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

Hey everybody! The wait is over! It's time for the Hero Arts August 2022 My Monthly Hero release and this month's kit is a stencil lovers dream! It's got a set of four layering stencils to create a beautiful desert scene. There are also a sentiment stamp set, some coordinating dies, four ink cubes, five sheets of Luxe watercolor paper and bronze PearlEx (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 September 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. 

HOT TIP: Ok, so here's something I quickly figured out with this kit... I am someone who struggles with leaving white space on a card (especially in a landscape scene like this where white space within the design would really break it up). If you are like me then I suggest the easy solution of starting either with colored card stock and ink blending on that, inkblending a background in the colors of your choice before using the stencils, or, grab a background from your stash and have fun with that!

For my first project I decided to grab a watercolored background from my stash and be inspired by the vibrant colors. This panel was created with DIY Liquid Watercolor sprays and I believe I used Pink and Dandelion but it looks like I could've sprayed a little Creamsicle Reactive spray in there too. I decided to put the pink up top for a magically hazy sky and the yellow/orange tones worked well for a desert floor. I used the stencils from the kit and inkblended in Taffy reactive ink to add the gorgeous skyline and some sandy pits. For the next layer I used a sponge dauber to gently add in highlights with Gold Glimmer Metallic Ink. If you decide to do this make sure to go easy so that the gold doesn't run under your stencil and you can get some crisp highlights. I wanted more gold so after the first layer dried I went back with a paintbrush and thickened it up.

I wanted to give the mountains a little bit more definition since doing pink mountains against a pink sky didn't provide a lot of contrast. I grabbed a pink colored pencil and traced around the edges of the mountains and added a little shading where I thought it would look good. That was an easy way to make the mountains pop. I wanted to add to the sky as well so I masked off the bottom part of the card (coordinating dies make this easy) and splattered it with White Glimmer Metallic Ink. Before moving on, I heat embossed my sentiment onto the panel using Onyx Pigment ink and clear embossing powder.

Next, I used a separate piece of white paper to stencil my cacti in Key Lime Fizz and Green Apple Reactive Inks. I used the coordinating dies to cut them out and adhered them with foam tape. I finished my card off by adding it to a black mat and a card base. 

I made this next card using a new stencil called Desert Road Stencil. I used some Pixie Spray to lightly adhere it to my cardstock before working with it so that I could get clean lines. I inkblended everything above the dark brown section using Dandelion, Pale Tomato, Sand, Caramel, Cup O' Joe, and Espresso inks. It was too hard to keep the colors separated by section as I had originally planned so I blended over the tops of the stencil lines and ended being happy with the look

By the time I was halfway down the card I was tired of inkblending and started wondering if it would work well to use my copic markers with the stencil. I decided to try it out and this technique allowed me to get some nice shading in my gray road and to move quickly down the rest of the card. I do think the ink blending at the top looks smoother though. 

I added a sentiment from the Seaside Highway HeroScape set and a black mat to finish off this card.

Here's another card I made using the kit. This one has a watercolor look that was easy to achieve. If you'd like the details for this card you can find them by clicking here. 

Ok, that's it for today you guys! I hope you have an amazing week and that you'll keep hopping along with us for more inspiration. Remember to comment below to enter yourself in the giveaway!

Maria

GIVEAWAY:

We will give away a $50 gift card, drawn from the comments left across the hop. Enter by Sunday, August 7th 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
Emily Midgett
Ilina Crouse
Jessica Frost-Ballas
Kelly Taylor
Libby Hickson
Lydia Fiedler
Maria Willis: YOU ARE HERE.
Michelle Short
Mindy Eggen
Pocono Pam
Seeka
Jennifer Kotas
Meg Brooks
Nichol Spohr
Rebecca Keppel

Andrew Granick: Visit him on Instagram

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