Hero Arts My Monthly Hero October 2022 Release: Blog Hop & Giveaway!

Hey everybody! The wait is over! It's time for the Hero Arts October 2022 My Monthly Hero release and this month's kit is a gorgeous, wintery, Christmas bundle! It's got a large 6"x8" stamp set filled stamps that are perfect for scene building or for using individually. There are also sentiments in a most beautiful font. The coordinating die set cuts out all of the images including the sentiments! The kit also includes a cling background stamp of falling snow, two different white ink cubes, and some gorgeous papers (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 $79!

You have the option to subscribe (subscribing now means your first kit will be the November 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 share today I wanted to show how easy it is to make gorgeous holiday tags with this kit. I started out with a piece of Mist cardstock. I selected two of the images from the kit to build a scene. I stamped one with Granite ink and the second with INTENS-ified Black ink. The lighter gray ink helped the first image to fade into the background and made it look further away. The black ink brought the second image to the foreground and also allowed me to overlap the two images without losing any of the detail. After stamping the images I used my Tag Infinity Dies to cut out a tag in the size that I wanted.

I used some post-it tape to create a mask for the bottom portion of my tag. Then, I used a blending brush and some Blue Hawaii Reactive Ink to ink around the edges to darken up the sky before heat embossing the falling snow background stamp in White Satin Pearl. I used white and yellow Posca pens to snow and light to the windows on the images. Next, I heat embossed my sentiment in white onto Cherry cardstock, die cut it with the coordinating die, and adhered it to my tag with foam tape. A couple of rhinestone gems and some twine added the finishing touches to my tag.

For my next card I decided to use the Gingerbread House Fancy Die which is an add-on to this month's kit. I left the die set connected and ran it through my die cut machine twice, once with Luxe watercolor paper (I didn't end up watercoloring so white cardstock would've been fine), and again with Sand cardstock. I started by ink-blending the edges of the gingerbread house with Sand ink to add a little depth. Then I used my red and yellow Posca paint pens to color in the windows and sash on the house as well as the stripes on the candy cane. I added Gold Hero Pearls to sash on the house to fancy it up a little bit. I colored the gingerbread cookie and tree with my copic markers and set them aside.

I wanted to have some really great, textured snow on this card so I used the Snow & Froth Technique Kit (lacquer pen and white puff embossing powder) to add snow to the roof top and the door of the gingerbread house. To do this, just squirt the lacquer pen everywhere that you want snow, cover it with white puff embossing powder, and heat set it. You will end up with most wonderful snow!

For the background I started out with a piece of Mist cardstock and I inkblended the edges with Blue Hawaii Reactive ink. Next I grabbed the Sprinkled Dots stencil, taped it to my background (add tape to back of cardstock to prevent tearing). and applied Glitter Paste with my palette knife. I hit the glitter paste with my heat tool to dry it quickly and then I adhered my assembled gingerbread house and accessories to the card using foam adhesive. I stamped the Holiday Sentiment Strips in black ink on Cherry cardstock then cut all of the sentiments out at once using the Sentiment Strips Fancy Die. This combination is so awesome bc you end up with so many perfect sentiment strips at once and anything you don't use immediately can be saved for another project. Anyhow, I added my sentiment strip using foam tape and that was it for my card.

Here is another card that I made using the October 2022 kit. If you want all of the details for this card then over to this blog post HERE.

That is it for today you guys! I hope you love this month's kit as much as I do. Please check out the details for the giveaway below and make sure to check out the rest of the blog hop for some incredible inspiration!

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, October 9th at 11:59pm Pacific, and the winner will be announced on the Hero Arts blog the following week.

BLOG HOP LIST:

Hero Arts

Hero Arts Creative Team: 

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

Special Guests: 

Jennifer Kotas
Meg Brooks
Nichol Spohr
Rebecca Keppel

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

Hero Arts Countdown to Creativity: October 2022 Release!

Hey everybody! It's almost time for the October 2022 Hero Arts My Monthly Hero release and this month's kit is a fabulous kit for creating gorgeous holiday scenes and more.

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! 

You have the option to subscribe (subscribing now means your first kit will be the November 2022 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 colorful Christmas scene to share with you. I started by stamping some of the scenes in Onyx Pigment Ink and then heat embossing them in clear. I used the coordinating dies to cut them out. 

I figured out where I wanted the scene images to fit on my card front and ink blended the sky using Reactive Inks in Taffy and Lemon Drop. I inkblended the bottom with Pool Party then sprayed the whole background with white iridescent shimmer spray. Then, I stamped and heat embossed the Santa and elf images onto my background pieces. 

Finally, I added the die cut scene images using liquid glue and foam tape. I cut the excess off of both sides so that the images would be flush with the background. I added the background piece to a Pitch Black mat and that was it!

If you'd like a chance to win this kit before you can buy it head on over to the Hero Arts blog and enter for your chance to win. There are two more days of the countdown so be sure to check back for the next couple of days and see all of the inspiration from the design team!

Have an awesome day and I'll see you on Monday for the full release!

Maria

PRODUCT SUPLY LIST (Affiliate Links may be used at no extra cost to you):

Hero Arts My Monthly Hero November 2021 Release: Adorable Tags and a Treat Box!

Hey everybody! The wait is over! It's time for the Hero Arts November My Monthly Hero release and this month's kit is a fun holiday tag building kit with many fun characters (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 November 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.

Now, this kit comes with some really fun tag building elements that allow you to custom build reindeer, elves, Santa and snowmen. You can make them tags or cut the circular "hook" off the top of the die cuts to create dies that can easily be used on cards. The kit also comes with two patterned stamps (dots and stripes), some sentiments and twine. 

For my first card I got inspired by the "no peeking" sentiment. I decided to make presents using the patterned stamps and I used the twine to tie bows around them. For one present I used the the dot stamp, White Puff embossing powder and Paradise cardstock. For the second present I used the striped stamp, silver embossing powder and Lapis cardstock. I tied them up with the twine from the kit and the red added a nice little pop of color.

Then I built an elf and tucked him behind the gifts to make it look like he is indeed peeking- what a naughty guy! For my naughty elf I used paper from the Colors of Earth cardstock pack for his face and ears/hair. I colored his nose and hair with brown copic markers. I cut the eyes out of white cardstock, placed them in the eyeholes and held them in place with a piece of tape stuck to the back. I used a black gel pen to color the eyes then added highlights with a white gel pen. I cut the hat twice, once from red foil and again from white glitter cardstock. I cut the "crown" out from the white glitter and glued it to the red foil hat. This gave me dimension and sparkle. To embellish the pompom on the hat I used the lacquer pen and white puff embossing powder that come in the kit. When I heat set these two products they expanded and puffed to give me a  really fun 3D effect on the pompom.

To finish my card off I used the new Candy Canes Bold Prints background stamp, versamark ink and Kiwi cardstock. Then I inkblended around the edges using Blue Raspberry Reactive ink which made the center of the card glow. I adhered the sentiment, gifts and elf using foam adhesive and that was that!

My next project was super fun to make and I could see myself making a bunch of these to handout as fun little treats! This is actually a box and I've put a packet of apple cider inside but it would be great with hot chocolate or fancy coffee packs too. I used mist cardstock to create my box which I custom sized to my apple cider packet. I used the Knitting Pattern Bold Prints stamp and versamark ink to stamp a subtle pattern onto my box (I did mask it off so that I only stamped the front of the box). I heat embossed my sentiment in Onyx ink and clear embossing powder. Then I glued my box together and wrapped it with a 1.5" strip of Woodgrain Vellum. I attached the vellum band to itself in the back so that I could slide it on and off of the box if I wanted to. 

Next, I cut the mug from Kiwi cardstock and inkblended the edges with Blue Raspberry Reactive ink. I heat embossed a snowflake using White Puff embbossing powder. then I cut the top of the mug die again in Sand cardstock. I did this because the liquid part of the mug is not attached to the mug which made it really easy for me to make hot chocolate with Sand cardstock and some brown markers.  I also die cut the whipped cream and the candy from white cardstock. I added color to the candy cane with red markers. Then, I added 3D foam to the whipped cream using the lacquer pen and White Puff embossing powder. I glued all of these pieces together and stuck them to my box using foam adhesive.

The last step was to create a topper for my apple cider packet. I did this by folding a strip of Cherry cardstock in half and glueing it to the top of the apple cider packet. I used the Tag Infinity dies to create a gold glitter circle thing for my topper and then I added some twine to finish it off. 

The apple cider pouch fits perfectly inside the gift box. This could also be a really fun way to give some one a gift card to their favorite coffee shop or hot chocolate bar. I love having fun ways to give smaller gifts at the holidays because it's such an easy way to make people feel cared for and thought about.

Now, here's a look at another card that I made using the November MMH kit. This is the card that I shared during the countdown but I wanted to share it again today for anyone who missed my last post.

If you wnat to check out the details on how I made this please head to the original blog post by CLICKING HERE.

This reindeer really is so cute! I turned this tag into a card but it would be really fun to use this as a tag on a gift as well.

Now before I go I want to show you a look at the full kit... it's got so much great stuff in it!

Ok, that's all for today you guys! Make sure you check out the info below so that you can join our giveaway and keep on hopping along with us for more MMH kit inspiration!

Bye for now and have an awesome day!

Maria

GIVEWAY:

Hero Arts will give away ALL OF THE NOVEMBER ADD-ON PRODUCTS, drawn from the comments left across the hop. Enter by Sunday, November 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
Debi Adams
Emily Midgett
Ilina Crouse
Libby Hickson
Jessica Frost Ballas
Lydia Fiedler
Maria Willis
Michelle Short
Mindy Eggen
Pocono Pam
Seeka
Jennifer Kotas
Jennifer McGuire
Meg Brooks
Nichol Spohr
Rebecca Keppel
 

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

Hero Arts My Monthly Hero: Countdown Countdown to Creativity!

Hey everybody! It's almost time for the October Hero Arts My Monthly Hero release and this month's kit is a festive holiday kit!

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! 

You have the option to subscribe (subscribing now means your first kit will be the November 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 Three of the Countdown to Creativity and I've got a sneak peek of this month's kit to share with you... and this month's kit is fun for so many reasons! I can't spill all of the beans yet because this is just a sneak peek so stay tuned because the full release is tomorrow!

For today's card I started out by building myself a cute little reindeer using the dies from the kit. I cut the piece out from Sand cardstock and then added shading with my copic markers. I glued the reindeer pieces together and then added eyes and a nose that I had cut out in black. Once those were adhered I added some black gloss with a glossy gel pen. The final touch was to add a scarf that I had cut out using red foil.

To create the tag I used the Tag Infinity Dies to cut the largest tag out of Mist Cardstock. Next, I heat embossed my sentiment in Onyx Black and heat embossed in clear. I covered the sentiment with a small piece of low-tack tape. Then I used the dotted stamp from the kit to stamp the background in Versamark ink, removed the tape from the sentiment, and I heat embossed it in Clear Embossing Powder. I love the subtle look that gave my tag bc it helped give it a little personality but still allowed the reindeer to be the star of the show. I also added a gold glitter circle to reinforce the tag hole before adding a twine bow (twine is from the kit).

I covered an A2 cardbase with Woodgrain Vellum. I adhered it using liquid adhesive and because of the texture, the adhesive is not visible through the vellum at all. This gave my background some subtle but beautiful texture. I added the reindeer to the tag with foam tape. Then added the tag on top of the vellum and that finished off my card!

Tomorrow we get to reveal the full release so make sure to come back tomorrow for an awesome blog hop with tons of inspiration and giveaways too! For now you can head on over to the Hero Arts blog for a chance to win this kit before you can buy it!

See you tomorrow for the full release!

Maria

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

Video: Tonic Studios Stamp Club Blog Hop & Giveaway: Snowmies

Hey everybody and welcome to today's launch of Snowmies from Tonic Studios! I've got a ton of cards and a VIDEO for you today so I am going to just dive right in! Oh! Also there are cards and envelopes in the video that are not on my blog today so make sure you head over there to see everything I've got to share today!

If you'd like to head straight to the shop here are my affiliate links:

    -Snowmies bundle USA: https://shrsl.com/387hg

    -Snowmies bundle UK: https://shrsl.com/387hk

    -Mini Slimline Envelope Dies USA: https://shrsl.com/387hl

    -Mini Slimline Envelope Dies UK: https://shrsl.com/387ho

For my first card I made a slim-line card with trees and snowmies from this month's Snowmies release. I created a custom sentiment using the large die cut letters from both Patterns & Prints and Backgrounds & Borders.

To create the background I did an easy watercolor wash using Distress Oxide inks. Then I sprayed the background with White Iridescent Shimmer Spray from Hero Arts which gave it a sparkly, snowy finish. I added snowflakes that I die-cut from holowaves cardstock to the background.

To finish my card off I added the trees and snowmies with foam adhesive and the letters with liquid glue. Some Nuvo Dream Drops in Indigo Eclipse.

Now, I promised you a VIDEO and you can check that out HERE (affialiate links may be used at no extra cost to you)...

If you are having trouble watching the video you can CLICK HERE  to watch it on YouTube. 

For my next card I made another slimline card. I inkblended the background in bold blues and then I used the stencil that comes in the Snowmies bundle to stencil snowflakes onto the background using glacier paste. It came out super sparkly and gorgeous! at the bottom of the card I sprayed the background with White Iridescent Shimmer Spray to  make it look like snow.

I watercolored the sledding snowmies and die cut them out. I placed them in the center of the card using foam tape.

Then I added my sentiments at the top and bottom of the card to finish it off.

For this next card I built two snowmies using the snowman builder dies. I built them in different sizes and gave them each a mug of something warm and delicious to drink.

I used white glitter paper to create some snow drifts and I heat embossed my sentiments in white on black.

I inkblended my background and then I used the falling snow side of the stencil to add snow using my Moonstone Glimmer paste. After that all I had to do was glue it all together and add it to a black cardbase.

My next card was really easy to put together. I used patterned paper on the card base then covered that with a panel that I textured using the texture plates from the new mini slimline envelope builder die set. I added white, glitter snowflakes on top of the white panel.

I built myself an easy snowman using the snowman builder dies. I added him to the card along with some snow drifts.

The last step was to add a sentiment: Sending warm holiday hugs! I love that sentiment!

You can use this set to make some really beautiful and easy to reproduce cards too. For this next card I sprayed some white cardstock with my Dina Wakley acrylic gloss sprays in shade of green. Then I cut some trees out using the dies from the Snowmies bundle.

I covered the cardbase in red, striped patterned paper and splattered it with Midas Touch. Then I added a strip of vellum and adhered the trees on top using foam tape.

I added a beautiful sentiment from the Christmas Rose stamp set and then some gold sequins to finish it off. 

Ok, that's it for today! Thanks so much for joining us today's fun release. We have a great giveaway and a blog hop to share with you today so please scroll down for all of that info!

Have an amazing day!

Maria

GIVEAWAY:

-One lucky winner will win a £50/$50 Giftcard to Tonic Studios and the Snowmies bundle!

-To enter, comment on every blog in the hop by 11:59pm PST on November 3, 2021/ 7:59am GST on November 4, 2021

-Winner will be announced on November 5, 2021 on IG and FB so make sure you're following all of the Tonic Studios social media accounts!

BLOG HOP:

Maria Willis: You are here.

Sandi MacIver

Daniel West

Ilina Crouse

Ilda Dias

Channin Pelletier

Jen Kray

Jessica Frost-Ballas

Mindy Eggen

Emily Midgett

Michelle Short

Marie Heiderscheit

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

Hero Arts My Monthly Hero Release and a little bit of Steampunk Grunge!

Hey everybody! The wait is over! It's time for the Hero Arts October My Monthly Hero release and this month's kit is a festive holiday kit (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 $72!

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

This kit has an absolutely gorgeus, A2 sized window die. It has beautiful, etched details and a perfect spot at the top for adding a sentiment. I die cut it from white cardstock and lightly ink-blended it with Splash Reactive Ink. Then, I heat embossed the sentiment using Onyx Pigment ink and Clear embossing powder. I also ink-blended a second panel in Lemon Drop ink, splattered it with Midas Touch and set it aside to dry.

Next, I heat embossed the tree, candelabra and champagne glasses in silver. I colored them all with my copic markers and then die cut them using the coordinating dies the come in the MMH kit. 

I used foam tape to put my card together. I turned the candles upside down to create a chandelier and tucked the champagne glasses inside one of the windows. The final step was to add the Christmas tree to the front of the card.

For my next card I went the complete opposite of my first card. This time I went for a metallic, grungy look by combining the new Gear Clock Boldprints with the new Steampunk Holiday set. I started by ink-blending a piece of Aegean cardstock with Blue Hawaii ink (around the edges only). Then I heat embossed the Gear Clock background stamp with Sand embossing powder. After that I used the Novel Prose background stamp to do some taco stamping (fold the stamp like a taco and stamp with it) and heat embossed that with white puff embossing powder.

To finish off the background, I heat embossed the sentiment and some gears in Onyx ink and clear embossing powder. I used two different sentiments to do this and I used washi tape to cover up the part of each sentiment that I didn't want to use. I also took a black posca pen and marked up the background a little bit.

Last, I heat embossed the little steampunk owl and key in brass on Pitch Black cardstock and then cut them out using the matching dies. I attached them to my card using foam tape and positioned them so that the owl was perching on the key.

Every once in a while I like to make a single layer card that's easy to mail so I decided to do that with the gorgeous Christmas Tree stamp. I heat embossed the image and sentiment onto Cherry Cardstock using Gold Glitter Embossing Powder. I decided to color the image with my colored pencils but I wasn't able to get the contrast I was hoping for so my coloring just looked, "blah." I basically never throw anything away (I try to fix everything) and this card was no exception.

I grabbed my fine tipped, colored Posca Pens (acrylic paint pens) and decided to try coloring the tree with those. Because the paint is opaque I was able to get bold colors and make the tree standout on the red background. It was a little hard to color perfectly because the pen tips were larger than some of the tiny details of the stamp but I ended up being happy with how it turned out.

After that all I had to do was to glue my panel to a cardbase and my card was done!

Ok! That is it for today but please make sure to enter our fabulous GIVEAWAY and continue on with our BLOG HOP for tons of amazing inspiration! 

Have an awesome day!

Maria

GIVEAWAY:

We will give away ALL OF THE OCTOBER ADD-ON PRODUCTS, drawn from the comments left across the hop. Enter by Sunday, October 10th 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
Daniel West
Debi Adams
Emily Midgett
Ilina Crouse
Jessica Frost-Ballas
Libby Hickson
Lydia Fiedler
Maria Willis
Michelle Short
Mindy Eggen
Seeka
Jennifer Kotas
Meg Brooks
Nichol Spohr
Rebecca Keppel

And visit on Instagram: 

Kailash Naidoo

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