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A Blog Named Hero

The official Hero Arts challenge blog!

  • 2020 Design Team
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Embossing 4 Ways

July 21, 2020

This month’s challenge is Embossing and I have to say that it is by far one of my most favorite things to do in cardmaking, it is just magical the way that embossing powder melts to give you a shiny, raised sentiment, pattern or element to color. This set of cards uses Embossing all of those ways and also adds another which most people do not obviously go to but I will also show you some examples of detail embossing.

ABNH Embossing group.jpg

For these cards, I used two older Hero Arts woodblock background stamps that are so flexible I have used them both over and over, combined with white die-cut backgrounds and the Togetherness Flower Bouquet stamp set and sentiments from one of the first My Monthly Hero Kits that I thought went well with this combo. These projects really show how much fun it is to collect things you like and mix them up with your other favorites. The formula for all these cards was One large floral + stamped and embossed background +Wide layered sentiment strip. I like to make multiples of cards and my process starts with making all of the parts to mix and match, so first I stamped two charcoal grey and two pink backgrounds and 3 bouquets and die cut a couple of panels of the white background die. I also pulled out different sentiments and made matching cardstock strips as well.

ABNHEmbossing_grey1.jpg
ABNHEmbossing_pink2.jpg

For the two cards above I watercolored the Flowers with some Hero Hues Inks and a waterbrush. The top one with the gold embossing I kept the bouquet whole but for the bottom one I cut off the bottom flowers off of it and another for another card shown below. On the other pink card with the bouquet embossed in white on the background I also used selective embossing, where I used an embossing pen and colored over parts of the petals and used white satin pearl embossing powder to them. You can use detail embossing to add gold accents or highlights or give a more continuous look to differently colored items such as the two cards below.

Using the bouquest as a simple background in white embossing makes pulls the bouquet together on the panel.

Using the bouquest as a simple background in white embossing makes pulls the bouquet together on the panel.

Here I also usesd White Satin Pearl embossing powder on the petals of the flowers as well as the background. It is hard to see but it looks so pretty and pearly in the light.

Here I also usesd White Satin Pearl embossing powder on the petals of the flowers as well as the background. It is hard to see but it looks so pretty and pearly in the light.

So let’s count the embossing ways…  1- Embossing a flower or other for containing your water-coloring, 2- Embossing a background with clear embossing powder for a subtle pattern, 3-Embossing a dark color background with white ink and clear embossing powder and 4- detail embossing using an embossing pen to add selective details to small areas of your cards. with background.

I hope you like these cards and that they gave you some inspiration for other ways to add embossing to your cards. Make sure you join in the challenge. You have until 5pm EST on the 10th of August to enter the challenge via the link tool below!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

We can’t wait to see what you create.

Lee Ann

Leave a CommentCATEGORIES - Challenge, Design Team, Giveaway, Lee Ann Weber, Uncategorized

Nature in Winter

October 21, 2019

Oh my goodness Fall is just flying by and it is almost time to start making my holiday cards, so for our Nature theme this month I started getting out all of my Hero Holiday Stamps!  It is always fun to “shop” your stash and re-visit an old favorite set. For the card below I used the Winter Time Fun set and did some simple masking to create the scene. To start I Die cut the wreath from some white cardstock and stamped the fox and the tree from the set, then cut some simple masks from post it tape to cover them as well as a curved piece to stick on top to create the snowbank.

Then I ink blended the night sky with splash ink very lightly using clarity stencil brushes and then more heavily using Blue Hawaii and then Grape Slush and let it dry thoroughly. I removed the masks and colored Mr. Fox and the tree with Copics and prismacolor pencils on top and added some detail with a micron pan. Finally I white heat embossed the sentiment from the set on a piece of lapis cardstock and some snowflakes on my colored panel. I carefully glued the wreath back on top of the circle and foam mounted it to the card and added some white details with a gel pen and crytal stickles for a little snowy sparkle.

Take a look at this set as it has alot of really sweet little wintry items for your Holiday cards.  Dont forget to join us for the Nature challenge. Link Up for the giveaway is here.> Product Links are below too. 

Happy Crafting, 

1 CommentCATEGORIES - Challenge, Design Team, Giveaway, Lee Ann Weber, Nature

A Little Floral Sympathy

June 21, 2019

Hi, everyone, it’s Lee Ann here. I hope you have had a great week and are ready to spend some time cardmaking this weekend Today I’m sharing another Sympathy card featuring some of the stamps from the Hero Arts Vault along with a great technique using the new Reactive Inks from Hero Arts. These are a hybrid sort of like the Distress Oxides but they do not oxidize so you get creamy watercolor looks but more transparent color.

I wanted to make this one very soft and light feeling so I arranged all of the little flowers stamps from the Little Florals set on some white Tim Holtz watercolor paper and embossed them with white embossing powder as well. leaving room for the sentiment in the bottom third. After the embossing had cooled I pressed some ink directly from the pad onto my glass media mat and very roughly started picking up the colors and painted with the rule of three’s and a visual triangle around my sentiment in mind.

I used the new reactive inks, in  Taffy, Lemon Drop, Creamsicle, Blue Rasberry, Splash and Grape Slush, sort of painting into the areas for specific flowers but not being precise at all.  This is very easy and simple and will turn out great as long as you keep the orange, red and green separate, the rest will mix beautifully. Do not worry about doing this perfectly it is supposed to have an artistic layered look, ethereal and floaty. Definitely not within the lines!

When my piece had dried I colored in all of the flowers with a Versamark pen and then added clear embossing powder over the top.  After that was smooth and melted and had cooled I took the white Sea Salt Ink and pressed it on the card and dragged it all over, I wanted to damp down the background to almost white and get it to look almost painted. I then took a baby wipe and cleaned off all of the flowers where the clear embossing powder was and the brighter watercolor revealed itself.

This is a great technique called Joseph’s Coat, you are simply masking off the color underneath with clear embossing powder and then re-inking the background, so that there is a difference between what is embossed and not. This can be very dramatic with a dark ink over light or bright colors or soft and sweet with a white or lightened background with softer colors showing through as it is here.

After the panel had dried I ran it through my die-cutting machine to flatten it and added some craft foam to the back so it would just be slightly raised off of the card.  I heat embossed the Thinking of you sentiment from the   “Messages with a Flourish” set on a piece of light blue vellum that matched the inky water coloring in silver embossing powder. I wrapped this around the panel to hold it in place with no adhesive and then adhered the panel to a card base of Hero Arts Wood Grain cardstock from one of the MMH Kits.

I hope you like this technique and give it a try. Don’t forget to enter your card in the June challenge, there are a couple of Hero Arts Gift cards for prizes! Click here for all the details.

Thanks so much for stopping by, More details on my blog if you are interested!

Leave a CommentCATEGORIES - Challenge, Design Team, Giveaway, Lee Ann Weber, Sympathy

December Challenge Winners

December 31, 2017

It’s time to announce the winners of our Winter Holiday Challenge, sponsored by Simon Says Stamp!

Number 30 was submitted by Lucie, and it’s a beauty! Congratulations Lucie, please contact us so we can get your information for your prize from Simon Says Stamp.

As mentioned in the Challenge blog post, we also have a die from Simon Says Stamp for a random winner, so let’s see who won that!

Trina P! Step right up, you’ve won the Sensational Snowflake Collage die from Simon Says Stamp. Please email us at ablognamedhero@gmail.com to claim your prize. Include your mailing address and I will get this out in the mail straight away.

We loved how many entries we received this month, and I wanted to highlight a couple that caught our eye. We’d love if it you placed this badge on your blog:

Betty’s Poinsettia is gorgeous! Fantastic coloring.

Ann’s beautiful card with classic Christmas colors.

That’s it for us for this year. We hope you all have a wonderful and happy, and most importantly healthy 2018.

We have many changes coming next year to the blog, and they’re all going to be amazing. We are very excited. Don’t forget, we have a Design Team call happening, you can get all of the details here.

Happy New Year!

4 CommentsCATEGORIES - Challenge Winner, Giveaway

Challenge: Winter Holiday with Simon Says Stamp, Part Two

December 18, 2017

Welcome to another post with inspiration for this month’s awesome Winter Holiday challenge theme! If it’s a Winter Holiday or event, it’s included. I know it’s a busy time of year, but take a little creative break and enter our challenge. There are prizes, and a bonus prize that is detailed at the bottom of this post!

Jess and I want to thank our wonderful 2017 Design Team. We have had so much fun working with these awesome ladies, and I know that you’ve enjoyed their inspiration. We are looking for our 2018 Design Team, so if you’re interested, we’d love to have you apply! We have some fun stuff in the works.

Now, some awesome inspiration for you, click on the pictures to go to the Design Team member’s blog for more details.

 

An InLinkz Link-up


Bonus Giveaway:

Simon Says Stamp was generous enough to provide us goodies to work with this month for our collaboration. I wasn’t able to use mine as my travel schedule threw a wrench into my crafting plans. So, we are giving it away!

It’s the Sensational Snowflake Collage die, and it’s gorgeous. And it’s up for grabs. We will draw a random winner from our challenge entries, and it’s open worldwide.

 

Please help support A Blog Named Hero by shopping through our links. These are affiliate links, at no additional cost to you. We appreciate your support.
Simon Says Stamp
Ellen Hutson
Hero Arts

3 CommentsCATEGORIES - Challenge, Giveaway

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Aloha with Hibiscus Die from #heroarts #mymonthlyh Aloha with Hibiscus Die from #heroarts #mymonthlyhero  add-ons for "Floral" challenge at #ablognamedhero. Mateja 
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Hello! @jenniferkotas here to share a card for the Hello! @jenniferkotas here to share a card for the new Floral challenge! Visit my blog for more info. #ablognamedhero #ablognamedherofacebookpage #heroarts #mymonthlyhero
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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 
#heroarts #cardmakersofinstagram #sharehandmadekindness #cardmaking #diecutting #birthdaycard
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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