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
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Seeka
Jennifer Kotas
Meg Brooks
Nichol Spohr
Rebecca Keppel

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Hero Arts Countdown to Creativity: Coloring on Colored Cardstock!

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!

This kit has a gorgeous Christmas Tree stamp and I wanted to create a one-layer card with it. 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 come back tomorrow for the full kit reveal and more cards! 

Have an awesome day!

Maria

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Gina K Designs Release

Hello everybody! Thanks for stopping by today because I have a clean and simple card to share with you today. I'm using the brand new Winter Window stamp set from Gina K Designs. Now, this set has some really beautiful elements that can be used to build a window scene complete with a window treatment,  trees in the distance and beautiful birds. There are also coordinating dies! There is so much you can do with this set but for today I decided to keep it simple.

I stamped the tree in black onto watercolor paper. Then I watercolored with my Karin markers.

I started out by watercoloring the ribbon and ornaments before moving on to coloring the tree. After that I watercolored the presents. It was so hard for me to do but I managed to leave the background white.

I heat embossed my sentiment in black and then I popped my panel up on a light blue card base.

Ok you guys! That's it for today. Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you back here soon!

Maria

Pinkfresh Studios Release

Hey everybody and welcome to a super awesome release from Pinkfresh Studio! Today's release is a stamp, stencil, die and hot foil release and there are some incredibly stunning products! Today I'll be featuring the new Lush Peonies and Garden Roses suites.

Now first of all, if you aren't familiar with how Pinkfresh does their releases let me give you a little info. These releases have stamps, layering stencils and coordinating dies. They sometimes have coordinating hot foil plates too! This is incredible bc the whole product line works seamlessly together... but, each of the elements works on their own as well. That means you can purchase only the products from the suite that best meet your needs (but you've got the option to go all out and get it all). 

On my first card I used the Lush Peonies stamp set and paired it with the coordinating die set. I stamped the large floral image onto watercolor paper in black pigment ink and then heat embossed it in clear.

I used my Arteza Watercolor Markers to watercolor the image and then I added some extra details with a black sharpie and a white gel pen. Then I used the coordinating dies to cut the image out.

I used the Essentials: Pretty Frames Die Set to create a white frame for behind my floral piece. Then, I used the Celebrating You Hot Foil plate and coordinating dies to add a sentiment to my card. I adhered all of the pieces together with foam adheseive, splattered the background with White Glimmer Metallic ink from Hero Arts and called it good!

My next card features the Lush Peonies stamp set again but this time I used the coordinating stencils to color in the floral image. Now you can see what I was talking about when I was telling you how cool the product suites are and that you can use them separately or together (you can use this five piece set of layering stencil without the stamp set too!). On this card, I heat embossed the image in silver onto Hammermill cardstock.

Next, I used my layering stencils to color the image in with inks and a blending brush. For this card I used:

        Flowers: Sunshine, Sweet Mustard, Summer Shower, and Sparkling Rose

        Leaves: Fresh Pear, Grassy Knoll

It was so easy to achieve a soft, beautiful look using these ink colors. I cut my flowers out with the coordinating dies and set them aside.

        

I used the Diamond Hot Foil Plate and some silver holographic foil to create my background. I lightly inkblended the background with Aquamarine ink to add a little bit of color. My sentiment was hot foiled in black using the Celebrating You Hot Foil Plate and dies.  To finish my card off, I adhered the florals with foam tape. Where ever they hung off the edge of the card I cut them off and then used those pieces to fill in the borders of my card (nothing went to waste!). The final step was to add that bold, shiny sentiment in the middle.

For my last card I used the Garden Roses Stamp set as well as the coordinating stencils and dies to create a beautiful slimline card. This time I stamped my floral in Rose Pigment Ink from Hero Arts and heat embossed it in clear. Then I used the stencil set to inkblend with the following colors:

        Flowers: Sunshine, Apricot and Bubble Gum

        Leaves: Grassy Knoll and Aquamarine

Then, I die cut the image out with the coordinating dies and set it asside.

Next I used the Slim Stitches die to die cut a textured background from white cardstock. I also stamped a sentiment in black and then cut it out using the Essentials: Folk Edge Circle Die Set. This set is great because it also allowed me to cut the perfectly sized detail circle frame for my sentiment. I lightly inkblended it with some Aquamarine and adhered them w foam tape.

To finish my card off I added the Slim Stitches background to a light blue cardbase before adhering my sentiment piece with foam tape. Then I used foam tape to add my florals to the borders. Again, I cut off the excess floral bits and used them to add flowers to the bottom, right of the card.

Here's a close up so that you can see how incredible these flowers look when stenciled. All the extra texture from the dies is really pretty too and was so easy to add.

Ok, you guys, that's it for today! I hope you enjoyed the cards and had a fun look at the brand new release from Pinkfresh Studio. I hope you all have an amazing day and a great start to a wonderful week!

Maria

GIVEAWAYS:

-Pinkfresh Studio will be giving away the full release on the Pinkfresh blog & YouTube channel.

-Pinkfresh Studio will also be giving away a total of TEN $25  gift cards along the hop.

-Winners will be selected from the comments and posted on October 5, 2021 on the Pinkfresh Studio GIVEAWAY PAGE. Winners must check that page & claim their prize within 2 weeks.

BLOG HOP LIST:

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

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VIDEO: Tonic Studios Stamp Club Release Blog Hop & Giveaway- Monsters

Hello everybody and welcome to this month's Tonic Studios Stamp Club Monsters release! Now this set is so fun and quirky and it has totally stolen my heart! It is available in limited quantities so if you love it, run to the store fast! You can shop at Tonic USA or Tonic UK.

This set has a bunch of fun little monsters and some fun little accessory stamps to go with them (think potion bottles, eye balls and birthday cakes)! The die set is also fantastic as it has not only coordinating dies but word dies, a stitched star background die and a great dotted coverplate as well! You can check it all out in my VIDEO HERE!

On my first card I colored in one of my favorite monsters (he's so happy with that huge smile) with copic markers. Then I cut him out with the coordinating die.

I ink blended the background panel using a stencil that I made by cutting the circle dot die plate two times, side by side. I gently inkblended soft primary colors through the stencil and I love how the background came out.

I combined a die cut "hi" with one of my favorite sentiments and popped all of my elements up using foam tape to finish off the card.

Now, I mentioned a made a video so before I get too far along here it is...

 

If you are having trouble watching this video please click here to view it on YouTube.

For my next card I used a monster that I've nicknamed "Grumpy." The poor little guy looks so bummed out that I just can't help but love him.  I stamped him straight onto a white cardbase, added a flower to his hand, and colored him with my copic markers. I used a sharpie to add some grass so he had something to stand on.

I combined two of the sentiments on the front of my card.

And then I used an adhesive foam sheet to pop up the front of my card before adding a few sequins.

This next card is all about getting that party started! I stamped two little party monsters clinking their drink potions together on watercolor paper. I watercolored them using my Nuvo Aqua flow pens.

I heat embossed my sentiment in black. I also stamped the inside of the card with "We'll have a monster of a good time!"

The final step was using foam adhesive to pop the watercolored panel up onto a black background.

Now, if you're not one for coloring then this card is for you. I heat embossed my images in white on white cardstock. Then I used a blending brush to ink blend over them in pink, yellow and blue inks. I wanted there to be a little more contrast so I grabbed my copic markers and darkened up the background (behind the monsters only) a little bit to make the monsters look like they were in the foreground. I also used a black gel pen to add dots to their eyes.

For the next step, I used the stitched stars detail die to add some really cool detail and texture to my backgournd above the monsters. I also heat embossed my sentiments in black on white, cut out the sentiment strips and added them with foam tape.

I added some striped washi tape to the top of a white note card. Then, I added strips of black cardstock at the top and bottom of my monster panel and mounted it to the card base.

 

My final card is a slim-line card. I used the circle dot die from the bundle to create a white, holey background panel. I put that on top of a watercolored background from my stash.

I added the layered panels to my black, mini-slimline cardbase then set to work coloring and die cutting my monsters and the two-layer cake.

After heat embossing my sentiments I added them and the monsters to my card front using foam tape.

Ok you guys that is it for today! I absolutely love this Monsters release and I hope you will too! Before I go I want to show you what the full Monsters release looks like and of course we've got a blog hop and a giveaway too (scroll down for details).

Bye everybody and have and awesome day!

Maria

GIVEAWAY:

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

-To enter, comment on every blog in the hop by 11:59pm PST on September 29, 2021/ 7:59am GST on September 30, 2021

-Winner will be announced on October 1, 2021 on IG and FB so make sure you're following all of the Tonic Studios social media accounts!

BLOG HOP LIST:

Maria Willis: You are here.

Jen Kray

Erica Andersson Burke

Ilda Dias

Channin Pelletier

Ilina Crouse

Alberto Gava

Daniel West

Lydia Fiedler

Koren Wiskman

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Picket Fence Studios STAMPtember Release

Hi everybody! I'm popping in with a fun card from the lates Simon Says Stamp STAMPtember release! Now it's Picket Fence Studio's turn to join the fun with an adorable cat stamp set called, Sarcastic Kitties. You can get just the stamp set, or, go big and get the stamp and die bundle.

I decided to go with a mixed media look for my mini-slimline card. I grabbed a watercolored, galaxy background from my stash and then added some gold mousse through the SSS Circle Dots Stencil to add a little texture and shine.

Then I watercolored on of the cats from the set using my Karin markers. I only used two colors ( a gray and a pink) but I was able to mix them to achieve a range of shades.

I heat embossed my sentiment in black  and added some extra detail to the background with a black posca pen. Then I adhered the cat to my card with foam tape, attached the background to a black cardbase, and called it good!

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you have an awesome day and I'll see you all back here soon!

Maria

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

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