Butterflies and Texture!

Hi everybody! I'm glad you're here because I had so much fun making the card that I'm sharing with you today. Earlier this week Hero Arts had a stunning new release and it was all about those butterflies! The add-ons are equally fabulous so today I'm sharing two of my favorite add-ons with you: the Beautiful Butterflies Bundle and the Background Texture Strips. 

Now, I'm the kind of crafter who always has colorful scraps of past projects lying around. I noticed I had a piece of white cardstock that I had been using to get some ink off of my blending brushes and it was such a pretty color combination that I decided to use the scrap. It also had some random stamping using the the script stamp from the Background Texture Strips so it was truly meant to be used for this card.

I cut the paper down to A2 size and finished ink blending it in Ultra Pink, Lemon Yellow, and, Summer Sky. I wanted to add a little more visual texture to the background so I splattered it with rubbing alcohol to create some lighter spots and I also sprayed it with White Iridescent Shimmer Spray. I wanted to some more "shadow" to the background so I used the Luggage Tag Alphabet Frame Cuts (still connected) to create a stencil. I gently ink-blended the negative portion of the die cut using Granite Core ink and focusing on the outer edges of the card face. This left me with a soft, beautiful background that had a lot of visual texture...

But, If you know me, you know that I like texture that I can touch! So I grabbed the Background Texture Strips stamp set and I decided to use the stamp that looks like tiny newspaper print (remember there was already some of the scripty stamp on the background from a previous project). I used the newspaper print stamp (on a stamping block) with Moonstone Pigment ink around the edges of the card-face and then I heat embossed it in clear so that it was shiny and raised. Next, I used the Star Cluster Stencil and my Pearl Hero Paste to add some stars to the background. Note that this has a gorgeous pearlescent finish. The pearlescent finish faded into the background shimmer and I had really wanted more contrast so the stars popped off the background. In the end I decided to color all of the paste with a white gel pen to get the contrast I wanted (hot tip: use the regular Hero Paste for more contrast).

To create a focal point for my card I heat embossed a butterfly from the Beautiful Butterflies set in White Embossing Powder on Pitch Black Cardstock. I die cut it with the coordinating dies and adhered it with foam tape. My sentiment is from the Sending Love Mail stamp set and I heat embossed it on Charcoal cardstock using Onyx Pigment ink and Clear Embossing Powder. The final touch was to add some Pewter Hero Pearls to the background.

Alright, that's it for today! I hope you all have a great day and I will see you back here soon!

Maria

Gina K. Designs June 2022 Release!

Hey everybody! I hope you're having an awesome day! I'm back with my second post of the day and this time we are checking out a stamp set from Gina K. Design's spectacular new release. Today I will be featuring the new stamp set, Window on the Water, illustrated by Melanie Muenchinger. My sentiment is from the Spring Floral Background by Hannah Drapinsky.

For today's card I made a 3.25". 5.75" mini slimline card. I started with a 3" x 5.5" piece of white Hammermill cardstock and I stamped the beach images and sentiment onto it using GKD Onyx ink. I stamped the image three times (once centered and once more on each side) so that the image would stretch across my panel.

Once my image was stamped, I used a combination of ink blending and copic coloring to add color and shading to my scene. I watered down some white acrylic paint and splattered the background to give the effect of stars.

The final step was to add a black mat to my card and call it done!

I hope you guys all love this new stamp set as much as I do and be sure to head over to Gina K. Designs to check out the full release!

Have an awesome day!

Maria

 

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

Hey everybody! The wait is over! It's time for the Hero Arts February My Monthly Hero release and this month's kit has so wacky 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 $75!

You have the option to subscribe (subscribing now means your first kit will be the March 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 ink-blended my background using Lemon Drop, Creamsicle and Key Lime Fizz. I splattered it with Fruit Punch and Gold Metallic Glimmer Ink. 

I stamped the umbrella and fish using Sapphire Pigment Ink and then heat embossed it in clear embossing powder. I colored the images using my copic markers and added details with a white gel pen. I added the images to my background using foam tape and framed them with a rectangle cut with my infinity dies.

I heat embossed my sentiment using onyx pigment ink and clear embossing powder onto a white top-folding cardbase. Then, I mounted the focal point using foam adhesive. The final touch was to add some enamel dots in neutrals.

For my next card I had fun using quite a few of the add-ons from this month's release. I used a piece of Pitch Black cardstock sprayed with White Iridescent Shimmer Spray and splattered with both white and gold Metallic Glimmer Ink to create my background. Then, I used the Cloud Window Fancy Die to cut the gorgeous, cloudy frame out of white cardstock. I inkblended it using reactive inks (Splash, Blue Hawaii, Purple Galaxy, Licorice). I spritzed it with white iridescent shimmer spray and lifted the excess spray with a paper towel. This process gave the clouds a mottled, dreamy look with a beautiful iridescent sheen.  To finish the clouds off I splattered them with white Glimmer Metallic Ink.

Next, I used the Dream Accessories Fancy Dies (whale and stars) and the Sparkle Frame Cuts (large moon die) to cut out some pieces to decorate the front of my card. I built my card up in layers using foam tape so that there is tons of dimension.

The final step was to add a sentiment from the Dream Messages stamp set. I heat embossed it in white on black carstock, cut it out with my paper trimmer, and popped it up on my card using foam tape.

Now here's another card I made using the February MMH Kit. If you want to see the details on how I put it together you can check out this blog post HERE.

Ok, that is it for today you guys! I hope you think this month's release is as fun as I do. To see more inspiration using this month's release keep on hopping along with us (list below). And, if you'd like the chance to win our giveaway then check out the details 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, February 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
Jessica Frost Ballas
Lydia Fiedler
Maria Willis
Michelle Short
Mindy Eggen
Pocono Pam
Seeka
Jennifer Kotas
Kelly Taylor
Meg Brooks
Nichol Spohr
Rebecca Keppel

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

Hero Arts STAMPtember Release: Make a Wish!

Happy STAMPtember everyone! Today is Hero Art's turn to collaborate with Simon Says Stamps as they come together to release an exclusive (to SSS) and limited stamp set! This stamp set is called, Make a Wish, and it's such a sweet little set. 

I decided to make a mini-slimline card and I started out by ink blending my background in Taffy, Splash and Lemon Drop Reactive Inks. Then I used the Tile Pattern Stencil and some White Iridescent Shimmer Mist to create a subtle, textured background. I also splattered both White and Gold Glimmer Metallic ink onto the background for a little extra shine and texture. The final step for the background was to stamp the "Happy Birthday" sentiment multiple times in Versamark ink and heat emboss it in White Satin Pearl Embossing Powder.

I stamped the Make a Wish image in Onyx Pigment ink and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. Then I cut it out using my Nesting Circle Infinity Dies. I also cut a silver glitter circle in the same size from the Holiday Sparkle Glitter Paper collection. After coloring my image with copic markers I glued the two circles together with liquid adhesive and attached them to my card base with foam tape.

After adding all of that to a dark gray mini slimline cardbase the final touch was to add some holographic stars that I had cut using the Star Confetti Fancy Die.

Well, that's it for today you guys! I hope you're enjoying all of the Simon Says Stamp STAMPtember releases and that you've thought this Make a Wish collaboration with Hero Arts is as fun as I think it is.

Bye for now and have an awesome day!

Maria

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

VIDEO: Hero Arts My Monthly Hero Kit Release, Blog Hop and Giveaway!

Hi everybody and happy Hero Arts release day! The June My Monthly Hero Kit is here and it is the purrrfect set for birthdays... Ha! Sorry that was so cheesy but I couldn't help it.

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 July 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.

Ok now let's get on to my cards because I've got four cards and a VIDEO to share with you today and there's also a GIVEAWAY (details at bottom of post)! My first card is a shaker card and let me tell you that this is the easiest shaker card I've made in my life! You can watch me quickly put it together in the video but here's how I made it... I started out by stamping two adorable kitties and a cake from the kit in INTENSE-ified Black Ink. I colored my images with copic markers and then die cut them (the kit always comes with coordinating dies) and set them aside.

If you'd prefer to watch me put this together in the video then here you go!

 

If you're having trouble viewing this video you can watch it HERE.

Next, I used the new Streamer Stencil to ink blend my background using Agean, Summer Sky and Orchid Bold Inks. These three colors blend beautifully together and you'll see this combo on three of my cards today. Ink blending was made totally easy bc I held the stencil down with my magnetic platform from Tonic Studios. After ink blending, I left the magnets in place to hold the stencil down and I used the White Iridescent Shimmer Spray to spritz on a coating of beautiful, transparent shimmer (which of course doesn't show up in the pics). I put this background face down on a Tonic Shaker Pocket and adhered three of the flaps to the back, leaving the top flap open. I poured in a bunch of shaker guts including confetti from the kit and some Icicle Sequins. When my shaker had enough shaker guts I sealed the top flap of the shaker pocket to seal my card front. I've made shaker cards like this before and have done it all from scratch. Having these precut acetate pieces with adhesive flaps is a total shaker card game changer!

After sealing up my shaker card I used foam tape to add all of the adorable images from the kit that I had already colored. The sentiments that I used were from the new Party Animals set. If two kitties diving head first into a cake isn't wild then I don't know what is, lol!

For my next card I ink blended the same trio of inks as on my last card. Then, I used Morning Fog Sparkle Spray and the Streamer Stencil to create a bold and sparkly background.

Next, I used the Color Layering Cupcake to create a focal point for my card. Now, I am the worst at color layering stamps and I hardly ever use them but, I'd like to get better at them so I decided to go for it because this cupcake is awesome! I made a few blunders along the way but nothing that couldn't be fixed with a copic marker (I didn't line the cake up properly with the liner and had a gap but a marker quickly fixed that). I die cut the cupcake with the coordinating dies and added some sparkle laquer and confetti bits from the main kit.

I wanted to add a candle to my cupcake so I stamped the Candles Bold Prints stamp in black ink. I selected the candle with the stars and cut it out with my scissors after coloring it with copic markers. I cut the bottom of the candle off in a curve so that it would look like it was stuck in the frosting. I added the cupcake and candle to my card and finished it off with a sentiment from the Color Layering Cupcake set.

 For my next card I again used the Streamer Stencil and Hero Arts Bold Inks to ink blend my background. 

Then, I added my sentiment from the Birthday Stamp & Cut XL. I die cut the sentiment three times (Amethyst, Pitch Black and Silver Glitter) and layered them together using liquid adhesive. I heat embossed the sentiment in white on black and cut it out with my paper trimmer.

After adhering my card face to a black cardbase I added the sentiment pieces with foam tape. The final touch was to add some confetti bits for a little bit of texture.

This last card is the one that I shared a couple days as a sneak peek. You can learn more about this card by heading over to the original blog post by clicking HERE.

Ok, you guys, that's it for today! I hope that you think the June My Monthly Hero Kit and add-ons are as much fun as I do. We've got a blog hop with a ton of inspiration so I hope you'll keep hopping along with us (blog list below). Also, check out the giveaway details below!

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, June 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

Jessica Frost-Ballas

Libby Hickson

Lydia Fiedler

Maria Willis: You are Here.

Michelle Short: Next

Mindy Eggen

Pocono Pam

Seeka

Jennifer Kotas

Meg Brooks

Nichol Spohr

Rebecca Keppel

PRODUCT SUPPLY LIST:

Hero Arts: Black History Month Blog Hop

Hi everybody! The crew from Hero Arts is celebrating Black History month with an Instagram Hop! To head to instagram and check that out CLICK HERE. We are using the Unity line of products and I decided to use this gorgeous Color Layering Flower Power stamp set. I started out by ink-blending my background using Splash, Blue Hawaii and Grape Slush. Then I used the Script Bold Prints stamp to heat emboss the background using Sand Embossing powder. I wanted this to have a grungy, mixed media style look so I did not use an anti-static tool and I allowed a lot of powder to stay stuck to the edges.

 

I decided to use the outline stamps only from the Color Layering Flower Power set and watercolored them with the Hero Arts Liquid Watercolors. I used Cocoa, Art Print Brown and Strawberry for the skin and lips.

I used the coordinating dies to cut this beautiful lady out and adhered her to my card using foam adhesive. To finish my card off I heat embossed a sentiment in white on black cardstock and popped that on with foam adhesive as well.

Thank you so much for stopping by today and I hope you'll head over to Instagram to check out the whole hop. 

Have an awesome day!

Maria

PRODUCT SUPPLY LIST:

Hero Arts Spring Catalog 2021 Release and Giveaway!

Hi everybody! The day so many of us have been waiting for is finally here! Today Hero Arts is releasing their new Spring Catalog and there is so much good stuff in it I cannot even tell you! You can click here to check out all of the new products if you're itching to see them right away. I've got five cards to share with you today so let's get to it!

My first card features the new Hero Florals Poppy Combo. These poppies are so gorgeous and I love them even more because they are the state flower here in California. I colored my poppies with copic markers, die cut them and set them aside.

Next, I ink blended a background panel in Splash and Blue Hawaii reactive inks. Then I heat embossed my background using the Script Bold Prints background stamp and White Sating Pearl Embossing Powder. I also splattered my background with white metallic ink. I heat embossed my sentiment from Handwritten Messages in white detail embossing powder on black cardstock and cut it into a rectangle.

I arranged all of my pieces and adhered them to my background using foam adhesive. I used the sentiment piece to hide the bottoms of the flower stems. To finish the card off I used white enamel dots.

My next card features both the Hoppy Day and Lily Pond HeroScape stamp sets. The Hoppy Day set is such fun and laid back set and it's also a lot of fun to color. The Lily Pond HeroScape set is perfect for building gorgeous scenes and worked perfectly with these zen frogs. I started out by coloring the frogs and the lotus flowers with my copic markers. Then I glued them together to create this zen-yoga tower of frogs. I saved a few flowers for the bottom of the card.

I used the Lily Pond HeroScape and reactive inks to ink up the background scene on the bottom of my card. Above that I ink-blended Splash and Thistle inks to create a soft background which I spritzed with shimmer spray. I also used the shimmer spray to cover my clouds which added a lovely, subtle sheen.

I used foam tape to add my background to a slim-line card base. Then I added my clouds, frogs, flowers and sentiment to my card to finish it off.

This card shares the Butterfly Garden Background Cling. This stamp set is so gorgeous and if what you're looking for is stamp one image only and end up with hours of mindless, fantastic coloring... then this is the stamp for you! I stamped it in INTENS-ified black ink so that I could use a variety of coloring mediums without having to worry if my ink would smear.

I spent a long, happy time coloring this and it was such a great escape to focus in on all of the tiny details as I added layers of color. I watercolored, copic colored, pencil colored, sharpied and gel penned all over this card until I was happy with it.

I finished it off with the new Big Hugs Stamp & Cut die. I cut it out of white cardstock three times, and, one more time out of sparkly white cardstock. I glued the layers together with the sparkly layer on top and then added it to my card. It was a great way to add a sentiment because after all the time I spent coloring I didn't want to cover up the background too much. Some sequins were the final touch for this card.

I used a new die for my next card. It's called the Sun and Waves Window Fancy Die and I cut it out of black cardstock. I used glimmer metallic inks in gold, white, blue and purple to paint the sun and waves. I was really impressed with how bold and metallic these look on the black cardstock. I heat embossed my sentiment in white onto my black cardstock and put this piece aside.

I ink blended a background using reactive inks in Lemon Drop, Creamsicle and Fruit Punch. Then I stamped some birds and a palm tree and spritzed it with shimmer spray. 

Finally, I added a strip of amethyst cardstock to the side of a white card base. I glued my inkblended background so that it would be visible through my die cut piece. Then, I added my black, die-cut pie card front to the card using foam tape for some extra dimension.

My last card for today shares a fun and colorful background with a bold die cut sentiment that pops right off of it. I started by stamping the Script Bold Prints stamp onto my background using Taffy, Creamsicle and Lemon Drop inks. After I was happy with the amount of color I had layed down I stamped again with VersaMark ink and heat embossed the background in clear embosssing powder. This sealed the ink in and allowed the color to show through. 

Next, I ink blended the background in Splash and Blue Hawaii inks. I went right over the top of the my heat embossed background which resisted the ink. I added this panel to an A2 sized card base.

To finish my card off I added the Love You Stamp & Cut XL to the front of my card. It was cut three times and glued together to add dimension to my card. I polished the whole thing off with some black enamel dots and called it a day!

Thank you guys so much for stopping by today! This catalog is so amazing and you can see even more of the new product if you continue on with our blog hop. You can either head right over to Mindy's blog or check out the full list of bloggers below. Remember to enter the giveaway for your chance to win! I've also got links below if you'd like to check out any of the products that I've used today.

Have an amazing day!

Maria

GIVEAWAY:

Comment on the hop by Wednesday, February 24th at 11:59pm pst for a chance to win one of three $50 gift certificates to the Hero Arts store. The more blogs you leave comments on, the more chances to win!

BLOG HOP LIST: 

Hero Arts
Channin Pelletier
Dana Joy
Daniel West
Debi Adams
Emily Midgett
Ilina Crouse
Jessica Frost-Ballas
Libby Hickson
Lydia Fiedler
Maria Willis
Mindy Eggen
Pocono Pam
Seeka
Amy Kolling
Jennifer McGuire
Julee Tilman
Laurie Willison
Mariana Grigsby
Nichol Spohr

PRODUCT SUPPLY LIST:

HA simple bee cards

Hi everybody! I hope you're having a great day!  I'm just dropping by to share these sweet and simple cards that I made earlier in the month and forgot to share. I used a combination of the Hero Arts My Monthly Hero kit and some of the add-ons from this month's release. 

For my first card I ink blended a card panel using Splash Reactive ink. I wanted to add a little extra texture to the background so I sprayed it with White Iridescent Shimmer Mist then splattered it with some watered down Splash ink. 

I stamped the "hey honey" sentiment from the Bee and Wreath Flowers set in black. Then I added foam adhesive to the back of the ink blended panel and adhered it to a white card base.

To finish my card off I added a chunky, adorable bee from the My Monthly Hero kit. This bee was stamped in black ink, watercolored with Daniel Smith watercolors and even has some iridescent paint on his wings. 

My second card is also simple and sweet and features another buzzy little bee from the MMH kit. This time I started out by splattering my background with both both black ink and gold splatter. Then I stamped my sentiment which is again from the Bee and Flowers Wreath Stamp set. 

Next, I covered the back of a piece of gold foil cardstock with double sided adhesive tape. I used a beautiful flower die from the Bees and Flowers Fancy Dies and cut a flower from the gold cardstock. This gave me flower shaped sticker. Before adding my flower sticker to the card I used the dashed line die to die cut my card front to make it look like my bee was flying. I did this before adding the flower and bee so that I put them over the ends of the dashed line. 

I added my golden flower sticker to the bottom right of my card. Then I added my lazy little bee at the end of his flight line with foam tape to give him some dimension.

That's it for today you guys! I had a ton of fun putting these together and love it when a quick and easy card can also be very pretty. Have you all been mixing up your products to come up with new ideas at lately? If so, let me know in the comments below!

Have an awesome day!

Maria

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