A Blog Named Hero

Partial Masking

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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

 

Inspired by Demi Adams

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

Watercolor Butterfly Birthday Card

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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…

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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.

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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.

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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
Where to buy:
SSS		 Bristol Strathmore Smooth Paper
Bristol Strathmore Smooth Paper
Where to buy:
SSS | AMZ
Hero Arts Azalea Cardstock
Hero Arts Azalea Cardstock
Where to buy:
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
Where to buy:
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

A Clean and Simple Birthday!

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!

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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!

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Dragonfly friend

Hello everyone. My name is Lise Mariann and let me tell you how excited I am to be on the new design team here at A Blog Named Hero. Beyond the moon, I tell you. First I would like to introduce myself and then tell you about my project.
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I live in Trondheim, Norway with my husband, two children and two cats, but I originally come from the cold and far north of Norway. I have been scrapbooking since 2004, but have been gravitating more and more to cardmaking the last couple of years. Today I am mostly making cards, but love creating pages for my scrapbooks as well. When I am not crafting I work as an archaeologist and museum educator and I also like reading, embroidering, drawing and singing as well as hanging out with my family of course. You can also find me at my blog and on Instagram.

For my first project on the team I made the dragonfly card below using the “Color layering dragonfly” stamp set.

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I decided to only use the image edge stamps to create the water lilies and the dragonfly since I wanted to color them using my Copic markers, so I stamped it using a Versamark stamp pad and embossed it using gold embossing powder. After stamping and coloring the images I cut them from the paper using the matching frame cuts.

For the background I used patterned papers from my stash to suggest water and sky and cut them to size with a stitched rectangle die. I attatched the water lilies in layers raising the top one up using foam tape. I also glued the dragonfly using foam tape. I wanted to have the dragonfly “flying” off the page to create some extra movement in the card.

I then stamped and embossed a sentiment from the same stamp set as the images.

When all of the images and sentiment was placed I found a piece of white embroidery thread and hand stitched a flying trail from the dragonfly through the sentiment and behind the flowers.

To finish the card I glued the panel on a white card base raising it up on foam tape.

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And before I leave you today I am hoping you will take a look at the A Blog Named Hero Facebook group where we also have lots of lovely makes by our Facebook design team. if you haven’t been there already I urge you to find it.

Make yourself a wonderful day.

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