Hero Arts My Monthly Hero Release, Blog Hop and Giveaway!

Hi everybody and happy Hero Arts release day! The July My Monthly Hero Kit is here and it is such a magical kit! 

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 $72!

You have the option to subscribe (subscribing now means your first kit will be the August release), or, to buy your favorite kits as a 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 always a ton of fantastic add-on products offered. You can choose to buy your favorites or buy them all at a discounted rate.

We also have an awesome GIVEAWAY and a BLOG HOP with tons of inspiration going on so please make sure to check the info for those at the bottom of my post!

Ok, on to my first card! This kit is full of small images that are really great for scene building. The second I saw the little gnome in a hammock I knew I wanted to stick him on a tropical beach somewhere. I stamped him onto white cardstock with copic friendly black ink.

Then I used my copic markers to color him in, added sand below, and an ocean (or maybe the Caribbean Sea) behind him. I inkblended the background using my reactive inks and then heat embossed my sentiment. 

The final touch was to add a black mat and pop the whole thing up on a kraft card base. 

My next card was made using three of this month's add-ons. The add-ons this month are so awesome and I had a lot of fun making this card. I started out by creating a colorful galaxy background using my Nuvo Shimmer Powders and applying them to watercolor paper. 

Next, I used the Starry Clouds Infinity Dies (the second largest die) to cut a gorgeous frame for my card out of Pitch Black Cardstock. I splattered this with Midas Touch Shimmer Pen for some subtle but gorgeous shimmer.

I heat embossed the fairies from the Meadow HeroScape set in gold onto black and added those in with foam tape. Finally, I added a sentiment from the Magical Forest set and embellished with some gems.

In case you missed it the other day, here's another look at the card I made for the Countdown to today's launch. You can learn more about how I put this card together by clicking here to head my original blog post.

Before I go I want to give you a look at what's included in this month's kit. Check out this picture to see everything you'll receive when this July My Monthly Hero kit lands on your doorstep...

Ok, you guys, that's all I've got for today! Please make sure to check out the GIVEAWAY info below and continue on with the blog hop to see some amazing creativity and tons of inspiration with this release!

Have an awesome day!

Maria

GIVEAWAY:

Hero Arts will give away one $50 gift card, drawn from the comments left across the hop. Enter by Sunday, July 11th 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
Ilina Crouse
Jessica Frost-Ballas
Lydia Fiedler
Maria Willis: YOU ARE HERE.
Michelle Short: NEXT.
Mindy Eggen
Seeka
Jennifer Kotas
Jennier McGuire
Meg Brooks
Nichol Spohr
Rebecca Keppel

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

Hero Arts Countdown to Creativity: You're One of a Kind!

Hey everybody! It's almost time for the July Hero Arts My Monthly Hero release and this month's kit is like gnome other... Sorry, that was awful but I couldn't help it!

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! 

NOTE: This month's kit will go live on Tuesday, July 6th because of the Fourth of July holiday here in the US.

You have the option to subscribe (subscribing now means your first kit will be the July 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!

Today is Day One of the Countdown to Creativity and I've got a sneak peek of this month's kit to share with you. I picked a few different stamps from the kit and did a little bit of masking, coloring and inkblending to build a fun little scene.

The tree stump and flowers are stamped onto the card face and the little house and gnome climbing the ladder were colored separately, die cut and and then adhered onto the card face. 

The trickiest part was the gnome on the ladder. After I die cut him and added him to the card there was a lot of white space between the ladder rungs that blocked the tree stump. Since I had masked the first images onto the background and there was no white space I thought the ladder's white space looked off stylistically. I got out my fine tip sharpie and went to work drawing in the lines of the tree stump onto my ladder die cut. When I was done I colored the hand-drawn scene between the ladder rungs in with matching copic markers. It was easier than I thought it would be and I was happy that it pulled the card together for a more cohesive look.

To catch more sneak peeks of this month's kit head on over to the Hero Arts blog where you can find the rest of the Day One sneaks as well as enter the giveaway to win a kit before you can buy it!

We will catch you on Tuesday, July 6th for the full release!

Have an amazing day!

Maria

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