A Blog Named Hero

It’s Time To Paw-ty!

Hello, friends! It’s Seeka here, and today I’m sharing a birthday card featuring the Birthday Paw-Ty stamp set.  I’ve paired a sweet pup from the set with balloons from the Festive Balloon stamp set, and then set them against a backdrop I made using the Triangle Tapestry Bold Prints background cling stamp. 

If you haven’t yet, there’s still plenty of time to join in this month’s challenge! This month’s theme is “Birthday.”

I started by stamping the pup and balloons in Copic-friendly Hero Arts Intense Black ink onto Neenah Solar White cardstock.  Then, I took my time coloring with browns and reds.  I used E23-E29 for the dog and a whole mess of reds (R00, and R20, R30, R21, R14, R43, and R27) for the balloons and party hat.  After I finished, I used the coordinating dies for the dog and the balloons to cut them out before I set them aside to work on the background.

I stamped the Triangle Tapestry Bold Prints background in Fresh Peach Shadow ink onto an A2-sized piece of Neenah Solar White.  Next, I used a couple of dies from the Nested Rectangle Infinity die set to trim it down, and to create a smaller white panel.  I stamped the sentiment onto the smaller panel and then began assembling the card.

I glued the stamped patterned panel onto an A2-sized card base and then adhered the sentiment panel with foam tape.  I adhered two of the balloons with glue dots and then used foam tape to adhere the balloon in the foreground.  Before adhering the pup with foam tape, I used a W2 Copic marker to add a bit of shadow beneath where he stands.  Then, using a black pen, I drew the balloon strings.

Thank you so much for visiting!

Sending Lots Of Love

Hi there! It’s Seeka, and today I’m sharing a card using one of the first Hero Arts stamps sets I owned.  I love this big blue whale and that teeny diver. They remind me of the many many hours I’ve spent underwater wishing I could turn into a mermaid!

I started by stamping the three layers of the whale from the Color Layering Blue Whale stamp set.  I used, what else, three blue Hero Arts Shadow Inks: Dusty Blue, Stone Wash, and Navy.  I used the coordinating die to die cut the whale and then set it aside to work on the background.

Using foam blending tools, I ink blended three blue Reactive Inks onto an A2-sized piece of white cardstock.  I started with Splash at the top of the panel and blended that into Blue Hawaii.  At the bottom of the panel I blended a bit of Blue, which is a dark blue Reactive ink cube from an older Hero Arts Card Kit.  Then, I sprinkled clean clear water over the panel, letting the droplets react with the ink for a few seconds before blotting them up with a clean paper towel. 

I let the panel dry for a bit and then used white Hero Arts embossing powder to heat emboss the sentiment, which is from the same stamp set.  Then I stamped the tiny diver in black pigment ink.

To assemble the card, I adhered the whale to the background with foam tape and then adhered the background, again with foam tape, to an A2-sized card base.

Thanks so much for visiting, and don’t forget that there’s still plenty of time to join in this month’s challenge, Anything Goes!

 

Have An Amazing Day

Hello lovelies! Seeka here and today I have a bold watercolored flower to share with you. And don’t forget, there’s still plenty of time to join in this month’s Muted Tones challenge!

For my card today, which is decidedly not muted, I used the gorgeous Hero Arts and Altenew Bloom & Grow collaboration stamp set. I love big blooms like this one that give you plenty of room to watercolor. With larger petals, it’s much easier to maintain light and dark areas for shading and color contrast.

I started by running an anti-static powder tool over a piece of Fabriano Artistico cold press watercolor paper. Then I stamped the flower in a black pigment ink and poured clear Ultra Fine embossing powder over the image. I melted the embossing powder with a heat gun and then got out my palette of Brusho powder pigments (Brusho is very similar to Color Burst powders). For this card I used Gamboge, a deep yellow, and Vermillion, a beautiful red.

I added just a tiny bit, not even a full drop, of clean clear water into the Gamboge powder and then, using a round 2 brush, I painted just a bit of the concentrated color along the edge of a petal closest to the center of the flower. Using a waterbrush filled with clean clear water, I wet the rest of the petal, starting from its tip and making my way towards the pigment. When the clear water hit the pigment, the color bloomed. I used the waterbrush pen to help move the color to cover the entire petal, but making sure that I left most of the color concentrated at the innermost part of the petal.

I repeated this process for each petal and then when over each petal again, this time with Vermillion. When I added the Vermillion, I watered it down a bit more than the Gamboge, and used a smaller amount so as not to overpower the Gamboge. The result is a beautiful gradient from red to peach to deep yellow on each petal. When the flower was dry, I cut it out and set it aside.

For the leaves I used the same ink and embossing powder, but this time I used Neenah Solar White paper since I didn’t plan to color them. I cut those out as well and set them aside.

For the background I used an old wood block stamp called Envelope Pattern. I stamped this onto a piece of Neenah Solar white and then stamped a sentiment from the collaboration stamp set. I trimmed this piece to just smaller than 4″ x 5.25″ and then adhered it to an A2-sized card base.

Finally, I used Zots Bling adhesive dots to adhere the leaves (I trimmed one leaf off of each trio of leaves to that I could place them more precisely) and then I adhered the bloom with foam tape for dimension.

Thank you so very much for coming by!

Hello There

Hello!  Seeka here, and today I’m sharing a jungle-themed card that fits right in with this month’s Nature challenge.  I really love the detail of this background die and pairing it with a single, simple image for a clean and vibrant card.

I started by using painter’s tape to tape down a piece of Canson XL watercolor paper onto my work surface. I used a flat brush to add clean clear water over the panel.  Then I sprinkled just a bit of Brush Sea Green Crystal Colour powder around the panel and used more water and a round brush to help spread the color, taking care not to blend too much so that some light and dark variations remained.  I used a heat gun to speed drying and then I repeated the process, to intensify the color, by adding more clean clear water and more Brusho.

When the panel was dry, I die cut it with the Leaves & Vines Fancy Die. I also cut two additional die cuts from 110# white cardstock and set them aside.  To add some texture to the watercolored piece, I splattered some Finetec Arabic Gold watercolor and a bit of diluted Veridian gouache over the die cut. Then I stacked and adhered all three die cuts together.

The toucan is from the Hello Toucan stamp set. I stamped him in black pigment ink onto a piece of watercolor paper and then used several colors of Brusho to watercolor him.  I found that black watercolor was a little bit too gray so I also used black and gray colored pencils to intensify his black features and the tip of his beak.  When I finished coloring, I fussy cut him and ran a black marker around him to darken the white edges of the paper.

I stamped the sentiment, from the Many Everyday Messages stamp set, onto a strip of cardstock and then trimmed one end at an angle.

To assemble the card, I adhered the leafy background onto an A2-sized piece of Neenah Solar White and then adhered the toucan with foam tape.  I slid the sentiment strip under his feet and added a bit of glue to hold it in place.  And finally, I adhered the card front to an A2-sized card base.

Thanks so much for visiting, and don’t forget to join this month’s challenge!

Happy Birthday with Emboss Resist Ink Blending

Hello, I hope you’re having a wonderful day!  Seeka here and today I’m sharing a card the fun Presents Background Stamp. This is the same stamp set that I used to create a card for this month’s Stretch Your Stamps challenge.

I started by using Clear Embossing & Watermark Ink and white embossing powder to heat emboss the background stamp onto watercolor paper.  Then I got out ink blending tools and blended four colors of Distress inks onto the background.  I started at the top with Picked Raspberry and then blended my way downwards through Worn Lipstick, Ripe Persimmon, and Carved Pumpkin.

While the background was drying, I stamped the sentiment from the Birthday Hugs and Kisses stamp set in black pigment ink onto heavyweight vellum.  Then I used Ultra Fine clear embossing powder to emboss the sentiment.  

To assemble the card, I added small dots of glue behind the letters in the sentiment and then adhered the sentiment strip onto the background.  Finally, I adhered the background onto a card base.

Thank you so much for visiting!