Tag: my-monthly-hero

My Monthly Hero Returns! • 10 Cards 1 Kit • My Monthly Hero (and Super Hero!) for January 2026.

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Hello Folks! HAPPY NEW YEAR!! And a big WELCOME BACK to the new Hero Arts My Monthly Hero kits! Hero Arts has retired their assorted monthly subscription kits and I am pleased as punch to get back to the My Monthly Hero! I’ll have more information about the subscription changes towards the end of this post but let’s dig right into this month!

My Monthly Hero
Includes:
• Mini Notecard Die Set
• Post Box Die Set
• Special Delivery Stamp & Cut
• 10 Sheets of Cardstock- 1 of each color, 5.5″ x 8.5″ 
(Chiffon, Bellini, Coral, Carrot, Beeswax, Tuscan, 
Peridot, Rainforest, Fawn, Truffle)
My Monthly SUPER Hero
Includes everything in the regular MMH above, plus:
• Front Page Stamp & Cut
• Postage Frame Die Set

Much like the last year (or so) of the original My Monthly Hero, we are now offered two levels – The My Monthly Hero kit and the My Monthly Super Hero Kit (love the re-naming!). SO MUCH STUFF! Especially with the Super Hero kit! At $45 for the main kit and $75 for the Super kit, this feels like Hero Arts is giving us even better overall value this year! YAY!

Though the old MMH kits tended to be stamp forward, this kit seems a little more die forward – we get a lot more dies this month than we get stamps… so how should I start? I decided to take each set alone and in order to see where that takes me. I got this wild idea to see if I could use all of the die cuts from the Mini Notecard Die set on one card!

SUCCESS!!! We have gotten small envelope dies in our MMH kits before – the MMH January 2020 kit in particular – but I’m always in the mood to be a little meta and put a mini card on the front of a normal card!

I die-cut the two envelopes from Hero Hues Peony card stock and die-cut everything else in the set from 80# Neenah Classic Crest Solar White card stock. I used Ohuhu Alcohol markers to color all the white die cuts. I decorated the top envelope with the bow, the 2 stamps (3 die cuts each), the postage cancellation swoop (detailed with a Black Pigma Micron pen) and the second heart. The sentiment is from the Love From Lizi “Fairy Garden” card kit from March of 2019 stamped in VersaFine Onyx Black ink and embossed with Clear embossing powder.The back of the envelope has the snail “wax seal” (I used the two circle dies to make the ring around the snail). The “open” sentiment is stamped in HA Taffy Reactive ink using the MFT Interactive Labels stamps. I use a Zots Removable glue dot to close the envelope.

You open the envelope and pull out the card cut from some plain White card stock to 4+5/8″ x 1+7/8″ then scored and folded at 2+3/8″ to make a top-folding card that matches the size of the note card die (which is a side-fold). The sentiment (yuck! yuck!) is from the MMH February 2022 kit stamped with VersaFine Onyx Black ink and embossed with Clear embossing powder. The stars (from the same kit) are stamped with Taffy Reactive ink and embossed with Clear embossing powder as well. I finished up the front of the mini note by ink blending more Taffy ink around the edges.

I couldn’t resist doubling-down on the mini-mayhem and made a Twist-and-Pop-up for the inside of the card. The mechanism and the sentiment are both done on simple printer paper to conserve on thickness.

First I cut a 4.25″ square of paper (that’s the full height I wanted to fit this mini card) and folded it diagonally in both directions and then folded it in half in the other direction – this folds in on itself to make a triangle – the point of the triangle will be in the center of the fold in the card base.

So we have to cut it down to the width of the card – 1+7/8″ in this case, so let’s cut it to 1+3/4″ to leave a little border on the sides. This means we have to cut 7/8″ to the right and the left of the center line (the point). Once cut, this is our basic mechanism. Now is the perfect time to decorate the mechanism however you like. I stamped the text on the background using the text cling stamp from the MMH March 2023 kit with Taffy Reactive ink. Then I ink blended the whole mechanism with the same ink.

Now we have to refine the pop-up to fit our sentiment (or whatever you want to twist and pop)! First, the pop-up has to be shorter than the height of the mechanism. My sentiment is trimmed down to 3+1/4″x1″ – that’s all the longer the pop-up part needs to be. So fold the mechanism in half and trim off 5/8″ from either side (both sides of the pop-up) – the leftover tab should be 3″ wide in total. Since my pop-up piece is only 1″ wide, we’ll trim the width of the pop-up to 1″ as well (that’s only a HALF INCH on the folded side). REMEMBER this trimming of the width has to stop at the edges of the vertical portion of the pop-up. This is our final mechanism.

I stamped the sentiment (from the MMH December 2021 kit) on a piece of copy paper that’s 3+1/4″x1″ and ink blended Taffy ink over the background. Fold the sentiment strip in half to the back and then fold 3/4″ of each end back towards the center fold – accordion style. The left end of the sentiment attaches to the bottom half of the left pop-up, and the right end of the sentiment attaches to the top half of the right pop-up. Sometimes it’s easier to attach the sentiment strip to the mechanism before gluing it to the card base.

Once the pop-up is working smoothly, you can attach the whole mechanism to your card base and decorate as you like. I colored the rest of the flowers with Ohuhu Alcohol markers, assembled them together, and attached them to the sentiment strip – being careful that they hide appropriately when the card folds up.

Alas, I still had two of the smaller circle die-cuts left… the original die-cut, and the piece left over when I die-cut the ring from the larger circle for the “wax seal” on the front of the card. I glued those dots to the top and bottom panels of the pop-up mechanism and added die-cut exclamation points (cut from an old “marker Micro” alpha die and colored with alcohol markers) to the center of the circles. THERE!! Now I have used every single die in the Mini Notecard Die set on ONE card!! Well… technically I didn’t use the actual notecard die because it was a side-fold card, but for all intents and purposes, this card used all the dies in that set!

To finish up the front of the card, I cut a panel of Tim Holtz pattern paper to 3.75″ x 5″ with a Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle die, and added a thin Pearlescent Pink and a plain Black mat behind that, and glued those to a white card base. I added thin black mats behind the two envelopes and glued those to the card front. I also added a touch of glitter around the heart with some Stickles glitter glue. It’s not often that I spend this much time on my first card in a kit, but I had a blast playing with this mini notecard set and love my final, surprising result!

Moving right along… I set aside the Mini Notecard Die Set, and reached for the Post Box Die set for my next card.

Some might think I’m a little bit too literal, but I love this mailbox! I die-cut the box and lid and the front highlights of the paper hooks from some Tim Holtz Onyx Metallic card stock, the backgrounds of the HELLO and the mail slot and the corner filigree as well as the full paper hooks are die cut from MemoryBox Glossy Black card stock. I used Tim Holtz Champagne Metallic card stock to die-cut the golden highlights and the box is glued together. SO CUTE!

The bird and snail and rubber band are die-cut from scrap White card stock and colored with Ohuhu Alcohol markers. The newspaper is die-cut from some Ivory card stock with Antique Linen Distress Oxide ink blended around the edges. I die-cut the snail shell from the background paper and did a little ink blending with the Antique Linen ink on all the animal parts before gluing them together. The background is pattern paper from an old Tim Holtz paper pad embossed with an even older Darice Brick embossing folder. I did ink up the “mortar” lines on the embossing folder with Walnut Stain Distress Oxide ink to darken up the “mortar” lines. I trimmed the bricks to 4″ x 5.25″, added a thin Black mat and glued those down to a White card base.

Of course I couldn’t leave well enough alone and had to add this cute sentiment on the inside of the card. Using my Silhouette software and the Nanum Pen Script font, I printed this sentiment on the inside of the card base (before adding anything to the front) using my “piggy-back printing” method. Makes me smile…!

I put the paper in the hooks and attached the whole mailbox to the card front with thin foam tape and perched the snail and the bird on top of the mailbox with foam tape as well. I love how realistic this die cut mailbox is!

Of course you could be fanciful and decorate this mailbox with all the flower die cuts in this set, but I’m not the type to stuff a bouquet into a mailbox! And we do have a “bouquet wrapping” die in this set… I’m so literal, I know!!

A sweetly casual valentine! I die-cut all the flowers and foliage from more Solar White card stock and colored them with Ohuhu Alcohol markers. I attached a piece of newspaper (the want ads are appropriately tiny) to a scrap of card stock and die-cut the wrapping from that. A little shading with Alcohol markers gives the wrap a little dimension. The flowers and greenery are assembled and arranged in the wrap, and I used a small piece of thin twine to wrap around the gather.

The background is a panel of White card stock stenciled with Taffy Reactive ink and a SSS Falling Hearts stencil. I cut that panel to 3.75″ x 5″ with a LFSRdie and added a Pearlescent Pink and Plain Black mat before gluing all down to a White card base. I die-cut the envelope die in this set (same size as the Mini Notecard dies) from a scrap of white card stock and lightly blended more Taffy ink around its edges. I glued the envelope flat to the card front and added the bouquet with foam tape.

The sentiment is from the Lawn Fawn Big Scripty Words stamp and die set (one of their earlier sets I still find quite useful)! I stamped that with VersaFine Onyx Black ink on White card stock and embossed it with Clear Embossing powder. I die-cut the sentiment and two blanks (this was also one of the earlier die-cut sentiments available in those days) then stacked and glued them together and then down to the card front. Finally, I added a red glitter heart to the envelope for a touch of sparkle. Valentine’s Day is just around the corner!

So those two cards used 95% of the Post Box Die Set… Let move along to the Special Delivery Stamp and Cut set. Finally I get to color some stamps!

I couldn’t resist using some masking to create this little vignette! And I really wanted to have a window in the box so you can see the letters shake around inside! I stamped this scene on some Bristol Smooth card stock using Versafine Onyx Black ink and some simple masking at the base of the pole. I colored everything with my Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers. After so many die cuts, I was totally immersed in painting this vignette. I did use a Gold Gel pen for the trim around the window and the envelope slot, and then I fussy cut away the window opening.

I stamped and embossed “POST” on a piece of heat resistant acetate using Versa Mark ink and HA Gold Embossing powder. I trimmed that to size and attached it to the back of the window opening. Using a MFT Mini Cloud Edges stencil and some Pebbles Chalk pastels, I blended in the clouds as well as the hillside using a Lawn Fawn Simple Hillside stencil. I die-cut the panel with a full-size 4.25″x 5.5″ Lawn Fawn Stitched rectangle die. I stamped and embossed the sentiment as usual on White card stock, die-cut it and two blanks with the matching die and glued them together.

I stamped the two envelopes and package twice on some scrap White card stock and colored them all with Prismacolor colored pencils and fussy-cut them out. I used some 1/8″ thick foam strips to outline the the back of window opening – allowing more room at the top (mail slot you know) and decided I could only get 4 envelopes to actually shake around effectively in there. I added the envelopes and covered the back of the window with a scrap of the TH Onyx Metallic card stock.

I added 1/8″ foam tape along the edges of the whole panel and attached it to an A2 White card base, and then glued the stacked sentiment into place. Absolutely adorable!! I really like that the shaker window is “embedded” in the card front and not an extra level on top!

We can’t ignore that great snail stamp (every set has had a snail so far!) and, of course, the postage stamp stamp…

The whole “snail mail” thing is delightful and makes me giggle. I stamped the postage stamp and the snail with VersaFine Onyx black ink on a scrap of Neenah Solar White card stock and colored it with my Ohuhu Alcohol markers then added the “25¢” stamp, and die-cut it (and two blanks) with the matching die. The sentiment is stamped and embossed as usual, then die-cut (along with two blanks), then both sets of die cuts are stacked up and glued together.

I was looking for a background for this card when I came across this old Stamping’ Cut die in the Chic Die set. I die-cut that from the same TH background paper that I used for the bricks. I made an A2 card base from Hero Hues Antique Ivory card stock, glued the background in place and added the stamped (and stacked) pieces. A little bit adorable!

SIDE NOTE: Hero Arts is discontinuing their Hero Hues card stock line (EXCEPT for their Pitch Black card stock) and are shifting to the Spellbinders ColorWheel card stocks. The Spellbinders ColorWheel card stocks are what we’ve been getting in the monthly card kits for the last year or so. So I figured I should try and use my Hero Hues card stock and start stashing my ColorWheel card stock. What do you think?

There is one more sentiment in this stamp set that caught my eye – it may have been the matching die that did it!

YAY! I stamped the YAY! stamp in a simple pattern on a panel of White card stock using Hero Hues Purple Galaxy, Blue Hawaii, Green Apple, Lemon Drop, Creamsicle, and Fruit Punch Reactive inks. I also stamped the small YAY! dot in the same colors (no Lemon Drop (too light)) and die-cut them with their matching die. I stamped and embossed the big YAY! as usual, and die-cut it out along with 6 blanks in Purple, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange and Red. Those are all stacked and glued to the back of the stamped YAY!

I die-cut the background to 3.25″ x 4.5″ with a LFSRdie and added thin mats of Black, Yellow, Red and Blue behind and then glued them all to a White card base. I glued the big YAY! in the center and added the YAY! dots with thin foam tape. I was going to add a qualifying sentiment to the inside of this card but decided to leave that option open for any occasion that might deserve a hearty YAY! Or a lot of them!!

That really covers most all of the My Monthly Hero kit… Let’s look at the extras in the SUPER Hero Kit!

The Front Page Stamp and Cut set is quite unique and gives you lots of flexibility for celebrating any Breaking News in your circle of family and friends. I dug out an old Meade Acade´mie Sketch pad which had some nicely aged papers and stamped everything with VersaFine Onyx Black ink and Fruit Punch Reactive ink. I glued the stamped panel to another layer of the sketch paper for some added thickness, and die-cut the pair with the matching die.

I created a Gray A2 card base and used the Hero Arts Newspaper Bold Print cling stamp to stamp the background using HA Granite ink. That’s the perfect background stamp to use with this stamp set! I attached the “paper” to the card front with thin foam tape and I added a 4″ x 5.25″ panel of the same sketch paper to the inside of the card to carry the newspaper theme all the way through! It would be easy to create some personalized sentiments to use with this stamp!

This set also includes dies for all of the sentiments… even the “Breaking News” on the main newspaper stamp…

I started with some of my plain old Staples Ivory card stock and stamped the top of the “paper” stamp with Versafine Onyx Black ink and embossed that with Clear embossing powder. I die-cut the “Breaking News” sentiment along with one blank and glued them together. I also glued the black strip to another layer of the Ivory card stock and fussy cut that dividing line out. I stamped the other sentiments with Purple Galaxy Reactive ink and embossed those with Clear embossing power before die-cutting them along with one set of blanks and gluing them together. The “seal” is stamped with VersaMark ink and embossed with HA Gold embossing powder, then die-cut and layered with a second blank.

The background is the same Newspaper Bold Print cling stamp stamped in Granite ink on Ivory card stock and die-cut to 3.75″ x 5″ with a HA Infinity Rectangle die, and ink blended with a little Vintage Photo Distress oxide ink around the edges and splattered with the HA Brown Acrylic Speckle from last month’s card kit. The background is matted with a thin Black mat and a thin Purple Metallic mat before gluing down to an A2 White card base. I arranged all the die cuts on the card front and glued them down flat. There’s a lot more versatility with this stamp set when you can use the sentiments individually! The possibilities are almost endless!

Feels like that’s about all there is to the Front Page Stamp and Cut set… What does the Postage Frame Die Set give us!?

It’s a Postal Pup!!! How Cute! I used Hero Hues Sand and Chestnut card stock for the dog, and Hero Hues Periwinkle and Mist for the postal accessories. I did ink blend Vintage Photo Distress oxide ink along the bottom edges of the dog before assembling him, and I die-cut his nose and eye from Glossy Black card stock. The letters and newspaper are die-cut from more of the Ivory card stock and then supplemented with some extra letters left over from the Special Delivery shaker card before arranging them in the postal bag on both sides of the dog!

I die cut the Postage Frame from some White card stock and masked off the edges with 1/4″ strips of masking paper and then ink blended on some Antique Linen Distress oxide ink for a soft background. I stamped the “postage” details on the background with more Granite ink using a stamp set so old I have no idea where it came from…! I stamped and embossed the sentiment as usual right on the background and added a Black mat behind the postage frame before gluing that down to a White card base. The postal pup and his load is attached to the card front with foam tape. That little doggie displays such great dimension that he (or she!) practically leaps right off the card! Special Delivery indeed!

There are two sizes of stamp dies in this set and each of the two sizes has a background die and a matching frame die! Since I am assembling this cards during the week of Christmas, I couldn’t resist making a Holiday card!

I dug around in some old Holiday Pattern paper and found these sweet treats in both red and green colors and perfectly sized for the larger stamp die! I die-cut 4 sweets from the red pattern paper and five sweets from the Green pattern paper and glued those to 9 frame dies cut from plain White card stock. I took a piece of matching polka-dot pattern paper and glued that to a 4.25″ x 5.5″ panel of White card stock. I added the negative die cut from the Postage Stamp Frame die around the edges and glued the 9 stamps in place.

I stamped both sentiments (from the MMH October 2021 Kit) on White card stock with Green Apple Reactive ink and embossed both with Clear embossing powder. I die-cut the Happy Holidays sentiment with a LF Many Everyday Messages die and the “card” sentiment to 2.25″ x 1.75″ and rounded the corners with a Corner Chomper. I took a white Mini Notecard envelope (from the first set) and created a slot in the lower part of the back to hide our gift card. I decided where I wanted the envelope to go on the front of the card and cut a matching slot through the background.

I glued the envelope in place on the front of the card matching up the slots and then assembled the envelope. I attached the gift card to the back of the sentiment card with a piece of tape and slid those through the slot of the envelope. Then I added double layers of card stock to the back side of the card front to give us a channel for the gift card to slide into. Then I could attach the whole background to an A2 White card base being careful not to put any glue in the gift card channel. I have always loved being able to hide a gift card inside a card… and the Abundance sentiment is perfect to go along with a gift card!

And there we have all 10 cards created with the NEW My Monthly Super Hero kit for January of 2026! Happy New Year indeed! We have a nice variety of cards in many different styles and a few surprises as well!

I do hope Hero Arts gets back to featuring a few more stamp sets in their card kit, and can come up with some more exciting extras to keep us jonesing for more! I did use the vast majority of everything offered in this kit and had quite a good time discovering the myriad of uses this set inspires! And I even got to do some much needed coloring this month!

Here are details about the new My Monthly Hero subscription plans – there are 2 SUBSCRIPTION OPTIONS: My Monthly Hero – $45 •  My Monthly Super Hero – $75 • HOW IT WORKS: Monthly Reveal: Each kit is revealed on the 1st of the month, with sneak peeks starting a few days before. • Subscription Window: Sign up between the 1st–27th of each month. • Easy Billing: After the first kit, subscriptions are billed automatically on the 3rd of each month. • Flexible & Hassle-Free: Subscribe, switch plans, or cancel anytime. • SUBSCRIBER PERKS: My Monthly Super Hero Subscribers: 15% off purchases • Free shipping coupon every month. My Monthly Hero Subscribers: 10% off purchases.

If you are excited about My Monthly Hero coming back and want to grab a subscription for yourself, please use my links below – I do get a small commission from anything you buy at HA (at no cost to you!) and that helps keep the wheels turning and the inspiration coming! As always it is supremely appreciated!

My Monthly Hero Subscriptions: https://www.kqzyfj.com/click-101337132-16957481?url=https%3A%2F%2Fheroarts.com%2Fpages%2Fsubscribe

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

Happy New Year! Happy My Monthly Hero return! Thank you so much for sharing some time with me here today! I hope I was able to inspire you and maybe show you something new! Let me know which cards are your favorites If you enjoyed this post please click the “Like” star at the bottom of this page, and if you wish to be notified of new blog posts click the Follow Me button at the top of this page. Please, take a few moments to Like Me, List Me, Pin me, Post Me, Basically, just share this post with everybody you can, and remember… Don’t run with scissors!! As always, I send you and yours Love and Light, and Happy Crafting!

10 Cards 1 Kit • My Monthly Hero December 2023

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Hello Folks! Scott here with my ten cards inspired by the My Monthly Hero December 2023 Classic and Premium Kits! We’re wrapping up this year with a gigantic Alphabet stamp set that features primer-like images that go beyond the standard Apple, Ball, Cat, and Zebra that we’re used to!

CLASSIC KIT INCLUDES:
• XL Alphabet Clear Stamp Set, 8″ x 10″
• Alphabet Cover Plate Die
• 10 Pack of Watercolor Pencils
• 6 Sheets of Luxe White Watercolor Paper,   8.5″ x 11″
• Water Flow Brush

PREMIUM KIT INCLUDES:
• Everything in the Classic Kit         AND:
• Numbers Clear Stamp Set, 4″ x 6″
• Fineline Applicator
• Sea Salt Reactive Ink Inker
• Gold Glimmer Metallic Ink

Now this is quite the interesting kit! I generally like alpha stamps… and the Cover Plate die actually die-cuts the entire alphabet within a 4.25″ x 5.5″ panel. Looking forward to playing with the watercolor pencils, but not particularly keen on all of these very small images… Hmm.

So I turned to the Cover Plate die for my first card… And since there’s no more than an “is for” as far as sentiments are concerned, then I guess we’re left to our own devices… unless you’re looking to make an alphabet primer!

I die-cut the Cover Plate die from a 4.25″ x 5.5″ panel of 110# Neenah Solar White card stock. I cut a matching panel out of the watercolor paper and colored the whole panel with the purple, blue and green watercolor pencils. I colored it very lightly, trying not to leave any pencil strokes visible. Then I took the water brush and blended all the colors together. Very nice… you almost can’t see any pencil lines. I glued the die-cut panel on top of the watercolored panel and then down to an A2 White card base.

And here’s where I’m challenged… the letters cut with the Cover Plate are 1″ tall – making them fairly large – you might be able to get a few short words on a card front but not much more. Just the word THANK is more than 4″ long! I opted instead to create my own sentiment – using my Silhouette Software and the Hiragino Sans W7 font. I printed the sentiment in purple and die-cut it with a HA Nesting Rectangle Infinity die along with four blanks – I glued them all together and down to the card front. I gravitated to “word” type sentiments since we have a background of letters… so this turns out to be a heart-felt thank you card! That Cover Plate die is really interesting…!

Of course you can emboss with a Cover Plate die as well – you don’t have to cut all the letters out…!

I embossed the Cover Plate die on a 4.25″ x 5.5″ panel of 110# card stock (most die-cutting machines have instructions for dry embossing with a die). I stamped the peacock and text using HA Intense black ink on the watercolor paper, and colored the peacock with the watercolor pencils and Zig watercolor markers. The peacock is less than 2″ tall – pretty small to go crazy with details…! I die-cut the painted panel with a Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle die and mounted that to a thin mat of Metallic Blue card stock.

I suppose you could mention how proud you are of the recipient in your message, but I decided to print it out on the inside of the card. Same font as my first card – and I feel this really makes the card complete. I glued the embossed panel to the card front and attached the peacock panel to the card front using foam tape. Three Glitter Enamel dots add a touch of bling to wrap up this card. I really like the embossing of the Cover Plate die!

Let’s try some Pitch Black card stock with that Cover Plate die… and maybe some foiling to add some real shine!

This is the terrific background you get with some Rainbow foiling! Cover Plate die cut from Pitch black card stock. I used some Rainbow Deco Foil and toner sheets for the background and glued them both to a White A2 card base.

I took white letters from the previous die-cuts and colored them with Hero Arts Fuchsia and Gold Duo-Tone spray (we got some of that in our February 2023 MMH Kit). Once dry, I used a black marker to color all the edges of the letters (don’t want any white edges peeking out) and arranged them together for this sentiment. I glued the letters to each other and then down to the card front with foam tape. That’s one way of squeezing in a longer sentiment…! Fun!

Of course we also have the Alpha stamps… they are the same size as the die-cuts – 1″ tall – so not a lot of extra room…

I die-cut a panel of Pitch Black card stock to 3.75″ v 5″ with a Lawn Fawn Stirched Rectangle die and stamped the words using Candied Apple, Carved Pumpkin, Bundled Sage, Broken China, and Shaded Lilac Distress Oxide inks. I went through a lot of short inspiring words before settling on these five, and the Distress Oxide inks always work well on Black card stock.

I turned to my printer and Silhouette software for the sentiment. I printed it in a blue ombre on a black background. Then I took a piece of packing tape and taped over the sentiment before die-cutting it with a Hero Arts Nested Tag Frame Infinity die. That gives the sentiment a little shine and deepens the printed black. I die-cut a few more blanks and glued them all together before gluing them down to the card front. I like this card!

I had one more sentiment I wanted to try using the die-cut letters… kind of a double sentiment if you will…

Fairly subtle when viewed straight on… but if you look closely you can see that the “DO IT” portion is highlighted!. These letters were cut from the watercolor paper and colored with the watercolor pencils. I die-cut two more blanks of the DO IT letters in Pitch Black card stock and glued them together.

I spattered some of the orange watercolor pencil (just color on some paper and pick it up with the water flow brush) on a White A2 card base, let that dry and glued the letters on top. You can’t really see it in the photo, but I did add some Spectrum Noir Sparkle pen to the DO IT letters for a little shine and a touch more definition. Useful card!

That’s five cards using just the elements in the Classic Kit… now we can add some number stamps for more!

Though not as large as the Alpha stamps, the number stamps are 3/4″ tall, so they’re a pretty good size all on their own! I trimmed a panel of White card stock to 4′ x 5.25″ and stamped the numbers using HA Thistle and Grape Juice inks. I did use a circle die to help space the numerals. I used the Pitch Black letters from the Black die cut for “AGE” and colored them with Creative Expressions Gold and Red Metallic Gilding Polish – really nice finish on that black card stock.

I stamped the sentiment (from the numbers stamp set) using the same two inks, added another black layer to the die-cut letters and glued them to the card front. I colored the edges of a White A2 card base using the Grape Juice ink and glued the panel on top. Of course, I had to add the Happy Birthday sentiment from the stamp set on the inside – stamped in Grape Juice ink. This is a fun Birthday card for any age!

There’s not a lot of options with the Numbers Stamp set, but I haven’t used a lot of the images from the Alpha set…

A nice encouragement card where I made up some space for the sentiment by curving it around the lighthouse. I stamped the Lighthouse on a panel of Bristol Smooth card stock and colored it with my Zig Real Brush Markers. I took a sunbeam stencil and lightly stenciled some rays around the beacon with Lemon Drop Reactive ink. I colored white die- letters with the Gold Metallic Gilding Polish and glued them around the lighthouse. I used the Gold Glimmer Metallic ink to color the sparkles around the beacon and added a few dots of the same around the light. I added a couple strips of glitter card stock below the sentiment for a little balance and added tiny bronze gems for some extra sparkle. This is a really nice, though small, lighthouse image… could be useful with some of the seaside dies and stamps we’ve gotten from Hero Arts in the past. Shine on!

When I first saw the Alpha stamp set, I thought creating some Rebus puzzles (a puzzle in which words are represented by combinations of pictures and individual letters) would be fun… alas… not a lot of options with these images…

This card actually utilizes both stamp sets! And an image! “I yarn (yearn) for you” – If you say it with a heavy Scottish accent, it works!! HA! This is a simple one layer card with the ball of yarn stamped in Intense Black ink and colored with alcohol markers, and the letters and numbers are stamped with Concord and Ninth Dove and Mushroom inks for a nice ombre, and then stamped with Embossing ink and embossed with Clear embossing powder. So there is a little bit of shine on this card! I really like the white space here and the one-layer and the pun-ny rebus!

This card came from my search for word puzzles… this one tickles me a lot!

The most interesting thing about this is the fact that you can only fit 25 letters lined up in order, on the front of a card!

I do love “miss you” cards and I think this one is pretty unique! And the fact that the Alpha die-cuts fill up the card front WITHOUT the “U” is just icing on the cake!! I actually took a panel of watercolor paper and colored the whole sheet with the Sea Salt Reactive Ink and the Gold Glimmer Metallic Ink. Very interesting using both of those inks together – tones down the shine of the metallic ink while giving us some nice white highlights. I let that panel dry completely, and then die-cut the alphabet with the Cover Plate die. I glued the Alphas to a Pitch Black A2 card base after figuring out the spacing – I would NOT have been able to make all 26 letters fit in this order… and that makes me appreciate the Alpha Cover Plate die a little bit more!

I die cut a panel of White card stock with a LFSRdie and glued that to the inside of the card base. I couldn’t find a “missing” sentiment in my stash, so I ended up just hand-writing “missing” on the inside with a Black Pigma Micron pen. Just add the leftover “U” underneath and we’re done!. No extras needed! I have decent handwriting but am terrified of actually writing my own sentiments… never think my handwriting is good enough… but it came out okay here!

One more rebus to wrap up the cards this month… I have to give credit to Joel for this one.

Looks like I really got into the whole ombre stamping this month! And short of the mat, another one-layer card!

And a great sentiment to boot! Again, I did use both stamp sets for this fun rebus card. The numbers are stamped in Key Lime Fix and Green apple reactive inks, and the “ME” is stamped in Splash and Blue Hawaii reactive inks. Fun ombres! I always start with the lighter color on the whole stamp, add the darker ink and feather the edge with a blending brush, and then one more layer of the lighter ink to help blend it all together. I’m getting better at stamping ombre!

I die-cut the stamped panel with a LFSRdie, added a metallic Green mat and glued those to the front of an A2 White card base. I printed the sentiment on the inside of the card using my Silhouette software and the same Hiragino Sans W7 font. The metallic mat on the front is all the shine this card needs. And a fun rebus puzzle hopefully lightens the mood a bit for someone who needs some support.

And surprisingly, that’s card number 10! This may have been one of the most difficult kits I’ve ever had to try to come up with ten different cards for, but I do believe these kits this month are great stash builders!

I knew from the beginning that I would never be able to use every stamp in these kits…! And I did only use three of the small image stamps. But I gave that Alphabet Cover Plate die a good run for its money, and used a great deal of the die cut letters as well! We do have a great variety of cards here too – Thank you, Birthday, Encouragement, Love, Support… Though this may not be my favorite kit of all time, I am pretty sure it will come in very handy in the years to come!

The Classic kit has sold out already – along with most of the December extras – but the Premium kit is still available at Hero Arts! If I managed to capture your imagination here or prompted some ideas of your own, and you want to grab a kit for yourself, please use my links below when you shop at Hero Arts. It does provide support for this page when you do, and it costs you nothing extra! Thank you so very much!

My Monthly Hero December 2023 Premium Kit: http://shrsl.com/4cyqx

Hero Arts: https://shrsl.com/1rv00

Sorry this is a little late this month… December was quite busy for us this year and I kept getting called away from the craft room! We did have a Lovely Thanksgiving, and a Very Merry Christmas this year – I hope all of you have had the same! Remember to Like me, List me, Pin me, Post me, Share me with all your friends, Don’t run with scissors… and, as always, I send you and yours Love and Light and all of my best wishes for a Glorious New Year!

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