Top Flight Stamps 6th Birthday Celebration!

Hey everybody! We've got a birthday to celebrate today! Topflight Stamps is turning 6 and to celebrate I'm teaming up with some talented designers to showcase some of our favorite products from Topflight Stamps.  You can find a list to the other designers by clicking here to head to the Topflight Stamps blog. We are also celebrating with an Instagram Hop (Click here to head to the IG hop). There is also a generous GIVEAWAY so be sure to enter both here and on Instagram (details are at the bottom of this blog post).

Today we are all working on a "Celebration" theme so you're in for a treat! For my card I've combined the All & Create Coffee First stamp set (dog) with the All & Create Steampunk Stamp (background). I started out by stamping the Steampunk stamp onto white cardstock twice. I stamped it in black on the left and upside down and in gray on the right (not that there's a "right" way to stamp it but I did flip it). Then I inkblended my background with Distress Oxide inks in Candied Apple, Carved Pumpkin and Mustard Seed. When that was done I glued the background to a black cardbase.

Next, I colored the dog with copic markers and colored pencils. I added some extra detail with white gel pen. I cut the dog out by hand and added foam tape to the back.

I wanted the sentiment to say "Celebrate" so I used a gel pen to hand-write it on a strip of black cardstock. Next, I used foam adhesive to attach both the sentiment and dog to the card. To finish it up I added some black enamel dots and some scribbles with a fine-tip Sharpie.

That is all I've got for today you guys today but please make sure to head on over to Topflight Stamps blog so you can check out the other designers who are celebrating with us today.

Have an awesome day!

Maria

GIVEAWAY:

Of course, it wouldn’t be a birthday celebration without prizes! Topflight Stamps is giving four lucky winners $50 Gift Certificates to the store. Two winners will be chosen from commenters on the blog hop and two will be chosen from commenters on the IG hop. For a chance to win, make sure to visit the stops on the hop and leave a comment by April 1st. Winners will be announced on the Topflight Stamps blog on Monday, April 3rd. U.S.A winners only due to shipping issues. Good Luck!

Hero Arts Countdown to Creativity: March 2023 My Monthly Hero Release

Hey everybody! It's almost time for the March 2023  Hero Arts My Monthly Hero release and this month's kit is a fabulous kit for creating some colorful fruit and veggie themed cards and projects!

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! 

BIG NEWS!! Starting with the February 2023 release Hero Arts will now be offering both a Classic Kit and a Premium kit every month! The Classic kit will be what you're familiar with and will stay priced at $34.99. The Premium Kit will include everything from the Classic Kit plus some fabulous extras! If you are already a kit subscriber you will receive the Classic Kit unless you upgrade your subscription to Premium.

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

Today is Day Three of the Countdown to Creativity and I've got a card featuring a large background stamp that is included in the March 2023 kit (it's in both the Classic and Premium kits). I used the new Neon Brights Liquid Watercolors to color the image and I love the colors so much! I started by stamping my image in Onyx Pigment Ink on Luxe Watercolor cardstock. I covered the pigment ink in clear embossing powder and heat set it. This gave the image a glossy, raised look.

 

Next, I used my Neon Brights Liquid Watercolors (and a couple of the regular colors) to watercolor the background. For the grapefruit I added some of the white liquid watercolor with the neons to get a more muted color. 

To finish the card off I added the background to a black cardbase and a sentiment from the kit (heat embossed in white on Pitch Black cardstock).

Ok you guys, that is it for today! Tomorrow is the full release so make sure to come back here at 10am Pacific time to see the whole release! And, if you'd like a chance to win a kit before you can buy it then leave a comment below and head to the Hero Arts blog to see posts from the other team members.

Have an awesome day!

Maria

Hero Arts Spring Catalog Release 2023- Blog Hop and Giveaway!

Hello everybody and welcome to the Hero Arts 2023 Spring Catalog Release! Today is a day that many of us have been waiting for and I am so excited to get to share a few of the new products with you today. Before I get to my cards though I want to mention some of the fun new stuff that is launching today. Just click below if you're interested in going straight to check them out!

-Hero Arts 2023 Spring Catalog

-Hero Arts 2023 Creative Essentials Catalog

-NEW Neon Liquid Watercolors

-Hero Arts Spring 2023 Stamp-A-Long!

-Hero Arts Spring 2023 Product Bundle

Ok, let's get on to my cards! I decided it would be fun to use some of the same products for both of my cards but to showcase them in two very different ways. So, my first card is clean and simple (for me) and my second card is more of a grunge, mixed-media style. Both cards use the Overlapping Hexagons Bold Prints and the Yay! Birthday Bundle sets. My second card also uses the Friendly Messages Bundle.

I started my first card by stamping the Overlapping Hexagons Bold Prints in Granite ink on white cardstock. I colored the centers of the hexagons pink, cut it down to 4" x 5.25" and mounted it to a Paradise card base. While I had the Paradise Cardstock out I also cut a large hexagon using the Hexagon Infinity Dies. I sprayed it with White Iridescent Shimmer Spray and set that aside to dry.

Next, it was time to create my focal point. I stamped the cake image from the Yay! Birthday stamp set in black ink and colored it with alcohol markers. I also stamped the "Hooray!" sentiment in Onyx Pigment Ink and heat embossed it using clear embossing powder. I used the coordinating dies to cut both of these out (I LOVE that there are dies for the large sentiments in this set!.

Once my large hexagon was dry I added foam tape to the back and adhered it to my card front. I added foam tape to both the cake image and the die cut sentiment and centered those on the large hexagon. I thought about adding embellishments but like the clean, soft, shimmery look of this card so I left as is.

For my second card I put drops of Core Inkers (Ultra Pink, Summer Sky and Paradise) on my glass worktop. Then I sprayed the drops with rubbing alcohol and smashed some copy paper (from my printer) into the ink. This process yielded a vibrant, colorful background that I loved. I "taco stamped" the Overlapping Hexagons Bold Prints randomly onto the background using Onyx Pigment Ink and heat embossed it using Clear Embossing Powder. Next, I splattered my colorful background and an A2 sized piece of Pitch Black Cardstock with White and Gold Glimmer Metallic Ink and set those aside to dry.

I wanted to create a focal point that would not cover up too much of the background so I decided to use vellum and small tag with a bold sentiment. I cut the vellum with my Nesting Circle Infinity Dies and used the Tag Infinity Dies to cut a tag out of Mist Cardstock (I used a black pen to hand decorate the tage). I heat embossed my sentiments using Onyx Pigment ink and Clear Embossing Powder and then i cut them out using their coordinating dies. I used foam tape to adhere the sentiment to the tag and then then the tag to the vellum. I trapped a length of black metallic thread between the layers for a little extra texture.

I used liquid glue to add my colorful background to the black mat. I glued it offset and then cut off the excess. I added my focal point making sure that the adhesive was was hidden behind the tag (so it wouldn't show through the vellum). The final touch was to add some black enamel dots as embellishment.

Ok, you guys, that is it for today but we've got an amazing blog hop today and a ton of insanely talented crafters are sharing their creativity to bring this catalog to life for all of us. I hope you will keep hopping along (blog hop list is below) and make sure to enter the giveaway as well!

Have an awesome day!

Maria

GIVEAWAY:

We'll be giving away two $50 gift cards, drawn from the comments left along the hop. Comment on all the blogs for more chances to win! You have until Sunday, February 26 at 11:59pm to enter. The winners will be announced on the Hero Arts blog.

BLOG HOP LIST:

Hero Arts

Hero Arts Creative Team: 

Channin Pelletier
Dana Joy
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: 

Carissa Wiley
Cathy Zielske
Daniel West
Jenn Shurkus
Jennifer Ingle
Jennifer Kotas
Jennifer McGuire
Laura Bassen
Meg Brooks
Nichol Spohr
Rebecca Keppel

Sharing on Instagram: 

Ralph Tyndall
Alberto Gava

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

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.

Let That Shitake Go!

Hey everybody! It's Maria here and I am really happy to be here to share a mixed media card that I had so much fun making. I started out wanting to focus on the beautiful new Leaf Circle Stencil (so great for Autumn cards, right?) and when I saw how magical it looked in gold I decided to go with more of a nature/woodland theme. I know this card looks like a lot but it's actually easy to make so let me walk you through it step-by-step.

BACKGROUND:

1. Cut a piece of Luxe Watercolor Cardstock to 4.25" x 5.5"
2. Spray the background with liquid watercolor sprays of your choice (I added liquid watercolor and water to a spray bottle to create my own sprays). I used Leaf, Jungle Mist, Indigo and Art Print Brown. Allow to dry.
3. Spray the same watercolor colors onto your work surface and smoosh your dried background into the color. This will add unpredictable visual texture and some extra color to your background. Allow to dry.
4. Place your Leaf Circle Stencil over your background piece. I secured mine from the back with washi tape so that it would stay in place. Use your palette knife to spread Gold Hero Wax through the stencil. Don't worry about perfection- partial stenciling will add character to your background.
5. Remove the stencil (put it in water so it will be easy to wash later) and immediately sprinkle some Sand Embossing Powder over the wet wax (a couple of pinches should do the trick). Make sure not to completely cover the wax so that you can still see the gold.
6. Heat the embossing powder and wax to set them. This will melt the Sand Embossing Powder and it will also bubble the wax for extra texture.
7. Splatter the background with White Glimmer Metallic Ink for extra magic.

FOCAL POINT:

1. Stamp the text stamp from the Sending Love Mail stamp in Granite ink onto vellum.  Cut this piece to 2.5" x 3.5" and set it aside.
2. Use the Mushrooms and Ferns Fancy Dies to die cut mushrooms and ferns from Luxe Watercolor Cardstock. I left the ferns white.
3. Using Liquid Watercolor sprays, spray the tops of the mushrooms Orange and the stems Art Print Brown.
4. I used Tomato ink (ink-blending) and Copic markers to add a little bit of extra color and shading to my my mushrooms.
5. Stamp the sentiment from Zen Messages in Aquamarine Pigment ink, heat emboss it in clear and cut it into a strip.

ASSEMBLE:

1. Add your background to a cardbase. I used Precision Glue to do this.
2. Adhere your sentiment strip to the vellum piece then layer the ferns and mushrooms on top using either foam adhesive or glue dots to create dimension.
3. Add foam adhesive to the vellum making sure to hide it behind the sentiment, ferns and mushrooms. Attach the focal point to the background.
4. The final step is to splatter the focal point with White Glimmer Metallic ink. I covered my sentiment with a piece of washi tape to protect it. 

Now you've got a finished card with tons of color and eye-catching texture! I hope some of you might have fun recreating this card or using some of the techniques I've shared today.

I hope you all have an awesome day today, but if your day is feeling hard, try to just let that shitake go!

Crafty hugs,

Maria

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

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

Hero Arts Countdown to Creativity: August 2022 Release!

Hey everybody! It's almost time for the August 2022 Hero Arts My Monthly Hero release and this month's kit is a fun one especially for all of you stencil lovers out there!

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 September 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 card with an faux-ish watercolor technique to share with you. This month's kit comes with a set of four stencils that allow you to create a gorgeous desert scene. The kit also comes with Luxe Watercolor cardstock so I took that as my que to create a watercolor scene using my stencils as the guide. 

I used my DIY liquid watercolor sprays with the stencil to create layers of color. All I did was place my stencil down and then spray my color over the top. Once that layer had dried I added the next layer of color. The colors that I used were Cocoa, Mulled Wine, Leaf, Jungle Mist and Teal. Once I had the full desert scene I added color to the sky by masking off the scene (there's a die that makes this easy) and spraying it with White Iridescent Shimmer Spray followed by a splatter of White Glimmer Metallic Ink.

The final steps were to stamp my sentiment in Onyx Pigment ink and heat emboss it in clear, then add my scene to a Nautical mat.

Well, that is it for today folks! I hope you've enjoyed this little sneak peek. If you'd like a chance to win this kit before you can buy then head on over to the Hero Arts blog and enter for your chance to win!

Have an awesome day and I will see you back here on Monday for the full (super amazing) release!

Maria

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

Gina K. Designs: July 2022 Release!

Hello everybody! I am popping in with a quick post to show off a gorgeous new set from today's Gina K. Designs release. The set I'm using is called Birds of a Feather and it's got some beautiful florals and two gorgeous hummingbirds in the set. For today's card I decided to focus on on of the floral stamps and make it the star of the show.

To start my card I stamped the floral image multiple times onto a piece of white cardstock in alcohol friendly ink. Then, I used my copic markers to color the flowers and the background. I had fun adding drop shadows in cool grays and adding extra details with a fine tipped sharpie and a white Posca paint pen.

When I was done coloring I stamped a sentiment from the Spread Your Wings stamp set in black ink onto the bottom of the card front. I have a friend who could use a card right now and this sentiment is just perfect for her.

To finish my card off I added my floral piece to a black mat and glued that all to a top-folding card base. 

This Birds of a Feather stamp set is so beautiful and I love that it is so versatile because it includes so many pretty stamps. You can head on over to Gina K. Designs if you'd like to check out the whole release.

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you have an awesome day!

Maria

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

Hey everybody! The wait is over! It's time for the Hero Arts July 2022 My Monthly Hero release and this month's kit is a flamingo loving dream! It's got a gorgeous layering flamingo stamp set with clouds, water and grass. There are coordinating dies and five ink cubes! There are also self-adhesive pink and teals gems as well as teal pearls (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 August 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 project I decided to make a birdday shaker card (get it?). I started out by spraying a piece of white cardstock with my DIY liquid watercolor sprays in Pink and Indigo and se that off to the side to let it dry. Later, I came back and ink-blended around the edges with Blue Hawaii ink. 

Next, I stamped my flamingos using the color-layering set from the kit. My bottom (solid) layer is Cotton Candy ink. My next layer (detailed layer) was stamped with Rose Quartz Pigment Ink and heat embossed in clear embossing powder. I love that the heat embossing gave a raised, shiny texture to the bird's feathers. Next, I stamped the legs and beaks in Onyx Pigment Ink and again, I heat embossed in clear. This caused some of the Onyx ink to melt into the Rose Quartz layer at the bottom of the birds which I think adds a fun, shadowed look to the feathers. I did lose a little detail on the beaks and I added that back in with a fine-tipped sharpie. After the flamingos were done I cut them out using the coordinating dies.

To create the shaker portion of my card I used a shaker pouch from Tonic Studios and added some glitter and sequins from my stash before sealing it up. I adhered the flamingos using foam tape and then followed it up by adding the sentiment stamped in black on Paradise cardstock.

For my next card I used the Large Toucan Bold Prints stamp and heat embossed it in gold onto watercolor cardstock.

I watercolored the image using Nuvo Shimmer Powders from Tonic Studios.

To finish the card off I added a sentiment from Zen Messages heat embossed in white on black cardstock. I matted the image piece on black cardstock and called it good!

I'm  not sure if you saw my post from Sunday, but just in case you didn't, here's one more card that I made using this month's kit. You can catch all of the details for this card by clicking here.

Ok, that is it for today but make sure to leave a comment below to enter the giveaway and continue on our blog hop for more incredible inspiration!

GIVEAWAY:

We will give away a $50 gift card, drawn from the comments left across the hop. Enter by Sunday, June 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
Dana Joy
Daniel West
Debi Adams
Emily Midgett
Ilina Crouse
Jessica Frost-Ballas
Lydia Fiedler
Maria Willis: You are here.
Michelle Short
Mindy Eggen
Pocono Pam
Seeka
Jennifer Kotas
Kelly Taylor
Meg Brooks
Nichol Spohr
Rebecca Keppel

Instagram: Andrew Granick

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