Hello Folks!! Scott here with another 10 Cards 1 Kit post featuring the Gina K Designs “Relax and Have Fun” Card kit released in June of 2025! This unique kit includes two 6″ x 8″ stamp sets, along with dies and stencils and a great big free gift in the guise of ANOTHER 6″ x 8″ stamp set and dies! So much to play with this month!

Relax and Have Fun Card Kit includes:

Next Gen 6″ x 8″ Stamp Set and Dies

The Great Outdoors 6′ x 8″ Stamp Set

Happy Hibiscus Layering Stencils (4)

FREE GIFT:

Spice of Life 6″ x 8″ Stamp Set and Dies

The Next Gen Stamp and Die Set is designed to expand upon the sentiments included in the Flora Fix Card Kit with additional familial designations, and we get some classic Gina K silhouettes with the Great Outdoors Stamp Set, and the Spice of Life Set is an adorably huge freebie – useful all over the house!

Often, when I am confronted with a new stamp set, I’ll get the juices rolling by stamping and coloring all the images in the set. Especially when there’s a larger number of smaller icons to work with.

I stamped all the images from the Next Gen Stamp set using VersaFine Onyx Black ink on Bristol Smooth card stock and colored everything with my Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers. I guess the phone didn’t need coloring..!?

Then I’ll usually take the matching dies and die-cut everything out. This makes it easy for me to fiddle around with combinations and layouts, and get the old noggin’ focusing on the new stamps!

The stack of books with a cup of tea (coffee?) on top seemed appropriately feminine to me, so that’s where I started.

I found a nice piece of pattern paper from an old Sizzix 6″ x 12″ Geometrics Paper Pad (lovely combination of pinks and corals) and die-cut that to 2.75″ x 4″ with a Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle die, added a thin Black mat and another thin Pink mat and glued those to an A2 White card base. I stamped the sentiments on a scrap of White card stock with VersaMark Onyx Black ink and embossed them with Clear embossing powder, and then die-cut them all with their matching dies. I do love sentiment dies! I glued the sentiments directly to the card front and added the die cut stacked books and tea with foam tape.

Okay… I don’t have a daughter, but if I did!!!

The phone stamp gave me a little bit of a pause… there are five little sentiments and three speech bubbles to create a text exchange on the phone, but the sentiments are rather generic and there doesn’t seem to be much chance to have an actual conversation just using the stamps… and, of course, my mind goes a little overboard with a challenge like this.

We have two speech bubbles (long and short) for our side of the conversation, but only one speech bubble (long) for the replies… hmmmmm. Happy Birthday seemed a safe place to start. I stamped the speech bubbles in Hero Arts Dusty Blue Core ink (for my bubbles) and HA Contour ink for the speech bubble replies. There are no “thank you” or “that means a lot to me” replies in the stamps so I just used smileys for the replies. It was easy enough to color the smiley faces on the grey speech bubbles with a Yellow Zig Marker, but that wouldn’t work on the blue speech bubbles – and besides, I wanted the ‘heart eyes’ to be in red. So I stamped another heart smiley on a scrap of white card stock using Concord and 9th Poppy ink. Then I colored in the mouth and outline with an 03 Black Pigma Micron pen. Finally, I cut it out using a standard hole punch – close enough – and glued it over the original black stamped smiley.

(I didn’t realize till much later, that the smileys DON’T need a speech bubble… DOH!)

The phone still seemed a little barren so I got the idea to add hearts floating up from the heart smiley – I think most phones have this feature now… floating balloons or hearts or fireworks on top of your texts. I used some Love From Lizi Red Glitter Heart peel-offs for the rising hearts – they come in three sizes, so that worked quite well to indicate the animation of floating hearts!

I felt like the phone wasn’t quite enough for me… so I decided to add a little pun-y sentiment to this card… Are you taking about the recipient of the card or are you talking about your phone..?!? I die-cut another piece of pattern paper (from the same Sizzix paper pad) to 3.75″ x 4.5″ with a HA Rounded Rectangle Nesting die. I created the sentiment with my Silhouette software and the Typewriter Hand font, and printed it directly on the pattern paper. I added a thin Black mat behind that and glued them both to the card front. I die-cut another phone from some Silver Metallic card stock and offset it behind the phone for a little touch of shiny metal and some added thickness. I rounded the corners of the card base with my Crop-A-Dile Corner Chomper, and glued the phone in place. A pun-y, funny Birthday card for your favorite smartphone addict!

For some reason I thought these three images went well together… and provided another little challenge for me.

First off – – I LOVED coloring the rainbow on the camera – the original white Polaroid Camera did have a rainbow under the lens… adding a little angle to the sides of the rainbow helps sell the 3-D. I also enjoyed coloring the Journal like a composition notebook, and after fiddling with the stamped (black) polaroid pics decide to up the ante with those.

I stamped the polaroid pics stamp on a scrap of black card stock with HA Unicorn White ink and embossed that with White embossing powder, and die-cut it with the matching die. I decided I need some pictures in there so I searched the internet for a couple of images, shrank them down to size (using my Silhouette software) and printed them on some glossy paper. I fussy-cut the inside of the polaroid pics stamp (leaving a thin black line between the pics) and glued the printed pics into the openings. (No, I don’t know who that lady is, but it would be easy to include the recipient’s pic there as well!)

I cut a panel of White card stock to 3.25″ x 4.5″ with a Simon Says Stamp Modern Postage Stamp Rectangle die and stamped the sentiment using VersaMark Onyx Black ink and embossed that with Clear embossing powder. I added a thin Grey mat behind that, and a panel of Black card stock (die-cut to 3.75″ x 5″ with a LFSRdie) behind that and glued everything down to a White card base. Finally, I added the images with thin foam tape. This is a great friendship card and if you put your the recipient’s pic on the polaroid it’s completely personalized!!

Now there’s that Stanley to-go mug and a Starbucks to-go cup… I seem to remember a coffee themed kit in my stash…

I remembered right…! The My Monthly Hero August 2018 Card Kit is all about coffee!! I used the sentiments and paper from that kit for this card. I cut the Coffee & Tea Dyed Decorative Paper to 1.25″ x 5.5″ using my Tim Holtz Deckle Edge trimmer and glued that to a 1.5″ x 5.5″ strip of Black card stock. I decided on my arrangement and stamped the sentiments directly on the decorative paper (sentiment dies were rare back then!) and of course I embossed them with Clear embossing powder as well.

I ink blended Frayed Burlap Distress Oxide ink on the top and bottom of an A2 White card base and glued the strip down to the card front just above the center line. I added the to-go cups with thin foam tape and used some tiny copper gems for a touch of extra sparkle. A little anthropomorphizing of the cups makes for a sweet card usable for all your coffee friends and tea addicts!

I did like the little scooter stamp in the Next Gen Stamp Set, but I had a problem pairing it up with anything else…

Perfect for another pun! I started this card by sketching a little black ground line across a panel of White card stock with a Pigma Micron pen… I did sketch that in with a pencil and when I went over it with the pen, I tried to draw it all in one stroke. I die-cut that panel to 2.75″ x 4″ with a LFSRdie. I created this sentiment using my Silhouette Software and the Times new Roman and Raustilla fonts, and printed that directly on the die-cut panel. Then I added a thin Black mat behind.

I found this polka-dot pattern paper in my stash and die-cut that to 3.75″ x 5″ and added a thin Black mat behind that and glued those to a White A2 card base. I added the printed white panel on top of the polka-dots and mounted the scooter with thin foam tape. I added a little indication of movement behind the back wheel of the scooter with the Pigma Micron pen. Love this little scooter! One of my friends once called me Scooter… ONCE!

Suddenly I realized that I’ve done five cards already and have only used one of the stamp sets… best be moving along!

Anybody in your circle play golf?! I have many avid golfers in my family! (and one of them is actually retired!) I took a panel of White card stock and ink blended some HA Splash Reactive ink on the top half and then stamped all the landscape stamps using Altenew Misty Morning, Cloudy Sky, Nimbus, and Dark Night inks. I got a lot more layers by overlapping the stamps and letting the combined colors be visible – even flipping the small hill stamp upside-down below the golfer. I stamped the golfer, the tree the bird and the flagstick with VersaFine onyx Black ink (and some Dark Night ink) and then I die-cut the inked panel to 3.75″ x 5″.

I stamped and embossed the sentiment as usual, added a thin Black mat behind the inked panel, and glued all to a White card base. We did have a lively discussion about which direction the golfer was actually facing… (does a silhouette stamp automatically indicate that you are behind the figure?) and I finally made the case that we have a left-handed golfer here at the end of his stroke. Works for me!! For a final touch, I figured we needed a ball flying through the air towards the hole, and after dismissing most little round dots (die-cut or stamped), I ended up using my Pigma micron Pen to add the golf ball. That seems perfectly in scale! And I LOVE those tree silhouette stamps!!

We have golfing, fishing and biking in the Great Outdoors Stamp Set and we have both men and women doing all three!

I thought I would concentrate on the women for this card! I started out with a bunch of 1.25″ strips of White card stock. The long strip is 5″ and the short strips are all 2.25″ long. I ink blended HA Splash reactive inks on the four strips (top or bottom or all-over) for some variation. For the biking strip I stamped the small hill stamp with Concord and 9th Wheat ink, and stamped the riverside (fishing) with Concord and 9th Dove ink and I used Concord and 9th Evergreen ink for the small hill under the golfer. I stamped all the figures and images with VersaFine Onyx Black ink. When everything was dry I added thin Black mats behind each strip.

I decided on my arrangement and stamped the sentiment on the card front with VersaFine Onyx Black ink and embossed that with Clear embossing powder. All of the strips were then glued directly to the card front. I thought about adding the Happy Birthday stamp but decided that there were more occasions that his card could be used for, than just a birthday – so I’m keeping the options open!

And we have another set of Layering Stencils in the kit this month – a big graphic grouping of Hibiscus blossoms!

On a panel of White card stock I ink blended the stencils with HA Lemon Drop, Fruit Punch and Green Apple Reactive inks. I tried to keep away from the outer edges of the second stencil (the centers) for a little more of a blended feel as opposed to the strongly graphic layering of colors. I added a little water to a smoosh of Lemon Drop ink and spattered that across the background.

I die-cut the flower panel to 3.75″ x 5″ with a LFSRdie, added thin black and yellow mats behind and glued all to a White card base. I had to dig around for this sentiment in my stash – I knew I had a “Be Amazing” stamp and die but it was too large and would cover up a lot of the hibiscus… I finally found this sentiment from an old Paper Pumpkin kit. Works perfectly for this bright, colorful happy card!

Finally we get to the FREE GIFT stamps and dies – the Spice of Life set… beyond labeling your garden, there are some great pun-y sentiments in this set too!

I figured a great pun like this needed more than a single sprig of thyme so I stamped the thyme stamp repeatedly in a circle on a panel of Bristol Smooth card stock. I did fussy-cut a mask of the right side of the stamp, and masked off the “thyme” label as well… I believe there are eight stampings giving us a total of sixteen branches. I colored all the herbs with my Zig markers. That gave me a little circle just over 2.25″ in diameter… Hmm… I decided to cut the circle in half to stretch it out! For some reason, I created the division on an angle and thought that was interesting enough to keep playing with that angle. I stamped the sentiment on a scrap of Bristol Smooth card stock using HA Green Apple Reactive ink and embossed that with Clear embossing powder.

I assembled the sentiment strip and the two halves of the herbs using craft tape to hold everything together and then I die-cut the whole thing with a 2.75″ x 4″ LFSRdie. While everything was still taped together, I added a thin black mat behind but only gluing it to the two herbal halves of the assembly – then I could remove the sentiment strip to add a thin black mat behind that as well. I die-cut a panel of Green card stock with a 3.75″ x 5″ LFSRdie and embossed that with a Spellbinders 3D “Leafy” embossing folder. I added a thin Black mat behind the Green panel and glued those to a White card base. I glued the matted herbs directly to the card front and added the sentiment strip using foam tape. A great Birthday card for your favorite gardener, or herbal enthusiast or anyone who appreciates a good pun!

Now this may seem a little esoteric, but I couldn’t get this idea out of my mind so I decided to follow up on it!

Where…? Why to Scarborough Fair of course!! I stamped the herbs on a panel of White card stock using VersaMark Onyx Black ink (I stamped the rosemary with C&9 Evergreen ink (masking off the label) and then stamped the label (masking off the herbs) in Black. A 1.25″ Scalloped Square Layering die (from Tonic Studios) fit all the stampings nicely, so I die-cut the 4 herbs and added thin Black mats behind them all.

I found this foiled green polka-dot pattern paper in my stash (from a Love From Lizi May ’18 card kit!) and die-cut a panel to 3.75″ x 5″ with a LFSRdie and added a thin Green/Gold mat (from the same kit) behind that and glued them down to a White card base. I used my Silhouette Software and the Winnie Font to print this sentiment on a scrap of White card stock, and I die-cut that with a Lawn Fawn Everyday Sentiment Banners Lawn Cuts. The herb blocks and the sentiment are all mounted with foam tape. I wasn’t sure everyone would get this reference, but I figured that between the Simon and Garfunkel fans and the The Graduate movie fans, then that should cover a lot of bases right there! Beside the fact that it tickles me!

And there we have all ten cards using the Relax and Have Fun Card Kit from Gina K Designs! There is so much more that can be done with this kit and the plethora of supplies contained within! I kind of feel like I barely scratched the surface! I usually try to use everything in a Card Kit on my ten cards but there’s so much stuff in this kit!

I didn’t get to the game controller or headset from the Next Gen kit… missed a couple of guys in the Outdoors… and I didn’t use the lovely frame stamp in the Spice Kit… but we certainly have an eclectic groups of card this month! There’s a number of Birthday cards (always useful) and friendship/love cards, a retirement card, and even an all-purpose card! And, boy! Those hibiscus really pop!

This post went live the day after Gina released the New Card Kit for July… which I believe means this kit is no longer offered as a kit but the stamp sets are available individually! DOH!!

I had a great time with this kit and I believe all the stamp sets this month are great stash builders and will get plenty of use over the years! It’s always a good thing to have a wide variety of options – especially sentiment options!

Thank you so very much for spending your time with me here today! Let me know if you have any questions or any comments you’d like to make! If you enjoyed this post please click the “Like” star at the bottom of this page, and if you would like to be notified of new posts click the Follow Me button at the top of this page. I would kindly appreciate it if you would take a few moments to Like Me, List Me, Pin me, Post Me, Share me 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!

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Hello Folks! Scott here with another group of cards created with the Hero Studio Card Kit of the Month for July of 2025! “Road Trip” is the Hero Studio theme this month and the Card Kit combines a HeroScape Stamp set with quite a large batch of dies… looks like the interior of a car dashboard and some people parts to populate the car…

Hero Studio July 2025 Card Kit of the Month includes:

On The Road HeroScape 6″x8″ Stamp Set

On The Road HeroScape Coordinating dies

Let’s Go Die Set

Pine Core Ink cube

10 sheets of 8.5″ x 5.5″ card stock in Sicily, Coral, Bellini, Waterfall, TealTopaz, Blue Spruce, Peridot, Beeswax, Saffron, and Carrot

Mirror paper 8.5″ x 5.5″

Our kits were a little late in arriving this month, and when I got mine (minus the Ink cube and Mirror paper) the only reference I had to what this kit was all about, was the picture above… I knew it would take me little time to decipher what all these pieces were and where they all went, and I admit that sometimes HeroScape Stamp sets intimidate me…especially when they don’t come with a stamping guide! So that’s what I decided to tackle first.

It’s pretty easy to spot the sky stamp… it’s the one with the clouds..! First I stamped the cloud stamp on some 80# Neenah Solar White card stock using HA Summer Sky ink (appropriate, huh!). The mountain stamp fit in right below the sky and I stamped that with HA Green Hills ink (I see a theme developing). Then I stamped the large detail stamp over the mountain stamp using the Pine Ink cube. It took a little time figuring out where the fourth stamp (a thinner band of detail) went in this arrangement, but it soon became apparent that it was the base and detail of the mountains – stamped in HA Forever Green ink. The road stamp is obviously very apparent and I stamped that using Altenew Dark Night ink – fading it out a bit in the distance.

Considering that I was just trying to figure out this stamp set, this first combination came out better than I expected! Even the slight misalignment of the road (leaving the white strip down the right side) works perfectly fine here! I decided this had to be my first card! I stamped the sentiment with VersaFine Onyx Black ink and embossed it with Clear embossing powder (as usual) and die-cut it with its matching die. I die-cut two more sentiment blanks and glued them all together. I trimmed the stamping to 4″ x 2.75″ with a Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle die and added a thin Black mat behind. I found a piece of perfectly matched card stock and cut it to 4.5″ x 3.25″ with the next larger LFSRdie and glued that to the back before gluing all to the front of an A2 White card base. I glued the thick sentiment directly to the card front and called it done! I think the Blues and Greens are quite vibrant and inviting, and that road pulls you right in!

Let’s take a look at these dies… I count 37 dies in the Let’s Go die set… and some are downright tiny!

I die-cut all the car pieces from three shades of Grey card stock, and black card stock, and I used some Silver Mylar I had in my stash to stand in for the Mirror paper in the kit. Just building up this dashboard took a great deal of fiddly time (especially when first figuring everything out!) My first revelation on this go round was to die-cut the dashboard background from two shades of Grey and then remove the light grey floorboards to show the darker grey behind. Plan on spending a good amount of time putting this dash together… so many little pieces!!

I stamped the Heroscape stamps using HA Sand, Sand Stone and Pine inks for the hills ( I did stamp the thin detail stamp twice – right side up and up-side down), and I didn’t care for the sky I stamped so I just cut that away at the mountain edge. If you want to get as much of the car on an A2 card as possible, then you’ll have to limit the amount of sky you’ll see. And remember… we want to see as much road as we can too! I ink blended a little Hero Hues Fruit Punch and Splash reactive ink on the top edge of a White card base and glued the fussy-cut hills on top.

Then to those body parts… we have a right hand and a left hand and a pair of legs with shoes and shorts and things. When I realized that the legs were meant to be propped up on the dashboard, my first reaction was “get your feet off the dash!” but far be it from me to criticize anyone’s riding habits…! I die-cut the legs using some HA Colors Of Earth Card Stock (I wish there were more flesh tones in the included card stocks!) I did use my Pastel Chalks to give a little shading to our body parts and clothing. I die-cut the left hand and curled the pointing finger around the sunglasses. I glued those legs and hand with sunglasses down to the passenger side. I die-cut the right hand from another piece of HA Colors of Earth card stock and after giving it a little shading and sliding the hand around the steering wheel, I was suddenly aware of a missing a leg on the drivers side of the car… seems odd to me!

So I die-cut another pair of legs to match the right arm, and cut away the top leg, added another pair of shorts (there’s that Sicily Card Stock) and slipped the new leg under the dash… it’s a little out of proportion, but I think it conveys the right idea and at least we have a driver that can reach the breaks! I cut a slit for the cassette tape in the dash, added a little stitching to the steering wheel, and glued all the body parts down to the car. I stamped, embossed and die-cut the sentiment the same as my first card and glued that to the left of the feet (Get Your Feet Off The Dash, PLEASE!) Quite an interesting perspective with all these die-cut assemblages… I don’t think I’ve ever put a die-cut together with quite so many pieces!!! Certainly something I’ve not seen depicted on a card before…! Kind of random but a detailed random!!

I got tired of asking my passenger to get her feet off the dash so I dropped her off at a rest stop and continued on my “Road Trip” all by myself. There’s even a sentiment encouraging that very thing…

I die-cut the dashboard pieces from two shades of Brown, Black, a little off-White and some Silver Metallic card stock again using the darker color for the floorboard and top of the dashboard and the lighter brown for the seats and console. Note that the Coffee Cup die cut DOES fit in the cup holders! Two more cassette tapes, the fuzzy dice (illegal to hang from your rear-view mirror in most states!) and that terrifically fun Pine Air Freshener adds more personal details, and I cut a couple of steering wheels and separated the wheel from the hub for the perfect additional steering wheel detail. I did notice that the die-cut dice are not actually accurate… each of the opposite sides of the dice should add up to 7… so One should be opposite the Six and Three should be opposite the Four… is that being too nit-picky? I guess we do still know what they are..!!

I die-cut the right arm and right leg from HA Ivory card stock and colored the arm with alcohol markers… I got a really nice flesh tone using R18, R19 and R20 Ohuhu markers – I’ll remember that one! I colored the leg Blue and tucked it under the dashboard, die-cut the shirt sleeve and cuff, added a little shading with Ohuhu markers and glued them on top of the arm, before gluing the hand to the steering wheel.

I stamped the sky on a panel of White card stock using the Earth Palette Reactive Ink pad (from the MMH December 2019 kit), and stamped the hills with HA Sand, Sand Stone, and Pine inks and added the small cacti and bushes with Pine and Green Hills ink. I was looking for a little bit of a lighter road surface, so I stamped that using HA Soft Granite ink and still tried to fade it out a bit as it recedes into the distance. I got the layering of the HeroScapes stamps pretty spot on this time! I stamped, embossed, die-cut and stacked the sentiment (thank you, Fleetwood Mac!) as usual.

I combined all the pieces together and glued everything down to a White card base. Personally, I have done a great deal of cross-country driving in my lifetime and have always enjoyed being able to listen to whatever music I wanted, being able to stop whenever I wanted and sometimes just being alone with my thoughts was the perfect way to rack up the miles! Go Your Own Way!

Enough with the fiddly little bits of these die cuts… is there some way to use the stamps without making a HeroScape?

Sure! Just use the tiny Cacti and Bushes stamps to make some pattern paper! I stamped the Cacti using HA Light Mint ink and the small and medium sized bushes in Green Hills ink. I used a little Micro-applicator to add tiny pink blooms to the larger cactus stamp. I die-cut the “pattern paper” to 3.75″ x 5″ with a LFSRdie and added a thin black mat behind and another thin Mint-y mat behind that before gluing them all to an A2 White card base.

At first I thought I could get away with just a sentiment on this pattern paper, but couldn’t find an appropriately large sentiment that worked with cactus pattern paper and would be a large enough focal point. I remember that the MMH August 2023 Kit included a few sheets of cacti rub-ons..! I printed the sentiment on a scrap of White card stock using my Silhouette Software and the Nanum Pen Script font. I selected a blooming cactus rub-on and nestled that in close to the printed sentiment and rubbed it into place. Then I fussy-cut around the cactus and the sentiment making it all look “of a piece” and mounted that to the card front with foam tape. A decent little pun on fun cacti pattern paper!

The left hand die cut features a pointing finger, and as a die-hard fan of Neil deGrasse Tyson, I thought that die could help me take this kit to the heavens!

On a panel of Watercolor paper, I used Brusho Black Powdered Watercolor to begin my galaxy coloring. I sprinkled that across the watercolor paper and lightly sprayed water over the top… then I just let it dry naturally. I ink blended some HA Taffy and Splash Reactive inks into the leftover white spaces and spattered a bunch of stars using Permanent White Gouache watercolor. I trimmed that panel to 3.25″ x 4.5″ with a LFSRdie, added a thin white mat and a thin black mat and glued those to a White card base.

I die-cut the right arm from Ivory card stock and colored that with my Ohuhu Alcohol markers. I die-cut the shirt sleeve and cuff from some textured Blue card stock, shaded them with some alcohol markers and glued them to the arm. I printed and cut this sentiment using my Silhouette Portrait and the Dream State font and I cut a few more blanks to glue together. I trimmed the arm to length and glued the bottom edge to the card front and added some foam tape behind the hand for some dimension. I glued the sentiment in place and decided we needed to be pointing to something particular, so I added a small clear gem to be the sparkling star we’re pointing at… This is a terrific sentiment for an encouragement card… whether you’re looking at the stars or just looking at life!

I did want to go back to the HeroScape stamps because they have interesting edges (on the top and bottom) that aren’t simply straight lines… we do have dies that will cut the top and bottom, but I do dislike the white borders those leave.

Also… The MMH August 2023 kit (with the rub-on cacti) has some GREAT sentiments perfectly suited to this set! I stamped the sky using HA Fruit Punch, Creamsicle, and Lemon Drop Reactive inks, used Sand Stone ink for the background hills, Caramel ink for the big detail stamp and Pine ink for the small details. Again I flipped the small detail stamp around for a little bit of extra green in the distance. I went back to the Altenew Dark Night ink for the road. I do believe this was my best layering of these Heroscape stamps… no errant white gaps anywhere! WOO-HOO!

I trimmed the stamped panel to 5″ x 3.75″ with a LFSRdie, added a thin Black mat and a thin Saffron mat (from the card stock in the kit) and glued those to an A2 White card base. I stamped the sentiment (from the MMH August 2023 kit) with VersaMark ink, embossed it with Clear Embossing powder and die-cut it with a Lawn Fawn Everyday Sentiment Banners die and mounted it to the card front with thick foam tape. I do like the irregular top and bottom edges of this Heroscape stamping, and I love how different this card looks compared to my first HeroScape card!

Another sentiment from the MMH August 2023 kit caught my eye and made me think about summertime tubing!

I die-cut one set of legs from Ivory card stock (colored with my Ohuhu markers) and and one set in a mid-brown from the Colors of Earth card stock and added shading with my Alcohol markers. I added the shoes to both sets of legs and die-cut a couple of half-circles using the HA Circle Infinity dies. I die-cut a piece of Blue Marbelized pattern paper to 3.75″ x 5″ and added a thin black mat behind before gluing them both down to a White card base. I did a little shading around the half-circles with my Chalk Pastels, positioned the legs on top, trimmed the edges and glued them to the card front. I stamped, embossed and die-cut the sentiment the same as the previous card (without the banner ends) and added that to the card front with thin foam tape. Whether you’re in a pool or on a river, reclining on a float is a great way to relax!!!

I do believe this is my first set of dice in my stash… I have no stamps or dies featuring pairs of dice… but now I do!!

A little “ABBA” anyone!? I die-cut the dice background (the pips) from some Glossy black card stock and the foreground from some plain White card stock. I trimmed off the hanging cord and glued the dice together. I die-cut (and embossed) the heart from a scrap of Red card stock using an old Sizzix Cross Stitch Heart die. I printed this sentiment on the front of an A2 White card base using my Silhouette Software and the Nanum Pen Script font. I lightly ink blended some Fruit Punch Reactive ink on the card front as a ground behind the heart and ink blended some around the edges of the die cut heart as well. Lastly, I added two strips of Washi Tape along the edges. I glued the die cut heart in place and added the dice with thin foam tape. Love the reflective dots on the dice and the obvious Abba reference!!

I started thinking about this next card when I was working on the other two car cards… I just couldn’t resist!

YES! A Thelma and Louise Card!!! First I need a cliff – preferably a Grand Canyon cliff! I die cut the canyon from a panel of White card stock using the negative part of the Venice Skyline die from the MMH April 2019 Card Kit. I colored the canyon walls with my Ohuhu Alcohol markers. I free-handed the cliff edge on another piece of White card stock and colored that with my Alcohol markers as well – trying to pull your attention right to the edge… I ink blended some Splash Reactive ink to the top of a White card base and glued my canyon walls (with the top trimmed off) to the card front. I added the cliff with foam tape along the top edge and glued it flat along the bottom.

Thelma and Louise are driving a turquoise 1966 Ford Thunderbird convertible in the movie, so I looked on-line to see what the dashboard looked like on that car… I created the dashboard using Black, Ivory, Grey and Silver Metallic card stock. In order to expose as much of the cliff and canyon as possible, I trimmed down the car piece down to just past the seats. I die-cut both arms and two sets of legs and colored them all with Alcohol markers. I added some bracelets to the arms with some assorted cords and clasped them together… just like they do in the movie! As they are speeding along to the edge of the canyon they reach out and hold hands just like this – the camera even zooms in on their hands…! I glued the bottom of the arms flat and put some foam tape behind the clasped hands. I printed the sentiment (Thelma says this) on a scrap of White card stock using my Silhouette Software and the Winnie font, trimmed it to size and added it with foam tape. I’m not sure if anyone other than a true Thelma and Louise fan would recognize this card, but as a unique encouragement card, it tickles me to no end!

Playing around with the die cut arms on this card gave me this idea for the last card for this kit…

Hopefully everyone recognizes the hands from Michelangelo’s The Creation of Adam on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel… matching that up with a classic Dad joke gives me the giggles! I die-cut two right arms from more Ivory card stock and adjusted their poses to suit the picture… the one on the left is the back-side of the die cut (Adam’s left arm) with the wrist bent down a little more, and the arm on the right (God’s right arm) I straightened out the wrist a little bit and the finger a bit more. (I took “darts” at the wrists and knuckle and trimmed away any overlap so the cut edges matched up as close as possible) you can see traces of the seams on the left wrist and right knuckle, but once I colored the arms up with my colored pencils (trying to imitate the original) the seams almost disappeared!

I cut some Grey marble pattern paper to 4.25″ x 5.5″ and ink blended some Hickory Smoke Distress Oxide ink around the edges. I die-cut some Gold Metallic card stock with the largest HA Wood Frame Infinity die and toned it down a little by rubbing some VersaMark Onyx Black ink over the surface. I glued the pattern paper to a White A2 card base, arranged the hands and glued them down… trimmed off the excesses and glued the frame over the top. I printed the sentiment on a scrap of Ivory card stock again with the Nanum Pen Script font and trimmed it to size with a Lawn Fawn Everyday Sentiment Banners die. I added two more layers of card stock to the back and glued the thick sentiment to the card front. This would make a great Father’s Day card or even a Birthday card for the Dad Joke Champion in your family!

I admit that I thought this kit was pretty limited in it’s scope, so I’m actually a little surprised I was able to come up with as many options as I did… and while all of these options might not work for everybody, I hope some these ideas inspire you to keep experimenting! I did use most of the stamps (no sun or moon or “you go girl”) but I do believe I used every single die in the Let’s Go die set. I only used a couple pieces of the card stock but I already mentioned I thought that there should have been more skin tones and neutrals in that batch.

Regardless, this is certainly a riotous collection of colorful cards this month! The Let’s Go Die set is very unique – you can do a lot with those arms and legs! I do feel like I conquered the HeroScape Stamp set admirably, and heaven knows there are tons of backgrounds (even lots from past MMH Kits) that would work with a close-up car dashboard! I actually did consider a Drive-in Theatre theme but never got that far…! All in all, a wide variety of cards created from this kit! Let me know which ones are your favorites!

As usual, if you’d like to get this kit for yourself, you need to Subscribe to the Hero Studio Card Kit of the Month by July 27th. If you do go shopping at Hero Arts, please use my links listed below… I make a small commission from whatever you buy (at no cost to you) and that helps support this page and keeps a little inspiration coming your way. Thank you!

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Hello Folks! Scott here with my 10 cards created from the Hero Studio Card Kit of the Month for June of 2025!

(What happened to the May Kit?) Well… we’re mixing it up again this month… The folks at Hero Arts had been holding off on sending me the Card Kits each month until they had the complete kit put together – meaning that I didn’t get my kit until well past the release date, which then delayed my 10C1K posts to the point that once I was able to publish, the kits often weren’t available any more. Now, I am on the list for early deliveries of the main elements of the monthly kits (all the stamps, dies and stencils, but possibly not all of the extras) in the hopes that I can get my posts out to you a little closer to the Hero Studio release date! Unfortunately, this shift precluded me getting the Hero Studio May ’25 Card Kit (I did like those retro truck dies!) but I am totally on top of the June 2025 Hero Studio release!

Hero Studio Coastal Vibes Card Kit June ’25

•Summer State of Mind 6″x8″ Clear Stamp Set

•Summer State of Mind Coordinating Dies

•Beach Bag Fancy Die Set

•Sand Embossing Powder (.5 oz)

• 10 Sheets 8.5″ x 5.5″ Card Stock in Fawn, Coral, Seaside, Waterfall, and Blue Spruce (2 sheets of each)

I did not receive the card stocks or embossing powder, but I have the Sand embossing powder in my stash and I can approximate some of these card stocks (except I couldn’t find any matchable Coral or Blue Spruce in my stash..!)

Often, when I get a stamp set with a big variety of images, I will stamp, color and cut everything as a launching off point!

I grabbed some Neenah Solar White 80# card stock and decided to reach for my Ohuhu alcohol markers to do my coloring this month… I stamped everything with VersaFine Onyx Black ink and here’s a shot of the markers I used to color everything – keeping in mind the irresistable lure of the coast! After coloring, I die-cut everything with their matching dies. Here you can also see the eight sentiments in this stamp set… certainly an interesting hodgepodge of images and sentiments… and other than the Sand Embossing Powder, no beach or sea stamps… Hmmmmm…

That Sand Embossing Powder has got to be one of Hero Arts’ most popular embossing powders of the last decade! Since I have a couple of pots of that embossing powder already in my stash, that’s where I decided to start!

I covered an A2 panel of Kraft card stock with double sided adhesive (6″x6″ Scor-Tape) and covered that with the Sand Embossing Powder and heat set the whole panel. I do believe that embossing powder has earned its sterling reputation! I die-cut that with a 4.5″ x 3.25″ Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle die and added a thin black mat behind. I glued those to the front of an A2 White card base.

I stamped the sentiment on a scrap of White card stock with VersaFine ink, embossed that with some Clear embossing powder, and die-cut it out. I die-cut 2 more blanks of that sentiment and glued the three pieces together for some added depth. Grabbing the most “feminine” items from our stamp set (and the blanket / towel) I arranged those on the front with the blanket glued flat and everything else mounted on top with Foam tape. I glued the sentiment directly to the card front – I do love that we get dies for ALL the sentiments this month! I do wish I had some teeny-tiny rhinestones to add to the corners of the glasses, but that Sand Embossing powder will have to provide all the shine!

I really liked the coloring on the bicycle and the accuracy of the coordinating die-cuts (I guess it was too much to ask for the die to cut out the spokes!) so that’s where I went with my next card…

I reached for the Sun Stencil (from the MMH February 2024 kit) and lined up the top of the stencil to the top of an A2 White card base, and ink blended Hero Hues Lemon Drop and Creamsicle Reactive inks through the rays of the stencil. I did keep the center circle of the stencil (sun) covered so it would leave the center white.

I arranged the champagne and flowers in the bike basket and “tied” the scarf to the handlebars, and decided where to stamp the sentiment – again, stamped in VersaFine ink and embossed with Clear embossing powder. I added the bicycle assemblage to the card front with thin foam tape. I like this bicycle stamp a lot (despite the fact that the back wheel seems to be stuck between the seat tube and the chainguard!) And keeping the center of the stencil white actually helps it blend in perfectly with the white card behind the spokes – looks intentional!

The “après sea” sentiment apparently means “after the sea”. The common après-vie means “after life” – a little somber for me… so I figured “after the sea” would mean what happens after we get home from a trip to the sea…!?

I dug around in my stash for some beach-y patterned papers and found this soft, pale green wood-plank piece and matching dotted pattern paper. I fiddled around with an arrangement for the stamps and ended up cutting the green pattern paper to 2″ x 4″ and gluing a thin Black mat behind. I cut the dotted pattern paper to 2 1/8″ x 5.5″ and glued that to the left side of an A2 White card base. Then I added the green matted panel with thin foam tape, and finally glued a couple of thin strips of the Sand embossing leftovers along the exposed edges of the pattern paper.

I arranged the items in the bag (I did have to create another bottle) and glued the bottom half of the bag to the card front leaving the top pieces free. The champagne, glass and seashell are mounted with foam tape. I stamped, embossed and die-cut the sentiment as usual, die-cut two more blanks and glued them together before adding them to the card front. Examining your seaside collections while sipping a little bubbly sounds like the perfect thing to do when you get home from the beach!

Some of the sentiments in this kit stretch the imagination as far as their greeting card usefulness, but this one works!

I wanted to indicate a couple of people with this card so we have “two, two, two bikes in one”! On an A2 panel of 80# Neenah Solar White card stock I ink blended a little sea and sky using Pool Party, Lemon Drop and a touch of Creamsicle Reactive inks along with some masking paper for the horizon and sun. I also used a homemade stencil and Blue Hawaii ink to add the ripples on the sea. Then I stamped the front of the bike on the right and the back of the bike on the left… interesting… if I didn’t want to include people (or portions of people) then that really limited how much stamp I could expose – I didn’t want to have to deal with a butt on the seat or a hand on the handlebars so that dictated how much of the stamps to use… With the help of some more masking, I stamped a truncated version of the blanket inside the basket, and then colored all the stamping with the same Ohuhu markers.

Once the coloring was done, I die-cut the panel with a 5″ x 3.75″ LFSRdie and added a thin Black mat behind before gluing both to an A2 White card base. Using a Lawn Fawn Stitched Hillside die (along with the same stitched rectangle die) I die-cut some leftover Sand embossed paper for the beach at the bottom. I stamped and embossed the sentiment as usual, and added some birds using a stamp from the MMH June 2023 Kit and Soft Granite ink. I did stamp, color and fussy-cut another starfish and seashell and glued those on the beach between the bikes. This solves the conundrum of getting some background behind the spokes on those bicycle tires…!

I wasn’t quite sure what to do with the Whale stamp… other than shells and such, this is the only animal in this kit!

Whales certainly afford a good photo op! And the “seas the day” pun becomes even more if you think of it in terms of “seize the day” ie: take a picture! I die-cut a panel of masking with three 1.25″ circle dies and ink blended some Blue Hawaii through the openings. I removed the mask and arranged the images and realized the plain white background didn’t feel beach-y enough. So I placed the circle die cut masks over the inked circles and ink blended the rest of the panel lightly with Pool Party Reactive ink and then more heavily through my “ripples” stencil. That did the trick and pulled this whole card together!

I cut down the inked panel to 3.25″ x 4.5″ and added a thin black mat and a thicker mat of Hero Hues Mist card stock and glued all down to a White card base. I stamped, embossed, die-cut and stacked the sentiment as usual and glued it to the card front. I glued the double polaroid down flat and added all the other images using foam tape. A few Hero Hues Clear Enamel Dots adds some bubbly sparkle to the sentiment, and I think the double pun really works here!

Those five cards used up all the images (plus!) in the stamp set…! We still have some sentiments to get to, but now it’s time to look at the Beach Bag Fancy Dies!

From the moment that I die-cut the large basket die (from one of my approximations of the card stock included) and noticed all the holes it makes, I immediately wanted to weave something through those holes! I just happen to have a big stash of thin (apx. 1/8″ wide/3 cm.) satin ribbon and sure enough, they weave through these holes perfectly. On the ends where the ribbon comes out on top of the basket I simply folded the edges to the back and glued them down. For the ends where the ribbons finished up behind the basket (rows 1, 3, and 6) I glued the ends behind the thin edges of the basket on the sides, and, when dry, trimmed the extra ribbon off. LOVE THAT WEAVE!

I die-cut matching handles, and die-cut the basket bottom (and handle reinforcements) from some Hero Hues Antique Linen card stock. I glued the bottom in place and added a touch of shading along the edges with my Chalk pastels, and set to filling up my basket. I die-cut the bread from some plain Ivory card stock in my stash, the foliage from some plain Green card stock, and the flowers from my approximation of the Seaside card stock in the kit. I added some color and shading to those with the same alcohol markers. I really like the Champagne bottle dies in this Kit! I die-cut the bottle from some Green Holographic paper in my stash (very glassy reflections!) and cut the bottle topper from some lightly textured gold paper (I swear this was from a MMH kit but I couldn’t figure out which). If you look closely, the collar is die-cut from a scrap of the Sand embossing as well. For the last bit of packables, I die-cut the champagne glasses from some clear acetate.

I lightly ink blended Blue Hawaii and Lemon Drop Reactive ink on a panel of White card stock and die-cut it to 3.75″ x 5″ with a LFSRdie and added a mat of the (close approximation) of Fawn card stock and glued those to my card front. I arranged all the goodies in the basket (flip the bread around and you have two different loaves!) then added the handle and reinforcements to the front and the second handle to the back. I decided on an arrangement and stamped and embossed the sentiment in place. I glued two scraps of the Sand embossing to the bottom (the front layer is actually the negative die cut from card #4 (the bicycles) and the back scrap is just cut to size with the matching LFSRdie. I glued the back piece of sand flat and glued the basket on top of that – elevating the tops of the goodies with thin foam tape. The other piece of Sand is glued on top – nestling the basket into the sand.

This is one of the sentiments that felt incomplete to me, so I added “and you!” to the inside of the card using my Silhouette software and the Dream State font. I did print this on the card base before adding anything to the front of the card. This finishes up that sentiment nicely and gives some purpose to this card.

I loved weaving ribbon through this basket die, but wanted to see what the die gave us without any extras.

I still felt the need to cover up those holes so I used some translucent yellow glassine to cover the back of this half-basket. The basket and handle are cut from plain Ivory card stock and I used the bottom of the basket die to actually cut off the bottom of the basket. I shortened the handles and die-cut the reinforcements from the gold paper and added thin strips of the same paper to the top and bottom edges of the basket before adding a light touch of shading to the edges with my Chalk pastels. I die-cut the crab and the shell from scraps of White card stock and colored them with the same alcohol markers. I die-cut the scarf and knot from some glittery pattern paper and added a little shading with a light grey alcohol marker and glued that to the basket handle.

I blended the background on a panel of White card stock using some masking paper for the horizon, and blended Pool Party ink over the bottom half. Then I used my “ripples” stencil and VersaMark embossing ink through the stencil and embossed the ripples with Clear embossing powder. Then I could ink blend over the top with Blue Hawaii Reactive ink making the ripples lighter…! I flipped the horizon masking and ink blended the sky with Candy Apple, Creamsicle, and Lemon Drop Reactive inks. I decided what size my scene needed to be and die-cut the background to 2.75″ x 4″, added a thin mat of Dark Blue Pearlescent card stock and glued them down to an A2 White card base. I stamped the sentiment as usual (VersaFine ink and Clear embossing) and added all our elements with thin foam tape. I did add the “and you!” printed sentiment on the inside to complete the stamped sentiment, and I have to admit that I really like that little crab perched on the top of the basket…

Then (similar to the stamp set) there’s that whale die… I wasn’t quite sure what to do with that in the context of this kit…

I just started sketching on the whale die cut with a pencil and before long I had a really nice depiction of a whale – I do like using pencil to color grayscale images… it’s easy to layer and blend and even erase to get the effect you want. On a white card base, I ink blended the background with Pool Party and Blue Hawaii Reactive inks and a Lawn Fawn Simple Hillside Stencil. That gave us a nice watery background but I didn’t care for it just fading out into white… I grabbed some old Astrobrights card stock from my stash (from some mega collection I had bought) and grabbed light blue, green blue and dark blue colors to focus in on the whale.

I cut A2 panels from the card stock (two per color) and reached for the HA Circle Infinity dies to cut the circles – I need a 2.25″ circle to go around the whale, and then I just stepped up each layer to the next size die (ending with the 3.5″ circle die) until I had all six layers. Rarely will all of these die-cuts line up perfectly, so I glued them together trying to make the rings even, but that left the edges a little ragged. I used a LFSRdie to trace a square pattern around the edges of the assemblage, and then carefully cut all the edges with a craft knife evening out all the edges. Slow and steady does it!

I curved the sentiment to match the circles and stamped and embossed it as usual. I glued the layered circles motif to the card front and added our whale with thin foam strips. I guess you can take this sentiment personally or ecologically!! HA! LOVE that whale! And I believe that uses up all eight sentiments in this kit!

I couldn’t resist some more weaving with that great Basket die, and I thought we could bring a little more color into play.

There’s some fun summer-y beach-y colors for you! I die cut the basket from some 80# Neenah Solar White card stock and dug through my thin ribbon stash for some rainbow colors (I didn’t have a real good Orange but this Coral color seems to work just fine). (of course you could use plain White ribbon and color that with your alcohol markers for a perfect match, but I didn’t have that much White ribbon…!) Anyway…! I dug around in my Ohuhu markers for colors matching the ribbons – here’s the colors I picked – close enough for horseshoes and hand grenades!

I tried using the patterns on the die cut basket to guide where the colors should go – that worked pretty good – and after coloring all the stripes I wove the ribbon through the holes. Even better!

I die-cut the basket bottom and handles from some textured Yellow card stock in my stash and glued them in place. I used the basket bottom die to cut a strip of the Gold paper for the top edge of the bottom and for the handle reinforcements too.

I used the blanket die from the stamp set to cut a couple of “blankets” for my basket from some plaid pattern paper. I did cut them apart and pieced them back together to create a little variety and added some shading with alcohol markers and a little pencil. I cut the scarf die twice from more pattern paper, rearranged the die cut and draped that over the edge of the basket. The three-piece glasses are die-cut from the same Light Blue as the whale card, and the lenses are cut from some Glossy Black card stock and pieced into place. Finally I die-cut the tassel from the same gold paper along with the ring and glued those around the handle

I found this beach-y pattern paper in my stash and die-cut it with a 3.75″ x 5″ LFSRdie and cut a simple curve on the top edge. I placed that in position at the bottom of an A2 card base and taped the bottom edge in place. Then I used strips of masking paper to extend the sides of the beach up to the top of the card. Then I just folded down the beach pattern paper (on its taped hinge) and ink blended Blue Hawaii Reactive ink between the masking paper strips and faded that out as I got to the top of the card. I removed the beach-y pattern paper and printed this sentiment on the card front using my Silhouette software and the Nanum Pen Script font.

I glued the pattern paper in position at the bottom of the card front. I glued the basket in place with thin foam tape behind the top edge and the blankets. I slipped the glasses over the edge of the basket and glued them into place. I don’t think you can get a much more colorful Beach bag…! And, yes, sometimes life IS a beach!

My other favorite die has got to be the champagne bottle and all its pieces… Maybe it’s just the green holographic paper I have that really does it for me!

And another Pun! This is a delightfully fun congrats card! The bottle and the foil wrapper I die cut from the same as card number 6, but I die-cut the square label from some Tim Holtz Onyx Metallic card stock, and the circle and collar from Glossy Black card stock. I took the time to add a Gold paper dot to the center of the collar label, and… believe it or not… the next to the last HA Circle Infinity die actually cuts a circle that makes a perfectly thin frame around the circle die in the kit. I cut that from some Tim Holts Champagne Metallic card stock. I finished off the bottle with an exclamation point on the label cut from the Gold paper using an old Marker Micro Alpha die.

I die cut the glasses from some thick 40# vellum, but wasn’t satisfied with how that read on a white background. So I die-cut the glasses from more of the gold paper and trimmed away the goblet to give me some gold stems for our glasses. I glued the gold stems on top of the vellum die cut. The goblet portion still wasn’t reading very well so I ink blended a little Tattered Rose Distress oxide ink on a scrap of White card stock and die-cut the glasses again from that. No need to separate the goblet from the stem here, so I just glued the pink card stock on the back of the vellum die cuts. Hmmmm… must be Pink Champagne!!

I found this black and gold pattern paper in my stash and die-cut it to 3.75″ x 5″ with a LFSRdie and added a thin Glossy Black mat to the back and glued those to an A2 White card base. I printed this sentiment on some White card stock using my Silhouette software and the Paprika font, and die-cut it with a 3.5″ x 2.25″ LFSRdie. I added a thicker mat of the Glossy Black card stock behind that (wanting to reach to the Black mat behind the pattern paper). I glued that to the card front a little bit higher than dead center and added the champagne service with thin foam tape. A few Brushed Gold enamel dots adds a little sparkling effervescence to finish up this card. I think this calls for a drink!

And before you know it we have wrapped up my 10 Cards using the Hero Studio Card Kit of the Month for June of 2025. I actually used every single stamp in our stamp set (including all the sentiments) and I used every Die in the Beach Bag die set except for the one-piece glasses die and the little bow… I definitely put this kit through its paces!

It’s interesting that I used just the stamps for the first five cards and then only the dies for the second five cards… I didn’t plan it that way, it just happened! Though I was initially concerned that we didn’t have any beach or sea images in this kit, I found it fairly simple to create some seashores – especially with the help of the Sand Embossing powder. And if you’ve been getting card kits from Hero Arts for any length of time, then there are lots of seaside and beach-y images in older kits that you can certainly use with this one!

I did have a great time creating these 10 cards with this Coastal Vibes Card Kit – we’ve got a nice variety of looks and sentiments and even a couple of puns! Let me know which cards are your favorites!

If you’d like to get this kit for yourself, you do need to Subscribe to the Hero Studio Card Kit of the Month. If you go shopping at Hero Arts, please use my links listed below… I make a small commission from whatever you buy (at no cost to you) and that helps support this page and keeps a little inspiration coming your way. Thank you!

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Thank you so very much for sharing your time with me here… your attention and encouragement mean a lot to me. If you enjoyed this post please click the “Like” star at the bottom of this post, and if you would like 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, Share me with all your crafty friends, and remember… Don’t run with scissors!! Thanks again, and as always, I send you are yours Love and Light and Happy Crafting!

Hello Folks! Long time no see! My most sincere apologies!! As many of you know Hero Arts has been going through some growing pains and actually merged with Spellbinders late last year… I know this has been a tricky transition for them, and I apparently got lost in the shuffle. But I am back (finally!) with a new 10 Cards from 1 Kit post using the Hero Studio Card Kit of the Month for March 2025. (Happy Belated New Year!!!!)

March 2025 Card Kit of the Month includes:

Bows & Messages Clear Stamp Set, 6” x 8”

Bow Tag Clear Stamp Set, 4″ x 6″

10 Bows and Messages Coordinating Dies

4 Bow Tag Coordinating Dies

Ribbons Cover Plate Die

Thin Stripes Stencil, 6″ x 6″

2 Bows Rub-On Transfer Sheets

6 Sheets of Cardstock, 5.5″ x 8.5″

Pastel Pearl Embellishments

I did ask to get my kit as early as possible this month and was offered the opportunity to get a kit before they were actually ready for shipping, but only if I was okay with not getting final packaging, and the possibility of missing an item or two. I thought “No problem!” I was just excited about getting the kit early! I did miss out on the Bows Rub-On Transfer Sheets this month… they weren’t quite ready when my kit was mailed. But, I’m always up for a challenge!

This might prove to be a little more difficult than I thought… there’s not a great number of image stamps this month, but at least I do get the opportunity to do some coloring!

Even though there are coordinating dies in the kit, I decided to do some direct stamping to start with. This sentiment and bow fit really well together so I stamped them with VersaFine Onyx Black ink on some Neenah Solar White 80# card stock and colored the bow with colored pencils. This is the largest bow in the Bows and Messages Stamp set and it’s large enough to function nicely as a focal point. I did try to add as much dimension with my coloring as possible – even adding a little shadow underneath the bow. I trimmed the panel to 3.25″ x 4.5″ with a Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle die, and added a thin mat using the Pink card stock from the kit. I glued those to an A2 white card base and added some pink Pastel Pearl Embellishments for a finishing touch. Lovely and simple!

We do have five large sentiments as well as five bows in the main stamp set… let’s try skipping the bows and just concentrate on the sentiments for this next card!

I also reached for the This Stripes Stencil to make the background for this card. I blended HA Key Lime Fizz and Pool Party reactive inks through the stencil crisscrossing the colors to make a bit of a “lattice” pattern in the background. I trimmed the panel to 3.75″ x 5″ with a Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle die and added a thin black mat behind. I stamped the large sentiments using the same inks (both inks together on the center “happy”) and embossed all three with Clear Embossing powder. I die-cut the words with their matching dies and added two die-cut “blanks” to the back of each one for some added dimension. I arranged the die cut words on the background panel and decided where to stamp the sub-sentiments… kind of makes a complete thought! I stamped the sub-sentiments with VersaFine Onyx Black ink.

I glued the panel to an A2 White card base and added some matching Pastel Pearl embellishments. Since the front of this card seemed quite “chatty”, I decided to add one more sentiment on the inside – thinking this justifies my verbosity on the front! A very “spring-y” anniversary card!

That’s four of the five large sentiments… one more to go… and I’ve also got four more bows on the stamp set!

I stamped the sentiment and bows on a panel of Bristol Smooth card stock and colored the bows with my Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers – these three go well together because all of the bows are patterned! But there is one more (non-patterned) bow stamp… perfect for a background mat! I stamped that bow all over a piece of Kraft card stock (concentrating on the edges) using Vintage Photo Distress Oxide ink (good match for the Kraft card stock!) and trimmed that to 4.125″ x 5.375″. (That leaves us a nice 1/16″ frame) I die-cut the colored panel to 3.75″ x 5″ (LFSRdie) glued that to our stamped mat and then down to an A2 White card base.

I thought one of the incongruities if this kit is the simple fact that bows are actually quite dimensional… there’s not much chance to add dimension to these stamps (especially if you do direct stamping and coloring) but I did think that a little pop-up action might do the trick!

I stamped, colored and die-cut the larger bow and attached it to a 1/2″ piece of white card stock cut to 2.75″ and scored at 1/4″ on the left end and 1/4″ and 1/5″ at the right end. That makes our pop-up mechanism. To add a little more illusion of dimension, I traced the bow opening on the bottom left onto the mechanism and cut that out so you can see right through to the back of the card. A nice little surprise on the inside with terrific dimension! And this card actually uses all five of the bows!

That pretty much covers the Bows and Messages Stamp Set… let’s move on to the Ribbons Cover Plate Die…

I wanted to give this Cover Plate die as much color as possible without necessarily having to ink blend all over the place. First, I die-cut a 4.25″ x 5.5″ panel of White card stock (saving the center cut-out). Then I reached for my Altenew Alcohol Ink Backgrounds 6×6 Paper pad, found a piece with some nice color variations to it and trimmed it down to (slightly smaller than) 4.25″ x 5.5″. I glued the White die cut piece to the background and glued the center cut-out back into place. On a different Alcohol Ink Background, I die-cut the Cover Plate die again and trimmed the framing ribbon away from the rest of the die cut. Then it was quite easy to glue that on top of the white ribbon on the original die cut! The extra layer adds a touch of dimension as well!

I die-cut the bow pieces from the same Alcohol ink background and assembled that at the top of the ribbon frame. I stamped the large sentiment on a scrap of White card stock using HA Thistle and Grape Slush Reactive inks and embossed that with clear embossing powder. I die-cut the “happy” along with two blanks and glued them together for a nice chunky sentiment. I stamped the sub-sentiment with Grape Slush ink on the card front and embossed that with Clear Embossing powder as well. I glued the “happy” in place and glued the whole panel to the front of an A2 card base. The center white area was feeling a little plain so I grabbed a bunch of the purple die cuts (from the Ribbons Cover Plate die cut) and filled in the spaces with more streamers! That was just what this Happy Birthday card needed!!

Whenever we get simple pattern stencils with our kits, I am always interested in trying to do some foiling using the DecoFoil Transfer Gel right through the stencil!

And who can resist rainbow foiling!! I spread some DecoFoil Transfer Gel through the stencil and onto a panel of White card stock and let that dry completely. I laid a DecoFoil Rainbow Shattered Glass transfer sheet on top of the dry stenciling and ran that through my laminator. Extra special shiny! I glued the foil stripes background to an A2 White card base. I die-cut the cover plate die from some 110# White Card Stock and glued that on top of the foiled stripes.

I’m still looking for ways to add dimension to these bows so I die-cut all the bow pieces twice from some 80# White card stock. I glued the tail pieces together (2 layers) and curled the paper around before letting the glue dry. I used a small tab of card stock to glue the outer edges of the bow pieces together and curved the front piece forward and the back pieces backwards to make a 3-D Bow! Not perfect, but pretty darn close!! I assembled the pieces of the bow together and glued it to the top of the card.

The Bow Tag Stamp Set has a small “yay!” sentiment and that made me think of the My Monthly Hero kit from May of 2024 where we got a 50th Anniversary gift of a “Yay” Fancy Die. That’s big enough to command attention all on its own. I die-cut that from a Tim Holtz Metallic Kraft Jewels paper pad – the green works with the rainbow foil beautifully – I also cut a couple blanks to glue all together for more dimension. I added the assembled sentiment to the middle of the card front. There is so much sparkle here… no need for extra embellishments!

Now let’s move along to the Bow Tag Stamp set and the matching dies… definitely the biggest bow in the whole kit!

When we get a nice big image like this I love to reach for my alcohol markers! I stamped the bow using VersaFine Onyx Black ink on some Neenah Solar White 80# card stock and colored the bow with my Ohuhu markers (BG6, G360, BG9 ). I die-cut the bow with the matching die and trimmed away the tag hole from the top.

I die-cut the teal card stock from the kit with a 2.75″ x 4″ Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle die and added a thin black mat behind before gluing both to a White Card Base. I stamped the sentiment on the bottom of the background with VersaFine ink and embossed it with Clear embossing powder. I mounted the bow with foam tape and added some Pastel Pearl Embellishments for a little extra sparkle. I do like that big bow!

The Bow Tag Stamp set also has a bow stamp with only two loops and no tails… I have seen some of the designers using these die-cut loops behind the bow – kind of like a second layer of ribbon… hmmmmm…

How about a LOT of extra loops behind the big bow? I stamped the bow on a plain piece of White card stock using VersaMark ink and stamped a second on some masking paper and fussy cut that out. I placed the mask over the bow and stamped the double loop stamp (matching the center knots) above the bow and then below the bow. I fussy-cut a mask of the Double Loop stamp and laid it over the loops on top of the bow and stamped a single loop in the top center. The bottom loops didn’t need masking since the bow mask covered the intersections so I simply stamped another single loop in the center of the bottom part of the bow. Remove the masking and Voila! Two bows in one!

I then set to coloring this big bow, and I’m not sure why, but I got it into my head to color this bow with plain ol’ pencils! You can blend graphite with your fingers or a paper stomp and I had such a good time coloring this – it almost has a silver quality to it! And of course, I’m always in the market for some dimension, so I did fussy-cut this fancy bow out – very simple, easy curved lines for no-muss fussy-cutting! Lastly, I did spray some Sheer Shimmer Mist (Sparkle) over the whole bow for a great glitter effect.

I reached for my old Gina K. Oval dies (Large Set single stitch and Small Set double stitch) to die-cut some of the Yellow card stock from the kit along with a Black mat. (the stitching on these dies makes lining up the mat almost foolproof – I’ve always had problems getting oval mats to line up correctly!) I ink blended some Hickory Smoke Distress Oxide ink through the Thin Stripes Stencil on the Yellow oval and glued that to the Black oval mat and then glued those to an A2 White card base. I gathered all of the “encouragement” sentiments from the stamp set and arranged them around the oval – I kept the “you did it!” sentiment for the main sentiment and stamped the other four sentiments with Hickory Smoke ink and embossed them with Clear Embossing powder. I stamped the main sentiment with VersaFine ink and embossed that as well. Finally I added the bow to the center of the ovals with foam tape. These oval dies fit this compound bow beautifully!

I do realize that the small oval “Cameo” stamp in this set was probably created to go in the center of the bow, but…

The curved line of dots stamp reminded me of jewelry, so I decided to treat the stamp as an actual Cameo..! I stamped the Cameo with VersaFine ink and two of the curved dots with VersaMark ink and embossed them with Gold Embossing powder and die-cut them with their matching dies. I used the Gina K. Oval dies again to die cut the Black oval and Yellow mat and glued them together. I took a white card base and marked a center line down the front and did a partial die-cut with the largest Oval die to match the card stock oval. That gives us a perfectly matched cut edge!

I used the Thin Stripes stencil and Fossilized Amber Distress Oxide ink to blend the stripes on the front panel of the card base, feathering out towards the center of the card. I colored the Cameo with my Alcohol Markers and a Gold Gel pen, and die-cut it with the matching die. I stamped the sentiment on the oval with VersaMark ink and embossed it with Gold embossing powder, and arranged the “pearls” and Cameo on top. The “pearls” are glued flat and the cameo is attached with foam tape. I though the right side of this card felt a little empty, so I stamped all the tiny stamps from the Bow Tag Stamp set in a triangular arrangement on the top and bottom corners using the Fossilized Amber ink – because of the cut-away card front, these are actually stamped on the inside of the card. I do love using “beautiful” as the sole sentiment here…! Quite versatile!

I feel like I have used just about every stamp in both of these stamp sets at this point but I wanted to see if I could actually color the framing ribbon on the Cover Plate die without having to separate it from the rest of the die.

I die-cut the Cover Plate Die from some Bristol Smooth card stock, and set about using my Zig markers to “watercolor” the ribbon. It’s pretty easy to “stay in the lines” if you insert a piece of paper or cardstock behind the ribbon (where the cuts allow) and color slowly around the whole perimeter moving your “masking” as you go along. Very pleased with how that came out! I glued the colored die cut to a piece of Pumpkin card stock and down to a White card base. I stamped the big bow on more Bristol Smooth card stock and colored that with the same Zig Markers as the ribbon, and fussy-cut it out.

This “broken English” sentiment makes me giggle, but certainly gets the point across! I stamped that with VersaFine ink and embossed it With Clear embossing powder. I’ve noticed that wax seals are becoming a little trendy these days so I broke out my wax and created this filigree heart with one of my wax stamps (I did cut the excess wax seal away from the heart). I colored the interior heart with a Gold gel pen and glued that to the center knot of the bow. I mounted the completed bow with foam tape and added a couple of Pastel Pearl Embellishments to highlight the sentiment. I really like using the big bow with the Ribbons Cover Plate die, and I really do like this “broken” sentiment!

My brain was starting to tie itself into knots with all these bows… I decided to take the smaller stamp set at face value!

It is called the Bow TAG Stamp Set… and the matching die does cut out a hanging loop on the top of the bow! I took a #8 standard manila business tag (3.125″ x 6.25″) and trimmed it down to 5.25″ and ink blended Faded Jeans Distress Oxide ink through the Thin Stripes stencil over the whole tag. I stamped the bow with VersaFine Onyx Black ink on 80# Neenah Solar White card stock and colored it with my Ohuhu Alcohol Markers (B270, B250, B120). I die-cut the bow (leaving the hole at the top) and used Silver cord to tie the bow through the real tag hole leaving it to swing as it may. I stamped the “to:” and “from:” (along with the triple dots) using VersaFine ink. I really like this big bow stamp, and this tag would dress up any package regardless of wrappings or ribbons!

That’s my 10 Cards 1 Kit offerings for this month… I do try to imagine some alternative uses for these kits and try not to duplicate what I see other designers do with theirs. Apart from a few sentiments, I did use almost every stamp in our stamp sets… I used the Cover Plate Die on three cards… and the Thin Stripes Stencil on five cards. I even used a number of the Pastel Pearl Embellishments and three of our card stock sheets. That large bow has got to be my favorite stamp from this kit… and I ended up liking the cover plate die more than I thought I would!

It is good to be back again with a new kit in hand, (apologies for the radio silence!) but following the Spellbinders merger, HA has changed their Hero Studio Subscription policies again… it seems you can only get a kit during the month of its release by subscribing. Each month the “New Subscriber” registration window is open from the 1st of the month through the 27th, then the kit will not be available again until the 20^th of the next month and that’s only if there are any leftovers and it may be at a higher price…

I am disappointed that you can’t purchase any of the Hero Studio kits a la carte until the 20th of the following month and then only if there are any left, and it may be at a higher price. The December 2024 Card Kit is listed on the Hero Arts website at $108.99. Yowza! The July, October, and November Card Kits are listed at $40.00 (actually cheaper than the $46.00 subscription price) I guess they must have a lot more of those kits on hand than the leftover December kits.

So… tell me what you think! Should I move on from Hero Arts? I have been with them for many years now, and am feeling that a change of pace might be in the cards… (pun intended!) What do YOU want to see me tackle? Should I jump to a different company? Altenew? Gina K. Designs? Lawn Fawn? Simon Says Stamp? Pretty Pink Posh? Spellbinders? Love From Lizi? Most companies seem to offer some kind of a monthly card kit and I am truly interested in hearing what you think I should do… Or is it useful for me to stay with Hero Arts? Let me know your thoughts!

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