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A Blog Named Hero

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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

CATEGORIES ~ Challenge, Design Team, Giveaway, Lee Ann Weber, Uncategorized Leave a Comment

Partial Masking



November 3, 2019

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Hello there! It’s me, Cha! Today I’m at the blog A Blog Named Hero showing you my card for this challenge that is going to end in a few days. I encourage you to post your cards with a nature theme in order to win some prizes! Good luck!

For this card, I used an acrylic block in order to stamp images from the Tropical Flowers stamp set on the background here and there. I stamped the images with Hero Arts Intense Black Ink and used white cardstock. Then, I masked the center of the card using one of the dies from the Rectangle Infinity Dies set.

For coloring the piece, I used Copics. I colored the whole piece except for the area just in the center of the card with the masking piece.

I removed the masking piece and traced the lines for the rectangle in the center of the card, using a black pen and a ruler so that I could trace straight lines. I traced these lines several times to make them a little bit wider.

I used one of the sentiment from the same stamp set (Tropical Flowers stamp set). As I wanted to heat embossed the sentiment, I used the mini MISTI to stamp the phrase twice even three times. I used black cardstock. I stamped the sentiment with Versamark ink after using an anti-static powder tool. Then, I added some White Embossing Powder and heat it with my heat tool*. I heat embossed the sentiment several times. I cut the sentiment in one strip, and also, I cut the word “sweetest” separately.

I adhered the panel to a white card base and glued the sentiment in the center just in the area that is no colored with foam squares.

I gave some highlights to the flowers using a White Gel Pen and added some small dots to the background with a Gold Gel Pen.

To embellish this card, I added some shimmer to the flowers in the center. Also, I added some iridescent sequins to the background and two little hearts around the sentiment. What’s more, I added dots in the center of the flowers with a Gold Gel Pen and the Mustard English NUVO Drops.

I hope you like this card and… don’t forget to participate in this challenge! We are waiting for your cards! Thank you so much!

CHAXI ABNH

 

CATEGORIES ~ Cha Lion 3 Comments

Inspired by Demi Adams



October 3, 2019

ABNH Inspired by - Cha LionArt 1

Hello,  Cha here!  About a month ago, I saw a gorgeous card on Instagram. That card was created by Debi Adams and you can see the card on HERE. I’m a big fan of her cards! I changed a little bit the process because Debi used two pieces of colored cardstock but I preferred to mask and color the piece. The technique that Debi showed to us is how to dry emboss a die-cut image through design. Debi created a beautiful Christmas card with new Hero Arts products but, I created a card for Valentine’s Day, using the same technique. Let’s see!

First of all, I used the Window On Love Confetti Fancy Die from Hero Arts to die cut a piece of masking paper, using the Big Shot Die-Cutting Machine. I put the masking piece over a 4,25 by 5,5-inch white notecard in order to blend some colors. Using an Ink Blending Tool, I blended some Distress Oxide Inks – Fired Brick and Candied Apple. Here comes the magic that Debi made. I placed the die again over the notecard, lining up every heart. I temporarily taped the metal die which I used and the notecard. I used the platform in tab 1 from the die-cutting machine. First, I put a cutting pad on this platform, then an embossing pad, added the metal die with the piece of the cardstock and, finally, added the other cutting pad. The metal die has to be upwards in order to create this type of impression. If I wanted more dimension, the only thing that you would need to do is to pass the piece through the die cutting machine several times. I passed through the die cutting machine several times until I was satisfied with the result.

As you can see, the rest of the card is too simple. I die cut some pieces with the metal die “hugs” on white cardstock and gold cardstock. This die comes in the My Monthly Hero kit February 2018 (Love this kit!) which is still available although you can use another one that you already have. I also used the stamp with the phrase “i love you” that came with another kit which is not available anymore but you can look for other stamps with phrases that you can use. I stamped this phrase with Versamark Ink and heat embossed with Glitter Gold Embossing Powder. I cut around the phrase by hand.

 

ABNH Inspired by - Cha LionArt 4

To finish this card, I added the background on a card base. I stuck three white “hugs” and, on top, I adhered the gold one. I attached the entire piece in the center of the card and glued the phrase underneath with some foam tape. Finally, I added some gold shimmer to some hearts from the background and I added some hearts and iridescent sequins here and there to the background.

 

I hope you like this card and get inspired to upload your cards inspired by another crafter on A Blog Named Hero! There are some days left to join us in this challenge and… you can win some prizes! Let’s see what you create!

Thank you! See you soon!

CHAXI ABNH

ABNH Inspired by - Cha LionArt 5

CATEGORIES ~ Cha Lion, Uncategorized 2 Comments

Watercolor Butterfly Birthday Card



June 6, 2019

97FBAFEF-96C1-4BB4-B93A-BBE43D150123

Hi Friends! Kristina here for my solo post of the month! I’ve created another card to go with out current Celebrate theme – You have a few more days to get your projects linked up! Here’s what I’ve come up with, it i’s Hero Art’s birthday after all…

ButterflyFlash

I fell in love with this butterfly set the moment I saw it. These images are drawl beautifully. While I have lots of colorful plans for them, I wanted to keep the coloring simple.

I used Zig Clean Color Real Brush pens for all of my watercoloring. I started by coloring my main butterfly, and once dried, I went around the white space fading it in from the edges of the card and the main butterfly.

P1060056

I glued this panel down to some fun foam for sturdy dimension, and then only an a2 sized card base. To finish I went over all of the black and white butterflies with a shimmer pen. Lastly, heat embossed my sentiment onto pink card stock with white embossing powder and adhered it onto the card with foam tape.

P1060057

Thank you for stopping by today, I hope I’ve giving you some inspiration to enter our challenge!

SignatureKristina

Supplies

Hero Arts New Day Butterflies
Hero Arts New Day Butterflies
Where to buy:
HA
Hero Arts Greetings Occasions
Hero Arts Greetings Occasions
Where to buy:
HA
Neenah Solar White
Neenah Solar White
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SSS
Bristol Strathmore Smooth Paper
Bristol Strathmore Smooth Paper
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SSS | AMZ
Hero Arts Azalea Cardstock
Hero Arts Azalea Cardstock
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HA
Hero Arts Intense Black Ink
Hero Arts Intense Black Ink
Where to buy:
HA
Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens
Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens
Where to buy:
SSS | AMZ
Wink of Stella Clear
Wink of Stella Clear
Where to buy:
SSS | AMZ
Nuvo Crystal Drops White
Nuvo Crystal Drops White
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SSS
Hero Arts White Embossing Powder
Hero Arts White Embossing Powder
Where to buy:
HA
Art Institute Glitter Glue
Art Institute Glitter Glue
Where to buy:
AMZ
SA 3L Foam Squares
SA 3L Foam Squares
Where to buy:
SSS | AMZ
Hero Arts Acrylic Block Trio
Hero Arts Acrylic Block Trio
Where to buy:
HA
Wagner Heat Gun
Wagner Heat Gun
Where to buy:
HA
Scor Pal
Scor Pal
Where to buy:
SSS | AMZ
MISTI
MISTI
Where to buy:
SSS | AMZ
Teflon Bone Folder
Teflon Bone Folder
Where to buy:
SSS | AMZ

CATEGORIES ~ Kristina Beagle Leave a Comment

A Clean and Simple Birthday!



April 21, 2019

A huge slice of birthday cake for Hero Arts 45th Anniversary!  Hero Arts started making stamps in the 1970s and is still going strong today.

Did you know that all of Hero Arts stamps are made at their factory in California and that the company has put many green practices in place?  All of that, as well as great stamps!

ABNH_CAS-BDAY

For my post today I wanted to wish them a Happy Birthday/Anniversary with this modification of the layering cake stamp set inspired by some of those amazing rainbow cakes we all see on Instagram. I used the Color Layering Birthday set and the Snarky Mix and Match Messages for the Sentiment.  I really like the bold, and simple font and it has some funny second lines that go with it. To start the design, I stamped it out on scrap paper to see if I would be able to realistically layer all the rainbow colors.

Then I took an 8.5×11 piece of Dove white and  Pebble Hero Arts Cardstock and cut off 4 inches so that when I folded it in half, it would be 3.5 inches wide by 8.5 tall, your scrap can be a card layer for another card.

I inked up the cake portion of the stamp two colors at a time with my mini-ink cubes from MMH kits, so red on the bottom part and orange on the top, then the next two colors and the next, stamping two by two all the way to the top. You can use any inks you have in ROYBGIV ( red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet) order. I wanted 8 layers so have two purples.

I then used Versamark to add the white embossing powder to the frosting area, and heat set it till it was smooth. For the frosting between the lower layers I used my Versamark pen to draw in the rest of the frosting lines between the colors and on the side of the cake. Then fussy cut it out after stamping the candle on top.

Pink-envelope-card

I wanted a clean look with the cake really emphasizing the tall format of the card so used the Happy Birthday, and gold embossed that and the sparkles behind the candle directly on the card base. I gold heat embossed the candle too but afterward made it three dimensional with some liquid pearls in gold and orange. I added the cake with some foam behind it and added a soft Copic shadow underneath it.

I love that you can make all your favorite flavors of cake and frosting and don’t have to stop at just two layers with this set. If you have any questions just ask. Enjoy!

55576118_10156057758166156_6376369917213540352_n (1)

 

CATEGORIES ~ Challenge, Clean and Simple, Design Team, Lee Ann Weber, Uncategorized 3 Comments

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