Hero Blog Post

Hey everybody! I'm just popping in to let you all know that I'm up on the Hero Arts blog today with this shimmery, fun card! I wanted to create an easy card that is still eye-catching and this is what I came up with. Head on over to Hero Arts to check out all of the details.

I love the look of the Glitter Paste on black cardstock and using a large word die to finish the card off made my job easy. 

Have an amazing day you guys!

Maria

Topflight Stamps Fifth Birthday Celebration: Blog Hop!

It's Topflight Stamps 5th birthday and to celebrate, I’ve teamed up with some great designers to show off some of the unique products that Topflight Stamps has to offer. Please hop along with us and check out all the amazing projects that these talented designers have to share! If you're already following the hop you should have arrived here from Autumn Clark's blog. If you're starting the hop with me then scroll down to the bottom of this post to find the full list of hoppers and join us for the fun! Make sure you check out the AMAZING SALE (20% OFF), details for that are below too.

For today's project I decided to celebrate Topflight Stamps' birthday with a magical stamp set that I found in their shop. I picked this set partly because it's absolutely stunning but also because this sentiment describes how I feel when I get to shop Topflight's cool selection... I feel like magic has touched my soul! They have a ton of stamps, stencils and dies that are great for creating mixed media projects and I always want to buy all of the things! Anyhow, for today's art journal I used the Faerie Magic stamp set from Visible Image and the AALL & Create Totally Dotty Stencil. After spraying my art journal spread with Distress Oxide sprays I aded circles randomly across the background using the stencil and white acrylic paint. I also splattered the background with white paint and Gold Midas Touch before adding some scribbles with a black Stabilo pencil. 

Next, I stamped my faerie onto white cardstock and colored her using Dina Wakley Scribble Sticks. I stamped the sentiment onto some turquoise washi tape and adhered it to the page. Unfortunately, I smeared the sentiment a little bit but that's ok. For me, art journaling is about the process and I never stress if there is a mistake as long as I had fun.

After adhering the faerie to my page I heat embossed some of the cool concentric circles with dots onto my page and I heat embossed them in gold. A bunch of embossing powder stuck in the binding and I thought it looked cool so I heat set that too. 

This page was so much fun to put together and I hope you enjoyed taking a look at it. The rest of the blog hop crew has made some amazing projects to share with you too so I hope you'll keep on hopping along with us. Next up on the hop is my amazing friend, Angela Myhere! Head on over to her blog to check out the gorgeous card she made!

Bye for now!

Maria Willis

BLOG HOP LIST:

Topflight Stamps

Kathi Rerek

Dina Kowal

Esther Asbury

Annette Allen

Jennie Atkinson

Rachel Kleinman

Connie Mercer

Charmaine Canham

Lisa Hoel

Jenny Marples

Cornelia Wenokor

Rachel Greig

Ericka Strange

Karen Bearse

Melina Dahl

Autumn Clark

Maria Willis: You are here.

Angela Myhre

GIVEAWAY DETAILS

Of course, it wouldn’t be a birthday celebration without prizes! Topflight Stamps is giving one lucky winner a $50 Gift Certificate to the store. But wait, there is more, each stop on the hop has an additional $25 Gift Certificate up for grabs for some lucky commenter. For a chance to win, make sure to visit every stop on the hop and leave a comment by April 3rd. Winners will be announced on the Topflight Stamps blog on April 7th. Good Luck!

 

Gina K Designs April 2022 Release!

Hey everybody and super happy day to ya! It's time for another fabulous release from Gina K Designs and I've got a cheerful card to share with you using one of her new stamp sets. 

I used the Choose Grace stamp set and some brightly colored inks to create this card. I started out by stamping the bamboo stalks in green on white cardstock. Then, I inkblended the background lightly with blues. I added a black mat to that background piece and adhered it with foam tape to a white cardbase. 

Next, I stamped out two of the flower outlines multiple times in black ink. Then, I added color by stamping them using the solid floral images. I also stamped some leaves and sprigs in green. I used my MISTI to make this an easy process. Next, I used the coordinating dies to cut out all of my pieces and I arranged them around a sentiment from the Spring Florals Background stamp set. Once I had everything arranged in a way I liked I adhered everything together with a combination of liquid glue and foam adhesive. 

And that is all there was to that! You can find the gorgeous stamp set I've used today (Choose Grace) as well as the entire fabulous new release over at Gina K Designs! 

Enjoy and have an awesome rest of your day!

Maria

Hero Arts March 2022 My Monthly Hero Release: Blog Hop and Giveaway!

Hey everybody! The wait is over! It's time for the Hero Arts March 2022 My Monthly Hero release and this month's kit has so artistic and fun (affiliate links may be used at no extra cost to you)!

Before I get to my cards, 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! This month's kit is valued at $70!

You have the option to subscribe (subscribing now means your first kit will be the April 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! There are also a ton of amazing add-on products! You can buy the add-ons as a bundle at a discounted rate or just pick up your favorite products. 

For my first card I grabbed a background from my stash (made using DIY liquid watercolor sprays, iridescent shimmer spray and white glimmer metallic ink). I masked off one of the sentiments from the kit and heat embossed it using Onyx Pigment ink and Clear embossing powder. I also heat embossed one of the splatter stamps multiple times on the background using White Satin Pearl Embossing Powder. This gave the background a pearlescent, milky way-like, galaxy look (that doesn't photograph well). Then I mounted the background onto Pitch Black cardstock.

Next, I cut the die that is included in the kit from Pitch Black cardstock and used scissors to cut out thhe two people and the bench. I used Precision Glue to adhere the lady and the bench to my background panel. Then I used foam tape to adhere the male so that it appeared he was standing behind her. The final step was to add some shooting stars whith my white posca paint pen.

My next card uses an awesome new background from this release called, Abstract Frames Bold Prints. Now I was short on time when making this so I want a quick and easy card that was still eye-catching. I grabbed a piece of water color cardstock, an acrylic stamping block and Reactive in Splash and Taffy. I wiped the inkpads directly onto the acrylic block to add ink to the block. Next, I spritzed both the block and the cardstock with water before pressing the inked up block onto the watercolor paper. I lifted the block up leaving a watercolored rectangle behind. To finish my background I stamped the Abstract Frames Bold Print in varsamark ink and heat embossed it using White Satin Pearl Embossing Powder.

To finish the card off I used the Friend Words Fancy Dies cut from white cardstock ( I actually cut each word three times and then glued them together for dimension) and glued them to my cardbase.

I added some Nuvo Dream Drops in Cloud Nine and called it good! It seriously doesn't get easier than that!

Alright that is it for today you guys but please continue hopping along with us and enter yourself in the amazing giveaway below!

Have an awesome day!

Maria

GIVEAWAY:

We will give away a $50 gift card, drawn from the comments left across the hop. Enter by Sunday, March 13th at 11:59pm Pacific, and the winner will be announced on the Hero Arts blog the following week.

BLOG HOP LIST:

Hero Arts
Channin Pelletier
Dana Joy
Daniel West
Debi Adams
Emily Midgett
Ilina Crouse
Libby Hickson
Lydia Fiedler
Maria Willis
Michelle Short
Mindy Eggen
Seeka
Jennifer Kotas
Meg Brooks
Nichol Spohr
Rebecca Keppel

PRODUCT SUPPLY LIST (Affiliate links may be used at no extra cost to you):