Hero Arts Digital Kit: Papillons - Vintage Cards!

Hey everybody! I'm back today with a super fun and easy set of vintage-style butterfly cards. Over the last few months Hero Arts has been release digital papers and kits with their releases. There have been some really fun ones but I think this new Papillons Digital Kit is my favorite to date (and at just $4.99 it is a screaming deal!). Now, I was a little worried if I'd be able to use the kit or not because I don't have any fancy editing software. I shouldn't have worried because I was easily able to use this kit with Word. I downloaded the kit and then I just dragged the images into a blank word document and resized them how I pleased.

There are a variety of images that come with the kit, some are single butterflies, some are multiple butterflies, some have writing and some don't, etc... You can add them and arrange them and size them however you like. The kit does come with paintbrushes.... I do think you need software (maybe Adobe?) to use those, however, they were not necessary for this kit to be be absolutely phenomenal!

For these cards I decided to go for a vintage look and I printed the images out in color (yes, color! I didn't even have to color them-but you can print them inn black in white and color if you want to) on some vintage looking printer paper I had in my office. I cut them down to A2 sized papers and used Sand Core ink to ink blend around the edges. Then I used Sand ink, black ink and Gold Glimmer Metallic ink to splatter the background (the splatters are subtle and don't show up well in the pictures.

I wanted to glam the butterflies up a little so I used a paint brush to paint on some Gold Glimmer Metallic Ink. You can kind of see this in this pictures. I took a quick video of this to share but somehow I deleted it (sorry). To finish my cards off I glued the beautiful Papillon papers to Ivory Cardbases. These were fun, easy and make such a sweet little card set. 

Ok, you guys, that is it for today but please come back tomorrow because I've got more to share!

Have an awesome day!

Maria

Hero Arts February 2023 Premium My Monthly Hero Kit: Mixed Media!

Hey everybody! I hope you're having an awesome day! Today I'm excited to be back with another creation using goodies from yesterday's Hero Arts release. Yesterday the new Premium My Monthly Hero kit came out and I absolutely died when I saw the rub-ons (image transfer sheets) that are included in the kit. These are so cool because you can rub them onto a background if you want, or, you can rub the butterflies onto paper, vellum, etc and use the coordinating butterfly dies (also in the Premium kit) to cut them out. On this project I've done both.

I started out by using my Rounded Rectangle Infinity Dies to cut out a piece of watercolor paper. I sprayed that with DIY Reactive Sprays in Root Beer and Blue Raspberry and ink blended around the edges with Indigo Core ink. Next, I added some of the floral and star rub-ons to the background then stamped the Background Texture Strips in Sand ink. I added White and Gold Glimmer Metallic ink splatters too.

To add more texture to the background I stamped the Background Texture Strips again using Onyx Pigment in and then heat embossed that in clear. I rubbed the edges into some Versamark embossing ink and added Sand Embossing Powder. This added some amazing, gritty texture to the edges. Next, I grabbed my Star Cluster Stencil and added some Gold Hero Wax. I wanted a little more of that gold so I rubbed some Hero Wax around the edges with my finger.

Once my background was done I used the gorgeous butterfly rub-on and transferred it a piece of white cardstock. I die cut it with the coordinating dies from the Premium kit. Then I added a coiled up piece of black metallic thread to the back with some foam tape and added that to my project to finish it off.

That's it for today you guys but please come back tomorrow as I'll be sharing three cards that I made with the gorgeous new Papillons Digital Card kit!

Have an awesome day and I'll see you back here soon!

Maria

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Hero Arts My Monthly Hero Release February 2023: Blog Hop and Giveaway!

Hey everybody! The wait is over! It's time for the Hero Arts February 2023 My Monthly Hero release and this month's kit is a fantastic, butterfly themed bundle! 

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 of this Classic kit is just $34.99/month and the value is always much greater! This month's kit is valued at $74! Starting with this release there is now a PREMIUM KIT option!!! The Premium Kit will include everything that the Classic (original) kit includes plus some additional upgrades. Premium Kit subscribers will receive the kit for $49.99 and the value for this month's kit is $108 so you'll be receiving over double the value! All current MMH subscribers (signed up prior to January 31, 2023) will receive this upgraded kit at no additional cost! Lucky you guys!

Check out the kits to see what is included:

-CLASSIC KIT

-PREMIUM KIT

You have the option to subscribe (subscribing now means your first kit will be the March 2023 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 am using the fancy butterfly dies from the Premium Kit, a sentiment from the Classic Kit and the new Background Texture Strips. I started out by die cutting my butterflies from Canary cardstock and inkblending the edges with Fruit Punch Reactive ink. Then I pressed some of the edges of the butteflies into Versamark Embossing Ink and heat embossed them in Gold. I added some extra detail to the butterflies with white gel pen and set them aside.

Next, I took a piece of A2 sized Pitch Black cardstock and stamped the right side of the background using Unicorn White Pigment Ink (some full strength and some second generation) and a scripty stamp from the Background Texture Strips stamp set. I wanted to add gold to the background so I splattered it with Gold Glimmer Metallic ink. I had some cardboard packaging from my cat's food that I've been wanting to use on a project so I tore that and glued it to my background piece. In order to tie it in to the black background I added some black splatters (you can do this with ink or with black acrylic paint). Then I grabbed my Gold Hero Wax and rubbed it over the raised areas of the cardboard and up the left side of the black background. This helped to connect the cardboard to the background and give the butterflies somewhere to sit. Three different gold mediums (embossing powder, glimmer metallic ink, Hero wax) might seem like overkill to you but they each have a different finish and a different texture so they end up being eye-catching in different ways while still coordinating.

After all of that the only thing left to do was add a sentiment. I stamped the "happy birthday" sentiment in Onyx Pigment ink onto Sand Cardstock and heat embossed it in clear. Then I die cut it with my Nesting Circle Infinity Dies, cut the bottom off and ink blended the edges with Sand Core Ink... and, that's all there was to it!

My next card focuses on one of the new stamps from today's release called Abstract Butterfly Wing Background. Today, I used this stamp "as is" to make a large, colorful background but I'm really looking forward to using the more detailed parts of it for mixed media projects. For this card, I stamped the card onto white cardstock using Hero Pigment Inks in Rose Quartz, Citrine and Canary. These inks have a much longer drying time than core inks so I was able to stamp multiple times to get good coverage (and blend the colors) then cover them with Clear Embossing Powder to heat emboss the image.

Heat embossing a solid image allows for a cool technique called Emboss Resist. I used both Splash and Blue Hawaii Reactive Inks to ink blend over my entire image and background. The embossed image resisted the ink so that it only sank into the (once white) background. I used a paper towel to wipe down the embossed areas and remove any extra ink that might be sitting on top of the image. I cut this piece down just a smidge and added it to a black A2 cardbase.

I wanted to add a sentiment but I didn't want to cover up too much of the background. I decided a simple, "HI," would do and I used my Luggage Tag Alphabet Frame Cuts to cut the letters out three times. I glued the letters together so that they would be very thick and then I glued those onto my card front. 

Just in case you didn't see my blog post from yesterday here's a look at another card that I made using a butterfly from the Premium Kit. All of the details are on that blog post and you can check it out HERE.

Now, I've got to tell you that I had an incredible time creating with this release and I've created many more cards than what I've shared today. Tomorrow (Tuesday, February 7th) at 11am Pacific, Aaron (Owner of Hero Arts) and Creative Team Member Lydia Fiedler will be doing a live (Hero Arts Facebook and YouTube Channel). I've sent a total of ten cards/projects in for them to share including a fun mixed media project using the rub-ons from the Premium Kit. I've also used the Papillon Digital Kit and it is freaking amazing! It was my first time using a digital kit and I'm totally sold on it after this experience. You can tune in live or watch the replay to see those samples on video. I will also be sharing those cards/projects here on my blog over the next few days.

Ok! That's all I've got but the rest of the Hero Arts Creative Team and the Guest Designers have so much incredible inspiration to share. I hope you'll join the blog hop and enter the giveaway.

Have an amazing day!

Maria

GIVEAWAY:

We will give away a $50 gift card, drawn from the comments left across the hop. Enter by Sunday, February 12th 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
Emily Midgett
Ilina Crouse
Jessica Frost-Ballas
Kelly Taylor
Lydia Fiedler
Maria Willis: You are HERE.
Michelle Short
Mindy Eggen
Pocono Pam
Seeka

Essie
Jennifer Kotas
Meg Brooks
Nichol Spohr
Rebecca Keppel

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Gina K Designs New Release: Beautiful Butterflies 2

Heyooooo! It's Gina K Designs release day and boy do I have a beautiful stamp set to share with you! Today I will be using the new Beautiful Butterflies 2 stamp set. It coordinates with the existing Beautiful Butterflies Dies set and the new Beautiful Butterflies 2 Dies.

I started out by inkblending a piece of white cardstock in Abandoned Coral and Wild Honey Distress Oxide Inks. Then I heat embossed the butterfly using Versamark Ink and Clear Embossing Powder and cut it out. I added some white detail using a gel pen just to add a little bit of contrast and show off the gorgeous design inside of the butterfly.

Next, I inkblended a piece of watercolor cardstock using Blueprint Sketch, Broken China and Tumbled Glass. I sprayed this with Iridescent Shimmer Spray and then splattered it with White Metallic Ink while it was still wet (this allowed the white to bleed and spread a little). I cut this panel down to 3.75" x 5" stamped my sentiment before adding it to a black cardbase with foam tape.

The final step was to attach this gorgeous butterfly to my card with foam tape and some embellishments to up the pretty factor.

Ok, that's it for me today you guys! This card was super easy to pull together quickly as there was no coloring involved and the rest was pretty straight forward. Let me know if you decided to give something like this a try!

Have an awesome day!

Maria

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