis,Hero Arts, My Monthly Hero Kit January 2021,flowers,bees,stamps,stamping, mixed media, art, die cutting,#hexagon, color,watercolor,ink blending,grunge,

I almost forgot to mention that I added some of the honeycomb die cut from the kit to the bottom of the centerpiece to trim it out.
Cardbomb, Maria Willis,Hero Arts, My Monthly Hero Kit January 2021,flowers,bees,stamps,stamping, mixed media, art, die cutting,#hexagon, color,watercolor,ink blending,grunge,

For this next card I started out by ink blending the background in Splash and Blue Hawaii inks. Then I sprayed it with White Iridescent Shimmer spray and splattered it with White Metallic Ink.
Cardbomb, Maria Willis,Hero Arts, My Monthly Hero Kit January 2021,flowers,bees,stamps,stamping, mixed media, art, die cutting,#hexagon, color,watercolor,ink blending,grunge,

While that dried I cut some flowers out of white cardstock using the new Bees and Flowers Fancy Dies. I also cut some out of gold mirror cardstock that had adhesive paper on the back (meaning that my little gold bee is a sticker). These flowers are so beautiful! I colored the flowers in with my copic markers but they have so much detail that they are beautiful even just cut out of white. 
Cardbomb, Maria Willis,Hero Arts, My Monthly Hero Kit January 2021,flowers,bees,stamps,stamping, mixed media, art, die cutting,#hexagon, color,watercolor,ink blending,grunge,

After stamping my sentiment (Bee and Flowers Wreath stamp set), cutting it out, and coloring yellow around the edges... I glued all of my pieces onto my card.
Cardbomb, Maria Willis,Hero Arts, My Monthly Hero Kit January 2021,flowers,bees,stamps,stamping, mixed media, art, die cutting,#hexagon, color,watercolor,ink blending,grunge,

Here's a look at what comes in this mont's kit. It comes with the main stamp set and coordinating dies, the hexagon window die, three sheets of glitter paper and a honey lacquer pen. Such a fun kit!





Ok, that is it for me today but before we go I want to make sure you know about the giveaway...

GIVEAWAY: Hero Arts will give away one $50 gift card, drawn from the comments left across the hop. Enter by Sunday, January 10th at 11:59pm pacific, and the winner will be announced on the Hero Arts blog the following week. All you need to do to enter is leave me a comment below.

To continue on the hop you can head over to Michelle's blog to see what beautiful things she's made with this kit. If you prefer to see the whole list of blog hoppers I've got that listed for you below.

Have an awesome day!
Maria


BLOG HOP LIST: 

PRODUCT SUPPLY LIST:




















 

65 comments:

  1. All of your cards are "bee autiful" but I think I'm in love with your grunge card. You've got me as an excited new follower on youTube!

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  2. Bee-utiful creations. The black inking has a bee-utiful Tim Holtz look to it.
    Melissa
    "Sunshine HoneyBee"

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  3. Oh my, your cards are all so gorgeous. This may be my all time favorite kit. I love the little bees.
    Thanks for sharing.
    Ang

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  4. I love your bee-utiful cards!

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  5. Swoon! These are lovely! Can't wait to get my mits on this kit!

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  6. Great cards, I think I like the "grunge" card best. Thanks for sharing.

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  7. Wow, all of your cards are incredible. Beautiful work.

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  8. Wow, all of your cards are incredible. Beautiful work.

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  9. Your cards using this kit are
    bee-utiful

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  10. Happy New Year! Love the bees!

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  11. Wonderful cards! The unexpected (to me) coloring of the first’s flowers are so striking & warm!

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  12. So many beautiful cards! I am so impressed with the versatility of this release of the kit and add-ons and the amazing cards. So colorful and fun!

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  13. Love your watercolor work so much!!!!!

    -- Dalis

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  14. Great diverse set of cards. Lots of ideas. Thank you!

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  15. So many lovely card designs!!! I can't wait to get my own kit now. Thanks for going step by step with the grungy card - I generally don't do that style of cards but yours came out so lovely, I'd like to push myself to try something like that! Such a fun stop on the Hero Blog Hop today - thank you for contributing. Have a lovely week!

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  16. Stunned!!! Your projects are gorgeous!!! So gorgeous that it’s quite intimidating. Works of art they are!!!!

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  17. Nice work! I especially like that golden bee as well as the gold pollen.

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  18. Beautiful cards! So many different looks!

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  19. Marisela Delgado said: Wow, what gorgeous cards, Maria. So beautiful! mariandmonsterd@yahoo.com

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  20. From Hawaiian spring to super cool brown and all in between,, gorgeous! Beautiful!

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  21. Each of your cards are simply stunning, such inspiring and creative designs. Thanks for the ideas Maria!

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  22. Just can’t stop looking at the first couple of cards.....like wow so gorgeous.

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  23. I REALLY like how you shaded all of your flowers. They look so wonderful! i have so much to learn...

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  24. These are gourgeous cards! You are so talented!

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  25. I enjoy these examples so much! Thank you for sharing your ideas with us!

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  26. Beautiful cards. I especially love your hexagon, grunge card. Awesome colors and embossing.

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  27. Awesome cards! I love all your ideas. Thanks for sharing.

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  28. Love the cards! My favorite is the gold bee with the flower die cuts! Thanks for sharing!

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  29. What beautiful and inspiring cards. Your coloring is wonderful. Love how you've colored the daisies.

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  30. Gorgeous, creatively inspiring card projects...LOVE

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  31. Beautiful cards. I like how different each one is and how you think out of the box. Thanks for sharing!

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  32. Your backgrounds are amazing! I love the splatters!

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  33. Great ideas, love gold and black

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  34. What a great a varied assortment of cards. I love the grunge card, so different and deliberate messy!

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  35. What an absolute treat! I appreciate that you made so many, and so different, cards! I really wanted to see the honey lacquer so thanks for comparing it to the drops. Your projects are ALL lovely. I would like to see the portion of your painting that you cut off and discarded. The end result card is amazing, so I'm curious about what went wrong!! I could go on and on... Thanks for being clear on how you accomplished each card! Have a beautiful New Year! Wendy

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  36. Each one of these is simply stunning! Such wonderful inspiration! Thanks so much for sharing!

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  37. Beautiful card from a 'bee-utiful' release!

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  38. what a wonderful collection of gorgeous cards - awesome work!!!!

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  39. I am "buzzing" over the first, second & fourth cards you made. They are glorious! I adore the "grunge" look of the second one. This release is "the bees knees". Sorry for all the puns. lol

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  40. Such gorgeous cards! The florals are amazing.
    Thanks for sharing.

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  41. Your cards are wonderful. Love this amazing kit -- so many possibilities.

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  42. Fun cards! I love seeing the brighter and darker colour combos! I like bright, but really love your darker cards!

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  43. ok I tried to choose a favorite... all of them!.. love them!

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  44. Maria your cards are stunningly bee-utiful. I love seeing your work!

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  45. Just went to Hero Arts to purchase this kit and they’re already sold out! Boo Hoo. 😭🤬

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  46. Great presentation of the Bee release. Thanks for the deets on how to get the look.

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  47. Wow! Your cards are so beautiful! I can't pick a favorite, I love them all!

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  48. I love the thinking of you card! All of them are awesome though, and I really like your use of the nuvo drops as pollen!
    -Maria Christakos

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  49. Great new products! Awesome creations! I especially love the grungy black & gold creation!

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  50. So many lovely cards. Your designs showcased this new kit so well.

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  51. Gorgeous cards! I really love the grunge look on your second card! So eye-catching! Wonderful new set from HA! Thanks so much for sharing and inspiring! Take care! :)

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  52. Absolutely beautiful. I particularly like the Bee-Day and Thinking of You cards - I love the blue and the blooms. I like your other cards too. Great ideas. Thanks for sharing with us. :)

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  53. Loving your cards - bee-utiful! Thanks for sharing.

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  54. Wow, this set inspired you in many different directions. You showed the versatility of the stamp and die set. I loved all your cards.

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  55. Beautiful cards! I love the color combos you used!

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  56. Great cards! Love the add ons as well. The black with a single bee is my favorite. Simple and elegant.

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  57. Thanks for sharing all your different creations. I love the tip about using the die as a stencil... great idea!!!

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  58. I like the variety of cards you created with this kit.

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  59. Such inspiring creations you made! The first two cards are my favorites. The coloring on the first card is gorgeous!

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