10 Cards 1 Kit • My Monthly Hero / Super Hero Kit • October 2026

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Hello Folks! Scott here with another 10 Cards I kit post featuring the new My Monthly Hero and My Monthly Super Hero kits for October of 2026. Autumn Harvest is our theme this month as the temperatures start falling and the leaves start changing colors. (yes… more pumpkins!)

The My Monthly Hero kit includes the Nurture Daily Stamp & Cut, then the Dried Corn Decor Die Set, the Seed Packet Die Set, AND the Sunflowers Die Set. And, of course we get 10 sheets of Spellbinders Color Wheel card stock in Bellini, Coral, Sicily, Carrot, Terra Cotta, Saffron, Tuscan, Rainforest, Fawn, and Truffle.

BIG NOTE: It was discovered that the sentiment “Nurture Daily” was misspelled on the original run of the stamp set, but it was discovered in time to make sure the new kits going out will have a properly spelled “Nurture Daily” stamp along with a new matching die-cut. Phew!

The My Monthly Super Hero Kit includes everything in the My Monthly Hero kit along with the Colorful Corn Stencil & Cut, the Grateful & Thanks Stamp & Cut, and the Rustic Wheelbarrow Die Set. It appears that the Dried Corn Decor Dies will fit the Colorful Corn Stencil & Cut…! Lots of corn options here!!

I do strive to make 5 cards using just the My Monthly Hero kit and then I’ll add in the Super Hero kit to finish all 10 cards. Fortunately there are a few stamped images in this kit that affords me a chance to color!

I stamped the pumpkin on a piece of Hammermill Premium Color Copy Cover White card stock with VersaFine Onyx Black ink, and fussy-cut a matching mask to add in the vine stamps around the pumpkin. I colored the vignette with my Prismacolor Colored Pencils. I was truly looking forward to a little quiet time just coloring…! I die-cut the panel to 4″ x 2.75″ with a Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle die and added an 1/8″ Black mat behind.

On an A2 Kraft card base, I stamped the sentiments with Onyx Black Ink and embossed them with Clear Embossing Powder. I glued two 1″ pieces of this open-weave burlap ribbon from my stash to the two sides of the card and glued the colored panel on top with a couple pieces of card stock behind the center to lift the panel over the burlap. I do like this sentiment, but there aren’t really any blooms per se in this kit…! Very Autumnal though!

We’ll do more with that stamp set later, but now let’s take a look at the Dried Corn Decor Die Set.

I die-cut the corn and husks from plain White Card stock and colored everything with my Ohuhu Alcohol markers. That’s eight die cut husks there. I did find it interesting that the three corn dies are all exactly the same and the six husk dies are two matching sets of three. Hmmm. I guess that’s to keep us from having to do a bazillion die cuts…! Nice! I assembled the colored corn and husks into a pleasant arrangement and added the bow to the group cut from Truffle card stock. I really like that die-cut bow… might be my favorite small die-cut bow in my stash!

I cut a piece of Terra Cotta card stock to 4″ x 5.25″ and dry embossed that with a Sizzix Tim Holtz Gridlock Embossing Folder (retired). I swiped some Unicorn White ink over the embossing to lighten it up a touch. I glued that to an 1/8″ Brown mat and down to an Ivory A2 card base. I stamped the sentiment on a scrap of the same Ivory card stock with HA Root Beer Reactive ink and embossed that with Clear Embossing powder. I die-cut the sentiment with the matching die, cut 3 more blanks from the same and glued them all together. the corn decor is attached to the front with thin foam tape, and the sentiment is glued flat to the card. Nothing screams Autumn more than a lovely arrangement of dried corn hanging on your front door!

That set seemed pretty straight forward… now for the Seed Packet Die Set. With one of those frustratingly thin outlines!

I die-cut the main packet from Ivory card stock and die-cut the thin outline piece from the larger ivory piece – colored it with an Alcohol marker (trying to a match the Tuscan card stock). I spattered a little bit of Root Beer ink on the inside panel, and then inset the outline and spattered center back into the larger Ivory die cut. I die-cut the sentiment banners from Saffron card stock, and the flap and seeds from Fawn card stock.

I die-cut the curved banner in a piece of scrap card stock and used that along with my MISTI to help me curve the “Courage” sentiment to fit. Once I was happy with the curve I replaced the banner in the scrap piece with the Saffron banner and stamped the sentiment with Onyx Black ink and embossed it with Clear embossing powder. The Rooting sentiment was stamped and embossed the same without having to fiddle with a curve.

I gave the seeds some shading with my Alcohol markers and Charcoal pencils and glued them to the front of the packet along with the two banner sentiments. Then I stamped the “sprinkle” sentiment with Root Beer ink matching the curves from the banner. I added some shading to the bottom edge of the flap and glued that right behind the packet assembly. I die-cut the little heart banner from Tuscan and Terra Cotta card stock and glued those together on the packet.

The card base is an old piece of textured Glimmer Green card stock from my stash with a piece of lightly textured Green card stock cut to 3.75″ x 5″ with a LFSRdie. I attached the seed packet with some foam tape and I did add an Ivory writing surface on the inside as well. Lastly, two tiny Bronze crystals adds a touch of sparkle and highlight the “sprinkle generously” sentiment. The flap is certainly the right touch to help identify this as a seed packet! I like this sentiment combination too!

The last set in the Monthly Hero kit is the Sunflower Die Set. This is a unique die set with very interesting sunflowers!

I pretty much followed along with the packaging here, cutting the sunflowers from Saffron for the fronts, and Tuscan for the backs. The centers are Truffle and Terra Cotta, and the foliage is all Rainforest. I did some ink blending on the flowers using Vintage Photo Distress Oxide ink on the back petals, Creamsicle Reactive ink on the front petals, and Lucky Clover Distress Oxide ink on the greenery – subtle, but it actually adds a lot! I put all the flowers together and then made an extra side-facing flower (5 is better than 4). And you gotta love seeing the back of one of the flowers – very clever!!

The bucket is die-cut from some plain Grey cardstock in my stash and shaded with more chalk and Charcoal pencils. I did add some Alcohol marker to the handle to darken it up, and I love the White Charcoal pencil highlights! The “many thanks” sentiment was the only one in this set that would fit on the bucket, so, using my MISTI, I gave it a bit of a curve to match the rim of the bucket, and stamped it using Onyx Black ink. Then I attached the handle.

The background is plain Green card stock die-cut with a Honey Bee Spring Leaves Pierced Cover Plate and trimmed to 4,1/8″ x 5,3/8″ and glued to an Ivory card base. I die-cut a piece of Light Blue card stock from my stash with a 3.25″ wide Spellbinders Essential Arches die and ink Blended Blue Hawaii Reactive ink around the edges. I cut the frame from Truffle card stock using the 3.25″ and 3.5″ Arches dies and glued them both to the card front. I arranged the flowers in the bucket and attached everything to the card with glue and thin foam tape. I really like these simple, yet very unique sunflowers and I just love stamping the sentiment on the bucket!

That touches everything in the My Monthly Hero Kit… but I still have that squash stamp just begging for some color!

I still had the curved banner template in my MISTI so I decided to do another seed packet! I stamped the squash as usual, cutting out a mask so I could stamp the other 2 squashes (squashi?) and a bit of greenery on Strathmore Bristol Smooth card stock and colored all the veg with my Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers. I added a soft halo of color around them with my Chalk Palette. I die-cut the colored panel with the large packet die, die-cut the outline from Tuscan card stock, and glued the outline on top of the colored panel. The banners and flag are die-cut from Tuscan card stock with a Terra Cotta heart.

The “Thank You” sentiment is stamped with Root Beer Reactive ink (using my MISTI rig) and embossed with Clear Embossing powder. I created the “you squashed it!” sentiment using my Silhouette software and the Nanum Pen Script font and, using my piggy-back printing method, printed that in Brown ink on the Tuscan banner. I stamped the “you’re the best” sentiment upside-down on the flap to add to the “packet” illusion and added the heart banner (upside-down) to the flap as well. I glued the flap and the banners in place.

The background is a piece of plain Ivory card stock die-cut with the largest Moda Scrap Framed Rectangles die, with Vintage Photo Distress Oxide ink blended around the edges and then glued to an A2 White card base. The seed packet is mounted with foam tape. I continue to love using Zig watercolor markers on Bristol Smooth card stock, and this card completely fulfilled my yearning to color!

Moving right along to the My Monthly Super Hero additions, we’ve got… more corn!!!

The Colorful Corn Stencil & Cut set has four layering stencils with this grouping of 3 corns and husks (with a die to cut out the whole arrangement) along with another single corn stencil and individual stencils for the three different husks. These are the exact same images used in the Dried Corn Decor Die set!

I tried to match the packaging for this stenciling – I used Lemon Drop Reactive ink for stencil #1, Reactive Yellow Chartreuse for stencil #2, Creamsicle Reactive ink for Stencil #3, and Fruit Punch Reactive ink for Stencil #4. The Yellow Chartreuse wasn’t working for me, so I used Hero Hues Sand Core ink to lightly go over stencil #2. That’s better! I die-cut the arrangement with the included die – it does leave a white border around the colorful corn arrangement.

However, the dies from the Dried Corn Decor Die set fit the single cob and husks perfectly. I die-cut the corn and husks using the paper negative of the dies to help align the dies on the stenciled pieces. I added the individual die-cuts on top of the arrangement with thin foam tape, and “tied” them together with some twine from my stash.

The background is pattern paper (Scrapbook.com Cozy Patterned Collection) cut to 3.75″ x 5″ with a LFSRdie and glued to an 1/8″ white mat and an 1/8″ black mat. The sentiment (from the Grateful & Thanks Stamp & Cut set) is stamped on a scrap of White card stock with VersaFine Onyx Black ink, embossed with Clear embossing powder, and die-cut (along with 3 blanks) with the matching die. I glued all those together for a nice chunky sentiment.

I couldn’t resist adding a simple pun on the inside using my Silhouette software and the Arial font. I did print this on the inside of the card base before gluing the matted background to the card front followed by the arrangement attached with foam tape and then the sentiment glued flat. This stencil set is certainly a quicker way to color the corn – and probably more accurate!

I either read or heard someone say something about golden ears of corn (a song maybe?) All the inspiration I needed!

I can be too literal sometimes!! I found this great textured Gold card stock in my stash and die-cut all the corn and husks from that. I took a Plain White card base and spattered Gold Glimmer Ink (from the MMH August 2019 kit) all over the card front. I figured out a pattern for my golden corn and glued those to the card front – trimming the husks at the edges.

The sentiments are stamped on White card stock with VersaMark Embossing ink and embossed with Hero Arts Gold Embossing powder. I de-cut both sentiments (and 2 blanks each) with their matching dies and glued them all together. When dry, I glued the sentiments flat to the card front. I do like the classic font for the larger sentiments in this set and Gold with White is pretty classic too!

No, we are not done with the pumpkins yet…! Our last set in the kit this month is the Rustic Wheelbarrow Die Set…

Once again, I stuck pretty close to the suggested assembly illustrated on the packaging but I die-cut all the pumpkins the same… Tuscan for the pumpkin backs and Saffron covered with packing tape for the fronts – giving us nice shiny pumpkins! I also cut the leaves from White card stock and blended soft chalk on them for crispy fall leaves. I did assemble the wheelbarrow by just gluing the front and back edges to the background piece so I could actually put everything inside the wheelbarrow. The background is two plaids from the Cozy Patterned Collection – two strips of the dark brown plaid cut with the Grass Die from the MMSH February ’26 kit, and the lighter plaid cut to 3.75″ x 5″ with a LFSRdie matted on a 1/8″ Black mat and a 1/8″ white mat and glued to a Kraft card base.

I cut two “posts” from some Altenew White Woodgrain card stock blended with Antique Linen and Vintage Photo Distress Oxide inks. The signs were cut from Fawn card stock for the background and Ivory card stock for the fronts. The “hello pun’kin” sentiment is cobbled together from the Hero Studio Kit from September of ’25 (hello) and the MMH September 2020 kit for the “pun-kin”. I stamped those on another scrap of Ivory card stock with Onyx Black ink. I glued the signs together and ink blended more Vintage Photo ink around their edges. I glued them to the “posts” and tucked them in behind the wheelbarrow. There is a touch of foam tape behind the pun’kin sign but the wheelbarrow is stuffed so full, I didn’t think any other dimension was required! Love those shiny pumpkins!

Now that we’ve touched on everything in the whole Super Hero Kit – I can play around a little bit!

I recently posted a video showing off the NEW Glimmer II Hot Foil System, so I think I have foil on the brain! Instead of Hot Foil, I used DecoFoil transfer gel through the Sun stencil (from the MMH Feb. 2024 kit) onto White card stock, and when that was dry, I laminated the stenciling with Gold DecoFoil. I ink blended over the foil with Creamsicle and Lemon Drop Reactive ink and a little more Vintage Photo Distress Oxide ink for more depth in the center. I die-cut the foiled and inked panel to 3.75″ x 5″ with a LFSRdie, added a 1/8″ Truffle mat and a 1/8″ Metallic Gold mat and glued those down to a plain Ivory card base.

The sunflowers are cut and assembled exactly the same as card #4 then glued together in a bunch. To begin with, I did make a “hello sunshine” sentiment using the stamp from the MMSH June ’26 kit and Gold Embossing Powder, but I was disappointed that the embossing powder didn’t shine like the foil… BUT…! It turns out that I have this “hello sunshine” Hot Foil die in my stash! (Spellbinders More Sentiments Hot Foil dies) I plugged my NEW Glimmer II Hot Foil System in and had a foiled sentiment before you could say “Bob’s your Uncle”! I ink blended Lemon Drop Reactive ink over the foiled sentiment, die-cut it to size along with two blanks and glued them all together.

And, of course the sunflowers spin! Spellbinders got on the spinner bandwagon a few moths ago and I used one of their large spinners behind my flower cluster and they spin like mad! Spinner cards just may replace Shaker cards as the best interactive card of the decade! Hard to put it down!

For my last card I wanted to play with the Corn Stencils again, and see if I could get some different color variations going on… a little more like my first Dried Corn Decor card…

I do like this colorful bunch of corn! I colored the die cut husks with Ohuhu Alcohol markers and turned to the Colorful Corn Stencil for the corn. For the yellow cob: #1 Lemon Drop, #2 Butter Bar, #3 Creamsicle, #4 Spicy Mustard. For the red cob: #1 Lemon Drop, #2 Tangerine, #3 Azalea, #4 Raspberry Jam. For the blue cob: #1 Dusty Blue, #2 Splash, #3 Amethyst, #4 Deep Ocean. All inks are Hero Arts Core inks or Reactive inks. Much quicker than trying to hand-color a bunch of different kernels!! I die-cut the corn with the matching dies and glued my dried corn arrangement together with a bow die-cut from Fawn card stock.

I die-cut a piece of Altenew White Woodgrain card stock with a 3.75″ HA Circle Infinity die and ink blended Antique Linen and Vintage Photo Distress Oxide ink all over to bring out the grain. I printed this punny sentiment on that circle using My Silhouette Software and the PilGi font. I matted that on a 4″ circle of Truffle card stock and a 4.25″ circle of Ivory card stock. I glued two 1.25″ strips of distressed corn pattern paper (from a 2017 LFL Thanksgiving kit) to the top and bottom of an A2 Kraft card base, glued the circles on top and added the corn cluster with foam tape. I really like this corn-ucopia (HA!) of colors, textures and images – and a darn cute sentiment to boot!

That wraps up our Autumn Harvest My Monthly Hero and Super Hero kits for October 2026! This is a particularly corn-y kit that encourages some deep digging and creative gathering for some delightful results.

Lots of thank you cards and encouragement cards and hello cards (and corn cards) here! And there is certainly a nice Autumn palette going on! Though I am loathe to say good-by to summer, these cards make the approaching drop in temperatures seem almost cozy! Let me know which cards are your favorites!

If you have a soft spot for Autumn and you’d like to grab a kit for yourself, please use my links listed below. I do get a small commission from whatever you buy (at no cost to you) and it is always gratefully appreciated!

My Monthly Hero: https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101337132-16962401?url=https%3A%2F%2Fheroarts.com%2Fproducts%2Fmy-monthly-hero

My Monthly Super Hero: https://www.jdoqocy.com/click-101337132-16962401?url=https%3A%2F%2Fheroarts.com%2Fproducts%2Fmy-monthly-super-hero

Hero Arts:  https://www.jdoqocy.com/click-101337132-16957493

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10 Cards 1 Kit • My Monthly Hero & Super Hero Kits • September 2026

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Hello Folks! Scott here again and I’m still on a Halloween binge with the new My Monthly Hero and My Monthly Super Hero kits for September 2026! Halloween is right around the corner and Hero Arts is fulfilling our spooky needs with this “Wicked Good” theme!

The My Monthly Hero kit begins with the Cauldron Shaker Die Set (a cauldron makes perfect sense for a shaker card!). Then there is the Trick Or Treat Die Set featuring a couple variations on a pumpkin – then we get the ‘Tis Near Halloween Stamp & Cut set with lots of sentiments and a couple of image stamps, followed by the Web Background Stamp (love it!) and 10 Half-sheets of card stock in Bellini, Coral, Carrot, Peridot, Rainforest, Mint, Orchid, Mulberry, Anchor and Raven.

The My Monthly Super Hero kit includes everything in the Hero kit plus the If The Broom Fits Die Set – a broom – and the Miss Witch Die Set featuring a modern and stylish peeking (peek-a-BOO?!) witch and finally, the Spooky Brew Stamp & Cut set. Finally a few stamps we can color! I was starting to worry!!

We seem to get shaker window dies almost every other month these days… I know people love to receive them (who can actually put one down??) and a cauldron shaker card should be fun!

I have some old Queen and Co. Tiny Bubbles Toppings that I thought would work really well in a cauldron! But… if I want anything else in the shaker mix, then I will have to make a fairly deep well in the cauldron! I ended up die-cutting seven layers of the window die from Pitch Black card stock (I did cut off the bubbles along the top of the window die). I glued 6 layers of the shaker frame together and topped that stack with a piece of acetate, and then glued the last shaker frame on the top. I cut the background for the cauldron out of plain Grey card stock and set it aside.

I ink-blended some scraps of White card stock with Grape Slush and Key Lime Fizz Reactive inks and die-cut all the bubbles from those. I did save the “highlight” pieces from the large bubbles and lightly inked their reverse with the same color before inserting them back into the large bubbles. I glued five of the bubbles to the Grey background piece. I die-cut some bones and spiders and added them along with more die-cut bubbles and the Tiny Bubbles Toppings in Green and Purple to fill up the cauldron. Then I glued the Grey background piece to the back of the cauldron. There’s our shaker!

That is certainly a big cauldron! It’s 3″ wide by 2.25″ tall – takes up almost half of an A2 card! I ink-blended a panel of White card stock with Key Lime Fizz, Purple Galaxy, Grape Slush, and Licorice Reactive inks – keeping the purples and black to the sides and bottom while inking over the cauldron opening with the Key Lime Fizz. I dropped a few splats of water on the inking to add a touch of distress. I die-cut the background to 4.25″ x 5.5″ with a Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle die and glued it to a White card base. I added four more inked bubbles on the top of the cauldron with foam tape for a little dimension and glued the cauldron shaker to the card front.

I grabbed the hand die from the Trick or Treat Die set and cut one from a scrap of White card stock and one from Pitch Black card stock. I colored the white hand with my Pebbles Chalk Palette and glued the black layer behind. I added one of the die-cut bones between the fingers and attached that to the card front with foam tape. The sentiment is die-cut from some Glossy Black card stock and glued flat to the card. Some extra Tiny Bubbles above the cauldron finish out our shaker card – I love using the hand from the Trick or Treat set to add ingredients to the bubbling cauldron!

Now you don’t HAVE to make the cauldron a shaker… you can use the background die to make a simple flat cauldron!

This may be a little gruesome, but it tickles me to no end!. I die-cut the cauldron from plain Grey card stock and colored it with my Pebbles Chalk Palette and some Charcoal pencils I found in my stash. I die-cut a bunch of bubbles from a light Green and dark Green Pearlescent card stock (replacing the highlights on the big bubbles) and glued those in place. I die-cut an extra hand from Grey card stock and another bone from White card stock, added some shading with my Charcoal pencils and some blood with a red Pigma Micron pen, and glued the hand to a big bubble and the bone to two smaller bubbles and a wider scrap of card stock to stop the pull-tab from coming all the way out. Then I added an Ivory tab stamped with PULL from the My Favorite Things Interactive Labels Stamp set.

I made an A2 card base with some plain Ivory card stock and inked the long edges with Antique Linen Distress Oxide ink. The background is an old piece of pattern paper from my stash cut to 3+3/8″ x 5.5″. I cut a slit through the pattern paper (wide enough for the hand but thin enough to stop the tab from pulling out) right where the rim of the cauldron will be. I used the Black mat behind the background to provide some space for the pull-tab to travel. I cut two pieces of Pitch Black card stock to 1″ x 5.5″ and glued those to the back of the pattern paper with a little showing out the sides. Then I cut two more pieces of Black to 1/2″ x 5.5″ and glued those on the inside edges of the first black strips. A strip of black card stock at the bottom of the “mats” keeps the pull tab from falling all the way through.

I slipped the pull tab through the slit in the pattern paper and glued the cauldron into place. I die-cut a piece of vellum with the smallest Essential Modern Ovals die (making it a little shorter than the die) and glued that under the legs of the cauldron. I stamped the sentiment (from the ‘Tis Near Halloween Stamp and Cut set) with VersaFine Onyx Black Ink on a scrap of Ivory card stock, embossed that with Clear Embossing powder, and die-cut it with the matching die before gluing it flat to the cauldron. I added a few more Green Pearlescent bubbles around the card front and called it a day! A fun pull-tab card takes a bit of a dark turn here!

That’s a couple of cards with the Cauldron Shaker Die Set (with a little hand (yuck yuck) from the Trick Or Treat Die Set). Let’s look at those pumpkins now!

No hands here!! I die-cut the two pumpkins from the included Carrot card stock. I cut a background for the lit pumpkin from some Yellow Pearlescent card stock, and added two layers of die-cut Black card stock behind the pumpkin face for some dimension. I added a bit of shading around the edges of the yellow insides and added the (lit) candle towards the bottom. I glued all those layers together and added the stem and a little shading with my Charcoal pencils.

For the trick or treat bucket, I die-cut the pumpkin face from some Black card stock and inset those into the Carrot cut pumpkin face. I added some Clear Glaze pen to the black face pieces so it reads a little more “plastic”. The handle is cut from Glossy Black card stack and glued in place. The candy wrappers are all cut from some Glassine Kite paper (red, yellow, blue, and green) and the candies are cut from plain White card stock and glued behind the wrappers with tape runner. Then all the candies get glued into the bucket opening. Looks like quite a haul!

The background is a panel of White card stock ink-blended with Creamsicle, Grape Slush, and Purple Galaxy Reactive inks. I spattered more Creamsicle ink on the orange part and more Purple Galaxy ink on the purple part. I trimmed that panel to 3.75″ x 5″ with a Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle die, added a thin Black mat and glued those to an Ivory card base. I stamped the sentiment (again from the ‘Tis Near Halloween Stamp and Cut set) with VersaMark ink and embossed it with White Embossing powder. I glued the pumpkins in place (just breaking the frame a little bit) and added the small die-cut pumpkin (a little shading here too) with a spot of foam tape. Pumpkin two ways – no embellishments needed!

I’ve already used the ‘Tis Near Halloween stamps for the last two sentiments – let’s look at the Web Background stamp!

This is by far the BEST Web Background Stamp I have in my stash now!! I stamped that on a panel of Black card stock using VersaMark ink and embossed it with some WOW! Cloud 9 Embossing Powder. WOW! INDEED! The perfect sparkle for a cobweb! And that stamp has such precise, fine lines… love it! I trimmed that panel to 3.75″ x 5″ and added a 4″ x 5.25″ Iridescent White Sparkle mat behind and then added a thin Black mat behind both before gluing them down to a White card base.

I really like this cute little poem sentiment.. I stamped that on plain Black card stock with Versa Mark ink and embossed it with White Embossing powder. I die-cut the sentiment and two blanks with the matching die and glued them all together before gluing the stack down to the card front. Simple and sweet but that embossing powder just sparkles!

There is only one outline stamp in the whole My Monthly Hero kit… though I guess you could color the Web Background Stamp if you wanted to…! I’m ready to color almost anything at this point!

OOOOH! There’s that Web Background Stamp again – this time embossed with Iridescent Embossing Powder from the MMH June 2023 kit – it doesn’t really show on black card stock unless the light hits it just right – another cool cobweb effect! This background is cut to 3.75″ x 5″ with a LFSRdie and matted on a thin Glossy Black mat and glued to an A2 White card base.

I stamped the hat on a piece of 80# Neenah Solar White card stock and colored it with my Ohuhu Alcohol markers. I stamped the sentiment with VersaFine Onyx Black ink and embossed it with Clear Embossing powder. I die-cut the panel with the second smallest Moda Scrap Framed Rectangles (just under 2.25″ x 3.5″) and glued it to a piece of Orange card stock cut to the same size with a LFSRdie. I mounted those to the card front with foam tape. Now this sentiment is in the MMH kit, but there’s no broom in that kit. But there IS the If The Broom Fits Die Set in the Super Hero Kit. I just can’t resist breaking into the Super Hero kit a little early to finish out this card.

Open the card and the broom pops up all set to take off! I die-cut the broom from some Auburn Pearl card stock and cut a second handle from Pitch Black card stock and glued them together for strength. I cut the Bristles and tie from Ivory card stock and colored them with my Ohuhu Alcohol markers before gluing the broom all together. I also stamped the sentiment on the inside with VersaFine Onyx Black ink.

The pop-up mechanism is a 1″ x 1.5″ piece of thin card stock folded in half (3/4″) and then both halves scored and folded from the center fold to the corners. That gives us a pop-up triangle that you glue over the fold on your card base. I trimmed my corner tabs to fold behind the triangle but you can glue the tabs in front if you don’t mind. Then you can just glue the broom on the left side of the pop-up – just make sure it’s hidden when the card is closed and pops up into the position you want when open. Really a fun surprise – that broom die set is a perfectly useful prop all year round!

The If The Broom Fits Die Set brings in the My Monthly Super Hero kit and is followed by the Miss Witch Die set. Hero Arts has created a number of these “peeking” die sets… I have a couple of “peeking” stamps from old MMH kits, but no die cuts! My first “peeking” die-cut set then!

I die-cut Miss Witch from some lightly textured Green card stock and Vanilla card stock for her hair (both from my stash), and Pitch Black card stock for her clothes, hat and eyelashes. I used Core’dinations Glitter Silk card stock in Black for the web detail on her sleeve, her hat band, and inside the back edge of the hat, and the Glitter Silk in White for her collar. Her glasses and hat buckle are cut from Auburn Pearl card stock, and her lips are cut from Red card stock with packing tape on top – I swear that is the best hack ever for giving die-cut lips the perfect shine.

Her clothes and accessories are the only parts of the die set that layer on top of other pieces… her hat and hair match up to the edges of her head – I just taped everything together from the back to assemble her. I did die-cut her body again from a scrap of White card stock and stopped the die cut before cutting her body off… that gave me an extra tab to anchor her body to the card. I glued that to the back of the taped-together witch.

The card base is 8.5″ x 5.5″ and scored at 3.25″ and 7.5″ for an extra flap for the witch. I cut a 1″ x 5.5″ piece of Altenew Woodgrain card stock and ink blended Antique Linen and then Vintage Photo Distress Oxide inks to bring out the woodgrain. I masked off about an eighth of an inch on the left side and darkened it (the edge of the door(?)) with more Vintage Photo ink. Then I glued that on top of the 1″ flap on the card base.

I stamped the purple part of the card front on a panel of White card stock using Grape Slush Reactive ink and the Cling Background stamp from the MMH September 2022 kit and embossed that with Clear embossing powder. Then I cut that panel to 3.25″ x 5.5″ and ink blended more Grape Slush ink over the leftover white parts and then intensified the edges with Purple Galaxy Reactive ink. I glued that panel to the left panel of the card base. I lightly ink-blended more Grape Slush ink on a scrap of White card stock and stamped the Sentiment with VersaFine Onyx Black ink and embossed that with Clear embossing powder. I die-cut the sentiment with one blank and glued them together. I stamped one crow and the CAW! sentiment (from the Spooky Brew Stamp & Cut set) on more of the ink blended card stock and die-cut them out with their matching dies.

I glued Miss Witch in place behind the “door” and added her hat and hair (die cut from more plain White card stock) to the back of the assembled witch. I glued the stacked sentiment in place and hid the crow and “caw!” behind the witch. I glued the crow flat and added a small piece of thin magnet behind the “caw!”. I glued the other piece of magnet behind the witch and covered that with some plain white paper. Those hold the card closed without the aid of a belly-band… There is a perfect space at the bottom of the inside to stamp the other crow and I added the extra sentiment on the inside both stamped with more Onyx Black ink. Just some little surprises each time you open a panel!! I really like this card… and I didn’t even TRY to make Miss Witch a Mister Witch!

And that brings us fully into the Spooky Brew Stamp and Cut set. Finally, I get a couple of images to color!!!

I stamped this vignette on some Canson MultiMedia card stock using VersaFine Onyx Black ink. I masked off the pumpkin before stamping the cauldron, and masked off the bottom of the cauldron before stamping the grass. I colored everything with my Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers, but I used some Green Pearlescent paint for the bubbling liquid, and a touch of Purple pearl around the cauldron. I stamped the sentiment with VersaMark ink and embossed that with some Love From Lizi Emerald City Embossing powder – that’s got to be my FAVORITE Green embossing powder ever!

I die-cut the painted panel to just under 4.25″ x 5.5″ with the largest Moda Scrap Framed Rectangles die, glued that to an A2 panel of Green card stock and then down to a White card base. That Moda Scrap Rectangle die is practically perfect for Halloween cards! I added a few pieces of starry glitter around the cauldron, and called it done. Is that goo alive?!?

I didn’t use any of the “familiars” (the critters) in the Miss Witch die set but I did have plans for at least a couple of them!

I stamped the large pumpkin three times on Carrot card stock with Onyx Black ink (masking off the center pumpkin to stamp the side pumpkins). I proceeded to shade and color the pumpkins with my charcoal pencils and some Alcohol markers before fussy-cutting them out. I die-cut the cat from plain Grey card stock and did a little shading and detailing with my charcoal pencils and a Pigma Micron Pen. I did give my cat two of the “frogs” larger eyes – I like those better than the wide open eyes on the cover art – cut from white and black card stock covered with packing tape for shine (almost as effective on the eyes as on lips!). I did add a nose to my cat as well, and then assembled her and glued her down on the pumpkins. I guess a cat nose die wasn’t included thinking it would only be a black cat..?!

I masked off a bit of a hillside on a panel of Anchor card stock from the kit, and stamped and embossed the Web background stamp on the top half of the panel with VersaMark ink and the Cloud 9 Embossing powder. I reversed the mask and ink blended Concord & 9th Mushroom ink along the top edge of the hillside. I die-cut that panel to 3.25″ x 4.5″ with a LFSRdie, and added a 1/16″ Black mat, a 1/8″ Orange mat, and another 1/16″ Black mat before gluing them down to a White card base.

I stamped the sentiment (from the MMH September 2020 kit) with VersaMark ink and embossed it with White embossing powder. I mounted the pumpkins and cat with foam tape and added a spider from the Cauldron die set on the web. I did inset the die cut spider eye and just added a dot of White gel pen for his eyes. There is a matching “Happy Halloween” sentiment in this 9/20 stamp set, so I stamped that on the inside of the card for the secondary greeting.

I really like the cute little frog die in the Miss Witch die set… remember that fable about putting a frog in boiling water?

This makes me giggle! First I stamped the cauldron on some Bristol Smooth card stock and colored it with my TomBow watercolor markers. I used the matching die to cut it out, and colored the White die cut border Grey with an Alcohol marker. I die-cut the frog from some Light Green Pearlescent card stock and cut his arms free. I cut a slit behind the rim of the cauldron and slipped the frog into the pot with his arms hanging over the side. He seem perfectly happy!

I die-cut a piece of masking paper with the Trick or Treat die and put that in place on the front of an A2 Grey card base. Then I stamped the Web Background stamp using Concord & 9th Mushroom ink and ink blended more Mushroom ink around the perimeter of the card front. When you take the mask off you have a perfectly clean place to stamp the sentiment which I did with VersaMark ink and embossed that with LFL Emerald City Embossing powder.

I added a few thin strips of Dark Green Pearlescent card stock to anchor the cauldron and attached the pot with foam tape – I also added a thin piece of foam tape behind the frog’s head. I trimmed the long edges with two strips of Love From Lizi Bubble Apple Green Peel-Off stickers and added a few Moonshine Confetti sequins (from the Simon Says Stamp July 2017 card kit) for more sparkle. I was going to add the normal die-cut eyes but realized my googly eyes fit really well! Just a little extra goofy for this fun card!

Since I didn’t pair up the Broom die cut with the Miss Witch die cut I decided I needed one more broom card…

I took an A2 panel of Grey card stock and spattered Black Grey and White ink all over and ink blended some Altenew Cloudy Sky ink around the edges. I cut a broom from Grey card stock and used a panel of white card stock to plan out the movement. I traced the bristles on the panel in both positions. Then I poked a hole through the broom and panel to be the pivot point and threaded a small brad through the two pieces. Then I poked another hole in the broom on the right side at the thickest part of the bristles – about 3/4″ up the broom from the pivot hole. Then I used a pencil to trace the arc through that hole onto the panel. We don’t want to see any mechanism so I cut a slit following the arc but between the two position marks – so the slit is always covered by the broom.

I made a lever from a 1″ piece of Ivory card stock folded in half and glued together for strength. I set the tab behind the panel and attached it to the pivot brad. I fed the top of the tab through the curved slit, and had to fuss around a little bit to get as much movement out of the lever as possible – basically I just trimmed the top of the lever (the part that comes through the slit) to be narrower than the 1/2″ lever (the curved slit is only about 5/8″ wide). Then I taped the lever to the back of the broom to make sure it worked – when I was satisfied with the movement, I took everything apart and transferred the pivot hole and arc slit to the Grey card front.

The broom (and tie) is cut from some Beige card stock and I took the Grey card stock template I made to plan out the card, and glued it to the back for strength. I popped the brad through the broom and glued the bristles (Auburn Pearl card stock) over the top. I trimmed the background to 4″ x 5.25″ (cutting opposite the mechanical corner). I stamped the arrow on the lever and attached the lever to the brad and then fed it through the slit and glued it to the back of the broom. I’ll try to explain this a little more completely on my video for this kit… but ultimately it’s fairly simple – once the mechanism was assembled I glued it to a Black mat (no glue around the movement!). That hides all the mechanicals!

The hand is die cut from White card stock and colored with Alcohol markers and then two more layers are glued behind for strength. I did curl up the three fingers a tiny bit while they dried. The sleeve is cut from Pitch Black card stock and I used the sleeve die to cut the Gold and Scarlet stripes for the sleeve. (Gryffindor!) I did die cut one more hand and cut the thumb and 3 fingers off and glued that to the back of the hand – adding a little more height to the fingers. The big secret making this mechanism work is insetting the thumb into the background – I decided on the placement and traced around the thumb (just to the knuckle) and then cut the background and mat away to allow room to inset the thumb. I glued the assembled background to a white card base and glued the arm flat to the card front insetting the thumb into the background – the broom can slide across the surface and over the thumb without getting caught up on the die cut.

I die-cut the UP! from Glitter Silk Black card stock using an old “Gatsby” alpha die and glued that in place. I stamped seven sparkles from the Spooky Brew Stamp set around the background with VersaMark ink and embossed them with Iridescent Embossing powder. A nice sprinkling of star glitter adds a last touch of shine.

I couldn’t resist adding this sentiment on the inside – this is from the My Monthly Hero February 2022 kit and is stamped with Onyx Black ink on a 4″ x 5.25″ White writing surface. This is a great encouragement card that has nothing specific to do with Halloween! I like that a lot!

That wraps up my ten cards! Phew! I am certainly all Halloween’d out! I’ve never been much of a Halloween card sender, but I really do adore all these cards… and this kit certainly inspired me to create a few interactive cards as well!

We certainly have a handsome batch of cards this month! I believe I used all of the dies in the Cauldron Shaker Die Set, and the Trick or Treat die set (except the match!). I didn’t use the cat or bat stamps in the ‘Tis Near Halloween stamps but I did use five of the sentiments. I used the Web Background Stamp four times (Love it)! I only used the Carrot and Anchor card stocks included but I used all the broom dies and all but the parrot dies in the Miss Witch Die set. And I did use most everything in the Spooky Brew Stamp set other than the mushrooms…Though I do love cream of mushroom soup!!! Let me know what cards are your favorites!

Both the My Monthly Hero and My Monthly Super Hero Kits have already SOLD OUT for September! AARRGGHH!
I know it’s frustrating not to get a spot — so Hero Arts created a waitlist. You may not get in this month, but sign up and we’ll get you into My Monthly Hero as soon as a space opens.
 
How It Works

Choose My Monthly Hero or My Monthly Super Hero waitlist

Pay a $5 Spot Hold to save your place — check out like any other order

You MUST check out with just the waitlist, no other items in your cart

When your spot opens up, your subscription begins automatically and your $5 Hold goes toward your first kit

No risk you can cancel to get off the list if you change your mind. 

If yo’d like to get on the waitlist, please use my links below when you go shopping at Hero Arts. I do get a small commission from whatever you buy through my links (at no cost to you) and I am alway supremely grateful!

My Monthly Hero: https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101337132-16962401?url=https%3A%2F%2Fheroarts.com%2Fproducts%2Fmy-monthly-hero

My Monthly Super Hero: https://www.jdoqocy.com/click-101337132-16962401?url=https%3A%2F%2Fheroarts.com%2Fproducts%2Fmy-monthly-super-hero

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Thank you so very much for spending some time with me today. Your attention is always appreciated! If you enjoyed this post, please click the Like Star at the bottom of the page, and if you wish to be notified when a new post comes out, just click the Follow Me button at the top of the page. And don’t hesitate to send me a note if you have any questions, comments or just to say Hi!. Please take a moment to Like Me, List Me, Pin Me, Post Me, share this post with all your crafty friends and Halloween Fans. And remember… don’t run with scissors! As always, I send you and yours Love and Light and Happy Crafting!!

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NEW Spellbinders • Classic Mouse Costume Party & Trick-or-Treat Accessories • August 2026 Release

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Hello Folks! Scott here again with another mid-month adventure with the Classic Mouse duo! In preparation for Halloween, Spellbinders has continued the Classic Mouse story with costumes and accessories!

The new Classic Mouse Costume Party die set has seven costumes for our mousy pair – Witch, the Monster and his Bride, Magician, Pocahontas, Dracula, and Queen (Princess?) of Hearts.

DO NOTE: Characters not included. These costumes require the Classic Mouse Wedding die set – this die set does not include any of the basic mouse pieces and clothing pieces available in the Wedding set.

I’m not sure if the Pocahontas costume is politically correct these days… but I’m sure there are some fun ways to adapt these dies to our own devices…!

The Classic Mouse Trick-or-Treat Accessories die set has a bunch of Halloween accessories that would pair up with a variety of spooky cards… with or without mice!

The headbands are a fun accessory that you can use with the original Steamboat Willie Duo die set – no elaborate costumes needed! But I’d almost lay money on the fact that these headbands would work on a variety of die-cut characters!

There is also the New Classic Mouse Trick-or-Treat Sentiments Stamp and Die set! Though this wasn’t available to me, I do love that these sentiments aren’t particularly mouse oriented, and the stamp and die are single pieces, so you stamp once (all of the sentiments) and then you die-cut them all out at the same time! Yay, Stamps!!!

I thought I should make all of the costumes first… before even thinking of cards. So I die-cut a bunch of mouse pieces from the CM Wedding die set and started assembling all the costumes… Spellbinders does have assembly guides for both die sets if you need… and most of the costumes are pretty simple! Then I decided how I was going to use these characters on some cards…

Remembering that it was a bit of a tight squeeze getting both mice on an A2 card, I thought I would try an A6 (4.5″ x 6.25″) card instead! I stamped the house and graveyards (and bats) using Versafine Onyx Black ink and the Hero Studio Card Kit of the Month for September 2024. I ink blended the windows with Lemon Drop Reactive ink and then the sky with Grape Slush and Purple Galaxy, and the ground with Root Beer Reactive inks. The “sparkles” above the Bride are rub-ons from the same kit, and the sentiments are from the My Monthly Hero September 2019 kit – stamped in Versafine Onyx Black ink and embossed with Clear Embossing powder.

I worked on the First National Tour of the New Mel Brook’s Musical Young Frankenstein, and our Monster was green! Ok… maybe not quite this fluorescent, but he was still green! I did get a big kick coloring these faces, arms and tails green! I used my Ohuhu Alcohol markers and decided to color the costume pieces too – just die-cut them from White card stock. Their shoes are die-cut from some card stock embossed with HA Sand Embossing powder – I thought that looked appropriately muddy…! I skipped his vest, lapels and tie, and die-cut his suit from some Brown textured card stock distressed with Unicorn White ink.

I added the mice to the card front with foam tape (gluing the tips of their tails flat) and I gave them the bat and spider accessories to hold in their hands. Love the “one of a kind” sentiment! Is that the Haunted Mansion in the background?

That’s the only truly matching pair of costumes for our mice… but I suppose pairing any costumes together is fair game! I think my color choices for these next two costumes led me to combining them on one card. And, since the pair of mice are fairly large, and an A6 card didn’t add enough room for bigger sentiments, let’s try a big ol’ 5″x7″ (A7) card!

Plenty of room here! This is a 5″x7″ Ivory Card base with a green frame cut from a vellum embellishment from an old Love From Lizi kit – it was a 4.25″ x 5.5″ panel so I split it at the corners and spread it out to fit the card. Some Black ink splatters fill in the center, and the sentiment is from the MMH 9/19 kit die-cut from Auburn Pearlescent card stock with one layer of Pitch Black card stock glued behind.

Dracula is dressed in a Dark Grey suit with Lapels and shoes cut from the same Dark Grey with packing tape on top (for the shine!). I skipped the bow-tie and top hat, and cut his cape from packing-tape Red and plain Black card stocks. The queen is dressed in White Glitter card stock with Metallic Champagne accessories and more packing-tape Red (for the shine!!)

I die-cut the Treat Bag and Cauldron from colored cards stocks and cut all the candy from White card stock and colored those with my Alcohol markers. I tucked the candy in the cauldron and glued that flat to the card front. I added the treat bag to Dracula’s hand and attached both characters with foam tape. I gave Dracula a die-cut bat to hold, and I gave our Queen the “Magician’s” heart card too!

Back to some single character A2 cards now…!

Ever since The Wizard of Oz came out, I think of Witches as Green too! This is an A2 Ivory card base with some black spatters and a two-tone Purple frame that I had sitting in my scrap paper pile. I did glitter up the frame with some Sheer Shimmer Sparkle Craft Spray and I found this sentiment in an old Love From Lizi Kit – works perfectly!

I colored the Witch’s face with Green Alcohol markers but didn’t color her arms or tail. I also colored her dress and belt with Alcohol markers on White card stock. Her shoes are cut from Dark Grey packing-tape card stock (same as Drac’s shoes), the buckles are Auburn Pearl card stock, the cape lining and hat band from plain Purple card stock and her collar and top of the cape are cut from Glossy Black card stock. I did add a tiny Green wart on her nose as well!

I die-cut the broom from colored card stock and gave that to the Witch before mounting her to the card front with foam tape (tip of tail glued flat). The sentiment is popped up on more foam tape and I like how it echoes the “I’m Under Your Spell” sentiment in the stamp and die set!

I figured that since our Pocahontas costume had a fringe under-skirt, I might be able to adapt that into something different, yet still a recognizable costume!

That fringe skirt adapts brilliantly into a Flapper costume!! This is another A2 card base with a Foiled background from my scrap stash created with the My Monthly Hero February 2019 kit stencil. I trimmed that to 3.75″x 5″ and added a thin black and a thin white mat before gluing them to a White card base. The sentiment is from the same MMH Kit stamped on a scrap of Black card stock with VersaMark ink and embossed with White Embossing powder. I die-cut that to 2.5″ x 1.25″ with a Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle die, glued that to a thin White mat and glued both to the card front.

I used three layers of the fringed skirt die to make her dress in Pink card stock, trimming the top die cut to match her collar. I gave her pink shiny shoes with the help of some packing tape, and die-cut her accessories from some plain Red card stock – the necklace and feather “gem” are cut from packing-tape enhanced Red, and I trimmed one feather shorter for her headband. A perfect Flapper Girl costume for anyone not comfortable with a Pocahontas costume.

I added some sparkle to her fan with a Spectrum Noir Sparkle pen and gave her a little pink crystal ring on her hand. There is another sentiment in the MMH 2/19 kit – “You’re the Cat’s Meow” – but I thought with a Mouse as our costumed character, that sentiment might be a little insensitive! Love this costume!

All that’s left is the Magician… I could not resist making my own little touch of magic for this card.

Another plain White A2 card base with some Black and White layers die-cut using an old LDRS Fancy Squares & Little Things Die set. Those dies are for a square card so I adapted them to work on an A2 card base. The sentiment is from the Classic Mouse Happy Sentiments Press + Foil set – Onyx Black ink on White Cotton card stock – die-cut with the matching die. I built the Double Slider pull-tab mechanism on the back of the top White die-cut.

I die-cut this suit from Black Tie Glitter card stock including the hat band and the decor on his shoes. I did give him the bow tie and adapted Dracula’s “walking stick” into the Magician’s magic wand. The bunny is die cut from colored card stock but I used a single piece of thin card stock behind his head and just colored in his ears, nose and mouth.

The Double-slider mechanism was a bit fussy only because there’s such a small space to make it work. For this instance, the big secret was cutting the slit for the bunny 1/4″ below the rim of the hat and not letting the bunny disappear below the slit so there’s no chance of him getting stuck.

I do have a good video on creating Double-slider Pull-tab cards here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyHI0kvQTg8&t=153s

I managed to squeeze in the mechanism with just enough room to function, and finally glued the Magician and his hat flat to the card front. Some more “sparkle” rub-ons from the 9/24 kit and a sprinkling of star glitter adds just enough bling to the background. I die-cut two sentiment blanks from Pitch Black card stock and glued those to the back of the sentiment before gluing them flat to the card face. Perfect sentiment for a perfectly magical card! Love it!!

And that concludes my adventures with the Classic Mouse Costume Party and Trick-or-Treat Accessories die sets. I did focus on the costumes in this release a bit to the detriment of the accessories dies but I was pleased to see that these costumes can be used outside the confines of Halloween.

Now I am not a big sender of Halloween cards… never have been… but these cute costumed characters could change my mind about that! We’ve got plenty of Halloween vibes here but also, a couple of cards that could be used for a variety of occasions. I really like the versatility of these costume dies, and am especially proud of my Flapper Girl!! Let me know which cards are your favorites!

If your passion for Halloween is matched by your passion for the Classic Mouse die sets, then you will want to get one of these kits for yourself! If you do go shopping at Spellbinders, please use my links listed below. I get a small commission from whatever you buy (at no cost to you) and that helps support this page and keeps the ol’ wheels turning!

Classic Mouse Costume Party Etched Die Set: https://bit.ly/45dyc2n

Classic Mouse Trick-or-Treat Accessories Etched Die Set: https://bit.ly/4whboK0

Classic Mouse Trick-or-Treat Sentiments Stamp & Die set: https://bit.ly/45PTMdm

Classic Mouse Wedding Etched Die Set: https://bit.ly/3Um3Ecg

Classic Mouse Steamboat Willie Etched Die Set: https://bit.ly/4hu6vtv

Spellbinders NEW Products: https://www.tkqlhce.com/click-101337132-15849009

Thank you for sharing some time (and clicks!) with me today… I hope you enjoyed another mid-month diversion as I keep exploring the ever-evolving Classic Mouse collections! If you enjoyed this post, please click the Like Star at the bottom of the page, and if you wish to be notified when a new post comes out, just click the Follow Me at the top of the page. Don’t hesitate to send me a note if you have any comments or questions! Please take a moment to Like Me, List Me, Pin Me, Post Me, just share this post with all your crafty friends – especially any Disney/Halloween fans! Remember… don’t run with scissors! And as always, I send You and Yours Love and Light, and Happy Crafting!!

DISCLOSURE: This site contains some affiliate links to products. I may receive a commission for purchases made through these links (at no cost to you). As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you!

10 Cards 1 Kit • My Monthly Hero & Super Hero Kits • August 2026

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Hello Folks! Scott here with another installment of my 10 Cards 1 Kit posts featuring the My Monthly Hero and Super Hero Kits for August of 2026. The Summer is marching along nicely as we dig into the “Little Library” kit this month!

The My Monthly Hero Kit begins with the Tiny Library Die Set that creates a fun neighborhood book exchange kiosk. That is followed by the Library Card & Pocket Die Set and the Library Card Stamp and Cut. It has been so long since I checked out a library book, I don’t know if they even use cards and pockets anymore! Finally we round out this kit with 10 sheets of 8.5″ x 5.5″ Color Wheel Card stock in Bellini, Coral, Carrot, Terra Cotta, Tuscan, Mint, Alabaster, Seaside, Fawn and Truffle.

The My Monthly Super Hero Kit includes everything in the Monthly Hero expands on the library premise with the Novel Greetings Stamp and Cut, and the Big Book Die Set. Fun pun-ny sentiments with the stamps perfectly sized for the Big Book Die Set. Finally, we get the Classic Floral Layering Stencil Set if you want to add a touch of tapestry to your book covers.

Our theme this month is the Little Library, but this kit creates some really large items. Though the Tiny Library Die Set sports some very little books, the whole kiosk is 5.25″ tall… and the Big Book Die Set gives us a 3.25″ x 4.5″ book! Hardly any room left to worry about backgrounds! Let’s make use of the Tiny Library die set to begin with.

I have to admit, this was kind of a fun assembly! I broke into the Card Stock pack for this month, and everything is die-cut from those colors with the small addition of some Hero Hues Pitch Black card stock for the bookworm’s eyes and glasses and the centers of the two flowers. I got a big kick out of hiding the Bookworm behind the door frames so you don’t see him till you open up the doors. I did put some acetate in the doors – I discovered that the third smallest die in the Hero Arts Rectangle Infiniti die set fits inside those door frames perfectly!

As I was building up the insides, and adding in the two-layer books, and other thicker pieces, the doors wouldn’t hold themselves closed. So I slipped a small thin magnet behind the shelf on the inside, and added some broken magnet pieces to the back of the door frame. That worked perfectly and even gives me a satisfying little >click< when they close. I did add some touches of shading to the die-cuts with my Pebbles Chalk Pallet and some Alcohol markers.

I used the MFT Mini Cloud Stencil and my Chalk Pallet to blend in some clouds on an A2 White card base. I glued the kiosk flat to the card base and added the two bees up in the corner. I actually used every die in this set on this card. Well, every die except for the heart die – but we’ll get to that! Lots and lots of fiddly bits here, but pretty satisfying over all!

Feeling like I had conquered that die set on my first go-round, I was eager to jump into the Library Card & Pocket sets! Naturally my anal-retentive brain wanted to create something that looked authentic – like you’d find in a library book!

I die-cut the pocket from an old 9×12 clasp envelope. That color is SO close to the Tuscan card stock in this kit but I appreciated that I didn’t have to assemble the pocket with 100# card stock. I stamped the card on Alabaster card stock with VersaFine Onyx Black ink and die-cut it out with the matching die. I decided that I wanted an actual book title for this card and “Love Story” seemed appropriate. I printed that on the card using my Silhouette Software and the Times New Roman font. I filled out some dates and names on the card with some different pens (I am totally addicted to my red pen) and I stamped the “Overdue for a hug” using Hero Hues Cherry Core ink.

I cut a piece of off-white paper to 4″ x 5.25″ and rounded the corners with my Corner-Chomper, and did some very light distressing around the edges with my Chalk Palette. I glued that to a White card base with some double-sided dry adhesive. I thought the pocket was a little plain and should at least identify where this book came from, so I decided to create this Public Library stamp. This is from a VERY old type-setter style of stamp set with lots of letters and numbers and frames that you can create your own stamps with… it used to be my return address stamp until I got tired of the “homemade” look of the stamps – but it worked perfectly well for this! Stamping it a little cockeyed adds to the hand stamped nature of a library stamp!

You pull out the card to reveal the Overdue sentiment and the hearts behind! I glued the pocket to the front of my card base, and die-cut a piece of White paper with the large “tape” die and glued that over the corner of the pocket… realizing that I have gobs of Washi tape on hand, I added more “tape” to the two other corners. The Big heart is from this die set, and the small hears are from the Tiny Library die set. (I told you I would get to them!) I stamped the “Miss You” on the large heart (masking off the “I”) with Cherry Core ink, and added a little touch of shading with my Chalk Palette. I added a blue paper clip on the front of the pocket (I do love that paper clip die) and tucked the card in for safekeeping. This is about as authentic as I can remember!

Besides the big heart, this die set also has a slice of cake and a party hat as well as a Happy Birthday stamp and a few plants and flowers. How about a birthday card for a book-loving friend?

Same envelope used for the pocket, but this time I folded and glued the flaps around the back of the pocket instead of to the front (my last library card kept getting hung up on the glue flaps). I stamped the “check you out” sentiment and the date scratches with Cherry Core ink, and stamped the “First Edition” and “best chapter” stamps with Onyx Black ink. Then I stamped the “Happy Birthday” with Hero Hues Fruit Punch Reactive ink and embossed that with some Clear Embossing Powder. The background is a piece from a Tim Holtz Collage card stock pack cut to 3.75″ x 5″ and matted on a thin Auburn Pearlescent mat before gluing down to an A2 White card base.

The cake is cut from Alabaster and Truffle card stock and the hat (and Candle) is cut from some plain Red and White card stock. I did a little bit of shading on them with my Chalk Palette, and attached the cake and hat to the front of the pocket with foam tape, and glued the candle flat to the back of the pocket (making sure it didn’t stick out above the card). I grabbed some Hero Hues Shaped Enamel Stickers (from the MMH Premium Kit April 2023) and added some dots to the front of the pocket and a spray of shapes around the candle. I did color the “flame” with alcohol markers and shined up the candle with a Clear Glaze pen. Great B-day card for your favorite bibliophile!

There are also a couple of flowers and a sprig of greenery in this die set… While I’m not opposed to flowers, I’m not a crafter that tends to cover everything I make with flowers, so I thought of another way to highlight these dies.

Nothing to do with Libraries or Books but a perfectly beautiful Thank you card! I die-cut two of the flower petal dies from Alabaster card stock and two from plain White card stock, and gave them a little shaping with a ball stylus before gluing them all together for this bloom. I die-cut two of the stems from Fern card stock and glued them together with one backwards to get the right-facing leaf. I glued those to the bloom and added the center cut from Truffle card stock.

I ink blended Hero Hues Fruit Punch and Lemon Drop Reactive inks on a panel of White card stock cut to 2.75″ x 4″ with a Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle die. I stamped the sentiment with Onyx Black ink and embossed it with Clear Embossing powder. I added a thin White mat and a thin Black mat behind the stamped and blended panel. The background is a piece of plain Green card stock cut to 4″ x 5.25″ and die-cut with a Honey Bee Stamps Spring Leaves Pierced Cover Plate. I added a thin Black mat behind the Green and glued those to a White card base.

I attached the flower with a dot of foam tape behind the bloom, and a touch of liquid glue where the leaves join. I did give the “tape” die-cut another chance this time cutting out the smaller of the two from some real Washi tape and used that to “hold” the flower in place. The best of BOTH worlds! I glued the colored panel at a bit of an angle flat to the card front and added some HH Sunset Enamel dots for a little shine (those are from the Hero Studio Kit of Sept.2025). I liked taking a little break from the “library” and focusing on a single bloom and a simple sentiment. Thank you for all you do!

I liked that daisy so much I decided to see if I could combine all the flowers in the MMH kit in one card. Often, when facing an assortment of small images (or small die-cuts) I turn to the Waffle Flower Postage Collage sets.

Now, Waffle Flower has a whole series of stencils for the Postage Collage sets but I don’t know if I’ve seen anyone use die-cuts in place of the stencils! I die-cut the Postage Collage Die from White card stock and used the Postage Collage Blocks Stencil to ink blend the backgrounds on all the “stamps” – Lemon Drop (top left and bottom right), Fruit Punch, Key Lime Fizz, Splash, and Creamsicle Reactive inks. Then I got to work die-cutting all the pieces. Everything is cut from the kit card stock (except for the Greens, Black and White, and Hero Hues Arctic for the blue flowers) and I used the greenery sprig to add leaves to a few of the groupings. I did a little shading on the heart but that was it.

I glued all the die-cuts in their respective rectangles, and used the Postage Collage stamp set to stamp the prices along with the “hugs inside” next to the heart. I glued the postage panel to a 5.25″ x 4″ Black mat and glued those to a White card base. I stamped the sentiment on a scrap of White card stock with VersaFine Onyx Black ink and embossed it with Clear Embossing powder. I die-cut that (and one blank) with the matching die and glued them together before mounting them with foam tape. It is nice to see that small die-cuts work just as well in this Postage Collage as the stencils do!

There were moments when I didn’t think I could get five different cards using only the My Monthly Hero kit this month. Though the last two cards really didn’t have anything to do with the theme, I do like them a lot! That brings us to the Novel Greetings stamps and the Big Book Die Set – not to mention the Layering Stencils! Moving right along…!!

You kind of have to use the Big Book Die Set with the Novel Greetings stamps. This book is die-cut from the Fawn, Truffle and Alabaster card stocks while the title is stamped on Ivory card stock with Root Beer Reactive ink and embossed with Clear Embossing powder. I would certainly recommend die-cutting the thin dark trim around the cover all by itself instead of trying to die-cut it from the cut cover and then inlay all the pieces…! Of course I did inlay the trim after cutting it from the cover and coloring it with an Alcohol marker. It was VERY fussy gluing down the outline, then the trim, then the interior… somehow I managed and the assembled book is quite charming! The bookmark is cut from Carrot and Tuscan card stock and trimmed short so it’s just barely tucked inside the “pages”.

The background is Ivory Card stock stamped with the Background Texture text stamp from the MMH April ’23 kit using Altenew Nimbus Crisp Dye ink. I trimmed that to 4″ x 5.25″ and blended more of the same ink around the edges before gluing it down to a White card base. I die-cut the sentiment with the largest “book plate” die and cut a second from the same card stock. I colored the edges of the blank die-cut with an Alcohol marker, split the die-cut right down the middle and glued it to the back of the sentiment with the sides spread out a little. I glued those to the front of the book.

Though a bit fiddly, I really like the glasses dies! We have a background die that cuts the whole eyeglasses and then frame and legs dies to layer on top. I die-cut the background die from acetate and trimmed off the legs, then I die-cut the frame and legs from some Glossy Black card stock and glued the frame on top of the acetate background and then just added the legs. Great pair of glasses!!! I attached the book to the front with foam tape and glued the glasses down to the book. Great thank you card!

So we’ve figured out the Big Book Dies and Novel Greetings Stamps, let’s look at the Classic Floral Layering Stencil set!

Using Hero Hues Canary card stock and Altenew inks, I stenciled the stems (stencil 1) with Cloudy Sky and the leaves (stencil 2) with Nimbus. The flowers (stencil 3) uses Tangerine Dream ink and the details (stencil 4) are stenciled with Red Jasper ink. Very Classic Tapestry. I made the mistake again of inlaying the stripe around the cover but I’ve learned my lesson now and will never do that again! The stripe and spine detail are cut from Carrot card stock. Again Alabaster card stock for the “pages” and this time I slipped a little piece of thin ribbon between the pages for our page marker.

I stamped the sentiment on more Canary card stock with Onyx Black ink and embossed it with Clear Embossing powder then cut it out with its matching die. The background is a piece of Green/Gold corrugated card stock from an old Love From Lizzi kit cut to 4″ x 5.25″ and glued to a White card base. I glued the sentiment flat to the cover and attached the book with foam tape. Now, I possibly should have skipped adding the stenciling on the spine, but I felt it was a fun continuation of the tapestry. Another Thank You!!

I have an idea for a different though totally recognizable type of book – very classic and very simple to accomplish!

Love this! Stenciling on an A2 panel of Ivory card stock with Key Lime Fizz (stems and leaves), Splash, and Blue Raspberry Reactive inks for the flowers. I die-cut that with the background book die. Then I cut an inch of Color Wheel Celestial card stock with the spine part of the die and, using the angle of the pages on the right as a reference, angled the top of the spine die-cut to match. I glued the spine on top of the stenciled book, then added the pages (cut from plain White card stock) over both. The spine details and tassel are cut from some Gold metallic card stock and glued in place. That tassel works as a page marker all by itself!

The sentiment is stamped on more Ivory card stock with VersaMark ink and embossed with HA Gold Embossing powder. I cut that to 2″ x 1.5″ and glued that to the cover. The background is a 4″ x 5.25″ panel of Auburn Pearlescent card stock embossed with an old Darice victorian wallpaper embossing folder and glued to a White card base. Happily, I used some Love From Lizi Gold Mirror peel-off stickers for the added Gold striping around the title plate and on the Blue spine wrap on the front cover. That works brilliantly and keeps me from having to fiddle with the thin die-cuts! Love it!

After doing three Big Books, I realized it should be fairly simple to make a Big Book as big as an A2 card – why keep gluing a book to the front of a card when the book can be an A2 card itself!

I did do a practice run with an Ivory A2 card base and realized you just need to die-cut the top right corner and the bottom left corner to make our book be 4.25″ x 5.5″. So that’s what I did with a plain Blue (65#) A2 card base – cut just the corners of the card base with the Big Book die. The cover is just a square, so I can cut that to any size, but I will have to do some partial die-cutting to lengthen the pages and the spine detail. I could have cut the pages die about a sixteenth of an inch shorter, but since I just eyeballed all the double die-cutting, I decided to leave it be. The pages are cut from plain White card stock and the cover and details are Hero Hues Periwinkle card stock.

Instead of fussing with thin die-cuts, I cut a piece of plain Blue card stock to 3.25″ x 4.5″ with a LFSRdie, and glued a 3″ x 4.25″ Periwinkle panel on top. Then I die-cut the large plate die through the center of both pieces and glued the cover to the card front . I stamped the sentiment on more of the plain Blue card stock with VersaMark ink and embossed it with White Embossing powder then cut that out with the same plate die and inset it (there’s that word again!) in the space on the cover. Since I was going to have to make a writing surface on the inside of this Blue card, I decided to make a removable bookmark for the recipient! And since the book is bigger let’s make the Bookmark bigger too!

I stamped a scrap of old pattern paper with the “Happy Birthday” and “Pull” (from MFT Interactive Labels Stamp set) with Onyx Black ink and then covered that with a piece of clear packing tape. The bookmark die in the kit is just under 3″. Using partial die-cutting on the two ends of the die gave me an almost 5″ bookmark! I die-cut another long bookmark from the plain Blue card stock to glue to the back (just trimming their bottoms to match). I added a little tassel pull using some Blue/White bakers twine. I cut a slot on the edge of the “pages” through the whole card front, and instead of using foam tape to make a channel for the bookmark to follow, I just used a couple of layers of card stock stacked and cut into strips – much thinner than foam tape and provides plenty of room for the bookmark! I cut the inside panels to match and glued them in place. I really like this oversized book – at least I didn’t have to worry about a background!

That’s four different books in number of styles… But I do feel like I may have short-changed the Tiny Library Die Set…

To make this pop-up sentiment on this card, I reached for all my thinner card stocks. I did use the Truffle card stock for the base, roof, and post, but everything else is thin 65# card stock. The Orange and Beige pieces are Alcohol marker colored White card stock. I cut a second Door piece and cut off the doors and glued that behind the top door piece to add some strength (and thickness) to the frame around the doors. Then I glued acetate to the top of the doors and added the Orange frames on top. Then I took 2 more pieces cut the same size as the acetate (third smallest HA Rectangle Infinity Die) from thin White card stock and colored with a Brown Alcohol marker – this will be the “background”. I glued a shelf to the middle of those pieces and added some (thin) books.- then I glued that to the back of the windows. When closed, it looks like the inside of the kiosk. I glued the completed door piece to the background.

For the pop-up sentiment, I cut 2 strips of card stock to 3/8″ x 1.75″ and scored those strips every 3/8″ leaving just a quarter inch left to glue to the start of the strip to make a box – make sure the box folds flat in both directions. I stamped the sentiment with VersaFine Onyx Black ink and embossed it with Clear Embossing powder and cut it out with the matching die. Then I cut the sentiment in half right below the “one for” – a little trim on the cut edges smooths everything out. The left side of the top sentiment is glued to one side of one cube, and the right side of the bottom sentiment is glued to one side of the other cube – don’t go beyond the edge of your box (I did do a little trimming and coloring to hide the pop-up box). Then you glue two sides of the box to the back of the door and the background – top sentiment left, and bottom sentiment right. The doors should close and sentiments pop up when opened.

Then I decorated the inside with another shelf, and a dozen (thin!) books – the big books will slip inside your pop-up boxes further disguising them! I also added a little wood detail on the inside of the doors. I assembled the rest of the kiosk as normal and found this perfect pattern paper – Cozy Patterned Collection pad – from Scrapbook.com (I think it was a freebie) and cut that to 4.25″ x 5.5″ and ink blended the edges with Root Beer Reactive ink. I glued that to a White card base and added the kiosk with foam tape. I love the kiosk shape echoed in the background paper that has soft hues so it doesn’t compete with the Tiny Library. And a bit of a fun pop-up card to boot!

And that wraps up our Literary Adventure with all 10 cards created with the My Monthly Hero and Super Hero kits for August of 2026. Nothing much to color this month, but at least we did get a nice layering stencil. Colorful batch of cards!

And a pretty nice variety here… a couple of Birthday cards, Friendship cards, a number of Thank You cards that I seem to use more than Birthday cards! Truly a terrific kit for any bibliophile, librarian, student, or even a casual reader on your list! I did enjoy figuring out the intricacies of these die sets and how you might adapt them to your purposes, and I think the Classic Floral Stencils will come in handy as well as lots of these bits and pieces! I know where to turn if I happen to need a little book (or even a Big Book) for other projects. Let me know which cards are your favorites!

If you like the ideas I’ve come up with or something different has clicked and you want to grab a kit for yourself, please use my links listed below. I do get a small commission from whatever you buy through my links (at no cost to you) and it is always supremely appreciated!

My Monthly Hero: https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101337132-16962401?url=https%3A%2F%2Fheroarts.com%2Fproducts%2Fmy-monthly-hero

My Monthly Super Hero: https://www.jdoqocy.com/click-101337132-16962401?url=https%3A%2F%2Fheroarts.com%2Fproducts%2Fmy-monthly-super-hero

Hero Arts:  https://www.jdoqocy.com/click-101337132-16957493

Thank you for taking a little look at my cards today. Your attention ia always appreciated! If you enjoyed this post, please click the Like Star at the bottom of the page, and if you wish to be notified when a new post comes out, just click the Follow Me button at the top of the page. And don’t hesitate to send me a note if you have any questions, comments or just to say Hi!. Please take a moment to Like Me, List Me, Pin Me, Post Me – in other words, share this post with all your crafty friends – And remember… Don’t run with scissors! As always, I send You and Yours Love and Light and Happy Crafting!!

DISCLOSURE: This site contains some affiliate links to products. I may receive a commission for purchases made through these links (at no cost to you). As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you!

New ALTENEW exploration with stamps, dies and stencils!

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Hello Folks! Scott here with a bit of a mid-month diversion with some Altenew products! I was recently invited to join Altenew as an affiliate and was able to get some items off my wish list to share with you today! I do have a good amount of Altenew products – a number of stamp sets and stencils and blending brushes, 3D dies and press plates, card stock sets, big, thick washi tapes, double-sided foam tape and even a few inks… not a whole lot of Altenew stuff, but it feels like I do have a little bit of everything.

I have been lusting after this 6″ x 8″ “Up and Away” stamp set for a while now… such a unique perspective on hot air balloons… and you know how much I like to color!! Some perfectly appropriate sentiments in this set, and I also appreciate that there is a stamp featuring a couple folks enjoying the launch!

There is also the “Up and Away Bundle” available that includes the “Up and Away Simple Coloring Stencil” (5 in 1), and the “Up and Away Die Set”. I couldn’t resist getting the whole bundle since I thought the stencils would come in handy if I wasn’t feeling like coloring all these balloon panels on my own…!

The big balloon viewed from below is about 4.75″ diameter! BIG! So I reached for a large panel of 80# Neenah Solar White card stock and stamped the big balloon using VersaFine Onyx Black ink.

Wow! This thrills me to no end!! Using the stencils, I colored the Balloon with Broken China, Faded Jeans, Squeezed Lemonade and Fossilized Amber Distress Oxide inks. Now, the stencils only color the balloon itself, so you are still left to color the inside of the balloon and the basket on your own (or not!). I used my Prismacolor Colored pencils to color the basket, the scoop (or wind guard) and the basket. I really liked combining the ink-blended stencils with some hand coloring… very satisfying. When all was colored I die-cut the balloon with the matching die. I did take this moment to mark the big die with a sharpie reminding me which side of the die is the top!

I cut a piece of Hero Hues Arctic card stock to 4″ x 5.25″ and stamped the sentiment with Onyx Black ink and embossed that with Clear Embossing powder. Then I added a thin Black mat and glued both to an A2 White card base. I trimmed the three sides of the balloon to 4″ x 4.5″, colored the White die-cut border with an alcohol marker, and mounted that to the card front with Altenew Foam tape. I’ve been on a little bit of a Blue and Yellow kick lately, and I really like the Distress Oxides on this balloon instead of the stereotypical bright primary colors one tends to think of for Hot-Air Balloons.

There is a smaller balloon stamp in this set and I was really looking forward to coloring that couple!

This is more of a bright sun-shiny balloon! I stamped both images with Onyx Black ink on 80# Neenah Solar White card stock and, using the stencils, ink-blended the balloon with Hero Hues Lemon Drop, Key Lime Fizz, Green Apple, and Fruit Punch Reactive inks. I did use a tiny micro-applicator brush for some of the darker shadings. and though the basket does have a stencil, the inside of the balloon and the apron and scoop still need to be colored (on not!). Again, I used my Prismacolor Colored pencils to finish the ballon and color the couple. I did use the matching dies to cut out both pieces, but I ended up fussy-cutting the couple for a little cleaner detail, but stuck with coloring the die-cut border on the balloon with an Alcohol marker.

The background is a panel of White card stock ink-blended using an Altenew Large Blending brush (my favorite big ones!) with Hero Hues Splash and Blue Hawaii Reactive inks. Those large, flat bristle brushes never fail to give me beautiful blends. I die-cut that panel to 3.75″ x 5″ with a Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle die and stamped (and embossed) the sentiment as usual. I added a thin Black mat behind and then glued both down to a White card base. The balloon and couple are attached with Altenew Foam tape and they both “break the frame” a little bit – I like that!

Altenew has some of the best packaging in the industry with standard tri-fold instructions that have full-size examples and color options for almost all of their sets. There’s a caption on this packaging that says “Time to Color!” Okay!

After all, it WAS just the 4th of July last weekend! I was still in a colored pencil mode so I stamped this on a 4.5″ x 6″ panel of Stonehenge White card stock with VersaFine Onyx Black ink and colored away! If you look, you’ll see there are 7 White Stripes and 6 Red Stripes (just like the flag) and I like that the White fields in the Blue section match the White stripes. (I imagine if you saw this balloon from a distance, you should see red and white stripes spiraling around the sides) (I may be crazy!) I cut a simple paper mask and ink-blended Splash Reactive ink around the bottom of the balloon.

To make this shaped card-front, I scored the left edge of the stamping at 1/4″ (remember this is on a panel of 4.5″ x 6″ card stock) and folded that back to be the hinge. Then I fussy-cut the top of the balloon from side to side. Then I trimmed the bottom of the panel away at 5.5″. I stamped and embossed the sentiment as usual (very appropriate!!). I took two A2 panels of white card stock and glued the hinge between them to make the card. I did add some more Splash Reactive ink blended on the inside of the card for the bit of sky above the balloon. I like this card quite a lot and it really got me thinking about the truly endless options there are for coloring these balloons!

I did take this opportunity to get a few more things from Altenew! I am always a sucker for a Rose, so I grabbed the Rose Buds Layering Stencil set (retired) along with a Mini Blending Brush set and the Tropical Tango Ink Cube set with Peachy Keen, Mandarin Burst, Tangerine Dream, and Red Jasper Fresh Dye inks.

I got these inks because I think I have fewer oranges in my ink stash than any other color, and I thought some orange roses would be fun way to use this new stencil.

Florals are what initially attracted me to Altenew, and they are still going strong with this pair of stylized roses – Love it! I stamped all four sides of an A2 panel of 80# Neenah Solar White card stock with a Concord & 9th Splatter Texture stamp using Peachy Keen ink. I traced the stencils on a panel of paper to help with my placement, and ink blended the roses with the Mini Blending Brushes and the four inks. I used Altenew Misty Morning and Cloudy Sky Crisp Dye inks for the leaves – though these inks are technically in the Grey family, they lean very green – and work perfectly well for the leaves!

I trimmed the roses to 5.25″ x 4″, added a thin Metallic Orange mat behind, and glued those to an A2 White card base. I wanted a die cut sentiment but didn’t want anything big and bulky – I found this Love From Lizi “Love You” die that was perfectly delicate. I die-cut that from more Metallic Orange card stock and die-cut its shadow from some thick vellum. I glued the letters to the vellum and then flat to the card front. Three glitter enamel dots add a sparkly finishing touch to these bright orange roses. I’m sure my Altenew floral stash will continue to grow!

And that wraps up our mid-month tangent for today. As I said, I have admired and used Altanew products for many years with consistently great results and these new goodies still hold up to that reputation.

The Up and Away Bundle is a terrifically fun Hot-Air Balloon set with unique stamps and extremely useful stencils and dies. And if you need a good coloring fix, you can come up with thousands of possibilities with these balloons.

And the Rose Blooms Stencil set is a welcome addition to a history of terrific florals that Altenew is so well known for!

I hope you enjoyed this little foray into some Altenew Products this month! If you see something you might like to add to your own stash please use my links listed below. I do get a small commission (at no cost to you) when you use these links, and that helps keep the wheels spinning and the lights on! (And I’d love to show Altenew that I’m worthy of their attention…!)

Up and Away Bundle: https://altenew.com/products/up-away-stamp-die-bundle?sca_ref=11422472.dG9zjgek7r5

Altenew: https://altenew.com/11422472

Thank you for spending a little time with me today. Your clicks are always appreciated! If you enjoyed this post, please click the Like Star at the bottom of the page, and if you wish to be notified when a new post comes out, just click the Follow Me button at the top of the page. And don’t hesitate to send me a note if you have any questions, comments or just to say Hi!. Please take a moment to Like Me, List Me, Pin Me, Post Me, share this post with all your crafty friends… and remember… Don’t run with scissors! As always, I send You and Yours Love and Light and Happy Crafting!!

DISCLOSURE: This site contains some affiliate links to products. I may receive a commission for purchases made through these links (at no cost to you). As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you!

10 Cards 1 Kit • My Monthly Hero & Super Hero Kits • July 2026

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Hello Folks! Scott here once more with my 10 cards inspired by the My Monthly Hero & My Monthly Super Hero Kits for July of 2026. “You’re the Zest” is the theme this month and these kits are full of all sorts of zesty citrus images, sentiments, and some fun summer pastimes as well!

We start the My Monthly Hero kit with the “When Life Gives You Lemons Stamp and Cut”. YAAAAY! Stamps we can actually color!! A great lemon tree and cafe set-up with cutting dies for all the images and both sentiments. Then we get the “Arched Tiles Embossing Folder”. We rarely get embossing folders in the kit so this is exciting. Next we have the “Let’s Ride Die Set” – a cute scooter with side-car. It bothers me a little that there is no helmet for the driver… but there is a helmet for the cat…! Next is this “Citrus Shaker Die Set”. We also get 10 half-sheets (8.5″ x 5.5″) of Spellbinders Color Wheel Card stock in Beeswax, Saffron, Tuscan, Peridot, Rainforest, Fern, Mint, Breeze, Malibu, and Oceanside.

The My Monthly Super Hero Kit comes with everything in the Monthly Hero kit, and this “Squeeze The Day Stamp and Cut” set. All-sentiments but at least we have a pun or two! With the two sentiments from the Monthly Hero Kit stamp set, that makes 8 sentiments total for this whole kit… I was surprised by this Arched Tiles Stamp Set! A full background stamp that matches the embossing folder in the Monthly Hero Kit. The “Citrus Frame Die Set” wraps up this fruity kit.

Despite my questions about some of these sets, I AM THRILLED that we actually get some stamps to color this month!

You may know that I am not a big fan of die-cut edges on my stampings, so I would prefer to mask out my stamps in order to create a scene from multiple stamps – there are 10 images in this little scene, so I fear the die-cut borders would overrun the images! This is all stamped on a panel Bristol Smooth card stock with VersaFine Onyx Black ink. I began the stamping with the pitcher and glass on the right. I cut masks for them both and stamped the second glass in the center. I masked off the second glass as well. Then I stamped the cafe table and two chairs. I cut masks for the top of the two chairs and then stamped the window and shutters. Five small masks is all it took to stamp this vignette – and not a die-cut border in sight!

I colored the scene with my Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers. Ahhhhh… it does feel good to color!! I stamped the sentiment with Onyx Black ink and embossed it with Clear embossing powder. I die-cut the vignette to 3.25″ x 4.5″ with a Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle die, added a thin black mat and a yellow mat cut to 3.75″ x 5″ with another LFSRdie. I glued everything to a white card base and wished I was sitting at this table somewhere dreamy…! I did contemplate making this a landscape card with another window and shutters but decided against that. That’s why there’s that extra bit of a shutter on the right… I like that…! Makes it feel like the vignette continues beyond our view…

And we have even MORE stamps to color!!!

AND a PUN to boot!! This is stamped on Bristol Smooth card stock with VersaFine Onyx Black ink and colored with my Zig markers. I used a Cloud Edges stencil and my Pebbles Chalk Palette to add the clouds in the background, then stamped and embossed the sentiment as usual. I had to jump into the Super Hero “Squeeze the Day” stamp set for this sentiment, because there are only TWO sentiments in the whole MMH kit this month! I die-cut the colored panel with a Moda Scrap Framed Rectangle die and glued it to a Yellow A2 card base. LOVE this pun and the lemons almost make my mouth water!

I still have to use the cat from the Life/Lemons stamp set, and we have a new embossing folder to play with!

I stamped the cat on a scrap of Bristol Smooth card stock and cut a matching mask, and then stamped the chair for him to be sitting in… kind of a big cat… or just a smallish chair..? I did color them with my Prismacolor colored pencils and then fussy-cut them out – taking time to color the cut edges with a black marker.

With this “Arched Tiles Embossing Folder” I thought to reach into my stash of color core card stocks and found this nice 2″ circle already die-cut from some Core’dinations Dark Blue Color Core card stock. I embossed that with the folder, and sanded off the positive side to get the light blue. I cut a 2.75″ x 4′ panel of Red/Black Chalk Core card stock by Core’dinations, embossed that with the embossing folder, and sanded off the negative embossing for the Red/Black panel. I added 1/8″ white mats around the circle and rectangle embossing.

Lastly, I used the folder to emboss a panel of Yellow card stock cut to 4″ x 5.25″, and glued it down to an A2 White card base. I stamped and embossed the sentiment as usual, and die-cut it out with its matching die. I glued the Red and Blue panels and the sentiment flat and added the sleeping cat/chair with thin pieces of foam tape. Not only do I really like the cat on the chair, but I love the 3 versions of the embossing folder all on this one card! Thanks friend!

That covers every stamp in the Life/Lemons stamp set… now there’s the “Let’s Ride Die Set”… You know I am just itching to get a guy on that scooter – AND give the poor fellow a helmet!!

AHA!!! Success!!! A young man at the wheel! I was thoroughly entertained putting this card together! First I had to adjust the shirt so it didn’t cinch down to a tiny waist. I cut the Head/Body die normally, then I partially die-cut the shirt from a scrap of Plaid pattern paper stopping the cut right at the armpits. Then I simply cut straight down from the pits to make the top long enough to go behind the scooter. Then we have the helmet – the goggles fit our driver just fine, but the helmet is made to fit the cat (figure that!). I die-cut the helmet twice – from Pearlescent Green and Black card stocks. I split the Green/Black helmet down the center, and cut off the curved sides from the Black/Green helmet. I spread the Green/Black (center-cut) helmet to cover his head and filled in the center with the Black/Green helmet.

The rest of the assembly is perfectly straight-forward – I used my Pearlescent card stock scraps to give the scooter a metallic feel, I used the lips die but turned them upside down, and I used the Sun Hat from the die set for his knees – that was the perfect touch to complete my masculinization of these die-cuts! I added light touches of shading to the cat and some blush to our driver with Chalk pastels. I am perfectly pleased with this young man! And the cat’s kind of cute too!

I die-cut a panel of Dark Grey card stock with a 4.25″ x 5.5″ LFSRdie and, with the help of a couple of Oval dies, sketched out the road. Using Twisted Citron and Forest Moss Distress Oxide inks, I blended in the sides of the road and outlined the road with a White Charcoal pencil and blended it out with my finger. I grabbed the Hero Studio Card Kit of the Month for July of 2025 for the road sign and the sentiment stamps – those are stamped with Unicorn White ink and embossed with White embossing powder. I mounted the scooter and occupants at a little angle with foam tape. I was very happy to give our driver a helmet and goggles, and I think these dies can work well if you want to make a masculine card!

Now we have the Citrus Shaker Die Set – I know people love to receive shaker cards… but we just did Balloon shaker cards a couple of months ago, and I didn’t feel like a lemon shaker made much sense…!

But there are good dies in this set without having to go the shaker card route! I die-cut the two main pieces of the Lemon with some Canvas Textured Yellow card stock, and ink blended Hero Hues Lemon Drop Reactive ink on the bottom of the whole lemon and all over the die-cut shadow piece. I die-cut the highlight from smooth White card stock and lightly blended Lemon Drop ink on that as well. I die-cut the leaves from the Rainforest card stock in the kit and blended some Forest Moss Distress Oxide ink on the bottom of the leaves. The stem is cut from a scrap of Brown card stock and the lemon is assembled with liquid glue.

I stamped the sentiment on some smooth Yellow card stock with Onyx Black ink and embossed that with Clear embossing powder. I die-cut the sentiment (and three blanks) with the matching die and glued them all together. The background is a very old piece of Burnt Orange corrugated card stock from DCWV cut to 3.75″ x 5″ with a thin black mat glued behind (3 7/8″ x 5 1/8″). I attached the lemon with foam tape and glued the sentiment flat to the corrugate. I like using textured card stocks for organics… just a little more detail for the eyes to enjoy! And this is a good pun as well!!

I couldn’t resist using the same dies to come up with some Limes instead of lemons… especially with a fun sentiment!

I die-cut and assembled these limes the same as the lemon – using textured card stock for the fruit blended with Twisted Citron Distress Oxide ink for the highlights and Green Apple Reactive ink for the shadows. Again I used smooth white card stock blended with the Twisted Citron ink for the highlights. I die-cut the leaves from more canvas textured card stock and did a little touch of ink blending with the Green Apple ink. I free-hand cut a simple branch from some Brown card stock and die-cut the larger and smaller flowers from White card stock. I gave the flowers a little touch of Yellow with my Zig markers and glued the small flowers to the centers of the large flowers.

The background is a panel of White card stock ink-smushed with Twisted Citron and Green Apple inks. I printed this sentiment on the background using my Silhouette Software and the Black Jack font, and trimmed that to 4 1/8″ x 5 3/8″ and glued it to a White card base. I assembled the branch, limes, leaves and flowers together and mounted them to the card front with thin foam tape. I actually researched lime trees and a branch will produce fruit and continue to grow sprouting new flowers and fruit. And I couldn’t resist this pun-y sentiment!

I’ve already broken into the “Squeeze the Day” sentiment stamps, so the next new item in the Super Hero Kit is the Arched Tiles Stamp that matches the Arched Tiles Embossing Folder.

I stamped and embossed this a few times and just couldn’t get the embossing to totally line up with the stamping. It would line up terrifically at the top of the stamping but – because your card stock is getting stretched when it goes through an embossing folder – the embossing and stamping would get out of alignment halfway down the panel. I found two things that can help that and used them for this card. First, I used thin card stock – 60# or 65# max (less thickness / less stretching). I stamped this with Twisted Citron Distress Oxide ink on cheap 60# black card stock. I gave the back of the card stock a light misting of water and then I embossed it backwards – debossing the stamped pattern. That gave me the best result of all the experiments I tried. (Of course you can always just ink up your embossing folder (either side) if you want an absolutely perfect match!)

I trimmed my stamped and embossed panel to 3.75″ x 5″ and used a 1″ hole punch to cut the notches in the corners. I like that! The fruit slices are die-cut from Beeswax, Saffron and Rainforest card stock from the kit. I added small squares of clear packing tape to all three colors and die-cut the slices from that so they’d be nice and juicy (shiny). The rinds are all cut from the plain card stocks and glued together. A White Gel pen adds some visible pith to the slices. I stamped the sentiment on matching Black card stock with Unicorn White ink and embossed that with White Embossing powder. I die-cut the sentiment (and two blanks) with the matching die, then stacked and glued the layers together. I arranged everything on the background and attached all with thin foam tape.

I added some enamel dots for a little more “juice” using the Spring Enamel Stickers (MMH 4/22) for the lime drips and Sunset Enamel Dots (MMH 9/25) for the Yellow and Orange dots. I wish they made more enamel “drips” in all sorts of colors! These fruit slices are from the Citrus Frame Die set and I thought they worked extremely well all on their own!

Speaking of the Citrus Frame Die Set, I think it’s about time for us to work with that large window die!

I die-cut the full frame from the Fern card stock to begin with, and die-cut the fruit dies (twice) from Saffron card stock. I cut the three leaf dies twice from Peridot card stock, and cut 10 flowers from White card stock and 10 centers from some watercolored card stock. I did some soft shading on all the die-cuts with my Pebbles Chalk Palette (and a little yellow Zig Marker on the flowers) and added some dotted texture to the fruit with a White Gel pen. I glued all the pieces together as indicated on the full die-cut – a little bit of sleuthing required to match everything up – I believe I flipped a couple pieces of fruit over to make them match better, and I added some extra leaves here and there…! But no cut-up fruit segments still on the bough!

I created this background with my new Copic Air Brushing System – Though I don’t have any Copic markers, I have lusted after one of these for a while and I heard that they might be discontinued, and Blick Art Supply was having a sale so I grabbed one for myself. Since this system truly works best with Copic Markers, I did splurge and bought a small set of a dozen Copic markers – this background is airbrushed with B24 and B37. I will need some more practice, but this isn’t too bad for my first try…! I stamped the sentiment directly on the background with Unicorn White Pigment ink and embossed it with White Embossing powder. I glued the Citrus Frame die cut to the background and then down to an A2 White card base. A few more Orange Sunset Enamel Dots gives us a little more shine and I just love these colors!!

At this point I was eager to do some more coloring, but I’ve already used all the image stamps in these kits… so I decided to emboss the Citrus Frame Die on some watercolor card stock using the embossing mat and plate that came with my Platinum Six Die Cutting machine.

Though I am far from an expert at watercoloring, I do enjoy the process, and I really should make the time to practice more! This is all painted with Daniel Smith watercolors and I try to paint in thin layers and build up to the darker colors… This is certainly a little bit more free-form than what the die-cut assemblage gives you, but I’m really pleased with how this turned out. I did die-cut 10 flowers and centers from more watercolor paper, added a little color to those and glued them in place on top of the painted card. – that way I didn’t have to worry about keeping the flowers White while watercoloring the rest – AND the die-cut spots for the flowers had no detail whatsoever.

I stamped the sentiment with Onyx Black ink and embossed it with Clear embossing powder, and trimmed the panel to 4″ x 5.25″. I added a thin Black mat behind and glued those to an A2 White card base. A batch of Yellow Sunset Hero Hues Enamel dots is scattered around for a touch of shine and dimension. I do love this pun a great deal and it obviously works perfectly for any lemon-themed card! And breaking out my watercolors felt really good and serves to remind me that watercoloring is always a viable coloring option!

I feel like I’ve really stretched the boundaries of the kits this month, and that last card took a lot of time… let’s go with something simple for my last card this month. I haven’t used the basket and lemons in the Let’s Ride die set yet…!

A very non-traditional Valentine with lemons! I die-cut the basket and trim pieces from some plain Ivory card stock and did a little shading with my chalk pastels before gluing the pieces together. I die-cut the lemons from the “Lets Ride” and “Citrus Shaker” die sets from textured Yellow card stock and the leaves from the “Let’s Ride” die set from plain green card stock. I piled all the lemons and leaves in the basket with one stray lemon down front.

I picked this Blue plaid pattern paper from the SSS April 2017 card kit and trimmed it down to 5.5″ tall by about 2 3/8″ wide using an old American Crafts Border punch (love those hearts!). I printed the sentiment directly on the pattern paper using my Silhouette Software and the Brady Bunch Remastered font. I glued the Blue plaid down to a 5.5″ x 2.5″ plain Green mat and then down to a 5.5″ x 2.75″ Black mat. Those are glued to the center of a textured Yellow card base. Our basket of lemons is attached with thin foam tape. I colored one of the Clear enamel hearts from the Spring Enamel Stickers with a Yellow alcohol marker, stuck it down to a plain piece of White paper and trimmed the excess paper away (making the heart opaque) and glued that on the card front. Another card that almost makes my mouth water!

And that’s a wrap on another 10 Cards 1 Kit post inspired by the My Monthly Hero and Super Hero Kits for July of 2026! Truly a bright and cheerful batch of cards! Finally, some really good opportunities to do some coloring this month!

It feels like I’ve used almost everything in these kits… I did use every stamp except for the “life is good” sentiment, I used the embossing folder (and stamp) a few times, and even though I didn’t make shaker cards or the Girl on the scooter, I do feel like I gave all of the die sets their proper due. I really do like all of these card a great deal… something about Lemon Yellow just brightens my mood and fills the soul! Let me know which cards are your favorites!

If I’ve managed to catch your eye with these great new card kits from Hero Arts, and you’d like to grab one of these for yourself, please use my links listed below! I do get a small commission (at no cost to you) when you use these links, and that helps keep the wheels spinning and the AC blasting so I can keep sharing some ideas for these new kits!

My Monthly Hero: https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101337132-16962401?url=https%3A%2F%2Fheroarts.com%2Fproducts%2Fmy-monthly-hero

My Monthly Super Hero: https://www.jdoqocy.com/click-101337132-16962401?url=https%3A%2F%2Fheroarts.com%2Fproducts%2Fmy-monthly-super-hero

Hero Arts:  https://www.jdoqocy.com/click-101337132-16957493

Thank you very much for spending some time with me today. Your attention is always appreciated! If you enjoyed this post, please click the Like Star at the bottom of the page, and if you wish to be notified when a new post comes out, just click the Follow Me button at the top of the page. And don’t hesitate to send me a note if you have any questions, comments or just to say Hi!. Please take a moment to Like Me, List Me, Pin Me, Post Me, share this post with all your crafty friends (anybody have a lemon tree in their backyard?). And remember… Don’t run with scissors! As always, I send You and Yours Love and Light and Happy Crafting!!

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10 Cards 1 Kit • My Monthly Hero & Super Hero Kits • June 2026

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Hello my dear Folks! Here we go again with my 10 cards created with the My Monthly Hero & My Monthly Super Hero Kits for June of 2026. Summer is in the air as we dig into these “Soak Up the Sun” themed kits. Even after last week’s heat wave, I am definitely ready for some warmer temps!

To kick off the My Monthly Hero kit we have the Hello Summer Stamp and Cut set with five sentiments and some summer icons silhouette stamps – and dies to cut everything out.

Then we have the Reflection Layering Stencil Set that includes three stencils to color this fun watery pattern.

The Pool Party die set comes next with a large kidney shaped pool and a young lady with an assortment of pool floats and umbrellas and a popsicle to boot! I guess there are no guys at this party… that seems kinda boring…! (let’s see if I can fashion a gentleman swimmer from these dies…!)

We also get this small Fun Floats Die Set with a variety of pool floats and even a Ducky preserver! WOW! That’s a lot of dies in this kit! We finish out the Hero kit with 10 (8.5″x5.5″) sheets of Spellbinders Color Wheel card stock in Tutu, Dahlia, Coral, Carrot, Beeswax, Peridot, Seaside, Waterfall, Teal Topaz and Fawn.

The My Monthly Super Hero Kit includes everything in the Hero Kit AND this Sippin’ Summer Die Set which makes a lady with downcast eyes and a big sun hat, along with a can (or glass) of something sippable!

Then we get a nice, large Hello Sunshine Die Set which includes the sentiment die and a shadow die as well. Not a very big shadow, but definitely helpful when assembling this sentiment.

Then we wrap up this whole kit with the Fabulous Phrases Stamp and Cut. Six more sentiments that appear to be curved to fit on the large sun hat in the Sippin’ Summer die set, and a few flowery icons. All the sentiments and images have matching dies as well.

Another great value with these kits though I am a little disappointed that there are not more stamps to color… maybe next month! I will go through this whole kit and try to make 5 cards with the Hero Kit and 5 more using the whole Super Hero Kit. Let’s see how much of this packed kit I can use on 10 cards! This first card seems perfectly appropriate to get us started!

I reached for my Gina K Designs 4″ Wreath Builder Template to stamp these flip-flops in Hero Hues Fruit Punch, Creamsicle, Lemon Drop, Green Apple, Blue Raspberry, Blue Hawaii, Thistle, and Berry Smoothie Reactive inks. All the straps are stamped repeatedly in the same colors except for the Orange and Yellow which have straps of Red and Orange respectively. I did stamp the four outward facing thongs first, then repositioned the stamps for the four pair facing inward. When the stamping was complete, I stamped the sentiment with VersaFine Onyx Black ink and embossed that with Clear embossing powder.

I did take a Light Grey Alcohol marker and added some subtle shadowing around the flip-flops. That gives this footwear a bit more presence! I die-cut the stamped panel to 3.5″ x 3.5″ with a Tonic Studios Scallop Square Layering Die Set, added a thin Black mat behind and then added a Fluorescent Green mat die-cut at 3.75″ square with the same Scallop dies. I stamped the flip-flops across the top and bottom of an A2 White card base using Hero Hues Contour ink, then I glued the matted and inked panel on top at a fun angle. Remember when we used to call these thongs and nobody even snickered..!!??

Now we have the Reflection Layering Stencils. I was eager to see how well these worked and did learn that you do want to use your lightest color for Stencil 1, darker for Stencil 2, and darkest for Stencil 3. that seems to work best!

This Reflections Stencil is inked in Hero Hues Pool Party (#1) Splash (#2) and Blue Hawaii (#3) Reactive inks. I really do like the pattern the stencils give us!! I die-cut the Kidney Pool from the stenciled pattern and die cut the edge of the pool from White card stock and colored it with a Grey Alcohol marker. I glued those to the front of an A2 White card base. I die-cut the “ladder” from some Silver Metallic card stock and die-cut the umbrella, flip-flops and bathing suit from colored card stocks.

I die-cut our lady and her hat and bow, her pool float and beach ball from White card stock and colored them with my Alcohol markers. I actually used the top of the popsicle for her float – a little smaller than the Watermelon float in this set! I assembled all the die-cut images (those flip-flop straps rank as teeny-tiny fiddly bits) I stamped the sentiment in the water with Versafine Onyx Black ink and embossed it with Clear Embossing powder. I drew on some “concrete” lines to fill in the background using a pencil and a Light Grey Alcohol marker, and then I glued the assembled images in place. I mounted the umbrella on some foam tape for a little added dimension, and then added a little more umbrella, beach ball, and pool float shadows with a Light Grey Alcohol marker. Party of One? Right this way!

I do have a particular Embossing powder I wanted to try with the Sun stamp in this set, so I did a mock-up first to see how well it would work…

This is Neon Lemon Embossing powder from Love From Lizi! It works terrifically well! I ink blended Lemon Drop and Creamsicle Reactive inks on a small panel of White card stock and when that was well-dried, I embossed the Sun using VersaMark ink and the Neon Lemon embossing powder. Then I stamped and embossed the sentiment as usual.

I broke out my Spellbinders Essential Arches dies and and cut the inked panel with the 2.25″ wide die. The Black mat is 2.5″ wide, the Yellow mat is 3″ wide and the last Orange mat is 3.25″ wide. I die-cut a White card base with the 4.25″ wide Arch die and did some light ink-blending on the edges with Lemon Drop ink. I glued the matted and inked panels on top. LOTS of shine on this card without a single embellishment!

The Fun Floats Dies Set gave me the idea of doing a card just featuring pool floats! There are four complete floats in this die set and when added to the two floats in the Pool Party set, that’s SIX (seven if you count the popsicle top as a float!).

I did use only the Color Wheel Card stock in this set for our pool floats here! I started by ink-blending a circle of the Reflection stencils on a panel of White card stock ONLY using Pool Party Reactive ink – lightly for stencil #1 then darker for Stencils #2 and #3. A single color works very well with these stencils! I die-cut all the floats from the card stocks in the kit and assembled all the pieces together – some very small fiddly bits! (The Black and White is from my stash). Gotta love that duck and watermelon slice!

For a sentiment, I could have put “Soak up the sunshine” or “Hello summer / sunshine”. “You bring the sunshine” doesn’t work… even the sentiments in the Super Hero Kit don’t really do it for me! I finally came up with this Thanks sentiment as a little visual double-entendre..! Using my Silhouette Software, I printed this sentiment right on top of the reflections stenciling using the Brady Bunch Remastered font (one of my favorites!) and my piggy-back printing method. I die-cut the panel to 3.75″ x 5″ with a Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle die and added a 4″ x 5.25″ Black mat before gluing them both to a White card base. All that’s left is to add the floats with some foam tape! I did think about making these all shiny with Glossy Accents or even giving them white “reflections” with a gel pen, but I really liked the simple straight-forward approach for these die-cut pool floats – let them “shine” all on their own!

By this point I’m really dying to do some coloring… any coloring…! I’m going to have to jump into the Fabulous Phrases Stamps in the Super Hero kit for something to color…!!

Okay… so it’s just waves… but at least I got to COLOR the waves!! I played around with this “wave” stamp for a while – in a few configurations – before I decided to just cut a mask for the front of the wave and group them together – that stamp does have very long “tails”. I stamped the line-up of waves on a panel of White card stock using VersaFine Onyx Black ink and when that was dry, I colored the waves with my Ohuhu Alcohol Markers. I ink-blended Lemon Drop Reactive ink on the top of the panel concentrating the color on the mid-left. When that was all dry, I stamped and embossed the sentiment as usual.

The sun is die-cut from the mock-up I did for the “hello sunshine” card – no point in wasting it! The panel is die-cut to 3.75″ x 5″ with a LFSRdie and a thin black mat is added and glued to an A2 White card base. I did add some soft dots of blue around the top of the waves, but the shine on the sun and the sentiment is all the sparkle that’s needed!

Now we have the quite large Sippin’ Summer Die Set. Lots of girls this month… not sure if I should feel slighted or not?

Very interesting die set! Truly unique to my stash! I die-cut her face and shoulders from the Fawn card stock in the kit and her dress and hat from Carrot and Coral card stocks. I die-cut her hair and eyelashes from some linen textured card stocks – I do like that texture in her hair – and I die-cut her lips from Dahlia card stock with packing tape on top for shine. I did do a “master” die-cut of her out of plain White card stock and then began gluing the die-cuts on top. I did take the time – as I was gluing her together – to add some soft shadows on her neck and jaw line – you can see a touch of pink on her cheeks too – I just used my Pebbles Chalk Palette to add those subtle touches.

This sun hat is almost 4.25″ wide!! I assembled the hat separately, adding more shading with chalk pastels – the dark parts of the bow are cut from Carrot card stock and colored with the chalk pastels – just rub it in good and it won’t go anywhere! Now a lot of the sentiments in the Fabulous Phrases Stamp set won’t fit on the brim of this hat if you use the bow – which I wanted to use – so I just stamped the “hello” on the brim with Root Beer Reactive ink and embossed it with clear embossing powder before assembling the hat together. I added some thin Orange/Gold Peel-offs from Love From Lizi on her dress and around the ribbon on her hat. Nice touch of sparkle!

I die-cut the glass from a thin piece of acetate and cut the extra “can” part away from the top using the “can top” die as a guide. The lemonade and lemon are die-cut from Beeswax card stock – I used a white gel pen to make the pith of the lemon slice lighter – and I die-cut the cubes from White and the straw from Seaside card stock. I glued the cubes to the “lemonade” and glued that behind the acetate with a thin bead of liquid glue just along the side edges. I cut the lemon slice and placed it on the “rim” of the glass, slipped the straw in the glass (and her lips) and started glueing everything down to a White card base. I used some foam tape behind the glass and under the brim of her hat where it is in front of her head. I do think this is a totally wacky die-set that I may rarely ever use, but it actually makes a nice card!!!

Once again, we get a large sentiment die in the Super Hero Kit… a big “Hello Sunshine” in a thin hand-written font…

I found this great pattern paper in an old Simon Says Stamp card kit (March of 2017) and thought it would work perfectly with this sentiment. I die-cut the pattern paper with a Moda Scrap Framed Rectangles die (just under 3.25″ x 4.5″) and glued that to a piece of Beeswax card stock cut to 3.25″ x 4.5″. I die-cut the sentiment from an old DCWV Glitzy Glitter cardstock stack in Gold, die-cut another from White card stock and glued them together.

I die-cut the shadow die from some thick vellum and glued the stacked sentiment on top. The shadow die is not very much bigger than the sentiment die so it practically disappears on this card, but, trust me, it is very handy for assembling this sentiment together. I added a gold mat (3.5″ x 4.75″) behind the pattern paper stack and glued the sentiment on top. Talk about teeny-weenie fiddly bits – just try keeping track of the tittle on the “i”!!! The intense glitter on this card just makes me smile!

I mentioned the size of the sun hat in the Sippin’ Summer Die Set – seems big enough to feature on a card all by itself!

I die-cut the hat pieces from some Yellow textured card stock from my stash (SO close to the Beeswax card stock in the kit) and did some soft shading to the hat with my Chalk Pastels as I glued the pieces together. The ribbon and bow are cut from Seaside and Waterfall card stocks and glued to the hat. I stamped the big Daisies on Beeswax card stock, the leaves on Peridot card stock and the small flowers on Teal Topaz card stock using VersaFine Onyx Black ink and die-cut them all with their matching dies. I gathered them into a simple arrangement (that’s one Big daisy with three of the Coneflowers behind it in the center) and glued those to the sun hat.

I ink blended a panel of White card stock with Splash Reactive ink and a Cloud Edges stencil, decided on my sentiment placement, then stamped and embossed the sentiment as usual. Then I had to do some partial die-cutting with my Square Scallop dies to get a 3.75″ x 5″ inked piece. I added a thin Black mat behind and glued those to an A2 White card base. I attached the hat with foam tape including more foam squares under the edges of the bow. Finally, I added a small clear gem in the center of the flower spray. That’s a nice hat floating by… and certainly kind of fabulous!!

This card is way off theme, but I’m trying to use all the stamps in the kit, and I’m still jonesing for a little more to color…!

A sweet, classic valentine! I played around with the Rose and leaves stamp until I came up with this arrangement. I stamped these on Bristol Smooth card stock with VersaFine Onyx Black ink and colored them with my Zigg Clean Color Real Brush markers. Ahhhhh… even better than coloring waves!! I die-cut the colored panel with a HA Nesting Ovals Infinity die (4.5″ tall) and lightly inked some Fruit Punch Reactive ink around the perimeter. This oval was crying out for some lacy trappings so I moistened a piece of lace ribbon and stretched it around the oval perimeter and taped it in place to dry under weight. When dry I went back and added liquid glue to hold the lace in place. Then I added a a mat of Dahlia card stock (cut with the next larger Oval die) behind the lace.

Using an old Lawn Fawn Scripty Borders die, and the Dahlia card stock that already had packing tape on it (lips!) I die cut the sentiment (keep track of that tittle!). I embossed the front of a White Card base with the Spellbinders Tufted 3D Embossing folder and glued the lacy oval on top. I glued the sentiment down letting the ends hang over the oval and the lace. Three little enamel hearts add a little more texture and shine to wrap things up. I do love these roses!

After college, I spent 7 years living in the Phoenix, AZ area and was pleased to have been able to go tubin’ on the Salt River – it was always a huge party of friends and acquaintances forming virtual inner tube flotillas bobbing along the river. I also mentioned that I would try to find a way to get a man to join the party!

This river isn’t nearly as big as the Salt River, but I think it gets the idea across! And we have a Gent on the inner tube! AND a pun!! HA!! I ink blended the Reflections Stencil on an A2 panel of White card stock using only Altenew Misty Morning ink – I knew this “Grey” had a definite green tint and thought it would feel a little more natural than blues. I free-hand cut the “river” from the stenciled panel so I was able to use the off-cuts as patterns for the riverbanks, and I could then lay out my pun-y sentiment. Using my Silhouette software and the Arial Black font, I printed the sentiment on a panel of textured linen Green card stock.

Then I cut the two layers for the banks – Kraft card stock and the textured Green. The Kraft shore goes over the edges of the river, and the “greenery” is trimmed back and distressed with the edge of a scissors. I glued everything together and used Green Apple Reactive ink, some Alcohol markers and a White Gel pen to add texture and detail to the greenery, shore and water – I think this has a nice flow… a good sense of movement!

Our die-cut folks are all cut from Neenah Solar White card stock and colored with my Ohuhu Alcohol markers – even her swimsuit is colored on. For the gent, I just trimmed the curves off the female die cut (mostly hips), removed his head and arms, gave him a bit of a neck for his head, flipped the arms down so he wasn’t in the same pose, colored some cut-offs for his trunks and then cut off the trunks and shortened his legs a bit. His hat is cut from her hat die (easy!) and his beach ball is the center off-cut from the white tube on card four. To help with coloring, I taped the cut out to the back of the big beach ball die so I could run it through my die-cutting machine and get the score lines on the small ball!

I trimmed the background panels to 4″ x 5.25″ and added a thin black mat before gluing them down to an A2 White card base. Our assembled participants are mounted with thin foam tape for a little more dimension. I and couldn’t resist printing this sentiment completion on the inside of the card – BEFORE assembly!! This card tickles me and evokes fond memories!

And that wraps up our ten summer party cards – okay, there’s one valentine but most everything is a party! I did manage to use almost everything in this kit – I never got to the silhouette ice cream stamps and I only used a couple of the Fabulous Phrases sentiment stamps but I did use those ephemera stamps in that set… and a lot of the card stocks too!

This is a bright colorful batch of cards this month – perfect for spreading around a little summer-time cheer! My favorite part of this kit has to be the Reflection Layering Stencil Set and the Pool Party dies are terrifically fun, and who would have thought that you could get a sweet vintage Valentine out of a “Soak Up The Sun” Kit!

If you like the ideas I’ve come up with or something different has clicked and you want to grab a kit for yourself, please use my links listed below. I do get a small commission from whatever you buy through my links (at no cost to you) and it is always supremely appreciated!

My Monthly Hero: https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101337132-16962401?url=https%3A%2F%2Fheroarts.com%2Fproducts%2Fmy-monthly-hero

My Monthly Super Hero: https://www.jdoqocy.com/click-101337132-16962401?url=https%3A%2F%2Fheroarts.com%2Fproducts%2Fmy-monthly-super-hero

Hero Arts:  https://www.jdoqocy.com/click-101337132-16957493

Thank you for spending a little time with me today. Your clicks are always appreciated! If you enjoyed this post, please click the Like Star at the bottom of the page, and if you wish to be notified when a new post comes out, just click the Follow Me button at the top of the page. And don’t hesitate to send me a note if you have any questions, comments or just to say Hi!. Please take a moment to Like Me, List Me, Pin Me, Post Me, share this post with all your crafty friends – And remember… Don’t run with scissors! As always, I send You and Yours Love and Light and Happy Crafting!!

DISCLOSURE: This site contains some affiliate links to products. I may receive a commission for purchases made through these links (at no cost to you). As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you!

NEW Spellbinders • Classic Mouse Wedding • May 2026 Release

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Hello Folks! Scott here with yet another new Spellbinders release in the Classic Mouse Collection – it’s that time of year for a Wedding! Another completely adorable set highlighting a very celebratory moment! Again, you DO NOT need the original Steamboat Willie Duo die set – everything you need is included in this collection!

Bride and Groom all decked out! And they have a new set of arms that lets them hold hands!! I love that you can make the Bride’s dress full (as shown) or short! Also, a perfect group of sentiments that you can PaperPress with inks or Glimmer Press with foils! AND the die to cut all the sentiments is included! Love that “Once upon a time…” sentiment.

And we get accessories!! Cakes and rings and bows and bells! The little bouquet will actually fit into the Bride’s hand if you like! And there’s a terrific background Press + Foil plate of our Classic Mouse pair – so infatuated… so detailed!

Fortunately, there is an assembly guide over at spellbinderspaperarts.com for our wedding couple. Fairly straight forward assembly, but note that for the Groom, his sleeves get glued to his arms, then his arms are glued to the jacket back before gluing to the Groom body – and remember, shoes and pants first! Our Bride doesn’t even have sleeves!!

Though I don’t know of anyone with wedding plans in their future, you never know…!!!

Downright delightful! Especially if the intended couple are Disney fans!! And I know LOTS of weddings take place in the Happiest and or Most Magical Places in the world! Wouldn’t those couples be absolutely thrilled with a card like this? Whenever I get die sets with lots of small pieces I gravitate right to my scrap card stock stash. Our Groom is done up in a Grey Tux with an Antique Ivory vest and Glossy Black lapels. Our Bride features a white gown with glittery shoes, belt/bow and headband holding a Vellum veil – I also did the back side of her dress in vellum – very classic!

I embossed the front of a Pink A2 Card base with the Spellbinders Tufted 3D Embossing folder, and I found this old pattern paper (Echo Park) in my stash – from the Simon Says Stamp June 2017 Card Kit. I die-cut that with the largest Heart die in the HA Nesting Hearts Infinity dies set and ink blended some Hickory Smoke Distress Oxide ink around the edges. I used the BetterPress to ink the sentiments on a panel of Cotton card stock using VersaFine Onyx Black ink and then die-cut all the sentiments with the matching die. I did cut another blank of the sentiments and stacked and glued them together for a touch of dimension and strength.

I glued the pattern paper heart flat to the front of the embossed card base and added the couple using foam tape – I did glue the tips of their tails flat! I glued the sentiment flat to the card front. I debated whether to give our Bride the bouquet featured in the Accessories set, but I wanted to make this card using only the main die set. So (at Joel’s suggestion) I settled on giving her a diamond ring with the addition of a small gem to her finger – perfect touch! When I look at this picture it feels like the heart is die-cut into the card front and the pattern paper is behind… total optical illusion! Cool!

I really liked the “Save the Date” sentiment in the Classic Mouse Sentiments set and thought someone could actually do all of their wedding stationary to the Classic Mouse theme with this collection!

Terrific invitation and very simple to assemble! The pic doesn’t really show it, but the top hat has a Glossy Black band and the veil is in Golden Glitter and White Glitter. AND, believe it or not, this pattern paper came from the same SSS 6/17 kit – and it is “tufted” just like the embossing folder on the first card! I HAD to use that! I die-cut the pattern paper to 4.5″ x 3.25″ with a Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle die, added a thin Black mat and glued those to a glittery White card base. Looks like I’m breaking out all the sparkles for this collection! I glued the sentiment flat to the card front and added the die cuts with foam tape. You could easily add the invitation and reply card inside!

Of course, I can’t ignore the Wedding Accessories… (though I have to admit I’ve had my fill of tiny die-cuts this month)!

Throwing caution to the wind, I decided to use ALL the die-cuts from the Wedding Accessories on one card! This actually began with me fiddling around with the bow and ribbons and trying to figure out how to use them on a portrait card instead of a landscape card! I trimmed the trailing ribbons shorter and glued them to the bow so they were hanging downward instead of straight across. Then I figured the bells would go nice in all this ribbon, so I slipped two Silver and Champagne Gold bells between the ribbons. Everything else is straight-forward according to the dies – I have to admit my favorite die in this set is the open double-heart “pick” in the top of the cake – the cake die even cuts a little hole to slip the “pick” into! Silver, Gold, Champagne Gold, White Glitter, Pink Glitter – there’s plenty of shine for this vignette!

I stamped the Concord & 9th Splatter Texture Stamp around the perimeter of an A2 White panel with Tattered Rose Distress oxide ink and added more splatters across the center. I trimmed that panel to 4″ x 5.25″ and glued that to a White card base. The bells & bow, intertwined rings and bouquet are glued flat to the card front and the cake, champagne and glasses are attached with thin foam tape. The sentiment is glued flat to the center and highlighted with the two remaining glitter hearts on the ends. I love that sentiment so much! And I used every accessory die on one card!

The Happiest Place Press + Foil plate thrilled me when I saw it – so cute and so detailed – I thought it would make perfect backgrounds for the whole Classic Mouse Collection!

Using my BetterPress, I stamped the plate on a panel of Pebble BetterPress Cotton card stock (some of that comes with the BetterPress system) using VersaFine Onyx Black ink. Terrific, practically perfect print! However… that background is so adorable and so detailed, that it literally overshadows almost anything placed on top – I tried the Classic Mice, I tried sentiments from this collection, I tried ribbons and bows, wedding cake, etc… all I could see was the background! (I can only imagine what a focus-puller a foiled background would be!) When all else fails bring out the big sentiments!!

This background plate is easily divided into three strips – they are still oriented in a landscape fashion but you can get three strips out of one plate. Instead of cutting my background apart, I just covered up the center strip with a 1.25″ strip of White card stock trimmed with a thin Black mat on the top and bottom. I cut the background to 5.25″ x 4″ and added a thin Black mat behind and glued those to a White card base. The sentiment is an OLD Darice die from my stash (I don’t know if I’ve ever even used this die!) cut from Champagne Gold card stock and glued to two more layers of thick White card stock. Perfect sentiment for this joyous background! A big bold die-cut Thank You sentiment would work with this background if you want to keep your thank you cards on theme!

I am always up for more items in the Classic Mouse Collection – one of my favorites of all time! If you’ve been bitten by this collection or if I have whetted your appetite for these cute critters and you’d like to get some of this collection for yourself, please use my links below – I make a small commission (at no cost to you) when you use these links to shop at Spellbinders. That helps keep this page up and running and keeps more inspiration coming your way! Thank You!!!

Classic Mouse Wedding Collection

Classic Mouse Wedding Etched dies

Classic Mouse Wedding Sentiments Press + Foil Plate & Die set

Classic Mouse Wedding Accessories Etched Dies:

Happiest Place Press + Foil Plate

Thank you for sharing some clicks with me today… I hope you enjoyed another mid-month diversion as I keep exploring the Simple Stories Classic Mouse collection! If you enjoyed this post, please click the Like Star at the bottom of the page, and if you wish to be notified when a new post comes out, just click the Follow Me at the top of the page. Don’t hesitate to send me a note if you have any comments or questions! Please take a moment to Like Me, List Me, Pin Me, Post Me, basically, just share this post with all your crafty friends – especially any Disney Fans planning a wedding! Remember… Don’t run with scissors! And as always, I send You and Yours Love and Light, and Happy Crafting!!

DISCLOSURE: This site contains some affiliate links to products. I may receive a commission for purchases made through these links (at no cost to you). As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you!

NEW Spellbinders • “Checkmate Collection” • May 2026

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Hello Folks! Scott here with a NEW collection from Spellbinders that caught my eye – the Checkmate Collection. Not only did I think these Chess and Checkers dies were so clever and unique but paired up with an embossing folder and layering stencils, I thought this collection might be perfect for masculine cards!

The Chess and Checkers Die Set creates all the needed Chess pieces as well as Checkers! The Harlequin 3D Embossing Folder is terrific all alone, but really shines when paired with the Layered Harlequin stencils and the nifty shadow stencil for all the chess pieces!

There is also the Well Played Sentiments Stamp and Die Set that adds to the fun of this collection. 20 sentiments and the blue highlights are the 6 cutting dies included with this set. The top die will cut all the single-line sentiments above it. Some perfectly appropriate sentiments here as well as a few good puns!

Fortunately, Spellbinders has a terrific assembly guide available on-line to assist you in assembling all the chess pieces. I love the classic rendering of all the chess pieces – has anyone ever played a game of flat chess?

I wanted to put together all the chess pieces to start with, but I thought I’d stick to the classic Black/White colors, and instead of having to think of different shades of Black and While for the pieces, I decided to grab some Pearlescent card stocks out of my stash – I thought they would show off the layering and give us a sense of shine on the pieces.

The picture doesn’t show it, but both the Black and White pieces have a great amount of pearlescent shine that shows off the details delightfully! And you just gotta love those shadow stencils! I’ve never been a big chess player but I quickly became a little obsessed with creating an accurate representation of a chess game for this first card.

I found an old 6″ x 6″ piece of Grey Marble pattern paper (Simply Marbleous from Stampin’Up!) and embossed it with the Harlequin Embossing folder. I used the Layered Harlequin Stencil (2 of them) to ink blend Hero Hues Licorice Reactive ink into the recessed diamonds. I picked a black corner at the bottom of the embossed/inked panel and trimmed away the two sides to make this “corner of the board”. I added a 3/8″ Black mat along the “board” edges and trimmed the whole panel to 4.25″ wide. A fancy marble chessboard! Standard chessboards are 8 spaces by 8 spaces, and the most spaces you can get in a line with this embossing folder is (almost) 7, so no way can we show a whole board on an A2 card. HA!

I decided where to place my chess pieces – I wanted to show off all the pieces – and I had to consider where their shadows fell as well. This is not a likely scenario for a real game, but I kind of like seeing all the Black pieces lined up in a row! I used the shadow stencil from the stencil set and ink blended Concord & 9th Dove ink through the stencils for all the pieces. I found that if you keep the shadow stencil straight up and down the shadows should fall right in place. I glued the “chessboard” panel on an A2 White card base and trimmed off the top to match. I glued the chess pieces in place and stamped the sentiment in the open corner – a nice little pun perfect for a Black and White Valentine! Looks like we caught somebody right in the middle of a game!

I like that card so much, I figured I’d go for broke with even more Black & White… what if we cut the embossing apart? I’m not sure what possessed me, but I embossed an A2 panel of Black card stock and an A2 panel of White card stock in the exact same place on the embossing folder. Then I sliced up the white panel into individual diamonds just following the embossed lines. I did take care to keep everything in order and everything facing up the same way. Then I took the recessed White diamonds and glued them into the recesses on the Black embossed panel. That was fun!

I couldn’t resist this sentiment! And of course one must have a Gold Queen! I assembled her using Tim Holtz Metallic Gold kraft card stock and added two Gold crowns (from the checkers dies) around the back of her crown, and added a Brushed Metallic Gold dot in the center. Fancy! I trimmed my paper-pieced background to 3.25″ x 4.5″ and added a thin White Glimmer mat (1/16″) and a thicker (3.75″ x 5″) Back mat behind before gluing all down to an A2 White card base. I stamped the sentiment on a scrap of White card stock and cut it out with a rakish angle on one side. I did double-up that card stock for a little added strength. I mounted the Queen and the sentiment with foam tape. This makes me smile! And you don’t have to be a chess nerd to appreciate it!

After paper-piecing that background together, I realized that I had another set of embossed White diamonds just waiting. Of course I had to emboss another A2 panel of Black card stock so I could paper piece the White diamonds on all the raised embossings. But wait… I was going to do a Checkers card next…

While I was trying to stay true to my search for classic accuracy, I realized that classic Checker Boards are Red and Black. Now, I could use the stencils to ink in the White diamonds, but if I just use normal dye ink, the black won’t show any of the ink so I can just go crazy all over the whole panel and not worry about getting Hero Hues Cherry Core ink on the Black diamonds! That was fun! I assembled the checkers with more Pearlescent card stocks and stacked up the two red checkers for our “crowned” checker. Now, Checkers are played only on the Black squares, so I took that into mind as I trimmed the background panel to 3.375″ x 4.625″ (a bit larger than the last card so I was able to preserve the whole width of the Black diamonds). A thin White mat (1/16″), thicker Red mat (1/8″), and thicker still Black mat (3/16″) are stacked behind the background and all are glued to a White card base.

I stamped the sentiment on a scrap of White card stock and die-cut it with a Lawn Fawn Everyday Sentiment Banners die and folded the ends back and forth for some dimension. I used foam tape to attach the checkers to their respective Black squares, and attached the sentiment with foam tape in the center and glued the ends down flat. Now, there are only four sentiments in the Well Played Sentiment Stamps that I would say are specifically for Checkers games, but a lot of the sentiments work just as well for checkers as for chess!

Of course my anal-retentive ways focused my mind on these very straight forward classic representations of chess and checkers, but you can’t go wrong embracing a classic design in Black and White (and Red)!

The great thing about this collection is how much versatility it offers! You can make your Chess and Checker pieces any color of the rainbow, and that holds true for the Layered Harlequin Stencils as well. And of course you can use that Harlequin Embossing folder (and stencils) for a wide assortment of different cards – no chess or checkers needed!

If I’ve managed to catch your eye with this great new collection from Spellbinders, and you’d like to grab some of these sets for yourself, please use my links listed below! I do get a small commission (at no cost to you) when you use my links and that helps keep the wheels in my ol’ noggin going round and round and sharing with you what inspiration these new products spark!

Chess and Checkers Cutting Dies: https://www.anrdoezrs.net/click-101337132-15861759?url=https%3A%2F%2Fspellbinderspaperarts.com%2Fcollections%2Fcheckmate-collection%2Fproducts%2Fchess-checkers-etched-dies

Harlequin 3D Embossing Folder: https://www.kqzyfj.com/click-101337132-15861759?url=https%3A%2F%2Fspellbinderspaperarts.com%2Fcollections%2Fcheckmate-collection%2Fproducts%2Fharlequin-3d-embossing-folder

Layered Harlequin Stencils: https://www.tkqlhce.com/click-101337132-15861759?url=https%3A%2F%2Fspellbinderspaperarts.com%2Fcollections%2Fcheckmate-collection%2Fproducts%2Flayered-harlequin-stencil

Well Played Sentiments Stamp and Die Cutting Set: https://www.kqzyfj.com/click-101337132-15861759?url=https%3A%2F%2Fspellbinderspaperarts.com%2Fcollections%2Fcheckmate-collection%2Fproducts%2Fwell-played-sentiments-clear-stamp-die-set

Checkmate I Want It All! Bundle: https://www.anrdoezrs.net/click-101337132-15861759?url=https%3A%2F%2Fspellbinderspaperarts.com%2Fcollections%2Fcheckmate-collection%2Fproducts%2Fcheckmate-i-want-it-all-bundle

For all your other crafting needs: Spellbinders NEW Products

Thank you very much for spending a little time with me here today. Your attention is always appreciated and it thrills me on a daily basis! If you enjoyed this post, please click the Like Star at the bottom of the page, and if you wish to be notified when a new post comes out, just click the Follow Me button at the top of the page. And don’t hesitate to send me a note if you have any questions, comments or just to say Hi!. Please take a moment to Like Me, List Me, Pin Me, Post Me, share this post with all your crafty friends – especially any Chess or Checkers Fans! And remember… Don’t run with scissors! As always, I send You and Yours Love and Light and Happy Crafting!!

DISCLOSURE: This site contains some affiliate links to products. I may receive a commission for purchases made through these links (at no cost to you). As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you!

10 Cards 1 Kit • My Monthly Hero & Super Hero Kits • May 2026

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Hello Folks! Scott here with my ten cards featuring the NEW My Monthly Hero and My Monthly Super Hero kits for May of 2026. “Yay Day” is the theme for this month (get it? May Day?) and Birthdays seem to be the “YAY” on tap in these kits. I certainly use more birthday cards than anything else, so I have no qualms in adding to my Birthday card stash!

My Monthly Hero
Includes:
• Happy Birthday Die Set
• Big Present Die Set
• Birthday Icons Stamp & Cut
• Tiny Tags Die Set
• 10 Sheets of Cardstock
One 5.5”x8.5” sheet of each color
(Blush, Tutu, Dahlia, Chiffon, Coral, Carrot, 
Beeswax, Saffron, Seaside, Waterfall)
My Monthly SUPER Hero
Includes everything in the regular MMH above, PLUS:
• Big Balloon Shaker Die Set
• A Train Alpha Die Set
• Make a Wish Stamp & Cut

That’s a lot of Happy Birthdays!! There are minimal stamps this month, but I have become used to this new year of Hero Arts Kits and their propensity to be a little die heavy. As usual, I will do my first cards just using the My Monthly Hero Kit and then add in the Super Hero Kit items for the later half of my cards. First on the list is the Happy Birthday Die Set.

This die-cut sentiment is big enough to command attention all on its own! Most of my Birthday greetings these days are for older folks (like me!) so I thought I would try to class up some of these Birthday cards! I broke out my Spellbinders Glimmer Hot Foil press and used an old Hero Arts Twinkling Stars foil press plate with some Speckled Aura foil on Hero Hues Pitch Black card stock. Love the reflective colors on that Gold Speckled Aura foil! I trimmed the background to 3.75″ x 5″ with a Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle die and glued that to a 4″ x 5.25″ Gold mat cut from Tim Holtz Metallic Collection Kraft-core card stock, and then I glued both to an A2 White card base. I die-cut the sentiment from the same metallic gold card stock and glued it in place. Perfectly sparkly and appropriate for a grown-up greeting!

The Big Present Die Set is next on the list… A nice big present with ribbons, bows and tags for accessories!

I die-cut the main parts of the Big Present from the Seaside card stock in the kit and ink-blended the shading with HA Splash Reactive ink and some Post-it Notes for masking. I glued the present pieces together. I die-cut the ribbon and bow pieces from Tim Holtz Metallic Confections Kraft-core card stock in Blue, and added color to the shaded parts of the bow with a dark Grey Alcohol marker before gluing them all in place. I die-cut the loop of string from the Blue Metallic card stock and the two skinny tags from Seaside card stock.

I stamped the sentiment (from the Birthday Icons Stamp and Cut set) using HA Splash reactive ink on White card stock and I embossed the sentiment with Clear Embossing powder. I also stamped the smaller sentiments on the skinny tags with the same ink. I die-cut the sentiment with its matching die and die-cut two more blanks to stack together. I slipped the tags onto the string loop and tucked the loop up under the bow so the tags hang freely, and then I glued the stacked sentiment on the front of the present.

On an A2 White card base I stenciled the “sunburst” on the card front using the Sun Stencil from the My Monthly Hero February 2024 Premium Kit, and Hero Hues Lemon Drop ink. I added the present to the front with foam tape for a little dimension. Nice BIG present (at least on an A2 card!) and the shading helps it feel more dimensional. This is not my favorite die-cut bow of all time, but it is whimsical and works well for a lighthearted Birthday greeting.

And now, the Birthday Icons Stamp and Cut set. There is one sentiment that goes perfectly with one of the icon stamps.

The champagne glasses obviously go with this sentiment! I stamped the glasses on a panel of White card stock using VersaFine Onyx Black ink. One of my favorite ways to mask off small images like these glasses is to take a piece of low-tack tape and tape over the stamped glasses – the ink will leave an image of the glass on the tape. Then I stick the tape down to my craft mat and cut out the glasses using a craft knife – then you can place the tape mask back over the champagne glasses. I stenciled the small burst behind the (masked off) glasses using the Doodles Stencil from the My Monthly Hero Premium Kit of April 2023 with Lemon Drop and Creamsicle Reactive inks. I stamped the sentiments with VersaFine Onyx Black ink and embossed them with Clear embossing powder. I colored the champagne with my Ohuhu Alcohol markers and added some sparkle to the spirits with a Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pen.

The background is a panel I had left over from the 2/24 MMH kit. I took the leftover foil (Gina K’s Gold Sequins Fancy Foil) from this card and foiled it to a piece of Black Toner paper. I had stored this extra panel with the Sun Stencil, and I thought it would add another classy touch to a Birthday greeting. I cut the foiled panel to 3.75″ x 5″ and glued it to a 4″ x 5.25″ Black mat. (I did cut out the center of the foiled panel before gluing it to the mat). Both are glued to an A2 White card base.

I die-cut the stamped panel to 2.75″ x 4″ with a LFSRdie and added a thin Black mat before gluing those down to the card front. I stamped the “confetti” stamp on the excised center of the foiled background using StazOn Jet Black solvent ink and die-cut them with their matching die – then I fussy-cut the individual confetti pieces and glued them along with some Flat Gold Sequins on the card front for a little added bling. Time to break out the Champagne!!

When we get a stamp set filled with smaller images – or “icons” as such, I do tend to take one stamp at a time, and go with simple vignettes.

This makes me smile! I stamped the Ballon stamp on a piece of Bristol Smooth card stock and colored them with my Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers. I used a cloud edges stencil and the Splash Reactive ink to blend in the clouds – strategically avoiding the balloons! I trimmed the inked panel to 3.25″ x 4.5″ and added a thin Glossy Black mat behind. The sentiment is an old Love From Lizi die cut from more Glossy Black card stock and glued to the inked panel right at the end of the balloon strings.

The background is an old Sizzix Happy Birthday 3-D Embossing folder on White card stock with Splash ink lightly rubbed on the raised embossings. (You can see Cheers and Happy and Wish etc.!) I trimmed that to 4″ x 5.25″ and glued it to a thin Black mat and then down to a White card base. I glued the inked panel on top of the background and added some Rainbow Spirals sequins (from the MMH Feb. 2020 kit) for more shine. Can’t beat balloons in the clouds!

Another way to use a stamp set full of small icon images is to use them to make backgrounds. I have created a few “turnabout” stamps in the past and thought this group of icons would make a great “turnabout” stamping!

I stamped my “turnabout” stamp using Hero Hues Fruit Punch, Splash, Green Apple and Creamsicle Reactive inks, and colored all the icons with my Prismacolor Colored pencils. Since this is a background, I selectively colored the stamps, leaving some areas white and doing simple blends where there was color. This is nice and colorful, but not too loud about it! I trimmed that to 4.25″ x 5.5″ and glued it to a White card base.

I ink blended a swatch of Splash and Green Apple Reactive inks on a scrap of White card stock and another swatch of Fruit Punch and Creamsicle Reactive inks, and die-cut the sentiment from that. I cut another sentiment in Black and glued that a touch offset behind the colored sentiment. I glued the sentiment flat to the card front and added a l little sparkle to the lettering with a Zig Wink of Stella Sparkle pen. I really do like this “turnabout” arrangement!

Here’s a copy of the stamp arrangement I created that uses the “turnabout” method to stamp these icons in four colors. I have a 6″ square sheet of acetate with diagonal lines on it, and I arranged the 9 stamps in one triangular quadrant and through a little trial and error, got the stamps evenly spaced out to fill the 6″x6″ square. Once you are happy with the spacing of the 4 quadrants, and you have stamped it 4 times, you can use the stamping to spread out the stamps into all four quadrants.

You can download a PDF of this pattern right here:

MMHRotateStamp5-26Download

I’ve used most of the stamps in the Birthday Icons Stamp set but I haven’t even touched the Tiny Tags Dies Set…

I die cut the three tags from the same ink blended card stock I used for the sentiment on the last card – using the white spaces between the Creamsicle and Green Apple inks. I also die-cut the reinforcement rings from the same colors and glued them on top of the holes. I used a candle die from the Stamp and Cut set to die-cut the candles from the Splash, Creamsicle, and Fruit Punch sections of my blended card stock. I trimmed off the flames and die-cut replacements from some Yellow Glassine (or Kite paper) and added small dots of Red Glassine behind the yellow. I glued the three candles to the round tag.

I die-cut the balloons from the die set in the same Yellow and Red Glassine and tied thin white string to their knots and glued them to the rectangular tag. I die-cut the cake pieces from the same pre-blended card stock and assembled them on the arched tag. I tied Green and White bakers twine through the holes in all three tags. I die-cut the arched tag again from some Muli-media card stock and stamped the sentiment with Onyx Black ink. I stamped, embossed and die-cut the “OOPS!” from the same card stock. I die-cut a piece of the Seaside card stock with a SSS Modern Postage Stamp Rectangle die, glued that to a thin Black mask and then down to a White card base. I arranged all of the die cuts on the front and attached everything with foam tape. I did stamp the “Happy Birthday” sentiment on the inside. Though these Tiny Tags would work perfectly well on the Big Present, I think they also work quite well as a group!

Well, we had so many items in the My Monthly Hero kit this month that it took me six cards to cover everything! Moving right along to the My Monthly Super Hero supplies!

More balloons in the clouds!! The Big Balloon Shaker Die Set is exactly that… a BIG balloon! I die-cut the frame die and the background die from the Waterfall card stock in the kit. I die cut the background balloon die from a piece of acetate as well and glued that to the back of the frame die cut. Since the window frame around the balloon is so thin, I thought just stacking up multiple frame cuts to give it some thickness would be easier than trimming foam tape to 1/8″ wide!. I cut four frames from 110# White card stock and glued them together before coloring the edges to match the card stock. I stamped the sprinkles sentiment from the Make a Wish Stamp set on the balloon back with Onyx Black ink and glued the colored and stacked frame dies behind the acetate.

I die-cut the confetti from an assortment of colored metallic card stocks and sandwiched them between the balloon background and the balloon frame. I did try to cut back on the static electricity with a Swiffer floor cloth and a light touch of powder to the confetti – that does what it can! I die cut the Bow and String from HA Antique Ivory card stock and the three tassels from Seaside and Waterfall card stocks. I assembled the tassels and glued the Bow on the top of the knot and the string in place on the back of the balloon.

On the front of an A2 White card base I stenciled more clouds with Splash ink and the Cloud edges stencil, and stamped the sentiment with Onyx Black ink and embossed that with Clear Embossing powder. I glued the Balloon shaker and string into place and trimmed off the string at the bottom right. Then I arranged and glued down the tassels. I thought the tassels were a bit frivolous at first, but I came to appreciate how much movement they convey!

Of course, you don’t have to make a shaker card from those balloon dies… pardon me… those BIG balloon dies!

I die-cut the solid balloon die from Spellbinders Mint and Seaside and Chiffon and Hero Hues Lavender and Canary card stocks. I added shading to all the balloons with Reactive inks in Key Lime Fizz, Splash, Taffy, Thistle and Lemon Drop. I die-cut the larger balloon highlight through some masking paper and used the mask to ink blend some Unicorn White ink on the balloons and them embossed that with clear embossing powder for some shine.

I glued the balloons together so they were slightly larger than an A2 card and trimmed the top, right, and bottom sides before scoring the left side at 4.25″. I folded the scored balloons over and glued the flap to the back of a 4.25″ x 5.5″ card panel. Once dried, I added another matching panel to the back effectively covering up the “balloon” hinge. I die-cut the HBD using the A Train Alpha Die set from some holographic metallic card stock and die cut two more from Black card stock. I stacked and glued them together. For a little more sparkle I sprayed the Balloons with some Sheer Shimmer Mist and then glued the HBD down to the center balloon. These balloon dies are large enough to make a whole card front with just four balloons, but odd numbers are more pleasing to the eye! HBD!

I was determined to find a way to make the BIG Present dies and the Big Balloon dies work together on one card. They are both so BIG that I had to make a BIG card (5″ x 7″) to accommodate them both!

This card started as an experiment to see if I could make real ribbon work on the Big Present. I die-cut the Present twice from some old striped Pattern paper matching the stripe to the right side of the die for one, and matching the stripe on the left side of the die for the other. When trimmed and glued together, they gave me this fun “wrapped” package. I die-cut the Lid from some Glitter Pattern paper, glued it in place and added all the ribbon. Instead of worrying over the thin ribbons on the Lid of the Present, I just camouflaged those with the bow!

I die-cut the balloon from Waterfall card stock and stamped the sentiment with Onyx Black ink and embossed it with Clear Embossing powder. I die-cut the big highlights from Seaside card stock and the small highlights, bow and ties from HA Antique Ivory card stock and glued everything together. I thought it would be fun to have the balloon coming out of the present so I cut the lid off and added some white tissue paper on the inside of the present.

On a 5″ x 7″ card base I stamped the Concord & 9th Splatter Texture Stamp around all four sides with Creamsicle reactive ink. That’s my first time using this stamp set and I LOVE the splatter texture all around! I glued the present and lid flat to the card front and added the Balloon using thick foam tape. I die-cut three stars from Seaside card stock, added some Wink of Stella Sparkle pen to all three and attached them to the card front with thin foam tape. I know some of you folks like these larger cards, and it certainly works well if you want to highlight both of these BIG dies together!

Since I cut the top of the Present off for this last card, I became obsessed with having a present inside the gift box!

The Big Present die as it is, is not big enough to hide a gift card inside so I just did some partial die-cutting to make the present bigger. This box is right at 4.25″ tall compared to the normal die cut present which is right at 3.75″ – so I added a good half an inch to the overall present height. I die-cut the (taller) present (and the box top) with the Tutu card stock in the kit and die-cut the edge of the lid with some old pattern paper. I did more shading on the box using HA Taffy Reactive ink and Post-it Notes for masking. I glued everything together and cut off the lid. I added the ribbon using 1/4″ strips of Chiffon card stock on the sides and 1/8″ strips of the same to the top of the lid. I die-cut the three big tassels from the same pattern paper and the three smaller tassels from Chiffon card stock and glued them all together to make this fun pom-pom for the top of the box. That’s another good use for those tassel dies!

I die-cut the sentiment from some Pink Metallic card stock and glued that to the front of the present. I ink blended Taffy Reactive ink along the sides of an A2 card base. I stacked two layers (just under 1/2″ wide) of 110# card stock together to make channels for the gift card behind the present. I glued those to the back of the sides and bottom of the box and trimmed them off to match. I also die-cut another lid from White card stock, ink blended Taffy ink on it and slipped it behind the present to make the inside back of the box – I had to trim the edges to size, but that made a perfect box back.

To assist in carrying the gift card, I took a piece of White card stock cut to 2+1/8″ wide (the size of a gift card) and 4″ tall and slid that into the channel behind the present (and in front of the back). I placed the lid on top with just a bit of an overhang on the box and cut the top edge to match the box top. Then I glued that sheet to the top edge of the lid. For a final touch (once the gift card is removed) I stamped the “happy you day” on the card carrier. The gift card actually holds on with simple friction where the carrier is glued to the lid.

I die cut one of the small tags from the Big Present die set from Chiffon card stock and stamped the “open” and the arrow on that using an MFT Interactive Labels stamp set and Onyx Black ink. I glued that to the pom-pom and added a little metallic pink dot in the hole. All that’s left is to glue the box to the card front (being careful not to add any glue in the card channel). The gift card slides inbetween the carrier and the lid, and the whole thing slips right into the box easy as pie! I like this Big Present Die set much more now that I’ve figured out how to use it as gift-card delivery system!

How’s that for ten Birthday cards! Not a lot of stamping and coloring this month but lots of fun Birthday greetings and even a couple surprises. I do love the gift card coming out of the Big Present – made even BIGGER by ME!

Some very classy, colorful and fairly grown-up birthday cards here! I do like the big “happy birthday’ sentiment die, and I really like my “turnabout” stamp for some lively birthday backgrounds, and, of course, everybody loves receiving a shaker card! If you have a big list of Birthdays to cover this year, and you’d like to grab one of these kits for yourself, please use my links below. I do get a small commission (at no cost to you!) from anything you by at Hero Arts if you use these links – it is always superbly appreciated and helps keep the gears turning and the ideas coming!

My Monthly Hero: https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-101337132-16962401?url=https%3A%2F%2Fheroarts.com%2Fproducts%2Fmy-monthly-hero

My Monthly Super Hero: https://www.jdoqocy.com/click-101337132-16962401?url=https%3A%2F%2Fheroarts.com%2Fproducts%2Fmy-monthly-super-hero

Hero Arts:  https://www.jdoqocy.com/click-101337132-16957493

Thanks so much for sharing your time with me here today! I hope I was able to provide you a little Birthday inspiration and maybe a smile or two! Let me know which cards are your favorites! If you enjoyed this post please click the “Like” star at the bottom of this page, and if you wish to be notified of new posts click the Follow Me button at the top of this page. Please, take a few moments to Like Me, List Me, Pin me, Post Me, basically, just share this post with everyone and everywhere you can, and remember… Don’t run with scissors!! As always, I send you and yours Love and Light, and Happy Crafting!

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