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!!!!)

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.

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!

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!

If you enjoyed this 10 Card 1 Kit exploration, please click on the “Like” star at the bottom of this post (and the “Follow Me” link at the top of this page)! Remember to Like Me, List Me, Pin Me, Post Me, Share me with all your crafty friends and please Stay Tuned for further card-making adventures! I send you and yours love and Light and Happy Crafting!!!

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