Tag: stamping

10 Cards 1 Kit • My Monthly Hero • May 2024

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Hello Folks! Scott here with my 10 cards created using the My Monthly Hero Classic and Premium Kits for May 2024. Happy Birthday to Hero Arts! It’s their big 5-0 this month, and Hero Arts has pulled out all the stops to give us a celebratory kit fill with all sorts of fun extras!

CLASSIC KIT INCLUDES
• Floral Cake Clear Stamp Set, 4″ x 6″
• 11 Coordinating Dies
• 6 Sheets Luxe White Watercolor Paper, 5.5″ x 8.5″
• Contour Ink Pad
• Flat Water Flow Brush
• Watercolor Palette
• Watercolor Swatch Cards

Plus Special (50th Anniversary) Gifts:
• Message Clear Stamp Set, 3” x 4”
• 3 Coordinating Dies
• Yay Fancy Die

PREMIUM KIT INCLUDES everything in the Classic Kit AND:
• Balloon Background Cling Stamp, 4.6″ x 5.8″
• Champagne Sequins
• Birthday Enamel Dots

Plus Special (50th Anniversary) Gifts: • Yay! Clear Stamp & Coordinating Die • Congrats Fancy Die

There is also an added surprise (though I didn’t receive one) of a Limited Edition Tone-on-Tone Blue Metallic Spray! We truly get so many goodies this month and, of course, Birthday Cards are always extremely useful! That big CONGRATS! die is particularly eye-catching! But we’ll have to wait till I get to the Premium Kit… As usual, my first five cards will be done using just the Classic Kit supplies… OH, and if your Birthday is this month… HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Apparently, they are encouraging us to do some no-line water-coloring this month, so that’s right where I’ll start!

I am certainly no expert when it comes to no-line coloring… especially with watercolors…but, I’m very pleased with this! I used the watercolor paper, the water brush and the Watercolor Palette to create our background. There is much more color on that watercolor palette than one might think! And I am quite pleased with the Flat Water Flow brush! I have gobs of water flow brushes in my stash but this is the first flat water flow brush I own! Once I was happy with my background, I die-cut the panel with a Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle die (5″x3.75″) and glued that flat to a White A2 card base.

I stamped the cake, plate, and candle on more watercolor paper using the Contour ink. I stamped them all three times before I could really discern the outlines. I did use regular small brushes to paint everything… For some reason, I decided to do a pink cake (I know, right!!) but a lighter, even white cake base would make coloring all the florals much easier – I did have to paint many layers for the flowers to show up on the pink. One secret I did learn about no-line coloring is to do your final detailing with colored pencils… it’s easy to add some shading and definition with pencils and not lose the no-line coloring effect.

I die-cut all three stamps with their matching dies, glued the cake to the plate and the candle behind the cake. I also stamped and colored the small strawberry and flower cluster the same as the others, die-cut them out and added them to the cake with thin foam tape for a bit more dimension. I added thin foam tape behind the whole cake assemblage and added that to the front of the card.

I stamped the two sentiments with VersaFine Onyx Black ink and embossed them both with Clear embossing powder. I die-cut them out with their matching dies – you know I love me some sentiment dies! I added two blank die-cuts behind the yay! sentiment for a little dimension and glued that to the card front. I mounted the HB sentiment with foam tape. I don’t think I’ve ever done a no-line coloring project with images quite this small… I think the technique is probably easier with larger images… but I am quite pleased with how this first card came out. Very colorful!

Well, that one took me more time than I thought it would…! Let’s try something a little simpler for my next card.

On a panel of Bristol Smooth Card Stock, I stamped the birthday candles using the Gina K Wreath Builder template along with Gina K Designs Obsidian Amalgam ink. I do like the consistency of the Wreath Builder template – always seems to work for me! I colored the candles with my Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers and die-cut the panel with a HA Infinity rectangle die (4″ x 5.25″). I stamped the sentiment(s) with VersaFine Onyx Black ink and embossed them with Clear embossing powder. I mounted the stamped panel on a mat of Black Tie Glitter card stock and glued those to a White A2 card base.

I die cut the YAY die from the same Black Tie Glitter card stock, and, die cut 6 more from a rainbow of thin card stock and glued them all together – that adds a fun pop of color behind the YAY. I die-cut the YAY shadow from 40# vellum, glued the stacked YAY on top and then down to the card front. I added a touch of glitter to the candle flames, and I think the halo of candles sets off the YAY die beautifully!

I do like the big bold sentiments included in our 3″x4″ Message Clear Stamp set “extra” this month. Most of my Happy Birthday sentiments in my stash are much smaller!

A fun background and those big sentiments are all you need for a lively Birthday greeting! I reached for my favorite party stencil – an old Stampendous Flourishes metal stencil. I used Lemon Drop and Fruit Punch Reactive inks through that stencil on a panel of White card stock and got a nice orange tone where the colors meet. I die-cut that with a HA Infinity Rectangle die (5″ x 3.75″) and glued it to a 5.25″ x 4″ specialty Gold card stock mat and down to a White card base.

I arranged the sentiments on the front and ombre stamped them with Purple Galaxy on the bottom and Blue Hawaii Reactive ink on the top. Because the Reactive Inks stay wet for a bit, I embossed the sentiments with some Clear embossing powder. For a final touch, I stamped the star from the same stamp set with VersaMark ink and embossed that with some HA Gold Embossing powder. Lots of shine for a card with no sequins!

I knew I would have to attempt that cake stamp again but this time, I wanted to just stamp it in black and color it!

On Bristol Smooth card stock and using Gina K. Amalgam ink, I stamped the cake plate, masked the top edge and then stamped the cake, masked the top of the cake and stamped the candles. Fairly easy to accomplish, and, especially with the outlines, makes for a very cohesive image. I colored everything with my Zig markers and was able to die cut the whole image using (very careful) partial die-cutting, I did have to fussy-cut a little around the candles, but it is mostly die cut! OOPS! So much for a White cake frosting…!!!

I ran across the perfect embossing folder for a birthday card – a Sizzix 3-D Textured Impressions Happy Birthday Embossing folder. I embossed a 3.75″ x 5″ panel of white card stock with the folder, glued that to a 4″x5.25″ plain black mat, and glued those to an A2 Kraft card base. I stamped the sentiment using VersaFine Onyx Black ink, embossed that with clear embossing powder, and die-cut it with the matching die (love those sentiment dies!). I attached the cake to the card front with thin foam tape, added another die-cut layer to the sentiment, and added that to the card front with foam tape as well.

I like this more than the no-line colored cake… I do think larger images work better with no-line coloring. I like this card a lot and that embossed background really sets this whole card apart!

We also have the “piece of cake” stamp and I have to admit, with all those layers, my mind immediately went to…

A rainbow cake!! Okay, we might be missing a layer, but still…! On another panel of the watercolor paper in the kit, I used the flat water brush and the watercolor palette to paint another yellow/orange/red background. (I guess I think those are party colors!!) Once that was dry I stamped the candles all over the background using Soft Granite ink – echoing the diagonal nature of the watercoloring. When that was dry, I die-cut the panel with a LFSRdie (4.5″ x 3.25″) and matted that to a Glossy Black mat and then to a White card base.

I stamped the cake on a scrap of Bristol Smooth card stock (masking off the candle) and colored it with my Zig markers. I was trying to get some dimension around the icing when I came up with the idea to use some texture paste and “ice” the cake myself. I added a touch of grey ink to a small dab of texture paste and applied it with a toothpick. You can kind of see the texture in the picture, but it’s much more obvious in real life…! I thought that was fun and added a touch of Sparkle pen to the icing as well. Finally, some White gel pen adds a little crumb texture to the layers. I cut the cake panel to 1.25″ x 2.5″ and added another glossy black mat behind that and mounted them to the card front with foam tape.

I stamped, embossed and die-cut the sentiment same as before, added two blank die-cut layers behind that, and glued the sentiment directly to the card front. Loving me some of that Rainbow Layer Cake!

That’s my five cards using the Classic kit… I almost used all the stamps in the classic sets just on these cards alone! But now we get to dig into the Premium Kit goodies and I can’t wait to use the big CONGRATS! die!

This card started with an Alcohol Ink background in blues that I happened to have on hand. It worked beautifully for the big CONGRATS die. I die-cut the shadow with glossy Black card stock and glued them together. Now we have the big Balloon cling stamp to use but I didn’t want to compete with the bright alcohol ink die cut. I reached for the Butterfly Garden Palette Reactive Ink Pad (from the MMH February ’23 Kit) for a fun gradient stamping. I stamped that on a panel of the watercolor card stock and, since the palette ink pad is reactive, lightly brushed water over the stamping to spread the colors out just a little. Not enough to lose the outlines, but enough to spread a little color. For a final touch I sprayed the whole background with some Sheer Shimmer Craft spray for some added sparkle.

I trimmed the background to 4″ x 5.25″ and added a thin mat of glossy Black card stock and glued those to a White A2 card base. I added the die-cut sentiment with thick foam tape. Though I do think the Congrats die can be used for more than just Birthdays, the Balloon background certainly suggests a Birthday party! Love that Congrats Die!

Of course we have to color all those balloons at some point… Lets make the balloons the focus and the die a highlight…!

So… wanting to get as much bang for my buck as possible with coloring all these balloons, I reached for my Yasutomo Pearlescent watercolors (very inexpensive!) and some Pitch Black card stock. I stamped the balloons using HA Unicorn White ink and embossed the stamping with White embossing powder. I colored all the balloons with the Yasutomo watercolors leaving their “highlights” blank. I knew I wanted a plain white die-cut on top, so I reached for my Dr. Ph. Martin’s Bleed Proof White watercolor for all the balloon highlights. Lastly I used a Karin Deco Brush Metallic Gold marker (from the MMH May 2020 kit) for all the ribbons and confetti. I trimmed the painted panel to 4″ x 5.25″ and glued that to a White card base.

I die cut the CONGRATS die – along with the exclamation point twice from the included watercolor card stock and glued both layers together and then flat down on the card front. A Spectrum Noir Sparkle pen adds some glitter to the sentiment. The Pearlescent watercolors (and sparkle pen) add a lot of shine to this card and I like how all the white highlights play off the stark white sentiment.

Time to spend some time and really color these balloons… let’s go back to our watercolor swatch card for this go round!

I stamped the cling stamp using Gina K. Amalgam ink on Bristol Smooth card stock hoping that Bristol card stock would help spread the watercolors around instead of sucking them up. All the balloons are water-colored using the swatch card and the confetti is colored again with the Karin metallic pen. I trimmed the painted panel to 4.25″ x 5.5″, sprayed all with the Sheer Shimmer Craft spray, and glued that to a white card base.

I stamped the two large sentiments in an ombre using the Butterfly Garden Palette ink pad – Thistle and Taffy for the bottom sentiment, and Creamsicle and Taffy for the top sentiment. The palette ink pads make creating an ombre effect quite easy on large sentiments like this. Again I embossed them both with clear embossing powder and die-cut them (with an extra ‘blank’) using their matching dies. I stamped the “it’s your” sentiment on a scrap of Pitch Black card stock using Unicorn White ink and embossed that with clear embossing powder. I die-cut that with a Lawn Fawn Everyday Sentiment Banners die and mounted it to the center of the card front with foam tape. I glued the double die cut sentiments together (for a little strength) and mounted them to the card front with foam tape. A fun sprinkle of the Enamel dots finishes out this extremely colorful card. HOORAY indeed!!

That card used some of the enamel dots in our kit… but we also got a huge batch of Champagne Sequins… a HUGE batch!

This may be the first no-frame shaker card I’ve ever done…! Using the Butterfly Garden Palette ink pad, I stamped eight YAY! stamps in every ombre that ink pad afforded. That effect is easy to achieve on these large stamps if you mark the side of the palette ink pad where the colors change. I die-cut all the YAY!s with the matching die and glued them down to a Pitch Black A2 card panel. I also added a good sprinkling of the enamel dots filling in some of the spaces around the YAY! die cuts.

I took apart the plastic packaging that held the Premium Kit contents and cut out a piece of that about 4.75″ x 6″. Then, using 1/4″ Scor-Tape, I glued the bottom of the acetate to the back of the black panel. Working around and trimming the corners I attached the two sides of the acetate to the back of card front as well. I left the top open for adding the sequins.

I die-cut the large yay die and the big exclamation point from some Champagne Metallic card stock, and die-cut the shadow from some Pitch Black card stock. I glued the sentiment to the shadow and glued everything down on top of the acetate. I like how the exclamation point nestles in there under the A and next to the Y! Now all that’s left is to add as many sequins as you like (or that the plastic will hold…!!), fold over the top flap and glue it to the back of the card panel. Then the whole card panel gets glued to an A2 White card base. Ta-Da! A no-frame shaker card! I really like this! Lots of shaker action with the sequins, and I believe the card is thinner than most “foam tape dam” shaker cards! YAY!

This idea came to me while I was coloring the rainbow layer cake and is appropriate for my last card of the month…

I stamped the cake, candle and confetti with Gina K. Amalgam ink on a scrap of Bristol Smooth card stock using judicious amounts of masking and drawing in the missing lines with a Black Pigma Micron 02 pen (matched the line thickness of the stamps nicely) I colored all with my Zig markers again… making this in honor of Joel’s favorite Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting. I happened to have enough of the card stock scrap to fussy cut the cake and create a ground for our scene… is it a plate…? is it a table…? is it the product of a fevered and delusional mind…? Probably!

I found this great pattern paper in my stash for the background – I die-cut a panel of that with a LFSRdie (5″ x 3.75″) and glued that to a thin Pitch Black mat and down to a White A2 card base. The cake “plate” seemed a bit forlorn floating on the background all alone, so I die-cut a scrap of white card stock using the same LFSRdie. I glued that behind the plate and down to the bottom edge of the card front – the stitching matches perfectly!

I turned to my trusty Silhouette software for the sentiment. I used the Hiragino Sans W9 font (which is a MacOS font) in three layers (black, white and black) to echo the WISH and YAY! sentiment stamps. I cut the sentiment with my Silhouette Portrait and cut 4 matching blanks to glue all together and down to the card front.

I was showing this card to Joel and he said it’s nice but I’m not sure what you would use this for… I told him to open the card… Of course there’s a perfect birthday reason for a card like this! Who hasn’t been a few days late for someone’s celebration?! Naturally, I printed this on the inside of the card base before I glued anything to the top. This makes me giggle… the gold stripes on the background are very festive and I even added some sparkle to the cake with a sparkle pen.

I think that’s a fun way to wrap up our cards this month! This was certainly an enjoyable and extremely useful kit! Happy 50th to Hero Arts! Birthday cards for EVERYONE!!! I do think I used just about everything in the kit on my cards this month – I did use every image stamp in the kit – I missed a couple of the smaller sentiments but that’s it!

Both the Premium and the Classic Kits are still available at Hero Arts! Im sure stock is running low so if you need a great Birthday Card kit with lots of terrific extras I’d grab one while you still can! If you do go shopping at Hero Arts please use my links below! That really helps support CardCutups and keeps the crafty goodness coming your way!

My Monthly Hero May 2024 Classic Kit: http://shrsl.com/4jnz3

My Monthly Hero May 2024 Premium Kit: http://shrsl.com/4jnz8

It appears that this Birthday is also a farewell to the original My Monthly Hero moniker. We are witnessing the birth of the new Hero Studio! A whole suite of subscriptions designed to cater to your specific interests and bank books!

Hero Studio now offers us six original options each month! You can subscribe to the Card Kit of the Month, Layering Stencils of the Month, Cling Stamp of the Month, Clear Set + Dies of the Month, Fancy Dies of the Month, or The Whole Studio (all five in one)! Subscription prices range from $15 to $46 (or $120 for The Whole Studio) so you can create a subscription just for you! Apparently, current MMH subscribers will be upgraded to the Hero Studio Card Kit of the Month and new kits will still launch on the First Monday of every month.

I know I’m looking forward to seeing what Hero Arts has in store for us. Click HERE for more information at Hero Arts!

Thank you so much for sharing your time with me here today. I am sorry this is a little tardy but I have been SO busy this spring! I believe things will slow down a little bit as summer kicks in. I hope you know that your support and encouragement is ALWAYS noticed and is so gratefully appreciated. YOU are the reason I do this! Please take a moment to click the little “Like” star at the end of this post, and share this on your Facebook and Pinterest pages. And let me know what card(s) are your favorite this month. As always, I wish you and yours Love and Light and Happy Crafting!

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10 Cards 1 Kit • My Monthly Hero • April 2024

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Hello Folks! Scott here with my 10 cards featuring the My Monthly Hero April 2024 Premium (and Classic) Kits. We are exploring Folk Art this month with an amazing color-layering stencil and matching cover plate die!

CLASSIC KIT INCLUDES: • 3 Color Layering Floral Butterfly Stencils, 5.25″ x 6.5″
• Coordinating Cover Plate Die
• 16 Coordinating Frame Cuts
• Clear Stamp Message Set, 4″ x 6″
• 3 Reactive Ink Cubes (Blue Hawaii, Splash, Taffy)

PREMIUM KIT INCLUDES Everything in the Classic Kit AND:
• Birds & Flowers Clear Stamp Set, 4″ x 6″
• 13 Coordinating Frame Cuts
• 16 Washi Stickers

I find it interesting that the Cover Plate die cuts all the butterfly’s wings but NOT the bodies (for adding dimension) but we also get frame dies that will completely cut out the butterflies – and some of the florals as well! Only sentiment stamps in the Classic Kit… looks like that stencil is the only “image” we get in the Classic Kit – and of course the dies!

Now I did do a little Folk Art research, and there are naturally many different styles of Folk Art – about as many as there are Folks! You’ve got Scandinavian Folk Art, Mexican Folk Art, Polish Folk Art, American Folk Art… I thought I would try to duplicate some of the more recognizable styles this month. To start with, I figured I would go in the direction the kit is sending me and use the included inks to color our Folk Art Floral Butterflies. This is from the HA website showing us to use the Taffy ink for stencil 1, Splash for Stencil 2, Blue Hawaii for Stencil 3… the stencils are numbered and have registration marks at the corners for help in lining them up.

I tend to have a lighter hand when it comes to color layering stencils… and I do like some soft color in the background…

I thought some Hero Hues Ivory card stock would work nicely with these colors and avoid a plain white background. I ink blended through the stencils with the included inks but kept things a little bit softer overall. The stencils line up beautifully , and this Folk Art pattern certainly gives us full-card coverage! Literally right to the edges of an A2 card!

I trimmed the colored panel to size with the largest HA Rounded Rectangle Infinity die. Actually fits beautifully, and feels a bit retro as well. I glued the panel to an A2 White card base that had the corners rounded with a 1/4″ corner chomper. I stamped the sentiment directly on the card front using the Blue Hawaii Ink and embossed that with some clear embossing powder. These colors seem classic Americana to me… though American Folk Art tends to be more landscape oriented, this feels kind of Pennsylvania-Dutch Folk Art to me!

Gotta try that Cover Plate die too! I recommend die-cutting BEFORE stenciling – it makes lining everything up easier!

The die certainly gives us some nice definition… almost like an outline stamp! I die-cut the cover plate die on some plain White card stock, and ink blended the stencils with Lemon Drop, Green Apple, and Creamsicle Reactive inks. I glued the colored panel to a Kraft card base and added tiny spots of foam tape behind the butterfly wings and some of the greenery/flowers to help them hold their dimension.

I stamped the sentiment on a scrap of Ivory card stock using Root Beer Reactive ink and embossed that with Clear embossing powder. I trimmed the sentiment to size and added a Kraft mat behind. I attached the matted sentiment to the card front with some foam tape. This doesn’t quite fit any specifically localized Folk Art, but it sure is spring-y!

And then there’s the frame cuts…! I did see a good amount of Mexican Folk Art that looks like paper cut-outs…

So this is my tribute to Mexican Folk Art! I die-cut everything from some textured lightweight card stock and layered everything together – I dug out some hole punches to add centers and extra details to the flowers. I really like the green leaf bits in the tiny red butterflies…! I stamped the cobbled together sentiment on a scrap of Pitch Black card stock with VersaMark ink and embossed that with Neon Lime embossing powder. Amazingly close match!! I glued all to a Pitch black card front and then to a White A2 card base. I die-cut the sentiment with a Lawn Fawn Everyday Sentiment Banners die and attached that to the card front with foam tape. I like this a lot!

I recently purchased some Acrylic markers from Altenew and thought I’d give them a try with this layering stencil…

Now that’s some colorful Folk Art! I was pleasantly surprised how well those acrylic markers worked with the stencils! I used a good HA Pitch Black card base and I was careful not to over-flood the stencils with too much paint. But the markers layered on top of each other (and the black card stock) very nicely! Even the White dots are the acrylic markers!

I did decide to do some outlining with a Black Pigma Micron pen on the butterflies and layered flowers for a little more definition. I stamped the sentiment on a scrap of Pitch Black card stock and embossed that with White embossing powder. I trimmed that to size and added a scrap of multi-hued green card stock for a mat. Those are attached to the card front with foam tape. This one is my tribute to Polish Folk Art which is usually very colorful and often on black!

When I think of nature-patterned Folk Art my mind easily goes to the blue and white classic “Delft” type patterns…

Kind of classic Scandinavian Folk Art! The big secret to this was selectively inking and white embossing parts of the #3 stencil to create an ink-resist to the blue colors going on top. All the butterfly details and assorted flower centers are embossed first. Then I ink blended Splash ink through stencil 1, Blue Hawaii ink through stencil 2, and C&9th Midnight ink for stencil 3. I do think the super dark blue helps sell the “Scandinavian” feel! I was a little impatient with this card so I wasn’t able to keep the background a pristine white, but I think it works well as a tribute to Scandinavian Folk Art!

I trimmed the panel with a Rounded Rectangle infinity die and glued that to a corner-chomped White card base. I stamped the sentiment on White card stock with VersaMark ink and embossed that with SSS Steel Navy embossing powder. (I do love that color and how nicely it finishes!) I die cut the sentiment with another Rounded Rectangle die and attached it to the card front with foam tape. Anyone have some pickled herring??

That’s five cards using the Classic Kit! I truly enjoyed trying to emulate assorted styles of folk art! But, now I get to use the Premium Kit ingredients and we actually have some stamps we can color here!

I stamped the bird and greenery using Intense Black ink on Bristol Smooth card stock and a square infinity die to help lay them out. I heat set the ink and colored all with my Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers. There are some tiny spaces on these stamps..! I die cut the panel with a Tonic Studios Scallop Square die and the mat from Periwinkle card stock using the next larger die. I glued those together and down to an A2 White card base.

I stamped the sentiment on a scrap of White card stock using VersaFine Onyx Black ink and embossed that with Clear Embossing powder. I love the sentiment dies in the premium kit, so I die-cut the sentiment and two blanks to glue together and glued the sentiment to the card front. I did add a little dusting of yellow pastel chalk around the bird to give him a little background. I was just happy to have something to color!

I saw a lot of patterned Folk Art that wasn’t on black or white backgrounds but on lots of different colors…

I thought my alcohol markers would stand up to some Arctic card stock! I stamped the sentiment in the center of an A2 panel and arranged the florals around that. I stamped everything with Gina K. Designs Amalgam ink – works so well with my new Ohuhu alcohol markers! I was surprised the yellow didn’t turn green, and considering how small some of these areas are… I am very pleased with the marker’s finely pointed brush tips!

I die-cut the panel with a Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle die and added a mat of Black Tie glitter card stock. I glued those to a White card base, and added some small crystal gems to help carry the sparkle to the stamping. This feels very free-form and casual – just like the sentiment! But I do appreciate the bit of sparkle as well!

We get a nice little pack of Washi Stickers in the Premium Kit… I was about to peel and stick them to some card stock…

When I realized that if I did that, I’d have to fussy cut them out! I checked to make sure that foam tape would stick to the liner paper on back of the stickers, and when it did, I decided to use the stickers as is… I didn’t’t even peel off the liner! I ink blended Thistle Reactive ink around the edges of an A2 panel of White card stock and stamped the sentiment in the same before embossing it with Clear embossing powder. Then I added some splatters of Purple Galaxy Reactive ink and glued the panel to a White card base.

I added the stickers to the card front with foam tape taking care to support all the edges to resist curling. I really do like these Washi Stickers. You’re never going to get this kind of detailed coloring on these images with the stencil or the stamps themselves! And you can always tell the recipient that they can peel the butterflies and flowers off the front of the card and use them as stickers!! That’s downright Interactive!!

I can’t ignore the fact that we get 9 Frame dies for the 9 butterflies that are revealed on the color layering stencils…

This is fun! I inked up the stencils (concentrating on the butterflies) with Fruit Punch, Thistle, and Purple Galaxy Reactive inks, and then die-cut all the butterflies with their matching dies. I fiddled around with different background colors for a while and settled on this white panel embossed with a Tailored Expressions Burlap embossing folder. I thought the white provided a good pop for the butterflies, and the embossing pulled it more into the background. I distressed the edges of the background with the blade of my scissors and glued it down to an A2 Purple card base.

I stamped the sentiment on a scrap of white card stock using VersaFine Onyx Black ink and embossed it with Clear embossing powder. I die-cut it (along with two blanks) with the matching die and glued all three layers together. I folded the wings of the butterflies up and glued their bodies and antennae to the card front, and lastly, glued the sentiment in place. I’m amazed that all nine of these butterflies are actually different… either coloring or size, they’re all unique!

While I was tinkering around with possible patterns I could create using the stamps in the Premium Kit, I started playing around with the birds and came up with a fun combo that was easy to create with minimal masking!

I masked off the tail feathers on the second bird stamp and stamped two of them tail to tail. Then it was easy to mask off the two pointy tails and stamp the flower behind. Very interesting! I stamped all with Gina K. Amalgam ink and colored everything with my TomBow Watercolor markers – again the fine point on those markers helps get into all the tiny spaces on these stamps. I die-cut the whole image by partially die-cutting the birds and fussy cutting around the center flower. I die-cut four more (blank) birds and glued them behind the stamped birds trimming away the tail feathers as needed.

I took a White card base and stenciled the background with an old Mini Swirly Garden stencil using Taffy ink and blending out towards the edges. I stamped the sentiment with Intense Black ink and decided to add the two floral sprigs in the center to fill out the colored birds. I glued the layered birds to the card front and O think I’ll call this one Scott’s Modern NYC Folk Art!

And that wraps up all 10 of my cards for April! I did manage to use every image stamp in the kit, and most of the sentiments, along with a great deal of the frame cuts. I used some of the washi stickers, and of course the stencils and cover plate die… I’m sure there are a million more options available with this unique kit.

A colorful batch of spring-y cards! Love to see the stencils in different color combos, and the die-cut card really pops!

I must apologize for my late post this month… April has been an extremely busy month for me, and combined with the fact that this kit, in all its permutations, sold out very quickly! That’s right… The Classic and Premium Kits and even the Premium Elements have long been sold out. There must be more butterfly madness out there than I thought! If you have followed me for any time, you know I’m not that particularly fond of butterflies, but here we have 7 out of 10 cards featuring butterflies…! Who knew!?

I must express my thanks for sharing your time with me here… I am always encouraged and humbled by your support! Let me know if you have any favorites here, and please remember to click the ‘like’ button at the bottom of this post, (that helps A LOT!) and share me on your Facebook and Pinterest pages! Don’t run with scissors…! and, once again, I am sending you and yours Love and Light and Happy Crafting!

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

10 Cards 1 Kit • My Monthly Hero • March 2024

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Hello folks! Scott here with another installment of my 10 Cards 1 Kit posts featuring the My Monthly Hero March Classic and Premium kits! Looks like we’re headed to the Far East this month with a wide variety of supplies to guide us!

CLASSIC KIT INCLUDES:

• Clear Stamp Set, 6” x 8”
• 17 Coordinating Dies
• Cover Plate Window Die
• 2 Rub-On Transfer Sheets w/ stick
• 3 Ink Cubes (Cherry, Periwinkle & Deep Ocean)

PREMIUM KIT INCLUDES: Everything in the Classic Kit AND:
• Clear Stamp Set, 4″ x 6″ 
• 10 Coordinating Dies
• Translucent Pinks Hero Hues Enamel Dots

When I did my video unboxing I did remark about the Chinese aspects of this kit… I do believe the rub-ons are Chinese lettering… and aren’t those cherry blossoms?? Or is this all Japanese? The Hero Arts description of this kit doesn’t mention that at all… I hope I haven’t offended anyone – truly not my intention! We do get a new mountain layering stamp set and the cover plate die is very interesting (Hero Arts calls it “a stunning patterned gate window die”). And to top it all off, there are sentiment dies for both of the stamp sets! As usual, I’ll begin with my first five cards made using the Classic Kit.

As Hero Arts says… let’s “experience the breathtaking beauty of misty mountains and tranquil waters”. Sounds nice!

I took an A2 card base of Hero Hues Ivory card stock and stamped the solid mountain stamp with Periwinkle ink, and the detail stamp with Deep ocean. Then I stamped the ‘waters’ with Periwinkle ink and blended a little Altenew Dark Night ink on the bottom. The sun and reflection are stamped with the Cherry ink, the boat and sentiment are stamped with the Dark Night ink. I wasn’t particularly thrilled with the sentiment selection in this kit… so I combined two stamps to get this “enjoy the peace” sentiment…

I did use the sentiment dies to do some partial die-cutting to get this ‘new’ sentiment to look like it was meant to die-cut! I like that! (truth be told, I was afraid of screwing up the combined sentiments if I stamped them directly on the card front)! The birds are from the MMH June ’23 kit and are stamped second generation Periwinkle ink – nice and soft. (I thought the crane and dragonfly were a little large for this scene, but the birds work perfectly). Basically a one-layer card! I do think the Ivory card base adds a nice touch of antiquity.

When I saw the “stunning patterned gate window die” my first thought was, “Can I use it with my hot foil machine?”

The answer is a resounding “Yes!” I took a simple piece of 4.25″ x 5.5″ red textured paper (core’dinations I believe) and some Gold foil. I laid the die face up on my Spellbinder’s Glimmer Press and let it heat for a long while… I added the foil (pretty side facing the die), the red card stock, one thick piece of card stock as a shim, then the Glimmer plates and pressed the button. When the light stopped blinking, I ran the sandwich through my Spellbinder Platinum 6 die cutting machine. Voila! There was a little over-foiling on the background (mostly erased with a Tombow Mono Sand eraser) and with the addition of the shim, the gate die-cut perfectly – leaving traces of gold on the cut-outs as well. Big success!!!

I die-cut a gold metallic frame with two HA Circle Infinity dies of proper size. (Here’s one for you – the Cover Plate Window die is not a perfect circle! Close… but it’s a tad taller than it is wide… interesting!) I stamped the sentiment on some HA Pitch Black card stock with Embossing and Watermark ink and embossed it with Gold embossing powder before die-cutting it with the matching die. I die-cut two more sentiment “blanks” and glued them all together. I trimmed the foiled panel to 4″ x 5.25″, added a piece of thick vellum behind the window, and glued it to a Pitch Black A2 Card base (nice black frame for all that red). I glued the gold frame around the window, and the chunky sentiment in the center. I completely surprised myself using the Hot Foil with this window die… Good to know that it works! Truly a “Stunning Patterned Gate” !!

I did a little research on Chinese landscape paintings, and noticed how “misty” a lot of the mountain art was… hmmm…

I have a new set of Altenew Tranquility ink cubes (on sale!) in my stash, so I thought I would use those for another landscape card – and, of course, I had to fiddle around with the stamp placement – I think I achieved a nice sense of depth here! On a White A2 card stock, and with some simple masking, I stamped the left side of the mountain stamps on the right (Misty Morning, and Cloudy Sky inks) and the right side of the mountain stamps on the lower left (Cloudy Sky, and Nimbus inks) and two stampings of the water using Cloudy Sky along with some Periwinkle ink. I stamped the little Gateway with Periwinkle ink and the boat with Misty Morning ink.

Once all was dry, I took a small blending brush and the Hero Hues Unicorn White and added “mist” between and around the bases of the mountains – fairly effective but not as stark as the reference art I saw…! I stamped the sun reflection stamp in the sky using a few passes of HA Contour ink – that stamp reads very atmospheric when used in the sky! Finally, I stamped the sentiment and two impressions of the bamboo plant stamp with the Dark Night ink. I did emboss the sentiment with Clear embossing powder for good measure.

I trimmed the stamped panel to 4″ x 5.25″ and glued it to a 4.25″ x 5.5″ piece of Dark Blue textured card stock and then down to an A2 White card base. I think the rearranging of the mountains is very interesting and the addition of the Unicorn White ink adds an ethereal quality. Just trying to bring a little more depth into an otherwise fairly flat scene.

You probably know that I do make an effort to use all the stamps in our stamp sets in my ten cards… lemme see…

I did do a dry-emboss of the cover plate die on another A2 card panel of Ivory card stock – subtle but definitely see-able! On a 3″ circle of White card stock, I ink-blended and stamped our little pond scene with the Periwinkle and Deep Ocean inks (second generation stamping for the dragonfly) making a little duck family swimming among the reeds. I trimmed the embossed panel to 4 1/8″ x 5 3/8″ and glued it to an A2 card base of Hero Hues Periwinkle card stock. I die-cut the circular White frame using the same two Infinity Circle dies as I used on the second card. I glued the inked circle to the center, and glued the frame to the top of that. I like this constructed sentiment, and the scene is certainly peaceful! This is the only card this month that ignores the Far East theme..!

I have to return to that Cover Plate die again… how can we really highlight the texture on that die…? Hmmmm…

Use that die on some metallic card stock! Tim Holtz Metallic card stock trimmed to 4.25″ x 5.5″ and die-cut with the CoverPlate die. I did add the Chinese lettering rub-ons to the non-embossed areas of the background – boy, they really stick to that metallic card stock – but they also add a ton of interest. I added the Red textured card stock behind the window and glued the background to an A2 White card base. The frame is die-cut from some Metallic Black card stock, and the crane is stamped and embossed with Gold on a scrap of Pitch Black card stock and die-cut with its matching die (plus two more “blanks”) all glued together for a touch of dimension.

I fiddled and fussed with which sentiment to use for this card and finally went searching on the internet…

I did find this “Double Happiness” symbol on-line which is a very common sentiment for newlyweds. I was messing around with the size and the colors of the symbol when I realized that I could emboss the symbol using a Versa-Marker Pen! That even adds a little touch of “hand-made” to the Double Happiness! And you can use a black watercolor marker to get the background as black as possible, because the embossing resists the watercolor! I think this is perfect for this card!

I die-cut two more circle blanks from Pitch Black card stock and glued those to the embossed Double Happiness piece and then down to the center of the window opening. The Black frame and Crane are glued to the card front as well. I did complete the wedding wishes on the inside of the card stamping this sentiment (from the SSS June ’17 card kit) using Intense Black ink. Gold, Black and Red… Classical!

And there we go! Now I’ve used every image stamp in the Classic stamp set, just not all the sentiments…!

But wait… that’s five cards right there! Now we get to add in all the extras from the Premium Kit!

Love the cherry blossom branch stamp but it is a little small… Masking paper to the rescue! On a panel of Neenah Solar White card stock I stamped the blossoms on the lower left masking off the leaves at the top of the stamp. Then I masked off the stamped blooms below the leaves to stamp the branch extension. If you cut your mask carefully, you can use both sides of your mask for this arrangement. Looks like one big branch of blossoms!

Now I get to play with my Ohuhu Markers again! Here’s a shot of the markers I used on the cherry blossom branch. I think I did use one darker Green and a Darker Brown here, but had edited those out while coloring later blossoms… I did use the markers to “spatter” the background around the blossoms, and I stamped and embossed the sentiment using VersaFine ink and Clear embossing powder. I did use a White gel pen to add dots to the stamen ends – that adds a lot!!

I trimmed the stamped panel to 5″ x 3.75″, added a thin black mat behind it, and glued both to a Hero Hues Peony card base. A few Pink enamel dots highlight the sentiment. I do like this greeting as an option for a plain thank you card… and I really like the cherry blossom stamp!

Now I have to see what combining the cherry blossoms with the Cover Plate “Gate” die will get us!

Boy! If you want to emphasize some subtle embossing textures, just go for the metallic card stock! Just like the Gold, this hi-gloss Black card stock brings every line of that die to life!! And why not pair that with some metallic Red for the window! Black and Red “lacquer” just screams Far East to me!! I stamped and colored the cherry blossoms branch and the single blossom just like the last card and die-cut them both with their matching dies.

I did color the white border around the die-cut bloom stamps with a Black marker to help it disappear and draw attention to the blossoms. I glued the single blossom at the top of the branch stamp (makes it a little bigger again!) and mounted those to the card front with thin black foam tape. The holographic sentiment is made with hot foil and the Simon Hurley Must-Have Sentiments hot foil plate and die – I made a bunch of those sentiments on the same high-gloss black card stock when I first got that set and I thought this colorful (and metallic!) “Hello” worked here perfectly! I added that to the card front with more foam tape. I just might like this card even more than the Gold card! OOOOOH! Shiny!

When I found the Double Happiness symbol, I found a bunch of Confucius sayings (naturally) and one caught my eye…

I was also interested in trying to use one of the big round rub-ons – is that symbol referencing a clock… or a zodiac? Not sure, but I thought it would be interesting standing in for the sun. I did use the mountain die to cut some masking paper, and I masked off the sky and ink blended some Thistle Reactive ink to fill in the mountains. Then I stamped the detail stamp with Grape Slush Reactive ink.

Once the ink was dry, I masked off the mountains, and added the circular rub-on in the center – taking care to rub carefully where the mask meets the card. I carefully peeled away the backing paper, and ink-blended a light touch of Cherry ink over the sun, and Periwinkle ink for the sky. The water is stamped with Periwinkle ink, and the bamboo and dragonfly stamped with Altenew Misty Morning ink. I did try adding mist where the water meets the mountains using Unicorn White ink and a touch of the Misty Morning ink – the grey adds a little depth to the white… almost gives it some texture… nice sense of mist!

I printed this sentiment on the front panel and on the inside of an A2 card base using my Silhouette software and the Papyrus Font. I trimmed the front panel to 3.75″ x 5″, added a 1/4″ Green-Grey mat and an 1/8″ black mat and glued those to the card base. For a final touch, I added one of the square symbols from the rub-on sheet over the sentiment. That rub-on “sun” is very interesting and I think this makes for an interesting encouragement card!

I do like the “garden of happiness” sentiment in the Premium stamp set… and I haven’t done a colorful background yet…

On a panel of Canson Mix Media card stock, I ink-smooshed Worn Lipstick, Abandoned Coral, Twisted Citron, and Peeled Paint Distress Oxide inks, drying completely between layers and adding some spatter at the end. I am really enjoying ink-smooshed backgrounds lately… you never know what you’re actually going to get, but if you’re patient and dry your ink between layers, it almost always rewards you with an interesting background! I did decide to add some light stampings of the blossoms to the background as well – we are going for a “garden” here! – so I used HA Soft Granite Ink for those.

I colored and die cut all the blossoms the same as my others and arranged them on the card front – there’s two of the single blossoms on the top right. Once I was happy with the arrangement, I stamped the sentiment with VersaFine Onyx Black ink and embossed it with Clear Embossing powder. I trimmed the panel to 4″ x 5.25″, added a thin Green mat and glued those to a White card base. The blossoms are all attached with foam tape, and a smattering of Pink Enamel dots adds a little more shine! This makes me yearn for Spring!

I got a little hung-up with the phrase “stunning patterned gate window die” and maybe even obsessed over the word “gate”… so I just had to make that Cover Plate die into a gate!

So… you open the gate and… get a chuckle!

I used the largest Circle die from my previous window frames to cut a circle in the middle of a 4.25′ x 3.75″ piece of Red metallic card stock. I centered the Cover Plate die on the circle and embossed all the lines in the card stock – again, this looks amazing on the metallic card stock!! I used the same Circle die to cut two circles from some thin self adhesive wood sheets from Silhouette and die-cut the “patterned gate” from those circles. But beware! The Patterned Gate is NOT symmetrical! The Left side and Right side DO NOT MATCH! So I did die-cut the inside gate backwards – not from the top of the wood sheet but from the back – the adhesive side! Then they match up with no problem! I die-cut another Circle from some thick Vellum and glued that between the two wooden gates. I did remember to add a bit of a hinge to the left side of the gate before gluing it all together.

I printed the sentiments using my Silhouette Software and the Papyrus Font on a Hero Hues Ivory card base. I glued the red panel to the card front fitting the door into the opening and gluing the hinge behind the red. I added the next size larger Circle die to cut a frame from more of the wood sheets and glued that around the gate opening. A couple of wood strips trimmed to 1/8″ are glued to the top and bottom of the red panel. I did take three of the rectangular die-cuts from the gate and glued them together and then to the right side of the gate for a “handle”. This is a fun interactive card! A touch of dry humor, some organic wood structure and bright red lacquer…! This makes me giggle!

That’s my ten cards featuring the My Monthly Hero March 2024 kits! Appears I was certainly enamored with the Cover Plate die this month! We do have three mountain cards, a few cherry blossom cards, and an interactive card to boot!

I did manage to use every image stamp in our two stamp sets, and a number of the sentiments. I used all of the inks, a number of the dies, and a decent amount of rub-ons! Really nice variety of cards this month, but look at how that black card really captures your attention! Coloring the die-cut outlines really makes those cherry blossoms pop! I really enjoyed playing with this kit and all of the supplies, and, though we have dabbled in cherry blossoms and oriental images before with My Monthly Hero, I really love the big graphic nature of this whole kit.

Both of these Kits are still available at Hero Arts! If you see something here that catches your eye, or inspires a bunch of new ideas to bubble up in your brain, then grab a kit for yourself while they’re still available! When you go shopping at Hero Arts please use my links below! They actually help support the work I do here and my appreciation is truly heartfelt! Let me know which cards are your favorite this month!

My Monthly Hero March 2024 Classic Kit http://shrsl.com/4gi47

My Monthly Hero March 2024 Premium Kit http://shrsl.com/4gi4a

My Monthly Hero March 2024 Premium Elements http://shrsl.com/4gi4d

My Monthly Hero March 2024 full release http://shrsl.com/4gi4j

Thank you so much for sharing some time with me here. I hope you enjoyed my selections as much as I enjoyed creating them! If you’re not a follower, please click the “follow” button at the top of this page, Like this post and be sure to share this on your Pinterest and Facebook pages. Every click helps! Your continuing support is a huge encouragement! Here’s to the coming spring (slowly but surely), and I send you and yours Love and Light and, as always, Happy Crafting!

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10 Cards 1 Kit • My Monthly Hero • February 2024

~ cardcutups ~ 2 Comments

Hello Folks! Scott here with another 10 Cards 1 Kit post featuring the February 2024 My Monthly Hero Classic and Premium Kits! This month we are treated to jam-packed kits exploring friendship, understanding, kindness and Peace!

CLASSIC KIT INCLUDES:
• Clear Stamp Set, 6″ x 8″
• 17 Coordinating Dies
• 4 Tag Fancy Dies
• 6 Sheets Premium White Cardstock, 5.5″ x 8.5″
• Unicorn Pigment Ink Cube
• Rustic Twine, 3 yards

PREMIUM KIT INCLUDES Everything in the Classic kit AND:
• Clear Stamp Set, 3″ x 4″
• Imagine & Peace Fancy Dies
• Sun Stencil, 6″ x 6″
• Ephemera Pack, 48 pieces
• White Embossing Powder, 0.5 oz.

For some odd reason, and this has never happened before, I did not receive the six sentiment dies or the four Tag Fancy dies. When I asked after them with Hero Arts, I was told these dies were missing for the other artists as well and they would try to get them to me when available. This was all before the kits started shipping, so I’m not sure what was going on… I waited a day or two and decided to forge ahead without those dies. As usual, I will make my first five cards using only the supplies from the Classic Kit (less the 10 dies!).

Since I couldn’t die-cut the large sentiments, I realized I had to create room for the sentiments on my backgrounds…!

I cut a 1.25″ strip of masking and attached that to the bottom third of a 4.25″ x 5.5″ panel of White card stock. I thought I’d play around with my New Ohuhu Alcohol markers and made a stripe-y ombre above and below the masking. I removed the masking and stamped the sentiment with VersaFine Onyx Black ink and embossed that with some clear embossing powder. I die-cut the panel with a Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle die, and glued that to a mat colored with the same dark blue alcohol marker.

I stamped the Peace Lily and the Vase with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colored them with my alcohol markers. I die-cut the plant and vase and grabbed an A2 White card base. I glued the mat and the background to the card base, glued the plant into the vase and attached them to the card front with foam tape. A few colorless blender spots on the background along with some hand-drawn spatter adds a little more interest to the background, and, lastly, some Hero Arts Sea Dot embellishments highlight the sentiment. A pretty Thank You card is always useful to have on hand!

There are fourteen small sentiments in this stamp set – peace, hope, healing, humanity, wonder, love, tranquility, etc…! I knew I would never get to all of them in ten cards, so I figured I’d use all of them in one fell swoop.

I laid out all the small sentiments on my MISTI and stamped them on the left side of an A2 panel of White card stock using the HA Unicorn White ink cube, and embossed them with White embossing powder. (yes… we do get White Embossing powder in the Premium kit… but I do have my own…!) The embossing gave me some good ink-resist so I ink blended Hickory Smoke Distress Oxide ink over the sentiments fading out towards the center.

I thought the wheat stalks would be more interesting if they were longer, so I stamped them on the top half of the right side with Memento ink (masking off their bottoms) and then using a Pigma Micron pen and a ruler to extend their stems to the bottom half of the card. The “imagine” sentiment is stamped right over the “extension” spot on the stalks, so that helps camouflage where the stamp ends and the pen begins! (sentiment Stamped with VersaFine and embossed clear). The panel is die-cut with the same LFSRdie, matted to a black mat and glued to a White card base. I did color the wheat with my alcohol markers, and added a knot of twine where the stalks crossed each other. I like this… Striking!

We have a couple simple butterfly stamps in this kit… and nothing is quite as tranquil as a butterfly…. so…

You know I do try to use every stamp in a stamp set, and I thought these butterflies were right at home among the Peace Lilies. I stamped the images on a panel of White card stock using Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colored all with my alcohol markers – I’m slowly getting a feel for these markers but have a long way to go with my learning curve…! I stamped the sentiment with VersaFine ink and embossed it with clear embossing powder.

I spattered the panel with some HA Splash and Green Apple Reactive inks and die-cut it with a LFSRdie. I glued the die cut panel to a Black mat and down to a White card base. A few touches of White gel marker adds some detail to the butterflies, and this is my tribute to a little more tranquility in all of our lives!

I was looking for more background choices that just happen to leave room for a stamped sentiment, when I came across some older foiling plates I had picked up on sale…

I don’t have a lot of hot foil plates, but this one filled my needs perfectly. This is the Spellbinders Add A Stripe of Color hot plate, and Speckled Aura Glimmer Hot Foil. I foiled this at an angle on a panel of White card stock, and was stamping the sentiments in the spaces when I miss-stamped and thought I ruined it all! But NO!!! I simply trimmed away the crappy stamping from the well-foiled portions, re-stamped the images in the same place on an A2 card base (VersaFine ink and Clear embossing powder) and glued the trimmed foiling pieces back in place. Voila!

I stamped the wheat stalks and mason jar (Memento Ink) together on a scrap of White card stock, colored them with alcohol markers, and die-cut them together – top half of the wheat die, bottom half of the mason jar die. I wrapped some of the Rustic Twine around the mouth of the jar and finished it up with a small bow. I attached that assemblage to the card front with foam tape. A few gold dot embellishments add a touch more sparkle and dimension. I love the juxtaposition of the fancy sparkly foiling with the humble twine and mason jar.

That’s five of the large sentiments… one more to go… “choose”. There is a small “kindness” sentiment in our stamp set, but I was thinking of something a little more graphic… and I remember an old stamp set that just might work.

The KIND NESS stamps are from an old Simon Says Stamp Kit from November of 2017… more than six years ago! I’m so glad this popped into my mind! I stamped both sentiments on a piece of HA Pitch Black card stock using HA Unicorn White ink and embossed with White embossing powder. I grabbed my Yasutomo Pearlescent watercolors and painted the letters in all different colors. These inexpensive watercolors work terrifically on Black card stock (this isn’t watercolor paper!) and are available all over the place!

Since the sentiments together suggested a square, I decided to do a square card for this and die-cut the painted panel with a Tonic Studios Scalloped Square Layering die, and die-cut a piece of Tim Holtz Metallic card stock in purple with the next larger scalloped die. I glued those together and down to a 4.25″ square Pitch Black card base. It’s great finding a new stamp that works so well with an old stamp… and now I’ve used all the sentiment stamps – dies be damned!!

Now we get to bring all the Premium elements into play here! I have to admit, I am not a huge fan of ephemera… but I took stock of all the pieces we got in this kit, and the flowers sparked a remembrance of a See-Through card Jennifer McGuire created on one of her live videos just a few weeks ago… that’s what inspired this card.

The card front is all pieces of ephemera glued together! And see-through! One of each flower, both orange feathers, one of the peacock feathers, and half a cloud (top center). I arranged all the ephemera together and glued them to each other before cutting them down to 4.25″ wide by 5.75″ tall – an extra quarter of an inch to score and fold over to attach the see-through card front to a 4.25″ x 5.5″ back piece.

I thought the “peace” die cut seemed like the same size as the “peace” ephemera, so I die-cut the word “peace” from the ephemera and sure enough, it’s exactly the same size! I die-cut two more “blanks” from heavy white card stock and glued them behind the die cut “peace”. Then I glued the stacked sentiments down to the second “peace” ephemera – really interesting dimensional sentiment there! I added some Spectrum Noir Sparkle pen to the sentiment and mounted that to the front with foam tape – doubling up on that dimension again!

I did cut another top-folding card base to 4″ x 5.25″ to glue to the inside of the card so you would only have white showing through the see-through card front. I love this idea for using ephemera pieces… especially flowers but any ephemera that was similarly themed would work for a see-through card front like this!

My favorite item from this kit has got to be the Sun Stencil… I thought that being the SUN called for some extra shine!

I turned to my trusty Deco Foil Transfer Gel and spread that through the stencil on a panel of Pitch Black card stock. I let that dry thoroughly, and then ran it through my laminator with Gina K’s Gold Sequins Fancy Foil. WOW! Not wanting to risk the practically perfect foiling, I stamped the sentiment on a scrap of Pitch Black card stock with VersaMark ink and embossed it with Gold embossing powder. I die-cut the sentiment with a HA Circle infinity die and glued it to the center of the foiled panel. I trimmed the panel to 4″ x 5.25″ and glued that to a White card base. That’s TWO foiling techniques I’ve used with this kit now! I LOVE that foil and this card outshines all the rest! Literally!

There are so many more things you can do with that stencil… this next card kind of combines techniques from the last two cards for something truly unique!

To begin with, I ink-smooshed some HA Taffy, Creamsicle, Lemon Drop, and Green Apple Reactive inks on a White card panel. I smoosh the ink down on a craft mat, spray with water to thin down, and pick up the inks with your card panel. Dry completely and re-apply a couple of times for more depth and variety. When I was happy with the inking, I set the panel aside to dry completely.

I like the ephemera/die-cut sentiment from the see-through card so much, I figured that the “imagine” die-cut must match the “imagine” ephemera as well! Instead of trying to cut the word from the ephemera piece, I decided to cut the word from the ink-smooshed background. Then I die-cut three more “imagine” pieces from Pitch Black card stock. I glued the black die cuts to the ephemera piece, stacking up the three layers, and then glued the ink-smooshed “imagine to the top. Finally, I embossed the sentiment with VersaMark ink and clear Embossing powder.

Then I took the stencil and some VersaMark ink and inked through the stencil with that embossing ink right over the background. (I use a blending foam and pressed the ink into the stencil instead of trying to use a brush) I embossed that with Yellow Prism Embossing powder (from the MMH December 2020 kit!) There’s lots of sparkle in that embossing powder! I cut the background to 4″ x 5.25″ and glued that to a White A2 card base. Then it’s a simple matter to glue the sentiment over the center of the background – covering up the hole left from the original die cut. I really enjoy the dimensional sentiment and all the bright color and sparkle on this card! And here, the stencil doesn’t steal the show, it just adds another layer to a colorful background!

Of course, you can use the Sun Stencil for ink blending as well…

On a panel of Hero Hues Canary card stock, I ink blended HA Lemon Drop, Creamsicle, and Fruit Punch Reactive inks in a landscape orientation with the center of the stencil a little bit above the center of the card stock. I stamped the sentiment in the center with VersaFine Onyx Black ink and embossed it with Clear Embossing powder. I colored in the doo-dads on the stamp with my TomBow watercolor markers, trimmed the panel to 4″ x 5.25″, glued that to a thin black mat and glued those to a card front of the same Canary card stock – all three layers are then glued to a White card base.

Then I sprinkled a bunch of Colorful Confetti Sequins (from a 12/17 SSS Kit!) all over the front – I was separating the red, orange and yellow sequins from the mix, and just kept adding and adding until I ran out of those colors! Though a little plain with just the stencil and the stamp, the sequins make this whole card come to life! Lots of sparkle!

I was trying to figure out a way to use the banner sentiments included with the ephemera pack – I was able to adjust the “try to love one another” banner to be a simpler “love one another” banner, but then I came across the banner sentiment that says “plant the seeds of peace”. That banner inspired this card.

It has been a while since I made a Magic Slider card… a perfect way to illustrate this sentiment. I do have a post here detailing the steps to make a “double-slider” or “magic-slider” card: https://cardcutups.com/2018/02/26/project-double-slider-pull-tab-cards/ or a video post on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyHI0kvQTg8&t=2s for detailed instructions. The background is Hero Hues Arctic card stock ink blended along the edges with HA Splash reactive ink. I combined two of the flower ephemera pieces cutting away the white border on the smaller flower and matching it up to the center of the larger flower. The leaves are cut from one of the butterfly ephemera pieces. Thank heavens for those green butterflies! Here you can see it in action:

I’ve never before had a “stem” on a double slider card that actually camouflages the slit that the mechanism uses on the front of the card. Love this so very much! Almost seems like magic! Plant the seed and watch it grow!

That wraps up my 10 cards for the My Monthly Hero Kits of February 2024. Even missing a number of dies, I was able to come up with a fun assortment of very spring-y cards this month… I am certainly looking forward to spring this year!

I used all of the White card stock in the kit and managed to use almost all of the sentiment stamps in the Classic stamp set – I missed one vase and the three bows… I used the two large stamps from the Premium stamp set… I used 16 pieces of ephemera (surprise!). I used the stencil in three different ways, I used both of the Fancy dies in the premium kit, as well as some twine, the Unicorn White ink cube, and the White embossing powder. I do believe that stencil will come in very handy for many years to come… and the matching circular sentiments are a great companion to that as well.

These kits are still available on the Hero Arts website! If you see something you like here, or want to grab that amazing Sun Stencil for yourself, please use my links when you go shopping at Hero Arts – it helps support this page as well as my YouTube channel and keeps the fun coming your way!

My Monthly Hero February 2024 Classic Kit: http://shrsl.com/4fbvj

My Monthly Hero February 2024 Premium Kit: http://shrsl.com/4fbvr

My Monthly Hero February 2024 Premium Elements: http://shrsl.com/4fbvu

Hero Arts February 2024 Release: http://shrsl.com/4fbvx

Thank you so very much for sharing your time with me here… your support humbles me and keeps me inspired! Please take the time to click the Like button on the bottom of this post, share this post to your FaceBook and Pinterest pages, and send me a comment if you have any questions or just want to say HI! I am truly grateful for your continued attention and assistance! I am sending you and yours Love and Light and wishes for an early Spring! Remember… Don’t run with scissors… ! and, as always, I send you and yours Love and Light and Happy Crafting!!

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

10 Cards 1 Kit • My Monthly Hero • January 2024

~ cardcutups ~ 2 Comments

Hello Folks! Happy New Year! Scott here with another 10 cards 1 Kit post featuring the new My Monthly Hero January 2024 Classic and Premium Kits. Valentine’s Day is right around the corner and we have lots of spring-y floral options with these kits!

CLASSIC KIT INCLUDES:
• 5 Color Layering Floral Background Stencils, 5.25″ x 6.5″
• Coordinating Heart Window Frame Cut
• Love You Fancy Dies
• Love Messages Clear Stamp Set, 4″ x 6″
• 6 Sheets of Camel Watercolor Paper, 5″ x 7″
• 3 Core Ink Cubes (Moss, Azalea, Summer Sky)

PREMIUM KIT INCLUDES (Premium elements in bold):
• Everything in the Classic Kit        AND:
• 10 Floral Fancy Dies
• Gold Leaf Flakes
• Sparkle Clear Lacquer Pen
• Pink Gold Metallic Spray, 1 oz.

The Color Layering Floral Background stencils and the coordinating Heart Window Frame cut is a unique combo that gives us the option of getting two cards out of one background!

The coloring guide for the stencils is on the Hero Arts website – Azalea ink for stencils 1 and 2 (lighter and darker); Summer Sky ink for layer 3; Moss ink for layer 4, and back to Summer Sky ink (darker) for layer 5. Almost complete coverage for a beautiful floral background!

As usual, I will make my first five cards using just the supplies included in the Classic Kit.

I basically followed along with my first stenciling on some Canson Multi Media card stock. I did use both the Summer Sky and the Moss ink with the fifth stencil, trying to keep the Summer Sky ink blending on the flower parts and the Moss ink blending on the leafy parts. I believe I had a lighter hand on this whole stencil than what was represented on the website and the backer card. Quite lovely!

I did want to cut out the Heart Window fancy die from this panel, but wasn’t too sure exactly where it should line up… I took a panel of 40# vellum and die-cut the Heart Window from the middle of the vellum. Now I could line up the vellum window on the inked card panel and figure out exactly where to place the Heart Window fancy die. I felt total confidence cutting out the Heart window from the inked panel, and it appears I got it in the right place!

I had been watching a Jennifer McGuire live video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AmQiIAQu2U) where she was making “Swivel cards” with Gregory from Concord & 9th, so I thought I would try her swivel technique for my first card.

I die-cut the Heart Window from the front of an A2 card base and ink blended a light layer of the Azalea ink around the edges. I cut a scrap of White card stock to 1″ x 3.5″ and scored it at .75″, 1.75″, 2.5″, and 3.5″. This will be our swivel mechanism moving our heart from the front of the card to the inside. I stamped the sentiment on the front with VersaFine Onyx Black ink and embossed that with Clear embossing powder.

I glued the 1″ tab at the end of our mechanism to the back of the inside of the card at the widest point of the Heart Frame die cut. Then, folding the mechanism in half, applied glue to the back of the card front where it matched up with the mechanism, and, folding the card flat, attached the mechanism to the front of the card base making a little pop-up box when the card is unfolded. That’s where we’ll attach our Heart!

I temporarily attached the heart to the mechanism to decide where my inside sentiment should go. I stamped and embossed the Happy Valentine’s Day the same as the sentiment on the front of the card. All that’s left is to close up the card and glue the Heart in place on the mechanism. I was a little concerned that the variegated edge of the die cut would get caught up on the card front, but the mechanism works really well! This is kind of a pop-up card… I think “swivel” is a good way to describe this fancy surprise of a card!

Now I have the rest of that stenciled panel to use on a second card! Two for one is always a bonus!

I began this card by ink blending Azalea ink on the two ends of a White card panel going darker at the edge and lighter towards the center. I let the ink blending dry, then taped over the blending with some clear packing tape. Then I lined up the Love You Fancy dies and cut them out right through the packing tape – that gives us beautiful shiny die-cut letters without having to use any Clear lacquer or Glossy Accents! I die-cut two more blanks of the Love You Fancy dies from White card stock and glued them together for a thicker sentiment.

I trimmed a tiny bit from the edges of the inked panel to make it 4 1/8″ x 5 3/8″ and glued that to a Hero Hues Azalea card base – giving us a thin Azalea frame around the edges. I thought the Azalea card stock was a bit too bright behind the Love You sentiment, so I toned that down with the vellum cut-out of the Heart I had left from cutting the vellum guide with the first card. I ran the vellum heart through my Xyron Sticker Maker to coat the back with adhesive and pieced it in to the die-cut opening on the front of the card. That toned down the Azalea card stock nicely! I finished by glueing the stacked Love You Fancy dies on the front. I love all the Azalea colors on this card and the easy shine on the sentiment!

I am not sure what possessed me to do this next card, but at the time I thought it was a very cool idea!

Yes! I actually traced all the stencils using some colored Pigma Micron Pens (permanent ink!). Unfortunately, I don’t have a Green pen, so I made due with a light brown… Very interesting effect… almost looks hand-drawn… in fact, it almost looks like one of those line-art drawings where you don’t lift the pen from the paper. Ultimately, I did think that it was a little too stark, so I lightly blended the inks over the pen lines (using the stencils) for a hint of color. That helped!

I realized that you can make a capital “I” from the “L” in the Love die so decided to make the declarative “I Love You” my sentiment. I die cut that from some Metallic Pink card stock, and once from some plain white card stock and glued those together for strength. I thought this background plus the Heart Window Frame cut would make a good easel card.

I did a partial die-cut of the heart on the background and scored the sides of the panel where I stopped the die cut (2 1/8″ up from the bottom). I took a top folding A2 card base and scored the front panel at 2 1/8″ and glued the die-cut panel (all but the Heart cut out) to the card base. The Heart popping out of this background is actually a surprise… you can’t tell it’s there till you open the card! I stamped the “xoxo” sentiment on a scrap of white card stock with VersaFine Onyx Black ink and embossed that with Clear embossing powder.

I trimmed the sentiment to size and added three layers of White card stock for thickness, and glued that to the inside of the card to provide a holder for the easel front. The metallic sentiment is all the shine we need here! Love this!

The bold, all-capital sentiments in the clear stamp set are pretty large, and I noticed that many of them are about the same size as well… hmmmmmmm…

Quite the interesting ladder cut for a gate-fold card! I stamped the sentiments in the center of a 4.25″ x 11″ panel using Distress Oxide inks in Tattered Rose, Worn Lipstick, Fired Brick, and Candied Apple (from top to bottom) and embossed all with Clear embossing powder. I scored the left and right sides of the panel at 2.75″ (5.5″ total!) and sketched out my ladder cuts around the sentiments using a T-square ruler. I cut those lines carefully with a metal ruler and craft knife and erased all my pencil guidelines. I added some Heart Washi tape (from my stash) down the two sides of the card front and turned my attention to the inside of the card.

Since I only have half of a card base attached to the two sides of my gate-fold front, I cut another panel of white card stock to 4.25″ x 5 3/8″ wide (to allow for the side folds). Using my vellum guide from the first card, I ink blended the heart using the Azalea ink and stamped the sentiment and flowers with the Candied Apple Distress Oxide ink. I did add some Clear embossing powder to the sentiment, and glued some small Heart sequins to the front and inside sentiments.

I glued the two front panels to the completed inside panel – that does give me a seam in the center of the back of the card, but it’s almost unnoticeable. Gate-fold cards are nothing new, but I think this is a fun and unique design.

We also have that incredibly soft, torn edge Camel Watercolor paper in the Classic Kit that really caught my eye.

I decided to try stenciling on the watercolor paper… it took the ink nicely, but is fairly fragile… soft blending brushes are the best! This background is created with the Kit inks in the order recommended. I measured out the background to be 4.25″ x 5.5″ and tore the edges using a metal ruler. That really highlights the hand-made quality of this watercolor paper and gives this card an extra vintage feel. I die-cut the Love You Fancy dies from the watercolor paper, glued another die-cut of Kraft card stock to the back for strength, and blended a little Azalea ink on their bottoms. Then I gave both a light dusting of Sheer Shimmer Mist for a little sparkle.

I stamped the “Sending” and “lots of” (both partial stamps) on the watercolor paper using Azalea ink and die-cut those with a Lawn Fawn Everyday Sentiment Banners die. I did add a layer of Kraft card stock to the back of both for strength – that watercolor paper is so soft and seems like it could just fall apart – though it really isn’t that delicate. I stenciled the big flower one more time on the watercolor paper, fussy-cut it out and glued another layer of Kraft card stock to the back.

I glued everything to an Ivory A2 card base using a little foam tape on the flower to pop it above the sentiment. I’m not sure the watercolor paper was included in this kit for this purpose, but I really love the Vintage vibe that paper provides.

That’s five cards using the Classic Kit items… with three fancy fold / interactive cards, and I even used almost all the stamps in the stamp set as well! But now I get to add on the Premium supplies too!

This card makes me Happy! First, I sprayed the Pink Gold Metallic spray on a 8.5″ x 5.5″ panel of Canson Multi Media card stock and let that dry. I die cut all of the Floral Fancy dies from some White card stock and colored all the pieces with my (Happy Birthday!) new Ohuhu Alcohol Markers. I paper-pieced all the die-cut pieces together using some thin Micropore Surgical tape, added drops of the Sparkle Clear Lacquer pen to the center dots of the two big flowers, and added some highlights with a White Gel pen. I stamped the sentiment on the banner die-cut with the help of my MISTI using VersaFine Onyx Black ink and embossed that with Clear embossing powder, then ink blended a little Antique Linen Distress Oxide ink onto the banner.

I die-cut the Pink Gold background with a Simon Says Stamp Modern Postage Stamp Rectangle die, and picked a larger Hero Arts Nesting Rectangle die to be a guide for the Gold Leaf frame. I love using a Zig 2 Way glue marker when working with foil flakes. I dries tacky so it becomes the perfect medium for foiling. I taped the rectangle die to the front of an A2 Kraft card base, and used my 2 Way Glue pen (chisel tip) to trace a square of glue around the inside of that frame. I let that dry then added the gold flakes on top, burnished the gold into place, and then used a stiff paintbrush to clear away the excess foil.

I glued the background panel to the card front and added all the flowers and sentiment with foam tape and glue. Lots of color on this card, and, believe it or not… I actually used every die and all the extra supplies from the Premium Kit on this one card! I guess that wraps it up then! HA!

I do have more of the Pink Gold Metallic spray card stock left… let’s see how the Gold Leaf Flakes pairs up with that.

I used my Zig 2 Way glue pen on top of the Pink Gold sprayed card stock, making sure to leave the glue a little streaky. When dry, I added Gold Leaf flakes to the glue, burnished it down and brushed away the excess. I die cut that with the “Love” Fancy die, and cut two more ‘blanks’ from Pitch Black card stock to glue behind. I stamped the “you” sentiment (partial stamp) on more of the foiled Pink Gold card panel with VersaFine Onyx Black ink, embossed it with clear embossing powder, and fussy-cut it out.

I die-cut a Hero Arts Nesting Heart die from Hero Hues Peony card stock, and glued that to an A2 Pitch Black card base. The sentiment is glued on top and the “you” sentiment is glued in the middle. With the foiling, the two sentiments almost seem like one! I did add a writing surface on the inside using the same Peony card stock. Love the stark Black and Pink and Gold on this card… very simple yet very striking!

After that mostly Black card, I started wondering about the possibility of creating a background with the color layering stencils using only shades of Grey…

On a panel of light Grey card stock I ink blended the stencils using Hickory Smoke Distress Oxide ink for stencils 1 and 2, Concord & 9th Mushroom ink for Stencil 3, Concord & 9th Mushroom ink for stencil 4 (there is a slight green cast to that ink!), and Black Soot Distress Oxide ink for stencil 5. Very interesting, but not particularly inspiring… I wondered about cutting the Heart Window out of this, or stamping a sentiment right on top, when I remembered the heart stencil I did on the inside of Card number four – the gate-fold card. I let all these inks dry overnight.

The next day, I grabbed my vellum stencil of the heart and lightly ink blended Azalea ink on top of the inked background. Just the pop of color this card was begging for! I really like this! I stamped the sentiment on a scrap of the light Grey card stock using Onyx Black ink and embossed that with Clear embossing powder, and fussy-cut it out. I cut the ink blended panel to 4.25″ x 5.5″ and glued it to a White A2 card base. The sentiment is attached to the front with some foam tape and here we have another fun way to use those stencils and Heart Window Frame Cut. Other than the sentiment, this is actually a one-layer card! Might be a little “goth” but I like it a lot!

There’s still some mileage to get from those Floral Fancy dies… they are perfect for cutting from colored card stock!

I found some textured card stock in my stash to use for the flowers on this card. I die-cut one last panel from my Pink Gold spray card stock with a Lawn Fawn Stitched Rectangle die. I measured out a mat using the watercolor paper and tore the edges with a metal ruler. I glued the background to the mat and then to an A2 White card base. I die-cut the flowers and leaves three times and the small white flower six times. I colored the centers of the large flowers with an alcohol marker and paper-pieced them in place using Micropore tape.

I did a VERY light blend of Azalea ink on the White flowers, and their centers are die-cut from the middle of the large flower die. I attached the flowers with foam tape and glue to the top edge of the background. The sentiment is an old Lawn Fawn Scripty Borders die that I die-cut twice from matching Magenta card stock and glued together. The sentiment is glued to the card front and trimmed at the edges. I thought the Magenta card stock went well with the Pink Gold spray, and there is plenty of sparkle there so no embellishments needed!

I have avoided creating a shaker card since I thought everyone would be making them with this kit… but after looking at the Hero Arts Blog and other posts, I don’t see many shaker cards… reason enough…!

My Mom loves flower cards and I don’t think I’ve ever made her a shaker card…! The stencils are inked in Spiced Marmalade Distress Oxide ink for stencil 1, Carved Pumpkin Oxide for stencil 2, Lemon Drop Reactive ink for stencil 3, Moss ink for Stencil 4, and Fossilized Amber Distress Oxide for stencil 5. Mom loves yellows and oranges..! I trimmed the panel to 4.25″ x 5.5″, die-cut the Heart Window from the center and glued that to the front of an A2 White card base. I stamped this sentiment (from a years-old Paper Pumpkin stamp set!) on acetate with VersaFine Onyx Black ink and embossed it (carefully!) with clear embossing powder. The flowers on this stamp match the background perfectly!

I glued the acetate behind the opening, and added a double layer of foam tape around the heart and edges of the panel. I filled the shaker with a lot of crystal sequins and a bunch of tiny golden flowers die-cut with a couple of Dress My Craft mini flower dies. I lined up the foam tape panel with the card base and glued them together! Flowers aren’t just for Valentine’s Day! I think my Mom will like this a lot!

Of course you can use any color combination you can think of with the Color Layering Floral Background Stencils. That makes this kit truly versatile. And there we have it!! That wraps up my ten cards for this MMH January 2024 Kit!

What a fun variety of cards this month… a swivel card, easel card, gate-fold card, shaker card… Lots of valentines… and even a Mother’s Day card! Though I mostly stuck to the colors included in our kit (especially on the first five cards) I do think there’s a good variety of looks and styles and even some fun techniques! Which ones are your favorites??

At first I wasn’t very inspired by this kit, but after putting it to some good use, I discovered that there were actually lots of options for card making – the stencils and Heart frame cut alone are a terrific pair of tools for interesting backgrounds and a wide variety of card styles. And I’m always game for more flower and leaf dies! Also… if foil flakes intimidate you, I recommend the Zig 2 Way Glue Pens – they make it so easy! I had much more fun with this kit than I thought I would!

Both the Classic and Premium Kits are still available at Hero Arts – as well as the Premium Elements and the whole January Release! If you like what I’ve shown you today and want to try some of these cards for yourself, please use my links below when you go shopping at Hero Arts. Doing so helps support me and this page so I can continue to bring you my takes on the new My Monthly Hero Kits as they come available. Your support is always supremely appreciated!

My Monthly Hero January 2024 Classic Kit: http://shrsl.com/4dxzk

My Monthly Hero January 2024 Premium Kit: http://shrsl.com/4dxzm

My Monthly Hero January 2024 Premium Elements: http://shrsl.com/4dxzp

My Monthly Hero January 2024 Release: http://shrsl.com/4dxzr

Thank you so much for sharing some of your precious time with me here today! I am always thrilled to hear from you! Remember to Like me, List me, Pin me, Post me, Share me will all your crafty friends… don’t run with scissors… and as always I wish you and yours Love and Light and Happy Crafting!

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

10 Cards 1 Kit • My Monthly Hero December 2023

~ cardcutups ~ 4 Comments

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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