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A Blog Named Hero

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Hello new crafty friends !

February 26, 2021

It’s nice to meet you here.

To make it quick, as I’ll be quite talkative in my first article (haha)..
I’m Anne-Laure, an actress from Paris (without work now), I’m 32 years old, I have an awesome boyfriend who supports me a lot, and I’m very glad to be part of the awesome team of A Blog named Hero for 2021 !
We will have fun together this year with the challenges Linda and Michelle prepared, and I hope that you will all participate.
I can’t wait to see your creations ! 😊

I love making things, and I discovered Hero Arts in 2017 and it’s my favourite brand : I love its social/environmental values, its products, its people and its positivity. 

Today, I’m sharing 2 cards for this month challenge which is « anything goes » : I think this theme is a nice way to begin this year of challenges with no pressure.
You just need to use your products from Hero Arts with the theme of your choice and have fun.

The best way to present myself is to show you some cards which represent some of the things that I love.

During quarantine time in France, I had the idea of sharing cards to represent many countries, islands etc… using mostly Hero Arts products. I wanted to help people to travel mentally, as 2020 was complicated (let’s hope 2021 will get better).
This concept seemed to make people happy so I want to share this idea with you in a different style today with those 2 cards.
In those, the characters are reading and it’s a good way to relax and escape into another place/universe.

For both cards I used August 2020 kit. It’s a staycation theme.
I also used other available products that you can find by clicking on their name in the text :  you’ll be redirected on product’s page directly, if you want to buy one/several of them.

Let’s start the 2 cards together ! 😊

First step : I stamped the woman  and the kids from August 2020 kit with intensified black ink on Hero Arts white cardstock and die cut them.
Then I used different brands of alcohol markers to color the stamped images.

Then, I die cut 4 circles from the circle infinity dies set : 2 of the 4th size from the bigger circle (for the frames of our scenes), and 2 from the 5th from the bigger circle (for the scenes), in the white cardstock.

Now it’s time to create our magical mental scenes.


I used the Beach Heroscape stamps for the woman imagination and Galaxy peek-a-boo background stamp for the kids.
First, I stamped on one of the 2 smaller circles we die cut earlier, and stamped the bigger stamp of the beach set on it to make the base of the water using splash reactive ink and blue hawaii reactive ink to make the waves details.
For the sand I ink blended  the white part with soft vanilla ink and I heat embossed with sand embossing powder on top to give a more realistic look to our beach.

To make extra detailed, I stamped some small stamps : boat and birds from color layering sea&sky stamp set (which came from June 2018 kit).
It’s definitely one of my favorite kits ever.



For the second card with the kids, I ink blended some reactive inks on the second small white circle : I began with Taffy reactive ink, then splash reactive ink, Blue Hawaii around and blended intensi-fied  black ink all around, then I came back with a Q-tip to put a little bit of Key lime fizz and unicorn pigment ink at some spot around and on top of the pink. 
I got those in small ink cubes from in July 2020 kit  (which I love) but you can also find those inks in separated big pads here.

Now, that our galaxy background is done, we need to had the magic touch using the Galaxy peek-a-boo stamp. I heat embossed it with gold glitter embossing powder to add shine to it and mimic the stars.
I used a white gel pen to create a kind of vortex in the middle of the pink spot.

On both scenes, I gently sprayed some white iridescent shimmer spray to give an extra shine to them.

After that, I glued the small circles with the scenes on top of the bigger white circles we die cut in the beginning, with Hero Arts precision glue.
Then, I placed all the elements on the first card without sticking them, just to check where I needed to fill the spaces with the background elements which could represent the place where the characters are in their real life.
I used the stamps from the same kit (August 2020), there are small stamps which are very useful to create backgrounds.

I then took off the pieces of my card and used an acrylic block to stamp all the details.


For the woman’s room background, I used Artic cardstock and those stamps from the kit : the wind chime (twice), the plant, cat, books and table and inked them with mint julep ink to give a tone on tone look, and I used the sentiment «  a place of total bliss » that I embossed with embossing and watermark ink and  clear embossing powder and then slided the sentiment and stamped it with pool party reactive ink to give a kind of subtle 3D look so it could pop up a little bit. All around the card I used again mint julep ink to create a frame and used clear embossing powder aswell.



For the second background (with the kids), I used black cardstock and the grass and leaves stamps and stamped them multiple times on the floor and all around the card to show that they’re in their garden. I used clear embossing powder again, but you can use black embossing powder to give the same look.
I used the sentiment « My happy place » and embossed it with gold glitter embossing powder.

Then , I glued the elements on each card and to finish them, I used the smaller circle from the infity die set and 2 punches to make bigger circles to show that those scenes are in their mind.
I glued them and glued the panels on white top folded card bases and those 2 cards are done !

I hope you liked them and I’ll be happy if you join us on this nice challenge, to share you card, it’s here.
If you participate, please tag us on Instagram : My IG account is Art_of_albara and you can also tag A Blog Named Hero  so we could see your beautiful cards there too.

Have a wonderful day and see you soon !





 

 

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Layered Tropical Florals

February 25, 2021

Greetings crafty friends! I am thrilled to share that I am a new Design Team Member for A Blog Named Hero, a dream come true.  A little bit about me – I live in the midwest and have been having so much fun playing with paper and making and sharing cards!  I have linked all of my channels and sites here: YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and Blog. I would love to have you follow and subscribe. 

The challenge this month is Anything Goes. Check out the deets here. Join in the fun and be eligible for one of two gift vouchers from our beloved sponsor!

I used the Die DI649 Leaves and Vines for the background on both cards. I’ll start with the Floral card.

The green background was created by ink blending Hero Arts inks: Green Hills, Green Apple, Lime Green and Fresh Lawn on a piece of white cardstock. After die cutting, I attached the green leaves to a white A2 card base. The flowers from CM372 Tropical Flowers were stamped in black ink and colored with Copics. I fussy cut out the images for layering.

The flowers were layered on the front, with a stamped Thank You from CM251 Hand Drawn Every Day Messages. One flower and leaf was attached to the strip for dimension. I did add two addition cardstock strips under the sentiment.

Check out the quick video for this card here: 

 

The next card uses the same background die with a twist!

This card started with an alcohol ink base from my stash. I cut the Leaves and Vine Die 3 times from white cardstock and glued them together for dimension.

 

The sentiment was white heat embossed using a sentiment from the Tropical Flower Stamp set.

 

As you can see, I trimmed a few of the center leaves from the white die cut to allow the sentiment to show through prior to gluing to the alcohol base.

The last step was to mount on an A2 white cardbase. 

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I’d love to have you follow/subscribe on my social media sites Instagram, Facebook, Blogger and You Tube.  Be well. Be creative!

Check out and enter this month’s challenge Anything Goes here: A Blog Named Hero – The official Hero Arts challenge blog! There are prizes!

 

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Hello Beautiful!!!

February 24, 2021


Hello there! I am so excited to be a part of A Blog Named Hero Challenge Team. I am a huge fan of the Hero Arts and have been inspired by how they started 50 years ago!

I am Dhruvika, an urban nomad and a proud soldier. I currently live in Bengaluru , India. As far as I can remember I have always been fascinated to colors and coloring. One and a half years ago, I discovered stamping and rest is all history. I love to be outdoors and enjoy exploring the highest mountains and the deepest oceans. While I am off duty and not doing these, I train myself for marathons and create cards. For me running is a panacea for the body while cardmaking is for the mind and soul. You can find me by the name @the_cardogram on all social media platforms. So that’s all about me.

Let me now take you to my first card. I decided to create a card using my favorite technique- watercoloring and flowers.

I started by stamping the flower bunch from the Hero Arts Nasturtium stamp set twice on a watercolor paper with Hero Arts Black Ink. I then water colored these flowers and leaves using the Daniel Smith water colors in shades of Quinacridone Magenta and Cobalt Green. I then fussy cut the images.

To create the background, I cut an panel measuring 4.25x 5.5 inches from the Hero Hues Premium Cardstock Dove White and gently brushed the horizontal stripes of very diluted Daniel Smith Quinacridone Magenta (the one I used to color the Nasturtiums) using a broad flat brush. After that I pasted two vertical and one horizontal stripe of gold mirror cardstock of quarter inch width to add some dimension to the card. I love how the vertical stripes give the effect of the window frame, without interfering with the horizontal stripes. I then stick the flowers using the 3D foam tape to give the extra dimension. I stamped the two sentiments Hello from the same stamp set and Beautiful from Hero Florals Arum Lily Stamp Set using ghe Intensified Black ink. Finally I stuck this panel on Hero Hues Dove White Top Folded Cards

I hope you are inspired by my water colored Nasturtiums. Now it is your chance to create for our Monthly Challenge – Anything Goes and get a chance to win Hero Arts gift card. We at A Blog Named Hero came wait to see what you create!!
Loads of love


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A Crafty “Aloha”

February 23, 2021

Hello everyone! My name is Meg (Instagram: anchored_by_ink). I am so happy and honored to be doing my welcome post for A Blog Named Hero. In fact, one of my first Instagram posts was a My Monthly Hero (MMH) kit. It was the August 2017 Kit…and I haven’t looked back since! It really is a dream come true to be part of such a wonderful team and stamp company. 

Now, a little about me. I am a married mother of two highly energetic children aged 9 (girl) and 6 (boy). They really keep me on my toes especially with the virtual learning we have been doing this year! We are also a military family so we have done a fair share of traveling and moving. One of our moves included Japan which was an amazing experience. Before marriage and kids, I worked in Healthcare. I’ve always loved science and helping people so it was the perfect fit for me. 

I have been crafty for as long as I can remember. From a young age, I started basket weaving and cross-stitch with my mom. My paper crafting and stamping journey started about 4 or 5 years ago. For me, creativity and crafting is my constant to an ever changing life as a military spouse. There are many rewards and downfalls to the military lifestyle but creativity is my sanity. Who’s with me?!

The challenge for this month is… Anything Goes! I could not help myself when it came to the tropical sets that Hero released. Can we say “AH-MAZ-ING”?! I was really inspired to make a nice, bright, warm and tropical card. The weather in my area has been anything but sunny and warm. Bring on the better weather! 

This mini slim line stole my heart. It measures 3 1/2 inches by 6 inches tall on a sturdy white card base. I used the Bold print hibiscus flowers to stamp on the blue cardstock with watermark  ink and heat embossed with embossing powder.

I ink blended some Distress Oxides onto smooth white paper to create my flowers, leaves and “sun“. The foliage was cut from the ink blended paper and some glitter paper using the Hibiscus Fancy Dies. For a little more vibrancy, I added Rose Madder ink to the flowers.

I added some gold splatter using gold Perfect Pearls for that extra little touch. For some reason, I feel like splatter fixes everything! 

I stamped the sentiment* from this months MMH kit in black ink. All elements were adhered to the card base using liquid adhesive and foam tape for dimension. 

* If you do not have the MMH kit here is a good alternative . 

I hope you enjoyed learning a bit about me and what I have created for this month’s challenge. I can’t wait to see what you create for our challenges each month!

Stay crafty my friends!

 

 

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Hello

February 22, 2021

I’m Kailash, born and raised in the rainbow nation of South Africa now living in the US. I’m excited, honored and very humbled to be joining the A Blog Named Hero design team. I am married to my very supportive and encouraging husband of 31years (my number one fan ) and have a 27 year old son. I’m a volunteer at my local food pantry and an active church community member having been on 4 mission trips. My interests include travel (having visited 17 countries), world war 2 history, gardening, watching true life documentaries and following formula one motor racing.

My love of crafting started from a young age painting on fabrics, knitting and the art of decoupage. After moving to the US I ventured into scrapbooking and when attending classes and shopping at Archivers craft store (feels like ages ago that we had those :-))), I was inspired and intrigued with the creative world of stamping. My card making journey then started with the purchase of my first itty bitty stamp from Hero Arts and fell in love with their products. Thereafter I joined the Hero Arts flickr group, participating in blog challenges, card swap/exchanges and Hero Arts scrambles. Years later it seems so fitting that I get to create and share my passion for all things Hero Arts. I enjoy creating varied styles including clean & simple, bold & bright, mixed media and cute & fun designs but I confess I’m partial to any and all floral images.

I am so grateful to be working with such an amazing and talented team of designers and be a part of our inspiring crafting community.

You can find my work on Flickr, Pinterest and Instagram where I’m having my best creative life!

This month’s challenge at A Blog Named Hero is everyone’s favorite “Anything goes” and from my card you can see I chose bright colors and my favorite which is stamping floral images but you could use any of the beautiful floral stamps available from Hero Arts to create a similar design. 

 

Thank you for stopping by and hope you are as excited to participate in our challenges at A Blog Named Hero as I am in sharing and inspiring you all with my work over the course of the year!

Crafty hugs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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There's still time to enter our "Anything Goes" challenge!  Here's some inspiration for you!  For more info please visit my blog (link in bio.)
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Hello! It’s @michelle_lupton here today sharing Hello! It’s @michelle_lupton here today sharing a very simple, #onelayercard for the #ablognamedherofacebookpage . All the details are on my blog!
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Hi everyone! I'm sharing Pantone colours of 2021 i Hi everyone! I'm sharing Pantone colours of 2021 inspired card with you today for #ablognamedhero  Anything Goes challenge. You can see details on my blog. Mateja @apocketfulofstamps 
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Hi! @jenniferkotas here and I’m so happy to be a Hi! @jenniferkotas here and I’m so happy to be a part of A Blog Named Hero’s Facebook Inspiration Team for another year! I’m sharing a card using older and newer supplies for the current Anything Goes challenge on my blog today. #heroarts #ablognamedhero #ablognamedherofacebookpage #mymonthlyhero
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The sparkle and shimmer was hard to show in photo.  I'll post a little video here soon of this super quick 'n easy card!
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Hello! It's @michelle_lupton here to share a card Hello! It's @michelle_lupton here to share a card I made for the February challenge, "Anything Goes"! 

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