10 Cards 1 Kit | My Monthly Hero May 2019

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Hello Folks! Scott here with my 10 cards created from the My Monthly Hero May 2019 Kit. Hero Arts is calling this “A Crafty Life is a Happy Life” kit in celebration of their 45th anniversary! This month we get a 6″ x 8″ clear stamp set featuring all sorts of craft supplies from stamping and painting to knitting and stitching along with 11 ‘crafty’ sentiments. We also get 20 matching frame cut dies and 2 Fancy Dies. I like the wide variety of crafty tools included with this stamp and die set! We also get a .5 oz. pot of Purple Sparkle Embossing Powder, a Clear Embossing and Watermark Ink Cube, a roll of Lavender Washi Tape, and five mini clothespins. I swear I have never actually purchased any mini clothespins, but over the past few years, I have acquired quite a large stash of these clothespins… obviously these mini clothespins are a popular addition to card kits and subscription boxes… Maybe I can find an interesting use for these…! If you’d like to follow along with my video, click here: https://youtu.be/-yCd6duh2FA

I was also completely thrilled to receive an enamel pin marking the 45th anniversary of Hero Arts! Very nice pin in black and gold. Quite a lovely surprise!

I rarely go for the extras offered in the monthly release, preferring to see if I can come up with ten cards just using the supplies in the kit – (I am on a budget!) and you know I like to try and use every stamp in our stamp sets, so I started playing with this kit by creating my own little background stamp using all the smaller stamps from this stamp set. This isn’t as all-encompassing as the Crafting Tools Bold Prints 6″ x 6″ background rubber stamp, but I think it’s a pretty good approximation! A great, large background without any repetition!

Stamped with VersaFine Onyx Black ink, this panel looks like it just needs a little bit of color to bring it to life!

For my first card, I colored that background with my Prismacolor pencils. Nothing terrifically fancy, but I did take time to get some nice shading on our tools and supplies. I considered coloring the background, but was so pleased with the straightforward simplicity of this panel, that I decided to use it as is. I did stamp the sentiment on a piece of our Lavender Washi Tape using StazOn Jet Black ink. It took a couple of tries, but I finally got a really nice impression on that tape. And it’s permanent! I was going to add this washi tape sentiment to the front of the card, but I couldn’t bring myself to cover up any of the images! That “Make Stuff. Be Happy.” sentiment is one of my favorites from this stamp set. I like that it encourages one to make “stuff” which could be anything at all and not necessarily something specifically “crafty”. You can make a bed, you can make dinner, you can make peace, all of which make me very happy! LOL!

I did decide that I would use the “Handmade with LOVE” stamp on the back of all my cards this month. I do have a personalized stamp and a CardCutups label that I use on the backs of my cards, but I figured this was a good use for this stamp this month!

I liked this background so much, I wanted to try to foil this on some black card stock.

So I embossed these stamps with clear embossing powder, added some rainbow deco foil on top, and sent that through my laminating machine… I didn’t get absolutely perfect results… but I was pleasantly surprised with the colorful shine. I wanted to try that Purple Sparkle embossing powder that came in our kit, so I die-cut a frame using two Lawn Fawn Stitched rectangle dies, covered it with VersaMark ink and embossed that purple sparkle – that worked very nicely, so lets try that embossing powder on the sentiment too! I think glitter embossing powder is sometimes tough to use on a sentiment but it works very nicely here! I cut that sentiment with a Lawn Fawn Everyday Sentiment die, used foam strips to glue the frame to the card front and added the sentiment strip across the front. I grabbed the double-heart die from the kit and die cut a bunch of hearts from some colorful mirror card stock scraps I had in my stash and filled in the background with the hearts and some assorted sequins. Just what this card needed – more sparkle and shine! Now these stamps may have been a touch too small and fine to emboss and foil, but I will experiment with this technique some more! Love that shine!

Now, one more technique with that background arrangement that I haven’t done before!

Emboss resist! I am very pleased with how this card came out! I clear embossed the stamps on a piece of pattern paper from my stash (Sizzix Geometrics Paper Pad), and went to town with my Black Soot Distress ink and my ink blender to color this whole panel black. A quick buff with a cloth to remove any ink on the embossing and VOILA! My first emboss resist card! I did the same with the sentiment, and die-cut that with another LF Everyday Sentiments die. I die-cut the card front with a LFSRD, mounted that to my card base with foam tape, and foam taped the sentiment on top. Some black sequins (and hearts) add more sparkle to the front, and I think this card is AWESOME!

It was great fun playing with a couple of new techniques, and I did stamp 4 more panels of that arrangement before I took the stamps off my MISTI, but let’s move on…!

We got that terrific fancy Heart Ball-of-Yarn die (along with knitting needles) and I couldn’t resist covering that die-cut with real yarn! (The yarn is actually from an old Paper Pumpkin Kit!) Patience and persistence paid off as I added strips of green yarn to the die cut. The last piece of yarn I added was the bottom horizontal strip that continues around the edge of the ‘ball’ and then gets “cast on” to one of the knitting needles! I die-cut the knitting needles from some satin finish silver card stock from my stash, and added a second layer of thick black card stock behind the silver for a little more rigidity.

The closest matching ink I had in my stash was a Stampin’Up Emerald Envy cube – must have been from the same kit! I used my Cheap-o Life changing Brushes to blend some ink on the top and bottom edges of my card front, and stamped the sentiment using VersaFine Onyx Black ink. The ball of yard is glued directly to the card front and the needles are attached with some strategically placed bits of foam tape. LOVE IT! So much texture and warmth from this card. That was a fun way to use this die!

I thought making little ‘projects’ would be a good way to highlight some of the stamps in this kit and create some specifically themed cards this month. There were a few “hand-written” sentiments in this stamp set, and I really liked this “You inspire me” stamp.

It made sense to me to pair that with the pen and ink stamps. I had this rose themed writing paper in my image stash, and I sized it to be 2.5″ x 3.25″ and stamped the sentiment on that with Onyx Black ink. I matted that on a thin black shimmer card stock and then on to a final white mat, and glued all directly to this kraft card base. I stamped the pen and ink bottle on Bristol smooth card stock and colored them with my Zig Real Brush markers before die-cutting them both. I needed something to anchor the pen and ink down to – they looked a little weird just floating around – so I added a 1/8″ strip of that black glimmer card stock across the bottom and mounted the pen and ink to the card with some foam tape.

The black confetti pieces I added were from the MMH February ’19 kit… but something was missing here… that little ‘spark of the unexpected’ turned out to be adding more roses to the “stationery” – breaking through the “4 straight sides” for a little bit of whimsy! Those roses are fussy cut from this same image and foam taped into a pleasant arrangement down on the corner. I did add what could be the beginning of a long, soul-searching missive on the inside of this card by adding the “hi there” stamp! I’ve always liked cards with “cards” or “letters” or “envelopes” on them, and I really enjoy this “stationery” card. And, if calligraphy wasn’t enough to champion, then the simple act of writing a letter (or sending a card!) certainly is! LOL!

Well, what do you know… There’s also a “card” stamp and and “envelope” stamp here!!!

Here we go with another “card on card” meta creation!! Once again, I stamped the images on Bristol smooth card stock and colored them with my Zig markers. I foam taped them to a white double-stitched oval and black mat cut from the GinaK large and small Oval dies and glued that all down to a white card base. I die cut the “O”s and “X”s from some scrap white glitter card stock I had on hand. This alpha die set is from an old Love From Lizi “Oh, Baby” card kit – all the letters are just over a half an inch tall. Now, all “O”s wouldn’t work because then it’s just “OOOOO!” so I thought adding a few “X”s around would make the “O = hug” idea work!! But, not one to let the kisses go unnoticed, I did add “(and kisses)” on the inside as well! This is the Black Jack font just printed on card stock and die-cut with a small LFSRD. A little bit of Hero Arts clear lacquer pen on the heart and a heart-shaped piece of glitter on the envelope, finish off our crafty greeting with a little bit of shine and dimension.

There is that large painter’s palette stamp I haven’t used yet…  Let’s paint something!

Here I am being literal again! If I am searching for a card design, sometimes I just take a sentiment and run with it! This globe is another image I had in my image stash (I love the sketchy quality) and I printed that on a piece of watercolor paper and colored it with my Zig markers. I did give it a little spritz of Sheer Shimmer Mist for a light sparkle before I fussy cut it out. I cut a piece of black card stock to 3″ x 4″ and used my White Gouache paint to spatter the stars. Again, the images are stamped on Bristol Smooth Card Stock and colored with Zig markers. The ‘brush pot’ is actually the bottom of the glue bottle stamp, masked and stamped with the rim drawn on. The heart die cut is actually covering up the word ‘glue’. The sentiment is stamped on a white card base, the black ‘canvas’ is glued to the card front, and the globe, palette and brush pot are mounted with foam tape. A little Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pen on the pallet paint colors and the heart on the pot bring everything together.  I love this card! Almost feels like a pun!

So we’ve done some knitting, calligraphy, we’ve made a card and painted a globe, let’s sew something now! I’ve done a few cards over the years with some hand stitching, but I’ve never taken a card to the sewing machine until now!

I used the sewing themed stamps to make a little vignette on Bristol smooth card stock and colored them with Zig markers, and then die-cut that piece with another LFSRD. I traced the inside of that die on a blank card front and used that line to guide the pressure foot on my sewing machine to stitch this zig-zag frame. It did take me a few tries to get this right – thicker card stock is easier to sew on than thin card stock! – but I’m totally thrilled with the result! Another LFSRD trims out the sewn panel, and then I went digging through my old pattern paper stash to find this red measuring tape from the Echo Park “I’d Rather be Crafting” paper pad (from the February 2018 Simon Says Stamp “A Colorful Crafty Life” Card Kit). I glued the ‘tapes’ around the edge of a white card base, mounted the stitched panel and the colored panel with foam tape. I used my Sakura Star Dust pen on the needle, safety pin and straight pins for a small touch of glitter, and now I can say that I have actually sewn on a card front with my sewing machine! Loving this card too!

Now, what crafty project would someone do with a bunch of mini clothespins? Hmmm…

How about a mini clock?? LOL!! I took 18 clothespins apart and colored one side of them with my Zig markers and glued them all together in this rainbow sunburst arrangement. A black and a silver circle covers the center opening, and the hands are die cut with the end of the knitting needle die. Four more silver punches mark the 12, 3, 6 and 9 locations and we have an adorable little crafty clock! I stamped the glue bottle once, and the marker stamp six times on Bristol smooth card stock, colored all with my Zig markers and fussy cut them all out. I stamped the sentiment on a white card base, added two coffee stirrers for a ‘tabletop’, and glued the bottle to the card front and mounted the markers with foam tape. the clock is attached with more foam tape and I added an unadulterated clothespin to remind us what the ‘clock’ is made from. A few of my left over die-cut mirror hearts finishes off this card with more shine, and I think this is my favorite “project” from this kit!! And I managed to use a lot my my mini clothespin stash!

I have finally worked my way through ALL of the sentiments in the stamp set. With the “Handmade with LOVE” stamp on the back of all these cards, and the “hi there” stamp on the inside of the stationery card, I have free rein with my last card. I also haven’t used the ball of yarn w/needles stamp yet, and there’s one more pun that’s begging to be used.

This pun is actually a sentiment included in the “Knitting” stamp set released as a kit extra this month. Who could resist!?? I printed this on a white card front using my Silhouette software and the Typewriter Hand font. Again I stamped the balls of yarn using VersaFine Onyx Black ink on Bristol Smooth card stock, and colored them with my Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers before die-cutting them out. I grabbed a piece of dark shimmer blue card stock from my stash (LOVE that stuff!) and embossed that with a “knitted pattern” embossing folder from the October, 2018 Love From Lizi Card Kit. I trimmed the embossed panel down to 5 and 1/8″ tall and 2″ wide for the left panel and 1/4″ wide for the right strip. I glued those pieces to the card base and added the die cuts to the front with foam tape. I cut the prongs off of 7 mini pewter brads, and glued them to the ends of the knitting needles and scattered a few on the card front. Perfect Pun!!

That’s my 10 cards from the My Monthly Hero May 2019 Kit! I managed to work my way through every stamp in this stamp set, and used a little bit of all the extras as well! This is the third “crafty” kit I have received from my kit subscriptions (in three years) and I did appreciate the large variety of stamps this month along with the the terrific fancy dies!

Thank you so very much for sharing your time with me! I appreciate each and every one of you so very much. At posting, this kit is still available from Hero Arts. If I’ve managed to inspire you a little and you’d like to join in on the fun, please use my link whenever you shop at Hero Arts: http://bit.ly/2sBmuMCHeroArts  Thank YOU!

I’d love to know which card(s) is your favorite, and if you have any questions or requests you can email me directly from the Contact page. Please share this post with anyone who might be interested, click the FOLLOW button on the top to get notifications when I post, and remember to Like Me, List Me, Pin Me, Post Me, don’t run with knitting needles, and by all means, HAPPY CRAFTING!!