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A Blog Named Hero

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  • 2020 Design Team
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Goodbye!

February 11, 2021

Hi everyone!  It’s Caren here today with my last post as a design team member of A Blog Named Hero.  I’ve loved being on this team sharing my projects and seeing all of your creations for the challenges.  I’ll still be an advocate and user for the awesome Hero Arts projects.  You can find me on Instagram here.

The challenge this month at A Blog Named Hero is Anything Goes.  I created a rainbow water colored background and then used the pencil stamp from the Please Deliver stamp set.  The sentiment is from the May 2019 My Monthly Hero kit.

I flicked some dots on the card with the same watercolors I used for the background to finish off the card.

Here’s a look at some of my favorite cards over the past two years from my time on the design team.

 

Thanks for all the support and love!

 

Leave a CommentCATEGORIES - Design Team

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

Birthday Fishes – Watercolor Waves

April 27, 2020

ABNH_04272020

Hello everyone – I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy.

I have card today featuring water colored waves.  To create the waves, I stamped the Ocean Wave background stamp with embossing ink and Hero Arts white detail embossing powder on water color paper.  I then used blue water color over the embossed image and die cut the paper with wave dies from my stash.

I colored the three puffer fish from the I’m a Puffer for You stamp set and colored them with Copic markers and die cut them using the coordinating dies.  I adhered the waves and fish to a white card base.  I stamped the sentiment and wave accent from the same stamp set to finish the card.

ABNH_04272020a

Thanks for stopping by and don’t forget to join in this months challenge – watercolor.

Watercolour April

Sig_Caren

Leave a CommentCATEGORIES - Caren Bartholomew, Design Team, Uncategorized

Hero Hues Easy April Watercolor

April 21, 2020

Hello everyone, this month A Blog Named Hero’s challenge is Watercolor which I love, but I know it scares some people for a lots of different reasons. Below is an easy way to get a Quick and easy watercolor card using the Hero Arts Hero Hues Inks. I chose 5 ink colors all beautiful pastels that can be combined into so many colors bright and soft. To get started I heat embossed the Blossoms for Coloring Bold Prints background on a piece of cold press watercolor paper with white embossing powder. There is also another background stamp that would work beautifully as well called Flowers for Coloring too take a look here >

I laid down color straight from the pads onto my glass surface and started picking it up with a paintbrush and varying the amounts of water I was using and mixing the colors to make new ones. The colors I used were Pool Party, Key Lime fizz, Taffy, Lemon Drop and Thistle, using them in the following combinations allowed them to mix and layer into all of the pretty brightness you see below. I was mixing the Lemon Drop with the Taffy to get a beautiful coral and the Thistle with the pool party and the Taffy to get pretty purples and pinks, then the Lemon Drop with the Lime Fizz and Pool party to get the greens and yellows. If you zoom to look you can see that I kept this very loose and free and let the colors dry and then I could layer more on top to get new colors.

What makes this really easy is only mixing the colors I suggested above but using them in visual threes and letting the emboss resist do its job.I encourage you to use any background stamps in your stash or to create a fun pattern on your card and paint away! You could also layer the entire card over a wash of yellow and not use the purple only the pool party and taffy and get all corals and greens. The more I experimented the more I fell in love with the properties of these inks, they layer beautifully but are far more transparent than distress oxides so the colors you can get are brighter too, I added different colors to the background between the flowers to make them pop, I wish I had done more of that too.

I hope you are inspired by this technique and will try it with your favorite stamps. After all of the paint had dried I added some little white pointellism dots with a white gel pen to add more details and stamped the sentiment from the You are Loved messages set. I wanted to make use of some of my favorite Hero stamps in my stash as no orders are being fulfilled right now. So my craft friends, make sure to link up all of your watercolor projects to have the chance to win a $50 Hero Arts gift card.

Stay Well and keep kindness in your heart, and for more inspiration visit me over on my blog at paperheartscissors.com

 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Leave a CommentCATEGORIES - Uncategorized

Have An Amazing Day

November 24, 2019

Hello lovelies! Seeka here and today I have a bold watercolored flower to share with you. And don’t forget, there’s still plenty of time to join in this month’s Muted Tones challenge!

For my card today, which is decidedly not muted, I used the gorgeous Hero Arts and Altenew Bloom & Grow collaboration stamp set. I love big blooms like this one that give you plenty of room to watercolor. With larger petals, it’s much easier to maintain light and dark areas for shading and color contrast.

I started by running an anti-static powder tool over a piece of Fabriano Artistico cold press watercolor paper. Then I stamped the flower in a black pigment ink and poured clear Ultra Fine embossing powder over the image. I melted the embossing powder with a heat gun and then got out my palette of Brusho powder pigments (Brusho is very similar to Color Burst powders). For this card I used Gamboge, a deep yellow, and Vermillion, a beautiful red.

I added just a tiny bit, not even a full drop, of clean clear water into the Gamboge powder and then, using a round 2 brush, I painted just a bit of the concentrated color along the edge of a petal closest to the center of the flower. Using a waterbrush filled with clean clear water, I wet the rest of the petal, starting from its tip and making my way towards the pigment. When the clear water hit the pigment, the color bloomed. I used the waterbrush pen to help move the color to cover the entire petal, but making sure that I left most of the color concentrated at the innermost part of the petal.

I repeated this process for each petal and then when over each petal again, this time with Vermillion. When I added the Vermillion, I watered it down a bit more than the Gamboge, and used a smaller amount so as not to overpower the Gamboge. The result is a beautiful gradient from red to peach to deep yellow on each petal. When the flower was dry, I cut it out and set it aside.

For the leaves I used the same ink and embossing powder, but this time I used Neenah Solar White paper since I didn’t plan to color them. I cut those out as well and set them aside.

For the background I used an old wood block stamp called Envelope Pattern. I stamped this onto a piece of Neenah Solar white and then stamped a sentiment from the collaboration stamp set. I trimmed this piece to just smaller than 4″ x 5.25″ and then adhered it to an A2-sized card base.

Finally, I used Zots Bling adhesive dots to adhere the leaves (I trimmed one leaf off of each trio of leaves to that I could place them more precisely) and then I adhered the bloom with foam tape for dimension.

Thank you so very much for coming by!

2 CommentsCATEGORIES - Seeka

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Find us on Instagram

ablognamedhero

Thank you to everyone who participated in our birt Thank you to everyone who participated in our birthday celebration Instagram Hop last week! It was so lovely to celebrate with past and present design team members. The winner has been chosen randomly from comments on day 2, stop 7, and the winner is @waterlily57 ! Congratulations! I will send you a DM to let you know how you can collect your prize!
This month, the design team at @ablognamedhero is This month, the design team at @ablognamedhero is celebrating the 9th anniversary of our first challenge! To help us celebrate, we have invited some design team alumni and special guests to join us for an Instagram hop over two days! We also have one $50 Hero Arts gift card to be won! This will be drawn from all the comments on all the stops, so the more you hop and comment, the better your chance to win.
The full hop list can be found at the bottom of this post, and you next stop is @art_of_albara
Rules:
-Follow @ablognamedhero. Please don’t follow just to unfollow after the giveaway is over.
-Like this post and leave a comment.
-Optional: tag your friends - one per comment.
-Entries accepted until April 7th, and the winner will be announced on the @ablognamedhero page and in the IG stories.
-No giveaway accounts.
By entering the giveaway, you confirm that you are over 13 years of age, and agree with Instagram’s terms and conditions, as well as release Instagram and Facebook of any responsibility. This giveaway is not sponsored, administered, or associated with Instagram or Facebook.
*** Good luck and have fun (and, if you missed yesterday, please visit @ablognamedhero to see yesterday’s participants)! #heroarts #ablognamedhero #ablognamedherofacebookpage #cardmaker #cardmaking #cardmakersofinstagram #cardmakingismysuperpower #papercraft #greetingcards #handmadecards #sharehandmadekindess
***
Full hop list
@ablognamedhero
@art_of_albara
@darbycreekdiaries
@the_cardogram
@ilinacrouse
@terismailbox
@escards
@anchored_by_ink
@suemcrae23
@jenniferkotas
@kellyrasmussen
@pocketful_of_rosie
@skypaperscissors
@wild.willow.art
@kellytaylorcards
@michelle_lupton
This month, the design team at @ablognamedhero is This month, the design team at @ablognamedhero is celebrating the 9th anniversary of our first challenge! To help us celebrate, we have invited some design team alumni and special guests to join us for an Instagram hop over two days! We also have one $50 Hero Arts gift card to be won! This will be drawn from all the comments on all the stops, so the more you hop and comment, the better your chance to win.
***
The full hop list can be found at the bottom of this post, and you next stop is @lindatracedesigns
Rules:
-Follow @ablognamedhero. Please don’t follow just to unfollow after the giveaway is over.
-Like this post and leave a comment.
-Optional: tag your friends - one per comment.
-Entries accepted until April 7th, and the winner will be announced on the @ablognamedhero page and in the IG stories.
-No giveaway accounts.
By entering the giveaway, you confirm that you are over 13 years of age, and agree with Instagram’s terms and conditions, as well as release Instagram and Facebook of any responsibility. This giveaway is not sponsored, administered, or associated with Instagram or Facebook.
***Good luck, have fun, and make sure you come back tomorrow for day 2!
#heroarts #ablognamedhero #ablognamedherofacebookpage #cardmaker #cardmaking #cardmakersofinstagram #cardmakingismysuperpower #papercraft #greetingcards #handmadecards #sharehandmadekindess
***
Full hop list
@ablognamedhero
@lindatracedesigns
@lstein0
@bjkne0519
@stampcatwg
@craftyannastudio
@cheiron
@katedeignancards
@smilespotting
@neatandtangled
@eamidgett
@handcraftedbyjoy
@kailashcrafts
@stampinlibby
@apocketfulofstamps
@jessicafrostballas
Gale here! We're gearing up for the 9th Anniversa Gale here!  We're gearing up for the 9th Anniversary celebration of our blog!  Be sure to visit Instagram for our giveaway hop on April 1st-2nd filled with stops from your favorite Hero Arts artists!  For more info on this easy and fun project, please visit thedarbycreekdiaries.com
Hello! Michelle here sharing a card at #ablognamed Hello! Michelle here sharing a card at #ablognamedherofacebookpage  for the floral challenge at #ablognamedhero 
 #cardmaker #cardmaking #cardmakersofinstagram #cardmakingismysuperpower #handmadecard #greetingcard #papercraft #hellocard #sharehandmadekindness #copicmarkers
What is better than Birthday cake? Birthday cake w What is better than Birthday cake? Birthday cake with flowers 🙂 There are still a few days left on our Floral challenge and you can see details of my card on my blog. Have a great day, Mateja M
https://apocketfulofstamps.blogspot.com/2021/03/floral-birthday.html
Hi! @jenniferkotas here with another card for the Hi! @jenniferkotas here with another card for the Floral Challenge. There’s still a few more days to enter your own project. More info on my blog. #ablognamedhero #ablognamedherofacebookpage #heroarts
#Repost @darbycreekdiaries with @get_repost ・・ #Repost @darbycreekdiaries with @get_repost
・・・
Here's easy and elegant inspiration for the "A Blog Named Hero's" current floral challenge! The details are on my blog (link in bio!). Enjoy!
#ablognamedherochallenge #ablognamedherofacebookteam #ablognamedhero #heroarts #heroartsfancydies #heroartsmmh #sharehandmadekindness #floralcards #stampjunkies #cardmakersofInstagram #cardmakingismysuperpower #cardmaking #inksmooshing #distressinksmooshing #kitschflamingo #youtubecrafter #handmadecards #handmadecardideas #handmadegreetingcards #getwellcard #papercrafting #stamping #rubberstamper #ellenhutson #scrapbookdotcom
Michelle here today, and I'm sharing a floral card Michelle here today, and I'm sharing a floral card on the #ablognamedherofacebookpage  for the floral challenge at #ablognamedhero 
 #cardmaker #cardmaking #cardmakersofinstagram #cardmakingismysuperpower #handmadecard #greetingcard #papercraft #getwellcard  #sharehandmadekindness #distressoxideink
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