January 2019 My Monthly Hero Blog Hop + Giveaway

Hi friends! It's the first Monday of a new month and time for a fabulous My Monthly Hero release! The kit this month is chock full of sweet springtime images perfect for building all sorts of lovely scenes for the new year. Pair the January MMH kit with this month's add-ons to make some fantastic and unique Val- or Gal-entine's Day cards.

If you've been hopping along, you should have arrived from Emily Loggans blog. Your next stop after this will be Laurie Willison. The entire hop list can be found later in this post. Once again, Hero Arts is generously giving away a fabulous prize for a lucky commenter along the hop.  Leave a little love in the comments section for all these amazing artists and if your name is drawn you'll receive this month's kit (or equivalent product if you're already a kit subscriber) absolutely free! If you're not a kit subscriber, you should really consider subscribing. The kits frequently sell out and subscribing guarantees you'll never miss a kit. The kits are such a great value, with super fun and verstile images and accessories. Plus there's such a wealth of inspiration from the designers each month! Speaking of inspiration, let's get started...

I had so much fun with this release! I actually ended up making 7 cards, but I won't make you scroll through all that in one sitting! But I am sharing four cards today, so if you don't already have something yummy to drink, you might want to go grab a cup to enjoy while I share my makes.

I'm starting with my personal favorite of the bunch, This little Parisian storefront image and matching die from the main kit is adorable, don't you think? I've been on a bit of a purple kick, so hopefully you like the color purple. Otherwise imagine this sweet little scene in the color of your choosing. 😀 I stamped the storefront and several of the floral images in intense black ink and then colored with Copic markers.  I die cut with the coordinating dies (there are dies for every image in this kit!), then slit a little hole in the pail image to tuck in one of the floral sprigs. I arranged these all in the window cutout and then cut a square from a Prima Lavender collection paper pad to hang as a little sign in the shop. I added a heart image in each square panel, stamped in grape juice.

The hello sentiment is from the fabulous You Are Loved Flourish Messages add-on set. I LOOOOOOOOOVE the sentiments in this set. 💜 A definite must have in my opinion. I embossed the sentiment in detail black on vellum and then adhered over the square panels. My card base is embossed with a chicken wire embossing folder and I popped the whole scene up on adhesive foam for a little dimension, then finished off with some crystal clear lacquer pen accents on the flowers.

Next up is this lovely little bicycle scene. For this I stamped bicycle and the tulips image (3 times) and colored with Copics. My purple mix for this entire series of cards was V01, V15 and V09. The greens wee YG01 and YG23. I created a nice little grass and sky blended background using distress oxides, then stamped the sentiment from the You Are Loved Flourish Messages add-on set and then cut and matted the panel using the Rounded Rectangle Infinity Dies. The bicycle is popped up on fun foam and I finished with a few rounded corners on my card base.

Next up is a sweet little Valentine card pairing the kit with the Hearts & Flowers Bold Prints add-on. I might have actually squealed when I opened the release and saw the two add-on backgrounds. I puffy heart love them both!

For this card, I stamped the jug and heart balloon images from the main kit and cut with the coordinating dies. The focal panel is stamped in grape juice with the Hearts & Flowers Bold Prints background and then sponged lightly with passion flower ink. I cut with the Tag Frames Infinity Dies and matted in black, detailing around the edge with ebony Nuvo drops.

The sentiment is from the main kit and cut into a little banner shape to tuck behind my jar of hearts. The background is embossed with a hearts embossing folder and then sponged with passion flower and grape juice inks.


My final card for today is with a couple of the add-ons from this release. The Bursting With Love Bold Prints background is so classy here, subtly embossed in clear on both the white card panel and the black Rounded Rectangle Infinity frame.

I stamped and then masked off one of the hearts from the All My Love Decorative Hearts add-on set  and then stamped the heart again for a fun heart duo. Isn't this heart image just spectacular? I colored with Copics and then accented with the crystal clear lacquer pen.  The sentiment die cut is from the Hello Stamp & Cut, three times and stacked together, then coated with Versamark ink and embossed with ultra thick embossing enamel. To give it a little pop, I colored a thin strip of white cardstock with Copics, snipped the ends at an angle and layered it behind the die cut sentiment.

Okay, that's all for me today. I hope you've found a little inspiration here for this fabulous release. If you're a kit subscriber, remember you can order any of this month's lovely add-ons to ship with your kit with no additional shipping fees if you place your order before Thursday. All of the add-ons are added to the Hero Arts catalog and restocked. The kit is only available while supplies last, so grab yours while you can!

For a chance to win the giveawy, leave some comments for the talented designers linked below. Here's the full hop list. Happy hopping!

The Hero Arts Blog
Caly Person
Emily Midgett
Ilina Crouse
Janette Kausen
Jessica Frost-Ballas
Michelle Short
Nichol Spohr
Yana Smakula
Amy Kolling
Debi Adams
Emily Loggans
Julee Tilman (That's me ✋)
Laurie Willison
Lydia Fiedler
Libby Hickson

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