A Blog Named Hero

Hello all crafty girls and crafty boys!

This is Lucy Newton with my first Photo Tutorial for A Blog Named Hero Yey!!! This is a technique I saw somewhere in the web. And I think is versatile and fun, it’s about white embossing on black cardstock and then coloring the images with markers. Sounds like fun? It is, so let`s begin shall we?

For this technique you will need:

Black cardstock,
A HA Stamp,
Embossing Ink Pad,
White embossing powder,
Heat Gun,
A tray or a piece of paper to catch your embossing powder ,
Markers: you can use copics, or any other kind you have on hand and
A craft sheet ( not necessary, but suggested, it’s great for working with inks, heat gun and helps keep your place clean)

1) Ink your stamp with the embossing ink.

2) Stamp it on the black cardstock.

3) Do this several times, turning the image, so you get a nice and varied background.

4) Put the cardstock over your tray or piece of paper.

5)Pour your embossing powder over your stamped cardstock.

6) Give the cardstock a few little pats on the back, so the excess of embossing powder falls into the tray or the paper.

7) Pour the remaining embossing powder into its container and set aside

8) With a fine tip brush take away any excess of embossing powder (outside the lines of the stamped image)

9)Heat the embossed stamped images with the heat gun until it melts
the powder. Be careful to not burn yourself or the cardstock, to avoid
the last, keep moving the heat gun so it does not stay on the same spot
for long. Let dry completely.

10)I chose fall colors for the leaves, so I started coloring with a
green copic YG67 on top of one set of ferns. Color softly so as not to
harm the nib (point) of your marker. If a little bit of embossing powder
contaminates your marker, just draw a few doodles in a scrap of paper
and it will come off.

11)Then I continued with an orange copic YR04 and colored the next set of ferns. Then a yellow copic Y15 for the next one.

12) Finish with a red or wine marker, I first tried the Marvy Uchida
Le Plume II in plum but it was too light for me, so I ended up using
another copic, a red one R29.

13) Now to finish off the card I inked the ferns with brown ink.

14) And stamped it in a white cardstock square. Then I matted it in orange cardstock.

15)I stamped the sentiment with black ink on a strip of white
cardstock, cut the ends into a banner shape and inked the border with brown
ink.

16) Then the finishing touches were: to put some pop
dots on the matted brown stamped ferns, and glue it in the center of the
cardstock, add the stamped sentiment banner with smaller pop dots and
decorate with brown twine and a button and two yellow pearls.

Here are the products you’ll need to try this fun technique!

All Stamps Need Love

May 5, 2012

Hey crafters!

It’s Kelly here with a fun way to get more from your stamps!

Before we get started I just wanted to remind you about our current challenge. Topsy Turvy: Using a sentiment as something other than a sentiment. Talk about possibilities!

and you could win a gift card to Simon Says Stamp. How awesome is that?

Okay let’s get into it shall we?

All of us crafters spend our hard earned dough buying the things we love, STAMPS! But what if you have stamps you aren’t utilizing? We all have stamps that are stained with ink and love from multiple uses. These stamps have hundreds of cards under their belts.

We all also have those stamps that are perfectly clean. These poor stamps have never known the sweet love of a juicy inkpad, am I right?!

Today I’m going to help you fix that, for a few little stamps.

Here’s our first card

So I know what your thinking . . .Do they have new stamps I’ve never seen before?! Super secret squirrel stamps that only the design team members get?!

Nope. These aren’t new stamps. I’m willing to bet you even own these stamps already. What am I talking about you ask? I’ll show you 🙂

Holy Smokes! Those stamps? Who uses those stamps? . . . . I do 🙂 and hopefully now you can see ways to use them too.

Just to prove it wasn’t a fluke I made you all a card set with these little stamps.

These little guys can pack a big punch! Creating a focal point with these little guys is pretty easy once you get started 🙂 They are also wonderful for adding patterns to your other stamps. As a card maker I know I’m always looking for small patterns to use and these stamps are perfect to create your own.

InLinkz.com

Thanks for visiting us today! I hope I have inspired you to use ALL your stamps, even the little guys 🙂

Faux Washi Tape

May 3, 2012

Hey Friends!

Danielle here with my first project for A Blog Name Hero 🙂

To say I love washi tape is an understatement. It’s a really great way to add interest to your cards without doing a whole lot of work! It’s pretty, thin, and can easily be repositioned. It has a million other uses as well, but for today let’s just stick to it’s most basic function.

It comes in endless colors, styles, and widths. Downside to this? $$$$. I, like many others, am a big hoarder, and washi tape is no exception. Luckily (?) I’m on a spending freeze right now, so I had to get creative. I realized it was simple enough to use my plain ole’ stamps and cardstock to get a similar look. I mention in the video there is a way you can do it with tissue paper, but I felt like this way was a wee bit easier.

Without further ado, here is my video premiere for ABNH 🙂

And a close up of our tape, not too shabby!

All of these supplies can be purchased at Simon Says Stamp and don’t forget to check out our latest challenge here. You could win a $25 voucher to Simon Says!

Thanks so much for visiting!

Danielle

Supplies

InLinkz.com

Challenge #3!! Topsy Turvy!

May 1, 2012

Hi there!

Thank you so much to all of you for your delightful comments welcoming our Design Team! We are so excited that you’re as in love with them as we are!

So to remind you, given that the DT is so big, we’re going to be splitting it into two groups; The Chalk Inks and The Shadow Inks. Each group will be creating projects to inspire you for the one of the two challenges we host each month. The Chalk Inks will be there for the challenges held on the 1st of every month, the Shadow Inks for the challenges that fall on the 15th.

As always our challenge is sponsored by the gorgeous team at

For todays challenge, we want to see you go

What do you think?! Any ideas come to mind?

To help get those creative juices flowing, here are some inspirational cards for you:

Aren’t they lovely!? We really hope they help!!

So of course, one lucky winner will receive a

Be sure to have your entries in by midnight EDT (USA) May 12th for a chance to win!!

As always, products used are shown below 🙂

Thanks so much for stopping by–we can’t wait to see what you make!

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Please Say “Hello!” To Our Design Team

April 28, 2012

We are so excited to write this post! We never, in our wildest dreams, imagined that our (not so) little blog would be so popular. It really came about organically, just two girls who had a mutual love for Hero Arts–the products, the people and the ideals. We had no idea that so so many of you agreed with us!

We are so happy to bring you our Design Team, fellow fan girls who just happen to be talented designers as well.

It is our pleasure to introduce you to The Chalk Inks & The Shadow Inks.

The Chalk Inks will be bringing you the challenges that are posted on the 1st of each month and the Shadow Inks will be bringing you the challenges that are posted on the 15th of each month. Each member of the design team will also be doing an additional post each month–something fun, such as a step-by-step photo tutorial or a video.

We’ve asked each member of the team to create a project saying “Hello” to you.

So without further ado, we bring you The Chalk Inks:

And The Shadow Inks:

We have a truly International team, which is fitting, since Linda and Mary Dawn are half a world away from each other. (Below you will find a list of products used in each team members card.)

We chose these ladies because we felt they had a great variety of strengths and styles–something to suit everyone!

We hope you will join us in welcoming them. We are SO excited to have them on the team!