A Blog Named Hero

The official Hero Arts challenge blog!

Peace

Hi, Jess here keeping winter alive with a peaceful, snowy, winter scene!  This month we’re collaborating with Newton’s Nook and our challenge is Clean and Simple.

If you’re familiar with my work you know that CAS is something I struggle with so I hope you’ll consider my card Clean and Simple! 😉

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I’ve really been loving my distress inks recently.  I started off by masking the bottom of my watercolor paper to create a snowy hill.  I blended Shaded Lilac, Peacock Feathers, and Chipped Sapphire distress ink onto the watercolor paper and then removed the mask.  I spritzed the background with water to create a starry sky.  Next I stamp the star from Christmas Crystals and embossed it with white embossing powder.  I stamped the dog and cat from Newton’s Nook with versafine and heat-embossed them with clear embossing powder.  Finally I stamped the trees and embossed them with silver embossing powder.  I die-cut the watercolored panel with a stitched square die and attached it to a white card base.  To finish my card I stamped the sentiment and embossed it with silver embossing powder.

Many MANY thanks to Jennifer and Newton’s Nook for sponsoring our Clean and Simple Challenge!

 I look forward to seeing your entries!  Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

In My Prayers

Good evening!  Jess here with my second card of the month featuring as many Hero Arts products as I can squeeze onto a card! 😉  I’m also playing along with our current challenge, A Bit of Sparkle!

You’ve got a few more days to enter your creations for a chance to win a prize from this month’s sponsor:

For once I decided to go a little subtle with my sparkle…I know, I know…totally crazy for me! Ha!
Here’s what I created:
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I’m pretty excited that the only non-Hero Arts products on this card are the white and grey cardstock, clear wink of stella glitter, and the black ink!  Everything else…totally Hero Arts!

I started off by inking that pretty background stamp with the pink to red ombre ink pad and using my Misti to stamp it on a piece of white cardstock.  I let it dry for a minute and then stamped the small part of my sentiment using black ink.  Next I colored the white parts of the flowers with my clear wink of stella glitter brush.  I die-cut the word “prayers” from dark grey cardstock and glued it to my card panel.  Finally I trimmed the panel, added it to a card base of Hero Arts layering paper and added a few blush pearls for a little extra shine!  I will definitely be going back and making more of these cards using all the ombre ink pads from Hero Arts!

Thanks so much for visiting and have a great day!

Valentine’s Day Sparkly Trio

Good evening!  Jess here with a trio of sparkly cards for the February A Blog Named Hero Challenge!  This month we’re teaming up with Simon Says Stamp and challenging you to add a little sparkle to your cards!  You can click the graphic below to go straight to the challenge link!

If you’re a regular reader of mine you know that I just can’t help adding sparkle to most of my creations so I was super excited for this challenge.  I couldn’t limit myself to just one type of sparkle so I made three cards!
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For my first card I did a watercolor wash with distress inks and let it dry.  While it was drying I die-cut the hearts from white cardstock and then pressed a versamark pad all over the die-cut.  While it was still sticky I dipped it in holographic embossing powder and heat set the powder.  I adhered the die cut to the watercolored panel and then added an embossed sentiment on vellum from a Hero Arts set over a tangle of metallic silver thread.

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For the second card I adhered a piece of stick-it adhesive to a piece of white cardstock.  I die-cut the same hearts die and then carefully peeled off a little of the adhesive backing to reveal the top of the die.  I sprinkled pale pink glitter over the top third of the die and then carefully burnished it with a bone folder.  Next I peeled a little more of the backing off and sprinkled a dark pink glitter in the middle third of the die.  After burnishing the dark pink glitter I peeled off the rest of the backing, sprinkled red glitter on the bottom third of the die, and then burnished the whole die.

Next I spritzed shimmer spray onto a piece of white cardstock and let it dry.  I stamped the sentiment with red ink and then adhered the die-cut to the shimmery background.  After looking at the card I decided to glitter a few of the hearts from the die-cut and glued them back inside the die.

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For my last card I wet a piece of watercolor paper in the same basic shape as my die-cut.  Then I smooshed the same distress inks onto an acrylic block and dropped color onto the wet paper and let it spread naturally.  While that dried I used stick-it adhesive and cardstock to adhere gold glitter to my heart die.  Once my background panel was dry I flicked on some gold shimmer spray, stamped and heat-embossed the sentiment with gold embossing powder, and adhered my glittery die-cut.

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So there you have it…lots of sparkle with the help of sparkly embossing powder, glitters, and shimmer sprays!  I hope that gives you some ideas of how to add sparkle to your projects!

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I hope you’ll play along with our challenge!  One lucky crafter will win a prize from our sponsor:

Thanks so much for visiting today and enjoy the rest of your weekend!

You’re My Very Favorite!

Hey friends, Jessica here with a fun love-themed card featuring lots of products from Hero Arts!  It would be perfect for Valentine’s Day, an anniversary, or just to tell someone how much you care!

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This was a really fun card to create and my inspiration came from crafty organization!….I’ve spent the last few days organizing and swatching all of my ink pads.  When I got to my ombre inks my swatch stamp wasn’t big enough to give me a good color representation so I swiped them on larger pieces of cardstock instead.  I practiced swiping the ink pad on scrap paper to make sure I was getting nice even coverage and loved the look so much that I used it as inspiration for my card!

I started off by stamping the line of hearts in a random pattern and heat-embossed them with clear powder.  I used my MISTI to help me keep the hearts in a straight line.  Next I swiped my pink to red ombre ink pad across the panel.  I intentionally pressed hard at the start and lightened the pressure as I swiped.  I also did a second slightly offset swipe to get a nice blend of colors.  I used a paper towel to wipe the excess ink off of the embossing which left the hearts nice and white before flicking some gold spray across the panel.

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I trimmed the panel down to get a nice clean inked edge and adhered it to red cardstock.  Then I stamped the sentiment onto a piece of vellum and heat-embossed it with gold tinsel embossing powder.  I cut the vellum into a fishtail banner and adhered it to the card with vellum tape.  Finally I added some red and gold enamel dots and hearts for a little dimension and sparkle!

Thanks so much for visiting!  Our One Layer challenge is still open so make sure to link your cards up for a chance to win a prize from our January sponsor, Concord & 9th!  Have a fabulous weekend!!

On the Third Day of Christmas

 Good evening!  Jessica here for the Third Day of Christmas at A Blog Named Hero!  If you missed it we’re celebrating over the next ten days with some fabulous crafty celebrities!  Today I’m hosting the super talented Kelly Rasmussen who has a gorgeous watercolored card to share!

Kelly stamped the Peace and Joy image in antique linen distress ink and then carefully watercolored over the top.  It gives the appearance that it was hand-written rather than stamped!  
I love the look of this card and the way she blended the colors in the “handwritten” sentiment!  So pretty!
My card for today uses just a little bit of stamping, no watercolors (shocking for me, I know!), and a ton of glitzy bling! 😉
I have a bad habit of forgetting about my wood-mounted rubber stamps but I was doing a little crafty organizing a few days ago and found this elegant stamp.  I stamped the tree and sentiment on a kraft cardstock panel with versafine and heat-embossed it with clear powder.  Next I “decorated” my tree with a mix of purple and white gems and pearls.  Then I swiped the edges of my card base with versafine and heat-embossed it with clear powder to create a shiny black frame for my kraft panel.  To finish the card I adhered the kraft panel with foam mounting tape for a little extra dimension.
Thanks so much for visiting today and make sure to check back tomorrow to see what Michelle and our next crafty celebrity guest have created!